State of Emergency a coup? The Constitution is now suspended: is this an Army take-over? Though the Washington Post and others are saying President Musharraf is declaring a state of emergency, other sources are saying that Musharraf is not fully in charge here. It’s the Chief of Army Staff who declared the State of Emergency, not President Musharraf.
Events are moving fast in Pakistan. First it was the Red Mosque; last month it was an attempt on the life of candidate Bhutto. Now it’s a state of emergency has been declared.
Now comes news from Noblesse Oblige that the state of emergency is coming from the Chief of Army Staff. Coup-time anyone?
UPDATE: The Chief of Army Staff declared the state of emergency, not President Musharraf — this could be a Coup in the shaping; or it could be a ploy to get the court to finish the deliberations on the challenges prior to the November 15th date when Musharraf’s holding of two offices definitely becomes unconstitutional.
The Washington Post is reporting that Musharraf is still in charge and has declared the state of emergency, but other sources dispute this. From the Washington Post:
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule Saturday, suspending the constitution amid a heavy security presence including armored personnel carriers on the streets of the capital.
Read rest of story:
Pakistan State of Emergency A Coup?Â
Sources:
Pakistan State of Emergency A Coup?Â
Mondoreb blogs at Death By 1000 Papercuts. Interested readers can e-mail him at
mondoreb@gmail.com.
3 users commented in " Pakistan Declares State of Emergency: Is It a Coup? "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackMush is still in charge. It is being continuously reported locally as “Chief of Army Staff Presient Musharraf has declared emergency” followed by “President General Musharraf will address the nation sometime today” as if they were two different people. But it certainly is not an “emergency rule” as emergency is something that can be done constitutionally but suspending the constitution makes it MARTIAL LAW no matter how they rebrand it and the issuance of a PCO by Mush also confirms it to be so. A new CJ has already been sworn in by Mush so by all means it is imposition of martial law and hope everyone would call it that.
By the way has anyone ever heard of a ‘coup’ against one’s own government? Actually it is a coup against the judges and they are being blamed for hindering the war on terror by opposing disappearances, illegal detention, trying to establish the rule of law, punishing rogue cops, exposing the shameful acts of intelligence agencies, opposing corrupt practices, investigating ill-gotten gains of Mush and friends, opposing amnesty given by Mush to top criminals, etc.
This state of emergency is only meant to topple the top judges of supreme court of pakistan, specially cheif justice of pakistan justice iftikhar chaudry. The supreme court ruled against the goverment in one of the biggest corruptiuon cases of pakistan, arrests of innocent people by agencies etc.
nota: Yes Musharraf is in charge. At the time of the story, there were reports that the Army Chief of Staff, not Musharraf, had declared the state of emergency and some early reports were disputing who was in charge.
This was later clarified as more news emerged from Pakistan, where the major news outlets were shut down. Those early reports led to speculation. A ‘coup’ against one’s own government happens all the time: that’s why it’s a coup. The term “coup” was used here to denote that Musharraf might have been getting ousted by the Army.
Ali Butt: I agree.
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