Musharraf might agree to quit power: Biden

NEW YORK: US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph Biden said that Musharraf would quit the office peacefully.

"I had the impression that he is prepared to retire to being president, which is largely a ceremonial role," but that his withdrawal "will depend on how the coalition government is formed and how he is treated personally," Biden said in a function.

Biden, who heads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was in Pakistan recently along with Senators John Kerry and Chuck Hagel to monitor the elections.

He said that NATO forces failure in Afghanistan could put Nato’s future in jeopardy.

They said 'Its Mean'

Source: BBCUrdu.com

پاکستان کے بعض ریٹائرڈ جرنیلوں نے صدر پرویز مشرف کے اس بیان پر سخت رد عمل ظاہر کیا ہے جس میں انہوں نے کہا تھا کہ ریٹائرڈ فوجیوں کی تنظیم والے ’نو گُڈ مین‘ یعنی بیکار لوگ ہیں۔

ریٹائرڈ فوجیوں کی غیر سرکاری تنظیم کے سرکردہ رہنما اور سابق آرمی چیف مرزا اسلم بیگ نے بی بی سی سے بات چیت میں صدر پرویز مشرف کے بیان پر تبصرہ کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ

یہ صدر مشرف کی کم ظرفی ہے۔ جو اپنے خاندان اور اپنے ماں باپ کوگالیاں دے وہ اپنے آپ کو گالیاں دے رہا ہوتا ہے۔

مرزا اسلم بیگ نے کہا کہ

پرویز مشرف کو اپنے بڑوں اور بزرگوں کا ادب ہے اور نہ ہی قومی اداروں کے لیے کوئی احترام ہے۔ یہ دیکھیں کہ کس بہانے سے انہوں نے منتخب وزیراعظم کو ہٹایا، جمہوری اداروں کو تباہ کیا اور اپنے اقتدار کے لیے انہوں نے کیا کچھ نہیں کیا۔ پھر جب عدالتیں انصاف دینے کے لیے کھڑی ہوئیں تو جو عدالتوں کا حشر کیا ہے اس کی مثال پوری مہذب دنیا میں نہیں ملتی۔

ریٹائرڈ فوجیوں کی غیر سرکاری تنظیم کے صدر لیفٹیننٹ جنرل (ر) فیض علی چشتی نے بی بی سی سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ

پرویز مشرف نے اگر ہم سابق فوجیوں کو ’نو گڈ مین‘ کہا ہے تو وہ خود بھی اب ریٹائرڈ جنرل ہیں۔ جب وہ اچھے نہیں ہیں تو عہدہ چھوڑ دیں۔ صدر صاحب کچھ تو اپنی بات کا مان رکھیں۔

انہوں نے کہا کہ

ملکی حالات خراب ہیں، فوج اور عوام ایک دوسرے کو مار رہے ہیں، وزیرستان میں کیا ہورہا ہے، امن امان کی حالت کیا ہے، آٹا، چینی، گیس اور بجلی غائب ہے، کیا اس کا اثر ریٹائرڈ فوجیوں پر نہیں پڑتا۔ہم اس ملک اور قوم کے مفاد میں کہتے ہیں کہ پرویز مشرف کو اب مستعفی ہونا چاہیے، انہوں نے فوج سمیت ملک کے تمام ادارے تباہ کیے ہیں۔

انہوں نے صدر مشرف کی جانب سے فوائد نہ ملنے کی وجہ سے تنقید کرنے کی بات کو مسترد کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ

میں جب لیفٹیننٹ جنرل تھا تو پرویز مشرف میجر تھا وہ مجھے کیا فائدہ دے سکتا تھا۔ ہمارے سارے ساتھی پرویز مشرف سے سینئر ہیں۔ جہاں تک جمشید گلزار کیانی کا تعلق ہے تو وہ جب فیڈرل پبلک سروس کمیشن کا سربراہ تھا تو دو برس قبل صدر مشرف نے سابق فوجی افسران کو مشاورت کے لیے فوجی ہیڈ کوارٹر بلایا اور جب سوال جواب شروع ہوئے تو جنرل جمشید نے پرویز مشرف سے کہا کہ وہ وعدے کے مطابق فوجی وردی اتار دیں جس پر انہیں ملازمت سے برطرف کیا گیا۔

فیض علی چشتی نے کہا کہ صدر پرویز مشرف جھوٹ بول رہے ہیں اور وہ ان کے ساتھ براہ راست ٹی وی پر مذاکرہ کرنے کو تیار ہیں۔

واضح رہے کہ گزشتہ منگل کو ریٹائرڈ فوجیوں کی ایک غیر سرکاری تنظیم کا لیفٹیننٹ جنرل (ر) فیض علی چشتی کی صدارت میں اجلاس ہوا تھا جس میں صدر پرویز مشرف پر ملکی اداروں کو تباہ کرنے کا الزام لگاتے ہوئے ان سے فوری طور پر مستعفی ہونے کا مطالبہ کیا گیا تھا۔

اجلاس میں ریٹائرڈ ایئر مارشل اصغر خان، نور خان، سابق آرمی چیف مرزا اسلم بیگ، لیفٹیننٹ جنرل (ر) حمید گل، لیفٹیننٹ جنرل (ر) جمشید گلزار کیانی سمیت تینوں مسلح افواج کے متعدد سرکردہ سابق افسران شریک ہوئے تھے۔

سابق فوجیوں نے صدر مشرف کی نامزد کردہ نگران حکومت کو قبضہ گروپ قرار دیتے ہوئے کہا تھا کہ جنرل پرویز مشرف نے ملکی اداروں کو تباہ کردیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کارگل جنگ میں شکست پر پرویز مشرف کا کورٹ مارشل کرنے کا بھی مطالبہ کیا تھا۔

