{"id":385,"date":"2007-11-05T08:47:13","date_gmt":"2007-11-04T22:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=385"},"modified":"2007-11-20T14:10:57","modified_gmt":"2007-11-20T04:10:57","slug":"intoxicated-by-the-incense-of-power-pakistan-sinks-deeper-into-the-night-by-tariq-ali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.khanfactor.com\/blog\/?p=385","title":{"rendered":"Intoxicated by the Incense of Power – Pakistan Sinks Deeper Into the Night By TARIQ ALI"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pakistan<\/a>\u00a0Click for Al Jazeera Special Report<\/code><\/p>\n

Q&A: Bhutto, Musharraf and developments in Pakistan – Khilafah.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“Provisional Constitutional Order: PCO” – Full Text of Pakistan Emergency Declaration
\nBhutto is not arrested, deal with Musharraf seems intact
\nPakistan: Martial Law, Media Jammed<\/a>
\nJudge: Several Lawyers Opposed to Musharraf Arrested<\/a>
\n‘They Can Take Me Away, but They Will Not Stop the Lawyers’ Struggle’<\/a>
\nUS Officials See Few Options for Pakistan
\nPakistan Militants Seize Police Stations
\nPakistan: Musharraf Sees Threat to Country
\n‘Tough New Media Policy’ Introduced in Pakistan
\nAs Crisis Deepens, White House Endures Diminished Power to Influence Events<\/a>
\nPakistani News Channels Taken Off Air<\/a>
\nUS ‘Deeply Disturbed’ by Pakistan Emergency Rule<\/a>
\nIt’s a second coup: Bhutto<\/a>
\nSharif Calls for Musharraf’s Resignation<\/a>
\nKhan escapes amid Pakistan crackdown<\/a>
\nMusharraf move is nightmare for Bush <\/a>
\nBush Bets the Farm on Musharraf<\/a>
\nThousands Face Down Pakistani Police
\nMusharraf’s Military Aid Flows On
\nLawyers Take on Musharraf<\/a>
\nBush Urges Musharraf to Reverse Course but Signals No Penalty<\/a>
\nLawyers vs. the General<\/a>
\nPakistan Attempts to Crush Protests by Lawyers<\/a>
\nBhutto Threatens Demonstrations<\/a>
\nCrackdown Widens as Musharraf Insists Emergency Rule Needed to Fight ‘Terrorism’<\/a>
\nFormer Chief Justice: Emergency Rule a Naked Attack on Pakistan’s Constitution<\/a>
\nPakistan Threatens to Seal Jang Press<\/a>
\nSporadic Clashes Continue in NW Pakistan
\nPakistan to Keep Elections Date<\/a>
\nMilitants Move Beyond Tribal Areas in Pakistan
\n<\/a>Aid Still Flows to Pakistan<\/strong>
\nTake Off Uniform, Bush Tells Musharraf<\/a>
\nBritain Demands ‘Free and Fair’ Elections in Pakistan but Rules Out Aid Cuts<\/a>
\nUS Tied to Pakistan With Billions in Aid
\nUS Military Aid to Pakistan Misses Its al-Qaeda Target<\/a>
\nUS, Pakistan to Continue Joint Operations<\/a>
\nOverview of US Aid to Pakistan<\/a>
\nBhutto Rules Out Talks With Musharraf
\nEscaped Opposition Figure Vows to Oppose Musharraf<\/a>
\nPakistan AG: State of Emergency May Only Last 30 Days<\/a>
\nPakistani Lawyers’ Anger Grew as Hope for Changes Withered<\/a>
\nWith News Banned From TV, Pakistanis Find It on Web<\/a>
\nCommonwealth Crisis Meeting Called Over Pakistan Ban<\/a>
\nAustralian FM Condemns ‘Dictator’ Musharraf<\/a>\u00a0Irrelevant
\n<\/em>Amnesty Urges US to Ensure Weapons Sent to Pakistan Aren’t Used on Peaceful Protesters
\nTourist Spot Is New Frontline for Pakistani Islamists<\/a>
\nPakistan emergency: No end in sight<\/a>
\nPakistan emergency ‘aiding Taliban’<\/a>\u00a0
\nPakistan’s Bhutto detained again<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nCorrupt Elites and a Kleptocratic Military – The Roots of Pakistan’s Political Crisis By SADIA ABBAS
\n<\/strong>Logistical Vulnerabilities and the Afghanistan War – The Pakistan Fuel Connection By ROBERT BRYCE<\/a>
\nWhere are the Demonstrations? – Pakistani Lawyers vs. American Lawyers By RALPH NADER<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Imran<\/a>\u00a0Pakistan labels Khan a terrorist – SMH – 15 Nov.07<\/a>
\nBhutto Calls on Musharraf to Resign<\/a>
\nBhutto: I Will Never Work With Musharraf<\/a>
\nMusharraf Warns Bhutto Against Calling for His Resignation<\/a>
\nWho Drafted Musharraf’s November 3 Proclamations?<\/a>
\nIn Interview, Musharraf Defends Rule by Decree<\/a>
\nMusharraf’s Army Losing Ground in Insurgent Areas<\/a>
\nMilitant Killed While Planting Bomb in Pakistani City<\/a>
\nDozen US Rights Groups Ask Bush to Cut Off Military Aid to Pakistan<\/a>
\nBush Calls for End to Pakistan Emergency<\/a>
\nJapan Threatens to Slash Pakistan Aid<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\"Jemima<\/p>\n

