آزاد عدلیہ کا ورثہ

پاکستان کی تاریخ کے سب سے بڑے عدالتی بحران کا آغاز اس وقت ہوا تھاجب سابق چیف آف آرمی سٹاف جنرل پرویز مشرف نے وردی میں چیف جسٹس آف پاکستان کو اپنے کیمپ آفس میں طلب کیا اور استعفیٰ کا مطالبہ کیا، استعفیٰ سے انکار کے بعد انہیں معزول کر دیا گیا، اور ان کے خلاف صدارتی ریفرنس سپریم جوڈیشل کونسل کو بھیج دیا گیا ، ان کی گھر میں نظر بندی شروع ہوگئی، حتیٰ کہ بیرونی دنیا سے ان کا رابطہ کاٹنے کے لیے انہیں فون، ٹی وی انٹرنیٹ اور اخبارات سے محروم کر دیا گیا۔ ان کے بچوں کو سکول جانے سے روک دیا گیا۔ ان کے گھر کے باہر پولیس کی بھاری نفری تعینات رہی، سپریم جوڈیشل کونسل میں سماعت سے پہلے ان کی پولیس سے ہتک کروائی گئی، ان کی سماعت کے موقعوں پر احتجاج کو روکنے کے لیے سینکڑوں وکلائ اور سیاسی کارکنوں کو گرفتار کیا گیا، احتجاج کے لیے نکلنے والے وکلائ کے خون سے لاہور کی سڑکیں سرخ ہو گئیں، پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے سینیٹر لطیف کھوسہ جو اب گورنر پنجاب ہیں ان کا سرپھاڑ دیا گیا۔ اس احتجاج میں وکلائ برادری کے ساتھ ساتھ سیاسی، سماجی اورانسانی

حقوق کی تنظیمیں بھی شریک ہوئیں۔ بین الاقوامی برادری، اداروں اور میڈیا کی بھی اس معاملے پر گہری نگاہ تھی۔ یہ ایک غیر جمہوری فوجی آمرانہ دور تھا۔

پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی جو اس وقت برسراقتدار اتحادی حکومت کی سب سے بڑی سیاسی پارٹی ہے، اس نے ججوں کی بحالی کی تحریک میں سب سے زیادہ قربانیاں دی ہیں۔ 12 مئی کا کراچی میں خونی واقعہ ہو یا راولپنڈی میں چیف جسٹس کے استقبالی کیمپ پر بم دھماکہ ہو، سب سے زیادہ خون اس پارٹی کا بہا ہے، پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کی چیئرپرسن محترمہ بے نظیر بھٹو شہید نے اس تحریک میں شمولیت کے حوالے سے کہا تھا کہ پاکستان میں ایک جوڈیشل ملٹری الائنس رہا ہے، مگر اب ہم یہ دیکھ رہے ہیں کہ وہ جوڈیشل ملٹری الائنس ٹوٹ رہا ہے، اور اس وقت چیف جسٹس کی بحالی کے ساتھ ساتھ عدلیہ کی آزادی کے لیے بھی جدوجہد ہو رہی ہے۔ یہ ایک حقیقت ہے کہ ہماری اعلیٰ عدلیہ بھی پاکستان کی سیاست اور جمہوریت کو فیصلہ کن رخ دینے میں اہم کردار ادا کرتی رہی ہے جس سے فوجی آمروں کے لیے پاکستان میں سیاسی فضائ سازگار رہی ہے۔ غیر منتخب حکمرانوں نے منتخب حکومتوں کو فارغ کرنے کے بعد اپنا قانونی، آئینی جواز عدلیہ سے ہی حاصل کیا ہے، اور یہ عدلیہ ہی تھی جس نے جنرل پرویز مشرف کو تین سال حکومت کرنے کے ساتھ آئین میں ترمیم کا اختیار بھی دے دیا جو اختیار عدالت کے پاس خود نہیں تھا۔

عام انتخابات 2008ئ کے بعد جب یوسف رضا گیلانی متفقہ طورپر وزیر اعظم منتخب ہوئے تو انہوں نے حلف اٹھانے اور کابینہ کی تشکیل سے قبل جو اعلان کیا وہ ججوں کی رہائی کا تھا۔ ججوں کی بحالی کے بعد یہ تصور کیا جانے لگا کہ نئی منتخب حکومت اور بحال شدہ عدلیہ جسے بعض دانشور اور اینکر حضرات ٴٴآزاد عدلیہٴٴ کہتے ہیں مل کر ملک اور جمہوریت کو استحکام کی طرف لے کر جائیں گے مگر ایسا ہو نہیں سکا۔چیف جسٹس آف پاکستان جسٹس افتخار چوہدری جو 2007ئ میں جمہوریت، آئین کی بالادستی اور قانون کی حکمرانی کی علامت کے طورپر ابھرے تھے اور جس کے اعتراف میں ہارورڈ لائ سکول نے ان کو ٴٴمیڈل آف فریڈمٴٴ سے نوازا تھا۔ مگر اب بنیادی انسانی حقوق کی قومی اور بین الاقوامی تنظیمیں اور وکلائ تحریک کے مرکزی کردار انہیں جمہوریت کی راہ میں حائل رکاوٹ کے طورپر دیکھ رہے ہیں۔ ممتاز قانون دان اور انسانی حقوق کی علمبردار عاصمہ جہانگیر نے آزاد عدلیہ کے اس نئے کردار کے بارے میں برملا کہا تھا کہ ہم ٴٴملٹری ڈکٹیٹر شپ سے جوڈیشل ڈکٹیٹرشپ کی طرف بڑھ رہے ہیںٴٴ۔

