Islamabad: Bhutto to rally opposition, many unresponsive
Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has begun talks with other opposition leaders to plan how to reign in the state of emergency imposed by General Musharraf last Saturday. Some important parties however are boycotting the talks in protest against what they consider the ambiguous positions of the popular leader who came home a few weeks ago after eight years in exile. Ms Bhutto has not condemned the suspension of the constitution by the head of the army. Talks are meant to reach an agreement on how quickly the state of emergency should come to an end.
A top official from President Pervez Musharraf's party said emergency rule might only last two or three weeks which would allow for parliamentary elections in January. But the opposition is still concerned that any postponement could affect the process.
For the time being anti-Musharraf parties have told their supporters not to take to the streets before Friday to see the effectiveness of protest rally planned for that day by Ms Bhutto's Pakistan People’ Party (PPP).
In the meantime lawyers and judges continue their protest. Despite the crackdown, they have taken to the streets in Pakistan’s major cities to demonstrate against the hundreds of arrests and human rights violations that have occurred in the past few days.
Some 54 human rights activists arrested in Lahore on Sunday in a raid at Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission and in other NGOs were released on bail as a result of these protests.
Many of those who continue to protest complain about the government’s preventive censorship of private TV channels. But independent TV stations have hit back with the help of Internet streaming and satellite broadcasting, sending SMS to cell phone users telling them to log onto their websites where users can hear and watch live news bulletins and talk shows.
The government has responded announcing that it will soon issue a special code of conduct for the country’s media that every broadcaster will have to respect.
In New York the UN secretary general clashed with the Pakistani ambassador to the UN over President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule.
Ambassador Munir Akram said that the president’s decision was “an internal matter and [that] the United Nations has no business” to meddle in Pakistan's affairs by saying the country should return to democratic rule. Mr Ban is expected to respond this afternoon. (QF)
.png)
