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THE AIMAL KANSI AFFAIR
ARMED FORCES INVOLVED
THE JUDICIARY
AMERICA HERE I COME
THE FIA
NO MORE LUXURY DUTY FREE
ATTACK ON HUMAN RIGHTS
PMLn LIEs BRIGADE
THE NEW ALLY
In what can be described as unparralled cooperation with the USA the pakistan armis commandos on the orders of the countries political leaders raided a downtown seedy hotel in DG Khan and arrested and deported without judicial sanction Aimal Kansi wanted in the USA for killing people in a firing incident outside the CIA HQ's in the USA. A lot of hue and cry was raised in pakistan on this illegal deportation. One was also surprised that they found Aimal so quickly after a US team landed here. The pakistani law enforcing agencies are normally very inefficient and can never locate dacoits, terrorists, murderers etc.Also the charge by Horan a US public prosecutor that Aimal had been sold to the USA was proved when US$25 MILLION WAS SUDDENLY ARRANGED BY THE US AMBASSADOR FOR FOOD AID WHICH WAS NOT PARTICULARLY URGENT AT THE TIME. The pakistani govt could benefit a lot if the USA wanted to purchase anybody else at such a high price.Any way let me make everyone aware that women are sold in many parts of pakistan under various arrangements and customs.
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In a recent raid on one of the countries prominent sectarian organizations who are armed with rocket launchers ,kalashnikovs and even small bombs the police were surprised to find armed forces intelligence walas trying to spirit away the dangerous hardware. one is totally surprised to learn of MI's involvement in arming sectarian armies. Later armed forces spokesmen gave a lame response to secure the release of army personnel that the gun running was part of intelligence operations.Why the armies officers have fallen to such dirty tactics is unknown.
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The judiciary has over the past year shown that it loves nawaz sharif and hates benazir in no uncertain terms. While it took a dim view of Benazirs attempts to amend the constitution it has continued to praise the nawaz sharif govt in its attempts to amend the constitution. That attitude of the judiciary had the full support of the armed forces. That is untill now when sajjad ali shahs uncertain attitude towards the terrorism bill has caused the nawaz-leghari combine to show him who is the boss. In Benazirs time the judiciary had proved that it was the final boss in each and every matter. As the judiciary hesitated in condemning people now referred to as Benazirs crooks the nawaz govt reintroduced extra judicial terrorist courts and the president weighed in by restricting the size of the judiciary to a mere 12 judges. That in a way clipped the judiciaries powers and was obviously meant to slow down the judiciaries suo moto attempts in deaing with terrorism and sectarianism. Theoretically the Supreme Court could topple a provincial or even the central govt for contravening the constitution. But do the SC judges really have the guts to go so far.Because otherwise suomoto proceedings can not be considered very effective.Anyway the courts have quickly reacted to appease the govt by deciding two Anti corruption cases in Balochistan and refusing to stay the terorism bill in Punjab.So is the so called judicial activism coming to a tame end. Has the judiciary acknowledged that it will give decisions according to the wishes of the de facto govts as it has always done in the past. The govt has also avoided a confrontation on appointing new judges to the SC by reducing the number of judges. It could be surmised that there was no consensus on the names that the Chief Justice had proposed for new appointments. And rather than give the Chief Justice the upper hand by approving his choices they sort of embarassed the SC by reducing its size. So is the executive the boss again or is the Chief justice just waiting to strike back at the appropriate moment. The CJ had lunch with the president yesterday which can only mean that he has buckled under.It is the general consensus that the judiciary became a brave lion in Benazirs era while it has become a tame mouse during the era of nawaz sharif.
Added on 12th Sept,1997
The Supreme Court has since suspended the presidents order and is hearing the case filed by a PMLn lawyer close to Nawaz sharif who was not sufficiently rewarded in the makeup of the present govt. The govt on the other hand is making conciliatory noises and says that the issue of the number of judges will be decided by parliament. Meaning that the judges strength will not be reduced and the Chief Justices recomendations for filling the vacancies will be accepted.
Added on 15-10-1997
The govt has since withdrawn the presidents order but has not accepted the CJ's advice as yet and has theoretically come into conflict with the judicial legislation of the judges case in which the SC had directed that the govt act on SC advice on appointments within a month.
The recent happenings however show that the CJ is a dictator himself. When the CJ went on leave the other judges said that the CJ does not consult them on matters such as the appointment of judges. Thus the acting CJ Ajmal Mian who had been passed over while appointing Sjad ali shah as CJ called a meeting of the judges to discuss the matter. The judges split on provincial lines and all the judges from sind went on leave. The CJ hearing of the matter quickly returned to the country and cancelled the meeting to reimpose his authority. Never have the junior judges of the SC tried to upstage the CJ!!!
