Urgently Wanted: Federal Ministers

The Federal cabinet, currently operating with a small team of sixty one members, urgently requires experienced and dynamic new ministers to fill up a large number of challenging assignments lying vacant due to the non-availability of suitably qualified and experienced candidates.

The Ministers required are:

- Minister for promotion of vani, karokari and jirgas. The applicant must be able to show bonafide evidence of his participation in at least 10 jirgas. Knowledge and deep personal commitment to the traditions of Vani, Karo kari and other similar compensatory mechanisms is an essential pre-requisite.

- Minister for burials and graveyards: This is a sensitive assignment and would require improvement in burial procedures specially relating to those women who are pre-maturely killed for such heinous crimes as wanting to get married to persons of their own choice. Preference will be given to ex-senators and those already serving in provincial cabinets.

- Minister for pointing fingers: This highly complex assignment requires the minister to point fingers during press conferences, typically towards carefully selected journalists, to indicate who should speak next.

- Minister for elimination of wild boars, dogs and other such animals: This ministry is not as simple as it looks. The minister will be responsible to get the unwanted wild boars out of the President and the PM House. He/she shall also be responsible to create a strategy for elimination of dogs from Khairpur and other such districts, where they are currently being used to maul women whenever ordered by a local jirga. As either the Jirgas or the dogs must be eliminated to get rid of this menace , the government has decided to retain the Jirgas and get rid of the dogs.

- Minister for non-religious affairs: We already have six ministers, one each for Ushar, Zakat, Haj, Moon-sighting, Muharram and other Religious affairs. We now need a minister who could point out what is non-religious about all these religious ministries. Candidates who have been earlier allotted free agricultural lands or diesel licenses need not apply.

- Minister for unofficial foreign visits: This minister will be full time responsible to create reasons, make arrangements, issue statements and plan yet more official looking unofficial visits for the president and the prime Minister. His task is to keep these two gentlemen out of the country for at least 75% of the time.

Qualification and Experience:

Applicants must possess verifiable evidence of skill and excellence in their area of expertise. While a formal degree is not required, a non-recognisable vague qualification such as diploma in 'education' from any unknown institute would be desirable. Those with experience of driving around without number plates, participating or presiding in Jirgas, wanted by courts or having been in jail for corruption charges would be given preference.

Salary, allowances and privileges:

As you are primarily interested only in serving the poor people of Pakistan, your basic salary shall be Rs.80,000 per month only. Your hard work shall however be partly compensated by perks and perquisites, some of which are mentioned below:

a. One Prado/land Cruiser for self and three for staff and family.

b. A monthly foreign trip to observe elections being held in a country of your choice. Additional trips can be arranged depending upon your areas of expertise. These could be leading a Pakistani delegation to an interfaith conference, Kashmir conference , cultural conference, sports conference, or a conference on how to identify where such conferences are being held.

c. Two free 'Umras' per year, that include a 4 nights stay in Saudi Arabia in a 5 star hotel. All expenses paid.

d. One free bungalow in Islamabad in any sector of your choice

e. Unlimited free travel and stay throughout Pakistan.

f. You may recommend upto 8000 friends, relatives and well wishers to receive monthly grants from Mohtrama Shaheed Benazir Bhutto fund.

g. You may recommend upto three hundred friends, relatives and well wishers per month to get employment in government organisations.

h. Free use of President House for Mehndi, marriage, and Valima ceremony for self, family and friends. Advance booking is recommended to avoid disappointment.

i. Free medical treatment and medicines for self, friends and family. This facility however does not include free compensation for any violence that you and your family members may commit against the medical staff of the hospital.

Source: The Emergency Mailing List

Which is Best: A Kingdom or A Democracy ?

I read a book recently and a lot of what was written - even though fiction - seemed to be true for Pakistan. The book showed how people from a democratic country, who had gone through a major man-made calamity, grabbed onto the idea of a kingdom in hopes of finding a better leader.

In terms of Pakistan, Musharraf has constructed a sort of kingdom for himself and refuses to let go of power at any cost. Before he came into power when the two major political parties each had their stints in the government (if they could be called democracies), they too ruled and spent their time as if it was a kingdom. Below is a part out of a passage from that aforementioned book :

At their cores, like all governments, democracies and kingdoms are both corrupt. We form them as necessary evils to protect us against other corrupt governments, but governments are not the people and they never have the people's best interest at heart, they have the government's best interest at heart. Regardless of what protections we put in place, a Bill of Rights or Magna Carta, governments will oppress the people, censor the people, exploit the people. Governments do not trust the people, governments are contemptuous of the people. Governments build concentration camps and cathedrals, the people plant gardens. We feed and breed, we nurse and harvest;put your trust and love in the people, never a government. Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what you can do to save and promote and protect the people even if that requires treason of king or country, because the people, your family, friends,neighbours, we are the conspiracy that has survived a million years, and we are alive today not because of governments but in spite of governments. We endure. We are the people.

*Excerpt from Our American King by David Lozell Martin

Independent Judiciary FAQs

Iftikhar Chaudhry took oath on PCO in 2002 and now rejected the PCO in 2007?

The PCO which Musharraf presented in 2002 was not declared null and void by the Supreme Court of that time. The PCO of 2007 declared martial law in the country and abrogated the constitution. It was anti-constitutional, anti-state and clearly against the rights and wishes of the people of Pakistan. Furthermore, the PCO of 2002 and the oath of office order were given indemnity by a two-thirds majority in both houses – the 17th constitutional amendment. Therefore, from a purely legal point of view, taking oath under that PCO was not illegal. No doubt we have our reservations even about the first PCO and its legality, but the fact of the matter is that it was, in one way or the other, given some legal cover. On the other hand, the PCO of 2007 and the oath of office order haven't yet been given any constitutional cover by Parliament; therefore, it is not legal. Hence, taking oath under it is also extra-constitutional and illegal.

Beyond the legal argument, let us also keep in mind that the most popular democratically elected leader in our history, Z.A.Bhutto, was once in the cabinet of a dictator. So was Nawaz Sharif, another popular leader (during Zia's dictatorship). If we can forget this and support these leaders for the cause of democracy, why not the PCO of 2002 for the cause of an independent judiciary?

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry got his son appointed at a position which he did not deserve. A notice on this was sent to the President and thus he rightly removed him?

As per the Constitution of Pakistan, the President has no right to remove a judge of the SC. The only way through which a judge of the superior judiciary can be removed is through a mechanism provided in the Constitution - the Supreme Judicial Council, which consists of the three most senior judges of the Supreme Court, and the two most senior chief justices of the four high courts of Pakistan. The council, after due inquiry, is authorized to retain or remove the judge against whom a reference has been filed.

Let's assume the Chief Justice was guilty of the alleged act of nepotism, who gave the illegal, self-proclaimed President of the country the right to remove a serving Chief Justice (CJ) of the Supreme Court of Pakistan?

Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry rejected the bail plea of Zardari. Why?

This is not correct. He was not the CJ at the time when his bail plea was presented. And in case he was responsible for this, should we forget all his contributions for the nation and state from July 2005 to November 2007 and reject him for not supporting one single person – whose character is hardly considered blameless by the public at large!

The judiciary has been responsible for the murder of ZA Bhutto. Every dictator derailed the process of democratization in Pakistan by using the judiciary to validate his rule. Now why are you shouting for them?

This is very true and is the basic reason for the success and gusto of the lawyers’ movement. The judiciary has been the puppet of dictators in the past but this is the first time in our history that the judiciary has taken a principled and moral stand. By rejecting PCO and Emergency Rule, they have resisted a military dictator for the sake of the supremacy of the Constitution and the sovereignty of Pakistan. We have an opportunity to strengthen our institutions. Democracy won't prosper until we have an independent judiciary to shelter it.

Well, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was reinstated in July 2007 and remained the CJ till November 2007. What were his character and achievements in this period and throughout his tenure as the CJP ?

Following are a few of the major achievements of deposed judges and the CJP:

- 18,000 cases solved of a total of 26,000 filed cases.
- 7,000 suo moto notices on various issues providing free and quick justice for the people. It is to be noted that the total number of suo-moto notices was 21,000 where 7,000 were solved. Several suo moto notices on national issues despite Army rule is yet another first in the history of Pakistan.
- Notice of 3000+ missing persons in Pakistan kidnapped illegally by agencies, hundreds released
- Notice on price hike and food crisis
- Rejected the anti-constitutional, anti-state PCO and put the dictator to the courts. A clear rejection to the ‘doctrine of necessity’.
- Suo moto notice on steel mill privatization case which was being sold for less than 10% of its value. He blocked this corruption worth more than 100 billion PKR!
- Suo moto notice on the tragic May 12 massacre in Karachi where 48 were killed and Musharraf announced that there would be no inquiry, labeling it the force of the people.
- Suo moto notice on New Murree Project, dealer of which was the Punjab Government. This project was criticized by experts for causing immense damage to forests and water supplies which would have lead to undesirable ecological, social and economic consequences.
- Suo moto notice on Murree Golf Club projects where Army illegally occupied over 53 acres of forest land.
- Rejected the PCO which imposed martial law in country, abrogated the constitution and denied civil liberties

A friend of a friend of a friend of mine told me that XYZ judge took ABC million rupees for a case. Why are you shouting in favor of such corrupt judges? They are rightly deposed!

"Always decide on principles, moral values and law, no matter people call it wrong or whatever", says Hazrat Ali in one of his letters to the newly appointed governor of Egypt of his times.

As already discussed, the judges were deposed illegally and un-constitutionally. Musharraf himself admitted in his interview with BBC that this was un-constitutional. As per principles and moral values, even if they were corrupt, they could not and should not have been removed like this. Two wrongs don't make a right!

