Beena Sarwars's Mailing List:
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:22:41 -0000
My latest IPS report summarizing the current pressures on Musharraf - POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Civil Society Mounts Pressure on Musharraf (includes interviews of Karachi University students & Emergency Telegraph bulletins): http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40049 (text below)
OTHER UPDATES - SUPPORT FOR PAKISTANI LAWYERS & JUDGES:
HARVARD LAW SCHOOL HONOUR FOR CJ CHAUDHRY:
Following last week’s military crackdown in Pakistan and the
detention of hundreds of lawyers, the Harvard Law School Association
has decided to award Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry its
highest honor: The Harvard Law School Medal of Freedom. Chaudhry was
detained after he convened the Pakistani Supreme Court to declare the
current state of emergency imposed by General Pervez Musharraf to be
null and void.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/news/2007/11/13_pakistan.php
“CHAUDHRY, NOT DOGAR, IS CJ”: Benazir Bhutto had a few days ago called for the sacked judges to be restored (yesterday she upped the ante by calling for Musharraf to step down). Others have made similiar statements in support of the non-PCO judges, including the Executive Council of the LUMS Students Action Committee which has objected to the media referring to Mr. Hameed Dogar as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. This practice “should be strongly opposed considering that the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) had been declared as illegal by the Supreme Court before its judges were put under house arrest. All local and international News media organizations are forthwith urged to stop referring to Mr Hameed Dogar as the Chief Justice of Pakistan. He was placed in this position through an illegal action by the Chief of Army Staff, an action which was struck down in a unanimous verdict by a seven member bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry” (thanks KSK)
BAR ASSOCATION CREATES FUND TO SUPPORT LAWYERS - The Sindh High Court
Bar Association (SHCBA) has set up an emergency fund for needy
lawyers participating in the struggle for the rule of law. The
proposal for establishing the fund was put forward by former Supreme
Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmed, who presided over Tuesday’s meeting of
the association’s general body∑ The SHCBA also decided to extend the
boycott till Nov http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/14/local4.htm
MORE STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT (21) from various US bar associations in support of the lawyers and judges in Pakistan at: http://www.abanet.org/barserv/resourcepages/pakistanresponse.shtml. Nancy Bohrer who sent the link writes, “They are all a little different, and very heartening. I urge you to share these expressions of support with Pakistan’s lawyers and judges. It is important for them to know that their brethern in the legal profession stand with them in a very troubling time.”
SUPPORT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN PAKISTAN:
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A dozen US human rights groups on Tuesday urged President George W. Bush to cut off military aid to Pakistan if President Pervez Musharraf refuses to end emergency rule and release politicians, jurists and rights activists.
Full story at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071113/pl_afp/uspakistanrightsmilitary Excerpt from their letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:
“We strongly urge you to send a clear, consistent, and public message to the Government of Pakistan. We also urge you to call for the immediate release of those detained or held under house arrest, a rescinding of the emergency orders and any restrictions on press freedom, a full restoration of the constitution, and the reinstatement of all judges who have been removed from their positions. Without such measures, free and fair elections will not be possible.”
SUPPORTPAKISTAN.ORG: A Silicon Valley initiative involving Dilawar Syed, President of OPEN SV (http://opensiliconvalley.com) and also an executive at Yahoo!, and a number of other well heeled Pakistan entrepreneurs in the Silicon Valley incl Zain Jeewanjee, Dr Mobashar Rana (MD), Dr Waheed Qureshi (PhD, CEO/founder Zenprise.com). SupportPakistan.org (http://supportpakistan.wordpress.com) is an advocacy group formed to mobilize public opinion and shape policy. “Please take a few minutes to visit the site. We have made available specific tools and resources you can use to take action (the website will soon be accessible from supportpakistan.org).”
