State of Pakistan

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Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Sunday November 4, 2007
The Observer

Pakistan’s president Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency rule last night, plunging the nuclear power into crisis and triggering condemnation from leaders around the world. The action to reassert his flagging authority was, he said, a response to Islamic militancy and to the ‘paralysis of government by judicial interference’. He said that his country’s sovereignty was at stake. Judges and lawyers were arrested, troops poured on to city streets and television and radio stations were taken off the air. Musharraf also suspended the constitution and fired the chief justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, who spearheaded a powerful mass movement against him earlier this year.

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November 4, 2007 (DPA)

Pakistani authorities Sunday swooped on opposition leaders and rights’ activists in a bid to contain public resistance to emergency rule declared by President Pervez Musharraf a day earlier to pre-empt any judicial onslaught on his authority.  “Police have detained our several dozen senior leaders and workers in pre-dawn raids on their residences,” opposition Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesman Ahsan Iqbal said.  Nawaz Sharif, who is currently in exile in Saudi Arabia, said Pakistan was heading towards anarchy and described Musharraf’s decision to invoke emergency as worse than martial law.

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( AP/Bloomberg) Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto joined opposition leaders in lambasting Pakistan’s decision to impose a state of emergency Saturday, saying “Today is the blackest day in the history of Pakistan “, calling the decision tantamount to dictatorship. This is not an emergency but martial law, because Gen. Pervez Musharraf imposed it as chief of army staff, not as a civilian president, she said. ‘We oppose this strongly and will not accept this situation.’   Addressing a hastily called press conference at her Karachi residence in the early hours of Sunday morning, she demanded immediate restoration of the constitution saying that the elections can not be free and fair in emergency. She further said that the elections must be held on time and declared that talks with General Musharraf could not continue under emergency. She said that extremism and dictatorship supported each other.   Earlier Benazir Bhutto told Sky News that she believed the imposition of emergency rule in  Pakistan by President Pervez Musharraf was designed to delay elections for “at least one to two years.” She said that delaying Pakistan parliamentary elections, due in January, would mean the United States would be distracted by its own presidential election in late 2008.                                                                         

By Griff Witte and Imtiaz Ali

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in

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IBN: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto landed in Pakistan on Saturday night within hours of President Pervez Musharraf imposing Emergency in the country and promulgated the Provisional Constitutional Order. Bhutto landed hours before midnight at the Karachi International Airport and from there she headed to her residence in a convoy followed by hundreds of supporter. She left Karachi airport for home after remaining in the plane for several hours after flying in from Dubai.

On her arrival in Karachi, she was not allowed to deboard. But finally, Benazir came out of Karachi Airport after remaining in the plane for several hours following her return from Dubai.          

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The United States and Britain expressed grave concerns about Pakistan military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of a state of emergency Saturday, with leaders from both countries calling for a swift return to a democratic government.  Leaders from India, Pakistan’s nuclear-armed rival, had a more tempered reaction, aimed at keeping tensions low, saying they “regret the difficult times” in Pakistan and hoped for a return to “normalcy.” 

The Bush administration, which has cast Musharraf as a key ally in its global fight against terrorism, said it was deeply disturbed by Musharraf’s moves.

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Pakistan’s Army Chief General Musharraf has imposed a state of emergency in Pakistan and issued a provisional constitutional order.  He may address the nation tonight. All private TV networks have been put off air except the state-owned PTV. We had written yesterday that the way the government had allowed coverage of the developments in the north west Pakistan did indicate that the government was preparing the grounds for emergency although it was difficult to allege its complicity. 

According to Bloomberg, in Islamabad barricades have been erected on roads leading to an area in which the houses of all Supreme Court judges are located. Al Jazeera reports seeing dozens of police blocking the road leading to the supreme court where many judges including the chief justice remain inside. The court has been hearing petitions about the validity of Musharraf’s reelection as president and was expected to annouce its decision next week. Paramilitary troops have been deployed at state-run television and radio stations.

The largest opposition party, Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party is not expected to offer any resistence to the imposition of emergency as Bhutto’s decision to leave for Dubai for a week is believed to have been taken at the personal request of General Musharraf.

November 3, 2007 (AP) Militants said Saturday they captured two police stations in a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan that has increasingly fallen under the control of Taliban and al-Qaida-linked extremists, bringing further embarrassment to President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government. 

A flag was hoisted over one of the buildings after it was abandoned by officers in the scenic Swat valley, once a popular tourist destination now plagued by fighting between paramilitary forces and Islamic militants, said Sirajuddin, speaking on behalf of the insurgents. 

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Finbarr O’Reilly/Reuters A Canadian soldier, part of a NATO-led coalition, in Kandahar province last week. Read more »

“What happened to the Shah’s once very real support? Sums up a senior American businessman with many years’ experience in Iran: He lost contact with the peasants. He lost control of inflation. He lost contact with the mullahs. He lost control of SAVAK [the secret police]. He lost control of his own family and all the outrageous deals they made for personal profit. All he had left was the army.”  So wrote Time magazine in its cover story of January 15, 1979 issue.

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Please click to read the above article published in the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence, 2003 issue: isi.pdf