Pakistani TVs say Musharraf to declare emergency
By Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Private Pakistani television channels reported
on Wednesday that President Pervez Musharraf was preparing to declare a
state of emergency imminently, but government spokesmen denied there
were any such plans.
State-run Pakistan Television quoted official sources as saying the
reports were baseless and Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani
denied to Reuters that a meeting had been held to discuss the
imposition of an emergency, as rumors swept the country.
A member of the inner circle of the Pakistani leadership told
Reuters, however, that U.S. ally Musharraf was considering the option,
which could allow him to extend the tenure of the national and
provincial assemblies by 12 months and delay elections due by the turn
of the year.
The government could explain such a step by citing growing
insecurity because of the threat posed by Islamist militants allied to
the Taliban and al Qaeda after a series of attacks, many of them by
suicide bombers, in the past month.
Political analysts and opposition leaders, however, have feared that
Musharraf, who is going through his weakest period since coming to
power in a 1999 coup, might resort to an emergency because of
difficulties he faces in getting re-elected by the sitting assemblies,
while still army chief.
“Both internal and external threats are such that you cannot rule
out anything. At the moment there is no emergency. We have said that
options are available with the government,” Deputy Information Minister
Tariq Azim Khan told Geo TV, one of the channels reporting that the
measure would be announced soon.
The United States has put Musharraf under pressure to act against al
Qaeda nests in hostile tribal regions on the Afghan border, such as
North Waziristan.
Western countries with troops in Afghanistan are sensitive to any
instability in nuclear-armed Pakistan, whose help is crucial to
fighting the Taliban insurgency and in counter-terrorism operations
against al Qaeda.
SHORT OF SUPPORT
A not-so-secret meeting in Abu Dhabi in late July with former Prime
Minister Benazir Bhutto, leader of the largest opposition party, to try
to agree terms for power sharing was indicative of how desperate
Musharraf’s position had become.
Musharraf wants to be re-elected in uniform between mid-September
and mid-October before national and provincial assemblies are dissolved
for parliamentary elections due in December or January.
Although Musharraf can command the simple majority needed to win
re-election in the assemblies, he is likely to face multiple
constitutional challenges.
The Supreme Court’s decision on July 20 to reinstate a chief justice
Musharraf had spent four months trying to sack heightened expectations
that those challenges could well be upheld.
Musharraf would need a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly
to change the constitution, and avoid challenges in the Supreme Court,
but for that he would need Bhutto’s help.
She wants Musharraf to quit the army and guarantee free and fair elections before she will countenance any deal.
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