What goes around, comes around

Almost nine years back, Musharraf had ousted all major politicians from the country charging them to cause corruption and mayham in the country. Nine years later, the same set of politicians have returned, and ousted him from power.

General Musharraf's caused his own downfall by creating an environment of distrust, violence and chaos. Ever since December 2006, and a peaceful protest against "Missing people" in Islamabad, his power has been waning and his popularity dropping. Musharraf's legacy would be as the president who:

• Illegal Abduction: Caused the illegal abduction of Pakistani citizens without any charge against them.
• Illegal Arrests and Extradition: Handing over hundreds of Pakistanis without trial to foreign powers in the name of "war against terror" without bringing any charges against them.
• Illegal NRO: Creating an illegal NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) which takes back all cases against the political parties for their wrong doing. In essence sending a message that one can do as many wrongs as they want, they will be forgiven.
• Talibanism in Pakistan: There is more Talibanism in the country since his war on them began. All his policies have failed miserably to curb violence, terrorism and talibanism. It will probably take decades for the impact of his failed policies to be eliminated.
• National Accountablity Bureau: A government instrument created to catch the culprits. So far, it has played a dubious role of going after Musharraf's enemies. NAB has also not really taken strict action against any army general who has been involved in corruption. Hence, a political institute for political parties to use to harrass their enemies.
  

The current crop of politicians will have to continue to deliver on the will of the people. The judges have to be restored and the economy has to be stablized and strenghthened. Otherwise, PPP and PML (N) will also be ousted from power.

Long March, Restoration of Judiciary and PPP

So it is official. Aitzaz Ahsan, an old time PPP stalwart led long march will be culminating in Islamabad on Friday in support of restoration or judges. It seems, PML (N) faction will also support them along with other smaller political forces.

Yet, what is amazing is that PPP, the democratically elected party, keeping its distance from the long march and in fact has put up all sorts of barricades and police checkposts to keep the protestors from reaching them. The security cordon is not much dissimilar to what Musharaf used to put up against the protestors not long ago.

In this scenario to expect anything good to come out is pretty remote. It is quite evident that PPP will probably restore the judges, but will also not remove the current ones, thus increasing the bench from 16 to 29. Already, they have presented this bill in the parliament for the increase in supreme court judges.

If such a thing happens, it is a sure sign that PPP has made a backdoor deal with the President where he keeps his judges while the old ones are also restored. Hence, ensuring that the judges will never have the majority to remove him or any of his cronies.

source Allvoices.com

Benazir Bhutto - A Tragic Day

Many Pakistanis did not agree with her political agendas, her views and may not necessarily have voted for her in the upcoming elections, but the majority feels the sorrow and share in the grief with her family on this tragic day. She was a mother to her kids, a wife to her husband and former Prime Minister of the people of Pakistan. Her legacy will live for a long time in the country of her birth.

Today, is truly a sad day in the history of Pakistan. The whole nation is in a state of shock and in mourning one of her own. People are huddling in front of television screens, FM radios, and glued to the Internet in hope of trying to figure out and piece together what has happened today in Rawalpindi. A single suicide attack has changed the way politics and quite possibly the political future of the country.

It remains to be seen if Pakistan can recover amicably from the current crisis and move on. This young nation has seen many devastations and horrible political instabilities in the past sixty years. Will this be the defining moment for the citizens or will it further create chaos and tragedy? As Pakistanis, we can only hope and plead for peace and calmness. It is time for the nation to come together and find a meaning out of this tragic moment.

Jeo Pakistan, Jeenay Doe Pakistan ko! (Live Pakistan, Let live Pakistan)

For more information:
http://www.allvoices.com/benazir-bhutto-is-dead
http://www.allvoices.com/people/Benazir-Bhutto

An open letter to Benazir Bhutto from Ghazallah Minallah

Ms BHUTTO, A FREE JUDICIARY BUT DETAINED JUDGES???


Dear Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,

I was absolutely shocked and amazed at your latest statement regarding the judiciary. How could you, of all people, say that you believed in an independent judiciary BUT that personalities did not matter? If personalities did not matter then why was Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry removed? Why were some judges locked up whereas others were not? If personalities did not matter then why is Musharraf waging a personal war against the CJ? You do not have to be a genius to figure out the reason. How can you separate the personalities from the institution? What you have on Constitution Avenue right now is a besieged and helpless building. The unfortunate but harsh truth is that right now we are a besieged nation as well.

Ms. Bhutto, I am writing to you because your statement has shocked and disturbed me to the extent that I feel I have no option but to reach out to you in this manner. I would like to remind you, since you seem to have forgotten, that you too were the victim of a corrupt judiciary. If Justice Iftikhar had been the CJ of the Supreme Court at that time then perhaps your father would never have been hanged. Had the entire bench been like the present one then there would have been a unanimous judgment. But the judgment was not unanimous - it was a 4 to 3 split – just one judge too many on the wrong side. One more upright personality on the right side and our history would have been different. So yes, personalities certainly do matter.

Ms. Bhutto, I am writing to you in desperation because I am the daughter of Late Justice Safdar Shah, who was one of the three dissenting judges. When Mr., Bhutto was the Prime Minister my father was CJ of the Peshawar High Court. Both these headstrong personalities did not get on with each other, and because of Safdar Shah’s constant criticism and disagreement regarding the reforms and policies being introduced by the PM, the latter had him prematurely retired by introducing the 5th Amendment. After the coup, when Gen. Zia took over, and Mr. Bhutto was charged and convicted of Conspiracy to murder by the Lahore High Court, he appealed to the Supreme Court. Gen. Zia wanted Mr. Bhutto dead and he did his best to manipulate the bench. It soon became obvious as to WHY Safdar Shah had recently been appointed as judge of the Supreme Court . Having the typical mind-set of a dictator, Zia was sure that he would be vindictive and take revenge. But, he was wrong and the rest is history. WHY? Because three of the judges had the courage to say NO, and did not give in to the threats and pressure exerted on them. So yes Ms Bhutto, personalities do matter. Had Justice (retd) Wajiuddin’s father , the late Hon.Waheeduddin not been prematurely retired on extremely dubious medical grounds , history could have been different, No one can dispute the fact that the judgment was wrong since Justice (retd) Nasim Hassan Shah confessed on a talk show on TV a few years ago that the judges were threatened and pressurized into giving that judgment. Yes Ms. Bhutto, they were, and I am a witness to that fact.

Ms. Bhutto, our paths crossed briefly and both of us were victims of a corrupt judiciary which colluded with a Military Dictator. But I am not writing this letter to lament about our plight, since nothing we went through can possibly compare to the torture and torment you and your family went through .Have you forgotten the times when you visited your father in prison? Have you forgotten the humiliating tactics those heartless tyrants subjected you and your family to? Have you forgotten the last time you went to visit him in prison and were not able to hug him? Whenever I think about that grave injustice, which was nothing but a judicial murder, my heart goes out to you and what you suffered then and have suffered since. That is precisely why I am at my wits end and cannot understand WHY you cannot value the importance of independent judges.

Ms.Bhutto, do you think you are invincible? Are you so blinded that you cannot or will not acknowledge the truth? Does it never occur to you that some day you might have to face those judges in the present Supreme Court.? Well let me please spell it out. With independent judges you get a verdict you deserve, whereas with the present kind of farce you get a judgment dictated by the intelligence agencies or the dictator himself. Do you honestly not know or are you honestly not aware of the grave injustice going on? Does it not send a chill up your spine that if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court can be tossed around by Musharraf it could very well be you as well ?For God’s sake Ms. Bhutto , WAKE UP .You owe it to your father as well as to the nation to defend the judiciary and fight for its independence.

My father continued to be persecuted even after the judgment and we were forced to leave the country. But I will never forgive or forget those responsible for the torment my father went through during his last years. He died an unhappy man and was never able to get over the fact that he was not able to prevent the cold-blooded murder of an innocent man. And that innocent person was your father for God’s sake! I have vowed that I will continue to fight for the independence of the judiciary come what may! I was confident and certain that once you were back you would definitely take up this battle and lead the nation towards sanity.

