Down with Martial Law
Power to the People

———— —-

Pakistan Lawyers Movement and
National Union of Pakistani Students and Alumni
(written by Taimur Rahman)

We lawyers, students, and other citizens of Pakistan
living in the United Kingdom are outraged by the
imposition of an “emergency” in Pakistan.

Let us begin by calling a spade, a spade. The manner
in which this emergency was announced by the Chief of
Army Staff, the manner in which all democratic
opposition leaders and activists were rounded up, the
manner in which there was a complete black-out of news
from non-official sources, the fact that the
constitution was abrogated, the Supreme Court was
stormed by the army and the Chief Justice was
dismissed, all of this points to the simple conclusion
that this is not a mere “emergency” but Martial Law.

The irony is that this martial law has been
promulgated by General Musharraf in the backdrop of a
chaotic situation that General Musharraf has himself
created. The current military authorities are
responsible for bringing Pakistan to the brink of
arguably the worst national crisis in the history of
our country. The only solution to this crisis is that
the current martial law authorities resign from all
offices and hand over power to the elected
representatives of the people. Without democracy
Pakistan has no future.

We too know how to quote, and not misquote, Abraham
Lincoln. It is self-evident that Abraham Lincoln,
elected by the people, stood first and foremost for a
government by the people, for the people, and of the
people. The current martial law authorities stand for
a regime by the military, for the military, and of the
military. They shame the great legacy of Lincoln by
taking his name to justify their attempt to deny the
people their power.

The attempt by martial law authorities to peddle this
draconian measure to the West as a necessary step in
order to wage the so-called ‘war on terror’ is so
utterly preposterous that it strikes us as nothing
other than a supreme insult to the intelligence of the
Pakistani people. What do people like Atizaz Ahsen,
Asma Jehangir, I.A. Rahman, Iqbal Haider, and others,
who have been arrested or placed under house arrest
have in common with religious fundamentalism? The fact
is that this martial law is aimed principally, in fact
solely, at the lawyers movement and the media.

It is no secret that the lawyers movement and the
media are celebrated by the people of Pakistan as
heroes because they are playing the principle role of
a democratic opposition in the country. This martial
law has been promulgated not as a result of religious
extremism but in order to muzzle, bully, and
intimidate the growing democratic movement.

Previous martial law authorities in Pakistan, all
puffed up with arrogance and conceit, have fooled
themselves into believing their own lies. They believe
that the people of Pakistan can be subjugated into
insignificance. They forget that the brave people of
Pakistan never tired, never rested, never gave up
hope, until the military dictatorship of Ayub, Yahya,
and Zia were defeated.

Just as the students and lawyers of Pakistan wrote a
glorious history of struggle for democracy in the
past, often with their lives and their blood, so our
demonstration of students and lawyers today portends
of still greater things to come.

We make a solemn pledge that we will struggle till the
last drop of blood, till our last breath, for a
Pakistan in which we can breathe an air that is free
of all forms of oppression and exploitation.

We make a solemn pledge to the people of Pakistan, who
have suffered inhumanely under the yoke of tin pot
military dictators supported by imperial powers, that
we will fight for their democratic rights, for their
dignity, and for their humanity.

We make a solemn pledge that we will not rest until
the people of Pakistan are free. Until liberty,
equality and fraternity are emblazoned across the land
of the Indus river, from the Himalayas to the Arabian
sea.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE

We lawyers, students and citizens of Pakistan
stipulate that the current martial law authorities
accept our following immediate minimum demands.

1) Release all political prisoners
This includes leaders and activists of the opposition
parties, the lawyers movement, civil society
organizations and journalists.

2) Take back all restrictions on the freedom of the
press
We demand the immediate abrogation of the draconian
press ordinance and the restoration of all private
news channels.

3) Restore the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and the
Supreme Court
We demand that the full bench of the SC must be
restored immediately and the verdict of the court on
the Presidential election must be honoured. The
authority and independence of the Supreme Court must
be honoured.

4) Restore the Constitution
We demand the immediate restoration of the 1973
constitution and all civil rights and liberties of
Pakistani citizens.

LONDON: Pakistani protesters in London demonstrated on Monday against President General Pervez Musharraf’s imposition of emergency rule and called for Western governments to condemn it.

Some 150 protesters at Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in London chanted anti-Musharraf slogans and held placard saying “shame on you, bully� and “we want free media, free courts�.

The British foreign secretary on Saturday said he hoped the British Pakistanis would use their connections in Pakistan to make the case for democracy and the rule of law.

“We are showing solidarity to the people back in Pakistan, especially to human rights activists and lawyers who have been picked up, jailed, beaten and harassed,� said protest leader Hina Jilani.

Her sister, Asma Jahangir, is chairwoman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and among hundreds of lawyers and political activists detained by the police since the imposition of emergency rule on Saturday. “It is also a call for the international community to give the strongest possible condemnation of what is happening in Pakistan,� she said.

“We know that the people at home are in a more difficult situation than us, and cannot protest in the streets. This is probably the only way for us to show opposition,� said Raza Saeed, 25, a student of human rights law at Warwick University.

Pakistanis now depend on the diaspora for information because private media are shut, said protester Anita Mir, a university teacher – Reuters

Pakistani students at Columbia are organizing a demonstration in front of the Pakistani Consulate in New York, Mon Nov 5, 2pm.

http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~salman/pakistanemergency/

This ones for All the brave lawers and Judges.

aag hae aulad e ibrahim hae namrood hae

Phir kisse ko phir kisse ka imtehan maksood hae

For politicians like BB and Fazl u Rahman

Bekhatar kud para atesh e namrood main ishk

Akal hae mehwe tamasha e lab e bam abhi

Please behave. its ARMY’s country not ours.