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Pakistan leader set to end emergency rule
4 hours ago
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was set to lift a nationwide state of emergency on Saturday, looking to quell fierce criticism that general elections next month will not be free and fair.
Musharraf imposed emergency rule last month, when thousands were jailed, uncooperative judges were sacked and tough new curbs were slapped on the media in what he said was a move to ensure the nation's stability.
Critics say lifting the emergency now is nothing more than a sop to Western backers like the United States, which counts the 64-year-old retired general as a lynchpin in the "war on terror" aimed at Islamic militants in the region.
"This is like a murderer who turns in his weapon and then claims he has been absolved of the crime," said Ashan Iqbal, a spokesman for the political party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a bitter Musharraf rival.
Musharraf cited the national surge in militant violence as well as what he said was interference from the courts when he imposed the emergency on November 3, one month after his controversial re-election to the presidency.
His opponents alleged the real reason was to provide cover for a purge of anti-Musharraf judges, who could have entertained legal challenges to his election as president while he was still head of the nation's military.
After the purge, the challenges were dismissed and his election was validated by the Supreme Court. Bowing to international pressure, Musharraf then resigned as army chief.
Most of those arrested under the emergency have been released, and the government insisted on Friday that basic rights abrogated when Musharraf suspended the constitution would be immediately restored.
"All fundamental rights of the citizens will stand restored with the lifting of emergency," said Attorney General Malik Qayyum.
But many of the president's domestic critics charge that the independence of the courts and the credibility of the January 8 parliamentary election have been compromised, and that the formal end of the emergency is meaningless.
Qayyum made it clear on Friday that when the order is lifted, the government would at the same time announce a ban on any retroactive challenges to the legality of the emergency decree.
Pakistan's lawyers have been at the heart of the country's political turmoil since March, when Musharraf tried to suspend the chief justice of the supreme court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
That move, later overturned by the Supreme Court, led to massive street protests and kicked off perhaps the stiffest challenge to Musharraf's rule since he first seized power by ousting Sharif in a 1999 coup.
The president eventually succeeded in dumping Chaudhry but he has also been faced with a wave of violence, mostly targeting the military, since an army raid on a radical, pro-Taliban mosque in July left about 100 people dead.
Since then, a sharp increase in attacks has added to the death toll from militant bloodshed -- almost 700 people have been killed in Pakistan in those attacks this year, about 450 since the Red Mosque raid alone.
That violence has supported his insistence that emergency rule was needed to restore order, and the president will hope lifting the emergency will now make elections for parliament appear to be on the level.
But a poll conducted inside Pakistan, reported by the New York Times on Thursday, found that he is decidedly unpopular and that two-thirds of Pakistanis want him to resign.
The paper said the result indicated that any election of a pro-Musharraf parliament would mean widespread vote-rigging.
"The emergency will be lifted before 1:00 pm on Saturday," Attorney General Qayyum said Friday, with the president due to address the nation at 8:00 pm (1500 GMT).
AFP: Pakistan leader set to end emergency rule
4 hours ago
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf was set to lift a nationwide state of emergency on Saturday, looking to quell fierce criticism that general elections next month will not be free and fair.
Musharraf imposed emergency rule last month, when thousands were jailed, uncooperative judges were sacked and tough new curbs were slapped on the media in what he said was a move to ensure the nation's stability.
Critics say lifting the emergency now is nothing more than a sop to Western backers like the United States, which counts the 64-year-old retired general as a lynchpin in the "war on terror" aimed at Islamic militants in the region.
"This is like a murderer who turns in his weapon and then claims he has been absolved of the crime," said Ashan Iqbal, a spokesman for the political party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a bitter Musharraf rival.
Musharraf cited the national surge in militant violence as well as what he said was interference from the courts when he imposed the emergency on November 3, one month after his controversial re-election to the presidency.
His opponents alleged the real reason was to provide cover for a purge of anti-Musharraf judges, who could have entertained legal challenges to his election as president while he was still head of the nation's military.
After the purge, the challenges were dismissed and his election was validated by the Supreme Court. Bowing to international pressure, Musharraf then resigned as army chief.
Most of those arrested under the emergency have been released, and the government insisted on Friday that basic rights abrogated when Musharraf suspended the constitution would be immediately restored.
"All fundamental rights of the citizens will stand restored with the lifting of emergency," said Attorney General Malik Qayyum.
But many of the president's domestic critics charge that the independence of the courts and the credibility of the January 8 parliamentary election have been compromised, and that the formal end of the emergency is meaningless.
Qayyum made it clear on Friday that when the order is lifted, the government would at the same time announce a ban on any retroactive challenges to the legality of the emergency decree.
Pakistan's lawyers have been at the heart of the country's political turmoil since March, when Musharraf tried to suspend the chief justice of the supreme court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.
That move, later overturned by the Supreme Court, led to massive street protests and kicked off perhaps the stiffest challenge to Musharraf's rule since he first seized power by ousting Sharif in a 1999 coup.
The president eventually succeeded in dumping Chaudhry but he has also been faced with a wave of violence, mostly targeting the military, since an army raid on a radical, pro-Taliban mosque in July left about 100 people dead.
Since then, a sharp increase in attacks has added to the death toll from militant bloodshed -- almost 700 people have been killed in Pakistan in those attacks this year, about 450 since the Red Mosque raid alone.
That violence has supported his insistence that emergency rule was needed to restore order, and the president will hope lifting the emergency will now make elections for parliament appear to be on the level.
But a poll conducted inside Pakistan, reported by the New York Times on Thursday, found that he is decidedly unpopular and that two-thirds of Pakistanis want him to resign.
The paper said the result indicated that any election of a pro-Musharraf parliament would mean widespread vote-rigging.
"The emergency will be lifted before 1:00 pm on Saturday," Attorney General Qayyum said Friday, with the president due to address the nation at 8:00 pm (1500 GMT).
AFP: Pakistan leader set to end emergency rule
