Benazir's Last Moments: Dramatic Footage

The fresh video from Channel4.com of the assassination from the reverse angle to what the government officials had released! It clearly shows the shooter walks up to the car, raise the sidearm and shoot thrice or more times at the back of the head and the head slouches rightwards, not leftwards towards the trapdoor handle as it has been claimed. The head was far below the level of the trapdoor handle to be hurt by it from the left on the temporal lobe. See for yourself.

U.S. Troops to Head to Pakistan

Washington Post: William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security

Beginning early next year, U.S. Special Forces are expected to vastly expand their presence in Pakistan, as part of an effort to train and support indigenous counter-insurgency forces and clandestine counterterrorism units, according to defense officials involved with the planning.

These Pakistan-centric operations will mark a shift for the U.S. military and for U.S. Pakistan relations. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, the U.S. used Pakistani bases to stage movements into Afghanistan. Yet once the U.S. deposed the Taliban government and established its main operating base at Bagram, north of Kabul, U.S. forces left Pakistan almost entirely. Since then, Pakistan has restricted U.S. involvement in cross-border military operations as well as paramilitary operations on its soil.

But the Pentagon has been frustrated by the inability of Pakistani national forces to control the borders or the frontier area. And Pakistan's political instability has heightened U.S. concern about Islamic extremists there.

According to Pentagon sources, reaching a different agreement with Pakistan became a priority for the new head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. Eric T. Olson. Olson visited Pakistan in August, November and again this month, meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman Gen. Tariq Majid and Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, commander of the military and paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan. Olson also visited the headquarters of the Frontier Corps, a separate paramilitary force recruited from Pakistan's border tribes.

Now, a new agreement, reported when it was still being negotiated last month, has been finalized. And the first U.S. personnel could be on the ground in Pakistan by early in the new year, according to Pentagon sources.

U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. William Fallon alluded to the agreement and spoke approvingly of Pakistan's recent counterterrorism efforts in an interview with Voice of America last week.

"What we've seen in the last several months is more of a willingness to use their regular army units," along the Afghan border, Fallon said. "And this is where, I think, we can help a lot from the U.S. in providing the kind of training and assistance and mentoring based on our experience with insurgencies recently and with the terrorist problem in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think we share a lot with them, and we'll look forward to doing that."

If Pakistan actually follows through, perhaps 2008 will be a better year.

Bhutto Blamed Musharraf for Lack of Security

In an e-mail she sent two months ago that was to be made public in the event of her death, Benazir Bhutto blames Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and the nation's Intelligence Service for a lack of security and her ultimate death.

The recipient of that e-mail, Mark Siegel, had been helping her to write a book, Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy and the West, to be released in 2008. He was a business associate and friend who had known Bhutto for 25 years.

Siegel says Bhutto had asked for an investigation into an assassination attempt in October, when she returned to Pakistan, but was rebuffed. She and her husband also had sought increased security measures — none of which the government would provide.

Sharif to avenge Bhutto's death and boycott elections

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader Nawaz Sharif told angry PPP supporters at the Rawalpindi hospital where Ms. Bhutto’s body lay that he was with them and they would jointly avenge her death.

Mr. Sharif, who was addressing his own election rallies in the vicinity of Rawalpindi, rushed to the hospital soon after Ms. Bhutto’s death was announced. According to reports, he sat quietly next to her body for a few minutes.

“Benazir Bhutto was also my sister, and I will be with you to take the revenge for her death. Don’t feel alone. I am with you. We will take the revenge on the rulers,” Associated Press quoted him as telling angry PPP supporters at the hospital

At a press conference later, he said she had called him on December 26 and wished him on his birthday, and also sent him a bouquet. He also announced that his party was boycotting next month's elections. He demanded that President Pervez Musharraf resign immediately.

Benazir Bhutto assassinated in Rawalpindi

Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Thursday died after she succumbed to her injuries in a suicide attack at a rally in Liaquat Bagh in Rawalpindi. She died on her way to hospital.

Back at the scene of the blast, there was chaos, with ambulances rushing in, their sirens screaming, the police trying to keep people away and the wounded trying to make sense of what had happened to them. On the pavement sat a man dressed in a brown suit, his trouser leg rolled up and blood gushing out of a wound. He was clutching his head in shock.

At least 20 PPP activists were feared dead in the suicide attack. Armed miscreants today separately targeted rallies of former Prime Ministers, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

Aitzaz arrested again

President Supreme Court Bar Council, Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan was arrested again near Chakri on his way to Islamabad while traveling with his wife and son, reports Geo TV. Aitzaz was transferred to an unknown location.

Justice (Retd) Tariq Mehmood re-arrested

ISLAMABAD: Police have re-arrested Former President Supreme Court Bar Association Justice (Retd) Tariq Mehmood while he was going to his home after attending and addressing protest demonstration of media men outside Rawalpindi Islamabad Press Club against curbs placed on media on Thursday.

Earlier, in his address, Justice (Retd) Tariq Mehmood added that Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is still Chief Justice of Pakistan, adding that, Government is adopting humiliating behavior with 60 deposed judges of high courts and apex court who refused to take oath under Provincial Constitutional Ordinance (PCO).

On the directives of President Pervez Musharraf, he said, deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and his children are being threatened and asked to leave the country.
He rejected the impression that President SCBA Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan had sought any relaxation from Government but had only requested to allow him to offer Eid Prayer and prayers at graves of relatives.

We have passed our lives but want to give independent judiciary and better future to our children, the Ex-President SCBA pointed out. We will not allow anyone to carryout bloodshed in the country and armed forces to work beyond its border, he maintained.

Our Movement and Struggle will continue: Aitzaz

The authorities in Pakistan have temporarily released a lawyer who is a leading opponent of the government.

Aitzaz Ahsan says he has been told his detention has been lifted for three days over the Muslim holiday of Eid. Mr Ahsan was arrested at the beginning of six weeks of emergency rule which ended at the weekend.

"We are ready to face batons, bullets and bombs," he told AFP by telephone from Lahore. "Our movement and struggle will continue and there will be no let up till the restoration of judges and the judiciary," he said.

Ahsan was crucial in the legal battle that got Chaudhry's suspension overturned. But after the state of emergency was imposed, Chaudhry was sacked and himself remains under house arrest.
Musharraf lifted the emergency last week but dozens of lawyers and judges are still in detention, and the president has vowed they will not be given back their jobs.

Ahsan said lawyers and judges across Pakistan were "determined and united and ready to make extreme sacrifices" in their fight. "The people of Pakistan are with us."

Source: AFP News

New US law may cost Pakistan billions of dollars

Islamabad, Dec 20 - Pakistan could lose up to $1.5 billion a year under a new ban on cash transfers imposed by the Omnibus Appropriations Bill passed earlier this week by the US Congress mandating that Islamabad get a certificate from the State Department on democracy related issues.

'While many Pakistanis think that the new conditions will have a minor impact of about $50 million in military aid, the real implication is in the fine print which says no cash payments would be made,' The News reported Thursday.

"This will have a devastating effect as the impact will be felt by the Pakistan Army which has been receiving almost $1.5 billion a year since 2002 under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) which reimburses all expenses incurred by Pakistan to fight the war on terror and meet the threat of Al Qaeda and Taliban,' the newspaper added.

In addition to the $3.5 billion in economic and military aid provided under the multi-year aid package, Pakistan has received $7.5 billion to $9.5 billion dollars in CSF since 2002.

The US House of Representatives has now added several conditions for military aid to Pakistan including a tough set of democracy-related benchmarks that require an independent judiciary, a free press, release of political prisoners, restoration of constitutional rights and much more.
Representative John Tierney of Massachusetts, who chairs the sub-committee on government oversight that includes the CSF recently co-authored an op-ed article in a major Washington newspaper with barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, the leader of the lawyers' movement in Pakistan.

'This illustrated how deeply the US lawmakers have penetrated in guaranteeing democratic rights for the people of Pakistan,' The News pointed out.

Congress Sets Limits on Aid to Pakistan

Bill Withholds $50 Million Until U.S. Confirms Islamabad Is Reinstating Rights

Congress yesterday slapped restrictions on military aid to Pakistan and withheld $50 million of the administration's $300 million request until Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice can certify that Islamabad is restoring democratic rights, including an independent judiciary.

