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.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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