To revolt is a natural tendency of life. Even a worm turns against the foot that crushes it. In general, the vitality and relative dignity of an animal can be measured by the intensity of its instinct to revolt.
Mikhail Bakunin

29 December 2007

Present Tense, Future Imperfect

Pakistan’s Future Is Extremely Uncertain

December 28, 2007 By Amitabh Pal

Courtesy: The Progressive Magazine

Whither Pakistan?

This question has been asked many times since the country’s birth sixty years ago: at the time of the first military coup in 1958, after the 1971 split-up of the nation into current-day Pakistan and Bangladesh, and during the 1977 takeover by the vile General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, who hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir’s father. Now the assassination of Benazir places a further question mark on the future of the nation.

At the very least, the Pakistani security agencies have proven to be thoroughly incompetent. That an assassin was able to come close enough to Benazir to first shoot her and then blow himself up is by itself appalling enough.

But there may be more to the story. Were elements of Pakistan’s gargantuan intelligence apparatus, the ISI, involved? Did General Pervez Musharraf himself have prior knowledge of the plot? Here, I’m getting into the realm of conjecture. (I don’t know how seriously to take reports that Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility, since the organization also asserted a few years ago that it caused the massive power outage in parts of the United States and Canada.)

Enough members of Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party believe in the government’s involvement for there to be extensive anti-government rioting. And on PBS’s “NewsHour,” a Bhutto confidant and adviser, Mark Siegel, revealed that Benazir had sent him an e-mail stating that Musharraf should be personally held responsible if she were killed. Here’s the exchange that Siegel had with the NewsHour’s Margaret Warner:

WARNER: And, Mark Siegel, when—just before she returned, she sent a letter to Musharraf naming three people she said were a threat to her. And they were all people tied to the government.

SIEGEL: Yes.

WARNER: But she sent you a follow-up e-mail. And I would just like to read the first two lines to you and to our viewers: "Mark, nothing will, God willing, happen. Just wanted you to know that if it does, in addition to the names in my letter to Musharraf of October 16, I would hold Musharraf responsible."

Did—did she really think that?

SIEGEL: She did, and she had reason to believe that was the case. She had asked for security for October 18 and 19. It was denied to her. The only protection she had on those days were from the PPP workers that surrounded her. She also asked that there be a thorough investigation. There was not. There was not. And there still has not been. And she continued to ask for security arrangements that were continually denied. She did believe that, ultimately, these things could not be happening if it wasn't for Musharraf directly.

And, amazingly, the Bush Administration blithely continues to support Musharraf’s regime! In fact, the first reaction that President Bush had to Bhutto’s assassination was that the parliamentary elections scheduled for January 8 should go forward as a tribute to her. This is in spite of the tiny detail that Musharraf’s regime, not exactly an impartial umpire, is presiding over the elections. And never mind that there is no judicial recourse in the case of a fraud due to all the independent-minded supreme court justices being under house arrest. (Even Bush, with all his shenanigans during the 2000 Florida recount, couldn’t get close to that one.) In fact, veteran Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid has speculated on Terry Gross’s “Fresh Air” that the election results will be tampered with electronically to give the pro-Musharraf party (derisively nicknamed the King’s Party in Pakistan) a clear margin of victory.

The very holding of the election now seems in doubt. The Pakistan People’s Party has no clear leader in the absence of Benazir (a result of her troubling attempts at total control over the organization). And the only other politician with a national following, ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has announced in the wake of Bhutto’s killing that his party is withdrawing from the contest.

If elements of Musharraf’s government had anything to do with Bhutto’s murder, it may have been due to the realization that the regime’s supporters were heading for a massive defeat in the election. In a poll earlier this month, an astonishing 67 percent of Pakistanis wanted Musharraf to immediately say goodbye. Fifty-eight percent of the population favored an alliance of Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. An almost equal number wanted the Pakistani army to have no role in civilian politics.

If these numbers forced the regime to scheme to get rid of Bhutto (or, at the very least, to let the plan go ahead), it has engaged in a colossal blunder. Anger at Musharraf has already caused widespread rioting and may cause the country to become pretty much ungovernable in the coming weeks and months. Will the army, under a new chief, continue to back Musharraf?

Also unraveling is the Bush Administration’s Pakistan policy. Washington has given as much as $20 billion (according to Center for Strategic and International Studies figures) to a regime that is headed by a self-aggrandizing bully intent on perpetuating his power. Bush’s notion of bringing about democracy in Pakistan has consisted of encouraging Musharraf and Bhutto (via Condi Rice’s late-night phone calls) to share power, a strategy that is obviously defunct now. Instead of nurturing civil institutions and mending Pakistan’s pathetic human and physical infrastructure, the Bush Administration has ladled out money to an institution that has gleefully taken the United States for a ride. (See a recent New York Times story on misuse of funds by the Pakistan military.ll)

The Bush Administration deserves its Pakistan policy to be in a mess, but the Pakistani people don’t merit this fate. Benazir Bhutto, for all her myriad faults, had broad support in Pakistan, and, in that sense, represented the country’s democratic aspirations. She was also extremely smart and, relatively speaking, secular. There’s no doubt that a huge void has been created by her departure. The country will need all the luck it can gather to get out of this one.

28 December 2007

Pakistan is hell, designed in America.

A friend is stuck at home with his sick child because most of the medical stores are closed in his neighbourhood of Lahore. Another is not talking on the phone because he is afraid someone may be taping his conversation. Another thinks that by giving the Rangers the license to "shoot to kill," the government will unleash a new wave of fury by the supporters of PPP, who may be joined by "the wretched of the earth" because they are disillusioned and disenfranchised anyway.

Eventually, the fault lines between different ideological forces within Pakistan have erupted with volcanic anger.

Stock markets are tumbling. The value of the rupee has declined. The government is trying all its sources to do some damage control.

The Islamists of the Cold War era were financed by America.

The secularists and neo-liberals of the Musharraf regime are financed by America.

Pakistan is hell, designed in America.

27 December 2007

Benazir Bhutto Killed

The forces of despotism have struck a serious blow to the electoral process by killing Benazir Bhutto today. One major player in Pakistani politics is out of the picture.

This is the beginning of Iraqization of Pakistan.

A Lot of News - Almost All Bad

First The New York Times reported here that the Pak Army had been "misusing" funds received from the USA. Then the Real Chief Justice stated Pakistan was passing through the darkest period of its history. And then, The Age, a major Australian newspaper, reported that the road to democracy in Pakistan may be a dead end.

On top of all that, A. Pakistani, one of our regular contributers, came up with an interesting but quite insightful way of looking at what the Musharraf regime has been doing lately. According to A. Pakistani, the real aim of the government was to actually imprison about 100 to 200 key resistant figures but it arrested more than 6000 people so that it could release 5900 or so after a week or two and give the impression of a "relenting" or "benign" or even a "vulnerable" regime. In his analysis, the same strategy was at work in the announcement that the emergency would be lifted on Dec. 16 and then it was lifted on Dec. 15. The government has not relented on any front and has not released any of the lawyers or judges but it is engineering a "soft" front. This is the same image-maintenance technique that Musharraf used in the early years of his coup against a civilian government. He was carefully hiring public relations firms to portray a "soft" image of his "enlightened" martial law.

