General Musharraf took another step to secure his rule by announcing by decree late Wednesday new amendments to the Constitution.
The amendments are intended to make sure that the emergency rule could not be challenged by any court, Pakistani lawyers said.
The newspaper Dawn said in a headline today: “Blanket indemnity for president,” adding that the emergency rule would now be immune from judicial review.
A former Supreme Court Justice, Wajihuddin Ahmed, who opposes General Musharraf’s judicial policies, described the amendments as “protective measures” designed to stop any challenge to his rule.
Alienated the US Department of State.
Pakistani journalists continued to demonstrate today against the continued closure of some independently owned television stations.
The American ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, visited one of the stations, Geo TV, earlier this week. She issued a statement afterward urging the government to allow all the television stations to resume broadcasting.
In unusually blunt criticism by a Pakistani government official, a defense lawyer for General Musharraf, Ahmad Raza Kasuri, accused Ms. Patterson and other American diplomats of interfering “in our internal affairs.”
Couple more exercises in power-grabbing like that and Dick Cheney's going to keel over in a fit of envy.
As long as Cheney keels over, I'm totally cool.
HJ
Posted by: Bing McGhandi | November 22, 2007 at 02:23 PM