The congressional move went further than the administration's own review of aid to Pakistan after the Nov. 3 declaration of emergency powers by President Pervez Musharraf. In a decision that received little notice, the administration decided earlier this month to stop making an annual $200 million cash payment to the Pakistani government, instead converting those funds to programs for Pakistan that will be administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Bush committed in 2004 to a $6 billion, five-year program to provide military and economic aid to Pakistan, and this is the first time Congress has sought to place restrictions on that commitment.

Human Rights Watch says Free, Fair elections impossible

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: It will be "impossible" for Pakistan to hold free and fair parliamentary elections next month because President Pervez Musharraf has tilted the political playing field so far in his favor, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

"A genuine election campaign is impossible when the media remains muzzled, leaders of civil society remain under arrest, and the legitimate judiciary of the country has been deposed and replaced by hand-picked supporters of the government," said Ali Dayan Hasan, South Asia researcher at the New York-based group.

Last Saturday, Musharraf lifted a six-week state of emergency during which he purged the Supreme Court of independent-mind judges, arrested hundreds of opposition figures and reined in the independent media, entrenching the crackdown with unilateral constitutional amendments.

Despite the government's insistence that only three of the people rounded up after the emergency was imposed Nov. 3 remain in custody, Human Rights Watch claimed scores of lawyers, judges and other government critics are still in detention. The government denies the deposed judges are under house arrest, even though large security contingents are posted outside their homes.

@ International Herald Tribune

Musharraf praises Bush

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf says it was for the sake of his country that he supported the United States' war against terrorism.

"I stuck out my neck for Pakistan," Musharraf told Sunday's Washington Post, a day after ending his six-week emergency rule. "I didn't stick out my neck for anyone else. It happened to be in the interest of the world and the U.S."

When asked if U.S. President Bush had been supportive during his emergency rule, Musharraf called him "a very sincere friend" and said, "Yes, he understands the emergency. He understands what we were suffering and that an action had to be taken."

Musharraf expressed confidence his government can contain threats from Islamic radicals.

"We are combating it, and I think we are on the winning side."

He also said there is "a possibility" Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan's tribal areas, but went on to say no one knows where or when the al-Qaida leader might be found.

Musharraf’s ‘Restoration of Constitution’ a Sham

Amendments Give Immunity to Army and President

Lifting the state of emergency will not restore real constitutional rule in Pakistan unless President Pervez Musharraf also withdraws changes he made to the constitution and reinstates the judiciary, Human Rights Watch said today.

Musharraf imposed a state of emergency and suspended constitutional rule on November 3, 2007 on the pretext of fighting terrorism.The Pakistani government has announced that Musharraf will lift the state of emergency and restore the constitution on December 15. However, since November 3 he has illegally fired and detained senior judges, including the chief justice of the Supreme Court, arbitrarily changed laws and amended the constitution.

These amendments serve the purpose of institutionalizing impunity for the military’s human rights abuses and muzzling lawyers and the media, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch also noted that Musharraf has made arbitrary changes to Pakistani laws that impose serious restrictions on individual rights and will fuel human rights abuses. The changes are permanent, and will not be lifted when the constitution is restored. For example, under an amendment to the 1952 Army Act, the military can now try civilians for a wide range of offenses previously under the country’s judiciary, including charges as vague as causing “public mischief.” Hearings before special military courts to try civilians will not be public, investigations will be conducted by military officers, and the standard rules of evidence and procedures for criminal trials will not apply. The law takes effect retroactively from January 2003, in effect giving the army immunity for detaining and “disappearing” people and allowing the military to arrest opponents with impunity.

"Emergency" lifted in Musharraf's Pakistan

Pakistani President Musharraf on Saturday issued three presidential orders under which the state of emergency was lifted, local TV channel DAWN NEWS reported.

According to the orders, the Provisional Constitutional Order ( PCO) had been revoked and the constitution restored, said the report.

The judges who did not take oath under the PCO, which was issued by Musharraf on Nov. 3, would cease to hold office but would still get pensionary benefits, while other judges have to take oath again after the constitution is restored.

Musharraf promulgated the Constitution (Second Amendment) Order 2007, which made some amendments to six articles of the constitution on Friday.

