Musharraf Ousts Three Hardliners
by Zahid Hussain
The London Times
October 9, 2001
President Musharraf of Pakistan dismissed the head of his secret service yesterday and sidelined two generals who backed the military coup that brought him to power two years ago.
No reason was given for the replacement of Lieutenant-General Mahmood Ahmed, the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), who had attended the meeting between Tony Blair and General Musharraf in Islamabad last Friday to discuss the war on terrorism.
The departure of General Mahmood came after he had made two unsuccessful attempts to try to persuade the Taleban to hand over Osama bin Laden to the United States. The changes are seen as part of General Musharraf's plan to consolidate his hold on power by replacing the three senior generals, known for their hardline Islamic views, with liberal loyalists who support his pro-Western policies.
Although the changes may have placed General Musharraf in control, his position remains tenuous while the country's Islamic groups are protesting on the streets against his pro- American stance towards Afghanistan. These groups have significant influence in the army.
Considered the second most powerful member of the junta, General Mahmood -who officially resigned -was a key player in the coup that brought General Musharraf to power. As chief spymaster, he virtually ran Pakistan's policy on Afghanistan.
General Mahmood supported General Musharraf's decision to withdraw support from the Taleban. The former ISI chief, who was in America during the September 11 attack, led the talks with US officials on Pakistan's co-operation in the anti-terrorism campaign, and went to Afghanistan twice last month.
The shake up in the army high command -the third in as many days -has changed the composition of the junta.
The reassignment on Sunday of General Muhammed Aziz, a corps commander in Lahore, to the largely ceremonial post of Chairman of the Joint Staff Committee, has left General Musharraf in sole charge. General Aziz was the other key player in the coup that brought General Musharraf to power.
A hardline conservative, General Aziz apparently had significant influence in Pakistan's policy on Kashmir. According to highly placed sources, however, there has been a split among the generals on Kashmir, Afghanistan and the signing of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
General Muzaffar Usmani, Deputy Chief of Army Staff, known for his fundamentalist Islamic views has also been retired. Every decision taken by the Cabinet and the security council had to be approved by these generals. Despite being their leader General Musharraf was hampered by the compulsion to carry with him the two other leaders of the coup.
The greatest question for General Musharraf now is how far he can trust his army. His close aides say the general is confident he can prevail over the conservative forces in his country, especially with Western help.
Copyright 2001 Times Newspapers Limited
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.