Cute and Funny but very true… Go Cards
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Bhutto's Assassination Evidence Hosed Down
This video captured from a cell phone shows a shocking detail of how ruthlessly the Rawalpindi firefighters destroyed the crime scene. Some may argue that they might have scraped the scene completely before authorizing it to be cleansed. But with all the confusion surrounding the assassination and that too of an Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan I would suspect they would work a lot harder then merely picking up the trash. No wonder they have their story all mixed up.
Credit Current.com
Credit Current.com
Sherry Rehman saw Bullet Wounds, But why the Twist?
To continue adding a twist to the entire controversy surrounding the assassination of PPP Chairperson and Ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan. Sherry Rehman vehemently refutes the claims made by the Government that Benazir had knocked her head on a lever on the side of the vehicle. Sherry Rehman insists that she saw a bullet wound on the side of the head while she bathed the fallen leader in the final ritual before her burial. She that her car was used to transport Benazir to hospital. “There was a bullet wound I saw that went in from the back of her head and came out the other side. “We could not even wash her properly because the wound was still seeping. She lost a huge amount of blood.” Rehman accused the government of mounting a cover-up over Benazir’s death. “The hospital was made to change its statement. They never gave a proper report,” she said. “I believe the interior ministry is saying that she died from some concussion that may have taken place against the sunroof. This is ridiculous, dangerous nonsense because it is a cover-up of what actually happened.”
Bullet went from the back & came out the other side.
Bullet went from the back & came out the other side.
This blogger early today morning acquired the images that in someway does refute the statement made by the Government of Pakistan, but the question is why did the Musharraf propaganda team follow this line of action. This blogger feels that Musharraf saw this as yet another opportunity to redirect the blame onto Al-Qaieda, he did that successfully on Oct 18th, no video footage refuted his claims so he pulled it off. This time he was not so lucky as in broad day light everyone has a decent mobile camera to seize the action and these images quite literally screw up the entire propaganda. He needed the Al-Qaeda twist to prove to his supporters (read USA’s war on Terror) that this country is brimming with Al-Qaeda, a bomb blast here, a bomb blast in Karachi, a Bomb blast in Swat - heck its filled with the rotten bastards called Al-Qaeda. Lets not forget the Lal Masjid disaster and the May 12th Massacre while we are recalling historic events.
Musharraf in his conniving way found another opportunity to yet again twist the truth, and his propaganda team held a press conference after the burial on Friday and then again on Saturday drumming the same issue they were simply adamant to get their point across. Tomorrow they hope to come with a new plan and say, mark my words ‘with this new evidence we now believe…..’
The world must now listen - its time to get this two-timing idiot thrown to the gallows he now is more of liability then good and with him steering the ship we are destined for destruction.
The world must now listen - its time to get this two-timing idiot thrown to the gallows he now is more of liability then good and with him steering the ship we are destined for destruction.
They don't blame Al-Qa'ida. They blame Musharraf: Robert Fisk
By Robert Fisk Published in The Independent UK.
This is an article worth reading where Robert Fisk places the right questions, we genuinely believe its not the work of Al-Qa’ida but instead an outcome of Musharraf’s eight year rule, few recent links here and here while this blog is full of statements condemning Musharraf practically since its inception in 2004. So as they say the writing was on the wall, only if someone dared to read the wall is the question, as they say better late then never but please save my country from the brink of disaster
Weird, isn’t it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi – attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives – and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were “extremists” and “terrorists”. Well, you can’t dispute that.
But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa’ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country.
Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy – and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr – it’s not surprising that the “good-versus-evil” donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.
Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight – which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.
Only a few days ago – in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year – Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: “Daughter of the West”. In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi.
Towards the end of this report, Tariq Ali dwelt at length on the subsequent murder of Murtaza Bhutto by police close to his home at a time when Benazir was prime minister – and at a time when Benazir was enraged at Murtaza for demanding a return to PPP values and for condemning Benazir’s appointment of her own husband as minister for industry, a highly lucrative post.
In a passage which may yet be applied to the aftermath of Benazir’s murder, the report continues: “The fatal bullet had been fired at close range. The trap had been carefully laid, but, as is the way in Pakistan, the crudeness of the operation – false entries in police log-books, lost evidence, witnesses arrested and intimidated – a policeman killed who they feared might talk – made it obvious that the decision to execute the prime minister’s brother had been taken at a very high level.”
When Murtaza’s 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, rang her aunt Benazir to ask why witnesses were being arrested – rather than her father’s killers – she says Benazir told her: “Look, you’re very young. You don’t understand things.” Or so Tariq Ali’s exposé would have us believe. Over all this, however, looms the shocking power of Pakistan’s ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence.
This vast institution – corrupt, venal and brutal – works for Musharraf.
