Musharraf’s leadership challenged in court

ISLAMABAD ( 2007-05-14 17:46:37 ) : Opposition alliance petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday, calling for the removal of President Pervez Musharraf from office as well as from his position as army chief.

The move by Qazi Hussain Ahmed, President of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) alliance, came amid a deepening judicial crisis that represents the greatest challenge to Musharraf’s authority since he took power in a military coup in 1999.

“We have challenged both of Musharraf’s positions because he is not capable of holding either office,” Shahid Shamsi, a spokesman for Ahmed, told Reuters.

In his petition, Ahmed pleaded that President Musharraf be dismissed from the army because he had violated his oath by taking part in politics while remaining in uniform.

He said President Musharraf had also disqualified himself from holding the office of president by “dragging the army into politics”.

President Musharraf promised to stand down as army chief by the end of 2004 as part of a deal with MMA but later backed out of his commitment.

Constitutionally, he is due to quit the army by the end of December this year, but is believed to be reluctant to do so.

President Musharraf is expected to stand for a second term as president in September or October and wants to be re-elected by the national and provincial assemblies before they are dissolved for elections due around the turn of the year.

Many analysts say Musharraf’s move to suspend the country’s Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry in March might be motivated by a desire to have a more pliable man at the head of judiciary in case of a constitutional challenge to his plans.

Courtesy : Aaj TV

Geo News website hacked

Geo News website has been hacked by someone. Geo, is one of the leading private channel of Pakistan

watch it for yourself

http://www.geo.tv/news/

Karachi violence to cost Musharraf heavily

Karachi violence to cost Musharraf heavily: analysts

ISLAMABAD ( 2007-05-13 21:29:25 ) :
President Pervez Musharraf’s grip on power has been dangerously weakened by the involvement of his political allies in violence that killed dozens of people, analysts said Sunday.

Musharraf faces a major challenge to put the lid back on the opposition movement that has formed around the country’s suspended chief justice.

More than 36 people, most of them opposition workers, have died in ongoing clashes between pro-government and pro-judge parties that have turned the streets of Karachi into a battleground.

“I think his (Musharraf’s) power is now diminishing rapidly. There is no doubt about it,” retired Pakistani army general and political analyst Talat Masood told AFP.

General Musharraf’s position has become increasingly tenuous as he seeks another five-year term as president-in-uniform before November 16 from the outgoing parliament, which is stacked with his supporters.

Opponents say the president, a key US ally in the “war on terror,” dismissed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on March 9 to ensure a pliant judiciary in the event of any legal challenges to the manoeuvre.

After two months of protests involving lawyers and opposition parties, the crisis turned violent on Saturday in Karachi.

The main bloodshed was sparked when Musharraf’s local ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) party, prevented Chaudhry from addressing a bar association function in Karachi.

Musharraf blamed the judge and his supporters for the carnage, saying that they had politicised Chaudhry’s fate and stoked up tensions.

But Human Rights Watch accused police and the provincial government, which is run by the MQM, of being “silent spectators” to the breakdown in law and order and of deliberately “fomenting” trouble.

“It was a great blunder, a major mistake of horrendous proportions. It was a sure recipe for confrontation,” Masood said.

Masood said the current situation could lead to early elections, but Musharraf was unlikely to be able to retain his position as chief of the huge army, his main source of power.

“All actions subsequent to March 9 reflect a sense of insecurity in government ranks leading to a situation where elections could be held ahead of time,” Masood said.

Political commentator Najam Sethi said the violence in Karachi, an ethnic tinderbox wracked by political fighting in the 1990s, had set the scene for a national confrontation.

“The battle lines are now drawn. There is Musharraf and the ruling political party and the MQM on one side and the rest of Pakistan on the other. He is facing the worst period of his rule,” Sethi told AFP.

As Karachi was in flames, Musharraf was addressing a massive rally in Islamabad organised by his cronies to demonstrate public support for the military-led administration.

Musharraf has conveyed a message to the chief justice that “we will use the machinery of the state to stop you and you will not be allowed to reach out to people,” Sethi said.

“It is very depressing. We are more divided as a nation than we were in 1999 when he took over in a coup.”

A senior security official who worked in Sindh province during the late 1990s feared that the current spate of violence in Karachi could hurt the commercial hub and home of the Pakistani stock market as in the past.

“There was an uneasy calm in Karachi since the MQM government came into being. That calm has been broken,” the official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said that it was distressing to see that law enforcement agencies did not intervene at all. “They looked to be part of the whole carnage,” he added.

Aaj TV

Supreme Court News from Islamabad

Islamabad : Justice Falak Sher, one of the members of full court, constituted by acting CJ Mr. Justice Rana Bhagwan Das, has refused to sit in the full court. As per Mr. Justice Falak Sher, there is pending case in Supreme Court over Seniority Issue of Mr. Justice Falak Sher and Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary – hence he can not sit in court which has to hear the case of Mr. Justice Iftikhar Chuadhary.

Justice Khalil Ur Rehman Ramday has sent the case back to Mr. Justice Rana Bhagwan Das to re-constitute the full court. Mr. Justice Rana Bhagwan Das has now constituted full court excluding Mr. Justice Falak Sher. Full Court will now start its proceeding from tomorrow, Tuesday 15-May-2007

S. M. Zafar, one of the most prominent lawyer of the country has advised Government to not to send another reference against CJP. He also advised CJP to postpone his addresses to the bar councils of the country till the judgement of Full Bench of Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Islamabad: Additional Registrar of Supreme Court of Pakistan was murdered earlier around 3 AM in Islamabad. As per reports, some dacoits entered his house in Islamabad and on resistance shown by Hammad Raza, the additional registrar of Supreme Court of Pakistan – they opened fired, Hammad was rushed to PIMS (Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences) but couldn’t succumb to injuries and died.

Update on Murder of Additional Registar of Supreme Court : Unidentified gunmen killed a senior Supreme Court official in Islamabad early Monday after a weekend of deadly violence over the suspension of the chief justice, police said.

Syed Hamid Raza was shot dead hours before the court was due to start a hearing into the legality of charges against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

“Unknown gunmen broke into the house of Supreme Court additional registrar Raza and shot him dead,” Islamabad police officer Mohammad Aslam told AFP.

Police were still investigating the motive for the killing, he said.

Syed Hammad Raza was serving in Baluchistan High Court and he was brought to Supreme Court in the era of Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary – it might be another killing by the state???

Throughout the country, lawyers have staged protests and have boycotted the proceedings of the court in protest to killings of innocent civilians by the ruling party in Karachi.

Bring Back Naseer Ullah Babar

The current state supported terrorism, brute use of heavy arms on innocent people including media asks for some extraordinary measures to be taken. Government & its allied party in Provincial Government of Sindh as well as in Federal Government used all of its power to kill dozens of innocent people to stop them from welcoming Chief Justice of Pakistan.

MQM was given freehand to kill anyone and everyone on Saturday. The only motto was to stop people coming on streets to welcome Chief Justice of Pakistan. CJP was scheduled address professional attendance of Sindh High Court Bar Association on Golden Jubilee of Sindh High Court.

Polie, Rangers and other paramilitary forces were asked to be a silent observer and let the MQM do whatever it wanted to do. City was burning, roads were filled with deadbodies but Home Secretary Sindh and Inspector General Sindh Police was enjoying tea & smoking next to CJP’s arrival lounge.

Sindh High Court took suo moto action and called IG, Home Secretary & Corps Commander. IG & Home Secretary simply said that this is out of their control and orders were from high ups. Corps Commander Karachi simply didn’t take any notice whatsoever of Court’s order and put the orders under his boots.

While the economic hub of Pakistan, the city of Founder of the Nation, the city once termed as ‘the city of lights’ was filled with deadbodies, ruling party was celebrating their show of ‘power’ in Islamabad. They were beating drums, they were dancing over their show of powers.

Let me tell you inside about this show of powers. Provincial & City Government in Lahore paid amounts ranging from 400 to 1,800 rupees per participants including 3 times food, water and sweets, air-conditioned buses to participate in the rally of ruling party. On Saturday morning I was on my way to drop my family members to their offices, Daewoo buses were on the roads and people were openly calling that ‘Go to Islamabad and get 1500 rupees’ – is this what we call ’show of Powers’?

In Karachi, MQM staged its so called ‘peaceful rally’ and about 2-3 km ago from that area, A TV Channel (Aaj TV’s) building was under heavy fire with automatic weapons. All the world saw the visuals. The firing continued for 6+ hours and no security whatsoever was provided to them. They contacted everyone possible, they called for help but no one took notice.

This is what we call state-terrorism. None other that General Parvez Musharraf, the great US Ally on war on terror was doing. It was all ordered by him.

There is one and only solution this crisis. Restore CJP on his position unconditionally. Governor rule should be imposed in the province of Sindh and Gen (R) Naseer Ullah Babar should be given freehand, the way he was given authority and powers a few years back. Musharraf should resign. A care-taker government should be there to conduct free & fair elections. Army should do what it is supposed to do – they should go back to barricks.