The Emergency Times - 34th Issue (23 December 2007)

The 34th issue of Emergency Times is now available at: pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com

Online Petition: Drop Charges Against Members Of The Punjab University

Drop Charges Against Members Of The Punjab University

Published by Concerned Academics of Pakistan on Dec 05, 2007
Category: Human Rights
Region: Pakistan
Target: Government of Pakistan
Web site: http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/18/nat11.htm
Description/History:
Dear Friends:

As part of the crackdown on protests against emergency/martial law, the Government of Pakistan recently brought sedition charges against fourteen faculty members of the Punjab University (Lahore, Pakistan). These charges were in response to the faculty members speaking out and organizing a protest walk on their campus against the imposition of emergency rule (martial law) in Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan has also issued a ban on political discussions and debates on campuses, which is a violation of one of the most basic tenets of academic freedom.

Most of you must by now be familiar with the vanguard role played by members of the Pakistani judiciary in the current political struggle against dictatorship. The unprecedented expression of solidarity by members of the international law community has been extremely important in building up the pressure against the Pakistani government, and in keeping up the spirits of the lawyers and their family members. Students (and educators) comprise the next largest group of protesters and so are being targeted in similarly illegal and brutal ways. This is a call to school and college/university faculty, academic unions and organizations to express their solidarity with the above mentioned faculty members of Punjab University as well as all those being targeted by the Pakistani state, and to demand that the government drop these charges immediately.

It should be noted that even when emergency rule is lifted, these and other such charges will not be automatically dropped nor will the dissenting judges be restituted. Please sign the petition and forward to others, and please consider creating faculty/student solidarity committees on your campus, and issuing separate letters of protest and solidarity. It is imperative at this stage to get as many signatures as possible, as well as to send as many letters/faxes/emails to the individuals and institutions listed below as possible. You can sign the petition at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/drop-charges-against-members-of-the-punjab-u niversity.html. Time is of the essence, so please sign the petition and fax your letters ASAP. Your voice counts.

Below are links to three related articles. If you have any questions please email ConcernedAcademicsOfPakistan@gmail.com.

Signed,

Shefali Chandra (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Lubna Chaudhry (SUNY, Binghampton)
Sofia Checa (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Arslan Razmi (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
Rakhshanda Saleem (Harvard Medical School and Lesley University)
Sahar Shafqat (St. Mary's College of Maryland)
Saadia Toor (College of Staten Island, CUNY)

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Sedition case against 14 PU teachers
DAWN, November 22 2007
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/18/nat11.htm

Political debate banned in colleges
DAWN, November 22 2007
http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/22/nat9.htm

LUMS professors, students charged under MPO
Daily Times, December 05, 2007
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=200712�5story_5-12-2007_pg7_5

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Send your letters/faxes/emails to:

General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf
Pakistan Secretariat
Islamabad, Pakistan
Fax: (92) 51-922-1422
Email: CE@pak.gov.pk, president@pak.gov.pk, or via the website http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/WTPresidentMessage.aspx


Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, DC
3517 International Court, NW
Washington DC, 20008
Phone: 202-243-6500, Fax: 202-686-1534
Ambassador Mahmud Ali Durrani: 202- 243-6500 Ext. 2000 & 2001
Email: ambassador@pakistan-embassy.org & ambassador@embassyofpakistanusa.org

Punjab University Administrators:
Dr. Muhammad Arif Butt
Vice Chancellor, Punjab University
Lahore, Pakistan
Phone: (92) 42-923-1098, Fax: (92) 42-923-1101
E-Mail: vc@pu.edu.pk
Petition:
Attention:
General (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf
Islamabad, Pakistan

Mr. Musharraf:

We, the undersigned, are appalled by the charges brought against 14 faculty members of the Punjab University under sections 124-A, 188, 143/149 and 16-MPO. They have been charged with sedition and provoking the masses against the government for its action of imposing emergency and promulgating the PCO.

The charges against the Punjab University faculty were registered after the said academics organized and participated in demonstrations against the promulgation of emergency and abrogation of the constitution. These were peaceful protests held inside the campus. We demand the withdrawal of the charges against the faculty members of Punjab University.

We are also appalled by the restrictions on academic institutions and civil society in general including the ban on open debate in all colleges and universities, as well as the curbs on constitutional rights of freedom of assembly and association of the citizenry of Pakistan. University campuses are supposed to be the center of political debate and activity, not zones of repressive censorship. The undersigned condemn the curbs on free speech and attempts to silence voices through intimidation and harassment. We also condemn the suspension of the constitutional rights of freedom of assembly and association. The ban on political debates on campuses is a violation of the most basic tenet of academic freedom; we demand that this ban be lifted immediately.

