President Musharaf on his latest press conference held Nov 11, 2007 looked very agitated and edgy. He failed to give one solid and legitimate reason for his so called "Emergency". He said that this emergency was necessary so that Army could be deployed in the Swat region. However Pakistani Constitution allows the deployment of Pakistan Armed Forces in any province on the request of the Chief Minister. Chief Minister of NWFP has previously requested the deployment of PAK Army in various areas and Army was deployed. Hence President's justification of Emergency just because Army deployment was needed is baseless. He could have easily deployed Army without the proclamation of Emergency.
He also said that he went into various discussions with Civil Society before making a decision on Emergency, he failed to name who though. I am not sure what his definition of Civil Society is, I hope he does not mean his cabinet. None of the Civil Society in Pakistan was consulted, Civil Society has denied it itself and even if they were consulted, they would have never suggested him in the favor of his actions.
He also said that emergency was needed as Judiciary was acting against the government and it was making the government hard to function. In any civilized Nation, it is the requirement of the judiciary to keep checks and balances on the government. Judiciary's actions were the direct results of governments wrongdoings. President mentioned that "only few people" in the judiciary were to be blamed. If we take him for his words then how come majority of judges refused to take oath under the new PCO. Even those who took oath were forced, bribed and manipulated.
On various occasions during the Press Conference, President kept on emphasizing that he wants to clear the doubts of International Media and governments overseas. Even during the question answer session, he was leaning towards talking to international media. This is so shameful for Pakistan that our own President is way more concerned about clearing the doubts of international community and does not even care of his own people. It looked like, he was trying to portray a liberal and honest image of himself in front of international community, setting aside what his own community thinks of himself.
