June 2007

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The Rediff Interview/Benazir Bhutto
 

 

PPP leader condemns indifferent attitude of regime towards flood victims


Islamabad, 29 June 2007: The Central Coordinator Human Rights Cell, Pakistan Peoples Party MNA Fauzia Wahab MNA has condemned the indifferent attitude of Musharraf regime for neglecting the victims of floods and rain storm who have been left on the mercy of harsh weather and demanded immediate relief to the victims.

In a statement today, Fauzia Wahab said that it is a matter of grave concern that the regime has once again totally failed to provide any relief to the victims of natural disaster. She said that the torrential rain caused havoc in Sindh and Balochistan and the situation further worsened with the breaking of Mirani Dam where people are starving for the last five days. She said that the people of Balochistan are being neglected by the military regime, which is a bad omen for the federation.

Fauzia Wahab said that the tall claims of the military regime of development work in Balochistan has proved false as a single gush of rain washed away the entire infrastructure of the province. She demanded immediate inquiry into the breaking of Mirani dam and several bridges in the province. She also demanded preventive measure as the met office has predicted more rains in the coming weeks.

Fauzia Wahab asked the regime to provide immediate relief to the victims of this calamity. She also sympathised with the families who lost their loved ones and prayed for the grant of eternal peace to the departed souls.

Rushdi Ijaz and PPP


June 29, 2007: MBB statement was clear she said that UK did not show sensitivity for Islam as it had shown to other religions by giving knighthood to Rushdi. She also said that govt is involved in war against terrorist its religious minister is justifying suicidal attacks he must be dismissed. Ijaz changed his stand and criticized MBB as he brandished Kilashinikove and when law took its course against him he said it was a toy. Ijaz inherited Kilashinikove from his father who used the name of Islam for his power. MBB is daughter of ZAB who protected the honor and dignity of prophet by introducing the amendment. He held Islamic conference Shah Faisal said that ZAB is son of Islam. How a man can be champion of Islam who has dollars in his blood. MBB keeps veil on her head and Tasbih in her hand which shows her love for Islam. Ijaz is on record that he saved Lal Mosque Mullahas when they were caught red handed. PPP is committed to the vision of Quid and Iqbal and opposed to theocracy and make Pakistan liberal progressive country in view of real Islam.

Senator Enver Baig demands probe into NCHD affairs
Says financial bungling must not go un-punished


Islamabad June 28, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has demanded thorough probe and audit into the accounts of National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) and the institution of a reference against those involved in the financial mis-management and corruption in the Commission.

The first audit of the NCHD made public Wednesday exposed misuse of the Pakistan Human Development Fund (PHDF) to the tune of nearly 1.3 billion rupees and missing of 338 million rupees from the bank accounts of the NCHD and PHDF.

“The revelations made in the special audit report on the accounts of the Commission and the Development Fund of unauthorised utilisation of nearly 1.3 billion rupees is a serious indictment of the Commission that calls for probe and action” said Senator Enver Baig of PPP in a statement today.

Senator Enver Baig said that the NCHD has thus far refused to submit itself to audit on different pretexts but its mandarins have finally been caught with what looks like their hands in the till. He demanded to know as to where the over 22 million rupees received by the Commission from Telethon was parked, as it was not shown in the accounts statements.

Senator Enver Baig said that the corruption involving big fish in the regime was condoned sometime behind the pretext of ‘honest mistake made in good faith’ and sometime behind the pretext that the agency involved was a private sector enterprise and beyond the purview of government audit.

He said that sometime back when the affairs of the NCHD came up for discussion on the floor of the Senate it transpired that it had a lot to explain but the regime protected it from scrutiny using different pretexts.

Senator Enver Baig demanded that the matter of embezzlement in the NCHD must be referred to NAB and an investigation held into it and the embezzlers brought to book.

The PPP leader said that if the regime failed to file a reference against the NCHD bosses he would place the matter before the Party for filing a reference against it.

“The Party will not let the huge embezzlement in the Commission and the Fund to go un-punished”

General Babar slates Qazi's bid to take over Women College for madrassah


1. Islamabad June 27, 2007: Former Interior Minister and a central PPP leader Major General (retired) Naseerullah Babar has condemned Jamaat i Islami Chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad's bid to take over buildings of the Government Degree College for Women in Pirpiai village in district Nowshera for converting it into a madrassah and demanded a thorough probe into the matter.

2. In a statement today the former Interior Minister said that the bid by Jammat-i-Islami to take over buildings of the Government Degree College for Women in Pirpiai in the guise of setting 'Qazi Public School' was not acceptable and would be resisted at all forums.

3. He said that the Women College was set up some years ago on a piece of land provided by the people of the village and not on government lands and the ruling MMA had no business to take it over for setting up a so called Public School in the name of Jamaat Chief but actually to build a madrassah to pursue their own agenda.

4. He said that neither state funds nor private land already given to a Women College could be used for setting up of a private academic institution in the name of an individual.

5. "This is a cheap bid by the Jamaat chief in an election year which will be challenged at all forums and never allowed to materialise", the former Interior Minister said.

6. General Babar said that he would also challenge Jammat's bid in the Peshawar High Court.

7. He demanded a probe into the matter and called upon the civil society to restrain the Jamaat chief from pursuing a militaristic agenda in the guise of setting up Qazi Public School.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's Petition in Supreme Court of Pakistan on Electoral Rolls - Elections 2007


IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

Constitutional Petition No.____________/2007

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto .................. PETITIONER

VERSUS


1. Chairman Election Commission Of Pakistan. Election House, Constitution Avenue, Islamabad. G 5/2

2. The Chief Election Commissioner of Pakistan, Election Commission of Pakistan, through the Secretary, Election Commission of Pakistan, Election House, Constitution Avenue, Islamabad. G 5/2.

3. The Director General, National Registration Database Authority. Office of Nadra, Islamabad.

4. The Government of Pakistan through The Secretary Parliamentary Affairs Division, Islamabad.
a. The Secretary Law, Justice, and Human Rights Division, Islamabad.



........RESPONDENTS



PETITION UNDER ARTICLE 184(3) OF THE CONSTITUTION OF ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN, 1973.

Respectfully Sheweth,
1. That the petitioner is the Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). She was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan. Even in the rigged elections of October 2002, her party secured the highest number of votes in the country. The PPP is bracing for the general elections which are scheduled to be held during the latter part of this year, and is sanguine of a landslide victory due to its soaring popularity amongst the masses. The party in power formed and backed by the Army Chief General Pervez Musharaf to forestall their route have embarked upon pre poll rigging. Apart from the President in uniform openly campaigning for the ruling party, is massively expending money on various projects shutting out the grant of opposition members of Parliament for their developmental priorities. Through the LFO (Legal Frame Work Order) accredited by the 17th amendment, General Pervez Musharaf and his created NSC (National Security Council), usurped all powers unto himself and militarized the Presidency rendering the Prime Minister, the cabinet, and the Parliament, a mere rubber stamp. The judiciary was also sought to be subjugated by coercing the CJP to resign, and on his failure to oblige he was initially suspended, the made non-functional and henceforth sent on forced leave with reference being sent for his removal to the Supreme Judicial Council. The media (electronic and press) was assaulted, and the 4rth pillar of the state was thus tried to be brow beaten into submission. All such efforts were meant to get re-elected and bail out the ruling coalition, which was facing wrath of the people, due to complete failure of governance in all phases of life.

2. That the preparatory steps towards the general elections started with the preparation of voters list through the Election Commission of Pakistan. The electoral rolls were contemplated for which funds were provided by USAID, the contract of which was awarded to parties having liaison with the Chief Minister Punjab and President of the Ruling Party (PML-Q). The reservations to which effect were notified to the Election Commission of Pakistan at the very inception but to no avail. It was also pointed out in writing to the Election Commission of Pakistan that only additions and exclusions be made in the existing electoral rolls of 2002 and a completely substituted list of voters was not required which could be done only at the time of census which are held after every 10 years and are due in the year 2008. However, the Election Commission of Pakistan went through the process by appointing enumerators all over the country for enlistment of voters. In the province of Sindh, the teachers were on strike and there were torrential rains. The job was assigned to the MQM in the urban areas and to the Chief Minister Sindh in the rural areas. They massively marginalized the strong hold of PPP in all the constituencies and sliced away 47 lac votes in 23 districts of Sindh. Even the constituency of the Chairperson in Larkana was brought down from 601200 (Six hundred one thousand two hundred) votes existing in the electoral list of 2002 to 348000 (Three hundred forty eight thousand) in 2007. Thus causing a shortfall of 251000 (Two hundred and fifty one thousand) votes. The total percentage of non registration of votes in the province of Sindh is 39 percent. Likewise, in the province of Punjab, the enumerators after collecting the forms were required to submit the same to the Nazims who by and large are under the control of the Chief Minister and the President of Pakistan and where too 1.5 crore votes were axed mainly from the strong hold constituencies of the opposition.

a. In Baluchistan, however, the votes have been increased, and where generally the women folk are not even allowed to vote, a whopping 140 percent increase has been reflected in the preliminary list. The figures of which have been given by Pildat, an organization of high repute.

3. That the overall position which emerges draft computerized voters list displayed by the ECP is that the total number of voters registered are five crore twenty one lac two thousand four hundred and twenty eight. Whereas, in the electoral list of 2002 prepared by the election commission itself and on the basis of which general elections were held in 2002 the number of voters was 71.86 million. In the span of 5 years, the eligible voters should have been increased to 82 million. Surprisingly, instead a shortfall of 27 million has been shown which is equivalent to 33 percent of the total number of voters reflected in the electoral list of 2002. Thus one third of the eligible voters of Pakistan have been dis franchised.

4. That decrease of women voters through identical comparison with the list of 2002 and the year 2007 is as follows: FATA 96 percent, Sindh 41 percent, Punjab 37 percent, Islamabad 19 percent. Such massive decrease cannot be countenanced on any hypothesis.

5. That when the preliminary electronic lists were thus displayed by the ECP on June 12, 2007, all these discrepancies have prominently surfaced. In the process of preparation of the electronic voters lists, the PPP had been constantly approaching the CEC respondent no. 2 and also submitting written complaints seeking remedial action for registration of all eligible voters. Even the National Democratic Institute (NDI) as well as the Center of Civic Education Pakistan (CCE) had not only held multi party round table conferences and sent its unanimous recommendations for enabling the complete registration of voters towards ensuring transparency in the forthcoming elections. Copies of the letters reflecting such recommendations are attached as Annexure B periodical letters sent to the CEC and the representations made by the PPP are attached as annexure C

6. That on June 16, 2007, the delegation of the Election Monitoring Cell PPP headed by Senator Sardar Muhammad Latin Khan Khosa called upon the CEC and apart from delivering the letter of the Chairperson PPP pleaded for remedying the defects in the preliminary electoral lists to ensure that no eligible voter is kept out and facilitated his entitlement to vote as mandated by Articled 51 (2) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The copy of the letter of the Chairperson so delivered to the CEC is attached as Annexure D.

7. That the CEC in response to the letter afforrefered replied to the Chairperson. Copy of which is attached as annexure E. The Chairperson of PPP, however wrote back requiring the commission to “fulfill the promise of holding fair elections so that Pakistan can stand tall in the comity of nations as having made the transition to democracy by accepting the true will of the people of our great nation” Copy of the letter is attached as annexure F.

8. That however, the discussions with the Chief Elections Commissioner as well as his written response dated, June 20th, 2007 annexed hereto reveal that there is no possibility of worthwhile rectification of the electoral lists by the CEC. Hence this petition before the apex court as the matter is of fundamental public importance and needs the most urgent rectification so that 25 million citizens of Pakistan entitled to vote are not disfranchised, inter alia on the following:

GROUNDS
(a) That Article 51 of the constitution postulated that there shall be 342 seats of the member of the National Assembly including seats reserved for women and Non-Muslims. Sub Article (2) of the said Article reads that a person shall be entitled to vote if he is a citizen of Pakistan and is not less than 18 years of age and his name appears on the electoral roll. The entire scheme of the constitution thus empowers the citizens of Pakistan (above the age of 18 years) to elect members to the National Assembly and the leader of which house would have the right of governance. It is thus the people of Pakistan who through their representative would regulate the affairs of the country for the stipulated period. The entitlement to vote is not dependant on the possession of National Identity card. Thus no conditionality contrary to the mandate of the constitution can be attached to the enlistment of a voter in the electoral lists prepared by the ECP.

(b) (b). That even in the Electoral Rolls Act, 1974 section 6 (2) enjoins upon the registration officer to enroll as a voter a citizen of Pakistan who is not less than 18 years of age. Such enrollment is not dependant upon the prior production of the NIC. Preliminary publication of the electoral rolls in section 8 of the Act IBID does not postulate any condition of non-entry of his name in such list. The stipulation for claims to inclusion, exclusion, and correction in the preliminary list under section 10 mentions 21 days for so doing. However, such a stipulation would not stand in the way of the ECP to ensure his constitutional obligation of entitling every eligible voter to vote and his legal right to be enrolled and enlisted in the voters list which is not dependant or clogged by the existence or production of NIC. Likewise, for correction of electoral rolls under section 15, NIC is not required. Final publication under section 16 after making additions, deletions, modifications or corrections thus is not dependant on any conditionality of NIC. It is only thereafter, that section 18 caters for production of NIC issued under the National Registration Act, 1973, when enrollment and correction at a time other than the annual revision is sought, which is not the case and hence not applicable.

(c) That even in the Peoples Representation Act, 1976 it was provided that the voter shall not be issued the ballot paper unless he produced NIC, the division bench of Lahore High Court in the reported case PLD 1989 Lahore 1 struck down the same holding that it was contrary to the constitutional right of the citizen of Pakistan. Even this honorable court declared the law accordingly holding that the constitutional right cannot be whittled down by any subordinate legislation reliance 1985 SCMR 365

(d) That NADRA’s NIC is essentially required for the issuance of passport, Arms and Driving license etc. and the Registration Act, 1973 does not carry any stipulation to make it pre requisite for registration of vote or right of franchise of a citizen of Pakistan. The issuance of NIC is statutory functionary of the Director General in the Act IBID and if NADRA has been able to issue only 57433474 NIC’s, then it is no fault of the over the 3 crore citizens who have not yet been issued the NIC’s. For such fault of the statutory functionaries a citizen of Pakistan cannot be deprived of his fundamental rights. The entire edifice of Parliamentary democracy and grundnorm of the 1973 constitution depends upon facilitating the eligible people of Pakistan to cast their votes and exercise their right to franchise. It is pertinent to note that the Late Prime Minister Shamed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto directed the free issuance of NIC which practice continued during his tenure. The procedure and the fee hence forth being extracted for obtaining NIC is harsh, cumbersome, and tantamount to denial of the NIC to the citizens of Pakistan.

(e) That the preliminary electronic voters list is not being supplied to the petitioner and other political parties despite repeated requests not only at their end but also by the NDI and CCE. The display centers are an apology of the process as the same are neither available in most of the rural union councils nor is the staff present and the requisite forms are equally unavailable. The ECP has declined to furnish copy of the preliminary electronic voters list without which the political parties as well as the eligible voters are completely at a loss to decipher whether there names are reflected on the lists or not. Even the ECP has failed to conduct the effective public awareness campaign. The public has little information about the display centers where the hard copies of the voter lists are supposedly being displayed. The exact location ad telephone numbers are not provided to the general public without which the use of such centers is meaningless. The ECP has time and again asked to engage in dialogue with the parties, provide information and updates on the electoral process but the stake holders are completely denied such a round table conference which was essentially required for rendering the transparency to the electoral process.

(f) That the petitioner and other stake holders have constantly represented and requested that the preliminary electronic list may be displayed on the Web Site of the ECP from which it could be downloaded/viewed by the parties for undergoing the process of correction, rectification, etc. However, even such a request was turned down.

(g) That the petitioner and other political parties besides the NDI and the CCE had also besieged the ECP to provide to all political parties the computerized list in electronic format, which has unfortunately also been turned down. It has been an informed that the final computerized list would be available for sale the price of which is estimated 5 million rupees. Obviously, such an exorbitant and excessive amount would be beyond the reach of many political and social organizations, and this would tantamount to the denial of the final computerized lists.

(h) That the political parties and the public at large are clamoring for their right of enrollment of the eligible voters in the computerized lists being finalized by the ECP. Although the time is running out and over 3 crore voted need to be registered, the respondents remain unmoved. Needless to mention that Article 4 of the constitution confers inalienable right upon every citizen to enjoy the protection of law and to be treated in accordance with law, wherever he maybe. Similarly, under Article 25 of the constitution all citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law. Consequently depriving one third of the eligible voters from being enlisted as voters and depriving them of their right of franchise is negation of the inalienable and fundamental rights conferred and guaranteed upon the people of Pakistan.

