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.

As by now you all will know the Chiefs have filed their affidavits:

1. MI DG
2. IB DG
3. President’s COS

Affidavit #3 is the most interesting of all. It refers to a fourth affidavit the text of which does not seem to have been made public. Affidavit #3 has a number of supporting statements. But is there any veracity in them? Apparently not.

Make of it what you will.

About the affidavit filed by the chief justice of Pakistan, Musharraf said it now provided him a chance to tell the public the real story and the actual causes behind showing the door to the top judge. He said the affidavit of those present in the Army House on March 9 would be submitted before the Supreme Court today (Thursday) and that he would address the nation through a televised address the same day (Thursday).

…

 For the first time, he [the president] was visibly shaken. The president also told the treasury lawmakers: “I feel disturbed for the first time”.  

 …

[The president] said the judicial crisis had halted the arrival of foreign investment and mentioned in this regard the Kuwaiti investors who had changed their mind due to the present situation.

http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=8350

Does the President really believe that anything he says is believed by the public?

The reality is that he is losing his grip on things, the politicians sensing a possible shifting of alliances (deal with PPP by Musharraf) are distancing themselves from him; it can only get worse.

On another blog, I have been writing that Pakistan’s SC is toothless.

History is only repeating itself.

Look here, here, not to mention here, as well as here, and last but by no means least here.

Will we learn from history?

The political situation in Pakistan is literally in an uproar these days and its getting worse, its time that Patriotic Pakistanis have to step up and be a part of the change, we cannot continue to live behind closed doors and hope that ’someone’ would come along to change Pakistan for the better - We have to step and Change it ourselves.

Are you Proud to be a Pakistani? Are you ready to help change Pakistan for the better?

If so, then you most definitely need to join us and become an active part of the change, our goal is to remain politically neutral but speak the truth for the sake of Pakistan.

Join the Proud Pakistani mailing list group and contribute towards a positive change in Pakistan.

Subscribe to White Band for Justice Mailing List

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Visit this group

By Hafsa Ahsan Published in Sci-Tech World Dawn 24th March 2007

Who hasn’t been disturbed by the events taking place in the past couple of weeks or so? With the Chief Justice of Pakistan being suspended, a popular television show banned and the offices of a television network attacked by police, one can’t help but what exactly is going on. One thing, though, is for sure — even those who claim to be extremely disinterested in the affairs of this country have had plenty to think about, given the recent developments on the political front.

Of course, there is a majority which is already politically conscious, though they may not necessarily belong to any specific party. The concern of such people is their country only and in the face of all these events, these people have taken to the internet. Proud Pakistanis is the website serving as central point of its first movement entitled “White Band for Justice.”
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