State of Emergency in Pakistan

Earlier today President Musharaff of Pakistan declared a state of emergency and bloggers have been busy trying to get a handle of the latest political developments in Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, who left for Dubai is reportedly back in Pakistan. President Musharraf is expected to address the nation sometime soon. (It is 11.44 pm on Saturday at the time of writing this post.)

Manan Ahmed of Informed Comment, Global Affairs writes:

The move is hardly surprising considering the chaos engulfing Pakistan at the moment – from political (Supreme Court deliberations on the fate of the “election”) to military (the tribal/militant conflict has spread to Swat and Peshawar) to ideological (Baluchistan) to international (Rice has decided she wants democracy).

According to the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) declaring emergency, the steps were taken because of the recent terrorist attacks, the release of terror-suspects by the judiciary, the lack of oversight of the judiciary and the low morale of police and army in the nation. See the text here [pdf].

Free Pakistan blogspot has video clips about the current situation in Pakistan and here is a link about the army's invasion of Pakistan's supreme court.

Metroblogging Karachi has an account of how and when emergency was declared in Pakistan.

After binary-zero's instant reporting on private TV channels being taken off-air around the country amid speculations of emergency rule in the country, the rumour has been confirmed as true.

Even, the state media including Pakistan Television Network (PTV) has confirmed the news and has announced that General Musharraf will be adressing the nation sometime tonight.

Media and judiciary have been the first targets under emergency-rule as almost all major private channels still remain off-air and according to one TV channel, the army has entered the Supreme Court building.

14 comments

  • Hello,
    I hope this does not become marshall Law.
    View Video at: http://www.pakistannewsroom.com/

  • mujtaba Hussain

    Compromising with the terrorists is no option. Politicians have only known “How to compromise for their own self interests” and thats something we don’t want to happen. We stand behind President Musharraf.

  • hussain

    ast of musharaf is totally illegal.a general has no right to rule over country and suspend constitution.chief justice iftijhar ahmad chaudhrey is still and will be a constitutional chief justice ,a general who is illegal president cannot dismiss a chief justice.we people of pakistan condemn this act of martial law imposed by a dissmised general.we will strugle for restitution of constotution and supremacy of law and independence of judiciary.general will be punished as defined in constitution.

  • Rabia

    i say we snatch our country out of their hands. Its has gone too far. For how long will we sit idle and pass our comments? Did we ever get freedom in 1947? These appear to be the days of slavery, yet again. We thought Indians and Britishers were the only enemies. We have proved ourselves to be our worst enemies. SNathcing and eating each other’s flesh…our own leaders eating away our homeland…that was was the vision behind Pakistan, right?

  • jawad ali

    musharaf is doing all these things for his own,not a single move for pakistani nation.
    just one thing,who r militants?
    infact pakistan army created this race for afghan war.here i don,t blame west.bcs after the war,they hv provided enough money,to change the mentelity of that militant race.
    but pakistan just wasted that money,i shall blam pak army for this missuse,bcs they had that particular task.
    pak army use this militants in kashmir and for taliban government latar.
    and now when pakistan has taken a u turn ,they were not able to handle that race.
    its musharraf,s duty to educate them,through a mechanical way.
    but he fails totaly.
    and even started killing them,which is strange.
    what ever these militants do,is a diferent topic,but they don,t deserve this bcs we hv made this mind set for them.

    but musharaf just want himself to b prisedent forever.

    if situation remains as it is, v r giong to be iraq n afghanistan.

  • Rabia

    “are giong to be iraq n afghanistan”???

    NewsWeek’s front page says “Worlds Most dangerous nation is not Iraq. Its Pakistan”

  • Iqbal

    I do not know how deep the President Musharaf will go down to satisfy his lust for power. The worst is to give baseless logics to satisfy your unending hunger.

  • tahir amin

    It is time to put a stop to this child like so call politics that pakistan has become accustomed to – when will someone stand firm to the needs of pakistan and its people – not to line there own pockets – lam really upset with what has happened – i have a 14year old daugther who loves to go to pakistan – i what here to some day be proud of being a pakistani – but at the moment i feel ashamed – what more can i say

  • Utmankhel

    Benazir Bhutto and Maulana Fazlur Rehman are stabbing the Judiciary and the People of Pakistan in the back. Fazlur Rehman and Benazir Bhutto are the only political leaders who are raoming around and not arrested.

  • Ambreen

    It is a one man show of an army dictator. Nation is not allowed to hear and watch the truth. Actually our media persons and lawyers are doing a jihad. They are risking their lives for the sake of truth and justice without personal interest. We all should be proud of them. Now the government has banned most the private channels and arrested most of the lawyers and journalist because they are scared of the truth. They are claming that it is just propaganda of media because people are not coming out. How could they come out if the govt utilized every possible strength to stop unarmed people as well as they are also facing the threat of so called suicide bombing then how could the peaceful demonstration is possible? Are we in a state of war? Do we prepare ourselves for another war of independence?

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