Pakistan law enshrines army role

Musharraf says the new council will curb future military interventions

Pakistan's Senate has passed a new law to institutionalise the role of the armed forces in civilian politics for the first time in the nation's history.

The law creates a 13-member National Security Council with four top military figures who will sit alongside top civilian leaders.

The council will advise the government on security matters and other issues of national interest.

Opposition MPs condemned the bill; one said it meant "permanent martial law".

Pakistan's lower house had already passed the bill, and the Senate vote was considered a formality.

However, some opposition MPs were angry it was adopted in just two minutes while they were absent from the chamber having stormed out in protest at a separate issue.

Mandate

Pakistan's powerful armed forces have been trying for nearly two decades to institutionalise their role in civilian affairs.

President Pervez Musharraf, the army chief who seized power in a coup five years ago, argues the National Security Council will help build a better relationship with the government and prevent direct military intervention in the future.

This bill was bulldozed in the absence of the opposition Raza Rabbani, opposition MP

Previous parliaments had rejected the demand on the grounds that the military's involvement in civilian affairs was the problem, not the solution.

Opposition MPs accused the government of deliberately presenting the bill during their absence.

"This is the worst incident in Pakistan's history and the history of the Senate," said Raza Rabbani, of the Pakistan People's Party.

Raza Mohammad Raza, another opposition MP, said: "This is permanent martial law, and this country has become a military state."

Doubts cast

President Musharraf will head the council with the prime minister, several cabinet ministers, parliamentary heads and four army commanders serving under him.

Opposition parties say the army is the problem, not the solution

The council will have a mandate to review security in Pakistan, discuss crisis management and advise parliament on policy.

Since the 1999 coup, President Musharraf has struggled with parliament over how much power he should have.

He finally pushed through a package of constitutional changes at the end of last year to legitimise his actions since the coup.

The changes allowed the president to dissolve parliament and dismiss the prime minister - although such a move would have to be ratified by the Supreme Court.

However, the president had to pay a price to prevent Islamic parties voting him down in a crucial confidence vote.

He agreed to step down as army chief by the end of this year.

However, this week he has cast doubt on whether he will indeed give up the role and became a purely civilian head of state.

He told the HARDTalk programme on BBC World he had not yet made a decision.

A number of governing coalition MPs have urged him to stay in both posts.

However, information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed stressed President Musharraf would abide by his vow to quit the army post.