Emergency in Pakistan

We have to handle this. So what the heck..lets get started…

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1680931,00.html?imw=Y

Bush-Musharraf Bhai-Bhai

The Time thinks that Bush does not care much about emergency in Pakistan.

“The two [Bush and Musharraf] haven't spoken since the dictator declared a state of emergency across the country Saturday, putting the Bush Doctrine at odds with Bush's War on Terror. What communication there has been has hewed to the pattern of a schoolyard romance on the rocks. Instead of calling the Pakistani leader himself, Bush delegated Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice with the task of conveying a list of demands. "We expect there to be elections as soon as possible," Bush asked Rice to tell Musharraf. Furthermore, Musharraf "should remove his military uniform," said Bush.

The article further states that Musharraf has a uniquely powerful hold over the White House. The Bush Administration continues to insist it wants Musharraf to stay on the path to democracy, relinquish his position as head of the military as he promised and hold elections before January 15. But it is still unclear what happens if Musharraf doesn't do any of these things. Bush's pro-democracy goals for the country seem as much in conflict as ever with the U.S.'s other goal — to stamp out the Taliban in Afghanistan and dismantle terrorist networks operating inside Pakistan.

The U.S. has given Pakistan more than $10 billion in aid since 9/11, most of that directly to the Pakistani military to fund its efforts ferreting out al-Qaeda leaders taking refuge in ungoverned tribal regions that border Afghanistan. This cash, which comes to roughly $150 million a month in aid, is the U.S.'s only real leverage with Pakistan. Rice said Sunday that she would be reviewing the funding in light of Musharraf's coup d'etat over his own civilian government.

Currently, the funding arrives either in the form of military equipment or as virtually unfettered cash, for Musharraf's government to do with as it pleases. But the options are limited. The U.S. might get the Musharraf government to focus on counter-terrorism by cutting off money that would otherwise go toward paying down Pakistan's debt. However, that might just help the Musharraf's military in silencing the opposition. Pakistan watchers are concerned that U.S. money is being diverted from counterterrorism to anti-democratic crackdowns like this one.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.crisis/?iref=mpstoryview

Pakistan's courts in lockdown

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry -- fired by Musharraf Saturday -- in a phone call to a gathering of lawyers urged them to go to "every corner of Pakistan and give the message that this is the time to sacrifice."

Musharraf's declaration noted a "visible ascendancy in the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks" and it blamed a judiciary that was "at cross purposes" with his government's efforts "to control this menace."

Opposition leaders, however, suggested the judicial activism Musharraf was really targeting was an expected Supreme Court ruling that would bar him from another term as Pakistan's president.

About 3,000 Pakistani lawyers, rounded up since Saturday, sit in jails across the country with no courts operating to which they can seek release. Pakistan has an estimated 12,000 lawyers.

Police earned cash bonuses for beating and arresting hundreds of lawyers Monday who had gathered outside of Lahore's courthouse, police sources said.

Any lawyer who attempts to enter the Lahore or Islamabad courthouse Tuesday was immediately arrested, witnesses said. Some were grabbed by police as they walked toward the court, sources said.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIbWToL2h1W_u1KaaaPXDLm_7LhgD8SNOJVO5

US Tied to Pakistan With Billions in Aid

Following is a sampling of how the State Department proposes to spend $785 million on Pakistan in fiscal year 2008:

$342 million for efforts to counter extremists, narcotics trafficking, weapons proliferation and other security issues.

Money from this group will be used to help modernize Pakistan's military, provide training, buy military equipment and help maintain previously purchased U.S. military equipment.

$249 million for economic growth. That includes developing infrastructure for transport, power, irrigation and vocational training.

$50 in humanitarian assistance, including to rebuild hospitals and schools damaged or destroyed in the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan's northwest.

$103 million for health, education and water and sanitation. That includes scholarship programs to help the disadvantaged get advanced educational degrees in agriculture and business as well as programs against HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, for mother and child care and to promote family planning.

Nearly $42 million for governance and democracy programs. The money is to support democratic practices in political parties and in civil society, promote free and fair elections, develop the media and support the legislative process. The Bush administration budget request noted that elections were planned in 2008, a prospect now in doubt because of the imposition of emergency law over the weekend.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/06/content_7022251.htm

Over 150 terrorist attacks happen in Pakistan in 2007

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Some 667 people were killed and 1,821 others were injured in 157 terrorist attacked this year in Pakistan, which reflects the grim picture the country has to confront, according to Interior Ministry spokesman (Retd) Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema.

At a weekly briefing here Tuesday, Cheema said that the state security apparatus was not idle.

Although it prevented many possible attacks with timely detection and action, he said, the enormity of the challenge posed by the planners and executors of suicide bombings was too complex and difficult to overcome completely and rapidly.

The spokesman said that the difficulties were compounded by a lack of understanding in the higher echelons of the judiciary that the law enforcement and security agencies needed a little more room and leeway to deal with the extraordinary situation.

Cheema said that the measures taken by the country's leadership last Saturday came after thorough deliberations. He said that there was no other option but to act firmly to avert the mounting dangers to national security and integrity.

He said that the government was determined to contain and eliminate the menace of terrorism which is the desire of the entire nation, adding that the government was fully conscious to ensure the continuity of the political process so that smooth transition to fully democracy was satisfactorily achieved through fair, free and transparent general elections.

He said that police and paramilitary personnel had been called to help maintain law and order in the wake of the proclamation of emergency. He said that clear instructions had also been issued tothem to act with prudence, foresightedness and restraint.

The spokesman said that at some places Monday law enforcement personnel were compelled to take action in accordance with the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and it was defied as lawyers staged the rallies.

He said that unfortunately there were some clashes between police and lawyers in the eastern city of Lahore and the southern city of Karachi during which a number of policemen and protesters were injured.

He hoped that political parties, lawyers and all other segments of society would extend their cooperation to defeat the nefarious designs of terrorists and extremists to create instability and derail the election process.

He said that all those held in preventive detention over the past few days due to potential threat to public peace and order would not be kept under restrictions a day longer than necessary.

www.chinaview.cn

Pakistan rejects international criticism at emergency

ISLAMABAD, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Tuesday rejected international criticism at the proclamation of emergency by President General Pervez Musharraf, saying the emergency was completely an internal matter.

"The emergency was enforced to control the growing incidents of terrorism. Terrorism is an international problem and we are addressing the issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Sadiq told the state-run PTV.

The spokesman said that various friendly countries of Pakistan had issued statements on emergency but it was purely an internal matter of Pakistan.

"We expect the friendly countries to understand the conditions which have prompted the government to take this extraordinary step," he said. "Terrorism and extremism are the international challenges in the contemporary world and Pakistan is doing its best to curb this menace alongside its international partners."