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Posts tagged with: CrisisPk

Kurd & Tariq Mehmood released, but others will remain under House Arrest

It is being reported that Lawyer Ali Ahmed Kurd in Peshawar and Justice Tariq Mehmood in Quetta have been released from their house arrest which has lasted for around three months imposed by the Pakistani Government. Caretaker Information Minister Nisar Memon said the moves were aimed at creating a good atmosphere during this month’s parliamentary elections. “We want to keep the peace and order before elections and maintain a conducive environment so that people could effectively use their right to vote,” Memon said. IHT

But he said that Chaudhry and other judges would not released from house arrest. “Their movements have been restricted for their own security otherwise they are free men,” he said. “They are issuing statements and write letters.” – truly brilliant Mr. Memon, free men to write letters [I think he suggests the letter that was written by the CJP and ‘smuggled out’ of the house by CJP’s daughter amongst her books] yes let me hear that again free men to write letters but not to move around – GEEZ who are we trying to fool here

We definitely celebrate the release of the two leading figurehead icons Ali Kurd and J. Tariq Mehmood but wonder why does Musharraf have to play these game of charades with us. It is definitely an attempt to reduce the pressure exerted by the American which has recently suggested to Musharraf to correct some grave technical issues before running into the self proclaimed free and fair elections.

It is also shocking that the super power of the world [United States of America], the upholder and enforcer of democracy through out the world, is ready to accept the rigged elections, its definitely a shocking statement to make, which was mentioned in more of a casual statement without much details to the press, one can only imagine what might actually be brewing up inside to force the US government to publicly accept a sham democracy on Feb 18. I can only speculate a horrendously rigged elections comparable to the 98% voter turnout in the referendum of 2002 where the election commission of Pakistan showed a 71.5% voter turnout with a 97% vote in favor of Musharraf. If this is the type of elections we hope to achieve then so help us God
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Musharraf’s letter to ABA – accusing CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry

Yesterday we published a letter from the Chief Justice of Pakistan who wrote to many global leaders defending the accusations made by the President of Pakistan General (RETD) Pervaiz Musharraf. I have today obtained a copy of the initial letter written by the President of Pakistan to the American Bar Association trying to defend his actions against the CJP since March 9th. It seems more like a rant in a futile attempt to salvage his tarnished image in front of the American lawyers.

I highly recommend reading both the letters as it then shows how weak of an argument Musharraf actually continues to have in regards to the suicidal steps he took back in March. Word for word, the charge sheet is based on the original Naeem Bukhari letter, but some how no one takes his name let alone give him credit for leading Musharraf down this path of destruction [ironic]. Sadly the evidence starts and ends on the letter, the remaining arguments are just an attempt by Musharraf to vindicate himself. All said its funny to watch him stumble across the 15 pages just trying to defend his actions – quite literally pleading innocence but failing miserably in the process
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Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhry responds to the allegations

AN OPEN LETTER TO: (PDF Available for Download)

The President of the European Parliament, Brussels.
The President of France, Paris.
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, London.
Ms. Condaleeza Rice, Secretary of State, United States of America
Professor Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum, Geneva.

All through their respective Ambassodors, High Commissioners and representatives.

Excellency,

I am the Chief Justice of Pakistan presently detained in my residence since November 3, 2007 pursuant to some verbal, and unspecified, order passed by General Musharraf.

I have found it necessary to write to you, and others, because during his recent visits to Brussels, Paris, Davos and London General Musharraf has slandered me, and my colleagues, with impunity in press conferences and other addresses and meetings. In addition he has widely distributed, among those whom he has met, a slanderous document (hereinafter the Document) entitled: “PROFILE OF THE FORMER CHIEF JUSTICE OF PAKISTAN. I might have let this go unresponded but the Document, unfortunately, is such an outrage that, with respect, it is surprising that a person claiming to be head of state should fall to such depths as to circulate such calumny against the Chief Justice of his own country.
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Downing Street Protest – Videos

A wide collection of YouTube videos of the Anti-Musharraf protest on Downing Street, London.
Credit for aggregating the entire collection Taimur Rehman of CMKP

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6wdSD8vZPs[/youtube]
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Judges under siege by Qazi Faez Isa

Published in the opinion section of Dawn on 28th January 2008

Carry a placard “Release Justice Rana Bhagwandas and you will be thrown into the slammer. FIR No.13/08 lodged at the Clifton Town police station confirms the highhandedness of Musharrafs despotic regime.

Justice Rana Bhagwandas started his judicial career as a civil judge at the age of 24. In 1994 he was elevated to the high court and then to the Supreme Court where he eventually became the senior-most judge, serving as Acting Chief Justice of Pakistan, whenever the Chief Justice was out of the country. He earned the reputation of hard work, dedication, clear thinking, impartiality and fairness. Upon retirement it has been the practice of the court to give the retiring judge a Full Court Reference, but in the building that now reminds one of the Supreme Court, traditions too have been banished.

