Archive for the 'Martial Law' Category

The Thinkable Has Happened!

Understanding Pakistan Project Team November 5th, 2007

Reporting from the site of London Protest.

This 2:53 pm UK Time. I am sitting right now in front of the Pakistani Embassy in where the protest is going on. There are about 200+ people here. A while back a gentleman was singing a very beautiful “nazm” “Aisay dustoor ko mein nahin ma’anta” and the rest of the crowd was chanting with him. Local leaders are addressing the gathering. There is great sense of excitement. However, I am also thinking that somehow this is inadequate. We need to do more. When we talk about the people of Pakistan and on behalf of people of Pakistan, I keep on thinking as to where those people are? The majority of 160 million or so Pakistanis are still silent, as always.

No matter what we do here, and what we say, Pakistan will not get democracy unles Pakistanis–a vast majority of us–demand democracy. Where are the people???

As the imformation blockade continues in Pakistan, thoughts are racing through my mind at the speed of light. I will try to pen more of my thoughts on this blog in the coming days. Ahmad Faraz poker play moneypoker torneos gratistexas holdem estrategiastrip poker online gratis,poker online gratis,juegos online gratis pokerpoker online sinjugar a poker gratisjuego de poker pcpoquer com esfree poker playing online,free online poker,free online poker fake moneyfree texas hold em gamebest internet pokeronline poker gamblingкомпютри втора употребаtexas hold em gameonline texas holdem tournament,freeroll texas holdem tournament,texas holdem tournamentpoker software developeronline poker for funonline poker tourfree texas holdem poker download,free texas holdem poker,free texas holdem poker game7 card stud hands7 card stud oddsplay poker online,play poker,how to play three card pokeronline poker no downloadfree video poker game7 card stud hi lowonline poker softwarepoker game downloadpoker rule,5 card draw poker rule,strip poker ruleonline video pokeronline poker strategyinternet poker gameinternet poker softwareedfafree online poker tightpoker7 card stud softwaredraw pokerplay free poker onlinevideo poker softwarecrazy game of pokerplay video poker7 card stud gamesfree video pokerfree texas holdem poker playonline poker sitefree texas hold em pokerpoker casino gamefun game home play pokeronline poker freefree on line pokerbad credit card,approval bad card credit credit instant,bad card credit credit people ukcredit card consolidation loan,card consolidation credit interest loan low,card consolidation credit debt debt loancard compare credit uk has written the following about my country…

Meri bustee say paray bhi meray dushmun hongay    (There might be my enemies away from my land…)

Per yahan kub koi aghyaar ka lushkar utra                   (But when did a foreign army invade here….)

A’ashna haath hi aksur meri janab lupkay                       (It always familiar hands that attacked me…)

Meray seenay mein humaisha mera khunjar utra…        (It was always my own knife that tore through my chest…)

I leave you with Faiz’s famous poem “Hum Daikhain Gay” and its video depiction adopted from Adil Najam’s All Things Pakistan that comes to mind as a very apt representation of the present circumstances…

WPvideo 1.10

Signing off Now.

Athar Osama

P.S. I have a confession to make to UPP audience. I’ve been kept away from UPP for the last month or so because of some domestic issues. I intend to return to our Story of Pakistan as soon as I can–hopefully within a week or so. The battle for constitutional rights of Pakistanis must go on and is never ending. Our country needs us today more than ever before.

Presidential Elections Special: Not Motivated by Politics

Understanding Pakistan Project Team October 2nd, 2007

Guest Post By: Advocate Muneer A. Malik

[Editor’s Note: This article was written by Mr. Muneer A. Malik in the heydays of the Presidential Reference against CJP. Its context, therefore, is different from the current Presidential Elections. However, given the fact that the Lawyers’ Movement has now extended to the Presidential Election, some of the arguments here are worth revisiting, especially, that there is nothing political or–depending upon how you see it–everything political about this movement. Mr. Malik basically argues, and rightly so, that the country’s politics and the fate of its Constitution are too precious to be left for others to decide and that everyone of us “has a dog in this fight”…]
THE reference against the Chief Justice has placed government spokesmen in a tricky spot. Early on, they realised that a direct attack against the Chief Justice would be imprudent. It would contradict their stated position that the president had simply put certain material about the Chief Justice before the Supreme Judicial Council for assessment and determination, and that the government was entirely neutral in the matter. How then would the government go on the offensive?

