Pakistani Americans Condemn
Emergency
Washington,
DC: The Pakistan American Democratic Forum (PADF), an organization
founded in 1982 to support pursuit of democracy in Pakistan,
has strongly condemned Gen Musharraf’s imposition of
emergency. The PADF has demanded immediate restoration of
the 1973 Constitution status quo ante October 12, 1999 as
well as restoration of the Supreme Court of Pakistan status
quo ante Nov 2, 2007.
“After showing contemptuous disregard for the Constitution,
the Musharraf regime has now brazenly disbanded the duly constituted
Supreme Court of Pakistan apparently to escape an unfavorable
verdict,” said PADF President Dr. Mohammad Ashraf.
“We salute Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
and his esteemed colleague for their courage of conviction.
They have restored the dignity of the Pakistani judiciary
and the civil society will continue build on their sacrifices”,
former PADF Chairman Dr. Agha Saeed said.
“This emergency will only lead to more chaos in the
country, says Asian-American Network Against Abuse of human
rights, in a statement issued in Washington. “We strongly
condemn these illegal steps and issuance of the new PCO,”
said the group which is dominated by Pakistani-American physicians.
“With extremism rising in FATA and NWFP, it is important
that the military returns to barracks, free and fair elections
are held and the mandate of the people is restored.”
Munawar Laghari, Executive Director World Sindhi Institute,
urged all democratic countries to disassociate themselves
from the Musharraf regime and side with the people of Pakistan.
Aziz Narejo, President Sindhi Association of North America,
said the declaration of emergency was “illegal and unconstitutional”
and urged the international community to oppose it.
Shuja Nawaz, a political analyst and brother of former army
chief Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua who has written a book on the
Pakistan army, told the Post that the imposition of emergency
was “a huge step backward” for Pakistan. “If
this was solely aimed at fighting the terrorists, there would
be no need to replace judges.”
“We all were hoping they were going to have a fair election,
but suddenly I don’t know,” Shaista Mahmood told
the Post. She and her husband, businessman Ray Mahmood, are
active in American politics and played a key role in arranging
former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s meetings with
US lawmakers when she visited Washington in Ramadan. Mr Mahmood
said they hoped Gen Musharraf would now be able to do more
to stop the increase in terrorist attacks. “In fairness
to the president, I’m sure he did this because there
have been a lot of suicide bombings in Pakistan,” Ray
Mahmood said. “Maybe he did it to get things under control
and then he’ll hold an election.”
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