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Darkness in Pakistan

The imposition of an Emergency and the suspension of the Constitution by President Pervez Musharraf, signalling a return to direct military rule has plunged Pakistan into one of its darkest phases ever. The mass detentions of activists and lawyers, the clampdown on the Pakistani media, forbidden to express any opinion “prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan” or its “integrity”, and the summary removal of the feisty Chief Justice of the Supreme Cour t Iftikar Chaudhary who had been spiritedly resisting the attempts to curb the independence of the judiciary, are chilling signs that the dreaded days of military rule are back. The general has now been revealed in his true colours as a ruthless military dictator, in the mould of Zia-ul-Huq and all his dismal predecessors who had kept Pakistan in a state of permanent Army rule. Prominent figures in the movement for democracy were rounded up, such as the eminent lawyer, Aitzaz Ahsan, cricket hero and politician Imran Khan, human rights activist Asma Jehangir, and Javed Hashmi the acting head of Nawaz Sharif’s party, the Pakistan Muslim League(N). Another dictatorial act swiftly following the declaration of Emergency on Saturday night was the cancellation by the new Chief Justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar, of all the cases being heard by the Supreme Court including the legal challenges to General Musharraf’s re-election in uniform. The new martial law regime has placed seven of the Supreme Court judges, including Justice Chaudhary under house arrest, dealing a deathblow to Pakistan’s fragile institutional structure.

If there had been an attempt by General Musharraf to sugar-coat the intention underlying the October 1999 coup in claims such as that the overthrow of Nawaz Sharif’s civilian democratic government was only a precursor to installing “genuine democracy,” this time, the cold-blooded calculations are there for all to see. Pre-empting a possible refusal by the Supreme Court to validate the results of the evidently tainted presidential election which had given him an overwhelming victory and possibly apprehending the growing credibility of the movement for civilian democracy, especially since the return of the Pakistan People’s Party leader, Benazir Bhutto, General Musharraf decided this was the time to strike. The general has attempted to justify his imposition of Emergency by arguing that judicial intervention had led to a paralysis in civil administration even as Pakistan was “on the verge of destabilisation” because of rising militancy and extremism. Such excuses ring hollow especially when it is so powerfully evident that the restoration of democracy and civilian rule in Pakistan which is an urgent imperative in this moment of crisis would represent the best possible insurance against the forces of extremism and terrorism. Ms Bhutto who has returned to Karachi now has a historic responsibility to lead the resistance to this sordid betrayal of her country by the deeply discredited general. There are heartening signs that the people of Pakistan are unwilling to be silenced by the guns of the martial law regime and it could well be that this is only a darkness before the dawn.

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