Ms. Bhutto, is it not obvious to you WHY Musharraf wants Justice Iftikhar out of the way? Ask the families of the ‘missing persons’, who for the first time were being heard and for the first time they could see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Everyone knows who is responsible but no one before this CJ had the courage to take up the matter. Ask the countless downtrodden people who had discovered that they could have direct access to the CJ through Suo Moto notices. Ask 2 and 3 yr old Aneela and Tasleem from Naudero Feroze in Sindh , ask 4 yr old Shaneela or 6yr old Munni or 8 yr old Marina from Mardan what this Chief Justice has done for them. These innocent little girls were the victims of jirga decisions according to which they were to be handed over to the enemy as a symbol of truce .It was Justice Iftikhar who took serious notice of this barbaric custom and passed strict orders to the local authorities to prevent this atrocity from carrying on. It was during the tenure of this CJ that serious environmental disasters were averted .Who took notice of the New Muree Project? Who took action in the Dungi ground case? Who prevented Shah Sharabeel from converting a public park in sector F-7 Islamabad into a multi-million commercial project? Ask the poor people living in the adjacent Christian colony what that decision meant to them. Sharabeel has taken up arms against the CJ since this decision because for that class of people the slum dwellers are a low life who do not deserve any special attention. I can go on and on about the cases in which the SILENT CRIES OF THE DOWNTRODDEN of our society were being heard by a sympathetic judge for the first time. Ms. Bhutto, these are the Suo Moto notices which Musharraf said were a waste of time in his speech justifying the emergency.

If personalities did not matter then why is Musharraf so threatened by this man? On any and every occasion he gets he attacks and tries to malign the CJ with a vengeance. His abnormal hatred for the man has exposed the truth. He knows very well that this man was the biggest hurdle in his plans to destroy what is left of our country. The coup was against the judiciary, the ‘emergency’ was created to sack the CJ and the other conscientious judges. Musharraf needs to be told that we are not a nation of imbeciles and that everyone is aware of the truth and the depth of the situation. We all know that the ‘crisis ‘ in Swat or the threat of terrorism had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the sacking of the CJ and the locking up of him and the other judges.

Once again Ms Bhutto, I beg you to think very carefully about where you are heading. I beg you not to betray your father or the nation. I beg you not to fall into Musharraf’s trap and to boycott the elections. The rigging has already taken place, so why are you allowing yourself to become a party to this farce? I beg you to realize that you are the one holding the trump card right now. If you boycott the election, THEY lose face. But if YOU participate, you not only lose face, you lose the confidence and the faith the people of Pakistan have in you. Last but not least, you owe it to Bilawal, Bakhtawar, Aseefa and all future generations of our beloved country.

Yours sincerely,


Ghazala Minallah

D/O Late Justice Safdar Shah

Persuade PPP & PML to boycott Elections

Dear All,

Our campaign to contact the leaders of PPP and PML-N has been a great success. We would like to continue with your enthusiasm and continue to contact the leaders of PPP and PML-N telling them to boycott these elections without the restoration of the judiciary to pre-Nov 3 position. APDM is meeting in a few hours and we would like you to continue calling, smsing and emailing them. SMS are VERY effective in particular. Please contact these people ASAP so they know that you are not going to support elections unless the judiciary is restored.

This call is being made on Honorable Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar who has urged the whole nation to boycott these elections (for details read:
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/11/ousted-pakistan-cj-calls-for-election.php )

PML-N

Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq
051-2823475

Makhdoom Javed Hashmi
0300-9630740
92-61511553

Muhammad Ali Khan Hoti
0937-862049 (off)
0937-863159 (R)

Mr. Saranjam Zamindar
0300-9591094
091-824444-824222
051-2280033
0303-6902811
0931-66666-63333
0931-64444

Begum Tehmina
042-5725894-5721780
03008465139
0693-648000

Syed Zafar Ali Shah
0333-5202949
051-2872299
0320-4502949

Ahsan Iqbal
051-2213017
0300-5012345
051-4860059
051-4860058 (fax)

Muhammad Pervez Malik
0300-8440280
9221577 (lodges)
9207477 (279)
042-5878201
042-5878202
042-5710332 (o)
042-5710333 (o)

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra
091-262675-263336
0300-9590653
0300-8595225
091-2651234

Ch. Mohammad Jafar Iqbal
051-2856501 R
051-2651000 (O)
0300-8678844

Khawaja Muhammad Asif
051-2262478
042-5720478
0432-261478-262478
0300-8440640

Sardar Rahim
0333-2200696
021-5896589
021-5380212

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
051-2823035
0300-9501569

Raja Ashfaq Sarwar
051-2296982
0300-8501313

Khurram Dastgir Khan
055-257935
055-3845465
0300-8643864
0300-6402926

Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan
051-2872046
0992-382323
0300-8505510
0300-5006061
0593-558222

