(Posted at Dorf on Law)
So Gen. Musharraf appears to be engaged in a global war on journalism after all. Two weeks after commencing his crackdown on Pakistani civil society, which effectively turned news into contraband, Musharraf has now begun to allow some independent television networks back onto cable television — but only if they agree to a number of conditions, such as terminating television shows critical of the regime and signing an undertaking of “good behavior” permitting the government to interfere with their operations, seize their equipment, and terminate their licenses at any time. Some networks are now back on the air, albeit in “laundered” form — AAJ TV, for example, is back but without a number of leading talk shows that have been critical of Musharraf. (The BBC and CNN are also back, but since they, along with Dawn News, are broadcast in English, the authorities are not as concerned about what they might say in their broadcasts.) Continue reading ‘Musharraf’s Global War on Journalism - II’
Archive for the 'Emergency' Category Page 2 of 5
President Bush’s democracy agenda, the argument goes, is radical, hopeless, failed, dangerous and destabilizing. And he is a hypocrite for not applying it vigorously enough in Pakistan; the administration, it seems, should be more principled and energetic in pursuing a discredited foreign policy. But perhaps the need for freedom is not so discredited after all.Pakistan has always been among the hardest of the hard cases when it comes to democracy — with its volatile combination of military rule, borderland terrorist havens and the Bomb. In the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, few questioned the need for cooperation with President Pervez Musharraf in the Afghan campaign or the fight against al-Qaeda. And Pakistani cooperation was real, even though, as one administration official now recalls, “everyone knew they could have done more.” Continue reading ‘Where We Went Wrong In Pakistan By Michael Gerson, Washington Post’
Encouraged by Iraqi experience, the US is poised to get more involved in Pakistan
Paula R. Newberg
YaleGlobal, 21 November 2007
WASHINGTON: This week, a Cold War breeze swept across South Asia when the US military revealed unofficially that it is making plans for direct action against militants in Pakistan’s unruly tribal areas. New target: US special forces trainers may be headed for Pakistan’s unruly border in a desperate bid to win support among Islamist tribals militants in Pakistan’s unruly tribal areas. The area that prompted one-time British viceroy to India Lord Curzon to caution that “frontiers are the chief anxiety of nearly every Foreign Office in the civilized world” is once again a battleground for competing ideologies and proxy fighters. Sad to say, we’ve seen this show before. Continue reading ‘American Special Forces in Pakistan: Back to the Future?’
The illegality of the actions taken by General Parvez Musharraf is beyond doubt, their destabilizing effect on Pakistani State, security, external relations and economy evident, the opposition to these actions in public spaces is obvious and their ability to have tremendously undermined general Musharraf as the transition man also manifest.
Above all the November 3 imposition of emergency was yet another forced diversion from Pakistan’s crucial journey towards rule of law and Constitutional democracy. Hence the disastrous nature of general Musharraf’s moves does not require laboring upon. Also the fact that the-post March 2007 Pakistani power context no longer allows for unilateralism. The lawyers, media and other peoples’ socio-political movements are in the public-political fray holding accountable those linked to political and State power. Continue reading ‘Way Forward: Musharraf Vs Opposition Politicians By Nasim Zehra’
[I would definitely like to see the content of this judgment. And maybe compare it to the one released by the ‘other’ SC yesterday.]
By Rauf Klasra
ISLAMABAD: Three defiant judges of the Supreme Court, who are presently under house arrest after imposition of emergency, have now declared in their detailed judgment submitted before the SC last Friday that General Musharraf could not be allowed to contest the presidential elections.
They say frequent military interventions and destabilization of elected governments have given “rise to indiscipline, disorder, unemployment, massive corruption, intolerance, and extremism in Pakistan, which must be eradicated and eliminated with iron hands”.
These judges who had refused to take oath under the PCO, have also observed in their joint judgment, which has not been released to the media, that continuation of Musharraf as the army chief beyond December 31, 2004 was “illegal and unlawful”. Continue reading ‘Deposed judges release ruling against Musharraf’
Pakistan’s problems start at the top
Musharraf’s military rule has damaged his country’s ability to fight Islamist insurgents.
