Musharraf's target is independent judiciary

Pakistan on the brink

This article points out that it is the judiciary that Musharaff is targetting for the most part. Note that it was lawyers who were at the forefront of protests.


Astute observers will recognize that the real target of Musharraf's emergency measures is Pakistan's independent judiciary. He also makes what seems to be a correct observation that western governments have not made demands to re-instate the chief justice. Musharaff probably intended to pre-empt the justice's decision that the election of Musharaff was invalid as long as he was army chief.



>by Mohammed Khan
November 12, 2007


The pretext for the recent declaration of a state of emergency by Pakistani President/General Pervez Musharraf was curbing lawlessness and violence by Islamist militants.

Astute observers, however, will recognize that the real target of Musharraf's emergency measures is Pakistan's independent judiciary.

It is heartening that Western governments have at least mildly rebuked the General and called on him to hasten the return to democracy, and relinquish his role as Army Chief. Yet at the end of the day, no Western government is explicitly calling for the reinstatement of the sacked judges of the Pakistani Supreme Court, including the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, who remain under house arrest. It is only the lawyers and judges of Pakistan that have forcefully put forward this demand.

It is important to examine why this is the case. Who benefits from this arrangement? Why should we care? To be sure, Pakistan's independent minded judiciary, with its increasingly brazen Chief Justice, has been a thorn in the government's side.

Let's take a moment to chronicle their alleged misdemeanours.

Strike 1: Standing up for public accountability. In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled against the government in the case of the controversial sale of the state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills to a business group with links to the current Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Indeed, it is common knowledge that Pakistani politicians have and continue to use their positions in a questionable manner when it comes to the privatization of state enterprises and in the public procurement process. By contrast, Pakistan's judiciary in recent years has served as the main institutional bulwark against rampant corruption amongst public officials. The generally weak public oversight is part of the reason why Transparency International has consistently listed Pakistan high on its Global Corruption Index.

Incidentally, many suspect that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Zardari, also made hefty commissions off government contracts and tenders during their terms in office. Mr. Zardari's is more commonly known in Pakistan as "Mr. Ten Percent," a reference to the 10% commission he is alleged to have extorted from various businesses during his time in the Pakistan People's Party government.

Court cases initiated by the Pakistani government against Mr. Zardari are still pending in the United Kingdom. Criminal investigations are ongoing in Poland, France and the Middle East. But a conviction has already been rendered against the couple on money laundering charges in Switzerland. Were it not for the amnesty granted her by Musharraf as part of the power-sharing deal brokered by the Anglo-American alliance, Ms. Bhutto would herself be before the Pakistani courts facing corruption charges. Given that a legal challenge of this grant of amnesty was forthcoming, it is no wonder that Ms. Bhutto has been conspicuously silent on the question of reinstating the fired judges. If re-elected, Ms. Bhutto stands to once again benefit handsomely from the weak public oversight that comes with a compliant judiciary.

Strike 2: Standing up for the principle of habeas corpus. Since his reinstatement in July, Justice Chaudhry has called on the Director-General of Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency, Tariq Pervez, to produce before the court ghost detainee Hafiz Abdul Basit. When Mr. Pervez alleged that Mr. Basit went off to fight jihad in Afghanistan, Justice Chaudhry threatened to throw him in jail if the detainee was not produced immediately.

Needless to say, this exercise was embarrassing for the government. No wonder Musharraf told foreign ambassadors following the declaration of emergency that he had no choice but to take decisive steps against a court system that limited his powers and "paralyzed various organs of the state and created impediments in the fight against terrorism."

Yet balancing the competing interests of security and human rights is precisely the role of the courts, especially when law enforcement and intelligence agencies run afoul of constitutional protections.

Strike 3: Standing up for the separation of powers. The straw that broke the camel's back was the Supreme Court's review of the legality of President Musharraf's recent re-election while still holding onto his uniform as head of Pakistan's Armed Forces. Many insiders suspected that the outcome of this review was going to be unfavourable for Musharraf, hence the timing of the emergency declaration and the unwarranted charge of judicial activism.

Justice Chaudhry's more recent call on the Pakistani lawyers and judges to oppose the police and defy the declaration of emergency rule might be characterized as overstepping the bounds of judicial restraint. But, given the circumstances, he may be forgiven.

