Geo petition dismissed

Geo's petition to come back on air has been dismissed by the Sindh High Court. What else can one expect from PCO judges? This, however, was somewhat unexpected since everyone had believed that there was an imminent deal between Geo and the government. So it's not clear anymore how and when Geo will come back on air now. It has been able to resume broadcast from Dubai and therefore is viewable in the rest of the world but not in Pakistan. (Don't forget that this is Pakistan's largest private channel.)

A student movement?

There's a great piece on the current student movement in Pakistan by Faheem Hussain, who notes that it is an exciting development despite the fact that it is not a broad-based movement (notably, it has failed to address issues of poverty and social justice). Excerpt below:

It is not yet a student movement, but at least the student community is in motion and ferment again after a lapse of a couple of decades. Whether this will develop into a movement is still to be seen. Students who had been absent during the period from March to November in the struggle for the rule of law and for the freedom of the press were suddenly galvanised by the events of November 3rd and the subsequent destruction of the Constitution and the judiciary by General Musharraf.

Read the full piece here.

No agreement yet on boycotting elections

The APDM (basically, PML-N) and the ARD (basically, PPP) have been meeting to try and resolve differences between them on the election boycott. The only outstanding issue left? Restoration of the judiciary. Yes, Benazir can't decide how she feels about the ONLY issue that has united all opposition in Pakistan and is responsible for galvanizing a real movement against the military for the first time in the country's history.

Benazir's position is that any restoration of the judiciary must be an issue for the next parliament to decide. We all know how that will go. It will be a forgotten issue along with all the rest of the many promises made by parties before elections.

I fail to understand how anyone thinks that participating in these elections will serve anything other than the interests of the U.S., Musharraf, and Benazir.

CODEPINK activists deported; LUMS faculty charged

The CODEPINK activists who've been visiting have been arrested and will be deported today (they've been given the choice of either leaving or facing sedition charges).

Meanwhile, LUMS faculty have also been charged, under the Maintainance of Public Order regulation. The faculty charged are Rasul Bakhsh Rais, Farhat Haq, Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, and Osama Siddique. These charges are less serious than the sedition charges against the Punjab University faculty but are are another way of cracking down on the student movement.

Eviction of non-PCO judges (the good guys)

According to Government of Pakistan rules, government employees who have been assigned government housing can retain that housing for up to 6 months after retirement. This is presumably done so that employees have some breathing room to find new accommodations after leaving public service (and yes, it's a very nice perk). Six months seems reasonable given that finding housing under any circumstances is a hellish task, let alone when done during a major life transition such as retirement and all that comes with it. But moving after retirement seems like a piece of cake compared to having to move when, say, the dictator of your country has summarily and suddenly fired you from your job because you refused to budge from your principles.

This is the situation that the non-PCO judges now find themselves in. The GoP has issued eviction notices to all the non-PCO judges who are in government housing. It's just one more way to humiliate those who dared stand up to Mister General. It's also a sign that he thinks he will get away with this, as he continues to consolidate his latest plan for remaining in power.

More crackdowns on protests

There were at least two brutal crackdowns on protesters today.

A rally at the Islamabad Press Club was brutally attacked by police (lathi-charge etc.). Many injuries have been reported.

In Lahore, police have surrounded the LUMS campus (another sign that the student movement is ruffling feathers and creating a threat). Police also attacked protesters at the Lahore Press Club (including the CODEPINK people).

More boycott news

Benazir and Nawaz met yesterday to discuss the boycott but there was no specific deal. Benazir is sticking to her "I'm contesting this election under protest" line, and Nawaz says he's for a boycott but also argues at the same time that boycotting elections will only make the pro-Musharraf government party PML(Q) stronger. Incidentally, there is a term in Pakistan for such parties as PML(Q) that will support whoever is in power: "lota" - so termed because the lota will turn whichever way you will turn it, without regard to principle.

So the lotas will get stronger, it is feared, if the opposition parties boycott the election. Of course at some level Nawaz's hand-wringing about the matter in particular is sort of pointless, since he doesn't have much of a chance anyway. The powers that be have decided that Benazir is their girl, and the rest will participate just for window-dressing. The parliament will, according to this plan, be fragmented and the PPP will have only a small majority so that governing will be difficult and therefore power will remain in Musharraf's hands even though he's changed clothes.

