An Unexpected Birthday Gift

Dost mittar...

The lawyers` movement is not to remove Musharraf but to secure the independence of judiciary... which has been achieved... it can actually be a transition which might ultimately protect Musharraf`s reforms...

Some political rabble rousers... the MMA and the like... have tried to use this momentum ... but lawyers have stood aloof... despite all encouragement and remained clear about the objective.

Hi Feroz:

My views on Musharraf and Pakistan have not changed much since we last met. I am in a minority at chowk in that I do not believe in democracy as a virtue in itself but try to judge its effectiveness as a form of governance; it`s good if it delivers on that front and not so good if it does not deliver.

Looking at the history of Pakistan, it seems to me that Pakistan has done better for itself during military rules than during rules by populous leaders. With the exception of Zia, the army rule has generally been also associted also with a more moderate version of Islam.

I have been an admirer of Musharraf ever since Shaukat Aziz administered some necessary though bitter economic medicine to the Pakistani economy at the start of his tenure as Finance Minister. PM has sidelined Islamists by opening up the society to winds of change - more music and dance, more arts, more entertainment, more fashion shows and variety in clothes with sari staging a comeback to compete with hijab, while at the same time manipulating the islamist parties to keep himself in power.

But Musharraf is, after all, a dictator and his first job is to keep himself in power and, in my opinion, he sometimes overreacts to stay in power - like he did in that bogus referendum in 2003(?) and now the firing of his CJ. I believe that the reaction to the CJ affair has chastened him and he would learn from this experience if allowed to stay on. I also believe that he should be allowed to stay on for another 2-3 years so that he can navigate Pakistan through the really murky waters that lie ahead.

Pakistani civil society is very fickle. Today, they are demanding the ouster of Musharraf, tomorrow, they will want Musharraf or his clone to come back after BB or someone else have queered the pitch with their misrule and maybe giving birth to some new taleban.

``In the past, I have been criticised by others for dealing with you rather harshly``

So those incomprehensible ramblings to acquit the greatest fraud in history was ``harsh treatment``?

I haven`t see anyone criticise you for it... I have seen others criticise you for:

1. Plagiarising other people`s work.

2. Your abuses against Farzana Versey who disagrees with you in right royal Mahatma-like fashion.

3. Your attempt to pass off your faecal matter on these boards as art/creative writing.

4. Your attempt to pass off Indian faecal matter as some sort o a Mahatma...


But not for your ``harsh`` treatment that you meted out to me.

Feroz,

The solution is to let all parties and personalities contest a free and fair election and may the best man/group win. If that means NS/BB so be it. Our politicians are no doodh ke dhooley either but no one has been disqualified except on grounds of convictions. At the same time strengthen the judicial process and fairness transparency of the judiciary/law enforcement agencies so that bad apples can be prosecuted and convicted impartially and are thus cleanly weeded out of the system.

Selective banning of parties/personalities will serve no purpose. As you have observed institutions are more important than personalities.

Besides, democracy is no magic wand and it would take ages for democracy to take deep roots and solve citizens` problems (in India/Pak/anywhere else). No overnight results should be expected

Regards

Re: Bulleya # 38

Yes, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif should both come down from their respective crosses because other people also need the wood!!! ;) lol

Ciao

re: HP

My respect for Justice Bhagwan Das was based on his ability to keep his thoughts private and not engage in a media show trial.

Ciao

Re: Mantolives # 35

As to Benazir Bhutto`s statements from the last week regarding the Taliban threat, I will believe her when she actually means what she says and says what she means. Opposition leaders in Pakistan will whistle any tune to increase their chances of getting into power and in the case of Benazir Bhutto, she is courting the United States` backing as an expression of developing her own political constituency in the United States and not in Pakistan. :)

Yasser, as a lawyer and a well-informed analyst of Pakistani politics and history, you should know that principles are more enduring in politics than people and it was a principle and not a personality that influenced the process leading up to 1947. This time around, the principle is the constitution of Pakistan and the process is the law and let us allow these two ideas to win by finally rejecting the cult of personalities in Pakistani politics.

My opposition to Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto returning to power is simply that they are the past and as with all things past, they should be left behind and we should think of the future and how to influence and not seek to relive in the past. Pakistani cricket team seems to be learning this lesson that individuals at the top need to be changed and if we keep bringing the same faces back to the top, we will keep making the same mistakes.

One of favorite definations of insanity is that you keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome. Bringing old politicans back to power and hoping that they would do something different, would be nothing less than political insanity in Pakistan. After two failed tries, despite the fact that their tenures were cut short, the example of their past goverance does not suggest a reformation in their lust for power and their addications to power itself.

