Musharraf steps back from declaring emergency
Friday, 10 August 2007
ISLAMABAD, Aug 9 (Agencies): Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf, facing the biggest test to his eight-year military rule, won't declare a state of emergency to quell unrest because he wants to hold national elections next year, the Information Minister said. "The challenges of terrorist attacks are there but the president thinks the present situation does not call for imposing emergency," Mohammad Ali Durrani said in a phone interview from the capital, Islamabad, today.
"Musharraf said he doesn't want to disrupt the political process."
Earlier report adds, political turmoil in Pakistan deepened Thursday when the government raised the possibility that embattled President might impose a state of emergency, drawing condemnation that doing so would be a desperate bid to hold onto power.
Tariq Azim, the minister for state information, said a state of emergency could not be ruled out because of "external and internal threats" and deteriorating security in Pakistan's volatile northwest near the Afghan border.
Report from Washington adds, President George W. Bush on Thursday urged Pakistan President Musharraf to hold free and fair elections as he struggles to hold on to power.
"My focus in terms of the domestic scene there is that he have a free and fair election, and that's what we've been talking to him about and hopeful they will," Bush said at a White House news conference.
A key ally of President George W. Bush, the 63-year-old Pakistani leader faces dwindling support in the US, where Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he would consider sending in American troops if Musharraf didn't to take a tougher line against al-Qaeda.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam party did not suggest imposition of emergency rule, Durrani said, without identifying who made the suggestion to the president.
Musharraf, a key ally in Washington's fight against terrorism, has suffered dwindling support in his country and his standing has been badly shaken by a failed bid to oust the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry - an independent-minded judge likely to rule on expected legal challenges to Musharraf's bid to seek a new five-year presidential term.
Political analyst Talat Masood said that if Musharraf imposed a state of emergency it would be an act of desperation that would doubtless be challenged in the courts, and could trigger a public backlash against the president.
Pakistan's opposition parties have demanded Musharraf quit as president and army chief and restore full civilian rule in the country, while the religious parties oppose his support for the global war against terrorism.
Under Pakistan's 1971 constitution, the president can suspend legal and parliamentary rules if "the security of Pakistan, or any part thereof, is threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond the power of a Provincial Government to control."
Pakistan's Supreme Court told the government's chief lawyer today to respond to a petition by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who wants to return from exile in London. The government should prepare its response by Aug. 16 when the next hearing will be held, according to a court order read out by the top judge in the Supreme Court in Islamabad.
Sharif, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999, was convicted of corruption and treason after he was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup eight years ago and sentenced to life imprisonment. Musharraf pardoned him in 2000 under an agreement in which Sharif, 57, agreed to go into exile for 10 years. The former premier, who lives in London, denies there was an agreement.
"Musharraf said he doesn't want to disrupt the political process."
Earlier report adds, political turmoil in Pakistan deepened Thursday when the government raised the possibility that embattled President might impose a state of emergency, drawing condemnation that doing so would be a desperate bid to hold onto power.
Tariq Azim, the minister for state information, said a state of emergency could not be ruled out because of "external and internal threats" and deteriorating security in Pakistan's volatile northwest near the Afghan border.
Report from Washington adds, President George W. Bush on Thursday urged Pakistan President Musharraf to hold free and fair elections as he struggles to hold on to power.
"My focus in terms of the domestic scene there is that he have a free and fair election, and that's what we've been talking to him about and hopeful they will," Bush said at a White House news conference.
A key ally of President George W. Bush, the 63-year-old Pakistani leader faces dwindling support in the US, where Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he would consider sending in American troops if Musharraf didn't to take a tougher line against al-Qaeda.
The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-i-Azam party did not suggest imposition of emergency rule, Durrani said, without identifying who made the suggestion to the president.
Musharraf, a key ally in Washington's fight against terrorism, has suffered dwindling support in his country and his standing has been badly shaken by a failed bid to oust the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry - an independent-minded judge likely to rule on expected legal challenges to Musharraf's bid to seek a new five-year presidential term.
Political analyst Talat Masood said that if Musharraf imposed a state of emergency it would be an act of desperation that would doubtless be challenged in the courts, and could trigger a public backlash against the president.
Pakistan's opposition parties have demanded Musharraf quit as president and army chief and restore full civilian rule in the country, while the religious parties oppose his support for the global war against terrorism.
Under Pakistan's 1971 constitution, the president can suspend legal and parliamentary rules if "the security of Pakistan, or any part thereof, is threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond the power of a Provincial Government to control."
Pakistan's Supreme Court told the government's chief lawyer today to respond to a petition by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who wants to return from exile in London. The government should prepare its response by Aug. 16 when the next hearing will be held, according to a court order read out by the top judge in the Supreme Court in Islamabad.
Sharif, who was prime minister from 1990 to 1993 and 1997 to 1999, was convicted of corruption and treason after he was ousted by Musharraf in a military coup eight years ago and sentenced to life imprisonment. Musharraf pardoned him in 2000 under an agreement in which Sharif, 57, agreed to go into exile for 10 years. The former premier, who lives in London, denies there was an agreement.