Justice, Judiciary and Journalist

reminds me of indira gandhi and allahabad high-court verdict...the whole country was on strike..railways, trade-unions, RSS wallahs, JP Narain and his bihari students.

``So the judiciary is still divided and the politicians are still divided, which is why the Army still remains strong, as it is undivided......`` (Bulleya)

are u sure it is?

GT/jang #: ......I think the politicians are all being quite opportunistic......I suppose that is part and parcel of politics......They are waiting to see which way the ball bounces and the cookie crumbles.......You may have noticed that none of the major politicians of the govt. have openly supported Musharraf either.......

.......I think they are all waiting for the SJC decision.......If it is in favor of the CJ, then it will set in a process where the courts will, themselves, weaken Musharraf.....And the politicians (read PPP) can then put him under extreme pressure and get all the cases dropped against BB and take power......

........If the SJC rules in favor of Musharraf, then an agitation might occur, at which point I think various political parties will try to lead that agitation.......That is when MMA will start burning KFCs.......

........The MQM and the ruling PML(Q) will quitely roll over as they see the tide turning and join whomever they think will be in power.......The day Musharraf is weakened, the MQM will, en masse, dump him.......And the PML(Q) politicians will, one by one, apologize for their sins, and try to join some other party.......

......The main party is really the PPP.......MMA doesn`t have a strong enough base in the country......Whichever way PPP rolls is the way the politics will role.........One would have thought that it would be on the forefront of this event, as it is the biggest victim, historically, of Army rule........However, I think the personal interest of its leader (Benazir) is taking precedence over its workers` direction........Had the PPP been led by Aitezaz Ahsan (a PPP minister and lawyer of the CJ), I think it would agitating at the moment........Keep in mind, the Musharraf govt. really went after various PPP leaders. They were kept in jail, without trials for years........One of its top leader was only recently released, without trial, after five years!!....I am quite sure they would all want to go after Musharraf........

Further to: # 26

There are two more issues because of which religious political parties have absolutely lost their face. Now every Pakistani understands that they are just another facade of the corrupt ruling class that oppresses Pakistan:

1. They ``legitimized`` this dictator by signing onto his Constitutional Ammendements. (Even though this legitimization has no value in the eyes of people of Pakistan and/or constitutionally, but just another act of treason). So if Mushrraf is the one who raped the constitution; the political molvis were the one who aided him in this gang rape.

2. On the issues of Hadud laws their stance and behavior was shameful. If they cannot stop dictator from imposing unIslamic laws on this nation and still remain a part of his political establishment then why do we need them. They have disqualified themselves by clearly defying the edict of Holy Prophet (pbuh); they are no more worthy of our leadership.

The third issue is becoming more and more obvious as the time passes by with the CJ debacle. It is becoming evident that they (the sarkari molvis) are trying to divert pressure from the dictator by weaseling out at this critical juncture,

Three strikes and you are out.

Re: # 29

django:

I am not very sure this time. It would be nice if Manto, Raw Dust, masadi etc. send more real time info. as well as their perceptions.

i suspect that MMA protests are token too..only the leaders were ``arrested`` peacefullyl. if it were a real protest, karachi, lahore peshawar would be shut-down and at least 4 KFCs would be torched. considering now even a dunkin-donut express counter is vandalized, its a staged protest.

Re: # 24

manto:

Are the common people involved, or is it just the upper classes? If it is just the latter, then there is a large possibility that the outcome would be worse than the status-quo. Also a small suggestion: According to bulleya it seems that the MMA is involved. Since the MMA is also an elitist party you guys seriously need to think about the outcome. Religion is OK, the MMA is not.

All the best .... keep your cool ... and do not get over excited.

It is interesting to notice that the political parties still remain divided.........

The party with the most street power in Pakistan is MQM.....Altaf Hussein, its head in exile, can shut down Karachi with one gesture....MQM has had some violent conflicts with the Army......Yet it joined the Army, in this govt........In return it recieved the governorship in Sind......So far the MQM has not joined this event....

.....The largest political party in Pakistan is PML.....However, it is now divided into seven or eight pieces.....This, now, makes the PPP the largest political party, which is only divided into three pieces......So far, PPP has not done much....This is despite the fact that every military govt. goes after the PPP the most......And PPP`s workers and leaders spend the most time in jail........PPP is sitting on the fence in this event, waiting to see whether it should do a deal with the govt. or whether it should protest.....

.....Most of the PML is already with the govt.....The remaining part (around 15-20% of the original party) is protesting.....

....The maulvi brigade is protesting.........Its the only party whose whole top leadership is now under arrest........If this blows up into a more major event, it will be the MMA which will lead everything, because PPP is sitting on the fence.......Interestingly, MMA actually is in a coalition govt. with Musharraf in Baluchistan - the province of the CJ!

