Arsalan Iftikhar - Islamica Magazine : The Constitutional Madness of King Musharraf

Welcome to Talking Justice Sign in | Join | Help

Islamica Magazine is a full-color international contemporary affairs magazine headquartered in Los Angeles, California with editorial offices located in Amman, Jordan, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England. Islamica aims to broaden perspectives on Islam and to provide a voice for Muslims to articulate their concerns while establishing cross-cultural relations between Muslims and their neighbors and co-religionists. Islamica Magazine is circulated to thousands of readers and subscribers in over 20 countries around the world.

About Arsalan Iftikhar

Arsalan Iftikhar serves as Contributing Editor for Islamica Magazine, an international contemporary affairs magazine headquartered in Los Angeles and with editorial offices in London, Amman and Cambridge, Massachusetts. His interviews and commentaries appear regularly in international media outlets such as CNN, BBC World Service, The TODAY Show, FOX News, Associated Press, MSNBC, C-SPAN, Al-Jazeera, NBC Nightly News, Washington Post, ABC World News Tonight, The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Newsweek magazine (among dozens others worldwide).

He is also a contracted freelance opinion writer with over 15 major daily newspapers including The Houston Chronicle, Detroit Free Press, San Diego Union-Tribune, Charlotte Observer, St. Louis-Post Dispatch, Kansas City Star, Miami Herald and many more. He was also a contributing author to Taking Back Islam (Rodale Press), winner of the 2003 Wilbur Communications Award for Religion Book of the Year.

He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1999 and received his law degree from Washington University School of Law in 2003. A native Chicagoan, he specializes in international human rights law and is licensed to practice law in Washington DC.

The Constitutional Madness of King Musharraf

Translated, the word Pakistan literally means 'Land of the Pure'. Sadly, nothing has been more impure than the recent declaration of martial law by General Pervez Musharraf; the most recent tin-pot dictator that Pakistan has seen in its young sixty-year history. Although Pakistan has seen five military rulers in less than a century of existence, the most recent political and social turmoil jeopardizes an already shaky political equilibrium and will have global repercussions for decades to come.

'King' Musharraf, in a televised address to over 160 million Pakistani people, cited the danger to the country posed by 'extremists' and said that only emergency rule ( a.k.a. martial law) could solve this problem. He then proceeded to summarily suspend the Constitution, sack the entire Supreme Court, close transmission of privately-owned television news channels and curb the broadcasts of international broadcasters. Parliamentary elections scheduled for next January were delayed for up to a year, officials told The New York Times.

Both the Chief Justice of the Pakistani Supreme Court and Asma Jehangir, the most prominent female human rights activist in Pakistan , have been placed under house arrest. Police officers armed with tear gas and clubs attacked thousands of protesting lawyers and rounded up academics, lawyers and professors in other cities. Our American 'ally' in our ongoing 'war on terror' has shown his true colors as a ruthless, power-hungry and dictatorial knucklehead.

Even though pressured by both U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to impose 'emergency rule', King Musharraf defiantly decided that declaring martial law would be the only way to maintain his political power in an era where nearly two hundred million citizens of Pakistan yearn and mobilize for democratic rule.

Nothing shows Musharraf's duplicity more than his recent unholy alliance with former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Rightfully called 'a kleptocrat in an Hermes scarf', she was ordered into exile by the Supreme Court for regarding the national treasury as her own personal piggy bank. The anti-Musharraf sentiment came to tragic fruition during the horrific double suicide bombings during a Bhutto rally, which killed over 130 innocent people. Musharraf's declaration of martial law while Bhutto was visiting her family in Dubai shows what happens when two political crooks do business together.

The only silver lining in the chaotic shambles of Pakistan comes from the lawyers, human rights activists and intelligentsia of the nation. Thousands of the most educated elites are taking to the streets in their Armani suits defiantly challenging their most recent tin-pot dictator. Many times, these rallies result in military police clubbing peaceful protestors to bloody pulps. Although bloodied, hundreds of millions of Pakistanis yearning for democratic rule continue to raise their voice to Musharraf and his military tyranny.

Wearing both a military uniform and a dictator's robe, General Pervez Musharraf has sunk to a disgusting new political low. Therefore, it is the role of democratic vanguards worldwide to send a resounding message to his palace in Islamabad that if he tries to wear both of these silly outfits and continues his madness; ultimately, the emperor will be standing naked with no clothes at all.

Arsalan Iftikhar is Contributing Editor for Islamica magazine in Washington D.C.

Published Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:01 AM by Arsalan Iftikhar

Comments

Please note that we encourage a vigorous debate on the issues from all points along the political spectrum on the Talking Justice blogs and discussion forums. However, we ask that you stay to the topic of the particular blog or forum post and that the debate remain civil. Profanity, spam and personal attacks on the program host or guests, contributors or other Talking Justice users will not be tolerated and are subject to deletion without notice. Moreover, any comment which is patently offensive, threatening or potentially libelous will be removed without notice. Persons who repeatedly attempt to post material that violates the site policies may, at the discretion of Justice Talking, be blocked from participating in the future.

Justice Talking, not the individual bloggers on this site, will make all decisions about whether comments to the blogs contained here should be edited or removed and whether individuals who violate our policies will be allowed to continue to post. Also, please note that, like all of the content on the Justice Talking radio show, the views expressed on these blogs and discussion boards belong solely to the person or organization posting them and do not reflect the views or opinions of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the University of Pennsylvania, or NPR.

No Comments

Anonymous comments are disabled. Click "Join" at top-right to add comments.

Closed to Comments

Note: Justice Talking ceased production on June 30 of 2008. The Talking Justice blogs and forums are provided as a read-only resource for historical interest only. Commenting on blog posts has been suspended.

All opinions expressed are those of the author. The Annenberg Public Policy Center makes no claim as the the accuracy of claims or continued availability of any third party web links found on this site.