We will have more of the same on every important front, it seems. Only nominal and simulated "retreat" and a lot of strategically important "captures" and "gains" by the Retired Commando and his strategists. A. Pakistani says we should look at the Real Chief Justice and other key lawyers as Prisoners of War -- the war against the people of Pakistan by its own "overfed on tax-rupees" army.

23 December 2007

Aitzan Ahsan's Op-Ed Column in The New York Times

December 23, 2007
Op-Ed Contributor
Pakistan's Tyranny Continues
By AITZAZ AHSAN

Lahore, Pakistan

THE chief justice of Pakistan’s Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and his family have been detained in their house, barricaded in with barbed wire and surrounded by police officers in riot gear since Nov. 3. Phone lines have been cut and jammers have been installed all around the house to disable cellphones. And the United States doesn’t seem to care about any of that.

The chief justice is not the only person who has been detained. All of his colleagues who, having sworn to protect, uphold and defend the Constitution, refused to take a new oath prescribed by President Pervez Musharraf as chief of the army remain confined to their homes with their family members. The chief justice’s lawyers are also in detention, initially in such medieval conditions that two of them were hospitalized, one with renal failure.

As the chief justice’s lead counsel, I, too, was held without charge — first in solitary confinement for three weeks and subsequently under house arrest. Last Thursday morning, I was released to celebrate the Id holidays. But that evening, driving to Islamabad to say prayers at Faisal Mosque, my family and I were surrounded at a rest stop by policemen with guns cocked and I was dragged off and thrown into the back of a police van. After a long and harrowing drive along back roads, I was returned home and to house arrest.

Every day, thousands of lawyers and members of the civil society striving for a liberal and tolerant society in Pakistan demonstrate on the streets. They are bludgeoned by the regime’s brutal police and paramilitary units. Yet they come out again the next day.

People in the United States wonder why extremist militants in Pakistan are winning. What they should ask is why does President Musharraf have so little respect for civil society — and why does he essentially have the backing of American officials?

The White House and State Department briefings on Pakistan ignore the removal of the justices and all these detentions. Meanwhile, lawyers, bar associations and institutes of law around the world have taken note of this brave movement for due process and constitutionalism. They have displayed their solidarity for the lawyers of Pakistan. These include, in the United States alone, the American Bar Association, state and local bars stretching from New York and New Jersey to Louisiana, Ohio and California, and citadels of legal education like Harvard and Yale Law Schools.

The detained chief justice continues to receive enormous recognition and acknowledgment. Harvard Law School has conferred on him its highest award, placing him on the same pedestal as Nelson Mandela and the legal team that argued Brown v. Board of Education. The National Law Journal has anointed him its lawyer of the year. The New York City Bar Association has admitted him as a rare honorary member. Despite all this, the Musharraf regime shows no sign of relenting.

But for how long? How long can the chief justice and his colleagues be kept in confinement? How long can the leaders of the lawyers’ movement be detained? They will all be out one day. And they will neither be silent nor still.

They will recount the brutal treatment meted out to them for seeking the establishment of a tolerant, democratic, liberal and plural political system in Pakistan. They will state how the writ of habeas corpus was denied to them by the arbitrary and unconstitutional firing of Supreme and High Court justices. They will spell out precisely how one man set aside a Constitution under the pretext of an “emergency,” arrested the judges, packed the judiciary, “amended” the Constitution by a personal decree and then “restored” it to the acclaim of London and Washington.

They will, of course, speak then. But others are speaking now. The parliamentary elections scheduled for Jan. 8 have already been rigged, they are saying. The election commission and the caretaker cabinet are overtly partisan. The judiciary is entirely hand-picked. State resources are being spent on preselected candidates. There is a deafening uproar even though the independent news media in Pakistan are completely gagged. Can there even be an election in this environment?

Are they being heard? I’m afraid not.

Aitzaz Ahsan, a former minister of the interior and of law and justice, is the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan.

21 December 2007

Aitzaz Arrested Again

Aitzaz was travelling to Islamabad on motorway to offer the Eid Prayer with the Chief Justice. He was arrested and manhandled by the police on the way in a very brutal manner. Interestingly enough, President Musharraf was able to offer his prayers in the Faisal mosque where both Aitzaz Ahsan and Chaudhry Iftikhar also wanted to pray.

"Aitzaz Ahsan was picked up on the motorway enroute to Islamabad, beaten up,glasses broken and brought back to Lahore in a police bus. Is now suffering from bruises and fever.When he asked for a detention order, they shoved a gun in his face and said - this is your order."

Chief Justice Stopped from Offering Eid Prayer

Say hello to a new kind of fundamentalism in Pakistan. Now if they government does not like you, it can stop you from going to a mosque of your choice. If it can happen to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Eid Ul Adha, it can happen to anyone. Welcome to the Private Republic of Musharrafistan.


Unfairly Dismissed Supreme Court Judge Loses Official Residence

Justice Raja Fayyaz has lost his official residence in Islamabad. He has said that he was not even informed that his residence was going to be taken over. He also said that he has no idea where the authorities have removed his belongings to because he was not present at his residence when the usurpation took place. Check out the report from the Daily Jang by clicking on the Urdu image.


20 December 2007

Servants are Disposable People in Pakistan

Every newspaper in Pakistan is reporting the murder of the very "respected", "well-known" artist named Gulgee. But, along with him, his wife and maid were also murdered and in the same brutal manner as he. The maid got killed because she was working as a live-in servant with the family of the "respected" artist.

We would like to see the day when the media reports the triple murder in the following order:

"First of all, we regret the death of another servant in one of the elite homes of Pakistan. Servants are not "disposable people," we think she was victimized because she was helping with the household chores of a busy and famous person. Not a fault of her own. The government of Pakistan should try to catch her murderers.

Then we condemn the murder of the wife who was also living with someone who had become famous because of his Islamization of the fine arts in the Zia ul Haq era.

Then we condemn the murder of the very famous artist Gulgee because he was a human being and every human being has the sovereign right to live which nobody can take away. Not even the government."


An Elaborate Secret Detention System in Pakistan

"Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies, apparently trying to avoid acknowledging an elaborate secret detention system, have quietly set free nearly 100 men suspected of links to terrorism, few of whom were charged, human rights groups and lawyers say.

Those released, they say, are some of the nearly 500 Pakistanis presumed to have disappeared into the hands of the Pakistani intelligence agencies cooperating with the United States' fight against terrorism since 2001......"


San Fransisco Chronicle reports here.


19 December 2007

Human Rights Watch Asks to End Persecution of Lawyers and Judges

Here Human Rights Watch reports the following incidents and urges the Government of Pakistan to End Persecution of Lawyers and Judges:

“At the police station, the station house officer started beating me and telling me to shout slogans in support of Musharraf. I refused. So he punched me and kicked me and beat me with a stick and something else. Other police officers present also joined in… They kept taunting me and telling me to call [Chief Justice] Iftikhar Chaudhry for help and ordering me to shout slogans in support of Musharraf. They kept beating me like this until I passed out.”

