Musharraf Sets Date for End of Emergency Rule

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 29 — Hours after being sworn in to a second term, President Pervez Musharraf announced Thursday that he would lift his state of emergency on Dec. 16, leaving barely three weeks for election campaigning and setting the stage for further confrontation with his opposition.
Mr. Musharraf made his promise to lift the emergency a day after he ended eight years of military rule, moving him a step closer to meeting the most urgent demands both at home and abroad to return the country to democracy.
“I fully intend to lift the emergency on Dec. 16, to end the Provisional Constitutional Order and to hold fair and free elections according to the Constitution,” he said in an address to the nation on state television and radio Thursday evening.
“No destabilization or hurdle will be allowed in this democratic process,” he added. “Elections, God willing, will be held on Jan. 8 according to the Constitution and no one should create any hurdles.”
Yet even before his announcement, an umbrella movement of opposition parties, the All Pakistan Democratic Movement, led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said they supported a boycott of the parliamentary elections in protest of the lack of democratic norms under the emergency.
Two leaders of the lawyers’ movement against Mr. Musharraf, who were released from detention Thursday, also called for a boycott. One, Munir Malik, a constitutional lawyer and former president of the Supreme Court Bar, left an Islamabad hospital in a wheelchair and said the lawyers would renew their struggle.
Lawyers protesting Mr. Musharraf’s swearing-in clashed with the police in the city of Lahore, and threw bricks, glasses and sticks at the police who blocked their demonstration. Several lawyers and police officers were injured.
Meanwhile, even as Mr. Musharraf announced a deadline for the end of the emergency, he showed no relaxation on the detention of the former judges and senior advocates of the Supreme Court, or of the continued suspension of radio and television stations.
Somber and dressed in a traditional black tunic favored by civilian leaders, Mr. Musharraf took his new oath in a ceremony layered with contradictions, lecturing diplomats afterward on what he termed their obsession with democracy.
The Constitution that Mr. Musharraf vowed “to preserve, protect and defend” was suspended three weeks ago when he imposed the emergency, which only he holds the power to rescind.
The presidential oath was administered by the Supreme Court chief justice, Abdul Hameed Dogar, whom Mr. Musharraf appointed after dismissing the previous Supreme Court, which seemed about to rule another term for him illegal.
The former chief justice, Mohammed Iftikhar Chaudhry, and a number of other dismissed Supreme Court justices remain under house arrest, meanwhile, as do four senior advocates who work at the court since the emergency was imposed.
Once the emergency is lifted, decrees Mr. Musharraf made in recent weeks are to remain in force. These include tougher curbs on the news media, antiterrorism charges against lawyers and even an amendment allowing civilians to be tried by military tribunals for offenses like sedition. Two popular FM radio stations remain off the air, as does the private television station, Geo, all of which were known for their strong news content.
Still, at the official ceremony, Mr. Musharraf warned assembled foreign diplomats not to force democracy and human rights on developing countries, but to let them evolve in their own time. Many of the diplomats had been highly critical of his recent actions.
“There is an unrealistic or even impractical obsession with your form of democracy, human rights and civil liberties, which you have taken centuries to acquire and which you expect us to adopt in a few years, in a few months,” Mr. Musharraf said, addressing the diplomats.
“We want democracy; I am for democracy,” he said. “We want human rights, we want civil liberties, but we will do it our way, as we understand our society, our environment, better than anyone in the West.”
Mr. Musharraf defended his record in power, saying that he had always intended to lead the country toward democracy and to remove his uniform, but had to act in the interest of Pakistan’s stability.
He said he had to impose emergency rule on Nov. 3, and delay removing his uniform, because of a clash between state institutions, namely the judiciary and the government, and the growing threat of terrorism.
He blamed Mr. Chaudhry, the former chief justice, for derailing his planned transition to democracy and suggested it was a conspiracy hatched against him.
“I feel this derailment could have led the nation to chaos,” Mr. Musharraf said. He said he had not wanted to impose the emergency rule but in light of a growing threat from terrorism and the clashes between the judiciary and the executive, he had acted in the country’s interests.
“This was an extraordinary circumstance, ladies and gentlemen, it needed extraordinary measures to control,” he said. “No half-hearted measures could have delivered.”
Mr. Musharraf said he supported the return of the two former prime ministers, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, whom he had deposed in a coup in 1999. He said he had prepared a level field for elections and invited the opposition to take part.
Yet he also indicated that he intended to remain in charge even without his military uniform.
“Unfortunately, this period has been more turbulent,” Mr. Musharraf said in his speech to diplomats and Pakistani dignitaries. “It carries on being turbulent, but I think we are coming out of the storm.”

Global warming could make it to Senate floor

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., talks about the environment to Sun Microsystems workers at Sun headquarters in Santa Clara in August. Boxer visited Sun to survey examples of eco-friendly processors and programs that help businesses reduce their energy consumption. The visit was an advance of a field hearing she is chairing with the Environment and Public Works Committee on the issue of green jobs.

Parliament cannot declare republic, Sujata

A central leader of Nepali Congress (NC) Sujata Koirala has said that the 1990 Constitution should be revived to resolve the current problems faced by the country.

She said that reviving the 1990 statute without the King's power and authority and including provisions to accommodate Maoists is the need of the hour.

After the success of 2006 movement, the 1990 constitution had been scrapped and replaced by interim constitution of 2007.

Sujata also accused the Home Minister Krishna Sitaula of 'ambushing' the party and the country.

"In the hope that the Maoists will improve, the NC gave up all its stands. And now Sitaulaji has ambushed not only the party but also the country," said Sujata, who is also the daughter of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala. She made the allegations pointing at the role played by Sitaula – who is also an NC leader - in reaching understanding with the Maoists on many occasions.

Speaking at an interaction at the Reporters Club, Saturday, she said that the parliament cannot declare republic.

Body of Nepalese activist found

The body of an abducted political worker, Bechan Yadav, has been found in southern Nepal.
Mr Yadavan, an officer from the Nepali Congress party, is the latest victim of escalating violence threatening a peace accord signed nearly a year ago.
Police said they believe another corpse found recently may be that of a journalist, Birendra Shah, abducted exactly a month ago.
Many of the kidnappings have been blamed on former Maoist rebels.
The Maoists' youth league in particular has been accused of violent practices and of acting in contravention of last year's peace agreement.
While law and order has deteriorated, politicians in Kathmandu have continued to argue about the country's future political structures.
Elections planned for this month were postponed indefinitely after the Maoists abandoned their cabinet posts and vowed to disrupt the polls.
They insist they will not go back to war.