Reinstate The Judiciary In Pakistan Now!

[PakistaniPatriot]

Reinstate The Judiciary In Pakistan Now! No Military Dictators - In Or Out of Uniform!

On 2nd November 2007 the Judiciary in Pakistan was unlawfully removed by the Military regime. On 12th June 2008 tens of thousands of people will conclude a long march in Pakistan. Across the UK and EU justice loving people are assembling outside Pakistani consulates and embassies to show solidarity with the democratic movement .
London:
Assemble Pakistan High Commission,
55-56 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, London,
12th June 2008 - 6.00-8.00pm
Manchester:
Assemble Pakistani Consulate, 137 Dickenson Road,
Manchester. 12th June 2008 - 12.00-3.00pm

Long March in UK 12th June - Pakistan Youth
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Asalam Alaikum everyone. This is from the website above. I have refuted the idea of attending the walk. I know so will you. My comment on that site is awaiting moderation. I would like to request everyone to visit the link above and oppose the idea of the walk (if that is your opinion.)

By the way the website is nice and worth visiting.

 

[Awesome]

Remove both the judges.

One is untrustworthy to the people, the other is a hooligan. Both not worthy.

 

[mujahideen]

Remove both the judges.
One is untrustworthy to the people, the other is a hooligan. Both not worthy.

I agree. But who gets to pick the new judges. The PPP, PML-N, President Musharraf or the people.

 

[Awesome]

I agree. But who gets to pick the new judges. The PPP, PML-N, President Musharraf or the people.

Kick many of them out.

Let the remaining ones sort it all out.

None of the above mentioned parties should be involved.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

If one reinstates the old Judiciary, what happens to the new ones?

They were and are also sitting Judges.

They can't be sent home, or can they?

 

[muse]

PML-N hijacks lawyers’ movement

* Party using long march to mobilise workers for by-elections

By Amjad Warraich

LAHORE: The way the lawyers’ long march is proceeding shows that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif has succeeded in getting political mileage out of the movement, but the lawyers have lost.

Although the PML-N was very much on the centre stage of sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s reception at Lahore Airport on Wednesday, it put in more energy on Thursday to make a public meeting near Minar-e-Pakistan a success. It was perhaps because of this that the attendance in Wednesday’s reception from the airport to the high court premises remained below 3,000, but increased remarkably at the Circular Road public meeting where Nawaz was scheduled to address the audience.

The PML-N leadership has achieved two objectives – it has established that it is the real force behind the lawyers’ movement, and it successfully used the lawyers’ long march and the judges’ reinstatement issue to mobilise its workers for the coming by-elections in Lahore.

This is also evident from the selection of the venue for PML-N reception for long march participants on Thursday evening. The venue falls in the National Assembly (NA) constituencies NA-119 and NA-123 where Nawaz Sharif and Hamza Shahbaz are contesting the elections.

Nawaz Sharif reminded the audience in his speech that he was a candidate in the by-elections from a Lahore constituency. He told the participants to campaign for him since he was busy handling more important issues such as the one for which the long march was organised. Some analysts therefore believe the PML-N is using the sacked chief justice for its election campaign.

It is interesting to note that Chaudhry was earlier invited to Faisalabad where his cousin and Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah is contesting for a provincial assembly seat.

By-elections are also being held for two provincial constituencies in Lahore besides two NA seats, one NA seat in Muridke Sheikhupura, one provincial assembly seat in Gujranwala, two in Sialkot, one in Mandi Bahauddin, and one provincial assembly and two NA seats in Rawalpindi. All these constituencies fall in or near the route of the long march.

As for the long march route from Multan to Lahore, by-elections are being conducted for one provincial seat in Khanewal and Pakpattan districts each, and one NA seat in Okara.

All constituencies except three have been allocated to PML-N in its seat adjustment with the Pakistan People’s Party.

Not only the PML-N, but the Punjab government machinery is also fully contributing in the long march under instructions by PML-N President and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. The Punjab government is using all local administration machinery to facilitate the long march.

For example, the district government machinery set up all stages on the long march route in Lahore including the one that Nawaz Sharif used to address the participants. Similar facilities have been provided to long march participants all over Punjab, from Rahimyar Khan to Rawalpindi.

 

[blain2]

If one reinstates the old Judiciary, what happens to the new ones?

They were and are also sitting Judges.

They can't be sent home, or can they?

They are talking about making constitutional amendment to increase the number of justice on the Supreme court. This would accommodate the new and the old.

 

[Tiki Tam Tam]

OK.

Thanks.

I hope it will be just a one time measure or else it will be real unwieldy.

