The Empire 290

En de chaos wordt steeds groter. In Pakistan heeft de zetbaas van Washington het laatste beetje democratie afgeschaft:

'Musharraf Declares Emergency Rule in Pakistan

By Griff Witte and Imtiaz Ali

The Washington Post

Provisional Constitution instituted, leader expected to address nation Saturday.
Islamabad, Pakistan - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf declared emergency rule Saturday, suspending the constitution amid a heavy security presence including armored personnel carriers on the streets of the capital.
Musharraf, who instituted a provisional constitution, was expected to address the nation later and cite continuing fighting in the turbulent Swat Valley as his reason.
Opposition parties quickly gathered to denounce the move, which also blocked transmission of private television broadcasts nationwide.
The chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, was removed from his job and placed under house arrest. Musharraf had suspended the judge earlier this year, but he was later reinstated.
"This is a very fateful day for the country. Pakistan is in deep, deep crisis," said Aitzaz Ahsan, Chaudhry's attorney. "It is one man against the nation." Ahsan said that he expected to be arrested later Saturday night.
With his political future hanging on an upcoming Supreme Court decision, Musharraf had been said to be considering the move if the judgment did not go his way.
The declaration is expected to bring on a wave of extremist attacks that have roiled the country in recent months, with increasingly large swaths of territory falling under the sway of insurgents.
The United States had tried to pressure Musharraf on Friday to avoid declaring emergency rule or martial law.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday sent a warning to Musharraf not to take authoritarian measures to hold on to power. "I think it would be quite obvious that the United States would not be supportive of extra-constitutional means," Rice said. "Pakistan needs to prepare for and hold free and fair elections."
That message was followed by a previously scheduled meeting between Musharraf and Adm. William J. Fallon, chief of the U.S. Central Command.
Musharraf won election last month to a new, five-year term as Pakistan's president. But the Supreme Court is still reviewing whether he was eligible to run in the first place.
Most analysts predict that the court will rule in Musharraf's favor and allow him to begin his new term. But the case has been dragging on for weeks, and Musharraf's current term expires Nov. 15.'

Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110307A.shtml