Date:10/08/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/10/stories/2007081050140100.htm

Front Page

Musharraf pulls back from emergency plan

Nirupama Subramanian

ISLAMABAD: President Pervez Musharraf appears to have pulled back from a reported plan to impose emergency rule in the country after a meeting with political aides, legal experts and senior members of his Government on Thursday afternoon.

Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said after the meeting that there was no plan to impose an emergency.

“President Musharraf wants free, fair and transparent elections in Pakistan and any action that will play a negative role in this objective is not in line with this thinking,” Mr. Durrani said after 14 hours of speculation about an impending proclamation. Opposition parties braced for the worst, while the Karachi stock exchange shed 380 points during the day.

The Minister indicated that some sections in the Government and the ruling coalition wanted Gen. Musharraf to use the emergency option and had urged him to do so.

“Yes, there was pressure on the President from different political forces that it time for an emergency. But the decision was left to the President himself,” and he was of the view that “the time is not fit” for it, the Information Minister said.

Rice, Musharraf confer

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to President Musharraf early on Thursday, but it is not clear what role this telephone conversation played in his change of mind.

The earliest indication of a rethink came when the ruling party president Chaudhary Shujat Hussain told reporters outside Parliament this afternoon that “there is no possibility of imposing emergency.” He is said to have started off the speculation on Wednesday night with an announcement to parliamentarians about likely emergency rule.

But on Wednesday night, amidst strong rumours, Minister Of State for Information Tariq Azeem strengthened the speculation saying the Government hadthe option in view of the serious threat of aggression by the U.S. in Pakistan’s border areas.

The planned move came in for strong criticism from opposition leaders, who said they would resist it. Pakistan People’s Party chief Benazir Bhutto, reportedly in talks with Gen. Musharraf for a power-sharing deal, told local television it would be a “retrogressive” and “negative” step for democracy.