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Posts tagged with: America

Update @ 0500: Hundreds Rally in Manhattan to Support Pakistani Attorneys

NY Pakistani ProtestHundreds Rally at Courthouse to Support Pakistani Attorneys,” New York Law Journal, “About 700 lawyers rallied yesterday afternoon in front of state Supreme Court in Manhattan to show support for lawyers and judges in Pakistan battling for the restoration of the rule of law. Addressing the throng that poured down the courthouse steps and spilled onto the sidewalk, Barry Kamins, president of the New York City Bar Association, said the rally was called ‘to embolden” the Pakistani lawyers and judges who have been “physically manning barricades and trying to face down an entire army.’

Kathryn Madigan, president of the New York State Bar Association, also called for lawyers to speak “with one voice in defense of the rule of law” in Pakistan. The American Bar Association has called for lawyers to march around the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., and attend a rally on the courthouse steps tomorrow.

Read more at The New York Law Journal


Its time for street protests : Imran Khan

Published in DAWN on November 13th
By Shehar Bano Khan

Looking defiant and all set to mobilise students on the streets on Wednesday (tomorrow) against Gen Musharrafs emergency rule, Pakistan Tereek-i-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan lashes out at the Washington plan of installing its dream team of moderates.

Dismissing the election formula for being devised and dictated by the US administration, Mr Khan proclaims the students march will be the most momentous since the independence movement.

“It is going to be the most important movement since the movement for the independence of this country. Our theme is the restoration of the pre-emergency judiciary. Our party has been carefully planning this movement and we feel now the time is right to come out on to the streets to protest against the Provisional Constitutional Order, and reject the holding of elections under emergency. How can elections be held when the country has been put under emergency, when theres suspension of fundamental rights, no recourse to justice and rampant rule of the jungle? blitzes Mr Khan.
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Update @0930: American Bar Association organizes national rally in DC – Nov 14

Received via e-mail from the president of the ABA (American Bar Association) — William Neukom, through one of the ABA’s lawyers, ABA is calling on all lawyers across the US to join the peace rally in DC on Wednesday this week where they will be marching to the US Supreme Court to show their support for lawyers and the judiciary who have been arrested, detained and charged in Pakistan:


Dear fellow lawyers,

The ABA is planning a national effort to show solidarity with lawyers in Pakistan and to support restoration of the rule of law there. We are organizing a march in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, November 14, 2007, where a critical mass of lawyers wearing black suits will gather and walk around the United States Supreme Court Building.

To make this event truly national, we need your help. I urge all state and local bar associations to hold similar events on the same day. Imagine the impact of lawyers from all regions and walks of life speaking with one voice on one day in support of justice. Together, we can mobilize American lawyers and show our united support for the rule of law and lawyers in Pakistan.

The Bar Association of San Francisco is gathering today with other Bay Area legal organizations in front of the federal building. The New York City Bar and the New York County Lawyers Association are planning a rally for next Tuesday. You can see the statements that other bar associations have issued here. It is essential that American lawyers work together to support the rule of law. Please join our effort to show the world that Pakistan’s lawyers are not fighting alone.
Please contact either Roseanne Lucianek at lucianer AT staff.abanet.org or Joanne O’Reilly at oreillyj AT staff.abanet.org in the Division for Bar Services with further questions.


Update @ 1745: Imran Khan sends message on the battle for Pakistan

We received the following e-mail from Imran Khan who highlights the massive crackdown on genuine opposition, police brutality being used as a tool to induce fear for those attending peace rallies, and the need to restore an independent judiciary among other valuable insights:

The imposition of martial law under the garb of emergency should make it abundantly clear to everyone that dictators cannot afford even a semblance of either an independent judicial system or a free media. And neither can the assortment of criminals camouflaged as politicians who collaborate with dictators.
No one is fooled by Gen. Musharafs latest deception to hang on to power. The war on terror has served him well so far and so why change a successful strategy; spread fear in the western capitals by invoking images of bearded men with guns and in the meanwhile brutally crush all dissent within the country, as was recently done by the Burmese Military. Having inducted pliant and amoral judges through the PCO, the next step would be to massively rig the elections while keeping the media muzzled. What he hopes is that he will again have a rubber stamp Assembly, a controlled majority and a friendly opposition, while real power will rest with him for another 5 years.

So, what we are witnessing is the first phase of the plan. Massive crackdown on the genuine opposition, lawyers, human right activists and the civil society. He is hoping that the police brutality will induce enough fear in the people for him to crush all dissent within a couple of weeks, before he takes the next step of getting himself endorsed by his pocket judges.

