Friday, 09 November 2007

Pakistan state of emergency

It's almost a week to the day that General Musharraf declared a state of emergency. Many are deeply concerned about several key challenges including the extent to which "terrorist" organizations have a free hand, the fact that the country has nuclear weapons (that could fall into the wrong hands) as well as the presence of several religious extremist institutions.

However, measures taken by the administration in clamping down on what would be perceived as moderates including leaders of opposition parties as well as those in the judiciary (considered anything from lukewarm to being hostile to the current administration) seem to be rather extreme.

What seems to cause greatest concern is the extreme measures taken to censor the media. To think that military officers have now been tasked to scan all news, reader's comments and editorials for material against the administration seems totally paranoiac.

I wonder what the General's son in the Silicon Valley in the US (Bilal Musharraf) has to deal with when fielding questions and comments about his father's doings.

No comments: