By Inam Ullah
LAHORE, Pakistan, 10 January 2008 (The Post) - The legal fraternity termed the [bomb] attack here on Thursday a conspiracy against the lawyers' movement and a complete failure of the [Musharraf] government in controlling the law and order situation in the provincial metropolis [Lahore].
Member, Punjab Bar Council (PBC), Advocate Navid Anayat Malik alleged that the [Musharraf] government "wants to scare lawyers through such coercive tactics to cut short our anti-government movement, started for the restoration of all deposed judges and the Constitution."
"After repeated failure of the [Musharraf] government to stop lawyers from their movement through brutal torture and illegal detention, the government has now designed a 'suicide' attack on us, as used before to remove PPP ex-Chairperson Benazir Bhutto," he added.
"We now want to tell the [Musharraf] government we are not afraid," he said and vowed to continue "our struggle for rights." He urged the lawyers to intensify their campaigns for early success of "our"movement.
Later, he condoled the death of cops who lost their lives in the [bomb] attack and condemned the attack in question.
Another member of PBC, Manzoor Qadir, also a candidate for the LahoreBar Association [LBA] President Office, said the [Musharraf] government has tried its best to suppress the lawyers, "but come what may, we are not afraid. Our movement will only stop after we achieve our agenda," he added.
Former President LBA and member PBC, Advocate Chaudhry Imran Masood, termed the blast in the provincial metropolis a complete failure ofthe [Musharraf] government to tackle lawlessness. "The [ruling tyrant Pervez Musharraf] is playing with the solidarity of our country for his own sake," he said, adding that the only solution to the current crisis would be free and transparent general elections under the supervision of a neutral caretaker government.
Advocate Shahid Bilal Hassan, member PBC, condemning the [bomb] attack on police accused [Dictator] Musharraf of putting the whole nation at stake. "Nobody is safe in this country from terrorism," he added.
Former President, Lahore Tax Bar [LTB], Shafqat Chohan said the masses at large had pinned their hopes on "us" [the Pakistani lawyers]. "We became their voice," he said, adding that the [Musharraf] government"fears the lawyers' movement, hence the blast."
Former Secretary LHCBA, Mian Irfan Akram, expressing his grief over the number of casualties, said the legal fraternity has understood the"hidden message" of the [Musharrraf] government, but "will not retreat a single step. The government must accept defeat," he added.
Former Secretary, LBA, G.A. Khan, and Sajid Bashir said the movement would continue at any cost.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Lawyers condemn blast, term it state conspiracy
"Lawyers Rally was Real Target"
By Jamaluddin Jamali
LAHORE, Pakistan, 10 January 2008 (The Post) - The legal fraternity on Thursday blamed government agencies [Pakistan Army's Special ServiceGroup (SSG) Commandos, MI, ISI, IB, FIA, Rangers, or InteriorMinistry, etc.] for the deadly [bomb] blast outside the Lahore High Court and said that the real target of the bomber was the lawyers rally.
Hundreds of lawyers were inside the High Court at the time of the blast while others led by the Lahore Bar Association [LBA] were marching towards The Mall.
Lawyers claimed that real target of the blast was their rally, which was heading towards the GPO Chowk, but later the plan was changed and the police contingent was attacked.
The Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) and the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) condemned the [bomb] attack which killed almost 26 people, most of them policemen [and injured over 80 Pakistanis].
SCBA Vice President Ghulam Nabi Bhatti told The Post that the blast was the handiwork of [Pervez Musharraf's] government agencies which wanted to browbeat the protesting lawyers.
He alleged that [the Musharraf] government agencies conducted the blast to weaken the lawyers' protest movement. It was a "divine delay"in the protest march that saved the lives of hundreds of lawyers and members of civil society groups," Ghulam Nabi said.
Former LHCBA President Ahmed Javaid Jilani told The Post that the [Musharraf] government wanted to defer the general elections by creating a law and order situation in Lahore which was relatively safer than rest of the country.
Visiting victims of the blast..
We visited the Mayo Hospital today evening to ask after the blast victims. All along the way, I was thinking what to expect and how to express my feelings; condemnation for the blast and empathy for the victims. My thoughts dispersed and the words failed me when I met the victims and their families. Stricken by poverty and pain, they sat by the bed sides of their near and dear ones whose limbs were broken and bodies burnt. We sat with them, held hands and comforted them. They thanked us for being there to share their grief. It was a humbling experience and the one I will remember for a long time.We stayed for one hour, met about 26 victims and their families, passed on small gifts to them and left the hospital with eyes gleaming with tears but a heart full of promise to visit again. I would request all of you to go and see the victims. In these testing times they need all the support and comfort that your visit can give them.
Friday, January 11, 2008
US delegation to issue preliminary report on Rule of Law issue
PRESS CONFERENCE: Friday, 11/1/08, 3PM, Holiday Inn, across from the Islamabad Press Club.
Islamabad -- A delegation from the United States National Lawyers Guild will release its preliminary findings regarding the impacts of then Proclamation of Emergency at a press conference in Islamabad at 3pm on Friday. The delegation has prepared a preliminary report concluding that anything short of restoration of the judges deposed on November 3rd will have long-lasting negative impacts on the judiciary and the rule of law in Pakistan. The report is critical of U.S. foreign policy, concluding that the United States’ failure to demand the reinstatement of the deposed judges will negatively impact both the development of democracy in Pakistan and the U.S.’s long-term interests in safety and security. The delegation also noted severe structural and procedural problems in the pre-election climate, including the lack of an independent election commission and an independent judiciary, that are likely to make the holding of free and fair elections impossible.
The delegation's findings are based on over 50 interviews with political party leaders, lawyers, members of civil society, government officials, judges, students and journalists in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta and Islamabad. The report reflects the delegation's findings about the Pakistani judiciary, the freedom and fairness of upcoming elections, and the impact of U.S. foreign policy on security and democracy in Pakistan. David Gespass, the Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild and the leader of the delegation, noted that “As lawyers and law students, we have an ethical and professional obligation to support the struggle for a just and democratic society based on the rule of law wherever that struggle occurs.”
One respondent, Justice Azmat Saeed of the Lahore High Court, who refused to take the PCO oath, stated that “Musharraf said to the U.S.A., ‘I can't fight the war on terrorism with a free press and an independent judiciary.’ But you cannot fight terrorism with state terrorism.”
“Pakistan has become a state where there are suicide bombings going on, where no one is safe. We have now lost more Pakistani soldiers than Americans have lost in Iraq,” noted Imran Khan, leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaaf party. “If you assess the policy now, it has been a disaster for the U.S., and it’s now become an even bigger disaster for Pakistan. And there’s no end in sight. Radicalism and extremism are growing by the day. This is now a monster that could actually destroy our country,” concluded Khan.
Syed Mudasser Ameer, a barrister and a member of the executive committee of the Peshawar High Court Bar Association Action Committee, expressed a common view that “When we used to talk about America, it was just another word for freedom.” But the United States’ continued support for Musharraf has changed his views. “Now, we say it would be better if we were still ruled by Britain, because there would still be rule of law,” stated Ameer.
Justice (ret'd) Jawaad Khawaja of the Lahore University of Management Sciences invited the delegation to visit Pakistan to assess the status of the rule of law and the prospect for fair elections in light of recent attacks on judicial independence. The Law and Policy Department of LUMS founded a new initiative called the Rule of Law Project to serve as an academic clearinghouse for documentation and research regarding constitutionalism and the rule of law in Pakistan. The preliminary report is authored jointly by the delegation and the LUMS Rule of Law Project.
The delegation will return to the United States on Saturday where it will complete its final report for presentation to the United States ongress and the general public.
CONTACTS:
David Gespass, National Lawyers Guild, (0331) 412-5276, +1 (205)566-2530, thepass@aol.com
Devin Theriot-Orr, Rule of Law Project, LUMS, (0334) 428-9694,rlp@riseup.net
A page from the diary of a student..
Earlier today, as we sat down in our Contracts law class, a terrified girl rushed into the class, quite late and looking baffled. The next moment we realized that she wasn't just appearing baffled to get her late entry excused. "Please call up your dad to check if he's fine. There's been an explosion outside the Lahore High Court. Many deaths and injuries"
There was a moment of silence. Then, the instructor spoke: "No, my dad's else where. Actually... em.." Our lawyer-teacher then instructed his teaching assistant to call up the teacher's father so as to enquire his well being, while the class returned to the labyrinthine world of Contracts Act 1872. I have never had a wonderful time with the intricacies of contract law, but this session became particularly distasteful so I began to think about rivers of blood, and black coats and other evocative images and many other things and very soon the class was over. The instructor's dad was reported to be safe and sound, and he looked quite relieved.
Back at LUMS, things looked just fine. It was a cloudy winter afternoon and the breeze was blowing beautifully. I thought about how the same wind blows all around the country, all around the globe, and brings on its wings, news from distant places. What it does not bring is the smell of blood, even when blood has been spilled just a few miles away.
