Since 19th Century, 81 nations have faced martial law regimes

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BY SABIR SHAH

LAHORE: While 81 countries of the world have been under Martial Law regimes since the 19th Century, as many as 277 heads of government and state in 74 of these nations have held an active military rank while in office, a research carried out by The News reveals.
Further break-up shows that of these 81 nations, which have borne the brunt of Martial Laws, 31 were African, 21 were South and Latin American, 17 were Asian and 9 happened to be European countries.
A further break-up shows that Bolivia and Peru have been ruled 9 times each by military totalitarianism. The countries which have seen the most number of incumbent heads of government and state holding an active military rank are Bolivia (15), Argentine (14) and Thailand (12).
This study omits rulers with ex-officio ranks as most of the civilian head of states usually hold such titles ceremoniously. Countries which have experienced Martial Laws are: US, China, South Korea, Pakistan, Japan, Canada, France, Spain, Bulgaria, Portugal, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Iran, Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria, Egypt, Myanmar, Fiji, Libya, Niger, North Korea, Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Lesotho, Liberia, Mauritania, Madagascar, Mali, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Syria, Thailand, South Vietnam and North Yemen.
While the United Kingdom and India have never faced Martial Law, former Indian Premier Indira Gandhi did impose Emergency in her country in 1975. In the US, a Civilian President Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed a countrywide Martial Law in 1863, though the other Martial Laws in this country were imposed by local Governors, an Army General and a Mayor at regional level only.
The common causes of all these Martial Laws range from corrupt democratic regimes, to counter uprisings or perceived insurrections, collapse of civilian law enforcement and rebellion to lust for power.
In the Middle East and Africa, military governments have often been led by a single powerful person.
Leaders like Idi Amin, Sani Abacha, Muammar al-Gaddafi and Gamal Abdul Nasser etc are among the few who governed these autocracies.
Most military dictatorships in history were formed after the previous government was ousted through a coup d’Ètat, though all military dictators did not resort to Martial Law to derive powers and cling on to the throne. General Pervez Musharraf serves as one prime example in this context.
Following a bloodless coup d’Ètat on October 12, 1999, after his loyal Generals had sent the then Premier Nawaz Sharif packing, Musharraf assumed the title of Chief Executive and became a de facto head of the Pakistan government.
On May 12, 2000, the Supreme Court unanimously validated the October 1999 coup and granted Musharraf both executive and legislative authority for three years from the coup date.
However, on November 3, 2007, Musharraf declared am emergency rule across Pakistan. He suspended the Constitution and fired the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary. In Islamabad, troops entered the Supreme Court building, arrested the judges and kept them under detention at their homes.
Forces were deployed inside state-run TV and radio stations, while independent channels were put off air. Many of his critics called it a Martial Law imposed in the garb of an Emergency rule, contending that thousands of people across Pakistan were arrested and not granted the right to challenge their illegal arrests, a key characteristic of a Martial Law.
One very different pattern was the one followed by Messrs Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Kim Il-sung in North Korea.
Both Iraq and North Korea had begun as one-party states, but over the course of their existence, their leaders opted to don uniforms and converted their governments into military dictatorships.
The 237 years old concept of Martial Law, which is often deemed synonymous with top military officials occupying the rulers’ cozy offices by overthrowing civilian regimes, actually dates back to December 6, 1773 when colonists in the US City of Boston had retaliated against the controversial “Tea Act” passed by the British Parliament, believing that it violated their right to be taxed only by their own elected representatives.
Research shows that the legislators sitting in the British Parliament had actually played a pivotal role in getting this Martial Law enforced in Massachusetts State.
Also referred as the “Boston Tea Party,” the colonists in Boston then stood up against the Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson’s government and refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain. Instead, they destroyed the tea by throwing it into the sea.
As a result of the Boston Tea Party incident, the British Parliament passed the Massachusetts Act in 1774, which suppressed public gatherings and imposed an appointed government, all of which was tantamount to a Martial Law. This Act closed Boston’s commerce until the British East India Company was repaid for the destroyed tea.
Colonists, in turn, responded to the Coercive Act by staging protests and by convening the First Continental Congress, which petitioned the British monarch for repeal of the said Act and offered stiff resistance. The crisis escalated and the American Revolutionary War hence began in 1775.
During the 1812 War, a US Army General Andrew Jackson went on imposing Martial Law within his encampment at New Orleans, against the British forces.
History reveals that even after the 1812 war had ended and New Orleans had been liberated, General Jackson refused to lift the Martial Law.
Upon this, a judge demanded habeas corpus for a man arrested for sedition. Instead of complying with the orders, Jackson had the arbiter arrested.
After the civil authority was restored, the judge fined Jackson $1000, which he paid, and for which the Congress later reimbursed the General.
