Bush's Pakistan 'buddy' cast adrift
Print Bruce Loudon, South Asia correspondent | August 12, 2008

GEORGE W.Bush has dumped Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, refusing to take a series of "help me" telephone calls from the man he once described as his "best buddy".

The US presidential snub came as American strategists warned that Pakistan's intensifying political power struggle was imperilling the battle against al-Qa'ida and the Taliban.

As the National Assembly convened last night to begin the impeachment process, only 14 of 54 MPs from the Pakistan Muslim League (Qaid), on which Mr Musharraf relies for political backing, turned up for a vital pre-session meeting in Islamabad.

In a further blow, 26 PML (Q) members supported a no-confidence motion against their patron in the Punjabi provincial assembly.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the impeachment motion would be submitted during the current session, as Mr Musharraf's official spokesman, General Rasheed Qureshi, insisted he would not resign.

General Qureshi rejected allegations Mr Musharraf had misappropriated funds provided by the US for the war against al-Qa'ida and the Taliban.

The Government disclosed that the 100-page "charge sheet" against Mr Musharraf would include accusations of misconduct, financial irregularities and violations of the constitution, as well as "criminal acts" including murder.

Senior military officials said Pakistan's army high command was increasingly concerned by the political turmoil triggered by the power struggle.

Washington was also seeking to defuse the confrontation that strategists said could create protracted turmoil in nuclear-armed Pakistan and threaten the fight against Islamic extremism.

The US fears the power struggle could prevent Pakistan's civilian Government from moving against militants hiding in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and even jeopardise vital US military supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan.

Lisa Curtis, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said: "There are elements within the US administration who would be very nervous about Musharraf leaving the scene, as they think the civilians are not in control of the army and the ISI (spy agency)."

Despite this, one of Pakistan's best-informed journalists, Hamid Mir, reported yesterday that Mr Musharraf had failed to get an answer when he had tried repeatedly over the past few days to ring Mr Bush -- in the hope the US President might pressure the coalition in Islamabad to back away from impeachment.

But there were signs Washington was not abandoning Mr Musharraf completely, with US diplomats calling several times on Pakistan People's Party boss Asif Ali Zardari, apparently seeking assurances that, once removed from office, Mr Musharraf would be allowed to live securely within the country, or given safe passage abroad.

The reports highlighted the assumption that nothing could be done to save Mr Musharraf -- barring a coup d'etat by the military.

It emerged yesterday that army chief General Ashfaq Kayani had been in frequent touch with his old boss over the past few days, but the consensus in Islamabad was that he was unlikely to launch a coup.

Amid the political turmoil, al-Qa'ida's deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued a message -- his first in English -- in which he claimed Pakistan was now "virtually ruled from the American embassy".

The leading newspaper The News raised doubts about the authenticity of the video delivered to a Pakistan news channel, dismissing it as "a last-ditch effort of Musharraf to prove his opponents (are) partners of al-Qa'ida."

In the video, Zawahiri is quoted as saying: "Pervez has insulted and compromised Pakistan's sovereignty by allowing the CIA and FBI to operate freely in Pakistan and arrest, interrogate, torture, deport and detain any person, whether Pakistani or not, for as long as they like, thus turning the Pakistani army and security agencies into hunting dogs in the contemporary crusade."

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