Pakistan's Emergency and the Commonwealth Response

On Saturday 3 November, as the Commonwealth Heads of Government prepared to come together in Kampala, General Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. He suspended the Constitution, dismissed Pakistan’s independent judiciary and removed all private television transmissions from the air while police commenced widespread arrests of politicians, lawyers, human rights defenders and protestors. Targeted at maintaining power as President and Chief of Army Staff, with the justification of maintaining stability in Pakistan, the measures have stifled democracy and the fundamental rights of people across Pakistan.

The state of emergency is in stark contrast with the Harare Principles, the political values to which every member of the Commonwealth, including Pakistan, is committed. Primarily, the Principles bind Commonwealth members to the protection of fundamental human rights and the promotion of democracy, democratic processes, the rule of law, independence of the judiciary and just and honest government.

The Emergency in Focus

In his declaration, General Musharraf cited that two threats to Pakistan – the spread of violent extremism and judicial interference in the executive – required emergency rule if he was to prevent the country from “suicide”.1 He brought the Provisional Constitutional Order into force to govern the emergency, suspending Pakistan’s Constitution along with the fundamental human rights protections it contains.²

The declaration of emergency ousted Pakistan’s independent judiciary by requiring all judges in the country to be immediately governed by a new oath of office, under which they must pledge not to challenge the emergency or General Musharraf.³ Immediately following the declaration, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and other justices of the Supreme Court convened urgently to try and strike down the emergency order. Instead they were forcibly arrested and placed under high security house arrest.

The declaration accuses the judiciary of interfering in the function of the executive, arguing that during the past year it has undermined the Government, demoralised the police and threatened the security of the state by releasing terrorists. In reality, a more accurate assessment is that the judiciary, as it is bound to, has been upholding the rule of law and fulfilling its function to check excesses of police conduct and General Musharraf’s expansive presidential power.

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1. Proclamation of Emergency (Issued 3 November 2007): available at http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/post_03nov07/proclamation_emergency_20071103.html.
2 Provisional Constitution Order No 1 of 2007: available at http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/post_03nov07/pco_1_2007.html