Ch. Nisar Ali Khan
051-4413535
051-5794229

Ghulam Dastgir Khan
051-2250020-1
0300/8641479
0431-710721

Ch. Abdul Ghafoor
042-5883179-5855740
051-111888333

Begum Najma Hameed
051-4411995
0300-5117531

Safdar Rehman
051-9208555
041-545888
03008662444

Sartaj Aziz
051-2281593

Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa
042-5730988
0641-462000-465000
0300-8451217

Khawaja Saad Rafique
042-6653286-6653386
0300/9455669

Syed Ghous Ali Shah
021-5841606-5855591

Pir Sabir Shah
091-814446
0995-661250
0300-8594557

Iqbal Zafar Jhagra
091-262675-263336
0300-9590653
0300-8595225

Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir
051-2275891
081-834118
0300-2122300

Syed Zafar Ali Shah
051-2872299
03204502949

Begum Ishrat Ashraf
051-2279944

Raja Nadir Pervez Khan
051-5571484-5
0300-6608644

Khawaja Saad Rafique
03009455669
042-5894666
042-7658457
--------------------------

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PPP


Ms Sherry Rehman
Information Secretary
49-Old Clifton, Karachi051-9224129, 021-5834663-4, 0300-8222881,
Personal Mobile: 0300-5001420 E-mail:
centralinformationsecretary@gmail.com

Mr. Babar Awan
Treasurer
27-E, Ali Plaza, Blue Area, Islamabad. 051-2823778,
2276540,0320-4265000, Personal Mobile: 0300-5000161 E-mail:
drbabarawan@hotmail.com

Mr. Farhatullah Babar
Assistant to Mohtarma
Personal Mobile 0300-8552543

Senator Mohammad Enver Baig
House No. 5, Street 55, F-7/4, Islamabad Tel: 2206778, Mobile:
0300-8542308; Fax: 2201107
E-mail: manpower@isb.apollo.net.pkmebaig@hotmail.com

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto
Chairperson
H. No. 8, St. 19, F-8/2, Islamabad. 051-2282781, 2255264, Fax
2282741Personal Mobile (old number) 0300-5000001 (might not be
available onthis but her secretary Awan will probably be.)E-mail:
ppp@comsats.net.pk

Makhdoom Amin Fahim
Vice Chairman
11-A, 2nd Sun Set Street, DHA, Karachi, 021-5842140, 0228-31199,
051-2840588,0300-9221234 E-mail: csppp@comsats.net.pk

Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani
Vice Chairman
Gilani House, Ghaus-al-Azam Road, Multan, 155-B, Phase-I, Defence,
Lahore061-542424, 0300-8448141, 8730662; 042-5723234.E-mail :
makhdoomyrgillani@hotmail.com

Mr. Jehangir Bader
Secretary General
140/107 Karim Block, Allama Iqbal Town, Lahore.
042-5414990-1,0300-8470402; 051-2276014, Fax 051-2276016. E-mail:
bader@brain.net.pk

Mian Raza Rabbani
Deputy Secretary General
H. No. 14/II, St. 31, Phase-V, Ext. DHA, Karachi:021-5865841-2,
0300-9291624, 051-9223854. E-mail: rrabbani@cyber.net.pk

Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi
Deputy Secretary General and President PPP Punjab
H. No.445, Bab-ul-Quresh, Muhallah Daulat Gate, Multan061-4514666,
042-5712289, 0300-8634453, E-mail: smhq148@hotmail.com

Mr. Sajjad Bokhari
Deputy Information Secretary
8 - Davis Road, LahoreTele: 042-63714559, 0300-8446754, E-mail:
pppintl@lhr.paknet.com.pk

Mr. Babar Awan
Treasurer
27-E, Ali Plaza, Blue Area, Islamabad. 051-2823778,
2276540,0320-4265000 Personal Mobile: 0300-5000141E-mail:
drbabarawan@hotmail.com

Central Secretariat Pakistan Peoples Party
House No. 1, Street 85, Sector G-6/4, IslamabadE-mail:
csppp@comsats.net.pk Tel: (92-51) 2276014-5