[R-G] Pakistan's Musharraf imposes emergency rule ahead of court ruling

[Anthony Fenton]

  International Herald Tribune
Pakistan's Musharraf imposes emergency rule ahead of court ruling

The Associated Press
Saturday, November 3, 2007
http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8175621

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's  
constitution and deployed troops in the capital, declaring rising  
Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included  
replacing the nation's chief judge and blacking out the independent  
media that refused to support him.

By early Sunday cell phone service appeared to have been restored,  
but landlines were still dead after being cut on Saturday.  
Transmissions by TV networks remained off the air in major cities  
other than state-controlled Pakistan TV.

Paramilitary troops swarmed around the Supreme Court and parliament  
and erected road blocks and barred access to the official residences  
of lawmakers and judges.

The U.S.-allied leader detained opposition activists despite calls  
from Washington and other Western allies not to take authoritarian  
measures. Washington expressed deep concern and called for him to  
restore democracy, but said it would not affect U.S. military support  
of Pakistan.

Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who had traveled abroad in the  
wake of an Oct. 18 suicide attack that narrowly missed her but killed  
145 others, immediately flew back to the southern city of Karachi,  
and declared the emergency was the "blackest day" in Pakistan's history.

In a televised address, Musharraf, looking somber and composed, said  
Pakistan was at a "dangerous" juncture, its government threatened by  
Islamic extremists.

"The extremism has even spread to Islamabad, and the extremists are  
taking the writ of the government in their own hands, and even worse  
they are imposing their obsolete ideas on moderates," Musharraf said,  
wearing a black button-down tunic rather than his military fatigues.

He also blamed the Supreme Court for punishing state officials and  
postponing the announcement of his recent election win, saying it had  
"semi-paralyzed" government. The court was to rule soon on whether to  
validate the result of the vote that opponents say was  
unconstitutional because he contested the vote while army chief.

Musharraf on Saturday replaced the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed  
Chaudhry, who had emerged as the main check on the president.

"Now the time for the action has come. I have carefully examined the  
situation to see how to stop this downslide. We have to create  
harmony among judiciary, legislative and executive ... This is how we  
would tackle the issue of terrorism in a better way," Musharraf said.

He said there would be no change in the government and its top  
offices, and parliament — set to dissolve by Nov. 15 — would complete  
its term. He did not say when parliamentary elections — due by  
January — would be held.

The emergency comes as his security forces struggle to contain pro- 
Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants who have gained control of  
large tracts of the volatile northwest near Afghanistan. Fighting in  
recent weeks has left hundreds dead, including in the once peaceful  
tourist resort of Swat, where scores of troops have surrendered to  
militants who on Saturday raised a jihadist flag over a police station.

The violence has also reached major cities with deadly suicide  
attacks in Islamabad and Karachi underscoring the threat posed by  
extremists, as well as the failure of Musharraf's administration to  
combat the threat, despite huge financial support from his key  
international backer, the United States.

The order drew swift complaints from the United States and Britain —  
Musharraf's main Western allies. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza  
Rice urged restraint on all sides and a return to democracy in Pakistan.

The United States "does not support extraconstitutional measures,"  
Rice said from Turkey, where she was participating in a conference  
with Iraq's neighbors.

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell, however, said the emergency  
declaration "does not impact our military support of Pakistan" or its  
efforts in the war on terror.

Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and respected analyst, said  
the emergency declaration was a pre-emptive move in case the court  
ruled against him.

A policy to fight extremism requires the full support of the people,  
and any action that alienates the people and political forces of  
Pakistan "will further aggravate terrorism and extremism in the  
country and slide the country into anarchism," he said.

Rick Barton, a Pakistan expert at the Washington-based Center for  
International and Strategic Studies, said Musharraf's move would  
likely only postpone his political demise.

"He's obviously not very popular, and it's not going to increase his  
popularity," Barton said. "Unless he develops a new line or is able  
to be more effective with his old line, he seems to be just buying  
time, an inevitable delay to his demise."

Bhutto, a longtime rival of Musharraf who recently returned from  
eight years of exile after talks on possible power-sharing, said  
after her arrival at Karachi's Airport that she did not believe there  
would be fair elections as long as emergency rule remained in place.

"Unless General Musharraf reverses the course it will be very  
difficult to have fair elections," she told Sky News television. "I  
agree with him that we are facing a political crisis, but I believe  
the problem is dictatorship, I don't believe the solution is  
dictatorship.

"The extremists need a dictatorship, and dictatorship needs extremists."

Musharraf issued two ordinances toughening media laws, including a  
ban on television channels to broadcast live "incidents of violence  
and conflict." Also, TV operators who "ridicule" the president, armed  
forces, or executive, legislative or judicial organs of the state can  
be punished with three years in jail.

Seven of the 17 Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the  
emergency order, which suspended the current constitution. Police  
blocked entry to the Supreme Court building and later took the  
deposed chief justice and other judges away in a convoy, witnesses said.

Pakistanis have increasingly turned against the government of  
Musharraf, but his Western allies have stuck by him, hoping he can  
form an alliance with Bhutto to galvanize the fight against Islamic  
extremism.

The elections meant to restore civilian rule are due by January.  
Musharraf himself was overwhelmingly re-elected last month by the  
current parliament, dominated by his ruling party, but the vote was  
challenged. The court verdict is due before his current term expires  
Nov. 15.

___

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan, Sadaqat Jan, Munir Ahmad, Robin  
McDowell and Alisa Tang in Islamabad; Ashraf Khan in Karachi; and  
Anne Gearan in Istanbul, Turkey, contributed to this report.