A very touching film which must be watched by all alike, it was set to be released on Nov 21st in a viewing at FAST-NU Lahore but the authorities clamped down on this and prevented the viewing. Since then it has moved on to the digital world originally uploaded at [ The Critique Aggregator ] while simultaneously uploaded on the Missing in Pakistan blog. Watch the video and spread the word, if you want to download a full screen version then download from RapidShare 103MB

Message from [ The Critique Aggregator ]

The Critique Aggregator (http://paki-blogger.blogspot.com) is a blog maintained by concerned activists, academics, some of them of Pakistani origin, some non-Pakistani but concerned with the situation in Pakistan, living wherever they are. The aim of the blog is to resist state oppression in Pakistan and to disseminate critical information. The bloggers have just uploaded a video on people Missing in Pakistan. We are not taking the credit for the video either. We are only the disseminators. Watch the video released today by the students at a protesting university in Lahore. The names of the documentary filmmakers are in the movie. So the credit goes to the brave filmmakers. Not to us. The bloggers also seek anonymous contributions from all concerned citizens of the world on the situation in Pakistan.

Send in your anonymous contributions to this email address. We will not publish any story with a name so do not send anything with your real name. The focus is on privacy and safety. Not on gaining fame. Namelessness and facelessness are the most well-known resistance tactics. Forget them and you are eaten by the agencies of Pakistan.

It is a viral movement. We want to publish fearless stories. Individual opinions. Cutting-edge reports. Protest tactics. We are trying to become the faceless multitude. The flash protest. The autonomous viral movement of resistant action. This is not the time to cut a deal with Musharraf or his cronies or the Empire that supports Busharraf or to garner fame. This is the time to try and push for a change in Pakistan.

NOTE: If you send something to us for publication and it has your REAL name on it, we will change the name. So it is better if you use a consistent nom de guerre / pen name for yourself. It is even better if this name is symbolic or figurative (like LUMS Pamphleteer) so that there is no accidental resemblance with any real person. We can give due credit to your nom de guerre. Please also try to substantiate your analysis with pictures and videos. We are not trying to replace other blogs but to complement them because we have very fast uploading connections. We support the movement at LUMS, FAST-NU, BNU, Quaid e Azam University, Punjab University and elsewhere in Pakistan. We do not seek any recognition. We are part of the collective struggle.

ANOTHER NOTE: Some of the stuff on the blog is rude or uses coarse language. But after seeing the video on the missing people, you will forgive our little rude jokes on Musharraf. It is our attempt to laugh in the face of extremely rude dictatorship by being a little bit obscene every now and then. It is all political humor. Milan Kundera has written somewhere that, during the Soviet Occupation, people recognized the members of the resistance in Czechoslovakia because of their tendency to laugh. Laughter is subversive too. This blog will be maintained by volunteers and many people already know the password. So if one or two persons are removed or hunted down, it will not be silenced. It is already a work of a multitude and all of them use the same username and password.

Yours in solidarity

The Human Text Collective
Email: human.text@gmail.com
Lahore, Islamabad, Paris, Berlin, New York, London

- Teeth Maestro

- Pak Lawyer’s blog

- Stratfor’s take on things

- Pakistaniat

- Karachi metblog

- Lahore metblog

- Islamabad metblog

CJ has been escorted out of premises along with other judges and AG. Arrest warrant has been issued for Aitzaz Ahsan.

PCO has been issued. More on this as soon as possible.

“What they are saying is that this would put in jeopardy all kinds of assistance and support,” said the Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It would be just very difficult to support this government.”

The warnings come as reports are emerging that, with a Supreme Court ruling on whether the general can continue as president expected next week, the government has drafted legislation to impose a state of emergency. Some government officials have denied the reports.

Popular opposition to the general’s continued rule has grown, as has violence within the country. Pakistan’s security forces continue to battle Islamist militants in the Swat region, in the country’s northwest, where bombings have become common. Two suicide bombings this week, one just a mile from General Musharraf, killed Pakistani security officers.

A state of emergency would increase the powers of the general, who seized power in a coup in 1999 and appointed himself president in 2001. He won a referendum in 2002, and then a vote of confidence by the electoral college in 2004 that allowed him to continue as president through a term that expires in two weeks. He was re-elected by national and provincial assemblies in early October.