 

[ejaz007]

In the 2008-09 budget it has been proposed to increase the number of SC judges from 17 to 29. Perhaps they are planning to accommodate all.
There is also a thinking at work to create a Supreme Constitutional Court to deal with the constitutional matters and present judges might be transfered their.
The Supreme Court then shall only hear criminal and other cases. In this way Government is hoping to satisfy all.
Lets wait and see what finally happens.

 

[muse]

From Todays Khaleej Times


Making sense of the long march of lawyers
BY DR. MOEED PIRZADA (Pakistan)

13 June 2008

Words are not just words. They are powerful symbols and often pregnant with historical images. And the genie of those images may un-bottle itself to play havoc. That is why I wonder in amazement as to what is the true meaning and perhaps more importantly what will be the implications of Pakistani lawyers' long march on Islamabad?


Aitzaz Ahsan, the unquestioned architect of the Lawyers Movement, is more aware of the history of 20th century than most others who are commenting on the Long March right and left and must have given some thought before deciding to borrow this historic term. Yet it appears the tiny incongruities between the two realities might have escaped his attention.

The Long March of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai was a massive and long military retreat by the Red Armies of the Communist party to escape the stranglehold of Koumintang; only one fifth survived the hardships of battle, weather and terrain.

The televised saga of Pakistani lawyers could not have been more different. In our minds, the Long March represents travails over distance and determined struggle but also some form of advancement and attack to victory. And that is precisely what the Pakistani lawyers ably assisted by the media are trying to implement. Some comparisons will help to see the interesting contrasts.

Mao's communists were running from the prospects of annihilation by Chiang Kai-shek's troops in the south to the safety of north and west. Pakistani lawyers are advancing from the south, in air-conditioned sport utility vehicles, enjoying the hospitality of Pakistan's largest provincial government- Punjab- in full glare of 24/7 electronic media against a besieged President Musharraf and the PPP-led federal government in the north that is hiding itself behind red, blue and yellow shipping containers and barricades.

At times it is obvious that TV cameras are straining hard to give an exaggerated view of the marching lawyers whose ranks are swollen by the large presence of media and security personnel. Not only this, but when a panicked government in Islamabad asks its largest federating unit to send police reinforcements to beef up the security in the capital, the Punjab government politely refuses.

But ironically the contrasts do not end here. The Pakistani lawyers, through their Long March, are trying to restore a sacked judiciary and the spirit of constitutionalism; and are striving to impose the will of the civil society. What about Mao Zedong and his comrades?

Communists in 1930's were struggling to establish a new social and economic order which when they finally did lead to one of the worst and most tyrannical dictatorships in twentieth century. True, their revolution led to large scale economic development and betterment and ultimately evolved into a welfare state and in the last two decades into a thriving civil society- but as the realists will argue it essentially passed through a long and painful dictatorship — but isn't this what Musharraf and his team have been arguing all along?

The overall context also needs some attention. The lawyers brigade, and its accompanying media-created extravaganza, is advancing on Islamabad at a time when Mian Shahbaz Sharif has taken oath as the Chief Minister of Punjab inspiring hopes of better administration. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and kingmaker Zardari were both in Saudi Arabia where before offering Umra, they were begging the Saudis for deferred payments on oil transactions.

Pakistani envoy in Washington is trying to arrange other support funds; budget was being presented in which it was accepted that whereas rising costs of oil have ballooned the deficit for the first 10 months from $11 billion to $17 billion, the food inflation is at 15 per cent and economic growth has slowed from 6.8 per cent to 5.8 per cent.

This context should focus our minds on larger realities but a spokesperson for the lawyers movement was seen and heard arguing on a popular TV programme that under Article 6 President Musharraf should be impeached and executed.

Interestingly, all those enamoured of the spectre of Musharraf being impeached have predetermined the outcome as well. What if given the eccentricities of his personality and stolen spirit of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk he decides to contest the charges against him? All impeachments don't succeed.

Let's not forget that despite all the money that Kenneth Starr and the Republicans burnt, the more juicy details of the Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky were never proved for reasons of law. And yet the televised impact of that impeachment drama made most women in America fall in love with that warm-hearted lover: Bill Clinton. Sometimes you get the opposite of what you desire.

Aitzaz Ahsan, the writer and the astute student of history, must not forget that there is also a law of unintended consequences. The success of the historic Long March was that it enabled Mao Zedong and Zhu Enlai to establish themselves as leaders of the party and revolution. The lawyers movement will ultimately be a great success of the civil society if it forces Musharraf to retire on the edges of Bosphorus and imposes a rule of constitutionalism in Pakistan but someone else will be succeeding if as a result of all this the PPP government at the centre falls prematurely.

He will remember Tudeh party and the leftists were the ones who braved Savak and had an important role in undermining the Shah regime in Iran but it was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini whose brand of governance succeeded. The good barrister, even as he enjoys the hospitalities on a warm summer during the march, needs to look over his shoulder.

