(New York, December 19, 2007) - Scores of
lawyers, judges and other government critics
remain detained in Pakistan despite the lifting
of the state of emergency on December 15, Human
Rights Watch said today in a new report.
President Pervez Musharraf’s dismantling of an
independent judiciary and the crackdown on the
vocal lawyers’ movement mean free and fair
elections, scheduled for January 8, 2008, will be
impossible.

The 84-page report, "Destroying Legality:
Pakistan’s Crackdown on Lawyers and Judges,"
presents eyewitness accounts of police violence,
arbitrary arrests, and mistreatment of detained
lawyers across Pakistan since November 3, 2007.
The report details police beatings of lawyers
peacefully protesting government policies from
within the grounds of Pakistan’s high courts. It
is the most detailed account to date of the
November crackdown, showing how Musharraf used
the emergency as an excuse to disempower the
judiciary, the legal profession and civil society
in the name of fighting terrorism and Islamic
extremists.

"The lawyers’ movement had done more in eight
months to challenge the pillars of military rule
than the political opposition had done in eight
years," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia
researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Musharraf’s
crackdown on legal institutions is a huge setback
for human rights and the rule of law in
Pakistan."

Since March 9, 2007, the movement of lawyers and
the growing independence of the nation’s
judiciary had made genuine progress in putting
Pakistan back on the path to democracy, Human
Rights Watch said.

Under the revised constitution, unilaterally
imposed by Musharraf, the government has new
powers to disbar lawyers involved in peaceful
anti-government activities, and the military can
now try civilians for a wide range of offenses
previously under the purview of the country’s
judiciary, including charges as vague as causing
“public mischief.”

Deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar
Mohammad Chaudhry remains under strict house
arrest along with his family and most of the
other justices on the Supreme Court who refused
to accept the suspension of the constitution on
November 3. Leaders of the lawyers’ movement,
including Supreme Court Bar Association President
Aitzaz Ahsan, retired Justice Tariq Mehmood, and
former Bar Council Vice Chairman Ali Ahmed Kurd,
also remain under house arrest.

Restrictions on the media remain in force and the
government has repeatedly warned it will not
tolerate the “politics of agitation.”

Human Rights Watch noted that in such a
repressive political environment, elections
scheduled for January 8, 2008, cannot to be free
or fair.

Given the well-documented history of
election-rigging by the Pakistani military, the
emergence of an independent judiciary provided
the best hope for a free and fair election. A
military-backed ruler who dispensed with the
constitution in order to get rid of such a
judiciary is unlikely to preside over an
electoral exercise that could bring his political
opponents to power.

"A genuine election campaign is impossible when
the media remains muzzled, leaders of civil
society remain under arrest, and the legitimate
judiciary of the country has been deposed and
replaced by hand-picked supporters of the
government," said Hasan.

Human Rights Watch faulted the United States and
the United Kingdom, which consider Musharraf an
indispensable ally in the “war on terror,” for
failing to back formulaic statements of concern
with concrete measures such as sanctions. Human
Rights Watch urged both countries to press for
the immediate release of all persons arbitrarily
detained, the restoration of the judiciary, and a
return to genuine constitutional rule.

"Foreign policy that tries to appease the
Pakistani military at the expense of democracy is
as dangerous as it is flawed,“said Hasan.”If
the United States and the United Kingdom are
genuinely interested in Pakistan’s political
future and stability, they should focus on
restoring the judiciary and lawyers to their
status prior to November 3."

Destroying Legality

Pakistan’s Crackdown on Lawyers and Judges

This 84-page report presents eyewitness
accounts of police violence, arbitrary arrests,
and mistreatment of detained lawyers across
Pakistan since November 3, 2007. The report
details police beatings of lawyers peacefully
protesting government policies from within the
grounds of Pakistan’s high courts. It is the most
detailed account to date of the November
crackdown, showing how Musharraf used the
emergency as an excuse to disempower the
judiciary, the legal profession and civil society
in the name of fighting terrorism and Islamic
extremists.

HRW Index No.: C1919

December 19, 2007 Report

Download PDF, 1770 KB, 86 pgs

http://hrw.org/reports/2007/pakistan1207/