—Hassan Tariq, District Bar Association executive committee member in Nawabshah, Sindh province, describing his arrest on November 8.



“From the Bar Rooms [lawyers’ lounges], the library, the study and the news room – lawyers were arrested from everywhere. And no one was arrested without being beaten up and humiliated. The senior lawyers – elderly individuals – were the worst affected. They were having breathing problems because the air was filled with teargas. Some of them were lying on the ground and were gasping for air. Even they were hauled up.”
—Abid Saqi, a lawyer describing the police raid on the Lahore High Court on November 5.

Things we still have to do / Some Signs of Success

Things we still have to do:


We have to reveal the locations of secret prisons being built in Pakistan to house prisoners that America does not want on its own soil because there these prisoners will have access to the American judicial system and that is why Bush never asked Musharraf to restore the dismissed Judges of Pakistan's Superior Courts,

We have to bring the unfairly dismissed Judges back,

We have to try and make Pakistan a socially just and independent country,

We have to ensure the freedom of the media,

We have to produce a sustained critique of ongoing authoritarianism,

We have to write books on how America's friendship has harmed the rule of civility in Pakistan,

We have to make documentaries on the effects of the Emergency,

We have to document the effects of skyrocketing prices of staple foods,

We have to resist the rule of one person's tempering with the Constitution according to his whims,

We have to produce poetry against oppression in Pakistan,

We have to introduce basic health care, unemployment benefits, social security for all people regardless of ethnicity, class, gender, provincial identity,

We have to have independently functional state institutions, free of nepotism, corruption and personal vendetta,

We have to produce an informed and passionate critique of hierarchical social structures in Pakistan,

We have to stop Pakistan from becoming another Guantanamo Bay because of its friendship with America.

Some signs of success emerging:

Today the Government of Pakistan has quietly released about 100 missing persons from its secret prisons. It means that all those who raised their voice against the use of brutal power of the jackboot have something to celebrate. It also means that we have to keep the pressure up, steadily and consistently.

Read the reports on the release of "Missing Persons" here and here.


18 December 2007

Report from Islamabad Protest

"I apologize for not being able to write more details or in better language. Have 2 fractured fingers and back got real bad thrashing. I am still amongst the luckier ones. We still don't have details on the number but many got beaten up with cracked skulls, bleeding noses, and in broken bones. Many are still in jail and the whereabouts of a few are still unknown.

Our peaceful rally was once again stormed by the police. After being beaten up thrice by these policemen students had brought sticks for their own self defense. We were first charged at when we were trying to go to the CJ's house to show solidarity. Due to the traffic on the street and our numbers (about 1000 protesters with 200 odd with flags) we retaliated and got the police running back.

The second time they charged at us on the orders of ASP Nasir Aftab the students were able to push the police back. Nasir Aftab himself was seen beating up women on which a few students beat him up. He was eventually sent to a hospital after a special ambulance came to take the injured policemen. Please note that when one of the female students tried to go the ambulance to get her brother taken to the hospital she was charged on by 6 policemen. We have no news of her whereabouts as of this point.

Once the police failed to stop the students from going to the CJ's house an armored vehicle fired 30 odd tear gas shells. One shell hit a lawyer and exploded on his leg. He fainted there and was rushed to the hospital in a cab. The police also fired rubber bullets and pelted stones as well.


Because of the tear gas people dispersed and riot police in their gas masks charged at us. The students were already in terrible condition due to the tear gas and the police showed no concern for the injured lying on the ground. They became easy targets and were beaten up indiscriminately.

Even with all this, a group of 50 students still made it to the CJ's house. They were eventually surrounded by 600 odd policemen who treated them terribly even after they were already handing themselves over to the uthorities. There were numerous arrests made and many different news papers are reporting different numbers. At the time of writing this report the female prisoners have been released and the males were charged under so many different offenses that it was difficult to keep track.

The two bullies responsible for today's action are:
Nasir Aftab: 0300-8505563
Kamran Cheema: 9261163

The students urge you all to call these bullies and tell them about your sentiments. One student said she had no one to go to for justice. Had the CJ been there he would have taken a suo moto notice against these policemen but without him there was no one to go to for help. She said this while being unable to move after the beating she got from the police and waiting for help from somewhere.

Please forward this to everyone and let the world know that students of Pakistan will not be affected by these minor skirmishes. They may have broken bones and aching bodies but their spirit is alive and will fight till our heroes are restored.

In total solidarity (and pain)"


Bash!

17 December 2007

US lawyers urge return of judges

US lawyers urge return of judges

WASHINGTON: A petition requesting the restoration of sacked judges and removal of restrictions on media has been sent to the government of Pakistan after being signed by hundreds of American lawyers. The petition, initiated by lawyers of the District of Columbia Bar, requests that sacked chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his fellow justices of the Supreme Court are restored to their posts. “We strongly recommend that the present government of Pakistan abolish all measures which impede the independence of the news media,” the lawyers state. The petition requests President Bush and Congress use their influence with President Pervez Musharraf to persuade him to reinstate the judges. The lawyers have so far received no response to their request. khalid hasan

Courtesy DailyTimes.com.pk

More of the same

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has said that the media is still not free as it was before the declaration of Emergency.

The only major difference in pre-Emergency and post-Emergency Pakistan is that the country's constitution -- or whatever was left of it -- is even weaker. One man's whims and personal actions have played havoc with the principles which different institutions of the state are supposed to protect.

All the independent judges, the real targets of the emergency, are out of their courts and under house arrest. Even on Monday, two days after the end of the Emergency, the pro-democracy activists demanded the release of the Chief Justice and clashed with the police.

The suicide attacks on the army, which were cited as a reason to impose the emergency, are still continuing while Musharraf is saying that the objectives of the Emergency have been achieved, which basically translates as the Judges and the media have been silenced.

15 December 2007

Bhutto Peddling Mush Propaganda against Judges!

Of late, Benazir Bhutto has been at pains shamelessly to slight and disparage the principled stand taken by My Lord the Chief Justice and his honourable colleagues. Her most recent tirade against Our Lordships has been reported by BBC Urdu, and Dawn.

To be sure, the demagogue of Larkana has motives to malign the heroic Pakistan’s heroic rise, as Haroon-ur-Rashid points out in this column in the Urdu Daily Express; and as Tariq Ali so eloquently argues in this write-up, aptly titled Daughter of the West”.

Has anybody realised yet, though, that the deceptive argument (“they took oath under PCO earlier...”), is not Bhutto’s own? The same argument has been repeatedly aired by Fazlur Rehman of JUI-F, Musharraf’s Attorney General Abdul Qayum, and various other heavies from the dictator’s court.

What a fall, Bhutto! You have become just another petty mouthpiece of the Pakistani Hitler, broadcasting propaganda messages designed by some dark Goebbels to confuse public opinion! What a fall, indeed, and what a calling!

Brazen Pirzada Has No Use for Conscience

At 84, Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, mysterious, influential and scorned by Pakistan’s protesters, fixes things when military rulers take over here, scripting temporary charters and new oaths of office as constitutions are shredded and judges dismissed.

