Travel
 

Emergency 2007

From Pakistan

Documenting political developments starting on November 3, 2007 and the social, economic, and other ramifications.

Contents

[edit] Quick Sheet: To Do List, Civil Society Demands, Contacts

[edit] Resource Lists

[edit] Events

Protests, Press Conferences, etc.

Moved to Emergency 2007/Events
  • Justice Shahid Siddiqi has been told to vacate his residence 14 Tollinton Road, GOR Lahore by tomorrow or otherwise the government will be forced to throw his belongings on the road. We have information that this eviction may take place anytime from 8 am tomorrow onwards.
  • Our plan is to make a 'dharna' outside his home in the presence of the media from 7:30 am on. Please join us in this effort - it is extremely important to show force. As this could take the whole day, it's best for all concerned to rotate so that we have a sizeable presence at all times

[edit] The Detained/List of ARRESTED ADVOCATES, ACTIVISTS

Moved to Emergency 2007/Detainees

[edit] Campaigns, Activism, Organizations

Overview

Despite the best efforts of the politicians, the lawyers, and some other groups within Pakistan, failure was faced in achieving mass public support behind the anti-emergency campaign. So that while certain groups actively protested during the term of the emergency rule and instantly set up a number of websites to denounce the Pakistani government, the Pakistani public at large never came out on the streets and remained out of the whole process.

Some commentators and campaigners in Pakistan have, understandably, felt embarrassed by this lack of public reaction and have offered some arguments to explain why the anti-emergency campaign failed to achieve mass public backing. The primary argument is that the politicians, lawyers, and many human right activists were locked up immediately after the imposition of the emergency, hence there was little or no opportunity to galvanize the masses. The counter argument is that the crack down in Pakistan was hardly as strict and harsh as the one we witnessed recently in Burma. Yet in the later thousands and thousands of Burmese civilians took to the streets, together with the backing of the Buddhists monks. And yet in Pakistan we did not witness a wide public reaction against the emergency even though not all activists were locked up.

Perhaps the simplest explanation remains the best one: the lives of the Pakistani public in general were not significantly or adversely affected by the emergency. Many of the people may not necessarily have supported Musharraf, but they had little reason to enthusiastically take to the streets on the calls of certain politicians and activists.

The following is a list of some websites which either came about after the imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan or which commented upon the saga.


[edit] Important Online Resources

[edit] Petitions

[edit] Personal Testaments and news related to arrests

[edit] Abrar Hasan, President Sindh High Court Bar Association

[edit] Anis Haroon

[edit] Asma Jahangir

[edit] Beena Sarwar

  • Journalist Beena Sarwar has been posting updates on a mailing list. Some are reproduced here.

