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Posts tagged with: Benazir

Update @ 0942: National Party’s General Secretary is targeted by Pakistani Government

Via e-mail from Umar Farooq with the People’s Resistance which is a coalition of various organizations, left-wing political parties, NGOs and human rights organizations, labor and trade-union federations, academics, students, and citizens:

Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, General Secretary National Party, was sent on judicial remand to Landhi District Jail on November 8, 2007. Since hen no one has been allowed to meet with him. On November 10, 2007. Mr. Bizenjo’s Lawyer Arif Khan, Central Information Secretary National Party, Mr. Jan Mohammad Buledi, and Umar Farooq of People’s Resistance tried to visit him in the jail. They were informed that there are strict orders from authorities to not let anybody visit Mr. Bizenjo. They were also told that the visitation ban seems to be indefinite.


Its feared that Mr. Biznjo is being held in Solitary Confinment in the jail. Mr. Bizenjo is the first politician who is being charged with sedition that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. It seems that the government is targeting Mr. Bizenjo because he enjoys very good relationship with both Ms. Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Nawaz Sharif. In fact last week Ms. Benazir Bhutto asked him personally to act as an intermediary between her and Mr. Nawaz sharif. Mr. Bizenjo was trying to bring all the political parties and civil society groups together to work towards the common goal of the restoration of Independent Judiciary and repeal of the Martial Law.


Update @ 0130: Geo News DDoS’d

On Friday at around 2030 the Geo.tv started to received a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Serice) attack and they were able to recover from this surge of artificial traffic after two hours of down time by around 2235.

Geo.tv reports that this is the second time such an attack occurred on its servers resulting in bringing down the news website. According to Geo News Webmaster Asif Lateef the DDoS attacks were still in progress at 2235.

DDoS attack means that millions of hits are artificially made to strike a website in such a manner that even a very powerful computer sever is left unable to cope with the artificially boosted hits traffic

Barely a few hours earlier in the afternoon HRCP website also went down and the recovered a few hours later, at first the system administrator suspected government sponsored censorship and issued a press release accordingly but was later understood to be suspecting a potential DDoS attack as well.

It must be noted that both Geo.tv and HRCP continue to take a stance against the Martial Law imposed on Pakistan by General Pervaiz Musharraf for the past week.


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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Update @ 1520: Rubber bullets fired at demonstrators in Rawalpindi

Just received the following via SMS (although cell phone voice reception has been disrupted by the jammers, the text messaging service is functional):
Benazir Bhutto is trying to reach Liaquat Bagh while Pakistani security forces have fired rubber bullets at demonstrators in Rawalpindi where a peace rally is being held today by the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) and mobile jammers are in use by the police within the area.


Update @ 1400: Benazir Bhutto comes out of her house

Via SMS, just hours before Benazir Bhutto was set to start off her party’s peace rally, she was detained and placed under house arrest at the Zardari house in Islamabad:

Despite Pakistani security forces surrounding her house, Bhutto has just stepped out of the house and police have led her to a nearby waiting car. The BBC and CNN have been taken off the air again in Pakistan by PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) along with other international news channels, just minutes after Bhutto left the house.


Follow-up Update:

In a live phone call to Geo TV, Benazir Bhutto stressed that no one had served her with an arrest warrant while our sources in Islamabad  Bhutto has been seen making her way to the peace rally being held today via back-roads and that the police is looking for her.


Update @ 1240: Benazir Bhutto detained, HRCP website blocked

I’ve just received a SMS from Doc that Benazir Bhutto has been detained at her residence in Islamabad while one of the activists on the ground in Pakistan sent in a message via Skype, stating that the HRCP (Human Rights Commission Pakistan) website has been blocked in Pakistan by the PTA (Pakistan Telecommunications Authority).

For those in Pakistan, the HRCP website can still be accessed using an anonymizer, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) have listed out technical ways to get around censorship online and an excellent resource on blogging anonymously can be found here by Global Voices Online.

Follow-up Update:
The HRCP website is now back up online via an e-mail we received from their spokesperson.


Update @ 2145: PPP (political) rally in Islamabad tomorrow

An update has come in that the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) are planning to organize a rally to be staged tomorrow (Wednesday) which starts off at 4pm in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad. Benazir Bhutto who has now landed in Islamabad appeared earlier this evening on private media channels to encourage people to attend the demonstration.

