Sharif meets President
Opposition welcomes General's proposal on army role

ISLAMABAD, Oct 6 (PTI) — Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had an "urgent" meeting with President Mohammad Rafiq Tarar in the wake of the "stunning" remark from Army Chief General Jehangir Karamat that military should play an active role in the country’s turbulent politics, media reports said.

Mr Sharif was closetted with the President late last night for about an hour without any aide, but there was no official comment on it, The News said.

The 19-month old Sharif Government was stunned after General Karamat yesterday expressed his doubts about the stability of democratic process in the country and proposed to set up a national security council in an apparent bid to institutionalise the role of army in the political set-up.

Though there was no official statement on the Army Chief’s comments during his annual address at Pakistan Navy War College in Lahore, media reports claimed that Mr Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League was shocked by the remarks from the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

"For us it is a wake up call", a minister in Sharif’s Cabinet was quoted as saying inside Parliament by the daily.

He said that the assessment of General Karamat on key national matters was right to a great extent, "but he (the Army Chief) should not have given this in public".

While several Opposition parties, including Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, have welcomed the Army Chief’s proposal, others refrained from any comment exercising caution at this very ticklish issue in Pakistan’s political history.

PPP’s senior member, Khalid Kharal said that the party was happy that the Army Chief had finally felt that such a set-up was necessary. But he warned that the PPP would accept the army-proposed security council only if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was out of it.

General Karamat, who is only four months away from his scheduled retirement in January, while commenting that, "the political mandate needed to be translated into institutional strength otherwise we would have a permanent election campaign environment in the country" had proposed setting up of a national security council or committee at the apex to institutionalise decision making.

Immediately after the statement of General Karamat was released to the media by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) last evening the news reached the Parliament House where both the Houses were in session and members from both the government side and Opposition started discussing the implications of it.

A top aide of Prime Minister was quoted by The News as saying that, "the biggest blunder Sharif had committed in his political life was the nomination of Muhammad Rafiq Tarar as President, as it fuelled a sense of deprivation in the smaller provinces".

But one senior official said, "the government should not feel threatened, but think in terms of addressing the problems the general has pointed out".

Vice-President of Sharif’s PML Ejazul Haq, who is the son of former military ruler, Zia-ul-Haq, welcomed the Army Chief’s proposal saying, "it is never too late".

A PPP spokesman, however, said that, "the Army Chief has in fact reiterated what is being widely said in the country; namely the economy is in a shambles, law and order in shreds and sectarianism has polarised and destabilised society".

Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party said that the Army Chief’s proposal for setting up of a security council is the direct result of the poor handling of the affairs of the country by the PML government adding that, "the message is very clear that enough is enough".

But the other leading political parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Awami National Party (ANP) and the religious party, Jamaat-e-Islami, reserved their comments on the sudden development.

Leading newspaper, The Nation, in a front page comment on the development also said that the remarks of the Army Chief bear serious consideration especially after Nawaz Sharif government’s fumblings on a whole array of issues since India’s May 11 nuclear tests.