In a recent email introducing SupportPakistan, Dilawar Syed called the current situation “perhaps the most severe crisis since 1971∑ The choice for the nation, and the world is clear. Pakistan either reverts to a status quo that has held this mighty nation back for much of its existence, or we seize the opportunity and join the campaign for full and unreserved democracy and an independent judiciary. How we respond today will determine Pakistan’s future, and, perhaps even its integrity as a nation. Members of the civil society, being increasingly joined by the political forces, are showing us the way.”
BOSTON PROTEST ˆ MORE PIX: From Zahra Syed, a photographer at Emerson College.- http://www.flickr.com/photos/zahrasyed/ - PLEASE DO NOT USE THEM FOR PRESS ETC WITHOUT HER CONSENT ˆ email: zahra_syed@emerson.edu (thanks Arooj)
POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Civil Society Mounts Pressure on Musharraf
By Beena Sarwar
KARACHI, Nov 14 (IPS) - With his army losing ground to insurgents on the western border, his potential political partner Benazir Bhutto joining protests against the emergency and unrest spreading in Pakistan’s urban centres, pressure is mounting on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to step down.
However, United States President George W. Bush, while saying he would like Musharraf to end the emergency, has stressed the need to continue cooperating with Pakistan in the ‘war on terror’. Talking to reporters at his ranch on Nov. 10, he said that Musharraf “fully understands the dangers of al-Qaeda”. So too, does former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, added Bush.
There has been widespread condemnation of the emergency imposed on Nov. 3 that critics term as ‘martial law’, since Musharraf enacted it in his capacity as army chief rather than as President.
Denunciations have come in from all quarters. Bar associations including the powerful American Bar Association, Nelson Mandela and the Group of Elders, the European Union and the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which has threatened to suspend Pakistan if it failed to implement certain measures by Nov 22 when the CMAG next meets. These measures include lifting of the emergency and curbs on the media, and restoring the judiciary.
Such pressures are believed to be behind Musharraf’s announcement that general elections will be held by Jan. 9, 2008 (rather than mid-February as he had proclaimed earlier). “Such elections would not be credible unless the state of emergency is removed and constitutional rights of the people, political parties and independence of the judiciary are restored,” said CMAG in its statement of Nov. 12.
The Fair and Free Elections Network (FAFEN), an independent Islamabad-based coalition of 30 leading Pakistani civil society organisations, expressed similar concerns in its position paper of Nov. 12. All the major civil society organisations in Pakistan support this position and demand the immediate lifting of the emergency and restoration of the constitution, judiciary and fundamental rights.
Musharraf has asked western powers not to judge Pakistan by their standards, and appears as scornful of local civil society organisations as of continuing protests by students, lawyers and judiciary. He appeared unapologetic, even belligerent, on Sunday during his first press conference, eight days after promulgating the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) that suspended the Constitution and required the judiciary to take fresh oath.
An emergency Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Ahmed Choudhry declared the PCO order null and void and ruled that no judge of the Supreme Court or High Courts could take oath under it. Armed security forces escorted the dissenting judges out. Their services have been ‘terminated’ but they remain defiant under house arrest, supported by an unprecedented number of fellow judges, including the chief justices of all four provincial High Courts.
Hundreds of lawyers, including retired judges of the High Courts, have been arrested in the crackdown following the Bar Associations’ call to protest and boycott courts headed by ‘PCO judges’. The government has admitted that over 500 lawyers were arrested in the two largest cities of Pakistan alone. The BBC estimates the country-wide number to be closer to 3,000. Since then, many more have been arrested, including former Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) chairperson Afrasiab Khattak in Peshawar on Nov. 13.
“The Proclamation of Emergency contravenes the Constitution,” wrote prominent constitutional lawyer Qazi Faez Isa in an op-ed piece on Nov. 10, the day newspapers reported that the government had amended the Army Act of 1952 to allow the army to court-martial civilians. An underlying reason for this amendment, say analysts, is the apparent inability of the existing anti-terrorist courts to hold proper or speedy trials of those involved in acts of terrorism or militancy.
