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Pak regime names provincial governors

Pakistan's new army rulers have named three retired military officers and a judge to govern the country's provinces after the dismissal of the central and provincial governments in the October 12 coup.

The appointments were the first since General Pervez Musharraf toppled Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief, suspended the constitution and said that the army would rule only until it was necessary to oversee a clean-up of a corrupt elite.

The names were announced by the state media after Gen Musharraf, chief executive of the administration which succeeded Nawaz Sharief's, chaired a meeting of senior military officers and financial and political experts to discuss the woeful state of the nation's economy.

The governors are: Lieutenant General (retd) Muhammad in Punjab, Air Marshal (retd) Muhammad Azim Daudpota in Sindh province, Lieutenant General (retd) Muhammad Shafiq in North Western Frontier Province and Justice Amirul Mulk Mengal in Baluchistan.

Under the suspended constitution, governors were appointed by the central government and enjoyed wide powers as the representative of the ruling party and prime minister.

Gen Musharraf's choice of retired officials fell short of giving the positions to serving military officers. He has pledged to mix the army with civilian representatives and to purge Pakistan's institutions to install ''real democracy.''

The general has underlined his determination to crack down on a political elite which plundered banks for cheap loans and then refused to repay, as well as tax evaders.

The army ordered the suspension of the bank accounts of notable politicians in one of its first acts and has launched a purge of high-ranking officials who are thought to owe the banks close to five billion dollars in so-called ''stuck-up loans.''

Pakistan's Central Bank chief has suspended free market foreign exchange fearing capital flight and a vote of no confidence in a currency that was fragile even before the takeover.

UNI

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