A Nation Reborn

Re: # 25, hamidm2,

Wah, this one was quite suitable for fp. Very appropriate and funny. Please carry on the good work.

Samar

Re: # 25

Hahahaha! Hamidm, this munafiq thinks you are so funny! Looking forward to hell if guys like you are around

Islamabad: Relatives of those people who have been kidnapped and made to to ``disappear`` by military dictator`s goons, are protesting in front of Supreme Court of Pakistan

Finally some signs that civil society isn`t completely dead in pakistan. If Nepal can get rid of its king, who claimed to be avatar of vishnu!, surely pakistan can limit the military dictators? Its really a bizarre history so far, with dictator after dictator coming forward and managing the country.

Speaking as an indian, this kind of agitation is a much better sign of shared values and possibly a shared future than any char-anna pronouncements of politicians and military afsars. And, no, this kind of agitational chaos does not mean the country is falling apart. It actually means the exact opposite: that people are invested and involved in the system and are willing to fight for something.

Re: # 19 pmishra2,

Nepal analogy is completely out of place. In Nepal there was only one avatar who could be removed after he lost favour of the people. In Pak the avatars of Allah are there on the streets killing each other, shiya killing sunnis, army killing separatists, militants killing civilians, mohajirs killing punjabis, punjabi killing all others except pathans who are left out for being killed in turn by the army on the behest of Nato. Even women have started wearing AKs now, of course for the wrong purpose. You see, when their brother mullahs were subjecting women to `better things than killing` (and then of course butchering them) no Kalashnikov and burka clad women came out of their libraries. So, people of Pak have no clear-cut objective. Here, you will find one avatar occupying the throne after the other. And that is natural too, land of pure being ruled by the incarnations of Allah. So, rest assured! These recent Paki news items are bubbles coming out of a compressed bear bottle. Take my word.

Samar

{``#15 by kamath on March 21, 2007 7:02am PT
Re: # 9
ZEENA:

Could you tell me how in the world would you imbed a an animated object in Chowk`s post?
I am curious to know how this is technically done. Does one need to know any programming language for this.? I would appreciate your respondse.
Kamath``}

Kamath Sahib,
Zeemax is the most accomplished one at this feat. Unfortunately, he keeps imbedding the same horrible images over and over. Can`t teach an old dog new tricks. :)

Author,

Way above the string of articles on the subject. Thanks.

It is true that people are just fed up. It was a mistake for musharraf to have allowed an independant media policy which has turned around and bit him.

The seeds of discontent had been there since about three years when the inflation hit, plus the FATA bombings, but there was nothing to bring people out on the streets. This issue has done what the previous could not. It is true about the last straw on the camels` back.

However the government is using the only tactic at its disposal, expectedly, of delaying tactics. Now the hearing scheduled for this week has been postponed till sometime in April.

I don`t know why HP is spinning such a yarn of it in his iLogs? He was never a conspiracy theorist ... why now?

``Well if he’s going to take credit for all the good things, he should have the guts to take credit for the bad things too!``(author)

exactly -- of a One-man rule that is one of the biggest flip side, `unfortunately` -- when things go wrong all shoes from all over start falling on One Head -- there is no one else to share them -- not the PM -- not the cabinet -- not the parliament.

This is why even Cowasjee is asking Musharraf to retreat -- to reinstate the CJ -- share power with an activist PM not with a disorderly orderly -- get rid of the sycophants -- especially that cloak n dagger quisling pair -- the Chaudry brothers -- promulgate presidential rule in punjab -- disband the goonda Illahi police -- UNITE the country by bringing home the exiled leaders -- appoint a fiercely Independent Election Commission -- and retire as a figurehead president -- and let your country men, women sort out their chosen leaders -- for a change.

You need rest, General -- from undercutting Muslim League Q -- and from overccutting Christian League B. You have done enough harm and enough good -- now it is time for you get out of the line of fire -- if you can -- and lay back and enjoy your `glory`. Period.

ah the disadvantages of being the sole proprieter of a public domain company!

Re: Shaheryar Akbar

“This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Et tu Shaheryar - you are also dropping foreign names and their words in your article? lol

Ciao

While the above essay is a bit maudlin,As an Indian, am amazed at the courage of the lawyers and common people to stand up to injustice.Maybe there is hope for Pakistan yet.

A salute ,too,to Pakistan`s brave and fearless journalists.

Go Pakistan.We are with you.

Almost completely a rhetorical article. Without much substance. Many times the handwriting resembles that of someone like NS or BB in exile. Sometimes it looks like a school essay scribbled over the answer sheet by a 10th class student. Though a good one, 10 out of 10 type. Fine vocabulary, no grammatical mistakes and having a passionate opening and a forceful ending, spiced with a quotation from one of the greatest essayist of all time.

Unfortunately, words won`t serve any good to Pak. I see many planing parties after reading this one.

So...!