Today's front page of the Daily Times was a good visual reminder that Nawaz is basically irrelevant to this whole affair. One front-page story reported on the fact that Nawaz Sharif's nomination papers for the National Assembly have been rejected (because of objections arising from his actions in response to Musharraf's 1999 coup, believe it or not). Meanwhile, immediately below that, a story reported that the US ambassador, Anne Patterson, was exhorting Nawaz not to boycott the election. Well, honey, it's not as if he has a choice in the matter, really - not when you don't allow him to run in the election to begin with! Yes, of course, his party can still run, but how ridiculous will it be that the party will be participating in elections when its top leadership, Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif (also rejected by the Election Commission), are barred from doing so?

CODEPINK stages hunger strike at Aitzaz Ahsan's house

CODEPINK head Medea Benjamin is in Pakistan right now and has been meeting with some activists (incidentally, David Barsamian has also shown up and is giving a series of talks this week). Benjamin and her contingent staged a 24-hour hunger strike outside Aitzaz Ahsan's home in Lahore where he is under house arrest. From their press release:

Medea Benjamin and Tighe Barry, members of the U.S. human rights group Global Exchange and the women¹s peace group CODEPINK, came to Pakistan to learn about the political situation since emergency rule was declared on November 3. One of the people they are most anxious to meet with is prominent lawyer/politician Aitzaz Ahsan, who was jailed by the Musharraf government from November 3 to 25, when he was then placed under house arrest.

Pakistan government representatives in the US have said that the lawyers arrested under the emergency law have been released. But when the visiting human rights activists tried to meet with Aitzaz Ahsan on December 1, they discovered that his home is still designated a "sub jail" and he remains hostage in his own home, unable to go out or to receive visitors. For that reason the U.S. activists decided to stage a vigil outside his home.

"Pervez Musharraf is telling the world that he is committed to democracy. So it is outrageous that the head of the nation's Supreme Court Bar Association, Aitzaz Ahsan, remains under house arrest," said Tighe Barry.

"We have come a long way to meet this man who we have heard is one of the great heroes of the struggle for democracy in Pakistan," said Medea Benjamin. "We will sit patiently in front of his door and sleep overnight in front of his door, asking his jailers to allow us in."

I know, I know - Western activists poking their noses in Pakistani problems. But they can shine light on the situation in a way that no one else can. Actually, I have very high expectations of progressive activists in the U.S. I hope that they can finally come to their senses and pressure their government to stop supporting the military.

Let's call their bluff

Musharraf and Benazir must be two of the biggest cry-babies. First, Musharraf gives an interview in which he says that if the Jan. 8 election creates a situation that is "unacceptable" to him, he will resign. Then Benazir announces that, poor thing, she really doesn't want to participate in the elections, rather she is doing so "under protest."

Well, I say we call their bluff. Listen, you two. We don't really want you both around. Why can't you get a hobby, or go on that round-the-world trip you've always wanted to take? Or perhaps you need some time in an ashram to "find yourselves." You could even just do us the courtesy of fading away ingloriously. But this foot-stomping hysterical tantrumy drama is just unbearable. So just go away already. We don't want you. Really.

Huge student protest in Lahore on Friday

There was a huge student protest in Lahore yesterday (Friday). This was the first time that the student movement has taken to the streets (as opposed to staying within their campuses), and by all accounts it was a huge success. There were no arrests but plenty of harassment and intimidation from the police. But the students prevailed and I think this is a huge and bold step by the students.

Students rally in Lahore against military rule

Unfortunately in Karachi there was no turnout to speak of, but Karachi's problem remains an old and unique one - students are basically caught between the MQM and the Jamaat-i-Islami student wings, and paralysis on campus ensues. Plus, the administrations of the Karachi-area universities have been unequivocally pro-Musharraf and have enforced his will through force. So I'm not sure what it will take for Karachi's students to rise up and break the strangleholds on them. I do know that there is a lot working against them.

Meanwhile, it seems that the protest yesterday might become a regular event (I certainly hope so). The demands of the students, by the way, are quite clear: no elections until there is complete restoration of the pre-martial law judiciary, and the removal of the military from the political arena. We could all learn a lot from these students.

To boycott or not to boycott?

The latest debate raging within political circles is whether or not to boycott the upcoming sham elections on January 8. Here is how I feel about the whole election exercise:

To those who argue for participating in the sham election, this is what I have to say: enough is enough. This is the least we can do, to not give legitimacy to this dictator and to fake elections engineered by the army, to produce an outcome that is desirable for the army, the general Pakistani establishment, and last but not least the USA.

Boycotting the Jan. 8 election is more than past due. We should have boycotted the 2002 elections, which were also engineered to produce a parliament that has helped enable every one of Musharraf's moves, as well as establish the bogeyman of fundamentalism, originally constructed to scare Westerners and Pakistani liberals but now real entities to themselves. Any new parliament emerging from Jan. 8 will be an even bigger joke. We can expect nothing from such a parliament, and we should demand nothing less than a real election in which there is meaningful choice and true debate. Nothing less.