Secondly, none is perfect. They might have made mistakes in the past as they are humans. I marvel at how easily we forget the corruption of the politicians which we elect over and over again but are not willing to forget minor issues even when we often lack hard facts and have no more than hearsay to go by. The principled stand which these judges took on 3rd November 2007 is historic and enough for us to label them the real heroes of the nation. Their contributions are commendable and prove their abilities and dedication.

But why would Musharraf have to remove the judges when his public image was already getting weak. He was trying to improve his image and thus removing them must have been correct.

When Musharraf removed him and his colleagues, CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was hearing an important case related to the legality of Musharraf as the President of Pakistan. Musharraf was afraid of the upcoming decision as the judiciary had recently gained independence. Musharraf asked his allies, the King's party, for assistance and those incompetent supporters must have suggested that he remove the judges, telling him there was no other way left.

There are hundreds of issues in Pakistan like energy crisis, food crisis, price hike etc. Why are you over-politicizing the judicial crisis?

Because, 'kufr ka nizaam chal sakta hay par na-insaafi ka nahe. jahan adal na ho wo bastiyan ujaar jati hain' (Hazrat Ali).

Judiciary is indeed not the only problem facing Pakistan but it is the most important one. The judiciary is one of the pillars on which the state of Pakistan stands! We are facing many problems but the point is that once we have an independent and honest judiciary, the majority of these problems might be solved as everyone could then be held accountable. Everyone will be subject to the law irrespective of his position. Atleast, this would be the first step in the right direction.

Ever thought:

- why we can't stop smuggling ?
- why we can’t resolve the flour crisis ?
- who is responsible for the energy crisis ?

The answer lies in the fact that we lack an independent judicial system. People break the law because they know they can escape from the law-enforcement authorities. The solution lies in having an independent judiciary which judges on the basis of principles and the law. Once such a system is in place where everyone is equal before the law, a large proportion of such problems will be rapidly resolved.

It is to be noted that food, energy, residence etc are needs of the individual while independence of judiciary is the need of the society in general. Independence of judiciary, supremacy of law and democracy are those needs of the society which ensure the existence and well-being of the state.

Let's say these judges are restored, what's next? What's the guarantee that they won't ditch us, that they will remain independent and honest?

There is no such guarantee; neither can there ever be one. Some people say Parliament is supreme, others say the Constitution is supreme. I say the nation is supreme, the citizens themselves are supreme. Thus we, as a nation, should keep a check on everything and everyone, whether it is politicians, bureaucrats, military or judges. We must seize the power to be supreme and to hold everyone accountable to us. This is an opportunity for us to do so.

Pakistan is going through a transition and we must keep our eyes wide open and play our role. Further, I personally believe that the strength which the students and civil society have recently gained, courtesy Musharraf and the lawyers' movement, must remain intact. The citizens have been transformed into activists and we must be like this. Our active participation can guarantee strong institutions. If we have been on roads for more than a year for a principle and a moral cause, supporting the judges, we must come out to show our strength in case they ditch us.

Why is the lawyers’ movement focused on one person i.e. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry? Isn't it personality promotion?

Not at all. Lawyer's movement backed by civil society, students and media demands the restoration of all illegally deposed judges. It's not just about personalities, it’s about principles. Every judge who refused to take oath under the PCO commands our respect for taking a principled stand. It's not about Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, it’s about principles, moral values, supremacy of law and the Constitution. For his clear stand against Musharraf, he has become a symbol of resistance.

What is the problem with the suspected Constitutional package which increases the retirement age to 68 years and restricts Iftikhar Chaudhry’s tenure as the CJP to 2010?

Musharraf deposed around 60 judges of the superior courts including the CJP on the grounds that he was expecting a decision against him. He replaced them with the judges of his choice who took oath under the anti-state PCO validating martial law in the country.

Deposing the judges by Musharraf, an illegal president, is unconstitutional. Why do we need a constitutional package to rollback an unconstitutional action? A constitutional package to restore the judges would be accepting the illegal and unconstitutional actions of Musharraf of 3rd November 2007 as correct !

The constitutional package itself seems person-specific:

- Iftikhar Chaudry has to remain the CJP till 2013. Under what principles is his tenure being reduced to 2010 ?
- Dogar is to retire in March 2009 for he is approaching 65, the earlier age limit. Increasing the retirement age to 68 is to make sure that Dogar becomes the CJP after Iftikhar Chaudhry leaves in 2010.

The constitutional package, if necessary, should focus on strengthening the institutions rather than focusing on individuals.

Restoring these judges violates the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed by the PPP and PMLN which says PCO judges would not be accepted?

This is a myth. The Charter of Democracy signed on 14 May 2006 says:

"No judge shall take oath under any Provisional Constitutional Order or any other oath that is contradictory to the exact language of the original oath prescribed in the Constitution of 1973."

The deposed judges took oath on the PCO before the CoD was signed. They refused to take oath on the anti-state PCO of 2007 when CoD existed. Those judges who took oath on this PCO should not be accepted as this is a violation of the CoD.

Moreover, keeping the PCO judges and restoring the deposed judges of the SC will bring the total number of judges in the Supreme Court to 27. India with a population ten times more than us has 26 judges. Why do we, an under-developed country, need 27?

Source: ALE-Xpressed

Mexico's Glorious Disorder Puts Nanny State to Shame

Having just returned from a week in Mexico, and therefore being an expert, this is what I have to report: It is just like Canada – 30 years ago.

By Jack Knox

People smoke in restaurants. They ride in the back of pickup trucks. There do not appear to be seat belt laws (or, frequently, seat belts). Half the pasty-white population of Canada frolick in the water with nary a lifeguard in sight.

A vacationing builder from the United States stood poolside and gazed dumbfounded at the construction workers clambering, untethered, high atop the concrete skeleton of the condo complex being erected next door. “Seventy-two feet up and not one of them is wearing a safety lanyard” observed the American, his voice a mixture of admiration and horror.

It was, in short, gloriously unregulated – just like Canada used to be back when kids could take peanut butter sandwiches to school and skate without helmets.

In Mexico, smiling street vendors served up food that had basked in the sun longer than an Albertan after a six-margarita breakfast. The water front walkway had no railing, not even a yellow line painted along the edge to prevent inattentive strollers from tumbling, lemminglike, to the jagged rocks far below. Parasailing tourists soared high in the sky before plunging straight into beaches packed with first time jet skiers-and not one of them had to sign a liability waiver before doing so.

On New Year’s Eve, the fireworks burst directly overhead and fell at the feet of delighted celebrants. The floor of the bus that carried us downtown was fissured with thousands of cracks, just one pothole away from exploding into a cloud of rust-coloured dust.

The municipal planner appeared to have been drunk. All the properties in town had seemingly been tossed into a giant paper bag, given a good shake and dumped on the ground in a dizzyingly haphazard manner. A gated mansion sat by a Quonset hut crammed with truck tires, which was beside a franchised chicken joint, which was next to a cornfield, followed by a car lot, a hospital and a farmhouse.

To repeat: The disorder there was glorious.

In Canada, we have allowed ourselves to be regulated, sheltered and shepherded to the point that our national costume should be the fluorescent orange safety vest. We have banned lawn darts, mandated bicycle helmets and robbed our playgrounds of any apparatus that spins until you trap a limb/throw up/have fun.

Few of the rules in which we wrap ourselves are objectionable when viewed in isolation (smoking in restaurants? Yuck!) but the cumulative effect of all of these directives is a nanny state that smothers us until we are incapable of moving, of making our own decisions.

The result is society with a false sense of security. It absolves us of any personal responsibility. Coffee too hot? Sue McDonald’s. Slip on the sidewalk? The city should have cleared the ice. Fall off the cliff? There should have been a warning sign.

So viva Mexico! Down with over-regulation and those who would inflict it upon us.

Source: Times Colonist

An Account of a Meeting with the CJ

This is an account of my parents' meeting with CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry the day after he was freed from house arrest.

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The Day We Met the Chief Justice of Pakistan

Iftikhar Chaudhry Was Finally Free After Five Months of Confinement

All these years we, my wife and I, used to envy all those people who had met the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

On 25th March 2008, we went to meet the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. It is really very difficult to describe the feeling of how we felt in the company of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. His bright eyes full of confidence, determination and reassurance will see through you, measuring you, gauging you and judging you; to assure you that the Chief Qazi of the land will carry out his sacred duty of administering justice without ‘fear’ or ‘favour’, and this is one of the most liked qualities in a person by Allah. We were happy that we met a man, almost a mirror image of Quaid-e-Azam. We now know how it must have felt like in the company of the Quaid-e-Azam.

We felt safe and reassured that no one would harm us after all the lawless situation, as the rule of law will prevail in the country and not dictates and whims of a person. There was comfort and protection that one got in the figure of this man; so humble in his disposition and so great in his righteousness. The feelings were not to part with such a company and remain there for ever to listen and learn; to chart your life on the principles of self respect, grace and dignity with firmness. His voice, so soft, that it sounded like a rhythm of life. He felt very happy that we were with him and thanked us. He said that we should always pray for him that may Allah grant him strength to come out of this ordeal successfully. He said he feels strong and honoured when all of us, the people, are with him.

