Resistance to Musharraf's Decision Met With Force
Pakistani Laywers Clash With Police in Islamabad
Nov. 5, 2007—
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf faced his first organized resistance today since declaring a state of emergency, and he responded with force.
Across Pakistan, thousands of lawyers, many in coats and ties, clashed with police in dramatic demonstrations. The lawyers, protesting Musharraf's suspension of the constitution, threw stones and insults, while police responded with batons, tear gas and then arrest.
Crisis in Pakistan
An estimated 1,500 lawyers, human rights activists and local journalists are now detained by Pakistani police. All independent Pakistani television stations have been shut down as well.
This morning, in Pakistan's capital, the bar association met to plan a strategy. Just as ABC News approached, lawyers told us the head of the bar was being arrested, but when the police saw the cameras, they backed off.
But the lawyers we spoke to fear the reprieve will not last
"Every lawyer is expected to be arrested," lawyer Hanuna Rashid, president of the bar association, said to ABC News' Martha Raddatz. "What can you do? We will fight in the streets. We will fight in the roads."
Although Musharraf imposed a state of emergency as he said, "fight extremists," he has been going after his political opponents, instead.
ABC News visited in secret, today, with a prominent Pakistani lawyer who has gone into hiding, moving from house to house.
"It's the military against the rule of law and the constitution, instead of fighting against the extremists," the lawyer, Athar Minallah, said.
It was just last year that President Bush stood side by side with Musharraf, praising his democratic intentions.
"The president is a strong defender of freedom and the people of Pakistan. He assured me there would be free and fair elections in Pakistan in 2007," Bush said at a press conference last year.
Today Bush warned Musharraf that his actions were undermining democracy.
"We expect there to be elections as soon as possible, and the president should remove his military uniform," Bush said to the press.
But Musharraf is likely more threatened by his own army generals, who are key to his remaining in power, and by one of his most vocal opponents, former Prime Minister Benazhir Bhutto, who could arrive in Islamabad as early as tomorrow.
A Threat to Us All
Just how dangerous has Pakistan become? Today, Taliban fighters are inside Pakistan but not in the remote mountains bordering Afghanistan. They're just 90 miles from Musharraf's compound near the Pakistani capital.
This year, Islamic militants have killed 1,400 people in Pakistan. And they operate openly in the largest cities in Karachi, where suicide bombers killed 136 at a parade honoring Bhutto's return, and in Islamabad, where militants fought a pitched battle with Musharraf's forces at a mosque this summer.
Several international terror plots, including the London subway bombings, and a failed attempt to blow up airliners over the Atlantic last summer, have been traced to terror training camps in Pakistan.
Pakistan's current political turmoil has U.S. officials worried that the government is no longer focused on battling Islamic militants, making Pakistan an even safer haven for terrorists.
"They should be protecting the nation, and instead, they are hardly able to protect themselves," retired Pakistani Lt. Gen.Talat Masood said.
U.S. aid to Pakistan nearly $10 billion since 9/11 is now seen by many in the country as propping up a deeply unpopular president, who's violating Pakistan's constitution to stay in power.
The nightmare scenario for U.S. officials is that a government collapse could put Pakistan's nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists.