Emergency-Articles & Commentaries

Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and the Pakistan Peoples Party
By Senator Dr Javaid Laghari

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The People Are With Bhutto, Says Catholic Bishop

The People Are With Bhutto, Says Bishop
Comments on Unrest in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, NOV. 21, 2007, - Although Pakistan's Supreme Court dismissed challenges to President Pervez Musharraf's re-election, the bishop of Islamabad says the masses are with opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.

On Monday a bench of 10 new judges, hand-picked by Musharraf in recent days, struck down five challenges to the president's re-election, and will rule Thursday on a sixth and final petition.
 
Addressing the crisis and asked whether he thinks there remains any hope of restoring an independent voice within the court, Bishop Anthony Theodore Lobo said "the new judges are subservient so their judgment is a foregone conclusion; they'll support everything the government wants."

He added that "the old Supreme Court judges were independent -- but they have been removed."
 
Opposition
The Supreme Court decision comes a day after Musharraf announced he would ask for a parliamentary election for Jan. 8.
 
 Bhutto, the opposition leader and former prime minister, announced that she is not yet sure whether to participate in the polls as she doubts the election will be fair. She added that she will no longer participate in negotiations with Musharraf due to a complete lack of trust.

In retaliation, Musharraf criticized the former prime minister and said she fears the polls because she is corrupt and unpopular.

Bishop Lobo disagreed; he noted that "Benazir has come to the forefront -- all the headlines in the newspapers are [...] showing Benazir."

Asked to elaborate about Bhutto's role in the general opposition to Musharraf's rule, Bishop Lobo said, "The masses are with Bhutto."

Unrest
 
Musharraf declared emergency rule on Nov. 3 and promptly purged the Supreme Court of judges he feared would ultimately annul his re-election.
 

Although he has since vowed to quit as army chief and become a civilian president, Musharraf remains under fire from Western allies for having set back democracy in the country.
 
As civil society activists today kept up their calls for a return to democracy and for the constitution to be reinstated, ongoing sectarian violence across the country continued to claim lives -- with over 80 people dying in a single clash near the Afghan border.
In the face of the emergency, Bishop Lobo explained that all sides believe by imposing their will they are doing what's best for the good of the nation.
 

However some analysts are arguing that ethnic nationalist and religious divisions are growing to the point where the country may soon fracture.
 

When asked how the Catholic community is coping with the extreme conditions, Bishop Lobo said, "We are not the targets; it is a battle between the democrats and the autocrats."

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Bush urges immediate end to emergency

WASHINGTON, Nov 19: The White House said on Monday that President George W. Bush would like to see the emergency rule in Pakistan lifted immediately. The White House also said that Mr Bush’s first official engagement at seven this morning was with Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte who briefed him on his meeting with President Pervez Musharraf.

Mr Negroponte visited Islamabad this weekend with a message from Mr Bush, asking the Pakistani leader to lift the state of emergency he imposed on Nov 3. Gen Musharraf refused to do so.

“I don’t have a date to give you,” said White House Press Secretary Dana Perino when asked if Mr Bush will allow this emergency situation to go on before taking some kind of action.

“I can tell you that the President is urging the lifting of the emergency order immediately, and the release of people who have been detained who were trying to express their views,” she added.

At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack stressed that the United States had invested in Pakistan and its people rather than in Gen Musharraf.

Asked if Mr Bush made a mistake in investing so much in Gen Musharraf and would he now like to see another person leading Pakistan, Mr McCormack said the United States had not invested in any individual. “But we have an investment in the relationship with Pakistan and the Pakistani people,” he said, adding that “we continue to provide advice and counsel from the position of friendship”.

The spokesman said that President Musharraf was “a good friend and ally” but who leads Pakistan “ultimately is going to be a decision for Pakistan and the Pakistani people. We don’t pick and choose who leads Pakistan.”

Mr McCormack said the United States was opposing the state of emergency because it believed “the results in part from these actions were not in our interests”.

At the White House, Ms Perino said in diplomatic efforts like the one Mr Negroponte undertook there’re no immediate results. “So we are going to continue to have an open line of communication and dialogue. Deputy Secretary Negroponte said that he delivered a very clear message, and we’ll have to continue to monitor the situation as it evolves, to see what happens next,” she added.

Ms Perino welcomed Gen Musharraf’s assurances that the elections would be held on time and he would remove his uniform as promised as good steps. But “we remain concerned that there has not been a lifting of the emergency order that he put in place a little over two weeks ago,” she added.

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Emergency must end for free polls: US envoy (Negroponte)

ISLAMABAD, Nov 18: US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte on Sunday called upon the government to end emergency rule and create an environment for credible elections.

“Emergency rule is not compatible with free, fair and credible elections, which require active participation of political parties, civil society and the media. The people of Pakistan deserve an opportunity to choose their leaders free from the restrictions that exist under a state of emergency,” he said at a press conference at the United States embassy here before flying back to Washington after a two-day visit to Pakistan.

He observed that recent police actions against protesters, suppression of the media and arrests of political and human rights leaders ran counter to the reforms undertaken in recent years. Their continuation undermined the progress Pakistan had made.

He urged the government to stop such actions, lift the state of emergency and release all political detainees.

Despite President Pervez Musharraf’s refusal to lift emergency until the law and order situation improved, Mr Negroponte said he would not characterise his trip as a failure. It was an opportunity to communicate concerns, he added.

“In diplomacy, as you know, we don’t get instant replies when we have these kinds of dialogue. I am sure the president is seriously considering the exchange we had,” he remarked.

He hoped to see more steps toward democracy soon. “There remain some other issues that are yet to be considered, or yet to be undertaken,” he said.

He said the US wanted to see the political process in Pakistan back on track as soon as possible. He expressed the hope that ‘other steps’ would be taken soon to ensure free and fair elections.

He declined to answer a question about the possibility of suspension of US aid if the state of emergency was not lifted.

Mr Negroponte said that during his meeting with President Musharraf he had reiterated his vision for a moderate, prosperous and democratic Pakistan. Under his leadership, Pakistan had made great progress toward that vision. Over the past few years, the Pakistani people had witnessed an expanded and free media, unprecedented economic growth and development and the moderation of gender-based laws and school curricula. President Musharraf had been and continued to be a strong voice against extremism. “We value our partnership with the government of Pakistan under the leadership of President Musharraf,” he stressed.

He welcomed President Musharraf’s announcement that elections would take place in January, saying that he had reiterated the commitment in categorical terms.

“He also repeated his commitment to retire from his army post before commencing his second presidential term and we urge him to do so as soon as possible,” Mr Negroponte said.

He expressed the desire to see Gen Musharraf and Pakistan People’s Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto resuming talks. “If steps are taken by both sides to move back toward the kind of reconciliation discussions they were having recently, we think that would be very positive and could help improve the political environment,” he said.

He said the best way for any country to counter violent extremism was to develop and nurture a moderate political centre. That was true for Pakistan as well and in his talks he had encouraged reconciliation among political moderates as the most constructive way forward, adding that the path of reconciliation was desirable for meaningful elections.

He said a democratic Pakistan that continued the fight against terror was vital to the interests of both the US and Pakistan.

“In the current circumstances, engagement and dialogue – not brinksmanship and confrontation – should be the order of the day for all parties.” The US supported Pakistani people in their efforts to develop a prosperous and democratic nation.

Answering a question, he said the US was concerned over religious militancy in the NWFP and it believed that it would take some time for Islamabad to overcome the unrest.

Pakistan faced challenges in Swat where pro-Taliban militants loyal to a radical cleric had made sweeping gains over the past few months. “It is yet another reason to be concerned about the situation in Pakistan. The situation in Swat is a reminder of the fact that there are issues to deal with regarding violent extremists in this country.”

He said the government was undertaking major efforts to deal with the situation. He said it was a matter of high priority for both the countries and the US support to Pakistan in this regard would continue.

He said the determined efforts of extremists were there, but there was no reason to doubt the commitment of the government, the army and the security forces.

Call rejected

Pakistan on Sunday dismissed a call by America’s No 2 diplomat for President Gen Pervez Musharraf to restore the constitution and free thousands of political opponents, saying that the US envoy had brought no new proposals and received no assurances in return.

“This is nothing new,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq told The Associated Press, referring to Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte’s warning that Gen Musharraf must end emergency rule as soon as possible. “The US has been saying this for many days. He has said that same thing. He has reiterated it.”—AP

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Bhutto Unshackled
ByARYN BAKER / LAHORE

Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto and her personal assistant sit under house arrest in Lahore.

Sarah Caron / Polaris for TIME

What on earth did she see in him? For the duration of her short-lived marriage of convenience to President Pervez Musharraf, Benazir Bhutto's friends and political rivals wondered how she, a populist democrat, could live with him, a military dictator. The mystery deepened when Musharraf declared a state of emergency and began a massive crackdown on democratic institutions--and Bhutto responded with only mild criticism, refusing to rule out a power-sharing arrangement with him. Some said her motivation was pure self-interest: she was that desperate to return to power. Others bought Bhutto's explanation that a deal with Musharraf would allow Pakistan a smooth transition to democracy. And conspiracy theorists concluded that she had agreed to join him only at the insistence of their matchmaker, the Bush Administration.

When she ended their dysfunctional dalliance on Nov. 13--Bhutto announced she would not work under Musharraf and demanded his immediate resignation--her political rivals were just as relieved as her friends. It meant that the deeply unpopular dictator would be denied his last political lifeline. "It's impossible to work with him," Bhutto told journalists by telephone. Just as important, the opposition to his increasingly autocratic rule, led primarily by lawyers and human-rights activists, would be massively strengthened by the backing of a political leader with national, grass-roots support. "Bhutto has finally come to our side," says Ahsan Iqbal, spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz party, which is led from exile by Bhutto's longtime foe, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "There can now be a common agenda. With complete unanimity of goals, there is no reason why we can't all come together to get rid of Musharraf."

This is not reassuring news for the Bush Administration, which continues to regard Musharraf as a vital ally in the war on terrorism. But if Washington is constrained by its ties to the dictator, Bhutto is now liberated. And she has the opportunity many politicians crave: a chance to redefine herself. Having inherited her political mantle from her father Zulfikar--sent to the gallows by a previous military ruler--she has often been labeled a child of privilege, haughty and aloof from ordinary Pakistanis. Her two stints as Prime Minister were plagued with ineptitude and accusations--which she denied--of massive graft. Indeed, she fled Pakistan eight years ago to escape corruption charges and returned only after Musharraf agreed to drop them as part of their deal. Now she can claim the leadership of a popular uprising against a dictator--and potentially wipe clean her own record.

But first she will face a wall of skepticism from those who have been at the front lines of the uprising while she has hogged headlines in the rear. In recent weeks, critics have laughed off Bhutto's halfhearted opposition to Musharraf, pointing out that while other leaders and lawyers languished behind bars, she was able to roam free, host diplomatic receptions and broadcast her press conferences on state-run TV. But when Bhutto called for protest rallies and a march from Lahore to the capital, Islamabad, she too was placed under house arrest. The final straw, she says, was when Musharraf's forces rounded up thousands of her supporters across the country in advance of the planned march. "It left my party with the conclusion that he does not really want to do business with us," she told journalists. "It made it clear that he was using us as icing on the cake to make sure no one notices the cake was poisoned." Some analysts believe she may simply have made the political calculation that Musharraf had grown too unpopular to stay in office for very long--and that by breaking away from him she could have the power without the sharing.

But the general has shown through his eight years in power that he is nothing if not tenacious. If the deal is off, so too are his gloves. Bhutto can no longer expect any special treatment from Musharraf and could find herself in the same position as other opposition politicians--in jail or in exile again. The crackdown on her Pakistan People's Party will probably intensify. Musharraf "is capable of doing anything now," says Iftikhar Gilani, a former law minister under Bhutto who also has been a member of the general's party. "He has already confronted the press, the judiciary and the lawyers. Now he will attack the political parties, and they have large followings across Pakistan. There will be chaos."

That's a disturbing scenario for the Bush Administration, which was counting on the Musharraf-Bhutto deal to keep Pakistan stable. Many in Washington worry that the general is getting progressively heavy-handed and dictatorial. "Musharraf is digging in," says Stephen Cohen, a South Asia expert and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "He is either suicidal or totally ignorant of the situation." Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both telephoned Musharraf and urged him to ease up. Rice is sending her deputy, John D. Negroponte, to Islamabad to try to hold the general to his promise to step down as army chief at the end of November, lift the emergency degree and hold elections in early January. Negroponte will also try to revive the Musharraf-Bhutto deal, but some in the Administration recognize that can no longer be the only option. "If it becomes more and more clear that [Musharraf] is not budging," says a Western diplomat in Islamabad, "then certainly you start thinking of alternatives."

If Bhutto won't deal, then the U.S. may turn to the Pakistani military, which receives $150 million a month in American aid. "The best way to get Musharraf out," says an Administration official close to the current discussions on Pakistan, "is to prevail on his other colleagues in the military to remove him." The most obvious successor, Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kyani, is deeply loyal to Musharraf--but the Western diplomat is quick to point out that Kyani once worked with Bhutto as her military secretary and that he was involved in the early stages of negotiating her deal with his boss. Bhutto must know that she cannot return to power without the endorsement of the military, the country's most powerful and enduring institution. Pakistani Realpolitik dictates that she may have to rebound from Musharraf into a relationship with another general.

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MUSHARRAF SHUTS DOWN GEO TV 

ISLAMABAD: GEO TV, Pakistan's premier Urdu news channel, also seen round the world as the main source of news and current affairs, was shut down at 1 a.m. Pakistan time (12 midnight Dubai time) after President Pervez Musharraf put tremendous pressure to silence a media outlet which had refused to bow down to his dictates.

Informed sources said President Pervez Musharraf himself intervened to stop all GEO news transmissions from Dubai, after a two-week standoff in Pakistan during which all major news channels were shut down by cable operators, who are directly controlled by the Pakistani authorities. 

The shutting down of the Geo News was universally condemned by almost every political party and member of the civil society minutes before the anchors, almost in tears, signed off. 

PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif told Dr. Shahid Masood on telephone from London it was a tragic moment in Pakistan's history as the Musharraf regime was bent upon destroying every symbol of free speech and democracy in the country. 

Makhdoon Amin Faheem, the PPP Vice Chairman told Geo News, in its dying moments, that it would be a tragedy for the country and democracy if Geo went off the air, which it did minutes later. 

Lt. General Talat Masood, Retired Chief Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqi and many others representing the civil society, who used to appear regular in Geo talk shows, expressed shock and disgust at the decision to shut of Geo TV. 

Popular news anchors came on Geo News around midnight Pakistan time to announce that their channel had been ordered to go off the air as result of the continued deadlock between the Pakistani authorities and the media channels, following the imposition of the emergency in the country. 

In Pakistan all GEO channels were blocked by the military regime after the imposition of the emergency but on Friday two main channels, DAWN News and AAJ were back on air, with AAJ announcing that two its most popular talks shows, hosted by Talat Hussain, Nusrat Javeed and Mushtaq Mihas, were suspended temporarily. 