It was Information Minister Muhammad Ali Durrani, that fearless defender of downtrodden dictatorships, who arrived at an ingenious solution. Why not target the lawyers instead? After all, the whole fuss had been created by the bar associations (albeit fuelled by the media). If the legal community could somehow be discredited, the media would lose interest and the opposition parties would get distracted by other issues.

Unfortunately, the resultant government-generated propaganda aimed at discrediting the legal community has been blindly adopted by some in the ostensibly independent media. Even reputed columnists of this paper have chosen to attack the acts of the protesting advocates rather than the cause of these protests.

While devoting all its energy to the single-minded defence of the Chief Justice, the legal community neglected to explain its own actions to the public and left itself open to attack. This article aims at remedying that failure.

The first charge against the bar associations is that they have unduly politicised an issue that should, more properly, be a subject of pure constitutional and judicial debate. Let there be no doubt on this score; our struggle is political to the core.Our struggle is about the independence of the judiciary and the preservation of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. These are not arcane legal issues to be dryly debated in closed courtrooms. They are issues that affect the lives of every single Pakistani.

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Presidential Elections Special: Prospects of Return to Real Democracy

Understanding Pakistan Project Team October 2nd, 2007

Guest Post By: Syed Sharfuddin

ON the issue of Pakistan’s democracy and whether it is still in transition, there are three distinct views. The view from the GHQ is that democracy is a form of government necessary to run a country, but when the country is about to become a failed state then democracy takes a backseat. What comes first is the survival of the country and its ability to serve its citizens.

No one can argue with this reasoning except that it has been raised too often and supported only by one institution. The question we should be asking instead is: can democracy guarantee Pakistan’s strength and development or does it need to be tailored to first ensure Pakistan’s integrity and stability?

The second view is held by the political parties, especially those which are not in government or have not been able to form a government due to the failure of their negotiations with the military. Their view is that Pakistan has never been a democracy in the real sense of the word. Whenever a prime minister tried to act independently and in accordance with the Constitution, he or she was sent home packing. More significantly, the exit of such prime ministers was managed not through an election but by other means.

The third view is a middle ground between these two extremes and acknowledges that there has been steady progress in the restoration of democracy in Pakistan since the military took over the country in October 1999 — but that this is not enough. If Pakistan is to continue to make progress on the road to democracy, a lot more must be done such as establishing the complete supremacy of elected institutions over the institutions of state, symbolised by separation of the two offices held by the president.

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Presidential Elections Special: Prospects of a Free and Fair Elections - PILDAT

Understanding Pakistan Project Team October 2nd, 2007

Guest Post By: Pakistan Institute of Legislative Democracy and Transparency (PILDAT)

Starting with this first issue, PILDAT will circulate a weekly, and if required, more frequent Election Monitor to update the Citizens of Pakistan, Media and International Community about the Presidential and General Elections in Pakistan. The Issue 1 of the Election Monitor is devoted to assessing the prospects of the upcoming Presidential Election as a free and fair exercise. This issue of Election Monitor tries to explore the answer to the crucial question. What are the prospects for this crucial Presidential election to be free and fair? Following are some of the indicators which may shed some light on what kind of Presidential Election one may expect on October 6, 2007.

Generally Presidential Election is not of critical importance in a Parliamentary Democracy – the system Pakistan espouses at least on paper. But given the special nature of the current political context and the explicit association of the incumbent President / Chief of Army Staff to the current ruling coalition, the upcoming Presidential election holds the key to the coming General Election. The outcome of the Presidential Election will, to a large measure, determine the result of the General Election – which can be held latest by February 2008. The election of Gen. Pervez Musharraf for a new 5-year term as President will send a clear message to the general electorate that in a patronage-based society like Pakistan, only a pro-Musharraf parliamentarian will have any chance to serve his/her electors while others in the opposition will not be able to ensure development, jobs, protection from state high-handedness, etc., for their constituents. That explains the unique significance of this Presidential Election in Pakistan which is scheduled for October 6, 2007 and this also explains why there were persistent suggestions to hold General Election ahead of Presidential Election.

[With that, here are some of the reasons why the upcoming Presidential Elections may or may not be “free and fair” as is necessary for a genuine transition from military to civilian rule…]

1.  Media is Generally Free and Vibrant: Both electronic and print media are generally free, vibrant and, at times, extremely critical of the Government. Despite reports that the Government resorts to behind-the-scene strong-arm tactics to pressurise owners, publishers, editors and reporters, the political debate in the media is generally open and apparently unrestrained.