Thus starts the New York Time profile of the man who has been on the beck and call of every single military dictator of Pakistan; and it quotes the old vulture as saying:

“The question of conscience in law hardly matters as long as you influence the authorities to be moderate and exercise restraint. Otherwise they take extreme steps.”

Presumably, he believes to be doing much good to the nation by saving us from the “extreme steps”. (As if confinement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and 60 superior court judges, and beatings and arrests all over the country were mere indulgences!)

So the rulers he helps into power must be better than those you help out of power? On the contrary:

“Half the time there has been military rule, and half civilian rule. Both were alike in despotism and corruption.”

So what good is your conscience-proof existence, Mr Pirzada, if one may ask?

Jane Perlez, who wrote the profile titled “On Retainer in Pakistan, to Ease Military Rulers’ Path”, serves Pirzada right by providing anecdotal evidence of him being a pathological liar and a climber.

“Mr. Pirzada stresses his early pedigree as an assistant to the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the lawyer-politician who insisted on a separate country for the Muslims of British-ruled India. He often mentions his association, and plays up a 1944 photograph he says was taken of him standing between Mr. Jinnah and Gandhi, even though his friends insist the photo is a fake.”

Martial Law No More, Will Mush Stay On?

Forty-two days after he unleashed his second martial law, Tyrant Musharraf has ‘issued a presidential order to lift the emergency and to restore the constitution by ending the PCO’, the New International says in this newsflash.

The state-run APP reporting the development said Musharraf “will address the nation at 8.00 pm today” over radio and television.

14 December 2007

More Bad Luck for Pakistan

Musharraf has passed an ordinance to make himself the Chairman of the Command Authority. This authority controls Pakistan's nuclear assets. In the context of Musharraf's desire to keep himself the most powerful man in Pakistan, this is the most powerful authority he can legally possess. Now he officially controls the buttons that make the Western nerves jittery. It means he can negotiate with the West on his own terms, on the familiar "without me, the nukes will go astray" rhetoric. It also means bad luck to the system of justice in Pakistan because the West will try to appease Musharraf.


Before this legal step was taken, Musharraf's bargaining with the West appeared only superficial. Now he has tied the Nukes to his body with a legal step. This is the mind of a power hungry maniac lusting after even more power than the present General, Chief of the Army Staff, Prime Minister combined. Legally, the Prime Minister will be the Deputy Chairman of the Command Authority from now on in the official documents.


It seems bad luck has descended on all institutions of Pakistan since Musharraf became drunk on power.


Ironically, Musharraf got this dangerous bargaining power because of Nawaz Sharif's decision to go nuclear.

70 percent Pakistanis do not want the present government re-elected

* 71 per cent opposed the suspension of the Constitution;

* 77 per cent opposed the detention of the former Supreme Court justices;

* 76 per cent opposed the closure of TV news channels;

* 73 per cent opposed the swearing-in of new Supreme Court justices;

* 70 per cent opposed the ban on political rallies; and

* 76 per cent opposed the crackdown on lawyers and civil society, and the house arrest of opposition leaders.

Complete story here.

12 December 2007

2008 Election Results Already Out

Party / Seats in the National Assembly

PML (Q) / 115
PPP / 90
MMA / 45
PML (N) / 40
MQM / 20
ANP / 12

Check out the Dawn report here and the Urdu column reporting this Coming Order of Things here.

NOTE: An astute observer of the shenanigans of the Pakistani state has suggested that all these figures have been deliberately "leaked" to the press in order to test or prepare the popular opinion on a hung parliament. The so-called "American script" in the Dawn report is also part of the same technique. Someone is testing the waters or preparing people for the dominance of PML (Q) and PPP combined. Or they are trying to lower the morale of the Nawaz Sharif camp. Who can guess the games of a state whose only purpose is self-perpetuation and which treats people like laboratory rats?

Arguments, Messages, Rebuttals

Argument: Dr Nasim Ashraf argued that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had begun releasing “terrorists” and thus the highest court in Pakistan had to be stopped from letting terrorists roam free.
Message: The Supreme Court of Pakistan supports terrorism.
Argument: Barrister Saif said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan “took missing persons cases in which persons were ‘allegedly’ involved in terrorist activities” and was in the process of freeing them.
Message: The Chief Justice of Pakistan supports terrorism.
Fact 1: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the Defence of Human Rights had filed a petition with the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a list of around 200 missing persons.
Fact 2: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has not ordered the release of any person who had been charged with any crime.
Argument: Barrister Saif said that there is a long list of charges against Chief Justice Chaudhry.
Message: The Chief Justice of Pakistan is corrupt.
Fact: Charges against the Chief Justice of Pakistan were deliberated by an 11-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and all charges were unanimously dismissed.
Argument:
Ms Kashmala Tariq said that the Pakistani “media is independent” and that the “country is moving towards full democracy”.
Message: All is well with the ‘most dangerous country’ while The Washington Post, The New York Times, Newsweek, Time and the San Francisco Chronicle are all lying through their teeth.

The complete story is here.

Musharraf will distort the Constitution before lifting Emergency

General (Retired) Musharraf is all set to issue three orders on Saturday or Sunday to lift the state of emergency and revive the Constitution, but not before pushing through several amendments to the basic document through his special PCO powers.

Highly placed sources said that legal experts in the Law Ministry have drafted relevant orders, which have been cleared by the authorities concerned.

The first order would pertain to Constitutional amendments, which have already been discussed at the highest level and approved by Constitutional experts.

The amendments would incorporate the establishment of a federal court in Islamabad to streamline the system pertaining to the superior judiciary.

The second order would deal with the revocation of the emergency order of November 3, and again the President would promulgate it.

The third order will provide the revival of the Constitution that was put in abeyance on November 3, but the restoration of the Constitution would come into effect with amendments.

Read the complete story in Thaindian News.

11 December 2007

The Real Chief Justice's Rebuttal of Mushy's Interview

*Counter version of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Chief Justice of
Pakistan (under constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan) *


The statement of General (rtd) Pervaiz Musharaf during an interview with Al Jazeera TV that the CJP wanted to remove him illegally is absolutely incorrect simply for the reason that I was not a member of the bench which comprised 11 Honorable Judge's (four have since taken oath under the PCO) and the case which was still being heard was to continue on Monday, November 5, 2007. This is the same Supreme Court which decided in favor of General (rtd) Musharaf on his dual office case and I was not member of that bench and the decision was applauded. If a case is decided in favor all is well. But if there is a self created fear it will be against you then the Supreme Court is called as conspirator, so much so that the case which was being heard on the merits and which had not been decided yet and where the Governments (General (rtd) Musharaf) own counsel were delaying it on one pretext or an other. Let no one forget that I did not sit on either of the benches despite the fact that in accordance with the judicial system prevailing in Pakistan every judge is independent and therefore in a position to give a decision on any case placed before him. General (rtd) Musharaf has taken different positions and enumerated different reasons for justifying his actions of Nov 3rd 2007. Details in this behalf I will discuss no sooner than I am released from this illegal custody which is against all norms of law and morality.

Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry Chief Justice of Pakistan

We invoke the First Amendment - Moderate Pakistanis

Today I met four friends in Lahore. One is a lecturer at the Punjab University, the second a journalist, the third an ambitious creative writer, and the fourth a lawyer who writes very good Punjabi short stories. All of them were complaining that the West is propping up the brutal regime of Musharraf and not doing anything for the restoration of the unfairly dismissed judges. All of them agreed that the West has purchased Mushrraf's slippery slope arguments that it is either him or the Taliban OR him or the stray nukes.

Now the point is that not one of us wanted the Taliban-style Islam imposed on us and agreed that we will resist the Taliban the same way we are resisting Musharraf. And with the death of independent TV channels we are hard pressed to find the difference between the two. Both the Taliban and Musharraf mean really bad TV for Pakistan. You choke our TV, we don't want you. No matter if you are Musharraf or the Taliban. Simple.


But there was this simmering feeling of being disgruntled with the neo-liberal, pro-market Western governments who are helping Musharraf that was serious enough to calm the playful winter breeze in the Race Course Park. One of them has decided never to buy any American product in Pakistan (no to Coke, no to McDonalds, no to Pizza Hut, no to Motorola cellphones) because the American government has supported Musharraf who has given us real hard time recently. We all love the First Amendment but not the present American government.

We hate the Taliban as much as any American would but please do not alienate the moderate formations of Pakistan. We are the hope of a better world. We are the critical mass. We say that to the West after proclaiming the American First Amendment.


Below is the text of the First Amendment for Bush. Please stop helping Musharraf.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

We also invoke the Fourth Amendment to convince the American government that Musharraf is violating the United States Bill of Rights:

Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

FIVE VERY LIBERAL PAKISTANIS WHO USED TO BUY BOOTLEGGED Jack Daniels.
Pity our poor bootlegger. We are going to ask him for Swiss Xellent from now on.


Jiye Bhutto, Tough Luck Pakistan

10 December 2007

Recent martial law administrators find Sufism politically useful

In Zia ul Haq's era we had this confusing "wise baba" culture of half-baked Sufism led by pen-pushers like Ashfaq Ahmed and Qudrat Ullah Shahab. Both of these writers enjoyed long and well-paid careers as bureaucrats. Though Shahab's career was briefly disturbed by a previous dictator Yahya Khan, he learnt his lesson and was quite prosperous in the Zia Ul Haq regime. The other spoon licker of Zia ul Haq, Ashfaq Ahmed was an almost official disinformation manager who promoted a culture of Sufi denial of "the self" and advocated an erasure of all personal (and political) ambitions while garnering enough funds for himself to live a lavish lifestyle in Garden Town, the most expensive patch of real estate in Lahore.

Now again, Musharraf has found a minister who loves Sufism and promotes "spiritual democracy." It is a legal turnstile named Syed Afzal Haider, a minister without a portfolio because the constitution and legal and human rights are suspended. Interestingly enough, this minister of lawlessness used to be a lawyer and activist in the Zia ul Haq regime just like the present "noisy bunch" of lawyers and activists but he eventually learnt his lessons of political expediency. Now, in his senile gracefulness, he has acquired the political wisdom to issue statements on "
spiritual democracy" so that no one remembers there ever was a thing called "constitutional democracy" in the country. Interestingly enough, after losing the fight against Zia ul Haq, this minister has also managed to get books out under his name on Sufism, existentialism, and denial of the human self and "interfaith harmony". Now, during the emergency, the "maverick minister" of lawlessness is talking about the constitutional rights of minorities all the time while he is also helping Musharraf with his legal expertise to maul and maim the Constitution all over again.

Here is the really juicy bit: "The minister (of lawlessness) said that the constitution of Pakistan fully protects rights and liberties of the minorities in the country. Enforcement of the Sikh marriage registration law is part of that protection, he added." This was reported in The Post, Lahore on December 6. Someone should tell the minister that the constitution also protects the rights and liberties of "every" citizen of Pakistan.

With this newly discovered utility of Sufism, Musharraf has also realized the political benefits of paying a visit to the shrine of Hazrat Data Gunj Bakhash. Religion in Pakistan has become a political manipulation tool for realizing personal ambitions of corrupt leaders. In secular countries, at least you don't have this kind of hypocrisy. We need to have new forms of hypocrisy. We need as sophisticated hypocrisy as the contemporary Western world enjoys. Please do not insult our intelligence.

09 December 2007

Blackening the Blog on International Human Rights Day

On International Human Rights Day, we will register our protest against the bleak state of human rights in Pakistan by blackening our entire blog for 24 hours of the 10th of December, 2007.

Shame on those who have choked our dreams of happiness, prosperity, and dignity.

Shame on those who have kept 165 million people of Pakistan hostages.

Shame on those who make bullets and barbed wire more abundant than wheat and rice.

The state of Pakistan is a necrophiliac state. It loves death more than life.

The Human Text Collective.

Machtpolitik vs. Idealism in Pakistan

Nawaz Sharif's party will also participate in the upcoming elections. It means that seasoned or recently seasoned politicians have finally figured out that it is difficult to beat Musharraf - the black belt grand master of Machtpolitik - with idealism. Therefore, they are now going to compete with him in the arena of Machtpolitik. Whatever the outcome may be, the unfairly dismissed judges are in it for a long haul. The only rays of hope for Our Lordships are the students, lawyers and ordinary people who are offering them free housing. Imran Khan, a darling of the lawyers because of his decision to boycott the elections, is out of Machtpolitik and also in for a very long haul. In the meanwhile, the people of Pakistan have to worry about the prices of aata (wheat flour for making chapatis) and other everyday expediencies.

It will be accurate to say that a majority of the people in Pakistan have been pushed out of the realm of political dreaming because of their everyday struggle for bare survival. Someone should explain to them how to make their own salt - or aata for that matter - as a political act (the reference here is to Gandhi's salt march). In other words, we need politicians who can read the rhythm of the pulsating blood of the wretched of the earth.


Musharraf is going to maul and maim the Constitution all over again

This report by Daily Times has this "heartening news" for the "greater good of the nation":

"Sources said the legal aides suggested that clauses related to the judiciary be altered. Article 209, which deals with the accountability of the superior judiciary, would authorise the president to send, in consultation with the Supreme Judicial Council, a judge on forced leave until his case had been decided. The sources said that the legal advisers are also considering amending Article 41(3). It said this amendment would allow the presidential election to be held even before the expiry of the presidential term, as the words related to the fixed period of the presidential election shall be abolished with effect from August 17, 1988.

"Similarly, Article 44(2), regarding the eligibility for the presidential candidate, is also likely to be amended with the words, “subject to constitution” being replaced by “notwithstanding anything contained in the constitution”, they added....."

with army in power, it will always be an emergency -- fatima bhutto

"After December 16, I'll wager that the police will completely change course. They will offer their hands in peace to the legal community, greeting lawyers with hugs, not tear gas. The government will invite all the nation's judges over for tea and everyone will laugh and smile about how silly they had been in the past. Everyone will be friends again and the police will apologize for terrorizing civil society. Uh, no. That won't happen. The difference between pre-emergency, emergency rule, and post-emergency Pakistan will be nominal. You'll still have the army in power, you'll still have a dependent judiciary, lawyers will still be causing trouble and paying for it and you'll still have buffoons running the opposition..."

