SAN-Feature Service
SOUTH ASIAN NEWS-FEATURE SERVICE
November 11,2007
Beena Sarwar
There is outrage among civil and human rights activists who stand for peace and democracy — artists, economists, teachers, development consultants, and journalists.
SAN-Feature Service : The first reaction was that of disbelief, quickly followed by outrage. We had been hearing rumours of an impending Emergency for days, but few people thought President Pervez Musharraf would actually go that far. In the end, though, it did not come as a surprise. After all, he had nothing to lose but his chair. And the 'kursi,' as we all know in South Asia , is all-important for the one that has it.
Hanging on to the kursi, the chair, by any means possible takes precedence over institutions or democracy for many of our political leaders. Why should General Pervez Musharraf be any different — especially when he has two chairs to protect? When it became clear that the case regarding his presidential nomination, filed while he was still the army chief and now pending before the Supreme Court, would not go in his favour, he resorted to a swift, pre-emptive strike, targeting the only institution that stood in his way — the higher judiciary. The collateral damage is going to be heavy in terms of democracy in Pakistan
Since he made the pronouncement as the Chief of the Army Staff (and not as President), critics are describing it as martial law, rather than the more innocuous sounding Emergency. In a televised address to the nation, General Musharraf chose to wear a black 'sherwani' rather than a Western-style suit or his military uniform. With a picture of Pakistan
The 'negativity' of the judiciary has included its taking up the cases of hundreds of 'disappeared' people, during which the Bench made the unprecedented move of summoning the heads of the powerful intelligence agencies and other high officials to court to account for the missing people. Since many of the 'disappeared' have been whisked away supposedly because they were engaged in terrorist activities, this countered the military's fight against the United States-led "war on terror."
However, many political observers believe the real reason for the imposition of the Emergency was the soon-to-be announced Supreme Court judgment regarding the presidential nomination, which was expected to go against General Musharraf.
Interestingly, all other government institutions are intact — the National Assembly and the four Provincial Assemblies, as well as the Senate. The offices of the Prime Minister, all four Provincial Governors and Chief Ministers remain functional. But the judiciary is in tatters. The judges who refused to take fresh oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) proclaiming the Emergency were promptly dismissed. They included, of course, the "troublesome" Supreme Court judges who were hearing the presidential nomination case.
The judges refused to accept this. An emergency bench of the Supreme Court ruled against the PCO and directed the government not to heed it.
State force was then used to remove physically these courageous judges from the premises of the Supreme Court. They have been confined to their homes under police guard and prevented from going out, but are not 'officially' under house arrest. The police beat and arrested human rights activists attempting to lead a procession to Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's house in Islamabad
The detained lawyers include the star of the lawyers' movement — the charismatic, recently elected Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan. The government has placed Mr. Ahsan in isolation in the notorious Adiala jail, where Faiz Ahmed Faiz and his co-accused were held in the Pindi Conspiracy Case. Mr. Ahsan's predecessor as SCBA president, Munir A. Malik, and another former SCBA president, Ali Ahmed Kurd, are also in prison.
The new Chief Justice sworn in hastily by the uniformed General has since declared that as the judges had to take fresh oath under the PCO, the Bench which ruled against the PCO was in any case invalid, and therefore so was its ruling.
An unprecedented number of lawyers and judges have refused to accept this verdict — and the offending PCO. They are once again for the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. They refuse to recognise the judges who have taken oath under the PCO. The deposed judges refused to accept their dismissal and resolved to enter their chambers on Monday. The police prevented some of them, including Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court Sabihuddin Ahmed, from leaving their homes. Those who reached the courts were escorted back by the police. The lawyers who had gathered to support them paid a heavy price for their "defiance" — hundreds of them all over the country were severely beaten up by the police and hauled off to police stations. Many of them face charges under anti-terrorist laws.
Benazir Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party has announced its solidarity with the deposed judges. Ms Bhutto has upped the ante by demanding a restoration of the Constitution, which will involve restoring the deposed judges, she says — although some of them were hearing cases against her.
The groups and individuals who have for decades been fighting for democracy in Pakistan
Apparently the threat from this quarter is so great that it has warranted the police breaking into the office of a non-governmental organisation and arresting all those present. This happened at the office of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Sunday. A large number of human rights activists were meeting to discuss the situation. The police smashed their way in, rounded up everyone present, and carted them off to the police station.
They must be appreciated for chivalrously having given the women the opportunity to leave. More laudable was the stance of the women, who refused the kind offer. But then, they included long-time activists such as Salima Hashmi and Lala Rukh, both artists and art teachers, and educationist Samina Rehman — and that is what one would expect of them. Another prominent woman, the celebrated activist Asma Jahangir, who is also the HRCP chairperson, was already under house arrest, served with a notice of 90 days.
In their First Information Report (FIR) the police claimed that the activists were creating a public disturbance outside the HRCP office. Such falsehoods are common in FIRs, and they appear to be particularly common in these trying times. The FIR against the journalists arrested outside the Karachi Press Club on Monday describes them as "hardened" criminals. The police produced them in court in handcuffs.
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has termed the repression the worst since Zia-ul Haq's days and announced the observance of a 'Black Day' on November 9 after the government refused to withdraw two ordinances promulgated to control the electronic and print media. Journalists will boycott government functions, hold protest camps from November 14 to 17, observe a Global Action Day on November 15, and hold countrywide protest rallies and demonstrations on November 20.
For the first time in decades, college students have joined the struggle. With them are hundreds of young 'techies' who are posting photos, video clips and testimonies on the Web and networking around the globe to get the message across: that the "Emergency" is unacceptable. People are going to the homes of the "dismissed" judges to leave bunches of flowers, although they have been prevented in some cases by the police guards outside. Activists are wearing black bands and holding 'flash protests' and vigils around the country.
All over the world, outraged Pakistani expatriates, traditionally a pretty apolitical lot, are holding protests in front of Pakistan 's embassies and consulates — from Hong Kong to London , New York to San Francisco Washington
(The writer is a journalist and documentary film-maker based in Karachi.beena.sarwar@gmail.com)
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