Nov 4, 2007, 0:13 GMT
Islamabad - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency and suspended the constitution Saturday amid fears that the Supreme Court might rule against his re-election for another term in office.
He also appointed a new Supreme Court chief justice after the former top judge, Iftikhar Chaudhry, refused to abide by Musharraf's order to declare a state of emergency and suspend the constitution.
'Abdul Hamid Dogar has taken the oath as the new chief justice of the Supreme Court,' said state-run PTV television.
The oath was administered by Musharraf himself.
He acted amid fears that the top court under Chaudhry's leadership would rule against Musharraf on legal challenges to the general's victory in the controversial October 6 presidential vote by Parliament.
The order declaring a state of emergency was issued by Musharraf in his capacity as military chief. Fundamental rights were also suspended by the decree.
Initial reports said that troops and police surrounded the Supreme Court and were deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations. Private news channels went off the air.
Shortly after the state of emergency was announced, an eight- member Supreme Court panel headed Chaudhry defied Musharraf by declaring his order annulled.
The panel declared that there could be no action that was in violation of the independence of judiciary, sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
The court panel's ruling was issued on a petition filed by the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Etzaz Ahsan. The panel recommended that further hearing of the case should start Monday.
Prior to the announcement, the government blocked transmission of all private channels in the country and deployed additional security troops at important state buildings in the capital Islamabad.
Musharraf, a key US ally in the fight against Muslim militant terrorism, won overwhelmingly in a controversial presidential vote on October 6.
But the results were withheld until the final verdict on the orders of the Supreme Court, where his eligibility was challenged by rival candidates on the grounds that the constitution did not allow a serving military officer to run for the office.
Saturday's presidential order prohibits the top court from giving a judgement against Musharraf. But there was no mention in the notification of the cases against him in the court.
'No judgement, decree, writ, order or process whatsoever shall be made or issued by any court or tribunal against the president or the prime minister or any authority designated by the president,' said the state of emergency order.
The main charge levelled against the court was that it was obstructing the fight against terrorism, perhaps for the consumption of the international community that had urged Musharraf recently to refrain from such an action.
'... Some members of the judiciary are working at cross purposes with the executive and legislature in the fight against terrorism and extremism, thereby weakening the government and the nation's resolve and diluting the efficacy of its actions to control this menace,' the statement read.
Similar sentiments were expressed when Musharraf addressed the nation in a prerecorded speech.
'The law enforcement agencies are demoralized because their officers are being sentenced by the court,' he said in a speech on state-run PTV television.
'The extremists are roaming around in the country freely. They have no fear from the law enforcement agencies because they cannot take decisions, owing to the uncertain circumstances,' Musharraf said, claiming that the country was 'on the verge of destabilization.'
The reference was apparently to a case in which the Supreme Court reprimanded Pakistani intelligence agencies for illegally holding hundreds of people suspected of involvement in terrorism.
Chaudhry had ordered several dozen of these prisoners to be produced before the court and released if they were not charged for any crime, enraging officials of the powerful intelligence agencies.
'At least 60 such terrorists were released by the courts that has been blacklisted by the intelligence agencies and now they are at large and perhaps involved in some of the latest terrorist activities,' the general said.
According to some sources, the government had put pressure on Chaudhry and other judges of the apex court to take a fresh oath under Saturday's presidential order, but at least six refused.
'Chaudhry has been put under house arrest after his refusal,' a source told dpa.
The judge was suspended in February by Musharraf in order to remove a major judicial obstacle to his re-election. Chaudhry was reinstated after Pakistani lawyers and opposition parties held massive rallies in his support.
A source in the president's office told dpa earlier that the decision to declare a state of emergency was 'taken in a high level meeting, which was attended by several cabinet ministers, top leadership of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League party and legal experts.'
Musharraf, who is experiencing a sharp slump in popularity and a challenge from rising militancy, has sought a power-sharing deal with main opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, a two-time former prime minister.
But the deal remained in limbo because the Supreme Court kept Mushrraf's fate in its own hand.
Anticipating the imposition of a state of emergency, Bhutto left the country for Dubai only 20 days after she had arrived in the southern port city of Karachi to end her eight-year exile on October 18, but returned few hours after the issuance of the presidential order.
Meanwhile, the international community severely criticized Musharraf for the declaration of emergency rule.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband he was 'gravely concerned by the measures' taken Saturday.
The United States would oppose any 'extra-constitutional measures' in Pakistan, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said late Saturday while flying from Istanbul to Tel Aviv. She emphasized that Pakistan must stay on 'the path of democracy and civilian rule.'
'Whatever happens, we will be urging a quick return to a constitutional order,' she said. 'We will be urging that the commitment to hold free and fair elections be kept, and we'll be urging calm on all the parties.'
Musharraf assured the Western powers in English that his 'struggle' for restoration of democracy through a peaceful transition would continue.
'Please do not demand and expect your level of civil rights, human rights, civil liberties, which you learned over the centuries. We are also trying to learn, and we are also doing very well. Please give us time,' he said, without saying much about his conflict with the Supreme Court.
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