(i) That such process of eliminating huge number of voters from the 3 provinces and increasing the number of voted in Baluchistan are clearly acts of malafide amounting to perpetuating the illegitimate existing regime which came into power through usurpation of peoples rights. In case such manipulated lists are made the basis of lections in the country the process would be bereft of constitutional, legal, and moral premises and would not be acceptable to the people of Pakistan. Such a fraud perpetrated would endanger the very federation and be detrimental to the interest of Pakistan.

PRAYER:
It is therefore respectfully prayed that the respondents be directed to update the computerized/ electronic voters lists to encompass the names of all persons entitled to vote in terms of Article 51 (2) of The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

It is further prayed that non registration of votes of the entitled voters conditioned to the availability of the NIC issued by NADRA may be declared as without lawful authority and of no legal consequence.

It is further prayed that the respondent no. 1and 2 be directed to furnish copy of the computerized/electronic voters list to the petitioner and other political parties free of cost and also have the same displayed on the Web Site of the ECP so as to facilitate the downloading of the same by the stakeholders.

It is further prayed that till the decision of this petition the final computerized/electronic may be held in abeyance.

Any other writ, relief or direction expedient in the interest of justice may also be issued in vindication of the grievances afforerefered.

PETITIONER

THROUGH

1. SARDAR MUHAMMAD LATIF KHAN KHOSA
SENIOR ADVOCATE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

2. FAROOQ H. NAEK
ADVOCATE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

3. SARDAR KHURRAM KHAN KHOSA
ADVOCATE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN


25 June 2007

Mohtarma Bhutto calls for elimination of torture
State sponsored kidnapping and illegal detention also mental torture


Islamabad June 26, 2007: "The International Day for the prevention of torture should serve as a reminder that Pakistan is among the countries where the state agencies routinely torture citizens with impunity and that the practice must come to an end", said former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in a statement today.

She said that kidnapping and holding in illegal custody of citizens by the agencies was also a form of mental torture and deplorable adding, "it has necessitated that the agencies be urgently brought under the ambit of law.

She said that the regime in Pakistan not only tolerated but also appeared to even promote it by turning a blind eye to the mysterious kidnapping of people by agencies that then falsely deny the charges before the courts of law.

The agencies deny kidnappings and torture only because the regime has taken the position before the courts that the operations of the state's intelligence agencies were beyond the control and oversight of the Defence and Interior Ministries, she said.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the police force also needed to be reformed to abjure the use of torture as an instrument of extraction of confession. The objective of elimination of torture will not be achieved unless the police is modernised and properly educated to respect the law and the Constitution.

Mohtarma Bhutto also called for the release of Akhtar Mengal, Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, Zain Bugti and other detainees who have still not been release.

The former Prime Minister also called for the signing of the Convention Against Torture (CAT) as a critical step in eliminating torture and holding accountable those who resort to it.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto raises several concerns with the Election Commission
Reiterates demand for Voter lists in electronic format


Islamabad, 25 June 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has reiterated the demand for voters lists in electronic format asking the Chief Election Commission of Pakistan to fulfil the promise and the constitutional obligation of holding fair elections so that "Pakistan can stand tall in the comity of Nations as having made the transition to democracy by accepting true will of the people".

She said this in a letter addressed to the Chief Election Commissioner that was delivered to him in the office by Amir Fida Pirach MPA.

The letter was in response to the June 20 letter of the Election Commission to Mohtarma Bhutto giving reply to the June 16 letter of Chairperson PPP on the issue of voters lists in which she had asked that the lists be put on the web page of Election Commission and also provide a nationwide electoral list to the PPP in electronic format.

She said that the answers given by the EC in its letter of June 20 failed to remedy the defects pointed out in her letter of June 16, 2007 adding "The PPP has a different view and would like the ECP's decisions reviewed".

She said that the PPP finds it impossible to verify voters lists in hard copies in 45,000 centres across the Country. Moreover reports indicate that the lists are either not available or the most display centres are not open in up to 40 percent of the centres.

Secondly, with the generous money given by USAID for computerization of the electoral rolls, the political parties would like copies of those electoral rolls both at the preliminary and final stages, she said adding that the law does not forbid the ECP from doing so. The ECP broke with past practice when it took money from donors to prepare electronic rolls. Therefore it can also break with past practice to provide electronic copies of the electoral rolls to the stakeholders who are the political parties and civil society, she said.

She also said that the law does not bar the ECP from placing provisional or final voters lists on its Webpage. Judicial discretion can be used to further transparency where the law is silent on an issue, she said.

She said that the fact that the ECP intends to put voters lists on the Website is welcome. Since the ECP is receiving funds from international donors, we would like the fee for providing the lists waived, she said. At that stage, however, we will not be left with time to run verification tests and remedy the flaws, she said.

"Voters need to know where to go to cast their votes. Therefore we would like to have on the ECP Web page well in advance the name of the voter against their area and the name of the area against the polling station where the voter is to cast vote. We would like any changes made to the location of polling stations and the change of the area assigned to a polling station posted on the Web page"

She said that the law does not prevent the ECP from providing draft electoral rolls to the political parties. "If the PPP is mistaken, kindly inform us of the law which the ECP is relying as well as the wording of that law if possible within a week".

She expressed concern that an estimated 27 million plus voters names have not been entered in the electoral rolls on the grounds that they do not have a NADRA Identity card. However, they do have other government issued identity cards, she said.

"Article 51 (2) of the Constitution of Pakistan gives the right to vote to every adult Pakistani. Section 6 of the Electoral Rolls Act 1974 also enjoins upon the Registration Officer the very obligation to enroll as a voter, a citizen of Pakistan who is not less than 18 years. Such enrolment is not dependant upon the prior production of NADRA ID card. Electoral rolls in Section 8 of the Act ibid does not postulate any condition of non entry in such list.

"A division bench of the Lahore High Court struck down an amendment in the Representation of Peoples Act 1976, when in Section 33 it was provided that the voter shall not be issued the ballot paper unless he produces National Identity Card, (PLD 1989 Lah.1) as it was found contrary to the constitutional right of citizen of Pakistan. Even the Apex Court (SC) held that the constitutional right cannot be whittled down by any subordinate legislation (1985 SCMR 365).

"The Representation Act 1973 does not carry any stipulation to make it pre-requisite for registration of vote or right of franchise of a citizen of Pakistan. The entire edifice of Parliamentary democracy and the 1973 Constitution depends upon facilitating the eligible people of Pakistan to cast their votes. I recall that the late Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had directed the free issuance of National Identity Cards which practice continued during his tenure. It would be proper that free National Identity Cards are made available to all eligible citizens of Pakistan.

"Missing Voters: The 2002 voters list enrolled 71.86 million voters. This should have increased to 82 million. Instead a shortfall of 27 million slashes 33% voters in the draft computerized voters lists. This is an alarming state of affairs.

"The PPP asks that judicial discretion be exercised by the ECP on the side of the framers of the constitution and the internationally recognized right of universal right to vote. An election with one-third of the voters debarred from voting would not be fair. Kindly take steps to rectify this", the letter said.

PPP extends last date for applications for Party Tickets
Decision taken in light of demand of aspiring candidates


Islamabad June 25, 2007: Secretary General of the PPP Jehangir Bader has said that last date for applications for Party tickets for the National and Provincial Assemblies that expired on June 25 (today) has been extended until July 1.

In a statement today he said that in view of the overwhelming response and the demand of aspiring candidates the Party chairperson had agreed to extend the date for filing application for Party tickets.

He said that the application must be typed, contain a brief bio-data, an attested copy of a Bachelor’s degree, Photostat copy of Party membership and a non refundable fee by Bank Draft/Pay Order made out in name of Pakistan People Party of Thirty Thousands Rupees for National Assembly applicants and Twenty Five Thousands Rupees for Provincial Assembly applicants.

Successful applicants will need to fulfil other conditions including an affidavit and a fee for award of symbol, as already notified.

He said that final Parliamentary Board will meet in London presided by the Chairperson in July. All members of Central Executive Committee and Federal Council in good standing will be members of the Board. All provincial presidents, secretaries, leaders of opposition, deputy leader of opposition, provincial presidents of women’s wing will be attending the Parliamentary Board. Divisional presidents, district president and district secretary are also invited for their division/district.

Booking Lal Masjid Clerics under terrorism welcomed only if true


Islamabad June 25, 2007: Former Interior Minister and a central PPP leader Major General (retired) Naseerullah Babar has said that booking the Lal Masji clerics under terrorism laws would be welcomed only if the regime pursued it vigorously and punished the terrorists wearing Islamic mask.

According to press reports two top cleric brothers of Lal Masjid namely Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdul Rashid Ghazi and nearly 70 students of the Madressah Hafsa were booked by the Islamabad police on charges of terrorism for kidnapping of nine persons including six Chinese women and keeping them in illegal confinement.

In a statement today the former Interior Minister however apprehended that the press reports about booking the clerics under terrorism charges may have been planted only to serve as a false assurance on the eve of Interior Minister’s forthcoming visit to China. He asked the civil society to closely monitor and pressure the regime to pursue the case against the clerics.

“The Party is deeply concerned and condemns the brazen act of militancy and lawlessness against the citizens of Pakistan’s great friend China and the regime’s inexplicable inaction to bring the perpetrators to justice”.

He said that it appeared that the regime had abandoned its responsibility and yielded before the fanatics and extremists not only in the tribal and settled areas of the country but even the federal capital Islamabad.

He said that the emergence of Al Badar and Al Shams groups on the political horizon played havoc in 1971 leading to the break-up of the country. Groups like Lashkar-e-Islami (LI), Lashkar e Tayyaba and Jaish Mohammad and the Lal Masjid brigade were now playing havoc with the country and harming our relations with foreign powers, he said.

General Babar warned that if the fire ignited by religious militancy was not extinguished it would enflame the whole country.

“If elections are rigged again to keep the PPP and its allies out, the forces that enabled the taliban to regroup in the tribal areas and allowed extremist groups to spread as far as Islamabad will be strengthened to the detriment of Quaid e Azam's vision of Pakistan as a federal, democratic and moderate state and threaten the way of life of our people and the destiny of our nation”.

He said that unless thirty million voters who had been struck off the electoral lists by the Election Commission were allowed to vote, the elections would be fraudulent and would appear to be deliberately engineered to cater to likes of the clerics of Lal Masjid.

Mohtarma Bhutto asks workers to expose flaws in voters' lists


Islamabad, June 23,2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has asked Party workers, office bearers and ticket holders to minutely examine the provisional voters lists, point out the serious flaws in it and insist on a revision of the lists to include the names of missing voters and delete the ghost voters in it.

The Election Commission claims to have put on display provisional voters lists and invited claims and objections by July 3. However reports indicate that lists are not available on 40% of the sites.

In a statement today the former Prime Minister said that accurate voters list was the first step for ensuring fair elections. However, the provisional lists prepared by the EC are seriously flawed as 27 million voters have been deleted compared to the list issued in 2007.

Mohtarma Bhutto directed the Party cadres to hold regular meetings to enroll voters and to eliminate ghost voters' from the lists.

PPP asked the ECP to put the provisional electoral lists on the web page of the Electoral Commission Lists and provide a nationwide electoral list to the Pakistan Peoples Party in electronic format.

However, neither the ECP has called a roundtable of the stakeholders nor lists in electronic format have been provided to the parties even though international donors have funded it generously for the purpose.

Mohtarma called upon PPP office bearers to take up inspection of voters list as well as addition, deletion of voters name with enthusiasm and dedication.

Mohtarma Bhutto also directed the Party's Election Cell to keep a close eye on the process and prepare daily reports on the issue.

Army officers accused of irregularities: Defence Housing Authority scheme
By Amir Wasim


ISLAMABAD, June 22: Opposition members of the National Assembly on Friday alleged that senior army officers were involved in serious “irregularities and financial corruption” in the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) scheme in Lahore and a provincial minister was acting as a front man for them.

Speaking at a news conference at the Parliament House cafeteria, Liaqat Baloch and Farid Ahmed Piracha of the Muttahida Majlis-i- Amal (MMA), Khawaja Mohammad Asif of the Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) and Syed Khurshid Shah of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) alleged that the DHA administration was causing billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer in connivance with senior army officers and government-backed private developers.

The opposition leaders said that Park View Cooperative Housing Society (PVCHS) was merged into the DHA on December 30, 2006 in violation of the Societies Cooperative Act as no permission was sought from any member of the society before this merger. They claimed that several people had already lost their lives in the clashes between the PVCHS and local land owners. They said a large number of cases were still pending in courts.

The opposition leaders said that the total area of PVCHS in the documents had been shown as 7,200 kanals whereas more than 2,800 kanal was not owned by the PVCHS. They alleged that the society had already sold plots on these 2,800 kanals and now the DHA had started receiving Rs800,000 per kanal as development charges from the people. They claimed that the total amount being collected as development charges would amount to Rs12 billion, and it would go into the pockets of a Punjab Minister, the DHA officials and some senior army officers who had brokered the deal.

They further said that the DHA had prepared a plan to construct 10-marla houses with the price of Rs7.4 million on this disputed land and its booking would be starting on Saturday morning. They alleged that 100 kanals of the land which had earlier been reserved for the construction of an interchange near Lahore Airport had been given to the DHA in violation of rules.

The opposition leaders termed the DHA as the “biggest land mafia” of real estate saying it had not paid any tax to the provincial government or the cantonment boards.

Khwaja Asif said that those so-called politicians who were accumulating wealth through illegal acts were preparing to “ buy” next elections.

Farid Piracha said that billions of rupees had been stuck up in DHA, Gwadar and Bahria projects. He said that people knew name of each and every general who were involved in these scams.

Syed Khurshid Shah said that the country had been run by several mafias such as stock market, sugar and cement for the last eight years. These mafias, he said, were present all over the country and operating under the regimes patronage.

PPP to challenge voters’ list in SC
By Amir Wasim

 

ISLAMABAD, June 22: The People’s Party Parliamentarians has decided to challenge the voters’ list prepared by the Election Commission in the Supreme Court.

The party will also set up a protest camp outside the EC to denounce large-scale discrepancies in the list.

This was announced by head of the PPP’s Central Election Monitoring Cell Senator Latif Khosa while briefing reporters after a meeting here on Friday.

Mr Khosa said the protest camp would be set up next week and the PPP leaders and workers would observe a token hunger strike against the EC for preparing the faulty voters’ list.

He said they would file the petition in the SC before July 3 objections and applications for corrections in the voters’ list. He said the SC would be asked to stop the EC from publishing the final list of the voters.

Mr Khosa said they had lost confidence in Chief Election Commissioner Qazi Mohammad Farooq as he had failed to respond to their genuine demands.

Benazir Bhutto’s birthday celebrated with the rain

Staff Report


KARACHI: The first of the monsoon rains showered PPP workers, supporters and leader who had gathered Thursday at Kakri Ground to celebrate Benazir Bhutto’s 54th birthday.

“Thank God! The temperature will go down,” said a sloganeering worker with a sigh of relief. Hundreds of supporters gathered in Lyari Town’s Kakri Ground during the PPP chairperson’s birthday to show their strength, even though the scorching heat kept many stay away.

Raza Rabbani, leader of the opposition in the Senate, former defense minister Aftab Shaban Mirani, former chief minister Qaim Ali Shah, leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, MNAs Nabil Gabol and Dr Fehmida Mirza, former federal minister Prof. ND Khan, and MPAs Murad Shah, Shazi Mari, Shama Mithani, former district nazim Larkana Khursheed Junejo, Zafar Leghari, and others, cut the cake.

The workers chanted the slogan: ‘Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Now, Benazir will rule Pakistan’. Rabbani, Shah, Khuhro and Nabil Gabol spoke to the workers and vowed to continue their struggle against the regime. “This is the President General Pervez Musharraf’s last year. Start preparing for elections,” stated Raza Rabbani. He criticized the present’s government budget calling it ‘anti-people’ and ‘pro-the rich’.

“Welcome the rainfall. It is a gesture showing that Benazir Bhutto will return to Pakistan soon and lead you in person,” said Qaim Ali Shah. He said that democracy will prevail and that democratic people will crush dictatorship.

Gabol said that the people of Lyari have again proved that Lyari is the stronghold of Bhutto’s followers. “We’ll not let Lyari go to anti-Bhutto groups. The people of Lyari are committed supporters of the PPP and no other party would be able to replace the PPP here,” he vowed. Rainfall made the PPP leaders shorten their speeches and conclude the celebration within an hour and a half. Otherwise, PPP leaders would have addressed the workers till late night.


 

 

Benazir’s book lauched in Lahore


LAHORE: The book launching ceremony of “Wither Pakistan, Dictatorship or Democracy” was held on Thursday. The book is a compilation of speeches by Benazir Bhutto on her ideology, edited and compiled by Iqbal Narejo.

