Pakistan Politics

After much hesitation, the prosecution in retired general Pervez Musharraf’s high treason case finally submitted the ‘inquiry report’ before the special court on Wednesday, which astounded many for its omissions instead of what it contained.
Unpredictably, the report finds that Musharraf was solely responsible for imposing the 2007 emergency; those who did agree to speak to the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) have also blamed the former dictator.
Soon after coming into power, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had set up a Joint Investigation Team to conduct an inquiry into the emergency and those responsible for it. The JIT’s report has till now been kept secret and was not handed over to Musharraf’s defence team till Wednesday.Read More »Musharraf treason inquiry report remarkable for its omissions

By Shehzad Chaudhry

Most of the employment of the army in anti-terror operations continues under the rubric of general authorisation of force in support of the civilian government but lacks exceptional powers through newer legislation. That has denuded it of the needed legal cover for such operations.

The US seeks a Bilateral Security Agreement for its troops to remain in Afghanistan post-2014, for similar reasons. India has provided immunity to many actions of its forces through the AFSPA while deploying its forces to fight in Kashmir and in India’s north-east. Some legislation has only recently been enacted after years of delay. Read More »Musharraf and the military, Part – II

By Shahzad Chaudhry

When the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Bill was finally submitted in the US Congress in 2009 for approval, it contained two clauses that especially irked the Pakistani military. One dealt with the promotion to two-star rank and beyond within the military that the bill envisaged needed approval by Pakistan’s civilian government if American aid was to continue; and second, the Pakistani military was not ever to upstage the civilian political setup.

The first clause was misplaced because all promotions are always subject to approval of the Ministry of Defence; and all promotions to two-star and higher are gazette notified by the government and announced only with the express approval of the president. The second clause was judgemental and inappropriate as a comment or condition for an institution of another state.Read More »Musharraf and the military, Part-I

* Kurd says CJP never looked back at common people who had campaigned for him

* Asma says country needs a constitutional, not political, CJP 

Senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Aitzaz Ahsan has said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry played his innings like Shahid Afridi, not like Sachin Tendulkar.

Talking to a private TV channel on Wednesday, he said, “Iftikhar Chaudhry did politics and he wants to be a politician,” he added. He said that the chief justice might not have been expecting such a reaction over permitting only one private TV channel to cover the full court reference. “Discrimination was just a no ball from the Supreme Court’s side,” Aitzaz Ahsan said. He maintained that the CJP committed a fatal mistake in the end and he did not leave as Tendulkar, “he just played like Afridi”.Read More »Justice Iftikhar played like Afridi, not Tendulkar: Aitzaz

* Justice Chaudhry’s retirement day hit by controversy over SC administration allegedly favouring a private TV channel by providing it with an exclusive footage of full-court reference

Romance between the media and outgoing Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry came to a tragic end on his retirement day, as the Supreme Court’s administration on Wednesday allegedly provided the video footage of the Supreme Court’s full court reference to one TV channel (Geo), and other TV channels started a campaign against the outgoing CJP. Read More »Tumultuous end to a whirlwind era

BY BABAR SATTAR

IT is ungracious to take pot shots at someone walking into the sunset. But to refuse to take stock of the performance of a public office holder as remarkable as Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and draw lessons for the future is also undesirable.

In measuring up Chaudhry’s tenure as chief justice there are five broad areas that invite comment: judicial independence; suo motu powers; judicial appointments; judicial reform; and Arsalan Iftikhar.Read More »Judging Chaudhry

طاہر عمران

بی بی سی اردو ڈاٹ کام، اسلام آباد

عزیز برگر کلاس کے لوگو، سکائپ، وائبر اور وٹس ایپ کے حوالے سے معذرت۔ ہمیں کچھ عرصے کے لیے معافی چاہیے جب (یہ سب سہولیات بند ہوں گی) تاکہ ہم کچھ دہشت گرد پکڑ سکیں۔ اگلے تین مہینے کے لیے صرف ایس ایم ایس پر اکتفا کریں۔ آپ کا مخلص بلاول بھٹو زرداری

یہ وہ ٹویٹ تھی جس میں پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی کے سربراہ بلاول بھٹو نے سندھ حکومت کی جانب سے کراچی میں شدت پسندوں اور جرائم پیشہ افراد کے مابین رابطے ختم کرنے کے لیے انٹرنیٹ پر بات چیت کی مقبول ایپلیکشنز سکائپ، وائبر اور ٹینگو پر تین ماہ کی پابندی کی حمایت کی۔Read More »جیالا برگر

By Ayaz Amir

What was the election slogan of our straw lions? “Kaun aya, kaun aya, Sher aya, Sher aya”…who is coming? the lion is coming, (lion being the election symbol of the winning PML-N). And Punjab swooned to the sound of this slogan and voted the straw lions into power, convinced salvation was at hand.

In barely three and a half months the national landscape seems transformed. The same voting public awaiting miracles has begun not just to squeal but to howl. The rupee was slipping vis-à-vis the dollar, making everything more expensive, and prices of common necessities were shooting into the sky. As if this was not enough to sour the public mood we have had the two mighty kicks just delivered, sharp rises in the prices of electricity and petrol. Punjabi wit can be devastating and jokes these days are about the strength and hunting prowess of the lion.
Read More »Roar of the lion

By Sabir Shah

While Pakistan continues to be hit on regular basis by terrorism after 9/11, it needs to gain some inspiration from a much smaller and poorer Sri Lanka, which is literally rising from ashes after having fought with the rebel Tamil Tigers for nearly 27 long years and ultimately defeating the insurgents on May 29, 2009.

Sri Lanka was left with a daunting post-war task to ensure the welfare of nearly 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who were held as a human shield and a bargaining chip by the rebel Tamil Tigers.Read More »Learning lessons from Sri Lankan victory over rebel Tamil Tigers

By Ikram Sehgal

While thankfully Imran Khan’s injury was not life threatening, it has immobilized him for the time being. One should be grateful that it was an accident rather than a security incident.

However security guards were involved, therefore one must look at all the aspects of personal protection afresh, particularly when it involves the security and safety of important persons. There are a lot of books and material about security protection, unfortunately most of these are written by those who have learnt their security as a subject in a classroom and have never put theory into practice. While personal protection is a specialised subject, security professionals are very reluctant to disclose details about the nature and modus operandi of their job mostly because of the confidential nature of their business; at most times they are prevented by law and the rules governing their employment.Read More »Tragedy waiting to happen