But it also worked – and still works – for the Taliban. It also works for the Americans. In fact, it works for everybody. But it is the key which Musharraf can use to open talks with America’s enemies when he feels threatened or wants to put pressure on Afghanistan or wants to appease the ” extremists” and “terrorists” who so oppress George Bush. And let us remember, by the way, that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded by his Islamist captors in Karachi, actually made his fatal appointment with his future murderers from an ISI commander’s office. Ahmed Rashid’s book Taliban provides riveting proof of the ISI’s web of corruption and violence. Read it, and all of the above makes more sense.
But back to the official narrative. George Bush announced on Thursday he was “looking forward” to talking to his old friend Musharraf. Of course, they would talk about Benazir. They certainly would not talk about the fact that Musharraf continues to protect his old acquaintance – a certain Mr Khan – who supplied all Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to Libya and Iran. No, let’s not bring that bit of the “axis of evil” into this.
So, of course, we were asked to concentrate once more on all those ” extremists” and “terrorists”, not on the logic of questioning which many Pakistanis were feeling their way through in the aftermath of Benazir’s assassination.
It doesn’t, after all, take much to comprehend that the hated elections looming over Musharraf would probably be postponed indefinitely if his principal political opponent happened to be liquidated before polling day.
So let’s run through this logic in the way that Inspector Ian Blair might have done in his policeman’s notebook before he became the top cop in London.
Question: Who forced Benazir Bhutto to stay in London and tried to prevent her return to Pakistan? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question: Who ordered the arrest of thousands of Benazir’s supporters this month? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question: Who placed Benazir under temporary house arrest this month? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question: Who declared martial law this month? Answer General Musharraf.
Question: who killed Benazir Bhutto?
Er. Yes. Well quite.
You see the problem? Yesterday, our television warriors informed us the PPP members shouting that Musharraf was a “murderer” were complaining he had not provided sufficient security for Benazir. Wrong. They were shouting this because they believe he killed her.
This is an article worth reading where Robert Fisk places the right questions, we genuinely believe its not the work of Al-Qa’ida but instead an outcome of Musharraf’s eight year rule, few recent links here and here while this blog is full of statements condemning Musharraf practically since its inception in 2004. So as they say the writing was on the wall, only if someone dared to read the wall is the question, as they say better late then never but please save my country from the brink of disaster
Weird, isn’t it, how swiftly the narrative is laid down for us. Benazir Bhutto, the courageous leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, is assassinated in Rawalpindi – attached to the very capital of Islamabad wherein ex-General Pervez Musharraf lives – and we are told by George Bush that her murderers were “extremists” and “terrorists”. Well, you can’t dispute that.
But the implication of the Bush comment was that Islamists were behind the assassination. It was the Taliban madmen again, the al-Qa’ida spider who struck at this lone and brave woman who had dared to call for democracy in her country.
Of course, given the childish coverage of this appalling tragedy – and however corrupt Ms Bhutto may have been, let us be under no illusions that this brave lady is indeed a true martyr – it’s not surprising that the “good-versus-evil” donkey can be trotted out to explain the carnage in Rawalpindi.
Who would have imagined, watching the BBC or CNN on Thursday, that her two brothers, Murtaza and Shahnawaz, hijacked a Pakistani airliner in 1981 and flew it to Kabul where Murtaza demanded the release of political prisoners in Pakistan. Here, a military officer on the plane was murdered. There were Americans aboard the flight – which is probably why the prisoners were indeed released.
Only a few days ago – in one of the most remarkable (but typically unrecognised) scoops of the year – Tariq Ali published a brilliant dissection of Pakistan (and Bhutto) corruption in the London Review of Books, focusing on Benazir and headlined: “Daughter of the West”. In fact, the article was on my desk to photocopy as its subject was being murdered in Rawalpindi.
Towards the end of this report, Tariq Ali dwelt at length on the subsequent murder of Murtaza Bhutto by police close to his home at a time when Benazir was prime minister – and at a time when Benazir was enraged at Murtaza for demanding a return to PPP values and for condemning Benazir’s appointment of her own husband as minister for industry, a highly lucrative post.
In a passage which may yet be applied to the aftermath of Benazir’s murder, the report continues: “The fatal bullet had been fired at close range. The trap had been carefully laid, but, as is the way in Pakistan, the crudeness of the operation – false entries in police log-books, lost evidence, witnesses arrested and intimidated – a policeman killed who they feared might talk – made it obvious that the decision to execute the prime minister’s brother had been taken at a very high level.”
When Murtaza’s 14-year-old daughter, Fatima, rang her aunt Benazir to ask why witnesses were being arrested – rather than her father’s killers – she says Benazir told her: “Look, you’re very young. You don’t understand things.” Or so Tariq Ali’s exposé would have us believe. Over all this, however, looms the shocking power of Pakistan’s ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence.
This vast institution – corrupt, venal and brutal – works for Musharraf.