ہیومن رائٹس کمیشن آف پاکستان کی رپورٹس اور آبزرویشن کے مطابق پاکستان کی عدلیہ سیاسی مقدمات میں الجھ کر انسانی آفاقی بنیادی حقوق سے متعلقہ معاملات کو نظر انداز کررہی ہے۔ عاصمہ جہانگیر کے مطابق میمو قابل سماعت نہ تھا اور عدلیہ سیاست کو عدالت میں لے آئی ہے۔ سیاسی معاملات میں الجھ کر عدلیہ کا اپنا وقار متاثر ہورہا ہے چونکہ عدالت سیاسی نوعیت کے مقدمات میں الجھی ہوئی ہے لہذا عام آدمی کو انصاف نہیں مل رہا ہے۔ 18لاکھ سے زائد مقدمات ججز کی توجہ کے منتظر ہیں۔ لاپتہ افراد کے لواحقین عدالت کی طرف آس لگائے بیٹھے ہیں مگر اس طرف کسی کی نظر نہیں جاتی۔ ججز بحالی تحریک کے روح رواں علی احمد کرد بھی عدلیہ کی اس روش سے خوش نہیں ہیں۔ کرد صاحب ایک آزاد منش اور صوفی شخصیت کے مالک ہیں اور ان کی تمام عمر جمہوریت کی سربلندی میں گزری ہے۔ ججز بحالی تحریک میں انہوں نے انتہائی صعوبتیں اور مشکلات برداشت کی ہیں مگر اب چونکہ آزاد عدلیہ کے سپہ سالار اور محافظ شیخ رشید اور اکرم شیخ ہیں اس لیے ایسے کرداروں کی اب ضرورت نہیں رہی۔ علی احمد کرد عدالت کے جوڈیشل ایکٹوازم پر اپنے خدشات کا اظہار کرچکے ہیں۔ ان کے نزدیک عدلیہ اپنے دائرہ اختیار سے تجاوز کر چکی ہے۔ ان کا کہنا ہے کہ ایک جمہوریت پسند کی حیثیت سے انہیں عوام کی اجتماعی دانش پر اعتماد ہے جس کا اظہار صرف پارلیمنٹ ہی کرسکتی ہے کوئی اور ادارہ نہیں، اور میمو کے معاملے میں وہ پارلیمانی کمیشن کے فیصلے کو ہی مانیں گے۔

اور اب قانونی ماہرین کی بین الاقوامی تنظیم انٹرنیشنل کمیشن آف جیورسٹس (ICJ)جو مختلف ممالک کے ماہر قانون، ججوں اور وکلائ پر مشتمل ہے اور جس کے مقاصد میں بین الاقوامی بنیادی انسانی حقوق کو یقینی بنانے کے ساتھ ساتھ اختیارات کی تقسیم کا تحفظ اور عدلیہ کی خود مختار اور وکلائ کے پیشے کا تحفظ ہے۔ اس کی حالیہ رپورٹ جو اس نے پاکستان میں معروف قانونی، سیاسی، سماجی شخصیات سے انٹرویو، سروے اور مختلف جائزوں کے بعد مرتب کی ہے اس کے مطابق پاکستانی عدلیہ جسٹس افتخار چوہدری کی سربراہی میں غیر معمولی قوت حاصل کرچکی ہے اور اس کی بنیاد پر اپنے اختیارات کو استعمال کررہی ہے۔ اس طرح ٴٴآزاد عدلیہ ٴٴ کی وراثت بہت زیادہ الجھ چکی ہے۔ رپورٹ کے مطابق عدالت ان حدود میں گئی ہے جو حکومت یا پارلیمنٹ کے لیے مخصوص تھی اور اس طرح مختلف ریاستی اداروں کے درمیان طاقت کے توازن پر کئی خدشات نے جنم لیا ہے۔ اس دوران عدالت نے مدعیان کی طرف سے لائے گئے مقدمات کے برعکس اخباری خبروں کی بنیاد پر ازخود نوٹس لیتے ہوئے عدالتی کارروائی کا آغاز کیا ہے۔ ایسے مقدمات میں سوموٹو نوٹس لیے گئے ہیں جہاں حکومت کارروائی میں ناکام رہی ہے، بعض موقعوں پر یہ قانون کی حکمرانی کا تحفظ کرنے میں معاون ثابت ہوئے ہیں۔ اس ضمن میں رپورٹ نے گزشتہ برس کراچی میں رینجرز کے ہاتھوں قتل ہونے والے نوجوان کا حوالہ دیا ہے جس میں سپریم کورٹ نے فیصلہ سناتے ہوئے ڈی جی رینجرز اور آئی جی سندھ کو تین روز میں ہٹانے کا حکم دیا تھا اور اس ضمن میں صاف شفاف تحقیقات کے احکامات جاری کیے تھے لیکن رپورٹ کے مطابق دیگر مقدمات میں جسٹس افتخار چوہدری نے محض اخبارات میں چھپنے والے مضامین کی بنیاد پر ازخود نوٹس لیے اس کی بنیاد پر ایک ایسا نظام عدل متعارف ہوا جو قانون کی حکمرانی سے بمشکل مطابقت رکھتا تھا جیسا کہ چینی کے معاملہ میں سپریم کورٹ نے چینی کی قیمت مقرر کرنے کی کوشش کی جس کا تعین عموماً انتطامیہ اور مارکیٹ کی قوتیں کرتی ہیں۔ اختیارات کی تقسیم کے حوالے سے رپورٹ کا یہ کہنا ہے کہ ٴٴآزاد عدلیہٴٴ اس دوران پارلیمنٹ کے کردار کو کمزور کرنے کی کوشش میں بھی رہی ہے۔ خاص طورپر ججوں کی تعیناتی کے حوالے سے پارلیمانی کمیٹیوں کے فیصلوں کو ردکیا گیا ہے جس سے عوام کے نمائندہ ادارے کی تحقیر ہوئی ہے۔

عام آدمی کے لیے شاید آزاد عدلیہ کا ورثہ یہی ہے کہ الیکٹرانک میڈیا پر بریکنگ نیوز اور اخبار کی شہ سرخیوں میں ججز کے ریمارکس، اور سیاسی خبروں پر فوری ازخود نوٹس اور ان پر طویل طویل ٹاک شوز اور اینکروں کے ماہرانہ تبصرے جس دوران وہ اپنے مقدمات کے فیصلوں کے انتطار میں بے بس اور تنہا کھڑا رہا ہے۔

Source: Daily Mashriq Lahore

Supreme Court Of Pakistan Exceeded The Limits:ICJ Report 2011

ملکوںاور تہذیبوں کی تاریخ انسانوں کی تاریخ ہوتی ہے۔ مگر پاکستان کی تاریخ قائداعظم سے لے کر اب جمہوری بحرانوں کی تاریخ ہے۔ جنرل ایوب خان سے جنرل یحیی سے جنرل ضیا الحق اورجنرل مشرف تک، بحرانوں کی بڑی ذمہ داری ‘وردی پوش’ سیاست دانوں پر عائد ہوتی ہے۔ جو کسی وقت بھی ‘سفید پوش ‘ سیاست دانوں کو گھر بھیج کر شیروانی پہن کر حلف اٹھالیتے ہیں، اور پی سی او کے گناہ کو سینے پر سجانے والی عدلیہ حکمرانی کی سند عطا کردیتی ہے۔ پھر یہ حلف پورے سماج کا ‘آپریشن’ بن جاتا ہے۔ مختلف نوعیت کی بیماریوں کے شفا خانےکھل جاتے ہیں، اور نیم حکیم خطرہ جاں کا محاورہ سچ لگنے لگتاہے۔

