KARACHI, Pakistan — President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday lifted a 6-week-old state of emergency, under which he had suspended Pakistan’s constitution and cracked down on the opposition, but critics said the move did little to restore basic liberties.
The country’s deposed chief justice remains under effective house arrest, along with many other senior judges. Independent broadcast media are operating under tight restrictions. Most of the thousands of people rounded up and jailed in the early days of the state of emergency are free, but many fear rearrest.
Musharraf, in a televised speech delivered hours after the emergency was lifted, defended his Nov. 3 decree as a necessary defense against an unspecified “conspiracy.”
“Against my will and as a last resort, I had to impose the emergency in order to save Pakistan,” said the president, who was clad in a formal black tunic and blinked repeatedly as he peered into the camera. “I cannot tell how much pain the nation and I suffered due to this conspiracy.”
Human-rights groups described Musharraf’s rescinding of the emergency decree as an empty gesture.
Amnesty International said the move left Pakistan’s constitution “fundamentally flawed” and would allow continuing human-rights abuses. New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the reinstatement of fired judges and the lifting of media restrictions.
“Musharraf’s so-called return to constitutional rule provides legal cover to laws that muzzle the media and lawyers, and gives the army a license to abuse,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, a Pakistan-based researcher for Human Rights Watch.
On the eve of lifting the state of emergency, Musharraf enacted constitutional changes meant to ensure that his actions could not be subject to future legal challenges.
The end of martial law brought little visible change in the capital, Islamabad. Police and paramilitary troops continued to blockade Constitution Avenue, along which most government buildings, including the supreme court, are located.
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