The Supreme Court resumed hearing petitions today on whether General Musharraf was eligible to participate in that election, or has already held the presidency as long as the Constitution allows. Justice Javed Iqbal had earlier said that the court wanted to wind up the hearing by Nov. 1, but the proceedings have continued because of lengthy arguments of the lawyers. A ruling is now expected next week.

Western officials have urged him to abide by the court ruling. But some people worry that if the court rules against him, he might declare emergency rule to retain power.

Opposition politicians, many of whom boycotted the election, say the government is raising the specter of emergency rule to influence the court not to rule against General Musharraf.

Sherry Rehman, the central information secretary of Pakistan Peoples’ Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said: “The P.P.P. considers the imposition of emergency rule a negation of the democracy it has fought for. It will resist such a move on all counts and with all its force.”

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the minister for railways, who is considered to be close to the general, confirmed that emergency rule was being considered, citing a spate of suicide bombings. But he denied that the step was intended to influence the court.

“The country is very tense,” Mr. Ahmed said. “But I must be very clear that no decision has been taken yet.”

However, another government official ruled out the possibility of emergency rule.

That official, Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum, addressed the Supreme Court today. “Who is saying that martial law is going to be imposed?” Mr. Qayyum said, Agence France-Presse reported. “Martial law will not be imposed, not be imposed, not be imposed.”

Adm. William J. Fallon, the senior American commander in the region, arrived in Islamabad on Thursday night for a previously scheduled meeting with the general to discuss rising militant attacks in the country. He is expected to tell the Pakistani president that the United States is opposed to emergency rule. The Western warnings follow several months of pressure from a chorus of senior American officials who have visited or telephoned General Musharraf. In August, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called him, urging him not to declare emergency rule.

Today, as she traveled to Turkey, Ms. Rice urged General Musharraf to go ahead with the elections planned for January.

“I am not going to get into the details of our conversations but I think it would be quite obvious that the United States would not be supportive of extra-constitutional means,” she said, Reuters reported. “Pakistan needs to prepare for and hold free and fair elections.” But she said that she had not spoken to the general in recent days.

Salman Masood and Jane Perlez reported from Islamabad and David Rohde from Peshawar.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/world/asia/03pakistan.html?ref=world

At this joyous occasion please take a moment to offer a prayer for the hundreds and thousands of innocent lives being lost in North Waziristan for the sake of ’someone else’s [read USA] war on terror’. Please take time to offer prayers for ‘our’ Pakistan, in the hope that Allah may guide these ruthless, mindless & corrupt politicians to empower them to do what is best for Pakistan and not work mindlessly towards protecting their position of power and their greed for wealth.

We instill this message with the belief that one person can, and will, make a difference, you can change the destiny of Pakistan by simply believing in this nation and Inshallah the combined effort of hundreds of Patriotic Pakistanis can ultimately break free from the shackles of these corrupt leaders and lead this nation towards the vision of a progressive Pakistani nation.

Ameen

I would suggest every Pakistani to take a moment and say a few words on why you love Pakistan and post it to the buzzvines site. My message posted on the site is as follows.

I love Pakistan, have done so throughout my life, and will love it forever.

Pakistan belongs to its people and not to the bunch of rotten corrupt politicians that have come and gone. Pakistan has been resilient enough to withstand the onslaught of corruption year after year for 60 years running, watching one tyrant after another make his own heaven on earth, even then my country withstood the onslaught and continued to serve its people. After a 60 year struggle it seems to be a little battle worn and tired and its now time for true Pakistanis like us, to stand up and give our nation a helping hand. It does not ask for much, just simply your love for the nation and maybe a good ruler at the helm of the ship and the courage to stand up and boldly say, I LOVE PAKISTAN very soon we shall see our efforts bear fruit and the new rising sun will take Pakistan into the skies like never before

Believe in Pakistan like never before and boldly say Pakistan Zindabad

Unlike the hustle bustle that Islamabad was a witness to over the past 24 hours it seems that this was simply a media circus created by none other then Musharraf’s partner-in-crime Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain who happened to be the originator of all this media frenzy when in is typical mumbling style hinted that an emergency was likely to be declared in Pakistan.

