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Musharraf under fire for 'power grab'

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf faced a torrent of criticism on Thursday over proposed constitutional changes that would give him sweeping powers to dictate the country's affairs.

Having pledged to restore civilian rule after he took over in a bloodless coup in 1999, Musharraf, 58, unveiled proposals on Wednesday that would allow him to sack a civilian prime minister, fire the cabinet and dissolve an elected parliament.

The draft constitutional amendments, presented as a package for national debate, also include plans for a powerful 10-member National Security Council of generals and civilians headed by Musharraf under a system of "checks and balances".

Opposition parties gearing up for elections to a new national assembly in October rejected the proposals, billed by the government as a blueprint for "sustainable federal democracy", as a transparent attempt to cement the control of the generals.

"Far from making democracy sustainable, the document released by the junta... if implemented, will ring the death knell of democracy in the country," the Pakistan People's Party of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said in a statement.

The Pakistan Muslim League led by exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in 1999, called the draft amendments a recipe for disaster.

"It is an effort to change the basic structure of the constitution and designed to make the sovereign parliament subservient to the will of one man under the excuse of balance of power," PML spokesman Siddiqul Farooq said.

The country's bar council, its highest body of lawyers, also savaged the proposals and said members would meet in Lahore on July 6 to discuss how to fight them.

"They (the military) should hold elections and go," bar council chairman Chaudhry Mohammad Ashraf Wahla told Reuters.

Musharraf's spokesman, Major General Rashid Qureshi, dismissed charges that the changes would reduce a prime minister to the role of "puppet" as ridiculous and said the president would in fact be shedding powers to the NSC if the amendments went through.

He said past civilian governments in Pakistan, a country run by the military for much of its 55-year history, had abused public office to "fill up their own pockets", making a system of oversight through the NSC essential.

"We can't really take the, shall we say, democracy that functions in Great Britain or in the United States and implant it in Pakistan because the environment here is different," he said.

"Tailor Made"

Musharraf, a key ally of the United States in its war on terrorism, has promised to obey a supreme court ruling to hold the October elections.

Last month, he famously said he planned to "relax and play tennis and golf" once the elections were over, but he has also taken a series of steps to tighten his grip on power.

In July last year, he appointed himself president then ran as sole candidate on April 30 in a controversial referendum that extended his rule for a further five years. Independent observers say that vote was massively rigged in Musharraf's favour.

Ayaz Amir, a respected political analyst, said the draft constitutional changes went beyond even those forced through by the late General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, who ran Pakistan with an iron fist from 1977 until his death in 1988.

"If you cut through the turgid prose of the proposals the intention is pretty obvious," Amir said. "It's meant to protect, preserve and perpetuate the power of General Musharraf."

Another analyst, Najam Sethi, editor of the Friday Times, said the proposals could be diluted somewhat after the suggested month-long public debate but essentially would stand.

"If these amendments are carried out, it will make a mockery of the parliamentary system," Sethi said. "It is tailor-made for President Musharraf because he has the army behind him."

Both analysts said, however, that they expected political parties not to boycott the planned October elections and instead try to fight Musharraf in parliament.

Pakistan's current constitution binds the president to act on the prime minister's advice in matters such as dissolving parliament and appointing provincial governors.

Musharraf's changes would afford the president those powers and allow him to sack a prime minister and cabinet on such grounds as abuse of authority or failure to check corruption.

Political sources said Musharraf was most likely to amend the constitution by decree, using powers given him by a Supreme Court ruling that validated his coup.

Additional reporting by Nasir Malick

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