Forgot your password?
President Musharraf Juggling With Power
BY KTM Reporter in Kathmandu
The Supreme Court of Pakistan was to rule whether Pervez Musharraf’s re-election for presidency in October 2007 was legitimate or not on Monday, November 05, 2007. His intelligence gave Pervez the information that the Supreme Court was going to rule against his re-election for presidency. So, he was left with a choice of declaring a state of emergency after the Supreme Court’s ruling or taking a preemptive action. He chose the second option.
On Saturday night, November 03, 2007, Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan stating that it had been in a grave crisis due to the interference of the judiciary in governance and spread of terrorism. He took the entire information network off the air leaving the Pakistani people in information blackout and took all power in his hands however kept the parliament and the government intact, as both these agencies have been in favor of him. However, he suspended the Constitution of Pakistan of 1973 and issued the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) to run the country. He did not mention the parliamentary election meant to restore democracy scheduled for January 2008 in his 45-minute message to the nation.
Under the state of emergency, the Supreme Court judges were asked to take an oath under the PCO or face dismissal. In defiance of taking an oath, out of eleven Supreme Court Judges, a bench of seven judges annulled the PCO and issued a legal order to high courts, government, military and police not to abide by the PCO.
Meanwhile, the President replaced the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry with Abdul Hameed Dogar, the Musharraf supporter, fired some other judges, arrested the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, opposition leaders and put Imran Khan, former cricket star turned to a politician under the house arrested.
Former Prime Minister Benizer Bhutto charged with corruption hastily returned to Pakistan from Dubai in the night of November 03, 2007 after hearing the imposition of a state of emergency. She accused General Musharraf of imposing a state of emergency for prolonging his stay in power.
India has alerted its military along the border with Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister held an emergency meeting of his cabinet at his resident in the evening of November 03 to discuss the situation in Pakistan and its immediate impact on India. The spokesman for the Indian Government gave a one-sentence statement that India wants return of democracy in Pakistan.
US, UK and EU expressed their concern over the adverse political development in Pakistan and reiterated their stand on the return of democracy in Pakistan without delay
General Musharraf in his message to the nation at the night of November 03, 2007 said, "Inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan and I cannot allow this country to commit suicide." Obviously, he was committing suicide imposing a state of emergency.
General Musharraf imposed restriction on the press and the media to publish or air any statements defaming him, the military, and the government, the statements from the extremists and their picture, and the live broadcast of violence scenes.