[edit] Mazhar Abbas, Secretary-General PFUJ

[edit] Mir Ibrahim Rahman

[edit] Arrest of ATHAR MINALLAH ADVOCATE

  • AN UPDATED ACCOUNT OF THE ARREST OF ADVOCATE ATHAR MINALLAH ON 21ST.NOV
  • Athar Minallah was arrested on the 21st of Nov. 2007 at approx. 1.30pm .He had been accompanying Retd. Justice Wajiuddin Ahmad the whole of that morning. After the arrival of the judge from Karachi Athar took him to the District courts of Islamabad in the F-8 sector where the Hon . Retd. Judge delivered a speech to the lawyers.While still at the dist. Courts ,someone conveyed a message that the Chief Justice, Justice Iftikhar Mohd Chaudhry had left his house and was trying to go to the Supreme Court, but was being prevented by the police.That very day a govt. spokesperson had announced in the newspapers that the judges "WERE NOT DETAINED .It was due to this news that the Chief Justice and Justice Bhagwandas decided to go to the SC.
  • When Justice Wajiuddin and an entourage of lawyers arrived at the scene the place was crawling with police carrying batons and shields and wearing helmets.When Jus. Wajiuddin wanted to go and visit the CJ, he was denied access to the road leading to the detained judges houses , and when he demanded an explanation as to why he being prevented ,the reply was "HOW COULD HE BE ALLOWED TO GO TO THE SUPREME COURT.There were some clashes between the police and the lawyers ,and a lot of loud and angry slogans were being chanted After the chaos died down, Athar and Justice Wajiuddin headed towards the Islamabad Club, where they were to meet a group of foreign media persons.
  • They had not gone very far when 2 police mobile vans forced them to stop, one of them in front and the other behind.Around six or seven PLAINCLOTHES INTELLIGENCE persons got out of the vans and walked towards the car.They opened the door on Athar's side and started pulling him out of the car, saying that they had a WARRANT for his arrest.Jus Waji called out to them to stop pulling and to show them the document.The men DRAGGED Athar out of the car and took him to their vehicle and SHOVED him inside.These details were given by Retd. Jus. Waji himself. He was very shaken and extremely upset . He made his way to the club and informed the journalists about what had happened. From there he went to the Dist. Courts in Rawalpindi and addressed the lawyers , informing them of the incident.Then he addressed a huge gathering of people from all walks of life and narrated the same again at a seminar held in the Holiday Inn, Islamabad.
  • In the mean time I was informed by my driver , who had been driving their car, that both of them had been arrested. I immediately started calling all the journalists whose numbers I had in my mobile phone. Since the arrest was made near the Marriot hotel ,the Secretariat Police Station would be the right one. I went there at approx 2pm with some friends but the place had a deserted look.The duty officer said he had no knowledge of the incident and neither could he help us.
  • ATHAR INFORMED ME IN MY MEETING WITH HIM TODAY AT ADIALA JAIL THAT WHEN WE WENT TO THE POLICE STATION LOOKING FOR HIM , HE COULD HEAR OUR VOICES SINCE HE WAS IN A ROOM NEXT DOOR AND HAD BEEN THREATENED TO KEEP QUIET. THE MOMENT WE LEFT HE WAS BUNDLED INTO A PRIVATE CAR WHICH SPED TOWARDS PINDI. ATHAR KEPT ASKING WHERE THEY WERE TAKING HIM BUT THERE WAS NO REPLY, HE WAS TAKEN TO THE SIHALA POLICE STATION AND FORCED TO WAIT FOR HOURS.ATHAR KEPT ASKING THEM WHERE THEY WOULD BE TAKING HIM AND THEY KEPT SAYING THEY WERE AWAITING ORDERS.HE WAS KEPT THERE TILL APROX 6PM AND THEN TAKEN TO ADIALA JAIL.
  • In the mean time I had been going to the Police Stations all over Islamabad trying to find him but we had no luck. I started getting very worried and my biggest fear was that since plainclothes men had arrested him they might take him to some unknown destination. At approx 4pm I decided to attend the seminar which was being held in the Holiday Inn. I was desperate and wanted to meet Retd.Justice Wajiuddin regarding some advice as to the next step. It was there that I received a phonecall from a reliable source that Athar was being shifted to Adiala.
  • I went the next day to meet Athar but after waiting outside the prison for 4 hrs I was informed that I needed the permission of the Home Secy.The next day I was able to get permission .

Inside the prison I followed a policeman through several corridors and several locked gates till we got to the room where I was to meet him. There were policemen constantly sitting in the room with us .Athar looked fine but he said that those few hours of urcertainty had been very taxing on his nerves , not to mention my agony. He is in a cell with other prisoners and they sleep on the floor. Matresses , pillows or quilts are not allowed .We were told that the max capacity of the prison was 2000 wheres the number of prisoners at the moment 6000.

  • My heart goes out to the families of those who are missing, without any charge. For the wives of thousands of lawyers who are arrested after November 3. Unfortunatey we are living in the stone age right now.There are no courts, no judges, no constitution, no law, no fundamental rights. The custodians of law and order have their guns pointed towards the people they are paid to protect.We are cursed with the most despicable dictatorship, the army is busy wiping out their own people, the Chief Justice and judges of the SC are locked in their houses with locks and chains on the gates, the President says FAIR AND FREE ELECTIONS will be held ACCORDING TO THE CONSTITUTION.The prisons are bursting at their seams with people who have stood up for the independence of the judiciary and the corridors of power are also bursting with the most amazing collection of spineless people one could ever imagine.
  • GHAZALA MINALLAH W/O ATHAR MINALLAH