His company was studded with the ‘stars’ and ‘heroes’ of our time, who gave the hope for a new beginning to the people of Pakistan. For a Pakistan which our Quaid had promised but which was lost somewhere in the dust of time. We had a great opportunity to also meet the great leaders of the lawyers, Aitzaz Ahsan, Muneer A. Malik, Ahmed Ali Kurd, Justice (retd.) Tariq Mehmood, Hamid Ali Khan, Athar Minallah, Sardar Atta Ullah Khan, Zafarullah Khan, Gohar Ali Khan, Abid Hussain (President British Muslim Lawyers Association of UK) and others. We are very grateful to the companions of the Chief Justice of Pakistan who showed a way to the Nation that, “until you change your life yourself no one else will do it for you.” This was highly appreciated by Barrister Abid Hussain from UK who said, “sitting abroad we always wanted people of Pakistan to stand up for their rights, we are happy that the lawyers of Pakistan showed the way and the people of Pakistan followed.”

We were welcomed very warmly, we were embraced, hugged and made to feel comfortable. We discussed the events of these past five months. They said they got strength from our prayers and support at all times, and it kept them going to achieve what they all had decided their aim was. We assured them that it was our common aim and we will do what ever it takes to achieve it. All the lawyers’ leaders thanked us one by one for the solidarity which was shown to them all the time. We also met all the junior lawyers who were present there in hundreds and appreciated their courage and steadfastness in their movement for the establishment of law and constitution in the country.

We are sure that the future of Pakistan is secure and we will tread on the path of success. May Allah guide us and give us the courage to stand for righteousness.

The writer is a retired Air Commodore

Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's Islamabad to Quetta Trip

Pictures of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's departure from his residence in Islamabad, arrival at Quetta airport and welcome rally.
You can pause and manually view the pictures from the button at the bottom of the slideshow.


On Monday, supporters carried baskets of rose petals to shower Chaudhry at Quetta airport. Hundreds of flag-waving political activists and black-suited lawyers gathered at Quetta's airport to greet Chaudhry. In the baking sun outside, jubilant lawyers in stiff black suits chanted "Go, Musharraf, go!" and "Musharraf must go to jail!"

Pakistan's deposed chief justice arrived in his hometown to a hero's welcome. The ousted judge set out in a bulletproof sports utility vehicle on a seven-mile drive into Quetta, a southwestern city that is his hometown and the capital of Baluchistan province, an impoverished area.

The Mercedes SUV broke down, however, and had to be towed by another car. Underlining the country's extremist violence, lawyers formed a human shield around the vehicle as it inched forward while anti-terrorism police in pickup trucks with mounted machine guns traveled in front and back.

Hundreds of cars, rickshaws and trucks trailed Chaudhry amid a sea of political party flags representing ethnic Pashtuns, Baluch nationalists, Islamists and the party of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, an arch foe of Musharraf who is a key player in the new government. Crowds gathered along the roadside and on rooftops to watch.

It wasn't a mammoth turnout, but a spokesman for the lawyers movement that has led opposition to Musharraf for over a year said that the parade sent a powerful message.

"This is meant to be a reception by the lawyers but, as you can see, the people of Quetta and Baluchistan have come out," Aitzaz Ahsan, a senior lawyers leader, said from the driver's seat of the stricken SUV. "It's a signal and a message to all of Pakistan that this is how much people here love him and how much they want him back as chief justice."

Chaudhry, who planned to address the city's bar association later Monday, sat silently by Ahsan, fingering prayer beads and hiding his eyes behind sunglasses.

Sources: Associated Press & Reuters

Pakistan's Public Hero Number One

By Farhan Bokhari
March 30, 2008

In less than a week since Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, the deposed chief justice of the supreme court, was released from effective house arrest, Pakistan's political landscape has changed rapidly.

The bottom line is apparently that as long as Chaudhry's future remains uncertain, Pakistan's future, too, would remain uncertain.

There are many in Pakistan who go a step further, and argue convincingly that President Pervez Musharraf's decision to sack Chaudhry last year was ill-advised to the extent that Musharraf's own future is now in doubt - unless the Chaudhry issue is resolved amicably.

Public move

Against this background, Chaudhry will make his first significant public move since his release when he travels to Quetta - his hometown - tomorrow, to speak to a gathering of lawyers, who have specially invited him to a public forum. More than what he says in public, Chaudhry's mere appearance before a gathering of lawyers will give momentum to his cause. It will remind many of the way his travels from one bar association to another just last year emboldened the lawyers' protest movement, and made a large number of Pakistanis deeply sceptical of their president.

Just over a year ago, Chaudhry burst on to the national and global stage by refusing to go out quietly after the president moved to sack him. Chaudhry's decision to come back fighting and eventually be restored to his position as chief justice, in a landmark decision by his peers at the supreme court last July, made him public hero number one.

Left without any constitutional or legal ways of getting rid of the former chief justice, Musharraf moved to depose him through a controversial state of emergency in November. Chaudhry's recent release says much about Musharraf's failure to appreciate the controversy unleashed by his actions.

Going forward, Chaudhry is set to take Pakistan by storm. Irrespective of whether he makes a comeback as chief justice or not, the mere fact that he is out in public makes a huge difference to his cause.

On the day of his release following an order from the newly elected Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Chaudhry dominated the scene across Pakistan's TV channels and the next day's newspapers, in a powerful reminder of his centrality to the country's recent past and present- day trends.

Backed by a large community of defiant lawyers and a largely supportive public, Chaudhry's activism entails two equally important outcomes for the future of Pakistan.

Changed for the better

On the one hand, the nature of politics has clearly changed for the better. In today's Pakistan, it is virtually impossible for any political party to ignore the cause initiated by Chaudhry. A new beginning has indeed been made.

In brief, it is impossible for any of Pakistan's mainstream politicians today to ignore the significance of at least recognising, if not immediately restoring, the judges sacked along with Chaudhry. Given the way the issue of judicial independence continues today, it may be impossible to predict Chaudhry's future. But it is possible to argue very convincingly that he has indeed changed Pakistanis' perception about the way their country is being run.

On the other hand, Chaudhry's activism has dented the ability of rulers like Musharraf to remain the absolute arbiters of events and circumstances in Pakistan.

There is no way Pakistan as a country will ever see a ruler like Musharraf behave as irresponsibly as he did when he tried to sack Chaudhry for the first time in March last year.

Today, there are many Pakistanis - from the country's powerful families and the corridors of power to the humblest man on the street - who openly acknowledge their absolute amazement at the way Chaudhry has endured what must have been his most difficult moments. During his months in captivity, the deposed chief justice had to face numerous ordeals, ranging from denial of adequate medical treatment for ailing family members to his children being forced to stay away from school and college and even having to take their exams at home.

Given Chaudhry's sacrifice this past year, he deserves major acknowledgement from the global community. He is, after all, the man who played a key role in turning Pakistan's destiny.

*Farhan Bokhari is a Pakistan-based commentator who writes on political and economic matters.

Source: Gulf News

Justice Ramday being Forcefully Evicted

It is being reported by Aaj TV and Express News that Justice Ramday is being forcefully evicted from his official residence in Islamabad’s Judges Colony. The locks on the gates have been also broken. At the moment lawyers lead by Athar Minallah are talking with the police about this issue outside his house. Justice Ramday has himself been residing at his private Lahore residence since the Emergency was imposed and remained under house arrest there. Reportedly his belongings inside the house have been thrown out on the lawn. Interior Ministry Adviser Rehman Malik has said that a fact finding committee has been formed and will report on this issue within 24 hours. He has also called Athar Minallah and told him that Interior Ministry had no part in this issue.

A New Diplomatic Order in Pakistan

By JANE PERLEZ

If it was not yet clear to Washington that a new political order prevailed here, the three-day visit this week by America’s chief diplomat dealing with Pakistan should put any doubt to rest.

The visit by Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte turned out to be series of indignities and chilly, almost hostile, receptions as he bore the brunt of the full range of complaints that Pakistanis now feel freer to air with the end of military rule by Washington’s favored ally, President Pervez Musharraf.

Faced with a new democratic lineup that is demanding talks, not force, in the fight against terrorism, Mr. Negroponte publicly swallowed a bitter pill at his final news conference on Thursday, acknowledging that there would now be some real differences in strategy between the United States and Pakistan.

He was upbraided at an American Embassy residence during a reception in his honor by lawyers furious that the Bush administration had refused to support the restoration of the dismissed judiciary by Mr. Musharraf last year.

Mr. Negroponte once told Congress that Mr. Musharraf was an “indispensable” ally, but the diplomat was finally forced to set some distance after months of standing stolidly by his friend. Mr. Musharraf’s future, he said, would be settled by Pakistan’s new democratic government.

Perhaps the most startling encounter for the 68-year-old career diplomat was the deliberately pointed question by Farrukh Saleem, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, at the reception Wednesday evening.

“How is Pakistan different to Honduras?” Mr. Saleem asked, a query clearly intended to tweak Mr. Negroponte about his time as ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, when he was in charge of the American effort to train and arm a guerrilla force aimed at overthrowing the leftist government in Nicaragua. He was later criticized for meddling in the region and overlooking human rights abuses in pursuit of United States foreign policy goals.

The diplomat demurred, according to Mr. Saleem, saying, “You have put me on the spot.”

Mr. Negroponte had no reply to his next question, either, Mr. Saleem said. “I asked him, ‘What do you know about our chief justice that we don’t know?’ ”

That question was meant to reflect, Mr. Saleem recounted afterward, that the Bush administration had refused to recognize the illegality of the firing of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and that many Pakistanis were angered that the United States had signaled it did not favor the reinstatement of Mr. Chaudhry who, it appeared, was too opposed to Mr. Musharraf for Washington’s taste.

Mr. Negroponte and the Bush administration were tone deaf, Mr. Saleem and others said, to the changes in Pakistan, though the message of the tune seemed inescapable.

