Normal service will not be resumed any time soon in Pakistan......by Bronwen Maddox

Bronwen Maddox, Chief Foreign Commentator of The Times, London, criticizes Musharraf's media policies and terms his recent actions an effoet to "drain the heat from the crisis".

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/bronwen_maddox/article3036966.ece

Petition for dropping charges against PU faculty

There is an online petition by the "Concerned Academicians of Pakistan" targetted towards current establishment for dropping of charges against 14 Punjab University faculty members.

To read the text of petition and/or sign it please visit The Petition Page

related link: Sedition case against 14 PU teachers(Dawn 18 November edition)

Sad but true, alas

Sad but true, alas

Javed Chaudhary writes sadly about Nawaz sharif's new decision of not boycotting from the elections. It's almost painful to realize how selfish most influential people in Pakistan are. And this new-age philosophy about "being practical", and about "being political"...... shameless is what these rascals are...... and helpless is what i am...... cuz i want to kill these bastards. i know i'm a part of a peaceful, non-violent protest, but i want to kill them all who say "pakistan first"..... or "awaam ki khaatir"...... selfish greedy bastards !!

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Writeup from Jail - by detained students

Barrack 10, Camp Jail, Lahore
9th Dec. 07 (11 pm (?) - no clock here)

Dear All,

We are fine here (I won't bother you with the minor problems we face here)

Thanks to all those who expressed solidarity with us by staging sit-in at race course police station little after mid-night. SPECIAL THANKS to students from LUMS, FAST, UCL, and all those who were there. THANKS to the rapid response of the Students Action Committee who arrived there within an hour. Thanks to lawyers & human rights activists who got there.

THANKS to all those who expressed solidarity by staging protest rally at ferozpur road (opp. camp jail) the next day.

THANKS to the participants of the hunger strike camp at Lahore Press Club.

I salute you all.

Am [again] reminded of
"If not now - WHEN? If not us - WHO?"

To the silent majority - no comments.

We, the detainees here, find solace in:

Saba in phir dar-e-zandaan pe aa k di dastak
Sehar qareeb hai dil se keho na ghabraey

see the original image here

Update from GOR 10 Lahore

By: Umar G

As of this point there are still 30 students who are standing infront of the sub-jail where the GOR 10 heroes have been detained. Even at this late time of night and with the onset of rain, fog and cold, it is really heartening to see students from different universities in Pakistan are still fighting for the freedom of their brothers and sisters in arm.

Earlier today a message sent via fax from the Punjab Information Ministry was intercepted by the students. The message instructed the police to release the students by tomorrow after the immense pressure put on the government by NGOs, Human Rights Activists and students. They are expected to be released without charge tomorrow morning.

The policemen, like other common people who passed by, have expressed their solidarity to the cause 'off the record'. In fact a couple even lauded our resolute stance and commitment and prayed and hoped that we would be able to get rid of "the menace" soon (You all know who). In addition the students put a sticker on a police van which asked for the restoration of the judiciary and at the time of this report that had not been removed from the van. The students also gave flowers to the policemen who had stayed this late at night to perform their duty.

It is only a matter of time when these the barriers between the two will disappear and students and policemen will fight the struggle together.

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True Picture of Pakistan

Source: Harvard University, USA

Osama Siddique LL.M. ’97, associate professor in the department of Law and Policy at Lahore University of Management Studies in Pakistan, was on the Harvard Law School campus last week to speak about the public reaction and the historical context of the state of emergency in Pakistan. While he was here, he agreed to answer some questions about the political situation.

In your talk here at HLS, you refused to call the situation in Pakistan a state of emergency, but instead called it a state of martial law. Why?

Ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry speaks to a rally of supporters in Pakistain.

Under the Pakistani constitution, you can have a constitutional emergency, but it’s very different [than what’s in place now]. It is supposed to be for a much shorter duration; it is supposed to be only imposed in a small, distinct portion of the country; the fundamental rights you can actually put on hold are lesser; it is always judicially reviewable; the provincial legislature carries on functioning; and it is supposed to come up before the parliament for ratification. In this case, you have a complete and drastic imposition of emergency and suspension of rights over the entire country. We don’t even know if it’s going to be put up before the assembly. Judges, of course, have been ousted, and courts have been precluded from questioning this entire action. It cannot be assailed at any forum, and it’s much more draconian in terms of suspension of rights. That’s why it’s a martial law. They try to soft-peddle it for obvious reasons, but it is a martial law.

You characterized this particular state of emergency as being focused solely on the judiciary. Why did Pervez Musharraf issue so many complaints against the judiciary?

