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Musharraf played golf before coup

Pakistani coup leader General Pervez Musharraf played golf and went sight-seeing in Sri Lanka shortly before ousting Pakistan's elected government yesterday.

Sri Lankan military officials today said that General Musharraf had attended the Sri Lankan army's 50th anniversary celebrations last weekend and seemed very relaxed.

He later visited a temple in the central hill town of Kandy and played golf with Pakistani and Sri Lankan officers.

''He arrived last Saturday and played golf with one of his officers and a brigadier from the Sri Lankan army,'' a senior military official told Reuters in Colombo, adding that golf and the Kandy visit had been added to his schedule at his request.

''He was very much relaxed while he was here. There was no indication that there was anything like this (coup) in the air,'' said a senior Sri Lankan army general.

''We are quite shocked by the turn of events,'' he added.

General Musharraf took control of Pakistan and put Prime Minister Nawaz Sharief into custody on his return to Pakistan yesterday, saying he had acted to save his country from ruin.

Reuters

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