Observer : Final shreds of Pakistan's democracy are ripped up

Final shreds of Pakistan's democracy are ripped up

As arrests begin and troops move on to the streets, Declan Walsh analyses a country's descent into turmoil

Declan Walsh | The Observer | Sunday November 4, 2007

With his troops on the street and the constitution in his pocket, a sombre-faced General Musharraf appeared on state television to address the nation and promise a speedy return to normal democracy.

But that was the rather more fresh-faced Pervez Musharraf when he seized power in a bloodless coup eight years ago. And it was the same image last night, although the beleaguered military ruler looked emotional and strained as he made a last-ditch attempt to rescue his ailing power base. As the country was plunged into a fresh crisis Musharraf gesticulated into the camera as he blamed his woes on the country's Islamist extremists, its activist judges and its 'negative media'. The country was at a 'dangerous juncture' he warned, clenching his fist. 'Now is the time for action.'

By then his forces were on the move. Soldiers were occupying barbed wire checkposts on Islamabad's central avenue leading to the supreme court, where chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had been told his services were 'no longer required'. Armed police escorted the judge back to his Islamabad residence, and a replacement, Abdul Hamid Dogar, was hurriedly sworn in by Musharraf.

Earlier, as Saturday shoppers rushed home and mobile phone networks shut down, Chaudhry and six of the 16 other supreme court judges rejected the emergency declaration, ordering Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the military not to comply with it. Television screens across the country went blank as private news channels, who have fuelled this year's democratic debate, were pulled off the air. Only sports, cartoon and the state television station were operating. Pakistan television showed new head judges being sworn in at the provincial courts with uniformed army officers hovering in the background.

Musharraf's Western allies, who have worked hard to keep him in power while retaining a veneer of democracy in Pakistan, immediately issued condemnations. The move was particularly embarrassing to the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who had publicly urged Musharraf not to declare martial law late last week. 'The US has made clear it does not support extra-constitutional measures because those measures take Pakistan away from the path of democracy and civilian rule,' she told reporters in Turkey.

Nuclear power and arch-rival India issued a carefully worded statement regretting the 'difficult times that Pakistan is passing through' and hoping that 'conditions of normalcy will soon return'.

Britain and the US want Musharraf to strike a power-sharing deal with recently returned opposition leader Benazir Bhutto. Her Islamist-fighting credentials were boosted after the Karachi suicide bombing that killed 140 people. Last night she said: 'We condemn this martial law. We will protest it,' she told a news conference in Karachi shortly after arriving from Dubai, where she had been visiting her family.

Musharraf has lurched from crisis to crisis since 9 March, when a botched attempt to fire Chaudhry, triggered massive public protests. His troubles intensified after the Red Mosque siege in Islamabad, which left more than 100 people dead and triggered a wave of Islamist violence including suicide bombings and attacks on sensitive military targets. Tribal militants and al-Qaeda fighters in Waziristan have engaged in bloody battles with the 90,000 government soldiers sent to fight them. This week another 2,500 police and soldiers struggled to quell a revolt led by an extremist Islamist cleric in Swat, a previously peaceful area in the north.

But the greatest threat to Musharraf's power came from the supreme court, which had been due to rule in the coming weeks on the legality of General Musharraf's controversial re-election on 8 October. Musharraf had threatened to impose emergency rule if the court found against him. Many analysts expected the court to rule in his favour to prevent further destabilisation of the country. Yesterday Musharraf showed that he wasn't willing to take a chance.

In his television address last night, Musharraf could not hide his dislike for the court. The court's tough attitude against government officials was 'disheartening' and 'demoralising' he said. 'They are creating hurdles for democracy - I cannot allow this country to commit suicide.'

Switching to English from his native Urdu, he appealed to his western allies to have patience. 'Please do not expect or demand your level of democracy which you have learned over a number of centuries. We are also trying to learn, please give us time,' he said.

Police arrested opposition politicians including former cricketer Imran Khan and the head of the influential Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, who said: 'Musharraf has behaved like a bad loser and spoilt child. This the end of the road for him.'