If we as a nation are willing to place our hopes once more in Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, then we must be mentally prepared for a disappointment and should also hold ourselves responsible in case of a disappointment. The choice for future should be made on the basis of a ruthless realism and not a beneign nostalgia of the past, because we in Pakistan do not learn from the past and will thus, again, will repeat the mistakes of the past. If insanity is making the same mistakes again and again and expecting a different result, then we Pakistanis are really politically insane if we keep thinking that the result will be different from making the same mistake again. :)

Ciao

Re: Mantolives # 35

I have been following Benazir Bhutto`s statements and I have, too, discerned a marked shift in her political choices. PPP, under Benazir Bhutto, seems to be moving towards a form of reconciliation with the government and once notable sign of this the pains PPP is taking to stay away from MMA. United States backing might bring Benazir Bhutto back to power, but it will not be able to keep her in power, because Benazir Bhutto is her own worst enemy and she will revert back to ruling on the basis of her vanity once in power.

Yasser, this a golden opportunity to strenghten the process in Pakistan and the best way to do that is move away from personalities in Pakistan and it has been the politics of personalities in Pakistan, over institutional politics, that has created a wreak in Pakistani political processes. This opportunity calls for a new start and that means that we should ditch the baggage of the past and start all over again, with new faces and not pin our hopes, once more, on discredited politicans of the past. If and should Benazir Bhutto come back, the tussle between her and the military will continue and the military might not allow her back, despite United States` blessings, because of the possibility of being put in the dock itself legally. It is time for Benazir Bhutto to step aside and allow someone else to take the helm of PPP.

The issues at hand are about respect for justice and not how one can be above the law. It would be a mistake to confuse the issues and as I have said before, in Pakistan we too intellectually challenged to realize this fact; that we have always counted on personalities as a cause of salvation for our problems and have been routinely disappointed. If we do not learn the lessons of the past from this incidence, then a pox on us and we really and truly deserve the leaders we get!

Ciao

#31 Manto Lives

Dear Yasser,

In the past, I have been criticised by others for dealing with you rather harshly and occasionally unfairly and also for not accentuating your positive virtues enough. Kindly allow me to address the last issue right now.

Dear Yasser, there is nothing wrong with your sense of humor! :)

#30 by rahul_capri on March 21, 2007 2:30am PT

“ I am puzzled by one thing. If the CJ had to be taken out, why the highhandedness?”

Though Feroz has taken a stab at this but here is how I think the whole drama was played out.

The Mush admin knew what the CJ was doing and they were getting ready to act against him. They were setting up the ground way before the confrontation.

I hope you have seen Naeem Bukharis’ letter. Naeem was an assistant to S M Zafar, a major Army Lawyer at par with Sharif Pirzada. Naeem was also Zafar’s BIL after marrying Zafar’s Sali Tahira Syed the famous Singer and Malika Pukhraj’s daughter. Btw, Naeem Bukhari’s Brother Salim Altaf is CEO of the Pakistan cricket board and played for Pakistan Cricket team in the 70s. Naeem became the conduit to create a case against the CJ. Naeem is not intelligent or political enough to get in to this. I think the letter was drafted by S M Zafar and Naeem just signed it.

The Mush admin also asked the Sindh govt and to make a case against the CJ. They also got a reference from the Peshawar high court. So they had the case ready all they had to do was send the reference to the Judicial Council quietly. If they had done so,the onus would have been on the CJ. The CJ would have had no choice but to step down until the case is resolved. Instead of taking this civilized road the Mush admin ended up making a spectacle out of this.

My read is that when Mush met CJ, and the CJ refused to resign, Mush got angry and in a typical army fit of anger decided to throw him out or cut him to size right away. There was no need for suspending the CJ or putting him under house arrest. Mush made a bad judgment call.
I would call that a typical army officer’s way of handling political issues when they act first and think later.

Without raising the parochial flag, I would also say that in the subcontinent Punjabi, Upian and Bengali have short tempers and often are not very good thinkers off their feet. A sindhi would have taken his time thinking through the whole thing and then would have stayed with the plan. Mushy in a typical show of power lost the whole game plan.

A word of caution here to Manto and Feroz. Don’t have high expectations about Rana Bhagwan Das. He is a consummate politician and will play his cards. There is a serious opposition to his becoming the CJ in the army. No doubt, he is a smart person but also full of himself.

