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India-Pakistan

Lal Masjid operation: SC moved for registering cases against 22 persons

2012-05-09

[Dawn] A former nazim ...small time big shot, the chief elected official of a local government in Pakistan, such as a district, tehsil, union council, or village council... of Jamia Hafsa on Monday approached the Supreme Court seeking direction to the police to register cases against 22 persons, including former President Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... and ex-Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz for their alleged role in the killing of innocent people and desecration of the holy Koran during the Lal Masjid operation in the year 2007. On May 4, separate complaints were lodged by 11 people against the 22 persons with the Aabpara police. The police registered the complaints in its daily diary and issued separate numbers to the complainants. The police also sent the complaints to its prosecution department for legal opinion. When contacted, Advocate Tarqi Asad, the counsel for petitioner Maulana Abdul Qayyum, the former nazim and teacher of the seminary, said a request was also made to the apex court to take up the matter on Tuesday (today) when another identical petition would be heard. The petition named as respondents the secretary interior, inspector general of Islamabad police and the station house officer (SHO) of Aabpara. The court was requested to order the SHO to register criminal cases against those responsible for the deaths of the innocent persons and desecration of the holy Koran. "Deaths caused during the operation were in violation of Articles 9, 10, 10-A and 14 of the constitution. Besides, desecration of the holy Koran is against the sentiments of Mohammedans and a violation of Article 20," the petition said. It stated that as per finding of the apex court on October 2, 2007, 103 bodies had been recovered from the premises out of which only 16 could be identified. The remaining were handed over to their families, but 12 of them were not accepted due to lack of identification. The petitioner added that as per statements of principal Majida Younus alias Umme Hassan and a former student of Jamia Hafsa, Ayesha, recorded in the same court order, about 1,300 orphan students were on the premises who remained untraceable. "The number of those killed was very high but only 103 deaths were admitted by the respondents." The petitioner stated that in the court's order it was also admitted that 662 persons were tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! and later released. "But the fact is that most of them were never released and they were either killed or are still in detention." The claim can be verified from the statement of one of the legal heirs of the victims, Ghulam Mohammad that he had seen his son when he was tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! but his whereabouts was never known afterwards. The petitioner claimed that another man -- Muzammil Shah -- had informed the court during the last hearing that his son Mohammad Ali was alive till July 6, 2007, but after that nothing was known about him. In view of the order, legal heirs of the victims had been filing applications with the police and civil authorities from time to time requesting them to register criminal cases against the responsible persons. However, if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well... they were told that only the Ministry of Law and Justice could allow registration of such cases. The petitioner pleaded that FIR be registered on charges of murder and desecration of the holy Koran against the former president and prime minister as well as Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former federal and state ministers Mohammad Ali Durrani and Tariq Azeem, former religious affairs minister Ijazul Haq, former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri, former Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, former environment minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, director crisis management cell Javaid Iqbal Cheema, General (retired) Javed Majeed, then director general (operation) Rangers General Hussain Mehdi, former secretary interior Syed Kamal Shah, former IGP Islamabad Iftikhar Ahmad, former deputy commissioner Islamabad Chaudhry Mohammad Ali, former SSP Islamabad Capt (retired) Zafar Iqbal, former chief commissioner Islamabad Khalid Pervaiz, former DIG Islamabad Shahid Nadeem Baloch, former DG ISPR Waheed Arshad, former chairman CDA Kamran Lashari and those who participated in the operation. Besides, the petitioner also prayed the court to set aside the December 27, 2011, agreement signed between Umme Hassan and the government under which the victims' families would not make any claim or get any case registered against anyone in future.

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India-Pakistan

Drone strikes fanning terrorism: Shujaat

2009-04-23

[Geo News] British envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles called on PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain here on Wednesday. On this occasion Shujaat said that US drone attacks in tribal areas were fanning terrorism in the country as innocent people were also being killed in the raids. Tariq Azeem told newsmen after the meeting that Chaudhry Shujaat said that the sacrifices of Pakistani nation and army rendered in the war against terrorism were not acknowledged. Azeem said that Hussain also apprised the visiting British team of Indian involvement in terrorist activities in Pakistan. The British envoy admitted that terrorism could not be eliminated without solution of Kashmir dispute and other vital issues.

