It’s not emergency its MARTIAL LAW.

Mushraff has done nothing to curb terrorism. It’s his sole bet which can let him remain in power. Since by showing to outside world, that there is a threat of Islamic fanatics in Pakistan, and he is there to curb them, they will let him remain in power. He is only loyal to his power and no one else.

Now he is nothing but a desperate and very dangerous man. This is his desperate attempt to save his skin by killing democracy in Pakistan with the support and help of US and UK governments. The country is fast approaching a civil war.

We need Pakistan to be an independent state, with a civil elected govt, not some puppets in hands of US or UK.

May Pakistan Live Long.

Both really. I mean it is as obvious an act of desperation as there ever was, and yet one cannot deny that Musharraf has regained power for the time being.

His election was sure to be quashed by the Supreme Court and the pressure that was being exerted by the resurgent political parties was intensifying by the minute. So more or less this was a preemptive act than anything else.

Unfortunately though, I believe this might turn out to be serious error of judgment on Mushy’s part. He has committed a faux pas that could soon prove to be the final nail in his coffin. He has destroyed any chance of gaining legitimacy for his prolonged reign.

He has assumed that he has the cover of rising fundamentalism and the deteriorating security situation throughout Pakistan. But everybody knows that those are but last ploys (excuses) to remain in power. No doubt the growing public dissent and resurgence of old political war-horses will force Pervez to end his control in Pakistan sooner rather than later.

Wonder what his pal Bush thinks of this move. Public criticism and private backing. A great example of political hypocrisy.

this surely is an act of desperation. what else do you expect from man who is fighting not for the survival of his nation but his own. the suicide attack on Benazier’s convoy was just the reminder from the so called Islamists who don’t give a damn who rules them but their demands and motives being accepted. Until and unless Musharraf was dancing on the tone, it was perfectly all right with them but with the crackdown on the Red Mosque it was but obvious that there’s no need for the world to remain in the dark and keep guessin that this is the US backed move that just wants its ’war on terror’ to succeed.

So Musharaff says Pakistan is in a crisis caused by militant violence and a judiciary which had paralyzed the government.

So Pakistan its tasting its own product. What they have doing in Kashmir for so many years, its coming back to haunt them. Isn’t it ironic.

Musharaff has lost all his control.

@gagan

And I agree with Gagan , that he has committed a faux pas that could soon prove to be the final nail in his coffin.

Vikas: Certainly - Man in Control for now

Sorry Vikas, you are wrong.

Musharaff has done a blunder. So far he has been successfull in creating a false impression of democracy in Pakistan. Now the whole world knows whats really happening in Pakistan. Musharaaf can satrt counting his days at office, before he succumbs to pressure from West and his own country. Its a great day for Nawaz Sharif, who can already smell power.

It’s shameful, we still consider the dictator as our friend.

He has been rewarding the top nuclear scientist, who sold nuclear secrets to rogue states. He has secretly signing peace treaties with Al-Queda. He wasn’t happy to withdraw his support to Taliban, only after pressure from us he did that, and already charges us $11 billion. Pakistan is till breeding ground for terrorists. He doesn’t hold fair elections.

Now he has declared Martial law not emergency.

I bet if it was somewhere else, we would have already sent our bombers. SHAMEFUL.

No great politics or diplomacy here, only self-love.These types will do anything to remain in power. Mush knows that if he lost power he’d be killed or thrown out of the country; better be alive and let others suffer.

He is ’man in control’ in only one sense — that he has control. so far as the imposition of Martial Law is concerned, it is the ’need of the hour’ so far as Musharraf is concerned. Yes, it is his desperation working here because Musharraf is not a statesman or a politician; he is a military dictator. Political mind games are not his cup of tea, he works like a general taking into account what has worked in the past. Use of brute force has always been a way to power in Pakistan and the only way in which it could be retained for long enough. He wanted to legitimize himself and transform into the legitimate ’leader of the people’ but gaining ’legitimacy’ is not everyone’s cup of tea. It takes immense predatory patience to be able to do that, which is what politicians have, not the dictators. He is a dictator and is acting like one. He is desperate probably because that’s the only he can react in a situation he has suddenly found himself in.

Musharraf is only as much a ‘man in power’ as Indira Gandhi was a ‘woman in power’ in 1975 when she assailed India with an uncalled for emergency. Déjà vu?

Read ’man in power’ and ’woman in power’ as ’man in control’ and ’woman in control’ in my last comment; either way it remains the same in this case.

Actually,Mr. Musharraf knows that he can’t afford to be powerless in any case and specially, when nobody loves him. This the only way for his survival. He is bound to do what he is doing. His personal survival is interfering anywhere he doubts end of his power.

For a moment you call it control but basically It’s a fear. No one loves the evil, they just fear the power he has. So, anybody is desperate to kill that fear, when powerless, as soon as possible. his fear won’t let him come back.

Dear Ananickole,
With due respect to your views, allow me to point out that if Musharraf could keep the US pleased it has got more to with the political realities of the time than with Musharraf’s political acumen. If Pakistan has not shared the gory fate of Afghanistan and Iraq, it’s because the US could not have attacked all three one after another, as it would have made the US appear to be a sworn enemy of Islam. And such a perception could endanger the US and make it further prone to terrorist attacks. Pakistan has been a ’friend’ to the US for a long time simply because Pakistan has proved to be United States’ ’safest’ ally.

Musharraf was forced to act the way he did. It was the need of the hour. Today what he has done is also the same. It does not reflect his capability to turn things around, but simply his desperation to hit back. It is not a brave politician here but a a man going by the basic laws of ’self-preservation’.

Dictators have always made things better before making them a lot worse, take Hitler or Mussolini. Pakistan has been ’better’ already, now it’s turning worse by the day.