Defiance may make him ineffective, force military to rethink its options

: General Pervez Musharraf may not call it so but his proclamation to suspend Pakistan’s constitution in his capacity as Chief of Army Staff on Saturday amounted to a declaration of martial law. Pakistanis are used to their army taking over running the country. In the past, however, generals have suspended the constitution to remove from power unpopular rulers, usually weakened civilians. This is the first time an unpopular military ruler has suspended the constitution to save his position. In doing so, Musharraf may have overplayed his hand.

It is clear that Musharraf’s action was motivated by his desire to keep himself and his civilian cronies in power and had little to do with saving Pakistan from terrorism or internal chaos. If Musharraf’s position was not threatened by the prospect of an adverse Supreme Court judgment against him holding the dual offices of President and Chief of army staff, he would most likely not have acted.

If there is internal chaos in Pakistan today, it is of Musharraf’s making. After all, it was his arbitrary decision to remove the Supreme Court Chief Justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in March that initiated the political crisis leading to Musharraf’s latest move.

Ironically, Musharraf has turned to the army and his position as army chief to bail him out of a crisis created by the bad advice of his civilian advisers. Even now, the virtual imposition of martial law appears aimed at protecting the interests of the unelectable Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and the King’s Party, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Q).

Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, president of PML-Q, has been calling for emergency rule since June in the hope of forestalling the loss of power by his faction. Musharraf’s civilian allies are the ones who would have been the biggest losers in any transition to democracy. They are incapable of winning a free and fair election and have resented the prospect of any arrangement that allows Benazir Bhutto to fight, and beat, them at the polls.

For her part, the Pakistan Peoples Party leader pointed out that Musharraf’s decision to purge the Supreme Court while keeping the parliament, provincial legislatures and ministries in their position was rather odd. “The current assemblies’ remaining intact does not mean anything because the legislation they pass is meaningless,” she said. “The constitution under which they were created has itself been suspended.”

But for Musharraf the weakness of his argument hardly matters. His actions reflect the...

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