Pak may face suspension from Commonwealth
London (PTI): The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group is meeting here on Monday in an emergency session to consider suspension of Pakistan for the second time from the 53-member body in the light of President Pervez Musharraf's decision to impose emergency in the country.
President Musharraf's decision to suspend the constitution before a court ruling on the legality of his re-election came only three weeks before a meeting of the nine Commonwealth Foreign Ministers in the action group in Uganda, which is now expected to be dominated by Pakistan's membership.
According to sources, Tanzania could insist on the summit to suspend Pakistan for the second time in less than a decade over its commitment to democracy. Pakistan was suspended in 1999 after Gen Musharraf overthrew Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a bloodless coup.
African states, which have been warned against staging military coups, feel strongly that they were duped by Britain into allowing Pakistan back into the commonwealth in 2004 with a promise from Gen Musharraf that he would shed his uniform.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, an NGO, has also been campaigning for the suspension of Pakistan. In a statement it said things have gone "very wrong in Pakistan" and its journey towards democracy was further derailed when Musharraf declared a state of emergency that suspended the Constitution, sacked members of the Supreme Court and suppressed all dissent across the country.
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