Injustice Dog(gar) of martial law fame left the Dog(gar) court yesterday standing diminished and degraded just like Musharraf before him. We can  never forget that these midgets of men collaborated as per a Devil’s pact to create an unconstitutional regime in all its evil ushering in once again the dark night of dictatorship and injustice in Pakistan

Today I have been reflecting on the rise and fall of such false gods. It goes without saying that the lawyers movement destroyed both men. The central issue throughout has been the rule of law and the constitution and with this in mind I cannot move on without making reference to Habib Jalib’s Dastoor.

Habib Jalib like Faiz and Faraz needs no introduction. He is alive today in all of us and his poem ‘Dastoor’ is as relevant today and has become the unofficial anthem of the long march. Indeed was this long march not Habib Jalib’s long march too.

‘Dastoor’ was originally written in 1962 against Ayub’s bogus constitution.  Today the words of the poem are as relevant as they were over forty years ago. Indeed I would go further any say that Jalib’s ‘dastoor’ is even more relevant today than even before against the false ‘dastoor’ of Dogar and Musharraf.  Hence I repeat the iconic words of Habib Jalib’s ‘Dastoor’  with English translation thanks to Sana Saleem’s blog Mystified Justice.

Deep jis ka sirf mehellaat hi main jalay,
Chand logon ki khushyon ko lay ker chalay,
Wo jo saye main har maslihat kay palay;
Aisay dastoor ko,
Subh e bay noor ko,
Main naheen maanta,
Main naheen jaanta.

The light which shines only in palaces
Burns up the joy of the people in the shadows
Derives its strength from others’ weakness
That kind of system,
like dawn without light
I refuse to acknowledge,
I refuse to accept

Main bhee kha’if naheen takhta e daar say,
Main bhee Mansoor hoon, keh do aghyaar say,
Kyun daraatay ho zindaan ki divar say,
Zulm ki baat ko,
Jehel ki raat ko,
Main naheen maanta,
Main naheen jaanta.

I am not afraid of execution,
Tell the world that I am the martyr
How can you frighten me with prison walls?
This overhanging doom,
this night of ignorance,
I refuse to acknowledge,
I refuse to accept

Phool shaakhon pay khilnay lagay tum kaho,
Jaam rindon ko milnay lagay tum kaho,
Chak seenon kay silnay lagay tum kaho,
Iss khulay jhoot ko,
Zehan ki loot ko,
Main naheen maanta,
Main naheen jaanta.

“Flowers are budding on branches”, that’s what you say,
“Every cup overflows”, that’s what you say,
“Wounds are healing themselves”, that’s what you say,
These bare-faces lies,
this insult to the intelligence,
I refuse to acknowledge,
I refuse to accept

Tum nay loota hai sadyon hamara sakoon,
Ab na hum per chalay ga tumhara fasoon,
Chara gar main tumhain kiss tara say kahoon?
Tum naheen charaagar,
Koi maanay magar,
Main naheen maanta,
Main naheen jaanta.

For centuries you have all stolen our peace of mind
But your power over us is coming to an end
Why do you pretend you can cure pain?
Even if some claim that you’ve healed them,
I refuse to acknowledge,
I refuse to accept.

You have read the words now see the video with Habib Jalib singing ‘Dastoor’ below:

I also add Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s brilliant singing of Dastoor too which proves he is talented in many a field!

And yes its still martial law until the Chief Justice is restored  and sitting in room number one of the Supreme Court  hence my end comment as below:

- WRITTEN UNDER MARTIAL LAW (My thanks to cowards Tariq Pervez. Sabihuddin, Sardar Raza & Co for selling out)

On the 9th of March 2007 Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry stood tall against a military dictator. Two years on from that day I feel somewhat nostalgic and want to state what has been achieved since that fateful day.

The stand taken by ‘The Chief’ as I fondly call him and the principled lawyers movement have brought about wholesale changes even if the PPP lie factory continues to say otherwise. The following set of truths list the milestones achieved by the lawyers movement and show how far we have come since March 9, 2007. The text below says it all:

• General Musharraf falls in popularity and cuts a ‘deal’ with Benazir Bhutto to save his first and second skin and how both went!

• The exiled former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto returns to Pakistan as Musharraf is reduced to a shadow of the strongman he was and is forced to allow her return as per the US-UK scripted NRO deal.

• The Chief Justice accepts Benazir Bhutto’s petition regarding 28 million missing voters and orders the Election Commission to register the missing voters and prepare a new electoral register.

• The Chief Justice orders the release of Makhdoom Javed Hashmi.

• The Chief Justice orders the Musharraf regime to allow the return of Mian Nawaz Sharif, however he is deported back to London.

• An eleven-member Supreme Court full bench headed by Justice Javed Iqbal is on the verge of deciding against General Musharraf’s claim for presidential office. The judgement is pre-empted by Gen Musharraf as he imposes martial law.

• General Musharraf imposes martial law on 2 November which is struck down by the Chief Justice heading a 7-member bench declaring the PCO illegal, the first time in the history of Pakistan.

• The Chief Justice and his brother judges are arrested and put under house arrest as are leaders of the lawyers movement and political leaders.

• Mian Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan as General Musharraf is forced to allow his return under Saudi pressure.

• Story So Far- Political leaders returning to Pakistan are a slap in the face on Musharraf’s mug and are a direct consequence of a weakened Musharraf hanging on for power due to his fall since 9 March 2007.

• Chief of Army Pervez Musharraf is forced to shed his second skin and hand over to Pervez Kayani.

• Benazir Bhutto is assasinated in Rawalpindi as Mr 10% takes over.

• Elections are held on February 18 that bring about the rejection of Musharraf’s Q League and coalition governments are formed in the Centre and the Provinces with Yousef Raza Gillani as Prime Minister.

• A spirit of reconcilation and mature politics sweeps the nation bringing about hope of a new dawn as Mr 10% and Nawaz Sharif agree to work together and restore the judges not once or twice but three times (each time due to Mr 10% never ending u-turns)

• ‘President’ Musharraf is threatened with impeachment and is forced to resign! whilst Mr 10% deceives Nawaz Sharif again and  refuses to restore the Chief Justice and his brother judges.

• Mr 10% is elected President and smiles! (but I wonder who will have the last laugh!)

I trust Farzana Raja and her ilk will concur entirely!

Let me finish with a note that the second long march with dharna or a sit-in is just around the corner. Like millions, I too will be in that long march in blood, sweat and tears,. Let us pray that neither of the three are not needed.

- WRITTEN UNDER MARTIAL LAW (My thanks to cowards Tariq Pervez. Sabihuddin, Sardar Raza & Co for selling out)

First and foremost I must express my delight and extend mubarak to the nation at the news of Musharraf’s resignation. This is indeed a great day for all of Pakistan as we have rid ourselves of a vile military dictator who has done much to destroy the very soul of Pakistan. His crimes are too many to mention from the killing fields of Balochistan and the Tribal Areas to the NRO and his Nov 3 actions and much more. 

Musharraf in his resignation speech said that he will leave his future in the hands of the people. I hope this means he remains in the country for he always barked of ‘Pakistan First’, I wonder whether his actions will match his words this time or will it be another lie to add to his collection. I believe Musharraf must stand in the dock in a court of law and soon INSHALLAH for violating the constitution twice and he will be richly deserving of the punishment enshrined in Article 6 of our luckless constitution.

Today is a day of victory for many groups above all the lawyers movement who challenged an army chief in his element in March 2007 and bought him to his knees clutching for a deal with BB to save his rule. Even after the Nov 3 actions the lawyers movement remained his biggest headache and so they deserve the plaudits for ridding the first and second skin of Musharraf from this land of the pure. Civil society, students, APDM and the electioneering political parties too deserve credit as well as the media.

Today is a day to dance in the streets of Quetta especially for Balochistan has suffered the most under Musharraf rule. It is also a day of victory for the missing people of this land wherever they are for their chief jailer is no more.

Before I end I must be honest in admitting my mistake again in initially supporting Musharraf. I will not go into a long debate on the topic suffice to say that I was duped like most of the nation. The lesson for us all is that so called good-intentioned khaki kings like Musharraf serve only as an enemy within, they must be resisted from day one and must be treated as an enemy of the state, period.

Some of my older posts on Musharraf and a few guest posts are worth a read for they capture the fall of Musharraf well, do have a read by selecting the tag Go Musharraf Go via the link below:

here

Also read the guest posts by Nadeem Arif Najmi titled Do or Die and the best of the lot Unbearable:The Future of a Retired General via the below link:

here  

-  STILL WRITTEN UNDER MARTIAL LAW (Come on Gillani restore the Chief Justice today!)

The Zardari House Declaration of August 7 like the Murree Declaration of March 9 has received universal acclaim. If implemented in letter and in spirit it will bring about the return of the real Supreme Court (and the end of martial law as covered in an earlier post) well as the much needed impeachment of the dictator.

However many commentators remain cautious as to what will happen given the u-turn by the Zardari PPP after the Murree Declaration, once bitten twice shy comes to mind.

Personally I feel hopeful yet cautious given I can never truly trust Mr 10%  for Asif Ali Zardari has shown since February 18th a  contagious chameleon-like desire to be all things to all people.  In particular I fear Zardari may impeach Musharraf and then renege on his committment to restore the judges and instead waste time on selecting a new President ( May ALLAH help us if its him!) 

That said as the 14th of August is near I will choose to remain upbeat but remain ever watchful for a snake in the grass. The words of the great Munir Niazi saab are apt here:

Ik aur darya ka saamna tha Munir mujh ko
Mein aik darya kay paar utra tau mein ne dekha

- WRITTEN UNDER MARTIAL LAW

No words are necessary.

- Originally posted on 9th March 2008, 00:00 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW

It has been weeks now without any moving images and worse even any bullish interviews of our commando strongman one General Musharraf. It is perhaps poetic justice that the author of the war crime that is the missing persons issue is himself now a missing person.

The brave commando has obviously lost his spine for he cannot even bring himself in front of a nation that has openly rejected his rule. I could go on and on but my views are best encapsulated in the form of the following four questions, they must be on the lips of every Pakistani and deserve an answer?

1. Where is Musharraf?
2. Where is the king of chat, for we all await Awan-e-Sadr Se with bated breath?
3. Has the commando lost his voice?
4. Is the old Turk Musharraf alive and kicking? (fear not for Pakistan will soon be booting him out)

- Originally posted on 5th March 2008, 01:29 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW

I cannot say it better than the posters below:

-  Originally posted on 13th December 2007, 04.12 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW

Tomorrow is being observed as a black day in Pakistan and I urge all readers of this post to show solidarity with the noble struggle in Pakistan to rid us of martial law. Pakistani expatriates can show solidarity with Pakistanis on the ground by simply wearing something black tomorrow. The call has been given by the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission, the one and only Asma Jehangir as below:

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan calls upon all members of civil society to observe the Universal Human Rights Day as a “black day”. The worst human rights abuses, in the history of the country, were recorded in 2007. The rights of ordinary people have been violated by the government with impunity. More than 400 people have been picked up by security forces and many remain missing.

The Musharraf regime obstructed the Supreme Court in providing justice to those who remain disappeared, as well as those who recorded their statements of having suffered extreme forms of torture at the hands of the security forces. Reports of torture, threats, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests run into thousands. Incidents of extrajudicial killings continue to be reported but never investigated. The situation has now reached alarming proportions. The coercive apparatus of the State are being blatantly used against all sections of civil society. The media is chained and free expression censured.

Thousands of lawyers, journalists, students, teachers and human rights activists were arrested. A number of them remain incarcerated under deplorable conditions. Lawyers and others have been accused of offences falling under the Anti-Terrorism Act. Thirty-five judges of superior courts have been put under house arrest. The family of the Chief Justice of Pakistan is also confined to their residence. This is unprecedented.

The rights of the people are being usurped on the pretext of curbing terrorism. It is the people who are suffering terrorism; both at the hands of non-state militants and state agents. The government has failed to bring militants to justice or to disarm them. On the contrary, at several occasions, the government and its agents have patronized or in the least, ignored criminal acts carried out by militants acting in the name of Islam.

HRCP warns that the claim made by Musharraf of moving towards a transition to democracy is a total farce. The assertion is yet another smack on the face of the people of Pakistan. Amendments to the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act as well as the Army Act are only a few examples of the government’s grand plan to subjugate the spirit of peaceful members of civil society.

Much more is to follow. HRCP, along with other civil society groups, will organize a black day on the 10th of December. Black flags and bands should be displayed on this unworthy occasion. In order to record the laudable struggle of the legal fraternity of Pakistan HRCP will award the best documentary film made on this movement. All entries are to be submitted by 30 June 2008.

- Originally posted on 9th December 2007, 18.54 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW

In his sorry excuse of a lip quivering address to the nation General Musharraf informed the 160m citizens of Pakistan that he was willing to give his life for Pakistan. Little did he know that as he uttered those words, his actions in declaring an ‘emergency’ (its martial law, end of) has sealed his fate. General Musharraf is now finished, he is a living obituary, a dead man walking, a living corpse, a zombie of sorts thanks to his final and ultimately fatal roll of the dice in declaring an emergency; it promises to be the final nail in his coffin. Very soon the angel of death will make a grand entrance, the death dance has begun and the time bomb is ticking away; in short General Musharraf has signed his own death sentence, either he survives or Pakistan dies and Pakistan can never die.

Martial law is not new in Pakistan; it has been the favourite pastime of many a Pakistani dictator and it has been one heck of a fertile mother giving birth to one martial law after another. Yet to his credit General Musharraf had seemed to buck the trend until last week with the consensus being that although he was a usurper he  was a benign dictator; a dove not a hawk. That was until General Musharraf lost all his sense in declaring martial law or ‘Musharraf law’ as I choose to coin it with its guns pointed it at those most evil of people- judges and journalists.  So rejoice Pakistan hail the khaki king for his timely intervention, for did you not know that the judiciary and the media had committed great ills. So arise and salute the commando general who had to rescue us all from those ghastly people in the Supreme Court and press galleries.

That said one has to marvel at the feat and laud the commando for his martial law is without parallel even in Pakistan with its infamous and chequered history. Even in luckless Pakistan never before has an army general led a coup against himself, it is Musharraf vs. Musharraf and unlike the classic American movie Kramer vs. Kramer this is a battle of one man against himself, so welcome girls and boys to ‘Musharraf the movie’ now showing on news bulletins worldwide. Yet the Musharraf movie theme seems to be a mystery, is it a sequel to his earlier achievements and the ultimate decline of a fine hero? Or is it even a prequel of Musharraf’s real vision for Pakistan, his dream of a fascist dictatorship and the rise of the anti-hero?

Yet like most Pakistani films of recent years, the Musharraf movie is a fantastic flop (apologies Shoaib Mansoor you are the exception to the rule) due to its weak plot centred on two false gods the so called ‘godfathers of evil’ namely the judiciary and the media.  The charge sheet levied at the judiciary and the media do not even merit a debate in my view for they would not stack up in any credible court of law except for the kangaroo courts of the mysteriously canine sounding Mr Justice Doggar. So in my Barry Norman mode I conclude that like his flop movie, Musharraf too has flopped or to borrow a term from our friends at Aag TV he is surely now a legendary ‘lafanga flop aadmi’

To conclude, I ask the Pakistani people to resist this war crime committed in their name. Pakistan must choose to do or die. I leave you with the words of the Chief Justice which must be heeded by one and all ‘Rise up and restore the constitution, this is a time for sacrifices’. So arise Pakistan and let the battle be joined. 

 - Originally posted on  8th November 2007, 05.03 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW                                                          

May the wrath of ALLAH engulf Musharraf and his vile regime. How can he justify putting a gun to the head of 160m people for the sake of his presidency. He is the firawn and as a collective the Pakistan people must be the great MOSES.

Arise Pakistan and resist this war crime in your name, we must stand together as one and protest peacefully. We must be ready if its needed to make sacrificies in blood if necessary, Pakistan must be reclaimed as a land of the pure otherwise we will deserve to go to hell. So my Pakistani brothers and sisters we must make our choice, are we with MOSES or firawn, may ALLAH be our saviour.

Please sign the petition started by PWF President Nadeem Yousaf against the emergency and let the world know that we want a democracy and not authoritarian rule. You will find the petition via the link here

 Pakistan is Bleeding, Feimanallah Pakistan

-  Originally posted on 3rd November 2007, 19.37 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW