U.S. Lawyers Issue Report on Rule of Law in Pakistan
A delegation of lawyers and law students from the National Lawyers Guild recently returned from a factfinding mission in Pakistan hosted by the Rule of Law Project at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. Based on interviews with over 50 lawyers, jurists, journalists, political leaders, and student and community activists, the delegation prepared an 18-page preliminary report summarizing the ongoing crisis and assessing the U.S. role.
The report reflects several concerns shared by interviewees, relating to the judiciary and rule of law, media freedom and transparency, upcoming parliamentary elections, and rising instability allegedly fueled by U.S. foreign policy.
General Pervez Musharraf's suspension of the Constitution on November 3, 2007 is the report's first subject. Noting that Mushrarraf issued the a "Provisional Constitutional Order" (PCO) in his capacity as Chief of Army Staff, and that the Supreme Court rejected the PCO's legitimacy the day it was issued, the report concludes that "[t]he PCO lacks any legal authority and represents a gross usurpation of power by Pakistan's military. General Musharraf's action on November 3 was nothing less than a coup d'etat."
In the immediate wake of the PCO, concerns arose about the independence of the nation's judicial system, which suffered the removal of 12 of 17 Justices of the Supreme Court, in addition to over 50 other senior judges around the country. Musharraf's decision to sack the judiciary in November was the second such attempt in 2007, following the March 9 removal of the Chief Justice based on charges of corruption. His removal, reversed by the Supreme Court in a July 20 decision, sparked an uprising among lawyers throughout Pakistan that culminated in a broad-based mass movement to defend judicial independence and restore the rule of law. Numerous critics of the ruling regime have alleged that the PCO's timing in early November reflects an attempt by Musharraf to pre-empt a then-forthcoming Court decision that reportedly would have declared him ineligible to stand for re-election.
In addition to the judiciary, the report also examines freedom of the press, concluding that "the Pakistani press faces severe restrictions and is unable to report completely and accurately on events of national importance." Specifically, the report discusses allegations including pervasive censorship, intimidation, and outright bans on particular outlets and personalities by the government. According to the delegation, "no media is free and independent in Pakistan."
With elections for the National and Provincial Assemblies delayed until mid-February after the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the delegation also examined the prospects for the elections' freedom and fairness. Noting at the outset that "Pakistan lacks a recent history of free and fair elections," the report reviews "several preexisting structural problems that preclude confidence in the results," including the lack of judicial independence, pervasive restrictions on media, politicized election administration at both the national and local level, and harassment—and even assassination—of opposition candidates.
Finally, the delegation placed its findings within the context of U.S. national security interests. It concluded that "support for the democratic process and an independent press and judiciary—rather than unconditional support for an individual head of state—can at once advance the interests of the Pakistani people in building a sustainable democracy while also assuaging American stability concerns." In contrast, the delegation characterizes the ongoing official U.S. "failure to strongly condemn the November coup []as . . . contrary to long-term U.S. interests . . . ."