Posts Tagged ‘Martial Law’

Kisi aur des ki or ko, suna hai Faraz chala gaya. sabhi dukh samet ke she’hr ke, sabhi qarz utaar ke she’hr ka. (They say that Faraz has left for some other land, Taking with him all the sorrows of the city, paying away all its debt.) The long history of political turbulence in Pakistan produced a long list of writers, poets and [...]

About the author: Rusty Walker is an Independent Political Analyst, educator, author, Vietnam veteran-era U.S. Air Force, from a military family, retired college professor, former Provost (Collins College, U.S.A.), artist, musician and family man. Rusty Walker is an ardent supporter of Pakistan. The following essay examines nine common [...]

In today's Jang, MQM's informal spokesman Hasan Nisar has published a letter by the MQM's chief Altaf Hussain in which he explains the 'reasons' behind his desire for a 'martial law revolution' in Pakistan. آپ کو یاد ہوگا پچھلے دنوں ایم کیو ایم کے قائد الطاف حسین نے وردی پہن کر واپس [...]

There are lots of misgivings about the MQM's character and the way they do politics. Murderers have been awarded Governorship, Ministries and City's Mayor post. Yesterday a letter by MQM's chief Altaf Hussain was published on the website of MQM saying that my life is in threat and possibly I would not be alive to lead you in future so be prepared [...]

ٹھیک ہے اگر مارشل لاء یا اس طرز کے کسی غیر معمولی اور غیر آئینی اقدامات ناگزیر ہیں تو کم از کم آپ منافقت اور دوعملی ختم کرکے جاگیرداروں، سرداروں اور زرداروں کے ساتھ اس طویل اور پرتعیش شراکت [...]

The MQM, which often complains of Taliban’s growing presence in Karachi and is unhappy for being unable to convince its coalition partners to retain the local government system of the Musharraf era at least in Sindh, has surprised everybody by suggesting an unthinkable remedy for the country’s ills that every parliamentarian has only recently [...]

Ayaz Amir hits the nail on the head last week in his column for The News, "Fresh takes on patriotism". Amir is annoyed with MQM chief Altaf's recent outbursts about martial law, of course, and flays them with the sharp wit that he has come to be known for, taking no mercy on Altaf's own political opportunism and turning a blind eye to corruption [...]

Altaf Hussain's statement inciting 'patriotic generals' to take steps 'like martial law' against 'corrupt feudal and land lord politicians' is an expression of intent to support subversion of constitutional rule in Pakistan. This statement is not only mischievous, but also malicious. It has been uttered (and vociferously defended by MQM minions) [...]

Information Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that Altaf Hussain committed treason by issuing statement in favour of martial law and he should be sentenced under Article 6. In a media briefing in Peshawar, he said that that the MQM was actually the biggest follower of feudalism. He said that conspiracy was being hatched [...]

زیادہ پرانی بات نہیں۔ 27/اگست 2005ء کو امریکی ریاست لوسیانا کے ساحلوں پر ایک سمندری طوفان کا آغاز ہوا۔ سمندر کا پانی ساحلوں سے نکل کر شہروں میں داخل ہوگیا زیادہ نقصان لوسیانا، مسی سیپی اور [...]

Pakistan is in the grip of one of its periodic eruptions of speculation about impending martial law, or at least, it looks like that on TV. For weeks, the largest news channel in the country has been shamelessly promoting the army's role in flood relief as if the army is an opposition party, bravely stepping in to do work that the "corrupt [...]

Whatever possessed Altaf Hussain to make statements supporting a martial law, his comments are short-sighted and ill-conceived. In fact, Altaf gets the whole thing backwards. If we're going to make progress in eliminative corruption, the only way to do so is to let the democratic process work. Remember that it was Pervez Musharraf who oversaw [...]

Pakistan is passing through most critical time in its history. I would call it even worse than 1971. Pakistan in its 62 year history has gone through many turmoils. Founding fathers of the country passed away too soon after its creation. The slogan which was used for the creation Pakistan was changed according to the personal whims of religious [...]

Thanks: Express, 7 July

The Bhutto family has occupied a well-known place in the world politics and surely, when one articulates about democracy in Pakistan, the Pakistan Peoples party is the only party, which from the beginning of its foundation; laid by Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto fought against dictatorship and moved with its objective of “Islam is our [...]

I wrote this for the Express Tribune’s sunday magazine and they published a much shorter (“mutilated”, according to the editor dude) version. General sahab, I have been a silent admirer of you and your methods for a long time now. You have impressed all and sundry with your charm, your cool, your foresight and your prudent outlook on [...]

Source: Ayesha Siddiqa Blog One Karachi based Mr Seagul has been writing on the issue of higher defense management especially the comparative powers of the army chief versus that of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staffs Committee. In a recent article the said gent proposed that the Chairman JCSC should get the power to sit on the promotion [...]

تابوت میں آخری کیل ============ عدلیہ کی آزادی ---- پارلیمینٹ کی بالا دستی ========================== کیا آپ کسی معقول انسان کا حوالہ دے سکتے ہیں کہ اس نے پارلیمینٹ کی آزادی اور عدلیہ کی بالا دستی کی بات کی ہو؟ [...]

عوام کا حق حکمرانی نا منظور ================== کون نہیں جانتا کہ پچھلے ساٹھ سال سے پاکستان کا اقتدار اور اس پر حکمرانی کا حق چند مخصوص ہاتھوں تک محدود ہے - جب بھی ان آہنی ہاتھوں کی ہتھکڑی کو توڑ کر [...]

Former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. — Photo by White Star Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto entered public life at the early age of 30, in 1958. In his book The Myth of Independence he writes about his views on foreign policy and the paramount objectives of Pakistan’s people. I was a student in those days and whenever I heard that he was to address [...]

