BUSH REMAINS SILENT ON ATTACK ON RULE OF LAW IN PAKISTAN

George Bush needs to come out and condemn Pervez Musharraf for locking up the lawyers and judges in Pakistan. If Bush is so enamoured with "freedom" and "democracy," how come he remains silent regarding Iftikhar Chaudhry? Chaudhry is or was the Chief Justice of the Pakistani Supreme Court who has been unconstitutionally thrown out of office by that dictator Musharraf because he would not go along with Musharraf's scheme to stay in office. How come Bush remains mute when it comes to all the lawyers and judges now in detention because they oppose Musharraf's attempt to illegally remain in power?

Bush's stress on "freedom" and "democracy" are just cynical phrases devoid of meaning, designed solely to make Bush look like another George Washington for purposes of establishing his "legacy." Nevertheless, Bush remains silent on the outrageous attack on the rule of law in Pakistan. This shows how cynical and hollow Bush truly is.

BHUTTO CALLS FOR RELEASE OF JUDGES, LAWYERS - IT'S ABOUT TIME

It is about time that Benazir Bhutto has come out with an appeal to free Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Chaudhry and the other Pakistani judges and lawyers who have been arrested by that dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Bhutto has been back in Pakistan for several weeks, yet only today did I read on the website of the BBC where she calls for the jurists' release. Without the freeing of the judges, Pakistan will exist without the rule of law.

This whole sordid affair shows the shallowness of U.S. foreign policy towards Musharraf and Pakistan. The U.S. policy centers on Musharraf whereas it should center on Pakistan and its people. Instead of arming Musharraf and the Pakistan army, the U.S. should be assisting the hoi polloi, the common peoeple, with roads, schools and hospitals.

GEN. MUSHARRAF DISMISSES CHIEF JUSTICE, IMPOSES MARTIAL LAW

Gen. Pervaez Musharraf finally beat the Pakistani Supreme Court. Dismissing Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice, before the court could rule that Musharraf could not be both president and head of the army under the Pakistani Constitution, Musharraf declared martial rule and appointed his own people to be justices on the Supreme Court.

The BBC reports:

" . . . [R]esentment is brewing among the judges of the higher judiciary. More than 60 judges, out of a total of 97, have declined to take oath under the new Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO).

"Their homes have been placed under strict security, presumably to prevent them from going to the courts on Monday, as some of them plan to do.

"In a hurriedly-called sitting on Saturday evening, seven Supreme Court judges issued an order barring the government from proclaiming emergency rule, and advising the state functionaries not to carry out emergency orders, if issued."

No wonder lawyers have taken to the street to resist Musharraf's destruction of the rule of law in Pakistan. Because Musharraf did not like the decision that he feared from the Supreme Court, he simply dismissed the justices and appointed those he knows would rule in his favor.

Writes the BBC:

"This order is likely to be used by the leaders of the lawyers' movement to mobilise agitation against the government. An act of defiance by the judges could further exacerbate the situation.
"The lawyers' movement emerged in March when Gen Musharraf tried to remove the country's Chief Justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, from his post."