In a related move nawaz has removed his ambassador at large Akram Sheikh who had filed the case against the president order on fixing the judges strength. He was also removed as the head of the Supreme court bar association. Nawaz has shown by his recent actions that he cant accept criticism or opposition from those who have been very close to him.
Added on 19-10-1997
The controversy on the judges appointment continues to gather steam. The CJ has rejected the request of seven judges to call a full court reference on the matter. He has also gathered the support of a few more judges.He has also written to the president to aid him on the appointments matter under article 190. What the president can do however is vague. The president could according to some analysts appoint/promote the judges reccommended by the SC CJ on his own without the advice of the prime minister or he could just order the prime minister to get on with it. In the final instance if both the president and the prime minister get stuck on the matter the SC would have to act to remove the prime minister. In a strange case a labourer working in a brick making kiln has asked the High Court to appoint him prime minister. When the court asked him how that could be done. He said just like they made moeen and mairaj the caretaker prime ministers?
Added on 21-10-1997
The judges-nawaz tussle has taken a turn for the worse with nawaz openly stating that he is working to divide the judges and that the views of the other judges should also be taken into consideration. Also one of the minions of nawaz ie his press secretary has openly ridiculed the Chief Justice which is tantamount to disgracing the Supreme Court and falls within the parameters of contempt for the judiciary. In another move six judges of the SC have again called for a meeting of all judges on the matter and have aired their grievances with the CJ. They state that the appointmnts of the CJ and one or two other judges have not been made in accordance with the judges case. Also they say that even though Sajjad ali Shah has rightly asked for the promotion of judges to the SC but that he has ulterior motives in doing so as he did not ask for judges before even though there were vacancies. The judges generally considered pro nawaz have done so on the urging of the prime minister. The PPP which was at the receiving end of Sajjad ali shahs activism is watching with glee as the SC and nawaz fall into the same old trap of trying to subordinate each other. Sajjad ali shah will have to take the other judges into confidence and see to it that the SC keeps rapping nawaz and his henchmen on the knuckles. Nawaz on the other hand has literally taken a strong anti Sajjad ali Shah line and even thought of taking the matter to the Supreme Judicial Council to have Sajjad Ali Shah either removed or subdued. The controversy has shown nawaz sharifs weaknesses and stubborn attitude. It has also brought to the fore the old troika power sharing system wherein the president, prime minister and the COAS make collective decisions bypassing the political process and legislature.
Added on 23-10-1997
According to the press nawaz sharif is developing a cage mentality which is normal for people in high places as they have no contact with ordinary normal people. The previous solutions in such cases has been the removal of govts. Now only the courts have some jurisdiction in removing elected govts .What the govt seems to lack is a comprehensive decision making ability which coupled with unimplementable agreements with allies makes governance almost impossible. Nawaz will have to rech decisions very quickly to avoid controversies, confrontations and crisis. Nawaz who seems to be working on both fronts in his tussle with the judiciary ie confrontation as well as negotiation is falling in to the traditional trap of "is this what I get for all my hard work". This syndrome is hard to overcome in a pakistani situation. One only gets overit after a few months of ones termination from govt. So lets see what happens? People are already talking about who is going to be the next prime minister.
Shabaz the punjab chief minister, Ijaz ul haq , Chaudhry Shujaat, Majid malik, dark horse Gohar Ayub and various tecnocrats are being talked about.It seems that in all of this Chaudhry Nisar Ali is acting as a deputy prime minister.He is the brother of the defence secretary Iftikhar Ali Khan and therefore probably very close to the military as well. Nawaz Sharif seems to use Nisaar and saif for solving problems and siddiq ul akber as a trouble maker.
Added on 23-10-1997
Six junior judges of the SC have have also sent a note to the president outlining their differences with the Chief Justice. It is thought that the junior judges are getting agitated because the incumbent CJ is due to retire in Feb 1998 and everyone probably wants to get into the position of getting appointed to the position despite the judges case which states that the senior most judge has a right to the top slot. Some circles consider that most of the problems are being created because of the upcoming nomination of the next Chief Justice.Upto now on each senior level appointment in the armed forces the govt has caused one or more senior level officer to quit. Lets see if the govt can cause a few judges to resign over the appointment of the next CJ?
Added on 23-10-1997
The CJ in retaliation to the nawaz moves has started hearing some cases against nawaz which he had held pending for some time because of his support for nawaz. Now nawaz apparently wants that cases against him will not be heard as part of an agreement with the judiciary. According to the latest info the crux of the problem are the promotion of two Lahore HC judges Munir A. Sheikh and Arif Choudhry whom the nawaz govt wants retired so that Rashid Aziz can be made CJ of the LHC. The reasoning as usual is probably the supposed pro PPP leanings of the two judges.Nawaz it seems does not want them promoted to the SC or made CJ of the LHC. Both positions of the govt run counter to the SC decision in the judges case.
