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Posts tagged with: Lawyers
Aug 18, 2008    |       18 comments

We Want: A Fair Trial & Return of Nov 2nd Judiciary

People’s Resistance
Press Release – 18 August 2008

People’s Resistance attributes the resignation of retired General Pervez Musharraf as President of Pakistan to the long and untiring struggle of the Lawyers, students, civil society organizations and political groups. The civil society and media’s struggle against the arbitrary rule of General Musharraf forced the ruling democratic coalition to start the process of impeachment that eventually led to his resignation.

Though we celebrate his resignation, we call for the fair trial of General Musharraf for the long list of crimes against the people of Pakistan including removal of judiciary, abrogating the constitution, forced disappearances, torture and deaths in custody of citizens especially from Baluchistan, and for killing people in Tribal Areas of Pakistan.

In this vein the People’s Resistance demands the immediate restoration of the judiciary to its November 02 composition, as it was before the promulgation of the PCOs suspending the constitution.

Aug 14, 2008    |       10 comments

61 years and counting – Happy Independence Day PAKISTAN

I must begin with offering my felicitations to each and every Pakistani for the 61st Independence Day. May this upcoming year be fruitful for Pakistan, having suffered through a tumultuous political roller coaster in the past few months [and years], people stand today ready to abandon this nation for greener pastures of foreign lands, quite literally giving up hope.

But whatever will happen to the remaining 160 million strong Pakistanis [including me], for them we must each hope, pray and guide this nation forth towards progress and prosperity. This nation is too valuable to us [me] that I will never give up hope so quickly, we as Pakistanis must stand together shoulder to shoulder and try to rid our country from the unpatriotic elements that suck the life out of Pakistan. It is for the sake of Pakistan that we must hold strong.
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Aug 11, 2008    |       17 comments

Reference Against Pervaiz [pre-draft]

I share a pre-draft document prepared by the PPP to use as a reference against Pervaiz Musharraf, it was initially forwarded to me via an extremely trusted source to hold in confidence, but we very soon discovered that this same document had been uncovered elsewhere. The pre-draft of references that will most likely be filed against Pervaiz Musharraf are outlined in detail by Senator M. Enver Baig along with his comments, it is quite possible that some changed might take place before its final acceptance but we share only to give our readers an idea as to what basic issues will the PPP use to plan its attack against Pervaiz Musharraf.

Senator M. Enver Baig: Pervaiz & his colleagues keep saying that no body is above law. True, we agree. When references can be filed against the Chief Justice of Pakistan, certainly there should be a way to file the references against Pervaiz too! So far whosoever had tried to file these references, the courts were unable to consider these because instead of Pakistan’s constitution and law, the honorable courts are forced to follow Pervaizee Law which says that he is above the law and the constitution. Obviously this is NOT an acceptable position. We will like to file following references against Pervaiz for:

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Aug 8, 2008    |       13 comments

The dictator is the one animal who needs to be caged – Z. A. Bhutto

Guest Post by Silence

The dictator is the one animal who needs to be caged; He betrays his profession and his constitution. He betrays the people and destroys human values. He destroys culture. He binds the youth. He makes the structure collapse. He rules by fluke and freak. He is the scourge and the ogre. He is a leper. Anyone who touches him also becomes a leper. He is the upstart who is devoid of ideals and ideology. Not a single one of them has made a moment’s contribution to history – ZAB

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, a controversial, mercurial, enigmatic, charismatic, politician who himself was killed by Pakistan Army and a American backed Dictator General Zia ul Haq; 30 Years after his death, continues to talk to Pakistan.

After prolonged deliberations, Pakistan’s major political parties which form the ruling collation has decided to move an impeachment motion against self styled ‘President’ and American backed dictator of Pakistan, this must not be a surprise that weak and undeceive political leadership which has faced media-trials, character assassination campaigns by agencies, prisons and exiles have gathered the courage to stand against powerful establishment and a dictator who still holds the power to dissolve the parliament, as, at a certain stage democratic government are unable to take the public pressure and take decisions to avoid the public hostility, despite the fact that these political parties are deteriorating and lack the visionary leader ship because of continuous military rules which survives on destruction of political institutions.
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Jul 29, 2008    |       6 comments

People’s Resistance – Welcomes Judges to Karachi

The People’s Resistance (PR) welcomes Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, a symbol of constitutionalism, to the city of Karachi. We salute the Chief Justice and all those honorable judges who upheld the constitution of Pakistan by saying “NO” to the illegal Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO). Together they stood for the voice of their conscience, sacrificing their liberty and well-being, to protect the Constitution of Pakistan.

