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Posts tagged with: BB
Feb 29, 2008    |       3 comments

Aitzaz gives call for Lawyers Black Flag Week

In a statement issued here from his residence, where he is detained, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, President Supreme Court Bar Association, said that a Long March scheduled for March 09 has been postponed to give Parliament time to restore the deposed judges. It has not been cancelled. The lawyers, he said, appreciated the concern of the Parliamentarians and the leadership of the political parties to permit Parliament to meet and take steps for the restoration of the judges in the first instance.

Aitzaz, however, said that two of the most unfortunate days in our history fell in the year 2007. On March 9, none other than the Chief Justice of Pakistan was arrested. On December 27 a much greater and far more enormous tragedy struck. The most important leader of the country Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was martyred. The nation continues to mourn her. Lawyers have decided to commemorate both days with sorrow.

Aitzaz said that presently March 9th to 16th would be commemorated as the BLACK FLAG WEEK in and outside Pakistan. Those opposing Musharraf and seeking the restoration of the deposed judges will fly “Black Flags through out the week as per the following recommended programme:
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Feb 27, 2008    |       8 comments

The nation will not forgive…

Guest Post by Amer Nazir

And why should it…

The present change has not been brought about by the politicians alone too many unsung heroes have lost their lives… they did not have a distinguished name or title, they just died on the streets… only to figure in a grand total, to add on to figures that we read in the newspapers but which we now do not give a second thought about…

Zardari and Nawaz Sharif stand redeemed today, whether they deserved the earlier treatment or the present notwithstanding the fact is that they stand redeemed today, their troubles are over in a personal sense and then revenge is a dish better served cold… but what about the nation… when will it be redeemed… what about those common people who have suffered irreparable loss… and what about those who worked and voted for the redemption of a nation…

How can they say that they will not impeach Musharaff not take him and his cronies to trial… that it is not a priority…

This change has come about because of the efforts of those who lost their lives in the process whether it is Benazir Bhutto or the hundreds of nameless, it has been brought about by those ordinary people who have and still are languishing in jails and in exile… by the brave lawyers, the judiciary, the politicians who refused to contest elections, by the media, the common man on the street who came out for demonstrations in different cities of the world and this change is the result of each and every one of us who has written may it be even a single word to protest… to let the world know of our plight and which has finally changed global perception…
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Feb 19, 2008    |      1 comment

Pakistan Elections: Free, Fair and Transparent

Guest Blog by temporal who blogs at Baithak

The Pakistan elections are over and the people have spoken. But have they been heard?

It is after midnight Pakistan time and the results are trickling in. It appears from early results that PML (Q) the king’s party has received a massive defeat. And both opposition parties, the PML (N) and PPPP are surging ahead.

In the next day or two we will find out the total combined seats for PML (N) and PPPP. As of this moment they have 45 and 38 seats respectively for a total of 83.

Here is where the IF game comes into play.

Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari are unlikely allies. Both the parties have been vindictive against each other and had initiated cases of corruption and abuse of power against the other when in power that are still pending before the courts.
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Feb 19, 2008    |      1 comment

Update @ 0101: Very Low Turnout & Ikhtiar Baig

Posted by a voter from the NA-250 constituency on the People’s Resistance Network

I went to vote at NA 250 (DHA College, next to Defence Imambargh). My name and my parents’ names were not on the list. We ran into Mirza Ikhtiar Baig [PPP candidate of that area] (along with his 8 body guards who had huge, really intimidating machine guns) who said “Wait for ten minutes, we are setting up a computer with all the names, you can do at least that much for your sister Benazir.” We waited, the computer never came.

I went into the room where votes were being cast. The officer could not find our names As she was trying to find out names, I saw the list where she was cutting off names of those who had voted. By 4:30pm, literally 1 or maximum 2 names were cut on each page. The woman said barely 100 women voted since morning. She said that most of the people who came were like us, whose names were not on the list.