Added on 24-10-1997
The troika as well as several other important people connected to the govt have have failed to resolve the tussle between nawaz and the CJ. The CJ wants his suggestions approved and nawaz does not want to be seen as having become subordinate to the judiciary even though acceding to the CJ's suggestions seems to be a routine affair. Nawaz now says that the problem will now be resolved by his rubber stamp national assembly. The national assembly has upto now shown no will of its own and has acceded to all nawaz requests without discussion.It has been suggested in a section of the regional press that the problem has been caused by the prime minister and his advisors being predominantly punjabi and the CJ a Sindhi.The CJ and the national assembly speaker are the only important sindhis in the present setup.
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It has been usual in pakistani politics to consider Benazir as an american agent even though she could not get the F-16s but still got the Brown amendment ie some armaments which the pakistani govt had paid for in advance. The matter of the release of the 600 million paid for the F-16's is however still to be resolved. The americans are literally blackmailing nawaz on that, who during his previous term had continued to pay despite the congress having blocked the sale. But now if the pakistani press is to be believed the americans have jumped out of benazirs socks and are now the supporters of nawaz. This is however belied by the lack of an american visit. It has been made clear in the pro nawaz press that nawaz has been desperately making attempts to arrange an american tour which is being blocked by the foreign office which regards it as useless as the americans are not yet willing to give nawaz anything substantial. So nawaz has fallen back on a UN visit and some trips to the region by US officials. So one can safely conclude that it is now nawaz who has indian and american agent written all over his face.One would suggest to the pakistani govt that they should try to stand on there own feet and arrange alternate sources for there military needs. As the american armaments are not only expensive but there delivery systems are also unreliable. The govt should also realize that events like cooperating in the Aimal kansi affair will not get them any real help. A thank you note is all that one can expect from the americans.
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The govt is about to disband the FIA which has a good track record of investigations especially in financial frauds. The reason behind this is the establishment of the Ehtesab cell and the record of the FIA as having ruthlessly investigated nawaz's family. The govt wants to restrict the FIA to investigating subversion ie finding indian agents and terrorism. These matters were previously handled by the ISI, police and the army. That would effectively end the FIA. The govt should either design the FIA on the pattern of the FBI or eliminate it alltogether. There is no point in creating a useless organization out of a useful one. The federal govt would in effect have no investigating organization left at its disposal if the FIA is eliminated. As for the FIA being used for political purposes that is only dependent on the govts policies. The present govt is also using the ehtesab cell for political purposes almost in manner similar to the FIA in the past.
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In one of the few praiseworthy acts of the Nawaz regime legislation has been passed as usual without discussion ending the presidents tax free privileges and eliminating the costly perk of allowing duty free cars(usually expensive mercedes) to the top leadership of federal, provincial govts, armed forces and judiciary. Apparently they imported 48 luxury cars thus benefiting a few people to the tune of 238 million rupees. Those included in the list are a whos whos of pakistani politics.Thus the billionaire Nawaz Sharif who has often benefited from excluding his industries from taxation is moving towards a slightly more populist position in politics. The debate on his suitability for the post of prime minister would end if he could disbar all the countries top leadership from benefiting in any substantial way from there terms in office. Thus there would be no way for future prime ministers, governors, ministers,chief ministers,judges,generals etc. to set up twenty industries or other monopolistic enterprises while in office. One must also deplore the import by Benazir Bhutto of not one but two duty free mercedes. It has been common practice for leaders to go on foreegn tours so that a temporary appointment can also use the facility. The leaders usually imported such cars and than handed them over to the local mercedes agency which than sold it for a profit to them of millions. Thus a usually poor chief minister, governor, general or justice became a millionaire overnight. Maybe the govt will give further thought to a more comprehensive legislation which will cover all aspects of loot and plunder.
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According to press reports the govt has arrested the lawyer of Asif Zardari on charges of being an Indian agent. The govt has instituted numerous unsubstantiated cases against Zardari who was relatively very inactive in the previous govt. There have also been killings of lawyers in Lahore. These lawyers were associated with the SSP which is an opponent of the govts ally the TNFJ.As in the previous govt. non judicial killings continue in karachi on a daily basis. The people who blamed the Benazir govt as responsible for such killings namely the journalists and the MQMa( who are now in govt) do not regard themselves as responsible for such events.Important leaders of the PMLn have however blamed the MQMa for most of the killings.The PMLn has shown its vulnerability on the human rights front by literally getting angry over a letter written by Benazir to Kofi Annan outlining the govts human rights abuses. The anger is unjustified as the PMLn and the MQMa both used international forums in there fight with Benazir. Anyway the UN has no great control in such matters. It was also reported that the prime ministers brother while in opposition had called up a British MP to inform him of Benazirs corrupt activities vis a vis the purchase of property in England. The MP had chided shahbaz on believing the rumor mongering of the press.