Meanwhile, ordinary citizens around the country are visiting the ‘non-PCO’ judges with flowers, garlands, and thank you notes, and spontaneously naming popular cross-roads after them. “They are paying a heavy price for their defiance,” said Kausar S.K of the Women’s Peace Commission, who has made several such visits under the umbrella organisation ‘People’s Resistance’, a civil society coalition against the martial law.
These judges were made to empty their chambers and the phones of some were disconnected. They are not allowed to visit the High Courts, and the government has said they will not be allowed to practice law, says the People’s Resistance.
“It is alright for us younger lawyers,” said Faisal Siddiqi, who is helping colleagues in Karachi Central Jail. “But for these older judges and lawyers, who have spent their lives building up their practices, it will be very difficult to start from scratch. We salute them.”
After groups in Islamabad and Lahore were prevented from meeting the judges, some 500 people gathered at a public spot in Islamabad on Monday to light candles in solidarity with Rana Bhagwandas, the only Hindu judge in Pakistan’s Supreme Court.
Bhagwandas was on the anti-PCO bench of Nov. 3 and, like his fellow judges, has been under house arrest at his official residence in Islamabad. One group also visited his family in Karachi with sweets to show solidarity on the occasion of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights last weekend, as Bhagwandas was not allowed to visit his family.
Since civil society organisations can drum up only limited numbers for street protests, they hardly post a threat to the regime. But the ban on public gatherings under the emergency means that those attending protests and rallies risk being beaten and arrested by the police. Even so, citizens’ groups around the country are engaging in vigils, ‘flash protests’ and other symbolic actions like wearing black arm-bands. They have been joined by students from private institutions, including high-school students from Islamabad’s elite, traditionally apolitical schools.
Police baton-charged and then detained 48 such students engaged in a silent protest in Islamabad on Monday. The students, aged 12-18, some in school uniform, were charged with violating laws that prohibit the gathering of more than four persons in a public place. They were released after their parents signed ‘good behaviour’ bonds on their behalf.
“The students’ resolve has only been strengthened as a result of this incident—we will continue to voice our opinions, as is our right, in a peaceful and non-violent manner,” wrote ‘Z.H.’ in the widely circulated student-run online ‘The Emergency Times’ launched on Nov 5 (online version: pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com).
After students registered their silent protest with black bands on their arms and foreheads, the administration said that “any student found even wearing a black ribbon as protest against emergency will be expelled without a hearing before the disciplinary committee,” wrote one student. “Students in Karachi want to be part of the students’ movement but the administrations are not letting this happen” .
With independent television news still blocked, such protestors get their messages across to the world via the Internet and cell phone. There is currently no restriction on such communication or on the English language newspapers, although activists believe they are being closely monitored.
Analysts say that it seems Musharraf is more concerned about keeping news from members of the non-English speaking public to prevent them from joining the protests.
Students at non-elite institutions like Karachi University were unaware of the arrests and detentions taking place around the country but endorsed a small protest by the University Teachers Forum (UTF) on Tuesday. A dozen or so teachers from various departments stood silently behind a black banner calling for the restoration of the Constitution, the judiciary and human rights.
“The emergency has given a bad name to Pakistan around the world,” said Saira Sheikh a student of the Economics Department who was passing by. “But we don’t know what’s going on around the country because there are no news channels, no information,” added her friend Hira.
The students left as police rangers from a parked van nearby started coming towards them. The rangers did not engage with the demonstrators. “They were probably told to leave us alone,” said one teacher. UTF convenor, Abdul Qadeer of the Applied Physics department, attributed the low turnout to the fear of arrest and to de-politicisation of the campuses.
“This darkness at high noon cannot last. The judges by not taking oath, the lawyers and the civil society by resisting have already shown the way. The media is standing by them shoulder to shoulder. This is one battle the General is sure to lose,” predicted former senator Shafqat Mahmood.
However, with Washington determined to back Musharraf unconditionally, this darkness, may be rather more long-drawn out than most Pakistanis would like, some analysts say.
(END/2007)
