THE WASHINGTON POST

THE WASHINGTON POST

Orwell in Pakistan

Wednesday, March 22, 2000; Page A30

THE MILITARY government of Pakistan, which President Clinton will be visiting at the end of his India trip, seized power last October with a promise to improve the country's quality of governance. Since then it has done more to subvert the rule of law than to uphold it. It has undermined the independence of the judiciary. And it has detained its adversaries illegally.

Under the regime's Orwellian Provisional Constitution Order, the top courts in Pakistan are not allowed to issue rulings against the policies of the military leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, "or any person exercising powers or jurisdiction under his authority." To make his point absolutely clear, the general has required senior judges to take an oath of loyalty to his provisional constitution; 23 judges, including the chief justice and six others on the Supreme Court, were forced to resign after refusing to do so. Gen. Musharraf does not apologize for this. "About 89 out of 102 [judges] took the oath, which shows the order was legitimate and valid," he told columnist Lally Weymouth.

The regime has also promulgated a National Accountability Ordinance, which ensures that law enforcement agents will not be held accountable. It gives them sweeping powers of arrest and waives the requirement enshrined in Pakistan's criminal code that detainees should be produced in court within 24 hours or discharged from custody. Using these powers, the regime has detained several members of the deposed democratic government. Khawaja Muhammad Asif, a former head of the privatization commission, was recently released after 88 days of detention. Chaudry Nisar Ali Khan, a former petroleum minister, remains in custody. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a former information minister, is under house arrest, supposedly for his own protection.

Mr. Clinton, who hesitated about stopping over in Pakistan because of the regime's abuses, has opted for a fleeting five-hour visit. In that time, he will have several messages to convey. He will want to talk about Pakistan's frayed relations with India, about regional terrorism and about nuclear nonproliferation. But he should also ask why Gen. Musharraf has offered no timetable for national elections; why he is detaining critics without charge; and why that so-called "provisional" constitution is starting to feel permanent.