یہ بھی سچ ہے کہ جمہوریت کے نام پر بننے والی حکومتیں بھی جمہور کے استحصال کا سبب بن سکتی ہیں۔ مگر جمہوریت کے پراسیس کو جمہوری پراسیس سے بدلنے کی بجاۓ اسے غیر ائینی طور یکسر توڑ دینا ‘ہوس اقتدار’ کے سواء کچھ بھی نہیں۔ اسمبلیوں کو ان کی ائینی معیاد پوری کرنے کے بعد عوام کے سامنے جانا چاہیے تاکہ وہ انہیں رد یا قبول کرسکیں۔ یہی جمہوری عمل ہے۔ اسی سفر پر چلنے سے جمہوری اقدار فروغ پاتی ہیں، اسی سے جمہوریت استحکام حاصل کرتی ہے۔ جمہوریت کی خامیاں مذید جمہوریت سے ہی دور ہوتی ہیں۔ جمہوریت عام اور حاکم کے مابین تضادات کو ساکت نہین کرتی بلکہ عوام کو حکمرانوں کے انتخاب، اپنے فیصلے پر نظر ثانی اور تبدیلی کا اختیار دیتی ہے۔

اس جمہوری عمل کو منقطع کرنے کی سازش سے پاکستان آج پھر بحرانوں سے دوچار نظر آتا ہے۔ جمہوریت کو ناکام کرنے کے لۓ غیر نمائندہ ریاستی ادارے اور ان کی کنگز پارٹی اور بالخصوص پنجاب کی حکومتی جماعت پاکستان مسلم لیگ نواز ہر غیر جمہوری اورناجائز حربہ استعمال کر رہی ہے۔

یہ بھی ایک حقیقت ہے کہ ہماری عدلیہ بھی پاکستان کی سیاست اور جمہوریت کو فیصلہ کن رخ دینے میں اہم کردار ادا کرتی رہی ہے، جس سے فوجی آمروں کے لۓ فضا سازگار رہی ہے۔ پاکستانی تاریخ کے سب سے بڑے عدالتی بحران، جو مارچ2007 کو چیف جسٹس اف پاکستان کے خلاف صدارتی ریفرنس، سپریم جوڈیشل کونسل کو بھیجنے کے بعد ہوا تھا، اس کے نتیجے میں چیف جسٹس کی بحالی کے ساتھ، عدلیہ کی آزادی کی بھی تحریک چلی۔ خواب یہ تھا کہ شاید جوڈیشل ملٹری الائنس ٹوٹ جاۓ اور عدلیہ کی آزادی سے ریاست نیشل سیکیورٹی سٹیٹ سے نیشنل ویلفیئر سٹیٹ بن جاۓ۔ ‘ریاست ہوگئ ماں کے جیسی’ چودھری اعتزازاحسن کا بھی یہی خواب لگتا تھا۔

مگرصد افسوس یہ خواب، خواب ہی رہا۔ آج بھی عدالت کو انسانی آفاقی بنیادی حقوق سے ذیادہ قومی سلامتی اہم نظر آرہی ہے جو ایک ‘کاغذ کے ٹکڑے’ سے ‘سہمی اور خوف ذدہ’ نظر آتی ہے۔ ہیومن رائٹس کمیشن آف پاکستان کی رپورٹس اورآبزرویشن کے مطابق، پاکستان کی عدلیہ سیاسی مقدمات میں الجھ کر انسانی آفاقی بنیادی حقوق سے متعلقہ مقدمات کو نظر انداذ کررہی ہے۔ سپریم کورٹ بار ایسوسیشن کے موجودہ صدریاسین آذاد اور سابقہ صدر عاصمہ جہانگیر کا یہ کہنا ہے کہ ‘میمو’ قابل سماعت نہیں تھا اور عدلیہ سیاست کو عدالت میں لے آئ ہے۔ سیاسی معاملات میں الجھ کر عدلیہ کا وقارمتاثر ہو رہا ہے۔ چونکہ عدالت سیاسی نوعیت کے کیسزمیں مصروف ہے، لہذا عام آدمی کو انصاف نہیں مل رہا، 18 لاکھ سے زائد مقدمات ججز کی توجہ کے منتظر ہیں، لاپتہ افراد کے لواحقین بھی آس لگاۓ بیٹھے ہیں۔ مگر اس طرف کسی کی نظر نہیں جاتی۔

ججز بحالی تحریک کے روح رواں علی احمد کرد بھی عدلیہ کی اس سیاسی روش سے خوش دکھائ نہیں دیتے۔ کرد صاحب ایک آزاد منش صوفی شخصیت کے مالک ہیںاور ان کی تمام عمرجمہوریت کی سربلندی میں گزری ہے، ججز بحالی تحریک میں انہوں نے بے انتہا صعوبتیں اور مشکلات برداشت کی، مگر وقت بہت ظالم اور بے رحم ہوتاہے۔

اب چونکہ ‘آذاد عدلیہ کو شیخ رشید اور اکرم شیخ جیسے نۓ مگر آزمودہ محافظوں اور سپہ سالاروں کی حمایت اور خدمات حاصل ہے، لہذا آذاد میڈیا پرعلی احمد کرد کے لیۓ سپیس نہیں بنتی۔

بہرحال بہادر اور سچے لوگوں کو اپنے موقف کے لۓ تھوڑی سپیس ہی بہت ہے، انہیں شیخ رشید اور عمران خان کی طرح ہر ٹاک شو میں قبصےکی ضرورت نہیں، مہر بخاری کے ٹاک شو ‘کراس فائیر’ میں گفتگو فرماتے ہوۓ علی احمد کرد نے عدلیہ کے سیاسی حکومتی امور میں ‘جوڈیشل ایکٹیوازم’ پر اپنے خدشات کا اظہار دبے مگر واضع انداذ میں کیا ہے۔ ان کے نزدیک عدلیہ اپنے دائرہ اختیار سے تجاوزکررہی ہے۔ ان کا کہنا ہے کہ ایک جمہوریت پسند کی حیشیت سے انہیں عوام کی اجتماعی دانش پراعتماد ہے، جس کا اظہارصرف پارلیمنٹ ہی کرسکتی ہے کوئ اورادارہ نہیں، اور ‘میمو’ کے معاملےمیں وہ پارلیمانی کمیشن کا فیصلہ ہی مانیں گے۔ ان کا تفصیلی انٹرویو ‘قارئین اور ناظرین’ کی خدمت میں پیش کیا جارہا ہے۔

dekha jo teer kha ke kameen gah ki taraf

Recently we had suggested that instead of a suicidal confrontation with army, the elected government should tighten the ISI-backed judges’ screws via the parliament and intermediaries (e.g. leaders of the ISI-backed lawyers movement Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd etc).

We also suggested that the government must reject all suggestions by the lifestyle liberal elites who are currently urging PM Gilani and President Zardari to sack the army chief General Kayani and the ISI chief General Pasha. We explained that such a misadventure could prove suicidal as well as counter productive for the current democratic dispensation, as the Supreme Court will not waste a single moment in restoring the two generals and may also install a provisional technocrat government (the Bangladesh model) on the pretext of a number of made up charges.