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India-Pakistan

Sumera removed from party office after 'thrashing fellow MNA'

2008-11-02

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat removed PML-Q Women's Wing President Sumera Malik from the office on Saturday, after she beat up a female MNA from her party for not attending a dinner at the President's House. Sources familiar with the incident told Daily Times that Sumera and her husband, a bureaucrat, went to MNA Nosheen Saeed's house at 2:30am. She told her colleague she had let her down by not showing up at the dinner despite a commitment. She also alleged that the MNA had been talking to TV anchors about her. A quarrel followed and Sumera beat the MNA up, the sources said, and her husband had to intervene. They said she was perturbed because of a poor show of strength at the dinner. A party member said the MNA's children had not gone to school and that she was not talking to the media 'fearing she might be thrashed again'. The sources said Sumera's husband had also called journalist and TV anchor Nusrat Javed and threatened him, after he criticised Sumera in his show. PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi and Senator Tariq Azeem visited the MNA at her house later, the sources said. A senior PML-Q leader had told Daily Times earlier on Saturday the party "has decided to take disciplinary action against some members, including Sumera Malik".

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India-Pakistan

Elahi: PM's speech pack of lame excuses

2008-07-21

ISLAMABAD - The opposition has termed Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani's speech to the nation as a "pack of lame excuses" and an attempt to cover up his government's failure on all fronts. PML-Q leader and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi termed the prime minister's speech as an extension of budget speech "that contains only promises but no solutions to the problems being faced by the masses." And who would know more about promises with no solutions than Pervaiz Elahi ... "Though there were claims that the prime minister would announce remedies for the malaises of unemployment, price hike and extremism but in reality not a single promise was fulfilled in the speech," he added. Nor will any be fulfilled in the future. This is Pakistan. He said situation of law and order deteriorated during the first 100 days of the government. He further said that though the prime minister commended the opposition for giving him vote of confidence, yet he did not mention the political victimisation and registration of fake cases against the opposition leaders as well as workers. "The government cannot satisfy people by making allegations against the previous government as the day is not far when people will make them accountable," he added. Secretary Information PML-Q Senator Tariq Azeem said the speech contained nothing but only a pack of lame excuses of failure of the government in first 100 days.