I did not see any blatant rigging, but definitely saw a miserably low voter turnout.

Feb 18, 2008    |      Comments Off on Street Theater by People’s Resistance

Street Theater by People’s Resistance

This Street Theater Play was enacted by the members of People’s Resistance back in late December, we were supposed to upload it soon after but the events of Dec 27th and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto put our plans in check. This was the first session of the play, since then the Street Theater team has had many showings on the streets of Karachi and we hope to bring online the much improved and revised version of the play. The pictures of the street theater can be seen here

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTPobOEBwM0[/youtube]

Feb 18, 2008    |      1 comment

Media Restrictions Undermine Election: Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch issues a statement on the restriction on the media, similarly Hamid Mir also shared his concerns just a day earlier in a letter to journalists of PFUJ.

Threats and censorship against the independent media, bias in state television, and a widespread ban on live broadcasting are limiting the public’s right to information as Pakistan goes to the polls, Human Rights Watch said today. Recent curbs on the media prohibit coverage of election rallies, live call-ins, live talk shows, live coverage of protests, or any live broadcasts that could show the government in a negative light, severely restricting the right to free expression ahead of Pakistan’s election on February 18, 2008.

On November 3, 2007, President Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan’s constitution and declared emergency rule, curbing the media through two decrees that bar the publishing or broadcasting of “anything which defames or brings into ridicule the head of state, or members of the armed forces, or executive, legislative or judicial organ of the state.” The print and electronic media were also restrained from publishing any material likely to “jeopardize or be prejudicial to the ideology of Pakistan or the sovereignty, integrity or security of Pakistan, or any material that is likely to incite violence or hatred or create inter-faith disorder or be prejudicial to maintenance of law and order.” Television discussions of anything deemed “false or baseless” by the regulatory authorities were also banned. All those provisions remain in force, even though the state of emergency was lifted on December 15.
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Feb 17, 2008    |       27 comments

Jemima Inteview President Musharraf

Jemima and MusharrafPublished in The Independent, it is definitely worth reading.

‘Since you were so kind as to greet us in London at Downing Street last month, the President would like to return the favour,” announces Major-General Rashid Qureshi, President Pervez Musharraf’s PR man over the phone. Only in Pakistan could the government’s head of spin be a retired major-general. He is referring to my last encounter with the President on 28 January when, along with a 2,000-strong, placard-waving, slogan-jeering mob, I protested on the main road outside 10 Downing Street while Musharraf discussed democracy with Gordon Brown over lunch inside. On the way in he waved at us. Clearly he’s a man who is not afraid of confrontation. Much to the justifiable fury of every journalist in Islamabad, he has now granted me an exclusive half-hour interview despite or perhaps because of the fact that I have recently described him as one of the most repressive dictators Pakistan has ever known.

On the way to the Camp Office in Rawalpindi, I cross the bridge and pass the petrol station, which mark the spots of two recent attempts on the life of the now deeply unpopular President. I have a horrible fear that, bamboozled under the spotlight of his renowned charm, I may start to simper. My ex-husband, one of the President’s most vocal critics, has already told me he thinks this is all a terrible idea. “It will be misinterpreted in Pakistan. Besides, you’ll be too soft on him,” he said.

The Camp Office turns out to be an old colonial building which used to be the HQ of the northern command under the British. With its delicately carved, wooden, double-height ceilings, sweeping central staircase, marble floors and ornate carpets, it’s not hard to see why the President chose this as his private office in Rawalpindi. His residence is just up the driveway.
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Feb 16, 2008    |       11 comments

Attorney General Qayyum Aware of Massive Election-Rigging Plans as early as Nov

In an audio recording obtained by Human Rights Watch, Pakistans Attorney General [Mr. upsnoot] Malik Qayyum stated that upcoming parliamentary elections will be “massively rigged,

