Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Law of Necessity & the Constitution of Pakistan



Law of Necessity & the Constitution of Pakistan


Constitution is a legal document, which undoubtedly provides a guideline to run the country affairs. Therefore the constitution is considered to be a supreme document. Its respect and sanctity is binding on every individual in the country. Unfortunately, in Pakistan it’s the most vulnerably handled document. It has been tempered many times under the catchphrase of necessity by the ruling elite.


On April 21, Supreme Court of Pakistan scrapped the condition of graduation which was imposed by perviaz Musharaf in 2002. The reason coded behind this action was that this condition is repugnant to the fundamental rights mentioned in 1973 constitution. However, on July 11, 2002, a five member bench of Supreme Court had upheld the graduation condition for legislators on a petition moved by the PMLQ.


From 2002 to 2008, the period of 6 years couldn't compensate the legality of this law and no one pointed out its confrontation with the fundamental principle mentioned in the constitution. As the matter of fact, in 2002 Musharaff used this order to keep some individuals out of the Parliament with out keeping in view its compatibility with the constitution. Now when the 2008 elections are over, government has been formed and only bi-polls are left, this condition has been lifted up by the Supreme Court. It should be done before the election 2008, so that the maximum people could get the benefit out of it. But now it would facilitate few important individuals who are going to file their nomination papers for bi-polls.


Pakistan is passing through its sensitive phase of its history. All decisions are under the spot light of media. Consequently, the people of Pakistan are vigilant enough to judge the political scenario. It’s the time for government to come out the influence of necessity law. It’s important on the part of law making bodies to discuss the policies and laws to avoid any ambiguity. It’s only the way to attain the general acceptability of any decision among the people.

Shehzadi Zamurrad Awan
zamurredawan@yahoo.com

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

"Violence: A Hidden hand" written by by Zamurrad Awan



Violence: A Hidden hand


The act of violence started from the incidents of humiliation with Mr Arbab Raheem and Dr Sher Afghan. Soon after it the horrific events spread in Karachi and then in Multan. It’s hard to accept it as a co-incident when the reasons are not enough to make such happenings. There are many speculations about the force behind these sinful acts. Though it’s hard to point out but still the rumors are in their go.

First Mr Arbab Rahemm was beaten by some apparently PPPP activists and after 2 days Dr Sher Afghan was harassed by the lawyers who were not actually identified as lawyers. The wounds of these events could even heal when on 9th April in Karachi violence erupted consequently five people burnt beyond recognition were among seven persons who lost their lives. Many buses and vehicles were burnt off in the incident.

Another event happened on 14th April in Multan which is a hometown of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, where riots erupted when thousands of workers of local powerloom industry staged a demonstration against WAPDA for its failure to stop frequent load shading. The demonstrators attacked on offices, vehicles and bank buildings. It’s really some thing fishy to see the load shading in all over the country but the violence erupted in the town of PM only. It definitely makes the linkages between the above mentioned events.
The country is passing through its sensitive phase as the real sense of democracy is in its process of attainment. First the government should inquire all these incidents in less time and they should punish them before the media so that people could know the real faces behind these shameful incidents.

However there are some powers who want to derail the democratic structures because they didn’t accept the mandate of people whole heartedly. Therefore to destabilize the new government they are keep on doing intrigues. To avoid the further incidents it’s quite important to restore the real democracy by fulfilling the promises on the part of wining parties so that the common man could rehabilitate his trust in democratic system. However it’s the time for Mushraff to accept his defeat through political forces with the back up of public demand therefore he should actually think to quit now.
Zamurrad Awan

PPPP vs MQM: The politics of Alliance is the need of time




PPPP vs MQM: The politics of Alliance is the need of time

Moving towards the politics of reconciliation is a new trend in Pakistani politics where the history witnesses the politics of revenge. Since the election results have been declared the major political parties Pakistan Peoples party and Pakistan Muslim Leagues stresses upon the policy of cooperation among political forces though it’s not an easy task to cling with however it could be only the way to survive in current circumstances.

PPPP, PML (N) and ANP joined there hands and with the processes of dialogue Muthida Qaumi Movement also agreed to sit with government in the national interest of Pakistan. To make them on table, Mr Zardari himself went to nine-zero in Karachi where he met with the important figures of MQM. No doubt he received warm welcome from MQM Consequently the differences were erased.