Intellectuals, members of nongovernmental organisations, Bar Council members and People’s Party leaders participated to discuss the ideology of PPP. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, President of PPP Punjab said at the occasion that it was the time to give a proper line of action to people so that their efforts to instate rights could be actualised. He added that the book defined ways to be adopted in order to become a proud nation. He said intellectuals always played an important role in creating awareness. Dr Iqbal Narejo said at the occasion that Benazir was a politician cum intellectual who had a vision that was communicated at an international level, which scared politicians, which was why she was exiled. Qasim Zia, Opposition leader said PPP made no deal with the government, as opposed to the popular rumour.

Prof Dr Imran Ali said that there was a link between the ideology of the Benazir and the need of time. He added that her ideology was compatible with the Western world, which was necessary for survival in the global village.

Retired General Safdar Ali Khan said that military and literature did not have a strong connection, except for the book. He added that no system could survive in Pakistan but the parliamentary.

Dr Mehdi Hassan, renowned intellectual, said that the party leader’s ideology symbolized the ideology of its party workers. He said that Zulfiqar Bhutto promised that Benazir would continue his mission, which was to fight for to ensure the rights of people. Denying comments of general Safdar, he said if the country survived with no system then it could survive with socialism. He said the military ruled for about 32 years and that martial laws weakened institutions. He said he did not recognise the current government as a government. He said Benazir had told half the truth in her book about terrorism and did not tell that imperialists made these terrorist groups and were fighting against their own creation. Generals were becoming billionaires, whereas the common man was striving to make ends meet, he added.

Ehsan Bhoon, president of Lahore High Court (LHC) said the movement by lawyers had become a mass movement in which people from every walk of life contributed to ensure people’s rights and eradicate dictatorship from this country.

Talking Points - Voters Lists


ECP PAYS SPECIAL ATTENTION TO LARKANA: ECP paid special attention to the constituency of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, Chairperson PPP and Senator Asif Ali Zardari. M ore than 250,000 voters have not been included in the fresh voter lists in Larkana district alone. Consider: during the local bodies' elections, the number of registered voters in Larkana was 601,200 but the new voter lists contained 349,000 names, depicting a difference of 251,000 voters.
A majority of the voters' whose names were missing was from the PPP's constituencies, it is thus clear that the reduction in the number of voters indicated that the government was indulging into pre-poll rigging to inflict defeat on the PPP in the ensuing general elections.

WHERE ARE 20 MILLION MISSING VOTES? Why there is a huge decline in the number of voters in the current, draft computerized voter list? It is important to note that there were 71.86 million voters on the electoral rolls used in the 2002 general elections and that this number should have increased to around 82 million now (taking into account a 2.7 percent per year voters population growth rate) The gap between currently registered voters and the number to which the voting population should have risen is an alarming 27 million or 33 percent.

WHY THERE IS LACK OF TRUST ON NEW VOTERS LIST? Majority of the centers displaying computerized voter-lists were deserted, with each display centre attracting 15 to 25 visitors during the past seven days in the Peshawar, (Source:DailyTimes, June 19, 2007). The display centers have so far received 7 to 10 complaints from voters and only 12 to 17 registration forms have been submitted since the centers were opened. Why there is such a huge trust deficit between ECP and people of Pakistan.

ALARMINGLY HUGE NUMBERS OF MISSING WOMEN VOTES:
The number of women voters has registered a huge decrease of 96 percent in FATA, 41 percent in Sindh, 37 percent in Punjab and 19 percent in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) (Source: PILDAT Analysis)

ECP's FLIP-FLOP ABOUT ID-CARDS: The ECP has been saying that everyone possessing Computerized National Identity Cards (CNICs) has now completed the registration process. But, not everyone, particularly those in rural areas, has been able to obtain this card, for a variety of reasons (mainly related to cost and accessibility). Last year, the ECP permitted the use of both old National Identity Cards and the new computerized ones for registration purposes. Why can't the ECP allow the use of any of the multiple identifications cards currently available, such as driving licenses and passports, as this would enable many more voters to register?

BRIBES FOR REGISTRATION FORMS? Why can't the ECP make the voter registration process both easy and affordable for all Pakistanis? In fact, the PPP believes that the ECP should waive all fees associated with the registration process and make registration forms downloadable as well. This would reduce corruption, as some reports are coming in that indicate that government employees are asking for bribes to provide these forms.

WHERE IS ELECTRONIC COPY? Why has the ECP refused to release a preliminary, electronic copy of the voter list to Pakistani political parties for verification purposes? If the forms are not released immediately, then political parties and other civil society organizations can't begin the important process of analyzing and verifying the information currently on the lists.

FAILURE TO CONDUCT PUBLIC EFFECTIVE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN : Why has very little information been provided to the public about the display centers where hard copies of the voter lists are, supposedly, being displayed? Exact locations and telephone numbers must be provided if the general public is to make use of these centers.

WHAT'S THE HURRY? Why has the ECP established a very short time frame (just 3 weeks) during which political parties can contest the information currently found on the voter lists? It will simply be impossible for analysts to traverse a rural country like Pakistan to review the lists in such a short period.

WHY SHY AWAY FACING POLITICAL PARTIES?
Why does the ECP refuse to engage in any kind of dialogue with the parties to provide information and updates on the electoral process?

PUBLIC INFORMATION FOR SALE?
Why is the ECP demanding a large fee for providing the hard-copies of the final voters lists to political parties and civil society organizations? After the election is called, all political parties are entitled to copies of the voters list. If current rules are not changed, it is estimated that a political party will need to pay Rs. 5 million to purchase a complete a set of final voters list in hard copies (paper printed copies).

WHY ECP IS SCARED OF VERIFICATION OF VOTERS LIST?
Why are representatives of political parties not being allowed to monitor the ongoing activities in the data centre where the computerization and preparation of the lists is taking place? If they are allowed to do so, it would greatly increase the public's confidence in this process?

PPP will protect lives and liberty of the journalists says Mohtarma Bhutto


Islamabad, 21 June 2007: Every journalist will be protected to the best ability of the state by a Pakistan Peoples Party government, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Chairperson PPP said in a statement today.

Condemning the murder and arrest of two journalists on June 17, 2007, Mohtarma Bhutto said that the rise in violence against members of the media was of deep concern to the PPP.

She said the present regime had dismally failed to protect the members of the press or the electronic media. The former Prime Minister asked the journalists and the media personalities to support the PPP and its allies so that collectively stability, law and order and lives of every citizen could be protected.

According to the reports received, Mr. Abdul Lateef Gola, a correspondent of Daily Jang in Jafferabad city, Balochistan province was arrested on June 17, 2007 by the police officers at around 1: 00 AM from his house. His whereabouts are unknown and the police are denying his arrest.

In another case, Mr. Noor Ahmed Solangi, a correspondent of the daily, Khabroon, in Kingree, Sindh province was shot dead by six men riding on motorcycles. He was struck by nine bullets from an A. K-47 and died instantly. It was reported in the local press that deceased had received threats from the tribal leaders of a tribe who are members of the Muslim League Q, a political party in the regime of General Musharraf.

Mohtarma Bhutto vows not to waver in her struggle for democracy and peoples' rights


Islamabad June 20, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has said that she has not wavered even for a moment in her commitment to democracy and rights of the people and shall not ever waver.

"How can I waver when I have the support of my brothers and sisters, the workers and jiyalas who have stood shoulder to shoulder with me in facing tyranny", she said in a message to the Party workers on the occasion of her 54th birthday falling on Thursday June 21.

She also called for the immediate release of all political leaders and workers who have been incarcerated for their political beliefs.

She also paid tributes to the workers saying "Inshallah we will write history with our sweat, blood and tears to ensure that our people can have a glorious future at peace with themselves and with their neighbours"

Following is the text of her message

Mohtarma Bhutto's Message
On her 54 birthday
June 21, 2007


I wish to thank the Party workers and well-wishers who are observing my birthday.

As I look back on the past I realise how far the Party workers and I have travelled together through tortuous course from the dark days of the military coup in 1977.

When the arrest and imprisonment of Quaid e Awam catapulted me into politics I never realised that this would be a lifelong commitment. We all hoped Quaid e Awam would be freed and able to lead our country once again. Tragically for the nation, he was killed.

As I look back I also recall the pledge made during my last meeting with Quaid e Awam to continue his mission for a democratic Federation, banish dictatorship and emancipate the people from poverty and bondage.

I have not wavered even for a moment in the commitment that I made on that fateful day. Nor shall I ever waver. How can I waver when I have the support of my brothers and sisters, the workers and jiyalas who have stood shoulder to shoulder with me in facing tyranny.

Together we faced bullets, tear gas, baton charges, imprisonment and repression; together we have stood strong and together we will triumph.

Together we have triumphed over one dictatorship. Together Inshallah we will triumph over the present dictatorship.

On this day as our workers observe my birthday I take pride in reiterating my faith in the people and in the jiyalas of the PPP who have kept the banner of truth, justice and the people flying high. The workers of the PPP are the true strength and treasure of the Party. Your political awareness and your commitment is the driving force.

On this occasion, I call for the immediate release of all political leaders and workers who have been incarcerated for their political beliefs. I think of all our leaders who have endured many a cold winter of exile. I call for their return to their homeland in safety and in
dignity.

On this occasion my thoughts go to the downtrodden and desperate people of Pakistan who are hoping for light at the end of a long and dark tunnel; to those who dream of a better future for their children. I hope and pray their dreams of a better tomorrow come true.

To them I say that I and the PPP will stand by you through thick and thin. We will complete the mission of Quaid e Azam and Quaid e Awam whose life was dedicated to giving each of our citizens' respect, dignity and honour.

Inshallah we will write history with our sweat, blood and tears to ensure that our people can have a glorious future at peace with themselves and with their neighbours.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto

PPP Calls for Dismissal of Minister who Justified Suicide Bombings


Islamabad: June 20, 2007: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has called upon the Musharaf regime to dismiss a Cabinet minister who justified suicide attacks on a British citizen.

Mohtarma said that the Minister, Ejaz ul Haq, son of a previous military dictator who had patronized extremist groups, had done a great disservice both to the image of Islam and the standing of Pakistan by calling for murder of foreign citizens.

Mohtarma said that while the sentiments of a majority of the Muslims was outraged that the author of the Satanic Verses received a knighthood, Islam did not permit murder and nor did the law allow suicide killings for those with divergent views no matter how abhorrent those views may be.

Mohtarma said that the PPP was disturbed that the sensitivity shown to other social groups was not being extended to Muslims. However, PPP would make its views known politically and peacefully.

Mohtarma said that Islam clearly preaches tolerance through the teaching, “You shall have your religion and I shall have mine”.

Mohtarma noted that this was the second time round that the Musharaf aide had justified suicide killings. Moreover as Minister of Religious affairs he had appointed the cleric of the Red Mosque under whose influence are the militant madrassas known as Jamia Hafsa and Jamia Fareedia.

The cleric has publicly disclosed that the Madrassas house suicide bombers who can be sent out to create havoc.
Given the statements of the Minister justifying suicide attacks as well as his connection with the Red Mosque, Mohtarma said that the Musharaf regime should sack the minister or will be seen as covertly fueling extremism while preaching moderation.

Mohtarma called upon the authorities to investigate the links of the Minister with suicide bombers. She noted that the press had made corruption allegations against the minister. Mohtarma said that it was essential to investigate those corruption allegations to ascertain whether corrupt acts had been committed and whether proceeds of those corrupt acts had been funneled towards terrorism through patronage of the Red Mosque and the affiliated political Madrassas which had confessed to housing suicide bombers.

Mohtarma said it was strange that the Red Mosque cleric admitted housing suicide bombers, the Minister justified suicide bombings and the Musharaf regime neither investigated the Minister nor took steps to identify and stop the suicide bombers.

According to media reports, Mohammed Ijaz Ul Haq, Pakistan's religious affairs minister, said Monday of Rushdie's knighting that: "The West is accusing Muslims of extremism and terrorism. If someone exploded a bomb on his body he would be right to do so unless the British government apologizes and withdraws the 'sir' title."

When he found that the press had printed his remarks, Ul Haq tried on Tuesday to water down his comments by claiming that he meant only that the award could be used as a justification for suicide attacks.

Musharraf disliked for his authoritarianism
Professor Haqqani rebuts claims in WSJ article about Musharraf

 

Islamabad June 18, 2007: Professor Hussain Haqqani has said that General Musharraf is disliked for being an authoritarian ruler who took power in a military coup and has since refused to fulfil his promises of a transition to democracy. “The current protests against him were triggered by his arbitrary firing of Pakistan’s Chief Justice”.

He said this in a rejoinder article to the Wall Street Journals rebutting the contention of a correspondent Arthur Herman on June 14 that Musharraf was good for Pakistan but was hated only by Mohtarma Bhutto and the elite because Musharraf belonged to the immigrant community whose family migrated from India in the wake of partition in 1947.

“If Musharraf had been good for Pakistan, as Mr. Herman claims, the people in all provinces would not have been marching in the streets against him”, Prof Haqqani said.

“General Musharraf is not hated for being from the immigrant Muhajir community, to which I also belong”, he said adding, “The very fact that Musharraf rose within the army’s officers corps to become its chief, before becoming President through a coup, belies the assertion that other ethnic groups cannot stand the sight of a Muhajir wielding power. Pakistan has had a Muhajir President and at least two Muhajir prime ministers in its short history of six decades”.

Haqqani also rejected Herman’s contention that if the US withdrew support from Musharraf it could lead to a take over by the Taliban like elements. He said, “The Taliban have made greater inroads in Pakistan under Musharraf and military rule. A democratic government, backed by the US and fully supported in counter-terrorism operations by the Pakistan military, would most likely reverse the rise of the Taliban”.

Rejecting the allegations of corruption against her Haqqani said, Ms Bhutto was removed from power through soft coups and charges of incompetence and mismanagement are routinely leveled by coup-makers against elected governments they topple. “The allegations of corruption against her, though repeated often, have not been proven in any court of law. In any case, her alleged flaws do not justify continued military rule and the consequent rise of Islamist extremism in Pakistan”.

Professor Haqqani is Director of Centre for International Relations, Boston University
Following is the text of Prof Haqqani’s article.

Arthur Herman’s letter attacking Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto (Why Bhutto and the Elites Hate Musharraf, June 14) reflects the willingness to take a position without detailed knowledge of Pakistani history and politics. Expertise in Anglo-American history or even on Gandhi and Churchill does not make Mr. Herman an expert on Pakistan

Benazir Bhutto’s support base in Pakistan is the rural and urban poor, not the country’s elites, even if Ms Bhutto comes from an elite family herself. Her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has won two general elections under her leadership. Even in the 2002 election organized by General Musharraf, the PPP secured the largest number of votes notwithstanding Ms Bhutto’s absence from the country and Musharraf’s allegations of corruption against her.

Ms Bhutto was removed from power through soft coups and charges of incompetence and mismanagement are routinely leveled by coup-makers against elected governments they topple. The allegations of corruption against her, though repeated often, have not been proven in any court of law. In any case, her alleged flaws do not justify continued military rule and the consequent rise of Islamist extremism in Pakistan.

General Musharraf is not hated for being from the immigrant Muhajir community, to which I also belong. The Muhajirs played a critical role in Pakistan’s creation and remain a powerful community, and we are not an endangered minority or “third-class citizens” as Mr. Herman portrays us. The very fact that Musharraf rose within the army’s officers corps to become its chief, before becoming President through a coup, belies Mr. Herman’s assertion that other ethnic groups cannot stand the sight of a Muhajir wielding power. Pakistan has had a Muhajir President and at least two Muhajir prime ministers in its short history of six decades.

The reason why Musharraf faces popular opposition has little to do with his foreign policy or ethnic origin. He is disliked for being an authoritarian ruler who took power in a military coup and has since refused to fulfil his promises of a transition to democracy. The current protests against him were triggered by his arbitrary firing of Pakistan’s Chief Justice. If Musharraf had been good for Pakistan, as Mr. Herman claims, the people in all provinces would not have been marching in the streets against him.

Pakistan’s economy has indeed grown under Musharraf but it also grew under his civilian predecessors, albeit at a slower rate. The success of the capitalist spirit in Pakistan reflects the nation’s entrepreneurship and hard work and should not be invoked as an argument against democratic rule.

Ms Bhutto’s call for an orderly transition to democracy is unlikely to pave the way for a Taliban-like takeover of Pakistan. The Taliban have made greater inroads in Pakistan under Musharraf and military rule. A democratic government, backed by the US and fully supported in counter-terrorism operations by the Pakistan military, would most likely reverse the rise of the Taliban.

Mr. Herman is also wrong in his account of the fall of Iran’s Shah. The Shah of Iran did not fall from power simply because the United States withdrew its support. He fell because he was a despot who failed to allow fundamental freedoms and antagonized his own people. The reason Ayatollah Khomeini succeeded him rather than a democratic politician was that the Shah had eliminated all viable pro-western democratic politicians. The US had put all its eggs in the Shah’s basket, like Mr. Herman would have the US do in Musharraf’s case.

