Retired military officers call on Pakistani leader to quit [View All]

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: McClatchy

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — About 100 retired senior military officers issued a blunt open letter Tuesday exhorting President Pervez Musharraf to resign, as an attack on an army fort in a troubled tribal zone near Afghanistan left 37 Islamic militants dead.

The demand from the retired officers is the latest sign that Musharraf, who's traveling in Europe to shore up his battered image, faces increasingly strong challenges to his rule. Musharraf shed his army uniform last month but relies on the military as a pillar of support.

The retired officers— including some two dozen army generals, three air force air marshals and eight naval admirals— signed the letter after a meeting at a hotel adjacent to the general headquarters of the Pakistan armed forces in nearby Rawalpindi. The letter said the officers voiced "great concern and anguish" during discussions about the "prevailing conditions" in the country.

Some of the officers had signed statements against Musharraf before, but never in such numbers.



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