It is Martial Law, not Emergency; the PCO is Unconstitutional

Irrespective of whether we support Gen. Musharraf's action or not, we should not be confused about what the constitution provides and what Gen. Musharraf has done.

First, after citing a variety of reasons, the words of the proclamation of "emergency" are:

"...

AND WHEREAS the situation has been reviewed in meetings with the Prime Minister, Governors of all four Provinces, and with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Chiefs of the Armed Forces, Vice-Chief of Army Staff and Corps Commanders of the Pakistan Army;

NOW, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the deliberations and decisions of the said meetings, I General Pervez Musharraf, Chief of the Army Staff, proclaim Emergency throughout Pakistan.
2. I hereby order and proclaim that the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan shall remain in abeyance."

This "emergency" is not the "emergency" for which the constitution provides:

Under t he Constitution:

"232. (1) If the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists in which the security of Pakistan, or any part thereof, is threatened by war or external aggression, or by internal disturbance beyond the power of a Provincial Government to control, he may issue a Proclamation of Emergency."

Had Gen. Musharraf wanted to declare a constitutional emergency, he could have asked the provincial governors to write to him that internal disturbances were beyond their power to control and then, as President (and not as Chief of Army Staff), he could have cited the powers conferred on him by Article 232 of the constitution, and declared a constitutional emergency.

It is clear that Gen. Musharraf chose deliberately not to go down that route. Although, perhaps to create an illusion of adherence to the constitution, he used the word emergency, the wording of the proclamation makes it clear that this is an extra-constitutional emergency; and the PCO, a Provisional Extra-Constitutional Order. (This is what is being referred to, in Sheikh Rashid's colourful term, as "Emergency-Plus.")

When the Chief of Army Staff suspends the constitution and rules by his orders, it is called Martial Law.

The government therefore is deliberately trying to confuse the citizens when it speaks of what the government can or can not do under the emergency provisions of the constitution. An example is the Prime Minister's statement that under an emergency, the life of the assemblies can be extended by up to one year, etc.