British lawyers call on President Musharraf to reinstate rule of law

Sir, We write as the leaders of 18,000 barristers and advocates in England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, north and south, and as the heads of a wider profession, which holds respect for the rule of law as central to its purpose.

Over time we have enjoyed strong fraternal links with the legal profession in Pakistan. We share with our colleagues in Pakistan fundamental ideas of constitutionality, the independence of judges and lawyers, principles of the common law and the rule of law in a free and fair society.

Against this background, we have been very concerned to see the recent suspension of the rule of law in Pakistan, attempts to subvert the constitution, and attacks on and extrajudicial detention of lawyers who wish to practise their profession without interference by the executive and to exercise their right freely to protest.

The sacking and arrest of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is especially reprehensible. He said that the Supreme Court followed the Constitution and the law in making all its decisions about the forthcoming elections, and that the Constitution had been “ripped to shreds”.

The utmost pressure must be maintained on the military regime to respect the rule of law and to honour the promise of an overdue return to democratic rule in a great nation.

Noelle Mcgrenera, QC
Chairman of the Bar of Northern Ireland

Turlough O’Donnell, SC
Chairman of the Irish Bar

Valerie Stacey, QC
Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, Scotland

Geoffrey Vos, QC
Chairman of the Bar of England and Wales

Sir, The US is encouraging President Musharraf and Ms Bhutto to forge an alliance, but this will not be easy to seal, because of the characteristics of the principal partners, viz a military habituated to governing the country and a people’s democratic movement, desirous of running a Western model democracy, within a principally feudal society.

Yet these two groups have to join forces. While the Army can deal with extremists, it needs international legitimacy by handing over power to a civilian government. But a civilian government cannot deal with extremists without solid support from the Army.

This is the basic challenge confronting Pakistan. General Musharraf and Ms Bhutto have a historic opportunity to join forces to script a new agenda for Pakistan’s economic prosperity. They should seize the moment.

Rajendra K. Aneja
Dubai

Sir, When the British and American governments backed the Shah’s dictatorship in Iran in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s they managed to discredit secular government as foreign-backed dictatorship, resulting in the rise to power of Islamic fundamentalist government.

Musharraf’s military dictatorship in Pakistan is not a bulwark against Islamic fundamentalism either. It’s doing the same in Pakistan as the Shah’s regime did in Iran. It makes civil war or an Islamic revolution more likely — and, given a long enough period of dictatorship (eight years so far), inevitable.

The one thing capable of defeating intolerant forms of Islamic fundamentalism in the long run is democracy with tolerance of religious and secular parties.

Duncan McFarlane
Braidwood, Lanarkshire

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