On Nov 3, 2007, Justice Bhagwandas the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court was illegally incarcerated. After his retirement he was made a prisoner in his own home in Karachi. He caused offence because he did not break his oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan when another was grinding his boot into it. “The people should fight for the law as for their city wall (Heraclitus, 5th century BC).
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Kaiser Bengali explains the Economic performance of Shaukat Aziz

Kaiser Bengali is currently working for Collective for Social Science Research, a research company based in Karachi, economist Bengali has also served as the managing director Social Policy Development Centre between 2001-2004. Here he talks with TNS about a range of issues and gives his own economic blueprint which is closely tied up with politics. Excerpts of the interview follow:

The News on Sunday (TNS): How do see the relationship between military regimes and economic progress?
Kaiser Bengali (KB): There is a myth about development and economic performance of military regimes. In Pakistan, Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Musharraf have all received unprecedented support from IMF and World Bank. In the case of Musharraf, it was the rescheduling and, of course, money that was coming as rental from the United States for using our space.

There were four factors which contributed to the high growth during the Zia period, none of which can be located in Zia’s economic policy. The oil price shock hit the world in 1973 but it was 1975-77 when the first emigrants from Pakistan began to leave for Saudi Arabia and it was 1978 when the remittance inflow began and it peaked in 1982onwards. So the price of the oil price shock was borne by the Bhutto regime but the benefits were accrued by the Zia regime. This rate of remittance inflow gave the govt sufficient fiscal space.

Second, there were very large investments made during the Bhutto period that had long gestation periods. The Pakistan Steel Mills construction started in 1974, and it started commercial production in1982. Similarly there were Heavy Mechanical Complex, Indus Highway, Heavy Electrical Complex, Port Qasim and Ittehad Chemicals (chemical lindustry’s foundation was laid in 1970s and chemicals are a major input in a large number of consumer industries). So this investment in the 1970s began to fruit in the 1980s leading to large chunk of output increases.
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Imran Khan Brings Anti-Musharraf Effort to US – NPR

Imran Khan in the USA short audio report on The Morning Edition of NPR talks about Imran Khan’s visit to the United States. He continues to argue for the independence of Judiciary and the need to pressure the American lobby to stop patronizing one man as the sole savior for all problems in Pakistan. Hear the discussion here

[audio:https://teeth.com.pk/blog/wp-content/audio/nprimrankhan.mp3]

Morning Edition, January 25, 2008 · A former cricket star who leads one of Pakistan’s minority parties spent time in Washington this week meeting with lawmakers and speaking out against U.S. support of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Imran Khan, an international celebrity since his days as a sports star, leads a much smaller party than that of Benazir Bhutto, the leader who was killed last month. But in Pakistan, he’s nearly as well known as Bhutto. And he says that next month’s elections there won’t be real, if they happen at all.
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I cannot be impeached: Musharraf

I don’t know if I should laugh or cry specially when Musharraf makes statements like these, he sounds more like a deranged maniac who suddenly feel rejuvenated to defend the very same constitution which he ruthlessly raped not once but many times over – geez!!!

Published in Times of India – LONDON: President Pervez Musharraf has dismissed the possibility of being impeached for holding power “unconstitutionaly” if the opposition came to power in the February polls, insisting “I was elected according to the constitution of Pakistan.” Even as President Musharraf agreed that he could be removed from power by a two-thirds parliamentary majority, he made it clear that if the opposition formed the government after the crucial polls, they would be unable to impeach him on the ground that he held power unconstitutionally.

“I don’t care whether they like or not. I follow the constitution of Pakistan and I was elected according to the constitution of Pakistan. Anybody who says it was not done constitutionally is absolutely wrong,” Musharraf told Financial Times of Britain in an interview. The former army chief said he was prepared to work with a prime minister of the Pakistan People’s Party, whose leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated last month, or former premier Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. “I have no choice. According to the constitution, the president has certain powers, [but] the government is run by the prime minister of Pakistan,” he told the daily at the Davos World Economic Forum.
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An Open Letter to EU, US, UH & COMMONWEALTH

Guest Blog by Sami Khan

An open letter to “All Concerned

European Union consists of 27 member states with complete civil liberties for the citizens one can only dream of in the third world country like Pakistan. But it is very unfortunate that whenever there is a minimal chance of establishing democracy in our country, of course not like yours, international community somehow supports or I would say does not take strong steps as should be taken against those elements that derail the process of democracy.

As a citizen of a sovereign country, one should not be writing to you in first place but when I see international community very keenly taking interest in our local affairs, it does not make me feel I am citizen of a sovereign country. Therefore, I am compelled to draw your attention toward the very serious and deteriorated situation in our country.

