EMERGENCY

A state of emergency was declared by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on November 3, 2007, and lasted until December 15, 2007, during which time the constitution of Pakistan was suspended. When the state of emergency was declared, Musharraf controversially held both positions of President and Chief of Army Staff. He later resigned as army chief 25 days into the emergency on November 28. The state of emergency and its responses are generally attributed to the controversies surrounding the re-election of Musharraf during the presidential election on October 6, 2007, including his holding of both offices of President and Chief of Army Staff at the time. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry reacted promptly to the emergency declaration, convening a seven-member bench which issued an interim order against this action. He also directed the armed forces of Pakistan not to obey any illegal orders. Subsequently, the 111th brigade of the Pakistan army entered the supreme court building and removed Chaudhry and several other judges from the supreme court and arrested them. It was announced early that the state of emergency would likely end in late November or early December 2007. After being sworn in for a second presidential term on November 29, 2007, Musharraf immediately declared that the state of emergency would end on December 16, 2007, although the emergency actually ended one day earlier, on December 15, 2007, with an announcement by Musharraf. The Pakistani general election previously scheduled to occur in early January 2008 was postponed. At the beginning of the emergency, Information Minister Tariq Azim Khan said on television that the general election could be delayed many months and perhaps up to a year. Later, the election was rescheduled to take place by February 15, 2008, as announced by Musharraf himself.A few days later he called for the election date to be on or before January 9, 2008, before a final date of January 8, 2008, was decided. However, because of unforeseen events that occurred after the state of emergency ended, primarily the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and its aftermath, the general elections were again postponed by the Election Commission and were finally held on February 18, 2008.

Background
Leading up to the 2007 presidential elections, the Election Commissioner approved General Pervez Musharraf as a candidate for re-election. One of his opponents, retired Supreme Court justice Wajihuddin Ahmed, challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court. The dispute was primarily regarding whether a member of the military was constitutionally permitted to run for the office of the president, as Musharraf held both titles of President and Chief of Army Staff. Responding to the challenge, on 28 September 2007, Pakistan's Supreme court cleared the way for President Pervez Musharraf to seek another five-year term when it threw out a major legal challenge to his re-election plans. But barred the Election Commission from officially declaring a winner until it made its final decision. On October 6, presidential elections were held with Musharraf winning 98% votes in the Senate, Parliament and the four provincial assemblies.

While the Supreme Court was hearing the case of Musharraf's eligibility as a candidate, it announced that it would likely need to delay the hearing until November 12 due to a personal engagement of one of the honorable members of the bench. On November 2, the court reversed its decision to break, stating that it would now reconvene the following Monday on November 5 to attempt to resolve the political situation quickly. This reversal was in part due to criticism that the court's continuing delay was adding to Pakistan's general instability. Convening on November 12 would have left a tight schedule of just three days before the end of Musharraf's previous presidential term on 15 November. Parliamentary elections were due to be held in February 2008, no later than a month after the original target date for elections. Prior to the emergency declaration, Attorney General Malik Qayyum, representing Musharraf, had assured the court that there was no planned move by the government to impose martial law.

Declaration of a state of Emergency

Before the court could reach a decision, General Pervez Musharraf, acting as Chief of the Army Staff, declared a state of emergency as per Article 232 of the constitution, on the evening of November 3, 2007, and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order which replaced the country's constitution. The Constitution of Pakistan, Article 232, allows the President of Pakistan to declare a State of Emergency when he is satisfied a situation exists that warrants its imposition. In the case that a President of Pakistan declares a State of Emergency, the National Assembly has to approve it within 30 days. The state-run Pakistan Television Corporation issued a brief announcement saying that, "The Chief of the Army Staff (General Musharraf) has proclaimed state of emergency and issued a provisional constitutional order," at 6:10 am local time without giving any details. Under the order, the Constitution was suspended, the federal cabinet ceased to exist, and the justices were ordered to take an oath to abide by it. Those who failed to do so would be dismissed. On 24 November 2007, a seven panel larger bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, directed the chief election commissioner and the government to declare Pervez Musharraf President for a second term by December 1, and said that President Musharraf shall relinquish the office of the chief of army staff (COAS) before taking oath as civilian president. The Supreme Court also validated the imposition of emergency and the promulgation of the Provisional Constitution Order issued by the Chief of the Army Staff. The larger bench held that President General Musharraf was qualified to contest the presidential election and did not suffer any disqualification under the constitution and the law. The court also vacated the interim stay of the October 6 presidential election results that had kept the Election Commission from announcing them until now.

Speech to the Nation

Early Sunday morning Pervez Musharraf addressed Pakistan for the first time since declaring the state of emergency in a speech broadcast on state-run PTV. The following is a translation of Musharraf's speech from the original Urdu: Today I make this address because our country is at a dangerous juncture, facing a national crisis. Throughout history, nations have often had to make difficult decisions. That time has come now for

Pakistan we have to make important and painful decisions. If these decisions are not made then Pakistan's future is at stake. Before saying anything further, I promise that the decision I have made is, first of all, for the sake of Pakistan. Pakistan is above all personal interests. The people of Pakistan should agree with me on this. In the last few months, our situation has changed dramatically. Terrorism and Extremism are rampant. Suicide bombings are widespread. In Karachi, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, fanaticism is now common. Fundamentalist extremists are everywhere. They are not afraid of law-enforcement agencies. What was confined to the frontier areas has now extended to many other areas. Extremism has spread even to Islamabad - the heart of Pakistan. The people are worried. The extremists are trying to take the authority and power of the government into their own hands. They want to impose their out-dated religious views upon the people. In my eyes, this is a direct challenge to Pakistan's future as a moderate nation.

Ban on Media
With the imposition of emergency a media blackout followed. National channels like ARY One World, GEO TV, Aajtv and other channels were also blocked. General Musharraf maintained that these channels were creating discord, misrepresenting facts, were not responsible, and were contributing to the instability of the nation. The Government also cracked down on international channels like BBC and CNN. ARY reported that authorities in Dubai had asked the networks administration to close down its operations. The network said no reason had been given for the move.

Effect on the economy

The Pakistani stock market was the first to react, with the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) falling by more than 4.6% on the first day of the emergency. Investors in the United Kingdom pulled back $26.27 million while investors in the United States withdrew $51.93 million. It is estimated that more than $235 million in total were withdrawn from the KSE during the emergency.