And before somebody comes back with "this is not good for India", let me add that nobody is claiming it is good for India.
I think I will go home and watch TV for a while.
dailynews.yahoo.com
istan Army Surrounds Airport
KATHY GANNON Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistan's army surrounded Islamabad International Airport and state-run radio and television today, witnesses said, following the dismissal of the powerful army chief of staff.
In a surprise move, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif fired army chief Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf, while the military leader was on a visit to Sri Lanka.
The dismissal was followed by a rapid movement of army personnel throughout the federal capital.
State-run television went off the air abruptly after reports that the army had taken over the station while Sharif was inside.
Pakistan army also surrounded Islamabad International Airport, according to witnesses at the airport.
There also were reports from Sharif's hometown of Lahore that army trucks were moving toward the airport in the Punjab provincial capital.
There have been no announcements by either Sharif or the army since Musharraf's dismissal was announced.
The dismissal, which state-run television had described as an early retirement, took the military by surprise.
''We don't know anything . . . go to the Defense Ministry or to the prime minister's house. We also have heard like you on television,'' Col. Salaut Raza of the military's information wing said when contacted by The Associated Press.
There was no immediate reason for the army chief's dismissal, but in recent weeks there have been reports of a yawning rift between the army and the civilian government.
Musharraf's term as army chief was to end in April 2000.
He was replaced by Gen. Zia Uddin, head of the country's secret service and considered a close ally of Sharif's.
The rift between Sharif and Musharraf developed after Sharif ordered militants to withdraw this summer from Indian territory in the Kargil region ending a bitter two-month border dispute with India.
Many feared the border dispute would escalate into an all-out war between the two nuclear enemies.
The withdrawal was negotiated between Sharif and President Clinton, but it reportedly did not have the support of the army chief, who many western analysts say orchestrated the takeover of Indian territory in Kargil.
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