Wherever the US has supported a viable democratic opposition against a despot (e.g. at the end of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines and in the transition after Augusto Pinochet in Chile) U.S. interests have remained protected even after the pro-US dictator lost power. The successors to both Mr. Marcos and Gen. Pinochet may have been flawed in the eyes of scholars such as Mr. Herman but they managed effective transitions from authoritarianism to democracy. Ms Bhutto, too, is expected by many in Pakistan and abroad to do the same.

PPP Demands a Consolidated Provisional Voters List
Declares provisional voters list dubious and inaccurate.


Islamabad, June 16, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has questioned the accuracy and credibility of the provisional voters list issued in piecemeal form by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The provisional voters list issued by the ECP early this week misses at least 20million voters. In the list for the city of Lahore alone, the number of voters has gone down by 1.1million. Another 200,000 voters have failed to find their names in the list in district Nawabshah. An EC official himself admitted that 5mn voters in Sindh failed to make it to the voters list as they did not possess the CNIC.

Commenting on the ECP's exercise of opening up display centres to put out disaggregated provisional lists only for each district, the Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples Party criticised the non-transparent and non-consultative nature of the whole process. "The entire voters registration process is replete with irregularities and there are double entries as well as huge numbers of missing voters at every level. The ECP has been highly ambiguous all through the process and most shockingly, has kept the biggest stakeholders, the mainstream political parties, outside the ambit of the exercise. There is little point in making pilot projects out of two Display Centres to show to international monitors when the consolidated provisional list even at this stage remains mysteriously unavailable."

Rehman pointed out that the ECP also refused to allow access to the monitoring bodies and the members of the opposition to database centres conducting the data entry of the new voters despite repeated requests. "In the latest development, the ECP has declined to provide the opposition members the electronic copy of the total provisional list, on the vague pretext that the constitution doesn't oblige the ECP to do so. With just 21 days given by the ECP to review the draft, it is next to impossible for the political parties or civil society organisations to travel to remote areas of Pakistan and conduct research into the discrepancies of the draft in each district."

Rehman also questioned the ECP's refusal to hand out a consolidated list at the provisional stage. "Firstly the ECP has a duty to provide the list free of cost to anybody as the voters registration exercise was funded by the taxpayers and the donor bodies, and not from General Musharraf's personal account. Secondly, we, in the opposition, want the electronic copy of the preliminary version in one place for the whole of Pakistan, and not the 'final' version since as peoples' representatives and stakeholders in the system, it is our right to check the accuracy of the provisional list. If the ECP has indeed done its job with honesty, why is it turning down our requests for the electronic copy of the consolidated lists?"

Rehman said that that the PPP has been repeatedly asking for a consolidated provisional list so it can check for double entries from the 2002 list, as well as for thousands of missing voters, but not only did the ECP ignore the PPP's 36 point paper on electoral reform needed, they also disregarded any suggestions or concerns raised by the PPP at different platforms regarding the flaws in the registration process. "As a result, you get a faulty voters' list that misses swathes of population. The ECP officials themselves had admitted that there are over 78 million voters and the number was set to rise to 80mn by the election year. Why then, does the new list carry only around 50mn voters."

Rehman said that the ECP's earlier announcement and the subsequent withdrawal of the compulsion of the CNIC for the voters' registration has created a lot of confusion. "Despite the withdrawal of the condition, a significant portion of the population has been left out of the enlistment process for reasons best known to the ECP. According to an IRC survey 40 to 50 percent of the voters, including a large majority of women, did not possess the CNIC and were not enrolled in the list. If indeed the ECP had lifted the CNIC condition why was such a whopping majority left out of the registration process," Rehman asked.

"We have repeatedly demanded that rather than the CNIC or NIC, any other government document such as passport, rural credit pass or driver's license should be accepted for registration and voting." Rehman said that voters' registration is the first step to elections and the regime's non-commitment to the cause of holding free and fair elections is evident from irregularities evident in the voters' registration process.

Rehman also observed that another reason for the decrease in the registered voters is that the registration staff failed to carry out the job assigned to it. "There have been complaints from all across the country that the personnel deputed did not go door-to-door to register voters. Instead, for many areas, they relied on the information provided by the individual in the area that they were staying with. Similarly, despite repeated requests by the opposition members, the ECP never provided mobile vans for the rural areas to enable them to participate in the registration process."

Rehman said that the highly dubious manner in which the entire registration procedure was carried out coupled with the ECP's refusal to allay the oppositions concerns renders the entire exercise futile. "Many of the display centres were closed on the first day. Many did not allow stakeholders to check the lists, and all centres have yielded huge discrepancies so far. We cannot have confidence in this process unless our concerns are duly noted and acted upon at this stage. Three months later it will be too late."


Witness asks Washington for public statements in defence of Pakistani democracy


Islamabad June 16, 2007: A witness before a Congressional hearing into human rights called on June 14 for public statements from the US administration and Congress supporting judicial independence.

Raising the issue of events in Pakistan during his testimony on June 14, 2007, Mr Tom Malinowski Advocacy Director Human Rights Watch said, “We desperately need, in the coming days, clear, public statements from both the administration and the Congress urging full respect for the rule of law and judicial independence in Pakistan, the release of political detainees, media freedom, and a swift return to civilian, democratic rule".

Mr. Malinowski said, "This shouldn’t be about whether the United States supports or opposes a particular leader - but it needs to be, clearly and unequivocally, about U.S. support for the institutions of democracy and law".

Giving background, Mr. Malinowski told the congressional committee on human rights, "There has always been a tension in American foreign policy between the belief that promoting human rights is vital to advancing long term American interests around the world, and the tendency to forget that belief when short-term interests get in the way. "

Disclosing policy since 9/11, Mr. Malinowski said, "President Bush has been arguing that promoting democratic freedoms, especially in the Muslim world, is key to fighting terrorism”. He said, " If U.S. government’s rhetoric about democracy is seen as a weapon it uses only against its enemies, people around the world become cynical about everything the United States does in the name of freedom. "

Mr. Malinowski cited Islamabad as the, "harmful, example of a human rights double standard in American foreign policy today " He asked that Washington not, "reinforce all of General Musharraf`s bad tendencies - not just his authoritarian crackdown, but his growing estrangement from moderate, secular forces in the country, his growing political reliance on Islamists, and his consequent refusal to crack down on the Taliban elements who are killing American and NATO troops in Afghanistan”.

He said the policy was, "killing America’s image with the next generation of, hopefully, democratic Pakistani leaders. "

Following is the full text of the testimony
COMMITTEE TESTIMONY
June 14, 2007


Human Rights & U.S. Policy Toward Saudi Arabia, Iran and Uzbekistan

CQ ABSTRACT
SCHEDULED WITNESSES
TESTIMONY

Committee Holding Hearing:

House Foreign Affairs Committee — Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight

CQ Abstract:

International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight Subcommittee (Chairman Delahunt, D-Mass.) of House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a hearing titled "Is There a Human Rights Double Standard? U.S. Policy Toward Saudi Arabia, Iran and Uzbekistan."

Scheduled Witnesses:

Amr Hamzawy - senior associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Martha Brill Olcott - senior association, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Thomas Malinowski - advocacy director, Human Rights Watch; Thomas W. Lippman - adjunct scholar, Middle East Institute

Testimony:

Statement of Tom Malinowski Advocacy Director Human Rights Watch

Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee, thank you for holding this hearing and for inviting me to testify.

You`ve asked a question today that unfortunately has a very simple answer. Is there a human rights double standard? Yes, there is.

There has always been a tension in American foreign policy between the belief that promoting human rights is vital to advancing long term American interests around the world, and the tendency to forget that belief when short-term interests get in the way.

The Bush administration has been no exception to this rule. Ever since 9/11, President Bush has been arguing that promoting democratic freedoms, especially in the Muslim world, is key to fighting terrorism. The president appears to be sincere in this belief. I also think he is right. The only sure way to defeat radical, violent groups like al Qaeda is to promote the emergence of moderate political forces that will drown out the radicals` message and give citizens peaceful avenues for expressing themselves. But such forces can only thrive in politically open societies - unlike the terrorists, they need freedom of speech and assembly, free elections and the rule of law to survive.

Given this conviction on the part of President Bush, you`d think that the more central a country was to the fight against terrorism, the more vigorously the administration would promote democracy there. But more often than not, the opposite has been true. This has been the case, to some extent, with Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia. It`s also been true with a number of countries not on your list, such as Russia, Ethiopia, and above all today with <Pakistan>. The more the administration has needed another country in the short term to capture or kill individual terrorist suspects, the less eager it’s been to press that country to reform in ways that will dry up support for terrorism itself.

Now, let me be clear: I don’t expect pure and perfect consistency from our government on this or any other matter. In fact, I think that there is only way to be perfectly consistent in life, and that is to be consistently unprincipled. Doing the wrong thing all the time is easy. Doing the right thing all the time is a lot harder.

And, I`d rather have a foreign policy that’s inconsistently right than one that’s consistently wrong.

What’s more, I don’t believe that the United States should treat every human rights violator in the world in exactly the same way. The strategies the U.S. government chooses to promote human rights should vary from country to country. They must take into account what will be most effective in each particular case, and respond to the needs and desires of those who are struggling for human rights and democracy on the ground.

That said, while American strategies may differ from country to country, America’s voice should not. There is no reason why the United States can’t speak honestly, clearly, and publicly about human rights to every government in the world, whether it is friend or foe. After all, engagement is not the same thing as endorsement - you can have a relationship with a country like <Pakistan> or Saudi Arabia without feeling you have to defend its government’s policies whenever they’re criticized. Yet far too often, this is something the U.S. government forgets. Too often, American diplomats assume that to defend America’s choice of friends in the world, they have to defend everything those friends do - or at least be silent. Again - this should be seen as utterly unnecessary. It is also profoundly harmful to America’s overall human rights message in the world.

The United States is most effective in promoting liberty and human rights when people around the world believe it is rising above narrow self interest to defend universal ideals. If, instead, the U.S. government’s rhetoric about democracy is seen as a weapon it uses only against its enemies, people around the world become cynical about everything the United States does in the name of freedom. Under such circumstances, dictators in countries like Iran or Cuba can deflect U.S. criticism by arguing that it’s selective. Dissidents in places like Egypt and Saudi Arabia doubt that the United States is really on their side; they suspect it is using its freedom agenda to mask other ends, and they're less willing to be associated with U.S. democracy programs.

Mr. Chairman, let me close by adding one additional country to the mix here, and that is <Pakistan>. I believe that <Pakistan> represents the most egregious, and harmful, example of a human rights double standard in American foreign policy today. <Pakistan> appears to have little place in President Bush's ``freedom agenda.`` On the contrary, President Bush has repeatedly come to the defense of his friend President Musharraf against anyone who criticizes his continued dictatorial rule over <Pakistan>.

In recent weeks, a growing movement of Pakistanis, led by the country's lawyers, have been peacefully demanding a return to democratic government in the country. Last week, President Bush responded by praising Pakistani ``democracy`` and referring to the growing protests against General Musharraf as ``posturing. `.`

These statements appear to align the United States behind one man against virtually every decent segment of Pakistani society - against the very people in that country who are most likely to be America's friends and to support a moderate, modern course for <Pakistan>. This kind of approach will reinforce all of General Musharraf`s bad tendencies - not just his authoritarian crackdown, but his growing estrangement from moderate, secular forces in the country, his growing political reliance on Islamists, and his consequent refusal to crack down on the Taliban elements who are killing American and NATO troops in Afghanistan. It is a classic case of muting human rights concerns to protect a security relationship. But it is in fact as contrary to U.S. security interests as it is to America's commitment to democracy. And it is killing America’s image with the next generation of, hopefully, democratic Pakistani leaders.

I raise this, Mr. Chairman, because it is truly an urgent example of the problem you are focusing on today, and one that requires immediate attention. We desperately need, in the coming days, clear, public statements from both the administration and the Congress urging full respect for the rule of law and judicial independence in <Pakistan>, the release of political detainees, media freedom, and a swift return to civilian, democratic rule. This shouldn’t be about whether the United States supports or opposes a particular leader - but it needs to be, clearly and unequivocally, about U.S. support for the institutions of democracy and law.

Thank you again for giving me the opportunity to testify. I look forward to answering any questions the committee may have.

Laura I. Preissman

PPP lambastes regime for growing power shortage
Corruption and bad governance responsible for energy crisis


Islamabad, June 16, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has expressed deep concern over the growing power crisis in the country on the one hand and the apathy of the regime to urgently address the issue on the other.

“Massive load shedding in hot summer caused by corruption, neglect and bad governance in the power sector had made the lives of people miserable while the regime keeps spending on un productive and white elephant projects like building a new GHQ in Islamabad”, said a spokesperson of the Party in a statement today.

General Musharraf has been making promises of ending load shedding for the past several years but has failed to undertake any new major power project thus far he said, adding “the pathetic state of power in the country mocks at the tall claims of the regime”.

He said that the PPP government during the three-year period between 1993-96 added seven thousand megawatts to the national grid from the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and another 1000 MW from Ghazi Barotha hydel station but the vested interests maligned the projects with unsubstantiated accusations of corruption.

Musharraf regime’s power policy stands on the two legs of corruption and bad governance. “The corruption is evident from the way KESC was privatised in a non-transparent manner and the utility was sold to a group who reportedly had not even seen a power plant and bad governance was evident from the sheer neglect of the power sector during the last 8 years”.

The Party asks the regime to address the issue of power shortage on an urgent basis instead of wasting public funds on non-productive

American Interests in Pakistan Are Larger than One Man
by Lisa Curtis - WebMemo #1497 - June 15, 2007

 

Pakistan's judicial crisis, sparked by the Musharraf government's March 9 dismissal of the country's Chief Justice, has grown into a broader movement to restore democratic, civilian rule to the country. The U.S. response to the crisis so far has been cautious, due to concerns that political instability in the country could jeopardize counterterrorism cooperation, especially against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces that are re-trenching in Pakistan's Tribal Areas. But Musharraf's popularity has slipped considerably in recent weeks and U.S. public support for him is growing increasingly irrelevant in the current political environment.

U.S. reluctance to speak out against curbs on civilian freedoms also risks deepening anti-American sentiment, which Islamic extremists could exploit to further their anti-American agendas. Blindly supporting Musharraf--who is seeking reelection from a five-year-old parliament, while maintaining his role as Army Chief--is not worth the cost. Instead, Washington should encourage and support a transition to democracy.

Focus on Democratic Principles

The United States is in a position to play a positive role in encouraging a transition to civilian-led democracy in Pakistan, without backing any particular leader or party. A U.S. State Department spokesman's remark last Tuesday that Pakistan should not roll back advances in press freedom was a step in the right direction and had an immediate positive impact: Pakistan suspended the media restrictions it had decreed the day before and dismissed hundreds of cases against journalists who had defied a government ban on rallies in Islamabad.

The ideal scenario is a smooth transition to democracy, with Musharraf playing a strong role. But if Musharraf continues to respond to the current political crisis with an increasingly autocratic hand--taking away press freedoms and arresting opposition politicians and peaceful protesters--he will further undermine his credibility and lessen his chances of playing a role in any transition to civilian rule.

The Bush Administration has only dealt with a military-ruled Pakistan and therefore has trouble envisioning an alternative. Throughout the 1990s, there were three power centers in Pakistan: the army, the president, and the prime minister. Today, all power is centered in one individual--President Musharraf--an inherently unstable situation for a country with a vibrant civil society and developed political parties. The Pakistani people have agitated for democracy in the past, which led the military to share power with the civilian leaders.

U.S. policymakers worry that a civilian-led government would not be committed to the fight against terrorism, particularly in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. But this fear is largely unfounded. In any new political order, the military would retain a major role in decision-making on security matters. The military, in turn, seeks to maintain its strong relationship with the U.S., due at least in part to large-scale military and economic assistance programs from the U.S., and so would continue its counterterrorism operations. A civilian-led government with broad support from Pakistani society could even strengthen Pakistan's support for countering terrorism, especially if part of the civilian leader's mandate was to halt the Talibanization of Pakistani society that has begun in the Northwest Frontier Province.

Promote Transition to Democracy

The U.S. can help bring about a peaceful transition to civilian-led democratic rule in Pakistan by continuing to speak in favor of civilian and democratic freedoms. If Washington stays in step with the evolving political situation in Pakistan and focuses on enhancing democratic institutions in the country, its credibility with the Pakistani people will grow as it works to encourage a peaceful transition to a civilian-led government representative of the Pakistani people. The alternative--blindly supporting one ruler--would likely bring greater political instability and anti-U.S. sentiment, a dangerous mix that could threaten U.S. interests in the region for years to come.

Lisa A. Curtis is Senior Research Fellow for South Asia in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation.

PPP concerned about negative impact of budget on poor


Islamabad June 14, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party is concerned about the negative effect of the Budget on the working and middle classes of Pakistan said former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in a statement today.

