March 2007
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March 2007 |
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March 2007
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Official US paper asks for free and fair elections in Pakistan this year
Here is the full text of the article titled “Bush Should Push Musharraf on Elections This Year in Pakistan” written by its Executive Editor Morton M Kondracke. Bush Should Push Musharraf on Elections This Year in Pakistan By Morton M. Kondracke Roll Call Executive Editor March 29, 2007 As a matter of hard-headed realism, not just pro-democratic ideology, President Bush should pressure Pakistan’s military ruler Pervez Musharraf to hold free elections this year. That’s because, perhaps sooner than later, the increasingly unpopular Musharraf could go the way of the Shah of Iran, who was toppled by Islamic extremists. And also, Musharraf’s leading Democratic opponent, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, says she would do a better job than Musharraf in fighting the resurgent Taliban that’s menacing Afghanistan. “As prime minister,” Bhutto told me in an interview, “I’d control the tribal areas of Pakistan,” where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding and the Taliban is ascendant. “I did it before, when the drug lords were in control and I’m confident I can clear out the Taliban.” As opposed to the hostile relationship that Musharraf maintains with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Bhutto says, “a democratic Pakistan would help Afghanistan stabilize, relieving pressure on NATO troops.” Bush late last month dispatched Vice President Cheney to Pakistan to read the riot act to Musharraf about rising Taliban infiltration into Afghanistan, reportedly warning that Democrats in Congress might cut off aid to his regime if he was not more aggressive. In fact, House Democrats, as part of their first “100 days” homeland security bill, conditioned future military aid to Pakistan on Bush’s certifying that Musharraf was making “all possible efforts” to oust the Taliban from his country, but the provision was pulled from the Senate bill at the administration’s request. Thwarting a new Taliban offensive is uppermost on the U.S. priority list, followed by concern that nuclear-armed Pakistan not be taken over by Islamic fundamentalists. Democratic development in Pakistan is somewhere on the list, but it’s not at the top. It needs to be, because democracy is intimately connected to controlling extremism. Americans — including Bush — have the idea that Musharraf, like Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, is all that stands between stability and Islamic fundamentalist rule. That view is stoutly disputed by Bhutto and Pakistan experts such as Boston University’s Husain Haqqani, both of whom pointed out to me that in Pakistan’s 2002 elections, Islamic parties received just 11.3 percent of the vote. According to Haqqani, a former Pakistani diplomat and government official, the United States has contributed to a “Middle Easternization” of Pakistan, actually strengthening Islamic forces while bolstering military rulers who prevent democratic political development. “The Islamists are slowly expanding for one simple reason: You can shut down everything else, but you can’t shut down the mosques. If you shut down secular parties, as Musharraf is doing, the only other choice the people have is the Islamists.” Bhutto noted that Pakistan’s former military dictator, Zia-ul-Haq, who in 1977 overthrew and executed her father, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, formed an alliance with radical Islamists in Pakistan and, with U.S. help, aided Afghan rebels who became the Taliban. Musharraf, who came to power in a coup in 1999, continued recognizing the Taliban until the U.S. demanded his support after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, but Bhutto said he has continued fostering fundamentalism — partly by starving public education and allowing fundamentalist madrassas to flourish instead. Bhutto told me that she hopes the Bush administration will follow up on Bush’s own call last year for “open and honest elections” this year by pressuring Musharraf to allow her and her former democratic rival, Nawaz Sharif, back into the country to campaign, and by funding “robust” election observer teams to watch the voting, scheduled for November. Haqqani told me he thinks that the administration fears that if Bhutto were elected prime minister, the Pakistani army would refuse to allow her to govern. But that opposition might be overcome if Bhutto agreed to let Musharraf stay on as president. She told me it is “premature” to discuss Musharraf’s future. It’s obviously a bargaining chip. Musharraf is resisting free elections and is planning to rely on the parliament elected in 2002 — in what widely was regarded as rigged voting — to elect him president. When Pakistan’s chief justice threatened to block that move and insisted that the country’s constitution be respected — which also requires Musharraf to quit the army — he had the justice arrested. That has led to demonstrations by lawyers and a Musharraf crackdown on news organizations reporting on the protests. Musharraf’s popularity is plunging, though there is no threat — yet — of the massive popular unrest of the kind that led to the Shah’s ouster in 1979. This is a moment for Bush to intervene — along with Congress — to forestall that possibility by fostering real democracy. Four Senators, including Foreign Relations Chairman Joseph Biden (D-Del.), wrote Musharraf a polite letter March 12 urging him to let Bhutto and Sharif back to campaign and also to step up efforts to control the Taliban. The outgoing U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan Crocker, now ambassador to Iraq, told Pakistanis that the U.S. would not pressure Musharraf on elections. It’s probably good diplomacy not to apply the pressure publicly, but Bush should have a friendly phone call soon with his strategic ally and warn him that stifling democracy only helps foster terrorism.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim condemns killing of political activists in Rahimyar Khan
Makhdoom Amin Fahim in a statement said that it is the basic human right of the people to freely express their point of view and hold public gathering for the purpose. It is ironic that the regime which allows the extremist elements to run amok and create law and order situation in the Capital is busy in stifling the political forces. The regime seems to be hell bent to push the moderate and political forces to the wall just to create a bogey to show the West in the shape of extremists so to make the West believe that there is no political alternative in Pakistan. The Chairman ARD asked the regime that is Pakistan a personal fiefdom of a dictator or it is a country envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam for which Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sacrificed his life? He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party under the leadership of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is striving for a just society where every political party would have level playing field. Makhdoom Amin Fahim urged the civil society and the Human Rights Organisations to raise their voice against this state oppression. He also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and to bring to justice all those involved in the brutal murder of political activists in Rahimyar Khan.