سابق فوجیوں کے اس بیان کو مغربی میڈیا نے کافی نمایاں طور پر شائع کیا اور یہ سوال اٹھایا کہ صدر مشرف کو اب سینئر فوجی افسران کا اعتماد حاصل نہیں رہا جس پر صدر مشرف نے اپنے یورپ کے دورے کے دوران ہی تنقید کرنے والے ریٹائر فوجیوں کو فضول اور بیکار قرار دیتے ہوئے کہا تھا کہ ان کی بات فوجی سنتے ہیں اور نہ ہی سول سوسائٹی۔

صدر پرویز مشرف نے یہ بھی کہا تھا کہ ان پر تنقید کرنے والے کچھ ایسےلوگ ہیں جنہیں انہوں نے فوائد نہیں دیے اور بعض ایسے ہیں جنہیں انہوں نے باہر نکال پھینکا تھا۔

Pakistan president begins Europe tour amid chaos at home

Source: AFP

BRUSSELS - Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Brussels at the start of a European tour, with his international credibility badly tarnished by months of political chaos.

Musharraf held talks with members of the Pakistani community shortly after touching down Sunday, with his official programme set to begin Monday, an embassy official here said.

The Pakistani head of state is scheduled to meet EU foreign policy Javier Solana and NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, as well as address the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

Musharraf, in his most important trip abroad since the crisis began, also has trade and defence cooperation talks planned with Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.

His eight-day tour will also take him to Britain, France and Switzerland.

He is expected to face thorny questions over his commitment to fighting extremism after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and on Pakistan’s slow progress to democratic elections set for February 18.

In the city centre, a small but noisy group of Bhutto supporters waving Pakistani flags gathered to denounce his visit, Belgian media reported.

In an interview with RTBF public television, Pakistan’s ambassador in Brussels, Saeed Khalid, said Musharraf would want to discuss developments on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.

“It’s entirely normal that the president would want to use this occassion to discuss important questions, like the situation in our region near Afghanisan, the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the fight against extremists,” he said.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan is a key ally in the US “war on terror”. NATO-led troops in Afghanistan complain regularly that Musharraf is not doing enough to stop Taliban-led fighters from hiding in his country.

As Musharraf flew out to clear up “misperceptions” about Pakistan, officials there uncovered bomb and poison plots aimed at causing massive loss of life during the Shiite Muslim festival of Ashura.

They also questioned a teenager allegedly linked to Bhutto’s killing.

“We want to clear certain misperceptions of all the happenings in Pakistan and the region,” Musharraf told reporters at Chaklala military base, according to the official Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

In Europe, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported on its website that Spain’s authorities had warned France, Portugal and Britain of the possibility of attacks during Musharraf’s eight-day trip.

Small groups composed principally of Pakistanis were preparing to carry out attacks “imminently,” the report cited Spanish intelligence agency sources as saying.

On Saturday, the interior ministry said that Spanish police had smashed a suspected Islamist terror cell, arresting at least 14 people — 12 of them Pakistanis — and finding bomb-making equipment in raids in Barcelona.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero praised the intelligence services for the swoop but warned against leaping to conclusions about those arrested.

Belgian authorities said they do not plan to boost security beyond that which would be in place for a visit by any other head of state or government.

The Pakistani president is due to fly out to France Monday evening.

During his two days there, he will hold talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, before heading to Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum meeting Wednesday through Friday. He will be in Britain on Saturday.

As he arrived in Europe, rights group Amnesty International urged political and business leaders to press him to bring an end to human rights abuses.

“The international community must give a clear and unequivocal message to President Musharraf that restoring respect for human rights and the rule of law is key to establishing confidence in the forthcoming elections and arresting the spate of political violence in Pakistan,” Amnesty chief Irene Khan said.

Hard hitting, even if you allow for the author to be a rabid Pak-bashing Indian

Khaleej Times Junta versus Janata
BY SHEKHAR GUPTA  9 January 2008  PAKISTANIS surely coin more colorful political slogan than us. They are also less subtle. So, the next time you see visuals of a PPP protest rally on your TV screens following Benazir's assassination, strain your ears a bit to catch a most telling slogan: Amreeka ne kutta paala, vardi waala, vardi waala.  

It would lose much flavor in transliteration, but the meaning would not be lost on even a non-Hindi speaker. Now when was the last time you had the army called a dog, and that too an American poodle, on Pakistan's streets? And this is a Pakistan under an almighty (lately, former) general who has the power to declare and suspend emergency in televised speeches, the power to make 36 (or thereabouts) amendments in his "constitution" at a Press conference, and whose ability to take the biggest decisions on the spot is the envy, often, of the Indian politician, and has been a cause for admiration among India's chattering classes.  

How many times, since he came on his first visit for the Agra summit, have we heard fellow Indians, including serious, knowledgeable people, talk of him with a sense of awe? See, how confident he looks, how well he speaks, the swagger, so impressive, knows his mind, is so fit and energetic, so much in control, so macho, can-do and so on. The sub-text was, view this is total contrast with our own political class: overweight, badly dressed, clumsy, evasive in their answers, indecisive, inarticulate and, horror of horrors, not even able to speak any English.  

And then came Shaukat Aziz, on secondment from Citibank. So smart, articulate, in his smartly cut suits, blah, blah and blah. And what kind of people did we have holding the same job in India? Gowda, who slept in Parliament. Vajpayee, who never seems to answer any question. Gujral who only uttered diplomatic platitudes that meant nothing. And Narasimha Rao, who mostly pretended he had not even heard the question.  