Noting that inflation is the main problem facing the country and recalling that inflation is running at ten percent if not more for the last three years consecutively she said that this was the failure of the regime's economic policies.

Calling inflation, "the most unjust hidden tax" on wage earners and workers as well as middle classes and traders, Mohtarma Bhutto said that never in the past history of Pakistan was such high inflation associated with growth.

"The international aid money has not trickled down to the masses" Mohtarma Bhutto said adding, "but instead spent on the ruling classes who are enjoying themselves while the people are suffering".

Mohtarma Bhutto assured the people that the PPP is with them and would continue to fight for their rights. She said Quaid e Awam had created the PPP for the protection of the oppressed, the weak the downtrodden and the discriminated. She said that the vested interests opposed the PPP because it was fighting for the different social groups in the country like the peasants, the labour, for the rights for women and minorities, for opportunities for youth and for the working and middle classes.

Citing the macro weaknesses in the economy, she said that the General Musharaf's regime has done nothing to show that it is cutting on budget deficit that is projected at 4% deficit. The PPP, she said, notes that this translates nominally to Rs. 400 billion, which is a huge sum and will go to further increase prices in the coming year making buying power even weaker for ordinary housewives and workers.

The failure of the regime's economic policies could be seen in the poor position of exports. The PPP noted that Exports are stagnant and the unprecedented current account deficit points to unsustainability of long-term growth. The PPP criticised the regime for not offering anything to exporters in the Budget to stimulate growth.

Recalling the PPP allegations for inquiry into the Prime Minister over the stock market crash of the past years she said that the PPP was also shocked to note that huge tax breaks were given to the super rich. The super rich were making huge profits trading in the stock market and operating in the real estate business. The regime had made all this all tax-free.

The PPP rejected the skewered policy of taxing poor more than taxing the rich. It believes in a balanced budget, which invests in human resource development and seeks to meet the educational, health, housing and drinking water needs of the ordinary citizens of the country.

The former Prime Minster asked the people of the four provinces of Pakistan to come forward and vote for the PPP. "PPP needs a large mandate like mandates enjoyed by the present regime to overcome the obstacles in the progress of the people of Pakistan".

PPP welcomes rice statement supporting democratic change in Pak


Islamabad, 12 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party welcomes the statement by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stating that the United States is pressing for a "democratic change" in Pakistan, said Party's Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto

"We are encouraging him to use the upcoming elections to make sure that they are done democratically, free and fair; that opposition is brought in," Dr. Rice said in an interview with an American news network.

Dr. Rice did not discuss a post Musharaf world saying: "I don't really think that speculating on a post-Musharraf (period) makes much sense because he's there and I think he has a number of strengths.

However she added, "But we are talking to and pressing for democratic change in Pakistan; I think it's necessary,"

Dr Rice's statement came against the background of the New York Times editorial that urged the Bush administration to distance itself from Gen Pervez Musharraf and to promote the earliest possible democratic elections in Pakistan.

"Pakistan seems to be rapidly approaching a critical turning point, with a choice between intensified repression and instability or an orderly transition back to democratic rule," The New York Times said in its second editorial on the current unrest in the country.

Democracy for Pakistan
By BENAZIR BHUTTO

 

June 8, 2007: For the first time in Pakistan's history, the number of religious-based parties is rising, and suicide bombings are becoming a common occurrence of daily life. Extremists have expanded their presence beyond the tribal areas into more settled areas like Islamabad, Karachi and Tank. More militias, hiding under the guise of madrassas (Islamic religious schools), have been established since 9/11. Now, armed vigilantes are kidnapping police officials at gunpoint in the heart of the country's capital, barely a mile from the country's Supreme Court and Parliament buildings.

Although he resolutely eschews responsibility, Gen. Pervez Musharraf and his regime have stoked these fires. Instead of building the strong, stable and "enlightened democracy" that he promised after the 1999 coup, Gen. Musharraf has undermined secular forces -- by openly rigging elections, clamping down on media and free speech, failing to pursue investigations of innocent civilians who have disappeared, as well as intimidating political opponents by any means, including physical attacks.

He will not brook any opposition. In May, 48 peaceful protestors -- lawyers, human-rights activists and ordinary Pakistanis -- were slaughtered on the streets of Karachi as they rallied peacefully against Mr. Musharraf's unlawful suspension of Pakistan's top judge, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Pakistani media and eyewitness accounts report that members of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), the ruling party and an ally of the regime, shamelessly opened fire on these unarmed citizens. Hoping to silence any challenges to their stranglehold over the port city and commercial jugular of Pakistan, Mr. Musharraf's allies have also cracked down on independent television networks and opposition leaders with impunity. Meanwhile, opposition calls to establish an independent judicial inquiry into who ordered the police to stand by while citizens were killed have been ignored.

Yet this tiger is clearly eating his own tail. Mr. Musharraf's dictatorship is fueling instability in Pakistan: Oppressed citizens, who are denied a truly representative government that can address their most basic issues, now seek refuge in extremism and religious fundamentalism. In return, their basic needs for clothing, food, shelter and health are being met by the political madrassas.

These madrassas have been given permission to establish FM radio stations to spread their message, something not yet granted to moderate political parties. This has bred a dangerous slide into the kind of intolerance once alien to moderate Pakistan. Faced with growing threats to stability, there is a widespread consensus that restoring democracy through free, fair, transparent and internationally-supervised elections is the only way to return Pakistan to civilization, and to marginalize the extremists.

A return to democracy is not just important for Pakistanis -- it is important for the entire world. Yet Mr. Musharraf and his regime are promoting the perception that he is the only bulwark between the West and nuclear-armed fundamentalists. By this self-serving logic, Mr. Musharraf's fall would be disastrous to success in the war on terror.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In elections past, Islamic parties have always been a marginal force in Pakistan's elections, having never garnered more than 11% in any parliamentary election. And if free and fair elections are allowed to take place now they will be marginalized again, because the two major political parties -- the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) -- are secular, moderate and can easily mobilize popular support for state action against terrorists. A recent poll by the International Republican Institute confirmed this view.

Furthermore, no Pakistani, except those on the fringe, disagrees with the movement to rid Pakistan and the region of terrorism, or any militancy driven by misguided religious dogma or sectarian extremism. The truth remains that more than two-thirds of Pakistanis are distinctly moderate and see the tide of extremism currently rippling out from tribal Pakistan as a danger to its self-image and stability. The notion that the toppling of Mr. Musharraf's regime would be a disaster for Pakistan (or a nightmare for the West) is nonsense.

Pakistan's counterterrorism objectives will never reach any semblance of success if it is hamstrung by a regime that is dependent on the religious right for its political survival. It is a well-known fact that the political structure that Mr. Musharraf put into place following the most recent general elections has enabled the Taliban to regroup. The Taliban now has an irregular army whose soldiers receive monthly salaries for patrolling tribal areas, collecting taxes and beheading those who are accused of being so-called Western spies or alleged adulterers. An apostasy law, recently proposed by the religious right, hovers dangerously -- unchallenged by the regime in parliament.

Clearly, Mr. Musharraf's government has run out of both ideas and options. The solution to stabilizing this anarchic state cannot be "stabilizing the current regime" when the regime itself relies on fanning the flames of religious and ethnic terrorism to justify its undemocratic hold on power.

Although tribal terrain offers many opportunities for resistance, there is another reason why Osama bin Laden has not yet been intercepted -- or that the Taliban find such easy sanctuary once again. If the Taliban are eliminated, or if their poster-boy Osama bin Laden is caught, the international cries for restoration of democracy will only deepen. Mr. Musharraf's regime needs the threat of an "Islamist takeover" to keep the rest of the world community supportive of its continued grip over Pakistan.

Anti-dictatorship sentiment in Pakistan today has reached a fever pitch. At its core, Pakistan aspires to be a democratic nation. The public longs for a return to democracy through the establishment of a cohesive national government that can oversee election reforms to ensure free elections open to all political personalities, including the exiled prime ministers, observed by a robust international monitoring team under laws that ensure rigging cannot take place.

The regime argues that Pakistani politicians are corrupt and incompetent. The Pakistani public doesn't think so. They view the politically-motivated corruption charges as an attempt to divert attention from the institutionalized corruption of the military.

Transparency International said in a recent report that corruption under the present regime is much worse than during its civilian predecessors. Moreover, power shutdowns, unemployment and poverty have increased, despite the massive international assistance to Islamabad, including $10 billion from Washington alone.

Recent U.S. government actions toward Pakistan are increasingly encouraging. Pressuring Mr. Musharraf into kick-starting the democratic process is vitally important. It is democracy alone that can undermine the forces of religious extremism as well as give hope and opportunity to the people of Pakistan. The spread of political madrassas and militancy across the country during the eight years of Mr. Musharraf's dictatorship proves the point.

Ms. Bhutto, chairperson of the Pakistan People's Party, was prime minister of Pakistan from 1988-1990 and 1993-1996. She lives in exile in Dubai.

The Musharraf Dilemma
By MAX BOOT


June 11, 2007: Pakistan may be reaching a crisis point. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who is chief of both the country and the armed forces, is facing the most serious threat to his rule since he seized power in 1999. His high-handed suspension in March of the chief justice of the supreme court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, has galvanized opposition from the urban middle-class that had hitherto acquiesced in his rule. On May 12, street protests got out of hand in Karachi, leaving 48 dead and contributing to a sense of worsening crisis. Mr. Musharraf has since tried to regain control by cracking down on independent media outlets and by jailing hundreds of opposition political activists, but the protests continue.

The Bush administration is reaching a decision point: Will it continue to provide unqualified support for Mr. Musharraf on the grounds that he is too valuable an ally to give up in the Global War on Terror? Or will it pull the rug out from under him and insist on a transition to civilian democratic rule? In this matter as in so many others, George W. Bush should ask himself the WWRD question: What Would Reagan Do?

As it happens, Ronald Reagan confronted a crisis remarkably similar to this one 21 years ago involving another pro-American dictator in another strategically important country. Ferdinand Marcos had ruled the Philippines, home to two of America's biggest overseas military bases, by martial law since 1972. He had loyally stood by the United States and fought against a communist insurgency, but his rule started to unravel when opposition leader Benigno Aquino returned to his homeland in 1983 and was assassinated on the tarmac.

Evidence pointed to conspiracy involving Gen. Fabian Ver, commander of the Philippine armed forces. But a three-judge panel acquitted Ver and 25 others, and Marcos promptly reinstated him. He then shamelessly stole the 1986 presidential election from Benigno's widow, Corazon Aquino. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to protest. "People power" was supplemented by a rebellion within the Philippine armed forces. But Marcos still had the loyalty of much of the army, and was prepared to use it to hold onto power by force -- unless the U.S. intervened.

President Reagan confronted a difficult choice. He felt personally loyal to Marcos and was afraid of the consequences of toppling him, having little confidence in Ms. Aquino's leadership abilities. Reagan abhorred the way Jimmy Carter had abandoned the Shah of Iran in 1979, and didn't want to make the same mistake.

But his Secretary of State, George Shultz, had seen early on that Marcos's legitimacy was eroding. "I became increasingly convinced that Marcos was the problem, not the solution," Mr. Shultz wrote in his memoirs. The secretary of state had refused to call for the dictator's ouster, but he had insisted that the Philippines hold elections -- demands that Marcos had finally agreed to.

The crisis came to a head on Sunday, Feb. 23, 1986, as Marcos was massing troops in Manila to crack down on the post-election protests. The top-level National Security Planning Group met that afternoon in the White House Situation Room to decide whether to continue backing him. Only White House chief of staff Don Regan offered any support for Marcos. The rest of the foreign-policy team said his day was done. The president was reluctantly won over. He authorized his friend, Sen. Paul Laxalt, to call Marcos and convey the message. By Tuesday, the dictator and his gaudy wife Imelda were on their way to exile aboard a U.S. Air Force jet.

This was no aberration. Even while protests were erupting in the Philippines, a similar situation was occurring in Haiti. Here, too, another pro-American dictator -- Jean-Claude (Baby Doc) Duvalier -- was sinking. And here, too, the Reagan administration refused to throw him a lifeline, forcing him into exile.

The Reagan administration also played a role in getting the military regime in South Korea to give up power and hold free elections in 1987. The same year, with American encouragement, Taiwan's Chiang Ching-kuo ended martial law and began the transition to democracy. The following year, again with U.S. backing, Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet held a referendum, which he lost, bringing his long reign to an end.

All these actions were taken notwithstanding the very real risk, at a time when the Cold War was still going strong, of what would follow in the wake of pro-American strongmen. Back then, just as today, lots of "realists" made the better-the-devil-you-know argument. (Henry Kissinger wrote an op-ed expressing "grave concerns" about Marcos's overthrow.) But what Reagan and especially Mr. Shultz realized was that giving a blank check to dictators was a bad deal. Sooner or later, it would lead to an explosion that would make an anti-American regime -- of the kind that arose in Nicaragua and Iran in 1979 -- more, not less, likely. The best way to prevent such a disaster was by pushing for civil-society reforms culminating in free elections, something that previous administrations failed to do with Somoza or the Shah.

The choice is made more difficult in the case of Pakistan because, unlike the Philippines or South Korea, it possesses nuclear weapons. Our ultimate nightmare is for those weapons to fall into the hands of Osama bin Laden's allies. But that is extremely unlikely. The coalition of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, won only 12% of the seats in the legislative assembly in 2002, even though Mr. Musharraf hindered more secular parties from competing. There is no reason to think it is any more popular today. The two main opposition parties, the Pakistan People's Party led by Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Muslim League led by Nawaz Sharif, have their own shortcomings, including corruption and a history of dealings with Islamic radicals. But they represent the broad middle of Pakistani society, not the extremist fringe.

Moreover, Mr. Musharraf has talked a better game than he has delivered. He has taken at least $10 billion in American subsidies since 9/11, and in return he has sent his troops to fight against al Qaeda and the Taliban. But he has also struck deals with tribal authorities in South Waziristan, North Waziristan and Bajaur that essentially turn over those vital border regions to Taliban control. No wonder terrorism in Afghanistan is exploding. Taliban fighters receive training and support in Pakistan, possibly still from their historic patrons in the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency which reports to none other than Mr. Musharraf. There have even been a number of incidents in recent months of Pakistani troops providing covering fire from their side of the border for Taliban militants assaulting Afghan army positions. Mr. Musharraf has been useful, but he is either unwilling or unable to do enough to combat the terrorists in his country.

There is no need for President Bush to call for his ouster at this point, any more than Reagan called for Marcos's ouster early on. What he should do -- what Reagan did in the Philippines -- is to insist that the constitutional process play itself out. That means that, if he wants U.S. aid to continue, Mr. Musharraf should give up either the presidency or his post as army chief and allow free elections in October that could be contested by all legitimate political parties.

Reagan's words at Moscow State University in 1988 still ring true today: "Democracy is the standard by which governments are measured." Mr. Musharraf is not living up to that standard.

Mr. Boot, winner of the 2007 Eric Breindel Award for Excellence in Opinion Journalism, is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "War Made New"

Pakistan’s Dictator

 

June 11, 2007: If Gen. Pervez Musharraf were the democratic leader he indignantly insists he is, he would not be so busy threatening independent news outlets, arresting hundreds of opposition politicians and berating parliamentary leaders and ministers from his own party for insufficient loyalty to his arbitrary and widely unpopular policies.

But nobody takes General Musharraf’s democratic claims seriously anymore, except for the Bush administration, which has put itself in the embarrassing position of propping up the Muslim world’s most powerful military dictator as an essential ally in its half-baked campaign to promote democracy throughout the Muslim world. Washington needs to disentangle America, quickly, from the general’s damaging embrace.

Ever since his high-handed dismissal of the country’s independent-minded chief justice in March, the general has been busily digging himself into an ever deeper political hole.

Last week, he issued a decree giving himself increased powers to shut down independent television channels, but under mounting pressure he withdrew it over the weekend. More than 300 local political leaders in Punjab were arrested in an effort to head off protests against the decree. Still, thousands of lawyers, journalists and political activists gathered to protest the firing, the censorship and the general’s continued rule. Pakistan seems to be rapidly approaching a critical turning point, with a choice between intensified repression and instability or an orderly transition back to democratic rule.

Were Washington now to begin distancing itself from the general, it would greatly encourage civic-minded Pakistanis to step up the pressure for free national elections. That’s a process the chief justice was trying to make possible when he was fired. And that is what Pakistan’s last two democratically elected leaders — Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif — are both campaigning for from abroad. The United States should be supporting these efforts, not continuing to make excuses for General Musharraf.

Pakistan has its share of violent Islamic extremists, military and civilian. But they are clearly in the minority. The best hope for diluting their political, and geopolitical, influence lies not in heating the pressure cooker of repression, but in promoting the earliest possible democratic elections.

