05-13-2007, 09:39 PM
PAKISTAN BOILS OVER CHIEF JUSTICE OUSTER
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Many believe Justice Chaudry is being punished for refusing to toe the official line. (IOL photo)
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is politically boiling over the ouster of Chief Judge Iftikhar Chaudry, with court activities nationwide brought to a halt Monday, March 12, after lawyers boycotted court proceedings in protest.
"We do not accept the autocratic and unconstitutional judgment of General (Pervez) Musharaff," Munir A. Malik, President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), told IslamOnline.net.
"He is acting like a monarch."
General Musharraf had dismissed Chief Justice Chaudry and appointed Justice Javed Iqbal as acting Chief Justice.
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is going to try the ousted chief justice on the charges of misconduct and misuse of authority.
The government claims that Chaudry has been made "non-functional" till the judgment of the SJC.
He has been placed under undeclared house arrest, and his passport as well as that of his family members have been seized by authorities, Chaudry's relative told IOL.
"Justice Iftikhar Chaudry is still the chief justice of the Supreme Court. We do not accept any acting chief justice," Malik said.
He asserted that lawyers would boycott the proceedings of the SJC.
The lawyers' associations have announced a three-day strike throughout the country against dismissal of the chief justice.
"This is a callous conspiracy of the highest order against superior judiciary," insisted Malik.
Punished
Angry lawyers burn Musharraf's portrait during a demonstration.
The SCBA president accused Musharraf of punishing the chief justice for refusing to toe the official line.
"This is not the issue of misconduct or corruption," Malik asserted.
"General Musharraf has taken this step because Justice Chaudry had refused to bow to his dictatorship, and took suo-moto notices against government's wrong doings, especially in case of missing people," he added.
Yaseen Azad, a senior lawyer, said the ouster was a message to other judges that if they did not act in line with the wishes of the rulers, they would have to face the same consequences.
He insisted that the formation of SJC was unconstitutional, and the lawyers' community didn't accept that.
"Lawyers are trying to save the country, and our movement will continue till the ouster of military regime," Azad vowed defiantly.
Political and legal observers believe the dismissal of the chief justice has nothing to do with corruption or misconduct charges.
"The corrupt and weak judges always suit the military rulers. If Justice Chaudry had been a corrupt judge, he would have been the favorite of military rulers," cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan told reporters.
Justice Chaudry has several important judgments to his credit.
The most significant judgments, which contested the government's claims regarding transparency and human rights, were the privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills and the case of "missing" persons.
In Steel Mills privatization case last year, Justice Chaudry had held that the entire transaction was the "outcome of a process reflecting serious violation of law and gross irregularities" in which various aspects of profitability and assets of the state-owned enterprise were totally ignored.
The day before his removal, the chief justice had heard the case of "forced disappearances" and he had expressed strong disappointment over the government's failure to locate the whereabouts of people who vanished because of their suspected links with Al-Qaeda or other militant organizations.
During his 21-month tenure as chief justice, Justice Chaudry initiated scores of suo- motu actions, many against government officials, especially the police and the bureaucracy.
"The country's military and civil bureaucracy was not happy with the chief justice as he challenged its power for the first time in the history of Pakistan," Khan said.
"He was actively pursuing the case of missing people, and forced the government to locate them. The intelligence agencies were even not happy with him."
Trying Musharraf
Many believe that Musharraf was be the one tried for what he has done to the Asian Muslim country.
"If judges are not angels, then army generals are not angels too. If judges can be tried for misconduct and corruption, then General Musharraf and his company should be tried first because they have violated the constitution by dismissing an elected government," said Malik.
Musharraf assumed power after a military coup in which the government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted on October 12, 1999.
Azad, a senior lawyer, said he was in favor of judges' accountability, but the way, the chief justice had been treated was totally "wrong" and "dubious".
"The time has come when the army must take a decision whether it will trample upon the sanctity of the nation and the constitution or court martial General Musharraf who has continuously been violating the constitution," he told IOL.
"General Musharraf in real terms has enforced martial law in the country by dismissing the chief justice," he added.
Defiant
Chaudry's relatives say the government is pressing him to resign voluntarily
The government defended the move, terming the lawyers' movement "unconstitutional" and "politically-motivated".
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that action against Justice Chaudry had been taken in accordance with the law and the constitution.
He said the issue is now up to the Supreme Judicial Council in light of provision 209 of the Constitution.
"Every violator of the law of the land in any other field will face the same treatment," Aziz told reporters.
Federal Minister for Information Muhammad Ali Durrani warned the lawyers not to become part of the opposition.
"They should not act like political workers. This is purely a constitutional issue, and they should wait for the SJC's judgment," he told IOL.
Durrani warned that if lawyers tried to take the law in their hands, they would be treated accordingly.
"The government is not afraid of any protest movement. Lawyers are trying to convert a constitutional matter into a political issue," he maintained.
Pressurized
A relative of dismissed chief justice claim that he was being pressurized by the government to resign, otherwise he would have to face the SJC.
"The government is putting pressure on him to resign from his post," Aamir Rana, a nephew of Justice Chaudhry, told IOL.
"Authorities concerned are demanding resignation from my uncle. They are also harassing us, and some people in plain cloths raided my house to arrest me, but I wasn't there," he said.
Rana said the movement of the chief justice had been restricted to his official residence in Islamabad.
"No close relatives are allowed to meet him," he said, adding that all telephones of the official residence had been disconnected.
Rana said Musharraf asked Justice Chaudry not to pass remarks against the government during the hearing of different cases.
According to him, Justice Chaudry was facing a lot of pressure from the government to dismiss cases of missing persons.
Government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IOL that some serving supreme court judges and two senior federal ministers were trying to persuade the chief justice to resign voluntarily to save the country from the imminent constitutional crisis.
Pakistan's veteran politician Asghar Khan, the first non-government person to meet the chief justice since Friday, told IOL that Chaudry was not ready to resign, and was determined to face the allegations leveled against him.
"He told me that he wants an open trial on the allegations against him so that the people of Pakistan know what is reality," he said.
According to Khan, Chaudry rejected the allegations against him and said he had done nothing wrong.
Chaudry told him he had been held incommunicado and was not allowed to see his lawyers.
"His all telephones and TV cable have been disconnected. Even, he is not being provided with newspapers."
PAKISTANI JUDGES QUIT IN TOP JUDGE ROW
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"It's a political issue, a political fight ... we have to intensify street protests," Ahmed said.
ISLAMABAD — Several judges resigned on Monday, March 19, in a new show of solidarity with the chief justice whose ouster by President Prevez Musharraf has triggered a constitutional crisis, while an adamant Islamabad warned the international community to keep its distance.
"I have talked to Justice Jawad Khawaja who confirmed he has resigned," Munir Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
The Lahore High Court Judge's decision came to protest the removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry and the government's mishandling of the furor.
"Justice Khawaja told me that he resigned over police excesses including tear gas shelling inside the High Court building and baton charge of lawyers," Malik said.
Musharraf suspended the chief justice on March 9 and referred him to a judicial panel on charges of misconduct and abuse of power.
Observers believe the military ruler, who assumed power in bloodless coup in 1999, is trying to intimidate the strong-willed judge to pave the way for his re-election by parliament later this year.
Under an agreement reached in 2004, Musharraf should have chosen between the two posts of president and chief-of-staff by the end of that year.
He has not since then.
Many also believe independent-minded Chaudry was being punished for refusing to toe the official line on several issues including the disappearances of hundreds of Pakistanis accused of terror links as well as high-profile corruption cases.
Resignation Wave
Separately, the advocate general of southern Sindh province, Anwar Mansoor, confirmed the resignations of two judges in the southern city of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, and another in the town of Pannu Aqil.
"My conscience does not allow me to continue as a judicial officer," one of the judges, Ashraf Yar Khan, an assistant sessions judge in Karachi, said in a statement.
"Two more judges resigned later" in Karachi, a court official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
A civil judge in the central Pakistani city of Bahawalpur resigned last week while a public prosecutor told reporters that he was also quitting.
The wave of resignations came as judicial workers paralyzed court proceedings across the country for the ninth day.
Thousands of lawyers and politicians vowed nonstop rallies and hunger strikes to mark the swell of anger toward Musharraf.
"It's a political issue, a political fight ... we have to intensify street protests," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the president of Pakistan's main alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
"This struggle can take us to our destination," he added.
Ahmed was briefly arrested during Friday's massive protests when riot police fired tear gas and arrested dozens of Pakistanis.
"We will have second and even third lines of leadership to lead the rallies if our leaders are arrested," Shahid Shamsi, a MMA spokesman, told AFP.
Keep Away
"We do not expect comments from the international community about that," Aslam said. (Reuters)
The defiant Islamabad government warned the international community not to interfere in the controversy.
