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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Friday, July 20, 2007

Musharraf in trouble

Musharraf plays up the "Islamic threat" to his government, but in reality, despite the numerous destabilizing bombings, he is far more likely to be overturned by the military or centrist parties.
Pakistan's Supreme Court has ruled that Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry should be reinstated.

He was suspended in March by President Musharraf, after being accused of misusing his office for personal gain.

Supreme Court judges ruled by 10 to three to quash all charges against the chief justice and reinstate him, calling his suspension "illegal".


Question: Will the Pakistani military allow Musharraf to lose an election or will they depose him before that? And where does the US fall on that question?

posted by mikevotes at 7:55 AM

7 Comments:

  • You sure like asking tough questions. Doesn't it all come down to the money the US is paying the Pakistani military?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:28 AM  

  • Yeah, sort of.

    I think if they got some sort of commitment to invade the tribal areas from the People's Party they might give backing, but I see a military coup as more likely.

    It would seem that the US could hit its goals more easily under a military dictatorship.

    The only question I would have is would a new government (of any type) have the political support to take on the tribal region challenge?

    I'm not a Pakistan expert at all, so I'm just guessing.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 8:35 AM  

  • I'm not sure most Pakistanis see any 'tribal region challenge'. It was never Pakistan's idea to depose the Taliban.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:12 AM  

  • That's a very good point, because they largely didn't care until it came into Islamabad.

    The assumption I was making is that any new Pakistani government would have to have tacit US support, and thus be under pressure to do something about the tribal regions.

    Any new government will be under tremendous US economic and diplomatic pressure to do something.

    But, yeah, I think you're right that the Pakistani people largely don't care. (or maybe see it as a US imposition?)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:39 AM  

  • This comment has been removed by the author.

    By Blogger Dick Headley, at 11:45 AM  

  • Sorry to give you more to read. This is a superb summary of Pakistan's position re. the US and China...

    http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IG18Df02.html

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:46 AM  

  • Man, the Asia Times is great when they're talking about something you're interested in.

    Their depth is phenomenal

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 1:44 PM  

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