Now let me tell you a few stories. Not necessarily connected either by timing or context, but yielding an interesting conclusion, nevertheless. One of the great untold stories of the Agra summit is how challenging it was for both Vajpayee and Musharraf to deal with each other. One thought he had the answer even before a question had been asked. The other would think for ever, and often tire out his interlocutor. Apparently at one of the mid-day review sessions Musharraf shared his exasperation with his aides. He said something like, I know you guys told me he takes time responding to anything, but how do I deal with somebody who takes so long and then says nothing? A bit like John McEnroe tossing his racket in exasperation while playing Ramesh Krishnan and screaming: How do I play this guy? He serves at five miles per hour! One of his aides tried to suggest that Vajpayee takes so long because he is processing Musharraf's question in his wise, old head. Musharraf was still irritated and somebody senior in his inner council said, with humor laced with disdain: to unka processor Pentium nahin, 286 hoga (then his processor must be a 286, not a Pentium).  

Now listen to the story from the other end. What exasperated Vajpayee most of all was Musharraf's cocky "decisiveness" . "You are the prime minister, I am the president, if we agree on something, let's sign," he would say, while at the same time making changes on the draft of a likely agreement and asking Vajpayee to okay it. He simply wouldn't buy Vajpayee's argument that he had a cabinet to go back to. "Par aap prime minister hain. Aap faisla keejiye (but you are the prime minister, you decide)," Musharraf would say. So when Vajpayee briefed his aides and fellow members of the Cabinet Committee on Security (who, barring George Fernandes, were in Agra), he said about his counterpart pretty much the opposite of what he said of him: "He is in such a hurry. Kuchch sochne ko taiyyar nahin hain. Sub kuch faisala abhi chahte hain, kaise samjhaoon bhai." Or words to that effect.  

In the main lounge of the Congress Centre at Davos, Switzerland, where all kinds from heads of state to global corporate leaders to rock stars to ordinary journalists congregate and rub shoulders during the World Economic Forum January meeting, I found my old friend, Pakistani journalist, part-time politician, now a full-time exile, Boston University professor and also an Indian Express columnist, Husain Haqqani. As we exchanged gossip, Shaukat Aziz walked past, accompanied by a couple of minders, perfectly cut suit, pompous, smug smile and all. Just that morning he had lectured many of us senior editors over breakfast, laying down the law for India: nothing would move, the gas pipeline, even the permission to Indian private airlines to fly to Pakistan unless the "core" issue was addressed. Again there was some admiration for his confidence and clarity even among the Indian contingent as he was "so unlike our bumbling politicians" .  

Haqqani's eyes were now lit up with mischief. He pointed his finger directly at Aziz and said: "You know what they say, Davos is the Disneyland of the mind. If that be so, there goes its Mickey Mouse."  

How have the relative fortunes of the two competing kinds of leaderships and nations under their charge evolved over these seven years? Musharraf now looks bumbling and unconvincing, an international joke, a pitiable, forlorn figure, hated by his countrymen, distrusted by the world and mentioned dismissively even by Barack Obama . Shaukat Aziz has disappeared from the scene, even losing out to an ordinary mortal - coincidentally from India - for the top job in his alma mater, Citi. Their country is a mess, their own army, for the first time, is seeing its credibility, power, its pre-eminent position in Pakistan's society and power structure questioned. Its political class is decimated, its institutions fatally wounded. How do people as proud as the Pakistanis feel when their dictator offers to salvage his credibility by summoning the Scotland Yard to investigate the assassination of their most prominent political leader? Nobody believes their election commission's intentions, motives or judgment in postponing their election.  

Vajpayee, on the other hand, sits at home, having lost power in an election, not in the pink of health, but satisfied at the way his country is moving. His successor, from the opposite side of the political fence, even comes to wish him on his birthday. His country has meanwhile had many more state elections and another general election within a year or so will give his successors in his own party another crack at power. Now, think, who finally won. The indecisive, inarticulate, ineffective slob who did not seem to have an answer to anything, or the macho, confident, smart, decisive, modern smartie who seemed to have an answer to everything?  

There are many interesting, and important conclusions to be drawn from this complex argument. But the most significant is this: a modern nation needs democracy and so it needs its politicians, however clumsy, corrupt, effete and power-crazed they may be. Because a military dictator can also be all of these things. The difference is, the political leader draws his power from the democratic process, so he has a stake in preserving that system, howsoever cynical he may be.  

The general draws his power by throttling the democratic system and its institutions and you can see the results of that in Pakistan. So, in a democracy, howsoever powerful a Lalu or Mayawati, they have to shut up and listen when the Supreme Court speaks. The election commission can publicly upbraid both Sonia Gandhi and Narendra Modi. We, the media, can question and curse who we want. It happens because the political class has the biggest stake in the democratic process, howsoever much it may wish to manipulate it. In contrast, a military dictator owes his power to the absence of institutions, of checks and balances. That is exactly what Musharraf has done to his judiciary, the election commission and even the media. That is why he has to summon the Scotland Yard to investigate Benazir's assassination.

Angry Pakistanis turn against army

By: Christina Lamb in Islamabad

IT IS the most expensive - and talked about - property development in Pakistan, but few can get near it. Hidden behind barbed wire, the new state-of-the-art army headquarter to replace a garrison in Rawalpindi is costing a reputed £1 billion and will cover 2,400 acres of prime land in Islamabad, including lakes, a residential complex, schools and clinics.

Originally intended to represent the best of Pakistan, the new army HQ is now being seen as a symbol of all that is wrong with the country.

Amid nationwide anger over the killing of the opposition leader Benazir Bhutto and a widespread belief that the country’s military or intelligence may have been involved, the population is turning against the army for the first time.

From the wailing rice-pickers at Bhutto’s grave in the dusty village of Garhi Khuda Bakhsh in the southern province of Sindh to the western-educated elite sipping whisky and soda in the drawing rooms of Lahore, the message is the same: General Pervez Musharraf, the president, must go and the army must return to its barracks.

read more

The west has not just repressed democracy, it has aided terror!