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After watching the PMLn govt in action for the last six months one is becoming aware of there phobias. One is the much maligned Asif Zardari and the other seems to be Benazir Bhutto whom they have tended not to attack directly in the past. But now as they flounder in politics/ economics and find there allies opposing there projects /mired in terrorism they seem to be in need of attacking the much weakened PPP leader and her spouse by which process they had won the last election. They however forget that there problems in govt are there own doing and attacking Benazir/Zardari will not help them much with improving there image or perceptions of there governance amongst the public.
The three or four pronged PMLn propaganda /lies brigade consists of Mushahid Hussen, Saif ur Rehman , PTV and APP.The private sector component of the lies brigade is lead by The NEWS, a jang group english newspaper which brazenly prints the lies dished out by the govt. One is truly surprised by the tactics of The NEWS which has a generally respected editor in maleeha Lodhi. One can only assume that somebody else makes the decisions at the News and Maleeha is just a sop. These organizations/persons mount coordinated attacks on either asif zardari or benazir bhutto on an almost daily basis. The most recent aspect of this phobia has been the arrest of a former top beaurocrat whom they accuse of corruption in alliance with zardari. This beaurocrat namely Salman Farooqui is considered to have been Nawaz Sharifs right hand man in his previous term of office and was credited with much of Nawaz sharifs success. The retired beaurocrat used to a life of official luxury almost immediately fell ill and was moved to hospital. Since they could not torture him in hospital they mounted a campaign on PTV that he is perfectly healthy despite suffering from hypertension and diabetes. The doctors now say that a blood pressure of 200 and above is normal . I wonder why the doctors of pakistan defy the hippocratic oath so openly. The lies brigade has already caused the death of one victim by use of almost similar tactics. Mostly whenever there is seen to be some failure of the PMLn govt it is almost certain that there will in the next days newspapers be something against asif zardari. Similarly PTV will carry an anti PPP or anti Zardari newscast. Also whenever the PMLn is attacked they try to say that you did it too. What they forget is that they will not be judged in comparision to the PPP era but on there own actions. It thus becomes apparent that the PMLn has no principles on which they can base there policies and it seems that the only policy they have is to be seen as PPP opponents which they think will make them acceptable to the forces who can topple them .
Mushahid the minister for anti benazirism seems to be the coordinator of the PMLn 's flailing and floundering media policy. Mushahid who seems to be anti semitic was fired from a tiny Shiite newspaper when he wrote an article revealing the already well known pakistani nuclear plan and took an indian journalist to see Qadeer Khan. That was nothing new as Ziaul Haq had already outlined pakistans nuclear options and research in a Times interview for which he was reportedly blown up by either a shite pilot or internal security or a pir of sind. (There is no confirmation of these rumours and the Zia death is still considered an accident).It is now thought that pakistan has already carried out several underground nuclear explosions as have iran and india. Mushahids most recent anti benazirism was the strange statement that benazir had asked for the recognition of israel(generally considered unnecessary and immaterial) and the installation of monitoring cameras at the the Qadeer Khan laboratories for security purposes. Both statements were denied by the PPP.The Qadeer Khan labs are now only carrying out electronic component,missile and military equipment research. Having supposedly already completed their research on nuclear bombs. One would like to know whether they want to monitor the employees at KRL or the work that they do. Supposedly most of the engineers at KRL spend their time playing computer games or cricket as the pakistani people love there cricketers and not there scientists and engineers.
The Ehtesab cell which was launched with much fanfare has been converted into an anti Zardari cell as whatever they talk about has the involvement of asif zardari in one way or the other. Saif obviously never has anything to say about the real crooks whom he facilitates while mouthing off about zardari.
The APP is another component of the govts lies brigade. The APP journalists are known to cook up reports without even leaving there offices.,p> PTV is the most famous component of the lies brigade with its ageless newscasters who have been lying to the public thru dictaorships and psuedo democracies. Whichever govt comes to power they immediately garner its support by starting broadcasting reports against there opponents whom they had been promoting till a few days ago.
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According to pakistans premier urdu ragsheet, Jang, pakistan is about to go into a bearhug with the americans. According to the report the USA will now treat pakistan like they have treated israel,taiwan etc and give them back the F-16s as well as restoring military and financial aid. That should be a real feather in the cap of Nawaz Sharif who has upto now tended to be a regionalist cum islamist. Although it does seem odd after almost a decade of being the bad former ally with either the congress or the presidency opposing pakistan especially due to its closeness to the arab world, anti israel stand and selective stands on terrorism. Maybe the USA if such an agreement is reached will allow pakistan relative independence in its internal affairs which the americans love to interfere in.In the past the USA has tended to dictate even such minor things as appointments and financial decisions with much of pakistans political ups and downs blamed on bad american advice.
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