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India-Pakistan

Let Them Eat Grass

2008-02-18

Gallows humour about the country's economic crisis pervades the political ambience days before Pakistan goes to the hustings. Symbolising the grim mood is a popular Urdu sms which reads in English, "No flour, no electricity, no water, no sugar, no cooking oil, no petrol, and if you too don't want to be around, then stamp Musharraf's cycle (PML-Q) on the ballot." Indeed, President Pervez Musharraf finds to his horror the story of Pakistan's economic miracle, scripted in breathless prose and spectacular figures, has reached an unexpected denouement—inflation has touched 11.86 per cent, food prices are soaring, and acute shortages of wheat, cooking oil, gas and electricity have the nation groaning in misery. And to think, barely two years ago, policy wonks cited the booming Karachi stock exchange and a near double-digit growth rate to justify Musharraf's rule. Taxing: Long line-up at a Karachi flour mill Today, the galloping inflation has eroded the purchasing power of the country's 160 million people, three-quarters of whom live on $2 or less a day (one dollar is equivalent to 60 Pakistani rupees). Food prices have risen by 10 per cent in each of the last three years; the price of wheat, Pakistan's staple, has witnessed a 14 per cent hike since last November. Worse, Pakistan's central bank—the State Bank—has lowered its estimate of growth rate for this fiscal year from 7.6 per cent to just above 6 per cent. Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader and former commerce minister Ishaq Dar says the irony of the looming crisis is that Musharraf had promised to rescue the economy to justify his coup against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. "What statistics his officials reel on the TV may or may not be true," he shrugs, "but what the public suffers is high inflation, increasing poverty, stock exchange-related scams and controversial privatisation deals." Adds Pakistan People's Party leader Ahmed Mukhtar, also an ex-commerce minister: "Why should Pakistanis care about the Taliban and America if they have to fight for a day's aata?" This is why, Mukhtar says, "wherever you go, you hear people shout, 'Go Musharraf Go'." What has principally fuelled the public outcry is the rising price of flour, a kg of which at subsidised rates costs between Rs 14-18. Early January, the price in the open market doubled, touching Rs 60 in some areas. Similarly, the price of a 20-kg flour bag has gone up from around Rs 250 to Rs 450. Former federal secretary for food and agriculture Zafar Altaf blames it on the government's decision to export half a million tonnes of wheat last year, amid Punjab CM Pervaiz Elahi's boasts of a "bumper harvest". The export led to shortages, and import of wheat at a 70 per cent higher price had a cascading effect. "Either the claims of a bumper crop were false and designed to justify wheat exports or, if the claims were correct, the wheat stock has been hoarded somewhere and the current crisis is artificial," says Dr Altaf. The faulty export policy gave a fillip to hoarding. PML(N) leader Ahsan Iqbal claims several leaders of the ruling PML(Q) stocked two million tonnes of wheat, pushing the prices higher and earning billions. Besides imports jacking up the prices, owners of rice mills exploited the wheat shortage to sell rice at inordinately high prices—Rs 30 per kg for inferior quality and Rs 70-75 for the best quality. The rice millers then ploughed their profits to buy and hoard wheat—much to the agony of people. Apart from hoarding, wheat has also been reportedly smuggled into India and Afghanistan. Former federal minister Mohammad Ali Durrani says the government has recently deployed 6,000 rangers and paramilitary troops around flour mills, distribution points and checkposts to prevent smuggling. But, as ppp leader Sherry Rehman says, the government has already pushed the country back by decades, as the long-forgotten images of people queuing up for flour return. "Under no democratic government did Pakistanis see food prices soar, so much so that people standing in long lines outside government food distribution centers had to be turned away empty-handed," she says. The bitterness of daily existence can't even be mitigated by a sweetener—the rising price of sugar has made it scarce. The government's recent decision to increase the ex-mill sugar price from Rs 23 per kg to Rs 30 should cause a spike of Rs 6.50 in the open market. Oblivious to the consequences on the common man, Zaka Ashraf, chairman, Punjab Sugar Mills Association, justified the government's decision: "The government had the option of either reducing the support price of sugarcane to appease the mill owners or increase the price of ex-mill sugar." The government chose the second option which, Asghar Butt, a sugar dealer, says "wasn't justified and will be another bombshell for consumers". What's more, the Federal Food Committee (FFC) has predicted an acute shortage of edible oil. Domestic production meets only 17 per cent of the demand. The decline in the world crop of palm oil and soybean is the chief reason behind the crisis, FFC officials say. "Edible oil has become costlier by Rs 40 per kg over the last month," said Fareed Qureshi of the Karachi Retail Grocers Group. The darkness enveloping Pakistani society is symbolically manifested in severe power shortages. Most urban centres witness outages of 10-12 hours a day, and rural areas anywhere between 12-18 hours. The Musharraf government's failure to foresee future demands will, according to official estimates, cause a shortfall of approximately 6,000 megawatts by 2010. Also, no commercial gas was made available to industries for the last two weeks, forcing closure of hundreds of factories. The agony of people has failed to convince people like ex-minister Tariq Azeem about the Musharraf regime's myopic economic policy. Azeem insists, "Even the government's worst critics acknowledge there was a turnaround. People who were using bicycles have switched to motorcycles, and motorcyclists to cars." But Sakib Sherani, chief economist, ABN Amro Bank, Islamabad, says the headline-grabbing growth figures have bypassed the average Pakistani. Quite like the nda's India Shining slogan of 2004. Then the poor took their revenge on Vajpayee and Co. It should be the same in Pakistan on February 18.

