[NYTr] Brit Colonial "Commonwealth" Suspends Pakistan (Again)

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Former Brit colonies don't seem to share the Half-Wit Decider's
admiration for Musharraf's "democratic" ideals. - NY Transfer]


AP via Yahoo - Nov 22, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071122/ap_on_re_af/pakistan_commonwealth

Commonwealth suspends Pakistan

The 53-nation Commonwealth suspended Pakistan from the organization
Thursday for failing to end emergency rule, the group said.

The Commonwealth, largely made up of Britain and its former colonies,
gave Pakistan's military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf a Thursday
deadline to lift emergency rule and step down as army chief.

A committee of foreign ministers "has suspended Pakistan from councils
of the Commonwealth pending restoration of democracy and rule of law in
the country," said Secretary-General Don McKinnon. The decision came
during the meeting in Kampalpa, Uganda.

"The state of emergency had not been lifted. The constitution and the
independence of the judiciary not restored and fundamental rights and
the rule of law remain curtailed," McKinnon said, reading a statement
on behalf of the ministers.

Pakistan was last kicked out of the organization in 1999 after
Musharraf seized power in a coup. It took the country five years to be
reinstated.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters on Thursday that
Musharraf has assured him that he will "do his utmost to lift," the
state of emergency before January parliamentary elections and step down
as army chief "as soon as possible."

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.