......Imran Khan`s PTI is participating, however, they have little street power.......

.......All the other smaller parties are participating, however, they have little street power also.......

So with the PML, PPP and MQM out, things are going to fall in the MMA court.....And I have a feeling, if this turns into a political struggle, MMA will be the biggest beneficiary......In a sense, they deserve it, because, unlike other parties, they are not sitting on the fence......

So the judiciary is still divided and the politicians are still divided, which is why the Army still remains strong, as it is undivided......

Re: # 18

I don`t see any such chance in near future as long as the core integrity of the Constitution of 1973 remains unchanged. The reason being that that the Constitution gurantees the Islamic nature of the governance; so the next item on a voters agenda becomes the wordly issues like economy, jobs, healthcare, less corruption, efficient government etc. In this regard, religious parties have neither an agenda nor an objective that is sale-able enough. More Islam would not solve economics problems of this nation, but a targeted agenda item might. So that is the core reason an ordinary voter sees religious parties nothing but an instrument of status quo.

However, there is no doubt that a very strong radical political element is emreging fast and gaining political power. This religious element does not belive that this system can be made any better by remaining with in the same system. Their slogan is ``change the system, not the faces``. Currently, this element has no united front and it is not represented by a political party - religious or otherwise - but its members assume the role of guides and preachers and prepare a certain mindset in the people so that when time comes, the change emerges at the grass root level.

The forces of darkness and opression has sensed this threat to themesleves and call this phenomenon the `talibanization of Pakistan`` and call themselves liberals, seculars, moderates, or progressives etc.. But the matter has become far serious than chosing a snazzy name. As the time passes by, the conflict is headed towards an all out civil war, becuase although this so called liberal group is tiny but they have had political and military power on their side since they inherited Pakistan from British.

in the Words of Justice (r) Fakhruddin G Ibrahim , Pakistan is again at a defining Moment in History.


The Issue is not CJ and COAS/Pres/CEO


its about the role ( Future as well as current ) of the organs and insitituions of Pakistan.
for times to come.

its outcome will decide, will Pakistan come out of the quaqmire, or will it keep sliding downhill.

The government tried to block the internet all over Pakistan... then our phones....

GEO`s offices were attacked by the government....

Spread the word... the regime may come crumbling down...

Pakistan zindabad.

Guys

Go and read my ilog.

Zeemax sahib,

(By all indications, Rana Bhagwan Das has been sent on forced leave and there`re doubts he will return anytime before the SJC gives its recommendations. )

I am sure you will approve that. You wouldn`t want a kaffir to be the CJ of ur country, would you?

Regards

#19 by mimazhar ,

Justice Rana Bhagwandas ... on leave till 23 March .. Rumors .. that he has been forcibly kept away.

By all indications, Rana Bhagwan Das has been sent on forced leave and there`re doubts he will return anytime before the SJC gives its recommendations. It has now emerged that CJ was first asked to resign by musharraf but he refused. Then he too was asked to go on long leave so an acting CJ could be appointed, but he refused that as well. Then he was placed under house arrest and an acting CJ appointed in his place anyway. It is extremely significant to note that NO reference had been filed against him at the time he was made `non-functional` (or even by the first SJC sesion on 13th March). So it was a completely illegal act and merely kidnapping of a sort.

Top lawyers of the country including Sharif u din pirzada and Khalid Anwar has refused to plead for the government in the Supreme Judicial Council. What the learned readers of chowk say about this?

It is because the CJ has no case to answer and the top lawyers all know that. There`re some interactors who are saying that let the SJC look into the charges, but they forget that the veracity of the charges is quite meaningless in this case. It is because of the following reasons:

(1) the SJC has no jurisdiction to hear ANY charges against anyone because it is illegally constituted. Only the senior-most serving judge can head it. Being on leave doesn`t matter.

(2) there is no provision to make a CJ as non-functional through an executive order even if there`re the most serious and blatant charges against him. He continues to be CJ while SJC enquires into the charges.

(3) an acting CJ cannot be appointed while there`s a sitting CJ unless he`s on leave from his duties or has been declared mentally or physically unsound.

It is for the above reasons of the Government astoundingly chosing to forcibly remove a CJ, place him under house-arrest, and look for charges and file them later that all the top lawyers know that the very grounds of the Government in removing him are indefensible, and the enquiry will probably not even come to arguing on the charges. Thereby their distancing themslelves from government`s case to save their reputations.

