i_heart_lawyers-1110623
U.S. LAWYERS CONDEMN STATE OF
EMERGENCY IN PAKISTAN
SAN DIEGO LAWYERS ASSEMBLY CALLED FOR
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13 AT 1:00 AT THE FEDERAL BUILDING
Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry is being held under house arrest, and over 2500 lawyers in different parts of Pakistan including the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association and other leaders of the Bar have been detained. Journalists said the government ordered that journalists who brought "ridicule or disrepute" to Musharraf could face three years in prison.
The real motivation for the emergency declaration “is not to defend the country against ‘Islamic extremists’ but to maintain Musharraf in power,” says Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild and a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law. The State of Emergency was declared after the Supreme Court indicated it would overturn the results of the illegitimate election that preserved Musharraf's rule. Musharraf seeks to prevent public protests that lawyers and political parties have been organizing.
A demonstration has been called for Tuesday November 13 at 1:00 at the San Diego Federal Building to urge that President Musharraf immediately withdraw the emergency declaration of November 3, 2007 which suspends Pakistan's Constitution. Musharraf’s declaration includes suspension of the right to life and liberty, freedom of speech, assembly and association, and equal protection of the law, all of which are guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. press release
Some lawmakers support Musharraf
Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf has gotten support from some senior Republicans, even as others stepped up criticism of the general after he declared a state of emergency over the weekend.
House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Tuesday urged Congress not to cut financial aid to Pakistan as a result of the state of emergency. Blunt said he was confident that the White House and Musharraf are in continuous discussions about the emergency situation in Pakistan.
Sounding a similar note, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee and a presidential hopeful, urged the United States not to rush to abandon Musharraf, whom he called an ally in the war on terrorism.
Musharraf “clearly seeks to retain control of Pakistan during a state of emergency,” Hunter said in a statement Monday. “He apparently sees this control, which requires the use of military and police forces, as the only remedy for an increasingly lethal al Qaeda and Taliban presence.” link
So to protect Pakistan from terrorism Musharraf detains Judges, Lawyers and Journalists?
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probationboy (54 months ago | reply)
This is fantastic. Would you be cool with posting to this group?
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