But it also worked – and still works – for the Taliban. It also works for the Americans. In fact, it works for everybody. But it is the key which Musharraf can use to open talks with America’s enemies when he feels threatened or wants to put pressure on Afghanistan or wants to appease the ” extremists” and “terrorists” who so oppress George Bush. And let us remember, by the way, that Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter beheaded by his Islamist captors in Karachi, actually made his fatal appointment with his future murderers from an ISI commander’s office. Ahmed Rashid’s book Taliban provides riveting proof of the ISI’s web of corruption and violence. Read it, and all of the above makes more sense.
But back to the official narrative. George Bush announced on Thursday he was “looking forward” to talking to his old friend Musharraf. Of course, they would talk about Benazir. They certainly would not talk about the fact that Musharraf continues to protect his old acquaintance – a certain Mr Khan – who supplied all Pakistan’s nuclear secrets to Libya and Iran. No, let’s not bring that bit of the “axis of evil” into this.
So, of course, we were asked to concentrate once more on all those ” extremists” and “terrorists”, not on the logic of questioning which many Pakistanis were feeling their way through in the aftermath of Benazir’s assassination.
It doesn’t, after all, take much to comprehend that the hated elections looming over Musharraf would probably be postponed indefinitely if his principal political opponent happened to be liquidated before polling day.
So let’s run through this logic in the way that Inspector Ian Blair might have done in his policeman’s notebook before he became the top cop in London.
Question: Who forced Benazir Bhutto to stay in London and tried to prevent her return to Pakistan? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question: Who ordered the arrest of thousands of Benazir’s supporters this month? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question: Who placed Benazir under temporary house arrest this month? Answer: General Musharraf.
Question: Who declared martial law this month? Answer General Musharraf.
Question: who killed Benazir Bhutto?
Er. Yes. Well quite.
You see the problem? Yesterday, our television warriors informed us the PPP members shouting that Musharraf was a “murderer” were complaining he had not provided sufficient security for Benazir. Wrong. They were shouting this because they believe he killed her.
Investigative Pictures released by Government of Pakistan
This photo released by the Pakistani Government shows the sunroof of the vehicle that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto stood through when she was killed.
Mobile pictures - Benazir was defintely shot dead before the Blast
New Images updated below: Considering all the commotion and fuss created by the government of Pakistan saying the called that Benazir Bhutto was not hit by the three bullets but instead she hit her head on some 'lever' of the sunroof. Last night I was contacted by a person via Orkut who had uploaded these images on his profile (now he has taken them off) he was offering to share his video to the extent that he gave his cell number in Islamabad, since his dial up did not permit transferring this heavy file.
On contacting him today he claimed that he was a PPP supporter and his party had instructed him not to share this with anyone. Later when a news reporter tried contacting him, his cell phone was switched off. I have two images to share with you which were initially taken off his Orkut Profile
The first image clearly shows Benazir Bhutto standing upright in the car through the sunroof waving to the crowd
The next image is just after the gun shots which were fired from the left but moments before the bomb blast. Here we see Benazir Bhutto not on the sunroof of the car most likely already shot and injured slumped inside
I sadly do not have the original video, though I tried very hard to get it. A source was in direct contact with the cameraman who actually shot the video and later uploaded the screen captures to show that he means serious business. He claimed to be in the security detail with Benazir Bhutto was riding on her car barely five minutes earlier but had to jump off as she exited the Liaquat Bagh venue. He was finding it difficult to upload the 56MB video file online so was ready to allow someone to help him get it readily available. Today morning he said that his cell phone was ringing off the hook with people clambering in the hunt for the video, hence forth he turned his cell phone off and had even removed the images from his Orkut profile.
NEW IMAGES UPLOADED BELOW
Today evening my source was been able to find the other two images that were initially uploaded to the cameraman's profile,
The third image in this series shows the crowd and the cameraman suspects the white hooded fellow to be the actual bomber
This last image is taken 15 seconds later after the bomb blast showing total carnage
One thing is for sure that she was shot before the bomb blast hit her and the shockwave had nothing to do with it (as speculated by the Government representatives. It must be noted that the Government of Pakistan or some tom-dick-n-harry agency has in effect scared away the cameraman from sight and he is no longer in contact, but I am proud to say that the truth will always prevail
Musharraf Propaganda Team, Top This
DISCLAIMER: The images are the actual images taken off his orkut profile and the explanation and the captions and text appearing on the images were all done by him.
On contacting him today he claimed that he was a PPP supporter and his party had instructed him not to share this with anyone. Later when a news reporter tried contacting him, his cell phone was switched off. I have two images to share with you which were initially taken off his Orkut Profile
The next image is just after the gun shots which were fired from the left but moments before the bomb blast. Here we see Benazir Bhutto not on the sunroof of the car most likely already shot and injured slumped inside
I sadly do not have the original video, though I tried very hard to get it. A source was in direct contact with the cameraman who actually shot the video and later uploaded the screen captures to show that he means serious business. He claimed to be in the security detail with Benazir Bhutto was riding on her car barely five minutes earlier but had to jump off as she exited the Liaquat Bagh venue. He was finding it difficult to upload the 56MB video file online so was ready to allow someone to help him get it readily available. Today morning he said that his cell phone was ringing off the hook with people clambering in the hunt for the video, hence forth he turned his cell phone off and had even removed the images from his Orkut profile.
