heating up !!
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Political Turmoil in Pakistan Deepens
Aug 9, 6:26 AM (ET)
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Political turmoil in Pakistan deepened Thursday when the government raised the possibility that embattled President Gen. Pervez Musharraf might impose a state of emergency, drawing condemnation that doing so would be a desperate bid to hold onto power.
Tariq Azim, the minister for state information, said a state of emergency could not be ruled out because of "external and internal threats" and deteriorating security in Pakistan's volatile northwest near the Afghan border.
Azim also said talk from the United States about the possibility of U.S. military action against al-Qaida in Pakistan "has started alarm bells ringing and has upset the Pakistani public." He mentioned Democratic presidential hopeful Barak Obama by name as an example of someone who made such comments, saying his recent remarks were one reason the government was debating a state of emergency.
But a top figure in the ruling party who is close to Musharraf dismissed as gossip reports that such a step was being considered.
"These are only rumors and baseless reports," Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Q party, told reporters, Pakistan's Geo television reported.
After speaking to Musharraf by phone Thursday, Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said the president was committed to holding free and fair elections. "He is of the opinion in the present circumstances that there is no justification for imposition of emergency," Durrani said.
Musharraf, a key ally in Washington's fight against terrorism, has suffered dwindling support and his standing has been badly shaken by a failed bid to oust the country's chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry - an independent-minded judge likely to rule on expected legal challenges to Musharraf's bid to seek a new five-year presidential term.
It was not immediately clear how Musharraf might gain politically from a state of emergency, but it would give him sweeping powers, including the ability to restrict people's freedom to move, rally, and engage in political activities and assert their fundamental rights through the courts.
Yet the Supreme Court - which has emerged as the most potent check on the military leader's dominance of Pakistani politics - could still challenge the legality of a state of emergency.
Last week, a bench of the court headed by Chaudhry freed a key political opponent of Musharraf on bail, and on Thursday heard a freedom of movement case lodged by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is seeking to return from exile to stand in parliamentary elections due by early 2008.
Political analyst Talat Masood said that if Musharraf imposed a state of emergency it would be an act of desperation that would doubtless be challenged in the courts, and could trigger a public backlash against the president.
"This is his weapon of last resort," Masood said. "But it would be a weapon of mass destruction, of mass political destruction."
Legal experts and security officials began arriving at Musharraf's office in Islamabad on Thursday for meetings on the issue, a presidential aide said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum said he had been summoned to meet Musharraf later in the day, but he had not been told the reason.
Azim told The Associated Press that a state of emergency was being considered by top government officials.
"These are only unconfirmed reports although the possibility of imposition of emergency cannot be ruled out and has recently been talked about and discussed, keeping in mind some external and internal threats and the law and order situation," he said.
"We hope that it does not happen. But we are going through difficult circumstances so the possibility of an emergency cannot be ruled out," he said.
Azim referred to recent Pakistani military action against militants in northwestern border areas that he said had resulted in the deaths of many soldiers.
More than 360 people have died during a wave of suicide attacks and clashes between militants and security forces that began with a bloody army assault on a pro-Taliban mosque in Islamabad in early July.
On Wednesday, Obama was asked again about his views on Pakistan and the militant violence hitting the country.
"We can't send millions and millions of dollars to Pakistan for military aid and be a constant ally to them and yet not see more aggressive action in dealing with al-Qaida," he told reporters in Oakland, Calif.
However, he did not repeat the most incendiary line from his foreign policy speech last week when he promised: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."
Masood, the analyst, dismissed the idea of Obama's comments being used to justify a state of emergency as "ridiculous."
Musharraf is under growing American pressure to crack down on militants at the Afghan border because of fears that al-Qaida is regrouping there.
The Bush administration has also not ruled out unilateral military action inside Pakistan, but like Obama, has stressed the need to work with Musharraf.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with Musharraf by phone for more than 15 minutes in the early hours of Thursday, said an official in Washington on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation. The official refused to discuss the content of the conversation.
Musharraf on Wednesday abruptly pulled out of the meeting in Kabul with more than 600 Pakistani and Afghan tribal leaders, phoning Afghan President Hamid Karzai to say he couldn't attend because of "engagements" in Islamabad.
Under Pakistan's Constitution, the president may declare a state of emergency if it is deemed the country's security is "threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond" the authority of provincial government's authority to control.
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Associated Press writers Munir Ahmad and Sadaqat Jan in Islamabad and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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