Makhdoom Amin Fahim condemns killing of political activists in Rahimyar Khan
Makhdoom Amin Fahim in a statement said that it is the basic human right of the people to freely express their point of view and hold public gathering for the purpose. It is ironic that the regime which allows the extremist elements to run amok and create law and order situation in the Capital is busy in stifling the political forces. The regime seems to be hell bent to push the moderate and political forces to the wall just to create a bogey to show the West in the shape of extremists so to make the West believe that there is no political alternative in Pakistan. The Chairman ARD asked the regime that is Pakistan a personal fiefdom of a dictator or it is a country envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam for which Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto sacrificed his life? He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party under the leadership of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is striving for a just society where every political party would have level playing field. Makhdoom Amin Fahim urged the civil society and the Human Rights Organisations to raise their voice against this state oppression. He also demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident and to bring to justice all those involved in the brutal murder of political activists in Rahimyar Khan.
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns lawlessness by Islamabad seminary incidents
In a statement today she said that the images of burqa-clad and stick wielding women holding policemen hostage, forcing shopkeepers to shut their business and kidnapping a family of three women accusing them of loose morals had done incalculable damage to the image of the country in the comity of nations. She said that the Wednesday incident had given rise to suspicions that under the present regime of the PML (Q) and its allies the country was moving towards Talibanization to seek international community’s support to the military regime. She noted that the incident occurred within days of the letter sent by four US Congressmen asking General Musharraf to hold free and fair elections in which all political parties and leaders were allowed to participate in a level playing field. Many observers have expressed apprehension that the regime encourages talban activities and then flaunts increasing talibanization before the international community to seek its support for the military dictatorship. “This is dangerous brinkmanship which will gravely undermine national security and integrity”. Mohtarma Bhutto said that three dimensions of the incident need to be particularly investigated. One, who is behind the prayer leaders and students of a mosque belonging to the government to take law into their hands with impunity? Two, why no action was taken agasint the seminary when it illegally occupied a government library meant for the children? Three, why no arrests have been made and no action taken so far agasint those who kidnapped police personnel and also three women. Mohtarma Bhutto recalled that during her government the father of the present prayer leader of Lal Masjid late Maulana Abdullah was set right merely by transferring him to a mosque in another sector of the federal capital. She demanded arrest and prosecution of those involved in the incident. “The duality of the regime is exposed by the fact that female political workers are slapped publicly, shoved into police vans and driven to jails without women police escort but seminary students are patronized even as they kidnap women, hold policemen to ransom and move around in the market threatening shopkeepers to close their businesses”. Many observers have noted the strange coincidence between international events and domestic actions which gives the impression, rightly or wrongly, of collaboration. For example shortly after visit of the US vice president Dick Cheney, a leading Taliban figure called Akhund was produced as captured. Now with the letter by four US senators and an imminent visit by a four member US congressional team the two incidents of Tank and Islamabad seminary took place attempting to create a perception that due to the terrorist/Taliban threat the democratisation of Pakistan should be postponed. In fact under the PPP democracy there was no threat of terrorism or Talibanisation of Pakistani society and the country was addressing the root issues of poverty, unemployment, drinking water and basic needs of the people who were advancing forward.
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns lawlessness in Tank
The Principal of a private school and his brother were kidnapped and killed by militants for refusing on Monday the forcible recruitment of school children in the jehadi outfits run by militants. The next day on Tuesday militants attacked the city of Tank with mortars and rockets ransacking government buildings and public and private property. In a statement today Mohtarma Bhutto said that the Tank incident had shown that the regime had miserably failed in establishing the writ of the state in the country and had lost all political and moral right to stay in power. She said that when the peace treaty was signed with the militants in Waziristan on the terms of the extremists many had expressed apprehensions that it amounted to capitulation before militants and an abdication of state responsibility. “The apprehensions expressed then have finally come true as is evident from the fact the militants have spread to the adjoining district of tank”. She also expressed profound grief and shock over the murder of the School Principal and his brother. She said that the Principal had laid down his life fighting extremism and to protect his students from forcible conversion to the creed of extremists and fanatics. She called for recognition of the late Principal with a high civil award and compensation to his bereaved family. She called for a restoration of true democracy through fair elections open to all parties and personalities free of politically motivated litigation to take Pakistan back to representative and accountable government noting that the crisis of lawlessness started with the dismissal of the PPP government and can only end with its restoration.