Later, at around 7:30, a few dozen students gathered in front of the dining hall, in response to the Student Council's call. Many times in the afternoon, recently viewed pictures from the TV screen kept popping up in my mind. Bodies of humans, piled up outside the picturesque High Court building, dressed up in khaki trousers and dark grey shirts, unmistakable members of the dreaded Punjab police. Memories retured from another day, more than two months ago, when tall and strong men, dressed up in similar attire were chasing us like rats in that very premises. They beat up our friends, humiliated us and made us walk with our hands held high, just like prisoners of war in our own country.
But that moment in the cold evening, sitting on the ground, amongst a sober gathering of students, as I raised my hands for fatiha, this is not what I was thinking about. I thought about the families of the deceased and what they must be going through. Nothing should waver us in our resolve to battle every oppressive move made by the state, but that resolve must also not blind us to the plight of human beings on both sides. Our battle is not against innocent human beings; it is against a system that pits some of us against the others, exploiting everyone in the process. It is a battle of ideas of justice against ideas of injustice. More than anything else, those who were killed today were fellow human beings, brothers in Islam, killed unjustly. They deserve all our prayers, all our regards, and the maximum of our support.
The students dispersed after enlisting their names for blood donation and making contributions to the fund that the Student Action Committee promply set up to support the families of the deceased.
Thoughts in the aftermath..
Misha Rehman
In the aftermath of the bomb blast in Lahore, where do we stand in our own country?
For some like Marx, history is a linear progression-from feudalism to capitalism and so on. For the colonizers and now imperialists, man evolved from savages to barbarians to the civilized. Darwin spoke of mankind as ‘survival of the fittest’. Man, the superior of all beings in the universe, adapted and transformed the climate to suit his needs. With the advent of industrialization and the likes, we had technology to mold and change the world. From belief in a supreme being and divine law, the world moved to secularism and modern values. Thus, man has always progressed, to grow to something better, to something bigger than before-so history demonstrates, and so great thinkers tell us.
Have we really progressed, or with the passing of each day are we truly digressing to a world where law of the jungle prevails? Using new tactics and new technologies, which apparently seem to be the constructs of a modern world, our men are destroying our own social fabric, and crippling our own polity. This is the state of Pakistan. This is the day of morbidity where evil has risen. The men are standing translucent; we can see the ironies of life, of politics and statehood in a third world country, which is being dragged by the whims and fancies of everyone in the national and/or international arena, everyone but the people of Pakistan. These evil mongers rise to fill their pockets and cling on to their power. They rise to commit atrocities. They rise to curtail freedom. They rise to end Pakistan.
Let us trace back Pakistan’s steps to August 2006, just a year and five months ago. From the hue and cry regarding cases of the missing people, to the American imposed Islamic fundamentalism and Musharaf’s inception of enlightened moderation; from the killing of the prominent Balochi leader Bugti by the security forces, to the unaccounted raid that killed up to 80 people in Bajaur; from the radical Lal Masjid breathing right under the nose of the government, to the numerous bombings in cities like Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Rawalpindi; from Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry’s unconstitutional suspension by the Dictator-President, to the killings of many Pakistani’s by foreign militants in Waziristan; from the treacherous killings in Karachi during rival protests against CJP’s dismissal, to the shameful deportation of Nawaz Sharif under the orders of the President against the decision of the Supreme Court; from the audacity of the President in wanting to stand in elections as an army chief after eight years of military rule, to the curtailment of media amid growing challenge to this very rule; from the belligerent breach of constitutional provisions by the imposition of a state of emergency, to the unlawful arrests and FIR reports against prominent lawyers, judges, civil servants, and politicians; from the assassination of PPP Chairperson and ex-Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, to the very obvious and shameful cover-up by the army, time and again we have been targeted as a nation. On the 10 of January 2008, we are once again left bruised and battered: "Twenty people have been killed and 60 wounded. Most of the victims are policemen. It was a suicide attack,'' said senior city government official Mian Ejaz after a bomb blast outside the Lahore High Court.
We can not let this go unnoticed, like the parrot that shuts its eyes when he sees a cat, hoping that the cat won’t see him. For if now we can not decide what has to be done, then only darkness prevails. We can not sit idle and wait for the monster to grow. We can not wait for it to engulf us all, for the cat to gulp the parrot down, for the powder keg to explode, for the citizens of a nation to forfeit it all. Not money, not land, no, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about fundamental human rights, I’m talking about freedom, I’m talking about existence in its very basic sense, and I’m talking about life…
“Pakistan”, a term coined by Chawdhry Rehmat Ali, “the land of the pure”.
HRCP calls for reports on Mass Arrests in Sindh
HRCP to collect the particulars of the workers of political parties arrested or wanted, in the current wave of arrests, harassment and intimidation by the local administration
January 10, 2008 Karachi:
In a joint statement issued to the press Mr. Iqbal Haider, Secretary General, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and Ms. Zohra Yusuf, Vice Chairperson, HRCP expressed grave concern at reports that the government was using the current disturbances after the tragic assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, as an excuse to enter people's homes, arrest hundreds of thousands of political workers and create an environment of fear.
They said that HRCP has decided to collect - to the extent possible - the available data and particulars of the hundreds of thousands of workers of political parties and other citizens arrested or wanted by the local administration in the Province of Sindh on the allegations of arson, loot, dacoities and burning of the private and public properties following the assassination of the PPP Chairperson. HRCP appeals to all political parties, welfare organizations, NGOs and concerned citizens to immediately give maximum possible particulars of the citizens arrested / wanted by the local authorities in the current wave of arrests, harassment and intimidation.
Information should be sent to:
The HRCP Karachi Chapter – Unit # 8, Ilaco House,
Abdullah Haroon Road, Saddar, Karachi,
Phone: (021) 5637131-32, Fax: (021) 5637133,
Email: hrcp@cyber.net.pk
After receipt of all these details of arrested / wanted / victimized citizens, HRCP would compile the same and release a detailed report.
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
LUMS community condemns LHC blast
Lahore 10.1.2008 - The LUMS community strongly condemns the bomb blast that took place outside the Lahore High Court earlier today(Thursday). The students, faculty and staff expressed their grief at the loss of innocent lives and of those doing their duty. Fateha was recited for the victims at a sit in in the evening. The students launched a blood donation drive and a fund raising campaign, urging Pakistanis to unite in their efforts to help the injured and the families of the deceased.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Urgent - Blood required for blast victims
There was a bomb blast outside the Lahore high court today. Blood is needed for the injured. Most have been taken to Mayo hospital.
All those interested in donating blood - please contact - Zainab - 0334-4009309.
Also, all of those who can, please visit the wounded, who are at Mayo and Services Hospital, Lahore.
Will send out more details as they come in.
UPDATE - 56 injured in Mayo hosp, 8 in Services hosp, 6 in Ganga Ram. Blood required in Services hospital.
Suicide attack outside Lahore High Court
A suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday among police deployed in front of the Lahore High Court ahead of a planned protest by lawyers, killing at least 22 people and wounding dozens more, officials and witnesses said. A press photographer said he saw more than 25 dead and wounded people, including police and civilians. Lahore chief of police operations Aftab Cheema said the bomber arrived on a motorbike, parked it near the police guards before running up to the barrier they were manning and blew himself up. He said 19 policemen and one civilian were killed. Another police official said more than 50 others were wounded, including passersby.
PHR Demands United Nations Investigation into Murder of Benazir Bhutto
WASHINGTON DC, USA, 7 January 2008 (InformPress.com) - Physicians forHuman Rights (PHR) called today for a credible and independent investigation by the United Nations into the assassination of Benazir Bhutto - the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Opposition leader and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) ex-Chairwoman - killed on Thursday, 27 December 2007 in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, including disturbing allegations of intimidation and harassment of doctors involved in the case.
PHR urged Pakistan to invite the UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions to investigate these reports, and monitor the Pakistani and UK (Scotland Yard Police) governments' investigation of Bhutto's killing. Additionally, PHR called on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to ensure that the overall investigation into Bhutto's death is independently monitored and reviewed. If the Special Rapporteur is not invited by Pakistan to observe the inquiry, the UNSC must take other, appropriate actions to ensure that an independent investigation is made of the murder, that all forensic data is handled and preserved properly, and that all the perpetrators are brought to justice.
"There must be a credible and independent UN investigation of the Bhutto case, including whether health professionals involved have been intimidated or coerced by the Pakistani government," stated Frank Donaghue, Chief Executive Officer of PHR. "Protecting the medical independence and neutrality of all health professionals is essential for determining the facts of what happened to the former Prime Minister."
Press reports have said that doctors who tried to treat Bhutto and examined her body soon after her death had been under intense pressureto keep their findings quiet. Some of the doctors have reportedly gone into hiding. The UN Special Rapporteur should determine whether health professionals were coerced or intimidated, medical records were changed or destroyed and whether any other evidence or witnesses have been tampered with. The UN Special Rapporteur should also be allowed to freely monitor the overall investigation into Bhutto's death by the Pakistani Government of Pervez Musharraf and he should make his findings public.