Geo News was shut down because it had refused to budge. After six years of objective and highly professional telecasts, which earned the channel the honour of being the most popular TV channel, the Government of Pakistan put it off the air on Nov 4 after emergency was imposed. 

Geo News was under pressure from day one. The government tried to bring it down but the channel became a household name in Pakistan and abroad and was declared by the international observers as the most watched and popular TV channel. 

Its role in the judicial crisis, which started on March 9, when the President filed a reference against the Chief Justice, was highly applauded, domestically and internationally. 

Geo kept the whole world informed about the developments regarding the events unfolding during the struggle of people of Pakistan for restoration of dignity of the judiciary through its objective reporting by giving all points of view. The programmes, talks shows and commentaries produced by Geo created an impact and awareness among the people. 

Sources said the government first asked the Geo administration to stop the most popular programmes of popular TV hosts Dr. Shahid Masood, Hamid Mir and Kamran Khan without offering any tangible reason why they should be stopped. 

After the success of the Chief Justice campaign all private news channels were banned from telecasting live programmes and filming outside the studios. 

The media workers protested against the move and the government had to accept the demands of the media workers. The shows were allowed to continue but live coverage was banned. 

In the meanwhile General Pervez Musharraf kept on resorting to pressure tactics and the Geo channels revenue sources were targeted. 

Under his orders all government advertisements were not only stopped but other commercial advertisers were also pressurized not to give business to Geo. The channel withstood all the pressures and suffered huge losses. A statement submitted in the Sindh High Court on Friday said almost Rs1 billion was lost by the channel. 

After the emergency General Musharraf banned Geo and other channels inside Pakistan. Geo stood the pressure and refused to sign on the dotted line. 

The sources pointed out that the government under General Pervez Musharraf enhanced its pressure on the media to regulate itself under the command of the administration after the clamping of emergency. 

The media was strangulated through an ordinance that placed restrictions on its freedom that had no precedent. It was virtually made impossible to carry on free journalism in the country in the presence of the said ordinance. 

A so-called code of conduct was thrust upon the media to follow without any consultations with the journalist community. Private channels were asked to sign an undertaking that would have made the channels subservient to the authorities. 

This was done after suspending all private channels of the country and the channel administrations were asked to accept the conditions and sign the document of undertaking. 

They were told to accept provisional licences instead of the permanent ones they had. The earlier licences were cancelled through the same order. 

The sources said that General Pervez Musharraf asked the channels to stop their current affairs programmes, which were not acceptable to him and demanded that anchorpersons should be fired. 

The channels who signed the document were restored on the cable. Some channels accepted the official advice while others refused to follow. 

Geo declined to oblige General Pervez Musharraf as the demands included cooperation on all points which the new caretaker government would bring up. 

It was demanded that Geo should stop the objectionable current affairs programmes and toe the official line. 

The authorities wanted that the channel should cooperate with President General Pervez Musharraf. 

The channel was further asked to submit all its programmes for monitoring by government officials, as no programme without clearance would be aired. 

The sources said that Geo was first forbidden in Pakistan through cable not brought under pressure through the authorities concerned of the country from where it was being aired. 

The channel was being seen at some places in the country through dish antennas and Internet but the government's technical experts first tried to stop it on the Internet and then a ban was placed on the import of dish antenna and relevant equipment used for receiving direct satellite signals. 

The authorities in the host country had to ask the Geo News to stop its telecast from their up-linking station under excruciating pressure coming from the Government of Pakistan without considering its long-term adverse impact on the image of the host country. 

The authorities concerned while conveying the message of the Pakistan Government to close down the channel, ridiculed the decision as they had no experience of facing such a demand which was contrary to all norms of decency and business in the modern time business culture, the sources revealed. 

Geo's voice was silenced by General Pervez Musharraf as its anchors, almost in tears, bid farewell to its viewers and listeners

Journalists march against Geo News closure (Updated at 0300)

KARACHI: The journalists including employees Geo TV Network marched from Geo office to Governor House in token protest against the closure of Geo News across the world. 

Although the march was peaceful against the complete closure of Geo News but the Police used force to stop the march. 

We are passing through critical time: Nasir Baig (Updated at 0230)

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Bhutto defiant after house arrest

Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has renewed her calls for President Pervez Musharraf to end emergency rule.

She told reporters the new interim government that is overseeing elections was "not acceptable".

She was speaking shortly after being freed from house arrest.

US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte has arrived in Islamabad, with Washington insisting that Gen Musharraf resign his military post.

Ms Bhutto was placed under house arrest in Lahore on Tuesday to stop her from leading a march to Islamabad.

The move was part of a huge clampdown that has seen thousands of people arrested since emergency rule was introduced on 3 November.

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Plot against Bhutto bodes ill for Pakistan
By Gul Jammas Hussain

Millions have embraced the Bhutto cult but there are millions who never did, who think its founder, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was just a magician who invented a fake religion to mesmerize his followers.
 
 However, his believers say Bhutto was a dedicated leader with exceptional intellectual qualities who gave Pakistan its nuclear program, brought back the 93,000 soldiers captured by India after the humiliating defeat in the 1971 war, distributed feudal lands to the poor peasants, and liberated manual workers from the clutches of factory owners.
 
 From the military to the masses, from the top bureaucracy down to junior government clerks, and from powerful feudal lords to the poor country peasants, the whole country is clearly divided into two distinct factions -- one that loves the Bhuttos; and another that hates them.
 
 Those who hate them always tried to destroy them and their ideology by any means possible. They hanged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto -- the first elected prime minister of Pakistan and the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party -- but that did not satisfy them. They went on to persecute the Bhutto family and their followers.
 
 Bhutto’s daughter Benazir and wife Nusrat were arrested and placed in solitary confinement, and his son Shahnawaz was murdered under mysterious circumstances. But all this could not diminish Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s popularity, even in death.
 
 When Benazir Bhutto returned from exile in 1986, she was welcomed by a dancing, singing crowd of one million people chanting slogans like “May Bhutto live as long as the sun and stars exist.”
 
 In Pakistan there is intense love for the Bhuttos, and also intense hate for them. Their lovers and haters are both unbelievably mad people. Over the years, the intensity of their emotions has been manifested through incredible feats.
 
 While one group wants them to live forever, other groups want to see the last politically active member of the Bhutto family dead. And now Bhutto-haters have acquired new allies: the Pakistani Taleban from Waziristan and Al-Qaeda militants from the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
 
 On October 6, when Ms. Bhutto was preparing to return to Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, a militant tribal chief from the semi-autonomous region of South Waziristan, bordering Afghanistan, threatened her, saying his bombers were waiting in the wings to ‘welcome’ her when she returns to Pakistan. “My men will welcome Bhutto on her return. We do not accept General Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, because they only protect the U.S. interests and see things through its glasses.”
 
 Mehsud, who commands a 5,000-strong private army of tribal militants, is a ruthless warlord of the mountainous region of northwest Pakistan. He is known to have close links with the Afghan Taleban, their leader Mullah Omar, and Al-Qaeda militants. He was greatly inspired by the Taleban ideology and frequently visited Afghanistan as a volunteer to join in the Taleban’s drive for the enforcement of Islamic law (shariah) in the Waziristan region.
 
 Mehsud is responsible for many deadly attacks on the security forces and recently kidnapped 300 Pakistan Army soldiers and beheaded some to show his fury over the Musharraf government’s operation against the Red Mosque of Islamabad. He is demanding the withdrawal of the security forces from South Waziristan and the release of his captured men in exchange for the soldiers’ freedom.
 