As they stood on the lawn of a diplomatic residence here in the spring evening, the chairman of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, who has led the campaign to restore Mr. Chaudhry, picked up the challenge to Mr. Negroponte.

First, Mr. Ahsan said he told the diplomat, the lawyers were miffed that Mr. Negroponte had not included them on his planned round of meetings. When the lawyers asked for an appointment on Tuesday, they were rebuffed by the American Embassy, Mr. Ahsan said.

Then, Mr. Ahsan, a graduate of Cambridge and one of Pakistan’s most talented orators, gave Mr. Negroponte a 10- to 15-minute discourse on why an independent judiciary was important to fight terrorism.

“I told him that the most effective weapon on the war against terror is a people who have enforceable rights — then they have a stake in the system,” Mr. Ahsan said of his conversation with Mr. Negroponte.

Mr. Ahsan said he argued that an independent judiciary was “a middle ground” between the military and religious fanatics.

When Mr. Negroponte countered that the new Parliament had pledged to deal with the question of the restoration of the judges within 30 days, Mr. Ahsan said he retorted: “I said you can’t build a Parliament on the debris of the judiciary.”

In contrast to Mr. Negroponte, a delegation of legislators, led by Rep. John F. Tierney, Democrat of Massachusetts, chairman of the National Security Subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, visited Mr. Chaudhry at his home on Thursday. They were the first foreigners to see the judge since police barricades were removed Tuesday after four months of house arrest.

“He believes the Parliament has a vote in the next 30 days and the judges will go back to work,” Mr. Tierney said after talking to Mr. Chaudhry. “That’s his position, and they’re sticking with it.”

Although he had little to do with the lawyers or the judiciary, Mr. Negroponte, accustomed to seeing a limited circuit of figures, starting with Mr. Musharraf, had to widen his contact list this time.

He met with the leaders of the two main parties in the new coalition government, Nawaz Sharif, and Asif Ali Zardari. They were both in exile for much of Mr. Musharraf’s rule. He also met with prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was an unknown politician until this week, and the speaker of the National Assembly, Dr. Fehmida Mirza.

Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif have said they want to change the military approach of Mr. Musharraf toward the extremists, and work toward talks.

At a news conference in Karachi before leaving, Mr. Negroponte said Washington could work with the new government, but drew the line at negotiations with extremists. “Security measures are obviously necessary when one is dealing with irreconcilable elements who want to destroy our very way of life,” he said. “I don’t see how you can talk with those kinds of people.”

There was some hope, however, he said, of working with “reconcilable elements” who “can be persuaded to participate in the democratic political process.”

In a marked change of tone from the Musharraf era, the new prime minister, Mr. Gilani, said after meeting Mr. Negroponte on Wednesday that Parliament was now the supreme decision-making body. Pakistan supported its long alliance with the United States, but the fight against terrorism would be discussed in the legislature, he said.

Mr. Negroponte’s visit was generally poorly received. Coming in the week that the government was still being formed — a cabinet has yet to be announced — it was widely interpreted as an act of interference, a last effort to prop up a vastly weakened Mr. Musharraf. One television commentator called the visit “crude diplomacy.”

Others said Mr. Negroponte did not understand that Mr. Musharraf was a disappearing figure, isolated and with little power. One of his last loyal aides, Attorney General Malik Mohammad Qayyum, resigned Thursday.

By the end of his trip, Mr. Negroponte indicated that perhaps Mr. Musharraf’s usefulness to Washington had diminished. The future of Mr. Musharraf was up to the Pakistanis. “Any debate or any disposition as regards his status will have to be addressed by the internal Pakistani political process,” he said.

Source: The New York Times

Nation's senior judge, family savor freedom

Smuggling of goods, homework comes to an end—as does boredom

By Kim Barker
March 26, 2008

For almost five months, friends smuggled what the family needed over the back wall: mobile phones and phone chips, two birthday cakes, a remote-controlled toy car, extra groceries and homework.

Inside, the two teenage girls and their younger brother rarely opened the curtains to view the hills behind their home. If they did, men from the intelligence agencies stared back through the chain-link fence. Telephones in the house were tapped or shut off. And police were everywhere, outside the front gate and blocking the two entrances to the neighborhood.

On Monday night, those blockades were finally lifted, and the agency men were sent away. Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the deposed chief justice of Pakistan, and his family, held under house arrest 142 days since President Pervez Musharraf declared an emergency Nov. 3, were told they were free.

"I didn't believe it yesterday when I heard it," said Ifrah Iftikhar, 19, Chaudhry's elder daughter, on Tuesday. "It's been five months."

For many, the decision to free Chaudhry suggests that parliament may soon reinstate the fired judges —a move that would set up a confrontation with Musharraf and could lead to his ouster. The new ruling coalition has pledged to restore the Supreme Court within a month, and this court could take up cases against the president.

Musharraf, a key U.S. ally in the war on terror who seized power in a bloodless 1999 military coup, is bitterly opposed to Chaudhry, whom he tried to fire in March 2007, a move that led to nationwide protests, a large drop in Musharraf's popularity and Chaudhry's reinstatement last July.

Musharraf alleged that Chaudhry was corrupt and guilty of misconduct. Analysts and lawyers said his independence threatened Musharraf's hopes to stay in power.

In November, as the Supreme Court was preparing to rule on the legitimacy of his election as president, Musharraf fired the senior judges and imposed emergency rule for six weeks.

U.S. officials have not called for reinstatement of the judiciary and have largely ducked questions about Chaudhry, who has been given several awards by American legal groups and law schools. Instead, U.S. officials have emphasized the need for an independent judiciary.

'A great day for Pakistan'
On Tuesday, hundreds of well-wishers visited Chaudhry, carrying flowers and walking past a framed photograph hanging inside the house—a picture of Musharraf swearing in Chaudhry as chief justice in 2005. Politicians, lawyers and even a museum curator came to visit, hugging Chaudhry.

"It's a great day for Pakistan," Syeda Abida Hussain, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., told the former chief justice.

Chaudhry, who celebrated his 59th birthday under house arrest with a smuggled cake, recently told lawyers he would go to the Supreme Court as soon as he was released, but on Tuesday he opted to stay home. Journalists waited in the street. If Chaudhry goes anywhere, he likely would be mobbed, as he is now one of the more recognizable figures in Pakistan.

A Chicago Tribune correspondent was the first Western reporter allowed into Chaudhry's home after the house arrest was lifted. The ousted chief justice does not give interviews to the news media, but he let the reporter meet his guests and talk to the three youngest of his four children.

For many Pakistanis, the decision to keep the entire family at home during Chaudhry's house arrest was particularly offensive. His younger son is disabled and was not allowed regular physical therapy; his elder daughter missed most of her first year of college.

Since November, the family remained inside the home as Pakistan changed outside. Musharraf stepped down as army chief. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Her party and other opposition parties won parliamentary elections Feb. 18, largely because of people who said they were tired of Musharraf and wanted an independent judiciary.

During those months, Chaudhry read newspapers and books, watched television and prayed, his children said. Their mother prayed for relief, they said. They played video games—Ifrah Iftikhar mastered Godfather — and they fought over petty things, such as the remote control and who was sitting where. Even though the house is large, with five bedrooms, they mostly stayed upstairs.

"What should we do downstairs?" asked Palwasha Iftikhar, 16. "So boring."

Palwasha, nicknamed "the commander" for her ability to coordinate smuggling and to speak out for her father, said she read the most recent Harry Potter book more than 50 times and spent almost eight hours a day playing video games, mostly Need for Speed.

Balaaj Iftikhar, whose muscle problems make it difficult for him to walk, celebrated his 8th birthday Dec. 25 with a smuggled cake and a single smuggled gift, the toy car. For almost a year, he had planned to celebrate this birthday with 25 friends and a costume party with a Barney-the-dinosaur theme.

While at home, Balaaj, described by human-rights groups as the world's youngest political prisoner, tried to keep up with his classes, doing smuggled homework and secretly sending out his answers.

Neither Palwasha nor Ifrah, who have both decided to become lawyers because of the experience of the past year, wanted to talk about Musharraf. When asked about the president, Balaaj wrinkled his nose and said simply, "Bad boy."

Source: Chicago Tribune

US Meddles Again - Challenge to Pakistan's Sovereignty

Image Source: Dawn

The Other Chaudhrys

Op-Ed by Wasim Arif

The word “Chaudhrys” remains synonymous in Pakistan today with the effervescent Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and his cousin Pervez Elahi. However, this article is not about either of them.

It centres on the “Other Chaudhrys,” Chief Justice Ifthikhar Muhammed Chaudhry, and his wife and their four children, Arsalan, Ifra, Palvasha and Balaj, who were released in accordance with the instructions of the new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani.

It was Euripides who said that “those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad,” a phrase that finds resonance with the actions of one General Musharraf on March 9, 2007. That was the fateful day when General Musharraf blundered with his “judicial Kargil,” committing the supreme folly of dismissing the holder of one of the highest offices in the land, the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Even as the nation celebrates now, it continues to mourn the fact that its chief justice and his family remained under illegal house arrest for nearly five months. Such circumstances never prevailed even in mediaeval times, as the chief justice himself remarked in one of his recent statements.

Palwasha Chaudhry is only 16 years old. She had the honour of undertaking a British A Level examination under house arrest, courtesy of our former colonial masters. She gave hope to a nation starved of hope, through her passionate letter to the nation.

The letter, titled “I am a proud child,” captured the imagination of the nation, because its author demonstrated in the letter a confidence and a sense of purpose beyond her years. “We should be proud that Allah chose us to sacrifice for this country. Yes, it is indeed a sacrifice which we have to bequeath, not for ourselves but for this country.”