"The UN Security Council must ensure that the overall investigation into Bhutto's assassination is independently monitored and that all evidence is reviewed and made public by outside investigators," stated Donaghue. "Given the far-reaching implications of Bhutto's death for Pakistan and for the [South Asian] region, the UN must act to make sure that there is no interference, nor perception of interference, in the ongoing inquiry."
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.
PHR: http://www.physiciansforhumanrights.org
The Dirty Tricks Brigade
Pressures on the party leadership included insistent questioning by journalists, particularly the insatiable 24/7 broadcast media, the forthcoming elections then barely two weeks away, and crucially, the disinformation campaign started by the dirty tricks brigade that is always quick to swing into action.
Some journalists pushed the Fatima Bhutto versus Bilawal Zardari angle. Others pounced on the even younger Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (“Junior”) as the probable head of the party. Some rushed for quotable quotes to Benazir’s disgruntled uncle, Mumtaz Bhutto, known for his running feud with her. Hard-headed reporters, noses to the ground, understood the popular sentiment of the party — whoever next headed the PPP had to be a Bhutto. At the funeral, party workers raised slogans for Sanam Bhutto, Benazir’s last remaining sibling, to lead the party despite Sanam’s clear disinterest in these matters.
Cyberspace and drawing-room chatter, meanwhile, buzzed with the hopeful comments of the intellectual elite in Pakistan and abroad. ‘Civil society’ was excited at the prospect of the PPP finally ‘democratising’ — perhaps now a non-Bhutto would head the party. Perhaps now they would hold intra-party elections. Perhaps now some respected leader like Makhdoom Amin Fahim or, even better, Aitzaz Ahsan would be asked to don the mantle.
Not surprisingly, this well-meaning debate primarily took place among elitist groups who are not party members, and who reviled the PPP for its insistence on electoral politics. The polls boycott lobby held that participating in elections would ‘legitimise’ the Musharraf regime. The boycott move is believed to have originated with the dirty tricks brigade, known for its tactic of initiating “a cute slogan that raises an emotive response” as one political activist put it. Besides the fact that the president in any case claims legitimacy, they were unable to answer the question Benazir Bhutto had raised when pressurised to boycott: “Boycott, and then what?”
These people had also rejected, even vilified, Ms Bhutto for her ‘deal’ with President Gen (as he was then) Musharraf. She saw no way to proceed except through politics and defended herself in an email of Dec 3, 2007, made public after her death: “I still remain committed to the freedom and vitality of democracy, as [sic] the great Quaid-i-Awam had dreamt of. Yes, it is true that you have to deal sometimes with the Devil if you can’t face it, but everything is a means to an end.”
The dirty tricks brigade was quick to capitalise on the elite indignation when the PPP ended speculation with the announcement that Benazir Bhutto had left a will nominating as the party head her husband Asif Ali Zardari, the much maligned ‘Mr 10 per cent’ (a term known to have been coined by the dirty tricks brigade, although there is no shortage of contenders for such labels). There was further indignation at dynastic politics when Zardari was smart enough to pass the PPP’s leadership mantle on to 19-year-old Bilawal.
Why could the party not rise above negative traditions and do the ‘right’ thing? Perhaps its leaders felt constrained by their constituency — which is not the intellectual elite. This constituency of PPP workers was on the whole relieved at the quick decisions announced at the soyem (all of which, incidentally, counter the patriarchal model): Bilawal made the party’s symbolic head; Benazir and Zardari’s children taking on the Bhutto name; Benazir buried by her father’s grave as she had wished; her husband’s stated desire to also be buried there rather than at his own ancestral graveyard. Whatever the motivations behind these steps, their symbolism in perpetuating the ‘Bhutto factor’ and satiating the desire to atone for the martyrdom cannot be underrated.
The dirty tricks brigade, whose efforts to rig the elections Ms Bhutto had been about to reveal, continued undeterred. By Jan 1, in tactics reminiscent of the whispering campaign started against Benazir herself after Murtaza’s murder, a message was being circulated via SMS and on the internet implying that Asif Zardari was behind his wife’s death as the chief beneficiary — “all wealths [sic] of hers and her political power is now in Zardari’s hands”.
The unsigned message demanded that he be interrogated along with Rehman Malik “who used to manage Benazir [sic] foreign investment portfolio”. Those close to Benazir Bhutto scoff at these allegations, noting that she was too intelligent a woman to leave her “wealths” accessible to anyone other than her children.
On Jan 2, an Urdu newspaper in Karachi distributed free supplements with the (false) report that Fatima Bhutto had announced herself as the ‘real Bhutto’, suggesting that she should be leading the party. Such attempts to fan discord are of course not limited to Pakistan. PTI leader Imran Khan’s ex-wife Jemima Khan, who has developed into a political analyst since returning to the UK, wrote in the Telegraph, “If a Bhutto must run Pakistan, why not Fatima?”
Is Bilawal about to run the country? Aren’t there other more important issues at hand than who heads the PPP? Fatima Bhutto doesn’t even belong to the party. Neither does Ms Khan, although this hasn’t stopped her or others from nominating its leadership. Such presumption when it comes to the PPP is in sharp contrast to the restraint regarding other political parties.
Such efforts to deepen existing rifts are not just dishonest but downright dangerous at this point. The establishment delayed the elections that were to have been held on Jan 8 without taking the major opposition parties into confidence. The interim provides an opportunity for them to further target and weaken the opposition.
Already stunned at the loss of their leader, the PPP is now reeling from the registration of tens of thousands of FIRs against its workers. Its electoral candidates face charges that include attempted murder. All this only contributes towards the existing uncertainty and may generate more violence that could provide the establishment a pretext to further postpone elections. This must not be allowed to happen.
Although some go as far as to say that character assassination is the first step towards physical assassination, it is clear that political engagement and organisation are necessary for change. Those who vilified Ms Bhutto for pursuing these politics are now making her into an icon while continuing to vilify her party. It is time to make some choices: continue perpetuating the vilification campaign or focus on the more fundamental issue of taking politics in Pakistan beyond military interference.
The writer is a journalist and documentary film-maker based in Karachi.
beena.sarwar@gmail.com
Democratic and Political spaces
Those of us who were hoping that political parties would take a principled stand and boycott a sham structure and system which merely legitimises and endorses President Musharraf's political arrangement were called naïve, or worse, once the main political parties decided to participate in the 2008 elections.
Questions were raised about issues relating to individual and public or political morality, where a number of people argued that while it was acceptable as individuals to take certain principled positions privately, in politics the game is not so much about such individual dilemmas but about opportunities. The arguments stated that political actors are in the game to achieve political power, and their morality or principles should not be constrained by that goal. Hence, when they have the opportunity to acquire power, their principles could be set aside.
In any other language such behaviour would be called the crassest form of opportunism, but in the language of politics it is known as tactics. The argument goes that rather than hold on to some principled stand and sit on the sidelines and watch the political process unfold, political actors are better off if they protest,yet accept and play by the rules of the game, for they would otherwise be completely marginalised in the process which they are hoping to influence. If the opportunity to influence the larger political process arises, whether through collaboration, collusion or compromise, political actors are required to be political rather than moralists.
This politics of opportunism based on collaboration, or these so-called political tactics, deserves far greater scrutiny in our public discourse than it has received. If politics is to be devoid of principles and determined merely by the possibility of opportunity, then the political stand of some actors against military intervention, or in defence of a persecuted judiciary or a hounded media, must be quickly dismissed as mere adventurism. However, even political parties sitting on the fence waiting for their collaborative opportunity would have a problem in dismissing such principled political activism asnaïve, for perhaps the same political parties are the greatest beneficiaries of such principled activism.
Let us set aside this complicated problem of the relationship between individual morality and political praxis for a moment, and proceed with a discussion on the difference between the praxis of politics and the practice of democratic politics. This might sound like a trivial difference, but the arguments of morality and the real-life politics of much of the last twelve months allow us to make a marked distinction between the two. Importantly, one must emphasise the point that while political actors and democratic actors are two different entities, which often overlap, they are mutually dependent on each other, linked and influencing one another.
The military in Pakistan is the most important political actor in Pakistan, and is obviously an undemocratic one. No problem distinguishing between politics and democracy here. Because of the power of the barrel of many guns, it has been the most dominant institution in the country for some decades now, and since 1999 has been judge, jury, arbitrator and prosecutor in Pakistan's mainstream political process. Individuals from the military have determined and set the rules of all the games related to politics, and whatever politics thathas been played in Pakistan has taken place under those rules.
By accepting the political rules of the military, one can no longer call the process, nor those who collaborate with the military, democratic. Political, certainly, but not democratic.
Yet, importantly, one must also add that the circumstances, even of a praetorian system in which some representation and participation takes place, expand both political and democratic spaces.
Political parties and other actors who claim some democratic licence, lose that license and their credibility when they collaborate with a military regime, whatever justification they conjure up, even though their collaborationist action unintentionally creates democratic spaces. In fact, and ironically, while individual decisions(morality?) of collaboration lead to the compromise of their democratic principles, the unintended consequences do create democratic spaces.