"There have been comments by media of course and also by some human rights organizations and bodies. What I would say is that this is a matter which is sub judice," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.
"I cannot comment on that and we will not like others to comment on it."
The United States, a major ally of Musharraf, has criticized Chaudry's ouster and called for cool heads to prevail.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the judicial crisis was a "matter of deep concern" that should be settled "in a way that is completely transparent and in accordance with Pakistan's laws."
The New York-based Human Rights Watch and several rights bodies have also spoken out against the use of excessive force to cow the media and the protestors.
A group of prominent British lawyers, including Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie, also voiced concern over Musharraf's decision.
The foreign minister spokeswoman insisted the standoff was an internal affair.
"We do not expect comments from the international community about that."
"CHAUDHRY CONVOY " DEFIES MUSHARRAF
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Chaudhry makes his way to address Lahore Bar Council in Lahore. (Reuters)
ISLAMABAD — Receiving a hero's welcome from locals, activists and lawyers, Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry drove Saturday, May 5, from Islamabad to Lahore to drum up support in his legal battle against President Pervez Musharraf's attempt to sack him.
"The people of Punjab have given their judgment. They are with the chief justice and the judiciary," Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan, one of the Chief Justice's defense team, told IslamOnline.net over the phone from Lahore.
Ahsan, who is a Member of Parliament for Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan peoples Party (PPP), said today's mass rallies in support of Chaudhry served as a public referendum on sitting Musharraf.
"Not only Punjab, but the whole nation backs the Chief Justice. He is fighting for the supremacy and freedom of the judiciary," Ahsan added.
"The government’s all desperate and coercive attempts have failed to undermine our movement, which will continue till the freedom of judiciary."
Chanting "Go Musharraf Go", "army rule unacceptable", and "long live democratic Pakistan", Chaudhry's supporters from Islamabad and Jehlum to Gujrat and Lahore cheered the country's top judge and showered his convoy with flowers.
Musharraf's decision to sack Chaudhry sparked uproar from opposition parties, who called it an attempt to intimidate the judiciary, and prompted an inquiry by a five-judge panel.
Rallies have been held regularly, and lawyers have boycotted court hearings to demand his reinstatement.
The Supreme Judicial Council, which is hearing Chaudhry's case, adjourned proceedings on Thursday until May 9 after lawyers concluded arguments about the validity and composition of the council.
Chaudhry has also filed a separate constitutional petition at the Supreme Court challenging Musharraf's action against him. The court is to take up the petition on Monday, May 7.
Massive Arrests
Pakistanis went out in droves to cheer Chaudhry's convoy. (Reuters)
The supporters, estimated in thousands, defied stern warnings by police over the past few days against taking part in pro-Chaudhry rallies.
Police sources told IOL on condition of anonymity that around 3,000 lawyers and political activists were arrested in all over Punjab during last two days.
"We don’t know about the motive behind his arrest. The government has provided us the lists of the people who should be arrested," one police officer said.
Besides Lahore, most of the arrests were made in Gujranwala, Gujrat and other districts.
The detainees included the workers of Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, and Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies blocked several roads and service lanes in Jehlum, Lala Moosa, Muridkay, Kharian, Gujrat and other towns of the eastern Punjab province to prevent lawyers, activists and locals from venturing out.
Around 7,000 policemen and security officials have been deployed for the rally which organizers said are the biggest since Musharraf sacked Chaudhry on March 9.
Tariq Chaudhry, a senior journalist who was part of the Chief Justice’s convoy, said thousands of citizens could not reach rally venues due to extensive police barricades.
"Locals told us that they were threatened and prevented from welcoming the Chief Justice," he told IOL.
He said shopkeepers were asked by police to pull their shutters down on the arrival of chief justice in their respective cities.
"The police warned them if they do not pull their shutters down, they will be fined," the journalist added.
He said police were in vain trying their best to keep as many as they can from the rallies.
"The government seems to be desperate. Whenever the chief justice’s convoy left a city, the police systematically blocked 100-150 vehicles in the tail and cut them from the convoy," he said.
"However, the vigorous and motivated lawyers and political workers have almost foiled the government’s attempts by adopting alternative measures," he noted.
"I was surprised to see that at various places, even school children were present to welcome the chief justice," Tariq said.
No Politics
Lawyers and activists dismissed charges that their pro-judge campaigns were politically motivated.
"There is no political motive behind this movement. This is purely for the freedom of judiciary. The chief justice has never spoken even a single word about politics or against the presidential reference," said Ahsan.
"People of Pakistan do not trust General Musharraf. He never fulfils his promises. He had promised the nation that he would shed his military uniform by the end of 2004, but he never did that," he added.
Justice Nasira Iqbal saw eye-to-eye with Ahsan.
"Our aim is to restore the writ of constitution and democratic norms in the country. We have nothing to do with politics," Nasira, daughter-in-law of Pakistan’s legend poet Muhammad Iqbal, said.
PAK SUSPENDED JUDGE SCOLDS DICTATORSHIP
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"Rule of law and supremacy of the constitution is inevitable for a civilized society," Chaudhry said. (Reuters)
LAHORE — Pakistan's suspended top judge insisted on Sunday, May 6, that dictatorship states that ignored the rule of law and basic rights have no place in today's world, drawing immediate rebuke from the red-faced Musharraf regime.
"Nations and states which are based on dictatorship instead of the supremacy of the constitution, the rule of law and protection of basic rights get destroyed," Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry told thousands of cheering supporters, reported Reuters.
"The idea of dictatorship and collective responsibility are over," an exhausted-looking Chaudhry said in a broadcast live on private television from the compound of the Lahore High Court.
"They are chapters from the past and those nations which don't learn lessons from the past and repeat those mistakes, they have to pay a price," he told thousands of lawyers, 17 of Punjab province's 23 judges and opposition activists.
Chaudhry arrived in the city of Lahore on Sunday after tens of thousands of supporters turned out to greet him as he traveled by road from Islamabad.
With well-wishers throwing rose petals and clambering over Chaudhry's four-wheel-drive car throughout his journey from the capital, the trip which usually takes four hours lasted more than 20.
President Prevez Musharraf suspended the top judge on March 9 on charges of corruption and misconduct but the legal community and opposition saw the move as an attack on the independence of the judiciary.
Protest rallies have since been held regularly.
Constitutional Supremacy
Supporters gathered around Chaudhry's vehicle in Lahore. (Reuters)
The suspended top judge urged people to struggle for supremacy of constitution.
"It is the responsibility of the courts to defend human rights of the people and protect the constitution," he said.
"The motive of your struggle is supremacy of the constitution and rule of law and God will definitely give us success in this struggle," he told his audience, many of whom had camped out overnight waiting for his arrival.
"Rule of law and supremacy of the constitution is inevitable for a civilized society and the nations who do not believe in it cannot survive and face a collapse."
The authorities' heavy-handed ways and Chaudhry's refusal to resign transformed him into a cause celebre.
The crisis has blown up into the most serious challenge to Musharraf's authority since the army chief seized power in 1999.
"Tens of thousands people came for his reception, this is a referendum against Musharraf," Chaudhry's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan said.
"This reception is historic and it will be remembered in the country for many years."
Fakhr Imam, a former National Assembly speaker and a leader of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party, agreed.
"I haven't seen anything like this since 1986 when Benazir returned," he said referring to the crowds that turned out when Bhutto returned from exile seven years after the military executed her father, former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Lahore is capital of Punjab, the country's richest and most populous province and a traditional establishment stronghold.
The city is considered Pakistan's political nerve centre and Chaudhry's tumultuous reception will be seen as a clear sign to authorities that their efforts to contain the crisis were failing, observers said.
Politicized
The Musharraf regime accused Chaudhry's supporters of politicizing a judicial matter.
"This is clear that this campaign has become political," said Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.
He announced that the ruling party would respond with a "much bigger rally" on May 12.
The same message was made a day earlier by President Musharraf himself.
"I warn the lawyers that they will not succeed in their designs," he said.
"I ask the lawyers to shun politics."
Since the start of the standoff, lawyers organized massive rallies nationwide against Musharraf's decision.
They have also boycotted court hearings to demand the reinstatement of the suspended top judge.
Opponents say Musharraf wants to weaken the courts and make it easier for him to stay on as army chief past this year's deadline set by the constitution.
The president also intends to seek re-election by the outgoing parliament for another five years ahead of national polls due late this year or early next -- a move that could spark other legal challenges.
SPEECH REVEALS NERVOUS , DREAMY MUSHARRAF
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"Musharraf thinks he is indispensable for the country, and Pakistan cannot be run without him," Fahim told IOL.
