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Military Stays Out Of Musharraf Issue

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Los Angeles Times

Published: August 17, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - This country's impeachment crisis once again has thrust the powerful Pakistani military into the political spotlight. But unlike in decades past, when any show of disarray within a civilian government practically guaranteed that a coup would follow, the army has stayed firmly on the sidelines.

Pakistan has spent half of its 61-year history under military rule, including eight under former Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the civilian president now under concerted attack by foes who want to drive him from office.

High-stakes talks continued Saturday aimed at reaching an accord under which Musharraf would agree to step down in exchange for various guarantees, including a promise that he would not face prosecution for acts while in office. But Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, who Musharraf handpicked to succeed him at the helm of the military late last year, has made it clear that he will not intervene to preserve the presidential tenure of his onetime superior officer and mentor.

"Let us rededicate ourselves to the military tradition of sacrifice," Kayani told an Independence Day gathering Thursday in a speech widely interpreted as closing the door to any army effort to stave off the impeachment process.

"The constitutional role of the army is what it is, a nonpolitical one," said Shaukat Qadir, a retired brigadier general turned analyst. "And the position of the army in all this has emerged with perfect clarity: They are saying, 'We are hands off.'"

If the army had lent him its support, Musharraf theoretically could have used his constitutional authority as president to dissolve the ruling coalition, which last week declared that it would launch an impeachment drive against him. But Kayani and senior generals decided almost immediately against helping him preserve his power through military means, a step that would have been tantamount to a coup.

As the crisis drags on, the army does have one powerful interest to protect. Analysts and news reports say senior generals have signaled to the civilian leadership they have no wish to see their former chief humiliated - or, in the most drastic scenario, put on trial, imprisoned or even executed.

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