A fresh new initiative called CRDP has been launched by Pakistani Americans who want to help convince the US decision makers to aid in the demilitarization of Pakistani politics.

The Coalition For Restoration Of Democracy In Pakistan plans to hold rallies and discussion groups across the US to raise awareness to help bring democracy in Pakistan, they plan to reach out to Senators and House representatives in each State and congressional district and also engage the media, Human Right groups and other relevant professional organizations to bring this important issue in Pakistan to the forefront and hopefully help restore democracy in Pakistan
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Federal Law Minister Wasi Zaffar has said that a new reference has been prepared against Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

Confirming that a new reference was prepared against the CJP Justice Iftikhar, Wasi Zaffar said the new reference would be filed in the Supreme Court keeping in view the future situation and appropriate time.

The new reference is prepared on the basis of the post-presidential reference activities of the CJP and it also includes arguments on the basis of the three affidavits submitted by the government in the Supreme Court.

The consultation with the government counsels about the new reference is underway, he said.

It seems to me that the government is anticipating it may be defeated in the supreme court and so is readying its armory. If they do lose and then file another reference, the SJC would be wrong to entertain it on the basis that they should have made the “new” allegations (those that are new are another matter) part of the first reference. It is an abuse of the tribunal’s process to allow them to have another bite of the cherry and if the SJC doesn’t resist it then the SC might well block it.

A group of Pakistanis have started an online petition to generate signatures of people who feel that Altaf Hussian should be extradited out of the United Kingdom on charges of running a terrorist organization in Pakistan while he himself languishes in the UK.

Imran Khan is presently in the UK discussing the case with the lawyers and making sure that enough preparations are made so that there are no leak holes allowing Altaf Hussain an opportunity to sneak out unharmed.

If you feel passionately about the cause read the entire draft and sign it here
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There’s plenty of speculation as to why he was removed. Here is another take on it: he was about to take suo moto notice of the KSE crash in 2005 with notices issuing to among others the PM. What a can of worms that might have opened.

Buddget speech of Minister of State for Finance in National Assembly
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Straftor:

Pakistan: PM Will Not Resign
June 09, 2007 19 40 GMT

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said June 9 he will not resign over the political turmoil caused by the suspension of Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who was dismissed in March for alleged misconduct in what critics claim was the president’s attempt to weaken the court. Responding to calls for his resignation in the event that Chaudhry is reinstated, Aziz said he has done nothing to warrant stepping down.

The News is reporting that the President has annulled an ordinance he issued a few days ago. As soon as it was issued it came under intense domestic and international criticism. Even the United States, a staunch ally of Musharraf, noted its concern. Writ petitions were issued in the SHC and the LHC seeking a quashing of the ordinance which had been issued with just 24 hours to go before the beginning of a National Assembly session. High level government functionaries met with media representatives and proprietors. The result: an almost total government u-turn. A code of conduct is being prepared apparently. Whatever that may contain and whether or not it has the force of law the damage has been done because the media have stopped live coverage of certain issues such as CJP’s ouster.

Why the u-turn? Because the damage has been done to the media (they now keep parrotting the government view and are giving less coverage to certain other issues; in other words self-censorship is the order of the day) and at the same time it looks good for the president’s image on an international level; his image has taken a battering in recent weeks and months on the international level.

The crises will be over in a few days, claims the President.

Perhaps the president knows something we don’t? Only time will tell.

On Monday the SC will rule on the maintainability of the petition. It is too close to call; the judges are clearly divided this much can be gleaned from their comments during the hearing. Is public pressure enough to get a fair result? Probably not.

Salman Ahmed has recently posed a very interesting question for everyone to answer and I feel its a real thought provoker, Salman does go on to ask everyone to participate and preferably write a 250 word answer for Junoon Forums The question is….

If Jinnah were in Pakistan today, as a lawyer whose case would he be defending, and why?

Without doubt I must concede that it apparently seems to be a very simple straightforward question but its depressing to note that, had if, Jinnah and the top leaders involved in the tireless creation of Pakistan were a witness today they would all have wept their hearts out, at the seeing the present status this country specially watch in utter astonishment how these present days leaders are running the country they worked so hard to build.

Please do strive to write the 250 word response, but even if you are not up to the task then I would request you to share your comments, be it of any length but our intention is to create a dialog and discussion.

The Friday Times: Our mole reports that the powers-that-be have decided to implement more repression in days to come. Following the khakis’ conference and the blanket support garnered therein by the real PM, the latter and his advisors have decided to dig themselves deeper into a hole by adopting a hardliner approach to political challenges. Following the promulgation of the PEMRA Ordinance to gag the media, a series of sedition cases are being planned against speakers at the recent lawyers’ convention at the Supreme Court in Isloo. The lawyer who represented the government in Javed Hashmi’s sedition case (Hashmi being an early detractor of the khakis and still rotting in prison for it) has been asked to draft the First Information Reports. The cases are likely to be registered in the next few days.