Musharraf promises to defeat extremists, Opposition activists rounded up

Authorities were rounding up opposition activists Sunday after Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan’s constitution, declaring rising Islamic extremism forced him to take emergency measures that included replacing the nation’s chief judge and blacking out the independent media that refused to support him.

Police arrested the Javed Hashmi, the acting president of the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, along with 10 aides when he stepped outside his house in the central city of Multan. Police also arrested six lawyers, including the secretary of the Multan High Court Bar Association.

“Musharraf usurped the independence of judiciary by arresting the country’s chief justice and removing others judges just to save his own illegitimate rule, but he cannot survive against the people’s outrage,” Hashmi told reporters as he was led away.

“Gen. Musharraf’s second coup,” said the headline in the Dawn daily. “It is martial law,” said the Daily Times. Scores of paramilitary troops at barbed wire barricades blocked access to the Supreme Court and parliament. Otherwise the streets of the capital appeared calm.

In a televised address, Musharraf, looking somber and composed, said Pakistan was at a “dangerous” juncture, its government threatened by Islamic extremists.

“The extremism has even spread to Islamabad, and the extremists are taking the writ of the government in their own hands, and even worse they are imposing their obsolete ideas on moderates,” Musharraf said, wearing a black button-down tunic rather than his military fatigues.

He also blamed the Supreme Court for punishing state officials and postponing the announcement of his recent election win, saying it had “semi-paralyzed” government. The court was to rule soon on whether to validate the result of the vote that opponents say was unconstitutional because he contested the vote while army chief.

Musharraf on Saturday replaced the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who had emerged as the main check on the president.

“Now the time for the action has come.

I have carefully examined the situation to see how to stop this downslide. We have to create harmony among judiciary, legislative and executive ... This is how we would tackle the issue of terrorism in a better way,” Musharraf said.

He said there would be no change in the government and its top offices, and parliament - set to dissolve by Nov. 15 - would complete its term. He did not say when parliamentary elections - due by January - would be held.

Private Geo TV reported the arrest of the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan - a lawyer for Chaudhry in the case that led to his reinstatement in July after Musharraf tried to sack him.

Seven of the 17 Supreme Court judges immediately rejected the emergency order, which suspended the current constitution. Police blocked entry to the Supreme Court building and later took the deposed chief justice and other judges away in a convoy, witnesses said.

Islamabad, Sunday, AFP