 Despite his denials, Mehsud is being blamed by many for the devastating bomb attack on Ms. Bhutto’s convoy in Karachi on October 18, just a few hours after she returned to the country. She survived the assassination attempt, but over 140 innocent people died and 550 were wounded.
 
 Ms. Bhutto believes that some hardcore elements from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Pakistan Army also played a significant role in orchestrating the assassination attempt.
 
 Eight hours before boarding her flight from Dubai to Karachi, she wrote an email to UPI editor at large, Arnaud De Borchgrave, saying, “I have been informed that Baitullah Mehsud, an Afghan (sic -- he is actually a Pakistani Pushtun), Hamza Bin Laden, an Arab, and a Red Mosque militant have been sent to kill me. I wrote to (President Pervez) Musharraf telling him that if something happened, then I wanted these three held responsible -- the people who I think are behind them. I have also left a copy of the letter, in case something happens (to me), but I expect all to go smoothly.”
 
 And then a day after the carnage, talking to The Times of London, Ms. Bhutto estimated that no fewer than four different groups sought to kill her on the day she returned. “There was one suicide squad from the Taleban elements; one suicide squad from Al-Qaeda; one suicide squad from the Pakistani Taleban; and a fourth -- a group, I believe, from Karachi,” she said.
 
 And now Ms. Bhutto has received a new death threat. Senator Farooq Naik, Bhutto’s lawyer, said he had received a two-page handwritten letter in Urdu from an unidentified person threatening to kill her “by any means.” The writer claimed to be a friend of Al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, and the head of suicide-bombers in Pakistan.
 
 Those who want to kill Bhutto should know that people die but ideologies do not. The Zulfikar Ali Bhutto legend is an ideology that can not be killed.
 
 At this critical juncture, those who are seeking to assassinate Benazir Bhutto should reflect upon the repercussions of their plot, since it would further polarize Pakistani society, if it succeeded.

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REBUTTAL TO GPM AND THUGS OF GUJRAT
By Wajid Shamsul Hasan

Gujrat—in the province of Pakistani Punjab—has earned international notoriety for at least two things—if not more. Firstly, it is known widely what many in their reverence call “Shah Doula Dey Chohay”—men and women with shrunken heads over a large human body-- described medically as micro-encephalic children. When one looks at their sad plight, it evokes sympathy and remorse.

While not under-estimating them, one can not, however, ignore yet another ignominiously cursed breed—though in appearance normal but otherwise no better than those creatures that gnaw the society at its roots, grind their teeth into its vitals and yet take pride in being known as Choudhries otherwise popularly described as Co-operative Thugs of Gujrat.

Not that it is something despicable to be scions of a foot constable to rise in a society--from rags to riches particularly when they have used all means—fair and foul including their kinky queer habits-- what makes one take exception to them is their most outrageous attempt at drowning Punjab in their filth and stinking scum. By abusing 44 per cent of the province’s development fund in an advertising campaign to white wash their overly kala-kola image and also to re-launch a recycled dirty tricks media operation of 1990 election campaign against PPP chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto—they have started digging their own grave to be finally buried deep down under the loads of dung-heap of their misdeeds.

I am sure painful and agonising shrieks of Imran Khan’s sisters as well as brave PPP ladies, human rights workers—when pulled by their hair and dragged by the private police force raised on the pattern of Hitler’s Storm troopers by the Choudhries directly under the orders of their commando godfather—would be recorded as one of the most gory and blood curdling chapters that would make previous tortures to political dissidents bed-side tales for the kids.

The clarion call by Bhutto for a people’s revolution for the restoration of democracy, rule of law, restitution of the Chief Justice of Pakistan and other judges sacked by General Pervez Musharraf to save his second skin and to perpetuate his illegal hold on power by media blackout and Draconian clampdown on the journalists---sooner than later—would unleash the dynamics of change for the good of the country.

By returning home under direct threats of assassination by those who have wielded power for more than eight years and having survived an attempt on her life just when she landed back home to a tumultuous welcome by millions, her message to them is loud and clear—nothing can stop the caravan of democracy from reaching the goal post of its destiny. Her timely return has awakened the masses from their deep inertia inflicted on them by hunger, starvation and deprivation and they are ready for the battle to save Pakistan especially at this critical juncture when Pakistan’s mighty General has been conceding territory miles followed by miles to the conquering militants in Swat and Northern Pakistan.

When he has dragged the country to the point when it could be declared a failed state any hour, he wants more time to Viagra-ise himself through emergency so that he could do what he could not do in last eight years. In short, his is a recipe for a total disaster.

At this defining moment all the saner political elements should join hands with Bhutto to make a united effort to stop Pakistan’s slide down the eddy of doom.  

It needs to be realised that the Gujrat’s co-operative thugs, their Praetorian godfather and other political scavengers in cahoots with them, have bloated themselves on the nation’s blood. They have got addicted to it and it is running through them—instead of giving it up they are hell-bent to devour the body to the barest of its bones. One feels that Pakistan needs to be saved from these vultures first, obscurantist forces that thrived due to their patronage can be taken care of later. The masses know well that Bhutto haters are the doddering vestiges of the old order who are writhing in the last trauma and tremors and to get rid of them for good now requires one big and final push to send them rolling down never to rise again.  

A Pakistan designed to be secular and democratic by the founding fathers was perforce allowed to be hijacked by the obscurantist elements who had opposed the Quaid’s progressive and modern vision. And the land where its citizens were not to be discriminated on account of their caste, creed or colour was allowed to be fragmented by those who had opposed Mr Jinnah’s egalitarian Pakistan. And the Generals instead of surrendering to the political will of the masses and accept them as the sole arbiters of power, preferred to lay down their arms before the Indians.

Ms Bhutto’s announcement to return to Pakistan had made nights sleepless for those who had socio-economically and politically scavenged Pakistan. Ever since then and more desperately now her political adversaries—both in the corridors of power and outside—have been trying to outdo each other in distorting her image by their vicarious spins to derail her well-thought out mission to restore the supremacy of the masses.

Enormously vicious print media blitzkrieg through heavily paid huge advertisements is much more of the same that the masses have suffered through since 1970. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was targeted then and now once again his daughter is facing the malicious propaganda on slought. All the filth that has been catapulted at the Bhuttos has fallen back direct on the face of its perpetrators. Theirs indeed, is a rare phenomenon. The more Bhuttos are character-assassinated, the more endeared they become with the masses. Almost all her adversaries—including those in the government-- joined hands to malign her political brinkmanship under different interpretations and connotations.

Even those in the media who claim to have an eye to see things that are normally opaque, could not guess. They rushed to declare that she had lost her face by agreeing to engage herself in talks for peaceful transition to democracy only to be jolted out of their firmly taken up positions by the teeming cavalcade of her “shirtless and shoeless” supporters from every nook and corner of Pakistan to converge onto Karachi to give it the look of a “mini-Pakistan” as a newspaper correspondent aptly described the look of the Quaid’s last resting place. All their calculations and estimates failed and most of them wimpishly agreed: deal or no deal, people wanted her back, to be in their midst and to lead them once again.  

Now most of her political contemporaries who did not see eye to eye with her politics—sneakily accept that she played her cards exceptionally well. As a result now to campaign against her are only the Thugs of Gujrat, Musharraf’s HMVs and those that wag their tongues and tails just to please their master with the whip. With rotten eggs spread on their faces, even likes of Shedda Tullies (not mistake him for Mark Tully) are accusing the PPP Chairperson of doing what General Pervez Musharraf has come to be internationally known as: “mother of all about turners” and “mother of service to his foreign masters”.

