Retired Pak General leads anti-Musharraf movement


In this picture taken on January 22, former Pakistani lieutenant General Faiz Ali Chishti addresses a press conference in Rawalpindi. The retired Pakistani General who opposes President Pervez Musharraf said he would "not be surprised" if Musharraf had engineered terror attacks to manipulate his image in the West.Photo: AFP

A retired Pakistani General who opposes President Pervez Musharraf said he would "not be surprised" if Musharraf had engineered terror attacks to manipulate his image in the West.
Former Lieutenant General Faiz Ali Chishti heads the influential Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society, which last week issued a blunt open letter signed by more than 100 senior officers calling on Musharraf to quit.
The statement fuelled Western speculation that Musharraf may be losing support in the military following his resignation as army chief in November, a potential blow with parliamentary elections only three weeks away.
"Musharraf is an intellectually dishonest person. He is a clever ruler, who makes the US and the West believe that they can only effectively deal with al-Qaeda as long as he is in power," Chishti told AFP in an interview.
"But what is al-Qaeda and who are Taliban? I will not be surprised if this clever ruler is behind all suicide attacks," he said.
Pakistan has been buffetted by more than 50 suicide attacks in the past year, culminating in the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on December 27, which led to planned January 8 general elections being delayed.
The government blames Benazir Bhutto's killing on an allegedly Al-Qaeda-linked tribal warlord, Baitullah Mehsud, but many of Benazir Bhutto's supporters have accused the government or parts of the military of involvement.

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