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| India-Pakistan |
| In Interview, Musharraf Defends Rule by Decree |
| 2007-11-14 |
| The president of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, rejected an appeal by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to lift the state of emergency, insisting in an interview on Tuesday that it was the best way to fight rising militancy and to ensure free and fair elections. "The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner," the president of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, said in an interview with The New York Times today. He defended the emergency decree issued 10 days ago that scrapped the Constitution, dismissed the Supreme Court and resulted in the arrests of 2,500 opposition party workers, lawyers and human rights advocates. “I totally disagree with her,” General Musharraf said in an interview with The New York Times at the presidential building here on Tuesday. “The emergency is to ensure elections go in an undisturbed manner.” He said last week that elections would go ahead by Jan. 9. General Musharraf said the decree was justified because the Supreme Court had meddled in politics, specifically the validity of his re-election, and because of the serious threat from terrorists. He sharply criticized Benazir Bhutto, the opposition leader, saying that she was confrontational and would be difficult to work with. |
| Posted by:Fred |