Like any other jurisdiction, the courts have the power of judicial review to examine legislative and executive action. They are the final interpreters of the constitution and the ultimate custodian of the rights under the constitution. The main threat to Musharraf was going to come from the judiciary, not only constitutionally, but also given the more recent events politically. The judiciary has questioned Musharraf’s perpetuation of his position and the constitutionality of his holding two offices -- that of chief of the army and as president. His actions are very much directed towards neutralizing the judiciary from doing anything.

The judiciary has come to stand as a symbol of resistance against a tradition of authoritative rule, especially because this particular chief justice took a stand against Musharraf and gained public support.

Last week, Musharraf said he would lift the emergency on December 16. Does this, in addition to the fact that he has stepped out his dual role of military leader and president, imply that he is losing the battle and that the resistance movements are winning?

In some ways, these are not insignificant victories. There has been so much domestic opposition, even though it has not been that visible in terms of mass public rallies. His popularity has really decreased. That and the international condemnation both from political governments, but even more importantly from academic institutions, civil society, and human rights organizations from around the world, has in some ways gotten us these concessions earlier than what I expected. His stepping out of the uniform is extremely significant, because his real power constituency was with the army. And now that he’s actually pulled back the date of lifting the emergency from January 16 is another step. But the key question is going to be the restoration of the judiciary.

You said holding elections under emergency was not a good way to hold free and fair elections. Now that Musharraf has set an earlier date for lifting the emergency and established a date for the elections in January, what do you think the outcome of the elections is going to be?

We’ll have to see what exactly the lifting of the emergency means. Does it mean that the various restrictive laws that he introduced are going to be retracted? Is the judiciary going to be back? Is the media going to be free? Unless these things happen, the emergency won’t really be lifted. That’s really want you want at the time of elections because those are the mechanisms that provide accountability for the entire process. Otherwise, a very entrenched state is going to use the state machinery to influence the election results. The other important thing is that unless these things happen, it is not very likely that all the political parties may actually participate in the elections. If certain key political parties boycott the election, that also casts a shadow over the entire process.

You talked about some specific provisions in the Pakistani constitution whereby the president can oust other officials very easily. Do you think there will be any traction for changes to the constitution to try to prevent this kind of situation from happening again?

Historically, this provision was introduced around 1985. It’s called the 8th Amendment and a component of this constitutional amendment gives extraordinary powers to the president to absolve the assemblies. It was used highly controversially four times within a period of eight years -- between 1988 and 1996. Any analysis of that period shows that this is a very problematic provision. It empowers the president too much, and it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the judges because they are forced to adjudicate highly political cases, which polarizes them.

The key question is going to be if Musharraf stays on as president and if Nawaz Sharif or Benazir Bhutto is elected, how will they coexist? We may see something similar to the previous governments in the late 1980’s and throughout the 1990’s, where the prime minister had a problematic relationship with the president, leading to further instability and at times completely uncalled for dissolution of the assemblies. In the 1990’s, the political parties did get together, and they repealed this particular provision. Then, Musharraf brought it back after the coup. So it’s a constant tussle.

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Show solidarity to the families of detainees

Source: ALE-Expressed

The families of the detainees are going through tough times, they are all worried. We should show our support and solidarity to the detainees as well as their families. Here are a few things we can do:

• Send flowers
• Send cards
• Call them and lend some support

Let them know that we are with them and how much proud we are of the detainees for their courage and stead-fastness.

Contact me (+92-321-4572707 / ale.natiq@gmail.com) to get the details how you can reach their families.

In complete solidarity !

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Black Day Protest Videos

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Protest at UT-Austin

About 100 Pakistani students and faculty at UT Austin held a protest demonstration on the main Mall on campus this Tuesday. Students expressed their solidarity with the struggle for justice and democracy being led by lawyers and students in Pakistan and demanded that the US withdraw its support for the current regime. They also collected signatures from UT faculty and staff in support of their demands. This protest followed an earlier Community Teach-In on the state of Pakistan organized by UT Pakistani students in collaboration with the South Asia Institute at UT. Both the events received prominent coverage in the local press, The Daily Texan and the Austin American Statesman. Here is the video link to the protest on the Daily Texan website:

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410/video/c30it6bu.mov

detainess to be shifted on house-arrest

Source: ALE-Expressed

I have to share a good news. The detainees might be soon shifted to Aman's house for house arrest until the case in the court is in process. (Aman's mother visited the jail sometime back and confirmed the news).

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