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India-Pakistan

Shujaat gives horrific details of son’s, brother’s interrogation

2008-02-02

LONDON: Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Friday shared shocking details about the 21-hour-long humiliation his brother Wajahat Hussain, son Shafay Hussain and two nephews suffered at the hands of the British cops last week, when they were stripped twice, handcuffed and kept hungry for 10 hours in the Paddington Green police station where top terrorists of Al-Qaeda were interrogated. The family members of Shujaat were also put questions about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in addition to their links with those 11 Pakistanis who were arrested in Spain on charges of planning to bomb the city. Former PM Shujaat Hussain claimed that his family members were tortured by the British police during the investigation at the detention centre in the heart of London “through high-powered lights” in their cells. A quick look at the six pages containing the shocking details of the high drama at Gatwick Airport with the family of Shujaat, established one thing that what was reported earlier in the Pakistani media on this issue was only a tip of the iceberg. Shafay Hussain disclosed that he was strip-searched by the British police along with his two cousins and was given neither any food or water despite his repeated requests to the investigators that he was a diabetic patient and might collapse. The shocking details of the investigations spread over six pages were handed over to Pakistani journalists during a press conference. One of the nephews of Shujaat Hussain detailed his ordeal and wrote that he had started weeping at the humiliation they all had to face after being arrested at the airport. Shujaat had flown from Islamabad to London along with Senator Mushahid Hussain and Tariq Azeem to sue the British government after his family members were subjected to strip search and highhandedness at the airport. He said he had already sent his complaint to the British authorities and President Musharraf, too, had taken serious note of the incident. However the statement of Ch Wajahat Hussain was missing from those pages as only Shafay Hussain, Farasat Chattha, Harris Elahi and others unfolded the details full of drama and the action taken against them. Farasat Ali Chattha, the nephew, also confirmed that he was stripped, handcuffed and kept hungry for many hours in the detention centre after put under arrest under terrorism laws. Likewise, Shafay Hussain also confirmed that he was stripped in the name of search. However, the ordeal of Haaris Elahi given in writing sums up the incident and what actually happened with all of the six passengers after they were picked up from the airport. In his written statement given to media, Shujaat said, his son Shafay accompanied by his two cousins went on a holiday to Spain. They spent four days in Barcelona. His son is diabetic, there his sugar level dropped. Consequently, he fainted and was under treatment in hospital. “Being informed about my son’s condition, I asked Wajahat, who was in Paris, to go to Barcelona to look after him. Wajahat accompanied by his two friends went there and then decided to bring him to London. Their flight was scheduled for Jan 24. “On arrival at Gatwick, the aircraft was surrounded by the police. My brother, son, two nephews and two friends were taken into custody by the police from inside the plane. Police refused to allow them to make any call to Maleeha Lodhi, the High Commissioner to the UK. “From the airport, they were taken to Cordon police station, where they were put in separate cells and two officers were attached to each of them after arresting them under terrorism charges. Their baggage was searched and articles seized. My son was not feeling well because of diabetes and he repeatedly requested the officer to provide him medical assistance, which was denied. After 10 hours’ detention, the officer told them that their detention time had expired as now they were under arrest. “At Cordon police station, they were handcuffed and transferred in separate vehicles to Paddington station where they were detained. They were locked in separate cells and were tortured through high-voltage lights and remained locked for seven hours and refused Halal food. A lady solicitor arrived who termed their detention illegal and warned police of serious repercussions of keeping innocent people in detention without any authority for such a long time. But, instead of releasing them, police escorted them even inside the airport and they were sent back to Pakistan. They all remained in custody for 21 hours.” APP adds: Shujaat called on the British authorities to expunge all the references relating to the detention of his brother Chaudhry Wajahat Hussain, son Chaudhry Shafay Hussain and other relatives at the Gatwick Airport on January 22. The PML-Q chief said he also wanted all the DNA and police reports be retired and destroyed in order to clear the name of his immediate family members who suffered unnecessarily at the hands of the British Police on their arrival from Spain. Shujaat told the newsmen that he was not happy with regrets offered by the British government on this incident and came to London to ensure proper investigation into the whole episode. On Thursday, a senior Foreign and Commonwealth Official and former British high commissioner to Pakistan, Mark Lyall Grant, met the PML-Q chief and expressed regrets over the incident. Shujaat said the matter was also taken up by President Pervez Musharraf when he met British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London last week and asked for detailed investigation into the whole matter.

