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| Emergency not to be imposed in Pak |
| Ending the suspense of the last 24 hours, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf has decided not to declare a state of Emergency
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| PAKISTAN
, 9-August-2007
10:5:10 AM |
| After a high-level meeting on Thursday, the Pakistan's Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani announced that Musharraf would respect the wishes of the people and that there would be no Emergency.
The rumours were first sparked off by the Pakistani President's sudden decision not to go to a meeting in Afghanistan, sending Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz instead.
The speculation, which ended on Thursday, was further fuelled as Mushharraf went into a huddle with his top ministers and lawyers on Wednesday and on the table were plans to impose Emergency.
The timing was crucial, i.e., just a day before the Pakistan Supreme Court, with Iftikhar Choudhary back as Chief Justice, was due to hear a petition by Nawaz Sharif, asking to be allowed to return home ahead of the coming elections.
American role
However, most believe that the reason to not impose Emergency was a 17-minute phone call from US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.
Rice apparently told Musharraf that America was watching the situation carefully.
Ever since March, the Pakistan President seems to have been caught between a rock and a hard place - having faced one self-created problem after another.
First, sacking the chief justice, which became the catalyst for massive pro democracy protests.
Then the long drawn confrontation with Islamic fundamentalists in Islamabad's Lal Masjid that ended in bloodshed when the Pak army stormed the mosque a few weeks ago.
Making things even worse were his desperate attempts to try and cut a deal with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto for the upcoming elections.
Throughout the crises, the government leaders kept hinting that imposing Emergency was always an ''option left open.''
After all, it would be the only way for a beleaguered Musharraf to put off constitutionally bound general elections, due in the next three months, and hold on to his uniform.
Perhaps Wednesday was just a trial run - a way for Musharraf to test the waters.
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