From The New York Times and CSP:
Pakistan Leader Softens Criticism of Army and Spy Agency
By SALMAN MASOOD and DECLAN WALSH
Published: January 25, 2012
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilanisoftened his criticism of senior generals on Wednesday in what appeared to be an effort to ease the tensions between Pakistan’s sparring civilian and military elites, saying the country could not afford further friction between its most powerful institutions.
Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani arrived at the Supreme Court in Islamabad last Thursday.
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“I want to dispel the impression that the military leadership acted unconstitutionally or violated rules,” Mr. Gilani told reporters before leaving for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “We have to be seen on the same page.”
The remarks came less than 24 hours after Mr. Gilani held an unusual meeting with the country’s military and spy chiefs at his Islamabad home and offered the strongest indication yet that the tensions might be dissipating.
Two weeks ago, Pakistan was gripped by rumors of an impending coup after blunt public statements from both sides. In late December, Mr. Gilani warned that he would not tolerate a military-dominated “state within a state.” He later told a Chinese news agency that the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, had acted illegally in sending testimony to the Supreme Court as part of a controversy that has threatened to topple the government.
The military responded soon after with a warning of “potentially grievous consequences” if Mr. Gilani did not retract his statement. Combined with a sudden visit by President Asif Ali Zardari to Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, the statement set off the coup rumors.
But the president and the army chief met in Islamabad on Jan. 14, suggesting efforts at reconciliation. The tone of the prime minister’s statement on Wednesday indicated that a face-saving agreement might have been reached.
Meanwhile, the scandal at the heart of the tensions, known here as Memogate, seemed to stall as a central figure, Mansoor Ijaz, failed to testify as promised before an investigating judicial commission on Tuesday.
Mr. Ijaz, an American businessman of Pakistani descent, claimed in a newspaper article in October that he had sent a secret memo to the Obama administration in May on behalf of the Zardari government, seeking American help in warding off a possible coup after the Pakistani military was humiliated by the American commando operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed. Mr. Ijaz later said that Husain Haqqani, then Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, was behind the memo. Mr. Haqqani denied the accusation but was forced to step down.
Mr. Ijaz’s failure to appear before the judicial panel in Islamabad was the second time he had missed an opportunity to testify. Saying that he feared for his life, Mr. Ijaz had demanded military protection for his visit. (He has been variously reported as being in Zurich, London or Dubai.) The government refused, saying he would be adequately protected but not treated as a “viceroy.”
The next hearing of the judicial commission is scheduled for Feb. 9, giving Mr. Ijaz one last chance to record his statement. In the Pakistani news media, his failures to appear are perceived to have eroded his credibility.
“He should not be allowed to hold this country hostage to his dangerous shenanigans anymore,” said an editorial on Wednesday in Dawn, which is considered to be Pakistan’s most respected English-language daily newspaper.
Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Mr. Gilani put the blame for the misunderstandings between his government and the military on the former defense secretary, Naeem Khalid Lodhi, a former general and corps commander who was dismissed on Jan. 11 over charges of misconduct.
The civilian government earlier accused Mr. Lodhi, who is close to General Kayani, of facilitating the military’s “illegal” depositions to the Supreme Court about the Memogate controversy. On Wednesday, Mr. Gilani said those statements had been made in a certain context and no longer pertained to the army chief and the ISI director general.
The next major challenge facing the government looms on Feb. 1, when the Supreme Court is scheduled to resume hearing a long-running case that seeks to reopen a corruption investigation into Mr. Zardari’s finances in Switzerland.
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