When President Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended parliamentary elections and ordered the arrests of thousands of opposition activists Saturday, the nightmare began for local Pakistanis who are angry and fearful of what lies ahead.
“It?s horrible and sad. The people just want to hear from [Musharraf] that he is going to hold elections free and clear,” said Falam Hamid, 55, who owns the Shaheen Restaurant on Security Boulevard in Baltimore.
Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, had pledged to become a civilian president this year, but his promises crumbled when he declared a state of emergency, arrested thousands, including journalists, while bucking White House warnings against using authoritarian powers.
“There was a need to control the fanatics who were just going around bombing places and killing people but now it looks like it?s turning around and becoming a nightmare for the general public,” Hamid said.
Hamid came to the United States from Pakistan about three decades ago but still has family there.
He said his family is safe, but the unrest will not stop until Musharraf announces that elections will be held as scheduled.
Musharraf is amilitary general and therefore ineligible to run for office, because “somebody holding a government position cannot seek elected office until he has left that position and been out of the position for two years,” said Sabir Rahman, 67, president of the Pakistani American Association of Greater Washington Inc. in Gaithersburg.
“The military was violating the provisions of the Constitution and when they couldn?t get away with it, they decided to just throw away the Constitution,” he said.
Rahman said the United States should persuade the Pakistani military government to permit the election in January and restore the democratic institution.
“Extremism is created by military attitude and military policy, and the one who creates the problem is usually not the one able to solve it,” Rahman said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