In their heart of hearts they know that none of the military dictators in our history has done so much for the Americans as the GPM. And there is no other reason but this “mother of all services” rendered by him to them that has made Washington—despite being fed up with him for being too much of an embarrassment for them now--to continue trying to seek a safe exit strategy for him. Indeed, the common man in the street though empty in the stomach—gets a full laugh when he hears the general now rendered into a tin-pot stutterer on the idiot box claiming that he does not accept foreign dictates—only welcomes foreign exchange. It is something like pot calling the kettle black. His band-wagoners have conveniently forgotten the fact that it were Pakistan’s military rulers who have rendered Pakistan’s sovereignty and independence into a myth and not Bhuttos.

Is it not a fact that a Pakistani prime minister had to rush to President Clinton to plead to him to save Pakistan from the dreadful fall-out consequences of the Kargil misadventure in 1999? Had the Americans not intervened effectively then, a war with India could not be averted. And indeed much earlier to that--in 1971- had not President Nixon stopped Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from advancing her conquering troops into West Pakistan after having captured 5000 square miles of Pakistani land on the western front, by now Pakistan would have become a foot note in history. It was ZAB who got back in the Simla summit what our generals had shamelessly lost in the battlefield.

It was again a Bhutto that saved Pakistan from being declared a terrorist rogue state in 1993. Even in General Zia’s time —Benazir Bhutto—considered a ‘security risk’ by him had used her good offices to save Pakistan from American sanctions.

Even his worst critics acknowledge today that ZAB had restored Pakistan’s image of honour and respect in the comity of nations by his pro-active foreign policy, his support to the Arabs and his sincere commitment to the Third World. It was General Zia who rendered this revived image of respect back to square one.

While one would have ignored with contempt the well-orchestrated media blitzkrieg launched against her following her return in which “she came, she saw and she conquered”, the lowly swipe by GPM at her showed his pathetic state of mind. One had heard much about his other inadequacies but one did not know that he suffered from what doctors call figure-blindness. Giving an interview to a foreign journalist he ridiculed the popularity that Bhutto enjoys among the masses. Having kept her illegally hostage, her house surrounded by more than 3000 police men plus an equal number in civvies, he said that she could not collect 150 people. One was reminded of a similar guffaw by him when he could not see the huge crowd at the Supreme Court through his window which was either shut or opened on the opposite side. Not only that, he also gave reasons for “her” unpopularity.  

He referred to her statements on Dr A.Q. Khan, Red Mosque and the Islamic militants, giving these the twist that only people who suffer foot-in-the-mouth disease can. His spin doctors had started shooting from their hips—to accuse her of being anti-state and of having belittled Dr A.Q. Khan. Like his now former ministers, his was an attempt at insinuating her. His ministers, it needs to be recalled, had twisted her statement that in which she had said that Dr A.Q. Khan had been singly made a scapegoat and to know the  truth as to who were the real culprits or who other beneficiaries were along with him in the nuclear money loot—she would allow IAEA access to meet Dr A.Q.Khan in Pakistan to find out the truth.  No where did she ever say that when she would come into power she would hand over Dr Khan to IAEA interrogators.

Ms Bhutto was once asked the hypothetical question whether a government led by her would cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in investigating charges against Dr. A.Q. Khan. She responded by saying that a PPP government would extend full cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Commission. This position was not very different from what Musharraf government has maintained. Her simple statement of a factual position was deliberately distorted to imply that she promised any unlawful handing over of anyone to foreigners. Rather, she has maintained that the PPP has always sought to establish rule of law and there was no question of violating Pakistani or International law in relation to the freedom and personal rights of anyone, including Dr A.Q. Khan. One may add here that to get to expose the real racketeers behind the nuclear super market she had demanded immediately institution of a by-partisan parliamentary committee to investigate. There is, indeed, something more than meets the eye that whenever there is any move to let Dr  A.Q. Khan speak out, those generals having the major share in the nuclear pie rush to shoot it down as anti-Pakistan.
 
We must remember Zulfikar Ali Bhutto preferred death than to give up his pursuit of the nuclear glow for Pakistan.

In one of his last meetings ZAB emphasised to his daughter that Pakistan’s nuclear programme should remain deterrent and at no stage transfer of technology be permitted. According to him, those opposed to it might swallow the bitter pill of a Pakistani bomb but they would unleash their wrath on Pakistan if it passes the technology onto other Muslim or friendly countries. They would not let Pakistani bomb become an Islamic bomb.

In the light of her father’s instructions she made Pakistan’s Nuclear Doctrine very clear. No export of it at any cost. It has been Benazir Bhutto’s mission to protect Pakistan’s nuclear programme. According to her, Pakistan’s nuclear programme was a matter of life and death for Pakistan. No one would be allowed to roll it back nor would be permitted to stop its further development solely as a deterrent. In her nuclear doctrine there is total ban on transfer of nuclear technology for “money or friendship”.

It is for its future protection that Bhutto has always emphasised upon the need for a investigation into the violation of Pakistan’s nuclear doctrine. It is a must to reassure the international community that Pakistan is a responsible nation and it can secure its nuclear arsenal. It will have to be done sooner than later to nip that lobby in the bud that believes that in order to attack Iran’s nuclear programme Pakistan’s shall have to be destroyed first to ensure it does not fall in the hands of Taliban and religious extremists.

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Response to "Aunt Benazir's False Promises"
ByAbid Hussain Imam

Dear Editor,

While Fatima Bhutto is critical of her aunt by whom she felt personally wronged some ten years ago, it is now the present regime that is wronging people. Fatima Bhutto is viewed by many as a pawn of our intelligence services who is being deployed today to discredit the democratic opposition, spearheaded by her aunt, Benazir Bhutto, to a government that is destroying the institutions of the country for one ultimate goal: to perpetuate the rule of one individual, who has never been democratically elected.

The issues at hand today are: the suspension of the Constitution; the declaration of the Emergency, a de facto Martial Law; the removal and arrest of the Chief Justice and the majority of the judiciary in Pakistan; the arrest of thousands of lawyers, human rights activists and political workers; the extension of the Army Act to civilians, who if they now say or are overhead saying anything critical of the Army or any member of the Armed Forces risk arrest and trial by military courts; and the suspension of all private news TV channels in an effort to suppress the media--the reversal of all of the foregoing is a prerequisite to free and fair elections.

Fatima Bhutto's vendetta can continue after the Constitution is restored and the judiciary reinstated. Provided that this regime restores the judiciary--on which everyone is in agreement--former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will continue to face the courts, as she has done in the past ten years, and the court of the people as she has done in the past twenty. How she would fare in the court of her niece has been known by Pakistanis for some time.

Sincerely,

Abid Hussain Imam
New York, NY

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U.S. Is Looking Past Musharraf in Case He Falls
By HELENE COOPER, MARK MAZZETTI and DAVID ROHDE

This article is by Helene Cooper, Mark Mazzetti and David Rohde.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 — Almost two weeks into Pakistan’s political crisis, Bush administration officials are losing faith that the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, can survive in office and have begun discussing what might come next, according to senior administration officials.

In meetings on Wednesday, officials at the White House, State Department and the Pentagon huddled to decide what message Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte would deliver to General Musharraf — and perhaps more important, to Pakistan’s generals — when he arrives in Islamabad on Friday.

Administration officials say they still hope that Mr. Negroponte can salvage the fractured arranged marriage between General Musharraf and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. But in Pakistan, foreign diplomats and aides to both leaders said the chances of a deal between the leaders were evaporating 11 days after General Musharraf declared de facto martial law.
Several senior administration officials said that with each day that passed, more administration officials were coming around to the belief that General Musharraf’s days in power were numbered and that the United States should begin considering contingency plans, including reaching out to Pakistan’s generals.