Geo.Tv: Pakistan Muslim League (QA) president Chaudhry Shujaat also reportedly said while talking to women parliamentarians of party during a reception which was hosted by him at his residence that emergency is likely to be declared

But today in a complete reversal of his statement Chaudhry Sahib issues a statement putting all such rumors to rest and said that no emergency is being imposed in the country and all reports in this connection are rumors.

Geo.Tv: Chaudhry Shujaat stated in Geo News program “ Parliament Cafeteria”. Also in the program, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, that there is no truth in reports of imposition of emergency in the country

One has to wonder why such rumors were started in the first place by a close aide of Musharraf and I strongly suspect some serious foul play afoot in this fiasco which engulfed the entire nation for a good 24 hours. Seasoned politicians like Chaudhry Shujaat generally do not make such loose comments without careful planning and it can only mean that he seriously wanted to hurt Musharraf maybe since he was carefully being sidelined with the Benazir-Musharraf deal in the recent days

Whosoever was responsible for this circus has without doubt hurt Musharraf’s already feeble credibility. At the end of the road we now see a battle worn, tired and heavily bleeding Musharraf grasping for his last breath, its seems this punching bag has taken too many hits this year but still has the balls to stand up and defend his kursi. I now feel we just have to sit back and await the final death blow on Musharraf which can be served up by anyone who would be willing to take a stab at this bleeding tyrant and maybe teach him a lesson or two, the offer is open to anyone for the taking

The full text of the order is:

ORDER

For detailed reasons to be recorded later, the following issues arising out of this petition are decided as under:-

(I) MAINTAINABILITY OF COP NO.21 OF 2007 FILED UNDER ARTICLE 184(3) OF THE CONSTITUTION

This petition is unanimously declared to be maintainable.

(II) VALIDITY OF THE DIRECTION (THE REFERENCE) ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENT UNDER ARTICLE 209(5) OF THE CONSTITUTION.

By a majority of 10 to 3 (Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, J., M. Javed Buttar, J. and Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, J. dissenting), the said direction (the Reference) in question dated March 9, 2007, for separate reasons to be recorded by the Hon. Judges so desiring, is set aside.

(III) VIRES OF JUDGES (COMPULSORY LEAVE) ORDER BEING PRESIDENT’S ORDER NO. 27 OF 1970 AND THE CONSEQUENT VALIDITY OF THE ORDER DATED 15.3.2007 PASSED BY THE PRESIDENT DIRECTING THAT THE CJP SHALL BE ON LEAVE

The said President’s Order No.27 of 1970 is, unanimously declared as ultra vires of the Constitution and consequently the said order of the President dated 15.3.2007 is also, unanimously declared to have been passed without lawful authority.

(IV) VALIDITY OF THE ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT DATED 9.3.2007 AND OF THE ORDER OF THE SAME DATE OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COUNCIL RESTRAINING THE CJP FROM ACTING AS A JUDGE OF THE SUPREME COURT AND/OR CHIEF JUSTICE OF PAKISTAN

Both these orders are, unanimously, set aside as being illegal. However, since according to the minority view on the question of the validity of the direction (the Reference) in question, the said Reference had been competently filed by the President, therefore, this Court could pass a restraining order under Article 184(3) read with Article 187 of the Constitution.

(V) VALIDITY OF THE APPOINTMENT OF THE HON’BLE ACTING CHIEF JUSTICES OF PAKISTAN IN VIEW OF THE ANNULMENT OF THE TWO RESTRAINING ORDERS AND THE COMPULSORY LEAVE ORDER IN RESPECT OF THE CJP

The appointments in question of the Hon’ble Acting Chief Justices of Pakistan vide notification dated 9.3.2007 and the notification dated 22.3.2007 are, unanimously, declared to have been made without lawful authority. However, this in-validity shall not affect the ordinary working of the Supreme Court or the discharge of any other Constitutional and/or legal obligations by the Hon’ble Acting Chief Justices of Pakistan during the period in question and this declaration is so made by applying the de-facto doctrine.

(VI) ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE HON’BLE CHIEF JUSTICE OF PAKISTAN

It has never been anybody’s case before us that the Chief Justice of Pakistan was not accountable. The same issue, therefore, does not require any adjudication.
All other legal and Constitutional issues raised before us shall be answered in due course through the detailed judgment/judgments to follow.

