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Why Did President Musharraf Declare Emergency?
By Anila Ali
Irvine, CA

General Musharraf’s re-election was about to be declared illegal. He was re-elected as president by the National and Provincial assemblies while he was commander-in-chief. Under the constitution of Pakistan, no one is allowed to hold two offices, commander-in-chief and president at the same time. Thus he suspended the constitution. The Supreme Court was about to declare his re-election illegal and so he sacked the Supreme Court judges. Declaring a state of emergency allowed him to sack the judges before they declared his rule illegal.
This is a very critical juncture for Pakistan. I don’t defend his decision, but I do believe that the president had very little choice. The economy that he had worked so hard to grow was reflecting indicators of a downturn, foreign investors had started holding back funds, the religious militants were reeking havoc with suicide bombings and killings of innocent people, his marriage with Benazir Bhutto didn’t lead to fruition and fizzled out during the courtship period, and the media started showing a certain “negativity” towards his rule and the future of Pakistan.
He had no choice. He had been pussyfooting with the Islamic militants in the anarchic tribal areas far too long to the point that they had sneaked into the beautiful tourist valley of Swat. Had he sued his might then, he may have saved his face around the world.
At this point, it’s crucial for the President to retain his army’s support. If he can maintain support, then he can get out of anything.

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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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