More than a dozen officials in Washington and Islamabad from a number of countries spoke on condition of anonymity because of the fragility of Pakistan’s current political situation. The doubts that American officials voiced about whether General Musharraf could survive were more pointed than any public statements by the administration, and signaled declining American patience in advance of Mr. Negroponte’s trip.

Officials involved in the discussions in Washington said the Bush administration remained wary of the perception that the United States was cutting back-room deals to install the next leader of Pakistan. “They don’t want to encourage another military coup, but they are also beginning to understand that Musharraf has become part of the problem,” said one former official with knowledge of the debates inside the Bush administration.

That shift in perception is significant because for six years General Musharraf has sought to portray himself, for his own purposes, as the West’s best alternative to a possible takeover in Pakistan by radical Islamists.
While remote areas in northwestern Pakistan remain a haven for Al Qaeda and other Islamic militants, senior officials at the White House, the State Department and the Pentagon now say they recognize that the Pakistani Army remains a powerful force for stability in Pakistan, and that there is little prospect of an Islamic takeover if General Musharraf should fall.

If General Musharraf is forced from power, they say, it would most likely be in a gentle push by fellow officers, who would try to install a civilian president and push for parliamentary elections to produce the next prime minister, perhaps even Ms. Bhutto, despite past strains between her and the military.
Many Western diplomats in Islamabad said they believed that even a flawed arrangement like that one was ultimately better than an oppressive and unpopular military dictatorship under General Musharraf.

Such a scenario would be a return to the diffuse and sometimes unwieldy democracy that Pakistan had in the 1990s before General Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup.
But the diplomats also warned that removing the general might not be that easy. Army generals are unlikely to move against General Musharraf unless certain “red lines” are crossed, such as countrywide political protests or a real threat of a cutoff of American military aid to Pakistan.

Since he invoked emergency powers on Nov. 3, General Musharraf has successfully used a huge security crackdown to block large-scale protests. Virtually all major opposition politicians have been detained, as well as 2,500 party workers, lawyers and human rights activists, and on Wednesday, a close aide to General Musharraf said the Pakistani leader remained convinced that emergency rule should continue.

Pakistan’s cadre of elite generals, called the corps commanders, have long been kingmakers inside the country. At the top of that cadre is Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, General Musharraf’s designated successor as army chief. General Kayani is a moderate, pro-American infantry commander who is widely seen as commanding respect within the army and, within Western circles, as a potential alternative to General Musharraf.

General Kayani and other military leaders are widely believed to be eager to pull the army out of politics and focus its attention purely on securing the country.
Senior administration officials in Washington said they were concerned that the longer the constitutional crisis in Pakistan continued, the more diverted Pakistan’s army would be from the mission the United States wants it focused on: fighting terrorism in the country’s border areas.

The officials said there was growing worry in Washington that the situation unfolding in the mountainous region of Swat, where Islamic militants sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda are battling Pakistan’s Army, was a sign that General Musharraf — and the Pakistani Army — might be too busy jailing political opponents to fight militants.
The administration officials said they were also dismayed that General Musharraf last week released 25 militants in exchange for 213 soldiers captured by militants in August, and agreed to withdraw soldiers from certain areas of South Waziristan.

Since spring, concern has been growing in the armed forces that General Musharraf’s battle to remain in power and his recent political blunders have cost him popularity with the public and damaged the reputation of the armed forces, Western and Pakistani military analysts say.
The army’s poor performance battling militants in the country’s rugged tribal areas in the northwest has placed enormous strain on the army as well. Hundreds of soldiers have died, dozens have surrendered without a fight and militants have carried out beheadings to demoralize the force.

“The army is getting more and more concerned and worried and disturbed,” said Talat Masood, a retired general and political analyst. “They have a genuine engagement in the tribal belt of Frontier Province and Baluchistan,” he said, referring to armed clashes. “And now they have such a major confrontation between the military and civil sectors of society, and the lines are getting sharper.”
While the military supports the emergency, it is doing so with caution, and there are red lines the army will not cross, Western military officials in Pakistan said. “Kayani is loyal to Musharraf,” said one Western military official. “But also to Pakistan.”

One red line the military would probably not be prepared to cross would be if it were called on to maintain internal security anywhere beyond the areas of the insurgency. If widespread political protests were to emerge, the army could be called out to enforce law and order.
While no large-scale protests have emerged since the emergency was declared, the apparent collapse over the last week of American-backed talks to create a power-sharing deal between Ms. Bhutto and General Musharraf could lead to more street confrontations, diplomats said.

As General Musharraf has refused to lift his emergency declaration, lawmakers in Washington have stepped up threats to freeze aid payments to Islamabad.
“There is widespread disapproval in Congress of these actions,” said Representative Nita M. Lowey, a New York Democrat who is on the House Appropriations Committee. “As long as the emergency rule continues, I don’t know if we can provide direct cash assistance to the Musharraf government.”
But other top Democrats say they are wary about endorsing cuts in aid, citing concern that it could undermine efforts to fight Al Qaeda in Pakistan. And the Western military official in Pakistan warned that an aid cutoff could anger Pakistan’s army.

Other experts argue that pressure could build on General Musharraf if the corps commanders believed that the president’s actions threatened the $1 billion in annual aid Washington provides to Pakistan’s military.
“The military is pretty demoralized right now,” said Christine Fair, a Pakistan analyst in Washington. “But what keeps Musharraf in the position he is in with the military is the huge largess from the United States.”
David Rohde and Carlota Gall reported from Islamabad, Pakistan, and Thom Shanker contributed from Washington.

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Bhutto: Time for Musharraf to go

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto called on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to immediately step down in the wake of a mass crackdown on the opposition this week.

"It's time for him to leave," said Bhutto in a phone interview with CNN Tuesday morning, as Pakistani riot police arrested her supporters. It marked the first time she has called on Musharraf, who is both president and army chief, to completely give up power. In the past, she has called on him to renounce his military role while serving as president.
Bhutto, who is under house arrest in Lahore, said while she has tried to work with Musharraf on a "roadmap to democracy," the arrests of thousands of people on Monday convinced her he must go. "There's a total trust deficit," Bhutto said, adding that she has been placed under house arrest for seven days.

In her CNN interview, she also addressed media reports that Musharraf may have her deported. "I'm told by Sky television that the regime is getting a C-130 military aircraft ready to take me away, presumably to my home in Karachi. But I have not been given any indication of whether I will be taken out of this house arrest, or whether I will be taken to my own house, or to any unknown destination," Bhutto said.

"So I'm totally in the dark at this moment on what this regime is planning to do with me." Asked if she would leave the country if the government tries to force her out, Bhutto replied, "No, I won't go. Pakistan is my country. I belong in Pakistan and I can not be banished. I would prefer to live in a Pakistani jail than to be forced to leave."

While authorities barricaded the streets surrounding the house where she is staying, only a "handful" of officials and members of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) had tried to breach the cordon, CNN's Karl Penhaul reported.

"These party officials show up to the barricades. They symbolically chant two or three slogans and then almost voluntarily they seem to be stepping into police vans to be taken off for some kind of arrest," Penhaul reported.

"But certainly, there ... is no massing of party interests here and certainly, right now, there are many more police and, indeed, many more TV cameras than there are supporters of Benazir Bhutto."

Opposition groups had hoped to stage a five-day Lahore-to-Islamabad march and were counting on a groundswell of popular support to carry out the protest, but there appeared to be none.

Police and opposition officials reported the scattered burning of tires in Lahore to protest the barricades. Meanwhile, several hundred police officers surrounded the house where Bhutto was staying and declared it a "subjail," sending jail staff to monitor the situation.

