President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan

Emergency has been declared in Pakistan. It is not a surprising political event. Undoubtedly, the opinions were being formed a few days earlier. This emergency in Pakistan is being viewed differently. Gen. Musharraf has called this emergency a step towards the establishment of democracy in Pakistan that is passing through the phase of instability & disaster. Within six hours of declaration of emergency, on Nov. 3, 2007 at midnight, Gen. Musharraf addressing the people of Pakistan expressed his deep worries on the day by day worsening conditions in Pakistan. Among the main reasons of declaration of emergency, he talked about the Islamic extreme activities & increasing interference of judiciary in executive & legislature. He appealed to the people of Pakistan to support him in these circumstances where Pakistan is passing through the dangerous phase & said that he had no way out but to declare emergency in this time when there was a danger to the security of the country. Musharraf said that he couldn't see the country going on the path of destruction.

Undoubtedly, after the declaration of emergency, addressing the people of Pakistan, Musharraf for the first time threw the light on the real condition of Pakistan. But India & Afghanistan & many other countries have been warning Pakistan against the increasing dangers of the extremists there. In the eyes of the world, Pakistan is known not only as the asylum of the extremists but a nursery of the terrorists also. The extremists, with the help of the terrorists have started their efforts to run a parallel government in Pakistan. The sorrowful incident of Red Mosque is a result of this. It seems that after the Operation Red Mosque, the terrorists have started aiming at the army of Gen. Musharraf. The number of suicide attacks & assailants is increasing. These attacks that started from the tribal areas of Pak-Afghan borders have reached in so many areas of Pakistan. The attack on the welcome caravan of Benazir Bhutto has badly moved the administration. Even there have been efforts to aim at Gen. Musharraf by these terrorists.

In these circumstances, Gen. Parvez Musharraf realized that perhaps the declaration of emergency may improve the condition. But there has started a lot of criticism just on the declaration of emergency. The former cricket player Imran Khan, who is the head of the Tehrike Insaaf Party, is so angry over the declaration of emergency that he is pleading to hang Musharraf. Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto & other parties & leaders, that are opponents of Musharraf have united to call Musharraf as the killer of democracy. Undoubtedly, the verdict of the writ petitions challenging about the election of Gen. Musharraf are still lying pending in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. But it is also true that there was strong possibility of the verdict regarding the validity of election of the president in the Supreme Court, going against Parvez Musharraf. The opponents & the critics of Musharraf are blaming him on this excuse that he declared emergency only to keep control over both, the Pakistan administration & Pakistan army. But this group is ignoring the worsening condition in Pakistan. In fact anarchy, terror & fundamental thoughts have spread to the extent & so deep rooted that it has started affecting the world adversely.

In fact a wide war has started between the liberal & conservative thoughts in Pakistan. But, unfortunately, Musharraf has to face the opposition of both these groups, the conservatives & the liberals that are his traditional political opponents. The critics of Musharraf specially who cry for democracy & are his international critics, are associating the emergency with the previous circumstances during army rule. As a result of it many a time, Pakistan has to face rule of the army, emergency & martial law. But it is necessary to differentiate it.

For example, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was a liberal & democratically elected Prime Minister whereas the chief of army Gen. Zia Ul Haq was a military dictator of conservative thoughts. At that time Gen. Zia used his military powers & made Bhutto to reach near the gallows. It was a clear example of victory of conservative thoughts over the liberal thoughts. This happened three decades ago. The nursery of conservative & fundamental thoughts planted during the military rule of a decade of Gen. Zia is at its youth. Sometimes these were found involved in Kashmir in the form of fundamentalist terrorists & sometimes in the train blasts in London. The Indian Parliament, too, couldn't save itself from their ill will. The terrorism, nurtured in Pakistan is trying its best to spoil the communal harmony in India. And now these conservative thoughts have spread so much that even the people of Pakistan are feeling its heat. How misfortunate it is that the military dictator Musharraf dethroned Nawaz Sharif in 1999 & controlled Pakistani power & got terrorism & terrorist shelters & hundreds of terrorist training centers from their previous rulers. The present dictator Musharraf remained near the conservatives in its initial stage as he thought himself helpless or as his policy matter but now it is clear that Musharraf is enemy of the terrorists who spread terrorism in the name of Islam. The hard proof of it is that Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden has appealed to start a war against Musharraf. Musharraf is in favour of the liberal Islam that isn't liked by the people of fundamental thoughts.