The reality is that Musharraf is unwilling to relinquish power. And if this means orchestrating an emergency in order to re-stack the judiciary in his favour, so be it. To hell with lofty concepts such as the rule of law!

Now just imagine if Prime Minister Harper had demanded that the judges of our Supreme Court take an oath of allegiance to him as a condition of their appointment, as President Musharraf has just done with the remaining four Pakistani Supreme Court justices, after dismissing the seven non-compliant ones. We would be up in arms, and rightly so.

In the end, it is a virtual certainty that the new hand picked Supreme Court bench will rubber stamp Musharraf's recent re-election. The General has indicated that once his re-election is confirmed, he intends to remove his uniform.

In times like these, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry. What we can say with confidence is that in the absence of an independent judiciary to hear cases of illegal interference with the election process, the credibility of the February elections will be questionable. That is assuming the elections are not postponed under yet another fabricated pretext.

Mohammed Khan has a M.A. in History & South Asian Studies, and is currently a LL.B. Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School

Pakistan says to hold election by January

Apparently Musharaff changed his mind after the US complained about the election being postponed. So far Bhutto and her supporters are not being arrested. It remains to be seen if this will last. Bhutto has claimed that she may have her supporters join demonstrations.


Pakistan says to hold election by January
Mon Nov 5, 2007 6:07 PM EST



By Kamran Haider and Augustine Anthony

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan said it would hold a national election by mid-January and President Pervez Musharraf pledged to quit the military after criticism from the United States for imposing emergency rule.

Musharraf has detained hundreds of lawyers and opposition politicians since taking emergency powers on Saturday, a move seen as designed to pre-empt a Supreme Court ruling on his re-election as president last month.

U.S. President George W. Bush, who values Musharraf as an ally in his battle against al Qaeda and the Taliban, urged Pakistan's president to lift the state of emergency, hold elections and quit his military post.

Police used teargas against stone-throwing lawyers in the eastern city of Lahore, and wielded batons to break up another protest by dozens outside the High Court in Karachi.

It had been unclear whether parliamentary elections would go ahead in January as scheduled.

But Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum told Reuters there would be no delay and national and provincial assemblies would be dissolved by November 15 ahead of the vote that is supposed to transform Pakistan into a civilian-led democracy.

There was no indication of when Musharraf would lift emergency rule, which he justified by citing a hostile judiciary and rising militancy. However he said on Monday he planned to give up his military role in nuclear-armed Pakistan.

"I am determined to execute this third stage of transition fully and I'm determined to remove my uniform once we correct these pillars in judiciary and the executive and the parliament," he said on state-run Pakistan Television.

Musharraf, who seized power in 1999 and had been waiting for the Supreme Court to decide if his re-election as president while still army chief was valid, had to dismiss rumors sweeping the country that he had been put under house arrest.

"WE WANT A FREE ELECTION"

Since Pakistan was formed in 1947 by the partition of India after British colonial rule, it has reeled from one crisis to another and spent half its 60 years ruled by generals.

Security has deteriorated since July, when commandos stormed Islamabad's Red Mosque to crush an armed Islamist movement. Since then nearly 800 people have been killed in militant-linked violence, half of them by suicide attacks.

The United States has put future aid to Pakistan under review, having provided $10 billion in the past five years, and postponed defense talks with Pakistan due this week.

"We expect there to be elections as soon as possible and that the president should remove his military uniform," Bush said in Washington.

But softening his remarks, Bush said Musharraf "has been a strong fighter against extremists and radicals ... After all they tried to kill him three or four times."

In Islamabad, several hundred lawyers, chanting "Go Musharraf Go!" and "The dictator is unacceptable!," protested outside courts until police broke them up by force.

Several judges were held incommunicado at their homes after refusing to back emergency rule. Among them was dismissed chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who became a symbol of resistance to Musharraf's rule after defying pressure to quit in March.

"It is the duty of all citizens of the country and lawyers in particular to continue their struggle for the supremacy of the constitution, rule of law, independence of judiciary and real democracy," Chaudhry said in a statement.

There have also been mass detentions of political activists.