We are pleased to note that the PPP government has foiled the coordinated haka plan of the ISI-proxies (right wing proxies of the Urdu press as well as liberal proxies of the English press) and have decided to avoid a non-productive collision with the military establishment.

According to news reports, a senior leader of the ISI-backed Lawyers Movement, and PPP central leader, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan would be representing Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the contempt of court notice against him by the ISI-backed Supreme Court. Aitzaz Ahsan met with the prime minister today who later approved the barrister to represent him in the apex court.

Earlier on Monday, a seven-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk had issued the order against the premier because of his non-implementation of the NRO judgment. The prime minister has been directed to personally appear before the court on January 19 for his refusal to write a letter to Swiss authorities for reopening cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

Also it is good to see that Ali Ahmed Kurd, another senior leader of the ISI-backed lawyers movement, has taken a bold stand against the ISI-backed Chief Justice. Good going, PPP!

Ali Ahmed will be roaring outside the supreme court while Aitzaz Ahsan will be presenting his arguments inside the court. As pejamistri noted, ISI-backed judge Iftikhar Chaudhry should be ashamed of himself, he owes his presence in the courtroom to these two persons.

Kurd expressed dismay over Supreme Court’s decision to suspend Babar Awan’s license in the ZAB reference case. He said that the courts which try to gain respect through contempt of court notices are weak courts. Kurd said that decision of the Supreme Court to suspend license and issue contempt notice to Dr. Babar Awan was regrettable and the court should show restraint with big heart. “I do not accept contempt of court laws and contempt is not issued to lawyers in any part of the world. Article 204 should be omitted from the Constitution as this is not justified”, Ali Kurd said. Responding to a question about respect of the judiciary, he said, “No one can show respect to judiciary more than us.” To a question about his appointment as counsel in Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Reference case, Ali Ahmed Kurd said, “It would be great honour for me if I am appointed as counsel in Bhutto reference case. (Source)

Asma Jahangir

Another senior leader of the ISI-backed lawyers movement and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir has said that she has read the verdict in the NRO case and has reached the conclusion that the judges were playing their role not as a judge but a petitioners’ lawyer. She said that it seems that the judiciary was rendering the role of lawyers in the Memo as well as NRO case so what could be done when an institution had decided to send home a democratic government. She said that the government has always been stuck in a blind alley, but now a screen has been erected in front of it after the recent political standoff. She suggested to the PPP coalition government in the centre to deal with the current political situation boldly, taking a principled stance on their constitutional rights and should also bring all the matters in the house to open debate and if there was found some need to amend the constitution for removing ambiguity about the institutional jurisdictions that must be taken. She also suggested that the government should move a resolution to strengthen parliament and the democratic system in the country. She also urged the judiciary not to get stuck on the NRO issue but take up thousands of other pending cases. (Source)

In recent development more than 1300 lower court judges across Punjab have submitted resignations to show solidarity with the District and Sessions Judge Justice Zawwar A Sheikh as the bar-bench rift continues. The resignations were submitted after a meeting of Session Judges. It was decided in the meeting that judges across Punjab would resign in support of Justice Zawwar.

However, according to the Punjab Bar Council, being civil servants, the judges were not allowed to set up an association [trade union], and hence they should be sacked.

Leading and prominent lawyers Athar Minallah, Dr Khalid Ranjha and Ali Ahmed Kurd criticized Chief Justice Khawaj sharif, they were of the view  that Chief Justice Lahore High Court Khawaja Sharif should accept the responsibility and resign.

According to media reports, addressing a meeting of Lahore High Court Bar Association, Kurd maintained that the issue of transfer of D&S;Judge Zawar Sheikh has been rearing its head for the last three months, adding that had it been heeded, it would not have snowballed into a serious Bar-Bench row. Rapping Justice Khawaja Sharif, if he had scruples, he would have come to Aiwan-e-Adl on foot to save the black coats from police highhandedness.

Meanwhile, the lawyers of Lahore are observing a black day against police torture and are also pressing the Lahore High Court to transfer District and Sessions Judge Zawwar.

Related articles on LUBP:

The unruly lawyers, for sale judges and the politics of briefcases – by Sikandar Mehdi

No entry for CJ Khwaja Sharif et al

A critical view on the dogfight between lawyers and judges in Lahore – by Sikandar Mehdi

Aitzaz Ahsan termed the decision for a strike premature, warning that it would divide the lawyers’ community. He said the decision had been taken in spite of PM Gilani’s assurance that the NRO judgment would be implemented.

ISLAMABAD: A number of senior lawyers who were at the forefront of the movement for the independence of judiciary have opposed the strike call given by the National Coordination Council (NCC) for Jan 28, warning that the move would harm democracy and constitutionalism and divide their community.

“This is premature and we are not going to boycott courts on Thursday,” Sindh High Court Bar Association president Rasheed A. Razvi told Dawn.

Mr Razvi was the petitioner in the case in which a 14-judge Supreme Court bench had declared Gen Pervez Musharraf’s second coup through the emergency order of Nov 3, 2007, unconstitutional and held appointment of Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar as the chief justice illegal. The verdict had also determined that Justice Dogar’s appointment was in defiance of a stricture issued by a seven-judge bench the same day.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court Bar Association’s president Qazi Mohammad Anwar, claiming to be the new chairman of the council, had issued a call for a countrywide lawyers’ strike on Jan 28 to press for implementation of the apex court’s verdict on the NRO.

During the two-year struggle for an independent judiciary, lawyers used to boycott court proceedings and hold demonstrations every Thursday.

“We had a meeting of the SHCBA on Monday. Although we believe that all the decisions of the Supreme Court, especially on the NRO, should be implemented by the executive in all sincerity and seriously, we will not boycott court proceedings on Thursday,” Mr Razvi said.

He said the association had also endorsed his demand that seniority should always be the criteria for elevating a judge to the Supreme Court.

“Therefore, Justice Saqib Nisar of the Lahore High Court should be appointed as the LHC chief justice and Chief Justice Khawaja Mohammad Sharif should be elevated as a Supreme Court judge,” he said.

Aitzaz Ahsan, the pioneer of the NCC, told a television channel that he still was the chairman of the council and he had not been invited to the meeting.

None of the senior members of the council, including former SCBA president Ali Ahmed Kurd, Tariq Mehmood, Muneer A. Malik and Anwar Kamal, was asked to attend the meeting.

Mr Ahsan termed the decision premature, warning that it would divide the lawyers community.

He said the call would not even get a positive response in the NWFP from where Qazi Anwar had succeeded as the SCBA president with a very thin margin.

“We used to announce decisions after holding detailed discussions and consulting all members of the council and every bar association of the country,” he said.