NEW IMAGES UPLOADED BELOW
Today evening my source was been able to find the other two images that were initially uploaded to the cameraman's profile,
This last image is taken 15 seconds later after the bomb blast showing total carnage
One thing is for sure that she was shot before the bomb blast hit her and the shockwave had nothing to do with it (as speculated by the Government representatives. It must be noted that the Government of Pakistan or some tom-dick-n-harry agency has in effect scared away the cameraman from sight and he is no longer in contact, but I am proud to say that the truth will always prevail
DISCLAIMER: The images are the actual images taken off his orkut profile and the explanation and the captions and text appearing on the images were all done by him.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Bilawal Zardari, the new PPP Chairman
It is just being announced that Bilawal Zardari, the 19 year old eldest son of Benazir Bhutto, will be the new Chairman of PPP. Personally I feel this might in effect be a good decision for the Bhutto dynasty but a major rift within the party would definitely be seen in short order, as Amin Faheem definitely had his eyes set on the top leadership. It may suit the American agenda perfectly as it would be easier to negotiate with Bilawal as compared to rehashing the entire negotiations with a new face in the PPP. More updates to follow as news comes in.
Bhutto blames Musharraf if killed, email two months earlier
Two months before her death, former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto sent an e-mail to her U.S. adviser and longtime friend, saying that if she were killed, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf would bear some of the blame. “Nothing will, God willing happen,” she wrote to Mark Siegel, her U.S. spokesman, lobbyist and friend.“Just wanted u to know if it does in addition to the names in my letter to Musharaf of Oct 16nth, I wld hold Musharaf responsible. I have been made to feel insecure by his minions and there is no way what is happening in terms of stopping me from taking private cars or using tinted windows or giving jammers or four police mobiles to cover all sides cld happen without him.” - Watch the video of Wolf Blitzer on CNN talking about this letter
Musharraf, hide all you might, but sadly you have been found wanting
Cause of death, Gun Shots or Sunroof? Govt foul play suspected
The first reports arriving the day Benazir died was three gun shots to the head resulting in her death, after she was buried today the Govt of Pakistan Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema offers a complete new explanation for the cause of death, he said that she was NOT killed because of the three gun shots but in fact while collapsing into the car immediately following the explosion of the bomb ’she collapsed and while collapsing a lever on the left side hit the right side of her head’, the left-right explanation sounds stupid enough since the gun shot came from the left. He was then quick to name Al-Qaeda as the organization behind all this.
In utter shock I feel this is yet another ploy by the government to blame the ‘terrorist organizations’, No one dares to accept that this could easily have been the outcome of Mushrraf’s eight year rule where he plunges his people in utter confusion and chaos - it is the people of Pakistan that saw Musharraf orchestrate blood shed on the streets of Karachi on May 12th killing hundreds, people seem to have forgotten the hundreds ruthlessly murdered inside Lal Masjid and their bodies were quickly buried within a matter of hours as if to hide a crime scene. Lets not also forget the annihilation being done in Swat and the northern areas.
[LINK TO VIDEO]
One does not need the services of a brain surgeon to figure out that with all these incidents compounded with a poor-crushing economy contributing to the frustrations, one does not need to run to Al-Qaeda to do this dirty work. Hell you walk on the street and with a matter of minute you will easily find a person frustrated enough with life to do such dirty work, the general consensus on the street is that anyone linked to Musharraf and the US must go. Literally any one could have done it and it does not take Osama Bin Laden to send a guy with a flimsy revolver to Liaquat Bagh and miss his primary target only to hope the ‘lever’ hits her after the bomb blast. sad to say it but I feel the blame must go squarely on Musharraf and there are no two ways about it - its time for him to go.
I wish I could have yelled for a judicial inquiry following an independent autopsy, but sadly there is no judiciary, as the Supreme Court at the moment houses a few pencil pushers loyal to Musharraf’s commands.
Suspicion must be given that it took them TWENTY FOUR hours after the body left the mortuary to say that there was no bullet wound !!!. In all honesty if they had to deny the rumor they should have done it right on the spot. Lastly this press conference seems to be strategically placed after her burial so it will be difficult to demand an inquiry. Say what you may I strongly suspect foul play. Whats your take on this issue
In utter shock I feel this is yet another ploy by the government to blame the ‘terrorist organizations’, No one dares to accept that this could easily have been the outcome of Mushrraf’s eight year rule where he plunges his people in utter confusion and chaos - it is the people of Pakistan that saw Musharraf orchestrate blood shed on the streets of Karachi on May 12th killing hundreds, people seem to have forgotten the hundreds ruthlessly murdered inside Lal Masjid and their bodies were quickly buried within a matter of hours as if to hide a crime scene. Lets not also forget the annihilation being done in Swat and the northern areas.