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Telling it as it is to America

An article appeared in The News on October 23 narrating the discussion that took place in the meeting with Senator Tom Daschle, I feel the participants were quite blunt and open in telling the former US Senator their true feelings, almost what I would have done given the opportunity, but the question is will it make a difference.

Anjum Niaz

The News: Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Tom Daschle was in Islamabad. He is the former US Senate majority leader. His mission was to take back to Washington snapshots of the coming elections in Pakistan. Hes a power engine in the National Democratic Institute (NDI) on Capitol Hill. His delegations arrival coincided with Benazir Bhuttos caravan of democracy getting botched up by suicide bombings.

More than the elections, Daschle appeared preoccupied with violence when he opened up a dialogue with members of PILDAT (Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency). Shahid Hamid, once a Farooq Leghari loyalist and former governor Punjab gave an opening statement on PILDATs behalf, saying the electoral process was at a “sensitive stage. Among his team were Lt-Gen. (retd) Asad Durrani, former director-general Inter-Services Intelligence and military intelligence; Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani, chairman Gallup, Pakistan; Tasneem Noorani, former interior secretary; Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, executive director PILDAT and Aasiya Riaz, joint director PILDAT.
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Pakistan is the World’s Most Dangerous Nation : Newsweek

Newsweek Pakistan Dangerous CountryNewsweek has dedicated this weeks cover page to Pakistan with a bold title “The Most Dangerous Nation in the World Isn’t Iraq – Its Pakistan” (read the entire 6 page cover story here). To be honest Pakistanis are not at all surprised, as it was on the cards all along and we have been watching this happen while our so called leaders deliberately played to the tune of Enlightened Moderation.

The problem started after 9/11 when America wanted to wage a war to seek revenge, they may have sugar coated the word revenge to neutralize it as a global issue by labeling it as a war on terror, but in true sense it was one nation fighting against its own enemies. This offensive in reality went far beyond simply being an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth concept to more like the phrase used by Mahatma Gandhi “An eye for an eye, and soon the whole world is blind” which he used in reference to his Satyagraha philosophy of nonviolent resistance.
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Assault on a Lawyer (Naeem Bukhari)

I share with you this letter written by Naeem Bukhari brought to my attention courtesy of an avid reader of this blog, Dr. Moeed Pirzada. I quote his message which I feel is self explanatory

I am posting here a recent article from Naeem Bokhari, after his thrashing by a group of lawyers inside the court room of Additional Sessions Judge. Since Mr. Bokhari’s action, of writing an open letter against the CJ was hotly debated, in your blog, it will be interesting to see what kind of reactions it ellicits now-given the fact that the events in Pakistan have moved full circle since then. If you will have any reservations in posting it, I will understand that, since most in media and legal community have conveniently ignored this development and I guess-sitting in London- that it is not kosher to discuss it. – Dr. Moeed Pirzada

I tend to agree with Dr. Pirzada it should be interesting to get the pulse of the nation in response to this letter written by Naeem Bukhari, since the dust has settled surrounding the CJP issues starting from his famous letter written in February 2007 and then as they say, the rest is history.
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…to Pakistan

Pakistan Flag…. the 60th Independence Day of Pakistan is about to end, and I, like a number of Pakistanis sadly are not exactly ‘hip’ with joy celebrating this all important event. In 60 years we were supposed to be progressing with leaps and bounds, we were supposed to be competing shoulder to shoulder in the world economic boom for our business, but instead we are struggling for our existence. What happened? Where did we go wrong?

In 2005 I seemed to be quite upbeat with the patriotic emotions but also expressed my concerns at the confusing political situation by writing A Tribute to Pakistan
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Deal Against the Nation

By Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto
Published in Dawn 11th August 2007

It is no surprise that in the current whirlwind of imminent political realignments the usual adventurers have started salivating at the prospect of yet another bite at the cherry, while those who have had an absolute ball at public expense for the last eight years, see an escape from accountability at the polls through an immoral and shady deal.

But it is really depressing that our society as a whole is caught up in the slipstream of the fraud that is being perpetrated against the nation. The Musharraf and Benazir linkup, must raise many serious questions, based on the record of their past practices, and it is up to the sane elements, particularly the media, to honestly analyse what all this means for Pakistan.
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Pakistan at the Mercy of ‘Greedy’ Musharraf

Musharraf CartoonIts not easy for a nation of 160 million people stand on the sidelines helplessly watching one person lead our beloved country down towards a path of destruction simply because of his greed and hunger for power of the kursi. There are strong rumors floating around Islamabad suggesting that Musharraf might enforce a State of Emergency in Pakistan as per the Article 232 of the Constitution of Pakistan, quite forcibly pushing this nation into even more chaos and confusion.