Musharraf on Nov. 3 proclaimed a state of emergency in the country and promulgated the PCO, suspending the constitution. Then- chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry was sacked and some other judges of the Supreme Court and high courts declined to take oath under the PCO.

According to the order promulgated on Friday, those judges who did not take oath under the PCO would cease to hold office but would still get pensionary benefits.

Benazir not for restoration of judges

KARACHI: PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto has said PPP wants restoration of judiciary rather than judges.

"Judiciary should be restored rather than judges. We support independent judiciary and not the judges as judiciary was not independent before November, 3" too , she said this while addressing a press conference here Thursday in Bilawal house.

She indicated judges who had not taken oath under PCO in the past were also not restored. She cited to the case of Justice (Retd) Saeed ul Zaman Siddiqui in this respect. Those who are demanding for restoration of November, 3 position, we don’t support their demand. We want the whole judiciary should be independent", she remarked.

To a question if she considered Iftikhar Chaudhry as chief justice of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto instead of giving any proper reply said she had already answered to this question "We respect the judges and they should be given their due status", she maintained. They should be set free and allowed all facilities including pension.

Lawyer of the year by National Law Journal

Honorable Chief Justice of Pakistan has been declared "Lawyer of the year" by the National Law Review of America.

For complete story:
http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1197367478857

Aitzaz to boycott elections

LAHORE: President Supreme Court Bar and Peoples Party leader Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan has announced boycott of the elections.

Aitizaz’s spouse Bushra Aitizaz, talking to Geo News here said, her husband has directed his lawyers Shaukat Ali Javed and Mian Tariq in writing to withdraw his nomination papers. Chaudhry Aitizaz Ahsan has been detained since Nov. 3 proclamation of emergency rule. He was earlier detained at Adyala Jail Rawalpindi but later brought to Lahore for filing his nomination papers for elections and since than has been kept under house arrest at his Zaman Park residence. He is Pakistan Peoples Party’s candidate for NA-124 Lahore. Muslim League (N) leader Mian Nawaz Sharif has also announced to support him. Aitizaz Ahsan had earlier announced to drive a judicial bus from Lahore to Islamabad for restoration of judiciary.

@ The News

Counter version of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry Chief Justice of Pakistan

The statement of General (rtd) Pervaiz Musharaf during an interview with Al Jazeera TV that the CJP wanted to remove him illegally is absolutely incorrect simply for the reason that I was not a member of the bench which comprised 11 Honorable Judge's (four have since taken oath under the PCO) and the case which was still being heard was to continue on Monday, November 5, 2007. This is the same Supreme Court which decided in favor of General (rtd) Musharaf on his dual office case and I was not member of that bench and the decision was applauded. If a case is decided in favor all is well. But if there is a self created fear it will be against you then the Supreme Court is called as conspirator, so much so that the case which was being heard on the merits and which had not been decided yet and where the Governments (General (rtd) Musharaf) own counsel were delaying it on one pretext or an other. Let no one forget that I did not sit on either of the benches despite the fact that in accordance with the judicial system prevailing in Pakistan every judge is independent and therefore in a position to give a decision on any case placed before him. General (rtd) Musharaf has taken different positions and enumerated different reasons for justifying his actions of Nov 3 rd 2007. Details in this behalf I will discuss no sooner than I am released from this illegal custody which is against all norms of law and morality.

Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan

Iftikhar ‘declines Haj invitation’: Saudi ambassador meets deposed CJ

ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Al-Asseri met deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry at his heavily-guarded official residence here on Friday. Justice Iftikhar has been under house arrest since the imposition of emergency on Nov 3.

Although there was no official word on the deposed chief justice’s first meeting with a foreign diplomat, there were rumours that the ambassador had delivered a message from the government with an offer that he would be duly accommodated if he withdrew the demand for reinstating the judges who had not taken the oath under the Provisional Constitution Order.

According to a source close to Justice Iftikhar’s family, during the hour-long meeting, the Saudi envoy also extended an invitation to him to perform Haj which the latter politely declined, saying that his presence in the country was necessary in the current situation.

Political observers are attaching great significance to the meeting, keeping in view the reported role played by the Saudi government in facilitating the return of Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan.

