"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

The period of the Musharraf regime in terms of the political scenario was clearly articulated by The International Crisis Group (ICG) that said that President Pervez Musharraf has been unilaterally instituting political and constitutional changes intended to ensure that generals retain the real power after the Oct 10 elections.

In a latest report titled "Pakistan: Democracy needed not more military rule", the highly-reputed international group has noted that the Musharraf government is following the pattern of the country's previous military rulers of carrying out constitutional changes intended to ensure that "the generals retain the real power and any democratic transition falters before it begins."

I believe that to get things going their way, the Musharraf government had started playing its cards from the very beginning. Probably, they realized that the international community was not going to stand a military regime in a country of geo-strategic

After the military coup, General Musharraf sent out a clear message to all by proclaiming himself as the Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan that he was clearly in control, and was here to stay. He started with suspending the 1973 constitution and promulgating the PCO. The judiciary was made to re-take the oath under the PCO, and Justice Irshad Hassan Khan was made the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, following the refusal of the senior judges of the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Ajmal Mian, to retake the oath under the PCO. By installing the Chief Justice of his own choice, the General had already started with the process of engineered democracy, thus ensuring that the question of legitimacy which haunts every dictator is put to rest.

Musharraf reiterated his position yet again to the politicians, as he did when he took charge of the country on October 12, 1999. He is now president for the next 5 years and the 42 amendments promulgated through the LFO are now part of the amended 1973 Constitution.

2. Creating fissures in the ranks of major political parties, and the formation of new parties of the breakaway units. The PML (Q), the NAPP of Ajmal Khattak and P-5 are examples of this.

Other significant developments in the earlier half of his regime also included the exile of the Sharif family to Saudi Arabia, the formation of the Quaid-e-Azam faction of the Pakistan Muslim League, headed by Mian Mohammed Azhar, with the Chauhadrys of Gujrat in pivotal positions in the party and local body elections under the plan for the devolution of power.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Supreme Court, Chief Staff, President Musharraf, Pakistan Democracy, Khattak P-5, Punjab CM, Commissioner Referendum, Party Parliamentarians, National Assembly, Security Council, supreme court, 1973 constitution, national security council, national security, elected parliament, security council, chief justice, justice irshad, forward bloc, chief executive, president musharraf, minister khalid ranjha, security council nsc, justice irshad hassan, law minister khalid,
Approximate Word count = 2119
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)