Rgds

This is what happens to pakis who get uppity...it`s funny cause the paki junta is getting it from all sides...mushy sends his goons to pick them up..and then there`s US forces bombing/picking up pakis who show a jihadi streak...

i`m sure pakis are enjoying this new found strategic depth...

Without a trace

They vanish quietly and quickly. Some are dragged from their beds in front of their terrified families. Others are hustled off the streets into a waiting van, or yanked from a bus at a lonely desert junction. A windowless world of sweat and fear awaits. In dark cells, nameless men bark questions. The men brandish rubber whips, clenched fists, whirring electric drills, pictures of Osama bin Laden. The ordeal can last weeks, months or years.

These are Pakistan`s disappeared - men and women who have been abducted, imprisoned and in some cases tortured by the country`s all-powerful intelligence agencies. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has counted 400 cases since 2002; it estimates hundreds more people may have been snatched. The phenomenon started with the great sweeps for al-Qaida suspects after September 11, but has dramatically increased in recent years, and now those who disappear include homegrown ``enemies of the state`` - poets, doctors, housewives and nuclear scientists, accused of terrorism, treason and murder. Guilty or innocent, it`s hard to know, because not one has appeared before a court.

An angry Pakistani public wants to know why. The disappearances are increasingly perceived as Pakistan`s Guantánamo Bay - a malignant outgrowth of the ``war on terror``. This week, the issue moved centre stage with the showdown between President Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan`s chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Many believe the judge is being victimised for championing the cases of the disappeared. ``These are Gestapo tactics,`` says Iqbal Haider, a former minister. ``The more we protest, the more innocent people are being hurt. And what frightening stories they tell.``

For Abid Zaidi it started with a phone call one afternoon last April. The softly spoken 26-year-old was at work at Karachi University`s department of zoology in a cavernous room of stuffed animals, sagging skeletons and yellowing name tags. The voice on the phone instructed him to report to Sadder police station in the city centre. There, a handful of men were waiting for him: he believes they belonged to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the army`s powerful spy agency. They clapped cuffs on his wrists, wrapped a band around his eyes and drove him to a cell. Then, he says, the torture started.

The men beat him, he says, with a chain, until he collapsed. He was brought to a military hospital; there doctors brushed off his pleas for help. Then he was flown to another detention centre, where he was shown graphic images of torture. ``People`s skin was being removed with knives and blades and they were being drilled,`` he says. ``It was really terrible.`` Then they hung him upside down from a butcher`s hook, his face dipping into a pool of sewage water.

The interrogators wanted Zaidi to admit his supposed part in the Nishtar Park bombings. In early April, a suicide bomber had killed 50 people at a Sunni religious gathering in central Karachi. The officials accused Zaidi, a prominent young Shia, of orchestrating the massacre. Zaidi tried to explain he was more interested in zoology than zealotry. They did not believe him.

In July, an official told him he had been sentenced to hang. Zaidi wrote a will. ``I felt at peace because I knew God was with me,`` he says. But it was a ruse. At 4am on the morning of the ``execution``, having refused to admit his guilt, a dramatic reprieve was announced. Shortly afterwards, he underwent a lie detector test and on August 18 he was flown to Karachi. The blindfold was lifted. Zaidi was driven through the city. The car stopped, a man handed him 200 rupees (£1.80) and pushed the car door open. ``He said, `Don`t open your eyes,``` says Zaidi. When the engine noise had receded, he found himself standing at a bus stop near Karachi University. He got down on his knees and prayed. Then he phoned his brother to take him home.

Zaidi`s account cannot be verified because, officially speaking, he was never in government custody. However a senior police officer familiar with the case describes it as a major embarrassment. ``That boy was picked up by a young officer,`` says the official, who asks not to be named. ``[The police] knew it was the wrong guy. But they refused to listen.``

The ISI is the most powerful arm of Pakistan`s intelligence establishment, commonly referred to as ``the agencies``. Founded by a British army officer in 1948 and headquartered at an anonymous concrete block in Islamabad, the ISI is famed and feared in equal part. Its influence soared during the 1980s, when it smuggled vast amounts of American-funded weapons to mujahideen guerrillas fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. More recently, it has organised guerrilla groups fighting Indian troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The other major agencies in Pakistan are Military Intelligence and the civilian Intelligence Bureau, and all three of these major agencies have variously been accused of rigging elections, extra-judicial assassinations and other dirty tricks.

Justice Rana Bhagwandas is the most senior judge after Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. He is on leave till 23 March and is in India. He is in contact with his family but not appearing on media. Rumors are there that he has been forcibly kept away. Top lawyers of the country including Sharif u din pirzada and Khalid Anwar has refused to plead for the government in the Supreme Judicial Council. What the learned readers of chowk say about this?