Pakistan: A Revolution, A civil War or a United States Sponsored Terrorism?

A perception is systematically being spread in West about Pakistan being a nursery for terrorists and with the recent unrest in Tribal regions of Pakistan, the western media has started a campaign to prove that a ‘civil war’ is going on in Pakistan and some have gone to the extent that Pakistan is going to fall in to hands of extremists just like Iran, in an Islamic revolution and her Nuclear weapons can go in to hands of terrorist, quite understandable, as this very fear was created and nourished by former dictator Pervez Musharraff to get western support for his illegitimate rule that if he steps down, the militants would take over and George Bush administration which wanted to keep Americans in a constant state of ‘fear’ marketed the idea to international community for its so called war on terror. “The main objective of the Islamophobes, particularly in the US media, academia and politics was pitting Muslims against each other. It was promoted in the name of a “war within Islam.” Soon after 9/11 the calls for a “war within Islam” intensified. Pakistan was the high value target long before the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, but undermining the Soviet Union was a priority. Focus shifted to Islam and Pakistan after the Soviet withdrawal. Taliban became the perfect scapegoat. Instead of helping the Taliban to correct their approach and ways to living by Islam, Muslims fully participated in demonising the Taliban. Operation 9/11 was planned. A war on Afghanistan was planned even before that. The country was invaded and occupied not just for the sake of occupying Afghanistan but for encircling the cooperating Pakistan as well. Write Abid Ullah Jan a researcher and Author of famous book, “The Musharraff Factor: Leading Pakistan to its inevitable demise”.

Weather it’s a civil war, an Islamist revolution or a “United States sponsored terrorism for oil” and part of plan of Neo-conservatives and American oil giants who want an access to energy rich Central Asia and want to use Afghanistan, NWFP and Baluchistan region till Indian ocean as a route for their energy supplies. American CIA with the help of Pakistani dictator General Zia ul Haq and Pakistani intelligence service ISI successfully turned Soviet-Afghan war in to Jihad or a ‘holy war”, the students from religious schools around the world were recruited with help of Muslim clerics by CIA and sent to tribal regions of Pakistan where they were trained by ISI and armed with sophisticated Americans weapons before sending them to join the ‘holy war’ in Afghanistan. In 1986, the Soviets troops were forced to withdraw from many areas because of heavy casualties and finally, under heavy international pressure managed by USA and huge losses in the battlefield, Soviet Union withdrawn its troops from Afghanistan in 1988.

After withdrawal of Soviet troops, the President Najibullah was unable to resist the warrior groups for long and his shaky government finally tumbled to warlords. Around 1.5 million Afghans were killed, six million were forced to leave their homes to neighboring countries majorly Pakistan who hosted more then 3 million refugees, and the country’s infrastructure was badly damaged. The US, which was the main supporter of the so-called Mujahidin’s, had its aim achieved; its main rival, the Soviet Union was defeated and plunged into a process of disintegration. The US no longer needed those who were fighting for an Islamic cause, General Ziaul Haq’s plane mysteriously burst in air killing the entire team of top generals who played a key role in Afghan resistance against Soviet Union. Most Arab governments, directed by the US, also stopped helping the Mujahideen and wanted their citizens who fought in Afghanistan to go back home. Abdullah Azzam, who brought the Arab fighters to Afghanistan, was assassinated in a bombing, and Osama bin Laden who was sourcing arms for Mujahidin from international black market as a CIA middleman was put on the “most-wanted” list by the Saudi government.
The Afghan warlords, who were previously one united army on US payroll, were then divided into several groups as struggle for power started pushing Afghanistan in to a civil war, This was the time when Pakistani intelligence service ISI which has contributed a lot in terms of man power and resources in Soviet defeat and has deep strategic interests in region organized Taliban or students of religious schools who drive away the warlords in matter of no time. The Pakistan’s military establishment planned to install a ‘friendly’ government in landlocked Afghanistan which is heavily dependent on Pakistan for trade and food, in order to use it as a trade route to energy rich Central Asia. Benazir Bhutto’s government was swift to recognize the Taliban government and her foreign minister termed Taliban as ‘apney bachy’ meaning ‘our own kids. This enraged US whose intrestes were better served by an Afghanistan ruled by war lords, CIA and US oil companies have hailed the Caspian and Central Asia as a potential alternative to dependence on oil from the unstable Persian Gulf region, employed Osama Bin Laden who not only hijacked Taliban movement but also played a major role in downfall and dismissal of Benazir’s government after which she could never regain the trust of the west.
United States started negotiating Afghanistan pipeline route with Taliban government which was pushed by the US-based Unocal oil company from Turkmenistan across western Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean, and was engaged in intensive negotiations with the Taliban regime. However, once so called ‘our own kids’ proved to be tough negotiators and talks ended in disarray, the Clinton administration demanded handover of Osama Bin Laden who seek shelter in Afghanistan as a ‘guest’ of Taliban government as allegedly he played a role in bombing of US embassy in Tanzania and on Taliban’s refusal launched cruise missile attacks on alleged bin Laden training camps in eastern Afghanistan. According to a report in the Washington Post, the Clinton administration and Nawaz Sharif, then prime minister of Pakistan, agreed on a joint covert operation to kill Osama bin Laden in 1999. The US would supply satellite intelligence, air support and financing, while Pakistan supplied the Pashtu-speaking commandos who would penetrate southern Afghanistan and carry out the actual killing. The attack was aborted on October 12, 1999, when Sharif was overthrown in a military coup by General Pervez Musharraf, who halted the proposed covert operation.

After disgraceful removal of Bill Clinton and the installation of George Bush in the White House, the talks with Taliban continued, Bin Laden, the Forbidden Truth, written by Jean-Charles Brisard and Guillaume Dasquie, the two French authors write that the Bush administration was willing to accept the Taliban regime, despite the charges of sponsoring terrorism, if it cooperated with plans for the development of the oil resources of Central Asia. The failure of these negotiations shifted the focus of American Neo-conservative policy in Afghanistan to preparing for a full scale military intervention directed at the Taliban regime as a whole and introduction of ‘state sponsored terrorism in Pakistan, Cline and Alexander suggested a definition of state sponsored terrorism: The deliberate employment of violence or the threat of use of violence by sovereign states (or sub-national groups encouraged or assisted by sovereign states) to attain strategic and political objectives by acts in violation of law. These criminal acts are intended to create overwhelming fear in a target population larger than the civilian or military victims attached or threatened.

According to Boaz Ganor, of ICT ‘for many years, terrorism was perceived as a contest between two sides: on the one hand, a group of people or an organization, and on the other, a sovereign state. However, during the course of the second half of the twentieth century, various countries began to use, and indeed have expanded their use of terrorist organizations to promote state interests in the international domain. Instead of the “weapon of the weak” - minority groups, liberation movements, and revolutionary organizations - terrorism has become a tool of states and even of superpowers. In some cases, states established “puppet” terrorist organizations, whose purpose was to act on behalf of the sponsoring state, to further the interests of the state, and to represent its positions in domestic or regional fronts. In other cases, states sponsored or supported existing organizations, thereby creating mutually profitable connections. In order to understand more clearly who is behind the acts of violence in Pakistan and what goals they want to achieve we would have to look in to chain of events followed by the failure of US-Taliban talks for pipeline. Surprisingly that dozens of so-called Islamic fundamentalists, many with known ties to Osama bin Laden, were able to carry out a wide-ranging conspiracy on three continents, targeting the most prominent symbols of American power ‘the Twin Towers’, on September 11, 2001, without any US intelligence agency having the slightest idea of what they were doing which gave US an excuse to invade Afghanistan.

The major problem in exploiting the energy resources of Central Asia is how to get the oil and gas from the landlocked region to the world markets. CIA opposes using either the Russian pipeline system or the land route, across Iran to the Persian Gulf, while the most feasible and relevant to the so-called war on terror, south from Turkmenistan across western Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. The only way to achieve this goal is by installing a puppet government in Afghanistan along with control over NWFP region of Pakistan, disintegration of Pakistan resulting in to an autonomous Baluchistan. The hidden plan of Bush-Musharraff for Pakistan came in to light when the ‘Rand Corporation’ published a future map of Pakistan which included NWFP as a part of Afghanistan, Sindh as a autonomous state and Baluchistan shown as a part of Iranian Baluchistan as an autonomous region, the greater US plan for control over energy resources of Central Asia and a safe transit rout till Indian gulf s a part of “New Asia” plan of Neoconservatives which can only be achieved with disintegration of Pakistan and possession of her nuclear weapons in wake of fear of these weapons going in to hands of extremists followed by an Iranian invasion by US. The state sponsored terrorism became a tool to bring Pakistan to its knees by breeding militant groups sponsored by India-US alliance and at the same time to cultivate a public hatred towards Pakistan army by providing full support to a military dictator and involving armed force in to government affairs to take blames for a dictator’s decisions.

There is a wide perception that Musharraff gave up on ‘one phone call’ and supported the so called ‘war on terror’ which does not seems to be true, the very installation of Musharraff in Islamabad was part of plan for American invasion of Afghanistan, he was supposed to face a trial for his ‘military misadventure’ in Kargil when Bill Clinton administration offered Nazaw Sharif a cover up for Kargil and in return demanded assassination of Osama, a long time friend and supporter of Nawaz, this was a claver move as Clinton administration would get rid of two key operatives of Neo-cons, an army Chief in Islamabad and Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, however with fall down of Nawaz Sharif government in a ‘quo’ by Musharraff, the Neo-cons were able to protect both of their allies and key partners for future oil plan. On October 17, 1999, Musharraf told the nation: “Our aims and objectives shall be: No. 1- rebuild national confidence and morale; No. 2 - strengthen federation, remove inter-provincial disharmony and restore national cohesion; No. 3 - revive [the] economy and restore investors’ confidence; No. 4 - ensure law and order and dispense speedy justice; No. 5 - depoliticize state institutions; No. 6 - devolution of power to the grassroots level; and lastly, No. 7 - ensure swift … accountability.

Once Musharraf was in power many secular and nationalist politicians were disqualified for much less, including not having a higher education and through controversial NAB many were forced out of politics. Banned groups were allowed to continue working under new identities with the same leadership, Baitullah Mehsud, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee came back to Pakistan and started recruiting ‘Mujahedeen’ with American funds and agencies were not allowed to take action against him despite the fact that ISI has very strong presence in Tribal Areas. To fuel the sentiments of unemployed Baluch youth the elderly Baluch Tribal Chief who was demanding arrest and trial of a Pakistan army captain, a relative of Pervez Musharraff, involved in rape of a lady doctor, was assassinated because of personal rivalry by dictator pushing the entire province on mercy of Indo-American financed ‘separatists’, in NWFP several groups of so called Pakistani Taliban pop up and started implementing their own version of Islam but no action was taken against them until they become strong enough to challenge the security forces. Obviously, there can be no war on terror unless there are terrorists, and the Bush-Musharraff plan was to breed terrorists to give legitimacy to war on terror. Despite the late and half hearted military actions which majorly caused civilian causalities rather then damaging terrorists, the promised US aid for development of Tribal region which included building infrastructure, creating employment opportunities for locals and giving the products of areas a free access in international markets never materialized resulting in a broader local support for terrorists. At the same time terrorists became a symbol of justice and peace by taking over the administrative powers from corrupt administrators appointed as a favor by the dictator. As a result the tribal regions of Pakistan became a sanctuary for Afghan and local terrorists in disguise of Taliban giving a valid excuse to US to launch attacks inside Pakistan on pretext that these groups were involved in cross border attacks on US forces. Surprisingly most of these attacks were directed on civilian population resulting in a sentiment of revenge against government in locals rather then causing any substantial damage to terrorist hideouts. The Osama Bin laden is not access able by US even with the most sophisticated technology and more then a decade’s war although one of his tape surfaces when Bush was near to loose second term elections or Musharraff was being impeached, to develop a favorable public opinion for the both Many people inside military and civil establishment including the retired generals started asking if Musharraf was really putting the final nail in the coffin of a nation.

He used excessive force in Baluchistan to solve a political problem in return of valid demands of Baluchistan nationalist parties over natural resources, unemployment in Baluch youth and extreme poverty as compared to other provinces and thousands of political activists were arrested commonly referred as ‘missing Pakistani’s, apart from those were handed over to US as “Al-Qaida” operatives and later proved to be innocent and an international embracement for US. He removed the Chief Justice who was hearing the cases of “Missing Pakistanis” presently detained by US in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay and later sacked majority of superior judiciary snatching away the last hope for justice from people in order to push the country in to a civil war. However he never forgot to patronize the ethnic and religious armed groups and successfully assembled a ‘collation of religious extremists’ who formed their governments in 3 out of 4 provinces. The Neo-Con backed Bush-Musharraff collation’s primary goal was to create political turmoil, sectarian violence, religious rivalry, and an atmosphere of fear and terror and alienate public from government, and most importantly to show the failure of state institutions to establish proper stability and security. The assassination of Bhutto is also a part of US agenda with two aims; first to weaken the democratic and secular forces which will strengthen the US backed extremists and secondly to accelerate the distrust in provinces and various ethnic groups to weaken the federation.

It is not hard to understand who is behind this these terrorist groups, Pakistan posses irrefutable evidence that the growth of militancy in Fata and insurgency in Baluchistan together with suicide bombings in Pakistan are the handiwork of a India-US nexus based in Kabul which is indulging in dirty tricks to destabilize Pakistan politically and cause economic deathblow to Pakistan so that its nuclear assets could be possessed along with causing a disintegration which suits the US oil plan for ‘New Asia’. “There are reports of presence of highly encrypted communications gear with Mehsud. This communication gear enables him to collect real-time information on Pakistani troop movements from an unidentified foreign source without being intercepted by Pakistani intelligence” Pakistani officials claim. The forces behind the terrorists operating in Pakistan can also be identified by the “Asia 2025“, a study conducted by the US under secretary of defence (policy), and distributed in limited circles, these documents show that US defence planners are shifting their focus from Europe to Asia where they would wish to contain the threat of an Islamist Pakistan and an economically-resurgent China.