Election Commission must provide provisional electoral lists in electronic form for parties to run checks, says PPP

Questions why about half of voters in Sindh have neither been given NADRA cards nor enrolled

Says this is rigging before first cast of ballot


Islamabad, 11 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party calls upon the Chief Election Commissioner to immediately issue all major political parties the electronic provisional electoral lists to show his impartiality, said former Prime Minister and Chairperson Pakistan Peoples Party in a statement today

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the law permitted the Election Commission to do so. Moreover, in India lists were given to parties because such lists are tamper proof when protected.

She said that the electronic format of provisional electoral lists was essential for political parties to verify through electronic checks whether an honest job was being done.

The Pakistan Peoples Party believes that a test of the impartiality of the Election Commission is to provide the provisional lists in electronic format to political parties. Failure to do so will give rise to the suspicion that the Election Commission has something to hide and will cast a shadow over the elections even before the first ballot is case.

The Pakistan Peoples Party believes that it is the constitutional duty of the Election Commission to hold honest elections. However, unfortunately in the past Election Commissions have broken the law with impunity by failing rigging to stop through collusion or impunity.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the people of Pakistan are no longer prepared to accept rigging of elections. The recent movement of the masses supporting the Chief Justice who was ousted on corruption charges is a trailer of the movement that will begin if the anti people forces try to steal another election in a country groaning with poverty, injustice, lawlessness, militancy, terrorism and extremism.

The Pakistan Peoples Party is concerned over the missing twenty million votes in the new electoral rolls. It has been argued that the missing votes are the ghost votes of past elections. However, if this is the case then the Election Commission should not be reluctant to offer its electoral list to the stakeholders, namely the political parties as well as NGOs and civil groups in electronic format to hold verification checks.

The PPP understands that so far the Election Commission has declined to issue the electronic version of the provisional electoral lists on the ground that the Constitution does not insist they do so. However, the Constitution does not prohibit the ECP from giving out the provisional electoral lists so this argument of the ECP does not satisfy the stakeholders whose suspicion about provisional electoral lists needs to be removed.

Further the PPP demanded that the sole identification clause be removed and any government identity be accepted at time of polling to prove identity such as a passport, arms licence, drivers licence etc which are issued by government bodies.

According to media reports, a survey conducted by IRC for the Asian Foundation, about 60 per cent people of the Khairpur district do not have Computerised Identity Cards, while 40 per cent adult population of Sukkur also remain without them. As per media report IRC informed the media that a network working for the Asian Foundation conducted the survey on the issue in three districts of Khairpur, Shikarpur and Sukkur and found that more than 50 per cent women in the Shikarpur district were without CNICs and not enrolled in the voters' lists. Besides, more than 60 per cent people in Khairpur and 40 per cent in Sukkur had not yet obtained their CNICs while the majority of the women in these districts are not even aware of the introduction of the CNIC and enrolments in the voter lists.

Additionally, Provincial head of the Election Commission reportedly admitted the failure of the voter registration process in Sindh province, which PPP believes reflects the trend in other provinces also. According to media Election Commission member Sindh in his statement admitted that more than 5 millions of the people of Sindh had not yet been enlisted in the new voters lists, as they did not have the new identity cards being issued by NADRA and ECP did not therefore enrol them in.

PPP Senator Khawaja Slams Budgetary Camouflage
Fragile growth and trade deficits pose serious challenges
Regime fails to address the underlying causes of increasing poverty


Islamabad June 11, 2007: PPP Former Senator Dr. Akbar Khawaja said in a statement today that regime has failed to address remedies to the increasing poverty and the underlying causes of inflationary pressures, low exports, and unemployment.

Senator Khawaja said the concessions and subsidies are mere election propaganda and the people are facing severe hardship in gaining access to basic necessities under crippling price hike. Regime has failed to make any inroads in cracking down on poverty.

Rejecting Regime earlier claims that it had broken the Kashkol, he criticized that Regime has been shying to give out the real numbers. New borrowings and donor funds are going into bureaucratic wastages and corrupt cronies are even chewing up safety nets intended for the poor such as the earthquake relief and reconstruction funds.

“Effectiveness of PSDP allocations and service delivery to the citizens remains very weak because of rampant corruption”, the PPP leader said that corruption and inadequate budget controls is the greatest obstacle to social development.

It is regrettable that Prime Minister is silent on the transparency concerns in the Privatization of national units and scams in the stock market, he said.

Senator Khawaja rejected regime’s claims that the country was enjoying high savings and investment rates. He said that these were mere political slogans of the regime’s election campaign. He said that rise in the trade deficit and weakening fiscal indicators reflect that fears for the economy and its future were growing.

He pointed out that trend in the past five years of defence spending indicates an overspending by defence administration without following the budgetary thresholds.

Senator Khawaja further added that while significant problems persist and the economy still has far to go to fulfill its real promise, there are enormous challenges to restore true democracy, the rule of law and the economic rights of the people of Pakistan.

Musharraf regime is manufacturing growth at the expense of the poor, says Mohtarma Bhutto


Islamabad, 10 June 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has said that the 2007-8 budget presented by the Federal Government is a major disappointment for the nation.

The Pakistan Peoples Party rejects it on the grounds that it is a continuation of the inegalitarian economic policies of the current military regime. The PPP stands for egalitarianism and for reducing the gulf between the rich and the poor by creating a vibrant middle class, she said in a statement today.

She said that the tall claims of economic growth by the regime are only in official statistics and remain a fiction for the majority of Pakistan’s people who are groaning under inflation and unemployment with poverty having increased.

General Musharraf’s economic teams policies are pushing poor people to the wall and are leading to some of the worst inequality seen in recent decades. Pockets of poverty are multiplying in the midst of plenty.

In a disturbing new trend, for the first time, Pakistan is facing Latin American style inequality, where the rich become richer and the poor are increasingly being marginalized and ignored, she said. “This is gross injustice which the PPP repudiates. The PPP commits to helping the poor, the disadvantaged and the discriminated to give security to every citizen of the country”.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the most serious economic indictment of this regime lies in its complete inability to control prices. Government has singularly failed to keep a check on prices of food and other items of daily use, she said.

She said that last year the government’s economic managers blamed increase in global oil prices for rising inflation in Pakistan. However, the spectre of inflation continues to haunt Pakistan’s economy despite a subsequent fall in oil prices.

Food price inflation is now running in double digits (in excess of 10 percent) and this has been the biggest ever increase during the previous 15 years. Under no previous democratic government have the food prices registered such a dramatic increase as under the current military dispensation, she said.

The writ of this government only applies to those who are opposing government policies, mainly the lawyers, media representatives and members of opposition. The most basic task of a State is to ensure law and order and to maintain minimum price stability. The present military regime has grossly failed on both accounts and has, instead, given a completely free reign to ruthless business cartels that are creating artificial shortages to extract illegal profit.

It is in this context of rising inflation alone that one must evaluate government claims about falling poverty, she said. Hardly any serious economic observer in Pakistan believes in the official claims of falling poverty.

She said that historically, economic growth in Pakistan has been unequal and skewed, benefiting mainly the rich and cronies attached to rulers. But a staggering increase in inflation, especially in food prices, is having the most direct and damaging effect on ordinary people with limited economic resources. These include the majority of rural dwellers, the self-employed, the labourers, the schoolteachers and other millions of hardworking people who are tirelessly working to make ends meet.

The PPP calls upon the people of Pakistan to come forward and support the PPP in the forthcoming elections to together build a Pakistan that is just, fair, modern, progressive and prosperous, she said.

Budget, A Cruel Joke With the Public: PPP


Islamabad, June 9, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party described the budget 2007-08 presented in the National Assembly as "a cruel joke with the public".

Assuming that the establishment holds free and fair elections in the country this year, this is expected to be the last budget of the current regime that has been managing the country's economy for the past seven years. All the budgets during the regime's time in power have been declared by analysts of national and international repute as pro-rich. The regime has never allowed a proper debate over the successive budgets, which have been rushed through the parliament without taking the opposition's objections into account. Economic experts have repeatedly pointed out that the bubble of the so-called growth and development blown by the regime can burst anytime in the face of its impending time limit and a range of domestic and international factors.

Commenting on the budget, the Central Information Secretary of the Pakistan Peoples Party slammed the government for using the budget for its election campaigning purpose demanding the regime to be "fair with facts and figures." According to Rehman, the budget 2007-08 is full of unrealistic promises and attempts to hide facts with flowery language.

"It is rather amusing that all the budgets the regime has presented so far promise 'relief' to the public, which is mainly based on the price reduction of a few food items. At the same time, it is busy nurturing cartels in all the sectors of the economy allowing them the luxury to control the prices their way. The common man continues to pay the highest utility rates in Asia for a pathetic utility service while also relying on the private sector for education and health services. An inflation rate of 7.6 percent and the food inflation rate of 10.6 percent amply demonstrate how much of a relief the budget has been for the public."

Rehman observed that it has been a common practice with the regime to announce unrealistic targets at the start of the financial year, only to fall short of it months later. "In its own words, the regime missed all the targets it had set for the last financial year. This included trade, current account deficit, inflation, industrial production and large-scale manufacturing. What's the purpose of announcing ambitious target when the regime is totally incapable of meeting them? It doesn't even help the regime's public profile as the people know the wide gap between the promises and the reality," Rehman stated.

Rehman strongly criticised the budgetary allocation exercise that is full of irregularities and is rampant with corruption. "On the one hand, the regime claims to allocate a certain amount to the PSDP funds and on the other hand it works round the year to juggle the PSDP funds and to channel it to non-productive avenues." Rehman cited the example of Rs 10bn PSDP funds given away to the DISCOs in the FY 06-07. She also recalled that at least 100 PSDP projects were delayed or sidelined as the Finance Ministry delayed the release of funds amounting to Rs 62bn in the fourth quarter of the financial year. "Similarly the regime announced granting Rs 16bn to the HEC but released only Rs 4.5bn,"

Pointing to the allocation for Defence expenditure, Rehman said that the figures keep going up every year reflecting the political hold of the military on the civilian structures . " No demands for cuts or freezes have ever been entertained. This year the defence budget will once again go up by 10 percent, at Rs 275 billion from Rs224bn last year. It is worth noting that due to lack of transparency, the actual defence expenditure is far higher than what is stated in the budget. Last year it amounted to around Rs300 billion. This year it is expected to cross the Rs 300bn mark, while military pensions and a host of other military expenditures will be hidden all across the civilian expenditures account."

Lamenting the peanuts allocated to the two most crucial sectors, health and education, Rehman said that Pakistan's health and education spending is the lowest in the region, despite an unprecedented fiscal space created after 9/11. The Rs. 24 bn allocated to education is a slap on the face of the future generations that face tough times ahead thanks to the regime's wrong policies in the education sector. Health at Rs 5240mn is embarrassingly low, especially when compared with defence expenditures at Rs275bn. Is the interest of the armed forces more important than the health of the ordinary citizens?"

Rehman observed that the economic performance of the regime stands exposed by the World Bank report that points that 74% of the population lives below $2 a day. Despite strong criticism of the international monitoring bodies, the regime continues to measure poverty on headcount basis claiming that 24% of the population is left below the poverty line. "Experts have repeatedly pointed out, the actual poverty figures run much higher when calculated on the internationally recognised Purchasing Power Parity terms, according to which the country's yearly per capita income growth rate is stagnant at only 4.62 per cent during 1999-2005."

Rehman said that people are getting tired of the fudging figures exercise that is being slapped upon them by the regime year after year. She demanded that the budget should not be passed by the NA without addressing the reservations of the opposition. She also added that the heads of all expenditures should be debated and it should be made obligatory on the respective representatives of different departments to appear before the parliament to justify the budgetary allocations made to them.

SILENCING THE MEDIA: Black Laws Prop a Shaky Regime
PPP Condemns all Such Curbs and vows to fight for the Freedom of Expression and Information.
Calls June 4 the Darkest Day in the History of the Press


The Pakistan Peoples Party also called a meeting in Karachi on June 7, 2007 to decide the future course of action in the face of the regime's onslaught against the media. The Party's Central and Federal Executive committees participated in the meeting that was chaired by the Senior Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim. The Party members expressed solidarity with the media and vowed to take the struggle for free media at every forum. The meeting recalled that during the PPP governments of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, the press was never subjected to harassment, threats and individual or institutional curbs. In fact, it was noted that the first step the PPP government took in 1988 was to remove all press censorship laws and reinstate all journalists terminated from service during the martial law regime of General Ziaul Haq. Freedom of expression was encouraged and the No Objection Certificates needed by journalists to travel abroad were abolished. During the second tenure of the PPP government the Sixth Wage Board was announced for newspaper workers, and actually implemented in the Associated Press of Pakistan service. It was also observed that it was the PPP government under Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto that opened up the air waves by allowing satellite communications and transmissions to be broadcast outside the official PTV medium, which laid the foundations for the internet, mobile and satellite revolution in Pakistan, freeing up the air waves to private enterprise and free expression like never before

Central Information Secretary PPP
PEMRA FACTSHEET

The new ordinance called the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007, carries draconian amendments introduced by General Pervez Musharraf to the Pakistan Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Ordinance, 2002. It puts new and unprecedented draconian restrictions on electronic media and comes into force throughout the country at once.

These laws hark back to the darkest days of another military dictatorship under General Ziul Haq, when the press was put in chains to silence democratic dissent.

The Black Laws were imposed by bypassing the Parliament . The ordinance was promulgated just when the Senate was in session and two days before the National Assembly is to start its budget session. The regime has sidelined people's representatives one more time, showing its true authoritarian face. General Musharraf has now bestowed all powers to the pet Authority, the PEMRA. The section 39(A), which is a new provision, authorizes the PEMRA to make rules and regulations simply by issuing notifications

General Musharraf's recent move undoes major provisions of a law passed by the Parliament in February 2007 . That bill came after a two-year long debate and consultations with the stakeholders.

The PEMRA (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 carries 10 amendments made in the Act passed in February. The amended sub-section (5) of Section 29 provides the Authority or the chairman to "seize a broadcast or distribution service equipment or seal the premises which is operating illegally or (in) contravention of orders passed under Section 30."

The ordinance empowers the PEMRA to confiscate the equipment of broadcasters and seal the premises without consulting a council of complaints.

In the PEMRA bill passed in February this year, complaints against broadcasters were referred to a Council of Complaints and it was obligatory for the PEMRA to seek the Council's opinion before the revocation of a license. Thanks to the new amendments, the Council's role has been abolished, and PEMRA has been empowered to cancel the license on its own. Sub-section (4) in Section 30 of the law says: " License of a broadcast media may be suspended on any or the grounds specified in sub-section (1), by a duly constituted committee comprising members of the Authority ."

The amendment also seeks to increase the fine for violators to Rs10 million from the existing Rs1 million, raising the cost of deviating from the government line to new heights.

According to the rule, the ordinance shall remain in force for three months, after which the President can extend it.

The ordinance covers mobile telephones and the internet too. In actual fact, this move only demonstrates the desperation of this regime as it tries to control the internet and cell phones.

After March 9, when its own writ and legitimacy nosedived, the regime first tried to control the broadcast media through the denial of uplink facilities to transmit to their headquarters for onward broadcast. In a valiant effort to survive the broadcast media countered that through relaying the transmission through mobile phones or the use of internet. This is why the regime went on to slap restrictions on the mobile phones and the internet.

In order to bring the owners of private TV channels under the PEMRA laws, they have also been bracketed along with operators in the new ordinance.

The June 4 Ordinance aims at enforcing the 'code of conduct' that was imposed some years ago on the media without taking into confidence the members of the media and the opposition leaders.

The regime has tried to pressure Pakistani private channels by leaning on key commercial advertisers to pull their sponsorships.

The PEMRA has blatantly ignored all violations made by the cable operators over the years. In collusion with cable operators PEMRA has managed to black out transmission almost every day since March 9. The blockages are widespread on any day when the opposition is protesting or the CJ is out to address a bar association.

The Run-up to The Final Gagging of the Press

The ordinance just makes official the draconian measures the regime has been resorting to since the day it ignited the judicial crisis on March 9, 2007. Taken aback by the massive public outcry at the unconstitutional suspension of the Chief Justice Pakistan and the media coverage the issue received, the regime in panic, has been taking successive and suicidal measures to clampdown on the media.

First, it briefly suspended the transmission of Aaj TV and Geo TV in March, which was an unsubtle threat to those and other channels if they continued with their live coverage of the CJ's activities or of popular protest.

Instead of seeking to end the grave political crisis across Pakistan, the regime then carried out an attack on Geo TV in full public view and in the close proximity of the Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani.

The latest clampdown on the media follows fast in the aftermath of the May 27 seminar of the Supreme Court Bar Association in Islamabad that was covered live. The lawyers that spoke at the rally were merely exercising their constitutional right to express their views. The regime found that intolerable and apart from seeking court action against the participants of the seminar also slapped a ban on media channels to cover the rally live.

On the eve of the Chief Justice's visit to Abbottabad on June 2, 2007, the country's TV channels received a letter from the PEMRA that urged them not to air programmes that "encourage" violence, or promote an "anti-state attitude". They were ordered not to air programmes that contain "aspersions against the judiciary and the integrity of the armed forces of Pakistan". Apart from the written letter, the broadcasters were also warned verbally to "Stop live coverage of Chaudhry rallies."

