Musharraf Says Unrest in Baluchistan Is Waning, While Dodging Question on Restoring Civilian Rule

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

UNITED NATIONS, September 20 -- Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday claimed that unrest in the Baluchistan region is on the wane and "has already died." He called the region peaceful, as well as being "feudal and tribal" and needing more democracy. He said the situation in Baluchistan is a result of a "political game" set off by people trying to capitalize on the death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, longtime leader of the Baluch Liberation Movement. Musharraf answered Inner City Press' question by stating that "incidents" elsewhere in Pakistan that cited to Bugti have, in fact, "no relation to that person."

Since Bugti's death on August 26, at least ten people have been killed " in bomb blasts, attacks and clashes with police," according to AFP, which on September 19 reported that "a time bomb exploded in a crowded bazaar in the south-western Pakistani city of Quetta yesterday, injuring two policemen and three civilians...The blast could be heard from a public meeting organized by opposition parties to protest the killing of key tribal insurgent leader Nawab Akbar Bugti."

In his response to Inner City Press asking when civilian rule might be restored, to Pakistan as a whole, Musharraf limited his answer to Baluchistan, where he pointed out that the administrator now in charge "is not a man in a uniform." But Musharraf earlier in the press conference had called himself a man in a uniform, who can get things done for that reason.

appeared stacked with ringers, who asked questions along the line of, "Why are you so unfairly criticized in the Western media, and what can you do about it?" In gleeful response, Musharraf said that tribal elders are people of their word, who recently captured 10 Taliban. No one asked about nuclear proliferation, much less about military dictatorship. There were softball questions about whom Musharraf would like as next Secretary-General, and whether he thought the Pope's comments on Islam were outrageous (he did). He blamed the situation in Afghanistan on Hamid Karzai, stating that Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban, still lives in Kandahar. He said again and again, we have not made peace with the Taliban. That seemed to be the point of the press conference.

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