(Additional reporting by Sahar Ahmed, Ovais Subhani in Karachi, Zeeshan Haider, Kamran Haider and Sheree Sardar in Islamabad)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

© Reuters 2007.

Musharaff fires top judge, Bhutto back

Bhutto is certainly one brave lady whatever else you might say about her. She could have stayed safe in Dubai. In fact I thought that she went there knowing what was going to happen but I guess not. It is significant though that she has not been arrested yet but some other opposition politicians have been. Maybe she will still be able to make some sort of deal with Musharaff along with other politicians.
I just hope there is not a lot more violence but it could very well be heading in that direction.

Opposition politicians, lawyers rounded up in Pakistan: report
President says judiciary was interfering with his fight against militants
Last Updated: Saturday, November 3, 2007 | 9:11 PM ET
CBC News
Pakistani police arrested opposition politicians, including the leader of exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party, as part a crackdown following President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's declaration of a state of emergency, Reuters reported Sunday.


In a move that sparked outcries from political opponents and the international community on Saturday, Musharraf also replaced the chief justice of the country's Supreme Court and had authorities round up opposition figues, cut phone lines in the capital Islamabad and took all but state television off the air.

The order effectively suspends the country's constitution before a crucial Supreme Court ruling on Musharraf's future as president. The high court has been hearing constitutional arguments against his re-election last month.

In September, Sharif was deported only hours after he returned to his home country after seven years of exile after being ousted by Musharraf in a 1999 coup.



"Musharraf's days are numbered. Time has come to end the political role of the army," Reuters quoted Javed Hashmi, acting president of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League, as telling reporters before being whisked away by police in the central city of Multan.

In a national address Saturday, Musharraf insisted his actions were necessary to curb a rise in extremism in Pakistan, as well as judicial paralysis.

"I suspect that Pakistan's sovereignty is in danger unless timely action is taken," said Musharraf, who was wearing civilian clothes and spoke firmly and calmly.

"Pakistan is on the verge of destabilization … Inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan and I cannot allow this country to commit suicide."

Musharraf 'turning the clock back': Bhutto
In an interview with CBC News late Saturday from Karachi, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto accused Musharraf of taking Pakistan away from democracy and "turning the clock back towards dictatorship."

"If you really want to get rid of extremism, you have to get rid of dictatorship," Bhutto said. "It's an unfortunate day in our country's history."

Bhutto, who was in Dubai when Musharraf issued the order, recently ended eight years in exile and has been in talks with Musharraf's camp about countering Islamic extremism by coming together to form a possible pro-Western alliance after parliamentary elections, which were slated for January.

It is not known whether the state of emergency will delay or cancel the elections.

Another opposition politician, former cricketer Imran Khan, told the BBC he had been placed under house arrest.

Bhutto, who held a press conference at her residence in Karachi after her arrival in Pakistan, said she would hold talks with other opposition parties to "build the domestic pressure" against Musharraf to reverse the decision and hold the elections on schedule.

Measures take Pakistan 'away from path of democracy': Rice
The order also drew swift complaints from the United States and Britain — Musharraf's main Western allies.

"The U.S. has made clear it does not support extraconstitutional measures because those measures take Pakistan away from the path of democracy and civilian rule," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

However, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Musharraf's declaration does not affect U.S. military support of Pakistan, which Morrell called "a very important ally in the war on terror."

Meanwhile, Ottawa officially condemned the crackdown urged its government to reinstate judges and allow free elections.

In a statement released Saturday, Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier called for all sides to refrain from violence and respect human rights. The Foreign Affairs Department also issued an official travel warning advising Canadians against all travel to Pakistan.



Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, seen here at a news conference Saturday at her residence in Karachi, condemned the measures.
(Associated Press)
Seven of the 18 Supreme Court judges immediately condemned the emergency measures.

"Under the constitutional order, judges will have to swear allegiance to the emergency powers," freelance journalist Graham Usher told CBC News. "Any judge who does not do that can be dismissed."

Justice Hameed Dogar replaced Iftekhar Chaudhry as the country's chief justice. Musharraf tried to remove Chaudhry from the bench in March over alleged abuse of authority, but the court declared the suspension illegal and reinstated him in July after a series of street protests.

Chaudhry has been outspoken in defending the independence of the judiciary.

With files from the Associated Press