Samar

``GOOD GENERALS KNOW HOW AND WHEN TO RETREAT`` -- And it is one of those times -- ONCE AGAIN -- to take another U Turn and RETREAT -- like 9/11 or like Kargill -- you may like to call Nawaz Sharif to help you once again, General, and then you may exile him again thereafter.


Ardshir Cowasjee asks who are the stupidos who deliberately did Musharraf -- are they his friends or his enemies -- Cowasjee asks Musharraf to RETREAT:

``Who was it who masterminded the ‘suspension’ of the Chief Justice of Pakistan before the presidential reference against him was heard? Which bright spark was it who has added to the local legal lexicon the phrase ‘non-functional’ in this particular context? Those who may attribute this to my friend and lawyer, Jadoogar of Jeddah Syed Sharifuddin Pirzada, are as wrong as wrong can be. The Jadoogar, while the preparation of the reference was underway, was actually in Jeddah overseeing the revision of the OIC charter.

To anyone conversant with the legal skills with which he is endowed it is evident that he was not consulted in the matter. Had he been, things would not have come to such a sorry pass. As astutely and correctly noted by a fellow columnist in a Lahore-based newspaper writing on the mess that has been made by inefficient, if not downright stupid, advice.

“Another disturbing aspect is how blindingly clear it is that the deft hand of Sharifuddin Pirzada is absent. Never before has a military ruler attempted to fiddle with the judiciary without Pirzada masterminding the operation. He is a lawyer of both tremendous ability and vast experience . . . . [he] also always ensured that a legal footing, no matter how tenuous, was provided, which is not the case here.”

And again : Which hamfisted nincompoop ordered that the Chief Justice of Pakistan be kept under virtual house arrest and incommunicado from even the lawyers who are defending him? Which dysfunctional functionary ordered that the Chief Justice (regardless of what he should or should not have done) be waylaid when he set out for the Supreme Court and the reference hearing on March 13, and thus ensured that a photograph of his being manhandled – grasped by the hair on his head – by members of the police force be printed on the front page of one of our press publications?

And worse, which ‘information’ genius advised the general to call into his camp office on March 9 the press and the electronic media? We and the world could well have done without shots of a military general sitting with the Chief Justice of his country.

We need to know the answers if we are to come anywhere near understanding the whys and wherefores of the ridicule to which this nation is being held because one man has been misadvised, has not calmly thought out the issue, and has acted in undue haste.

``Now, it is up to the general to try and retrieve the situation. An editorial in The Times (London) gives due praise to Musharraf “for his resolute opposition to fanaticism” and “for his efforts to modernise Pakistan, not least by improving the appalling legal status of women . . . .”.

It points out “a signal error of judgment on his part” which has resulted in an uproar – his suspension of “the outspoken Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry” on allegations of abuse of authority “whose substance has yet to be made public.”

It ends : “It is useless for the government to deny any political motive. Its action is almost universally seen as an attempt to tame the judiciary before elections this year under rules that are expected to come under legal challenge. President Musharraf must calm this storm . . . . Good Generals know when to retreat.”

Yes, they do, but then it is far more difficult to make the retreat than to advance. Few would have ‘gloriously’ retreated as Musharraf so wisely did on the day after 9/11.

This is a short column. Disgust and dismay prevents me from writing more. All we can do is murmur to ourselves “Let Good triumph over Evil.” (DAWN)

arfc@cyber.com.pk

If events have galvanized Pakistani people into asserting their own will, then three cheers for Pakistani people and three cheers for Pakistani nation.

[HP has posited a cautionary thesis. But to agree or disagree with that thesis one has to have the insiders` extremely detailed knowledge of the nation`s ruling system. I am hoping he is wrong on this one.]

Yes, I am so proud to be Pakistani. We are not dead, we are alive.



My salute for Pakistani nation. This is the second time after Earthquake that Pakistani nation showed solidarity as one proud nation with integrity and self esteem.

Re: # 9
ZEENA:

Could you tell me how in the world would you imbed a an animated object in Chowk`s post?
I am curious to know how this is technically done. Does one need to know any programming language for this.? I would appreciate your respondse.
Kamath

Excellent article!!!

Pakistan Zindabad.


[[[A nation is like a person. It must die to be resurrected. When President Musharraf “suspended” the Chief Justice, and in the process quite clearly violated his constitutional right and explicitly undermined the independence of the judiciary, I admitted that my nation had just been killed. Pakistan was dead. My people would so quickly bring it back to life, though, I had never imagined! Just when I thought my people would once again silently ignore this new form of oppression, and resign themselves to a fate written by politicians and generals, they responded! They awoke! They said in one voice, “enough is enough!” I have never been prouder to be a Pakistani! My people are alive, their hearts are pounding, their voices are rising, their dreams are soaring, and their cause is victorious! The political maturity that the people have shown has taken me by surprise.]]]

WoW! Wonderful.

Thank you so much for giving us readers an excellent read.
Thank you Chowk Staff for publishing such a great article.