dagblog - Comments for "Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister"

Coup Season: Is Pakistan's

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 06:32:30 +0000

In reply to Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister

Coup Season: Is Pakistan's meddlesome military up to its old tricks?
BY ARIF RAFIQ, Op-Ed @ ForeignPolicy.com, Jan. 16, 2013

[....] Today, many Pakistani observers, including human rights activist Asma Jahangir, suspect a surreptitious putsch is afoot, aided by the judiciary and a mysterious cleric-politician, Tahir-ul-Qadri, who suddenly returned to Pakistan last month from Canada. The Sufi cleric has now led three large anti-government rallies, buttressed by expensive television advertising and a professional social media campaign.

The goal, these observers claim, is the implementation of what's known in Pakistan as the Bangladesh model -- a reference to that country's army and Supreme Court-backed, technocrat government, which governed from 2007 to 2009 and was tasked with correcting the mess caused by the two dominant political parties. In Pakistan's case, those two parties would be [....]

Pakistan warns

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 05:01:39 +0000

In reply to Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister

Pakistan warns anti-government cleric to end protest
By Mubasher Bukhari, Reuters – 9 hrs ago

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's interior minister on Wednesday warned an anti-government Muslim cleric and thousands of protesters camped out near parliament to disperse, saying they were at risk of attack by militants.

Rehman Malik said authorities had learned militants might be planning to target the crowd, and that the cleric, Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, would be held responsible for any attacks.

"The best commandos are with me today," Malik told a news conference, saying security forces could take action against Qadri within the next two days to prevent "expected terrorism".

"I hope that he listens to me."

Qadri, who backed a military coup in 1999, is calling for the immediate resignation of the government and the installation of a caretaker administration to oversee electoral reforms [...]

Pakistan protests move to Peshawar
Thousands take to the streets to protest the deaths of dozens of people reportedly killed in overnight raids.
Al Jazeera, 16 Jan. 2013

Thousands have taken to the streets of northwest Pakistan to protest the deaths of 18 people they say were killed in overnight raids.

The bodies of the victims, from the Bara tribal area, were placed outside the governor's house in Peshawar by the 3,000 people gathered outside. The tribemen say the dead were killed in a raid by Pakistani security forces in the Khyber agency.

Shabir Ahmed, a soldier from the paramilitary Frontier Constabulary, said his four brothers and father were present at their home when uniformed gunmen stormed his house, opened fire and killed them.

"I want to know who killed my brothers and father and why," he said.

Demonstrators said gunmen wearing military uniforms stormed homes in their area and shot the villagers dead. [...]

Pakistan Prime Minister

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 04:54:08 +0000

In reply to Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister

Pakistan Prime Minister unlikely to be arrested soon, says Information Minister Kaira
Press Trust of India, Jan 16, 2013

Islamabad: Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Parvez Ashraf is unlikely to be arrested soon on graft charges despite a Supreme Court order for the same as sources and government today maintained that the court had not set any deadline.

The government will act according to the law on the Pakistan Supreme Court's order for action against Ashraf over alleged graft in power projects though several procedures will have to be completed before any arrest warrant can be issued, a federal minister said.

"The government of Pakistan is acting according to the law and what the Supreme Court has said will be acted upon. The judgement of the Supreme Court will be honoured," Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira told a news conference outside Parliament this evening [....]

In Dawn's blog section I

artappraiser — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:56:21 +0000

In reply to Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister

In Dawn's blog section I happened upon this incredibly insightful and reflective short essay about the ethnic and class basis of many of Pakistan's ills. At first I thought it would not be applicable enough to this news to post it on this thread. Then I thought again: maybe it is related, maybe very much so.

Highly recommended:

At the crossroads of tragic possibilities, by Mobarak Haider,| 9 hours ago

The author is a renowned Pakistani intellectual. His urdu books Tehzeebi Nargisyat and Mubaalghe, Mughaalte are widely regarded as the revival of critical thinking and free inquiry in Urdu non-fiction.

Dawn in Pakistan: SC

artappraiser — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:03:45 +0000

In reply to Pakistan Supreme Court Orders Arrest of Prime Minister

Dawn in Pakistan: