Pakistan's Supreme Court deliberates emergency rule

A reconstituted Pakistani Supreme Court, loaded with judges chosen by President Pervez Musharraf, began deliberations today on the legality of the general’s emergency rule and his eligibility to serve a third term as head of state.

With pressure mounting to get the country on a path to democracy, the government set January 8 as the date for elections. But there was no evidence that General Musharraf intended to lift his state of emergency – a key demand of both the opposition and Washington – before the vote.

In his first public comments since a meeting with US deputy secretary of state John Negroponte, General Musharraf vowed that the elections would be fair, but also defended the emergency, which has seen thousands of his opponents jailed, the judiciary purged and independent media muzzled.

“I took this decision in the best interest of Pakistan,” General Musharraf said at a ceremony to inaugurate a bridge in Karachi, adding that it would have been easier for him just to step aside.

“I could have said thank you and walked away,” he said. “But this was not the right approach because I cannot watch this country go down in front of me after so many achievements and such an economic turnaround.”

Today the Supreme Court began deliberations on whether General Musharraf’s November 3 suspension of the constitution was legal. It also took up the case that had been before the court ahead of the emergency – whether his October election in parliament to a third, five-year presidential term was constitutional.

Many believe the general imposed the clampdown and purged the former Supreme Court because it was probably just days away from invalidating his continued rule. General Musharraf has long said he would resign as head of the armed forces, but stay on as a civilian head of state.

Opposition figures say they expect little from the new court, which has had all of its independent voices removed. No decisions were expected today.

Meanwhile, the state-run Election Commission of Pakistan announced January 8 as the date for much-anticipated elections for both parliament and local authorities. General Musharraf had previously promised a vote by January 9, but had not set a specific date.

The opposition has threatened to boycott, saying a vote held while its members are detained and its freedom to assemble blocked would have no validity. They have also questioned the neutrality of a caretaker government installed by General Musharraf last week.

“We just wonder how we can have fair elections when so many people are under arrest and the media is gagged,” former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan in October and has become one of General Musharraf’s fiercest critics, told CNN’s Late Edition.

General Musharraf urged the opposition not to boycott the vote, saying that any who did would be acting because they felt they could not win – not because the playing field was unfair.

“They have resorted to agitational politics and (are) threatening to boycott the elections just to run away from the elections,” he said, "but we will go into the elections and I think that (they) all will participate.”

Mr Negroponte, Washington’s second most senior diplomat, was blunt yesterday after his meetings with General Musharraf and other senior military and political figures, saying the emergency rule was “not compatible with free, fair and credible elections”.

But Pakistan was quick to dismiss those concerns, saying the envoy brought no new proposals on his weekend visit and received no assurances after urging General Musharraf to restore the constitution.

“This is nothing new,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said. “The US has been saying this for many days. He (Mr Negroponte) has said that same thing. He has reiterated it.”

The face-off leaves the Bush administration with limited options in steering its nuclear-armed ally back towards democracy.

Senior Bush administration officials have said publicly that they have no plans to cut off the billions of dollars in military aid that Pakistan receives each year.

Locked in a battle with increasingly powerful Islamist militants, Pakistan is seen as a key front in the war on terror.