Source: The Guardian

Pakistan has as many paradigms as pundits. What is clear, however, is that meddling will only ever foment disorder

Simon Jenkins in Lahore

The Pakistani senator gazed at the headline in despair. It read: “US weighs new covert push in Pakistan”. Washington was authorising “enhanced CIA activity” in the country while US Democratic candidates declared they were all ready “to launch unilateral military strikes in [Pakistan] if they detected an imminent threat”. Hillary Clinton wanted “joint US-UK oversight” of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. In a country where anti-Americanism is almost a religion, said the senator, this is “an answer to a Taliban prayer”.

I am convinced that those whom the gods wish to destroy they first curse with foreign policy. For the third time in 20 years, the west is meddling with the world’s sixth most populous state. It did so to promote the Afghan mujahideen against the Russians in the 1980s, then to attack al-Qaida after 9/11, and now to “guard” Pakistan’s bombs against a fantastical al-Qaida seizure. Needless to say, the sole beneficiaries are the Taliban and the forces of disorder.That said, few other conclusions can be drawn from a country that, more than any I know, is Churchill’s riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Pakistan has as many paradigms as pundits. You can take your choice. Thesis A is that President Pervez Musharraf is a well-meaning dictator who sought rapprochement with Benazir Bhutto to “transit” to democracy, and who still remains the best hope for guiding his country to civilian rule. Thesis B depicts him as a popinjay dictator who kills people, locks up judges, censors the media and runs a brutal fascist party, the MQM. He had no intention of working with Bhutto, whom he detested, and has so much blood on his hands as to be easily capable of consenting to her death.

Thesis C has Bhutto herself as a perfidious and corrupt hereditary monarch in thrall to a monster husband whose base was limited to Sindh province and London’s media drawing-rooms. She indulged Washington’s John Negroponte in his ham-fisted attempt to prop up Musharraf last year, but only so as to escape corruption charges and enjoy a modest taste of power. Thesis D says this is outrageous. Bhutto was the one Pakistani politician with experience and stature at home and abroad. She knew she could rule only with army permission but could have faced down the military, negotiated with the Taliban districts and steered Pakistan to democracy. Her going is a catastrophe.

Forget that, says thesis E. The US-backed Pakistan army, responsible for almost a quarter of the country’s economy, will never cede power. It is the sole embodiment of central control in this 60-year-old federal state, and its guarantor against another partition like Bangladesh in 1971. It cannot afford to trust unruly politicians such as Bhutto and her ilk and must be trusted by Pakistan’s allies abroad.

Rubbish, says thesis F. Pakistan’s army makes Saddam’s Republican Guard seem a bunch of pansies. Its Punjabi oligarchs and their agencies kill at will and feud even with their Taliban allies, as in last year’s slaughter at Islamabad’s Red Mosque. It has failed to curb the Taliban and nobody, not even Musharraf, is safe from it.

As for Pakistan in general, thesis G has it teetering on the brink of breaking apart, as the army readies itself to nullify next month’s election with rigging and corruption. A bloodbath will follow, in which Sindh province breaks away and the north-west becomes an al-Qaida enclave, lowering over Kabul. No it will not, says thesis H. Pakistan is made of rubber, bouncing back from every reverse. It has a mature “civil society” of lawyers, businessmen, politicians and even some generals, sensitive to their image abroad and deeply ashamed of their dictatorship. The elections may be a mess but they will somehow move Pakistan, stumbling and trembling, to eventual civilian rule. Religious parties are supported by barely 10% of the electorate, and even the army is overwhelmingly secular. An Islamist state is inconceivable.

Since there are grains of plausibility in all these theses, much turns on the fate of next month’s elections. Musharraf, weakened by his November 3 coup, still has 60 top judges imprisoned, including the nation’s chief justice, locked up with his disabled son. With the charismatic Bhutto dead and the Negroponte intervention shattered, he is in a tight spot. He may yet cancel the vote and invite mayhem on to the streets.

There is certainly an openness to Pakistan’s dictatorship compared with other Islamic states, and some westerners have appeased Musharraf as “our” dictator, operating a “doctrine of necessity”. But there is nothing in this man’s track record to suggest that he is not a paid-up member of the dictatoring classes. His agents treat democrats with contempt and he funnels huge sums into his pockets and those of his generals. About 80% of US aid to Pakistan since Musharraf came to power has gone on military assistance, less than a quarter of it used even remotely against the Taliban. The virtual collapse of the state school system has followed a fall in education spending from 4% to 1.8% of GDP, one of the lowest in Asia. In its place have mushroomed the free madrasas, from a few hundred to over 10,000, financed by Wahhabist Saudi money and formerly in league with American-financed mujahideen training camps. Intended to fight the Russians in Afghanistan, they have since become a network of “faith training” for the poor, teaching little but the Qur’an. This is Musharraf’s (and America’s) most lethal bequest to Pakistan’s political economy.

America’s clodhopping sponsorship of Musharraf drove him to renege on the treaties with the tribal states, fomenting a Pashtun insurgency. The Afghan frontier has duly proved al-Qaida’s juiciest hunting ground, aided by every American bombing raid and every Pakistan army atrocity. The Pashtun mujahideen (whose American backers are well-documented in the film Charlie Wilson’s War) is a Frankenstein monster that has turned its vengeance on Musharraf, Afghanistan and Washington alike.