The support for Chief Executive Musharraf in 1999 by civil society actors is one example when many champions of democracy, for personal and selfish reasons, gave up their democratic license to have perhaps their only opportunity to participate in a political process, although in this case their politics did not open the way for democracy.
On the other hand, political decisions, like the Nov 3 martial law and the earlier clampdown on the judiciary and continued pressure and arm-twisting of the media, have created far more space for democratic politics than could have been expected, despite the absence of political actors in this democratic space.
The main argument here is that political parties and actors are more concerned with access to, and preferably capturing, power than with the modalities of getting there. If deals can be struck and compromises made, one ought to be clear about the undemocratic nature of that politics.
One can certainly live with such collaboration, for this too pushes the political spaces forward and creates new spaces in which others, perhaps more inclined towards democratic ideals and hence not necessarily focused on acquiring power, can manoeuvre. Political spaces do expand democratic spaces and do feed off each other, but one needs to be able to distinguish between the two.
And it is the question of morality which perhaps helps in making that distinction possible. If individual morality, such as compromise with the military, leads to more democratic spaces for everyone, should one condemn the compromise? If, on the other hand, holding steadfast to principles causes a political party or other democratic forces to lose out on the political process, by boycotting an election for example, does one celebrate the morality and laugh at their 'political' naiveté? The answers are probably to be found in an understanding of recent political processes in the country.
In an unequal relationship, the former COASdetermined the rules of all the games played in the country, as well as who would be allowed to play by those rules. Those who were allowed to participate in those political games accepted his terms. Because the relationship between representatives of the military and of political parties was so one-sided, the democratic space increased only slowly on account of this liaison. Political representatives were always subservient to the rules of the game. And in fact democratic spaces were opened up despite the presence of political actors.
The vast democratic space that has been opening up - where on earth does a military general impose martial law for six weeks, and two weeks after imposing it inform his adversaries that hewill lift it on a specific date? - has been on account of those who have been taking individual and political moral stands, and who haven't been playing by the rules. While political action and processes do lead to democratic spaces, they do so largely inadvertently. Agency, in expanding the broader democratic process, on the other hand, comes from principled stands.
SAC signs MOU with CMKP
The Students Action Committee (Lahore) signed a memorandum of understanding, MOU,with the CMKP, Communist Mazdoor Kisaan Party, which says that the CMKP will work with SAC towards reinstating the judiciary as it was on the 2nd of Nov. 2007.
Another milestone for the Students Action Committee, that has been struggling for the country's basic rights; is the CMKP's promise to vote only for a political party that promises and ensures the pre 3rd Nov. 2007 martial law judiciary returned to its rightful status.
Yesterday representatives from Students Action Committee Lahore and Islamabad met with Mian Nawaz Sharif and presented a MOU which states that PML-N will work for the restoration of the judiciary.
The memorandum states that the SAC is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse any single political party in Pakistan. It seeks collaboration on points of mutual agreement with all individuals and organizations, including political parties, which work towards the revival of the constitution and restoration of the judiciary to their Nov 2 nd form and for student rights in Pakistan.
The SAC is working towads signing this MOU with all political parties, in a significant move to achieve one of its primary fundamental objectives: restoration of the judiciary.
SAC is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse any single political party in Pakistan. The Students Action Committee will work towards the revival of the constitution and restoration of the judiciary to their Nov 2 nd form and for student rights in Pakistan.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Mass arrests of PPP workers in Sindh
A few activists of the People’s Resistance are actively working in the interior sindh for standing up against this wave of arrests taking place.
Today’s update is as follows
- Dadu: 235 FIRs registered and 50,400 people booked.
400 PPP workers nominated including both candidates for National Assembly Rafiq Jamali & Dr Talat Mahesar
All candidates for PS Pir Mazhar, Murad Ali Shah, Ghulam Shah Jeelani, Imran Leghari, Fiaz Butt, President District Bar Dadu Shafi Muhammad Memon, Barrister Pir Mujeeb, Former Minister Zafar Leghari (35 to 40 police stations total in Distt) - Naushahro Feroze: 151 FIRs registered 51,323 people booked. 734 all PPP workers including candidate of Provincial Assembly seat 23 Haji Khan Bhutti nominated
These numbers are increasing day by day we’ve been trying to collect figures on a Police Station wise basis it would b difficult to collect all FIR but we are trying our best.
Lala Hassan,
Peoples Resistance
Post-assassination Pakistan
Opposition to Musharraf’s continued stay in office is increasing. In the event that the PPP and the PMLN take a significant portion of the vote in the election, an open confrontation between them and Musharraf cannot be ruled out
The postponement of general elections from January 8 to February 18 is no surprise. The Election Commission decided the issue with the consent of the presidency but it delayed the announcement to create the façade of consultations with the political parties. The Chief Election Commissioner did not name the parties approached for that purpose and refused to divulge their input.
The consultations, if any, with the political parties were irrelevant to the postponement decision that was taken partly on administrative considerations and partly to enable the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League (PMLQ) to revive its election machinery and campaign that faced the wrath of the Bhutto sympathisers. It is interesting to note that the destruction of Election Commission offices in 11 districts in Sindh was described as the main cause of postponement of the elections throughout the country. No Election Commission office was burnt down anywhere else. The NWFP government’s suggestion for postponement of elections in some constituencies in the tribal areas and Swat had nothing to do with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The Punjab government, fully conscious of the political predicament of the pro-Musharraf PMLQ, favoured the postponement, although no election office was attacked in the province. Similarly, the Balochistan government also favoured postponement to stay in line with the federal government.
The postponement decision is a typical example of bureaucratic and administrative approach to political problems. The long years of direct and indirect military rule and the expanded role of intelligence agencies have given salience to management and order in handling political affairs. The administration views political activities and elections as administrative burdens, if not nightmares. It tries to restrict political activities and avoid elections, if possible, or favour carefully regulated elections.
The administration was already perturbed by the positive popular response to the visits of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto to different parts of the country. This threatened the capacity of the administration to manage the elections to their satisfaction. The post-assassination violence added to their problems. From a purely administrative perspective, the situation was not conducive for the bureaucratic and security machinery to manage the electoral exercise.This decision was also shaped by another consideration. The assassination created a strong sympathy wave for Benazir Bhutto and the PPP. Most banners of PMLQ were removed and its candidates avoided public appearances. There were noticeable shifts of public support from the PMLQ to the PPP and Nawaz Sharif’s PMLN. Though it is difficult to suggest the extent to which this sympathy wave would translate into votes for the PPP and the PMLN, it is clear that the political situation has turned hostile towards the established political order in Islamabad. Official circles expect that emotions will settle down in a couple of weeks and it will be possible for the PMLQ to pursue its election campaign and retrieve support.
The most unfortunate aspect of the current situation is the growing gulf of distrust between the PPP and the PMLN on the one hand and the government and the PMLQ on other. This drift is expected to increase as the elections approach. The PMLQ will have to campaign aggressively to effectively mobilise support. The former chief minister of Punjab and senior leader of the PMLQ, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is now targeting Asif Ali Zardari for sharp criticism so that his party’s candidates can regain the confidence to challenge PPP candidates. The Chaudhrys have also started playing up ethnic sentiments in the Punjab to neutralise pro-PPP sentiments in the province. This is likely to reinforce polarisation between Punjab and Sindh and adversely affect inter-provincial harmony.
There are three significant developments that are expected to defuse such polarisation and mitigate efforts to play the regional-ethnic card during and after the elections. First, Nawaz Sharif visited the hospital soon after Benazir Bhutto’s death and withdrew from the election to express solidarity with the PPP and its slain leader. Second, Nawaz Sharif led his party delegation to Bhutto’s hometown for condolence and visited the graves of the elder Bhutto and Benazir. He also announced that his party would accept the PPP’s decision on participation in the elections. Subsequently, Nawaz Sharif decided to take part when the PPP decided to contest elections on the scheduled date.
Third, the new co-chairman of the PPP, Asif Ali Zardari, made an equally positive gesture by reiterating the PPP’s commitment to the federation and he condemned those who raised separatist slogans in Sindh. He also acknowledged the services of PPP diehards from Punjab who were killed along with Benazir Bhutto. These moves show a deep understanding of the gravity of the situation on the part of the PPP and PMLN leaders and their desire to contain the negative fallout from the assassination.
On the other hand, the government mishandled the situation by making an ill-advised effort to change the explanation of the assassination. It blamed Islamic militants for the incident and mentioned Benazir Bhutto’s disregard of security imperatives.President Pervez Musharraf talked of reconciliation in his address to the nation on January 2. He wants opposition political parties to cooperate with him in coping with the current internal problems. However, major opposition parties and active societal groups are not prepared to talk to Musharraf, let alone work with him. They view him as part of the problem and want him to quit.There are no chances of national reconciliation under Musharraf. As a matter of fact, opposition to his continued stay in office is increasing. In the event that the PPP and the PMLN take a significant portion of the vote in the election, an open confrontation with Musharraf cannot be ruled out.
