6A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2007
PAKISTAN
Musharraf yields military power, stays in presidential race
Vice Chief of the Pakistan Army Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, left rear, and President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, foreground, attend a ceremony at National Command Authority in Islamabad, pakistan, on Aug. 2. An aide to Musharraf said Kayani would be promoted to the military's chief post on Wednesday, after Musharraf resigns from the post. Kayani owes his rise to Musharaf but was once a confidante and senior aide to his archival, Bazir Bhurrit. He is well-known in Washington, having met with senior officials at the CIA, the Department of State and elsewhere.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY SADAQAT JAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITERS
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pervez Mushraff will retire as chief of Pakistan's army at midweek, his aides announced Monday. The embattled leader has grappled with a political scene roiled by the return of an exiled former prime minister.
Nawaz Sharif, who was ousted by the 1999 coup that put Musharraf in
power, quickly registered Monday to run in the January election although he didn't drop his call for a boycott that could undermine the ballot's legitimacy.
Sharif appealed for support from Pakistanis unhappy with Musharraf's U.S. alliance, portraying himself as a politician who kept himself at arms length from Washington in contrast to the U.S.-friendly stance of the president and the other key opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto.
Even before Sharif's return Sunday, Musharraf was under pressure from opposition forces and the U.S. to end the emergency rule he imposed three weeks ago in this nuclear-armed nation of 160 million people beset by strengthening Islamic militants.
America and its allies want Musharraf to lift his suspension of the constitution to ensure a fair election, which they hope will produce a moderate government willing and capable of standing up to religious extremists with ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Musharraf has eased the crackdown on dissent that saw police detain thousands of opponents and take independent TV news off air, and his aides announced Monday that he was now ready to take the long-promised step of quitting his powerful army post and ending direct military rule.
Spokesman Rashid Qureshi said Musharraf would make "farewell visits" to his troops before ending a military career that began in 1964. Musharraf planned to promote his anointed successor, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, to the military chief's post Wednesday, the aide said.
The following day, "he will take oath of office as president of Pakistan as a civilian," Qureshi said.
Musharraf suspended the constitution Nov. 3, saying he needed to stop the Supreme Court from creating political chaos and hampering the effort against militants.
The crackdown caused a break in relations between Musharraf and Bhutto, leader of the country's biggest opposition party, who was twice put under house arrest to stop her from leading mass rallies against the unpopular general.
Bhutto and Musharraf have since eased their public feuding, and she filed her candidacy papers in her home district of Larkana on Monday.
She contended the election is stacked in favor of Musharraf's ruling party, but said she wouldn't participate in a boycott of the vote unless all opposition groups did — a tall order given the fractions relations among Pakistan's many political blocs.
Bhutto's spokesman, Farahatullah Babar, said Musharraf would be taking a major step forward by shedding his uniform, and if he made significant further concessions "then the window for negotiations can be reopened."
Sharif's return has given Mushraraf a new headache because of the bad blood between them and the political threat Sharif poses in Punjab province, Pakistan's political heartland.
Sharif flew in Sunday with the apparent blessing of Saudi Arabia, an influential ally of Pakistan that had previously supported Musharraf's efforts to keep Sharif in exile there.
The former premier immediately repeated his call for a boycott of the election, but on Monday hedged his bets by filing nomination papers to contest a parliament seat in his hometown of Lahore.
Addressing supporters, Sharif sought to distinguish himself from Musharraf, who is criticized by many Pakistanis as a stooge of the Bush administration. Sharif said that as premier he ignored U.S. advice not to conduct the nuclear test explosions that made Pakistan a nuclear power in 1998.
"I never took dictation and made the country a nuclear power, but they (Musharraf's government) take dictation on every issue," Sarif said from the top of a truck carrying him in a triumphant procession from Lahore airport.
Such nationalist posturing could entice some voters away from Bhutto, who has wooed America, Pakistan's biggest sponsor, by suggesting she might let U.S. troops strike at Osama bin Laden if he is located on Pakistani territory.
Sharif is also a threat to the ruling party, most of whose leading figures broke away from his Pakistan Muslim League after Musharraf's 1999 coup. However, there was no immediate mass defection back to the Sharif fold and he has little time to organize a strong slate of candidates.
Asked about Sharif's return, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "Pakistan won't be on the right road till it's back on the road of constitutional, democratic rule."
He praised Musharraf's plan to step down as army chief. But he urged that the state of emergency be lifted before the election to give voters "confidence that their will has been legitimately expressed in the ballot box and the results will reflect their views."
Even if Musharraf, 64, can mollify his critics and avoid a boycott of the vote, he will have to build bridges with the government that emerges as well as come to terms with a diminished role as president.
Musharraf appears to retain the support of his fellow generals in the army, which has dominated Pakistan for most of its 60-year history. As president, he retains the constitutional power to fire the government and dissolve Parliament.
However, Zaffar Abbas, an editor of the respected newspaper Dawn, said Musharraf's authority in the military will inevitably ebb as Kayani, who is expected to continue pro-Western policies, settles into the top job.
Sharif said he would not serve again as prime minister while Musharraf remained president. He also could risk disqualification from the election because of a conviction handed down in the wake of Musharraf's coup.
POLITICS
Sen. Trent Lott announces retirement after 35 years in Congress
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
PASCAGOULA, Miss.
Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott announced Monday he would leave a 35-year career in Congress in which he epitomized the Republican's political takeover of the South after the civil rights struggles of the 1960s.
Lott said he wanted to leave on a "positive note" after winning re-election last year to a leadership post and fostering legislation for rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. He was first elected to Congress on the coattails of Richard Nixon's re-election landslide in 1972 — with 78 percent of the vote in Mississippi. He won election to the Senate in 1988, succeeding veteran Democrat John Stennis upon his retirement.
His decision to retire by year's end occurred five years after he was bounced as the leader of his party in the Senate over remarks praising
a Senate colleague that were interpreted as endorsing segregation.
Lott, 66, rebounded a year ago, winning re-election to a fourth term in the Senate and narrowly defeating Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander for the party's No. 2 post lining up and counting votes as GOP whip behind Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
He becomes the sixth Senate Republican this year to announce retirement. Democrats effectively hold a 51-49 majority in the chamber, including two independents who align themselves with Democrats. Lott's retirement means that Republicans will have to defend 23 seats in next year's election, while Democrats will defend only 12.
Lott said he wants to spend more time with his family and to pursue other job opportunities, possibly teaching. He ruled out any health concerns, but he said it's time for a younger voice to represent
Mississippi in the Senate.
"I don't know what the future holds for us," he said on behalf of himself and his wife, Tricia. "A lot of options, hopefully, will be available."
Republican Gov. Haley Barbour will name someone to temporarily replace Lott. Barbour announced a special election for Nov. 4, 2008.
Barbour won a second term this month, and said he will not name himself as Lott's replacement and will not run for the Senate.
Lott said he had not planned to run for re-election in 2006, but he changed his mind after Hurricane Katrina devastated Mississippi's Gulf Coast and demolished his beachfront home in Pascagoula.
"They didn't quit, so I couldn't quit," he said of his neighbors.
More than two years later, however, Lott said Congress had completed most of the work it needs to do to help the Gulf Coast recover.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) the Senate's No. 2 Republican, announces that he is going to retire from the Senate before January, ending a 35-year career in Congress, Monday in Pasacagoula, Miss. Mississippi will hold a special election to replace Lott in 2008.
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