Pakistan in Media

Dawn, Pakistan, Saturday, 01 Aug, 2009
• All Dogar actions, except presidential oath, declared illegal • IHC ceases to exist • Verdict leaves Musharraf unscathed • Govt asked to refer NRO to parliament

ISLAMABAD, July 31: In what has been billed as a verdict that may change the course of the country’s political and judicial history, the Supreme Court on Friday denounced successive military takeovers over the past four decades and their endorsement by the superior judiciary and then went ahead to declare Gen Pervez Musharraf’s Emergency Order of Nov 3, 2007, and most of the actions taken under it, including the appointment of over 100 superior court judges, as illegal and unconstitutional.
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The News International, Pakistan, Saturday, August 01, 2009
WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has, as expected, set the stage for far-reaching judicial, legal and political changes in the country with its landmark judgment on Friday night in the PCO judges case.

Some parts of the judgment are clear and categorical and an attempt has been made not to rock the boat and destabilise the present set-up but the window for selective decisions later has been kept wide open.

For instance while President Zardari’s oath given by Chief Justice Dogar has been accepted as valid, because that would have caused a sudden collapse of the system, the whole career of Justice Dogar during the Nov 3 emergency has been invalidated. This could be described as a political balancing act of a very dangerous kind.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Friday, 31 Jul, 2009
ISLAMABAD, July 30: The Supreme Court ignored on Thursday a plea to order initiation of high treason charges against former president Pervez Musharraf for proclaiming emergency on Nov 3, 2007, as army chief.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who is heading a 14-judge bench hearing challenges to the imposition of emergency, observed that this was not the responsibility of the court. The court would rather take a simple route to decide cases before it, instead of derailing the system.
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The News International, Pakistan, Friday, July 31, 2009
ISLAMABAD: Parliament will have to pass a crucial test of credibility in the coming days as the Supreme Court judges have observed more than once while hearing the high-profile November 3 case that it was the duty of the legislature to examine the validity of ordinances issued by Pervez Musharraf. “More than one and a half years have passed and parliament hasn’t examined a single ordinance,” Justice Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramday remarked at one stage.

On the other hand, according to authoritative sources, Attorney General Latif Khosa is poised to argue before the 14-member bench that Article 270-AAA that gives “constitutional cover” to the November 3 action and the NRO is part of the Constitution.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Thursday, 30 Jul, 2009
REMEMBER them, anyone? What happened to the puppies he sported in the first weeks in power? Given our sudden desire for punishing Musharraf, he could now also be accused of first using them to offend the faithful and then abandoning them to their fate as he made off to London. Animal rights activists of civil society, please step forward.

The cacophony surrounding the demands to bring the former president-general to justice makes a spectacle of the way we do politics. Retribution, when it is a one-sided affair, is vendetta; and justice cannot be served by certain individuals in power bent on settling scores, albeit with a wrongdoer.
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Daily Times, Pakistan, Thursday, July 30, 2009
We may or may not wake up to this reality but the Saudis and the Qataris are aware of what’s in store for humanity in the coming decades. They want to buy fertile land in poor countries like Pakistan to feed their people when half the world would be dying of hunger