Human Rights Watch said that the recording was made during a phone interview with a member of the media on November 21, 2007. Qayyum, while still on the phone interview, took a call on another telephone and his side of that conversation was recorded. The recording was made the day after Pakistans Election Commission announced the schedule for polls. The election was originally planned for January 8 but was postponed after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto

[audio:pakistan0208.mp3]

“Leave Nawaz Sharif (PAUSE)…. I think Nawaz Sharif will not take part in the election (PAUSE)…. If he does take part, he will be in trouble. If Benazir takes part she too will be in trouble (PAUSE)…. They will massively rig to get their own people to win. If you can get a ticket from these guys, take it (PAUSE)…. If Nawaz Sharif does not return himself, then Nawaz Sharif has some advantage. If he comes himself, even if after the elections rather than before (PAUSE). Yes.
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Feb 14, 2008    |       28 comments

A Response to Nighat Said Khan’s Open Letter to Fatima Bhutto

Guest Blog by temporal from Baithak

Reza Rumi in Pak Tea house has printed an Open letter to Fatima Bhutto by fellow writer Nighat Said Khan from the Friday Times. It is for Fatima Bhutto to decide how to respond to Ms. Nighat Khan.

I take exception to the following quote from the open letter:

In the 60 years of Pakistan a Bhutto has only been in power for about 10 and yet this name looms large both for supporters and detractors. Why does the focus always stay on the Bhuttos (as opposed to all other politicians and even military governments?) Why are Benazir’s all too brief terms in office still under the microscope; why are all her wrongs always in the public discourse (urban discourse in the main); why does she elicit such fury? Why does the murder of Murtaza figure more than the suspicion of murder of Shahnawaz? Why is there no “objective” thinking through of Benazir’s involvement (or lack thereof) in the murder of her brother Murtaza?

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Feb 14, 2008    |       7 comments

Talking in percentages, the latest IRI survey

Guest Blog by Zovc

Election Poll

The latest IRI survey released on 11th of February indicates once again that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will clean sweep the February 18th elections. These elections are thought to be one of the most critical in Pakistani history not just because they will decide the fate of Pakistan for the next five-years and its repercussions but also the fate of War on terror and neighboring Muslim nations.
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Feb 10, 2008    |       8 comments

Transcript of Dr. Kaiser Bengali’s Lecture – Making sense of Pakistan and its Economy

Attached is the entire transcript of the lecture given by Dr. Kasier Bengali in Dec at the invitation of People’s Resistance & The Green Economics & Globalisation Initiative where he talked on Making sense of Pakistan and its Economy at Shirkat Gah Office, Karachi

Alternatively Download the [download#2]

Let me begin by thanking Shirkat Gah for arranging this opportunity and you all for being here to exchange views. I am happy to see so many young faces here. This represents a change. I sensed the first indication of change in October 2005 when the earthquake hit. Young educated people, many of whom had never washed a spoon in their own houses, lived in tents and helped the victims. I think that something happened to bring a generation alive and we are seeing it again. In the current movement today, we may agree with a lot of things, not agree with a lot of things, but the point is that you are concerned, and that has been missing for 20 years, and 20 years is a long time. It’s a whole generation of people; people especially those in their 30s today, who in their own student days and youth were completely unassociated with any social issues. So I find this a very refreshing change and I consider myself fortunate that I am being able to interact with you today.

Now to the subject of economics. I know most of you do not have any economics background, but I will try to be simple. My ability to speak economics in rather simple language developed because when I started my career I started working with trade unions and I had to explain economics to people who were at best matriculates or even less, and that’s where I developed this ability to talk economics in the lay person’s language. I guess there was some kind of a social consciousness. I had no need to work with trade unions; I could have done consulting for the World Bank, or joined the World Bank. In fact I had an offer from an international bank. But like you, I thought I have to work with people and it is working with people that gave me the ability to speak the language of the people.
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Feb 8, 2008    |       11 comments

Scotland Yard – BB’s death from Shockwave NOT bullet

Well the news is making its rounds across the country that Scotland Yard has submitted a report that BB was killed by the shock wave from the bomb blast and not from a bullet [link]. It apparently seem to follow exactly in line with what the Government tried its best to pitch to the country back in December. I am, like many astonished to read these findings as the visual evidence does tell a different story altogether, but I am definitely not a crime scene investigator

Even with this report I remain critical of the Mush administration as to how they treated this tragic event, almost like a circus, but at the same time emotions within me feel its time to bring closure to the issue of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s death, she is sadly no more with us and what good will it do to continually rehash her cause of death, she is quite simply dead and no more amongst us.