Balaj, the youngest child of the chief justice, is only seven. His angelic features and smile represent the innocence of childhood and the eternal hope of a better tomorrow. Yet, Balaj too has been under house arrest even though he is ill and requires regular medical treatment. T whole family continued to suffer but remained steadfast by drawing inspiration from their patriarch and role model, Ifthikhar Muhammed Chaudhry

Friend or foe, no one can fail to admire the resolve of the chief justice, not least in that now infamous meeting with the khaki king General Musharraf and his sidekicks, lasting several hours held in Army House. His utterance of “No, I will not resign” must have rocked the sound foundations of the GHQ, resulting in an unexpected desi dose of shock and awe that surprised one and all.

Today these “Other Chaudhrys” are the heartbeat of an entire nation and the sons of the soil, all of whom remain steadfast and supremely confident of their victory and sure in their belief that the struggle of the lawyers will soon bear fruit.

It is true to say that the nation has suffered enough death and destruction and Pakistan has had its unfair share of Tommy-gun and trigger-happy dictatorships. From the Ayub era to Musharraf’s rule, Pakistan has remained imprisoned and at the whims of a coterie of khaki kings, who have raped the Constitution, put it in abeyance and run the country on the power of a fully loaded gun, rather than the will of the people.

The eminent commentator Ayaz Amir hits the nail on the head when he remarks that this is a struggle “about the nation’s future, what is our destiny, is it the worshipping of false gods or a republic based upon law as our founding fathers intended?”

A lawyer founded Pakistan in 1947. This lawyer worked over sixteen hours a day to create the country, hastening his own death as the final price, and thereafter breathed his last for a Muslim homeland fashioned on the glorious principles of Islam. Yet a Pakistan founded on truth and justice has so far eluded us, it remains a pipedream after sixty years, but hope has finally arisen, thanks to a new Pakistan Movement that begun just over a year ago, led by the legendary lawyers’ movement.

Consequently March 9 is now a date to remember, for it has proved to be a defining moment in Pakistan’s history and turned out to be the equivalent of a 9/11 for our khaki kings. Furthermore, the entire crisis has turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it has served as a wakeup call to a comatose nation sleepwalking itself from one disaster to the next.

A few weeks ago the media carried reports about 76-year-old Iqbal Bali and 65-year-old Jahangir Akhter and their six-day hunger strike to protest at the illegal arrest of the children of the chief justice. These are men older than Pakistan itself. However, such is the magic of the “Other Chaudhrys.” No doubt, their sacrifices will be written about in golden letters. The soil of Pakistan salutes the chief justice and his family, for they have made Pakistan the land of the pure once again.

The writer blogs at www.otherpakistan.org/

Source: The News

How the Deposed CJ was Portrayed Pro-Terrorist

The Bush administration and the world was deliberately and systematically presented a mutilated and distorted image of the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, according to well planned strategy of the Presidency so that Washington may not raise serious objections when the Nov 3 coup against the judges was carried out.

The main objective of this strategy was to convince the US that Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was soft on terrorists and could create serious problems by asking for the production and release of all missing persons, most of whom were handed over by Pakistan to US.

Top government officials holding key positions in the previous government have revealed in separate interviews that the Presidency had reached the conclusion that it had no option but to take extra constitutional steps to remove the apex court judges, which was impossible without taking the US into confidence.

According to the officials, the government had decided to take advantage of the missing persons’ case which was being heard by the apex court then.

A key plank of the strategy was to produce some of the missing persons but not provide any evidence to the court so that the judges had no legal ground to keep them under detention. “The court was being forced to release these missing persons which would then be presented as a proof of Justice Chaudhry’s sympathy for terrorists,” one official said.

The chief justice and some lawyers had smelled a rat. The chief justice thought it may be a good idea to accept a request for a meeting pending with him from the US Ambassador Anne Patterson and explain the situation. But he used the official procedure and asked the Pakistan Foreign Office to give clearance for the meeting as is required under the rules.

But according to the government strategy, this meeting could be damaging, so the Foreign Office did not give permission to the CJ to see the US ambassador. Accordingly, the CJ declined the meeting with Ambassador Patterson.

But the denial was presented by the Pakistani officials as part of Justice Chaudhry’s anti-American tilt, an official said. “Refusing a meeting with the US ambassador easily conveyed the wrong message to the US government that the sitting judiciary was adopting a hard line on the war on terror,” the official added.

The chief justice had received the Saudi Ambassador in Islamabad on December 8, 2007, but when a US diplomat was then asked whether Ambassador Patterson also wanted to see him, the diplomat was quoted as saying no.

Explaining his answer, the US diplomat had said that Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had turned down the request for a meeting with the US ambassador twice after his re-instatement on July 20 and before imposition of emergency on November 3. “Now, we don’t feel any need to request for an appointment with Justice Iftikhar as he may also refuse,” the senior US diplomat had told ‘The News’.

Deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on knowing the US embassy concerns had informed two lawyers in contact with him about the actual situation. Justice Iftikhar told them that it was not he, but the Foreign Office, which had instructed him not to meet the US ambassador.

“It is mandatory for any top official of the judiciary to inform the Foreign Office before meeting such a high profile diplomatic official, and especially in the situation the country was passing through. On our intimation to the Foreign Office, we immediately received a message that we could not meet with the US ambassador and subsequently there was no option other than regretting the US ambassador’s request,” Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said in his message. The same situation was also conveyed to the US ambassador, credible sources told ‘The News’.

A senior government official said that when the Supreme Court started hearing of missing persons case after restoration of the chief justice on July 20 last, the attorney general and other government officials repeatedly promised the court to provide credible evidence about the alleged involvement of these “traced” missing persons, but never did so.

According to reports, in the post July 20 scenario, cases of only three traced missing persons were decided and subsequently they were released, in the petitions filed by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and former senator and Pakistan People’s Party’s spokesman Farhatullah Babur. These were Naeem Noor Khan, Aleem Nasir and Hafiz Abdul Basit.

According to these reports, Naeem Noor Khan, a computer expert and resident of Karachi, was released by the agencies holding him on the grounds that he cooperated with them, and because of his help the agencies managed to arrest Musaad Aruchi, who was alleged to be a senior member of the al-Qaeda leadership.

With the information provided by Naeem and his help the UK police arrested a terror gang of 13 people. The Supreme Court was informed on August 20 last that Naeem Noor Khan was released and had reached his home. “The court was never provided with the details of the crimes in which Naeem was involved, otherwise no judge could order release of a person even allegedly involved in such heinous crimes,” a member of the bench hearing the case told a senior lawyer.

These facts are also evident from the Supreme Court record as well as from the media reports published in all leading national dailies in the month of August 2007.

Aleem Nasir, a German national, was arrested by the ISI from Lahore Airport on July 18, 2007, while on his way to Germany on charges of smuggling precious stones and was missing from the same day. He was never even charged by the government of being involved in some terrorist activity, according to a senior former official of the Supreme Court.

“The government did not come up with any proof against Aleem, and he had to be released by the apex court on August 21, 2007,” the official added.

The most important case was that of Hafiz Abdul Basit, who was allegedly involved in a terrorist attack on General Musharraf, according to the official.

“Basit was arrested from Faisalabad by police and was subsequently handed over to the Military Intelligence (MI) on Pindi Bhatian Interchange of Lahore-Islamabad Motorway on the instructions of the then Additional Inspector General of Police Tariq Pervez, who was DG-FIA at the time of hearing, as court was informed by the police officials themselves.

The attorney general was quoted by all the newspapers of Pakistan on August 21 and 22, telling the apex court that proof of his involvement in heinous crimes will be provided to the court. This was never done.

When Attorney General Malik Qayyum was approached by this scribe last week and asked why the Supreme Court was never provided with authentic proof of involvement of Basit, Aleem and others, his response was: “This is an old case, and I don’t remember anything about it.”

Another important case heard along with these three persons was that of Imran Munir, a Malaysian Pakistani. According to one official this case seriously damaged the credibility of the whole process of detaining civilians by secret agencies on terrorism charges.

“Imran was in love with the niece of Brigadier Mansoor of ISI. He was invited to dinner by Brigadier Mansoor and went missing from that day,” Imran Munir’s attorney, Mujeeb Pirzada, told the Supreme Court on Aug 20, 2007, after Imran was traced in Mangla Cantt.

Imran’s sister provided evidence that her brother loved the niece of Brigadier Mansoor of ISI. This, she did outside the Supreme Court building the same day.

“This was the first incident which told the world that some of the missing persons in the custody of intelligence agencies of Pakistan were not just terrorists but also lovers. It was the worst case which demolished the credibility of intelligence agencies,” the former Supreme Court official said.

He added: “The most interesting point was that government officials never came up with any allegation of involvement of Imran in any terrorist activity but shockingly, he was sentenced to eight years imprisonment by a military court, Field General Court Martial (FGCM), on spying charges. Loving a niece was equal to spying for a military court, it proved.

This conviction had been set aside, and his retrial was ordered by another military court, the SC official said. But this higher military court did not order Imran’s release because of the serious nature of allegations levelled against him.

According to the former senior official of the SC, the SC bench hearing these cases comprised deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, Justice M Javed Buttar, Justice Nasirul Mulk and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed.

“The bench was of the view that all the missing persons should be produced before the court and should be prosecuted and kept in jail in accordance with the Constitution,” the official said, adding: “The bench never made even any observation indicating that it wanted the release of those persons involved in terrorist activities.”