ISLAMABAD — A passionate speech delivered by President Prevez Musharraf on Saturday, May 12, from behind bullet-proof dais reveals a nervous and starry-eyed ruler, analysts and opposition parties have said.
"He is an unrealistic person, who doesn't know where to go now," Makhdoom Amin Fahim, chairman of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), an 18-party conglomeration, told IslamOnline.net.
"He should realize the ground realities, and act accordingly otherwise it will not go in his own favor."
Addressing a big rally in Islamabad from behind a highly-guarded, bullet-proof dais, Musharraf declared that the overwhelming majority in the country was with him.
"Do not challenge us. We are not cowards like you, we have the power of the people," said Musharraf wearing traditional Pakistani dress.
"He has appeared to be a nervous man," said Syed Munnawer Hassan, Secretary General of Pakistan's largest Islamic party, Jammat-e-Islami.
"He is just trying to hide his weakness."
Syed Mamnoon Hussein, a former Governor of Sindh province and senior vice-president of Pakistan Muslim League (N), agrees.
"Whatever he said (in his speech) doesn't suit him. He is threatening the political forces that he will crush them," he said, referring to Musharraf's statement that he will crush his opponents.
"He has realized the fact that he is loosing the ground that is why he is acting like a nervous person."
The speech coincided with the killing of at least 40 people and the injury of over 200 in clashes between the ruling Muttehida Quami Movement (MQM)'s supporters and opposition activists in the commercial hub of Karachi.
The armed workers of the ruling party blocked all the city roads with the help of law enforcing agencies to foil the opposition parties' rallies to welcome suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Chaudry was virtually detained by the authorities inside Quaid-I-Azam i International Airport for eight hours, and was not allowed to address a ceremony organized by the lawyers to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Sindh High Court.
Musharraf suspended the top judge on March 9 on charges of misconduct and corruption, sparking a wave of protests that have increasingly focused on his eight-year military rule.
Dreamy
"Do not challenge us. We are not cowards like you, we have the power of the people," Musharraf said.
Experts and opposition leaders said Musharraf was day-dreaming about his popularity.
"The vested-interest elements around him have been misleading him that he is very popular among the masses," said Fahim, who is also the vice chairman of former Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
He cited as a case in point a slogan raised at the meeting that "Pakistan is not acceptable without Musharraf."
"Musharraf thinks he is indispensable for the country, and Pakistan cannot be run without him.
"But of course, he is not," said the opposition leader.
"If the people of Pakistan are with him, then why did he addressed the rally (from) behind the bullet-proof dais," asked Hassan, the leader of Jammat-e-Islami party.
"Is he scared of the people who according to his clam love him?"
The speech, according to Musharraf's critics, also demonstrate his strong-man discourse.
"He has given a clear message through his speech that he is the only might in this country," said Fahim.
"He even doesn't recognize those who have been backing him for last over seven years."
The Jammat-e-Islami leader agreed.
"This was not the speech of a ruler who loves his people. It was the speech of a dictator who suppresses his own people," he argued.
Shamim-ur-Rehman, a senior political analyst, said Musharraf considers himself and Pakistan the same thing.
"General Musharraf thinks that he and Pakistan are essential for each other. He thinks he can't be defeated and he has been saying this for quite some time," he added.
"In my opinion, he is getting weak, and when someone gets weak, he boasts like that," said the expert.
"His speech shows that he is a fascist and he is patronizing the fascist groups in the society," Shamim said, referring to Saturday's gun battles in Karachi involving the ruling party workers.
He disputes Musharraf's claim that he is the most popular figure among the Pakistani masses.
"The army could be with him, but he doesn't have any popular following. As far as the people are concerned, he has no mandate."
Shamim also criticized Musharraf for delivering a speech to thousands of his own party's supporters from behind bullet-proof dais.
"He is so popular as he can't even address the people without bullet proof dais and jacket.
"This is the time for the military to think whether it is alongside or against the people of Pakistan.
"Unless the military interventions are stopped, our society cannot assume democratic proportions," said Shamim.
General Musharraf assumed power on October 12, 1999, in a bloodless military coup and dismissed the government of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif was handed down life imprisonment by an anti-terrorist court in a hijacking case. He was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2001 under an agreement brokered by the Saudi authorities.
"My advise to him is to voluntarily step down, because the game is now over for him," said the former governor of Sindh province.
"A dictator can't suppress the masses for a long period."
COURT REINSTATES PAK TOP JUDGE
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Chaudhry's case was seen as the biggest challenge to Musharraf's eight-year rule.
ISLAMABAD — In a major blow to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday, July 20, reinstated chief judge Iftikhar Chaudhry and quashed misconduct charges against him.
"The reference has been set aside and the chief justice has been reinstated," said Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday at the conclusion of the two-month-old case, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The suspension of the judge was unanimously set aside as being illegal, noted Ramday.
He added that the misconduct and abuse of power allegations were also dismissed by a 10-3 verdict.
"As a further consequence the petitioner, the chief justice of Pakistan, shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same," the judge concluded.
Independent-minded Chaudhry was suspended by Musharraf last March on charges of misconduct and misuse of authority.
Chaudhry's supporters say Musharraf suspended the top judge for fears he would obstruct his plans to get re-elected by current assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election at the end of the year.
Musharraf said he accepted the court ruling.
"The president has said the judgment of the Supreme Court will be honored, respected, and adhered to," Musharraf's spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told AFP.
The Pakistani government also accepted the verdict.
"I have always maintained that the decision by the honorable court must be accepted by all sections of the people including the government itself," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in a statement.
He, however, said that it was "not the time to claim victory or defeat".
"Go Musharraf"
Friday's court ruling sparked cheers and celebrations among thousands of Chaudhry's supporters.
"This is a new dawn for Pakistan," Munir Malik, one of Chaudhry's lawyers and the president of Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, told AFP.
"This supreme court has vision and courage. The basis of a free and independent judiciary has now been founded in Pakistan," he added as the attorneys gathering outside the court chanted "Go Musharraf, Go!"
"Pervez Musharraf should resign because the charges were illegal and have been declared null and void by the highest legal authority in the country," said Ali Ahmad Kurd, a senior lawyer for Chaudhry.
"The doors of this building are from now onward closed to the generals and now no general will force martial law, and today a new Pakistan has emerged from this court decision," Kurd said.
Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and retains the dual position of army chief and president.
Musharraf's action against Chaudhry sparked what quickly became the biggest challenge to his eight-year rule, with mass pro-democracy protests and political violence in Karachi that left more than 40 dead.
"We salute the whole of the nation for this victory for the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the constitution," said Lahore High Court Bar president Ahsan Bhoon.
ANALYSING EVENTS IN PAKISTAN USING Dr KALIM SIDDIQUI’s “FLASH IN THE PAN ” MODEL
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As the political trouble sparked by the sacking of Pakistan’s chief justice in March shows no sign of abating, DR PERWEZ SHAFI of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) tries to understand it using a model of political behaviour proposed by the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui.
How is one to explain the current fight between army chief and president General Parvez Musharraf and Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, the chief justice of the Supreme Court within the nation-state system? Both have served the system well, along with serving foreign masters throughout their lives. Both have risen from the bottom to the top of their respective institutions; both cooperated until now. Does it matter who is right or wrong, who the oppressor is and who the “victim”? In such a scenario how is the fight actually fought and what outcomes can be expected? There are various theories and explanations, but one offered by the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui is by far the best and accurately describes the fight.
The late Dr Kalim Siddiqui – an intellectual giant, an institution-builder, and an activist until the very end of his life – wrote a penetrating analysis of Pakistani politics in 1984, “Islamic Revolution: The only possible future for Pakistan”. In it, he conclusively demonstrated that all political changes within the ruling elite are a result of factional in-fighting only to maintain the status quo. Since the beginning, events have been shaping and moving in that direction as explained by Dr Siddiqui, and unfolding events have been following that pattern.
The Pakistani model
Dr Kalim’s model describing the political model of a nation-state of Pakistan which highlighted three underlying factors -- social discontent with the present exploitative and oppressive system, foreign domination, and the deep political and religious consciousness of the masses -- which combine to bring about cosmetic changes in the system designed to maintain the status quo. He characterised the results as “flash in the pan” agitative politics:
They [the three factors listed above] may even be exploited and misused by other powerful elements to bring about minor upheavals and revolts against competing factions within the exploitative system. In Pakistan Ayub Khan called his 1958 military coup a ‘revolution’, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto used a similar technique to whip up hatred against the military rulers. Shaikh Mujibur Rehman used precisely this technique, first used by the Muslim League, to secure the support of the Muslim masses in East Pakistan, leading eventually to the breakup of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh. The Pakistan National Alliance (the PNA) did just this against Bhutto, during 1976-77. This ‘flash in the pan’ type of agitative politics leaves the society weaker, more exhausted, morally more corrupt, and more open to even greater external domination and for the emergence of even more tyrannical domestic rulers.
