ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 5 (UPI) -- Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is being boxed into a political corner that may force him to declare a state of emergency to stay in power.
Later this month, Musharraf faces re-election by the parliament and provincial assemblies, but civil unrest is turning violent and he has significant opposition in Parliament, a Washington Post correspondent in Islamabad reported Wednesday.
Musharraf has run Pakistan since a military-led bloodless coup in 1999, and also faces constitutional hurdles. Under law, government employees must resign and wait two years before they can run for president and Musharraf is a government employee in his role as chief of the army.
The issue of granting Musharraf a waiver to that provision is before the country's Supreme Court and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, one of Musharraf's top advisers said declaring a "state of emergency" is being considered to postpone elections for up to a year if the court rules against the president.
"Martial law is a very harsh word," Hussain told the Post. "Emergency rule is not so harsh."