[LINK TO VIDEO]
One does not need the services of a brain surgeon to figure out that with all these incidents compounded with a poor-crushing economy contributing to the frustrations, one does not need to run to Al-Qaeda to do this dirty work. Hell you walk on the street and with a matter of minute you will easily find a person frustrated enough with life to do such dirty work, the general consensus on the street is that anyone linked to Musharraf and the US must go. Literally any one could have done it and it does not take Osama Bin Laden to send a guy with a flimsy revolver to Liaquat Bagh and miss his primary target only to hope the ‘lever’ hits her after the bomb blast. sad to say it but I feel the blame must go squarely on Musharraf and there are no two ways about it - its time for him to go.
I wish I could have yelled for a judicial inquiry following an independent autopsy, but sadly there is no judiciary, as the Supreme Court at the moment houses a few pencil pushers loyal to Musharraf’s commands.
Suspicion must be given that it took them TWENTY FOUR hours after the body left the mortuary to say that there was no bullet wound !!!. In all honesty if they had to deny the rumor they should have done it right on the spot. Lastly this press conference seems to be strategically placed after her burial so it will be difficult to demand an inquiry. Say what you may I strongly suspect foul play. Whats your take on this issue
Was yesterday's carnage in Karachi all PPP's doing or did MQM have a hand in it? - An Eyewitness Report
I would like to share with you an email sent to me just now narrating the experience of a person who tried to get home yesterday amidst the rioting and the chaos. The government and the media continues to point fingers at emotionally charged PPP supporters but instead we kind of forget that this city (Karachi) is controlled by yet another party called MQM who happened to show its full colors not to long ago on May 12th. Did we just see a repeat telecast of that 5/12 massacre yet again
I know many are attributing the violence, burning of cars, looting of ATM machines etc in the city to the reaction of PPP workers but allow me to share something that I observed last night. Like many I was also stuck in chaotic traffic for 4 hours. The Rikshaw driver refused to go beyond Quaids mazar and abandoned me there and took off. I don’t blame him. Anyway I had no choice but to ride with a total stranger on a bike to take me home. While moving through small streets to find our way to Gulshan-e-Iqbal, I witnessed many vehicles being torched. On one such small gali, I recognized a face, in the armed mob which was about to torch a parked Hi Roof, from my previous Mohala. He is a devout MQM worker. He had a riffle in his hand and was ushering a crowd of young men with lathis in their hands.
The interesting thing is that the guy who gave me lift was also MQM supporter. So he was taking all the safe passages of MQM dominated areas to avoid getting in any trouble. I can even tell you where i saw this activity. So MQM burning vehicles in their own areas are trying to create an excuse to counter-violence? start an ethnic war in sindh? this is very scarry.
So, as far as Karachi is concerned, we cannot rule out the fascist MQM gundaas, who can capitalize on this tragedy to settle scores, indulge in looting and malign the name of other political parties. Besides, looting of money and snatching of mobiles, as is reported in some cases, is more of a MQM style gundagardi than any other party’s.
I know many are attributing the violence, burning of cars, looting of ATM machines etc in the city to the reaction of PPP workers but allow me to share something that I observed last night. Like many I was also stuck in chaotic traffic for 4 hours. The Rikshaw driver refused to go beyond Quaids mazar and abandoned me there and took off. I don’t blame him. Anyway I had no choice but to ride with a total stranger on a bike to take me home. While moving through small streets to find our way to Gulshan-e-Iqbal, I witnessed many vehicles being torched. On one such small gali, I recognized a face, in the armed mob which was about to torch a parked Hi Roof, from my previous Mohala. He is a devout MQM worker. He had a riffle in his hand and was ushering a crowd of young men with lathis in their hands.
The interesting thing is that the guy who gave me lift was also MQM supporter. So he was taking all the safe passages of MQM dominated areas to avoid getting in any trouble. I can even tell you where i saw this activity. So MQM burning vehicles in their own areas are trying to create an excuse to counter-violence? start an ethnic war in sindh? this is very scarry.
So, as far as Karachi is concerned, we cannot rule out the fascist MQM gundaas, who can capitalize on this tragedy to settle scores, indulge in looting and malign the name of other political parties. Besides, looting of money and snatching of mobiles, as is reported in some cases, is more of a MQM style gundagardi than any other party’s.
Friday, December 28, 2007
A tragedy of Military Despotism and Anarcy
by Tariq Ali
Published in The Guardian Unlimited, its worth reading as it shares some genuine issues about Pakistan
Even those of us sharply critical of Benazir Bhutto’s behaviour and policies - both while she was in office and more recently - are stunned and angered by her death. Indignation and fear stalk the country once again.
