JURIST Special Guest Columnist Faisal Naseem Chaudhry, an advocate of the Lahore High Court in Lahore, Pakistan, says that the greatest danger to law and the constitution in Pakistan in the wake of General Pervez Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule is not the much-maligned judiciary, but the military dictator himself and those who would support [...]

Basil Nabi Malik : "An 8 member bench of the Supreme Court has held as illegal and unconstitutional the Proclamation of Emergency and the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) issued today by the Chief of Army Staff. The Supreme Court restrained the Government of Pakistan, composed of the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, from undertaking [...]

Provisional Constitution Order No. 1 (PCO), Pakistan Chief of the Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf, November 3, 2007 . ——————– PROVISIONAL CONSTITUTION ORDER In pursuance of the Proclamation of the 3rd day of November, 2007, and in exercise of all powers enabling him in that behalf, the Chief of Army Staff under the Proclamation of [...]

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf defended his decision to suspend the country's constitution and impose emergency rule in a nationwide radio and television address delivered late Saturday local time. Musharraf said the step had been "painful" but because of an ongoing clash between the government and the judiciary the government system was "semi-paralyzed" even in the [...]

Proclamation of Emergency, General Pervez Musharraf, November 3, 2007 . Read the full text of the proclamation . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

US President George W. Bush praised attorney general nominee Micheal Mukasey in his weekly radio address on Saturday, predicting that the former federal judge would be confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday. Bush specifically defended Mukasey's stance on waterboarding , saying that because "the program" was classified, Mukasey was not in a position to give [...]

US State Department officials Saturday expressed concern and skepticism about Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's decision to declare emergency rule in Pakistan and suspend the country's constitution in a move largely designed to thwart an increasingly activist Pakistani judiciary. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a press statement : The United States is deeply disturbed [...]

A Canadian-based filmmaker accused of intending to spread propaganda will face a secret trial in Iran on November 17, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported Saturday. Mehrnoushe Solouki holds dual French and Iranian nationality and is currently a doctoral student at the University of Quebec at Montreal (UQAM) . She has been in Iran since [...]

Pakistan state television announced Saturday that President Pervez Musharraf has appointed a new chief justice for the Supreme Court of Pakistan after dismissing Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in the wake of suspending the country's constitution and declaring emergency rule earlier in the day. Media reports said Chaudhry had been told his services were "no longer [...]

The Venezuelan National Assembly on Friday approved by 160-7 a set of proposed amendments to the country's constitution , including reforms that would eliminate presidential term limits and augment the president's emergency powers. The proposed amendments passed a preliminary vote in the Assembly in August; all of the constitutional reforms will be subject to a [...]