November 15, 2004 ☼ Foreign Affairs
The Islamist ‘opposition’ would help Musharraf squeeze through his constitutional amendments in return for the General doffing his uniform by 31 December 2004 — this was the deal the MMA thought they had, especially when it was backed by personal assurances from four top generals of the Pakistani Army, including from the chief of the all-powerful ISI. But those sacred cojones of the nation got in the way, and General Musharraf has left no stone unturned to ensure that he keeps both his sherwani and his fatigues.
Now the Maulanas are calling on the Military to keep its end of the bargain. The generals, now reshuffled, are ‘evasive’ and ‘reluctant’ to entertain the MMA’s complaints, but advised the aggrieved Maulanas to wait and watch.
The Maulanas of the MMA, not quite the ones with the greatest integrity themselves, have come to realise they’ve been had. They derive much of the their political strength from the military so they are not likely the ones to do much, apart from public grandstanding.
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