The official also repeated that the allegations regarding supporting terrorism levelled by the General Pervez Musharraf at the time of imposition of emergency on Nov 3 against the apex judiciary was about the Lal Masjid case.

The official said that it was worth mentioning that Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi, who first took suo moto action and then heard the case, were both invited for taking oath under PCO on Nov 03 last.

Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry himself had told The News on Nov 04 last that if any alleged terrorist was released by the Supreme Court, it was not the judges’ fault but the government never provided any evidence justifying the arrest.

He had then said: “I have never been lenient towards the terrorists, but it was not possible for the judges of the Supreme Court to start punishing people without any evidence against them.”

He had also revealed that out of his serious concern over terrorism, he set up a committee under him that included judges from each provincial high court to expedite terrorism cases. Every month, he had said, the said committee used to meet and review the cases of terrorism to ensure that there were no delays.”

The official said that all the drama of presenting some innocent people as alleged terrorists and criminals was the part of a conspiracy against the country’s judiciary just to deceive the outside world that our judges were supporting terrorism and were hard liners.

Source: The News

MQM Rigging Video - Pakistan Elections 2008 [updated link for google video]

This video is from NA-250 (Karachi), where Khushbakht Shujaat (the lady former vice president of the Karachi Arts Council often appears on the electronic media) was standing from MQM and Ikhtiar Baig from PPP. Khushbakht Shujaat (MQM) won from this constituency. This video is one part of a series of 4 videos that were intially on YouTube but the other videos have been deleted.

As YouTube is currently banned in Pakistan, this video along with the parts can also be viewed on Google [CLICK HERE]

GEO News Undercover Video Exposes Rigging

An alternate link for this video is available in case this does not work for Pakistan [CLICK HERE]

The News reports:For the first time in the history of the country, the Geo News on Friday aired a video unmasking rigging in the February 18 elections.

In the video, the scenes of polls rigging from two polling stations of Karachi and Lahore were aired. In one of the scenes, some armed persons were tearing ballot papers and were stuffing ballot boxes for their favourite candidate at a polling station. One of the women at the polling station was heard saying to one of the armed persons to take away his rifle.

An unidentified female polling officer was also heard saying that the armed persons harassed them at the gunpoint and bogus votes were polled after occupying the polling station. The video showed the armed persons tearing ballot papers from a book and besides putting their thumb impression, stamping on the symbol of their favourite candidate.

At one of the polling stations, the seal of the ballot box had been broken and an unidentified man was seeing in it after removing the cover. The video showed the armed persons entering the polling station and one of the officer was also questions as to how many armed persons entered the poling stations and how many bogus votes they cast.

The video showed that bogus votes were also being cast at one of the polling stations in PP-152 constituency of Lahore. When Geo News contacted, Election Commission Secretary Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad said he did not watch the video but asked for sending it to him so that he could take any decision in this regard.

Pakistan More Sinned Against Than Sinning

Haroon Siddiqui

Blaming Pakistan for the mess in Afghanistan is to get the equation backwards.

Pakistan has problems galore, and they are getting worse by the day. The jihadist insurgency there, with mounting attacks on the army and suicide bombings against civilians, is a spillover from Afghanistan, not the other way around.

The problems of Afghanistan thus have to be resolved mostly in Afghanistan – just as the problems of invaded Iraq have to be resolved mostly in Iraq, not in Iran or Syria.

John Manley's panel on our Afghan mission seems to understand, offering some nuanced observations.

"The crisis in Pakistan, which shares a lawless border with Afghanistan, adds new danger and confusion to Afghanistan's future."

It does. In fact, "Pakistan's own political disarray magnifies the destabilizing threat of the insurgency both to Pakistan and Afghanistan." (Emphasis mine).

"The conflict in Afghanistan is a continuation of almost three decades of war involving many of the same players, not all of which are Taliban." Correct.

During the 1980-88 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, Pakistan provided a haven to the mujahideen, who used the same porous border to drive out the Soviets. Al Qaeda, including its foreign recruits, and the Taliban are by-products of that enterprise, which was paid for by the U.S. and its allies.

Manley: "The (current Afghan) insurgency benefits from easy resort to safe havens in Pakistan, where it is refinanced, rearmed and replenished with new recruits, including those from other countries."

Equally, "the insurgency receives external support and financial assistance from a number of global actors, including private sources in the Gulf states, as well as support from alienated local tribes, opium producers and other criminal elements within Afghanistan."

Here, then, is the big picture:

The Taliban are Pushtuns who live on both sides of the border. Pakistan, therefore, is home to Taliban and Al Qaeda sympathizers.

Pakistan does not deny that the inaccessible border areas may have Taliban/Al Qaeda sanctuaries, and also be the hiding places of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.

That leaves two main arguments.

Is Inter-Services Intelligence, the Pakistan army's super-secret agency, aiding and abetting the Taliban and Al Qaeda officially or at the behest of rogue elements within?

There is no proof of either but there are accusations galore.

Another argument is over what, exactly, President Pervez Musharraf can do to control the border.

He committed 90,000 soldiers and lost 900. That's more than double the contributions and sacrifices of all NATO nations combined.

That death toll prompted him to strike peace deals with the tribal leaders. But the deals backfired. The jihadists used the lull to intensify the insurgency.

Their quarrel with him is not that he's a dictator but rather that he is doing America's bidding in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

At the other end of the Pakistani domestic political spectrum, Iftikhar Chaudhry, the fired chief justice, also excoriated him for, among other things, copying Bush's tactics: holding terrorism suspects outside the purview of the law.

As for the notion of covert American action or open military intervention in Pakistani tribal areas – as hinted at by Stéphane Dion and clearly enunciated by Barack Obama – it's a non-starter.

A poll by the U.S. Institute of Peace has found that 80 per cent of Pakistanis oppose the idea. And 84 per cent consider the U.S. military presence in the region a far greater threat to Pakistan than either Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

So Musharraf knows whereof he speaks when he says: "I challenge anybody coming into our mountains. They would regret that day."

None of this is to give him a pass for his increasingly autocratic ways, leading up to the Feb. 18 election. Rather it is to point to the futility of scapegoating Pakistan for the West's failures in Afghanistan.

Here's Manley's main point: "Canada, in concert with key allies, should adopt a coherent diplomatic strategy that addresses regional risks and engages all the region's actors, in particular Pakistan."

Haroon Siddiqui is the Star's editorial page editor emeritus.

Source: Toronto Star

Not My Problem

Op-Ed by Masood Hasan

In Pakistan the operating principle is it's everybody else's problem. This absolves all individuals of any responsibility and paves the way for all and sundry to behave irresponsibly at the best of times and break every existing law, intact or already broken. Thus all problems go on magnifying till they become so huge that any solution cannot even be conceived leave alone implemented.

So the mess just gets bigger. Since no one is ever responsible, no one can be challenged. When the proverbial S hits the proverbial C, the axe falls with monotonous regularity on the little guys who take the rap and melt away into the shadows. The big alligators, shed tears, make disapproving noises, mouth a few well-thumbed clichés and move on pretty much without sustaining any hit. This may be a bit simplistic but it's pretty close to what characterises our national behaviour. This can also explain why we are buffeted by one crisis after another.

One month we are gleefully exporting wheat, the next there is a huge shortfall in the country. Riots break out, people raid flour shops, police raid the people, fights erupt all across the land, much abuse on a national scale is witnessed and through it all, the government does its 'lever' bit -- contorting the truth, shifting the blame and accusing those who are not at fault. The great dream-wizard, the king of dubious numbers meantime is lolling about in Davos or his luxury home in London, but he is not to blame. In this century, Pakistanis are learning to live by candlelight whose prices have shot up four fold. Those with lanterns are worse off because there is no kerosene. As for power it is more off than one and generator prices, for those who can afford them, have shot through the ceiling.

There are no times for power cuts. They happen as and when. Gas shortages are rampant and a ludicrous campaign runs on and on, blithely informing suffering consumers that it is not at all load shedding, but load sharing!! Dear God, are our sins so serious? It was WAPDA which inflicted this rubbish on us years ago and now, like a bad ghost, the gas boys have taken it up. Consumers are further asked to move their thermostats from 'hot' to 'warm.' How many geysers has anyone seen with those red caps on and gauges that work? Most just run like gas fires. That's not enough. People are advised that gas heaters are dangerous and must not be used. It is far better to wear warm clothes. In summer I guess we'll be advised to wear no clothes. This in the year of our Lord 2008!

The government led by Mr Aziz (anyone remember him?) threw open the country to all kinds of imports. Shops were flooded with hundreds of economically priced air conditioners and as far as the additional power was required to run these, that was not Mr Aziz's problem. He created conditions for thousands of easy-pay cars to flood the market but didn't think twice what this would do to the country's oil imports, the dwindling financial condition of the people or the roads of this country. Banks had a ball but power simply got sucked out. Mobile phones were placed under 'industry' and their numbers used to claim progress, yet he has sailed away into the sunset and even has the gall to take his benefactor out to a Lebanese meal in London rather than treat him at his home.

In our culture, a guest who cannot be entertained at home is not an honoured guest but Mr Aziz gets away once again and in fact complains that his buddies of yesterday, the Chaudhrys of Gujrat Sharif are maligning him and his policies. The president even calls the Gujrat boys and tells them to chill it. So as the buck passes from hand to hand, things just get worse but since no one is bothered to address what really ails the country, nothing is going to change. High profile prisoners saunter away cool as cucumbers from hordes of policemen 'guarding' them, but other than a few lowlies no one is going to have to answer for it. When he is questioned in London, the president flies into a temper and suggests that whipping errant journalists may be quite the appropriate thing to do. And so it goes on.

