Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-11-14-Speech-3-232"
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"en.20071114.31.3-232"2
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"Mr President, Pakistan is on the agenda of this plenary for the third time within a few months. This bears witness to the very difficult transition the country is currently going through. The imposition of emergency law by President Musharraf on 3 November in his capacity as Chief of Army Staff has sent a deeply worrying signal to Europe and the wider world and has damaged the course of democracy in Pakistan.
Before the emergency was imposed we had witnessed some encouraging developments, with hope for a more inclusive political process and stronger democratic institutions, but regrettably this has now been put in question and today we ask ourselves whether this situation is still reversible or whether it is not too late to restore confidence and conditions in advance of the parliamentary elections.
President Musharraf, in his televised address on the night of 3 November, told us that he was suspending the Constitution because of threats to the nation due to a visible ascendancy in the activities and incidence of terrorist attacks. There is no doubt that Pakistan is currently facing a very serious threat of religious extremism and violence as recent events in the North-Western Frontier Province and the attack on Ms Bhutto’s convoy on 18 October in Karachi have clearly demonstrated. But what we are also witnessing now is the arrest of thousands of lawyers, journalists, political party workers and human rights activists, including such distinguished persons as Ms Asma Jahangir, the Chair of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, or Mr Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
These are people who stand for an open and tolerant Pakistan. They are not terrorists and it is wrong to detain them. They should be set free immediately. I would regard the drastic action taken against Pakistan’s judiciary as particularly serious. Rule of law is at the heart of any democratic process and the functioning democratic system cannot be sustained without an independent judiciary.
The statement by the Presidency, just mentioned also by our President on behalf of the EU, is therefore very clear, and this remains our position. Last Sunday President Musharraf announced at a press conference that he hopes parliamentary elections can be held in Pakistan by 9 January 2008. This would be a step in the right direction but there are a lot of remaining problems. When can we expect the state of emergency to end? How can we have free and fair elections when print and electronic media are censored, other civil rights and liberties suspended and the independence of the judiciary has been undermined? How will parties be able to campaign when freedom of assembly is curtailed and party leaders like Benazir Bhutto are kept under house arrest? These issues are not at all clear at this stage.
To end this uncertainty it is of fundamental importance that a firm date for elections should be announced as soon as possible, along with a clear timeframe for ending the emergency. For these elections to have any chance of being at all democratic and transparent, it will be essential for all restrictions on political rights and fundamental freedoms to be lifted. And, as things stand, at present it seems it will not be possible to deploy an election observation mission. Certain minimum conditions laid down in the Commission communication on EU election assistance and observation for the holding of democratic elections are not met.
However, if the emergency rule was lifted rather quickly and conditions were significantly improved soon, I might yet be able to review the situation. In any case I have made the necessary preparations for possible deployment of an EU election observation mission to Pakistan should the conditions noticeably change for the better quickly. But, as I say, I am very much concerned as to whether this is likely to happen.
There have been calls to suspend or review our aid to Pakistan, and some EU Member States have taken steps or are considering some action in this respect. The European Commission’s support to Pakistan focuses, I would like to remind you, on key issues such as poverty reduction and education, including in the North-West Frontier Province and Baluchistan, which are the most disadvantaged provinces in Pakistan.
Therefore, I think we will need to consider how best to proceed but, given the nature of this assistance, I think we have to reflect very carefully on that."@en1
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