In an earlier post I had outlined that Musharraf was playing this game of poker with only two cards in hand and both served up to him courtesy of the White House. The Americans had clearly offered him two options, first was to attempt to negotiate a deal with Benazir Bhutto and the second was a back up scenario just in case if the Benazir talks fail, then he was permitted to enforce a State of Emergency. All these ramblings and dealings were simply because the United States of America needed a moderate leader running the country so that they can continue to wage the war on terror around Pakistan
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Obama: Pakistan Up Yours !!!

Barrack ObamaBarak Obama in a speech on Wednesday, announced to the American voters that once elected as the President of United States of America he will adopt a get-tough policy on terrorism and will be determined to invade Pakistan if required to stop terrorism.

“There are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans. They are plotting to strike again. If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won’t act, we will.” – US Presidential Candidate, Barack Obama

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Busharraf meets Bhutto

Benazir and Musharraf cartoonIts interesting to see how circumstances change one persons destiny, a few months back Musharraf could has easily sat on top of his throne snap his fingers and practically anyone in the country would rock to his attention, including the tranche of self exiled leaders Benazir and Nawaz. Its now a question of, who has a better set of cards to deal out, and at the present Benazir holds the trump card and has asked Musharraf too do a Bhangra dance at her door step in Abu Dhabi this weekend.

In the recent past Musharraf has taken numerous political setbacks, severely denting his public image and eroding his supreme reign of power. Despite the apparent downward trend in his public support he continues to feel indispensable to the nation and feels that he should be allowed to serve the country for another five years. His only salvation is to make a crooked deal with one of the tired and tested corrupt leaders of Pakistan.
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Plot to Bring Back Benazir

Benazir BhuttoAfter recovering from the celebrations across the country where majority of Pakistanis celebrated the reinstatement of Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. Its time to look towards the future of Pakistan, one thing we all hope should transpire from this landmark decision is the courage for other legal departments to stand up and lead the way forward towards serving justice to the people of Pakistan, which has eluded Pakistan for over 60 years. We pray and hope to see a change in the fundamental workings of our court system moving away from bribery and actually creating room for a fair and just society.

Political future at the moment presents a very bleak picture when we see a circus surrounding the romance between Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto which has now become an open secret that they have full intentions of becoming bed fellows for five years. The secret was revealed in an investigative report conducted by The Guardian showing that talks have been underway between both the leaders for over three years since 2004. There is an imminent power sharing deal between the two but whatever the deal, both are cunning individuals capable of lying through their teeth even stabbing each other in the back just to protect their precious seat.
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White Phosphorus used in Operation Silence

White Phosphorus used at Lal MasjidOn 12th July, AAJ Tv boradcasted a program of Live with Talat in which Talat Hussain visited Jamia Hafsa. While touring the bullet ridden compound a number of military personal hovered around, at a certain point Talat Hussain asked an accompanying Army personal about all the evidence of smoke around the area asking, “Why is there so much smoke?”, the solider replied “WP”, Talat put another question “Please explain WP?”, the solider answered “White Phosphorus.”

White Phosphorus is a flare / smoke producing incendiary weapon which is also used as an offensive Anti-Personnel flame compound capable of causing serious burns or death. White phosphorus weapons are controversial today because of its potential use against humans, for whom one-tenth of a gram is a deadly dose and according to the Geneva Convention which was later amended by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons signed into effect in 1997, expressively prohibits the use against civilians. White Phosphorus weapons have been used in the recent past by Israel in Lebanon and US and UK in Iraq, but probably the first time ever by a an army against its own people
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Pakistan, Northwoods & American Oil Empire

General Mahmoud AhmadSince 2001, we have all been exposed to the ever growing mass of evidence indicating a major conspiracy theory surrounding the events of 9/11. I have heard far too many, read many and even ended up believing a few, but the fact remains that whosoever orchestrated that event simply served us right into the hands of the United States and left the entire world at the behest of an American hegemony.

I share with you an online video which caught my eye today, it sheds light on a few important issues. The discussion starts off with talks about a suspected link between Mohd Atta and General Mahmoud Ahmad which has been reported that Gen Ahmed made a wire transfer to the tune of $100,000 to Atta just before 9/11 and the other surprising coincidence was the fact the General Mahmoud Ahmad was wining and dining with the American Leadership on an official visit to Washington from 4th – 13th Sept 2001.
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