Follow-up Update#1 by Teeth Maestro
It will be interesting to see what transpires from this political rally. it may very well be her own way of saying that in theory I am against Musharraf and his the Martial Law, [simply since I have to maintain a reputation], yet I am willing to enter into power sharing negotiations with Musharraf. Though this blog would recommend to use the following precautions if the protest march happens to be teargassed. But in all honesty we sincerely doubt that anyone would touch this rally and its onward progress towards the Parliament house, after all everyone else is a terrorist and has no right to assembly, with the exception being Begum Bhutto and her supporters. This is all as we in Pakistan call, a TOPI DRAMA

Follow-up Update#2 by Ange
We have now received information that this rally has been banned by the Rawalpindi administrative government and that no person should attend.



Does Musharraf face risk of a coup?

Lt Gen KianiEarly today morning there were strong rumors throughout he country that the junior squadron of Army leadership had turned onto Musharraf and had him under house arrest, the rumor fizzled out to be smoke and Musharraf went on record to state that this was ‘a joke of the highest degree’ An interesting article by BBC helps us understand the loyalty within the army and it might be difficult to expect something from within, my personal gut feeling is that such a resistance will only happen if Musharraf faces a strong public revolt, which he has managed to control till today, with a massive revolt someone might sum up the courage to turn against him, but it wont happen for another 20-30 days

By M Ilyas Khan
BBC News, Karachi

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was forced to dismiss rumours circulating on Monday that he had been placed under house arrest, just two days after he declared emergency rule. As things stand, there is little reason to believe that Gen Musharraf, who is both president and head of the army, is in imminent danger of being removed from office by force. There are only two groups of people who would appear to have the capacity to move against Gen Musharraf and arrest him. One is his immediate subordinates in the army, including the heads of the intelligence services. The other is the corps commanders who constitute the second tier of the leadership of the military. Gen Musharraf’s position depends on the personal loyalty to him of those who serve him and also the institutional loyalty of military men to their chief. On both counts, the odds looked stacked well in favour of Gen Musharraf.
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‘Phone call’ that led to Emergency

As mentioned previously in one of my post barely a day back when discussing Benazir’s exit out of the country, I suspected that something was a foot regarding the Presidential Petition decision and it could be possible that the Supreme Court judges might revolt, well now with the martial law in full force I think its not wrong to believe that the only reason the Martial Law has been enforce was to curb the judiciary and overthrow them well before they make a full announcement. Follow the statement made by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah when talking to ARY yesterday.

‘Phone call’ that led to emergency
KHURRAM SHAHZAD – The Nation

ISLAMABAD – A reported telephone call by Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry about a decision on the petition of Presidential election prompted the authorities to impose state of emergency in the country. A government official, when asked about the reasons behind the move, said that Justice Iftikhar reportedly informed one of his friends on telephone that the Supreme Court was going to hand down verdict against President Musharraf, which was tapped by the secret agencies. The agencies intercepted a call from CJs phone few days ago in which he even disclosed the number of judges favouring and opposing this decision, and this forced the top policymakers to devise the emergency plan, the official said. The official, working closely with one of the Presidential aides, further said that the government took extra time in execution of this plan so as to make it safer.
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Where do we go from here? – Najam Sethi

Published in the 4th November edition of Daily Times by the editor-in-chief of Daily Times, I think he has outlined the issue quite well and its worth reading

News analysis: Where do we go from here?
By Najam Sethi

Several points are interesting and significant about last nights political rupture.

  1. We have a state of martial law, whatever the government may say and however long it may last. The Proclamation of Emergency (PE) and the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) have been signed by the “Chief of Army Staff, General Pervez Musharraf, and not by “President Musharraf or Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. In fact, a PCO is an extra constitutional deviation and only an army chief can order it.
  2. The constitution has accordingly been “held in abeyance. But significantly, the PCO says that the country will continue to be governed, “as nearly as possible by the constitution. But where there is any other departure from the constitution apart from what is contained in the PCO and the PE from now onwards, it will be at the behest of the “President and not the COAS. In other words, General Musharrafs presidency has been confirmed and upheld by the PCO.
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Update @ 0244: Geo TV’s website back online

Geo TV is now back online and have posted an announcement on their homepage stating that due to enormously heavy traffic on their website, they are presenting a light text-version with latest news updates while the full version of the website will be available in a few hours. A summary of the main points of Musharraf’s speech have been extracted and is available in English here and in Urdu as well.

