Pakistan in Crisis

Musharraf's forces have arrested opposition political leaders, which isn't a good sign. It threatens to splinter the country even further, even as he claims that he will not allow the country to commit suicide.

Actually, refusing to crack down on the Islamists spread throughout Pakistan is suicide - the suicide bombing variety. The Islamists are dead-set against Musharraf's regime and have been angling to take Musharraf down. They initiated the Lal Masjid uprising when Islamists at that mosque started rioting against the government and torched government buildings before the Pakistani military was called in to crush the group.

Musharraf claims to be using the emergency rule to crack down against the Islamists, but it would appear that he's really targeting the country's Supreme Court, which could invalidate his October 6 re-election by parliament while still army chief.

He's arrested hundreds of lawyers (again) and had purged the Court of anti-Musharraf judges. The emergency law and the move against the courts puts two disparate groups aligned with each other - the Islamists and the court system, and the media in Pakistan aren't liking Musharraf's actions one bit:

A lawyers' movement that emerged at the vanguard of an anti-government campaign last March called for a countrywide strike on Monday to protest Musharraf's move.

Veteran Islamist Qazi Hussein Ahmed, leader of the opposition religious alliance, called for street protests to overthrow "the military dictator," during a speech to 20,000 followers on the outskirts of Lahore.

Pakistan's English-language newspapers were unforgiving of the draconian measures that included a ban on any coverage "that defames, and brings into ridicule or disrepute the head of state" on pain of up to three years' jail.

"General Musharraf's second coup," was Dawn's headline.

"It is martial law," the Daily Times splashed across its front page.

The newly installed Chief Justice of the Pakistani Supreme Court overruled his predecessor's rulings, basically claiming that they didn't exist:

Dogar, who was sworn in by Musharraf as the Chief Justice of the apex court shortly after the imposition of emergency on Saturday, said in a statement that the court had not passed any order against the Provisional Constitutional Order issued by the military ruler to suspend the Constitution and fundamental rights.

The order issued by Chaudhry and six other judges was the last act of defiance before they were removed from the Supreme Court by security forces. They also refused to endorse the Provisional Constitutional Order.

Dogar said the roster of cases issued by Chaudhry had been "cancelled" and a revised roster would be issued. Among the cases that have been cancelled is the legal challenge to Musharraf's re-election in uniform in the October 6 presidential poll.

UPDATE:
More than 500 have been rounded up so far, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.