Islamabad seminary incident deliberate ploy of the regime
“The manner in which the regime buckled under the pressure and allowed the female students of the Lal Masjid seminary in Islamabad to take law into their own hands is most shocking and is condemned. “It is unbelievable that the administration negotiated with the religious hard-liners swap of the police personnel held hostage by the seminary students but abandoned to their fate the three women and a child wrongfully confined by the seminary students. “The Lal Masjid is Auqaf property and its prayer leader is a paid employee of the government. It is incomprehensible that a paid employee of the government should take the law into his own hands and the regime looks the other way. “The regime is seeking to create the impression that Talibanisation has spread to Islamabad with a view to deceiving the international community into believing that the choice in Pakistan is between military dictatorship and religious fanatics. “On the one hand the regime warns the Baloch nationalists to stop demanding their rights otherwise they would not know what hit them from where and has killed nationalist leaders. “On the other hand the female seminary students are allowed to illegally occupy the library, make rounds of the nearby markets threatening video and music shop owners to close their business, hold hostage police personnel and even kidnap women accusing them for not leading a virtuous life. “It is not surprising that the drama was enacted within days of an open letter addressed by four American Congressmen asking General Musharraf to hold fair and free elections and allow all political parties and leaders to participate in it in a level playing field. “This double speak and deliberately creating the misperception that talibanisation has spread to the federal capital so as to lift pressure for holding free and fair elections will only do incalculable harm to the country”
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns kidnapping of Hindu children in Sindh
Three children Oam Parkash (6) in Jacobabad and Pun Kumar (14) and Tun Shaw (4) in Kashmore were kidnapped by outlaws during the past week. Tun Shaw was released but the other two children are still in the custody of kidnappers and the police have not yet been able to recover them. In a statement today former Prime Minister and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that the continued incidents of kidnapping and harassment of Hindus and other minorities in the country particularly in Sindh had sent very wrong signals about Pakistan to the international community. “The regime must put its act together with respect to law and order and particularly with regard to the treatment meted out to the minorities” Meanwhile on the directions of Mohtarma Bhutto the PPP MNA Ramesh Lal visited the aggrieved families to commensurate with them. She also asked the Party leadership and MNA Ramesh Lal to pursue the case with the local administration and ensure that the children were released from captivity. She said that the basic responsibility of the regime was the maintenance of law and order and if the regime failed to provide it to the citizens it had no business to stay in power. Mohtarma Bhutto also asked members of civil society and human rights bodies to raise their voice against growing lawlessness in the country. The PPP Chairperson expressed sympathies with the aggrieved families of the kidnapped children and said that the Party would do everything to ensure that the children were recovered soon and safely and that the perpetrators of the crime were punished under the law.
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns victimization of Ashraf Sohna MPA
Ashraf Sohna was first arrested three weeks ago on fake charges of terrorism. Even when he was granted bail the regime did not allow him to come out of jail. Finally when Ashraf Sohan came out of jail under court order he was re-arrested on the gate under another false charge. The PPP MPA is in jail without court orders only because he is very vocal against dictatorial polices of the military regime. In a statement today Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that the repeated arrests of Ashraf Sohna on false and fictitious charges was stifling the voice of the opposition and a blatant attempt to impose a one Party rule in the country. She asked the regime not to push the opposition parties with their backs to the wall warning that such repressive politics would endanger the unity and integrity of the federation and must be avoided. “Political activists have been subjected to worst kind of oppression and repression in violation of their human rights and any further persecution for satisfying the ego of some one can result in a serious backlash”. The Party demands a judicial inquiry into the way Ashraf Sohna has been maltreated and his human rights violated, she said. The Party also urges the human rights bodies to raise their voice against attempts to impose one Party rule in the country, she said.
PPP says government responsible for missing persons
Addressing public meeting in Rawalpindi on Tuesday General Musharraf distance tried to absolve the government of any responsibility saying that those disappeared had been commandeered by jehadi outfits for waging jehad in different parts of the world. He also claimed to welcome the judiciary taking note of the issue of disappeared persons. “It is unacceptable that a regime that is obsessed to establish its writ against nationalist elements in smaller provinces should abandon its responsibility to trace citizens allegedly kidnapped by jehadi outfits”, said spokesperson of the Party former Senator Farhatullah Babar in a statement today. General Musharraf has been telling to the world that he has banned the jehadi outfits but to the families of the disappeared he says that he cannot recover their near and dear ones because they had joined hands with these very jehadis, he said. “It is this double speak that strengthens the suspicion that Musharraf has been running with the hare and hunting with the hound in the war on terror”. Former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that hundreds of nationalist elements have also disappeared in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, and asked, whether they too had joined the jehadi groups. He said that the state agencies had run amok because there were operating neither under the ambit of law nor under the control of civil and parliamentary authority. He said that when the government took the position before the courts that it had no control over the operations of agencies it was an admission that they were a state within state, he said. He said that if General Musharraf was sincere in welcoming the courts to take up the issue he should not interfere with the Supreme Court in taking up the 1996 case involving the use of public money by the ISI to illegally interfere in national politics. The case if allowed to proceed can result in judicial review of the legal and constitutional framework of the working of the state’s agencies, he said. Under the international law enforced disappearances of citizens is a crime against humanity and individuals involved in it could also be tried at any time in the future, he said, and warned the perpetrators that they can be held accountable for kidnappings anytime in the future.