[edit] Letter to Ms BENAZIR BHUTTO, A FREE JUDICIARY BUT DETAINED JUDGES??? By D/o Justice Safdar Shah, Dec 5 2007

    • Dear Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto,
  • I was absolutely shocked and amazed at your latest statement regarding the judiciary. How could you, of all people, say that you believed in an independent judiciary BUT that personalities did not matter? If personalities did not matter then why was Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry removed? Why were some judges locked up whereas others were not? If personalities did not matter then why is Musharraf waging a personal war against the CJ? You do not have to be a genius to figure out the reason. How can you separate the personalities from the institution? What you have on Constitution Avenueright now is a besieged and helpless building. The unfortunate but harsh truth is that right now we are a besieged nation as well.
  • Ms. Bhutto, I am writing to you because your statement has shocked and disturbed me to the extent that I feel I have no option but to reach out to you in this manner. I would like to remind you, since you seem to have forgotten, that you too were the victim of a corrupt judiciary. If Justice Iftikhar had been the CJ of the Supreme Court at that time then perhaps your father would never have been hanged. Had the entire bench been like the present one then there would have been a unanimous judgment. But the judgment was not unanimous - it was a 4 to 3 split – just one judge too many on the wrong side. One more upright personality on the right side and our history would have been different. So yes, personalities certainly do matter.
  • Ms. Bhutto, I am writing to you in desperation because I am the daughter of Late Justice Safdar Shah, who was one of the three dissenting judges. When Mr., Bhutto was the Prime Minister my father was CJ of the Peshawar High Court. Both these headstrong personalities did not get on with each other, and because of Safdar Shah's constant criticism and disagreement regarding the reforms and policies being introduced by the PM, the latter had him prematurely retired by introducing the 5 th Amendment. After the coup, when Gen. Zia took over, and Mr. Bhutto was charged and convicted of Conspiracy to murder by the Lahore High Court, he appealed to the Supreme Court. Gen. Zia wanted Mr. Bhutto dead and he did his best to manipulate the bench. It soon became obvious as to WHY Safdar Shah had recently been appointed as judge of the Supreme Court . Having the typical mind-set of a dictator, Zia was sure that he would be vindictive and take revenge. But, he was wrong and the rest is history. WHY? Because three of the judges had the courage to say NO, and did not give in to the threats and pressure exerted on them. So yes Ms Bhutto, personalities do matter. Had Justice (retd) Wajiuddin's father , the late Hon.Waheeduddin not been prematurely retired on extremely dubious medical grounds , history could have been different, No one can dispute the fact that the judgment was wrong since Justice (retd) Nasim Hassan Shah confessed on a talk show on TV a few years ago that the judges were threatened and pressurized into giving that judgment. Yes Ms. Bhutto, they were, and I am a witness to that fact.
  • Ms. Bhutto, our paths crossed briefly and both of us were victims of a corrupt judiciary which colluded with a Military Dictator. But I am not writing this letter to lament about our plight, since nothing we went through can possibly compare to the torture and torment you and your family went through .Have you forgotten the times when you visited your father in prison? Have you forgotten the humiliating tactics those heartless tyrants subjected you and your family to? Have you forgotten the last time you went to visit him in prison and were not able to hug him? Whenever I think about that grave injustice, which was nothing but a judicial murder, my heart goes out to you and what you suffered then and have suffered since. That is precisely why I am at my wits end and cannot understand WHY you cannot value the importance of independent judges.