Perhaps taking lead from what General Jackson did, President Abraham Lincoln persuaded the Congress on September 15, 1863 to pass an Act under which habeas corpus could be suspended throughout the US.
This was the first such rule forced by a civilian head of state. Lincoln had declared Martial Law, authorizing military tribunals to try terrorists quickly, to gather intelligence through interrogation and to prevent confidential information from becoming public.
It is noteworthy that Lincoln had earlier suspended habeas corpus under his own authority on April 27, 1861.
Suspension of habeas corpus thus meant that the judiciary was barred from hearing public complaints and that the human rights in the US were no more existent.
Lincoln had imposed the suspension on prisoners of war, spies, abettors of the enemy and draft dodgers. During the American Civil War, the President’s proclamation was challenged in the US Supreme Court in 1866.
The court ruled that Lincoln’s imposition of Martial Law (by way of suspension of habeas corpus) was unconstitutional in areas where the local courts were still in session.
Replying to court’s query of “What is a Martial Law?” the counsel for the United States had maintained, “Martial law is the will of the commanding officer of an armed force, or of a geographical military department, expressed in time of war within the limits of his military jurisdiction, as necessity demands and prudence dictates, restrained or enlarged by the orders of his military chief, or supreme executive ruler.”
The government lawyer had further argued, “The officer executing martial law is at the same time supreme legislator, supreme judge, and supreme executive. As necessity makes his will the law, he only can define and declare it; and whether or not it is infringed, and of the extent of the infraction, he alone can judge; and his sole order punishes or acquits the alleged offender.”
In this case, Lambden Milligan, after whom this famous case is named, was arrested. He was tried by military commission and sentenced to death. After his conviction, Milligan petitioned the Circuit Court for habeas corpus, arguing that his arrest, trial, and conviction were all unconstitutional.
The Court verdict stated, “Martial law destroys every guarantee of the Constitution. Civil liberty and this kind of Martial Law cannot endure together. Since the antagonism is irreconcilable, one or the other must perish.”
The US Apex Court had, however, observed that the President could declare Martial Law in circumstances where courts were actually closed and it was impossible to administer justice or if there was a foreign invasion/civil war in the country.
The court limited the duration of such a rule, viewing if a government such as this continued after the courts were reinstated, it would be a gross usurpation of power.
In 1892, in Idaho State, rebellious mine workers blew up a mill and shot at strikebreaking workers. The explosion made a building cave in and killed one person. Mine owners asked the Governor to declare Martial Law, which he did.
In 1914, imposition of Martial Law climaxed the so-called Coal Field Wars in Colorado and US National Guard was called in to quell the strikers. Clashes led the Governor to proclaim Martial Law. The then US President Wilson had to send troops to end the violence.
In 1934, California Governor Frank Merriam placed the docks of San Francisco under Martial Law, citing “riots and tumult” resulting from a dock workers’ strike as the key reason.
Governor Frank had threatened to place the entire city under Martial Law.
The National Guard was called in to open the docks and a citywide institution of Martial Law was averted when goods began to flow. The guardsmen were empowered to make arrests, try detainees or turn them over to the civil courts.
Martial law and San Francisco, however, were no strangers.
Following the earthquake of 1906, the troops stationed in the Presidio were pressed into service. Guards were posted throughout the city and all dynamite was confiscated. The dynamite was used to destroy buildings in the path of fires to prevent the sparks from spreading. Troops were ordered to shoot looters. Though there was never an official declaration of Martial Law, the event is often cited as such.
Similarly, Hawaii was placed under Martial Law from 1941 to 1944, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. After the war, the federal judge for the islands condemned the conduct of Martial Law, saying although the Martial Law was lawfully imposed; the Army had gone beyond its mandate.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Emergency was declared in New Orleans, because no such term existed in Louisiana law.
The New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared “Martial Law” on the evening of August 31, 2005, saying that officers didn’t have to observe civil rights while stopping the looters.
After widespread flooding had rendered the civil authority ineffective, around 15,000 troops and National Guardsmen had patrolled the city.
Throughout history, the concept of Martial law has been used by most governments to enforce their rule over the public. Such incidents may occur after a coup d’Ètat (Thailand 2006), when threatened by popular protest (China, Tiananmen Square protests of 1989), to suppress political opposition (Poland in 1981) and to counter revolt or apparent rebellion (Canada, October 1970 Crisis).
Ukraine had declared Martial Law in November 2009 for a different reason, following the outbreak of pneumonic plague in the country.
Martial law has also been declared in cases of major natural disasters, though most countries have used a different legal construct, such as a “state of emergency.”
Martial law has also been imposed during conflicts and in cases of occupations, where the absence of any other civil government provides for an unstable population.
Examples of this form of military rule include post-World War II reconstruction in Germany and Japan, as well as the southern reconstruction following the US Civil War.
Taiwan holds the distinction of having the longest Martial Law (1948 to 1987) in history.