Coups in Pakistan

Constable writing about the reports of a coup in Pakistan (Widespread Outage Spurs Coup Rumors In Pakistan, Technical Troubles Blamed; Musharraf 'in Good Health' By Pamela Constable Washington Post Foreign Service Monday, September 25, 2006; Page A16) had this to say as background on Musharraf:

“Pakistan has had a history of military intervention in civilian politics ever since it was founded as a Muslim democracy in 1947. While elections have been held regularly, civilian rule has been repeatedly interrupted by the army or other non-elected figures.

Musharraf, 63, who is chief of Pakistan's army staff, would be highly unlikely to fall to a military coup, although it has been reported that some of the senior army commanders, who operate as a consensual policy group within the armed forces, are conservative Muslims who disagree with his moderate religious policies.

But Musharraf has lost considerable domestic support for a variety of reasons, including his refusal to relinquish his military uniform while in office, his retreat on promises to expand women's and religious rights, and his use of aggressive military tactics to solve problems in volatile border regions.”

So according to her, Pakistan is a Muslim democracy, and civilian rule in this democracy has been “repeatedly interrupted by the army.” For those who dont know the country well, its worth noting that for more than half of Pakistan’s history, the country has been ruled by military dictators. General Pervez Musharraf is the fourth military ruler to seize power from a civilian-led government.

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Other sources reported it differently:

Pakistan's Daily Times said that the outage meant people were without TV or Internet for much of Sunday — although networks remained on air. "Previous coups in Pakistan have been accompanied by an information clampdown for several hours, and this is what many people thought was happening on Sunday," the newspaper reported.

Musharraf, who himself seized power from an elected government in a bloodless coup in 1999, has suffered a series of policy setbacks that have shaken his standing.

He's been accused of backtracking on democratic reform, clumsy handling of an ethnic insurgency in Baluchistan and a disastrous military campaign to wipe out foreign Islamic militants along the Afghan border, now superseded by a controversial peace pact.
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The Boston Globe describing the same incident (Pakistan is no "banana republic," says Musharraf By Kamran Haider September 25, 2006), had a slightly different take:

[..]"Look we aren't, thank God, a banana republic, where such things happen suddenly," said Musharraf, who came to power himself in a bloodless military coup seven years ago.

[..]

Believing the rumors were true, tribesmen in North West Frontier Province fired in the air to celebrate, according to residents of Dera Ismail Khan district and South Waziristan, the semi-autonomous tribal agency where the army launched an operation against al Qaeda and local militants two years ago.

[..]Musharraf has survived several assassination attempts since withdrawing Pakistan's support for the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan in 2001, after the Islamist militia refused to surrender its guest, Osama bin Laden, in the wake of al Qaeda's September 11 attacks on the United States.

[..]While fears of assassination remain, speculation about Musharraf's grip on power is seldom heard openly, as there is no overt political challenge to him.

Leaders of the mainstream opposition parties are living in exile, and while some Islamist leaders talk of toppling the president, most diplomats reckon Musharraf could only be ousted if some fellow generals persuaded him to step aside.

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Dawn (Pakistan)
September 25, 2006 Monday Ramazan 1, 1427

Outage sparks coup rumours

By Ahmad Hassan


ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: A countrywide power outage and reports of President Gen Pervez Musharraf�s unscheduled medical check-up in Texas sparked unusual rumours all over the country about a change of the guard in the capital on Sunday.

Newspaper offices were deluged with calls by concerned people who said they had heard on the grapevine that there had been a putsch in Islamabad following reports that the president had suffered a heart attack during his visit to the United States.

Callers from Quetta said jubilant crowds poured on to the streets and fired into the air to celebrate the government�s removal.

Paying a visit to a local Sunday bazaar, a visibly chagrined Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told a reporter that his question about a change of government did not warrant an answer.

�Why do you ask about something that hasn�t occurred at all?� said the prime minister in an effort to lay the rumour at rest.

The prime minister said that he was actually concerned about the countrywide power breakdown.

�I have spoken to the chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority who assured me that the country�s power supply would be restored by late Sunday night,� he said.

Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem told a hurriedly-called press conference that a technical fault had sent Wapda�s electricity network reeling.

While there were few takers for the government�s explanation about the reason of the power outage, some believed that an act of sabotage was responsible for the electricity breakdown throughout the country.

Unconvinced cynics also feared that an unreported deterioration in President Musharraf�s health allowed a rumour about the change of government to fast gain ground.

Instead of issuing a direct denial, the government released the latest footage of the president�s visit to the United States, showing Gen Musharraf in fine fettle.

Government officials said people heaved a sigh of relief when they saw that the president was not unwell.

But opposition leaders said that they were certain that reports of the change of government were greeted not by alarm but a sense of relief by the masses.