Musharraf urged to lift state of emergency within a week as police continue crackdown
The Toronto Star, November 08, 2007
Sonya Fatah
LAHORE, Pakistan–Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto toughened her stance against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday, giving the military ruler a week to end the state of emergency in Pakistan.
Bhutto rallied her supporters yesterday, as U.S. President George W. Bush applied his own pressure, saying he talked to Musharraf, a key ally in his war on terror, and urged him to hold elections and quit as army chief. It was the first time Bush had spoken directly to Musharraf since the leader of nuclear-armed Pakistan declared the state of emergency Saturday.
Pakistan government officials have said January elections will be held on time. A member of Musharraf’s inner circle said emergency rule was likely to be lifted within two or three weeks. But Musharraf, who is to be sworn in a week from today for a new presidential term, has not personally confirmed this.
Bhutto urged her supporters to defy Musharraf’s ban on demonstrations and attend a rally tomorrow in Rawalpindi. After that, she said, opponents of emergency rule would begin a 320-kilometre march Tuesday from the eastern city of Lahore to the capital, Islamabad.
“Gen. Musharraf can open the door for negotiations only if he revives the constitution, retires as chief of army staff and sticks to the schedule of holding elections,” Bhutto told reporters at a news conference in Islamabad.
Police fired tear gas shells and beat about 400 of Bhutto’s party workers when they tried to break through police barriers outside parliament in Islamabad after the news conference.
The demonstrators pulled back through the choking gas, chanting “Benazir! Benazir!” and “Down with the emergency!”
Her supporters should expect the same type of reception tomorrow at the planned rally. Police would be out in force to prevent anyone reaching the park where Bhutto hoped to address supporters, said Rawalpindi Mayor Javed Akhlas.
There was also a “strong threat” of another suicide attack against Bhutto, said Akhlas. Bhutto said she would take the risk, and renewed her charge that elements in the government and security forces were in cahoots with Islamist extremists trying to kill her. Militants were widely blamed for last month’s failed attempt on her life, which killed about 140 people.
Bhutto said religious militants feared her as “the only leader in Pakistan who has a national base who can confront them.”
Bhutto’s strong words signal a change in party strategy, setting up a confrontation with Musharraf, not long after the two were engaged in power-sharing talks.
Insiders say Bhutto is torn between representing the people’s voice and negotiating for power with the president. She stepped up her criticism of Musharraf’s government yesterday, insisting her demands be met if there is to be any transition to democracy.
Most of Pakistan’s military comes from the Punjab, a province in which the armed forces have been careful to avoid ugly confrontations with residents.
By leading a march from Lahore to Islamabad, both in the rich land of the Punjab, Bhutto is challenging Musharraf’s strength. Any unrest in the province as a result of Bhutto’s “long march” could turn Musharraf’s military leaders against him, analysts say.
Sources close to Bhutto and the government revealed she and Musharraf were exchanging memos in a bid to keep a much-weakened negotiation process afloat. In a communication to Bhutto yesterday, Musharraf is alleged to have offered Nov. 30 as the date for ending the emergency.
Arrests continued in the country’s main cities of Lahore and Karachi, where small groups of lawyers and human rights activists kept up protests. Virtually all of the government’s vocal critics have been rounded up and jailed.
In Washington, Bush brushed off criticism he was taking a softer line on Pakistan than he did, for instance, against Burma where military rulers cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in late September.
Bush defended his response to both situations.
“Look, our objective is the same in Burma as it is in Pakistan, and that is to promote democracy,” he said. “There is a difference, however. Pakistan has been on the path to democracy. Burma hadn’t been on the path to democracy. And it requires different tactics to achieve the common objective.”
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