ISLAMABAD: President General Ziaul Haq will be deleted from Pakistan’s constitutional history when the 18th Amendment, to be moved in parliament in a few days, is passed. A new history is being written by our politicians as ruthless military dictator General Ziaul Haq will be stripped of his title of President of Pakistan, 22 years after his [...]

As far as the army chief is concerned he has to do nothing but wait and deal competently with the menace of militant extremism that stalks the land. The other day I had a conversation with a man less than half my age, a well-educated democratic Pakistani, and on-the-ball as far as happenings are concerned in what is not Jinnah’s Pakistan but [...]

Strange things happen in the Islamic (military) Republic of Pakistan. For the first time in Pakistan's history, a meeting of federal secretaries was presided over by a military chief in a civilian set-up. Where are we heading to? Have our real masters in the GHQ decided to be a bit more candid in demonstration and exercise of their power? Was that [...]

According to statistics by the State Bank of Pakistan, there are glaring differences in terms of fiscal irregularities between elected governments and military governments in Pakistan.  Government of General Pervez Musharraf appears to be most corrupt followed by the right wing government of PML-N. Here are the SBP statistics which were also [...]

October 12, 1999: Pakistan Army takes control of Karachi's Quaid-e-Azam International Airport —Photo courtesy of www.historyofpia.com/forum High drama in the sky Reviewed by Muhammad Ali Siddiqi Source: Dawn, 07 Mar, 2010 Of the two principal characters involved in the nerve-racking drama on the evening of Oct 12, 1999, when the fate of [...]

When PPP is ruling, the chants are like: In favor of PPP or by PPP 1- Democratic 2- We believe in reconciliation with all parties, Army, ISI & Judiciary 3- Anti establishment 4- Anti fundamentalist 5- Anti feudalistic 6- Long sacrificing history 7- Representing the basic roots from the public at large 8- Populous party from [...]

The ‘happening place’ “PAKISTAN is the most happening place in the world where there is never a dull moment.” So pronounced the Commando to a “packed audience” at Chatham House in London, to much laughter and mirth. ‘Happening place’ did the man call our poor and bleeding country that is reeling under the onslaught of [...]

Thanks: Dawn.com, Monday, 01 Mar, 2010 Advocates of democracy claim that it protects property rights, promoting an environment of collective growth. - File photo A passionate debate comparing and contrasting the performance of Pakistan’s democratic and dictatorial regimes has been raging recently in various discussion forums. A [...]

This rather long article about presidential elections in Sri Lanka was published in the South Asia Citizens Web (SACW). It seems relevant to the political stuggle for democratization of Pakistan. Sri Lanka had a long fight against organized terrorism, which was won after a long struggle of 30 years. The former Army Chief who had a major role in [...]

The words, quoted in my tears - the tears of a supporter of democracy…..these excruciating, but most retarding moments of my life compel me to realize that life is nothing, more than a game of whist - We have no time to sit or stand. Years ago, the founder of Pakistan Peoples Party Quaid-e-Awaam Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto spoke in the voice of [...]

LAHORE, 15 February 2010: A fresh tussle between the Pakistani President Asif Zardari and the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry over the appointment of the superior court judges has snowballed into a major political crisis which may lead to yet another military intervention by Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani, who is due to retire this year and [...]

A sense of gloom and all-pervasive disillusionment and despair seems to have overtaken the country. Since a civilian elected government is at the head of affairs, the anger and frustration of wide sections of the people is turning on the politicians as a class. Things have reached a point where some voices, admittedly still weak, have started [...]

عدلیہ کی آزادی اور فوجیوں کے بوٹ عدلیہ کی بحالی سے عدلیہ کی آزادی تک مصنف: باوا ایک طویل جدوجہد کے بعد اٹھارہ سو پینسٹھ میں امریکی آئین میں تیرھویں ترمیم کے ذریعے امریکہ میں غلامی کا خاتمہ [...]

What makes the army so contemptuous of civilians is the fact that you can only conquer what you understand: while the army thoroughly understands the ways of the politicians, the opposite is anything but true. What does the military-bureaucratic dominance here have to do with faraway Geneva? No, the answer has nothing to do with Zardari, [...]

Bangladesh hangs Mujib’s killers DHAKA: The five killers convicted of murdering Bangladesh’s founding president Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rahman were executed late on Wednesday night at Dhaka’s central prison, the deputy law minister said. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh had dismissed the killers’ final attempt to (more...)

Below, without comment a list of Pakistan’s various governments and the approximate periods of their rule, or misrule if you will. ‘Caretaker’ governments or those such as Mr Mohammad Khan Junejo’s, Mr Zafarullah Jamali’s and the Private Banker’s have been excluded from the list because army dictators ruled the roost then. The periods [...]

Facts about Elected Bodies Disqualification Order (EBDO) of 1959, compiled from "The Separation of East Pakistan" by Hasan Zaheer and "Bangladesh Past and Present" by Salahuddin Ahmed When Ayub Khan took power in 1958 one of his main priorities was the destruction of the existing political order. In this connection, he (more...)

In the December 18th New York Times publication, an article Pakistan Ministers Are Called Before the Courts was written by Jane Perlez and Salman Masood.  Though the article does state the annulment of the National Reconciliation Ordinance and the repercussions of the (more...)

What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet On Thursday morning as Pakistan’s Defence Minister was preparing to board a flight to China for an official visit, he was detained by Pakistani security officials and was told he had been barred from leaving the (more...)

A Military Coup in Pakistan? Restive generals represent the backers of the Taliban and al-Qaeda – bad news for the war next door A military coup is unfolding in Pakistan, but, this time, there is no rumbling of tanks on the streets of Islamabad. Instead, it seems the military is using a new strategy for (more...)