Like any neo-colonial nation-state, the entire political history of Pakistan revolves around a ruling elite trying to monopolise all political power. The components of the ruling elite normally work cooperatively to exploit, loot and plunder society’s resources for their personal benefits, maintain their class monopoly on power, and to perpetuate the status quo. The ruling elite consists of military, politicians, bureaucrats and judiciary, but among these groups by far the most powerful is the military. The bureaucracy and the judiciary are distant junior partners who have accepted their subservience to the military and have repeatedly condoned its privileged position in the hierarchy of power.
Though the elite’s components rule and hold onto power cooperatively, sometimes differences among them turn into an open fight. When in-fighting reaches such a level, each party tries to improve its personal political standing in the hierarchy of power by destabilising and eliminating the others. In their in-fighting, the dominating elite with much higher institutional power seeks foreign support to hang on to power, while the one that can claim to be a “victim” compared to the other has the opportunity to enlist and organise public support. At that stage the slogans, symbols and outcomes of a popular agitation are couched in terms of what benefits the people, hiding the actual goals of the fight. By bringing the people in, the elite also releases their pent-up energy of social discontent. The crisis, if co-optation and coercion fails, is resolved when an elite gives up the competition, accepting defeat; the status quo is maintained, perhaps slightly modified, while the people get nothing. Because of this cheating the people are naturally more frustrated, despondent and demoralised, and under more foreign influence. In extreme cases of in-fighting the country is weakened and sometimes suffers irreparable damage.
The accuracy of the model
Since the so-called ‘independence’ of Pakistan, the history of its political crises conforms almost exactly to Dr Kalim Siddiqui’s model of factional in-fighting and agitative “flash-in-the-pan”-type politics: no real change occurs in the ‘system’ and the status quo is maintained. In the 1960s, President General Ayub Khan and his foreign minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, both came up through the ‘system’ and served each other. But eventually in-fighting led President General Ayub to seek US support, while Bhutto sought the support of the people. Bhutto was temporarily defeated and jailed; later on President Ayub handed power to another military General Yahya Khan. Within a year the fight among Yahya, Bhutto and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, a popular politician from East Pakistan, led to the break-up of the country with the connivance of Indian.
The dismemberment of the country discredited the military; Bhutto assumed power at the beginning of the 1970s and ruled with an iron hand for seven years. In early 1977, after Bhutto was re-elected, the opposition cried foul. This time Bhutto was trapped; he could neither seek US support (because the US wanted to destabilise him anyway for starting and remaining defiant about the country’s nuclear programme), nor could he seek popular support because the US and the combined opposition (in the form of Pakistan National Alliance) captured and capitalised on their discontent. Eventually the people’s sacrifices were wasted: the military took advantage of the situation and overthrew Bhutto.
In the 1990s, during the era of so-called democracy, when the military were sent back to the barracks after the fiery crash of General Ziaul Haq when he was no longer needed because the Afghan jihad was over, the prime ministers were removed constitutionally every 2 to 3 years, as they quarrelled got with civilian presidents in an effort to acquire more political power. The current fight between Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and President General Pervez Musharraf is not unprecedented: in 1998 prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a businessman groomed in the 1980s by the army and security agencies, got into a fight with Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, and his party goons stormed the Supreme Court building. Chief Justice Shah was eventually dismissed, leaving the judiciary even more demoralised and more open to political interference.
In late 1999, the simmering fight between President General Musharraf and PM Nawaz Sharif came in the open after the Kargil fiasco, where Musharraf sent his forces deep inside Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir against Indian forces, mainly to destabilise Nawaz and his policies and to disrupt the budding India-Pakistan relations. The army chief’s position is paramount in the Muslim nation-state system. After minor fights with Chief Justice Shah and others, Nawaz was emboldened to such an extent that he planned to get rid of Musharraf. But Musharraf had already planned his counter-attack. Finally when Nawaz acted and deposed Musharraf as army chief, the army counter-attacked, overthrew him and installed Musharraf in power.
Since then Musharraf has not had any serious challenges to his rule. He also got a compliant and subservient judiciary, whose twelve judges not only validated and blessed his military takeover in May 2000 (including currently ‘suspended’ Justice Chaudhry), under the “doctrine of necessity”, but also gave him unprecedented power to amend the constitution as he pleases. All the judges of the Supreme Court were amply rewarded for serving the system: in 2002 six of the twelve were retired and given further perks and benefits as well as cushy jobs. The rest, including Justice Chaudhry, were given three-year extensions and pay-rises of 30 percent. They are also entitled to residence, all utility bills, officially-maintained car, cook, driver and a guard at his residence, all paid for by the government. After retirement they will continue to receive a significant portion of this package.
In June 2005 Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was made chief justice by Musharraf, superseding other senior judges and violating the rule made in the late 1990s, according to which the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court becomes chief justice. Neither Chaudhry nor Musharraf had any qualms about violating the seniority rules and usurping the rights of other judges. Justice Falak Sher, and others whose rights were violated, are expected to wait for their turn, otherwise their jobs, perks and benefits might be jeopardy. Justice Sher excused himself, pleading a conflict of interest, from the full court bench hearing 23 petitions challenging the president’s reference to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Like ordinary human beings, the Supreme Court judges are falling over each other to become the permanent or acting chief justice. Independence of the judiciary and rule of law does not come about due to defiance of one or two judges unless the concepts are institutionalised and part of the judiciary’s legal, cultural and political training. Any lawyers’ movement for independence of the judiciary and rule of law can be easily derailed if other judges are waiting eagerly in line to fill the position as soon as the top man is removed. In this elite fight, without taking any position in favour of or against Justice Chaudhry or army’s chief General Musharraf, Pakistanis should strive for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law as a principled position and a high moral ground.
However, after serving a corrupt system all their lives, all of a sudden any isolated emphasis on these moral and legal values rings hollow and seems to be used only for popular consumption, to get the people’s support. These crises, as pointed out earlier, also act as a “safety valve” for the pent-up energy of social discontent
According to Dr Kalim’s model, however, more important than the events of elite in-fighting are the damaging effects of “pressure cooker” politics have left on society. He mentioned five particular debilitating effects:
1. The disintegration of society
Pakistan has suffered the disintegration of its society into much smaller units on the basis of different kinds of local identity. It is generally accepted that nationalism is kufr, but it appears that Pakistan is also fractured by similar un-Islamic forces such as sectarianism, tribalism, and ethnicity. The extremism exhibited by secular and religious groups operating on these bases seems to have no limits.
The Ayub-Bhutto fight in the late 1960s led to a complete breakdown of the consensus among components of the ruling classes, which led not only the break-up of the country but left more than 100,000 soldiers as prisoners of war. The social-psychological shock to the society was devastating.
In the early 1980s General Zia al-Haq, in order to strengthen his own rule, clearly appeared to follow the colonial policy of “divide and rule”. In his zeal to ‘Islamise’, the government imposed zakah but exempted Shi‘ahs from it, thereby encouraging the emergence of militant and extremist wings of both communities that are responsible for much of the violence in the country. General Zia killed two birds with one stone: he pretended to be enforcing Islam and expected people to support him on that basis; yet he was able to create division, hatred and violence in society where there had been little or none before.
In an oppressive system in which every group has grievances it is very easy to incite and exploit resentments. General Zia took advantage of the muhajirs (emigrants from India at the time of partition from India, and their descendants) and their feeling of being an exploited community, supported their ethnic nationalism in Karachi and the formation of the MQM (Muhajir Qaumi Movement), which then turned on other communities to wrest their ‘rights’ from them. He used the muhajirs’ hatred to cut down and debase Jama‘at-e Islami and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The cycle of violence started then has repeated intermittently, but the issues have not been resolved. Similarly the people of Malakand, who rose in a jihad against the nation-state with the slogan “Shari’at or Shahadat” in November 1994, were brutally crushed by the military. The uprising put all the religious political parties in the country on the spot, but no party took any action except to pay lip-service.
During the 1990s, Nawaz Sherif attacked the Supreme Court. Attempts to buy out or dislodge judges were made openly, further damaging the standing of the Court. Then in the Nawaz-Musharraf fight about blame for the Kargil debacle people lost most of what little confidence they had left in the government. The continuing effort by General Musharraf to forcibly keep Nawaz and Benazir Bhutto in exile prevents further popular participation, leading to even more discontent. Thus division amon...
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Many believe Justice Chaudry is being punished for refusing to toe the official line. (IOL photo)
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is politically boiling over the ouster of Chief Judge Iftikhar Chaudry, with court activities nationwide brought to a halt Monday, March 12, after lawyers boycotted court proceedings in protest.