They say that no one can really solve our problems -- they are just too gigantic in size and scale. There is nothing that can seemingly fix any of the critical issues that now hold us in a vice. Can anyone do anything about it? Ask any Pakistani and all you get is a firm shake of the head. The problems are just insurmountable and because they have been ignored so many years, now have assumed alarming proportions. Almost every Pakistani at an individual level believes that an individual action will make absolutely no difference to anything. This thinking -- or lack of it, makes serious issues even worse.

Consider this. For a country where 40 percent of the people have no access to drinking water, the way we all waste water washing our cars is a matter of great depression. House after house in any part of what passes for urban Pakistan witnesses thousands of gallons of water being poured on cars and drives. Perfectly good drinking water but we simply waste it without a second thought. None of us ever admonish our servants or drivers not to wash the cars daily. We all know perfectly well that an hour later the car will be dusty again and the sparkling shining black tyres will sooner than later fall into a gutter or a dirty puddle but the cars must be washed, summer or winter. I don't know any other country where washing cars is such a fetish.

And it's not cars alone. Rickshaws, motorcycles, vans, trucks, buses even bicycles are washed, washed and washed. Hundreds of service stations use high pressure hoses to clean the under carriage of vehicles as if one was going to eat off them. It is a criminal waste of a precious and dwindling resource and we are depleting our water reserves as if there is no tomorrow. Does anyone care? Has anyone even begun to think of this? Like power and now gas, soon it will be too late but neither is anyone answerable and nor is anyone going to make it his life mission to prevent this.

We are eating into what is God given but it will not last. The earth's resources are not infinite and people who are unaware of the damage they are doing to the environment are simply bringing doomsday closer. We may not be able to hold elections without rigging them, but is conservation of water, power and gas to name three, possible? We are not a people who believe in saving, which probably explains our lowest rate of savings in the world, but unless some extraordinary steps are taken, we'll be history before we know it. Some strong, no-nonsense measures need to be taken and defaulters punished but even while saying this, a niggling thought tells me that we will simply lurch on from crisis to crisis, never knowing our left foot from our right. Perhaps that is our final destiny.

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist.

Source: The News International

Travel photography: winning visions

The best travel photographs of 2007, as chosen jointly by ‘Wanderlust’ magazine and ‘The Independent’. Each category winner earns a photo assignment in South Australia.

People

The runner-up was the work of Jeff Wilson: three wise men scanning for snow leopards in the Hindu Kush of Pakistan. “Chitrali men employed as wildlife rangers can spend hours squatting like this, noticing the minutiae of their surroundings – crucial when looking for an animal as well camouflaged as a snow leopard. They can spot the creature more than a kilometre away.”

Source: The Independent

Peshawar Citizens Peace Walk - Jan. 30th 2008

A 'Peace Walk' organized by residents of Hayatabad in which families, civil society and political party members also participated.

PART I


Mr Zahid Hussain Mohmand, Secretary Information of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf NWFP, addressed a gathering at a 'Peace Walk' organized by residents of Hayatabad in which families, civil society groups and political party members also participated.

PART II


Courtesy: peshawargallery

Double Standards of Pakistan Government in Dealing with High Profile Deportations

E ILAHI

The brother of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Wajahat Hussain and his other family members were detained last Tuesday at Gatwick airport under the anti-terror law for serveral hours. They were on their way to UK from Spain. According to newsreports, 'Commander Wajahat' as he is referred to in Gujrat had left for Europe to organize pro-Mush rallies everywhere Mush was to visit. Afterwards, they were deported to Pakistan.

The Foreign Office was quick to summon Britain’s Acting High Commissioner on Friday to protest and tell them they deplored the treatment given to the Chaudhries. According to Dawn, Pakistan High Commission in London was pursuing the matter with the British authorities (as of last Friday). As if that was not enough, an envoy from the British High Commission in Islamabad went to the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat on Friday to personally apologize on behalf of the British government. As if that was 'yet' not enough, Chaudhry Shujaat flew out to London himself yesterday in order to take legal action against those who ordered the deportation. Apparently, he is not satisfied with the 'regrets' expressed by the British High Commission and feels his relatives were humiliated.

Now take the case of Abdul Sattar Edhi. On Jan. 8th he was stopped at London on his way to New York. After he arrived in New York on Jan. 9th he was detained for several hours and was questioned about his beard among other things! According to reports, his Pakistani passport and US green card have been seized and he is not allowed to return to Pakistan until the matter is solved; which might be Feb. 20th when the US Immigration authorities have decided to deal with the issue. He was also reportedly threatened intially with deportation from the US. Yesterday, the Foreign Office said it was trying to resolve the issue. As Dawn has reported, this was the third time that Edhi was detained at an airport abroad. In 2006, he was investigated by Canadian authorities at Toronto and in 2007 he was detained at the New York airport.

It would be a great shame if the Foreign Office and Government of Pakistan do not protest and make greater noise than they did when it came to the entourage of the Chaudhries!

After all, Abdul Sattar Edhi is our national hero who is even recognized internationally for his humanitarian and welfare work. A person who actually does do something for the benefit of the people of Pakistan, not for his own benefit unlike our run-of-the-mill politicians. Lets wait and watch how much time and 'power' it takes the Foreign Office this time to resolve the issue of Abdul Sattar Edhi, if at all.

Waltzing among wolves

Op-Ed by Anjum Niaz

Hair blow dried with a hint of a mid-parting and temples conveniently left white to create that academic look, the Pakistani president took his road show to Europe. He did a minuet with Condi Rice. The setting at Davos was sufficiently strategic with a mini Pakistani flag sitting between Musharraf and the American secretary of state. Yes, he looked debonair enough and marshalled notice; yes he stayed at the Dorchester (with taxpayers' money) in London and boasted he'd play bridge with buddy Brig Niaz at his expensive retreat when off, still the president earned criticism not laurels.

Did Pervez Musharraf really think he'll conquer European hearts and minds with his aggressive defence of the indefensible? Yet, at the same time he played the victim. He talked of his opponents whenever he got a chance, accusing evil doers like the sacked Supreme Court judges down to atta hoarders and smugglers eviscerating his writ. Presenting himself as a modern day messiah, Musharraf opened up the wounds of his crucifixion to earn sympathy. Sadly he did not earn much.

Is anyone keeping Musharraf updated with the scornful news stories, editorials, columns and blogs that keep pouring in daily? Not so long ago, the same man was aggressively pursued by every editorial board worth its name whenever he went west. He received kudos. Now he is met by the baying of the wolves.

Since he is a commando he will not throw in the towel and call it a day. Of late we have heard him say he will resign if he's unwanted. Obviously the mercury in the thermometer kept at the Presidency has not shot to danger levels necessitating his emergency exit while everywhere else the barometers are turning red. He still has his followers who go with him to chant slogans wherever they can. Musharraf's party would have been made more the merrier by the addition of another six lackeys flown to London to shout their throats out for him. Unlucky for them, they got nabbed by the airport police under anti-terrorist act and locked up for almost 24 hours and were finally packed off to Pakistan. Among the arrested was Chaudhry Shujaat's younger brother Wajahat, his three nephews and two hangers-on. These Gujrati supporters flew in from Barcelona but were trundled off on the next flight to Pakistan after Interpol grilled them of possible links with Pakistani terrorists recently arrested in Madrid.

The incident warranted an appropriate show of protest for face saving. Hence the British acting high commissioner in Islamabad was trotted out before our acting foreign secretary and made to say sorry. The Foreign Office muscle flexing hardly intimidated the Brits who mumbled tepid apologies and said the deported guys were welcome to return to London anytime. What a farce? We'll never know the truth -- either from Pakistani authorities or the Brits.

President Musharraf often uses our Foreign Office in such situations, ordering about the babus and getting them to do stuff (like intervening for the Chaudhry clan), but treats the Pakistani media with contempt. An amused Maulana Fazlur Rehman has just complained why the FO was not used when he was deported from Dubai. At London at a desi do, he singled out a senior Pakistani journalist who asked him about Rashid Rauf, the suspected terrorist who escaped from a Pakistani jail recently. Musharraf didn't like his question, accusing the journalist of "casting aspersions" and "undermining our forces and your own country". He questioned the journalist's patriotism and professionalism saying that no western media person had asked him this question throughout his tour. "What's bugging this guy (the Pakistani journalist) to ask such a question," Musharraf impugned, "what's his problem?"

His behaviour further fuelled media tut-tutting. He "treats his fellow Pakistanis with contempt while oozing charm for the benefit of foreigners" wrote David Blair, diplomatic editor of Daily Telegraph. But a possible embarrassment awaits Musharraf when he wakes up from his VVIP dream-bed at Dorchester this morning. At 11.30 am before 10 Downing Street will stand Asma Jehangir, Imran Khan, Jemima Khan, and activists of political parties. They will shout "Go Musharraf, go." It is not Islamabad where Musharraf would have had the three lathi-charged, manhandled and tear gassed. This is London. You cannot use the stick here.

Interestingly Musharraf has become controversial. While the governments of Britain, US and Saudi Arabia support him and encourage him to continue throttling people's freedoms as long as he promises to contain suicide bombers killing Pakistanis and not any foreigners, the western media is no longer in love with him. Musharraf in turn hates the Pakistani media because he thinks it is the source of his malignancy spreading cancer against him abroad. In this zero sum game, bigger issues often get blotted out.