As if that wasn't enough the regime went ahead and blocked the transmission of two TV channels, namely Geo and ARY in the first week of June. So far there has been no official reason issued for such a violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens.

Naked untruth followed brutal clampdowns. The PEMRA still expects people to believe that the media blackout has been carried out by cable operators on their own. Yet no one buys the canard that the Cable Operators Association of Pakistan (CAP) have not been pressured to take GEO and Aaj TV off their networks. Many have confessed to it in private.

In the last week of May 2007, General Musharraf bluntly criticized the media for supposedly showing their lack of respect for the armed forces. What he refused to acknowledge is that the criticism was mostly directed at him and his misrule, not at the army as a professional institution. In the same vein, while addressing army officers in Jhelum garrison, he used harsh words against the lawyers and the media for "humiliating" and maligning the armed forces.

PM Shaukat Aziz then went on to say that criticizing the Pakistan army would not be tolerated since the army was the "real asset of the nation". The liberal PM also stated that comments against the army were "tantamount to conspiracy against Pakistan". And before one could recover from the diatribe, a ban was slapped on Aaj, ARY and GEO TV by mysterious forces who are yet to be named and seen.

In stark contrast to its claims of media freedom, the Musharraf regime has shown a rather dismal record of protecting the media and its interests during its seven years in power. According to a South Asia Free Media Association report, Pakistan tops the list for abductions and killings of journalists during the past year. The tribal areas have been turned into no-go areas for journalists and the situation in Balochistan and interior Sindh remains quite dangerous for journalists.

According to independent reports, over two dozen journalists have been killed in Pakistan during the last seven years. 68 journalists have been abducted, arrested or detained; 81 tortured or injured; more than 114 threatened or intimidated, while there have been 37 attacks on media property.

The PPP strongly condemns all such actions as the last desperate acts of a dying regime, and vows to struggle in solidarity with the media and the press community in their struggle for fundamental rights and press freedoms.

PPP files constitutional petitions against PEMRA Ordinance


Islamabad June 8, 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party today filed constitutional petitions in all the High Courts of the country challenging the latest amendments to the PEMRA Ordinance.

The Peoples Lawyers Forum in all the four Provinces filed the constitutional petitions. The respective Presidents of the PLF in the provinces filed the petitions. In Lahore, Mian Mohammad Hanif Tahir President Peoples Lawyers Forum, Punjab, filed the petition.

The constitutional petitions have been drafted and filed under the supervision of Senior Supreme Advocate, Senator Sardar Lateef Khosa of PPP.

The identical petitions have prayed to the High Courts that the impugned PEMRA ordinance XXVII of 2007, promulgated on June 4th, 2007 be declared as without lawful authority and of no legal consequence.

The petitions also pray that the PEMRA Order prohibiting the live coverage of the reception of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to various Bar Associations of Pakistan may be adjudged as illegal and Ultra Vires to the law and constitution of Pakistan.

It has also been prayed that till the decision of this petition operation of the impugned ordinance XXVII of 2007 and orders of PEMRA Chairman may be held in abeyance.

Besides, "any other writ, relief or direction, expedient in the interest of justice may also be issued in vindication of the grievances afore referred".

The writ petition filed under Article 1999 of the Constitution has named the Government of Pakistan through Federal Secretary Parliamentary Affairs, Federal Minister Law and Justice, Ministry of Law & Justice and Chairman, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulating Authority (PEMRA), Islamabad as Respondents.

Bilawal Zardari receives degree with distinction



Islamabad June 8, 2007: Bilawal Zardari, son of former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and Senator Asif Zardari graduated from his school receiving an Emirate Degree.

He was one of the three students who graduated with distinction.

At convocation on Wednesday the graduating students were awarded degrees by Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum the Deputy Ruler of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

PPP Condemns Black Press Laws
Resolution for the CEC/FC Meeting


June 7, 2007: The Central Executive Committee and Federal Council of the Pakistan Peoples Party met on June 7, 2007 at Bilawal House, Karachi.

The meeting was chaired by Makhdoom Amin Fahim on the directives of the Chairperson of the PPP, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

The agenda of the meeting was to discuss amendment in the PEMRA laws passed on June 04, 2007 and the attacks on the electronics media with a view to censor the press and deny information to the public.

The second agenda item was steps to be taken by PPP to defend the freedom of press and show solidarity with the media.

The meeting noted that PEMRA formed as a regulatory body for the electronic media. However its purpose was distorted by the PEMRA amendments into an instrument to threaten, intimidate and shut down broadcasts of private electronic media channels as part of an attempt to censor news channels by the military regime.

The PPP slammed the curbs as a violation of the democratic right to a free press which negated constitutional freedoms guaranteed under Article 19 of the 1973 Constitution.

The meeting unanimously observed that the curbs were an effort to hide the growing public unrest against the present unpopular regime. By muzzling the press and television networks broadcasting live telecasts of chief justice's procession the murder attacks by the regime on the public in Karachi on May 12, the killing of Registrar Hammad and other such incidents of the regime's excesses and the reaction to them.

The meeting recalled that television channels were ordered to stop live broadcasts relating to the suspended Chief Justice, and when they refused PEMRA was given powers to cancel licenses, seize broadcast equipment, seal premises and impose fines up to Rs ten million on private networks in revenge. The meeting rejected the amendments allowing the regime to take draconian action against the broadcasters without investigation or findings that indicated culpability. The Party noted that earlier, to eliminate the popular party of the people, the PPP, NAB had been created with similar draconian powers in 1997.

The PPP said that first the establishment attached political parties, then the judiciary and now the press. The PPP said that the political parties, the judiciary and the press are all essential elements of a democratic pluralistic society. Their common interest was to stand together for it was well known, "United they stand, divided they fall".

The PPP deplored the military regime's press record noting that the Committee to Protect Journalists in the USA had reported that over two dozen journalists have been killed in Pakistan during the last seven years. 68 journalists have been abducted, arrested or detained; 81 tortured or injured; more than 114 threatened or intimidated, while there have been 37 attacks on media property.

The PPP vowed to stand in solidarity with the media and the press recalling that PPP had introduced press freedom in the country in 1988 as well as introduced private electronic media.

The meeting recalled that the PPP government in 1988 removed all press censorship laws and reinstated journalists terminated from government service during an earlier martial law regime. The No Objection Certificates needed by journalists to travel abroad were abolished, import of news print was freely permitted and government permission to start publication was done away with. During the second tenure of the PPP government the Sixth Wage Board was announced for newspaper workers, and implemented in the Associated Press of Pakistan service. The PPP government under Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto opened up the air waves by allowing satellite communications and transmissions to be broadcast outside the official PTV medium, introduced digital communication and laid the foundations for the internet, mobile and satellite revolution in Pakistan, freeing up the air waves to private enterprise and free expression like never before .

The PPP meeting condemned the arbitrary arrests of its workers as well as workers from all other opposition parties all over Pakistan, particularly in the Punjab, where thousands of office-bearers and activists have been rounded up in midnight raids without reason or provocation. The CEC called upon the Peoples lawyers Forum to immediately give free legal assistance to those in prison. It called upon the district presidents to ensure their organizations called upon in jail. It called upon the Women wing to visit the families to give them moral support and it called upon all provincial presidents of the mother organization as well as the Women's Wing to ensure that those recommendation of the CEC, having been approved by the Chairperson be implemented.

The meeting demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners, the withdrawal of politically motivated cases against the Chief Justice, Chairperson PPP, other opposition members and press, safe return of exiled prime ministers, removal of all curbs on the media, and the immediate announcement of an election date under a government of national consensus to supervise elections in which all political candidates are allowed to contest.

The meeting resolved to immediately convene for a rally against the PEMRA offices right after the CEC/FC meeting. The meeting also resolved to challenge the black laws in all four provincial High Courts and directed the Peoples Lawyers Forum to proceed with the petitions forthwith. The party also committed itself to all measures needed to express solidarity with the media community and directed all its central and provincial leadership to meet expeditiously with all the journalists unions and media bodies .

The meeting also condemned the new disinformation campaign launched by the regime about the PEMRA Laws being under a " stay" as a deliberate distortion of the truth. The meeting noted that the amendments have not been withdrawn and hang like a Damocles Sword over the press in order to coerce, harass and intimidate journalists to toe the government line, as originally intended by the amendments introduced on June 4 2007.

The meeting concluded by re-asserting the PPP's commitment to peace, democracy economic emancipation of the people of Pakistan under the leadership of Duktar-e–Pakistan Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

PPP Invites Parliamentary Seat Applications For General Elections 2007


Islamabad June 7, 2007: In view of the forthcoming General Elections scheduled to be called sometime before the November 2007, the Secretary General of the Pakistan Peoples Party has invited applications from those interested in being considered for its parliamentary ticket.

All applicants must subscribe to the Manifesto and Program of the Pakistan Peoples Party under the leadership of Dukhtar -e- Pakistan Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

As each constituency can have several applicants who support the Party, each applicant must state clearly and in summary why they think they are in a better position to win the seat for the Party.

The application must be typed, contain a brief bio-data, an attested copy of a Bachelor's degree, Photostat copy of Party membership and a non refundable fee by Bank Draft/Pay Order made out in name of Pakistan People Party of Thirty Thousands Rupees for National Assembly applicants and Twenty Five Thousands Rupees for Provincial Assembly applicants.

Those supporters who have never won election since 1988 although they have received Party tickets may not apply.

Successful applicants will need to fulfil other conditions including an affidavit and a fee for award of symbol.

Preliminary meetings have already taken place by the research teams, think tank, provincial organizations and parliamentary groups.

Final Parliamentary Board will meet in London presided by the Chairperson in July. All members of Central Executive Committee and Federal Council in good standing will be members of the Board. All provincial presidents, secretaries, leaders of opposition, deputy leader of opposition, provincial presidents of women's wing will be attending the Parliamentary Board. Divisional presidents, district president and district secretary are invited for their division/district.

Those members who have violated discipline of the Party or been expelled will not be eligible to apply.

All applications be made to Central Secretariat Islamabad or to Bilawal House Karachi. Applications will be accepted from June 15th 2007 to June 25th 2007.

PPP tell regime to give minorities protection


Islamabad, 7 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party called upon the military regime to offer immediate protection for the students of the School of Nursing who, it claimed, were being allegedly threatened by Lal Masjid students.

This was stated by the Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in a statement today.

Mohtarma Bhutto said Constitution of Pakistan offered equal protection to all citizens irrespective of class, gender or religion. PPP wanted the constitutional guarantees fulfilled otherwise regime should resign.

She said PPP was proud that Islam preached tolerance and respected all Prophets who came before the last Prophet (PBUH).

She said PPP was concerned that image of Pakistan damaged due to the insecurity of citizen.

"Since dismissal of PPP government in 1996, country has slipped from one crisis to another", the PPP Chairperson said.

She assured people in all provinces irrespective of race, religion or gender protection under a PPP government. She asked people to give PPP two third majority in forthcoming elections.

PPP hails the struggle by electronic media
Expresses solidarity with the channels.


Islamabad, 7 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party has hailed the heroic struggle of media to resist all attempts aimed at depriving them of their independence.

Chief of the Federal Council PPP and former Information Minister, Khalid Kharal visited on Wednesday visited the offices of private TV channels in Lahore and presented flower bouquets on behalf of Chairperson PPP Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

The offices Khalid Kharal visited to express solidarity with the channels and felicitate them on courageously rejecting the draconian amendments in the PEMRA ordinance included that of Mr. Salman Iqbal, CEO ARY Digital, Mr. Khawar Naeem Hashmi, Bureau Chief Geo Lahore and Mr. Noman Yawar, Bureau Chief, Aaj TV Lahore.

PPP tell regime to give minorities protection


Islamabad, 7 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party called upon the military regime to offer immediate protection for the students of the School of Nursing who, it claimed, were being allegedly threatened by Lal Masjid students.

This was stated by the Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto in a statement today.

Mohtarma Bhutto said Constitution of Pakistan offered equal protection to all citizens irrespective of class, gender or religion. PPP wanted the constitutional guarantees fulfilled otherwise regime should resign.

She said PPP was proud that Islam preached tolerance and respected all Prophets who came before the last Prophet (PBUH).

She said PPP was concerned that image of Pakistan damaged due to the insecurity of citizen.

"Since dismissal of PPP government in 1996, country has slipped from one crisis to another", the PPP Chairperson said.

She assured people in all provinces irrespective of race, religion or gender protection under a PPP government. She asked people to give PPP two third majority in forthcoming elections.

Benazir Bhutto calls meeting on new media curbs


Sherry Rehman terms PEMRA Ordinance ‘anti-democratic’, ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘draconian’
Announces protest rally in Karachi today

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party Chairwoman Benazir Bhutto has called an urgent meeting of the party’s Central Executive Council and Federal Council to discuss the recently promulgated Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance in Karachi today (Thursday).

Sherry Rehman, information secretary of the party, said that the meeting has been called to take strong note of the PEMRA amendments and their ramifications on fundamental freedoms and the future of democracy in Pakistan.

“The PPP has strongly condemned the laws as anti-democratic and unconstitutional, and its Central Executive Committee will convene after the meeting to lead a protest rally from Bilawal House to the PEMRA offices. The rally will then join the press rally called to commemorate June 7 as a black day,” she added.

In solidarity with the journalist community, the PPP has also called for nationwide protests against these ‘draconian laws’, and will mobilise the party for further action if the regime continues to suppress the voice of the people through its “authoritarian actions,” added Rehman.

“The meeting will also finalise the decision to take up the PEMRA amendment in court. The PPP stands by its commitment to press freedom and will remain on the frontlines of this struggle as well,” she said

Rehman said that attacks on the press were attacks on the very survival of democratic forces, and the PPP would leave no stone unturned until the media was allowed to write, broadcast and inform without a “dictator’s axe” hanging over their heads.

“These laws only reflect the desperate acts of an isolated regime and they will only add to the political crisis in the country, created by a man who refuses to shed his uniform,” she said.

Party insiders said senior vice chairman Makhdoom Amin Faheem would chair the meeting and would also take party members into confidence as far as ongoing rumours of a PPP-government deal is concerned.

Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, another senior vice chairman of the party, told Daily Times that a course of action would be approved in the meeting to counter the current situation and restore media freedom. Protecting the Constitution was the party’s top priority, he added.

Khalid Ahmad Khan Kharal, former federal minister for information and secretary general of the PPP Federal Council, condemned the promulgation of the amended PEMRA Ordinance.

“Its is a shameful assault on the freedom of the press. The government was feeling nervous with the way it was being exposed by the media. It is tragic that the government has been repeatedly preventing live broadcasts by the electronic media, and coverage of seminars, protests and rallies for the independence of the judiciary,” a statement issued by Kharal read.

He also said that efforts were made to prevent the launching of a book by Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, a reputed and respected non-political scholar. “We not only support her cause but also admire her courageous act of writing such a well-documented book on the economic empires of the army. If the regime feels embarrassed by such publications, they should refrain from building such empires,” he added.

Mohtarma Bhutto condemns large scale arrest of Political activists
Demands their release, urges judiciary to take suo moto notice


Islamabad June 06, 2007: Former Prime Minster and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto has condemned the arrest of PPP workers and pro democracy supporters in the country in connection with the observance of black day against the assault on the independence of media.

Hundreds of Party activists were arrested in Rawalpindi, Multan, Lahore, Khanewal, Sahiwal and other cities ahead of the black day planned to be observed on Thursday June 7 by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) against latest restrictions slammed on the private channels. The Party has decided to support the PFUJ call to observe June 7 as black day in protest against curbs on the media.

The activists were whisked away by security agencies and detained at undisclosed locations.

In a statement today Mohtarma Bhutto said that staging of peaceful demonstrations against the latest assault on the media was a democratic right and the arrest of workers ahead of exercising their democratic right was condemnable. She called for the immediate release of all those arrested.

It may be noted that the PPP has decided to support the PFUJ in its call for observing Thursday June 7 as Black Day..

The largest number of arrests of any political party, ahead of the black day has been of PPP workers who are in the forefront of the defence of the media freedoms and the rule of law and independence of the judiciary.

Mohtarma Bhutto urged the judiciary to take suo moto notice and order release of those arrested in violation of their human rights and their right to peaceful assembly and peaceful protest.

Mohtarma Bhutto also saluted the courage of the workers and said that the cowardly strong arm tactics of the regime will not cow down the Party workers. “Your courage and sacrifice offers great hope to the civil society in their struggle for upholding the independence of the media in the country”.

PPP Condemns Amendments to PEMRA Ordinance, Says Mohtarma Bhutto


Islamabad June 6, 2007: Former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto today condemned the far-reaching restrictions slammed on private channels.