There are several training camps being run by Indian intelligence agency ‘RAW’ in US occupied Afghanistan to train the militant groups involved in Baluchistan and US is harboring an extremist group ‘Jind Allah’ which is involved in terrorist activities inside Iran and uses Baluchistan border areas to enter Iran, these both groups coordinate and support each others activities, the recent suicide bombing in Pakistan are widely believed to be work of ‘BLA’ and Mehsud, both of them backed and hosted by Indian intelligence and being armed by Northern Alliance from Afghanistan. Recently the CIA official were questioned by high level Pakistani officials why the CIA-run predator and the US military did not swing into action when they were provided the exact location of Baitullah Mehsud, Pakistan’s enemy number one and the mastermind of almost every suicide operation against the Pakistan Army and the ISI since June 2006. Admiral Mullen and Kappes were both provided information about the activities of the Indian consulates in Kandahar and Jalalabad and were asked “We wanted to know when our American friends would get interested in tracking down the terrorists responsible for hundreds of suicide bombings in Pakistan and those playing havoc with our natural resources in Baluchistan while sitting in Kabul and Delhi,”, an official described the change in Pakistani mood after the newly elected government came in to power, during the July 12 meetings. Pakistani intelligence service ISI was accused to be responsible for recent bombing in of Indian embassy in Kabul and Bush conveyed his concern to the newly elected Pakistani Prime Minister on his visit to Washington, conveniently ignoring the role of India and US in promoting terrorism inside Pakistan. India has a history of making such accusations and most of the time its own agency ‘RAW’ was staging such bombing similar to attack on Indian parliament. However involvement of ISI is not out of question as both agencies have a history of involvement in such acts on each others lands and it must not be a surprise when Indian-US backed terrorists are carrying similar acts inside Pakistan on daily basis killing innocent civilians and targeting security forces.
Conflict of interests is widening in US and Pakistan and establishment has come to a realization that it have to choose either Pakistan or US interests in the region, same thinking prevailed when in last elections Army refused to act upon the Musharraff plan of rigging elections and when Musharraff was being impeached establishment stayed neutral, the full scale military operation against militants began in tribal areas immediately after the new government came in to power resulting in displacement of more the 200,000 people but the world community and US, a champion of ‘war on terror’ never bothered to come forward to help these civilians rather a dirty campaign has been started against politicians through ‘CIA’ leaks. The expected victory of Barak Obama will also cause certain damage to Neo-Con agenda but would not create a major shift in long term US policies. There seems to be no visible end in US backed “state terrorism’ inside Pakistan in near future.

To what extent newly elected democratic government in Pakistan succeeds in developing counter terrorism measures against ‘US’ backed state terrorism in Pakistan is a question only coming time can answer but will certainly require a complete reversal of Musharraff’s policies, a crack down on extremists and terrorist groups and most required shift in foreign policy which can ensure less reliance on US while strengthening ties with China. However it would not be possible if there is lack of coordination between institutions. Visibly, Asif Ali Zardari is going to win the next presidential elections, he is very well aware of force behind assassination of Benazir Bhutto, in case he can stay away from practices associated with him in last Bhutto regime, and is willing to counter the conspiracy against Pakistan, he will require support and reconciliation with major opposition party PMLN and Nawaz Sharif as to achieve smooth working conditions for his government and Nawaz Sharif has expressed his willingness in case Zardari comes clean in national interest, similarly Justice Iftakhar Muhammad Chaudhry and judiciary sacked by Musharraff would be his natural allies in democratic process to ensure the impartial judicial system, General Ishfaq Pervez Kiani is a professional solider and his commitment of keeping army away from politics is unambiguous, he has shown his willingness to give political system a chance and stay impartial. If such coordination develops in all four major players in Pakistani establishment, it would not be difficult to face the terrorism and international conspiracies. However, if it happens, it will be a surprise in our history and a new experience, the main responsibility rests on politicians to show maturity and support and strengthen the national institutions to face the challenges.

LIVING WITH CORRUPTION

Corruption and governance goes together in developing countries, especially the third world where democratic process is influenced by bloodline, money politics, feudalism, intervention of imperialist powers through military and religious exploitations. The process becomes more painful when the society is trying to develop from under develop, while profiled as ‘high risk investment zones’ these countries need investment for development, the clever investor who is aware of this fact bargains for softer terms and governments are unable to deny, the rules are relaxed and projects vital for survival of society are given to these investors, an example of this is can be the IPP’s in past Benazir Bhutto’s regime in Pakistan which was widely criticized at that time but proved to be a lifeline for Pakistan’s industry in following decade.

It’s always not a national interest which forces the governments to relax the rules, once relaxed in broader national interests, these rules become a tool for corruption and personal benefits, the prime examples are Pakistan’s defense agreements, where an Air Force Chief got kick backs of Billion of $ and many politicians like Asif Ali Zardari and Nawaz Sharif multiplied their holdings, Shaukat Azaiz sold the national institutions for personal gains and was forced to stop from handing over Pakistan Steel and a PIA owned hotel in New York by Supreme Court and Pakistan Senate respectively, the father in law of former dictator Pervez Musharraff's son got the contract of elevated Rail track in Karachi for five times higher bid from national exchequer then the Chinese company offered and that too on soft loan basis.

That’s not the end, the country I am living presently was a model of development for decades in developing world, one weekend while I was on a pleasure ride of motorbike with my Canadian friend to a resort hill nearby our housing, we were surprised that a few kilometers bridge on ocean existed just behind our houses to connect the mainland with an Island, standing on top of hill and surrounded by beautiful clouds watching the beautiful bridge, we asked a local about that bridge and answer was “It’s bridge to no where”, to our utter surprise, the contract of that bridge was given to oblige somebody, the second most surprising project I cam across was a ‘Slaughter House” built by public funds and capable of slaughtering entire population of animals in country in a single year, obviously it didn’t operated a single day from its installation.

The situation reminds me of a quote and policy statement of most respected former Prime Minister in Muslim world who turned his country in to a model of development “Let the cake grow and everyone have a bite”. There were a lots of failed projects awarded in his regime on political and personal grounds while the rules were being relaxed to achieve development and in the same time there was huge development in infrastructure and industrialization, the end result is the most developed nation in Muslaim world, not a bad achievement.

I always wonder, is corruption, incompetence, personal gains a valid reason for toppling the democratic governments by equally corrupt military dictators in uniforms? The answer can be obtained from developed world, President Bush, while accomplishing the “Neo Con” agenda, pushed United States of America in to two unwanted and undesirable wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were initiated on false facts and have proven a disaster for economy and military of the worlds strongest economic and military power, they are facing a shameful defeat on military front and their economy is heading nose down, but surprisingly inside the military ranks of the biggest supporter of dictatorship in world, no general took over in wake of stupid decisions of a ‘cow boy president’. There are undeniable proofs of politicians and oil companies owned by the President and Vice President getting benefits from this war and many defense contracts being awarded as political favor to sponsor corporations of politicians, but still a chance is being given to the political system to refine itself by American public.

We a source less and helpless nation at time of independence in 1947 were subjected to dictatorship by General Iskindar Mirza, who was a great grand son of the notorious traitor Mir Jafar and subsequently were victims of Ayub, Yahya, Ziaul Haq and Musharraff on the sole ground of incompetence and corruption of political leaders and most of times these corruption and incompetence allegations were a result of agencies propaganda and part of plan of imperialist powers.

Considering such military intervention as a valid ground, there should have been several military intervention inside the biggest champion of democracy USA itself, but unfortunately this always happens in the third world countries where imperialism have its interests and these interests demand a ‘one man show’, as dealing with a one weak man in uniform is easier for imperialism then dealing with politicians who at some stage have to think about public opinion.