The chances of national reconciliation can improve if Musharraf addresses some of the opposition’s concerns about elections. The opposition wants the reconstitution of the Election Commission on the basis of consultation between the government and the opposition. The opposition also wants to suspend district and tehsil nazims that are openly exploiting their official positions to help the PMLQ. Similarly, there have complaints about the partisan role of the caretaker government in Punjab in favour of the PMLQ.Musharraf refuses to accommodate the opposition on these issues. Therefore, Musharraf’s appeal implies the acceptance of his commanding role in the political system and playing politics on the terms set out unilaterally by him. The PPP and the PMLN are not expected to do this.
In case the opposition concludes after elections that the polling process was manipulated to give an advantage to the PMLQ, the political situation can deteriorate in the post-election period. Already a number of political parties, lawyers and societal groups have boycotted the election. If the polls are manipulated, contesting parties will join these forces to challenge Musharraf.
As Pakistan’s political parties and societal groups grapple with the issues of stability and internal harmony in the post-assassination period, they will either endeavour to clip the role and powers of Musharraf or remove him from office altogether. The opposition has already rejected Musharraf’s re-election secured through political manipulation, suspension of the constitution and reconstitution of the superior judiciary. Musharraf faces a difficult and uncertain political future, which could have serious ramifications for political stability in Pakistan.
Dr Hasan-Askari Rizvi is a political and defence analyst
Cyber Crime Ordinance promulgated by Musharraf
Some helpful reporters of Dawn News are on the prowl to get full confirmation from the government about this story, the only news report that has appeared is in the Express newspaper today.
In a shocking and sudden development yesterday and caught our attention today when it appeared in the newspaper today that the The President of Pakistan has just promulgated the Cyber Crime Bill. I dare to say but this is just a method to crack down on the voice of free expression on the internet akin to the PEMRA ordinance that strangulated the electronic media after Nov 3rd.
I don’t have the exact document but our last understanding of the issue - which was the ‘final draft’ this bill can be considered very dangerous for regular citizens. The bill forms a Tribunal which is in effect judge jury and executioner all encompassing, it allows the FIA full authority to confiscate and arrest anyone who is deemed by the government to be in violation of the ‘integrity of Pakistan’ labeled as a person having terroristic intent - this is a new word created by the Govt of Pakistan for the English Language ;). There maybe some good aspects to the law but when an agency or tribunal supersedes the Justice system one would tend to worry of its widespread potential to misuse.
As per the final draft - an officer can walk into my house confiscate my computer and arrest me, he/she does not have to explain why and neither give reason for the arrest. I shall remain in custody as long as it takes for the tribunal to take collect evidence. And if found guilty by the Tribunal I am punishable from 3-10 years &/or Rs. 5,00,000.
A rough idea about the bill, as the one that was on FINAL DRAFT before all the emergency in Pakistan was, the FIA under orders from a Cyber Crime Tribunal court could accuse anyone of engaging in Terroristic activities and confiscate their computer without reason or explanation, and condemn the person to 3-10 years in prison, and the bill allowed the tribunal to keep the person under question without charge until it prepared the evidence. The onus of proof does not necessary have to come before the arrest. To understand the cyber Crime Bill one could follow the presentation by Zahid Jamil which he made a few months back.
DISCLAIMER: This is my own understanding as per the FINAL DRAFT that was up for approval - though our team of lawyers met the Ministry of IT and voiced their opinions, I am told that they were only heard and we don’t know if it was accepted into the bill. we await a copy and if someone has it please forward along.
Student Action Committee - Minar-e-Pakistan protest and other updates
The Students Action Committee (Lahore) held a rally today at 2 pm at Minar e Pakistan alongside CDRLP and other civil society groups. Asma Jahangir was amongst the various civil society members.
Over a 100 people turned up at the venue, fighting against the highly unfavorable weather conditions and made themselves heard loud and clear for over an hour.
The underlying purpose of the rally held, despite the heavy downpour, was to condemn the tragic death of Benazir Bhutto and to raise a voice for the restoration of the pre Nov. 3rd judiciary.
SAC (lahore) demanded an independent investigation into the assassination that is not conducted by partisan foreign allies and would include questioning of the people the late PPP leader had named as potential threats to her life after October 2007.
The protestors also demanded the release of Chief Justice Iftikhar, Justice Ramday and Aitzaz Ahsen.
Slogans like the heartfelt and popular 'Go Musharraf Go' and 'Jiye Bhutto Jiye Benazir' were raised and onlookers at the historic venue joined in despite the cold and the rain.
Also today, representatives from Students Action Committee Lahore and Islamabad met with Mian Nawaz Sharif and presented a memorandum of understanding which states that PML-N will work for the restoration of the pre Nov 3rd judiciary.
SAC is a nonpartisan organization and does not endorse any single political party in Pakistan. It seeks collaboration on points of mutual agreement with all individuals and organizations, including political parties, which work towards the revival of the constitution and restoration of the judiciary to their Nov 2 nd form and for student rights in Pakistan.
SAC will present this memorandum to all political parties to obtain reassurances in writing of their commitment to the restoration of the judiciary. And will work side by side with all who strive for this aim.
With the aim of working across the country, the Students Action Committee (Lahore) will continue to stand for principles and will not get side tracked by transient or personal gains.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Student Action Committee USA launched
We have finally formally launched SAC-US chapter. There is a group of students from DC, Boston, Florida and New York, but hopefully we will get more support. Our blog is set up as follows: http://studentactioncommitteeusa.wordpress.com/
Our short term activities are as follows:
Members will organise awareness-raising events on campuses in her or his area. At least one event will be held by the second week of February.
Members will organise protests following the awareness-raising events. Protests in different areas will be staged simultaneously shortly before the elections in Pakistan.
SAC will collaborate with other organisations to promote advocacy on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. An event is being planned on the Hill, tentatively scheduled for 7 February.
SAC will begin cultivating a long-term relationship with the US media, starting by distributing a press release to media contacts in the second week of January.
SAC will communicate, and establish a working relationship, with SAC Lahore and SAC Islamabad.
The principles that SAC-US agreed on are as follows:
Establishment of an independent Election Commission and independent interim government before the upcoming Pakistani elections can take place.
Lifting of all restrictions (including restrictions on spot checks, random visits to the polling stations) on agencies that are monitoring elections in Pakistan before the elections. The government should also make sure that international monitors can reach Pakistan well in time before the elections to monitor the pre-poll process.
Restoration of the Pakistani judiciary to its status pre-November 3, 2007.
Release of all political prisoners in Pakistan, including lawyers, judges, students, civil rights activists, and political party workers.
Lifting of all restrictions on the media, including Code of Conduct for the Press and PEMRA ordinance, so that the media can broadcast live political events, rallies, and political debates.
Lifting of all restrictions on right to assembly, right to effectively campaign, and right to protest before the elections.
We will be issuing a press release in the second week of January InshAllah to the US media to whatever contacts we can gather till then. The press release will be aimed at introducing SAC and their stance/principles/demands to the US media.
Student Action Committee USA
So will our fist strike again!
So wrote Victor Jara in his immortal poem Estadio Chile, moments before his death by the hands of one of the most brutal dictatorship that the world has ever seen - the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile; a tyranny sponsored, as ever, by the U.S.A. While repeating Jara's words again, I remain convinced that the social-realist literature makes immensely more sense to people who have gone through the experience that the particular literary piece is talking about. I have read the quoted verses of the Jara's last song countless times, but never before it generated so much strength and meaning for me as it does when I read it today.
The unforeseen and sudden death of Benazir Bhutto led to some of the most agonizing moments of my life. My first reaction when I heard the news of Bhutto's death over the phone from a friend was utter disbelief - it has to be a rumor. But the news was soon confirmed as I switched on my TV set and messages started pouring in on my cell phone. What happened was horrific. For the first time in my life, I felt shocked to the extent that I was wordless.
To my young mind concerned with the good of my people, the assassination of Bhutto brought immense confusion and horror. As I stayed glued to the TV screen, there were a number of questions that cropped up, but I could not find an answer to any of them. It was like my thinking half died with Benazir. What will happen next? How will the powers that rule Pakistan use this event to their favor? What will happen to our struggle for democracy and social justice? How will people respond to the sense of insecurity that the assassination of Benazir has created? How will this event contribute towards the prevailing threat of religious extremism? Somewhere between all these questions was also a deep sense of sympathy for all those who once witnessed and mourned the death of great leaders like Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and President Salvador Allende. I was living through the ordeal that they once went through. I could comprehend what it is to deal with political uncertainty and insecurity and what it is to live under the shade of fascist terror.
Confusion, however, is temporary, particularly if your mind is equipped with the tools of Marxist theory and revolutionary practice defines the motto of your life. So, I started explaining to myself what might be there behind the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in order to reach a conclusion about what needs to be done.