We protest and hold the government responsible for its failure to do what should have been its very first priority. We believe that a lawful and independent judicial system is a pre-requisite for development and progress in Pakistan. We are fearful that the absence of Justice will lead to lawlessness and disorder, which will exacerbate the shortage of food, the spread of extremism and the economic strife.

As a civil society advocacy and watchdog group, PR stands for the complete and unconditional restoration of the November 03, 2007 judiciary.
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Jun 18, 2008    |       15 comments

Whatever is to become of the Movement for Justice

a letter to activists of the People’s Resistance by Dr. Awab Alvi

One issue which we all have dodged to question ourselves, is to decide what is acceptable when the powers-to-be talk about the ‘conditional’ restoration of the judiciary, either in the form of the much trumpeted 60-point constitutional package or separately.

For me, this movement (People’s Resistance) has been for the unconditional restoration of the Nov 3rd Judiciary (which also has included condemning the Martial Law & the restrictions on the media) When the powers-to-be talk about ‘middle ground’ compromises in the restoration of the Judiciary, it is sadly FAR from our own objectives. The irony is that we, in PR all seem to be preparing for a celebration the day Zardari restores the Judiciary in whatever way he thinks its best ‘for-him’. Is this ‘whatever-way-possible’ acceptable to PR. It sadly is not my wish, and I may venture to say that it might also echo the sentiments of other like-minded friends in this group

In my opinion the only reason to make a circus of the constitutional package is to show the judges that the powers-to-be have given them grace, and they should remain grateful to have received this gift-from-god. It is just another facade to the traditional appointment by the President / establishment which ensures that the buck stops at the supreme authority thereby ensuring the status quo. I hope we, in PR, are not fooling ourselves to believe that the ‘Zardari form’ of restoration comes without any strings attached. Had they been sincere then all this hoopla was not necessary and the legal way, via an executive order, was not too difficult to pull out of the bag. As opinion makers in this resistance we should be clear on our position, and be willing to call a spade, a spade and not worry otherwise.
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Jun 6, 2008    |       20 comments

Long March preparation from Karachi

In the past few days lawyers and civil society activists have been in full swing for the preparations of the Long March to Islamabad. This procession is based on the simple one-point agenda for the unconditional restoration of the independence of Judiciary in Pakistan. A large delegation is expected to leave Karachi on the morning of Monday the 9th towards Hyderabad and onwards. The schedule is as follows

  • 9th June – Karachi – Hyderabad (2 hours stop) – Sukkur (night stay)
  • 10th June – Sukkur to Multan
  • 11th June – Multan to Lahore
  • 12th June – Lahore to Islamabad
  • 13 & 14th June – Massive protest in Islamabad with a stand off at the Parliament House

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Apr 14, 2008    |       6 comments

Sher Afgan’s counsel denies FIR against lawyers

It seems a very deliberate plan is under way to implicate lawyers and tarnish their image in the eyes of the public. The embarrassing way Sher Afghan was thrashed in Lahore a few days back could not only be the mastermind of a conspirator trying to make use of the strategic location. Just recently Sher Afghan has come forth claiming that the lawyers were in turn responsible for protecting him and the FIR lodged by the Police is mostly a fabrication where over 44 lawyers have been implicated in the incident

Sher Afghan’s lawyers have categorically stated that Sher Afghan believes the lawyers including SCBA president Aitzaz saved his life when the mob attacked him
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Apr 10, 2008    |       23 comments

Karachi Riots: MQM & The Establishment – To Blame

I would like to share with you an analysis shared by a lawyer who claims that MQM deliberately started the fight and then took the battle onto the streets if Karachi

So far as I have been able to ascertain, the turmoil started around 12.00 in the Karachi Bar Association when a group of lawyers belonging to the Legal Aid Committee (an MQM-backed organisation comprising lawyers working in the CDGK, KESC and other state owned organisations) accompanied by a number of non-lawyers marched into the general body meeting of the Karachi Bar chanting slogans in favour of Musharraf and condemning the Sher Afgan incident. At this point, the lawyers of the Legal Aid Committee claimed that one of their number had been assaulted and injured by some other lawyers and chaos erupted.

Within minutes, the City Courts were cordoned off by hundreds of MQM activists who started firing at lawyers and setting fire to their vehicles. Around this time, news started coming in that the Malir Bar Association building had been burned. Then they started attacking the buildings around the City Courts (which are predominantly occupied by lawyers chambers) and set fire to them. It was clearly a pre-planned action. Lawyers’ offices and residences as far afield as Zamzama, PECHS and Gulistan-e-Jauhar were attacked.
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