When we look around in free media, cyberspace and blogging, a great deal of ‘organized character assassination’ campaign against the political leadership is being systematically carried which can be divided in to two categories, one comprising of people who are frustrated with the status quo and want an ideal political leadership ignoring the fact that politics in Pakistan is not only influenced by military and civil establishment but also by international imperialist force which have deep interests in our policies. The second group is working to further the interests of ‘hidden hand’ or commonly reffered as agencies which have been involved in making and breaking political parties and promoting and demoting politicians on behest of military establishment.

The character assassination campaign against Asif Ali Zardari, declaring him of unsound mind, possessing fake certificates and associating him with corruption is a prime example of these two groups activities, lets us suppose these all allegations are true and he is really an evil, that, its vital to stop him from being elected as president, what course can be adopted for the purpose when the majority of Pakistani’s, weather uneducated or intellectuals has given his party a mandate and majority, should we deny the right of representation to majority, if so, the only way left is to seek help from establishment and welcome another military dictatorship once again, as the so-called campaigners against him do not have majority inside parliament.

As regards the allegations against him, apart from his imprisonment for eight years without a single charged being proved against him and admission of former chairman of NAB Mr. Saifu Rehman that corruption cases against Zardari were fabricated by him on directions of Nawaz Sharif and are false and the controversial NRO, the ‘people’s court’ has declared him 'not guilty' by voting for his party which has unanimously adopted him as a leader, we have no right to deny the majority decision otherwise we are negating the basic principal of ‘majority rule’.

On the other side, were all military dictators saints and have not been involved in corruption, political favors and weakening political parties, the answer comes from the latest studies which show that every general in Pakistan owns assets of US $500 million at time of retirement, this is a conservative estimate and does not include the foreign accounts and kick backs received by generals under proxy names, the wealth acquired by former dictators has never been accounted by our establishment but apparently the assets of Gohar Ayub, Ijaz ul Haq and Bilal Musharraff are several times higher then collective assets of all politicians in Pakistan and that too range from sale of “Missing Pakistani’s”, Dr. Afia Siddiqi and their mega corruptions in defense deals beside selling national assets on through away price for kick backs. So, what difference it makes, having a corrupt dictator in chair who is not answerable to anybody unlike politicians who are ultimately judged by public.

Although every nation and society deserves to be ruled by a transparent and honest leadership but there can be certain exemptions, even corrupt and incompetent political leadership opens doors for better a ‘better choice’ in future and must be given a chance in third world democratic process, the system and awareness in people will ultimately replace the corrupt and incompetent with more transparent and capable leadership. The same process through which the ‘Champion of democracy’ and biggest violator of it, went through in 200 years.

Obviously we the Pakistani’s deserve better, we have some of the finest professionals in world, we posses some of the biggest natural resources, we have the most hard working people on planet and we have a desire to excel, what we need its to undergo the natural process of transformation.

If Fatimah Jinnah was not defeated by a Dictator Ayub through state machinery, if Bhutto was not assassinated by a General and if Nawaz was not handcuffed by a dictator, undoubtedly our political institutions would have been a lot better then today, but its not late, we need to give a chance to system to work, we need to wait for political process to mature and bring some fine, honest and capable leaders but we can not skip the process itself for a refinement in leadership.

We have to live with corruption and incompetence and let the system refine itself, we have to bear the incompetence for competence, there is no quick fix in form of dictatorship and military take over’s, not 200 years as USA but we need to give system some time, there is a better tomorrow. This is what makes me live with corruption, the hope for a better tomorrow then under a dictatorship which takes away decade of our national development and our future and we end up at the beginning.

Let’s live with corruption for a transparent tomorrow while working as a pressure group to force leadership in making right decisions rather then killing the mechanism itself in dream of idealism and ending up with a dictator in beautiful uniform and becomming the prosecutors against democratic process and political leadership.

Following Shahid Masood's Foot Prints

Politics in Pakistan always has been a game of opportunities like other developing countries in the world where political institutions are still on early stages and lack the ideological directions, but interestingly there are many examples where people were successful in creating opportunities for themselves, a notorious example is former Chairman of NAB, Mr. Saif u Rehman, who played vital role not only bringing down Nawaz Sharif government but also the political process and Rehman Malik, advisor for Interior in present Pakistan government is believed to be latest version of Saif u Rehman. These so called ‘non-political people get access to political leaders through their brilliant ideas, courage and convection for wellbeing of public, in name of human rights and sacrifices for national interests and sometimes by blackmail through different means including ‘character assassination campaigns’ in name of criticism and free speech until the government through a bone, slowly they gain the confidence of decision makers and then share the powers and themselves become ‘kings’, once in power they would commit such heinous and unprecedented crimes while the actual leaders would bear the responsibility for these jugglers actions.

The latest addition in Pakistani politics is Dr. Shahid Masood, who was successful in winning the post of Chairman Pakistan Television, a state owned TV channel, by his lengthy and twisted political analysis program on a private channel, severely criticizing the government and her policies but was ever ready to accept the top slot on state run TV in the same government, after his appointment, many stories has been surfacing about his lavish spending from public funds and his unlimited desire for luxury and physical pleasure, he was also a strong critic of former dictator Pervez Musharraff and MQM however as soon as he became the Chairman of state TV, he not only accepted a dinner in his honor by MQM governor but on this eve when Pervez Musharraff unexpectedly arrived in the dinner, he was offered the ‘Chief Guests” seat by Shahid Masood, might be Musharraff was no more a dictator if you watch him from lenses of Chairman PTV.

The success story of medical doctor turned political analyst has grown hopes in many other fortune seekers and now many people are switching their professions to become future’s Shahid Masood, the easiest way is to get under civil society’s umbrella, not only criticize the political leadership but run a regular character assassination campaign against them until one is in lime light or taken notice of and government through a bone to keep him busy sucking the juice. Even some people in main stream Pakistani media are actively working on ‘Shahid Masood’ model, they give a colour of news to their personal desires and push themselves in a queue to be noticed by government, waiting for a ‘bone’, it might be a plot in government housing, a scholarship for son or daughter or a government post for themselves. Obviously this is professional dishonesty but as our national media is on its evolutionary stages, such ‘madaris’ are not only pocketing rewards from political rival groups but also gain public affection.

The Shahid Masood ‘syndrome’ is not limited to main stream media but almost in every field in various forms but goals are similar, most of these jugglers forget the fact that Shahid Masood was a close friend of Benazir and Zardari and also played his cards wisely, interesting though now many ‘Bloggers’ are also working on same model, the one who make me surprised is a dentist turned political analyst and a blogger who took shelter under umbrella of civil society movement and criticized Pervez Musharraff, un-noticed and unsuccessful, he turned his guns towards PPP and its Chairman Asif Ali Zardair and even yet unnoticed and frustrated has openly announced a full scale war against Asif Ali Zardari, above settled ethics of blogging and fair criticism of governments actions Zardari, the mysteriously educated ‘The next step into further character assassination, that the least we can do, is to genuinely question his education’, proudly writes the so called dentist turned political analyst, this development is extremely dangerous and may ultimately damage the very political process for which media and civil society has sacrificed a lot, in case such personal agendas are furthered in name of fair criticism.