Mohtarma Bhutto
condemns large scale arrest of Political activists
Islamabad March 26, 2007: Former Prime
Minster and Chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto has condemned the arrest of PPP and ARD workers in the country in
connection with the protest demonstrations against the assault on the
independence of judiciary.
Restore the
judiciary and end militaristic tyranny in
The legal community of Pakistan has rejected a government offer for talks,
while demanding the withdrawal of the reference against Chief Justice
Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the formation of a national government to
hold general elections within three months time. The convention of lawyers,
which was meeting in Peshawer, the capital city of North Western Frontier
Province, has also asked President Gen Pervez Musharraf to step down and
demanded that he be tried for treason under Article 6 of the Constitution.
The legal conference also appealed to all political parties to end their
assemblies and join the lawyers struggle to removal the government. They
have also demanded the immediate release of all missing people who have been
abducted by all military and intelligence agencies, while lodging formal
criminal cases against those responsible for the abductions.
India and Pakistan need peace Benazir Bhutto.
Mohtarma Bhutto leaves for New Delhi for talk on India-Pakistan relations
Mohtarma Bhutto will speak on “Challenges for the Brave New World: Can Indo Pak Relations Be Reinvented”. Former Iranian President Mr. Khatami has also been invited to the Conclave. During her brief stay in London Mohtarma Bhutto met former Prime Minister and PML-N Chief Mian Nawaz Sharif and also participated in a BCC program ‘Question Time’. After delivering her speech at the Conclave Mohtarma Bhutto will leave for Washington. She will return to Dubai early next month for participation in a function on the eve of barsi of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on April 4.
Mohtarma
Bhutto’s message on Pakistan Day
“Today is an auspicious day. Sixty seven years ago, on this day, the Muslims of the subcontinent through a formal resolution expressed their firm resolve to achieve a separate homeland for themselves wherein they could fashion their lives in accordance with their own values, culture, mores and traditions. With the blessings of Allah and through an unprecedented struggle the Muslims of the subcontinent achieved their lofty objectives with a short span of seven years. On this auspicious occasion I wish to greet the entire Pakistani nation. “While celebrating this day we must also pause and reflect where we stand today. How far we have upheld the lofty ideals for which it was resolved on March 23, 1940 to achieve this great homeland of ours? “When our founding fathers resolved to carve out an independent state, they had in mind a state where constitutionalism and rule of law reigned supreme. It is a sad thought that the regime has continuously trampled rule of law and Constitutionalism for the past eight years, the latest manifestation of which is the sacking of the Chief Justice Supreme Court just a few days ago. “On this day let us all resolve that we shall endeavour to uphold the rule of law and Constitution by demanding that the Chief Justice be reinstated. Let us resolve to support the bar in its struggle till the Chief Justice is reinstated. “Let us on this day also resolve to fight the tendency to have one set of laws for one person and one institution and another set of laws for the people. For unless there is rule of law and everyone is equal before law, the future of our great country will be exposed to internal and external threats.”