In my view, as I have written elsewhere, the murder to Bhutto resulted in collusion between the Islamic Extremism and the pro-Taliban lobby in the ruling establishment of Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto was not as much a threat for the former for the lack of effective power as she was for the latter. The pro-Taliban lobby in the armed forces knew very well that their defacement would be construed as the disgrace of their institution internationally and, therefore, enjoyed a strong cover through this blackmail. They also knew well that Benazir Bhutto, with a history of opposing the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq that killed her father and with the patronage of Washington, will not miss a chance to publicize the activities of the remnants of Zia era in the international arena. Had that happened, the armed forces would have lost the much needed international image with which they justified its continuous rule over the people and resources of Pakistan. Benazir became, as Aitzaz Ahsan correctly pointed out, a threat for the establishment of Pakistan.
The retributive struggle against the death of Benazir, therefore, has two main forces to blame: Islamic Extremism and Armed forces. Without ending the power of Army, the pro-Taliban elements within the Army responsible for the assassination of Bhutto can not be brought to justice. The struggle for democracy is now not just a struggle against Pervez Musharraf, but a struggle to bring the clandestine activities of intelligence wings of armed forces under public scrutiny. Army must no longer benefit from the privilege that it has been enjoying since the colonial era. People should not merely throw the Army out of power, but must conduct its post-mortem to see where the problem lies. Our struggle is no more about the separation between Army and politics, but about the subjugation of the former to the latter.
At this point in the history of my country, I humbly will call upon all my people to heighten their effort for democracy and resistance against military dictatorship and religious extremism. It's time to refurnish long lost popular unity built on the foundations of democracy and social justice. It's time to refresh our resolve for a better world. It's time to renew our commitment for people's rule. It's time to live, for slavery is no better than death.
The task that the history sets out for us is difficult but it's crucial. Without struggle and unity, we will perish, and history will never forgive us. Hope, we can not loose. Struggle, we can not put down. And when we move forward, let the verses of Victor Jara, ready to embrace death for his cause, give us strength and courage:
Student Action Committee gathering in Islamabad
On january 5th 2008 SAC(Student Action Committee) members gathered at Aabpara(Islamabad) 3pm to discuss with the people of Pakistan, the current political, economical and social situation of Pakistan, to get to know how the common man, the general public of Pakistan think in real, instead of the false claims made by the government and its puppetry policy makers.
We, the people of Pakistan are told by this dictator Musharraf and his people that economy is prospering and so the Pakistan. We daily hear the word that people of Pakistan are in favour of Mr. Musharraf and all those generals in power by the mouth of the dictator and his group. They think we are ignorant enough to believe all those white lies.
So SAC was there at Aabpara as it is a centre of Islamabad, to unveil all those false claims made by them, to tell the dictator, the generals , their civilian puppets that the people of Pakistan are not decieved by you and your false claims anymore.They do not believe your stories. What they believe actually is the fact that you all are alike, murderers and liers. So you better stop fooling yourselves. Your fallacy can only satisfy your own group of people. You might ask the question why the people do not voice out against your tyranny and you well know yourself why because of the system which is production of your military rule that has occupied the people with their financial issues much and they are forced to live hand-to-mouth however.
SAC questioned people who do you think is responsible for your sufferings, for our sufferings? Generals? The answer was yes. All the people around just raised their hands and when asked if Musharraf is responsible for the cold-blooded murder of Ms.Bhutto? Everybody there raised the hands.
This is real public opinion and not that made by the tyrant.
Later the members of SAC alongwith the people moved to shops, took rounds of the market to show solidarity with the people and everyone there was voicing out against this tyrant and his tyranny because everyone is victimzed now. We are living in a country where some generals alongwith some beaurocrats are ruling and ruining the country and the people. SAC wanted to message them and to the world that the people of Pakistan do not accept your policies and we will keep on fighting till the sun of tyranny sets.
God helps those who help themselves.
Monday, January 7, 2008
PPP now wants judiciary restoration
The PPP will have no problem with the restoration of pre-November 3 judiciary which was sacked after the imposition of emergency by the then General Pervez Musharraf if it is done by the parliamentary committees comprising both government and opposition members in the new parliament.
A senior PPP leader when asked about the stance of her party said the party wants complete independence of the judiciary.This point has become the only issue on which the Charter of Demands between the PPP and the APDM was stuck and abandoned.
The text of the Charter, obtained by ‘The News’, shows the APDM wanted this language: “All Supreme Court and High Court judges who were removed on 3rd November 2007 should be restored.”
The ARD position was: “The courage and principled position taken by the judges of the superior judiciary who did not take oath under the PCO is recognised. The declaration of emergency dated 3rd November, 2007 issued by the chief of army staff be withdrawn. The Provisional Constitution Order be revoked and independence of the judiciary restored.”
When the PPP leader was asked about this and her party’s planning regarding this, she said that this issue might be discussed in today’s (Wednesday) Central Executive Committee meeting in Naudero. She, however, said that her party would need some time regarding this issue as still they are in mourning.
She disclosed that her party has decided in life time of Benazir Bhutto that even the new appointments in the superior judiciary would be made by the parliamentary committee comprising the parliamentarians from both the government and opposition and there should be no role of any dictator or any one man.
She said that her party wants that this parliamentary committee should even consider the restoration of judges sacked for not taking oath under the first PCO of the then General, Pervez Musharraf, in 2000.
On the other hand Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, vice-president of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) told The News Tuesday that restoration of deposed judges would be on top of his party’s campaign in the last six days of electioneering. He said that he hoped that once in the new parliament PPP would definitely support the restoration of sacked judges.
Manufacturing 'Truths'
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State." — Dr Paul Joseph Goebbels, Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Adolf Hitler's Nationalist Socialist regime.
The words hold relevance for Pakistan today. After a turbulent year that in itself augured ill for the country's future, came the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Just over a week later, the government is engaged in a bitter blame game in the attempt to deflect responsibility everywhere but upon its own minions and shadowy agencies. As the dust slowly settles, some civilian politicians have fallen towards the relative front and this has resulted in a citizenry divided: where some people are referring with disgust to the politicians' past reputations and practices, others are reacting sympathetically.
By way of background noise, references made by politicians both in the King's Party and out of it are gnawing away at the idea of the federation and are hardening provincial divides. At the same time, the citizenry is angrily debating whether democracy is at all relevant to Pakistan's needs since earlier democratic governments fell far short of standards.
In these bleak times, people are taking sides on the basis of what they know to be true. Depending on their sympathies, for example, some of us 'know' that X, Y or Z was corrupt or inefficient, while others 'know' that A, B and C acted out of the best intentions. We 'know' this because we read it in the newspapers, saw it on television, heard it from inside sources and wagged our heads in agreement during drawing room conversations.
Goebbels' words indicate that what we 'know' may not necessarily be the 'truth' — if, indeed, any such animal exists — and may in fact be the result of a vast flood of propaganda and lies that have been insisted upon for so long that they have become the truth.
As Herman and Chomsky pointed out in Manufacturing Consent, state authorities or governments employ indoctrination techniques and propaganda to bolster support for their policies. Significantly, the crux of the book is how the media, on purpose or unwittingly, become the tool through which the lies and half-truths are disseminated.
The military has been in power in Pakistan for most of the country's 60-year history and shows no indication of ever wanting to give it up. The assertions that certain extra-constitutional steps were "in the best interests of the country" must be viewed in this light. At the same time, the reputations of a number of politicians and parties must also be revisited with this knowledge.
Most of us 'know' that our democratic governments were tainted by institutionalised corruption on a massive scale, because this is what we have been repeatedly told for the past eight years in particular, and over decades in general. (By the same token, I wonder, do we 'know' that non-democratic governments were squeaky clean? Or is that just not talked about?)
It is worth examining who was doing the telling, and who was in power long enough to repeat the same shady 'truths' over and over again. Could this government be in the business of manufacturing such 'truths'? It is entirely possible that our 'knowledge' is the result of a massive propaganda machine that has consistently run defamation and character assassination campaigns against civilian political leaders. Over the years, little proof has been offered by way of explanation while damning such politicians.
True, ample evidence of maladministration and corruption has been presented by the press. Little of this evidence, however, has been the result of independent investigative journalism. Most of the news reports upon the actions or statements of others. For example, when the press reports the dismissal of a government under charges of corruption or maladministration, the allegation is being levelled by the individual or institution doing the dismissing, not the press itself. Furthermore, such allegations are never proved or disproved through a credible trial. And what's more, even if the press raised suspicions of misrule through solid investigative journalism, it would still be up to the courts to pronounce upon the veracity of the allegations.
Ironically, it was also Goebbels who wrote: "Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play."
The point is not whether our politicians are blameless, but whether we have been offered any credible proof that they are not. Sadly, the idea of being innocent until proved guilty is not in evidence in Pakistan and any hope for it was stamped out with the dismissal of independent-minded judges.
The Big Lie theory, as such methods of indoctrination have been referred to, is a propaganda technique first defined by Hitler in Mien Kampf as a lie so "colossal" that no one would be able to believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously." While Hitler used this theory with reference to his view of Judaism, it is amply in evidence in Pakistan today. We have, after all, a government audacious enough to first present a theory as ludicrous as a murderous sun-roof handle, and then admit that the statement was made without taking all evidence into account. Fortuitously, in this case there was hard evidence to disprove the government's claim otherwise it may easily have gone down in the annals of history.