He said Sunday’s decision had been taken in spite of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s assurance that the NRO judgment would be implemented.

Source: Dawn

Source: Express

Analysis by Abdul Nishapuri – from another thread:

In Hamid Mir’s talkshow, Capital Talk, on 22 December 2009, Ali Ahmad Kurd expressed three key reservations about the current Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of Pakistan:

1. CJP and other judges of the Supreme Court are populist. They read daily newspapers, watch TV talk-shows and then shape their decisions / verdicts consistent with the ‘popular demand or expectations’.

2. CJP and other judges of the SC are rushing the current lopsided process of justice (aimed against one specific person, i.e. President Zardari), and in the rushed process, justice is likely to be crushed.

3. Kurd noted that it was being forecast by certain circles (e.g. Dr Shahid Masood and Shaheen Sehbai) that the Supreme Court will announce an important decision (against PPP) in December 2009, something which actually happened. Why this coincidence? (Why did the agents of establishment against democracy happen to know exact dates?)

Asma Jahangir too, in the same program of Capital Talk, expressed her reservations about the inclusion of Article 62 etc, related to Islamic provision of Ameen etc for the eligibility to be a member of parliament, in the Supreme Court’s judgement. She termed the judgement as poorly reasoned, politically biased, resembling a tribal jirgah style judgement instead of a due process of justice.

Judges deciding cases on media lines: Kurd

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Judges of the higher judiciary are making up their minds about cases after reading newspaper headlines and watching TV shows, former president Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Ali Ahmed Kurd said on Tuesday.

Describing the present situation as “justice hurry and justice worry”, Kurd deplored the fact that the judges were visiting and addressing the bars and said they would have to “prove themselves worthy of their positions”.

According to Kurd, judges in the United States neither read newspapers nor watched TV programmes, but focused only on their work.
Source

Kurd unhappy over SC verdict on NRO

By Iftikhar A. Khan
Wednesday, 23 Dec, 2009 (Dawn Report)

The judgment appeared to be based on newspaper headlines and talk shows of private TV channels: Ali Ahmed Kurd.

ISLAMABAD: Ali Ahmed Kurd, the firebrand leader of the lawyers’ movement and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, who has been keeping quiet for quite some time, surprised a lot of people on Tuesday with his blunt criticism of the way the Supreme Court was behaving. Judges should “behave like judges”, he said.

Speaking during a talk show on “Challenges facing the judiciary”, he said that people had reservations about the verdict handed down by the Supreme Court on petitions challenging the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

According to him, the judgment appeared to be based on newspaper headlines and talk shows of private TV channels.

Mr Kurd said that an independent judiciary had been restored after a great struggle, adding that the country would become stronger if the judiciary acted in the manner expected by the nation during the struggle. “If it does not happen, it will cause a blow to national security.”

He said he had been invited by various bar councils after the restoration of the judiciary, but he preferred to keep quiet. He said he did not attend functions where the chief justice had been invited and quit his practice as a lawyer in the Supreme Court. It was astonishing to see judges visiting bar councils, he added.

Mr Kurd described the National Judicial Policy as detrimental to the judicial system. He pointed out that a deadline of Dec 31 had been set for courts to decide cases. He said the maxim of ‘justice hurried is justice buried’ would turn out to be true in many cases because these, including cases of murder and dacoity, and the rights of defence and the practice of producing evidence of many people would be compromised due to paucity of time.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jehangir also criticised the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO and said it appeared to be a decision pronounced by a ‘jirga’.

She was of the opinion that the NRO could have been declared null and void by merely declaring it as repugnant to Article 25 of the Constitution, but a Pandora’s box had been opened by the court. Syed Iqbal Haider and Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood also spoke on the occasion.
Source

Dated: September 18th 2008.
To: Samad Khurram, Harvard.

My dear Samad,

I opened your mail yesterday and was deeply pained by it and by its tenor.

Of late there is a veritable campaign being fostered on the net and many mails are targeting the leadership of the Lawyers Movement. There is no doubt that most of the criticism is pointed at me but the beauty of the Movement has been that we have seldom taken any decision except through consensus though I admit to have been, in many ways, the prime mobiliser. As a result the criticism, to the delight of those who oppose the Movement, is of the entire leadership.

There are several issues being raised on blogs and through emails. I will address each briefly in this message because I greatly value your emotion and passion for an independent judiciary in Pakistan. But first the matter that has disturbed you as per your latest mail.

1. My association with the PPP: This is one issue, however, that is personal to me yet it is one that I have shared with my colleagues. There are two aspects of it: the persona of Mr. Zardari and the PPP as a party.

1. You accuse me of having accepted Zardari as the constitutional president of Pakistan. Whether one likes it or not Zardari has been elected through a democratic process in accordance with the letter of the Constitution. That is undeniable. An even more significant aspect is that within that process the representatives of three smaller provinces have voted for him almost unanimously. Thus there are both the issues of democracy and the federation.

2. In our quest for an independent judiciary we cannot become oblivious to the primacy of the democratic will and the federal compact. In this quest we cannot befuddle either. Pakistan can only be sustained as a democracy and as a federation. Punjabi politicians must accept the democratic choice of the smaller provinces.

3. This is not merely an issue of likes or dislikes. Equally it is not merely about the independence of the judiciaryor the legitimacy of the Chief Justice. We do not recognize Dogar as the legitimate CJP. But we cannot ignore the democratic verdict, particularly the resounding ‘voice’ of the three smaller federating units. Hence in my statement I said precisely that: ‘Although Zardari is the constitutionally elected President of Pakistan, there is a defect in the oath that he took. However, it would be unfair not to recognize him as the President after he has obtained the overwhelming majority of the votes of the electoral college expressly provided in the Constitution whose supremacy we seek’.

4. Also when we speak of intra party democracy remember how Hilary Clinton, after having pounded Obama for a year, accepted him as the Party’s candidate when he got the Democratic nomination. She now campaigns for him. We call that democracy. So why when Aitzaz, having raised the issue (of the presidential nomination) in the Party (and outside it) goes with the overwhelming Party majority, is it a betrayal? And note, too, that no one complains that neither PML-N (Justice Siddiqui) nor PML-Q (Mushahid) raised any objection to his candidature when they had the opportunity during formal proceedings before the Election Commission.

5. The judicial issue remains paramount with me. Even within the PPP I am the loudest voice of dissent on this issue and keep it alive in the Party. Is it not essential that some voices of dissent remain in this Party, which does, after all, enjoy the support of a very large section of Pakistanis at home and abroad? Why must we abdicate and leave the field open for those opposed to CJP Iftikhar? I can assure you that he does not want me to leave the PPP. On the contrary, (and believe me, or check with others close to him) he wants me to remain in the Party as do I. And yet I openly join issue with the Party on the judges’ matter. I contest the position and logic of its leaders openly and without mincing any words.