Whatever the defects of democracy, and in Asia they are legion, it remains the least worst way of curbing authoritarian power. There is no alternative. America’s handling of Musharraf since 9/11 - essentially to capture one man, Osama bin Laden - has rendered swaths of his country, from Baluchistan in the south to Swat in the north, wholly insecure. Even the Grand Trunk Road from Islamabad to Peshawar is patrolled by the Taliban. The idea that Musharraf’s troops, let alone the CIA or the US airforce, might suppress a people who have worsted every empire from the Mughals to the British is ludicrous. Modern armies are no agents of pacification. Civilian negotiation in a context of democratic assent is at very least worth a try.

Backing Musharraf has always seemed “a good idea at the time”. The next person to be cursed with Washington’s favour appears to be Musharraf’s successor as army chief, General Ashfaq Kiyani. However, by opting for the realpolitik of dictatorship the west has not just repressed democracy but aided insurgency and terror. It has yielded no security benefit to anyone. If Pakistan becomes a “failed state”, the failure will, in large part, be one of democratic imagination in Washington and London. We simply refuse to practise what we preach.

simon.jenkins@guardian.co.uk

Golden age of 'prosperity' ???

Just look at the following picture, "Golden Age of Prosperity"

These people are no doubt the reckless liars ... they don't have the idea about the 'ground realities' although our 'commando' keep on telling us about the 'ground realities' ... how come he missed that: there is no Electricity, there is no Gas, there is no Water, there is no Flour (Aata), there is no CNG, there is no Wheat, there is no Security, there is no Peace, there are no Jobs, there is neither Judiciary nor Justice.

And yet they say 'Its Golden Age of Prosperity'. Its no more important what they say because 'they' have lost their credibility (if there was any), so its important that what do you say ?

Exposing Black Sheep in Pakistani Media

Source: pkpolitics.com

Author: Dr. Akram Khan

Similar to a few black sheep in Lawyers Community in Pakistan like Shareefuddin Pirzada, Malik Qayyum and Naeem Bukhari, there are a few media entities that play the same part as these notorious characters.

Daily Times Newspaper and Business Plus TV Channel:

Salman Taseer, the owner of this media group is close friend of President (i) Mushrarraf and also serving as a Minister in interim government. His TV Channel was the first one that got back on air immediately after the Emergency+ of 3rd November 2007, while other channels were facing crackdowns by Musharraf regime.

He was a well known leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and decided to side with Musharraf to serve mutual business and media interests.

Najam Sethi:

Najam is considered as a champion of yellow journalism in English print and electronic media. A pseudo intellectual who has always been used by the establishment for planting their stories in the media for the purpose of disinformation, twisting/distorting facts and diverting attention of people from real issues. Najam Sethi runs his weekly newspaper Friday Times and actively write in Daily Times.

The team that went to the United States to defend the illegal acts of Musharraf after emergency+ could not find anything in Pakistani Media to support them except an article written by Najam Sethi against deposed Judges.

Nazir Naji:

Nazir Naji is considered to be the Urdu version of Najam Sethi. With under metric education and working as a columnist, he claims himself as a lobbyist and is well known for spreading negative journalism. He is also known as a LOTA in journalists community for frequently switching sides.

After the events of 12th May 2007 in Karachi, Nazir Naji was the only journalist who defended the actions of MQM in the Pakistani Media.

Saleem Shezad

Saleem is the bureau chief of Asia Times in Pakistan and the the only lucky reporter who receives emails from terrorist groups claiming responsibility of attacks. Click here for more on Saleem Shahzad …

It is extremely important that everyone knows about these black sheep so that we can counter their strategy to hamper the movement of lawyers and civil society for restoration of judiciary and for upholding the rule of law in Pakistan.

Blogged with Flock

How to Reform the Government of Pakistan

By ASIF ALI ZARDARI

(InformPress.com) - Last week the world was shocked, and my life was shattered, by the murder of my beloved wife, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Benazir was willing to lay down her life for what she believed in - for the future of a democratic, moderate, progressive Pakistan. She stood up to dictators and fanatics, those who would distort and defy our Constitution and those who would defame Quran, the Islamic holy book, by violence and terrorism. My pain and the pain of our children is unimaginable. But I feel even worse for a world that will have to move forward without this extraordinary bridge between cultures, religions and traditions.

I married Benazir in 1987 but spent less than five years living with her in the Prime Minister's house over her two terms in office, which were interrupted by military interventions. I spent more than 11 years in Pakistani jails, imprisoned without a conviction on false charges that former Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf (who brought and pursued the charges) have now publicly acknowledged were politically motivated. Even before Benazir was first elected Prime Minister, in 1988, Pakistan's intelligence agencies began working to discredit her, targeting me and several of her friends. I was maliciously called "Mr. Ten Percent" by their hired guns in public relations, and the names of her friends abroad were besmirched with ridiculous charges that they headed the non-existent "Indo-Zionist" lobby.

This campaign of character assassination was possibly the first institutional application of the politics of personal destruction. Benazir was the target, and her husband and friends were the instruments. The purpose was to weaken the case for a democratic government. It is perhaps easier to block the path of democracy by discrediting democratic politicians.

During the years of my wife's governments, she was constrained by a hostile Establishment - an interventionist military leadership, a treacherous intelligence network, a fragile coalition government and a presidential sword of Damocles - constantly threatening to dismiss Parliament. Despite all of this, she was able to introduce free media, make Pakistan one of the 10 most important emerging capital markets in the world, build over 46,000 schools and bring electricity to many villages in our large country. She changed the lives of women in Pakistan and drew attention to the cause of women's rights in the Muslim World. It was a record that she was rightly proud of.

Her murder does not end her vision and must not be allowed to empower her assassins. Those responsible - within and outside of the Pakistan Government - must be held accountable. I call on the United Nations to commence a thorough investigation of the circumstances, facts and coverup of my wife's murder, modeled on the investigation into the
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. I also call on the friends of democracy in the West, in particular the United States and Britain, to endorse the call for such an international, independent investigation. An investigation conducted by the Government of Pakistan will have no credibility in my country or anywhere else. One does not put the fox in charge of the henhouse.

