Pakistan army courts may try civilians

[mallard]

Source: Yahoo! News - Associated Press

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's military ruler has amended a law to give sweeping powers to army courts to try civilians on charges such as treason and inciting public unrest, officials said Sunday as a key opposition leader prepared to stage a massive, 185-mile protest march.

The moves came one week after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said he was imposing a state of emergency to help fight Islamic militancy. But the main targets of his crackdown so far have been his most outspoken critics, including the increasingly independent judiciary and media.

Pakistan eased the crackdown Saturday, releasing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto from house arrest. Musharraf — under pressure by the United States and other Western allies to return to the path of democracy — won praise for agreeing to lift the emergency within weeks and hold elections by Feb. 15, just one month later than originally scheduled.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071111/ap_on_re_as/pakistan

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Wouldn't it set a better example for constitutional law in general, for us Americans most especially, if civilian courts conversely were set to try military personnel in Pakistan's near future?

[mike_c]

1. they're tryin' that out in Pakistan before floating the idea...

...for republican focus groups here....

[tabasco]

2. More "positive signs" for Bush to crow about!

Summary executions will just have Boosh fawning over Ol' Mushie.

[Igel]

3. It's worse.

It's retroactive to 2003.

On the other hand, this sounds worse than it is (and while in context in the article it's not so bad, it's easy to forget the context): "He ... declared the current parliament would be dissolved in the coming week...." That's when it was due to be dissolved, so no problem. (In fact, Musharraf was rather crowing something like it's the first Pakistani NA to serve its full term.)

[hang a left]

4. Cheney must be drooling...

eck...the image.

[ohio2007]

5. Pakistan emergency 'aiding Taliban'

Taliban fighters are tightening their grip in areas in the north-west of Pakistan as a result of the country's state of emergency, officials in the Swat valley have said.

Pro-Taliban fighters have advanced in recent days and government officials say they now control as much as 70 per cent of the valley, just a few hours' drive from Islamabad.




James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said: "They claim that the government has been distracted with all its efforts directed at arresting human rights activists, politicians and lawyers."

snip
The Taliban are said to have taken control of public buildings, including police stations.


http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C341BB4A-EC10-4CB8-A79A-F563467C05C0.htm
?
How do you tell the difference between citizens in Swat and "citizen fighters" pushing the govt out of Swat?
I don't know either

[madeline_con]

6. DUH-bya's studying up on how to do the same here. n/t

[humbled_opinion]

7. Marshall Law... n/t