There can be no second opinion that presents PPP government and Asif Ali Zardari has miserably failed to keep the promise to restore the judges sacked by Musharraff and deviated from the promise of Benazir Bhutto of restoring judiciary, Zardair is also accused of violating the written agreements with Nawaz Sharif, his explanations are vague and unacceptable for every citizen of Pakistan and he deserved to not only be criticized by strongly condemned for this specific inaction, but at the same time, running a so-called character assassination campaign against him or any other political leader seems to be tainted with ulterior motives and dishonest and equally condemnable. Such actions in name of civil society and freedom of speech will tarnish the little left confidence of people on political institutions and when the next dictator takes over public will once again distribute sweets in streets. The civil society and every honest critic of government actions must be aware of such black sheep who are furthering their personal agenda in name of educating people.

On the flip side Zardari might take notice of these petty losers who after failing in their professions has become ‘political analysts’ and their price is not that high, one might sell himself for top slot of national TV while another might be satisfied by getting a party ticket for election or even getting on medical panel of some government department, but this will certainly encourage these opportunists and induce further corruption and dishonesty in society, at the same time such opportunists will damage the sacred cause of civil society and public confidence on those who are fair in criticizing the decision makers in our country. This is a responsibility of civil society, free media and those who believe in better Pakistan to expose such opportunists at earliest stages before they become a cancer for civil society itself and damage the noble struggle as the first thing such opportunists loose is the public confidence when they become partial in their analysis blinded by personal goals and start targeting personalities rather then actions, this situation weaken the public confidence on genuine and honest criticism of government as the rule is to: criticize the actions not personalities.

After a long dictatorship we have got democratic process back on track, we need to strengthen the political process and built public confidence on political institution while at the same time keep check on political leadership not through organized character assassination campaigns but through fair, honest and reasonable criticism. Organized character assignation campaigns against politicians as proudly claimed by these jugglers for personal reasons, will only damage the institutions and civil society which is still at incubation stage.

(PS; as to guage the salogan of free speach I am sending a copy of this post to character assaisnation blog "Teeth Maestro" for publishing on his site)

A Dictaror is one animal who needs to be caged: ZAB

The dictator is the one animal who needs to be caged; He betrays his profession and his constitution. He betrays the people and destroys human values. He destroys culture. He binds the youth. He makes the structure collapse. He rules by fluke and freak. He is the scourge and the ogre. He is a leper. Anyone who touches him also becomes a leper. He is the upstart who is devoid of ideals and ideology. Not a single one of them has made a moment’s contribution to history - ZAB

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto a controversial, mercurial, enigmatic, charismatic, politician who himself was killed by Pakistan Army and a American backed Dictator General Zia ul Haq; 30 Years after his death, continues to talk to Pakistan.

After prolonged deliberations, Pakistan’s major political parties which form the ruling collation has decided to move an impeachment motion against self styled ‘President’ and American backed dictator of Pakistan, this must not be a surprise that weak and undeceive political leadership which has faced media-trials, character assassination campaigns by agencies, prisons and exiles have gathered the courage to stand against powerful establishment and a dictator who still holds the power to dissolve the parliament, as, at a certain stage democratic government are unable to take the public pressure and take decisions to avoid the public hostility, despite the fact that these political parties are deteriorating and lack the visionary leader ship because of continuous military rules which survives on destruction of political institutions.But the real surprised came moments after the collation parties announced their decision to impeach the dictator in a press conference. “Musharraff’s impeachment is an internal affair of Pakistan’, United States of America responded. Historically, US administrations have never been willing to review their foreign policy towards a nation where they have an economic interest or political, geo-military strategic and ideological reasons, no matter what heinous crimes were being committed or detrimental socio-economic policies were being implemented by their puppet dictators, and despite massive protests by the people of the country in question against such dictators the US continued financing and supporting them, the criminal silence of US government on imposition of emergency and dismissal of superior judiciary by General Musharraff is prime example of dictatorship friendly policies of United States.

For decades, the United States has backed the military dictators who have ruled Pakistan. Whether in the name of containing Communism or fighting terrorism, the well-being of the people of the sixth most populated country in the world has been of little concern to Washington policy makers, despite his well-documented human rights abuses, destruction of judicial institutions, torture and kidnapping of journalists, brutal use of force against civil society and lawyers, the Pakistani general, a butcher for his own people and a pet for US has been repeatedly praised by America’s political, academic, and media elites in past. Bush had commended Musharraff’s “courage and vision” while Negroponte told the recent House panel that the dictator was “a committed individual working very hard in the service of his country.” and US has a history of setting up and backing corrupt dictators to serve her agenda, Shah of Iran, Saddam, Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Suharto, and Osama Bin Laden, not to mention many South American countries and Middle East, all of them were ‘reliable US allies’ at some point of time.

People of Pakistan clearly understand that the United States shares responsibility for their repression through its unconditional support of the Army dictatorship that denies them their own freedom, the U.S. government’s problem with Pakistan is similar to the one it had with Iran in 1979. The U.S. government placed Iranian Shah in power, which extinguished the rising flames of democracy which resulted in a populist Islamic revolution and extreme anti-American sentiment. Iranian Shah who was equally faithful to God Almighty and US, “I OWE my throne to God, my people, my army - and to you,” sobbed a grateful Shah of Iran to Kermit Roosevelt in August 1953, he massacred thousands of Iranians to prove his loyalty to US and while facing a revolution against him, the Shah of Iran sought help from the United States, Iran occupied a strategic place in U.S. foreign policy toward the Middle East, acting as an island of stability and a buffer against Soviet penetration into the region, the Shah was told that the United States would “back him to the hilt.” At the same time, certain high-level officials in the State Department decided that the Shah had to go, regardless of who replaced him, once ousted Shah traveled from country to country for a shelter, after a short stay for his treatment in US, he was told to leave the country.

“I don’t panic, I am not scared. I have faced death many times. Last time was when I was 7 minutes away from death on Oct 12 1999. I am only scared of God. God has brought me to this point. God has chosen me for leading this country. He will protect and help me.” Musharraff a brutal dictator describes his vision and mission claiming to be chosen by God just ten days after he dismissed a government chosen by people of Pakistan.

To be chosen by God is clearly different form being chosen by CIA and backed by a powerful imperialist state which can push smaller and less powerful countries in to economic and military collapse, whose president claimed that he was “told” by God to attack Iraq and remove Saddam Hussein, once a reliable ally of United States. The shift in US policy clearly indicates that policymakers in Washington has realized the intensity of hatred they have earned by backing another dictator in Pakistan and want to avoid a backlash similar to their foreign policy failure in Iran.

The decision of impeachment of Musharraff seems to be taken after US has decided to pull back its support; the outcome of impeachment motion will be subject to his ability to re-negotiate terms with Washington, however as history suggests that once a dictator becomes a responsibility, US is going to treat him like Shah of Iran.

Will Musharraff be able to get shelter in US, after he is ousted is not difficult to imagine, most probably he will become another Shah of Iran, another leper, no body is willing to touch a leper. A painful example for other US backed dictators.The dictator is the one animal who needs to be caged, this is time for Musharraff, others will follow him!

AN OPEN LETTER TO MRS. PERVEZ MUSHARRAFF

Dear Begum Pervez Musharaff,

I recognize that every one of us is responsible for our own acts, as such, being the wife of a Military Dictator and a former General of Pakistan Army, I wound not hold you responsible for his acts, however I will request you to consider following facts on humanitarian grounds being a women and a mother yourself.