But it is also time to look forward. In profound sadness, the torch of leadership in the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been passed to a new generation, to our son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. I will work with him and support him and protect him to the extent possible in the trying times ahead. The Bhutto family has given more than anyone can imagine to the service of our nation, and in these difficult days it is critical that the party remain unified and focused. My wife, always prescient and wise, understood that. Knowing that the future was unpredictable, she recommended that the family keep the party together for the sake of Pakistan. This is what we aim to do.

The Musharraf regime has postponed the parliamentary elections scheduled for 8 January 2008, not because of any ogistical problems but because Musharraf and his "King's Party" (PML-Q) know that they were going to be thoroughly rejected at the polls and that the PPP and other pro-democracy parties would win a majority. Real civilian democracy in Pakistan can be established, and extremism and fanaticism contained, only if the elections, when they are held, are free, fair and credible.

To that end, the people of Pakistan must be guaranteed elections that are (1) conducted under new, neutral caretaker cabinets, free of cronies from Musharraf's party; (2) supervised by an independent and autonomous election commission formed in consultation with the major political parties; (3) monitored by trained international observers who have unfettered access to all polling stations as well as the right to conduct exit polling to verify results; (4) covered by electronic and print media who must be granted all new, internationally recognized press freedoms, which the Pakistani media needs after illegal Martial Law was once again imposed on 3 November 2007; and (5) arbitrated by an independent judiciary as provided for in the Constitution. The new independent judiciary must consist of Pakistan Supreme Court Chief Justice Mr. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, all deposed justices of the Supreme Court and all dismissed judges of the provincial high courts of Pakistan, who must be reinstated immediately by the Government of Pakistan. In addition, all political activists, lawyers and judges being detained must be released.

The enemies of democracy and tolerance - who took the life of my wife and killed many other innocent Pakistanis on Thursday, 27 December 2007 in Liaqat Bagh, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and murdered a great leader of the world - can and must be exposed and brought to justice. Dictatorship and fanaticism have always been rejected by the people of Pakistan. If free and fair elections are held, then those evil forces will be defeated again on 18 February 2008. On that day, the vision and indefatigable spirit of Ms. Benazir Bhutto will burn brightly, and, in the words of John F. Kennedy, "the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

[Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, a former Senator and ex-Minister, is Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) based in Karachi, Pakistan. PPP Website: http://www.ppp.org.pk ]

Corrupt Tyrant Mush Must Resign Immediately

By MUHAMMAD NAWAZ SHARIF

(InformPress.com) - There is no law and certainly no order in my country. What happened this past week has shaken every Pakistani. Ms. Benazir Bhutto was no ordinary person. She served as Prime Minister twice and had returned to Pakistan in an effort to restore our country to the path of democracy. With her assassination I have lost a friend and a partner in democracy.

It is not too early to blame anybody for her death. One thing, however, is beyond any doubt: The country is paying a very heavy price for the many unpardonable actions of only one tyrant - Pervez Musharraf.

Musharraf alone is responsible for the chaos in Pakistan. Over the past eight years he has assiduously worked at demolishing institutions, subverting the Constitution, dismantling the judiciary and gagging the media. Pakistan today is a tyrannical military-police state in which a former Prime Minister can be gunned down in broad daylight. One of my own political rallies was fired upon by PML-Q terrorists on Thursday, 27 December 2007, the day PPP Chairwoman Ms. Benazir Bhutto was killed in Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, near the Pakistan Army GHQ.

These are the darkest days in Pakistan's history and such are the wages of dictatorship. There is widespread disillusionment. At all the election rallies I have addressed, people have asked a simple question: Criminals are punished for breaking laws, so why should those who subvert the Constitution not be punished? Those who killed Ms. Benazir Bhutto are the evil forces of darkness and authoritarianism. They are the ones who prefer rifles to reason.

Ms. Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and my own Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) have traditionally been political rivals. We fought each other through elections. We won some. We lost some. That is what democracy is all about. Whoever has the majority rules. Ms. Bhutto and I both realized while in exile that rivalry among democrats has made the task of manipulation easier for undemocratic forces. We therefore decided not to allow such nefarious games by the Establishment.

I fondly remember meeting with Ms. Benazir Bhutto in February 2005. She was kind enough to visit me in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where I lived after Musharraf forced me into exile. We realized that we were fighting for the same thing: Real Civil Democracy. She, too, believed in the rule of law and rule of the people. A key point of the Charter of Democracy that we signed in May 2006 was that everyone should respect the mandate of the people and not allow the Establishment to play dirty politics and subvert the will of the people. After the Jeddah meeting we regularly consulted each other on issues of national and international importance. On many occasions we tried tosynchronize our strategies. We had agreements and disagreements, but we both wanted to pull Pakistan back from the brink of disaster.

While the PPP may have been our traditional rival, it is a national asset whose leadership has inspired many Pakistanis. Political parties form part of the basis on which the entire edifice of democracy rests. If our country is to move forward, we need an independent judiciary, a sovereign Parliament and strong political parties that are accountable to the people. Without political parties, there will be hopelessness and authoritarianism will thrive. Dictators fear the power of the
people. That is why they pit parties against each other and then try to destroy those parties - to further their own agenda. This is what has happened in Pakistan in recent years.

So, what is the way out of the depths to which Pakistan has been plunged? First, Musharraf should go immediately. He is the primary and principal source of discord. Second, an interim, broad-based, national unity government should be immediately installed to heal the wounds of this bruised nation. Third, the Constitution should be restored to what it was in 1973. The judiciary should be restored to its condition before 3 November 2007 - countering the boneheaded steps Musharraf took under the garb of illegal "Emergency" rule. All curbs on the media-press should be removed. Finally, free, fair and impartial elections should be held in a friendly and peaceful environment under such a national government so that the people are able to choose their representatives for a Parliament and government that can be trusted to rebuild the country rather than serve the agenda of a dictator.