We express solidarity with our colleagues at Punjab University and all those in Pakistan engaged in the just struggle to end the state of emergency and restore the constitution and the rule of law in Pakistan.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned


cc. Pakistani Embassy in Washington, DC
Vice Chancellor, Punjab University


Sign the petition

PACFREL Video Montage on Emergency in Pakistan

Video Clips of the state of affairs following the imposition of emeregncy in Pakistan. Arrests and violence against human rights activists and lawyers.
An Initiative of PACFREL

Aitzaz Ahsan's open letter - Dec 5, 2007

AITZAZ & ASSOCIATES
Advocates and Attorneys
5 Canal Bank, Zaman Park, Lahore
Phones (92-42) 6362690-6369725
FAX (92-42) 6362545
House No. 10, Street 16, F-6/3, Islamabad
Phones (92-51) 2206545-2206546

Aitzaz Ahsan
M.A. Cantab
Barrister-at-Law
Senior Advocate Supreme Court
President Supreme Court Bar Association.


My dear colleagues, December 05, 2007

Asalam o alaikum.

As I write this from a sub-Jail, let me tell you how proud I am of each one of you and of myself to be part of the community that is writing the present chapter in the history of our unfortunate country. As you are all aware we the lawyers are the vanguard in this long over due mammoth battle for civil rights and democracy in our country.

As for myself, jail is not new to me. I was first arrested as a one-year old in the arms of my mother when she courted arrest in 1946 after my father and grandfather had already done so in the Pakistan movement. During the Martial Law imposed by General Zia-ul-Haq I was arrested and detained without trial several times for long terms only because I pursued, even then, the ideals of democracy and an independent judiciary.

Let me assure you that the sacrifices that you have given and the selfless courage that you have shown for a completely selfless cause of an independent judiciary and civilian rule have no parallel anywhere in the world, even in countries from which we have borrowed the concepts of the rule of law and judicial independence. By seeking the restoration of the Chief Justices and Judges of all provinces we are in fact seeking to the save and strengthen the Federation. Ours is a noble cause.

You know that Muneer Malik, Tariq Mahmmod, Ali Ahmed Kurd and I have never wielded any weapons. We have never broken any law. We are no terrorists. We are men of peace. Yet we have treated worst than terrorists while were in jails.

In fact, when arrested, I was only seeking to persuade, through cogent and respectful arguments, 11 senior most judges of the country that an Army General's attempt to contest elections for the office of President was completely in breach of his own oath under the Constitution. And then what happened? Just because that Bench seemed likely to give a verdict according to the express language of the Constitution, he sacked the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges of Supreme Court and of the four High Courts. Only the judges who were willing to legitimize him were retained.

What happened thus was unthinkable in today's world. It brought disgrace to the country. No such step was ever taken even in any "banana republic". Yet because of us lawyers and the support we are getting from our kindred in the media, the general public and the students, no one can write off this country as a failed nation. However, for the first time since 1947 we are in the middle of a fresh struggle for independence: independence of civil society and civilian institutions.

It is in the context of ultimately achieving our one point goal of restoring the pre-November 3 status quo and the fact of a form of elections being upon us, that I propose the following:

ONE, Our stand for boycott would be vindicated if ALL major parties also boycott.

TWO, Our stand would also be vindicated if even one of the two major political alliances (ARD or APDM), decides to boycott.

THREE, IF however ALL major parties decide TO CONTEST elections, we must devise a strategy to use the momentum to our own advantage. How? My proposal is that:

In situation THREE the hustle and bustle of the nation-wide election campaign may suck in all politically active persons within a few days. Local issues, of roads, water, sewage, schools and other services, may begin to engage people seeking promises of redress of their immediate miseries. Our one demand may go onto the back-burner of the public mind. People will become pre-occupied with other issues. That is what the regime is counting upon.

What then must be done in situation THREE (and ONLY in situation THREE)?

We have to keep the issue of the "deposed" judges alive. We have to keep the spotlight on our demand. To that purpose I propose the following:

1. The Supreme Court Bar Association, while continuing to deny validity to this election prescribes its own OATH to be taken and signed by all CANDIDATES. The oath will require each deponent to swear that, if elected, he/she will move the necessary motion/resolution/law/amendment required to ensure the restoration of the "ousted" judges, to pursue such motion etc, to speak in its favour, and finally to vote for it. (I suggest below the contents of THE OATH).