As you know very well, your husband General Pervez Musharraff belonged to a lower middle class family, with limited resources and opportunities, however this nation provided him an opportunity and he became the Chief of Army Staff of fourth strongest army in world, no doubt, it is a great honor for any one, especially an army of a third world Muslim country where a common Pakistani travelling in a public bus would offer his seat as a token of respect when he see a man in Army uniform, a conductor will refuse to charge him bus fair and a poor roadside restaurant owner would refuse to accept the payment for his meal, I have witnessed tears in eyes of soldier’s when they get this much love and respect from people of Pakistan.

It’s not difficult to understand the feelings of people towards our armed forces, the men in uniform are supposed to defend our borders, our women and children.Unfortunately, your husband blinded by greed for more power forgot about this love and respect towards the institution he was heading and dismissed a democratically elected government, this was a crime punishable by death under constitution but his seven point agenda was so appealing that most of educated and moderate Pakistani’s supported him after takeover in a military coup and took him as a savior of Pakistan.

He did not turned much different from other dictators in world; he has destroyed each and every institution in country right from Pakistan Army itself to Judiciary and committed biggest economic frauds in history of Pakistan, people who were expecting a developed and moderate Pakistan under his rule are worried about a decent meal a day and afraid to go out of homes because of bomb blasts in every street, while they stay at home there is power outage, but let’s not get in to these details.

What compelled me to write this letter to you and the great daughters of this nation like you who are married to, ‘Men in Uniform’ (I can not say how much manly hood is left in them) are the reports about Dr. Afia Siddiqui, a respected daughter of this nation like you and others, who is presently being detained in isolation by the Americans in their Bagram detention centre in Afghanistan, for over four years called ‘Prisoner 650’ and that she has been tortured to the point where she has lost her mind. Britain’s Lord Nazeer Ahmed, (of the House of Lords), asked questions in the House about the condition of Prisoner 650 who, according to him is physically tortured and continuously raped by the officers at prison. Lord Nazeer has also submitted that Prisoner 650 has no separate toilet facilities and has to attend to her bathing and movements in full view of the other prisoners.

According to reports the ‘Prisoner 650’ Dr. Afia Siddiqui, a PhD degree holder, was arrested by Pakistani intelligence agencies while on her way to the Rawalpindi airport and that she was later handed over to the American Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). At the time of her arrest she was 30 years and accompanied by her three sons the oldest of which was four and the youngest only one month, one week after her disappearance, plain clothed intelligence went to her mother’s house and warned her, “We know that you are connected to higher-ups but do not make an issue out of your daughter’s disappearance.” the mother was threatened of ‘dire consequences’ in case she didn’t followed the instructions.

On December 30, 2003 Dr. Fawzia Siddiqui, Dr. Afia’s elder sister met with Mr. Faisal Saleh Hayat (the then minister of interior) at Islamabad with Mr. Ejazul Haq, MNA, regarding the whereabouts of Dr. Afia. Mr. Faisal told Dr. Fawzia and Mr. Ejazul Haq that according to his information Dr. Afia Siddiqui had already been released by ISI and that she (Dr. Fawzia) should go home and wait for a phone call from her sister, however the whereabouts of Dr. Afia were not known until another Pakistani, Mr. Moazzam Begg (a former Guantanamo Bay detainee), who was arrested from Islamabad by ISI and later handed over to FBI recounted his experience during his detention in Bagram, Afghanistan in his book ‘Enemy Combatant’ after his release in year 2005.

After reading Mr. Begg’s book, a British journalist, Yvonne Ridley, decided to find further details about the ’Prisoner 650’ and visited Bagram and later called for help in a press conference on July 6, 2008, for a Pakistani woman. “I call her the ‘grey lady’ because she is almost a ghost, a specter whose cries and screams continues to haunt those who heard her,” Ms Ridley said at a press conference, Dr. Afia is being held by Americans for her alleged links with Al-Quaida operatives.

In the book ‘In the line of fire’, your husband General Pervez Musharraff has admitted the handing over of innocent people to Americans for bounty of Million of dollars in return, theses people are considered innocent unless given a chance of a fair trial and proven guilty by a competent court. He was COAS of Pakistan and self styled head of state and responsible to ensure the sovereignty of Pakistan and protection of lives and liberty of people.

Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan provided a guarantee to every citizen to be treated in accordance with law, there is a set procedure for those involved in criminal activities under Criminal Procedure Code which requires that charges against person involved in a crime outside the country and required by a International Police (Interpol) shall be brought before a court of law, the court shall decide about the validity and prima facie value of these charges and shall ensure that the person shall be treated according to law before handing him to a foreign state’s law enforcement agency. However in Dr. Afia’s case and handing over thousands other Pakistani’s to Americans, none of these procedures were followed, she was arrested with her children and handed over to Americans.

If she is involved in any criminal activity, she must have been treated in accordance with law, the charges against her should have been brought before a court and she must have been given a full opportunity to defend herself, even if found guilty, she, as a human being, enjoys protection under UN Charter of Human Rights while serving her sentence and her life and modesty is protected.

Her Children are as innocent as any other child and deserve the same opportunities and protection which is being provided to children of General Musharraff and other ‘men in uniform’. But unfortunately, those who are supposed to protect the women and children of this country have turned in to traders and selling their own people for sake of dollars.

In case the proper legal procedure was followed, it was ensured by court that she shall be treated in accordance with law; Dr. Afia would not have been subjected to inhuman treatment, sexual, physical and mental abuse to the point where he lost her mind!

You are blessed with children, you are a not only a mother but a grandmother, a daughter and a sister, apart from being the wife of a General, just imagine, what if it was not Dr. Afia it was your daughter Ayela and her beautiful children, and handed over to blood thirsty hounds, how would you feel if your daughter was being treated like Dr. Afia!

Please, look in to it from purely women’s prospective and think that how much dignity is left in the money with which you are feeding your children and grandchildren which is being paid by poor and helpless people of this country to your husband for protecting them and how much prosperity the dollars will bring in to your children lives which were earned by selling a daughter of this nation!

How can these soldiers stand with dignity and pride in front of their own daughters, sisters and wives, who arrested Dr. Afia, Moazzam Begg and thousands other missing Pakistani’s and handed them over to Americans for sake of money, which conquered Supreme Court of Pakistan when it was probing the issue of these innocent people.

Being daughters of this nation you have the power to take away that false pride from these cowards, you can make them realize that they are not much different from any other dirty pimp trading honor and modesty of a helpless women.

All of us have conscience, no matter how weak it becomes, it’s still there to guide us to make right decisions, no matter how late we are it’s never late to make a decision which is voice of our conscience, just take few moments and think over it and decide weather it’s worth spending rest of your life with the a person who have sold sons and daughters of this nation for his personal greed, who has betrayed the trust of those who assigned him the job to protect their women and children.

This country has given you a lot and it’s time to pay back that debt, obviously you are not in position to bring back the sufferings of Dr. Afia, her children or Moazzam Begg, but at least you can do this much, take away that false pride from the man who is responsible for sufferings of Dr. Afia, the pride and the dignity which he have shown you in uniform, which is symbol of bravery and sacrifice, for once ask your husband, why did he do this with a daughter of this country!