6. The apparent slow-down in the movement is attributed to my connection with the PPP. Thrice I have volunteered to place the leadership of the Movement in other hands while continuing to work for it as an ordinary comrade. On each occasion (July 19 in the All Pakistan Representative Lawyers Conference in Lahore, August 23 in the meeting of the National Co-ordination Council in Islamabad, and September 4 in the meeting of the Steering Committee of the NCC in Lahore), all 300 representatives of all the Bars by a resounding and unanimous acclaim reposed confidence in my leadership.

7. I have led the lawyers from the front. You have found me in the thick of the lathi charge, being hit by stones hurled by police, being arrested and jailed, writing poetry from prison cells, rousing bazaars during the Black Flag Week, clambering upon the Edhi ambulance to save the Movement as well as Sher Afgan from sure fire lynching, leading the Long March in the scorching summer heat, touring the country, driving the Chief Justice, pleading his case before the Supreme Court, and engaging media persons as well as opponents in the debate and argument. Highlighting the fact that the martyred leader of the party Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto declared Chief Justice Chaudhry as the Chief Justice of Pakistan and its Co-Chairperson thrice signed agreements to restore him as such, a promise that must be kept it is my effort, I seek from within the Party, that it honours these solemn declarations. And when I have been imprisoned my wife had taken up the banner and led rallies and protests. All this while I have obtained no office from the PPP (twice even declining to become its MNA in solidarity with the Movement).

8. None who chooses to throw stones at me, and there are a vast number, stops to reflect upon the fact that all the decisions he/she chooses to nail me for were made after deliberation and by consensus. If I was indeed motivated by my association with the PPP in not going for a dharna after the Long March (on which more later), what persuaded men of such integrity as Muneer Malik, Ali Kurd, Tariq Mahmood, and all the four provincial Presidents: Anvar Kamal, Latif Afridi, Rashid Rizvi and Baz Kakar (all strongly or mildly anti-PPP) to expressly state in their own speeches at that rally that there would be no dharna that night? Certainly not my association with the PPP.

9. In fact I personally had concluded my speech (you will recall) by saying that all those who wanted to do a dharna were free to do so if they wished! Why did then only a dozen or so volunteer?

10. I have no doubt been prohibiting some slogans being raised against the PPP leadership. It is the slogan I consistently prohibited against Musharraf also, being of the variety liking him to a particular animal or questioning his parentage. Yes I have pleaded with lawyers to remain dignified and ‘shaista lab’. I believe that emotions do not have to be expressed in expletives to be effective. The contrary has more effect.

11. The PPP is a major element in the politics of Pakistan. You may or may not agree, it commands the support and loyalty of millions of Pakistanis most of whom are perfectly likeable, family-oriented, peaceable and honest people committed to the political process. It is also a mainstream party with effective and country-wide cadres and organization. Many PPP lawyers continue to vigorously support the Movement. The Islamabad Bar President belongs to the Party as does the Secretary of the Rawalpindi Bar. These two Bars have been the front edge of the Movement being proximate to Parliament and the Supreme Court. Most district and taluqa Presidents of Bars in Sindh belong to the PPP and were in the forefront of the nation-wide dharnas. The shaheed Imdad Awan was a PPP stalwart, a PPP Senator, who died in harness. He used to be deeply disturbed when his Party was condemned by protesters. Must we lose all of them, and even when they support us on this one vital issue?

12. The Lawyers’ Movement is a plural movement comprising of a rich diversity of opinions and persuasions. It is not easy to lead such a collective, and to do so for 18 months, keeping them all together. It is even more difficult to keep within the movement cadres and members of a Party whose leadership turns away from it. Yes, there are some who want to take advantage of this turning away for their own political benefit. But it would splinter the Movement as many of its opponents want. This has been, and remains a delicate task not to be addressed by emotion alone. The collective wisdom of the leadership of the Movement is a better guide to follow than the emotion of some of the more passionate ones who may be reckless about the split in the ranks of the movement (not just in the leadership).

13. As to myself, I have a long association with the PPP and its supporters, cadres and office-bearers. I have been with them in street demonstrations over the past four decades, been beaten by the police and been in jails and lock-ups with them. There is a bonding of a nature so pure and I have no intention of giving up that association.

14. This should suffice to address your current disappointment with me, but I take this opportunity of posting you with some other issues as you are a well keyed-in young man with many a critic and supporter within the reach of your net.

2. The pace of the Movement:

1. You must understand the nature of political and social movements. They cannot be sustained at the same high pace all the time. They cannot be run in top gear all through. Nor can they continue the same activity at varying speeds all the time.

2. If the only measure of success is the actual physical reinstatement of Chief Justice Chaudhry, then we have failed, at least to this point in time. But consider some of the successes of the Movement:

* The July 20, 2007 unanimous verdict of the Supreme Court.
* The return of the exiled leaders on the 18th October and 25th November.
* The 27th November shedding of the uniform.
* The 18th February resounding defeat of the dictator at the polls.
* Payment of all back dues to deposed judges immediately after the Long March.
* Even more significantly, there were three outright victories, and (prima facie) final and successful conclusions of the struggle. From any perspective whatsoever these should have been a triumphant completion, thrice over, of the last lap. This is the number of times the Movement impelled the leaders of the ruling coalition to actually and publicly sign formal documents and to make public declarations of their solemn commitments to restore all judges in accordance with the Murree Declaration. Would you not categorise that as a triumph each time? Should more have been required of the Lawyers?

3. We cannot, after all, carry the Chief Justice and judges on our shoulders, smash plate glass and padlocked doors, and break into court-rooms and seat the judges in the chairs they ought to be occupying. Telecast live by the channels across the globe, such mayhem will be the end of the Movement as well the judges. There is a dignity in the Lawyers’ Movement which is all about avoiding scenes like the Sher Afgan incident in Lahore on April 8. That dignity has won us global respect and acclaim. We have to remain within the bounds of what is non-violently possible and doable though some will shout: we need to give up non-violence! Fair enough: come out yourself and take it up as a course of action. The present leadership and vast body of lawyers will not resort to such actions howsoever much we may be chided with pusillanimity in this behalf.

4. Note also that regardless of whomsoever has reaped its benefit, the Lawyers Movement remains the only sustained movement in this country that has not had the support (in fact, it has been actively opposed) by the Army, the Intelligence Agencies and the United States. That is a feather in its cap.

5. When, to every one’s surprise, the signed declarations were not acted upon last month I immediately called a nation-wide two-hour dharna on the 28th of August. That strategy was a resounding success. Though the time of dharna was limited, the spread and span was wide, thus jamming at once all the traffic in the entire country. What more can a mere 80,000 lawyers (of which at least half have always been non-practising or indifferent) and brave activists of civil society do given their small numbers? So I gave a call for what we could do with small numbers peppered across the land.