"We do not accept the autocratic and unconstitutional judgment of General (Pervez) Musharaff," Munir A. Malik, President of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), told IslamOnline.net.
"He is acting like a monarch."
General Musharraf had dismissed Chief Justice Chaudry and appointed Justice Javed Iqbal as acting Chief Justice.
The Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) is going to try the ousted chief justice on the charges of misconduct and misuse of authority.
The government claims that Chaudry has been made "non-functional" till the judgment of the SJC.
He has been placed under undeclared house arrest, and his passport as well as that of his family members have been seized by authorities, Chaudry's relative told IOL.
"Justice Iftikhar Chaudry is still the chief justice of the Supreme Court. We do not accept any acting chief justice," Malik said.
He asserted that lawyers would boycott the proceedings of the SJC.
The lawyers' associations have announced a three-day strike throughout the country against dismissal of the chief justice.
"This is a callous conspiracy of the highest order against superior judiciary," insisted Malik.
Punished
Angry lawyers burn Musharraf's portrait during a demonstration.
The SCBA president accused Musharraf of punishing the chief justice for refusing to toe the official line.
"This is not the issue of misconduct or corruption," Malik asserted.
"General Musharraf has taken this step because Justice Chaudry had refused to bow to his dictatorship, and took suo-moto notices against government's wrong doings, especially in case of missing people," he added.
Yaseen Azad, a senior lawyer, said the ouster was a message to other judges that if they did not act in line with the wishes of the rulers, they would have to face the same consequences.
He insisted that the formation of SJC was unconstitutional, and the lawyers' community didn't accept that.
"Lawyers are trying to save the country, and our movement will continue till the ouster of military regime," Azad vowed defiantly.
Political and legal observers believe the dismissal of the chief justice has nothing to do with corruption or misconduct charges.
"The corrupt and weak judges always suit the military rulers. If Justice Chaudry had been a corrupt judge, he would have been the favorite of military rulers," cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan told reporters.
Justice Chaudry has several important judgments to his credit.
The most significant judgments, which contested the government's claims regarding transparency and human rights, were the privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills and the case of "missing" persons.
In Steel Mills privatization case last year, Justice Chaudry had held that the entire transaction was the "outcome of a process reflecting serious violation of law and gross irregularities" in which various aspects of profitability and assets of the state-owned enterprise were totally ignored.
The day before his removal, the chief justice had heard the case of "forced disappearances" and he had expressed strong disappointment over the government's failure to locate the whereabouts of people who vanished because of their suspected links with Al-Qaeda or other militant organizations.
During his 21-month tenure as chief justice, Justice Chaudry initiated scores of suo- motu actions, many against government officials, especially the police and the bureaucracy.
"The country's military and civil bureaucracy was not happy with the chief justice as he challenged its power for the first time in the history of Pakistan," Khan said.
"He was actively pursuing the case of missing people, and forced the government to locate them. The intelligence agencies were even not happy with him."
Trying Musharraf
Many believe that Musharraf was be the one tried for what he has done to the Asian Muslim country.
"If judges are not angels, then army generals are not angels too. If judges can be tried for misconduct and corruption, then General Musharraf and his company should be tried first because they have violated the constitution by dismissing an elected government," said Malik.
Musharraf assumed power after a military coup in which the government of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was ousted on October 12, 1999.
Azad, a senior lawyer, said he was in favor of judges' accountability, but the way, the chief justice had been treated was totally "wrong" and "dubious".
"The time has come when the army must take a decision whether it will trample upon the sanctity of the nation and the constitution or court martial General Musharraf who has continuously been violating the constitution," he told IOL.
"General Musharraf in real terms has enforced martial law in the country by dismissing the chief justice," he added.
Defiant
Chaudry's relatives say the government is pressing him to resign voluntarily
The government defended the move, terming the lawyers' movement "unconstitutional" and "politically-motivated".
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that action against Justice Chaudry had been taken in accordance with the law and the constitution.
He said the issue is now up to the Supreme Judicial Council in light of provision 209 of the Constitution.
"Every violator of the law of the land in any other field will face the same treatment," Aziz told reporters.
Federal Minister for Information Muhammad Ali Durrani warned the lawyers not to become part of the opposition.
"They should not act like political workers. This is purely a constitutional issue, and they should wait for the SJC's judgment," he told IOL.
Durrani warned that if lawyers tried to take the law in their hands, they would be treated accordingly.
"The government is not afraid of any protest movement. Lawyers are trying to convert a constitutional matter into a political issue," he maintained.
Pressurized
A relative of dismissed chief justice claim that he was being pressurized by the government to resign, otherwise he would have to face the SJC.
"The government is putting pressure on him to resign from his post," Aamir Rana, a nephew of Justice Chaudhry, told IOL.
"Authorities concerned are demanding resignation from my uncle. They are also harassing us, and some people in plain cloths raided my house to arrest me, but I wasn't there," he said.
Rana said the movement of the chief justice had been restricted to his official residence in Islamabad.
"No close relatives are allowed to meet him," he said, adding that all telephones of the official residence had been disconnected.
Rana said Musharraf asked Justice Chaudry not to pass remarks against the government during the hearing of different cases.
According to him, Justice Chaudry was facing a lot of pressure from the government to dismiss cases of missing persons.
Government sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IOL that some serving supreme court judges and two senior federal ministers were trying to persuade the chief justice to resign voluntarily to save the country from the imminent constitutional crisis.
Pakistan's veteran politician Asghar Khan, the first non-government person to meet the chief justice since Friday, told IOL that Chaudry was not ready to resign, and was determined to face the allegations leveled against him.
"He told me that he wants an open trial on the allegations against him so that the people of Pakistan know what is reality," he said.
According to Khan, Chaudry rejected the allegations against him and said he had done nothing wrong.
Chaudry told him he had been held incommunicado and was not allowed to see his lawyers.
"His all telephones and TV cable have been disconnected. Even, he is not being provided with newspapers."
PAKISTANI JUDGES QUIT IN TOP JUDGE ROW
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"It's a political issue, a political fight ... we have to intensify street protests," Ahmed said.
ISLAMABAD — Several judges resigned on Monday, March 19, in a new show of solidarity with the chief justice whose ouster by President Prevez Musharraf has triggered a constitutional crisis, while an adamant Islamabad warned the international community to keep its distance.
"I have talked to Justice Jawad Khawaja who confirmed he has resigned," Munir Malik, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
The Lahore High Court Judge's decision came to protest the removal of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudry and the government's mishandling of the furor.
"Justice Khawaja told me that he resigned over police excesses including tear gas shelling inside the High Court building and baton charge of lawyers," Malik said.
Musharraf suspended the chief justice on March 9 and referred him to a judicial panel on charges of misconduct and abuse of power.
Observers believe the military ruler, who assumed power in bloodless coup in 1999, is trying to intimidate the strong-willed judge to pave the way for his re-election by parliament later this year.
Under an agreement reached in 2004, Musharraf should have chosen between the two posts of president and chief-of-staff by the end of that year.
He has not since then.
Many also believe independent-minded Chaudry was being punished for refusing to toe the official line on several issues including the disappearances of hundreds of Pakistanis accused of terror links as well as high-profile corruption cases.
Resignation Wave
Separately, the advocate general of southern Sindh province, Anwar Mansoor, confirmed the resignations of two judges in the southern city of Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, and another in the town of Pannu Aqil.
"My conscience does not allow me to continue as a judicial officer," one of the judges, Ashraf Yar Khan, an assistant sessions judge in Karachi, said in a statement.
"Two more judges resigned later" in Karachi, a court official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
A civil judge in the central Pakistani city of Bahawalpur resigned last week while a public prosecutor told reporters that he was also quitting.
The wave of resignations came as judicial workers paralyzed court proceedings across the country for the ninth day.
Thousands of lawyers and politicians vowed nonstop rallies and hunger strikes to mark the swell of anger toward Musharraf.
"It's a political issue, a political fight ... we have to intensify street protests," said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the president of Pakistan's main alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
"This struggle can take us to our destination," he added.
Ahmed was briefly arrested during Friday's massive protests when riot police fired tear gas and arrested dozens of Pakistanis.
"We will have second and even third lines of leadership to lead the rallies if our leaders are arrested," Shahid Shamsi, a MMA spokesman, told AFP.
Keep Away
"We do not expect comments from the international community about that," Aslam said. (Reuters)
The defiant Islamabad government warned the international community not to interfere in the controversy.
"There have been comments by media of course and also by some human rights organizations and bodies. What I would say is that this is a matter which is sub judice," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam.
"I cannot comment on that and we will not like others to comment on it."
The United States, a major ally of Musharraf, has criticized Chaudry's ouster and called for cool heads to prevail.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the judicial crisis was a "matter of deep concern" that should be settled "in a way that is completely transparent and in accordance with Pakistan's laws."