Furthermore, it is worth pondering the etymology of the word 'media'. It is the plural for 'medium', which since the early 17th century has been used in the context of an 'intermediate agency' and carries the additional meaning of 'medium of communication.' In this broader sense, the media include not only the formal agencies that disseminate information and ideas — newspapers, television etc — but also the informal systems through which, generally speaking, each of us knows what he knows. These informal systems are the verbal avenues for the exchange of ideas, such as debate, discussion and even rumour or gossip, since these too are amongst the streams of information that together constitute the well of knowledge available to any individual.
Such informal streams of the media can be and are extensively used by Pakistan's well-connected, entrenched and institutionalised propaganda machine. The power of the media in terms of shaping the perspectives and perceptions of individuals is not only immense but in terms of the informal media, also truly frightening because of its nebulous nature.
The thinking person must ask himself, "How do I know what I know, and how do I know whether it is true?"
Post-script: "To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed . . ." — George Orwell, 1984.
A Shadowy Role
(Courtesy The News, Jan 5, 2008)
The role of Pakistan's extensive network of intelligence agencies has come under scrutiny once more in the aftermath of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Whereas President Pervez Musharraf has categorically denied any possibility of an agency hand in the killing, fingers continue to be pointed in their direction. One of the reasons for such suspicions, which have also been raised repeatedly in the past in relation to various events, is the fact that so little is known about these organizations and because they have often been used to manipulate election results and do successive governments' dirty work. Though they consume enormous budgets, paid for by taxpayers, the public knows next to nothing about how they operate or, indeed, what their assigned role is. This is all the more true since, over the decades since Pakistan was founded, the number of agencies operating in the country has grown. It is unclear who, if any authority, controls these organizations -- and in some cases they have been reported to be working at cross purposes, depending on the political interests with which they are affiliated. Reports of the existence of various factions within some of the larger agencies make the situation even murkier.
Events that have unfolded over the past few decades at various points in Pakistan's turbulent history indicate that in many cases the parliament or civilian government in place had little knowledge about the activities of agencies or even their broad ambit of responsibilities. While it is true that, particularly in a situation such as Pakistan's, where a network of terrorist outfits operates, an intelligence set-up is required, there can be no justification for the political role it is frequently alleged to be playing. The lack of information about this role adds to the apprehensions that intelligence agencies have come to comprise a kind of a state within a state, and operate as a power in themselves, with little control by government. That both the interior and defence ministries have in the past told courts that the intelligence agencies do not fall under them is a dangerous indication of the fact that these shadowy organizations function outside the organized structure of government.
This is an alarming situation. These organizations have been repeatedly accused of deliberately creating instability and disorder to meet set political purposes. This, it has been reported, has been achieved at times through the clever dissemination of the media, exploiting the fact that for reporters access to information remains limited, making them vulnerable to 'fed' items of news. Even today, there have been allegations that the agencies have been at work in creating confusion about the murder of Benazir Bhutto. Recently, it was in the case involving the 400 or so 'disappeared' people in the country that the intelligence agencies had gained most notoriety. The Supreme Court had in the recent past held the agencies responsible for whisking away hundreds of citizens and keeping them in secret jails. The controversy had continued through 2007, with the court threatening to order agency chiefs to appear before it. With the dissolution of the previous Supreme Court benches, the case today seems to have been shelved.
But given the controversy that exists over the country's secret agencies, there is a need to clarify their functions and explain who is accountable for their actions. The best and more transparent way would be to make them accountable and subservient to parliament, the norm in fully functional democracies the world over -- that is the only way to keep a proper check on them, just like in the case of any government department. Until this happens, these organizations will continue to generate controversy and fuel conspiracy theories, and this can in no way serve Pakistan's urgent need for greater accountability, greater transparency and greater credibility at all levels within the state.
Student Action Committee protest on Tuesday
The Student Action Committee (Lahore) has called for a protest on the 8th of January 2008 at 2 pm at Minar e Pakistan. In collaboration with civil society groups, lawyers and activists. This protest is to be registered against the removal of the pre Nov 3rd judiciary that stood for a just rule of law and against the inefficiency displayed by the establishment which has led to the assassination of thousands of citizens, including a powerful leader of opposition.
The students demand that the pre Nov 3rd judiciary be restored without which elections cannot be free and fair. However, we do acknowledge that there are compelling reasons for to participate in the upcoming elections for many, and do not hold it against them, so long as they are committed to the restoration of the only judiciary that has exercised independance to this degree.
Aitzaz Ahsen's baseless dentention keeps getting prolonged while the stringent treatment meted out to him suggests that our current regime shuns standing for principles and only favours partisan attitudes.
While Pakistan is on the brink of being considered a 'failed state', the SAC (lahore) urges the nation to join forces for the onlt path that can lead us out of this mess. So join us on the 8th and stand loud and strong at Minar e Pakistan at 2 pm.
While the country's being exploited by opportunistic leaders and political parties, the country has a chance to literally stand up and decide the future of Pakistan on the basis of right and wrong, on previous false promises, failed governments and demolished institutions. So please take time out for your country, stand united and show everyone that we care, that we will not rest until Pakistan steps on the only path that can ensure its survival.
In solidarity for principles,
Student Action Committee
CCP rally outside Aitzaz's house - eyewitness account
The Name and Shame campaign
In light of the upcoming elections, we are planning a Name and Shame campaign. As we are all aware, for any system to function, an efficient check and balance must be in place. In that light, for a governmental system to function, a similar check and balance must exist, which can only come from an Independant judiciary, a free media, and a watchdog civil society. We all are also aware that if this judiciary, which for the first time dared question the executive, is not restored, then no judge for the coming 60 yrs will dare do the same. Hence, our commitment is to the restoration of the judiciary as it was pre Nov 3rd.
For that end, and for becoming the effective watchdog that we aim to become, the first step begins with these elections. People must know who they are voting for, and what these people stand for. The government must know that we will not stand for any rigging in the elections and will do our utmost to prevent and expose any rigging. And most importantly, all the politicians must know that times have changed, and now they will be held accountable.
The Name and Shame Campaign
We research into the positives and negatives of major political figures in Pakistan's major political parties. This would include:
i. Their work in the halqa/constituency (goods and bads that happened during their last term in power)
ii. Their positions on various legislation in the National Assembly/Senate
iii. Allegations: Proven/Unproven against themAll of the above need to be referenced from credible sources.
Hence, the main players of all the political parties (PPP, PML-N, PML-Q, MQM, MMA) must be covered. So pick any of your choice and inform us on sac.lahore@gmail.com . The deadline for submission of the said information is Thursday Next week by midnight. The subsequent weekend will be employed to circulate the findings as widely as possible. Any suggestions for the furthering of our aims are welcome.
In solidarity,
Student Action Committee
Saturday, January 5, 2008
No Evidence of Pakistani or U.S. SIGINT Intercepts of "Al-Qaeda" in Pakistan Tribal Regions
By Wayne Madsen
(Rense.com) - Intelligence sources are scoffing at the Pakistani Interior Ministry contention that it could prove that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of [tribal] chief in South Waziristan, Baitullah Mehsud. The Interior Ministry[Spokesman, Army Brigadier (R) Javed Iqbal Cheema, claims that it recorded an "intercept" of Mehsud's [undated telephone] communication in which Mehsud allegedly congratulated his [unknown, unidentified] follower for the attack on Bhutto in the heavily-garrisoned city of.
Bhutto's political party [Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)] and Mehsud both rejected the claims about the communication intercept of Mehsud.
U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) sources have told WMR [WayneMadsen Report] that Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) intercepts of "Al-Qaeda" and "Taliban" leaders are rare in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and elsewhere.
Not only is cell phone coverage spotty to non-existent in remote areas like Waziristan, but ever since the 1996 [U.S.] NSA intercept of Chechen President Dzokhar Dudayev's satellite telephone call to Moscow, which was passed in to Russian security authorities who triangulated his position and killed him with an air-to-surface missile, "Al-Qaeda" and "Taliban" leaders, including Osama Bin Laden, have refrained from using electronic communications, mindful of U.S.intelligence's capability to lock in on the locations of cell phone and satellite phone signals.
Protest rally outside Aitzaz Ahsan's house on Sunday
Concerned Citizens of Pakistan (CCP) are holding a protest rally outside Aitzaz Ahsan's house on Sunday, January 6, 2008, from 3 pm to 4.30 pm. With the election drawing nearer and especially after the tragic assassination of Benazir, there is every chance the government will engineer further chaos in the country in an attempt to keep us all dazed and confused. It is therefore more important than ever to keep our focus and remain united.
Join members of Civil Society, lawyers, doctors, other professionals and students at 5 Canal Bank, Zaman Park at 3 pm in the strongest show of solidarity possible .
Come in large numbers, Bring your friends, Pass this on to everyone you know!
In Unity, there is Strength. In Strength, Victory.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Bhutto Email Named Killers Weeks Before Assassination
By SIMON WALTERS
(Daily Mail) - Benazir Bhutto claimed three senior allies ofPakistan's [Tyrant] General [Pervez] Musharraf were out to kill her ina secret email to [UK] Foreign Secretary David Miliband written weeksbefore her death.
