News APP

NewsApp (Free)

Read news as it happens
Download NewsApp

Available on  gplay

This article was first published 12 years ago
Rediff.com  » News » A coup in Pak will destabilise the region: NYT

A coup in Pak will destabilise the region: NYT

Source: PTI
January 12, 2012 16:17 IST
Get Rediff News in your Inbox:

Pakistan could see a repeat of the "disastrous" pattern of civilian governments being cast aside by military coups, American media reports said, declaring that a stable Islamabad was of critical interest to Washington.

Pakistani officials suspect that military is using the judiciary to weaken and even topple the government before the March elections for the Senate, which President Asif Ali Zardari's party is expected to win, New York Times said in an editorial.

"A stable Pakistan is critical to America's interests in the region. The army should focus on what it can do best: fight the militants working to bring down the state and destabilise the region.

"For its part, the civilian government needs to deal with Pakistan's severe economic troubles and repair a political culture in which voices of moderation are increasingly  snuffed out," it said.

Coming down hard on the military, the Times said "Pakistan's civilian governments are typically short-lived and cast aside by military coups. This disastrous pattern could be repeating itself as the current civilian government comes under increasing pressure from the army and the Supreme Court."

In what could further add to the growing confrontation between Pakistan's civilian and military leadership, the newspaper said in a separate report that "infuriated" army officials have warned that the army will "not cooperate" with the new Defense Secretary Nargis Sethi who was appointed by Gilani in place of sacked Lt Gen (retd) Naeem Khalid Lodhi, a retired general and confidante of the army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

 "The army will not react violently, but it will not cooperate with the new secretary defense," a military officer was quoted as saying in the report.

The editorial said while this sort of "Byzantine infighting" is hardly uncommon in Pakistan, both the military and civilian leadership should focus on the jobs cut out for them.

The editorial said while no civilian government in Pakistan has ever finished its term, Zardari's government has survived longer than the others and is up for re-election by 2013.

"Every effort must be made to have that vote go forward so another -- and, one hopes, more competent -- civilian government can succeed it."

With tensions in Pakistan, that started with a memo purportedly warning of a coup, threatening to bring the country's military, executive and court to a head-on confrontation, the New York Times editorial said "the court needs to stay out of politics and focus on building a fair, unbiased legal system."

"Likewise the military. The generals say they don't want to govern, but no civilian will ever be able to do a competent job if the military keeps pulling the strings," it said.

Acknowledging that US-Pak relations were at an all-time low, the US on its part should keep engaging the country's civilian leaders and encouraging its civil society whenever

possible.

Get Rediff News in your Inbox:
Source: PTI© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.
 
CHINESE CHALLENGE - 2022

CHINESE CHALLENGE