May Allah bless you and your children.
Best Regards,

Pakistan: The ongoing soft revolution: Part 2

The first Cultural Revolution in history of sub-continent was the Sufi movement, from the 13th century A.D. Sufism increasingly attracted the creative social and intellectual energies within the community and with the passage of time it acquired new dimensions and began to deal with the mundane aspects of life as well to free religious thought from the rigidity imposed by Mullah and to move away towards rural areas from the evil and debilitation effects of wealth, monarchy and bureaucracy concentrated in big cities.

The character of Sufi movement was such that if did not require official patronage or military protection and it also proved a serious challenge for both feudal and Mullahs however the movement was hijacked by converting the graves of Saints in to shrines, feudal patronized these shrines by donating lands to the caretakers and a new class of “Peers” emerged which was pro-establishment.

These peer’s who had actively helped British or had remained neutral now emerged and filled the vacuum of the empty places of nationalist Indians and as leaders of Muslim public opinion.Pakistan movement was itself was a struggle of liberal, middle class and educated Muslims comprising of “Civil Society” and intellectuals of that time, Quaid-i-Azam was named as Kafir-i-Azam by then Jamat-i-Islami and hardliner groups, however after independence these hardliners joined the feudal, beaurucracy and military and hijacked it by giving a new slogan “Pakistan ka matlab kia…Lailaha ilAllah.

This proved to be an alliance which protected the interests of establishment and military (which comprised of sons of feudal lords recruited by British rulers) while the middle class and civil society was completely ousted after assassination of Liaqat Ali Khan.

As the middle class and civil society is always biggest threat for authoritarian rule, General Ayub decided to move the capital of Pakistan from Karachi (which was mostly middle class city) to Islamabad, a new capital where ruling elite can live with lower class workers who are too much busy in making ends meet rather then creating any trouble for rulers.

These times the leadership of Awami League was mostly comprised of professors, lawyers and middle class and on the other hand Communism was influencing Pakistan greatly, there was a clear division of left and right wings and establishment, feudal lords and Mullah was at the verge of loosing their grip over power.

This was the time when establishment and military decided to establish PPP to hijack the leftist movement and promoted ZA Bhutto to hijack entire movement, the middle class educated left wing leaders were later on send to prisons or sidelined by Bhutto and replaced by feudal lords, this was the second biggest hijack of any civil society/middle class movement. The second biggest threat from Bengali middle class Awami League was averted by separation of Bangladesh.

This was the time when Pakistan became a complete security state form a welfare states slogan given by left wing dominated founder members of PPP and middle class leadership of Awami League.

Although Bhutto did not damaged the ruling establishment but the organized middle class and political awareness in ordinary workers of PPP remained a threat for ruling Mafia and the time, establishment realized that Bhutto was getting out of their control, he was removed from scene.
Ziaual Haq gave free hand to Mullahs, assembled feudal lords in to so called “Majlish Shoora” and crushed any remains of civil society, free press, trade and students unions and thereafter US dollars started flowing for recruitment of Jihadi’s for proxy soviet war, these jihadi’s were free to kill the remaining left wing workers, some were executed by Military and others fled away from country, press and civil society activists were crushed by ISI and judiciary was made subordinate to executive, we became a complete theocratic state ruled by generals, feudal lords and mad jihadi Mullah’s.

ISI organized MQM as a tool to control the biggest middle class city of Karachi, IJI and several other religious groups to keep civil society under pressure, several ethnic groups in rural areas of Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan to counter the influence of PPP vocal workers and replaced the remaining middle class in PPP by feudal lords and some fake leaders who are actually on payroll of agencies. Situation with Nawaz league (PMLN) is not much different which itself is a creation of agencies.

Establishment controls all major parties in Pakistan and influences their decisions as needed. But question is weather these parties can survive in these times when after 30 years struggle, the lower class had transformed in to a sizeable middle class, education level are far above from times of dictatorships, the media has got the power to influence the public opinion and technology has mad the world a global village and it has not been possible to fool all the people all the times.

I would humbly disagree with those who think that dream of change is just a delusion, whatever present system of status quo and exploitation tries to do, it would not be able to deliver.
This is the time when an invisible power struggle has began between the pro-establishment and antiestablishment forces, where we go from here is although not certain but there is no likelihood that Pakistani public will be ready to accept a rule like Taliban as we are much different culturally, socially and ethnically from Afghanistan.

There is no doubt in my mind that liberal, educated and middle class leadership is emerging which has mobilized general public because of the mistake made by establishment by removing Chief Justice of Pakistan and people has started thinking out of the box.

Here is another question, weather reinstatement of Chief Justice and deposed Judges will bring any revolution and break the status quo, the answer is in a definite and big “NO”, we can not expect a welfare state emerging if the deposed judges are back, however this will disintegrate the alliance of exploitation and began a war between partners of collation of exploitation and ultimately bring down this alliance of Military, Mullah, Feudal Lords and Judges.

understand it better we have to look in to the events which took place since removal of Chief Justice and how the powers of status quo and anti-establishment are allaying, how judicial system actually works and where it will became a catalyst for change.
That would give us a clear idea weather “Long March” was a success or a failure and weather Aitazaz made a right decision or a mistake………

There are two types of judges, ones who are liked by the lawyers community and the ones who are respected, it is not necessary that a judge who is liked by lawyers is really respected and vice versa. Chief Justice Iftakhar Muhammad was widely disliked by lawyers because being proactive, vocal, and overconfident which resulted his court room being nick named as “Slaughter House”. The reasons were obvious, justice rushed is justice crushed.

However he was respected for his sincerity, judicial activism and bold decisions which were not common in Supreme Court, although I have no doubt in mind that he got his son inducted in to FIA and later in police as a political favors, but he refused to compromise on his judgments against wrong government decisions on basis of that favors, if one check the record, almost all of judges in higher judiciary get such favors and much more.

On decision of Steel Mills case he made the then prime minister upset, also his several other actions against beaurucracy were disliked by General Musharaf and his fellows. The disliking in lawyers community against Chief Justice gave dictator a chance to blackmail him, but his advisors miscalculated that very fact that although Chief Justice is disliked by lawyers on certain issues, the lawyers respect him for his integrity and courage.

Although Chief Justice was not aware at the time when he refused to submit before General Musharaf that lawyers will come out to help him, but he was sure that “Supreme Judicial Council” will not take any pressure from Generals and decide on merit as the charges were frivolous, fortunately many of the judges who held senior ranks were either good professional lawyers before being elevated as judges or not corrupt and they wont fear about their jobs.

However things changed dramatically and lawyer’s community refused to accept any such action against Chief Justice, the hatred against General’s overcome the disliking of chief justice and his courage and integrity become a cause. There is a famous quote that why should a judge fight generals on cost of his job when entire nation is distributing sweets when a dictator takes over, the disapproval of Generals decision by lawyers was fueled by the treatment met by him by police and agencies.

Once lawyers showed strength, the judges in Supreme Court realized that they have some backing, as, the civil society, human rights organizations and international support joined lawyers the judiciary started feeling confident for first time in our history that they are no more slaves of generals and that resulted in to reinstatement of chief justice.

That was the same strength which helped more then 60 judges of superior courts to refuse to take oath under PCO or second martial law of General Musharaf, however if, like our past, the public and lawyers would have been sleeping over chief justice issue, the number of judges refusing to take oath under PCO would have been significantly less.

