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
Destroyers OF PAKISTAN:- P M L Q , M Q M, MALIK Q AND OF COURSE THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN.
ANOTHER STAGE DRAMA:- SO CALLED SUPREME COURT FOR EARLY DISPOSAL OF CASES.ALL EFFORTS BEING MADE TO CURB JUSTICE IN PAKISTAN.
MEDIA IN JAIL:-ANCHOR PERSONS BEING THREATENED
LAWYERS ;-THOUSANDS OF LAWYERS IN JAIL.
POLITICIANS :-THOUSANDS OF POLITICIANS IN JAIL.
STILL THEY ARE CALLING IT EMERGENCY—–STRANGE
good luck my friends, ur press has been silenced but not your voices
Many posts talk about the suspension of the constitution as being a tragedy and some even go so far as calling the act as a second coup. I dont quite understand the reason for that.
A state of emergency can be proclaimed under Part X Article 232 of the constitution. Follow the link
http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/par t10.html
This provision has not been put in the constitution by President Musharraf but by the political leaders when the constitution was framed. At that time PPP was in power and all parties went along with it.
If this particular provision of the constitution is so abhorrent to the politicians , why did they (NS, BB and others) not remove it when they were in power?
The fact of the matter is that conditions exist in the country that, in the opinion of the government, cannot be improved except by this step.
@ Harris Sadique
I have gone through the comment given by you. Well I would like to say only one thing that you can not say that a sleepy nation will never woke up even the worst is given to them. As far as CJ is concerned its not a big deal that he taken oath as CJ under PCO 1999 but refused it this time. Dear its called revolution and it can come at any time. You must be knowing that change of thoughts and actions is possible when you are given a direction by the trust of thousands of people. I m agreed to you that he may taken so many decisions that were against democracy and rule of law but it was prior to his exile from the court by President.
It happens that when scores of people trust you it become difficult to go against the law. He is the person followed by lawyers not the general public. His followers knows constitution and law just like him so they can change their direction if he will go against the law.
Lawyers have proved that educated nation can never be played by any politician or dictator because of having good deal of information about their rights.
Dilemma is this that even our educated young generation dont know what are the basic rights given to them by the constitution and what is the importance of supermacy of constitution..?
If we want to live like a lively nation first we have to educate our masses and its not much difficult but only if our youth is interested in it and make their efforts.
No doubt that our both the major parties PPP and PML dont owe the leaders to run the affairs democratically because BB lived abroad while there was Musharaf’s rule and now she came back to have a hand on chair. Pakistan dont need such leaders who come to Pakistan only for ruling it while they spend their time out of the country when they are not in the power.
NS accepted exile to Saudi Arabia to save himself from jail culture and wrath of the ruling dictator. Do we need such leaders…?
No……!
we have to say simply No to such leaders who play with the emotions of simple people for their lust of power. They have no passion for bringing progress in the country yes they are passionate to rule the country and loot it with both hands.
We should see towards people like Imran Khan who are devoted and Pakistan oriented. He want to work for the country and he is the person can bring a wave of change in the destiny of this poorly managed country.
There is a very simple solution to all this nonsense….General should arrest Bhutto and she should be tried for all charges against her and then the general should call a fair election without any of these thugs and thieves (Bhutto and Sharif)…….and then the general should resign….that would be the only decent thing to do …….God Help Pakistan