Govt. to delay elections citing growing insecurity due to threat posed by al-Qaeda

[bigtree]

09/08/2007

Pakistanis brace for Musharraf declaring emergency

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf was due to convene a meeting with senior aides and ruling party leaders on Thursday to decide whether to declare a state of emergency, a senior member of the government said.

The government could justify the measure by citing mounting insecurity due to the threat posed by Islamist militants allied to the Taliban and al Qaeda after a spate of attacks, many of them by suicide bombers, over the past month.

A member of the inner circle of the Pakistani leadership told Reuters that an emergency would almost certainly be imposed.

He said Musharraf, a staunch U.S. ally, had called for a meeting at 10 a.m. (6 a.m. British time) to determine what steps needed to be taken.


Private news channels reported overnight that Musharraf would imminently announce the measure, which would probably delay elections due by the turn of the year and could result in restrictions on rights of assembly and place curbs on the media.

Pakistanis who went to bed too early to hear those reports awoke to newspapers warning them what to expect.


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/latest/2007/08/09/pakistanis-brace-for-musharraf-declaring-emergency-89520-19598654/