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President Musharraf has had bad year. He has had to shed his “second skin” (his uniform), resign from his post as COAS (Chief of Army Staff), and watch his major opponent return and then get assassinated. He had to watch his own PML(Q) party lose the elections and his opponents come to power. He had to swear in a Prime Minister whom he had jailed for the best part of the decade. He also has recently seen his nemesis, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry released from house arrest. 

Musharraf’s strategy is to lie low and wait for the joint alliance (PMLN-PPPP) to implode. Mr. Musharraf is very well aware of the sad demise of Mr. Bhutto, Mr. Marcos, and Mr. Pehlavi. Without doing much, the alliance seems to be disintegrating on its own. A deep split has appeared on the following counts.

1) Restoration of judiciary.

2) Working with the MQM in Sindh.

3) Appointment of AQ Khan as president.

In theory, the President of Pakistan still has the constitutional power to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections. In practice Mr. Musharraf would not be able to take any drastic action because of his low popularity ratings.

The new government has a tough task ahead of them. They have to raise the price of oil to international standards, deal with a global shortage of wheat, sort our the political and military issues with the Taliban, and keep the Americans at bay.

Mr. Nawaz Sharif refused to go and meet Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher, and Mr. Boucher went to see him. Mr. Boucher was met with stretched handshakes and cold reception. To show his irritation at the uninvited visit, Mr. Sharif did not even sit near Mr. Boucher, but sat at the other end of the room.

Based on the impressions of the visit, Mr. Boucher must have reported a grim picture for the US plans in West Asia.

In Bucharest at the NATO conference, the Russian offer for help was accepted. Now Moscow will be supporting NATO with logistics and transportation support.

 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has no plans to quit despite the formation of hostile government and will play a low-key role as part of a strategy framed a long time ago, a presidential aide has said. The “perceived isolation” of Musharraf and his sidelining after the swearing-in of the new government had not happened in a “haphazard way but is the result of a well thought out strategy”, the aide claimed.”It was decided a long time ago that Musharraf would take a backseat after the 2008 general election and he has done so as per the plan,” the unnamed aide told The News daily. “Everything was executed as per the script,” the aide claimed, adding that Musharraf’s moves were part of the plan for the “phased restoration of democracy”.

“There is no shock for the president in the new milieu except for the defeat of the (PML-Q),” he said. The Pakistan People’s Party and PML-N have formed a coalition government with the backing of two smaller parties and independent lawmakers following the defeat of pro-Musharraf PML (Q)in the February 18 polls.

He categorically said Musharraf had no plans to step down. Everything went as per the strategy, though considerable disruption was caused by the “judicial crisis” following the sacking of 60 members of the superior judiciary during last year’s emergency, the aide said.