02 January 2005	Sunday	20 Ziqa'ad 1425

QUETTA, Jan 1: Generals have never quit power and 'Mullahs' are helping strengthen General Pervez Musharraf, says Chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

The veteran nationalist leader was talking to a group of journalists in Dera Bugti on Saturday.

Referring to President Musharraf's announcement to retain both offices, Nawab Bugti said that whether General Musharraf shed his uniform or not made no difference but there was no doubt that he (Gen Musharraf) had grabbed power illegally and unconstitutionally.

He said that generals had clung to power with whatever means were available to them time and again and this time around the 'Mullahs' (the MMA) were helping Gen Musharraf in this regard. Expressing doubts about the sincerity of the MMA's demand about shedding the uniform, he said that while the uniform was not an issue, his party had never accepted him both offices.

Referring to the MMA or other opposition parties' campaign on the uniform issue, the JWP chief said that there was no possibility of any real mass movement in the near future against Gen Musharraf, adding that the current campaign was nothing more than mere rhetoric. He said that if a campaign was announced, it would fail as it would not be able to muster mass support.

He said that unlike the past when people supported movements against late Z.A. Bhutto and General Ayub Khan who had to give up power in line with people's wishes, the general public did not seem to be interested in agitation. He said that in the past, a hike of a few paisas in the price of sugar had invited public wrath but now people were indifferent to a 40-rupee increase in the prices of essential commodities.

He termed the situation to be in favour of the general and said unless the people take to the streets, he would continue to cling to power.

Nawab Akbar Bugti did not reject the possibility of a deal between the government and the PPP for the release of Asif Zardari and said that everything was possible and the PPP was not above such arrangements, adding that they (the PPP) had been reaping benefits of some such deals in the past.

Power brokers, he said, were always in search of deals. Under a recent deal, he said, a Damocles' sword with a blunt blade was hung over the heads of those who had already struck a deal in the past, adding that they had been warned to mend their ways.

Rejecting the idea of the holding of general elections some time in the near future, he said that the government was not at risk despite what he termed the continuing leg-pulling in the ruling coalition.