Pakistan: Musharraf regime reiterates martial law threat US-sponsored deal with Bhutto begins to unravel

Musharraf, whom the Bush administration continues to laud as a pivotal US ally, has repeatedly tried to bully the court and the Pakistani people into accepting the legitimacy of the sham October 6 presidential election by saying that otherwise he will refuse to step down as head of Pakistan’s armed forces and could impose martial law. In mid-August, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice reportedly had to telephone Musharraf twice in a single day, including once at 2 a.m., to dissuade the general from declaring a national emergency.

Responding to an earlier government threat that a ruling against Musharraf could result in martial law, Justice Javed Iqbal, the head of the Supreme Court panel that is hearing the challenges to Musharraf’s election declared October 18, “These threats have no value for us. This is an issue to be decided in accordance with the law and according to the merits.”