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India-Pakistan

PML-Q, JUI-F okay with polls

2008-01-03

The PML-Q and the JUI-F said on Wednesday that they accepted the Election Commission (EC)’s decision to delay the polls till February 18. JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman said, “We should not oppose the poll delay decision if the EC is unable to hold the polls in the current circumstances.” He doubted the government’s intention to hold the elections on February 18. PML-Q Information Secretary Senator Tariq Azeem said they accepted the poll delay decision, adding that all political parties were ignoring the post-December 27 ground realties for political considerations.

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan calls for more aid to fight terrorism

2007-12-04

LONDON: Former federal education minister Lt Gen (r) Ashraf Javed Qazi has called for more Western military and economic aid to support and assist Pakistan in its fight against extremism and the war on terror. He was speaking at a seminar on ‘The impact of Western Strategy on Muslim South Asia’ on Monday. The seminar was organised by the Royal United Services for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), a leading British think-tank. He said Pakistan had paid much more in terms of human losses and collateral damage compared to the NATO and ISAF forces in Afghanistan. Qazi along with fellow Senator Tariq Azeem Khan is currently on a weeklong visit to the UK as special envoy of the Government of Pakistan

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan denies rumors Musharraf is under house arrest

2007-11-05

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's government Monday denied rumors sweeping the country that the deputy army chief had placed President Pervez Musharraf under house arrest following the declaration of an emergency. "It's nonsense, sheer baseless rumor," Musharraf's spokesman Rashid Qureshi told AFP. "It's a complete hoax, totally baseless and malicious. People will treat it with the total contempt it deserves," said deputy information minister Tariq Azeem. "The president has just administered an oath to the federal sharia (Islamic law) judge and before that he briefed foreign diplomats on the situation," Azeem added. Musharraf imposed a state of emergency on Saturday citing spiralling militancy and a hostile judiciary, in a move that came as the Supreme Court was due to rule on the legality of his October 6 re-election as president. Musharraf had tipped vice chief of army staff Ashfaq Kiyani to take over his military role after pledging to hang up his uniform before being sworn in for a second term. That step was expected by November 15, the end of his current term, but was pending the Supreme Court judgement on the whether his election victory was valid.

