Saturday, January 1, 2005

Power corrupts

Hundreds of Pakistanis staged rallies against President Pervez Musharraf in a day of protests after he reneged on his pledge to quit as army chief.

The rallies were held in major cities and towns across the country on Saturday, where speakers denounced Musharraf for breaking his pledge to hang up his army uniform by the end of 2004.

Described as a black day, protesters wore black armbands and waved black flags to symbolise their disapproval.

[...]

It was the Islamic alliance itself which in 2003 backed constitutional changes giving Musharraf extra powers - a deal they made in return for his pledge to quit the military by the close of 2004.

However, in November 2004, Pakistan's parliament enacted a controversial law allowing him to backtrack, and Musharraf said in Thursday's address that the constitution allowed him to keep both his military and civilian roles until 2007.

[...]

Musharraf toppled prime minister Nawaz Sharif in October 1999. He appointed himself president in June 2001 and won a heavily criticised referendum in April 2002, followed by a parliamentary vote of confidence in December 2003.

  Aljazeera article

And aided by his alliance with the U.S. And we can't let him lose any power at this time. He is what holds Pakistan in our sway.

Anyway, power doesn't so much corrupt as it attracts the corruptable

No comments:

Post a Comment