Terrorism to be finished by December 16

Good news, folks. Terrorism will be vanquished, erased, defeated, eliminated, and stamped out in Pakistan by December 16. That's because that is the day that General... er, I mean Mister... Musharraf has vowed to end the "emergency" by. And of course the great rationale for imposing "emergency" was to combat terrorism. So we can deduce that the fight against terrorism will be over by December 16. Only about two more weeks. Cool.

Now, there are those who might cynically think that Musharraf's timing has more to do with his sham of an election on January 8. See, the thing is that December 15 is the last date for candidates to withdraw their nomination papers from the Fake Election Commission. So by ending martial law a day later, he's keeping the parties guessing, and even if they did want to boycott any elections held under martial law, they won't be able to do so anymore since they will be officially on the ballot by then. Psyche! Who's the clever one now?!? Wow, Mush, no one can see through this one. You've fooled everyone.

Musharraf takes off his uniform

Finally, the day has come. Musharraf has taken off his uniform. This long-standing, slightly-obscene-sounding demand of both the opposition in Pakistan as well as Western allies, is finally being met. And now that we are in the moment, it's actually become very clear to me just how apt the "take off the uniform" metaphor is - because it's a completely superficial step. Musharraf may have "taken off his uniform, but he's still as firmly in charge as ever. Perhaps even more so, since the devastation that his latest martial law has caused has really put the nail in the coffin that is Pakistan.

"Peace Initiative" Event in Karachi tonight

There was a "peace initiative" event in Karachi tonight, which was meant to be a protest of martial law (with a focus on the media ban). What it turned into is an entirely different matter. Will blog about that soon. But it was a very interesting experience, and I'm very glad I went.

Crackdown on Karachi journalists

The crackdown on Karachi journalists on Tuesday was awful:

Police brutality at Karachi Press Club on Nov. 20, 2007

Of course the police were as incompetent as they were brutal. It seems that the police were rather clueless about what to do with the many people they had arrested (more than 200). They had no room at any of the thanas and apparently drove around the city checking at various thanas for space! One of the cops even lost his way.

Musharraf and Bush, two peas in a pod

The similarities between the political strategies of Musharraf and Bush are striking. Below is a humorous take on the resemblance:

Many activists still in jail

The government released thousands of prisoners with much fanfare over the last two days, but the fact is that many activists still remain in jail. These include Farid Awan (trade union leader), Aitzaz Ahsan (president of the Supreme Court Bar Association), Nisar Shah (Labour Party of Pakistan), Liaqat Shah, Ayub Qureishi, Yousuf Mastikhan (National Worker's Party), and Hasil Bizenjo (National Party).

These activists remain locked up and many are charged with sedition, punishable by death. We must demand the release of all political prisoners, including these remaining listed here.

BREAKING: Mass arrests at rally for Geo/ARYOne

As many as 180 people have just been arrested at a Karachi rally at the Karachi Press Club organized by a journalists' union on behalf of Geo and ARYOne.

Update: All journalists were released by late Tuesday night. The crackdown was apparently triggered by the plan of the journalists to march to Governor House, which of course the authorities will never tolerate. (And I have fantasies of protesting outside military bases!)

3400 prisoners freed, 2000 remain

According to Dawn, the Interior Ministry has freed 3400 political prisoners who had been arrested since martial law. This leaves approximately 2000 which the Ministry claims will be released soon as well. That will mean that only a handful will remain under arrest - those who have been formally charged with crimes such as sedition and treason. According to the Ministry, these people must apply for bail through the courts (those sad subverted things).

I suspect that this is the result of US pressure on Musharraf. If it is true, hopefully it will mean that the movement will gain some more oxygen and momentum, with the release of hundreds of activists, lawyers, and party workers.

Speaking of US pressure, last night I was stuck in a massive traffic jam in the Clifton area. I learned later that it was due to the visit of the US ambassador to see Benazir Bhutto (Bilawal House, Benazir's residence, is in Clifton). Under any other circumstances, it would be odd that the US ambassador is in Karachi to see Benazir, an opposition politician who has no official standing. But as some friends of mine keep saying, This Is Pakistan.

Anne and Benazir, sitting in a tree...

Imran Khan on hunger strike

Imran Khan has begun a hunger strike for the restoration of the judiciary and the constitution. He's being held in the Dera Ghazi Khan jail (in NWFP), and has been charged with treason and terrorism, offenses which carry the death penalty.

Imran may be the last principled person in Pakistan. I may not agree with everything he believes, but I have to give him credit for that.