Pakistani activists arrested after emergency rule imposed
Protesters shouted “Shame on You!” as baton-wielding police empowered by Pakistan’s state of emergency violently broke up a rally today and rounded up hundreds of opposition activists nationwide. The government said parliamentary elections could be delayed by up to a year, as it tries to stamp out a growing Islamic militant threat.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – joining a host of foreign governments expressing concern about Pakistan’s decision to suspend its constitution – said Washington was reviewing billions of dollars in aid to its close terrorism-fighting ally. Britain was also examining its aid package.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said up to 500 people had detained nationwide in the last 24 hours.
Among them were Javed Hashmi, the acting president of the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; cricket star-turned politician, Imran Khan; Asma Jehangir, chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; and Hamid Gul, former chief of the main intelligence agency and a staunch critic of President General Pervez Musharraf.
Around 200 police with assault rifles and sticks stormed the rights commission’s office in the eastern city of Lahore, breaking up a meeting and arresting about 50 members, said Mehbood Ahmed Khan, legal officer for the activists.
“They dragged us out, including the women,” he said from the police station. “It’s inhuman, undemocratic and a violation of human rights to enter a room and arrest people gathering peacefully there.”
Musharraf, a 1999 coup leader who had promised to hand over his army fatigues and become a civilian president this year, said he had to impose emergency rule to prevent the country from slipping into anarchy.
But critics say it was a last-ditch attempt to cling to power.
His leadership is threatened by an Islamic militant movement that has spread from border regions to the capital, the reemergence of political rival and former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, and an increasingly defiant Supreme Court, which was expected to rule soon on the validity of his recent presidential election win. Hearings scheduled for next week were postponed with no new date set.
Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum denied claims by Bhutto and others that Musharraf had imposed martial law – direct rule by the army – under the guise of a state of emergency. He noted the prime minister was still in place and that the legislature would complete its term next week.
Crucial parliamentary elections had been scheduled for January, but Prime Minister Aziz said at a press conference that the polls could be delayed by up to a year. Asked how long the extraordinary measures would be in place, he said, “as long as it is necessary”.
In Islamabad, phone service that was cut on Saturday evening appeared to have been restored by this morning. But television news networks other than state-controlled Pakistan TV remained off the air.
Scores of paramilitary troops blocked access to the Supreme Court and parliament. Otherwise streets in the capital appeared largely calm, with only a handful of demonstrations. But one, attended by 40 people at the Marriott Hotel, was broken up by baton-wielding police.
“Shame on you! Go Musharraf go!” the protesters shouted as officers dragged some out of the crowd and forced them to the ground. Eight were taken away in a van.
Others were apathetic. Standing at on a dusty street corner in Islamabad, Togul Khan, 38, said he didn’t care about the emergency declaration.
“What’s the point of talking about this,” said the day labourer, who was waiting to be hired for work. “For us, life stays the same, even when politicians throw Pakistan into the sky, spin it around and watch as it crashes back down to earth.”
Western allies had urged Musharraf not to take authoritarian measures despite his country’s recent political turmoil and violence.
Security forces are struggling to contain pro-Taliban and al Qaida-linked militants who have gained control of large tracts of the volatile north-west near Afghanistan. Violence has reached major cities with deadly suicide attacks in Islamabad and Karachi underscoring the failure of Musharraf’s administration to combat the threat.
The US has provided about 11 billion US dollars (£5.5 billion) to Pakistan since 2001, when Musharraf made a strategic shift to ally with the US after the September 11 attacks. Rice told reporters that Washington would review its aid in light of the new emergency measures, though the Pentagon earlier said the emergency rule would not affect its military support to the Muslim nation.
“Some of the aid that goes to Pakistan is directly related to the counterterrorism mission,” Rice told reporters travelling with her in the Middle East. “We just have to review the situation.”
A spokesman of Britain’s Foreign Office said it would also “consider the implications of the situation for our development and other programmes in Pakistan.”
Pakistan is scheduled to receive a total of £480 million pounds in assistance over the next three years, the Foreign Office said.
Musharraf, looking sombre and composed, said in his televised address late on Saturday that Pakistan was at a “dangerous” juncture, and that its government was threatened by Taliban and al-Qaida linked militants who have expanded their reach beyond traditional border areas to the capital and beyond.
He also blamed the Supreme Court for tying the hands of the government by postponing the validation of his recent election. The court was expected to rule soon on opponents’ claims that Musharraf’s October 6 victory was unconstitutional because he contested while army chief.
Bhutto, who narrowly escaped assassination in an October 18 suicide bombing that killed 145 others, scoffed at claims that Musharraf imposed the emergency measures to fight Islamic militants – even though Muslim insurgents were widely blamed for the attempt on her life.
“Many people in Pakistan believe that it has nothing to do with stopping terrorism, and it has everything to do with stopping a court verdict that was coming against him,” she told the weekend edition of ABC News’ “Good Morning America.”
Musharraf replaced the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who had emerged as the main check on the his power. Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawyer who represented the judge, also was arrested.
Musharraf’s emergency order suspended the 1973 constitution. Seven of the 17 Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the order, and only five agreed to take the oath of office under the new provisional constitution.
Musharraf issued two ordinances toughening media laws, including a ban on live broadcasts of “incidents of violence and conflict.” Also, TV operators who “ridicule” the president, armed forces, and other powerful state bodies face up to three years in jail.