Bhutto and
Sharif plan return from exile in a pact to topple Musharraf
Thousands of their supporters are expected to take to the streets tomorrow in co-ordinated demonstrations, culminating in a rally in the capital, Islamabad. Miss Bhutto's Pakistan Peoples' Party and Mr Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League will protest against Gen Musharraf's decision to sack the country's chief justice, who had opposed his attempts to cling to power. But last night a close ally of Miss Bhutto, who has twice been prime minister, made clear that the removal of Gen Musharraf, who is also army chief of staff, is the -ultimate goal. Wajid Shams-ul-Hasan, the former Pakistani high commissioner in Britain, said: "The seriousness of the crisis in Pakistan means that we have formulated a joint strategy to neutralise Gen Musharraf and to ensure that the next elections are free and fair. This has become a very explosive situation for Musharraf. He should go and the army should go back to barracks." A spokesman for Mr Sharif said: "We want his resignation and then free and fair elections without Musharraf. With him sitting there, you cannot get free elections." The current crisis arose because Gen Musharraf wants Pakistan's National Assembly to rubber stamp his rule for another five years before it is dissolved for elections, due later this year. The chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, had said the plans were unconstitutional and pressed for Gen Musharraf to surrender his army post as well. Gen Musharraf -suspended him on March 9 claiming the judge had abused his position, provoking the worst crisis since he overthrew Mr Sharif and seized power in a military coup in 1999. The pact between Mr Sharif and Miss Bhutto is significant since, until now, the public protests over the crisis have been led by lawyers rather than politicians. Half a dozen judges, including a high court judge and deputy attorney general, have tendered their resignations and a further 16 are expected to stand down in protest. On Friday, lawyers again took to the streets brandishing banners reading: "It is death for Musharraf". If they return to Pakistan, Miss Bhutto and Mr Sharif face arrest on corruption charges, which they each claim are politically motivated. They are still the de facto leaders of their political parties. After two hours of talks last week, Mr Sharif said: "We have jointly decided to struggle against this military dictatorship and do everything within our means to stop the brutalities Musharraf is committing against institutions in Pakistan." He met Miss Bhutto after rumours that she had been in talks with Gen Musharraf. Mr Hasan, Miss Bhutto's ally, accused Gen Musharraf's supporters of spreading the rumours to divide the opposition. "There are no differences between us," he said. Mr Hasan confirmed that Miss Bhutto was prepared to risk imprisonment to return to Pakistan and run for election, either to the National Assembly or to the Senate. "The time has come for her to go back," he said. "Musharraf may dare to arrest her but we are confident that she will be cleared by the judiciary. Musharraf has no moral authority." The next flashpoint for Gen Musharraf will come when the supreme judicial council considers the fate of the chief justice. Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricketer, who now leads his own Movement For Justice party, said that Gen Musharraf was in a lose-lose situation. "If he gets the decision against Mr Chaudhry, nobody is going to accept it and these protests will increase tenfold. If Mr Chaudhry is reinstated as a chief justice, we now can see that Musharraf won't be able to continue as a president and army chief of staff at the same time." He added: "Once he is out as chief of staff, he will become irrelevant." Legal experts say that revulsion at the treatment of the chief justice has backfired on the president. Syyeda Abida Hussain, a former Pakistan ambassador in Washington, said: "The chief justice of Pakistan suddenly taking a stand against a military dictator has motivated all of us. It is really something from God." Another lawyer claimed: "It seems like a beginning of the end for Musharraf." Gen Musharraf's position has been further imperilled by an apparent change of heart in the US, where diplomats and intelligence officials are disenchanted with the president's failure to combat fully fundamentalist Muslim terrorists operating in the tribal areas in the north-west of the country who have repeatedly crossed into Afghanistan to attack British and American forces. A CIA report leaked to the New York Times a week ago revealed that the Bush administration would be content to see Gen Musharraf replaced by his army deputy, Ahsan Saleem Hyat, and the former banker Mohammedmian Soomro installed as president. It concluded that a takeover of Pakistan by extremists Islamic mullahs - the doomsday scenario long feared by Washington - was no longer the most likely outcome of his removal from power. A British diplomatic source stressed that while Britain is happy to do business with Gen Musharraf as long as he continues counter-terrorist co-operation, the loyalty of the British government is to Pakistan's "institutions rather than individuals". Miss Bhutto called on the international community to force Gen Musharraf's hand. "If democracy must be defended in Afghanistan, then democracy in Pakistan must be defended, too," she said. "It is important for the international community to stop turning a blind eye."
Musharraf at
the Exit
Since March 9, when Musharraf suspended the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, public protests have escalated every day -- as has a violent crackdown by the police and intelligence agencies on the media and the nation's legal fraternity. The legal convolutions about Chaudhry's dismissal boil down to one simple fact: He was not considered sufficiently reliable to deliver pleasing legal judgments in a year when Musharraf is seeking to extend his presidency by five more years, remain as army chief and hold what would undoubtedly be rigged general elections. Musharraf's desire to replace Chaudhry with a more pliable judge has badly backfired. After just 10 days of protests, lawyers around the country have made it clear to the senior judiciary that they will not tolerate further legal validations for continued military rule or tolerate Musharraf remaining as president. At least seven judges and a deputy attorney general have resigned in protest. Across the country, in law offices, in the media, among the opposition parties and other organized sections of civil society, the feeling is growing that Musharraf will have to quit sooner rather than later. After eight years of military rule it appears people have had enough. Moreover, Musharraf is losing control of three key elements that have sustained his rule but are now either distancing themselves or turning on him completely. The first is the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Party, which has acted as the civilian appendage to the military but faces an election and knows that going to bat for the unpopular Musharraf will turn off voters. Party leaders and cabinet ministers are already distancing themselves from him. The second element is the country's three intelligence agencies, which are at loggerheads over control of Musharraf, Pakistan's foreign policy, its political process and the media. Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence are military agencies, while the largest civilian agency, the Intelligence Bureau, is now run by a military officer. Ironically, Inter-Services Intelligence, the most powerful agency in the country, has been the moderate element urging Musharraf to open up the political system to the opposition parties. The other two agencies are the hard-liners and are urging Musharraf to adopt even tougher measures. The third loss for Musharraf has been the unqualified international support he has received since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Anger in the U.S. Congress and media, and particularly among members of the Republican Party, toward Musharraf's dual-track policy in Afghanistan -- helping to catch al-Qaeda members but backing the Taliban -- is making it difficult for President Bush to continue offering Musharraf his blanket support. That was the tough-love message that Vice President Cheney delivered to Musharraf in Islamabad last month: Unless Musharraf goes after the Taliban, the Bush administration can no longer protect him. Any loss of Western support will be critical to the army, which is on an arms-buying spree and depends on annual U.S. military aid of about $300 million. Musharraf has balanced the pro- and anti-American factions in the army's officer corps, but if both sides see him as a lame duck, unable to deliver the goods or stabilize the country, their support will dwindle. Musharraf is now too weak to pursue policies that could keep his back-stabbers in check, restore his credibility at home and abroad, and pursue his agenda of remaining in power for the next five years. It is far better that he revert to the promise he made when he seized power in 1999: to return the country to democracy. His best course of action would be to say he is not a candidate for president, hold free and fair elections, allow the return of exiled politicians, restore full political rights and gracefully depart with his legacy, which is considerable, intact. It is in the interest of the United States to support such an exit strategy. The military can no longer counter the phenomenal growth of Islamic extremism in Pakistan through offensives alone. What the country needs is greater political consensus and a popularly elected government, and to replace the extortions of the mullahs with the return of day-to-day parliamentary politics. The army created a political vacuum in which extremism has thrived. Pakistan needs a return to civil society and government.
Musharraf in
"deep trouble", Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
Musharraf gropes for way out of Pakistan’s crisis
A ham-fisted attempt to sack Pakistan’s top judge, and the use of excessive force to cow the media and counter protests has created the greatest challenge to Musharraf’s authority over Pakistan since he seized power in a coup seven-and-a-half years ago. Things got so bad over the weekend that Musharraf said there was a conspiracy to turn people against him, and the United States, worried by instability in an allied country next door to Afghanistan and Iran, called for cool heads to prevail. By Sunday, Islamabad’s rumour mill went into overdrive with talk that the constitution had been suspended, the National and provincial assemblies dissolved and martial law declared. It was just rumour, but analysts say it could yet happen. “Musharraf is capable of declaring martial law, and he’s capable of making a political retreat and calling it a victory,” said Najam Sethi, editor of the Daily Times newspaper. Having been run by generals for more than half the 60 years since their country was carved out of India as a homeland for South Asia’s Muslims, Pakistanis are used to seeing leaders resort to desperate measures. Vague allegations The latest crisis began on March 9 with the suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary on vague allegations of misconduct, setting off protests by lawyers and opposition politicians. Analysts suspect the motive for axing Chaudhary was fear that he would block any attempt by Musharraf to hold onto his role as army chief, which he is obliged to relinquish this year. Television images of police thrashing lawyers in Lahore, and ransacking the offices of a news channel during a demonstration in Islamabad on Friday, stoked public outrage with Musharraf. “Who is hatching this conspiracy, so that everything is put on me?” the beleaguered president complained the next day. Musharraf would lose what public trust he still commands if he put the army on the streets, analysts said. A better option would be to buy time and patch up with self-exiled former premier Benazir Bhutto, they say. Whatever General Musharraf does his position is critically weakened in a year when he is due to seek re-election. “It is a complete no-win situation for him,” said Sethi. “The options for him are very clear—more democracy or greater repression.” Bhutto alliance? More democracy means relinquishing his role as army chief, and possibly forging alliances with progressive politicians, such as the self-exiled, two-time prime minister Bhutto. Greater repression means ducking a commitment to hold free and fair national and provincial assembly elections due this year or early next. A senior official told journalists in an off-the-record briefing on Sunday the elections would take place. Like Musharraf, Bhutto sees religious extremism as the greatest threat to Pakistan, but she will be in no hurry to ally herself with a president accused of flouting the constitution and belittling the office of chief justice. “Musharraf is becoming a lame duck as far as the political process is concerned,” said Ahmed Rashid, an internationally respected Pakistani journalist. “The system is paralyzed with him there.” A sense of foreboding stems from a belief that Musharraf is being ill-advised by non-elected hardliners, including army officers, with scant regard for the country’s institutions. Even if the Supreme Judicial Council hearing accusations against Chaudhary were to recommend his reinstatement, it is hard to see how Musharraf could work with a chief justice who has been lionized for defying him. Civilian politicians in the ruling coalition have distanced themselves from the controversy, and any judge who supports Chaudhary’s removal now risks being regarded as a stooge. Strain within Pakistan’s hybrid military-civilian establishment is showing, as anger turns inwards over the handling of the crisis. “Some heads may roll,” the senior official said.