The New York-based Human Rights Watch and several rights bodies have also spoken out against the use of excessive force to cow the media and the protestors.
A group of prominent British lawyers, including Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie, also voiced concern over Musharraf's decision.
The foreign minister spokeswoman insisted the standoff was an internal affair.
"We do not expect comments from the international community about that."
"CHAUDHRY CONVOY " DEFIES MUSHARRAF
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Chaudhry makes his way to address Lahore Bar Council in Lahore. (Reuters)
ISLAMABAD — Receiving a hero's welcome from locals, activists and lawyers, Pakistani Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry drove Saturday, May 5, from Islamabad to Lahore to drum up support in his legal battle against President Pervez Musharraf's attempt to sack him.
"The people of Punjab have given their judgment. They are with the chief justice and the judiciary," Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan, one of the Chief Justice's defense team, told IslamOnline.net over the phone from Lahore.
Ahsan, who is a Member of Parliament for Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan peoples Party (PPP), said today's mass rallies in support of Chaudhry served as a public referendum on sitting Musharraf.
"Not only Punjab, but the whole nation backs the Chief Justice. He is fighting for the supremacy and freedom of the judiciary," Ahsan added.
"The government’s all desperate and coercive attempts have failed to undermine our movement, which will continue till the freedom of judiciary."
Chanting "Go Musharraf Go", "army rule unacceptable", and "long live democratic Pakistan", Chaudhry's supporters from Islamabad and Jehlum to Gujrat and Lahore cheered the country's top judge and showered his convoy with flowers.
Musharraf's decision to sack Chaudhry sparked uproar from opposition parties, who called it an attempt to intimidate the judiciary, and prompted an inquiry by a five-judge panel.
Rallies have been held regularly, and lawyers have boycotted court hearings to demand his reinstatement.
The Supreme Judicial Council, which is hearing Chaudhry's case, adjourned proceedings on Thursday until May 9 after lawyers concluded arguments about the validity and composition of the council.
Chaudhry has also filed a separate constitutional petition at the Supreme Court challenging Musharraf's action against him. The court is to take up the petition on Monday, May 7.
Massive Arrests
Pakistanis went out in droves to cheer Chaudhry's convoy. (Reuters)
The supporters, estimated in thousands, defied stern warnings by police over the past few days against taking part in pro-Chaudhry rallies.
Police sources told IOL on condition of anonymity that around 3,000 lawyers and political activists were arrested in all over Punjab during last two days.
"We don’t know about the motive behind his arrest. The government has provided us the lists of the people who should be arrested," one police officer said.
Besides Lahore, most of the arrests were made in Gujranwala, Gujrat and other districts.
The detainees included the workers of Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttehida Majlis-e-Amal, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, and Pakistan Muslim League (N).
Heavy contingents of law enforcement agencies blocked several roads and service lanes in Jehlum, Lala Moosa, Muridkay, Kharian, Gujrat and other towns of the eastern Punjab province to prevent lawyers, activists and locals from venturing out.
Around 7,000 policemen and security officials have been deployed for the rally which organizers said are the biggest since Musharraf sacked Chaudhry on March 9.
Tariq Chaudhry, a senior journalist who was part of the Chief Justice’s convoy, said thousands of citizens could not reach rally venues due to extensive police barricades.
"Locals told us that they were threatened and prevented from welcoming the Chief Justice," he told IOL.
He said shopkeepers were asked by police to pull their shutters down on the arrival of chief justice in their respective cities.
"The police warned them if they do not pull their shutters down, they will be fined," the journalist added.
He said police were in vain trying their best to keep as many as they can from the rallies.
"The government seems to be desperate. Whenever the chief justice’s convoy left a city, the police systematically blocked 100-150 vehicles in the tail and cut them from the convoy," he said.
"However, the vigorous and motivated lawyers and political workers have almost foiled the government’s attempts by adopting alternative measures," he noted.
"I was surprised to see that at various places, even school children were present to welcome the chief justice," Tariq said.
No Politics
Lawyers and activists dismissed charges that their pro-judge campaigns were politically motivated.
"There is no political motive behind this movement. This is purely for the freedom of judiciary. The chief justice has never spoken even a single word about politics or against the presidential reference," said Ahsan.
"People of Pakistan do not trust General Musharraf. He never fulfils his promises. He had promised the nation that he would shed his military uniform by the end of 2004, but he never did that," he added.
Justice Nasira Iqbal saw eye-to-eye with Ahsan.
"Our aim is to restore the writ of constitution and democratic norms in the country. We have nothing to do with politics," Nasira, daughter-in-law of Pakistan’s legend poet Muhammad Iqbal, said.
PAK SUSPENDED JUDGE SCOLDS DICTATORSHIP
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"Rule of law and supremacy of the constitution is inevitable for a civilized society," Chaudhry said. (Reuters)
LAHORE — Pakistan's suspended top judge insisted on Sunday, May 6, that dictatorship states that ignored the rule of law and basic rights have no place in today's world, drawing immediate rebuke from the red-faced Musharraf regime.
"Nations and states which are based on dictatorship instead of the supremacy of the constitution, the rule of law and protection of basic rights get destroyed," Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry told thousands of cheering supporters, reported Reuters.
"The idea of dictatorship and collective responsibility are over," an exhausted-looking Chaudhry said in a broadcast live on private television from the compound of the Lahore High Court.
"They are chapters from the past and those nations which don't learn lessons from the past and repeat those mistakes, they have to pay a price," he told thousands of lawyers, 17 of Punjab province's 23 judges and opposition activists.
Chaudhry arrived in the city of Lahore on Sunday after tens of thousands of supporters turned out to greet him as he traveled by road from Islamabad.
With well-wishers throwing rose petals and clambering over Chaudhry's four-wheel-drive car throughout his journey from the capital, the trip which usually takes four hours lasted more than 20.
President Prevez Musharraf suspended the top judge on March 9 on charges of corruption and misconduct but the legal community and opposition saw the move as an attack on the independence of the judiciary.
Protest rallies have since been held regularly.
Constitutional Supremacy
Supporters gathered around Chaudhry's vehicle in Lahore. (Reuters)
The suspended top judge urged people to struggle for supremacy of constitution.
"It is the responsibility of the courts to defend human rights of the people and protect the constitution," he said.
"The motive of your struggle is supremacy of the constitution and rule of law and God will definitely give us success in this struggle," he told his audience, many of whom had camped out overnight waiting for his arrival.
"Rule of law and supremacy of the constitution is inevitable for a civilized society and the nations who do not believe in it cannot survive and face a collapse."
The authorities' heavy-handed ways and Chaudhry's refusal to resign transformed him into a cause celebre.
The crisis has blown up into the most serious challenge to Musharraf's authority since the army chief seized power in 1999.
"Tens of thousands people came for his reception, this is a referendum against Musharraf," Chaudhry's counsel Aitzaz Ahsan said.
"This reception is historic and it will be remembered in the country for many years."
Fakhr Imam, a former National Assembly speaker and a leader of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's party, agreed.
"I haven't seen anything like this since 1986 when Benazir returned," he said referring to the crowds that turned out when Bhutto returned from exile seven years after the military executed her father, former premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Lahore is capital of Punjab, the country's richest and most populous province and a traditional establishment stronghold.
The city is considered Pakistan's political nerve centre and Chaudhry's tumultuous reception will be seen as a clear sign to authorities that their efforts to contain the crisis were failing, observers said.
Politicized
The Musharraf regime accused Chaudhry's supporters of politicizing a judicial matter.
"This is clear that this campaign has become political," said Punjab chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi.
He announced that the ruling party would respond with a "much bigger rally" on May 12.
The same message was made a day earlier by President Musharraf himself.
"I warn the lawyers that they will not succeed in their designs," he said.
"I ask the lawyers to shun politics."
Since the start of the standoff, lawyers organized massive rallies nationwide against Musharraf's decision.
They have also boycotted court hearings to demand the reinstatement of the suspended top judge.
Opponents say Musharraf wants to weaken the courts and make it easier for him to stay on as army chief past this year's deadline set by the constitution.
The president also intends to seek re-election by the outgoing parliament for another five years ahead of national polls due late this year or early next -- a move that could spark other legal challenges.
SPEECH REVEALS NERVOUS , DREAMY MUSHARRAF
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"Musharraf thinks he is indispensable for the country, and Pakistan cannot be run without him," Fahim told IOL.
ISLAMABAD — A passionate speech delivered by President Prevez Musharraf on Saturday, May 12, from behind bullet-proof dais reveals a nervous and starry-eyed ruler, analysts and opposition parties have said.
"He is an unrealistic person, who doesn't know where to go now," Makhdoom Amin Fahim, chairman of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), an 18-party conglomeration, told IslamOnline.net.
