Lawyer-Led Protests Prevail in Pakistan: Musharraf is Expected to Step Down
After more than a year of lawyer-led protests over the breakdown of the rule of law helped force parliamentary elections that brought opposing parties to power, the president of Pakistan reportedly has agreed, or will soon agree, to step down.
Sources say President Pervez Musharraf probably will announce his decision to do so within the next few days, in exchange for immunity from impeachment and prosecution, according to the Wall Street Journal.
However, the issue of the president’s unconstitutional removal from office of dozens of appellate judges, after he declared martial law last November, still hasn’t been completely resolved, a leading lawyer involved in the protests said last week as he was being honored at the American Bar Association Annual Meeting in New York City.
The longer the battle for reinstatement of all of the appellate judges goes on, the harder it will be to win, Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, told some 600 attendees at an ABA-sponsored luncheon at which he received a Rule of Law Award.
“People gradually lose their commitment to the constitutional system, and they become apathetic about its survival,” he told the audience. “Thus are crucial battles lost, and thus are crucial battles being lost.”
Additional coverage:
CBS News: “Insiders Say Musharraf to Resign”