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Wardi-Special: Aspects of Re-Election

Understanding Pakistan Project Team September 23rd, 2007

Guest Post By: Syed Sharfuddin

THE Constitution of Pakistan lays down three clear requirements for the office of president. The first is that he will be elected. The second requirement is that he should hold office for a term of five years. The third requirement is that he should not be eligible for re-election after remaining president for more than two consecutive terms.

The first requirement (the source of the current president’s power), in the event of his non-election, derives from the democratic mandate he received from the people of Pakistan in the referendum of April 2002 in which he was the sole candidate. The president subsequently received a vote of confidence by the parliamentary electoral college through a special session of each House of parliament and each provincial assembly in January 2004. Neither of these actions could satisfy the election requirement stipulated in Article 41 of the Constitution until this article was given a soft landing by adding clauses (7), (8) and (9) through the Constitution (Seventeenth Amendment) act 2003. Thankfully, these clauses are valid only for the current term of the president’s office.

On the second requirement, there is a great deal of confusion over when it began and when it would expire. This is because General Musharraf has been in power for more than seven years and has worn several hats during this period, including that of president.

The establishment view is that the current term of president began on November 16, 2002, and is set to expire on November 15, 2007. The next president of Pakistan should be chosen by the assemblies some time between September 15 and October 15, 2007.

As former Supreme Court judge Wajihuddin Ahmad’s recent appraisal of the Constitution has shown, there are several intentional or residual anomalies in Chapter 1 of Part 3 of the Constitution. When the time comes to invoke these in the application of law, these are most likely to lend themselves to political interpretation instead of standing on their own legal ground.

Like the act pertaining to the president’s holding of another office, the current parliament can be called upon to give legal cover to a political interpretation of how the issue of the term of president and his re-election is to be presented to the nation. Given the record of past legislation, it is most unlikely that the parliament will deny the government what it wants.

So how can politics influence a debate which is purely a matter of law? The previous occupiers of this post have not left a healthy precedent to guide the nation in this regard.

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Ayub Khan Era-I: The Martial Law “Revolution” - 2/2 (1958-62)

Athar Osama July 23rd, 2007

By: Athar Osama

Socio-Economic and Political Reforms of Ayub’s Era-I (1958-62)

pk-p0806030301.jpgWith the power firmly in the hands of the Chief Martial Law Administrator, he set upon the task of creating country of his vision. Feldman (1967, p. 44) describes the state of the President’s mind in the following words:

“He knew that he was expected to collaborate unstintingly with a government confessedly authoritarian, claiming to derive its sanction from the necessities of a desperate situation and promising, unequivocally, to justify itself by a resolute purification of public life, by a program of indispensable reforms, and by adoption of a fresh constitution which would adequately and appropriately satisfy the citizen’s right to speak and participate in his country’s affairs”

Ayub Khan adopted an essentially technocratic mode of government depending upon a number of committees and commissions to help in policy formulation. In all, the Martial Law Administration, during its entire tenure, set up as many as 25 different commissions to deliberate on policy matters within a wide variety of domains. These included:

- Company Law Commission                            - Constitution Commission                   - Credit Inquiry Commission
- Education Reform Commission                      - Federal Capital Commission              - Finance Commission
- Food & Agriculture Commission                    - Franchise Commission                        - Jute Inquiry Commission
- Land Reforms Commission                            - Land Revenue Commission               - Manpower Commission
- Law Reform Commission                               - Maritime Commission                        - Medical Reforms Commission
- Pay & Services Commission                           - Police Commission                              - Press Commission
- Price Commission                                            - Scientific Commission                         - Social Evils Commission
- Sport, Culture, Art, & Literature Com.         – Sugar Commission                             - Taxation Inquiry Commission
- Textile Inquiry Commission

The sheer scope of the subjects that these commissions dealt with makes one wonder about the volume of policy work carried out in the early years of Ayub Khan’s era. It also makes one think as to how, without carrying out these necessary reforms in a whole variety of different areas, the country was being run in the preceding nine years of its existence. Clearly, not every one of the commissions formed during Ayub Khan’s regime undertook work of equal importance, nor did they achieve similar results, but the fact that the government was able to devote its attention to all these areas cannot escape one’s attention. 

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