On Friday Bhutto was briefly confined to her villa compound in Islamabad in an effort to halt a massive opposition protest in Rawalpindi against Musharraf's November 3 declaration of emergency rule. He has called it necessary to crack down on Islamic terrorists massing strength in volatile tribal regions along the Afghan border. The opposition says the emergency order amounts to martial law and amounts to a power grab by Musharraf.

Pakistani authorities have shut down media outlets and jailed opposition leaders and lawyers who protested Musharraf's sacking of a number of Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Ikhtar Muhammed Chaudhry. Opposition leaders contend Musharraf's emergency order was issued to avoid what they said was the top court's impending decision, that would have nullified his recent election victory, on grounds he was ineligible.

Musharraf has said the newly-installed court judges "accept the election," and he repeated his vow to step down as military chief as soon as the court approves his third term.

On Sunday, Musharraf announced that a parliamentary vote would take place before January 9, adding that it could take place with the state of emergency still in effect. In fact, he said, the emergency order "will ensure absolutely fair and transparent elections."

In the wake of the emergency order and crackdown, Bhutto has said talks on a power-sharing deal with Musharraf have been shelved. Fellow opposition leaders have criticized her for considering such a deal.

The United States and Britain, among other nations, have cautiously urged Musharraf to rescind the emergency decree.

"The president thinks that we need to lift the emergency rule in order to have free and fair elections," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday. "But again, let me stress that the situation in Pakistan is evolving, and it's not easy to predict what's going to happen or what's going to be said. We continue to urge everyone to exercise restraint and non-violence as they work through this crisis.

Meanwhile, the Commonwealth -- a 53-nation alliance made up largely of former members of the British Empire -- declared that Musharraf's emergency decree was taken "outside the provisions of the Constitution." The group demanded that the Pakistani leader rescind the decree, step down as military chief, release those detained under the emergency decree, remove restrictions on the press and hold elections as called for in the constitution.

"If, after review of progress, Pakistan has failed to implement these necessary measures, we will suspend Pakistan from the councils of the Commonwealth," said Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon, anticipating the next November 22 meeting.

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Bhutto says Musharraf must step down
By Simon Gardner

LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto called on Tuesday for military leader Pervez Musharraf to step down as president, isolating him in the run-up to a general election.

Britain stepped up international pressure on Musharraf, who imposed emergency rule on November 3, backing a 10-day Commonwealth ultimatum for him to end the emergency and quit as army chief.

Bhutto has long called for Musharraf to step down as army chief and become a civilian president but it was the first time she had called for him to quit as president altogether. She also said she could never serve as prime minister under him.

"It is time for him to go. He must quit as president," Bhutto, who has for months held power-sharing negotiations with Musharraf, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

She was speaking from the city of Lahore where she was placed under house arrest hours before a planned protest against emergency rule.

Musharraf set off a storm of criticism when he imposed the emergency, suspended the constitution, sacked most judges, locked up lawyers, rounded up thousands of opposition and rights activists and curbed the media.
The crisis in nuclear-armed Pakistan has raised fears about its stability and its ability to focus on battling a growing Islamist militancy.

"CONTAMINATED"

"I will not serve as prime minister as long as Musharraf is president," Bhutto said. "Even if I wanted to work with him, I would not have the public support."

"Negotiations between us have broken down over the massive use of police force against women and children. There's no question now of getting this back on track because anyone who is associated with General Musharraf gets contaminated," she said.

"The men whose wives have been mistreated, the women who have seen their spouses thrashed and beaten up in front of their eyes don't want us to have anything to do with General Musharraf."

Bhutto said Musharraf appeared "out of his depth": "There's a huge crisis."

A spokesman for Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 coup, declined to comment.

Two-time prime minister Bhutto planned to lead a motorcade on a 270 km (170 mile) route from Lahore to Islamabad to demand that Musharraf quit as army chief, end emergency rule, reinstate the constitution and free detained activists -- including the 7,500 Bhutto said were from her party.

Lahore is Pakistan's political nerve centre, the capital of Punjab province which is ruled by Musharraf supporters who are expected to suffer heavy losses in a general election the president has promised will be held before January 9.

But about 4,000 police moved in overnight around the Lahore house where Bhutto is staying, laying out coils of barbed wire, setting up barricades and blocking streets with trucks laden with sand. Police in riot vests and carrying batons manned barricades set up around a 1-km (half-mile) perimeter.

A detention order was pasted on the gate.

"Her residence is an official jail now," said a senior officer outside the house.

Police detained dozens of men and women chanting "Go Musharraf go" as they tried to pull down a barbed wire barricade. A Bhutto aide, Farzana Raja, was held after she tried to push her way past police to get to the house.

PRESSURE

Musharraf has come under growing pressure from Western allies to set Pakistan back on the path to democracy. He has declined to say when the constitution would be restored and said the emergency would ensure a fair vote.
Bhutto, dogged by accusations of corruption during her rule, said her party, Pakistan's biggest, might boycott the polls: "We haven't taken a final decision but that is the inclination.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. President George W. Bush both urged Musharraf on Monday to lift the emergency.

The Commonwealth gave him until November 22 to end emergency rule, restore the constitution and quit the army or face suspension.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, asked if the British government backed that call, said: "Absolutely, the Commonwealth position was one that the UK played an important part in creating."

Musharraf has justified the emergency by saying a meddling judiciary was hampering the battle against militants.
Diplomats say his main objective was to stop the Supreme Court from ruling invalid his October 6 re-election by legislative assemblies dominated by his supporters.

Musharraf has said he would step down as army chief and be sworn in as a civilian president as soon as the Supreme Court, where new judges seen as friendly to the government have been appointed, ruled on challenges to his election.

(Additional reporting by Kate Kelland in London; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

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A bureaucratic labyrinth
By TARIQ MALIK

While political parties arc questioning the code of conduct of Election Commission of Pakistan, the President and the current administration in conducting free and fair election here comes Election Commission of Pakistan announcing the draft Code of Conduct for political parties for the upcoming elections, without any pre-consultation with true stakeholders - the political parties. Why it was not discussed with political parties before and why just eight days were given to respond to it is simply incomprehensible.

In all democracies the shared code of ethical conduct sets out the guiding principles and practices that establish the framework for ethical conduct expected of not only political parties but all participants in the political process. If the Army is part of the political dispensation with its chief being the president, do we need their role be defined in code of ethics document? Does Election Commission of Pakistan have a spine to induce at the very least their oath as soldiers in the text of the document?

The shared code of ethical conduct is usually based upon a deep and enduring respect for the democratic process and compliance with election laws that codify the rules for elections and campaigning. Let's give the credit where its due: the most comprehensive election laws including the guidelines for the framework of code of ethics was prepared anti approved by the parliament by Zulfiqar Al Bhutto's democratic administration. This comprehensive document is known as representation of the People Act 19th. This document is supposed to be the guiding principle for all the elections of Pakistan. The current administration of Election Commission of Pakistan uses the same Act hut picks and chooses what suits current administration of Election Commission of conduct released by ECP for 2002 elections had 22 points but the latest draft release has 17 more. A comparative analysis will reveal the gems inserted so that violation or disqualifications should be easy subject to interpretation of ECP.

Consider few interesting items. "Parties and politicians shall refrain from making references to secret and confidential matters, which were within their official knowledge when they were in power." I have read the code of conduct documents of about dozens of countries, but this one beats all. What secret and confidential matters we are talking about? How does one define what is secret and confidential? Similarly, Item 9 under general conduct says "political parties and contesting candidates shall not refrain from making such comments on international issues as are likely to embarrass the government's relations with other countries, nor shall they say anything or do any act in any manner, which might prejudice Pakistan's foreign relations. Controversial or harsh remarks about leaders of other countries and their ideologies shall he avoided." ECP is so naïve that it does not understand that the nucleus of any election campaign is the criticism of foreign policies of the regime. How can an election campaign run without dissecting the success and failure of this regime's 'war of terrorism' specific foreign policy?

