Roger Smith calls on lawyers to lend their voices in support of colleagues currently denied their own
Dictators are ten a penny. But rarely have we seen one whose justification for the seizure of power focused so clearly on lawyers, judges and the constraints of the rule of law as General Pervez Musharraf’s.
As a result, Pakistan’s judges and lawyers find themselves, somewhat literally, in the firing line. As the British section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), JUSTICE is deeply concerned with events. Indeed, Pakistan’s ICJ commissioner is, herself, under house arrest.
Events are happening about which lawyers all around the world, and particularly in the UK with its historically strong links to Pakistan, should be concerned.
Musharraf’s declaration of a state of emergency on 3 November was pretty far-reaching. He suspended key rights guaranteed in his country’s already battered 1973 constitution, including: articles governing security of the person; safeguards as to arrest and detention; freedom of movement; freedom of assembly; freedom of association; freedom of speech; and equality of citizens.
Musharraf’s justification for his actions is worth reading (available at
