Pakistan calls on Commonwealth to postpone suspension decision

Nov 21, 2007, 13:59 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro has asked the Commonwealth to delay a decision on whether to suspend his country's membership over the current state of emergency, the foreign ministry in Islamabad said Wednesday.

The 53-member grouping of Britain and its former colonies and Mozambique 'should have a short postponement of the decision and immediately send a delegation to Pakistan to look at the situation,' Soomro told his counterpart Gordon Brown and Commonwealth General Secretary Don McKinnon by telephone.

'The Commonwealth should not take its decision in haste and should try to look at the ground realities in Pakistan,' he added.

According to Soomro, 'such a step would be in the interest of both Pakistan and the Commonwealth as we value our relations with the organisation,' ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told reporters in Islamabad.

The request came as Commonwealth ministers gathered in the Ugandan capital of Kampala for consultations dominated by Pakistan, where President General Pervez Musharraf imposed the emergency on November 3, citing rising Islamic militancy and terrorism.

The military ruler's critics say it was a means of sacking defiant top judges who appeared poised to overturn his October 6 re-election victory in a parliamentary vote boycotted by the opposition.

Earlier this month, a Commonwealth meeting in London gave Pakistan ten days to lift the emergency or face suspension.

The meeting of its Commonwealth Ministerial Action group (CMAG) demanded the immediate reinstatement of fundamental rights and the rule of law, including the release of thousands of political leaders and activists and the end of media restrictions.

A decision on the suspension is expected on Thursday, a day before Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, who acts as head of the Commonwealth, opens the three-day summit Friday.

Pakistan was only restored to full membership of the organization in 2004 following its suspension in 1999 when Musharraf seized power in a military coup.

Meanwhile, the clampdown in Pakistan continued, despite measures announced by the authorities to ease the situation, including the release of more than 3,400 political detainees.

Police baton-charged and tear-gassed two rallies by journalists in Faisalabad, located some 240 kilometres south-east of the capital, and in Quetta, the capital of the south-western province of Balochistan.

At least eight people were injured and three dozen reporters and photographers were arrested. More than 150 journalists were arrested in the southern port city of Karachi Tuesday evening during a protest.

Pakistani media workers are currently holding countrywide rallies on a daily basis against the closure of two news channels and further restrictions on several others since the emergency began.

Although the interior ministry has said that a dozen sacked judges of the Supreme Court are now free to 'go to their homes' after 19 days of house arrest in their official quarters, police prevented former Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from leaving his residence on Wednesday morning.

Newly appointed judges of the court are due Thursday to rule on the final case seeking to have Musharraf's election victory blocked on the grounds that a military officer cannot run for president.

The petition is expected to be dismissed and his election confirmed.

On the eve of the ruling, Musharraf issued a presidential decree saying neither the emergency rule nor the order through which he imposed it could be challenged in any court of law.

The order should be 'deemed as validly made,' it said.

The move was viewed as clearing Musharraf's way for his anticipated swearing in ceremony at the weekend.

This is due to be followed by a general election of new parliamentary assemblies on January 8, although opposition parties are mulling a boycott of the polls.

Despite the instability this year in Pakistan under his watch, Musharraf, a key US ally in the war against terrorism, continues to receive the verbal support of US President George W Bush along with exhortations to lift the emergency.

'He hasn't crossed the line. As a matter of fact, I don't think he will cross any lines,' Bush told ABC television in an interview late Tuesday.

'We did not necessarily agree with his decision to impose emergency rule and hopefully he will get rid of the rule,' Bush said, describing the release of the political detainees as a 'pretty good signal.'