Old and New Media: Converging During the Pakistan Emergency (March 2007-February 2008)
Submitted by Huma Yusuf on January 12, 2009 - 12:53pm.
Appendix A: Timeline of Events
October 12, 1999: General Pervez Musharraf comes into power through a bloodless coup, deposing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
June 2001: General Musharraf deposes President Rafiq Tarar and appoints himself to the role.
March 2002: The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), a government body meant to monitor and facilitate the privatization and liberalization of the electronic media industry, is established.
April 2002: In general elections marred by allegations of fraud and rigging, General Musharraf wins over 97 percent of the votes.
August 2002: General Musharraf appends 29 amendments to the Pakistani constitution, granting himself the power to dismiss the prime minister and disband parliament.
January 1, 2004: General Musharraf wins two-thirds majority in a parliamentary vote of confidence that allows him to stay in power until 2007. He wins the vote by agreeing to give up his post as chief of army staff, but reneges on his promise.
May 2005: General Musharraf announces that the former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif will not be permitted to return from exile and contest the 2007 general elections.
March 9, 2007: The Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is suspended. General Musharraf declares that Chaudhry is ‘non-functional’ and orders an investigation into charges of misconduct against the chief justice. Pakistan’s legal community decries the move, saying it undermines the independent judiciary. The chief justice’s supporters claim that Chaudhry is being punished for judicial activism: he made rulings against government corruption and challenged the government to produce people who went missing after being identified as terror suspects.
March 16, 2007: Government forces raid the offices of Geo TV, the most popular independent news channel, during a live broadcast of a rally for Chief Justice Chaudhry.
May 12, 2007: Chief Justice Chaudhry arrives in Karachi to address the bar association. Opposition political parties plan welcome rallies to show their support for an independent judiciary. These turn violent when a pro-Musharraf party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), launches a counter-rally. More than 30 people are killed.
June 2007: The PEMRA Ordinance (2007) is promulgated. It features amendments that impose curbs on media freedom.
July 20, 2007: Chief Justice Chaudhry is reinstated through an order of the Supreme Court.
August 2007: The Supreme Court rules that former prime minister Sharif is free to return to Pakistan.
October 5, 2007: General Musharraf drops outstanding corruption charges against former prime minister Bhutto. She is allowed to return to Pakistan and contest general elections for the first time since going into exile in 1999.
October 6, 2007: General Musharraf wins the presidential election by a landslide. But opponents and democracy advocates say he was ineligible to run for the post while continuing to serve as chief of army staff.
October 18, 2007: Bhutto returns to Pakistan. In Karachi, thousands of her supporters turn out to celebrate her return, but the welcome rally is marred by a suicide attack in which over 130 people are killed.
November 3, 2007: Faced with increasing pressure to surrender his post as chief of army staff and assume leadership as a civilian president, General Musharraf declares a state of emergency in Pakistan. By suspending the constitution, he is able to continue holding the dual position of president and army chief. Chief Justice Chaudhry convenes a Supreme Court bench and quashes the declaration of emergency and the suspension of the constitution. He is promptly deposed and placed under house arrest.
Nov, 7, 2007: Student protests against emergency rule gain momentum as over 1,000 students stage a sit-in at the private Lahore University of Management Sciences.
November 28, 2007: General Musharraf steps down as Pakistan’s military leader. The next day, he is sworn in as a civilian president and promises to hold general elections in January 2008.
December 15, 2007: General Musharraf lifts emergency rule and swears in handpicked justices to the Supreme Court. He also appoints a new chief justice, leaving Chaudhry under house arrest.
December 27, 2007: Bhutto is assassinated after addressing a campaign rally in Rawalpindi. Her death leads to the postponement of the general elections.
February 18, 2008: General elections are held in Pakistan. General Musharraf’s ruling party admits defeat and the two biggest opposition parties--Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) - win a majority of the National Assembly.
March 9, 2008: Leaders of the opposition parties PPP and PMLN form a ruling coalition and call on President Musharraf to convene parliament. The coalition promises to restore the judges suspended from the Supreme Court on November 3, 2007, within 30 days.
March 9-15, 2008: The Pakistan Bar Association announces Black Flag Week, a week-long protest by lawyers, students, and activists against the delay in restoring the Supreme Court bench.
March 24, 2008: Chaudhry is released from house arrest, but is not reinstated as the chief justice of Pakistan.
August 7, 2008: The ruling coalition moves to impeach President Musharraf, further delaying the restoration of the judges to the Supreme Court.
August 18, 2008: Musharraf steps down as president.