However after the violent move in Karachi on 9th April suddenly the strategy of MQM has changed although they were facing a pressure from opposition parties before. Therefore finally MQM decided to sit in opposition benches in National Assembly as well as in Sindh Assembly. Dr Farooq Sattar blamed the PPPP responsible for this dead lock in talks between two parties.

The first reason is that, MQM leadership thinks that PPP made an earnest effort to engage Mutahida. Therefore the same gestures were not made at their visit in Naudero which MQM made at Zardari’s arrival at nine-zaro.

The second reason is MQM have reservations on the appointment of Shoaib Suddle as the Inspector-General of the Sindh Police. Suddle is controversial figure as Mutahida bale him for the murders of activists carried out allegedly by the Sindh police in the mid-1990 when he was a DIG Karachi. However PPP-SB also condemned Suddle appointment as he was one of the accused in the murder trial of Murtaza Bhutto and six other men.

The third reason is that the MQM demand for a power-sharing accord based on the number of seats won by the parties involved which was remained unmet.

What ever are the reasons behind this deadlock but it will definitely effect the political environment of reconciliation. It can also strengthen the powers who want to derail the democratic process in Pakistan. The need of time is to engage all the political forces in to the political process by ignoring differences as it’s the only way of survival for democracy in the presence of immediate issues. The dialogue process should start again which should be above the personal interests.
Zamurrad Awan

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Musharraf : trying to hang out with power


political alliances vs conspiracies


Karachi at fire, where not a sinlge leaf can move without one force

Intrigues against Democracy

Intrigues against Democracy


“Politics is a bloody game.” A common statement really has its strong message and the events of this week prove it exact. The shameful incident with Ghulam Arbab Rarhim in Sindh Assembly on 7th April was highly condemned by all political parties. The incident happened when Mr Ghulam Arbab was going out of the Assembly and an angry mob of activists encircled him and hurled abuses on him. Meanwhile one man hit Arbab’s face with a shoe where as other workers did try to hit him with fists and shoes. The security persons encircled him and took him to his car. The angry mob didn’t leave him yet and attacked to his car and broke its window glasses.

In response, MQM and PML(Q) threw up the responsibility of this incident on PPPP as the slogans were Pro-Bhutto however an immediate press statement from Bilawal House denied any link with the event by saying it a plot against PPP which involves PPP (Shaheed Bhutoo) workers.
The second incident happened with former Minister for Law and Parliamentary affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi when he was on a visit to Malik Noor Ahmad Awan, an advocate, to discuss his election petition and hundreds of lawyers converged there and kept waiting four hours for the former minister to come out. The lawyers were demanding to meet Mr Afghan as they were having eggs and shoes in their hands to throw.

When the situation went out of control, Lahore police Chief Malik Iqbal requested Chaudhary Aitezaz Ahsan to reach so that Mr Niazi could be rescue. Mr Aitezaz reached to the place and requested lawyers to disperse peacefully which couldn’t make any effect on the mob. As soon as Mr Niazi was brought out mob swooped down on him from all directions. They seized him by the collar and dragged him in to the vehicle. They thrashed him with fists and kicks and repeatedly were punching him after broking the windows of the Eidhi Ambulance in which he was being bored by Police officers and Aitezaz Ahasan. To see the violent mob Aitezaz climbed over the ambulance and requested them to leave it consequently he was rescued.

The event once again strained the environment of country, especially when the session of Punjab Assembly was going to be assembled next day. After the event Mr Ahsan called a press conference in which he highly condemned the incident and decided to resign from his office of President of the Supreme Court Bar Association after failing in his effort to persuade lawyers to allow Dr Niazi a safe passage.

These two shameful events have some similarities which leave some clue to reach the actual culprits. The first is that the security lapses definitely played their visible role in both objectionable occurrences. Mr Aitezaz told the press conference that he again and again asked officers to call more police but they didn’t pay heed on his request as the mob was extremely violent and the number of police officers was not sufficient enough to control them. And when with the great effort Mr Niazi was bored in an ambulance, the driver of was not there to drive which showed some pre-planned conspiracy behind this whole event. The same security lapses were identified in the event with Dr Arbab, when the administration and police allowed everyone to enter in assembly by issuing them passes without investigation.

