Constitution suspended, 500 jailed in Pakistan crisis

POLICE in Pakistan rounded up almost 500 opposition leaders and rights activists yesterday after the country’s military ruler suspended the constitution, ousted the top judge and deployed troops to fight what he called rising Islamic extremism.

President General Pervez Musharraf, who had promised to relinquish his army post and become a civilian president this year, declared a state of emergency on Saturday night, dashing hopes of a smooth transition to democracy for the nuclear-armed nation.

He accused the judiciary and Islamic militants of destabilising the country, saying he had acted to stop Pakistan from committing “suicide” and appealing for understanding from his Western allies. Gen Pervez’s leadership is threatened by the re-emergence of political rival and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, an increasingly defiant Supreme Court set to rule on the validity of his recent presidential election win, and an Islamic militant movement that has spread from border regions to the capital.