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Musharraf's Resignation Recalls His Staged Appearance At UN,
Impunity Questions Loom
Byline:
Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, August 18 -- As
Pervez Musharraf belatedly resigns as president in Pakistan and talks
turns to
immunity or sanctuary in Saudi Arabia or Turkey, his appearance two
years ago
at the UN General Assembly comes to mind. On September 20, 2006, Musharraf in a UN press conference
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 was 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 had, 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. Video
here, from Minute 33:42.
Musharraf and Ban Ki-moon, resignation(s) not shown
News analysis: Musharraf's UN press conference
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.
And still it wasn't
enough. And now where will he go?
Watch
this
site. And this (on
South Ossetia), and
this --
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