Don’t
Let Musharraf Live With
What He Has Just Done
By Abid Ullah Jan
04 November, 2007
Countercurrents.org
The
situation in Pakistan has been tense for months for a number of reasons:
the illegal steps by General Musharraf to grant amnesty to Benazir Bhutto
to return to Pakistan despite charges of corruption, the decreasing
popularity of the military regime, fall of Pakistan’s mercenary
forces in the eyes of general public, bloody adventures in Waziristan
and lately in Swat in a bid to curry favours with Washington and the
battle with Pakistan's judiciary are just some of the headaches that
the South Asian country were facing.
On Saturday, those complications
came to a head as dictator Musharraf announced that he'd be imposing
martial law. Pakistani television and Reuters are reporting that the
constitution has been suspended. The move was rejected by members of
the Supreme Court, including Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Mr. Chaudhry
has had a long history of opposing Mr. Musharraf.
The military regime has now
removed Mr. Chaudhry and appointed Mr. Dogar as the Chief Justice of
Pakistan. In the PCO, the military regime has specifically accused the
Supreme Court of becoming a hurdle in the way of the war on terror.
These allegations is the only way, it can sell martial law to the outside
world. Dr. Shahid Iqbal reported on Geo TV that officials of the military
government were already visiting and meeting officials of the Western
embassies, telling them that the Supreme Court is undermining the regime's
efforts in the "war on terror." It is important to note that
just last week the Supreme Court told the military regime to release
all the illegally detained persons by the 13th of November 2007.
This shows that the US-led
war of terror needs the Supreme Court to submit to the will of a dictatorial
regime and let the intelligence agencies detain and torture their fellow
citizen’s indefinitely without charging them.
The Musharraf’s declaration
of emergency also coincides with the US military exercises in the Gulf
and Condoleezza Rice visit to China. May be the US could not afford
a civilian government setting in Pakistan when it goes to war on Iran.
So, the imposition of emergency
in Pakistan is directed at the Supreme Court in particular and serving
the US interests in the region in general.
In his speech to the nation,
Musharraf tried to lump judiciary with “extremism” in the
country, as if the Supreme Court was responsible for all that was happening
in the country. He alleged that the Supreme Court released 61 terrorists.
It is interesting that he is lumping these two, totally separate issues
together. As far the Supreme Court’s decisions are concerned,
the court asked the government if it had any case against people who
were detained for the past many years. The regime responded that it
has no charges. So the Court had no option for to order them released.
Other than that, the court had yet to decide about the fate of the General
but an insider informed him that the decision is going to be against
his “re-election,” which forced the General into taking
this rash decision of teaching the judges a lesson in submission.
In short the dictators told
a new round of lies to the nation and expect everyone to accept arrest
of the judges, top lawyers, political leaders, dismissal of the superior
judges, removal of the Supreme Court Registrar, taking TV channels off
air, ransacking Aaaj TV station and confiscating broadcasting equipment
– all in the name of democracy through General Pervez Musharraf.
All criticism of Musharraf’s
declaring an emergency in the Western circles will be utterly meaningless
if Musharraf is left to live with the changes he has made under the
cover of emergency declared on Nov 3, 2007.
His removal of the judges
of the Supreme Court in particular need not be ignored at any cost.
This is what he wanted to avoid a legal decision on his illegitimate
and unconstitutional act of "electing" himself to the position
of president.
Musharraf might get away
with it by holding elections and allowing new assemblies to take oath,
removing his uniform and lifting the emergency. However, in the process
the Supreme Court judges would be gone, who were going to decide if
his actions were constitutional thus far and if he was eligible to rule
for another five years. The criminal acts undertaken under the cover
of emergency rule must not be considered legitimate.
The Court had already declared
the imposition of recent emergency void. It had decided to further discuss
it on Monday November the 5th. One dictator must not be allowed to single
headedly go against the superior court of the country and toss around
the judges and registrar like toys. Pakistan is not his personal property
that he should play around with its institutions like this. This abuse
of power must not be accepted.
Abid Ullah Jan is the author of seven books on international
affairs, including: “The Ultimate Tragedy: Colonialists Rushing
to Global War to Save the Crumbling Empire,”“Afghansitan:
The Genesis of the Final Crusade,”“The Musharraf Factor:
Leading Pakistan to its inevitable demise,”“From BCCI to
ISI: The Saga of Entrapment Continues” and “After Fascism:
Muslims and the Struggle for Self-Determination.”
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