"He should realize the ground realities, and act accordingly otherwise it will not go in his own favor."
Addressing a big rally in Islamabad from behind a highly-guarded, bullet-proof dais, Musharraf declared that the overwhelming majority in the country was with him.
"Do not challenge us. We are not cowards like you, we have the power of the people," said Musharraf wearing traditional Pakistani dress.
"He has appeared to be a nervous man," said Syed Munnawer Hassan, Secretary General of Pakistan's largest Islamic party, Jammat-e-Islami.
"He is just trying to hide his weakness."
Syed Mamnoon Hussein, a former Governor of Sindh province and senior vice-president of Pakistan Muslim League (N), agrees.
"Whatever he said (in his speech) doesn't suit him. He is threatening the political forces that he will crush them," he said, referring to Musharraf's statement that he will crush his opponents.
"He has realized the fact that he is loosing the ground that is why he is acting like a nervous person."
The speech coincided with the killing of at least 40 people and the injury of over 200 in clashes between the ruling Muttehida Quami Movement (MQM)'s supporters and opposition activists in the commercial hub of Karachi.
The armed workers of the ruling party blocked all the city roads with the help of law enforcing agencies to foil the opposition parties' rallies to welcome suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.
Chaudry was virtually detained by the authorities inside Quaid-I-Azam i International Airport for eight hours, and was not allowed to address a ceremony organized by the lawyers to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Sindh High Court.
Musharraf suspended the top judge on March 9 on charges of misconduct and corruption, sparking a wave of protests that have increasingly focused on his eight-year military rule.
Dreamy
"Do not challenge us. We are not cowards like you, we have the power of the people," Musharraf said.
Experts and opposition leaders said Musharraf was day-dreaming about his popularity.
"The vested-interest elements around him have been misleading him that he is very popular among the masses," said Fahim, who is also the vice chairman of former Benazir Bhutto-led Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
He cited as a case in point a slogan raised at the meeting that "Pakistan is not acceptable without Musharraf."
"Musharraf thinks he is indispensable for the country, and Pakistan cannot be run without him.
"But of course, he is not," said the opposition leader.
"If the people of Pakistan are with him, then why did he addressed the rally (from) behind the bullet-proof dais," asked Hassan, the leader of Jammat-e-Islami party.
"Is he scared of the people who according to his clam love him?"
The speech, according to Musharraf's critics, also demonstrate his strong-man discourse.
"He has given a clear message through his speech that he is the only might in this country," said Fahim.
"He even doesn't recognize those who have been backing him for last over seven years."
The Jammat-e-Islami leader agreed.
"This was not the speech of a ruler who loves his people. It was the speech of a dictator who suppresses his own people," he argued.
Shamim-ur-Rehman, a senior political analyst, said Musharraf considers himself and Pakistan the same thing.
"General Musharraf thinks that he and Pakistan are essential for each other. He thinks he can't be defeated and he has been saying this for quite some time," he added.
"In my opinion, he is getting weak, and when someone gets weak, he boasts like that," said the expert.
"His speech shows that he is a fascist and he is patronizing the fascist groups in the society," Shamim said, referring to Saturday's gun battles in Karachi involving the ruling party workers.
He disputes Musharraf's claim that he is the most popular figure among the Pakistani masses.
"The army could be with him, but he doesn't have any popular following. As far as the people are concerned, he has no mandate."
Shamim also criticized Musharraf for delivering a speech to thousands of his own party's supporters from behind bullet-proof dais.
"He is so popular as he can't even address the people without bullet proof dais and jacket.
"This is the time for the military to think whether it is alongside or against the people of Pakistan.
"Unless the military interventions are stopped, our society cannot assume democratic proportions," said Shamim.
General Musharraf assumed power on October 12, 1999, in a bloodless military coup and dismissed the government of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Sharif was handed down life imprisonment by an anti-terrorist court in a hijacking case. He was exiled to Saudi Arabia in 2001 under an agreement brokered by the Saudi authorities.
"My advise to him is to voluntarily step down, because the game is now over for him," said the former governor of Sindh province.
"A dictator can't suppress the masses for a long period."
COURT REINSTATES PAK TOP JUDGE
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satel...=Article_C&cid=1184649094298&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
Chaudhry's case was seen as the biggest challenge to Musharraf's eight-year rule.
ISLAMABAD — In a major blow to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday, July 20, reinstated chief judge Iftikhar Chaudhry and quashed misconduct charges against him.
"The reference has been set aside and the chief justice has been reinstated," said Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday at the conclusion of the two-month-old case, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The suspension of the judge was unanimously set aside as being illegal, noted Ramday.
He added that the misconduct and abuse of power allegations were also dismissed by a 10-3 verdict.
"As a further consequence the petitioner, the chief justice of Pakistan, shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same," the judge concluded.
Independent-minded Chaudhry was suspended by Musharraf last March on charges of misconduct and misuse of authority.
Chaudhry's supporters say Musharraf suspended the top judge for fears he would obstruct his plans to get re-elected by current assemblies before they are dissolved for a general election at the end of the year.
Musharraf said he accepted the court ruling.
"The president has said the judgment of the Supreme Court will be honored, respected, and adhered to," Musharraf's spokesman Major General Rashid Qureshi told AFP.
The Pakistani government also accepted the verdict.
"I have always maintained that the decision by the honorable court must be accepted by all sections of the people including the government itself," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in a statement.
He, however, said that it was "not the time to claim victory or defeat".
"Go Musharraf"
Friday's court ruling sparked cheers and celebrations among thousands of Chaudhry's supporters.
"This is a new dawn for Pakistan," Munir Malik, one of Chaudhry's lawyers and the president of Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, told AFP.
"This supreme court has vision and courage. The basis of a free and independent judiciary has now been founded in Pakistan," he added as the attorneys gathering outside the court chanted "Go Musharraf, Go!"
"Pervez Musharraf should resign because the charges were illegal and have been declared null and void by the highest legal authority in the country," said Ali Ahmad Kurd, a senior lawyer for Chaudhry.
"The doors of this building are from now onward closed to the generals and now no general will force martial law, and today a new Pakistan has emerged from this court decision," Kurd said.
Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and retains the dual position of army chief and president.
Musharraf's action against Chaudhry sparked what quickly became the biggest challenge to his eight-year rule, with mass pro-democracy protests and political violence in Karachi that left more than 40 dead.
"We salute the whole of the nation for this victory for the rule of law, the independence of the judiciary and the supremacy of the constitution," said Lahore High Court Bar president Ahsan Bhoon.
ANALYSING EVENTS IN PAKISTAN USING Dr KALIM SIDDIQUI’s “FLASH IN THE PAN ” MODEL
http://www.muslimedia.com/pak-ksflash.htm
As the political trouble sparked by the sacking of Pakistan’s chief justice in March shows no sign of abating, DR PERWEZ SHAFI of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT) tries to understand it using a model of political behaviour proposed by the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui.
How is one to explain the current fight between army chief and president General Parvez Musharraf and Mohammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, the chief justice of the Supreme Court within the nation-state system? Both have served the system well, along with serving foreign masters throughout their lives. Both have risen from the bottom to the top of their respective institutions; both cooperated until now. Does it matter who is right or wrong, who the oppressor is and who the “victim”? In such a scenario how is the fight actually fought and what outcomes can be expected? There are various theories and explanations, but one offered by the late Dr Kalim Siddiqui is by far the best and accurately describes the fight.
The late Dr Kalim Siddiqui – an intellectual giant, an institution-builder, and an activist until the very end of his life – wrote a penetrating analysis of Pakistani politics in 1984, “Islamic Revolution: The only possible future for Pakistan”. In it, he conclusively demonstrated that all political changes within the ruling elite are a result of factional in-fighting only to maintain the status quo. Since the beginning, events have been shaping and moving in that direction as explained by Dr Siddiqui, and unfolding events have been following that pattern.
The Pakistani model
Dr Kalim’s model describing the political model of a nation-state of Pakistan which highlighted three underlying factors -- social discontent with the present exploitative and oppressive system, foreign domination, and the deep political and religious consciousness of the masses -- which combine to bring about cosmetic changes in the system designed to maintain the status quo. He characterised the results as “flash in the pan” agitative politics:
They [the three factors listed above] may even be exploited and misused by other powerful elements to bring about minor upheavals and revolts against competing factions within the exploitative system. In Pakistan Ayub Khan called his 1958 military coup a ‘revolution’, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto used a similar technique to whip up hatred against the military rulers. Shaikh Mujibur Rehman used precisely this technique, first used by the Muslim League, to secure the support of the Muslim masses in East Pakistan, leading eventually to the breakup of Pakistan and the emergence of Bangladesh. The Pakistan National Alliance (the PNA) did just this against Bhutto, during 1976-77. This ‘flash in the pan’ type of agitative politics leaves the society weaker, more exhausted, morally more corrupt, and more open to even greater external domination and for the emergence of even more tyrannical domestic rulers.
