Musharraf empowers himself

President General Pervez Musharraf yesterday empowered himself to dismiss the future National Assembly and established a National Security Council (NSC) to give the armed forces a first-time formal role in politics.

Musharraf, who has scheduled parliamentary elections on October 10 to return Pakistan to civilian governance after a three-year military rule, enforced the measures through constitutional amendments he announced at a news conference.

"I am making it a part of the constitution through power given to me by the Supreme Court of Pakistan," Musharraf said, referring to the May 2000 judicial verdict that validated the military coup.

Musharraf said he would relinquish the office of chief executive but would remain president for another five years after the elections and concurrently continue to hold the post of army chief.

The amendments empower the president to appoint services chiefs, including chairman of joint chiefs of staff committee. They also allow dissolution of any Provincial Assembly by the relevant governor with the approval of the president.

The president said the NSC would oversee all matters pertaining to national security and integrity, governance by the elected prime minister and issues related to inter-provincial harmony.

The NSC, headed by the president, will be composed of the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, heads of National Assembly and senate, four provincial chief ministers, chiefs of the army, the air force and the navy and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee.

Musharraf said the presence of the military in politics would guarantee against future coups by the military.

"I say, if you want to keep the military out you have to get them in and I mean every word of it," Musharraf said after announcing the formation of the council.

"Military takeovers will not be a possibility because we have taken in (on the council) those who can make rash decisions," he said in a reference to the three military coups experienced by Pakistan in its 55 year history.

"It will be a powerful body. It will not have any intrusive role. It will not interfere in the working of the government."

He rejected the opposition demand for appointment of a caretaker government to hold the elections, but said this system would be followed when elections would be held after a five-year tenure of the assembly to be elected in October.

Musharraf promised to relax a ban on political activities before the polls, without indicating an exact date. He said the government would allow public meetings but the restrictions on processions and demonstrations would remain in force.

The president held out the assurance that he would provide a "level playing field" for all political parties to campaign and participate in the elections.

The presidential authority to dissolve National Assembly was scrapped by the government of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed by the military in October 1999 and exiled a year afterwards to Saudi Arabia.

Opposition parties bitterly contested the amendments after they were unveiled for a public debate by the military government's National Reconstruction Bureau in June.

Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) and other opposition parties are now pinning hopes on the elections to snatch enough clout in the assembly to carry out their vow to overturn the amendments.

The erstwhile dominant political leaders, who were both twice elected prime minister and twice dismissed by presidents for alleged corruption and misrule in the last decade, have been barred from politics by the military ruler.