An odd coexistence of military despotism and anarchy created the conditions leading to her assassination in Rawalpindi yesterday. In the past, military rule was designed to preserve order - and did so for a few years. No longer. Today it creates disorder and promotes lawlessness. How else can one explain the sacking of the chief justice and eight other judges of the country’s supreme court for attempting to hold the government’s intelligence agencies and the police accountable to courts of law? Their replacements lack the backbone to do anything, let alone conduct a proper inquest into the misdeeds of the agencies to uncover the truth behind the carefully organised killing of a major political leader.
How can Pakistan today be anything but a conflagration of despair? It is assumed that the killers were jihadi fanatics. This may well be true, but were they acting on their own? Benazir, according to those close to her, had been tempted to boycott the fake elections, but she lacked the political courage to defy Washington. She had plenty of physical courage, and refused to be cowed by threats from local opponents. She had been addressing an election rally in Liaquat Bagh. This is a popular space named after the country’s first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was killed by an assassin in 1953. The killer, Said Akbar, was immediately shot dead on the orders of a police officer involved in the plot. Not far from here, there once stood a colonial structure where nationalists were imprisoned. This was Rawalpindi jail. It was here that Benazir’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in April 1979. The military tyrant responsible for his judicial murder made sure the site of the tragedy was destroyed as well.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death poisoned relations between his Pakistan People’s party and the army. Party activists, particularly in the province of Sind, were brutally tortured, humiliated and, sometimes, disappeared or killed. Pakistan’s turbulent history, a result of continuous military rule and unpopular global alliances, confronts the ruling elite now with serious choices. They appear to have no positive aims. The overwhelming majority of the country disapproves of the government’s foreign policy. They are angered by its lack of a serious domestic policy except for further enriching a callous and greedy elite that includes a swollen, parasitic military. Now they watch helplessly as politicians are shot dead in front of them.
Benazir had survived the bomb blast yesterday but was felled by bullets fired at her car. The assassins, mindful of their failure in Karachi a month ago, had taken out a double insurance this time. They wanted her dead. It is impossible for even a rigged election to take place now. It will have to be postponed, and the military high command is no doubt contemplating another dose of army rule if the situation gets worse, which could easily happen.
What has happened is a multi layered tragedy. It’s a tragedy for a country on a road to more disasters. Torrents and foaming cataracts lie ahead. And it is a personal tragedy. The house of Bhutto has lost another member. Father, two sons and now a daughter have all died unnatural deaths.
I first met Benazir at her father’s house in Karachi when she was a fun-loving teenager, and later at Oxford. She was not a natural politician and had always wanted to be a diplomat, but history and personal tragedy pushed in the other direction. Her father’s death transformed her. She had become a new person, determined to take on the military dictator of that time. She had moved to a tiny flat in London, where we would endlessly discuss the future of the country. She would agree that land reforms, mass education programmes, a health service and an independent foreign policy were positive constructive aims and crucial if the country was to be saved from the vultures in and out of uniform. Her constituency was the poor, and she was proud of the fact.
She changed again after becoming prime minister. In the early days, we would argue and in response to my numerous complaints - all she would say was that the world had changed. She couldn’t be on the “wrong side” of history. And so, like many others, she made her peace with Washington. It was this that finally led to the deal with Musharraf and her return home after more than a decade in exile. On a number of occasions she told me that she did not fear death. It was one of the dangers of playing politics in Pakistan.
It is difficult to imagine any good coming out of this tragedy, but there is one possibility. Pakistan desperately needs a political party that can speak for the social needs of a bulk of the people. The People’s party founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was built by the activists of the only popular mass movement the country has known: students, peasants and workers who fought for three months in 1968-69 to topple the country’s first military dictator. They saw it as their party, and that feeling persists in some parts of the country to this day, despite everything.
Benazir’s horrific death should give her colleagues pause for reflection. To be dependent on a person or a family may be necessary at certain times, but it is a structural weakness, not a strength for a political organisation. The People’s party needs to be refounded as a modern and democratic organisation, open to honest debate and discussion, defending social and human rights, uniting the many disparate groups and individuals in Pakistan desperate for any halfway decent alternative, and coming forward with concreteproposals to stabilise occupied and war-torn Afghanistan. This can and should be done. The Bhutto family should not be asked for any more sacrifices.
Published in The Guardian Unlimited, its worth reading as it shares some genuine issues about Pakistan
Even those of us sharply critical of Benazir Bhutto’s behaviour and policies - both while she was in office and more recently - are stunned and angered by her death. Indignation and fear stalk the country once again.
An odd coexistence of military despotism and anarchy created the conditions leading to her assassination in Rawalpindi yesterday. In the past, military rule was designed to preserve order - and did so for a few years. No longer. Today it creates disorder and promotes lawlessness. How else can one explain the sacking of the chief justice and eight other judges of the country’s supreme court for attempting to hold the government’s intelligence agencies and the police accountable to courts of law? Their replacements lack the backbone to do anything, let alone conduct a proper inquest into the misdeeds of the agencies to uncover the truth behind the carefully organised killing of a major political leader.