  • Ms.Bhutto, do you think you are invincible? Are you so blinded that you cannot or will not acknowledge the truth? Does it never occur to you that some day you might have to face those judges in the present Supreme Court.? Well let me please spell it out. With independent judges you get a verdict you deserve, whereas with the present kind of farce you get a judgment dictated by the intelligence agencies or the dictator himself. Do you honestly not know or are you honestly not aware of the grave injustice going on? Does it not send a chill up your spine that if the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court can be tossed around by Musharraf it could very well be you as well ?For God's sake Ms. Bhutto , WAKE UP .You owe it to your father as well as to the nation to defend the judiciary and fight for its independence.
  • My father continued to be persecuted even after the judgment and we were forced to leave the country. But I will never forgive or forget those responsible for the torment my father went through during his last years. He died an unhappy man and was never able to get over the fact that he was not able to prevent the cold-blooded murder of an innocent man. And that innocent person was your father for God's sake! I have vowed that I will continue to fight for the independence of the judiciary come what may! I was confident and certain that once you were back you would definitely take up this battle and lead the nation towards sanity.
  • Ms. Bhutto, is it not obvious to you WHY Musharraf wants Justice Iftikhar out of the way? Ask the families of the 'missing persons', who for the first time were being heard and for the first time they could see a light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone knows who is responsible but no one before this CJ had the courage to take up the matter. Ask the countless downtrodden people who had discovered that they could have direct access to the CJ through Suo Moto notices. Ask 2 and 3 yr old Aneela and Tasleem from Naudero Feroze in Sindh , ask 4 yr old Shaneela or 6yr old Munni or 8 yr old Marina from Mardan what this Chief Justice has done for them. These innocent little girls were the victims of jirga decisions according to which they were to be handed over to the enemy as a symbol of truce .It was Justice Iftikhar who took serious notice of this barbaric custom and passed strict orders to the local authorities to prevent this atrocity from carrying on. It was during the tenure of this CJ that serious environmental disasters were averted .Who took notice of the New Muree Project? Who took action in the Dungi ground case? Who prevented Shah Sharabeel from converting a public park in sector F-7 Islamabad into a multi-million commercial project? Ask the poor people living in the adjacent Christian colony what that decision meant to them. Sharabeel has taken up arms against the CJ since this decision because for that class of people the slum dwellers are a low life who do not deserve any special attention. I can go on and on about the cases in which the SILENT CRIES OF THE DOWNTRODDEN of our society were being heard by a sympathetic judge for the first time. Ms. Bhutto, these are the Suo Moto notices which Musharraf said were a waste of time in his speech justifying the emergency. If personalities did not matter then why is Musharraf so threatened by this man? On any and every occasion he gets he attacks and tries to malign the CJ with a vengeance. His abnormal hatred for the man has exposed the truth. He knows very well that this man was the biggest hurdle in his plans to destroy what is left of our country. The coup was against the judiciary, the 'emergency' was created to sack the CJ and the other conscientious judges. Musharraf needs to be told that we are not a nation of imbeciles and that everyone is aware of the truth and the depth of the situation. We all know that the 'crisis ' in Swat or the threat of terrorism had NOTHING WHATSOEVER to do with the sacking of the CJ and the locking up of him and the other judges.

