Musharraf lobbys with Zardari for new Pak army chief

Former Pakistan military ruler Pervez Musharraf is lobbying for his favourite General to become new army chief and has held a secret meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari to discuss this, a media report said today.

Musharraf, according to the The News daily, has not given up hopes of making a political comeback in Pakistan and wants his favourite General to help him achieve the ambitions.
The would-be successor to Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is "a confidant and loyal of Musharraf and he could manipulate the situation to defuse the popular demand for Musharraf's trial and help the former dictator in his re-entry into power politics", the report added.

However, the paper did not say when the term of Gen Kayani comes to an end. Kayani was handpicked by Musharraf to succeed him after pressure built on him to give up the uniform.

The paper said the Zardari-Musharraf meeting took place outside New York during Pakistan President's just concluded visit to the US to attend the UN General Assembly session.

The paper said that Zardari had a two-day "private stay" in New York after his official itinerary and it was during this he met Mushrraf secretly.

The daily quoted its sources as saying that Zardari was escorted out of Barclay Intercontinental Hotel in New York, where he stayed, and taken to a "neighbouring state known for its natural beauty and rural quiet life" in a small plane. Zardari reportedly met Musharraf in this neighbouring state.