How can Pakistan today be anything but a conflagration of despair? It is assumed that the killers were jihadi fanatics. This may well be true, but were they acting on their own? Benazir, according to those close to her, had been tempted to boycott the fake elections, but she lacked the political courage to defy Washington. She had plenty of physical courage, and refused to be cowed by threats from local opponents. She had been addressing an election rally in Liaquat Bagh. This is a popular space named after the country’s first prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, who was killed by an assassin in 1953. The killer, Said Akbar, was immediately shot dead on the orders of a police officer involved in the plot. Not far from here, there once stood a colonial structure where nationalists were imprisoned. This was Rawalpindi jail. It was here that Benazir’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged in April 1979. The military tyrant responsible for his judicial murder made sure the site of the tragedy was destroyed as well.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s death poisoned relations between his Pakistan People’s party and the army. Party activists, particularly in the province of Sind, were brutally tortured, humiliated and, sometimes, disappeared or killed. Pakistan’s turbulent history, a result of continuous military rule and unpopular global alliances, confronts the ruling elite now with serious choices. They appear to have no positive aims. The overwhelming majority of the country disapproves of the government’s foreign policy. They are angered by its lack of a serious domestic policy except for further enriching a callous and greedy elite that includes a swollen, parasitic military. Now they watch helplessly as politicians are shot dead in front of them.
Benazir had survived the bomb blast yesterday but was felled by bullets fired at her car. The assassins, mindful of their failure in Karachi a month ago, had taken out a double insurance this time. They wanted her dead. It is impossible for even a rigged election to take place now. It will have to be postponed, and the military high command is no doubt contemplating another dose of army rule if the situation gets worse, which could easily happen.
What has happened is a multi layered tragedy. It’s a tragedy for a country on a road to more disasters. Torrents and foaming cataracts lie ahead. And it is a personal tragedy. The house of Bhutto has lost another member. Father, two sons and now a daughter have all died unnatural deaths.
I first met Benazir at her father’s house in Karachi when she was a fun-loving teenager, and later at Oxford. She was not a natural politician and had always wanted to be a diplomat, but history and personal tragedy pushed in the other direction. Her father’s death transformed her. She had become a new person, determined to take on the military dictator of that time. She had moved to a tiny flat in London, where we would endlessly discuss the future of the country. She would agree that land reforms, mass education programmes, a health service and an independent foreign policy were positive constructive aims and crucial if the country was to be saved from the vultures in and out of uniform. Her constituency was the poor, and she was proud of the fact.
She changed again after becoming prime minister. In the early days, we would argue and in response to my numerous complaints - all she would say was that the world had changed. She couldn’t be on the “wrong side” of history. And so, like many others, she made her peace with Washington. It was this that finally led to the deal with Musharraf and her return home after more than a decade in exile. On a number of occasions she told me that she did not fear death. It was one of the dangers of playing politics in Pakistan.
It is difficult to imagine any good coming out of this tragedy, but there is one possibility. Pakistan desperately needs a political party that can speak for the social needs of a bulk of the people. The People’s party founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was built by the activists of the only popular mass movement the country has known: students, peasants and workers who fought for three months in 1968-69 to topple the country’s first military dictator. They saw it as their party, and that feeling persists in some parts of the country to this day, despite everything.
Benazir’s horrific death should give her colleagues pause for reflection. To be dependent on a person or a family may be necessary at certain times, but it is a structural weakness, not a strength for a political organisation. The People’s party needs to be refounded as a modern and democratic organisation, open to honest debate and discussion, defending social and human rights, uniting the many disparate groups and individuals in Pakistan desperate for any halfway decent alternative, and coming forward with concreteproposals to stabilise occupied and war-torn Afghanistan. This can and should be done. The Bhutto family should not be asked for any more sacrifices.
PPP contemplating on Contesting the Elections
Its been buzzing around the country that PPP might actually proceed to contest the elections on Jan 8th. A very high level meeting of the PPP is scheduled to be held today where this issue will be hotly debated after they come to a decsion of who will be the new party chairperson, in the wake of the assassination of the Life Chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The candidates is the running are Makhdoom Amin Fahim, who in all probability will come out as the new leader, but it is rumored that Asif Ali Zardari might also be in contention (!!). The logic of PPP leadership for fighting the elections is simple, they want to harness the wave of sympathy that has spread throughout the country and feel it might actually land them a land slide victory into the parliament.
One must not forget that these elections are only meant to legitimize the rule of Pervaiz Musharraf who has used the terrorism issue to his own advantage since long, the elections are already a farce by any standard being organized by an illegal President with a self-appointed election commissioner and a lapdog judiciary toeing his every command. Unless these elections can be fully free and fair held under an independent judicial body it can be simply considered as a monkey circus to appease the powerful - I would strongly urge parties to boycott them.