Recently, I thought of Thomas Robert Malthus because our President made the good old Reverend turn and squirm in his grave. A week or so ago, the President said in Karachi, “We are making plans for Pakistan that will have a population of 250 million in the future”. Try as you might, you would not be able to make a more catastrophic statement.
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The News International, Pakistan, Thursday, July 30, 2009
Reports and comment in the foreign media are increasingly talking of the possibility of a deal being explored – or even done -- between the army and Baitullah Mehsud. The BBC, the Daily Telegraph, the Washington Post and the New York Times have in the last week carried reports alluding to the failure to capture Baitullah Mehsud, and it is not possible to dismiss these reports out-of-hand as mere idle gossip. The Telegraph is going so far as to claim that the delay in launching the all-out operation against Mehsud is to allow a deal to be made. The report says that the government wants him to promise that he will not attack government personnel and assets in the future – a promise that would rank alongside a solemn undertaking by all crocodiles never to eat another wildebeest. Military claims to have 'corralled his stronghold in South Waziristan' by blocking the four principal points of entry are unverifiable, and we have no idea if, or to what extent, Mehsud and his allies are being 'softened up' by the air force and artillery as is claimed by military spokespersons. What is clear is that a month after the go-ahead for an operation in the Waziristans there is very little sign of movement, and every single one of the men on the government's 'most wanted' list remains at large despite considerable prices on their heads.
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Dawn, Pakistan, Monday, 27 Jul, 2009
THE ghosts of Kargil continue to haunt us, and will continue to do so, unless we get to know the truth. Surprisingly, nobody talks about it more than the two men responsible for the disaster — the prime minister and the army chief in 1999. We have heard their versions many times, and they keep repeating themselves. Pervez Musharraf says that Nawaz Sharif was “on board” all along and that he was briefed by the military high command beforehand. We have also seen some photographs showing the prime minister being briefed — with maps and all that — and Mr Sharif somewhere in Azad Kashmir. That proves nothing.
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The News International, Pakistan, Friday, July 24, 2009
SRINAGAR: In occupied Kashmir, complete strike will be observed, tomorrow, against the illegal detention of senior Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani under draconian Public Safety Act. Call for the strike has been given by the forum patronised by the senior leader.

According to Kashmir media service, the spokesman of the forum in a statement issued in Srinagar took strong exception to the politics of revenge adopted by the occupation authorities. He said that arrest of the veteran leader was aimed at not only to keep him away from the public but also a design to cause further deterioration to his health.
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Dawn, Pakistan,Thursday, 23 Jul, 2009
FOR quite some time now, Pakistani officials have been both hinting and asserting that there is an Indian hand behind the insurgency in Balochistan. India, it is alleged, has been using its growing influence in Kabul to channel weapons and funds to separatists in Balochistan, besides funding a training camp in Kandahar for the likes of the Baloch Republican Army. India’s Research and Analysis Wing also stands accused of masterminding other terrorist acts in Pakistan, including deadly assaults on the Sri Lankan cricket team and a police academy in Lahore. New Delhi for its part has insisted, and not without reason, that it be provided with concrete evidence of Indian involvement. This has now been done, with the reported handing over of a dossier detailing instances of Indian interference in Pakistan. The evidence apparently includes pictures of some senior Baloch separatist leaders conferring with Indian operatives as well as details of safe houses run by RAW in Afghanistan. Proof of India’s involvement in terror financing in Pakistan has also been provided, it is said, as have the names of Indian agents who crossed the border to link up with militants on this side of Wagah.
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Dawn, Pakistan
Monday, 08 Jun, 2009

SOME voices of dissent aside, the consensus in political circles is near absolute. The two most popular parties are solidly behind the army operation in Malakand and seem to have convinced their supporters that this is Pakistan’s battle. The president said on Friday that the fight against militancy will be taken to its “logical conclusion”. Parliament has thrown its weight behind the crackdown and the majority of Senate members subscribe to the same view. As befits a democracy, the stance taken by our elected representatives reflects popular opinion which has swung sharply against the Taliban in recent weeks. In the theatre of war, the military offensive seems to be proceeding in a calculated manner and the militants are on the run. So far so good, even if victory is still nowhere near in sight.

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Editorial, Dawn, Pakistan
By Asghar Ali Engineer
Friday, 29 May, 2009

RELIGION is basically a spiritual experience and must be valued as such. Politics, on the other hand, is a game of power which is often played with no holds barred.

Truly religious persons who are inspired by core religious teachings and fundamental values should critique the power holders who do not deliver rather than becoming power wielders themselves. When religious organisations or personalities become participants in the power game they betray religious teachings and create fanaticism, arousing extreme emotions to better their chances of winning the power game.

We have seen in Islamic history how the controversy about the ‘createdness’ of the Quran was used by Abbasid rulers to win the power game. They persecuted eminent theologians who refused to endorse their doctrine of the ‘createdness’ of the Quran. Similarly, in our own time we see the phenomenon of fundamentalism and terrorism, fuelled by the politicisation of religion. All religions stand on ethical and moral foundations and the power game is often won by weakening this base.

