We are witnessing a farce in Pakistan: Bhutto

Former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Wednesday strongly flayed General Pervez Musharaf for the crackdown against pro-democracy forces, terming the system in Pakistan not only a military dictatorship but a classic police state.

'We are witnessing a farce in Pakistan,' Bhutto wrote in the Washington Post. 'While an election schedule has been announced, the problem lies in what has not been announced. No indication has been given as to whether Musharraf will keep his previous commitment to retire as army chief on Thursday.'

Bhutto reiterated her call for Musharraf to resign as president and as head of the army, and urged him 'to pave the way for an interim government of national consensus that will oversee the transfer of power to duly elected representatives of the people.'

The Pakistani opposition leader, under house arrest since Tuesday in Lahore, said Musharraf 'knows how to crack down against pro-democracy forces,' but is 'unwilling or unable to track down and arrest Osama bin Laden or contain the extremists. This is the reality of Pakistan in November 2007.'

'The only terror that Musharraf's regime seems able to confront is the terror of his own illegitimacy,' the PPP leader wrote, noting that it was the second time Musharraf imposed martial law and fired judges since taking power in a 1999 coup.

Bhutto compared Pakistan's planned parliamentary elections in January with elections in the former Soviet Union. 'Soviet citizens knew that 'elections' for the Politburo were fraudulent. The people of Pakistan know that elections under martial law are a similar sham,' she wrote.

Stressing that 'the nation is paying for his (Musharraf's) mistake', Bhutto said, 'Judges, lawyers, human rights activists and students across the country are in prison or under house arrest.'

Flaying the General for unilaterally amending the Army Act of 1952 to grant the army the power to try civilians in military courts, the PPP leader said, 'No attempt has been made to differentiate between average citizens and terrorism suspects associated with militant groups.'

'Many believe that these laws were passed to intimidate pro-democracy forces, not to try terrorism suspects. This is the 'democracy' that Musharraf envisages,' she wrote.

President Musharraf declared a state of emergency on November 3, citing increasing Islamic militancy and interference by the judiciary in government affairs.