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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistans army tried to oust Zardari: report |
| 2010-01-23 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] Pakistan's powerful military has actively worked to undermine efforts by the elected government to improve human rights in the country, the Independent reported on Friday citing a new report. It also tried to destabilize the elected government, and force out President Asif Ali Zardari. In a critique of the military establishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the armed forces had opposed efforts to end its intervention in the political and judicial process. It had also resisted attempts to locate some of the scores of people who "disappeared" in the restive province of Baluchistan during the years of General Pervez Musharraf's rule. "The Pakistani military continues to subvert the political and judicial systems in Pakistan," said Ali Dayan Hassan of HRW as quoted by the Independednt. "After eight years of disastrous military rule and in spite of the election of a civilian government, the army appears determined to continue calling the shots in order to ensure that it can continue to perpetrate abuses with impunity," he said. The travails of Baluchistan represent one of Pakistan's darker but seldom-told narratives. General Musharraf's regime responded to a long-active independence movement with swift brutality. A veteran leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti, was assassinated and untold numbers of suspected activists were either jailed without process or else disappeared. Considered an ally in America's "war on terror", General Musharraf's actions were overlooked or even helped by the West. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 "Most states have armies. In Pakistan, the army has a state." |
| Posted by: john frum 2010-01-23 11:51 |