6. But, yes, I confess the Chief Justice has not been reinstated despite the signatures, the public promises, the Long March and dharnas. Meantime many of his colleagues broke ranks and took fresh oath. What do you do when people who, undoubtedly have been under pressure, decide to break rank? Hum nay tou in ko dhoop bhi nahin lagnay di. We braved the sun, the baton, the gas, the bullet and the prison cells. But they gave up. It affects the morale of the rank and file. I hope they will remain conscious of the cross on their shoulders and be good judges in the days ahead.

7. The Movement has also slowed down on account of Ramzan. That is why we did the nation-wide dharnas before its advent. Immediately after it we will be pre-occupied with Kurd’s election to my post. With a political government in place, it will not be a walk-over and the campaign will demand all our energies and time.

8. But the lawyers and civil society must not only be remembered for heating up the streets. Let us be realistic. We need at least one of the big parties with us. But both are now engaged in power-politics and consolidation of their governments in the Centre and the Punjab.

9. However, to keep the spotlight on the issue I have plans for the CJP’s visit to Europe and North America. For that we need the support of the community abroad. From November 4 to 14 he will travel through Belgium, Holland, Germany, France and the UK. November 15 he travels to NY to receive the NY Bar’s Honorary Life Membership. On November 19 he receives the Harvard Law School’s Medal of Freedom previously awarded only to Thurogood Marshall and Nelsen Mandela. (You are aware how Ali, my son, has co-coordinated the grant of both honours). These events will spotlight the underlying issue of the independent judges. What a shame it will appear when the US Bars and academia honour a Chief Justice we have ousted? We need you and your friends to mobilize people to accompany the CJP in long processions of cars in his travels around the US as other destinations will also be indicated soon.

10. I would also like him to attend the Lawasia Conference in Malaysia end October. He should be seen striding across the world with confidence and the gait of the constitutional Chief Justice of Pakistan. That will be another phase of the Movement, albeit with fewer participating lawyers from Pakistan.

11. So the Lawyers’ Movement is not all about the street alone. It is about an issue that has been agitated vigorously on the street and will be done again when the moment is ripe. To ripen it we may have to broaden our platform to link the issues of popular weal such as inflation, crime, discrimination, with that of the restoration of the Chief Justice. People miss his suo moto energies. But we are neither a political party now, nor can we aspire to become one in the future (there is such a rich diversity of views and persuasions amongst the community of lawyers). That can be stated to be our weakness. But it is real.

3. The controversy about the Long March dharna.

1. In my estimation the Long March (LM) was a huge success. It spanned the country. It woke up the people. It demonstrated that the people of every nook and corner, or every hamlet, village and town of Pakistan urgently wanted the reinstatement of the CJP and judges. It mobilized an entire nation. Every habitat that the ‘Marchers’ drove through was thronged with the locals showering rose petals, offering water bottles and food items. There were men, women and children of all ages, regions, ethnicities, linguistic groups and religious persuasions. Students, labour unions, lumpen labour, farmers, white collar professionals, even senior executives joined the milling crowds with pride and enthusiasm. The nation was energized.

2. Though the proposal for the Long March was mine, the decision was collectively taken by the All Pakistan Representative Lawyers’ Conference in Lahore on May 17. More than 300 Bar Presidents and office bearers from all over the country attended. There was indeed some talk at the Conference of the LM culminating in a dharna, but the Conference did not adopt the proposal. The decision was the LM would disperse after the concluding speech.

3. There were the hard-liners. They were not in a majority, but they were certainly more vociferous. I tried to plead with them at all stages to remain within the ambit of the decision. So we had to put our heads together again during the LM. Muneer, Kurd, Afridi, Tariq, Anvar Kamal, Baz Kakar, Rashid Rizvi, and I were all one that the dharna was impossible given the weather. It was June 14. You should remember the next day’s blazing sun. Incidentally when we rose from the two-hour dharna in the sun on August 28, countless lawyers thanked me for saving them a 14 hour sun blazer on the bare and boundless asphalt of the Islamabad Parade Ground at a much hotter time of the year, mid-June! Hamid suggested a 24 hour dharna but there was no point. The full day’s heat the next day was before us. And getting up after 24 hours we would have still been pestered by the media: have the judges been restored that you are leaving the venue? And there was no way that we were going to storm any building. I have already described to you what might have happened in such an eventuality.

4. We had not gone there to invite another military intervention. Certainly not. We had not gone there for a blood bath. Let that be clear. If the dharna had not petered out in the blazing sun, an assault would have resulted in discredit and, perhaps, a blood bath. What we wanted to do, to start with, in the LM we achieved. We wanted to force the world to notice the agitation within the nation as a whole on the judges’ issue. We were consciously following the precedent of Martin Luther King, not of any militant insurgency.

5. True there were shouts for a dharna in the front end of the crowd and just beneath the stage. These started after the speech of Mian Nawaz Sharif (who had himself contributed much of the crowd) that there be no dharna. Earlier both Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Mr Imran Khan in their speeches had exhorted the crowd to stage a dharna and left. Now when MNS suggested the contrary, these front benchers became anxious and began to shout “abhi nahin toa kabhi nahin”. They even aimed plastic water bottles full of water at us on the stage. Some tried to storm Parliament behind the stage. These activities were covered by the media.

6. But should we have been cowed down by this emotion? Jalib said: Hajoom dekh kay rasta nahin badaltay hum….

7. That is what leadership means. The leaders have often to take seemingly unpopular decisions. So we had to be firm in our resolve. I had invited families, women and children to the final rally. I had promised that it would be peaceful and would end in peace. Men on motorbikes had brought wives, mothers and children with them. It was a large and festive crowd. They had come to make a point and they knew they were making it. More was not required of them or any one else.

8. The decision not to go for a dharna was a collective decision. Is one allowed to wonder why I am, alone, being targeted by those (most of whom were not even there), who think that the dharna would have made the government capitulate. I nevertheless have shoulders broad enough to take the criticism on myself alone because I think what we did was right.

9. I think those, like you, who were themselves there and prepared for the dharna, have a right to be critical. You wrote me a very strongly worded mail. You were disappointed even then, though I think I was able to convince you of the merits of the conclusion of the LM. Those, however, who never came there are aiming the most vicious stones. And there are far more of the latter category than of the first pelting projectiles of hate and venom. That remains their privilege.