The metroblogging team in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore have been doing a great job with posting updates of happenings on the ground while a little over an hour after Musharraf began delivering his address to the nation, Umar, blogs that apart from police patrolling the streets, the situation on the ground is peace and hopes it remains that way.

During her press briefing with the media, a few minutes after she landed in Karachi, Benazir Bhutto appealed that the world community should pressurize Musharraf to lift the emergency with Canada officially stepping up the pressure on Pakistan for the removal of the state of emergency (via Edmonton Sun) Meanwhile Nawaz Sharif who spoke to Al Jazeera News via phone from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia agreed with Bhutto and stressed that this was not a state of emergency but rather marital law which has destroyed the Supreme Court with Bhutto emphasizing that the “people of Pakistan, are capable of defending the country”.

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Update @ 2230

PPP Workers welcome Benazir Bhutto at Karachi Airport

Downlink of AAJ TV suspended in Pakistan

US Department of State issues alert that the US government is deeply disturbed by imposition of emergency in Pakistan & the Secretary of State stressed that latest moves by Pakistan are regrettable.

In less than 30 minutes, Musharraf is set to address the nation on state TV.

More updates available here from Rabia over at Karachi Metroblogging


Benazir Bhutto arrives in Pakistan

Via AryOne TV:

1) Benazir Bhutto arrives in Karachi

2) Justice Amanullah takes oath under new PCO as Chief Justice of Balochistan

3) M. Afzhal Somoro takes oath under new PCO as Chief Justice of Sindh high court.

4) TV Stations across the globe including CNN and BBC are reporting that mobile phones and sms services have been stopped, this is not the case, sms services and cell phone lines are up, due to many people calling their family and loved ones, the network is under high peak usage and jammed in some areas.


Emergency declared in Pakistan

Fuck off MusharrafAt around 5:30pm Pakistan was shoved into a national crisis with the declaration of emergency throughout the country, all electronic media was taken off the air and General Pervaiz Musharraf has assumed all powers over the nation. The threat it seems to have come from the Supreme Court of Pakistan which was soon to decide on the petition for is his Presidential office. Barely a few days back The Friday Times has reported, in their Such Gup section that the Chief Justice of Pakistan had called all the judges on the bench and made them swore on the Holy Quran that they will try to decide the case under their own free ill without and pressure or mala fide intent, this I feel was the tipping force which swung the voting balance against Musharraf.

Updates and analysis soon to come. But how interestingly that for the sake of protecting one persons position of wealth and power the nations is shoved into darkness. Quite simply my heart screams out and says FUCK OFF MUSHARRAF (anyone care to join me in launching this Pakistan wide campaign)

CNN states “Faced with increasing violence and unrest, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Saturday declared a state of emergency, government sources told CNN” – What Bull Shit

Updated 1 an image, these are my true feelings

Updated 2 Aitazaz Hussain arrested and sent to Adilia Jail!!!. 8 bench Supreme Court headed by CJ (suspended?) ordered all the justices not to take oath under PCO because PCO is against law..remeber COAS has earlier suspended CJ. CJ and 8 justices are in the supreme court right now

Updated 3 worst crisis – CJ and 8 supreme court have ordered all the army staff officers (including core commanders) and all the government officers not to bless PCO and has stopped all the judges to take fresh oath under PCO – war b/w GHQ and Judges

Updated 4 Geo.Tv website is reportedly down – confirmed

Updated 5 Reports coming in that Benazir Bhutto is at Dubai airport in an attempt to come to Pakistan. Geez what is this world coming to

Updated 6 international reporters confirming that Abdul Hammed Dogar has taken oat as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, reports coming in that Martial Law is actually being enforced and not an Emergency


Benazir Scampers out of the Country, Bhaag BB Bhaag

Benazir BhuttoBarely two days before the arrival of Benazir Bhutto on Oct 18th, a very respected and trusted source had the opportunity to meet a high level bureaucrat from the Musharraf regime (I would like to protect the source and the contact) for a casual dinner, naturally at that time the hot issue under scrutiny was the petition against Musharraf and the grand reception of Benazir Bhutto barely a few days way on the 18th of October. The discussion was held I assume in confidence but now most of the statements have turned out to be correct and I now choose to examine the issue retrospectively.
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