By Wajid Ali Syed
Salmaan Taseer is dead. He’s neither the first politician, first liberal, the first outspoken bullish pugnacious politician who was killed. Nor is he last. There were many, there will be more. He was the sitting governor of Pakistan’s biggest province and was assassinated by his own bodyguard.
Does Pakistan suffer today because of his death? Yes. Does it change anything on the ground? No.
He was slain because he called the notorious blasphemy law as black law. (more…)
By Bilal Qureshi
It is not easy to write about Pakistan because there is never anything good, positive or even encouraging to discuss. It is always a bomb attack, and now Bombay style shoot out in Lahore, or a terrorist or terrorists trying to blow up something in the world connected to a training camp in Pakistan.
Then, there are protests in the country against power shortage, (more…)
By Dr Manzur Ejaz
Pakistan has done it once again. From Morocco to Indonesia, nowhere did the public come out against the abominable act of depicting cartoons of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) except in Pakistan. Other than Pakistan, no other government, including theocracies in Saudi Arabia and Iran, keen on condemning the US in any way, have hurriedly shut down Facebook, YouTube or Twitter and several hundred sites on the pretext of the repulsive cartoons. Both Pakistan’s government and demonstrators have agendas other than reacting to these said cartoons.
The question was raised in my column a week back why most (more…)
By George Bruno/ Star-Ledger Guest Columnist
As the NATO military offensive against the revitalized Taliban progresses in Afghanistan, the political situation in neighboring Pakistan remains tense in a way that can directly impact U.S. military and political objectives in the region.
I have long believed that the pacification of the extremist threat in South Asia and around the world can only be accomplished in an environment of democracy and the rule of law. Any assault on these values fuels the fires of fanaticism.
As one who has devoted my life to the international human rights agenda and democratization of former autocratic nations, I am growing increasingly concerned that the historic progress that was made in Pakistan in 2008, reversing a decade of military dictatorship, is now threatened by an unexpected source — the politicization of the Pakistani judiciary and the stark political ambitions of a formerly respected chief justice.
In two Supreme Court decisions, the chief justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, has unveiled an agenda that is antithetical to democracy and seems fueled by self-aggrandizement and political opportunism. Most recently, (more…)
By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey
When U.S. President Barack Obama sharply challenged a recent Supreme Court decision in his State of the Union address, prompting a soto voce rejoinder from Justice Samuel Alito, nobody was concerned that the contretemps would spark a blood feud between the judiciary and the executive. The notion that judges could or would work to undermine a sitting U.S. president is fundamentally alien to America’s constitutional system and political culture. Unfortunately, this is not the case in Pakistan.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, the country’s erstwhile hero, is the leading culprit in an unfolding constitutional drama. It was Mr. Chaudhry’s dismissal by then-President Pervez Musharraf in 2007 that triggered street protests by lawyers and judges under the twin banners of democracy and judicial independence. This effort eventually led to Mr. Musharraf’s resignation in 2008. Yet it is now Mr. Chaudhry himself who is violating those principles, having evidently embarked on a campaign to undermine and perhaps even oust President Asif Ali Zardari. (more…)
By Raza Rumi
Many decades ago, our Governor General-President Iskander Mirza had rather contemptuously stated that democracy does not suit the genius of Pakistani people. Immediately after these words of wisdom were uttered, direct military rule not only exiled Mirza but also became a norm rather than aberration. For the last six decades or so we have not been able to overcome this political reality. The unelected institutions of the state are not willing to give up the power they inherited from the might of the colonial state. At best, they are willing to share power to a degree that they deem fit.
It is now clear that within a few months Pakistan is due for another political upheaval. Barely two years after an election took place, the political elites are back in business (more…)
The People, Not the Supreme Court Should Be Vigilant Defending Rights
by Muhammad Hamza
Why is it that whenever a democratically elected government comes to power the political and social temperature rise so steeply? It seems that the entire landscape lurches into chaos and the situation on the ground is a mess. Anarchy in all walks of life is evident. By contrast, under a dictatorship everything was calm and cool. The problems were under control and any situation could be tackled if not solved completely.
There must be a reason for this dramatic dichotomy in perception. One reason has sadly been played out repeatedly in Pakistan. As soon a political government takes power in the country, the intelligence agencies and some sections of the establishment start their maneuvering to destabilize government. (more…)
By C. Raja Mohan
Whether he quits or not, President Asif Ali Zardari has been so severely weakened that he no longer poses a threat to Pakistan’s permanent establishment. In fact the Army Chief Ashfaq Kayani might prefer holding a de-fanged Zardari prisoner in Islamabad’s presidential palace and run the country with the pliable Yousuf Raza Gilani as the Prime Minister.
Barely two years ago a discredited Army leadership under Gen. Pervez Musharraf was forced to compromise with the civilian political leaders. Now the Army is back as the arbiter of the nation’s domestic politics amidst a civilian disarray.
Kayani may in fact be better placed than his predecessor Musharraf, who had all the disadvantages of being legally responsible for running the country. Kayani, in contrast, has all the effective power in without being accountable to any one.
By Bilal Qureshi
Here is a brilliant idea for Pakistan’s Chief Justice, who is crazy about Suo Moto Action – initiate Suo Moto action against the perpetrators of orchestrating an attack on Pakistan’s Supreme Court at a time when Nawaz Sharif was about to be disqualified for public office. And, fortunately, Chaudhry Iftikhar has plenty of people who are willing to volunteer to assist him. After all, Iftikhar Chaudhry is (supposedly) fighting for free and independent judiciary. Right?
If the issue of NRO, which is insignificant given Pakistan’s other challenges, can be tried and decided rather quickly, why can’t the issue of attacking the most respectable institution in Pakistan, that is the attack on the Supreme Court be examined? Isn’t it time that Chief Justice (R) Sajad Ali Shah get justice? Otherwise, people would argue that people from smaller provinces, especially from Sindh are being targeted.
The Guardian Editorial
There was jubilation among Pakistan‘s lawyers about the decision by the country’s supreme court to strike down an amnesty which allowed the late Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari to return from exile. Lawyers called the decision a landmark judgment. One former president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, Anwar Kamal, said that the supreme court had closed the door on corruption in the country for all time to come. We shall see, but on one thing we should be clear. This was not purely a judicial act. The judgment reeked of politics, designed to unseat an unpopular president halfway through his term.
Any independent court worth its name would have struck down the national reconciliation ordinance (NRO), the selective amnesty that the former president Pervez Musharraf concocted in 2007 as part of a power-sharing deal with Ms Bhutto brokered by the US and Britain. But the supreme court went far beyond this. By turning the clock back to the date when the ordinance was issued, the court ordered that all cases and investigations frozen by the amnesty be revived.
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