ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — After nine months of watching his power erode, Pakistani’s military president, Pervez Musharraf, seized it back Saturday night in a risky move. Police and soldiers fanned out around strategic buildings and city streets as the president suspended the constitution, swept aside the Supreme Court and declared he will rule by decree.
Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule appeared certain to scuttle his U.S.-backed plan for at least partly free elections and a more democratic government. Ordinary Pakistanis and political analysts said they fear a popular — possibly violent — backlash.
There is a “danger that Pakistan could spin out of control,” said Pakistan scholar Stephen Cohen of the Washington-based Brookings Institution. Protests could weaken the government’s already inconsistent fight against Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaeda, noted a prominent military analyst, retired Gen. Talat Masood.
The Bush administration, which backed Musharraf’s effort to shift his power base from the army to a purely civilian presidency, swiftly condemned his decree. “A state of emergency would be a sharp setback for Pakistani democracy and takes Pakistan off the path toward civilian rule,” the State Department said.
A statement by the department noted that Musharraf had promised to quit the army command and hold elections for a new government. “We expect him to uphold these commitments and urge him to do so immediately,” it said.
Pakistanis on Saturday night criticized the decree, some calling it a second coup by Musharraf, who ousted former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999. Sharif and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the country’s most prominent politicians, separately condemned the decree.
Bhutto flew back to the southern city of Karachi from Dubai, where she was visiting family. She declared the emergency the “blackest day” in Pakistan’s history.
After her arrival at Karachi’s Airport, Bhutto said she did not believe there would be fair elections as long as emergency rule remained in place.
“Unless General Musharraf reverses the course it will be very difficult to have fair elections,” she told Sky News TV by telephone. “I agree with him that we are facing a political crisis, but I believe the problem is dictatorship, I don’t believe the solution is dictatorship.
“The extremists need a dictatorship, and dictatorship needs extremists.”
With the army and police already mobilized, it was unclear whether mass protests will happen. Demonstrations led by pro-democracy lawyers forced Musharraf to retreat this summer after he tried to oust the country’s increasingly independent and popular chief justice, Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry. Saturday night, police in at least three cities arrested lawyers who led that movement.
Musharraf’s public support has plunged since March, when he first tried to oust Chaudhry. Since July, a widening struggle against Islamic militants has challenged Musharraf’s authority, demoralized his army and killed 700 to 800 Pakistanis.
Under Chaudhry, the Supreme Court was considering a ruling, expected about Nov. 13, that could have declared Musharraf ineligible to serve as president. Musharraf’s seizure of emergency powers appeared to be a pre- emptive strike against that possibility.
Within hours of the decree’s announcement, state TV showed Musharraf ceremoniously swearing in another Supreme Court member as the new chief justice.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