In a statement today the former Prime Minister said that the Pakistan Peoples Party that had ushered in the period of press freedom was particularly pained at the repressive steps taken against the media.

She said that the Pakistan Peoples Party would support the journalists and media in support of press freedom.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the actions against the press were one of desperation. She called upon the media to unite as it would be impossible for the regime to shut down all the electronic media.

She said that by taking the steps against the media, the regime was demonstrating an intolerance, which would undermine the attempts to create a pluralistic and diverse society in the country.

Mohtarma Bhutto said that the PPP is proud of the courage shown by the vast majority of the members of the media who have been killed, kidnapped, assaulted, threatened, suffered physical intimidation and been victims of terror attacks but still kept up the flag of press freedom.

She said that in modern society the press is the fourth pillar of state.

It may be recalled that on Saturday electronic media were banned from telecasting live shows relating to the suspended Chief Justice. On Sunday the PEMRA law was amended giving the government sweeping powers to cancel license, seize broadcast equipment, seal premises and impose heavy fines of ten million rupees on private TV channels that do not toe the regime's line. The amending ordinance also empowered the Authority to suspend the license even before investigations are completed and culpability established.

Further a new clause was inserted under which the regime could slam new curbs on the broadcasters just by issuing new regulations in an official gazette without reference to Parliament and the stakeholders.
 

Mohtarma Bhutto Deplores Violence Against Minorities and Citizens


Islamabad, 5 June 2007: Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said the Pakistan Peoples Party is deeply concerned that Pakistan's image as great moderate Muslim state as envisaged by its Founder is being undermined by acts of violence against minorities.

Mohtarma Bhutto recalled that Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had proclaimed that all Pakistanis would be equal before the law. She noted that Islam laid the basis of a pluralistic state by protecting minorities.

In a statement today she said that however since the dismissal of the PPP government in 1996, a slide into extremism has begun which is undermining the social and economic interest of the common man. She said PPP opposes the politics of violence and intolerance that create insecurity for our citizens and affects their economic livelihood and financial well-being.

Mohtarma Bhutto said the recent article by Pakistan Origin Bishop of Rochester painting a grim picture of the state of minorities in Pakistan would hurt the country's image unless remedial steps were taken.

She said that while violence against minorities was deplorable, it was also equally deplorable against non-minorities. Mohtarma Bhutto noted that people of Baluchistan were victims of violence through a military operation while the women, lawyers, press and political activist were routinely victims of violence due to their gender or their political
beliefs.

The former Prime Minister said that the PPP wanted a restoration of democracy to weaken the forces of violence, give every citizens protection of law and provide progress and prosperity through employment, education and welfare schemes.

US think-tank lists MQM as militant outfit
The Peninsular


ISLAMABAD 6/5/2007: Karachi-based ethnic Muttahida Qaumi Movement party is included in the list of foreign terrorist organisations, furnished by a US research institute that exclusively works on terrorism.

The National Memorial Institute for Preventing Terrorism (MIPT), funded by the US Homeland Security Department, considers the MQM as a terrorist outfit and brackets it with dozens of other Pakistan-based militant outfits.

The militant outfits the MQM has been bracketed with are Lashkare Jhangvi, Balochistan Liberation Army, Sipahe Sahaba Pakistan, Lashkare Taeeba, Harkatul Mujahideen and others.

Interestingly, all of the organisations displayed in the MIPT list have already been banned by the Pakistani government except the MQM, presently a major component of ruling coalition. It alleges the MQM for its involvement in turf of war in Karachi and thus concludes that this ethnic-cum-political party bears a history of violence. MQM, originally known as Mohajir Qaumi Movement, has no strong religious or political ideology the MIPT says.

The MQM has been ranked in terrorist outfits as nationalist-separatist organisation. The MIPT is considered a comprehensive databank of global terrorist incidents and organisations often used by the US policymakers.

The MITP that is funded by Homeland Security, works in close coordination with a reputed US think-tank, RAND that it gets verified all terrorist incidents to be used by it later on in the Terrorism Knowledge Base (TKB). The charge sheet that the think-tank furnished against the MQM for declaring it a terrorist group includes attack on private citizens, religious leaders and public property in previous years.

The MIPT put the MQM on its list of terrorist organisation after its violent activities in 2001 and since then it has been among the declared terror outfits of this research institute.

The MIPT has not recorded, however, any violence carried out by this ‘terrorist’ group since the time it came into power. According to the MIPT report, the MQM has approximately 3,000 members

Although the MIPT has not elaborated whether these outfits were put onto the terrorist lists on the instructions of the US government etc, it has furnished the list of terrorist organisations working in different countries.

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's Transcript for NPR interview
Bhutto Sees Return to Pakistan Aiding Democracy


June 4, 2007: Benazir Bhutto, former prime minister of Pakistan, has decided to return to Pakistan to contest elections there, despite her risk of getting arrested.

Bhutto left the country years ago to avoid graft charges. Now, she says, she wants to pressure President Gen. Pervez Musharraf for a return to civilian rule.

But Bhutto is not seen by many in Pakistan as a shining champion of democracy. Her two terms in office destroyed the optimism and excitement that were present when she began her first tenure as prime minister in 1988.

Bhutto tells Robert Siegel that she plans to return to Pakistan sometime between September and December, depending on political developments there.

"This is an opportunity for the people of Pakistan to try and restore democracy," Bhutto says. "And it's also an opportunity for us through the restoration of democracy to undermine the forces of religious extremism who have expanded their influence in Pakistan during the last five years. I believe it's important for Pakistan's democratization as well as moderation for me to go back and play a role."

Do you anticipate that if you went back, would there be an understanding that you would not be arrested or prosecuted by the government if you returned?

Right now, there is no such understanding on the cards, and it's very possible that the regime might try to arrest me. I have consulted my lawyers, and they too are ready to support me. But ultimately it's a political decision. We do have a chief of army staff as president of Pakistan, so the military is in a very strong position. And our judicial institutions are a little weak. But nonetheless, I am prepared to take the risk because I think it's important for Pakistan and for its future.

Now, there are many reports that you or your allies have been negotiating with President Musharraf or his allies, possibly to share power in some transition back to parliamentary or civilian rule. Was such an arrangement on the table and is it still conceivable to you.

I'd say that that's partially true. The talks that we were having were centered less on sharing power, and centered more — at least the way I would like to see it — centered more on a transition to democracy. We understand that in a transition to democracy, countries face many challenges, and we in the PPP [Pakistan People's Party] wanted to facilitate such a transition. And that's the reason why our party has had contacts with the military regime.

Unfortunately, those contacts have not yet materialized into any understanding that could lead to truly fair elections in Pakistan, to my return, to be able to play a proper role in those elections. Just last month, Gen. Musharraf said that he would not permit the two exiled former prime ministers to participate in the elections. And I feel that if I can't return to my country, if I can't participate in the elections, those elections will not be fair, and secondly, it would give an unfair advantage to the religious parties whose leadership is present in Pakistan.

You said these talks have not yet produced such an agreement. That's at least an implicit statement of some optimism that the talks aren't finished yet.

Well, Mr. Siegel, right now I don't want to talk about the talks, because it makes people very angry. Certainly, after the events of May 12th when 48 people were killed in the city of Karachi at the hands — many suspect — of a coalition partner of the regime, and until today, not a single person has been arrested for those 48 murders. Our supporters say we shouldn't be talking to a regime that has killed 48 people and not arrested a single murderer. That's what they say. And they say we shouldn't be talking to a regime that is not – that is refusing to reinstate the chief justice of Pakistan because it wants to weaken the judiciary with a view to rig the forthcoming elections.

What do you say to Pakistanis who would say, well, the return of Benazir Bhutto or, for that matter, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, would be a return to contested elections in parliamentary democracy, But those were also days of mutually destructive politics, very intense rivalry, and corruption?

I would say that Mr. Nawaz Sharif and I have signed a charter of democracy where we have pledged to work together to bring about some fundamental reforms to our political system to make it responsive to the needs of the people. And I do believe that there needs to be a balance in the powers between the president and the prime minister. One of the reasons that there was so much political turmoil in the past was because the president had the power to dismiss a parliament and a prime minister. And the president often exercised that power, and all the parties played to the president because they wanted to ally with him. So I think doing away with the dissolution power is an important factor.

And secondly, I would say that the charges of corruption were made to actually distract from the institutionalized corruption of the military regime. I know that my party and I have both fought those charges with grim determination for a decade and none of them have been proven. And I believe it's for the courts to declare someone guilty or innocent, and so far, the courts have declared on our side.

I want you to comment on something that former Sen. John Edwards said last night in the Democratic candidate debate in New Hampshire. The question was about Pakistan, democracy, and fighting against al-Qaida. And Sen. Edwards said this:

And one danger that anyone has to recognize with the possible taking down of Musharraf as the president of Pakistan — and I met with him also in Islamabad a few years ago — one of the things we have to recognize is if he goes out of power given the power of radical Islam in Pakistan, there is absolutely no way to know what kind of government will take his place.

I know that this is an argument that has been made by Gen. Musharraf to frighten the international community into prolonging his dictatorship. I see things differently. I believe that the longer Gen. Musharraf continues with the present political structure that he has put into place, the greater will be the threat from the Taliban and the extremists. Back in 2002, the Taliban had been defeated; they were dispersed; they were disorganized. And since then, they have regrouped and reorganized and rearmed themselves to the extent that they regularly carry out attacks on NATO troops, and Afghan troops, in nearby Afghanistan. Secondly, within Pakistan itself, many of our cities have been ceded to the militants one by one.

But how then would a democratic government deal with the rising authority of Islamists in Pakistani cities, merely to contest with them at the polls and run against them, or are you speaking of some sort of crackdown on them?

Contesting the polls is only the beginning of the journey to undermine extremism, militancy and terrorism. But most fundamental is to address the social and economic needs of the people of Pakistan. In a way, dictatorship neglects the basic needs of the people. And when their basic needs to clothing, to housing, to drinking water, to economic advancement is neglected, the poverty and the desperation is a fertile ground for the extremists to exploit.

Amendments to PEMRA Ordinance condemned
New Ordinance shows regime's nervousness


Islamabad June 4, 2007: Pakistan Peoples Party has condemned the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Amendment) Ordinance 2007 issued Monday as yet another shameful assault on the freedom of the media and called upon the civil society, the professional media bodies and the human rights organisations to reject it.

The government on Monday amended the PEMRA Ordinance giving itself sweeping powers to cancel license, seize broadcast equipment and seal premises of private TV channels and broadcast houses that do not toe the regime's line. The amending ordinance also empowered the Authority to suspend the license even before investigations are completed and culpability established.

In a statement today spokesperson of the PPP said that the amendment ordinance was the second deadly blow dealt on the media in two days and reflected the regime's nervousness with the way it was exposed by the media before the world.

It may be mentioned that just a day before TV channels were banned from airing live talk shows on the CJ issue and warned them of punitive action for broadcasts that were "anti national and anti state" or cast "aspersions on the integrity of the armed forces".

He said that by inserting of a new draconian clause 39-A in the ordinance today the regime could slam new curbs on the broadcasters just by issuing new regulations in an official gazette without reference to Parliament and the stakeholders.

"This is unprecedented that a government body PEMRA comprising of government officials is given the powers to make new regulations stifling the media just by issuing an official notification"

The amending ordinance is an intolerable and unacceptable assault on the independence of media, the spokesperson said.
 

Neutral armed forces in national interest-Pakistan People's Party


Islamabad, 2 June 2007: The Pakistan Peoples Party agrees with the assessment of the Corp Commanders that a malicious campaign has begun against institutions of state said Former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

In a statement today the former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said PPP believes the only solution to end the malicious campaign; against state institutions is for the military to go back to the barracks.

She said that for sometime Pakistan Peoples Party has pointed out that while the armed forces enjoy respect among the people of Pakistan, its position is being eroded through its involvement in political affairs and actions impinging on the people by joining of the offices of President and Army Chief.

Noting that the Constitution specifically calls upon the armed forces to follow political decisions taken by an elected government, Mohtarma Bhutto said this was to protect the armed forces as an institution from the controversy and reaping the unpopularity of decisions which were unacceptable to the people.

The former Prime Minister called upon the armed forces to remember their oath to the Constitution and to uphold it.

Mohtarma Bhutto said Pakistan Peoples Party noted that Corp Commanders had rightly noted that small minority should not obstruct the aspiration of the vast majority.

She said that the views of the vast majority could only be ascertained through fair elections under an independent election commission supervised by a Government of national consensus, monitored by a robust international team open to all personalities including exile Prime Ministers who should be free to safely return to campaign and contest without government threats.

PPP condemns Tank incident
Says regime failed to establish writ of state


Islamabad, June 01, 2007: The PPP condemns the latest mayhem in Tank in the tribal areas and calls upon the regime to establish the writ of the state as the country continues to be ruled through the law of the jungle and the principle of might is right reigns from Khyber to Karachi and in all walks of life.

Thirteen people were killed including women and many injured including children when militants attacked the house of a senior government official in the Jatai Qala areas of tank district in frontier province on Wednesday.

In a statement today spokesperson of the Party said that the regime had failed to establish the writ of the sate because it had systematically decimated all state institutions and not permitted them to perform their Constitutional functions.

The institutional collapse that is being witnessed all around is because the military has penetrated all state institutions to control the economy’s commanding heights without accountability and at huge cost to the civil society.

He said that those wielding guns had hijacked the nation and the state had set an example for warlords to set up their own fiefdoms by brandishing guns. That was why fiefdoms had been set up in Swat by the TNSM, in Khyber Agency by the Lashkar-i-Islami, in parts of Islamabad by the clerics of the Lal Masjid, in Karachi by the MQM and in the tribal areas by the local Talibans, he said.

While the law and order situation has sunk to the lowest depths and there is anarchy all around the regime pursues a policy of political vendetta as democratic leaders are in jail or in exile, he said.

The Party asks the regime to stop the policy of political vendetta and address the issue of deteriorating law and order situation in the country.

Meanwhile Mohtarma Bhutto has condoled with the families of those whose near and dear ones were killed in the Tank attack. She prayed for those killed in the terrorist attack and for the early recovery of those injured.

 

PPP says NAB leaks create false illusion of political trade off
Cases against Mohtarma and Party leadership not withdrawn


Islamabad May 31, 2007: Media leaks that NAB has withdrawn a case against Mohtarma Bhutto as reported in a section of the media today are aimed at creating the false illusion of a trade off between the regime and the PPP to create confusion amongst the people and to divide the opposition.

This has been stated by a spokesperson of the PPP today commenting on reports in a section of the press that the regime had withdrawn a case against Mohtarma Bhutto pertaining to the oil for food program.

He said that not a single complaint against Mohtarma Bhutto either in a domestic or a foreign jurisdiction has been withdrawn. Indeed not even the Interpol notice has been withdrawn.

The spokesperson said that a game of political illusions is being played with a series of disinformation fed to the media by vested interests.

Earlier false reports were fed that the Interpol notices were withdrawn, that the Spanish lawyers were dismissed, and that NAB had been disbanded. None of these reports were true although they received wide publicity.

The spokesperson said Millions of dollars of public money has been spent on politically motivated cases to deny Mohtarma Bhutto and the PPP a level political field with MMA and ruling PML Q.

The spokesperson said that the regime wanted to create the optical illusion that it could reach a settlement with PPP in exchange for an end to the political vendetta. If this had been the case, the PPP would have accepted the offer in 2000 to go into exile for 10 years in exchange for release of Mr. Zardari and end of cases.

However, PPP rejected such offerings with its workers and leaders suffering as a consequence to keep alive the torch of democracy.

The PPP is fighting for the people to restore democracy, return military to barracks, undermine religious militancy and bring hope of happiness to the downtrodden people of Pakistan.

The PPP is opposed to a uniformed President, to re-election from the present Parliament and seeks a balance of power between the Parliament and the President, repeal of Presidential power to sack Parliament and ban on twice elected Prime Minister.

The PPP said it wanted an end to its political victimization which had caused loss to the national institutions and national treasury. However, to say that cases had been withdrawn was false or that PPP could come on board solely on cases was wrong.


Words of Shaheed

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

There was a great Prime Minister, the first Prime Minister, the father of the present Prime Minister of India, who said, "We were too old, we were too tired to oppose Pakistan, and Pakistan had to come into being. But we hope that one day we will get together gain." I too hope so, not that Pakistan will emerge as subservient to India but in the sense that we will get together again as equal friends, in a common fraternity, living in a common subcontinent and sharing the common effort of seeing that poverty, ignorance and misery are wiped out. If there are any two countries in world that are the poorest in the world, they are Pakistan and India. Our resources might be tremendous, but the fact is that we two are the poorest in the world. Yet in the last 24 years, we have gone to war three times. Three times there has been conflict in the subcontinent. I remember that Prime Minister of the Soviet Union once telling me that even rich nations try to avoide war; poorer nations should make a greater attempt to avoid war.

Speech at the Security Council, New York

December 12, 1971

 



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