Army takeover unlikely in Pakistan: Mike Mullen

WASHINGTON: Attempting to dismiss fears that a military coup is imminent in Islamabad, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen has revealed that he stopped Chief of Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani from interfering in the country’s political deadlock.

Expressing serious concerns over the political chaos in nuclear-armed Pakistan, Mullen said the US officials were keeping a close eye on opposition protests in the South Asian country.

Clarifying about the US role in this whole episode that fears causing unrest in the South Asian region, Mullen said he tried to calm Kayani quite a number of times when the Pak Army chief expressed anger over the way the country’s political establishment was behaving. “I have had upwards of 10 interactions with Kayani. He wants to do the right thing for Pakistan. But he is in a very tough spot,” Mullen said in an interview with PBS news.

There is not a “high probability right now” the political crisis will provoke Pak military to meddle, Mullen said, clearing Kayani is “committed to a civilian government” and doesn’t wish to stage a coup.

He, however, underlined that the situation (in Pakistan) “continues to deteriorate very, very slowly under a political leadership which is very challenged because of the totality of the crisis”. “Pakistan is a country with nuclear weapons,” Mullen said, adding, “It’s 165 million people and should we move to a point where somehow there is a theocratic government there with nuclear weapons, that’s something that keeps me up.”