Whenever a military dictator like the present one in our country invades and conquers his own country after every 10 years, international community which includes US, EU, UN, Commonwealth come out with kind of lip service only. International community condemns, threatens and warns dictators of dangerous consequences before and after the occupation (coup), at the end here comes a very big “BUT and that BUT works as oxygen for dictators and that lip service gives us the impression of International communitys support for the unconstitutional and illegal steps of dictators.
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Pakistan’s Political Future: An Alternative Perspective – Imran Khan at the Asia Society

Imran KhanAn event is being held by the Asia Society where Imran Khan will shed light on the present political siltation in Pakistan, as usual a live webcast will be available for those who may want to participate and once the session is completed I will post the MP3 file here on the blog for others to listen. Other previous Asia Society discussion are available here, here, here & here The invitation issued by Asia Society for this town hall meeting is as follows

Please join us for a unique opportunity to interact with Mr. Imran Khan, a former cricket legend from Pakistan and now a vociferous political opponent of President Musharraf. Mr. Khan is Chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (Movement for Justice). He will share his insights about the rapidly evolving political scene in Pakistan and offer practical solutions to break the ongoing political impasse to facilitate the transition to democratic governance. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is boycotting the upcoming legislative election scheduled for February 18 and Mr. Khan has called for the resignation of President Musharraf. The discussion will be moderated by Kiran Khalid, Freelance Broadcast Journalist and documentary filmmaker of “We Are Not Free” about media censorship in Pakistan.
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US Senators meet Imran Khan to discuss the future of Democracy in Pakistan

Yesterday a very high profile meeting was held in Washignton DC with Imran Khan who met a high powered Senate group under the leadership of Senator Harry Reid the Senate Majority Leader, other leaders included Senator Dick Durbin who is Assistant Senate Majority Leader, Chairman Senate Foreign Relation Committee Senator Joe Biden, Chairman South Asia Committee Senator John Kerry, Senator Patty Murray Member Senate Appropriations Committee and Secretary of Senate Democratic Party Caucus, Senator Casey who is Member Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senator Tom Harkin Member Senate Appropriations Committee. The meeting lasted one and a half hour. A press release issued by the offices of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is quoted below.

Washington, DC Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met today with Imran Khan, a leading Pakistani opposition leader, to discuss the upcoming Pakistani elections and the future of democracy in Pakistan.

Khan, a member of the Pakistani parliament, leads the Justice Movement party and expressed deep concern about the Pakistani judiciary. Khan made it clear that Pakistan cannot have true democracy, or free and fair elections, without reinstating the head of the Supreme Court and the rest of the judges President Musharraf dismissed. He also believes that the February 18th parliamentary elections may be rigged, which would further undermine Pakistani democracy.
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Open Letter to President of Pakistan General (Retd) Pervaiz Musharraf

An open letter to President General (Retd) Pervaiz Musharraf from Masood Sharif Khan Khattak

Dear Mr President,

The destructive events of 2007 cannot be wished away. The naked assault of your government on the judiciary, led by yourself from the front, on 09 March, 2007, triggered off a chain of events that need not be recounted. In short, Pakistan has been devastated all through 2007.

Pakistan lost an internationally recognised political and intellectual personality, namely, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto on 27 December, 2007, to a murderous gun and bomb attack. Pakistan was reduced to paralysis in the aftermath of the tragic manner in which Pakistans most courageous political leader lost her life. The story does not end here. The adverse effects of this tragedy will continue to unfold in the days, months and years to come. I pray that ALLAH THE ALMIGHTY Blesses the soul of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto eternal peace of heavens. Amen.

The deplorable law and order situation in the country, in general, and the mishandling of the situation in our erstwhile peaceful tribal areas and other parts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) only add to the widespread belief in the country that you and your government has now become a huge part of the problem and is certainly not equal to the task of finding a solution to the gigantic problems faced by Pakistan. These problems have gained unimaginable dimensions through the years of your rule. While the Army and the paramilitary is deployed to fight in many parts of NWFP the police and the rangers etc are busy beating up the civil society in the city streets. Pakistan and Pakistanis are no longer at peace with each other.
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Canadian, Dutch and Hong Kong lawyers conclude that Emergency Measures are illegitimate

Canadian, Dutch and Hong Kong lawyers conclude that Emergency Measures are illegitimate and call on Pakistan to restore the law and redress violations

Lawyers Rights Watch Canada (LRWC), the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and the Dutch Lawyers for Lawyers Foundation (L4L) call for:

  1. The immediate unconditional release of all jurists arrested under preventative detention measures, including: Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar; Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhry, removed from office by the Musharraf regime; Ali Ahmed Kurd; Justice (retired) Tariq Mahmood and others.
  2. Strict adherence by the State and state officials to all Pakistan laws in force prior to November 3, 2007 and to applicable international standards protecting the independence of lawyers and judges including those embodied in the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyersand the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary.
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Massive protest in London against Musharraf

Join Asma Jehangir, Imran Khan, Jemima Khan, PTI, PML-N, PPP and others at Demo outside Downing Street, London

A massive protest is being planned against Musharraf in UK. All concerned, students, lawyers, civil societies, political party workers, etc. are invited to come to this protest. If you are in or around London on the 28th, please try to come. The plan is to bring people from all backgrounds holding the flags of their political parties or the flag of Pakistan in case you don’t support any political party to represent the much united resistance movement against Musharraf.

Date: Monday January 28th 2008
Time: 11.30 AM
Location: 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA
Tube: Westminister Station