Mr Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, it may be mentioned, had not been allowed to meet the deposed chief justice.

The meeting on Friday took place at a time when various options are being presented for resolving the crisis, the latest from detained Supreme Court Bar Association president Aitzaz Ahsan who in a recent letter had called for binding candidates for the election to defend the judiciary.

According to the source, Justice Iftikhar told the Saudi ambassador that he considered himself the rightful chief justice and the first thing he would do at the end of his detention would be to go to and sit in the Supreme Court. He said that he was ready to render any sacrifice or to wage struggle for the just cause of independence of the judiciary and restoration of the pre-PCO judiciary. Despite all the difficulties, the chief justice said, judges and lawyers would not abandon their struggle for independence of the judiciary.

Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Dawn that the ministry had nothing to do with the meeting and it had not been arranged by the Foreign Office. It was not necessary for ambassadors to inform the Foreign Office or to obtain permission for such meetings, he said.

He conceded that the Saudi envoy had met the foreign secretary after his meeting with Justice Iftikhar, but to discuss some other issue.

@ Dawn

Aitzaz, Kurd, Tariq to be freed within 72 hours

ISLAMABAD: The government will release Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, Advocate Ali Ahmed Kurd, Justice (r) Tariq Mehmood and other detainees in the next 72 hours, caretaker Interior Minister Lt Gen (r) Hamid Nawaz said on Wednesday. He said the government had released 6,000 political activists and lawyers, adding that the provinces had been directed to follow the code of conduct during the electoral process.

Pakistan to deport Code Pink protesters

Pakistan authorities today ordered the deportation of the leader of the feminist U.S. antiwar group Code Pink, who was in Lahore to join protests against the emergency rule imposed by President Pervez Musharraf, according to a spokeswoman for the group.

Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the group, said she was arrested at a student demonstration by agents of the Pakistan Inter-Service Intelligence and detained for about four hours before being released with orders to leave the country tomorrow morning. Pakistan officials told Ms. Benjamin that she was being deported for joining illegal protests.

"I'm OK — a little shaken up," Ms. Benjamin told The Washington Times by telephone from her hotel in Lahore. "They mistreated us."

Ms. Benjamin said she feared for her life as the agents held her at gunpoint in a car speeding through the city to the police station.

"I thought I was going to die in the car," she said. "They totally terrorized us."

Pakistani authorities also detained and then ordered the deportation of Tighe Barry, a longtime Code Pink activist who was participating with the student rally outside the Lahore Press Club.

"It's a sad state of affairs when the Pakistani government, a government that is trying to portray itself to the West as democratic, tries to harass and deport U.S. human rights activists," Ms. Benjamin said at the press club before her arrest. "If they do this to us, who have the protection of being U.S. citizens, imagine what they do to their own citizens."

Code Pink activists are arrested regularly in Washington for disrupting congressional hearings on the war, targeting Democrats and Republicans with protests.

Copy right: The Washington Times

Fazl shows flexibility after meeting Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Secretary-General Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman agreed to show some flexibility in his stance on contesting the January elections.

Following a late Monday night meeting with Nawaz Sharif, he told reporters here, “Before this meeting, my party was not part of the consultations to reach a consensus on the elections boycott but now we will wait for the Charter of Demands for which a committee has been constituted.”

After a lengthy meeting with Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif reached the residence of Senator Talha at around 1 am to meet ex-opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The Maulana maintained that the opposition parties should not go ahead with their plans to boycott the elections if the decision could harm these parties. “Our stance was that we can play a better role while remaining in parliament,” he said.

He said the opposition parties should see that they do not suffer as they did after the 1985 elections. He pointed out that the main objective should be the restoration of the democratic process. To a question, he said his demand also included an independent judiciary and restoration of the judges.

Nawaz Sharif told newsmen that he apprised Maulana Fazlur Rehman that elections could not be fair unless the judiciary was restored to pre-November 3 status. “We also apprised him that a Charter of Demands will be presented to him shortly,” he said.

The former prime minister said he also told the Maulana that the government planned a mechanism for massive rigging during elections including transfer of officers and casting bogus votes to benefit the Pakistan Muslim League-Q.