Pakistan's military chief has named himself the country's leader, defying international pressure to restore democratic rule after the army toppled the civilian government.
Correspondents say that although the official announcement does not say it in so many words, for practical purposes this marks the declaration of martial law in Pakistan.
The declaration of a state of emergency came in the early hours of Friday morning. At the same time, General Pervez Musharraf assumed the position of the country's chief executive.
Here's an article from today:
Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has declared emergency rule and suspended the country's constitution.
Troops have been deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations, while independent channels have gone off air.Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who condemned the moves, has reportedly been sacked and is being confined to the Supreme Court with 10 other judges.
It comes as the court was due to rule on the legality of Gen Musharraf's re-election victory in October
Sound familiar? President Musharraf seems to be a man prone to hijacking the government whenever things aren't going his way. Our Secretary of State has been trying to prevent this move (http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/03/pakistan.emergency/index.html?iref=newssearch); what, you can't stave it off at home, so you promote democracy vicariously through other world leaders?
Our own President Bush has noted the advantages of dictatorship: "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it" (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/g/george_w_bush.html); I just hope he's not getting any ideas from this...
I am so relieved that, for the most part, our own Constitution has protected us from such abuses of power. We, too, are in a precarious state, and at times Congress and the Supreme Court are all that stand between our version of democracy and a pure dictatorship.
Congress? The current Supreme Court? Ok, now I'm getting worried...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment