Pakistani police arrested hundreds of lawyers, human-rights activists and opposition politicians Sunday in an apparent bid to ward off protests over President Pervez Musharraf's weekend declaration of a national state of emergency and firing of the country's Supreme Court chief.
In Islamabad, aides to General Musharraf — who had dismissed pleas on Friday from Sec. of State Rice and Adm. William J. Fallon, the senior military commander in the Middle East, to avoid the state-of-emergency declaration — said they had anticipated that there would be few real consequences.
They called the American reaction “muted,” saying General Musharraf had not received phone calls of protest from Mr. Bush or other senior American officials. In unusually candid terms, they said American officials supported stability over democracy. Could this have been a better choice in Iraq?Extremism and oppression are okay when imposed by a dictator who is currently on the U.S. State "Friends" list...
peAce...
topbop!
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