Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the man Washington is leaning on to uproot Islamic extremism in one of its main strongholds, is looking more isolated since he suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry in a most undemocratic manner for alleged abuse of office.
The rising dissatisfaction with Musharraf is reflected as a number of judges have resigned in Pakistan in continuing protests over the suspension Of CJ underscoring his continued dual role as president and as commanding general of the military that poses dangers for Pakistan and its ability to evolve towards a real democracy.
It is quite evident that honesty is not the best policy in this so-called Islamic State of Pakistan.
In a country struggling to establish democratic norms, imprint of the boot is again predominant. The arrogance and total disregard for the law shows that dictatorship is on its move in Pakistan.
People are outraged because what is happening is a masquerade against democracy. Not only is the chief justice denied the right to do his job and appear in an open hearing. The people of this country are denied media coverage of the story. Fifteen private channels were taken off air when they showed pictures of the protests. The same happened again when an interview with a famous lawyer in Karachi voicing his protest was suddenly disrupted.
In Islamabad, 14 policeman were suspended for carrying out the raid on Geo TV. Anyways whose sanction did these ‘policemen’ had that they acted with such impunity? Did somebody say ‘dictatorship’?
Now that the heads are rolling, and they have been rolling with frightening regularity recently as Mr. Musharraf’s actions are more dictatorial in nature. The growing insecurity among people who think that if the country’s chief justice is not safe, how can ordinary people feel safe. This kind of situation has all the hallmarks of turning into a big political challenge for Gen. Musharraf and his government. In many ways, Mr. Musharraf has dug his own grave by this illegal action.
