<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 4 — The Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, declared a state of emergency on Saturday night, suspending the country’s Constitution, firing the chief justice of the Supreme Court and filling the streets of this capital city with police officers.</p> The move appeared to be an effort by General Musharraf to reassert his fading power in the face of growing opposition from the country’s Supreme Court, political parties and hard-line Islamists. Pakistan’s Supreme Court had been expected to rule within days on the legality of General Musharraf’s re-election last month as the country’s president.</p> The emergency act, which analysts and opposition leaders said was more a declaration of martial law, also boldly defied the Bush administration, which had repeatedly urged General Musharraf to avoid such a path and instead move toward democracy. Washington has generously backed the general, sending him more than $10 billion in aid since 2001, mostly for the military. Now the administration finds itself in the bind of having to publicly castigate the man it has described as one of its closest allies in fighting terrorism.</p> In blunt and brief comments on Saturday, American officials condemned General Musharraf’s move. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanded a “quick return to constitutional law.” And in Washington, the White House spokesman, Gordon D. Johndroe, said, “This action is very disappointing,” and he called on General Musharraf to honor his earlier pledge to resign as army commander and hold nationwide elections before Jan. 15.</p> In Pakistan, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the main opposition leader, returned early from a visit in Dubai, setting up the possibility that she and her party, as well as other opposition groups like the powerful lawyers’ body here, could organize demonstrations against the president. After landing in Karachi, she mocked General Musharraf and accused him of using the specter of terrorism to prolong his hold on power. “This is not emergency,” she said. “This is martial law.”</p> After a day of rumors in the Pakistani news media than an emergency declaration would come, the first proof came just after 5 p.m., when independent and international television news stations abruptly went blank in Islamabad and other major cities. Soon after, dozens of police officers surrounded the Supreme Court building, with some justices still inside.</p> Under the emergency declaration, the justices were ordered to take an oath to abide by a “provisional constitutional order” that replaces the country’s existing Constitution. Those who failed to do so would be dismissed.</p> Seven of the court’s 11 justices gathered inside the court rejected the order, according to an aide to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Issuing their own legal order, the justices called General Musharraf’s declaration unlawful and urged military officials to not abide by it.</p> By 9 p.m., Chief Justice Chaudhry and the other justices had gone to their homes, which were surrounded by police officers. The police blocked journalists from entering the area, disconnected telephone lines and jammed cellphones in the area.</p> Several hours later, the state-run news media reported that three justices generally seen as supporting General Musharraf had taken an oath to uphold the emergency measure. And it was announced that Mr. Chaudhry had been replaced by a pro-government member of the Supreme Court bench, Abdul Hamid Doger, as chief justice.</p> Just after midnight, General Musharraf appeared on state-run television. In a 45-minute speech, he said he had declared the emergency to limit terrorist attacks and “preserve the democratic transition that I initiated eight years back.”</p> He gave no firm date for nationwide elections that had been scheduled for January and said his current Parliament, which he dominates, would remain in place. He did not say how long the state of emergency would be maintained.</div></p> <div align="center"> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/04/world/asia/04pakistan.html" target="_blank">Source: NY Times </a></p> <p align="justify">Surprised no one posted this already.</p> </div> </p>
Re: Musharraf declares a Nobody wants to touch this one is why. It's a bad situation for damn near everyone. It's hard to pick sides when everyone is a bad guy and there's the possibility of loose nukes.</p> I'm on the side of no loose nukes</p>
Re: Musharraf declares a Both sides are to be blamed, for not letting the people decide with elections.</p> </p>
Re: Musharraf declares a I've been following this story, but it's hard to get a grasp on it. Even some of my Paki friends aren't sure what to make of it.</p>
Re: Musharraf declares a Here is what I am understanding:</p> Musharraf won re-election in October but there was a constitutional question about whether or not he would be eligible to run considering he was the head of the military at the time. Currently there are 9 members of the SC all loyal to Musharraf but you need an 11 member panel to rule in these cases. One thing I heard was that he declared a state of emergency, thus suspending the constitution, because he isn't ready to give up full power yet and lead Pakistan towards a democracy. He says he is serious about holding fair elections but I think he still wants a little bit more time as the military ruler and not subject to normal democratic laws.</p> That's what it appears like to me.</p>
Re: Musharraf declares a Basically, although I don't think there's anything democratic about his intentions. Aside from the fact that his presidential election victory is being disbuted, it was all but guaranteed that he would be out of office in the upcoming general election too. His approval ratings are abysmal and the return of Benazir Bhutto provided a strong opposition candidate who has a lot of support within the country already. With the state of emergency, she was placed under house arrest (along with other party leaders) and any form of political association (rallying, protesting, etc.) has been prevented. Kind of puts the US in a bind as they've been backing him as a key ally in that region and now he's going against their stance on democracy.</p>