These are the only steps that will give the country a semblance of stability. If Musharraf continues to illegally rule as he has for the past eight years (1999-2008), then we are doing nothing but waiting for another doomsday.

The world must realize that Musharraf's policies have neither limited nor curbed terrorism. In fact, terrorism is stronger than ever, with far more sinister aspects, and as long as Musharraf remains, there remains the threat of more terror. The people of Pakistan should not be antagonized any further for the sake of only one dictator. It is time for the international community to join hands in support of true civilian democracy, human rights, civil liberties, freedom, equal justice and the rule of just & fair laws in Pakistan. The answer to my country's problems is a democratic process that promotes justice, peace, harmony and tolerance, and hence can play an effective role in promoting moderation. Under the ruling corrupt tyranny, there is no future for economic development, family prosperity and business progress in Pakistan.

[Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, a former twice-elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, is Chief of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) based in Lahore, Pakistan. PML-N Website: http://www.pmln.org.pk ]

Blogged with Flock

He’s carrying the torch of opposition in Pakistan

Source: Los Angeles Times

RAIWIND, PAKISTAN — As this country’s political opposition looks for a leader after last week’s assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif may be the last man standing. And his eyes are fixed upon a single goal: to get rid of his archenemy, the man who kicked him out of office in a military coup more than eight years ago, President Pervez Musharraf.

Only a few months ago, Sharif was languishing abroad, a deposed two-time prime minister relegated to fanning the embers of his career in bitter exile. Now, he’s back with a vengeance, campaigning for his party in upcoming elections and assuming his role as the only politician left with a credible national profile after Bhutto’s slaying, which transformed the political landscape in Pakistan.

Sharif’s heightened stature is good news for his supporters, especially here in populous Punjab province, his longtime power base. But it raises hackles elsewhere, including Washington, where the White House regards him as too friendly with Islamic extremists and too hostile toward Musharraf, a close ally in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.

Sharif is also a controversial figure at home, where he faces ongoing corruption charges and is barred from running for parliament or becoming prime minister, for now, because of a separate case. But he has been busy consolidating support for his party and playing the senior statesman.

Even his critics acknowledge that he has acted with grace and dignity in the aftermath of the attack on Bhutto, with whom he once carried on a venomous rivalry.

“I think we have buried the bitterness of the past. We buried it five years ago, maybe a little bit more than that,” Sharif said Thursday in an interview at his estate in Raiwind, outside the eastern city of Lahore.

In a dark suit and red tie, he sat in a cavernous living room whose entrance was flanked by two stuffed lions, in homage to his nickname, the “lion of Punjab.” A massive crystal chandelier hung overhead, sending light refracting through a collection of cut-glass bowls and vases.

“We became friends, Benazir Bhutto and myself,” he said. “And we both jointly decided to launch a struggle against dictatorship.” A wealthy industrialist, Sharif, 58, is trying to make common cause with Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, or PPP, in restoring democratic rule to his homeland. Part of that makes pragmatic sense: His Pakistan Muslim League-N hopes to ride the coattails of the PPP, which is expected to garner a significant sympathy vote in parliamentary polls Feb. 18.

Working together, the two parties might be able to challenge Musharraf or, with a two-thirds majority, attempt to impeach the president. There is no doubt that Sharif is on a single-minded campaign to rid Pakistan of Musharraf, whose autocratic regime he blames for plunging the nation into turmoil. During his second term as prime minister, from 1997 to 1999, Sharif picked Musharraf as chief of the army, only to see the then-general usurp him, toss him in jail and banish him to Saudi Arabia.

“This one man is playing havoc with the state. This one man is guilty of abrogating the constitution. This one man is guilty of reducing the parliament to a rubber stamp. . . . It is a great shame for me as a Pakistani to see these things happening,” Sharif said.

“I stand for democracy; I stand for the rule of law; I stand for independence of judiciary; I stand for freedom of press and the media; I stand for the fundamental rights of the 160 million people of Pakistan,” he said. “I think it’s a very good stand, a very noble cause.”

For some, such ringing liberal democratic rhetoric from Sharif, which he has repeatedly sounded since being allowed to return to Pakistan in November, is laden with irony. From the time he was chief minister of Punjab in 1985, almost until his ouster from the prime minister’s office 14 years later, Sharif owed much of his position to the ties he cultivated with the ruling establishment, including the all-powerful military.

His government was accused of routinely threatening journalists. The police once abducted a well-known editor, allegedly on Sharif’s orders, because the publication displeased him. Pakistan’s biggest Urdu-language daily, Jang, was at times reduced to publishing single-page editions because of harassment.

Pro-Sharif activists also stormed and ransacked the Supreme Court, whose chief justice, a Sharif foe, eventually felt forced to resign from the bench. “When he says, ‘We stand for freedom of the judiciary; we stand for nonintervention of the military in the government,’ he is standing against everything that he himself did,” said Muhammad Badar Alam, a political writer.