Nevertheless, there are some good points in code of ethics, though mostly taken out from Representation of the People Act 1976, but again the most important question is how to enforce those in absence of implementation mechanisms. For example, item 17 prohibits Ministers to combine their official visits with election campaign and item 18 prohibits the political parties and contesting candidates to procure support or assistance of any civil servant to promote or hinder the election of candidate. President, Prime Minister and Federal and State Ministers' visits organized by DCOs and district governments are clear-cut violation of this code. Just the other day, the Prime Minister accompanied by the ruling party chief and a flock of Ministers and other government officials went to Pir Pagara' house to cob a political arrangement with PML (Pagara group) and MQM. Similarly, daily barrage of electronic and print media ads by Government of Punjab with super-imposing chief minister's snapshots, paid by taxpayers money also defy the code of ethics. Once the final code of ethics is issued and the prevailing practices of the current regime still do not die down, how will ECP enforce it? Historical facts paint a dismal picture of past performance of ECP in conducting impartial, free and fair general elections. The soul of Pakistan has still scars of our notorious intelligence agencies putting together what was bhan mati ki kunba - the infamous Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJT) using public money. Why ECP remains silent then, and how it mitigates the same risk in forth coming general elections still remains to be seen!

While debate still rages on the demand of political parties to at least suspend, if not dismiss district governments, ECP should have included a code of conduct for the district governments as well. It talks about politicians contesting elections, ministers in executive administration and government bureaucrats buy does not touch upon the role of district governments. General elections 2008 has a great potential to be influenced by district governments thereby indicating the need to develop a code of conduct for the district governments.

In order to restore democratic order in Pakistan and to promote free, fair and credible elections, it is crucial that equality of access to political opportunities for all political parties be guaranteed by providing a level-playing field. An in-depth analysis of the code of restrictions, a more of bureaucratic labyrinth, an incomplete document which is silent on the enforcement mechanism and penalties.

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"STEVE GILL SHOW" INTERVIEW WITH SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE

Q Joining us on our newsmakers live, a very special guest who's been with us on the Steve Gill Show before. Last time she came it was a lot more controversial. She was speaking at Vanderbilt University. We even had to dispense those "Tennesseans Love Condi" t- shirts just to help show her a welcoming approach in Tennessee. And normally, we don't restrict what questions we ask or issues we get into with a guest, but we've reached a deal with Secretary Rice that I'm not going to bring up the Tennessee -- or she's not going to bring up the Tennessee-Alabama football game if I don't bring up that Mississippi State-Alabama game Saturday. So a deal's a deal.
Secretary, good to have you back with us.
SEC. RICE: It's good to be with you, and that's a very good deal, Steve. Thank you. (Laughter.)

Q You are a -- I mean, a lot of folks know, I think, but probably don't recognize how much of a devoted college and pro football fan you actually are.
SEC. RICE: I am indeed. It's been a little rough -- some good points, not so good points.

Q Hey, that's SEC football. You've got ups and downs.
SEC. RICE: Ups and downs. Lots of good teams in the SEC these days.

Q You got a promotion since we last talked with you as National Security Advisor. Sometimes, be careful what you ask for because you've got a full plate. Just this morning, you've got Ms. Bhutto in Pakistan saying, apparently, she wants Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, to step aside as both president and military commander. Does this make your job harder or easier in finding a way out of the turmoil in Pakistan?
SEC. RICE: Well, it's clearly a difficult situation in Pakistan. And Steve, we're just focusing on a few basics. The first is that they need to end the state of emergency as soon as possible. Secondly, they're going to need to hold these elections in January. It was a good thing that President Musharraf said that, but they need to hold those elections. And we still think that there is room for moderate forces to work together because they all have a common enemy in the extremists who tried to kill President Musharraf, also who tried to kill Mrs. Bhutto. But the most important thing is to get out of this state of emergency so that something like normal life can return to Pakistan.

Q Mrs. Bhutto is hinting that she may even push a boycott of those elections if they take place in January. Obviously, that would be a disaster for democracy in Pakistan.
SEC. RICE: Well, we are concerned that when the elections take place they have to take place in a different atmosphere than now. You can't have free and fair elections with the kinds of restrictions on the media that you have, with the kinds of restrictions on assembly of opposition. So clearly, some things are going to have to change on the ground before those elections can be held in any state.

Q Southwest Asia occupying a lot of your attention. You've also got President Ahmadi-Nejad in Iran continuing to be very forceful and refusing to go along with inspections or backing off of their nuclear ambitions. Are we making any progress behind the scenes? There's a sense, it seems, that in Iran some of his support is starting to fall away. Can we take advantage of that and maybe force an internal regime change?

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Digging a Hole
By Editorial Desk; SECTA

With five words in an interview with reporters for The Times yesterday, Gen. Pervez Musharraf showed how far removed he is from understanding what democracy is, never mind fulfilling his oft-broken promise to lead Pakistan back toward a stable and prosperous future.

Asked about Benazir Bhutto's call for his resignation, General Musharraf, Pakistan's president, shot back that the opposition leader, who is under house arrest, ''has no right to ask.'' Oh, really?

Although General Musharraf seems to believe that he can continue calling the shots, his political space is narrowing. Ms. Bhutto has ruled out a power-sharing deal with him in a future government. Washington had hoped such an agreement would be the key to Pakistan's transition back to democracy. And is there anyone who assigns any credence to his claims that he declared martial law to assure free and fair elections?

The world knows what it would look like if the general were serious about giving up a dictator's power. He would resign as the army's chief of staff by tomorrow, the day he is supposed to be sworn in for another term as president. He would reinstate the Supreme Court justices that he dismissed so they could not declare his ''re-election'' to be the sham that it so evidently was -- rather than have it validated by pliant justices he installed after declaring martial law.

In the interview, General Musharraf continued to defy Pakistan's Constitution -- and direct appeals by President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice -- by refusing to say when he would step down as army leader. He offered a ludicrous defense of his scrapping the Constitution, dismissing the Supreme Court and arresting some 2,500 opposition party workers, lawyers and human rights advocates -- and gave no hint when he might lift martial law.

Although he proved his tough-guy bona fides by rising to the top army post and then staging a bloodless coup in 1999, General Musharraf looks increasingly weak. He has taken to petty name-calling against the head of Pakistan's human rights commission. Putting political rivals under house arrest makes it seem as if he fears them as much, if not more, than Al Qaeda and the Taliban, which are the real threats to his country and beyond.

Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte is scheduled to meet General Musharraf in Islamabad later this week. We hope his message will be unambiguous. General Musharraf must lift martial law, reinstate constitutional processes, release political detainees, unfetter the media, give up his army post and accept whatever ruling the Supreme Court makes on his eligibility to be president. He must set a firm date for elections in January and facilitate everything -- an election commission, voter registration, media access, international monitors -- to make those polls as free and fair as possible.

Otherwise, the United States, which has provided Pakistan with more than $10 billion since Sept. 11, 2001, should condition some of that assistance on Islamabad's performance in fighting extremists and reconsider aid not directly linked to counterterrorism, like support for the F-16s that Washington let Pakistan buy. It should also shift money toward political parties, schools and courts to help the Pakistani people build a democracy.

The United States has core interests in Pakistan that need to be defended. That means standing firm for a stable civil society and democratic processes, fighting terrorism and securing the nation's nuclear arsenal.