Imam Abu Hanifa refused to accept the office of the chief qazi under the Abbasids because he feared that he would have to endorse the misdeeds of the rulers; he did not want to pollute his pure soul. He withstood all coercion, including a cruel prison term imposed by the caliph, but he did not accept the office offered to him.

How can one critique the powerful (mustakbirun) and stand by the weaker sections of society (mustadifin) if one becomes part of a ruling establishment? Those who run after power can never be truly religious in spirit. The Sufis kept themselves aloof from power when they saw how religion was becoming a tool of the powerful, and destroying all values. When a Delhi sultan wanted to visit Nizamuddin Auliya in his hospice he told Khusro there were two doors to his hospice; if the sultan entered from one, he would leave from the other.

Religion should never be politicised. Its politicisation produces disastrous results. In recent years, the Indian polity was thoroughly communalised by the BJP using the Ram Mandir–Babri Masjid controversy. It brought unprecedented communal polarisation in India. Demolition of the Babri Masjid was followed by communal riots in Mumbai and several other places. It was Mr Advani who was the architect of this controversy which paid him short-term dividends but with disastrous consequences for the longer term.

In the recently concluded Indian elections, the people reasserted their case for a secular polity. The election results came as a pleasant surprise for many and as a shock for communal forces. The people do not want extremists and communalists; they want moderates who can address their problems. Yes, it is also true that once in a while the people’s religious emotions can be played up but the masses soon see the political misuse of religion and stop responding to such forces.

Mr Advani was all ready to take over as prime minister and the media was repeatedly referring to him as a favourite. We were holding our breath. If in this election communal forces had come to power, not only would secular values have suffered, many secular institutions would have been infiltrated by communal forces which in turn would have weakened India’s secular democracy, if not destroyed it.

However, not much credit goes to the Congress for winning these elections. The credit rests with the people of India. The BJP was a bit unsure how much the Hindutva factor would pay but was under pressure from extremists to use Hindutva as a main plank and when Mr Varun Gandhi made a highly communal speech in Pilibhit, UP, from where he was to be nominated as a BJP candidate, BJP leaders saw in it an opportunity. Even Mr Advani, who was posing as a moderate in order to become prime minister, rushed to support Varun Gandhi and ignored the Election Commission’s notice not to nominate him as a candidate in view of his highly communal speech. But the BJP went ahead and nominated him.

Many BJP leaders after the results said that it was a mistake and that they should not have backed Varun Gandhi. It sent a wrong message to the people. Similarly, the BJP banked much on Narendra Modi who is not only an extremist but also directly responsible for massacring 2,000 Muslims in Gujarat. BJP leaders thought he was an asset and was much in demand for the campaigning. In fact, he became a liability. BJP analysts later maintained that they lost the elections because of him.

Let us learn a lesson from history and not allow politicians to play with our religious sentiments and emotions.

The writer is an Islamic scholar who also heads the Centre for Study of Society & Secularism, Mumbai.

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Editorial, The News International, Pakistan
Monday, May 25, 2009
We are suddenly hearing talk of a possible mid-term poll. Some reports state the PML-N is indeed preparing for this, has given instructions to its representatives to pay attention to their constituencies and has also been suggesting that the party has the support of ’international’ forces. This presumably is a reference to the US which had in recent months shown a greater willingness to look at the PML-N in a positive light. The party has also been making an active effort to distance itself from the Taliban and prove it is not opposed to all-out action against them. There has been a change in this from the previous PML-N position.

But the push for early polls is not a positive omen at this point. Pakistan is currently engaged in all-out war. What we need most of all is stability and the order that is required to hold a nation together. Beyond this too, for the sake of democracy, we need to see a government complete its term. The frequent disruption of tenures in the past has been a factor in the failures with democracy that we have seen. It is also true that over the past few months, the PPP government seems to have improved its performance and done much better than before. Now the prime minster finally seems to be in stride, directing the military operation and acting as a man in control. In this situation it is important that there is no destabilization. This would only benefit forces that oppose democracy. All political parties need to play a responsible role and to place the interests of their country ahead of those of their own parties and leaders.

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