NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES EMERGENCY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ISLAMABAD 004796 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/08/2017 TAGS: PGOV PREL PK AEMR AMGT CASC KFLO PINR SUBJECT: NATIONAL ASSEMBLY APPROVES EMERGENCY REF: ISLAMABAD 4728 Classified By: Anne W. Patterson, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Post has confirmed that Pakistan's National Assembly approved November 7 Musharraf's imposition of emergency. However, contrary to some media reports, Musharraf did not/not commit to holding elections on time when he met with his coalition legislators earlier in the day. Instead, he blamed terrorism for any delay, though elections would be "as soon as possible." End summary. Likely Last Session -------------- ¶2. (C) Pakistan Muslim League (PML) parliamentarian Donya Aziz confirmed late November 7 that the National Assembly was brought back in to session that evening in what may be its last meeting before its scheduled November 15 dissolution. Pakistan's lower house approved two measures: (1) supporting President Musharraf's November 3 imposition of emergency and (2) congratulating him on his October 6 re-election. With Pakistan's Constitution in abeyance under the Provisional Constitution Order (PCO),the two legislative houses did not have to vote on the state of emergency in a joint sitting as would have otherwise been required. Parliamentary Elections -------------- ¶3. (C) Aziz and fellow National Assembly member Riaz Fatyana (independent, but aligned with the PML) confirmed that coalition legislators met earlier in the day with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and then President Pervez Musharraf. According to both Aziz and Fatyana, when they specifically asked Musharraf about scheduling parliamentary elections, Musharraf would only commit to "elections as soon as possible." Aziz and Fatyana both recounted how Musharraf then blamed terrorism for any election delay: "Terrorism is getting out of hand, and I have no idea how long it will take (to bring it under control)." PATTERSON