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Disturbing news from Pakistan where General and President Pervez Musharraf is taking steps to solidify his power:

President Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution and deployed troops in the capital Saturday, declaring that rising Islamic extremism had forced him to take emergency measures. He also replaced the chief justice and blacked out the independent media that refused to support him.

Authorities began rounding up opposition politicians, cut phone lines in Islamabad and took all but state television off air, defying calls from Washington and other Western allies not to take authoritarian measures.

Musharraf's leadership is threatened by an increasingly defiant Supreme Court, the reemergence of political rival and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and an Islamic movement that has spread to the capital. The Supreme Court was expected to rule soon on the validity of Musharraf's contentious re-election last month.

In a televised address late Saturday night, Musharraf looked somber and composed, wearing a black tunic rather than his usual military fatigues. He said Pakistan was at a "dangerous" juncture.

"The extremism has even spread to Islamabad, and the extremists are taking the writ of the government in their own hands, and even worse they are imposing their obsolete ideas on moderates," he said.

Musharraf's order allows courts to function but suspends some fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution, including freedom of speech. It also allows authorities to detain people without informing them of the charges.

It's important to note that Musharraf hasn't done anything that is actually illegal. However, many democracies fall to dictatorships legally. The first step is for the person in power to declare a "state of emergency" and use their emergency powers to undermine the constitution - legally.

The second step is to subvert the will of democracy and it remains to be seen if this will happen. Musharraf said he was hopeful that democracy would be restored following the Parliamentary elections. But elections can be cheated with voter intimidation and outright fraud, especially in developing countries where voting isn't computerized and records aren't well kept. And even if a new Parliament is elected, if it's unfriendly to his agenda there is no gaurantee that they will be allowed to be seated which his emergency powers would allow him to do.

Even though Musharraf has been an ally of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism, he does not have the most democratic history. He assumed power in a military coup and has never lost an election.

JX 

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Pervez Musharraf