ORDER OF THE COURT

By majority of 10 to 3 (Faqir Muhammad Khokhar, J., M. Javed Buttar, J. and Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, J. dissenting), this Constitution Original Petition No.21 of 2007 filed by Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, is allowed as a result whereof the above-mentioned direction (the Reference) of the President dated March 9, 2007 is set aside. As a further consequence thereof, the petitioner CJP shall be deemed to be holding the said office and shall always be deemed to have been so holding the same.

The other connected petitions shall be listed before the appropriate Benches, in due course, for their disposal in accordance with law.

J.

Islamabad, the
20th July, 2007.
(APPROVED FOR REPORTING)

White Phosphorus is a flare / smoke producing incendiary weapon which is also used as an offensive Anti-Personnel flame compound capable of causing serious burns or death.  White phosphorus weapons are controversial today because of its potential use against humans, for whom one-tenth of a gram is a deadly dose and according to the Geneva Convention which was later amended by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons signed into effect in 1997, expressively prohibits the use against civilians.  White Phosphorus weapons have been used in the recent past by Israel in Lebanon and US and UK in Iraq, but probably the first time ever by a an army against its own people

Article 1 of Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (Wikipedia) defines an incendiary weapon as ‘any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of flame, heat, or combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target’. The same protocol also prohibits the use of incendiary weapons against civilians or in civilian areas.  However, the use against military targets outside civilian areas is not explicitly banned by any treaty.

There continues to be a strong debate on how Musharraf should have handled this situation, but what surprises me is the inhumanity of this attack, dexterity of the assault should have meant targeted exchange of fire maybe an occasional rubber bullet to pacify the milder militants, but the indiscriminate use of chemical weapons, by the National Army against its own people. Is jaw dropping serious, its akin to the mass murder which happened in Karachi on May 12th when the Army headed off to the barracks leaving the city at the hands of ruthless killers for six hours..

To understand the gravity of the situation one has only to look at these two images of burnt bodies the sight is excruciatingly painful, when the Americans used White Phosphorous on the victims in Fallujah back in April 2004.

If you look at the top most image which appeared in Dawn on 13th July (link) one sees the classic signs of a high intensity flame, which reached astounding temperatures to melt the steel framework of ceiling fans, one must also noted that the public was not shown the remains of numerous people killed in the disaster and quickly buried them in concealed wooden coffins the next day.

I am shocked and stunned at what has just happened, it should be enough for the world to wake up and ask for an unconditional removal of the dictator

Story credit:: Asma

For the fleeting moment when I did stop on PTV, I noticed the stage, which was in the typical style sitting next to the image of Quaid-e-Azam over his right shoulder. He chooses to place the image of a leader which built Pakistan brick by brick, but he on the other hand chooses to stoop, bowing down on his knees willing to sacrifice the countries respect and honor for some other persons agenda. The image of Quaid-e-Azam along with Musharraf was hypocrisy at its highest form. The stage would have looked perfectly norm had if the image would have been replaced for the image of George W. Bush. And to wrap up the encore presentation he could have also sung to the tune of ‘I Pledge Allegiance to the ……‘.

For these recent days the buzz word around the movers and shakers of Pakistani Politics, there remains a strong conviction that he was under tremendous ‘external pressure’ to take a stern action and has been quoted by many to have said that Musharraf, was under heavy duress from his ‘Allies’, no brownie points for guessing who those allies might be, its definitely not anyone within the Pakistan as Musharraf has reached a mental condition where he trusts no one, but himself.

For those who feel I adopted a bash-Musharraf policy on this blog, to be honest I cannot silence what I truly feel. I try desperately hard to look beyond the smoke but even then I see Pakistan heading down a winding path to doom, which makes me weep. This country is as much mine as it is yours, I along with readers like you work hard earn our daily bread and pay taxes (almost accurately !!) but then when I watch these power hungry monsters plunder my homeland and lead it towards doom, I then cannot keep quite.

It is my belief that Musharraf is at the moment the root cause of a lot many problems in Pakistan, I must concede, back in 1999 I lauded him for his honesty and sincerity to our nation, but my romance fizzled out somewhere around 2003 after which he has sadly lead us from one problem to another just so that he can remain at the top of the food-chain. Greedy Ass Politicians!!!

Lets have some fun !!! I am looking for an interesting caption that will go perfectly well with the image above. Any suggestions?

Update: Ahmed has made a good suggestion for the title of the image