``The problem with Pakistan`s judiciary has actually been in not removing civilian leaders......Had NS been removed by the Supreme Court, then the coup would never have happened.......Now that Musharraf could be seriously restricted and weakened by the Judiciary, it is imperative on the judiciary to take BB and Zardari to task also......Kick them out as well........``(bulleya)

Between the Judiciary and the Dictator -- what happened to the National Assembly called also the parliament -- in elitist Pakistan?

I wish the Judiciary could remove OUR George of the Jungle -- then the Judiciary could rule USA forever -- and we wouldn`t have to pay the insufferable congressmen and women -- but then again come to think of it the Judiciary did install George in 2000!

#6 by Urstruly,

I think scenario #2 is plausible.

Ferozek #34: ``Lastly; BB should come back and stand trial and this way show her respect for an independence judiciary and judicial system in Pakistan. If she comes back and pressures the courts to drop the cases against her, then you might as well kiss judicial independence in Pakistan a final good-bye.``

This is a very central point........if BB is allowed to come back, have all the charges dropped against her and become PM again, then Pakistan will never have an independent judiciary........It might as well continue with Musharraf then, if you ask me........Because, rest assured, BB`s rule will be back to the days of Bonnie and Clyde level corruption.......She and the PPP have ten years of corruption to make up for, and they will definitely make up for it......

The problem with Pakistan`s judiciary has actually been in not removing civilian leaders......Had NS been removed by the Supreme Court, then the coup would never have happened.......Now that Musharraf could be seriously restricted and weakened by the Judiciary, it is imperative on the judiciary to take BB and Zardari to task also......Kick them out as well........

The above, by the way, will be the best thing to have happened to PPP.......I talked with some of their senior leaders.......I was surprised to see, deep down inside, how much they dislike her.......They cannot ditch her, becasue the Bhutto name is still strong......and they are nothing without the Bhutto name.......But they do realize how much she has destroyed the PPP......

Expecting a lifetime president of a poltiical party to establish democracy is like expecting a military dictator to establish democracy........It is a philosophical contradiction, anomaly and impossibility........A BB/Musharraf deal of, ``excusing each other`` will dent Pakistan forever.....All of these recent events will, thus, be worth nothing if the judiciary is again pressurised to bring BB up again..........

PPP will get the most seats in the elections, in my opinion.....But not enough to form a govt......They will have to form alliances......PPP has some good people in it, if they can get BB to move aside.....She is now setting the stage for Bilawal to take over the party after her.....Not my words, but the words of a PPP leader.......

........Aitezaz Ahsan of PPP will make a very good PM..........As will Yusuf Raza Gillani of PPP(he was recently released after being in jail for four years, without a trial).......Imran Khan would make a good President, but he does not have the political backing.......All three are from Punjab though.......

Interestingly, I talked with politicians of different parties, and again and again, the above three names kept coming up in the category of, ``good`` politicians........Another name was that of Junejo......I was surprised to see how highly other politicians thought of him......

Majumdar...

A judge is removed under article 209 of the Constitution by the Supreme Judicial Council... after a reference is filed against the judge by the President of the Republic...

Clearly this is not an ideal situation for the SJC is susceptible to political pressure. I like the 2/3rds idea much better.

The current unrest in Pakistan is certainly a positive development and it is much to be hoped that this will end dictatorship in Pak ala Bdesh (1990) and Nepal (2006). Although personally I am not too sure of that. For three reasons:

One, the unrest seems to largely involve the media and legal professions, not the general public unlike Nepal/Bdesh.
Two, history. Military rule has been removed only on two occassions- 1971 (after a disastrous war against India) and in 1988 (after assassination of Zia). Given that both India and Pak are N-powers, that is hardly a very sobering reflection.
Thirdly, unlike the two other cases were USA had little interest, in Pak there may be vested interest on USA`s part in keeping Mush in power ``after us, the Al-Qaeda`` mentality.

Feroze,

In case free and fair elections are held in Pak, I would tend to agree with you and disagree with Manto mian on the outcome- there could be a hung parliament in Pak as you have suggested. Which is not necessarily a bad thing as India has had hung parliaments and coalition govts. since 1989 without anyone being worse off for that.

Manto mian,

Constitutionally waht is the procedure for removing a judge in Pak. Just for curiosity`s sake. Pretty difficult in India to remove someone like a judge (or Election Commissioner etc.) as it requires impeachment proceedings to be backed by 2/3 of both houses of Parliament. To the best of my knowledge no one has been impeached so far.

Regards

Feroz,

All the indications are that Bhutto has American backing... As for 1996... yes... she was in power but remember back then it had American blessing...

Please refer to her statements to the media from last week... regarding the taliban threat.