Read her article in The News here.

Support this Ad

A Message from Act for Pakistan


We are taking a baby step by publishing quarter front page ad letters in Jang, The News and Dawn to support our fellow students, lawyers, media and civil society. An ad in a single newspager costs ~$5000. We need your help to publish it. Please contribute generously.


A clarion call for Pakistani Students

Yet another opportunity for action

Pakistan was created through the selfless struggles of the students who wanted a better future for themselves and their future generations. Pakistan was the dream of a teacher, named by a student, championed by a lawyer and realized in significant part due to the student’s movement.

Since then, we Pakistanis have failed to build on that sacrifice. There could be many excuses for Pakistan's chequered history. Corrupt or inept rulers, foreign meddling and religious and ethnic strife seem to be the norm in our country. But are these the real reasons we are where we are? Or is it our own apathy and inaction? Do not other countries have problems similar to ours? Why is it that their people are able to rise above it? It’s very simple. They don't only care but they ALSO ACT. And they don’t expect overnight results.


We were feeling frustrated, helpless and dejected. We were asking ourselves; is our future to be slaves yet again? Was our freedom just a mirage? But then we saw a ray of light, a bright beacon of hope. It is YOU, the students in Pakistan who have provided us with this vision and light to end the dark night of slavery.

We are now able to show to our fellow students here, the bright light of freedom and pride, demonstrated in the processions being organized by students of LUMS, FAST, BNU, PU, Quaid-i-Azam University and others. This unique awareness and interaction had never happened before in our life time. First principled Judges said ‘NO’, then the lawyers stood up, then the media brought it on and now the students are making history.

But victory yet needs to be won and we need to keep our focus sharp on four fundamental goals:

  1. Restoration of the Judges and Independent Judiciary
  2. Restoration of Free Media
  3. Restoration of 1973 Constitution
  4. Demand new Principled Political Leadership

We know the caliber of our current political leadership and what they represent. They will never replace old faces until we make it happen. This is once in a life time opportunity where we can free our country in the true sense of the word ‘Freedom’ and lead her towards the rule of law and a future for all, and not just some. It is only YOU, the students who can make freedom ring true in our cities and villages.

Our dear Pakistani students, we salute your courage, commitment and steadfastness. As long as you are there, we believe we can win. It is our Pakistan. It is our country and our future and we need it back from our slavers who have failed us from the inception of Pakistan and given us nothing but earned shame and ridicule in front of the whole world.

Let us show them how peaceful idealist students can change the course of world history yet again. Let's not lose this opportunity to stop being impotent sheep. Pakistan Zindabad!

"I particularly appeal to our intelligentsia and students to come forward and rise to the occasion. You have performed wonders in the past. You are still capable of repeating the history. You are not lacking in the great qualities and virtues in comparison with the other nations. Only you have to be fully conscious of that fact and to act with courage, faith and unity." Quaid-e-Azam M.A. Jinnah, Message to Pakistan Day, issued from Delhi March 23, 1943

The Pakistani students of colleges and universities in United States of America

Slogans to Inspire Pakistani Students and Activists

Below are some of the slogans from another student revolt -- May 1968, France. We hope you find them inspiring for your struggle against the military regime. The Human Text Collective.
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  • No forbidding allowed.

  • Boredom is counterrevolutionary.

  • We want to live.

  • Don’t beg for the right to live — take it.

  • The liberation of humanity is all or nothing.

  • Those who make revolutions half way only dig their own graves.

  • No replastering, the structure is rotten.

  • We will ask nothing. We will demand nothing. We will take, occupy.

  • Down with the state of emergency.

  • Referendum: whether we vote yes or no, it turns us into suckers.

  • It’s painful to submit to our bosses; it’s even more stupid to choose them.

  • Let’s not change bosses, let’s change life.

  • Don’t liberate me — I’ll take care of that.

  • Let the people serve themselves.

  • Nature created neither servants nor masters. I want neither to rule nor to be ruled.

  • We will have good masters as soon as everyone is their own.

  • Don’t be taken in by the politicos and their filthy demagogy. We must rely on ourselves.

  • All power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  • We want structures that serve people, not people serving structures.

  • Politics is in the streets.

  • Barricades cannot close our minds.

  • Our hope can come only from the hopeless.

  • The boss needs you, you don’t need the boss.

  • This concerns everyone.

  • We refuse to be highrised, diplomaed, licensed, inventoried, registered, indoctrinated, sermonized, beaten, manipulated, gassed, booked.

  • Conservatism is a synonym for rottenness and ugliness.

  • Poetry is in the streets.

  • Revolution, I love you.

  • Practice wishful thinking.

  • I declare a permanent state of happiness.

  • Be realistic, demand the impossible.

  • Power to the imagination.

  • Those who lack imagination cannot imagine what is lacking.

  • Forget everything you’ve been taught. Start by dreaming.

  • Form dream committees.

  • Dare! This word contains all the politics of the present moment.
    (Saint-Just)

  • When examined, answer with questions.

  • Insolence is the new revolutionary weapon.

  • Making revolution also means breaking our internal chains.

  • A cop sleeps inside each one of us. We must erase him.

  • Drive the cop out of your head.

  • Revolutionary women are more beautiful.

  • Only the truth is revolutionary.

  • Freedom is the crime that contains all crimes. It is our ultimate weapon.

  • The freedom of others extends mine infinitely.

  • No freedom for the enemies of freedom.

  • The future will only contain what we put into it now.

07 December 2007

Mush Henchman Admits He’s Clueless

Musharraf’s ‘caretaker’ law minister is at pains to make sense of the de jure situation of the independent judges, behind whom the entire nation has rallied. They have neither been dismissed nor have they relinquished their offices, this Dawn report quotes him as saying. They have simply “ceased to hold their respective offices”.

This is an illegitimate official of an illegitimate regime speaking – the Supreme Court of Pakistan had ruled against the legitimacy of Musharraf’s PCO on day one - explicitly restraining all government functionaries from obeying his unconstitutional orders, and all judges from taking the PCO oath, which was effectively an oath of allegiance to Musharraf.

Why, then, did some judges go on to take the oath? This Wikipedia entry sheds some light on the conundrum:

“According to The Times, the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan who had pleged allegiance to General Pervez Musharaff have been caught in sexual acts with prostitutes. The article alleges that the photographs of the judges in sexual acts was used to blackmail the judges to take the oath of allegiance and make rulings that the military wants.

The Times article referenced by Wikipedia can be read here.

Business Activities of the Armed Forces in Pakistan

We spotted a very courageous book here (Apology if the registration thing appears. We are looking at alternatives. Check other links in the same post).

Buy it if you like it. Or think about Copyleft instead of Copyright. Indispensable stuff indeed. We support the author. But we also support the Pakistani readers who cannot buy this stuff because the army has eaten all their resources. So support the author if you can afford it. Otherwise, have fun. Share it with your friends before someone complains to esnips and it is taken down. Liberate knowledge too.