The second similarity is that the two personalities which were targeted formally belonged to PPPP before their inclusion in PML(Q), so that the direction of this conspiracy could go to the ruling party PPPP. However the PPPP is continuously working on the policy of reconciliation since the results of election are declared. The co-chairman Mr zardari is continuously trying to make all political parties unit in the democratic process and at this point of time he himself cant afford any such incident.

The third similarity is that when these incidents happened the administrative control was under the caretaker government who was actually responsible to ensure security measures in both provinces, so the ultimate credit of both event go to them.

Another important factor cant be ignore that the environment of political reconciliation which emerged after the elections was totally negating the role PML(Q) in the form of opposition party which made them insecure about their status in new government. It can be possible and they maneuver these incidents to create chaos in country so that they could oppose the ruling parties on these grounds as after elections Shiekh Rasheed gave a statement that now the bloody politics would take place in Pakistan. Unconsciously he revealed the conspirators of these events in his statement.

The intrigues to sabotage the democratic process are active however the people of Pakistan are in quest of peace and progress in country. These incidents are defaming Pakistan on international level beside those who have the opinion that “democracy doesn’t suits to Pakistan.” The new government requires being vigilant enough to smell all conspiracies so that the heavy damages could be avoided.

However the situation demands from Pervaiz Musharraf to resign who didn’t even give a single statement on these incidents, therefore people of Pakistan are becoming violent to see him out of the scene so that bloody politics could end up. This situation could get a better turn only in the absence of Musharaff, who is continuously backing the conspirators in politics to derail the democratic process.

Zamurrad Awan
zamurredawan@yahoo.com

Thursday, April 3, 2008

FATA: A sensitive region to deal with by Shehzadi Zamurrad Awan

FATA: A sensitive Region to deal with

The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) considers as a sensitive areas of Pakistan because of its religious extremism. This region comprises of 27,220 km with the population of 3,341,070 people according to the data collected in 2000 which is the 2% of Pakistan’s population. The area comprises on Seven Agencies, namely Khyber, Kurram, Bajaur, Mohmand, Orakzi, North and West area of Waziristan.

The geographical location of FATA is significantly important as it bordered by Afghanistan to the west, North-West Frontier Province, the Punjab to the east, and Balouchistan to the south. In past the people of this area were used by US against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan with Taliban (Organization of Afghanistan) and were well motivated under the concept of Jihad. The religious constrains hovered over the minds of people of this area consequently they started rebellious movements in the region.

Though the region is controlled by the central government of Pakistan but the main administrative body remained Pashtun tribes in this region. The strength of the tribal system even in the colonial age couldn’t let the Britishers rule over the region. As a result they made Frontier Crime Regulation in this area. Unfortunately after independence this area remained a neglected one and no government tried to declare the old laws of colonial rule null and void. Though the people of this area even not in favor of FCR and they demand for the equal rights as the people of 4 provinces are getting being the citizens of Pakistan.

The decision of new government to revoke FCR is daunting measure though this decision contains lot of risks in itself. Although the final decision would be taken through the parliament but it would be vigilant if the government acquires some changes rather then immediately finishing it. Otherwise it could cause the chaos in the area. Secondly the area has been neglected over the 60 years, it desperately need the developmental programs.

The Prim Minister Makhdoom Youaf Raza Gillani definitely throw light on the policy of new government regarding this area by keeping in mind the role of Pakistan in War against terrorism. He while understanding the sentiments of the people of this area decided to deal with the situation vigilantly. Therefore he asserted “I appeal to all the people to shun violence and join us in the journey of democracy. We are ready to talk to all those who will give up their weapons and opt for peace.” He acknowledged the need of socio-economic reforms in the area so that poverty and illiteracy could be removing to avoid social ills which are breeding the terrorism. Simultaneously, US is continuously blaming at the area to support Talibanisation which is a permanent threat to the world security paradigm therefore they considered theses people “irreconcilable militants” to which no talk is required. However the government policy regarding the problem is having its worth.

Another important step the government is needed to stop cross border infiltration by closing it borders so that this area could get rid of the influence of Taliban in Afghanistan. Right now the area demands for the sense of security from inner so that the out threats could be avoided. Therefore all the decisions with the consensus of people and all political alliances are required in near future.

Shehzadi Zamurrad Awan
zamurredawan@yahoo.com