Moeed Pirzada, a broadcaster and political analyst with GEO TV, has been a Britannia Chevening Scholar at London School of Economics & Political Science. Email: mp846@columbia.edu

 

[muse]

from todays DAWN


Asif wants Musharraf to remain in office: analyst

By Our Special Correspondent

LONDON, July 1: It is not the US but Asif Ali Zardari who wants to see President Pervez Musharraf continue in his office and chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry remain out of his, said Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, while participating in a wide-ranging discussion here on Monday after he had introduced his new book, “The Post-American World” at the Foreign Press Association.

He was asked why the US was blocking the restoration of the illegally deposed judiciary and hindering the new coalition government’s efforts to send President Musharraf home.

Answering the first part of the query, he said: “It is because the US believes, the only stability outside the military in Pakistan today is the PPP and Zardari has told them he does not want the restoration of judiciary.”

And Mr Zakaria’s response to the second part of the query was: “I don’t think the US cares one way or the other about Musharraf because COAC Gen Kayani is somebody it trusts. But the thing is Zardari says the whole structure will collapse if Musharraf went and there would be chaos and you know it could be for very self-interest reasons.”

He said personally he would like to see the chief justice and the 60 judges restored and he thought Musharraf should have receded on his own rather than forced to give up his uniform and other powers.

“As often happens with dictators, General Musharraf at some point stopped being liberal and modernising and engaged in power grab,” he said.

In his opinion Musharraf should not have imposed emergency, he should not have fired the judges, and he should not have replaced the Supreme Court.

Giving his views on the shape of things to come in South Asia in what he called the post-American world, he said he saw a huge shift taking place in the US which was fundamentally to view the region as a much important part of its overall geopolitical strategy, “and that is exactly because of China. The rise of China has suddenly made South Asia a crucial player.”

He thought India and Pakistan needed an interlocutor, a go-between to mediate between them because they did not trust each other and in his opinion the US was in the best position to play that role, “though at present India does not trust the US and believes it is still tilted towards Pakistan”.

“If you could manage to ease up between India and Pakistan to the point that they could simply trade with one another it would transform South Asia, transform Pakistan which today is locked out of this huge economy right next door,” he maintained.

He said for this to happen the US needs to play the role of honest broker, but that it could hope to do only if it developed good relations with India, “I am not predicting that it would happen, but what I am saying is it is happy scenario for South Asia.”

 

[araz]

there is a lot of truth to the atricle above. Mr 10% will have his NRO reviewed by the ExCJ, who by all accounts is an honest person, which will cause grief to both Zardari and PM. Therefore it is in their common interest to keep him out. Mr Doggar has a case pending against him for misappropriation of funds (probably for Bhawalpur University, I am not sure of which university so dont quote me on that). he would be a much more malleable ally than the unweildy Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Araz

 

[muse]

Musharraf to the Rescue of Pakistan


Waiting in the wings to fill the vacuum
Gulfnews: Waiting in the wings to fill the vacuum

07/04/2008 11:41 PM | Gulf News



It is said Nature abhors a vacuum. Similarly, in politics, power vacuums are soon filled by the ambitious or greedy. A power vacuum of sorts exists in Pakistan which, to followers of the political scene there, is not surprising. A controversy exists between the leaders of the Pakistan Peoples Party of the late Benazir Bhutto, now co-chaired by her widower Asif Ali Zardari, and the Pakistan Muslim League of Nawaz Sharif.

These parties, once political opponents, allowed their extreme differences to be set aside to contest an election on a single mandate: deposing President Pervez Musharraf. There were side issues involved - like the reinstatement of the judges sacked by Musharraf - but the main aim of the coalition of these dominant political parties was single-minded and deliberate: Musharraf must go.

Some four months after victory for the civilian coalition, nothing has materialised of the promises bandied about during the election campaign. Musharraf has shown he has more than a comprehensive grip on power and, amazingly, a savvy understanding of politics, or at least Pakistan politics, because he still stands astride a turbulent government unable to reach decisions.

Perhaps it is to be expected that there is division in the coalition government. When an election is fought on a one-item agenda - and that has so far failed to produce any results - it is inevitable there will be rumblings of discontent not only among party members but also the electorate.

It is alleged Zardari is now leery of reinstating the judges as they might annul an agreement reached between Musharraf and Bhutto on corruption charges laid against her. But Zardari is also filling the Cabinet posts with his friends, thereby upsetting Sharif.

Meanwhile, waiting to fill the vacuum the internal dispute is creating are the Taliban knocking on the border doors.

 

[cactuslily58]

Does anyone actually think the judiciary will actually get reinstated ? Just saw a news item saying the supreme court has turned it down.

In any case, what is the retiring age for the sacked judges ? Even if they get reinstated will they have any years to serve or be just in time for their farewells ?