You can also get the book from here. Click on the free option and then follow the instructions.

Another option is here. Please keep sharing.


Or try this:
A book on Pakistani Army's Business Activities
A book on Pakistan...
Hosted by eSnips

06 December 2007

Mobile Phone Signal Jamming Around the House of Our Lord Chief Justice

"Human Rights Watch says Chaudhry has managed to communicate with the outside world intermittently by mobile telephones smuggled into his home, but the government has repeatedly used signal jamming equipment and other means to disable them. The group also says Chaudhry has not had access to television or newspapers since November 3." The Guardian has reported.

Read this report by Human Rights Watch for the whole picture.

Here is the description of the day when Musharraf tried to remove the Chief Justice on March 9, 2007. This was the situation before the Emergency. Let us not think they were benign then. A dictator is a dictator is a dictator.


05 December 2007

Two American Human Rights Activists Terrorized by Pakistani Agencies

Two American activists Medea Benjamin and Tighe Barry, members of CODE PINK, have been ordered to leave Pakistan after they were abducted and terrorized by Pakistani law enforcement agencies. The activists were protesting against the emergency and holding a vigil outside the house of Aitzan Ahsan. The authorities revoked the visas of the pair and ordered their deportation. The pair plans to resume their protest outside the Pakistani Embassy in Washington. Get the complete story here.

The Petition Moved by Code Pink

"We call upon the United States, the United Kingdom, and all other governments to suspend financial assistance to the Government of Pakistan until it lifts the emergency laws, frees civil society activists in jail and under house arrest, restores judicial independence, ends restrictions on the media, and restores the 1973 constitution—followed by elections under the auspices of an independent election commission."

Please sign this petition to Support the Rule of Law in Paksitan by clicking here.


In Pakistan, the social contract is invalid.

Because of the nature of the State in Pakistan at this time, the citizens are free to act as outlaws. It is a free for all. Logically speaking, a moral act towards the police or the army is as good as an immoral act because the state itself has broken the social contract by declaring emergency. If the state can act immorally, the citizen is not bound to behave morally in return towards the state. Click here to read an essay on The Right to Ignore the State by Herbert Spencer and decide for yourself.

37 Conscientious Judges Axed

The total number of Superior Judges who have been forcefully retired has risen to 37. Click here to read the complete story.

04 December 2007

Campus Under Siege as Regime Gets Jittery

Democracy activists in Lahore say the Punjab police laid siege to the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) campus Tuesday morning.

The move - aimed to prevent students from joining a huge protest rally slated for 3 pm at the Lahore Press Club – is a strong indication that the brewing students movement is giving the Musharraf regime the jitters of its life.

“They have threatened to arrest any student who leaves”, an alert circulated among activists across Pakistan and the world over said. “The SHO has met the President of LUMS Student Council and threatened him to stop students from protesting or face dire consequences.”

“The police claim to have [registered and] sealed FIRs against some student organizers whose photographs they showed the student representative”, the dispatch went on.

“Individual students have also received threats from police, intelligence agencies and unknown plainclothesmen. Currently students are deliberating on what to do. They are still resolute to protest peacefully and non-violently.

Updates on LUMS students activities are available at The Emergency Times blog.

Human Shield to Prevent Eviction of Dissenting Judge

Civil society activists, lawyers and retired judges picketed Monday night outside the house of a dissenting judge following attempts to forcibly evict him from his official residence.

Leading activists Asma Jahangir, Hina Jilani, and Asad Jamal were among those who kept the nightlong vigil outside the official residence of Justice Shahid Siddiqui in the bitter December cold were.

Activists are taking turns to keep an uninterrupted vigil, 40-50 at a time, forming a human shield to prevent the Punjab government from forcibly evicting the judge who declined to take oath under Musharraf’s martial law regulations, said Hamid Khan, a former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

The vigil was prompted by reports Monday evening that Justice Siddiqui may be evicted from his official residence. As the word got out at about 10:30 pm, scores of lawyers and civil society activists are gathered outside Justice Siddiqui's residence to show solidarity with him.

Speaking on the occasion, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chair Asma Jahangir said if the police came they would have to hit her first.

Justice Siddiqui is one of te two dissidents among judges living in government housing in Lahore's GOR, the other being Justice Ijaz Ahmed Choudhry. All other dissenting judges live in their own residences.

Earlier,

wake of eviction orders served on both the judges by a new ‘registrar’ brought in by the regime. Justice Siddiqui responded by challenging his authority and serving a contempt of court notice on him.

It may be pertinent to note that the rulebook says a judge will be given at least six months to vacate his official residence even is he is forced to retire. The regime’s attempt clearly violates those rules.

Activists are calling upon anyone in the area to please go and support the cause. The street address of Justice Siddiqui is 14 Tollington road, GOR I, Lahore.

Below is the text of the contemp notice served by Justice Siddiqui on the regime’s registrar.

CONTEMPT NOTICE ISSUED BY MR. JUSTICE M. A. SHAHID SIDDIQI TO REGISTRAR LAHORE HIGH COURT LAHORE. ORDER

30. 11. 2007

The Registrar of this Court through letter dated 16th November 2007 has requested me to vacate my official residence i.e. 14 – Tollinton Road, GOR – 1, Lahore. It has been written after the issuance of Proclamation of Emergency and the Provincial Constitution Order 2007. This communication is wholly illegal, totally in defiance to constitutional provisions and even against the normative values of decency.

1. I am clear in my mind that Lahore High Court holds its very existence to the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 which embodies the will of the people. Needless to say that the Constitution of a country is always considered as the supreme and sacred law of the land. It cannot be allowed to be abrogated, held in abeyance or violated under any pretext specially by those who have taken the oath to preserve, protect and defend it.

2. In view of the above, the Proclamation of Emergency and the Provincial Constitutional Order 2007 being in sheer abuse of powers are of no legal consequence as had been declared immediately after its promulgation by the Supreme Court of Pakistan existing under the Constitution. The mandate is binding upon the Judges of all the High Courts and all officials performing their functions under the law. Any infraction, violation or deviation from that order will amount to serious contempt of Court for which a deviant official will be liable and likely to be punished. The issuance of above letter appears to be an attempt to intimidate and overawe the Judges who have not surrendered to the Chief of Army Staff. I, therefore, as a sitting Judge of the Lahore High Court direct the Registrar of this Court to explain as to why and at whose instance he issued this letter asking me to vacate my official residence. The reply shall be submitted within a month.

The Dreaded Hammer has Landed: Judges forcefully retired.

The interim ministry of law has issued the retirement notification to the 24 judges who refused to take oath under the new PCO, after the proclamation of the Emergency.

The West loves the Pakistani Army and the Army loves politics.

In Pakistan the cause of failure is not Islamic militancy, an irresponsible media or an overactive judiciary. It is the political dominance of the institution the West remains convinced holds the country together – the army.

A report from Le Monde Diplomatique on the Army's involvement in Pakistani politics is here.


A refreshing change in Pakistan

"A fresh exploration of ideas and new activism is happening after decades of cynicism, passivity and conscious de-politicisation of society. Defenders of the old social order might have preferred to keep it that way, and they are not sparing any moment or opportunity to take the spirit and optimism out of the present social movement..."

