In a desperate bid to stay in power, General Pervez Musharraf staged
a coup against the rule of law in Pakistan in November this year. His
declaration of martial law, suspension of the constitution and basic
rights was aimed at overthrowing Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
Faced with choice of being president and being bound by the
constitution or chief of the army and ruling by diktat, Musharraf
chose khaki and force. His coup announcement is titled “Proclamation
of Emergency declared by Chief of the Army Staff General Pervez
Musharraf” and ends “I hereby order and proclaim that the
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan shall remain in
abeyance.”
Musharraf’s proclamation is a litany of complaints about the courts.
The Supreme Court was the only branch of government Musharraf and
the army did not control. In the eight years since his October 1999
seizure of power, Musharraf has rigged parliamentary elections to give
himself a majority, hand-picked his prime minister, and replaced many
senior generals. His control, and through him that of the army
leadership, over government and the state was nearly complete. But
none of this was enough to give him either the unchecked power or the
legitimacy that he wanted.
No comments:
Post a Comment