Musharraf Tightens Control Over Pakistan
I’ve been watching too many disaster/alien movies (Transformers, War of the Worlds, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow) tonight and its 2am, so this is brief:
The NYT is reporting that Musharraf is refusing to give an end date to the state of emergency, and it appears it will go through the elections. Complicating matters is, of course, our noble leader:
Speaking one day after President George W. Bush said Musharraf was the best president for Pakistan, the general said the emergency decree was justified by the need to fight terrorism, and would “ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections.”
Bush said Saturday that he supported Musharraf because “we share a common goal” in the fight against Al Qaeda, an endorsement the general appeared to use to his advantage Sunday as he justified his extrajudicial measures.
“I cannot give a date,” Musharraf said when asked directly about the lifting of the emergency decree, under which several thousand civilians have been jailed, the Constitution suspended and the Supreme Court scrapped. “We are in a difficult situation, therefore I cannot give a date.”
“The emergency reinforces the war on terror,” he said.
The NYT article mentions the other major factor, but this AP story in the Tribune covers it better. Military courts are going to be used to try civilians.
It would allow military courts to try people accused of treason, sedition, or “giving statements conducive to public mischief.”
I know it’s just that I’ve watched four movies today in which the military has to order people around and authoritarian measures are used… but Bush de facto supporting these measures? This is all starting to sound a little too New World Order to me.
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