What's this talk about Pakistan being the most dangerous country? The British Interior Minister Jacqui Smith according to an AFP report confessed that she is scared walking the streets of London at night. Even posh districts like Kensington and Chelsea are not safe at night, she conceded. Why did the world media not pick up this lead and flash it around the world saying that if the interior minister feels unsafe at night what does it signify? But no one paid much attention because the world media remains Pakistan-centric and loves to dig out all the dirt it can about it from whosoever is willing to snitch.

Recently two retired intelligence bigwigs told the New York Times the intelligence agency had "lost control" of some of the networks of Pakistani militants it has nurtured since the 1980s, and is now suffering the violent blowback of that policy. Who are these two men and why are we keeping quiet? Musharraf's criticism, I guess, is selective and he likes hitting out at those who cannot hit back, like the Pakistani journalist in London.

The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting.

Source: The News International

Edhi faces deportation

US authorities have threatened Pakistan’s most respected citizen Abdul Sattar Edhi with deportation, he said.

“I just received a telephone call from someone, telling me that I am being deported,” Mr Edhi, who is now in New York told Dawn.

He said he was stopped at the airport in London when he tried to board a plane for New York on Jan 8.

Mr Edhi then contacted the US Embassy in London who gave him a letter which allowed him to proceed to New York. The letter also advised him to see US authorities on Feb 18 to clear whatever misunderstandings they may have about him.

Mr Edhi arrived in New York on Jan 9 and was detained at the airport for eight hours.

“They were questioning me why I look the way I look,” said Mr Edhi who has a long beard and always wears traditional Pakistani dress along with a traditional cap.

“They also wanted to know why I visit the United States so regularly,” he said. “I told them I am a social worker. What else I do? I only do social work,” said Mr Edhi who has branches of his trust in several US cities.

“If they do not let me work here, I will work somewhere else.”

About Edhi:

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, as of 1997, Edhi Foundation’s ambulance service is the largest volunteer ambulance service in the world. He also personally holds the world record for having gone the longest time working without having taken a holiday. As of when the record was set, he has still not taken a single day off work.

Source: Dawn

Another Award for Lawyers & Judges of Pakistan

Annual Award for Distinction in International Law and Affairs presented to the Lawyers and Judges of Pakistan, as represented by Aitzaz Ahsan, in asbentia

Embattled judges and vulnerable children are among the issues to be taken up this week as more than 5,000 lawyers gather at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square for the annual meeting of the New York State Bar Association.

The International Law and Practice Section tomorrow (Wed. Jan. 29th 2008) gives its annual award for distinction in international law and affairs in absentia to Aitzaz Ahsan, on behalf of the lawyers and judges of Pakistan. Much of that country’s legal and judicial community has been in conflict with Pakistan’s leadership since President Perves Musharraf suspended the constitution and replaced seven of the 11 members of the Supreme Court.

Mr. Ahsan, president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, has been under frequent arrest for his efforts to restore Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as chief justice.

Earlier this month, the New York City Bar Association granted honorary membership to Justice Chaudhry. In November, the city and state bars, as well as the New York County Lawyers’ Association, organized a rally attended by about 700 people at Manhattan Supreme Court in support of Pakistan’s lawyers and judges.

Sources:
New York Law Journal
New York State Bar Association (NYSBA)

Police tear-gas anti-Musharraf protest [Watch Video & Pictures]

Click on the link below to view Video:
Pakistani lawyers protest against Musharraf regime

Click on the link below to view pictures (Courtesy Rise of Pakistan):
24 Jan 2008- Islamabad Protest of Lawyers and Police's baton charge

Pakistani riot police used tear gas and batons here on Thursday to disperse hundreds of protesters chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, Agence France-Presse reporters witnessed.

Around 400 people, including lawyers, hardline Islamists and supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan screamed ‘Death to Musharraf’ when police stopped them from visiting Pakistan’s former top judge.

Musharraf sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry under emergency rule in November last year. Chaudhry remains under house arrest in Islamabad.

The protesters tried to break through a police barricade outside the upmarket Marriott Hotel, which is near Chaudhry’s house, but were forced back by baton-wielding police who then fired tear gas.

Waving black flags, the protesters regrouped and chanted: ‘We will lay down our lives for the chief justice.’
Former premier Nawaz Sharif was prevented from meeting Chaudhry on Wednesday.

The independent-minded Chaudhry became a pro-democracy icon when he fought back against Musharraf’s initial attempt to oust him in March 2007 on charges of misconduct.

Musharraf declared an emergency and finally sacked the judge on November 3 amid fears that the Supreme Court was set to overturn his victory in a presidential election the previous month.

Source: TV3 (NZ) & Hemscott

What future for Pakistan's lawyers' movement?

By Faisal Naseem Chaudhry
[advocate, Lahore High Court, Lahore, Pakistan]
Monday, January 21, 2008

"All was not well on the morning of December 27, yet it was not so unwell either. Elections were to take place on 8th of January. Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and other politicians were on a move round-the-clock as part of their election campaign. The lawyers' boycott of judges who had taken oath's under General Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule was a working reality, especially in Lahore. The issue restoration the ousted superior court judges was sizzling and Bhutto was condemned for her fluctuating stance on the subject.

Everything changed at 6 PM that evening when one or more bullets killed her. Three of days official mourning witnessed excessive damage to public and private property resulting in huge losses to the national exchequer; just the other day Pakistan Railways demanded 6 billion rupees for a revamp. The Election Commission of Pakistan set February 18 as the new date for General Elections, and the deposed judges appeared to be part of history.

Only in the last couple of weeks has the lawyers' movement witnessed some progress. The Lahore District Bar Elections took place on 12 January. Hamid Khan's all-powerful "Professional Group" made a clean sweep. After a couple of days, the new Chief of Army Staff issued a strict official directive that he would not tolerate military's indulgence into politics and any officer inviting a politician to his office shall have to face serious consequences. News items also appeared that the Army Chief also decided to summon back officers working as deputies in in civilian organizations.

In the wake of all this, a strange decision of Pakistan Bar Council struck everyone. Through a resolution, it decided that the lawyers' fraternity would observe a complete strike of Superior and Subordinate Judiciary on every Thursday while on other working days only a token strike shall be observed from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. This is interesting because in the Superior Judiciary, the tea break for judges commences at 10:30 and ends at 11. The decision jolted not the community, but rather its discipline. In its wake, provincial and local lawyers bodies agitated and simply flouted the decision of the Pakistan Bar Council, asking it to go back to its former rule.

February 2008 is going to be a very important month. National Elections are to take place, but for me, the Lahore High Court Bar Association Elections (23 Feb) are of more importance. It was a shame when the Office Bearers of the Lahore District Bar Association came out against rallies amidst police baton charges and our leadership preferred to take shelter in the form of 'house arrest'. It was a shame when we were advised to 'protest' within the boundary of the High Court: "Do not go out; police will beat you. Let the thrashing of Civil Court Lawyers take place, you are superior. They appear before the subordinate judiciary, you appear before the Lordships." It was a shame in toto. If the District Bar Association was not there, the leadership of the Lahore High Court Bar Association in connivance and collaboration with the recently retired Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court would have almost destroyed the lawyers' movement in Lahore.

This is why I consider the forthcoming LHCBA elections of supreme importance. If the "Professional Group" does not succeed this time having Mr. Anwar Kamal as candidate for the position of President, we shall again be constrained to merely read in the newspapers as to what is going on at Peshawar High Court or Sindh High Court at Karachi. The office bearers of Lahore High Court Bar Association caused great damage to the lawyers' movement in fear of the former Chief Justice of Lahore High Court. Kudos go to the individual lawyers who were arrested, beaten, and later jailed under Anti-Terrorism charges. It was these individual members of the High Court Bar who said 'no' to the office bearers, refused to listen to their deodorized speeches, and decided to join their Civil Court colleagues in the streets. What a day it was when the former President of the Lahore District Bar (as the new President has been elected on Jan 12) virtually bullied the District Police Officer in the last week of December, "On November 5, we were not prepared. If you have guts, try to baton charge us today and then see how we are going to hammer you and your foot-constables". Police Officers did not baton charge afterwards since the then Chief Justice had not issued any clandestine orders in this regard. I am not aware of other provinces and Bar Associations other than the two based in Lahore, but so far as Lahore is concerned, the lawyers were beaten on March 13 and November 5 under the specific orders of the then Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court working through the President of the Lahore High Court Bar Association. I do not have a video to support my arguments but these arguments are the talk of the town. Take a poll; you will get the same opinion.

Since November 3, 2007, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the President of the Supreme Court Bar Association (Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan), Mr. Ali Ahmad Kurd, and many others have been detained in their houses. They have not been allowed to come out of their houses lest 'public order' deteriorate. Where is the democratic United States in all this? Its leaders would prefer to have debates over the fate of Guantanamo detainees while one of ours - imprisoned by a government they support - is the Chief Justice of this country. The EU meanwhile is sending a Mission to 'observe' the upcoming National Elections, yet the EU does not seem to care about the fate of those who sacrificed their high offices for the security of our constitutional rights.

On top of all this, we also do not allow them to start their Chambers either. The deposed judges have been asked by the lawyers not to commence legal practice, as it would be taken as consent to the unlawful removal from office. Almost three months have passed with no other source of income and they are sitting home while restrained by us not to work as legal counsels.

I am apprehensive of the days after the National Elections. The infamous 'horse-trading' will begin in the newly elected Constituent Assemblies; the newspapers will have other spicy stories to publish; the new Prime Minister of Pakistan will address his 'brethren' promising the alleviation of their sufferings; I shall have new clients and new litigation in my pocket, and amidst the mesmerizing lights of Lahore we shall forget how a deposed Judge will pay the electricity bills to have lights in his house."

Source: Jurist