2. The contents of the oath will be widely publicized by representatives of the Bar at all levels through press-conferences and media reports.

3. It will be made clear that no candidate who does not take this oath is approved by the Bar as deserving the vote of the people irrespective of the Party he belongs to. If more than one candidate in any one constituency takes the oath, then these alone will be declared as the "pre-qualified" candidates disqualifying others from the support and vote of the people.

4. The oath alone is not enough. It is the MANNER IT IS TAKEN that is also vital. To involve the people and the Bar Associations nation-wide, the SCBA and the PBC must give a call that all OATH-TAKING CEREMONIES:

i. will be held in District Bar Association premises before the General House;

ii. the oath will be taken by a senior Office-bearer of the DBA and recorded by the electronic media and the press.

iii. Records will be maintained at the District, Provincial and Central level by the Bar Associations of the oaths.

iv. Daily press conferences and press-releases at the respective District and Central levels will announce the names of pre-qualified candidates issuing the names to the press.

5. Keeping members involved in this most engaging activity will also make the boycott of the courts (wherever prescribed) more viable and effective for a longer period.

6. Since all this activity will be WITHIN THE PREMISES of the Bars there will be no premature confrontation and this activity will be entirely lawful and sustainable. Yet it will become the most prominent activity in public eye, nationally and internationally. In fact I expect the electronic media to run strips of the names of candidates who have or have not taken oath.

7. Each ceremony will involve a maximum number of lawyers and political workers across the country. We will also thus cause a synchonised nation-wide activity with the Bars themselves playing the lead role while highlighting our own primary demand. At the end of the day we may have create a large lobby (perhaps even a majority) committed to our demand as we begin to ride the "judicial bus" that may yet be necessary by late January, 2008. You may even today propose a tentative date for that event.

The proposal above is in respect ONLY of situation THREE. In that event, where ALL major political parties are participating in the elections, a mere placid boycott called by lawyers may not work. We have to be realistic. The electorate in that situation will get involved, distracted, indeed consumed by electoral activity. We, and our one demand may be sidelined. And if it is sidestepped during the elections it is unlikely to be of very high priority after the elections. We have to make it the PRIMARY ISSUE IN THE ELECTIONS.

We have a nation-wide network of District Bars. We can make it worth their while for candidates to adhere to our aspiration of restoration of judges. In the process we can, across the country, create a significant and vibrant political activity. And we will also keep the initiative with us. I am sure that within days candidates of parties already committed to the restoration of judges and independent candidates will be jostling for time to take the oath before the full blaze of the media. I can see them printing photos of the oath-taking ceremony on their posters and publicity material to assure the voters that they are committed to us. It will keep the issue of the "deposed" judges right up-front, and may be make it the most inescapable electoral issue.

We are today contesting the most unique case in the history of the world. In this case, our professional fee as lawyers is whatever this country has given each of us to date and our client are 160 million people. But our clients' interest, our nation's interest, we must, safeguard at all costs. If one unarmed lawyer could win the independence of this country, I do not see any reason why we, thousands of lawyers, should not be able to achieve victory.

If we put out hearts and souls into this perfectly legitimate and peaceful enterprise we will prevail. We shall overcome.

Yours truly,

AITZAZ AHSAN.





OATH FOR CANDIDATES

I, ___________________ s/o ____________________ candidate in Constituency No. ______ to the ________________________ Assembly do hereby solemnly take oath and swear in this ______ day of __________, 2007(8) that in case I am elected in the forthcoming elections I will devote all my energies, powers privileges, rights and authority, (including the privilege to move and initiate legislation/amendments/motions/resolutions and the right to vote and/or to speak) and exercise them at once from the first available opportunity after taking oath so as to ensure that the Supreme Court and the High Courts revert completely to their status as on November 2, 2007 and that none of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the High Courts of the provinces are in any way impeded from performing the functions of their respective offices by any person, authority or any purported law in the shape of any PCO or any other Proclamation by whatever name called and for that purpose to do all in my power and authority till such time as I am member of the Assembly.


DEPONENT.

VERIFIED:

Office-bearer DBA _______.

US-Based Students Initiate Advertisement To Support Students In Pakistan

Issue 26 of the Emergency Times is now available

cover page issue 26 of emergency times. Read the full text at: pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com

The Emergency Times - issue 17 | 25 November 2007

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Issue of Emergency Times Issue 8 (November 14) is available