As everyone will know, Gen. Pervez Musharraf yesterday proclaimed a state of emergency in Pakistan and suspended the constitution. Whatever his purposes may be, his explicit complaint is largely against the judiciary, alleging that the judges have overstepped their bounds and eroded the “trichotomy of powers.” The Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges have been “removed” and imprisoned, and a new Chief Justice, Abdul Hamid Doger [1], “installed.” According to the BBC all of the nearly 30 TV news channels in Pakistan have gone off the air.
I thought readers of Slaw might like to have access to a number of documents and websites relevant to the current challenge to the rule of law in Pakistan. Please feel free, of course, to add links or information via comments.
- The text of the Proclamation of Emergency [2]
- BBC News on “Musharraf” (search results) web [3] | feed [4]
- Supreme Court of Pakistan website [5]
The site currently has these notices:03.11.2007N O T I C E
It is notified for the information of all concerned Advocates/Advocates-on-Record/litigant public that the Court Programme issued by Dr. Faqir Hussain, Former Registrar on Orders of Former Chief Justice on 03.11.2007 conveying sitting of the Hon’ble Judges stands cancelled and withdrawn. The Revised Court Programme of Hon’ble Judges will follow.2. This issues with the Order of Chief Justice.
04.11.2007NOTICE
It is notified for the information of all concerned Advocates/Advocates-on-Record/litigant public that all the cases in which the Court has given a date of hearing during week commencing 5th to 8th November, 2007 stand cancelled due to changed circumstances.2. The next date of hearing of the cases will be communicated later on in due course.
- The Supreme Court of Pakistan 50th anniversary theme song “Justice for All [6].” [WMV movie]
- The Pakistan Policy Blog run by Arif Rafiq, based in New York — web [7] | feed [8]
- The Pakistani Spectator blog — web [9] | feed [10]
- The News, Pakistani online newspaper in English — web [11] | feed [12]
image from Supreme Court of Pakistan 50th anniversary theme song video