Commonwealth may suspend the country if emergency rule continues

LONDON – As Commonwealth foreign ministers debated whether to suspend
Pakistan from the grouping if it does not lift its state of emergency,
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto ruled out any more power-sharing talks
with President Pervez Musharraf and said her party may boycott the coming
elections if it’s held under emergency rule.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action group met yesterday to consider the
suspension of Pakistan from the 53-nation group, as it did for five years
when Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup in 1999.

But its powers of persuasion are limited and suspension is the ultimate
sanction. Pakistan was restored to the group in 2004 after Gen Musharraf
promised to step down as military chief – something he has yet to do.

British officials said, however, that an immediate decision was unlikely,
with any action deferred to a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government
from Nov 23 to 25 in Kampala, Uganda.

Meanwhile, two-time former Premier Bhutto is set on collision course with
the military ruler. She had been in Western-backed negotiations with Gen
Musharraf before he declared a state of emergency on Nov 3, but said she
was changing tack.

“We are saying no to any more talks,” Ms Bhutto said. “We cannot work with
anyone who has suspended the Constitution, imposed emergency rule, and
oppressed the judiciary. That’s why we are holding the ‘long march’.”

She also said that “boycotting the election is an option” with her
Pakistan People’s Party.

It is the largest political group in the country and any boycott would
damage the credibility of the polls scheduled for January.

She promised to press ahead with a protest march from Lahore to the
capital Islamabad planned for today, despite warnings from officials that
they will not allow it.

“There will be no long march,” a senior government official in Punjab, the
province that includes Lahore, told AFP under cover of anonymity. “It will
not be permitted.”

“It’s a political decision,” Lahore police chief Malik Mohammad Iqbal
said, warning that the threat of militant attacks on the march was
“imminent and it is of the highest degree.” – AGENCIES