ATTORNEY General Sardar Latif Khosa's observation that Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry cannot be reinstated as Chief Justice even if President Asif Ali Zardari wishes to do so, can only be described as a lame excuse. Talking to a private television channel on Saturday, he said that the process of restoring deposed judges was not yet complete and a number of judges had contacted the government to seek reinstatement. The argument that Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar was the chief justice because he had been appointed in this position by President Musharraf is devoid of logic since it does not grant legitimacy to an illegal act committed on November 3 and is also a grand betrayal of the movement which paved the way for return to democracy and end of illegitimate Musharraf rule.
Mr Khosa claims that the PPP-led government started bringing the deposed judges back to their chambers only after other coalition partners refused to support an amendment to the constitution for their restoration. But he need not forget that the PPP floated the idea of introducing a constitutional package after reneging on its commitment to restore these judges through an executive order backed by a National Assembly resolution. The AG must be fully aware of the situation because when the lawyers were planning to re-launch their movement to keep pressure on the mainstream parties to adhere to their commitment about reinstatement in the light of the Bhurban Declaration, he was among a group of five members of the Pakistan Bar Council who had requisitioned the Council's meeting in full strength to consider the planned protest as a threat to parliamentary democracy. They had a point that the political leadership should be afforded full opportunity to fulfil their promise to restore the judiciary to the November 2 status within 30 days. But it was also seen as an attempt to divide the legal fraternity so that the PPP leadership could be relieved of the pressure being exerted on it by coalition partners to honour its commitment to reinstate the deposed judges through an executive order. It bears repeating to Mr Khosa who no longer supports Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's reinstatement that he had been on the forefront of the movement after General Musharraf staged a judicial coup in anticipation of an adverse verdict against his candidature for the presidency.
Those who believe that the judges issue will be resolved by administering fresh oaths to the deposed members of the superior judiciary willing to return to their chambers must be mistaken. One can understand the reasons for President Zardari's opposition to the reinstatement of Chief Justice Chaudhry. But then Mr Khosa would be doing injustice to his office by toeing the party line rather than advising the government to prevent the issue from turning into a constitutional crisis by restoring all the judges through an executive order.


PASSING through a worse predicament, Pakistanis can well appreciate the outrage that Indians would be feeling at the series of bombs that exploded in the busiest business centres of New Delhi on Saturday. The blasts killed 22 persons and injured more than 100, leaving behind a trail of misery for the bereaved families, which must have stood shocked at the sudden turn of events in their lives, and a deep sense of insecurity for the rest of the citizens. As a result, the authorities have tightened the security measures in different parts of the country, including the southern state of Hyderabad where about 700,000 Hindus were scheduled to take part in a religious festival yesterday.
Pakistani leaders, including the president, prime minister and PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif, have strongly condemned the deadly incidents. Newspaper reports suggest that a militant, disaffected group known as Indian Mujahideen, which had earlier also committed similar criminal acts, has claimed responsibility for these explosions and the police have taken 10 persons into custody on suspicion of involvement. If they are the right catch, they might provide the lead to the investigators to the real culprits and the motive behind these acts of violence would most likely be revealed.
One hopes and wishes that the Indians do not fall into the old convenient groove of putting the blame on Pakistan. Considering the problems Islamabad at present finds itself surrounded by from all sides, no Pakistan policymaker worth the name should be trying to do anything that holds the prospects of further complicating the situation. Before jumping to any conclusion that might point a finger at Islamabad, the Indian authorities would do well to take into account the views of a senior leader of BJP Arun Jaitley that the profile of the bombers over the years had changed indicating that the attacks could not be blamed on outsiders and "home-grown terrorists are on the increase...we cannot shut our eyes to that reality." India, like several other countries, has a host of dissent groups, which are unhappy at the way they have been treated by their governments, including of course its oppressed Muslim minority. However, a sincerely pursued inquiry into the Saturday incidents should bring home to the authorities the real cause of dissatisfaction. Broadly viewing the militant scenario the world over, the curse can only be fought out with a cooperative effort of states, going to the bottom of the causes that spawn such feelings and removing them. The blame game could only help the terrorists.


THE Indian security forces in Held Kashmir have for some time past been oppressing the people of Kashmir heavily, who frequently come out on the streets in large numbers to protest at the continued illegal and brutal occupation of their homeland, maintained at the cost of their lives and peaceful existence. New Delhi, unwilling to honour its commitment to let Kashmiris decide their political future, would undoubtedly opt out of its forceful stranglehold, and unable to bludgeon them into accepting its rule, has also tried to have recourse to certain devious means, like devising plans to somehow convert the massive Muslim majority into a minority. Some time back, India's puppet Srinagar government allotted a big chunk of land to a Hindu shrine for the yatrees to put up buildings there, which because of its serious and far-reaching implications, was greatly resented by the people. The ensuing protests resulted in a fairly large number of casualties and disruption of business activity and life in general. Although the decision to allot the land was reversed, there are indications that it might be revived.
In the period following 9/11 the Indians found it convenient to dub the freedom fighters terrorists and drum up the so-called existence of training camps for Kashmiri infiltrators. New Delhi exploited to the hilt the Western suspicion that Pakistan was not fully cooperating in the anti-terror war and, in that climate, raised its level of oppression by several notches. Murders, abductions, rape and other possible means of torture were freely employed.
On Friday, eight persons were killed and an important Kashmiri leader Yasin Malik among dozens others injured, when thousands marched in Shopian shouting the slogan, "We want freedom." President Zardari, who has promised good news about the disputed state soon, is fully aware of the Kashmiris' yearning, for which they have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of their kith and kin. His government should devote its full energies towards realising it.

source : http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-ne...eavyhandedness

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