Once again Ms Bhutto, I beg you to think very carefully about where you are heading. I beg you not to betray your father or the nation. I beg you not to fall into Musharraf's trap and to boycott the elections. The rigging has already taken place, so why are you allowing yourself to become a party to this farce? I beg you to realize that you are the one holding the trump card right now. If you boycott the election, THEY lose face. But if YOU participate, you not only lose face, you lose the confidence and the faith the people of Pakistan have in you. Last but not least, you owe it to Bilawal, Bakhtawar, Aseefa and all future generations of our beloved country.

  • Yours sincerely,
  • Ghazala Minallah
  • D/O Late Justice Safdar Shah

[edit] Blogs

NOTE These are blogs; there is more media, including live TV streams, below.

[edit] Specialized

NOTE: See also #Archived Shows / Videos below for some sites set up as blogs but which provide very good archival services for electronic media out of Pakistan.

Special Note since the point-of-view seems rarer in the Blogosphere:

Other:

A Group of independent Pakistani academics have launched a new blog which is going to consistently update Pakistani and international audiences through analytical insights into the immediate and longer term adverse impacts and ramifications of the imposition of Emergency in Pakistan on November 3, 2007.

[edit] Existing Legal and Human Rights Blogs

[edit] General

[edit] Images, Graphics, Posters

More Media below
  • Flickr feed for tag "CRISISPK"
  • Media uploaded on this database:

PFUJ Poster

PFUJPoster (Low Resolution)

People's Resistance Poster

People's Resistance Poster (Low Resolution)

  • Media Uploaded by United Students Federation Team Pakistan

United Students Federation

United Students Federation (Low Resolution)

United Students Federation

United Students Federation (Why Dictator Should go?)

United Students Federation (Emergency and its effects!)

United Students Federation (Why Musharraf Imposed Emergency!)

Pakistan Affairs Desk

  • Ad in Dawn, November 15, 2007 by prominent civil society figures
http://lh6.google.com/iFaqeer/RzyBbMHBFTI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Q6mCD8_p8gg/s144/Dawn-Give%20us%20our%20country%20back.jpg

[edit] Statements

  • Compilation of statements and event notices from various groups on the South Asian Citizens' Web (SACW):
http://www.sacw.net/pakistan/emergency/index.html

[edit] Civil Society

See also #Asma Jahangir above and Asma Jahangir on Emergency 2007
http://lh6.google.com/iFaqeer/RzyBbMHBFTI/AAAAAAAAAHY/Q6mCD8_p8gg/s144/Dawn-Give%20us%20our%20country%20back.jpg

[edit] Politicians

[edit] Expatriates

[edit] Foreign

[edit] News, Analysis and Articles

Needs to be ordered chronologically--and moved to its own page.

[edit] Dedicated

[edit] Multimedia

[edit] Print/Online (Text)

[edit] Coverage of the e-Resistance/Resistance 2.0

[edit] General Stories

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2848490.ece

[edit] Electronic Media

Electronic media is starting to come back up.

[edit] Live Online Streams

  • Multiple Channels
iDesiTV [scroll to the bottom]
PakistanVision [look under "Current Affairs" in the left hand column for Geo News Live and PTV News Live]
http://www.pakfiles.net/live/channels.aspx
  • Aaj TV
http://www.jumptv.com/en/channel/aajtv/
http://www.aaj.tv/aaj_wedget.php
http://idesitv.com/aaj.php: Not working.
  • ARY One
http://sayan.freehostia.com/arydigital.html
http://80.227.134.4/: No longer working
http://ary.pakfiles.net/ary/
  • DawnNews TV
mms://dawn.tvpakistan.com/dawnnews
mms://dawn1.tvpakistan.com:8080/: Doesn't seem to be working
  • GEO TV Video Streams
mms://stream.wmlivesvc.vitalstreamcdn.com/live_stream_geo_tv_geolive (Linked from Geo TVSite)
http://idesitv.com/geotv.php : No longer working
rtsp://real2.pakistanvision.tv:7070/broadcast/mp/broadcast/s4s.rm
rtsp://real.pakistanvision.tv:7070/broadcast/mp/broadcast/s4s.rm
http://www.forumpakistan.com/geo-tv-online.html
http://watchgeotv.info/
http://geo.pakfiles.net/geo/
http://live.pakfiles.net/geonews/
http://www.pakistanvision.com/playLive.php?pid=1
http://www.pakistanvision.com/playLive.php?pid=6
  • GEO TV Audio Streams
mms://stream.wmlivesvc.vitalstreamcdn.com/live_stream_geo_tv_GeoAud
  • Indus News
http://www.jumptv.com/en/channel/IndusNews/

[edit] Archived Shows / Videos

DawnNews Video Clips
Geo News - Recorded
See also #Specialized

[edit] Primary Documents

  • The proclamation: http://dawn.com/2007/11/03/images/proclamation.pdf
    Operative sentences:

    ...I, General Pervez Musharraf, Chief of the Army Staff, proclaim emergency throughout Pakistan.
    I hereby order and proclaim that the constitution of the Islamic republic of Pakistan shall remain in abeyance.
    This Proclamation shall come into force at once.
  • Musharraf's speech:
rtsp://real2.pakistanvision.tv:7070/pv/smil/ptvnews/musharraf_110307.smil

[edit] Institutions/Official Sites

[edit] Elsewhere on Wikia

Retrieved from "http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007"