PTI

Jerusalem / Beijing, Nov 6 (mb):  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Monday Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf should 'take off his uniform', as Washington suspended annual defence talks with Islamabad because of the political situation there after the imposition of Emergency.

A day after she said the U.S would "review" its financial aid to Pakistan, Rice mounted pressure on Musharraf making a direct call that the General quit as Army Chief and restore civilian rule.
     
At a news conference in Ramallah, Rice urged Musharraf to follow through on past promises to 'take off his uniform.'

"I want to be very clear. We believe that the best path for Pakistan is to quickly return to a constitutional path and then to hold elections," she said.

"The more quickly and the more urgently that the Pakistan leadership and President Musharraf act on their stated desire to get back to a constitutional path, it will be for the better of everyone," she said.

Defence Secretary Robert Gates acting in tandem said in Bejing that the US was reviewing all its assistance programmes to Islamabad and urged Musharraf to restore democratic rule.

Rice said on Sunday that the US would review aid to Pakistan but indicated it would not suspend aid wholesale. She had also said "the US did not put all its chips on Musharraf."

The US has provided about 11 billion dollars to Pakistan since 2001 for the war against terror after the September 11 terror attacks.
     
Meanwhile, Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defence for policy, who was supposed to head a US delegation to the two-day talks scheduled to open at Islamabad tomorrow, will not go until political conditions improve, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said in Beijing.

Pak govt dismisses rumours of coup against Musharraf
PTI

Islamabad (mb):  Rumour mills in the Pakistani capital on Monday went into overdrive about President Pervez Musharraf being replaced by his deputy, sparking a flurry of denials by the military ruler himself and several top government spokesmen.

The rumours gained currency in the afternoon and caused consternation in the highest circles of the government, which was grappling with protests by lawyers across the country against the emergency imposed by Musharraf on Saturday.

The rumours, apparently spread through calls to media organisations in several cities, said Musharraf had been removed in a coup by Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani, a trusted aide whom he recently appointed the vice chief of the army and designated as his successor.

It was also claimed that the military ruler had been placed under house arrest by generals who were unhappy at the proclamation of emergency.

The rumours were quickly dismissed by Musharraf's spokesman Maj Gen (retired) Rashid Qureshi, military spokesman Maj Gen Waheed Arshad and Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem.

Musharraf too reacted, telling a news agency that it was 'a joke of the highest order'. He spoke after meeting nearly 90 diplomats at the Aiwan-e-Sadr or presidency to explain the reasons behind his decision to suspend the constitution and sack Pakistan's Chief Justice.

"It's nonsense, a sheer baseless rumour," said the president's spokesman Rashid Qureshi.

"It's a complete hoax, totally baseless and malicious. People will treat it with the total contempt it deserves," said Minister of State Azeem.

'Musharraf Violated his Own Constitution' - Amnesty Int'l
 
IANS
 
London (mb): Amnesty International said on Tuesday the state of emergency imposed by Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is a "blatant breach of international law and human rights standards" enshrined in the country's own constitution and demanded an immediate return to constitutional rule.

"Musharraf's actions constitute a direct assault on Pakistan's judiciary, its vibrant human rights community, independent media and peaceful political dissent," said the human right group's secretary general Irene Khan.

"Measures that have been portrayed as necessary to protect Pakistan are in fact a wholesale abrogation of fundamental human rights protections and dismantle the very institutions and checks and balances that underpin the country's stability," she added.

Pakistani police baton-charged and arrested or detained hundreds of lawyers, human rights activists and political workers across the country Monday. The office of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was raided by a large police contingent Sunday and around 70 human rights activists were arrested, Amnesty reported.

They have been charged with unlawful assembly under public order provisions and initially detained in Kot Lakhpat jail, Lahore. They include senior citizens, many of whom suffer from ill health.

Among those placed under house-arrest is Asma Jahangir, chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and UN Special Rapporteur for freedom of religion. Her house has been declared a 'sub-jail', where she will be detained for 90 days under preventive detention laws.

Khan said that by circumventing the Pakistan constitution's provisions for declaring a state of emergency, Musharraf had suspended the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of life, and key elements of the right to a fair trial. Under international law and human rights standards, reflected in the constitution of Pakistan, these rights must be fully and unconditionally respected in all circumstances, whether or not a public emergency exists, Khan said.

"Musharraf's actions also fly in the face of commitments set out in the emergency declaration itself to uphold the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law," she said.

The Amnesty chief said the suspension of judges and their effective house arrest plainly violate core provisions of the UN principles for the independence of the judiciary. Judges may not be removed by the executive, except in cases of incapacity or if they are unfit to discharge their duty.

"Amnesty International fears that this assault on key institutions of accountability, combined with sweeping emergency powers, will exacerbate existing patterns of human rights abuse, including torture and other ill-treatment, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and use of excessive force to suppress peaceful dissent," Khan said.