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Musharraf makes no promises on restoring democracy

The long-awaited address of Pakistani military coup leader General Pervez Musharraf contained no promise of restoring a democratic rule, indicating that the situation was still fluid in the country.

Gen Musharraf's predecessors in the previous military takeovers of 1958 and 1977 -- Gens. Ayub Khan and Zia-ul-haq -- did make a promise of restoring democracy though they did not install democratic governments immediately.

But the new coup leader's brief address this morning dwelt more on the reasons for the Pakistani military to overthrow a democratically-elected Nawaz Sharif government.

Musharraf said in his address that the Constitution was played around with and systematically destroyed while the economy was in a state of collapse because of the ''self-serving'' policies (of the government) which rocked the very foundation of the federation of the country

''Sharif was not willing to listen to whenever he was given advice by the armed forces,'' Gen. Musharraf said, and added that ''instead of listening to the advice he (Sharif) turned against the army and tried to interfere in its affairs.''

The general further added that he would like to assure the people of Pakistan that the situation in the country was ''very calm, stable and under-control.''

''Let no outside forces feel that they can take advantage of the prevailing situation,'' he said.

UNI

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Musharraf keeps a nation guessing

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