And the comeback leader who says he supports the rights of fellow Pakistanis maintains a lifestyle to which only the tiniest handful of them can relate. Sharif is a multimillionaire who many think amassed some of his riches through shady deals. His spacious living room comfortably fits seven sofas and could house as many poor families. Surrounding his mansion are grounds so expansive that his two stuffed lions could conceivably have been shot on-site. (They are from Africa.)

read more

Crocodile tears and a lot of rubbish by Musharraf

By: Bushra Gohar

These days’ people living in NWFP are being prepared for the stoneage as has been promised on several occasions by the powers that be. Electricity and gas remains suspended for hours on end, daily food items are way too expensive for the common man, unemployment figures are high, there is a total breakdown of law and order and the state has ceased to exist to ensure our constitutional rights but shows its ugly head only to pound us with indiscriminate bombings through illegal and in human operations justified in the name of war on terror... things are worse in the areas where these operations are directly taking place targeting and terrorizing mainly the innocent civilians...this after the much touted Musharraf's dream team's 8 years of peace, prosperity and progress in the country. The UN report issued on one of the private channels says that more than 400 families have moved to the neigbouring to take refuge, as the government has made no effort to provide food, shelter and medical assistance to the civilian population living in the line of fire...

Thus on a freezing cold winter evening last night, without gas and electricity, the masses were given a rare break for an hour to listen to their unconstitutional and self imposed president shed crocodile tears over the loss of BB and further the blame game...as expected the speech was nothing but hollow words insensitive to the sentiments of the people...it was that of a conspirator of a heinous crime...one was hoping that he would for once do the honourable thing and accept responsibility for taking the country to the verge of disintegration and civil war and announce his resignation and offer unconditional accountability, opening the way for a National consensus government and an independent election commission, restoration of judiciary and lifting of the gag on the media...but that was a bit too much to expect from a power hungry thug and his gang of criminals who know that their only survival is in keeping the nation in a perpetual chaotic state....instead, he passed on the buck to the state sponsored, trained and sustained Baitullah Mehsud and Fazlullah for the targeted cold blooded killing in an attempt to incite Pukhtun Sindhi tensions in the country...his government has gone overboard over the years to declare the Pukhtuns extremists and terrorists of the worst order...justifying the continued illegal operations against the Pukhtuns. The conversation in Pushtu between Baitullah Mehsud and another person congratulating each other for a mission well accomplished after BB's cold blooded murder, was immediately released to all networks to divert the public’s attention to the "trigger happy and barbaric" Pukhtuns in a clear attempt to provoke ethnic riots...In the tapes Baitullah Mehsud gives out his whereabouts and yet our efficient agencies were not able to catch him...instead the establishment got busy in covering the facts and issued ridiculous and callous statements about the tragic incident…one thing is for sure the people in the province can no longer tolerate or believe a word of what Musharraf says not even if it means a break from the long power outages…

The idealist in me still hopes that the people will call his bluff by voting out his goons in the Q league in the upcoming polls and giving a decisive 'No' to Musharraf...but the question is will the elections take place as scheduled..I suspect more riots and chaos will be orchestrated during Moharram to defer the elections indefinitely and the nation will be condemned to another 5 years of Musharaf's dictatorship...we must all join hands to strengthen the 'Quit Musharraf Movement' by a group of Human Rights activists or prepare for the dark times yet to come stripped of our basic rights and services...lets not tolerate this oppression any further...BG

Blogged with Flock

More need to Resist and Protest against the newly imposed Martial Law, than ever

It was the blackest day of Pakistan's history, the act of imposing Martial Law (i would say it Martial Law rather emergency because it is imposed by the Chief of Army Staff not even by the President, if it were the emergency then it would had been imposed by the Prime Minister) is a ridiculous act of its kind. Because in the past all such kind of actions were taken against the 'civil governments' whereas in this setup, the Army Chief was also the President (since 8 years not from a short period of time), the Prime Minister was undoubtedly a puppet and he himself was the one and only Ruler. The text of Declaration of Emergency Rule which ends by saying that "the constitution is in 'abeyance' - which, in effect means that martial law has been imposed, although there is not a heavy security presence on the streets."

All those reasons that he spoke about, in his "Mere Aziz Hum-Watno", were in fact the points of charge-sheet of his failures during his Dictatorship since 8 years and mainly after becoming the "Front Line State" in the so called "War on Terror" after Nine Eleven. In short, the whole speech was nothing except "I", "Me" and "Myself". For Example
I thought blah blah blah
I decided blah blah blah
I want blah blah blah
I wont allow blah blah blah
I did blah blah blah
I will do blah blah blah
My Rule, My Command, My Authority blah blah blah
Still he insists that it was a Democratic Government ? I ask where was the "Government" ? It had been a one man show since the 12 October 1999. This blatant attack on civil right was part of the statement that "I will remain". In his address he said "Inaction at this moment is suicide for Pakistan and I cannot allow this country to commit suicide." Who the hell are you ? You don't have the legitimacy to allow or disallow anything, no one elected you to do that. Especially when you plan to cease the basic civil rights, suspend the constitution and arrest the judiciary by deciding on your own (or by just consulting the "chorr" commanders).

Humorously he thinks that he is part of the solution, infact he is part of the problem. "I suspect that Pakistan's sovereignty is in danger unless timely action is taken," he said (in his address). Thats exactly what we believe (not only suspect) that Pakistan's sovereignty is in danger if Military remained in rule and Mush didn't stepped out. BBC quoted "He insisted his decisions were made for the benefit of Pakistan".

The main target is the judiciary which is accused of interfering in government policy and weakening the struggle against terrorism, what a pathetic joke is this. He wants to install puppets in judiciary, also. Thats why he dismissed Chief Justice. More than 15 Judges from Supreme court and more than 60 Judges from all the four High courts refused to take oath under PCO. In Sindh, almost all the members of that bench which was hearing the 12 May Case and also the Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, were not even invited to take oath !!!

So please please stand up to resist and protest against this shameful act of a self centered man. The future of our generations is at stake. Don't think that its only the job of political parties or the legal community, we are also part of it. Enough is enough, we had been silent since long and gave Mush a reason to say that the silent majority support his policies and decisions. So please don't become part of his crimes anymore. Do what ever you can to remove this system which has been embarrassing us all the time.

Blogged with Flock