ELECTION 99
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Pak military heads meet after US warning

Pakistan's military chiefs met today to discuss ''defence matters'' two days after the United States said it would ''strongly oppose'' any attempt to overthrow Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government.

A statement issued after the meeting said the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee discussed ''defence, national security and other professional interests.''

It made no reference to the surprise US statement in which senior American officials said they were worried about a possible coup.

''We hope there will be no return to the days of interrupted democracy in Pakistan. We would strongly oppose any attempt to change the government through extra-constitutional means,'' the official said.

The US statement triggered waves of wild rumours in the political and military establishment and among Pakistan's 140 million people.

Today's meeting was chaired by General Pervez Musharraf, Chief of the Army Staff and the chairman of the JCSC, which groups the army, air force and navy. Other senior military officials were also present.

Sharif and Musharraf have been at pains to play down reports of a rift between the government and the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan three times in a turbulent 52-year history since 1947 independence from Britain.

Reports of a rift began to circulate after Sharif met President Bill Clinton in Washington on July 4 and agreed to seek the withdrawal of fighters occupying the Kargil heights of India's northern Kashmir.

India said the intruders included a large ratio of Pakistani soldiers. Pakistan said they were Muslim militants battling Indian rule of Kashmir.

The reports said that the military was unhappy about the withdrawal and felt that the presence of the fighters in Kargil would have forced India to the negotiating table to discuss Kashmir, cause of two of the three Indo-Pakistani wars.

The military is also reported to be unhappy about the government's pledge to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty because of India's plans to upgrade and expand its own nuclear Arsenals..

Sharif is under pressure from the United States to sign the treaty but says the government will not until the US sanctions imposed for its May 28, 1998 nuclear tests are lifted.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report