Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency on Saturday, sacking the nation’s top judge and accusing the judiciary and Islamic militants of destabilising the nuclear-armed nation, writes Channel NewsAsia.
Troops and police poured into Islamabad and surrounded the Supreme Court, which had been due in coming days to give a verdict on the legality of military ruler Musharraf’s victory in an October 6th presidential election.
All land and mobile telephone lines were severed shortly after the declaration, while private television channels went off air. Some communications were later restored.
DOMSTOL DET EGENTLIGE MÅL
Musharraf’s first step after announcing the emergency was to replace outspoken chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, a thorn in his side since the general first tried to sack him in March.
The Supreme Court ordered the suspension of emergency rule but the government rejected the move. Private TV channels said the new chief justice, Hameed Dogar, overturned the judegment.
Musharraf has been at loggerheads with the Supreme Court and the media since his botched bid to sack Chaudhry. He was reinstated in July and has since issued several damaging rulings against the government.
The Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that the official result of the October presidential vote, in which Musharraf won another five-year term, cannot be declared until it rules whether the vote was legal.
APPEL OM FORSTÅELSE
The White House led international condemnation of the move to invoke emergency rule and suspend the constitution. But Musharraf, a key US ally against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, said he had no choice.
– Inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan and I cannot allow this country to commit suicide, Musharraf, who seized power in a coup in 1999, said in a late-night television address to the nation.
Musharraf asked the world and his western allies to accept his decision, adding:
– Kindly understand the criticality of the situation in Pakistan… Pakistan is on the verge of destabilisation.
– The government system, in my view, is in semi-paralysis. All government functionaries are being insulted by the courts, that is why they are unable to take any action, he said.
– Terrorism and extremism are at their peak, Musharraf added, citing recent attacks including one in Karachi at Bhutto’s homecoming from exile on October 18 that killed 139 people.
BHUTTO HURTIGT HJEM
Former premier Benazir Bhutto rushed home from Dubai soon after the announcement and was showered with rose petals by supporters. She warned that the country was slipping back towards dictatorship.
– This is not emergency, this is martial law and the people of Pakistan will protest against it, Bhutto said at a news conference in Karachi.
The move could wreck attempts to forge a power-sharing deal with Bhutto and also jeopardises general elections due in January that were meant to lead the nation of 160 million people back to a civilian democracy.
FRYGT FOR SKÆRPET KONFLIKT
The emergency declaration raised fears that militants may step up their campaign against Musharraf following a series of major suicide attacks in revenge for a government raid in July on Islamabad’s radical Red Mosque.
Red.: Udenrigsministeriet indskærper at rejser til Pakistan, som ikke er nødvendige, frarådes.
Se ministeriets rejsevejledning:
http://www.um.dk/CMS.Web/Misc/Goto.aspx?sc=5992803d-e858-4496-95df-e097d754c6c2
