President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has declared a state of emergency in Pakistan on Saturday. It has now been announced at PTV. The emergency decision comes ahead of a crucial Supreme Court decision on whether to overturn his recent election win.
The news caster at PTV didn’t give any reasons for emergency but read the following text:
The chief of army staff has proclaimed a state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order.
Earlier, Pakistan’s private TV channels had suddenly gone off-air amid speculations that emergency was going to be imposed.
An earlier Reuters report which was among the first to break the news read:
Private television channels Geo News and Dawn News both ran reports quoting unnamed sources as saying the government had made its decision. Speculation has been rife that Musharraf, who is awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether he was eligible to run for re-election last month while still army chief, might impose emergency rule or martial law
This has not been the first time that government thought about imposing emergency. The idea has been flirted with from time to time. Rumors kept appearing from time to time from as early as August 8, 2007. We also had a post on this topic then.
According to CNN:
The Supreme Court has declared the state of emergency illegal, claiming Musharraf had no power to suspend the constitution, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry told CNN.
People were already sensing something was about to happen when Benazir suddenly left the country two days ago without even going to other provinces of the country except Sindh. It may be true that she indeed left Pakistan to be with her ailing mother but it never stops people from speculating. Also the earlier news where Government circles were advising Benazir not to come to Pakistan before Supreme Court decision now seem to put missing links to a continuum.
According to Washington Post news:
The United States had tried to pressure Musharraf on Friday to avoid declaring emergency rule or martial law. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday sent a warning to Musharraf not to take authoritarian measures to hold on to power. “I think it would be quite obvious that the United States would not be supportive of extra-constitutional means,” Rice said. “Pakistan needs to prepare for and hold free and fair elections.” That message was followed by a previously scheduled meeting between Musharraf and Adm. William J. Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command.
Complete text of emergency declaration can be read here
Syed Bhai,
Two wrongs don’t make a right, I agree NS and BB and others are not the answer but neither is Mush. Our problem as a nation is we keep following the same leaders blindly, we never entertain any alternative forces, we say Imran Khan has one seat so why bother and thus he stays with the one seat because the establishment and the prevailing orthodcy want exactly that. In effect we do the devil’s handiwork ourselves by always jumping for PPP or PML so until we grow up as a people we will suffer the same fate.
However an ‘other’ Pakistan can be made if we all desire it, see how at http://www.otherpakistan.org/archive.html
Feimanallah Pakistan
Wasim
i can not understand how some of us think that PAKISTAN is some heavenly CIVILIZED country with a ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY & a strong tradition of democaracy which was being run smoothly until this MUSHARAF showed up from out of nowhere, how dare he !! PAKISTAN needs a slow march towards DEMOCRACY not a sudden jolt like some are preaching here & if any one who thinks that BENAZIR & SHARIF are proponents of DEMOCRACY , iam sorry to break the news to u my friend u r sadly mistaken, so let MUSH do his job rather than just making trouble!
Pakistan Bachau!
See this link and please act http://www.otherpakistan.org/archive.html
Feimanallah Pakistan
Wasim
May Allah swt bless our pakistan… but what musharraf said in his speech is true. There is no point in only having a democratic name.. we , and the three levels of government with function democratically also. freedom of speech and human rights comes second. After all, Musharraf was the one who GAVE media the right to speak. But if the right is not used responsibilty, then it must be taken away.
I love that he quoted abraham lincoln, because al was in the same situation during the civil war in the us
there is no point in saving a limb, but destroying the the whole body.
I know, realistically, there is not a whole lot an average pakistani can do to fight this monster of military that overshadows his life, but at a minimum, every one can wear a black colored cloth on his arm, as a symbol of mourning, because today, believe it or not my friends, Pakistan is DEAD! I know I will be mourning starting tomorrow.
F