07-03-2006, 07:42 AM
<b>'Musharraf to rule Pak for a decade more'</b>?<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW DELHI: President Pervez <b>Musharraf is likely to be ruling Pakistan for another 10 years amid signs that the country could become more and more Islamic</b>, according to an Indian strategic expert.
With the army backing him, Musharraf is determined to win next year's general election and that means India will have to deal with him for at least a decade more, Vikram Sood told a gathering here.
<b>"Musharraf being the general that he is, he would eventually want to make sure that he wins (the election) hands down,"</b> Sood told a discussion at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.
"A general who has given the impression that he is the saviour of Pakistan cannot afford to lose," he said. "I don't think the army wants to lose either.
"At the same time, he also has to give the impression of holding a free and fair election. How he is going to fine-tune this has to be seen."
<b>Sood quoted some Pakistani analysts as saying that Musharraf planned to consolidate "Islamic democracy" for the next five years and economic growth for another five. </b>
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"If that is the agenda, Musharraf is going to be our neighbour for the next two parliamentary elections in our country,"</span>said Sood, a former head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency.
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With the army backing him, Musharraf is determined to win next year's general election and that means India will have to deal with him for at least a decade more, Vikram Sood told a gathering here.
<b>"Musharraf being the general that he is, he would eventually want to make sure that he wins (the election) hands down,"</b> Sood told a discussion at the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies.
"A general who has given the impression that he is the saviour of Pakistan cannot afford to lose," he said. "I don't think the army wants to lose either.
"At the same time, he also has to give the impression of holding a free and fair election. How he is going to fine-tune this has to be seen."
<b>Sood quoted some Pakistani analysts as saying that Musharraf planned to consolidate "Islamic democracy" for the next five years and economic growth for another five. </b>
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>
"If that is the agenda, Musharraf is going to be our neighbour for the next two parliamentary elections in our country,"</span>said Sood, a former head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency.
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