Jemima Khan joins Pakistan protests in London<\/a>
\nImran Khan on hunger strike – SMH – 20 Nov.07<\/a>
\nPakistan court throws out Musharraf challenges – SMH – 20 Nov.07<\/a>
\nThe U.S. Game Plan in Pakistan<\/a>
\nUS military strike on Pakistan advocated<\/a><\/p>\n

Should Musharraf have declared state of emergency?<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0– Your comments<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For anyone marinated in the history of Pakistan yesterday’s decision by the military to impose a State of Emergency will hardly comes as a surprise. Martial Law in this country has become an antibiotic: in order to obtain the same results one has to keep doubling the doses. What has taken place is a coup within a coup.<\/p>\n

General Pervaiz Musharraf ruled the country with a civilian fa\u00e7ade, but his power base was limited to the Army. And it was the Army Chief of Staff who declared the emergency, suspended the 1973 Constitution, took all non-government TV channels off the air, jammed the mobile phone networks, surrounded the Supreme Court with paramilitary units, dismissed the Chief Justice, arrested the President of the Bar association and the civil rights activists of the Human Right Commission of Pakistan, thus inaugurating yet another shabby period in the country history.<\/p>\n

Why? They feared that a Supreme Court judgement due next week might make it impossible for Musharraf to contest the elections. The decision to suspend the Constitution was taken a few weeks ago. Benazir Bhutto, was informed and left the country. She is reportedly on her way back. Till now she has offered no comment on the new martial law, despite the fact that a senior leader of her party, Aitzaz Ahsan has been arrested for denouncing the coup. Intoxicated by the incense of power she might now discover that it<\/p>\n

Remains as elusive as ever. If she supports the latest turn it will be an act of political suicide. If she decides to dump the General(she has accused him of breaking his promises and it will be difficult for her to remain allied to a dictator) she will be betraying the confidence of the US State Department, which pushed her in this direction. At a recent off-the-record gathering at Ditchley Park(a British Foreign Office think-tank), the would-be Secretary of State, James Rubin, became short-tempered when Pakistani participants challenged his view that Bhutto was a decisive player in the ‘war on terror’ on the Western borders of the country.<\/p>\n

The two institutions targeted by the Emergency are the judiciary and the lively network of independent TV stations, many of whose correspondents supply information that can never be gleaned from politicians. Geo TV the largest of these continued to broadcast outside the country. Hamid Mir, one of its sharpest journalists, reported yesterday afternoon that according to his sources the US Embassy had green lighted the coup because they regarded the Chief Justice as a nuisance and ‘a Taliban sympathiser’.<\/p>\n

For a whole year now, the regime was confronted with a severe crisis of legitimacy that came to a head earlier this year when General Musharraf’s decision to suspend the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Hussein Chaudhry, provoked a six-month long mass movement that forced a government retreat. Some of Chaudhry’s judgements had challenged the government on key issues such as ‘disappeared prisoners’, harassment of women and rushed privatisations. It was feared that he might declare a uniformed President illegal.<\/p>\n

The struggle to demand a separation of powers between the state and the judiciary, which has always been weak, was of critical importance. Pakistan’s judges have usually been acquiescent in the past. Those who resisted previous military leaders were cajoled, blackmailed, bullied and persuaded to retire. Pakistani judges spring from the same milieu as the rest of the ruling elite, which is why the decision of this chief justice to fight back was surprising, but extremely important and won him enormous respect, a commodity in short supply.<\/p>\n

Global media coverage of Pakistan suggests a country consisting of Generals, corrupt politicians and bearded lunatics. The struggle to reinstate the Chief Justice presented a different snapshot of the country. This movement for constitutional freedoms revived hope at a time when most people are alienated from the system and cynical about their rulers, whose ill-gotten wealth and withered faces consumed by vanity inspire nil confidence.<\/p>\n

That this is the case can be seen in the heroic decision taken by the Supreme Court in a special session yesterday declaring the new dispensation ‘illegal and unconstitutional’. The hurriedly sworn in new Chief Justice will be seen for what he is: a stooge of the men in uniform. If the constitution remains in suspension for more than three months then Musharraf himself might be pushed aside by the Army and a new strongman put in place. Or it could be that the aim of the operation was limited to a cleansing of the Supreme Court and controlling the media. That is what Musharraf indicated in his broadcast to the nation. In which case a totally rigged election becomes a certainty next January. Whatever the case Pakistan’s long journey to the end of the night continues.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>[kml_flashembed movie=”http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/BHzOuQW38ek” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” \/]<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For anyone marinated in the history of Pakistan yesterday’s decision by the military to impose a State of Emergency will hardly comes as a surprise. Martial Law in this country has become an antibiotic: in order to obtain the same results one has to keep doubling the doses. What has taken place is a coup within a coup.<\/p>\n

Post also includes other articles and video report from Al Jazeera. Updated daily<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

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