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India-Pakistan

Activists Detained in Pakistain Emergency

2007-11-05

Authorities rounded up opposition leaders Sunday after military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf suspended Pakistan's constitution, replaced the chief justice and blacked out independent TV outlets, saying the country must fight rising Islamic extremism. Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup but had given a conditional pledge to step down as military chief and become a civilian president this year, declared a state of emergency Saturday night, dashing recent hopes of a smooth transition to democracy for the nuclear-armed nation. "Gen. Musharraf's second coup," read the headline in the Dawn daily. "It is martial law," said the Daily Times. "Gen. Musharraf's second coup," read the headline in the Dawn daily. "It is martial law," said the Daily Times. Across Pakistan, police arrested political activists and lawyers at the forefront of a campaign against military rule. Among those detained were Javed Hashmi, the acting president of the party of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; Asma Jehangir, chairman of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan; and Hamid Gul, former chief of the country's main intelligence agency and a staunch critic of Musharraf's support of the U.S.-led war on terror. "It's a big blow to the country," said Gul, as a dozen officers took him away in a police van near the parliament in the capital, Islamabad. Hashmi said the army general would not "not survive the people's outrage." Up to 40 activists were hauled in when police raided the office of the Human Right Commission of Pakistan, including its director, I.A. Rahman, a harsh Musharraf critic, said Mohammed Yousaf, a guard at the office in the eastern city of Lahore. Musharraf's leadership is threatened by an Islamic militant movement that has spread from border regions to the capital, the reemergence of political rival and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and an increasingly defiant Supreme Court, which was expected to rule soon on the validity of his recent presidential election win. Hearings scheduled for next week were postponed, with no new date set. Attorney General Malik Mohammed Qayyum denied claims by Bhutto and commentators in the domestic media that Musharraf had imposed martial law — direct rule by the army — under the guise of a state of emergency. "There is no martial law in the country," Qayyum said, noting that the prime minister and parliament were still in place. "Only a state of emergency has been declared." In Islamabad, phone service that was cut Saturday evening appeared to have been restored by Sunday morning. But transmissions by TV news networks other than state-controlled Pakistan TV remained off the air in major cities. Scores of paramilitary troops blocked access to the Supreme Court and parliament. Otherwise the streets of the capital appeared calm, with little sign of demonstrators. "Nobody cares about us or about what we think," said Mohammad Amin, 31, wearing a black prayer cap as he took a break from his work with fellow laborers to sip sweet tea. Western allies had urged Musharraf not to take authoritarian measures despite recent his country's recent turmoil. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a return to democracy in Pakistan, as the American embassy urged citizens in the country to remain at home and defer all nonessential travel. But Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the emergency declaration "does not impact our military support of Pakistan" or its efforts in the war on terror. Bhutto, who had traveled abroad again in the wake of an Oct. 18 suicide attack that narrowly missed her but killed 145 others, immediately flew back to the southern city of Karachi, and declared that the emergency was the "blackest day" in Pakistan's history. "I believe the problem is dictatorship, I don't believe the solution is dictatorship," she told Sky News television in a report available via satellite. In his televised address late Saturday, Musharraf, looking somber and composed, said Pakistan was at a "dangerous" juncture, its government threatened by Islamic extremists who are "taking the writ of the government in their own hands, and even worse they are imposing their obsolete ideas on moderates." The military ruler, wearing a black button-down tunic rather than his army fatigues, also blamed the Supreme Court for punishing state officials and tying the hands of the government by postponing the validation of his recent election win. The court was expected to rule soon on opponents' claims that Musharraf's Oct. 6 victory was unconstitutional because he contested the vote while army chief. Musharraf on Saturday replaced the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, who had emerged as the main check on the president. His name was deleted from the court's Web site. "We have to create harmony among judiciary, legislative and executive ... This is how we would tackle the issue of terrorism in a better way," Musharraf said. He said there would be no change in the government and its top offices, and parliament — set to dissolve by Nov. 15 — would complete its term. He also vowed to go ahead with parliamentary elections, originally due by January, but gave no time line. Deputy Minister for Information, Tariq Azeem, said Sunday he hoped the polls would go ahead soon. "But unfortunately everything has been put on the back burner," he said. "I'm still hoping the election will happen shortly ... but I can't give you the exact date." Musharraf's emergency order imposed a provisional constitution. Seven of the 17 Supreme Court judges immediately rejected Musharraf's emergency order, which suspended the 1973 constitution, and only five agreed to take the oath of office under the provisional constitutional order. "We will send flowers to those judges who didn't take oath, and shame on those who did it," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of the six party coalition, United Action Forum. Authorities arrested Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawyer who represented Chaudhry when Musharraf unsuccessfully tried to fire him earlier this year. Another opposition party leader, Imran Khan, was put under house arrest Saturday. The emergency comes as Musharraf's security forces struggle to contain pro-Taliban and al-Qaida-linked militants who have gained control of large tracts of the volatile northwest, near Afghanistan. Violence has reached major cities with deadly suicide attacks in Islamabad and Karachi underscoring the failure of Musharraf's administration to combat the threat despite huge financial support from the United States. Talat Masood, a retired Pakistani general and respected analyst, said the emergency declaration was a pre-emptive move in case the court ruled against him, and said the move could "further aggravate terrorism and extremism in the country and slide the country into anarchism." Rick Barton, a Pakistan expert at the Washington-based Center for International and Strategic Studies, said Musharraf's move would likely only postpone his political demise. "He's obviously not very popular, and it's not going to increase his popularity." Musharraf issued two ordinances toughening media laws, including a ban on live TV broadcasts of "incidents of violence and conflict." Also, TV operators who "ridicule" the president, armed forces, or executive, legislative or judicial organs of the state can be punished with three years in jail. I guess we can assume Rantburg is illegal in Pakistain. I stand by my opinion that the Pak president is a ridiculous little man; that the Pak military is a laughable pretense led by incompetents, much better suited to oppressing the population than to dealing with any real threat; and that the executvie, legislative, and judicial organs are chock full of time servers, men on horseback, and pursuers of the main chance. By dancing around the chimera of "democracy," rather than embracing personal freedom the Paks are trying to implement the side effect rather than the cure. But they'll never embrace personal liberty, because that would involve freedom of religion, as well as freedom from gangs of roving fascisti.

