The Pakistani media on Sunday slammed President Pervez Musharraf for imposing emergency on the country, describing it as the “General’s second coup”, which would only “fracture an already weakened nation”.
Terming Musharraf’s action as his “gravest errors of judgement”, hard-hitting editorials in leading dailies said the people of Pakistan have been cheated by the General who imposed a “half-baked” martial law against his own government.
End of institutions
In its editorial, titled “Black Saturday”, The News said: “The imposition of emergency rule and suspension of the 1973 Constitution announced on Saturday is only going to destroy the very institutions that this country crucially needs for evolving into a true democracy, particularly the judiciary, media and Parliament.
“Furthermore, the timing of the proclamation, a few days before an expected judgement on a case that could have potentially declared the President’s re-election null and void, is such that very few people in this country, or overseas for that matter, will buy the argument that it has been imposed to arrest the deteriorating law and order situation and to allow the government to focus on fighting extremism and militancy,” it said.
“So we are back to square one. Back to October 12, 1999,” said The Dawn in its editorial with a headline “Another move towards absolutism. “The people have been cheated,” the daily declared.