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
November 18, 2007
Gen. Pervez Musharraf seized power in Pakistan eight years ago, claiming that the army had to step in to save the country from corrupt and incompetent politicians. Since then, he has run both the army and the government himself, with the connivance of a rubber-stamp Parliament put in place through rigged elections. His rule has proved to be a dismal failure, creating more problems than those it set out to solve.
Earlier this month, with opposition to his regime growing and the courts about to rule that he could not legally be president, Musharraf chose to suspend the constitution and impose emergency rule. He dismissed the Supreme Court and arrested the judges, replacing them with judges who will bend to his will. He blocked all independent television channels and threatened to punish the news media if it disparaged him or the army. His police arrested thousands of lawyers and pro-democracy activists. He ordered that civilians be tried in closed military courts. This is what is necessary, he said, to save Pakistan from a rapidly growing Islamist insurgency.
But no one should believe him. Continue reading ‘Why Musharraf Should Go by Pervez Hoodbhoy’
What Musharraf must do now
Published: November 18 2007 19:26 | Last updated: November 18 2007 19:26
The current political situation in Pakistan is a perfect illustration of the maxim that democracy is about much more than voting. After declaring a state of emergency, dismissing most of the Supreme Court and locking up many leading intellectuals, it was inevitable that General Pervez Musharraf would come under pressure from his western backers to “restore democracy”. They do not want to endorse military dictatorship. And there are also tricky American legal requirements which might restrict the flow of aid to Pakistan, if Gen Musharraf is too openly undemocratic.
So the general is trying to oblige. He has declared that elections will now go ahead in January. He has, thankfully, begun to release some of those locked up under martial law. On Friday, the government ended the house arrest of Asma Jahangir, a leading lawyer. Continue reading ‘World Must Make Musharraf Restore Supreme Court — Financial Times editorial’
[Here’s an email I received yesterday from Kelly Wright who lived in Pakistan in 2005.]
I wanted to send you a picture of this painting.
In 2005, I lived in Pakistan and managed the National Democratic Institute’s Political Party assistance program.
This painting is displayed in the Capitol Rotunda, and is considered one of our nation’s greatest treasures. This painting conveys the true meaning of American democracy and is the most powerful message I can think of to send to the Pakistani people at this difficult time.
(Click on image to enlarge)
Guest Post By Hassan Baig
Opposing General Pervez Musharraf is not a cause worth endorsing solely by itself.
General Pervez Musharraf is not the man he was when he first usurped the seat of
It will be profoundly self-righteous of any single one of us to contend with authority that if exposed to the General’s temptations - the troika of International interests, institutional weaknesses and a manipulatable judiciary - we ourselves would not succumb to a similar fate. Opposing General Pervez Musharraf is therefore akin to focussing on the proverbial symptoms of a malady, and not its root, when in fact ours should be a struggle against the method of perpetuation of our affliction and not its recurring product. We are merely opposing a masque today.
Saturday, November 17, 2007; Washington Post, Page A17
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — My country is in flames. There is no constitution. Judges have been sacked on a whim and arrested, political leaders locked up, television stations taken off the air. Human rights activists, lawyers and other members of civil society are bearing the brunt of a crackdown by a brutal regime. Extremism has assumed enormous and grave proportions.
All of this is the doing of one man: Pervez Musharraf. He first struck at the core of democracy on Oct. 12, 1999, when he dismissed my government at gunpoint. My government was chosen by the people of Pakistan in free and fair elections. But Musharraf so feared my popularity that he banished me from the country and won’t allow me to return. After Pakistan’s Supreme Court declared this year that I have a right to return, I flew into Islamabad in September. But Musharraf brazenly refused me admittance to my own country.
Continue reading ‘Pakistan’s One-Man Calamity By Nawaz Sharif’