4. The war in FATA:

1. I promised you a word about my own view on this war. Any support to the Government in its actions in this military campaign should again not be taken as capitulation on national interest or on the judges’ issue. To my mind:

* We must not condone US intrusions into our airspace. That is unacceptable.
* The Americans have messed up this region of ours with our rulers blindly complying with all US requirements.
* Innocent Pakistanis are dying in these cross-border incidents and this is called ‘colateral damage’.
* We cannot also, and at the same time, support elements that slit peoples’ throats, program kids to become human bombs, stone men and women, lob bombs upon schools forcibly preventing the female education, or deny polio drops to infants.
* We believe that the most effective weapon in a war has nothing to do with post-modern technology. It is a friendly local population that has enforceable rights.
* Rights cannot be enforced without an independent judiciary.
* The Militants blow up hospitals, schools and roads but promise only some rough and ready justice. That is all. That is what draws some people to them.
* So we have to ensure that our people do not lose hope of justice within the system.
* Hence we come back to the point of the independent judiciary and independent judges.
* But we are in veritable pincer and must not, in emotion, lose sight of the demerits of either side.

2. We must nevertheless recognize that this war is against a mindset that threatens our Pakistani way of life, the culture of the Indus Muslims: a tolerant, liberal, democratic, plural Islam. The average Pakistani is anything but an extremist. So in this fight we may again be supporting Zardari and the Army without prejudice to our position on the Chief Justice and the Judges.

5. Finally, the Lawyers’ Movement has not been easy to lead. Unity has had to constantly be created, and recreated, out of a natural and wide diversity, often antagonism, of views and backgrounds. Different party policies and affiliations have always had to be balanced. Individual sensitivities predilections have had to be accommodated even when others have been hostile to these. But we have marched forth. We will continue to do so though the shape and manner of the forward progress may vary.

This, however, is a crucial time. It is time to stand together and to be patient with mistakes, past or future. Kurd’s election bid calls for a closing of the ranks. Much of the viscious criticism is grist for the mills of the opposition. We have to slow down the pace to strive for a broader, winning consensus amongst the limited electorate comprising of senior lawyers registered with the Supreme Court. While the support of the younger advocates is unreserved, the SCBA members who mainly comprise the more senior lawyers, are less strident and adventurous. But they are the electorate. Their support is crucial to the Movement, and their pace slower. We may, of necessity, have to lower the decibel level. And now with a political government opposed to us the election will be a challenge. But we must face it with solidarity.

With fond regards,
Aitzaz.

Source: http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/09/19/aitzaz-explains-decisions

COMMENTS:

paindoo says:

carr on AA, you are the true hero of all centre-left and left oriented activists in Pakistan.

makhalil says:

I would like to mention please tell me

1-who made first ever highway in Pakistan connection Peshawer to karachi {called indus highway}
2-who brought Internet to Pakistan first time ever.
3-who brought mobiles phones to Pakistan first time ever.
4-who brought first ever semi private TV channel in Pakistan called STN/NTM at time when india didnt has any
5-who started Ghazi Brotha and Neelam Jhelum projects (1 thousand Mega Watts)
6-who started Chashma power plant 1
7-who distributed 35000 acres of land among the landless peasants.
8-who gave Agosta submarines for the Pakistan Navy
9-who started the missile technology.
10-who allowed in pakistan first time to have a satellite dish and FM radio.
11-who gave 30,000 Jobs [to women first time in the history of subcontinent that specific jobs for women on this scale as Lady Health visitors
12-who gave the people of Northern Areas the right to vote.
13-who appointed first time in the history of pakistan women in superior courts as Judges.
14-who made gawader airport, Sehwan sharif airport,katty bader port, akra dam to provide safe drinking water to Makran coastal line.
15-who held first and last SAF games in Pakistan.
list goes on and on

all above has been done by PPP
these are what i can remember on top of my head.
and it doesn’t include anything from ZA Bhuttos government.
Its PPP governments first term for 19-20months, second term 36 months.
in total less a full term of 5 years.

…….

Deconstructing Samad Khurram – by Fasi Zaka
The Pakistan report card

The News, December 18, 2008

The incident of George Bush evading enemy fire in Iraq–shoes thrown by journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi–reminds me of Samad Khurram refusing a certificate from the US ambassador to protest American policy on Pakistan.

An attempt was made by the political right in Pakistan to hijack Samad Khjurram’s action as a form of the vapid anti-Americanism they champion. But Samad is not prone to oversimplification of one well publicised action. He was known far beyond, and for longer, than his protest that became a media sensation in this country. He quickly became anathema to the very people who championed him for their own narrow causes: rightwing reactionaries, the religious right and the forces against democracy. And so, these very people have been active in vilifying him wherever they can.

I first got to know Samad through the events of the second emergency proclaimed by Musharraf. I had read in the foreign press about some student who had set up a blog to highlight the situation.

Eventually a group of students contacted me to invite me to one of their meetings. I went thinking I could play the role of elder statesman with some advice. How wrong I was. The students were far savvier than I was. Their organisation and commitment was unbelievable. At the helm amongst several others was Samad Khurram, who had an immense clarity of vision. At the same meeting a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf official was present, and I remember Samad telling him that they were not interested in being part of a political party.

His commitment to non-violence, democracy, fair play and inclusiveness impressed me immensely. Despite Samad’s centrality in the movement at the time, I did not sense any impending delusions of grandeur. Samad, and all those involved at the time, put themselves at considerable risk, even lived like vagabonds for a while to avoid the spooks tailing them.

Of course, when Samad refused the award from the American ambassador his background in the pro-democracy movement was not known to most of the pro-military nationalists who took him on without his consent as a hero.

Ever since then he has been accused of hypocrisy. They claim if Samad had true integrity he would have refused his scholarship at Harvard. What they chose to ignore was that Samad was already at Harvard for sometime when his school in Islamabad decided to recognise him for his achievement with a certificate. It was at a prize distribution ceremony that he refused to take the certificate of his school from the US ambassador who was the chief guest. What he did was not anti-American, but something to highlight the illegal strikes in our country and a history of the USA supporting dictatorships in Pakistan. After all, Harvard is a university whose ideals reflect Samad’s, they awarded the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry a Medal of Freedom, they even gave Samad a semester off so he could pursue his activism in Pakistan. His scholarship wasn’t funded by the Bush administration, nor the US military, but by the alumni of the university.

Second, he has also been accused by many of being utterly malicious to those who disagree with him and claim that Harvard instigated an inquiry against him for harassing via mail people who were against the lawyers’ movement. Nothing of the sort has happened, yet it has gained currency only because it has been repeated so many times. Of course there is also the issue of his closeness to Aitizaz Ahsan, but the slavishness people accuse him of is not true. After the copout of Aitizaz on his continued membership of the PPP despite it being the very party that is active in preventing a free judiciary, Samad did take him to task and later felt satisfied with the explanation to his queries.

I just hope that we choose to see Muntadhar al-Zeidi someday as more than the sum of a shoe flung, and also the same for Samad Khurram as someone Pakistani democrats and people around the world can be proud of.

The writer is a Rhodes scholar and former academic. Email: fasizaka@yahoo. com