The lawyers, civil society and middle class Pakistani’s have shown an unprecedented resistance, the media coverage brought this issue to every citizen and it would not be wrong to say that ever if Benazir was not assassinated the results of elections would have been same, however Benazir’s assassination put establishment on defensive and added in to anger of a common man.
Unfortunately people have not seen any change after the election, as NRO, US pressure and alliance of Zardari with establishment are the main hindrances in restoration of deposed judges, as we all know that PPP is in no mood to play antiestablishment role, rather its own workers and party itself is hostage to elements which are on payroll of agencies.

The middle class, liberal and educated people are frustrated with this situation where a common man is fed up with rising costs, in such situation it was not a miracle that hundreds of thousands of people participated in long march.

On other hand the establishment has already inducted his forces in this movement, be it in form of Jamat Islami or ex-servicemen in order to hijack the entire movement, if such a movement of liberal and middle class educated people is hijacked by JI, students of Lal Masjid and ex-servicemen and turns violent, it will derail the half cocked democracy which is exposing the real face of our political parties and generals would have a reason to interfere.

Keeping in view the number of participants of long march and in case the judges were not restored for next few days in case of “Dharna”, it would have surely turned violent and at the same time while the lawyers and civil society would have not been able to sit-in for indefinite period of time, the pro-establishment forces would have taken over the entire movement by turning it violent.

This situation would have not only shaken the confidence of general public, who participated with their families on lawyers and civil society but also helped the forces of status quo to further their agenda.

This is supported by the fact that youngsters belonging to IJT, students of Lala masjid and “Brave” ex-servicemen who were raising slogans of “Now or Never” did not bothered to do any “Dharna” even after the lawyers announced that whoever wants a sit in is free to do so, does not it clearly indicate that those who have been always a part of generals weather in uniform or as civilians intended to hijack the entire movement as it has been in our history.

Undoubtedly, the leaders of lawyers made a wise decision, they not only saved a movement of civil society and liberal educated Pakistani’s from going in to hands to pro establishment jihadi elements but have also established the credibility of civil society to lead.

Today every Pakistani is praising the civil society apart from supporting their cause that it was a biggest protest in Islamabad and so peaceful, this trust of the common man is the real gain for civil society and liberal middle class of Pakistan. It has not only changed the Pakistan’s image overseas but have given a hope to a common man that not only generals and feudal lords can run the country but also there is another force which is amongst themselves.

There is no doubt that judges would be reinstated but now with a new courage that they have nation on their back, they generals-judges alliance is already a thing of past and with an independent judiciary there is no force which can protect status quo, although it will take some time for things to shape up, but we are on right track, this is the beginning of a soft revolution which has already changed a lot without any violence
Silence.

Pakistan: The on going soft revolution: Part 1

Pakistan: The on going soft revolution


A welfare state is a government that provides for the welfare, or the well-being, of its citizens completely. Such a government is involved in citizens’ lives at every level. It provides for physical, material, and social needs rather than the people providing for their own.

The purpose of the welfare state is to create economic and social equality or to assure equitable standards of living for all, access to justice, freedom of faith, freedom of speech and transparency in decisions of executive.

The welfare state provides education, housing, sustenance, healthcare, pensions, unemployment insurance, sick leave or time off due to injury, supplemental income in some cases, and equal wages through price and wage controls.

It also provides for public transportation, childcare, social amenities such as public parks and libraries, as well as many other goods and services. Some of these items are paid for via government insurance programs while others are paid for by taxes.All advanced societies view helping people who literally cannot help themselves as decent, humane, and necessary and this was the ideology of Jinnah’s struggle for an independent state as in colonial Sub-continent Hindu majority classifies the people on basis of color, breed and tribes, even of to today with 150 million untouchable’s living on sub-humane level however without division Hindu’s and Muslim would have been in a state of civil war forever.

Although there were colonial agendas behind this division and many issues were intentionally left unresolved, If we evaluate our history we find that feudalism had its roots in the Mughal period, these feudal who had complete control over peasants lives allied British occupation and were granted estates, government jobs and more powers in return for their loyalties. These feudal are still “honest” with their cause and join every dictator and switch political parties frequently and sellout their loyalties to any higher bidder.

The second beneficiary from colonial rule were the traitors of Tipu Sultan’s army who betrayed him and joined the British forces, in return they were rewarded accordingly and Muslim from these traitor groups were inducted in army, a notorious character in defeat of Tipu Sultan “Meer Jafar” was rewarded by inducting his grandson as first “Indian Commissioned officer” name Iskandar Mirza, who lead the Pakistan army afterwards and was the first to impose a military rule. This reflects the mindset and origin of our army.

The third group which supported colonialism were “Peer’s” and Mullahs, who exploited the religious emotions of Muslim, they not only strengthened British rule but actively killed and captured “freedom fighters” and got estates, lands and civil service jobs, the families include feudal of Sindh, Peers of Punjab and Mullahs who were against the creation of Pakistan. Their historical role has been of a “civilian wing” of colonial forces.

The alliance between the military, feudal, corrupt politicians, executive and the religious establishment has long had a stranglehold on power here, with each side using the other to advance its own aims and cement its own influence and judiciary provided legitimacy to all acts of that alliance by getting her share.

In 1954, just seven years after the creation of Pakistan, Governor General Ghulam Mohammad dissolved the first constitutional assembly and the government of Prime Minister Khawja Nazim Uddin. The president of the assembly, Moulvi Tamiz Uddin, challenged him in the Sindh High Court and won: the dissolution was held to be illegal and unconstitutional. On appeal to the Chief Court of Pakistan, which was later renamed the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Munir decided in favor of the governor general. The basis for his decision was the “doctrine of necessity”: meaning that to preserve the country the constitution had to be abandoned.

This judgment of Justice Munir established a long lasting partnership between Generals and Judges and inducted a fourth partner in exploitation of public along with Mullaha’s and feudal.
This alliance was further strengthen by international forces which wanted to punish ZA Bhutto on one hand for his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons and on other hand to strengthen these four forces for a proxy war against Soviet Union, but in this process a fifth invisible force was established consisting of drug lords, arms traders and recruiters for jihad who got black money in this process and initiated a new trend of “money politics”, even some generals were directly involved in this trade.

The United State having complete control over these five influential ruling “Mafia” of Pakistan once again pushed the country in to war against its own created Talban’s and appointed a former City Bank employee to channel funds for this war, he also got a free hand to gift Pakistan’s public institutions for personal gains under umbrella of “privatization”.
At the same time we have seen “Judicial Activism” around the world, be it India or United States, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftakhar Chaudhary, influenced by judicial activism became a hurdle in sale of “Pakistan Steel Mills” and it hurt the interests of Shaukat Aziz (US governor for Pakistan), also issue of “missing persons” and Musharaf’s uniform were clear “violation of collation of interest” of ruling Mafia.

It was a violation of rules of business of Judges, Generals, Mullahs, Fudals and Drug Lords ruling Mafia. The powerful General Musharaf backed by USA called Chief Justice, make him realize of his position and told him to submit resignation.

The refusal of Chief Justice to resign proved a fatal crack in ruling Mafia and it broke the sixty years old alliance of exploitation.

We, the nation, entered in to a new phase of our history that day.
Unless this system is destroyed the ideas prevailing in Pakistan concerning way of life, society and politics cannot change.

Contnued…………..