The report is supposed to be submitted today in the afternoon, but Scotland Yard has made it clear that it will remain mum on the issue until the Government of Pakistan chooses to make this report public, else we have to rely on what the government chooses to tell us. Excerpts of an article published in NewYork Times

NewYork Times: Investigators from Scotland Yard have concluded that Benazir Bhutto, the Pakistani opposition leader, died after hitting her head as she was tossed by the force of a suicide blast, not from an assassin’s bullet, officials who have been briefed on the inquiry said Thursday. The findings support the Pakistani government’s explanation of Ms. Bhutto’s death in December, an account that had been greeted with disbelief by Ms. Bhutto’s supporters, other Pakistanis and medical experts.
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Feb 6, 2008    |       5 comments

Benazir Bhutto’s Will – I May Have Been Harsh

Guest blog by temporal from Baithak

I have been writing about Benazir Bhutto’s will. Finally they released it today.

The key sentence there is “I would like my husband Asif Ali Zardari to lead you in this interim until you and he decide what is best.” (emphasis mine)

[Pending certification of this will by handwriting experts and other issues circulating such as a hefty life insurance on her taken by Zardari I feel a tad of remorse at the harsh stand I took here. I had blamed her for treating the party as her jaagir – her personal fiefdom and acting all haughty and feudal.]

Her will is dated October 16, 2007 just two days prior to her departure for Karachi. From here we learn:
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Feb 6, 2008    |      1 comment

Zero Fervor for Elections

By Farooq Tariq spokesperson for the Labour Party Pakistan

Thirteen days to go and yet there is no election excitement. There are no street corner meetings or large-scale public rallies. The main leadership of those parties participating in the elections plan no national tours. It could be the most colorless election in the history of Pakistan.

The reasons are simple: General Musharraf wanted it that way. Before announcing the date for the general elections, he imposed martial law. He arrested over 10,000 political activists and lawyers, removed all the top judges, amended the constitution and got himself elected as “civilian president. He wanted five more years in power.

General Musharrafs allies made all the arrangement to “win the elections before announcing the date. They wanted a snap election where the opposition would have no time to mobilizing its base. It was to be a general election held without an independent judiciary, with a dependent Election Commission, and with repression still alive. This was the ideal circumstance for a “win.
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Jan 31, 2008    |       24 comments

Saint Benazir Bhutto…?

Guest Post by Salahuddin Farooq

Its not a taunt, its reality which Im observing in all type of media and as well in general conversation of people. This scenario reflects the mentality of our nation. Our nation has only two images in their minds relating to their leaders, either they praise someone by ignoring negative aspects or they criticize someone in each and every condition. They have not balanced illustration of any personality.

I dont wanna give old examples; I just want to discuss recent issue of Ms. Bhutto assassination. This accident is terrible for Pakistan and heartbreaking for most of the Pakistanis who believe in unity of Pakistan. But what is the behavior of media and mature people after this catastrophe? To express sorrow with the family and party workers of PPP is a very good thing. But please make these things with a balanced view.

A very famous quotation, “learn the lessons from mistakes is not applicable for Pakistan. OK I admit that 70% of our nation is illiterate, what about to remaining 30..? Every person is promoting PPP at his best without mentioning the major mistakes of Ms. Bhutto. This directly implies to give green signal to new leadership of PPP to follow the blunders made by their late leader.
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