Like any neo-colonial nation-state, the entire political history of Pakistan revolves around a ruling elite trying to monopolise all political power. The components of the ruling elite normally work cooperatively to exploit, loot and plunder society’s resources for their personal benefits, maintain their class monopoly on power, and to perpetuate the status quo. The ruling elite consists of military, politicians, bureaucrats and judiciary, but among these groups by far the most powerful is the military. The bureaucracy and the judiciary are distant junior partners who have accepted their subservience to the military and have repeatedly condoned its privileged position in the hierarchy of power.
Though the elite’s components rule and hold onto power cooperatively, sometimes differences among them turn into an open fight. When in-fighting reaches such a level, each party tries to improve its personal political standing in the hierarchy of power by destabilising and eliminating the others. In their in-fighting, the dominating elite with much higher institutional power seeks foreign support to hang on to power, while the one that can claim to be a “victim” compared to the other has the opportunity to enlist and organise public support. At that stage the slogans, symbols and outcomes of a popular agitation are couched in terms of what benefits the people, hiding the actual goals of the fight. By bringing the people in, the elite also releases their pent-up energy of social discontent. The crisis, if co-optation and coercion fails, is resolved when an elite gives up the competition, accepting defeat; the status quo is maintained, perhaps slightly modified, while the people get nothing. Because of this cheating the people are naturally more frustrated, despondent and demoralised, and under more foreign influence. In extreme cases of in-fighting the country is weakened and sometimes suffers irreparable damage.
The accuracy of the model
Since the so-called ‘independence’ of Pakistan, the history of its political crises conforms almost exactly to Dr Kalim Siddiqui’s model of factional in-fighting and agitative “flash-in-the-pan”-type politics: no real change occurs in the ‘system’ and the status quo is maintained. In the 1960s, President General Ayub Khan and his foreign minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, both came up through the ‘system’ and served each other. But eventually in-fighting led President General Ayub to seek US support, while Bhutto sought the support of the people. Bhutto was temporarily defeated and jailed; later on President Ayub handed power to another military General Yahya Khan. Within a year the fight among Yahya, Bhutto and Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, a popular politician from East Pakistan, led to the break-up of the country with the connivance of Indian.
The dismemberment of the country discredited the military; Bhutto assumed power at the beginning of the 1970s and ruled with an iron hand for seven years. In early 1977, after Bhutto was re-elected, the opposition cried foul. This time Bhutto was trapped; he could neither seek US support (because the US wanted to destabilise him anyway for starting and remaining defiant about the country’s nuclear programme), nor could he seek popular support because the US and the combined opposition (in the form of Pakistan National Alliance) captured and capitalised on their discontent. Eventually the people’s sacrifices were wasted: the military took advantage of the situation and overthrew Bhutto.
In the 1990s, during the era of so-called democracy, when the military were sent back to the barracks after the fiery crash of General Ziaul Haq when he was no longer needed because the Afghan jihad was over, the prime ministers were removed constitutionally every 2 to 3 years, as they quarrelled got with civilian presidents in an effort to acquire more political power. The current fight between Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and President General Pervez Musharraf is not unprecedented: in 1998 prime minister Nawaz Sharif, a businessman groomed in the 1980s by the army and security agencies, got into a fight with Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, and his party goons stormed the Supreme Court building. Chief Justice Shah was eventually dismissed, leaving the judiciary even more demoralised and more open to political interference.
In late 1999, the simmering fight between President General Musharraf and PM Nawaz Sharif came in the open after the Kargil fiasco, where Musharraf sent his forces deep inside Kargil in Indian-held Kashmir against Indian forces, mainly to destabilise Nawaz and his policies and to disrupt the budding India-Pakistan relations. The army chief’s position is paramount in the Muslim nation-state system. After minor fights with Chief Justice Shah and others, Nawaz was emboldened to such an extent that he planned to get rid of Musharraf. But Musharraf had already planned his counter-attack. Finally when Nawaz acted and deposed Musharraf as army chief, the army counter-attacked, overthrew him and installed Musharraf in power.
Since then Musharraf has not had any serious challenges to his rule. He also got a compliant and subservient judiciary, whose twelve judges not only validated and blessed his military takeover in May 2000 (including currently ‘suspended’ Justice Chaudhry), under the “doctrine of necessity”, but also gave him unprecedented power to amend the constitution as he pleases. All the judges of the Supreme Court were amply rewarded for serving the system: in 2002 six of the twelve were retired and given further perks and benefits as well as cushy jobs. The rest, including Justice Chaudhry, were given three-year extensions and pay-rises of 30 percent. They are also entitled to residence, all utility bills, officially-maintained car, cook, driver and a guard at his residence, all paid for by the government. After retirement they will continue to receive a significant portion of this package.
In June 2005 Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry was made chief justice by Musharraf, superseding other senior judges and violating the rule made in the late 1990s, according to which the seniormost judge of the Supreme Court becomes chief justice. Neither Chaudhry nor Musharraf had any qualms about violating the seniority rules and usurping the rights of other judges. Justice Falak Sher, and others whose rights were violated, are expected to wait for their turn, otherwise their jobs, perks and benefits might be jeopardy. Justice Sher excused himself, pleading a conflict of interest, from the full court bench hearing 23 petitions challenging the president’s reference to the Supreme Judicial Council.
Like ordinary human beings, the Supreme Court judges are falling over each other to become the permanent or acting chief justice. Independence of the judiciary and rule of law does not come about due to defiance of one or two judges unless the concepts are institutionalised and part of the judiciary’s legal, cultural and political training. Any lawyers’ movement for independence of the judiciary and rule of law can be easily derailed if other judges are waiting eagerly in line to fill the position as soon as the top man is removed. In this elite fight, without taking any position in favour of or against Justice Chaudhry or army’s chief General Musharraf, Pakistanis should strive for the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law as a principled position and a high moral ground.
However, after serving a corrupt system all their lives, all of a sudden any isolated emphasis on these moral and legal values rings hollow and seems to be used only for popular consumption, to get the people’s support. These crises, as pointed out earlier, also act as a “safety valve” for the pent-up energy of social discontent
According to Dr Kalim’s model, however, more important than the events of elite in-fighting are the damaging effects of “pressure cooker” politics have left on society. He mentioned five particular debilitating effects:
1. The disintegration of society
Pakistan has suffered the disintegration of its society into much smaller units on the basis of different kinds of local identity. It is generally accepted that nationalism is kufr, but it appears that Pakistan is also fractured by similar un-Islamic forces such as sectarianism, tribalism, and ethnicity. The extremism exhibited by secular and religious groups operating on these bases seems to have no limits.
The Ayub-Bhutto fight in the late 1960s led to a complete breakdown of the consensus among components of the ruling classes, which led not only the break-up of the country but left more than 100,000 soldiers as prisoners of war. The social-psychological shock to the society was devastating.
In the early 1980s General Zia al-Haq, in order to strengthen his own rule, clearly appeared to follow the colonial policy of “divide and rule”. In his zeal to ‘Islamise’, the government imposed zakah but exempted Shi‘ahs from it, thereby encouraging the emergence of militant and extremist wings of both communities that are responsible for much of the violence in the country. General Zia killed two birds with one stone: he pretended to be enforcing Islam and expected people to support him on that basis; yet he was able to create division, hatred and violence in society where there had been little or none before.
In an oppressive system in which every group has grievances it is very easy to incite and exploit resentments. General Zia took advantage of the muhajirs (emigrants from India at the time of partition from India, and their descendants) and their feeling of being an exploited community, supported their ethnic nationalism in Karachi and the formation of the MQM (Muhajir Qaumi Movement), which then turned on other communities to wrest their ‘rights’ from them. He used the muhajirs’ hatred to cut down and debase Jama‘at-e Islami and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The cycle of violence started then has repeated intermittently, but the issues have not been resolved. Similarly the people of Malakand, who rose in a jihad against the nation-state with the slogan “Shari’at or Shahadat” in November 1994, were brutally crushed by the military. The uprising put all the religious political parties in the country on the spot, but no party took any action except to pay lip-service.
During the 1990s, Nawaz Sherif attacked the Supreme Court. Attempts to buy out or dislodge judges were made openly, further damaging the standing of the Court. Then in the Nawaz-Musharraf fight about blame for the Kargil debacle people lost most of what little confidence they had left in the government. The continuing effort by General Musharraf to forcibly keep Nawaz and Benazir Bhutto in exile prevents further popular participation, leading to even more discontent. Thus division amon...