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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