Musharraf Won’t Give Date to End Emergency Pakistani President Sees Decree Lasting Through Elections

By Jane Perlez and David Rohde

In a defiant news conference Sunday, the Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, refused to give a date for the end of the de facto martial law that he imposed more than a week ago and suggested that it would continue indefinitely, including during parliamentary elections in early January.

Speaking one day after President George W. Bush offered support for Musharraf, the general said the emergency decree was justified by the need to fight terrorism and would “ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections.”

Bush said Saturday that he supported Musharraf because “we share a common goal” in the fight against Al Qaeda, an endorsement the general appeared to use to his advantage Sunday as he justified his extrajudicial measures.

“I cannot give a date,” Musharraf said when asked directly about the lifting of the emergency decree, under which several thousand civilians have been jailed, the Constitution suspended and the Supreme Court scrapped. “We are in a difficult situation, therefore I cannot give a date. The emergency reinforces the war on terror.”

He also declined to give a date for stepping down as military leader, a move that the United States and other Western countries have requested as a sign of his seriousness about a transition to democracy.

In an interview broadcast Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Musharraf to end the state of emergency “as soon as possible,” saying that his vows to hold elections by early January and to shed his military uniform were “essential to getting Pakistan back on a democratic path.”

“The state of emergency has got to be lifted and lifted as soon as possible,” Rice said on ABC News.

But while saying that American aid to Pakistan was under review, Rice gave a point-by-point defense of how much of that aid money was being spent: to train Pakistani forces in counterterrorism skills; to help economic development in ways meant to promote a more open political system and civil society; and to support education reform to remake the programs of madrassas, Islamic schools “that were teaching curricula that were feeding extremism.”

Musharraf repeatedly stated he had not violated the Constitution, which he abolished Nov. 3 and replaced with a provisional constitutional order drawn up by his aides. At one point he said, “I had to take a drastic measure to save the democratic process.”

He described his action as a selfless one. “I found myself between a rock and a hard surface. I have no egos and no personal ambitions to guard.”

His voice often raised, Musharraf lectured Pakistani and foreign journalists in the presidential building, complaining that the West did not understand Pakistan.

On the other hand, he said, other foreign leaders had called him in the last few days and expressed “understanding” regarding his actions.

Musharraf’s aides said the general planned to take off his uniform and become a civilian president when the newly formed Supreme Court validated his re-election of mid-October.

But it was far from clear when that would happen. A new court was formed last week to replace the Supreme Court, which had appeared ready to strike down the general’s re-election. The new court appointed by the government has only nine judges, all of them favorably disposed to Musharraf.

To make a decision on a case, the court needs a bench of 11 justices. A lawyer in Islamabad, Athar Minallah, who was a member of Musharraf’s cabinet, said the government was probably stalling on finding a full complement of judges. Once 11 members are on the bench, the judges would almost certainly validate Musharraf’s re- election, but that in turn would put some pressure on the general to give up his uniform, Minallah said.

The new court has not taken up the case of Musharraf’s re- election.

“I don’t know what they have been doing in the last week,” Anwar Mehmood, the information secretary for the government, said of the justices thus far recruited to the court.

There was some speculation among lawyers Sunday that the government could not find enough justices willing to join what they considered a tainted bench.

In another signal that the general was strengthening his grip on power, the government announced Saturday that it had amended an army law so that civilians could be charged and prosecuted before military courts.

The last time courts-martial of civilians in Pakistan were carried out was during the 11-year rule of a military dictator, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq, which ended with his death in 1988.

As Musharraf spoke, an opposition leader, Benazir Bhutto flew to the eastern city of Lahore, where she planned to stage what she called a “long march” over 500 kilometers, about 300 miles, to the capital, Islamabad, starting Tuesday.

Bhutto, a two-time prime minister who leads the biggest secular political party in Pakistan, has appealed to the general to end emergency rule. At the same time, she is trying to forge a partnership with him as a way of returning to power, possibly as prime minister for a third time.

Musharraf was dismissive of Bhutto on Sunday, saying her support in Pakistan was much less than she or others thought, particularly in the rural areas of the Punjab.

“There is no point in a personality getting in touch with me,” Musharraf said. Instead there has to be a reconciliation through the political parties, he said.

Musharraf flew to Abu Dhabi early in the fall to meet with Bhutto to work out an arrangement under which she could return to Pakistan as a political contender. That arrangement was blessed by Washington as an effort to put a democratic and more popular face on Musharraf’s military rule.

During his sometimes rambling discourse Sunday, Musharraf spent 15 minutes lashing out at the ousted chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, whom he called profligate and a man who abused civil servants.

“Nobody is above the law, ladies and gentlemen,” he said, referring to Chaudhry, who emerged as a political threat to Musharraf during the spring, after the general suspended him from the bench.

In the company of thousands of lawyers, Chaudhry, who is now under house arrest, made appearances that attracted huge crowds.

A major demonstration planned by Bhutto in Rawilpindi, the garrison town next to the capital, was shut down by the government before it started Friday. It was not clear whether the government, in its toughened mood against dissent, would allow Bhutto to go ahead with her march from Lahore.

If she did so, it would be a sign of her political strength in the central Punjab region, the most populous and important area of the country.

Although Musharraf insisted Sunday that the emergency decree would enable the military and police to fight terrorists more effectively, in the last week Islamic militants have gained territory in the North-West Frontier Province. On Saturday militants took two army officers and five soldiers hostage, and a suicide bomber attacked the home of a government minister in Peshawar, killing three people.

Many Pakistanis have said the emergency rule is actually a distraction from the fight against the militants, because police and intelligence officials have been busy rounding up protesters.

More than 2,500 lawyers, human rights activists and members of opposition parties have been jailed since emergency rule was introduced.

Salman Masood contributed reporting.

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

(c) 2007 International Herald Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.