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| Pakistan barred from Commonwealth | Pakistan barred from Commonwealth |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| Pakistan has been suspended from the Commonwealth because of its imposition of emergency rule, the organisation has announced after a meeting in Uganda. | Pakistan has been suspended from the Commonwealth because of its imposition of emergency rule, the organisation has announced after a meeting in Uganda. |
| Secretary General Don McKinnon said Pakistan was being suspended "pending restoration of democracy and the rule of law". | Secretary General Don McKinnon said Pakistan was being suspended "pending restoration of democracy and the rule of law". |
| Earlier Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to Pervez Musharraf's re-election as president. | Earlier Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed a legal challenge to Pervez Musharraf's re-election as president. |
| The president has said he will now step down as head of the army. | The president has said he will now step down as head of the army. |
| Mr McKinnon said the 53-member Commonwealth had reached the decision by consensus. | Mr McKinnon said the 53-member Commonwealth had reached the decision by consensus. |
| We're all clear that the choice is for Pakistan now, to make the changes that are in its interest nationally and internationally, and then to re-enter the Commonwealth as a proud and valued member UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the "decision was taken in sorrow, not in anger", and that he hoped the group would be able to welcome Pakistan back soon. | |
| "We're all clear that the choice is for Pakistan now, to make the changes that are in its interest nationally and internationally, and then to re-enter the Commonwealth as a proud and valued member," Mr Miliband added. | |
| Militant violence | |
| Ten days ago Commonwealth foreign ministers from the bloc gave Pakistan 10 days to lift its emergency rule or face suspension. | |
| They also said Gen Musharraf had to step down as army chief, release political detainees and restore press freedoms. | |
| Gen Musharraf imposed the state of emergency and suspended Pakistan's constitution on 3 November. He later defended his decision, saying that he had taken the "in the national interest". | |
| Judges and lawyers have held a series of protests in Islamabad | |
| He said Pakistan was in a crisis caused by militant violence and a judiciary which had paralysed the government. | |
| Pakistan has been engulfed in political upheaval in recent months, and the security forces have suffered a series of blows from pro-Taleban militants opposed to Gen Musharraf's support for the US-led "war on terror". | |
| In a lengthy televised speech on the night of 3 November, Mr Musharraf said the situation was threatening Pakistan's sovereignty and had forced him into making "some very painful decisions". | |
| It is the second time that Pakistan has been expelled from the Commonwealth. The country was suspended in 1999, after Gen Musharraf seized power in a coup. | |
| It was reinstated in 2004. |