Read the assessment of resistance against the oppressive Musharraf regime by Rasul Bakhsh Rais here.


03 December 2007

These sham elections favor American interests in the region.

"The US on Monday urged all political parties in Pakistan to participate in the upcoming general election even as it pressed President Pervez Musharraf to lift emergency and release all political prisoners.

US Ambassador Anne Patterson, who met former premier Nawaz Sharif, former Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and rights activist Asma Jehangir here, said it was upto the parties whether to contest the January 8 poll or not..."

Go figure the reasons behind all this. The news item is here.


Musharraf Could Win if His Rivals Can't Make Peace

The confusion of the opposition parties is helping Musharraf. Read the complete report by The Wall Street Journal here.

02 December 2007

Why Democracy is so Fragile in Pakistan? (A Historical Analysis)

On 3rd November 2007, the President General Parwez Musharraf suspended the constitution and imposed Martial law/Emergency. Many remain intrigued about such a high degree of fragility of democracy in this part of south Asia. When its neighbouring nation and 'step brother', India, is impressively able to strengthen its democracy by free press & judiciary, strident social justice, empowering common people through the revolutionary legislation of Right to Information (RTI), democratic decentralism of Panchayati Raj, highly contested polity, academically and politically vibrant educational institutions and many such things, it confounds many as to why can't Pakistan also build a vibrant democracy?

Military–bureaucratic dominance has been made a menacing reality of Pakistan by delaying the drafting of the constitution for long, and postponing general elections since the bloody birth of the nation in 1947. This was done to marginalize the majority (above 50%), who were Bengalis against dominant minority of Punjabis. System of representative democracy would have given far greater share of power to the Bengalis in the eastern wing of Pakistan. Punjabi dominance in bureaucracy and army, therefore, was never so serious for democratic processes. Non accommodative and authoritarian spirit resulted into fragmentation of the nation in two parts. The eastern wing got a bloody birth in 1971, called as Bangladesh. While geographical distance between the eastern and western wing was definitely n important reason for this disintegration, the above mentioned factors were the important ones. No effort at building a party based political system capable of reflecting Pakistan's linguistic and cultural diversities. Contrast it with India, which accommodated linguistic aspirations and provinces began to be carved out along linguistic lines since early 1950s. The process continues till date. The Congress led mass based anti colonial struggle had envisaged this goal as early as 1920 at its annual session in Nagpur. Whereas the Muslim League, in its attempts to create Pakistan, by dividing India, did not have any such socially accommodative ideological programmes. Small wonder then that, the political parties functioning in Pakistan don't have effective bases of popular support. While the military dictator marginalized the industrial labour and intelligentsia, one of the most revealing tales about it has been narrated by outstandingly famous Urdu poet, Josh Malihabadi's autobiography, Yaadon Ki Baraat, who migrated, only to repent it pathetically, to the 'Khuda Ki Basti' (God's Own Land), despite being persuaded by J.L. Nehru not to do so.

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (Prime Minister, 1971-77), while claiming to have Left-progressive leaning ideology of reforms for the underprivileged, packed his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with landed notables and had scant respect for civil liberties. He vigorously pursued the politics of taking revenge against political rivals and gave a serious blow to the provisions of provincial autonomy in 1973, thereby subverted democracy.

General Ziaul Haq (1977-88), a military authoritarian, enlisted the support of the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Pakistan and the Jamiatul Ulema-e-Pakistan and had support base among neo- rich trading classes of urban centres. Having got support from ostensibly Islamic groups, he could unleash repressive legislations against women in 1979, besides remaining ruthless against the political opponents. He attempted to contain rising social unpopularity with showing an exaggerated external threats and enhancing budgetary outlay for defence and armament, which resulted into extreme economic crisis and military control on the state apparatus. His regime also witnessed fierce Punjabi –Sindhi divide. While the social transformation in rural Sind became a volcanic site, the urban Sind gave birth to the Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), and its important towns like Karachi and Hyderabad turned into linguistic (Urdu versus Sindhi) battle zones.

The beneficiaries of the political patronage of the Zia era gave birth to Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (PML), who ruled it during 1990-93 and 1997-99. But during this period both ruling PML and opposition PPP miserably failed to come out with a concrete economic programme. How could they do it? Even the political formation (the Muslim League) that created the nation called Pakistan could never come out with a defined economic programme. Let it be contrasted with the Karachi Resolution (1931) of the Congress led anti colonial struggle, where a concrete programme of Fundamental Rights and economic programme aimed at bringing socio economic justice was put forward as a blue print of the independent India. Moving ahead, in 1936 at Faizpur, it also promised an agrarian programme to fight the feudal domination through land proprietorship for tenants. It clearly talked of land reforms, redistribution of all kinds of wealth, nationalization of industries. In 1938, it formed the National Planning Committee, and it kept displaying its sincere commitment to civil liberties, minority rights, social justice, secularism, socialism and believed extraordinarily in politicizing people through mass movements. For the sake of actualizing this objective, it always maintained a relationship with the socialist and communist parties, workers and peasants' parties. Whereas, the Jinnah led Muslim League always entered into backdoor negotiations with the imperial power, when it was under pressure from the Congress led mass assertions. In short, strength and aspiration of the common masses were always insignificant for the creators of Pakistan. During 1937–47, they did enlist mass support, but the mobilizing issues were divisive and hate mongering, based on religious exclusivism. This is not to say that all was/ is well with the Congress and other political formations. But the way Pakistan politics has been moving, since its birth, is definitely an outcome of the way they defined and practised their nationalism. This is the reason, why military dictators get an advantage of not encountering fierce mass assertion even in this age of all pervasive, unrestrained reach of media. Even a backward, feudalized, fiercely caste-segregated Indian province like Bihar can bring the state to its knees when an 'ordinary' media-man is beaten by a warlord politician,can be subjected to punishment, but the nation called Pakistan can black out the media so easily. One may counter this line of argument by citing the examples of:

(a) Imposition of Emergency in 1975 by Indira led government. Even though it was outrageously anti democratic, it was not a military dictatorship.

(b) Massacres like anti Muslim pogroms in Gujarat, where rule of law has just vanished. But, one redeeming aspect of Indian democracy is still there, the judiciary and human rights activists are able to extract at least some space for justice. Institutions are still expected to deliver the goods. Limitastions and criticisms apart, resilience and endurance of the Indian democracy is precisely because of the fact that programmes of socio-economic justice are constantly moving ahead. Maoism, Naxalism, secessionist insurgencies and other such organized or unorganized violence are raising their heads mostly in those pockets where they are being denied disproportionately.

Unsurprisingly, the existing political formations of Pakistan are just not able to define and practice enduring programmes of social justice, balanced regional development, and federalism/ provincial 'autonomy', and above all of them, a political economy oriented towards the emergence of a civil society where democratic institutions don't get discredited or de-legitimized. Regardless of when the elections are held and who comes to power, a substantive democracy will keep eluding Pakistan for some more times to come. This is a great worry for the neighbouring India and rest of the world.

Dr M S