Vol.63/No.38 November 1, 1999
Pakistan military organizes coup
BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, was ousted in a military coup October 13 just hours after he fired Pakistani Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, the army chief of state. The military placed Sharif and his top aides under house arrest, closed down the National Assembly building of Parliament, and suspended the Constitution — effectively imposing martial law. "The whole of Pakistan will come under the control of the armed forces," declared Musharraf in a statement broadcast on television two days after the coup.
Tensions reached a boiling point between Sharif and Pakistani military leaders over the conflict in Kashmir, after U.S. president William Clinton leaned on Sharif to back off from an escalating confrontation this summer with the government of India over control of the disputed territory. Washington, which has backed previous military regimes in Pakistan, gave tacit approval to the coup after Pakistani chief of intelligence Lieut. Gen. Mohammed Ziauddin paid a visit to CIA head George Tenet in Washington last month. Two weeks before the coup the Clinton administration accused Sharif of "undermining democracy", suggesting his regime had become corrupt and autocratic.
"The last thing we need is a chaotic Pakistan,"said a White House official, the day after Sharif was deposed.
India and Pakistan were formed as two separate states after gaining independence in 1947 as a result of British colonialism's divide-and-rule tactics. The two regimes, which have clashed over control of Kashmir, have fought three wars since 1947. The Muslim majority in Kashmir has waged a decades-long struggle for self-determination. More than 20,000 people have been killed in the region since 1989.
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