Astonishingly, one of them is a leading intelligence officer[Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau (IB) Director-General, Army Brigadier(R) Ejaz Shah] who was officially responsible for protecting MissBhutto from an assassination.
The second is a prominent Pakistani figure [Pakistan Muslim League(PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain], one of whose family members was allegedly murdered by a group [allegedly] run by MissBhutto's brother. The third is a well-known [former Punjab] Chief Minister [Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi] in Pakistan who is a long-standing opponent of Miss Bhutto.
Miss Bhutto told Mr. Miliband she was convinced that the three were determined to assassinate her on her return to the country and pleaded with him to put pressure on the Pakistan government to stop them. The disclosure is bound to lead to questions as to whether the [UK]Foreign Office did enough to safeguard Miss Bhutto.
Her return was organised in close co-ordination with the UK and U.S. governments, which saw her as the best hope of restoring democracy in Pakistan while preventing it from falling into the hands of extremists.
The email concerning the three alleged would-be killers identified by Miss Bhutto emerged as rival political factions in Pakistan continued to dispute the details surrounding her assassination.
The Pakistan government said she was killed by "Al-Qaeda", but her[Pakistan] People's Party [PPP] dismissed that as "a pack of lies" andinsisted Musharraf's regime was implicated. Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's former High Commissioner to the UK and a British-based adviser to Miss Bhutto, said: "She sent an email to the [British] Foreign Office before she returned to Pakistan naming certain people."
In the email, she said: 'The following persons are planning to murder me and if any harm comes to me they should be held responsible'." Miss Bhutto wrote her prophetic email to Mr. Miliband in September[2007], shortly after she met him to discuss her return to Pakistan. She named the same three individuals in a letter to General Musharraf in October [16 October 2007].
The Mail on Sunday has been informed of the names. One is a senior intelligence officer and retired Army officer[Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief Ejaz Shah] who worked for Pakistan's sinister Inter Services Intelligence [ISI] spy agency, which has close links to the "Taliban" and has been involved in drug smuggling and political assassinations. He allegedly directed two terrorist groups and reportedly once boasted that he could pay money to hired killers to assassinate anyone who posed a threat toMusharraf's regime.
He was given another senior intelligence post by Musharraf after his bid to become a senior overseas diplomat for Pakistan failed when thehost country refused to let him in because of his past [illegal,criminal and terrorist] activities. He was also linked to [Ahmed] Omar [Saeed] Sheikh, the former Britishpublic schoolboy convicted of kidnapping U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl,who was murdered in 2002 by having his throat cut and being decapitated by terrorists.
The second individual [PML-Q Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain] named byMiss Bhutto is well known in Pakistani political circles and has been involved in a vicious family feud with her for decades. One of his relatives was said to have been [allegedly] murdered by the"Al-Zulfiqar" group [allegedly] run by Miss Bhutto's brother, Murtaza[Bhutto]. The organisation was [allegedly] set up to avenge the execution of Miss Bhutto's father [Pakistan's ex-President and former Prime Minister] Zulfiqar [Ali] Bhutto by ex-Pakistan [Army] dictator[General Muhammad] Zia ul Haq.
The third individual is a [former Punjab] Chief Minister [Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi] who has repeatedly denounced Miss Bhutto - and faced political annihilation if she won the elections scheduled for nextweek. He made an outspoken attack on her only hours before her death.
A senior source said: "She knew the risk she was taking when she decided to go back but also took the precaution of informing theBritish Government of the names of those she thought presented the biggest danger to her." She hoped Mr. Miliband would use his influence with General Musharraf to remove certain people from positions where they were able to plot against her. She gave the same names to General Musharraf but she knew there was only a limited possibility of any action being taken. "She had to rely on Mr. Musharraf and countries such as Britain and America, who supported her return and have close connections with Mr.Musharraf's government, to take her concerns seriously."
Events have shown she was right to be worried. If any of the three people she named turn out to have been involved in this assassination, there will be serious repercussions."The Mail on Sunday has also learned that after an earlier attempt to assassinate her in October [2007], the [UK] Foreign Office told Miss Bhutto to stop making wild allegations against Musharraf - or face greater danger.
A [British] Foreign Office spokesman said: "Miss Bhutto had a series of meetings with the [UK] Foreign Secretary [David Miliband] and other[UK] officials. She raised her concerns about particular people and we raised them in turn with the authorities in Pakistan and asked them to put in place more strict security measures to protect her."
Source: Daily Mail newspaper - 29 December 2007 - London, UK.
Pakistan: Restore Democracy
Islamabad/Brussels, 2 January 2008: If Pakistan is to be stable in the wake of Benazir Bhutto’s murder, President Pervez Musharraf must resign and a quick transition follow to a democratically elected civilian government.
After Bhutto’s Murder: A Way Forward for Pakistan*, the latest briefing from the International Crisis Group, concludes that Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, is no longer, if he ever was, a factor for stability. Particularly the U.S. must recognise he is a serious liability, seen as complicit in the death of the popular politician. Unless he steps down, tensions will worsen and the international community could face the nightmare of a nuclear-armed, Muslim country descending into civil war from which extremists would stand to gain.
“Bhutto’s death has drawn the battle lines even more clearly between Musharraf’s military-backed regime and Pakistan’s moderate majority, which will settle for nothing less than genuine parliamentary democracy”, saysMark Schneider, Crisis Group's Senior Vice-President.
Crisis Group agrees with the Election Commission decision to postpone the parliamentary election scheduled for 8 January to 18 February – but only if additional steps are taken so that the delay contributes to the creation of conditions for free and fair elections and the restoration of democracy.These include, in addition to Musharraf’s resignation: appointment, in consultation with the political parties, of caretaker governments at federal and provincial levels; full restoration of the constitution; and restoration of judicial independence, including reappointment of the judges Musharraf dismissed because they would not do his bidding in November when he declared martial law.
The international community should also support an independent, fixed-deadline investigation into Bhutto’s murder.“It is time to recognise that democracy, not an artificially propped-up, defrocked, widely despised general – has the best chance to provide stability and turn back extremists’ gains”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director.
Student Action Committee issues call for the 8th
The Student Action Committee (lahore) has called for a protest on the 8th of January 2008 at 2 pm at Minar e Pakistan. In collaboration with civil society groups, lawyers and activists; this protest is to be registered against the removal of the pre Nov 3rd judiciary that stood for a just rule of law and against the inefficiency displayed by the establishment which lead to the assassination of a pwerful leader of opposition and in the year 2007 thousands of others.
The students demand that the pre Nov 3rd judiciary be restored without which elections cannot be accepted.
Aitzaz Ahsen's baseless dentention keeps getting prolonged while the stringent treatment meted out to him suggests that our current regime shuns standing for principles and only favours partisan attitudes.
While Pakistan is on the bring of being considered a 'failed state', the SAC (lahore) urges the nation to join forces on the 8 th and stand loud and strong at Minar e Pakistan at 2 pm.
While the country's being exploited by opportunistic leaders and political parties, the country has a chance to literally stand up and on the basis of right and wrong, on previous false promises, failed governments decide the future.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Statement from Mrs Bushra Aitzaz Ahsan
At this moment there is a Quran Khawani for Mohtarma Benazir BhuttoShaheed outside our house in Zaman Park in Lahore. The Quran Khawani has been arranged by me but my husband, Aitzaz Ahsan, has not beenallowed even to step out of the house and participate in the QuranKhawani. He is detained in our house at No. 5, Zaman Park which hasbeen declared a sub-jail and as of today his detention has been further extended for a period of 30 days. In fact the security andpolice presence outside our house has been greatly increased and abattalion of policemen guard it now in fear that he may come out andjoin in the prayer meeting.
My husband was also disallowed from participating first in the funeraland then in the soyem at Naudero. He had formally applied to theFederal Government through the Punjab Government and the jailauthorities to go to Naudero but the application was denied.
Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan again applied on the 30th December for a reprieve fora mere two hours to join the Quran Khawani outside his house. Thisrequest has also been refused.
Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan was arrested on November 03, the day General Musharraf imposed the Emergency. He was initially detained in solitaryconfinement in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi and then to house arrest inLahore.
One day before Eid he was released for three days to enable him to celebrate Eid but was re-arrested on the same day at Chakriinterchange on the motorway and was manhandled by plainclothespolicemen. He was then driven around and about Chakri and Chakwal inthe middle of the night in an open police van and brought to Lahore in the morning. The reprieve granted to him was also cancelled.
Due to exposure to extreme cold and sub-zero wind-chill Mr. AitzazAhsan ran high fever with aches and pains for several days but has nowrecovered.
Ever since he applied to go to Naudero the security around his househas been beefed up. All phone lines were cut and the cell phones ofthose who reside therein have blocked and jammed after Mr. AitzazAhsan made a condolence call to Mr. Asif Ali Zardari on the day of the funeral.
Meantime, the Federal Government has further extended the detention ofMr. Aitzaz Ahsan for a period of 30 days with effect from 01.01.2008.
