Islamabad: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani met on Thursday to discuss the fallout of the government’s confusion over the sacking of Pakistani National security Advisor (NSA) Mahmud Ali Durrani.
Is it the familiar struggle between the Pakistani troika of Allah, Army and America that led to the sacking of Durrani?
Speaking to CNN-IBN over the phone in Islamabad, Durrani insisted he had been authorised to have told the media that Ajmal Kasab had been identified as a Pakistani.
He told CNN IBN, “Civil military relations are excellent. The problem does not lie there, it lies elsewhere and I don't want to say anything more on that. I was among 4 people in the government authroised to speak to the media.”
However, Pakistan's best known military hawk and former ISI chief Gen Hamid Gul says far from excellent.
Gul said, “Be it the army or any other institutions, the interior ministry, they would be a little skeptical about Durrani.”
Durrani's ties with the military had been strained over Pakistan's response to the Mumbai attacks and Durrani's own push ahead in relations with India.
Many say it's also another power struggle - between Prime Minister Gillani and President Zardari that may have led to Durrani's dismissal.
An adviser to the president says Pakistan is still coming to terms with its restored democracy.
Tanvir Ahmed Khan, Adviser to Zardari said, “It was very unfortunate, they have inherited debris of a polity destroyed by a long spell of military rule, very arbitrary.”
Gillani is now reported to have asked Zardari to appoint Durrani's replacement with Pakistan none the wiser about why a leading light of government departed so unceremoniously and for admitting what the government itself had confirmed.
Comments
0 comment