Condemn Musharraf’s latest ploy for legitimacy, Bush urged

A top US-based rights watchdog has asked Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to withdraw changes he made to the constitution and reinstate the judiciary, stressing that lifting the state of Emergency would not restore ‘real constitutional rule’.

A top US-based rights watchdog has asked Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to withdraw changes he made to the constitution and reinstate the judiciary, stressing that lifting the state of Emergency would not restore ‘real constitutional rule’.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) called upon the US and the UK, Musharraf’s chief international backers, to insist on a ‘genuine return’ to constitutional rule and the restoration of the judiciary in Pakistan.

“American President Bush and British Prime Minister Brown should recognise that lifting the Emergency will do little to lift the burden of abuse and oppression on Pakistan’s people,” it said, adding ‘Instead of playing along with Musharraf’s power-grab, they should condemn his latest ploy for legitimacy’.

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President Musharraf on Saturday lifted the six-week-old state of Emergency and revived the constitution as part of efforts to counter criticism by the world community and Opposition parties which have expressed apprehensions that the upcoming elections would not be free and fair.

Musharraf signed three Presidential orders to end the Emergency, withdraw the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) that suspended the Constitution and fundamental rights, and revive the Constitution of 1973.

Since November 3, the HRW said, Musharraf has illegally fired and detained senior judges, including the Chief Justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, arbitrarily changed laws and amended the Constitution.

“These amendments serve the purpose of institutionalising impunity for the military’s human rights abuses and muzzling lawyers and the media,” the rights watchdog asserted.