Protests

There have been student protests today at LUMS in Lahore. There appears to be much more protest activity in Punjab generally than in Sindh (and Karachi specifically). See pics of the LUMS protest here.

There are moves to organize more protest activity in Karachi, but the fear is real and its deserved. However, expect to see something soon. I am realizing, however, that there is a huge difference in organizing dissent in the U.S. and in Pakistan. In addition to the usual class and ethnic conflicts that plague all protest movements, there is also the atmosphere of fear and paranoia that can be quite paralyzing. There is also somewhat of a split between the "old" and the "new" activists - the former are used to doing things a certain way, while the latter want to try new strategies and are often more confrontational and radical in their approach. Perhaps it is that the young folks have never faced the danda. I continue to have enormous respect for the activists who have been around and continue to fight the good fight. They are inspiring.

Meanwhile, Benazir announced that she will go ahead with her rally on Friday the 9th in Pindi. This is not quite the call to arms one would have expected the party of Zulfikar to issue but it is something. And already the police have announced that they will stop it. So I think a showdown of sorts is coming.

The news channels remain off the air for a fourth day. The courts in Karachi were deserted as no lawyers showed up. And no news on Imran Khan's whereabouts yet.

Update

A few updates:

• Approximately 60 of the lawyers arrested yesterday in Lahore will be tried in the Anti-Terrorism Courts. This is a deeply chilling indication of the venality of this regime. I suppose it's also a way for Musharraf to pretend that this really is about terrorism (as announced in his speech).
• Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry addressed lawyers and media today by telephone. About four minutes into the speech, the government cut mobile phone service in Islamabad. A spokespeson said that "The government has closed the mobile service in some sectors (of Islamabad) and they have said it was just a temporary measure.” How kind of them.
  
• Benazir has flown to Islamabad where she'll be having discussions with govt. respresentatives (but not Musharraf).
• Karachi was calm today and business is "normal" but that's a sign that the demands of daily life must be met no matter what, not that people are happy with martial law.
• A symbol of protest has emerged which is a black armband. Please wear it wherever you go.
• The "new" fake Supreme Court has set aside the Court's judgment on emergency/martial law. You may recall that the Supreme Court, on Saturday evening, hurriedly put together a judgment on the emergency and declared it illegal and unconstitutional. The petitioner was Aitzaz Ahsan and the Court was scheduled to take up the matter before a full court on Monday. Of course this was not to be. However, the judgment stands for the record, despite what these lackeys have said.
• There's still no word on the whereabouts of Imran Khan.
• News TV channels remain off the air. This is a stunning sign that Musharraf still hasn't been able to consolidate this coup 72 hours into the affair. This, after military rule by the same government for 8 years. He's really in trouble.
  

Pakistan Redefined (cartoon)

Cartoon by MAXIM in today's Nation:

Moody rating changed to negative

Moody changed its credit rating for Pakistan to "negative" from "stable":

Moody's believes that the imposition of emergency rule represents a further erosion in Pakistan's governing capacity and underscores Pakistan's heightened political instability.

President Musharraf's narrowing domestic support base and shakier relations with the U.S. and other key international allies now appear to be a greater threat to investor confidence than was true in the past.

Political turbulence in Pakistan since the beginning of this year had been shrugged off by foreign investors and domestic market participants, who remained confident that the country could muddle through. "However the balance of risks now appears to be shifting to the downside," said the analyst.

"Ghaddar" judges

Borrowing terminology used at protests, here's a list of the "ghaddar" judges who have agreed to take a fresh oath under the new PCO:

Saiyed Saeed Ashhad
M. Javed Buttar
Faqir Muhammad Khokhar
Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi
Qaim Jan Khan
Ejaz-ul-Hassan
Chaudhry Ejaz Yousuf
Moosa K. Leghari

The last four were just brought on board today; if you go to the Supreme Court website, you'll see that their names have been hastily added to the website but a link to their profile doesn't exist yet.

Multan has a sense of humor - who knew?

This made me laugh (from New York Times):

In Multan, another city in the province of Punjab, two new judges who had taken the oath of office under emergency rule Sunday were forced to leave the courtroom by hundreds of angry lawyers.

"We threatened them, saying: ‘You’ve taken an unconstitutional oath, if you don’t go we will throw eggs at you.’ They left,” said a lawyer from Multan, Riaz Gilani.

Elections on or not?

There have been conflicting reports on the upcoming elections. Yesterday it seemed pretty clear that elections were postponed indefinitely. Then Shaukat Aziz said that they could be postponed for up to a year.

The latest statement from both Shaukat Aziz and Attorney General Malik Abdul Qayyum says that elections will be held as scheduled on January 15. The current assemblies will be dissolved on November 15 (as previously scheduled and required under the constitution which no longer governs us). Perhaps having secured a compliant judiciary, Musharraf feels he has finally secured his next presidential term, and Benazir must have agreed to it as well.

Different version of KPC demo

Here's a different version of the Karachi Press Club demo by someone who was there (courtesy of Karachi Metroblog's Bolshevik):

A massive protest had been planned outside the Karachi Press Club today. A *lot* of people showed up. The problem was, however, that a majority of them probably thought that the protest would be a dinner party.

Read the rest here.

Karachi Press Club demo attacked

Police had surrounded the Karachi Press Club since morning, and when the demonstration began after 4 p.m., the police lathi-charged the crowd. Several arrests have been made. No other details available. (Source: Geo News)

Meanwhile, on II Chundrigar Road, two very different manifestations of martial law took place.

-First, the KSE index plunged in its first day of trading after martial law. The index slipped 635 points to close at 13257. This is the biggest drop in the KSE index in the history of the country. It's not just us crazy hippies, the capitalists don't like martial law either.

-Second, the offices of the Jang group were raided and the company was prohibited from printing its evening newspaper Awaam. Rumors are that the edition was to carry pictures and stories of the morning crackdown on lawyers and judges. Update: Snapshot of front page below. It's pretty sad Musharraf's scared of this:


So, we've had, in the history of this 2-day old martial law, attacks on the judiciary, civil society activists, select opposition politicians, and the media. Left out of the cross-hairs of the army are the jehadis and the corrupt erstwhile prime ministers. I thought this martial law was to combat terrorism?

Benazir manages to plumb new depths

In a piece for CNN, Benazir is claiming that the Oct. 18 attack was perpetrated through "a small child":

Although it remains difficult to know for certain, I doubt that a suicide bomber was involved in the attack on me. I suspect, after talking to some of the injured, that the terrorists used a small child as a ploy to get to me. They were trying to hoist the child -- dressed in the colors of my party's flag -- onto my truck.

Failing to do so, they dropped the child near my vehicle. Some witnesses said the child had been rigged as a human bomb. I can't be sure. What followed was a massive explosion, killing scores immediately, tearing many bodies in half and sending blood, gore and flames up into the vehicle.

Rest of her vomit-inducing piece here.

Many reports are emerging that Benazir knew about the impending martial law. They're also claiming that Benazir agreed to the appointment of Dogar as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan since he was a PPP appointee back in 1995. And her refusal to use the wherewithal of her party to challenge martial law suggests that she may be somewhat complicit in all this.