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India-Pakistan

Perv says Sharif to remain in exile

2007-10-27

(AKI/DAWN) Pakistan's president Pervez Musharraf has said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif would not return before the general elections in January. According to the Pakistani daily Dawn, Musharraf said the ruling Pakistan Muslim League and its allies were in a position to win the elections and the next prime minister would be from the PML. Addressing about 170 legislators of the party, including federal ministers, the president said: “You have been supporting me for the last five years and you will not be disappointed by me in the days to come. I am with you and it is my heartiest desire that you win elections and form the government.” Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, secretary-general Mushahid Hussain Sayed attended the dinner held at the prime minister's residence. Qari Gul Rahman, a dissident with the six-party religious alliance MMA, and Shahabuddin Khan of the Awami National Party, who voted for Musharraf in the presidential election, were also at the dinner. The president denied reports that the local bodies would be dissolved before the polls on the demand of certain parties. He said the reconciliation process had been initiated to end the tug of war between political parties and it was proceeding well, the minister of state for information, Tariq Azeem told Dawn. Musharraf also said that foreign experts would not be involved in the investigation of the 18 October blasts in Karachi which targetted former premier Benazir Bhutto. “Our own experts are competent enough to undertake this task and they have done it in the past.” He also rejected speculation that foreign troops would be allowed to intrude into Pakistan’s tribal areas to attack militants. Prime minister Aziz congratulated the president on winning the election and said that even if opposition parties had participated in the process, Musharraf would have polled the same 57 percent votes of the electoral college. Earlier, the president had an informal meeting with some senior members of the PML, including Baluchistan chief minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf and Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim Khan. He discussed with them the electoral strategy, petitions pending in the Supreme Court, security situation and the formation of an interim set-up, sources said.

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India-Pakistan

Benazir Fears Ex-Army Officers May Kill Her

2007-10-16

Pakistan ratcheted up pressure on Benazir Bhutto yesterday to delay her planned homecoming this week, as the former premier said she feared retired army officers may be plotting to kill her. She might be right, but it's awfully convenient timing ... Benazir is set to return from eight years of self-imposed exile on Thursday after President Pervez Musharraf gave her amnesty against corruption charges, in an apparent step toward a US-backed power-sharing deal. But the government has backpedaled and says Benazir should wait until the Supreme Court has ruled on the legality of the amnesty and on the validity of Musharraf’s landslide win in an Oct. 6 presidential vote. Musharraf says he has sent personal messages to Benazir asking her to stay away for now. Deputy Information Minister Tariq Azeem said Benazir could be arrested if the Supreme Court upholds legal challenges that were lodged last week against the amnesty. “It is because of this reason that we are asking her to wait until the legal battle is over,” Azeem told AFP. “But at the moment it is highly unlikely the government will arrest her.”

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