Soon after the proclamation of emergency by Gen Musharraf, an eight-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, reportedly set aside the decision. Setting aside General Musharraf's proclamation of emergency, the panel asked all members of the superior judiciary against taking oath under the new PCO.
President General Pervez Musharraf, declares a state of emergency.
007-11-03 17:46:35 - Musharraf, as the chief of army staff, on Saturday declared emergency rule in the country, suspended the country's constitution, and issued a new Provisional Constitutional Order
The emergency is imposed in Pakistan,the official announcement on the state-run Pakistan Television (PTV) came within minutes of a high-level meeting at the President House (Aiwan-i-Sadr) which was chaired by the President and attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, senior security and intelligence officials.
Before the emergency came into force or announcement all the media in Pakistan freedom was suspended and the internet,mobiles and other channels were off the air,private and independent news channels in the country were put off the cable network, which lead to intense speculations of a possible take over reigns of governance by the military and imposing of the emergency .The constitution is suspended.
In General Musharraf's tenure this is second time that an emergency rule has been imposed, and provisional constitution order PCO issued. Firstly the emergency was imposed at time when the military seized power on October 12, 1999. Today it was when President Musharraf had already ruled the country for eight long years, and was faced with a piquant situation . it was a possibility of the judiciary and Musaraff 's election to coveted Post of president may come under sccanner of the Supreme Court which may rule against his move to get himself elected for the second time as the head of the state.
Reasons for this extra constitutional hunt is attributed to daily growing of menace of terrorism and suicide attacks at the nodal points of the the military jurisdiction propelled the General to impose the Emergency as being telecast in various TV channels.
Dawn newspaper reports from pakistan,
According to some details of the new PCO made available to the media, the National Assembly, Senate, provincial assemblies, the prime minister, provincial chief ministers, federal and provincial ministers, governors and all those in the 'government services- will continue to function normally.
However, it was not clear how this will be possible, or be legitimate, with President Musharraf resorting to the extra-constitutional action of suspending the constitution and issuing his own provisional constitutional order or PCO.
The Supreme Court, in its order, termed Gen Musharraf's action 'illegal and unconstitutional- and asked the corps commanders and all civil and military officials not to take oath under the PCO. Till filing of this report, the judges of the SC were still inside the court building.
However, under the circumstances chances of a major rebellion on part of the superior judiciary appeared highly unlikely. In any case, legal experts said, the government must have contemplated such a resistance, and as has been the past practice during military rule, some of the judges will not be invited to take oath, some will refuse, and a few will accept the new order to provide legitimacy to the this kind of emergency rule. In a latest development Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar was sworn in as a Chief Justice of Pakistan by the President.
There were also reports that some of the lawyers, including the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, have been taken into custody. Mr. Ahsan's wife told reporters that her husband was arrested soon after the imposition of emergency.
Although news of a possible emergency rule had been doing rounds for the past several days, on Saturday it became quite evident when a large contingent of paramilitary troops started to arrive in Islamabad, and cable operators were asked to pull the plug on all independent news channels, including DawnNews, Geo, ARY and Aaj TV.
Land telephone lines and mobile phones are also partially down in Islamabad and communication has become almost impossible in many parts of the capital. TV channels and newspapers had been reporting for the past few days that the government had made up its mind to declare emergency rule
www.dawn.com.
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