The funny part in this boycott no boycott frenzy is that Nawaz Sharif yesterday was emotionally drawn into sympatising with the PPP workers and quickly decided to announce his parties boycott from the scam elections - which this blogger fully hailed as a great move, little did Nawaz Sharif know that the very next day PPP would pull a fast one on him and swing around to actually fight the elections. Leaving him hanging in a catch-22 situation all over again. The question remains to be seen if Ganja might actually think about reversing his decision and play second fiddle to the decisions coming out of PPP or will he have the balls to fight against this illegitimate election scam. We must remember that with BB’s death it may only charge up the atmosphere leading up to the elections but everything else pertaining to the elections remain the same - and pre-poll rigging remains in full swing.
One must not forget that these elections are only meant to legitimize the rule of Pervaiz Musharraf who has used the terrorism issue to his own advantage since long, the elections are already a farce by any standard being organized by an illegal President with a self-appointed election commissioner and a lapdog judiciary toeing his every command. Unless these elections can be fully free and fair held under an independent judicial body it can be simply considered as a monkey circus to appease the powerful - I would strongly urge parties to boycott them.
The funny part in this boycott no boycott frenzy is that Nawaz Sharif yesterday was emotionally drawn into sympatising with the PPP workers and quickly decided to announce his parties boycott from the scam elections - which this blogger fully hailed as a great move, little did Nawaz Sharif know that the very next day PPP would pull a fast one on him and swing around to actually fight the elections. Leaving him hanging in a catch-22 situation all over again. The question remains to be seen if Ganja might actually think about reversing his decision and play second fiddle to the decisions coming out of PPP or will he have the balls to fight against this illegitimate election scam. We must remember that with BB’s death it may only charge up the atmosphere leading up to the elections but everything else pertaining to the elections remain the same - and pre-poll rigging remains in full swing.
Benazir Bhutto Finally Laid to Rest
At around 4:30pm the body of the assassinated leader Benzair Bhutto has finally been lai to rest next to the grave of her father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Please take a moment to offer prayers fro the departed soul - May Her Soul Rest in Peace
Please submit your condolences here
Please submit your condolences here
What choices do we have?
Guest Blog by Naeem Sadiq
posted on the People’s Resistance Network
One hopes that we have finally realised on a day as sad as this one, that the violence of the state and of fundamentalists can only take us to darker destinations. Never before have I witnessed such intense pain and sorrow, shared so much across the entire country as I saw on the evening of that fateful Thursday, when Benazir bade her final farewell. Moments of trial for a nation whose helpless citizens in a state of grief and distress feel utterly confused, uncertain and anxious about what might happen next.
Pakistan today stands at crossroads where it must choose between a civilised, peaceful, progressive and democratic path or disintegrate under an illegitimate , one person dictatorial rule. The choices are limited and the time is short. There may be one last opportunity to make amends and change the course of events. Perhaps a set of demands such as the ones listed below may help to unify the shattered people and provide a new roadmap for the future.
1. Musharraf must resign and be made accountable for constitutional violations before a court of law.
2. The 1973 constitution as it stood on 12 October 1999 be restored.
3. The pre November 3 judiciary must be restored and all PCO judges removed.
4. A new neutral and caretaker government and an independent election commission be appointed to hold elections within 3 months.
Clearly this could happen only if these demands are backed by political parties as well as a large segment of civil society. Now is the time to close ranks, regardless of political affiliations and ideologies. A time to choose a peaceful and democratic future, and say goodbye to the politics of violence. The future of Pakistan may well hinge on an unequivocal expression of this choice.
posted on the People’s Resistance Network
One hopes that we have finally realised on a day as sad as this one, that the violence of the state and of fundamentalists can only take us to darker destinations. Never before have I witnessed such intense pain and sorrow, shared so much across the entire country as I saw on the evening of that fateful Thursday, when Benazir bade her final farewell. Moments of trial for a nation whose helpless citizens in a state of grief and distress feel utterly confused, uncertain and anxious about what might happen next.
Pakistan today stands at crossroads where it must choose between a civilised, peaceful, progressive and democratic path or disintegrate under an illegitimate , one person dictatorial rule. The choices are limited and the time is short. There may be one last opportunity to make amends and change the course of events. Perhaps a set of demands such as the ones listed below may help to unify the shattered people and provide a new roadmap for the future.
1. Musharraf must resign and be made accountable for constitutional violations before a court of law.
2. The 1973 constitution as it stood on 12 October 1999 be restored.
3. The pre November 3 judiciary must be restored and all PCO judges removed.
4. A new neutral and caretaker government and an independent election commission be appointed to hold elections within 3 months.
Clearly this could happen only if these demands are backed by political parties as well as a large segment of civil society. Now is the time to close ranks, regardless of political affiliations and ideologies. A time to choose a peaceful and democratic future, and say goodbye to the politics of violence. The future of Pakistan may well hinge on an unequivocal expression of this choice.
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