PPP to attend
meetings called by ARD
A spokesperson of the Party said this today commenting on press reports that PPP had not attended a meeting of an APC. He said that the PPP wished to make a distinction between those in government and those not as well as those who are moderates. “The PPP would be attending meetings from platform of ARD and PPP to keep the moderates option alive in the country”. PPP would continue working with PML N through the platform of ARD, he said. The spokesperson said that the Party lawyers wing had given unprecedented sacrifices in the present struggle. The pro PPP president of Islamabad Bar Association was injured and in a critical state in hospital whereas pro PPP lawyers including Senator Khosa who had been the first to suffer head injuries. The PPP Chairperson was proud of the heroic struggle by the PLF and the PPP in the movement to protect the independence of the judiciary by reinstating the Chief Justice of Pakistan, he said. He said that the PPP was a national Party with strength through the length and breadth of Pakistan. PPP, in coordination with Bar Associations and other democratic forces, has provided mass support to the lawyers movement. As the political protests in Islamabad showed on March 16, the largest political contribution was by the PPP that crossed all barricades to reach the Supreme Court. The PPP will continue to play its role in the movement for judicial freedom, he said.
Mohtarma Bhutto felicitates Zoarastarians on Nauroz
Nauroz, marking the advent of spring, is celebrated with fervour in Pakistan by Zoarastarians as well as those of Iranian and Afghan descent. In a message of felicitations she urged the people that while celebrating Nauroz they should also remember their less fortunate brethren and share with others the joys and festivities. A true joy is the one that is also shared with all, she said. She also prayed that the jovial spirit of Nauroz may last for the whole year.
Uncle Sam Says Cool It B. Raman
According to reliable sources close Pakistan People's Party of Benazir
Bhutto, the US is concerned that serious political instability in Pakistan
at this stage might play into the hands of the Neo Taliban at a time when it
is threatening to step up its attacks against the NATO forces in
Afghanistan.
Pakistan is
crucial to the world’s stability
Restore the
judiciary and end militaristic tyranny in Pakistan
Bhutto says resignation of Judges an indication of judicial crisis
In a statement, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that the members of the bench could not be expected to be unaffected by the broad based sentiments of the lawyers community whose protests had paralysed the functioning of the courts for the last two weeks. The inability of the courts to function was having a detrimental affect on the Nation’s standing within the world community as well as adversely affecting those in need of justice. Mohtarma Bhutto called upon the military regime to take steps to immediately defuse the crisis by withdrawing the charges against the Chief Justice of Pakistan, reinstating the Chief Justice and then requesting the all the judges who had resigned to withdraw their resignations. Former Prime Minister said that PPP was committed to the independence of the judiciary and had separated the judiciary from the executive during its tenure in office. Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto assured the bar associations and lawyers’ community that the PPP would render the lawyers all political and moral support in their struggle to uphold the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. It may be noted that PPP is the only govt in recent times, which has not attempted to weaken the judiciary by removing a chief justice.
Bhutto and Musharraf should think long and hard
 March
19, 2007: The PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto said in New York
yesterday that the Taliban must be defeated in Pakistan this year, otherwise
the country risked falling under the sway of extremists as much as
Afghanistan did before 9/11. Her next observation was equally telling: “The
Taliban have actually established a mini-state in the tribal areas of
Pakistan. My fear is that if these forces are not stopped in 2007, they are
going to try to take on the state of Pakistan itself”. Ms Bhutto could have taken the easy course of simply denouncing President General Pervez Musharraf to an American audience that is increasingly becoming keen to hear such words, but she did not. She focused instead on the real threat that General Musharraf has failed to confront adequately. She has thus indicated that she grasps the big picture and is not seduced by the foreshortened current perspective. The PMLN and other opposition leaders have protested at Ms Bhutto’s refusal so far to fully join the opposition parties to exploit the widespread popular anger against the treatment meted out to the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhry, by General Musharraf. That would have been easy to do. But we should know that neither the MMA nor leaders like Imran Khan think that the Taliban are any threat to us. Equally, the PMLN is too joined at the hip with the religious groups and parties to realise the nature of the ungovernable hiatus in the event of a sudden and unplanned departure by General Musharraf. An upheaval led by the clergy at this point would not lead to peace and normality. An all parties’ struggle for “restoration of democracy” could be recommended unequivocally if all the participants, especially the MMA, Imran Khan and the PMLN, were agreed on the precise situation obtaining in the country as well as on what they wish to do with his policies of peace with India, business with America, moderation in life, women’s emancipation, etc., after they have removed General Musharraf from the scene. Thus it is disquieting that the PMLN has not thought it necessary to discuss the post-agitation scene with the MMA in the light of the MMA’s manifesto. One reason could be the PMLN’s uncertain attitude towards the kind of order it would like to prevail. It may be recalled that before General Musharraf overthrew the PMLN government, Mr Nawaz Sharif seemed bent upon establishing shariah and becoming Amir ul Momineen, standing above the parliament and lording it over everyone and everything, including the judiciary. The MMA now stands for restoring the constitution to the state before the MMA agreed with President Musharraf to pass the 17th amendment. It wants to revert to the separate electorate system and it wishes to abolish the special women’s seats in parliament. But, as is well known, joint electorates are in the manifesto of the PPP which also remains in favour of women’s special representation. Indeed, the PPP has defended the reform of the Hudood Laws in the country and would not like to undo them. There are cogent reasons for the PPP to chart its course carefully and deliberately before deciding to become a part of any mass agitation against the current dispensation. Ms Bhutto should know that Pakistan will be impossible to rule if the politicians fail to agree that the country is under threat from extremism and that they must carefully examine the mistakes made by General Musharraf and try to rectify them instead of simply doing the opposite of what he has been doing. Note: the MMA says there is no extremism in Pakistan, there are no Taliban in Pakistan and that Taliban governance of the 1990s should be replicated in Pakistan. The agitation now going on in Pakistan is led by lawyers across the political divide. That is why they are reluctant to allow the political parties to “usurp” their struggle to defend the institution of the supreme court exemplified in the unlikely candidate of Iftikhar Chaudhry. But, at the end of the day, their political affiliations are bound to surface and colour the direction of any mass movement. The problem is that all mass agitations give rise to radicalism, which is not very different from extremism. Would that suit the PPP? Yet it is the PPP which has the largest vote bank in the country. It is also the party with a significant presence in Punjab and Sindh. With the PML in the hands of General Musharraf, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman ready to negotiate with the government at all times, no mass agitation will succeed in the real sense unless the PPP leads it or is a dynamic part of it. This much has been accepted as a fact also by Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the president of the MMA. But it then stands to reason that if all the opposition parties are agreed about the role and position of the PPP, then they should listen to the opinion of Ms Bhutto and not force her to join the agitation without regard to the kind of situation it might bring about. On the other side, it is clear that after the recent fiasco, General Musharraf’s key PML ally is discredited and cannot hope to win the next general elections fairly. Nor can the judiciary be counted upon to stand with the PML and risk being tarred with the same brush. In other words, General Musharraf cannot blithely bend the constitution and civil society to his tune, rig the elections and expect to be both army chief and president for another five years. So he will have to either democratise and share power with the PPP or become more repressive. The current mid-way house of guided democracy without the mainstream PPP in tow and the MMA up in arms is coming to an end. Under the circumstances, General Musharraf, no less than Ms Bhutto, would do well to think long and hard too about which way to go. He must not succumb to the hardliners and impose an emergency or martial law. She must not let the MMA hijack the protests.
Bhutto warns of Taliban threat to Pakistan
 NEW
YORK March 19, 2007: The Taliban must be defeated in Pakistan
this year, otherwise the country risks falling under the sway of extremists
as much as Afghanistan did before September 11, 2001, said former prime
minister Benazir Bhutto on Friday. Bhutto, who hopes to return from exile and run for prime minister again in elections this year, also warned that the judicial crisis in Pakistan could spin out of control, and underscored the importance of restoring civilian rule. “They (the Taliban) have actually established a mini-state in the tribal areas of Pakistan. My fear is that if these forces are not stopped in 2007, they are going to try to take on the state of Pakistan itself,” Bhutto told Reuters in an interview. “In my view, it is a genuine threat,” she said. Other commentators have warned of the dangers to Pakistan of a resurgent Taliban. Bhutto said the Taliban comeback was particularly dire because President Pervez Musharraf was unable to suppress elements of the Pakistani security forces that remained sympathetic to the Taliban. She said that Musharraf had also been exploiting the presence of the extreme Islamist movement as a rationale for maintaining his military rule beyond general elections due before the end of 2007. “General Musharraf does say that he wants to go after terrorists, that he wants to go after the forces that support the Taliban, but he’s unable to do it,” Bhutto said from her apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where she lives with her ailing husband when she’s not working for her return to Pakistani politics from Dubai. “The people in the areas must see that it is in their benefit to kick out the extremist forces,” said Bhutto. To that end, she proposed a renewed commitment to health, education and infrastructure in the tribal areas. She said that in the absence of government welfare, Islamist religious schools had stepped in, winning over the poor population. Bhutto (53) became the first female prime minister in the Muslim world when she was elected in 1988 at the age of 35. She was deposed in 1990, re-elected in 1993, and ousted again in 1996. Bhutto plans to return for the elections with her secular Pakistan Peoples Party, but there are questions about under which conditions. Through third parties, she is negotiating her return with Musharraf, who has passed a law banning her from seeking a third term. She also faces allegations of graft, which she says were fabricated. Her immediate concern was the crisis created by the suspension of the country’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary. “The judicial crisis highlights that if you don’t bring about a peaceful political transfer, events could get out of control because there is a lot of frustration. The judicial crisis has touched a raw nerve, which has shown how deep-seated the frustration within Pakistan is,” said Bhutto.
Musharraf Loses Credibility with America Also
|
Washington,
Mar 19 2007: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir
Bhutto has said that President General Pervez Musharraf is in "deep
trouble". Mohtarma Benazir said the people of Pakistan were angry over the
manner in which the regime had treated the Chief Justice of Pakistan,
Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.