The Pakistan Supreme Court “has flouted all canons of Constitutional Jurisprudence”

Posted on June 21, 2012 by beenasarwar

Justice Katju: “The Prime Minister holds office as long he has the confidence of Parliament, not confidence of the Supreme Court.”

Justice Markandey Katju, former Justice, Supreme Court of India and presently Chairman, Press Council of India just sent me an article about the recent order of the Pakistan Supreme Court declaring that Mr. Gilani is not the Prime Minister. Justice Katju writes, “In my opinion the Pakistan Supreme Court has gone totally overboard, flouted all canons of Constitutional Jurisprudence, and is only playing to the galleries and not exercising judicial restraint. It is thereby upsetting the delicate balance of power in the Constitutional scheme.”

In his article, Justice Katju explains the concept of immunity and stresses the need for balance between the organs of the state. He writes that it may be published freely in any newspaper: Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: , , , | 102 Comments »

MEDIA/Pakistan: Protect whistleblowers, act against corrupt anchors

Posted on June 21, 2012 by beenasarwar
To All TV Channels of Pakistan: Protect whistleblowers, act against corrupt anchors
 Sign the online petition:

The behind-the-scenes footage leaked from Dunya TV’s ‘interview’ of Malik Riaz conducted by Meher Bokhari and Mubashir Lucman on June 13, 2012 has exposed the corruption of these so-called journalists. Their clear connivance with the interviewee in order to make themselves look blameless is a disgrace to the profession. We commend the whistleblower who leaked this footage and exposed their reality, which is all the more shocking given their self-righteous public stands.We demand: Continue reading →

Filed under: Media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The contempt conviction in context: Pakistan – a political timeline

Posted on June 21, 2012 by beenasarwar
File photo of Pakistan's PM Gilani speaking during a news conference at CHOGM in Perth

A 30-second ‘convict’ for ‘contempt of court’: Gilani. Reuters photo.

On Tuesday, June 19, the Supreme Court of Pakistan in an unprecedented judgement disqualified Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani from his membership of Parliament, also barring him from contesting elections for five years (scroll down for a Political Timeline putting the move in context).

The Court had on April 26, 2012, symbolically ‘convicted’ Gillani for contempt of court for less than a minute, due to his failure to ask Switzerland to reopen a corruption case against President Zardari, on the grounds that the president enjoyed immunity as head of state. According to some legal experts, as a ‘convict’ Gilani could no longer hold office. Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Quetta Youth Festival 2012: Winds of change?

Posted on June 16, 2012 by beenasarwar

Who says there’s no positive news coming out of Pakistan?

“Looking at the videos really changed my perception of the youth of Balochistan. Such brilliant young men and women, sitting together for a cause, enjoying, eating, singing, dancing and spreading the message of love” – Ali Rahman, on the First Quetta Youth Conference 2012

Continue reading →

Filed under: Balochistan | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

The Kohistan ‘video scandal’ in context

Posted on June 11, 2012 by beenasarwar

Screenshot of the video: the women sitting on the floor clap and sing a song… a man dances. Kohistan, Pakistan.

My article in weekly The News on Sunday published on June 10, 2012. I wrote it to meet their June 7 deadline, before the fact-finding team submitted its report. One of the members of that team was the activist Fouza Saeed who wrote about her experience in this article of June 8, A tipping point?: Real concerns in Kohistan.

Kohistan in context

The ‘religious’ militancy is adding to the social conservative values that weigh down women

By Beena Sarwar

Over the past few months, Kohistan has hit the headlines for reasons that symbolise much of what’s wrong in Pakistan: short-sighted policies that have given a boost to ‘religious’ extremists, poor law and order and prosecution systems that allow people to get away with murder, and conservative social values that reduce women to the status of chattel who can be killed for the sake of ‘honour’. Continue reading →

Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Cartoon and comment: Indo Pak pee further contest, May 1998

Posted on June 8, 2012 by beenasarwar

In Kathmandu for a meeting, on May 28, 1998 when Pakistan retaliated to India’s nuclear tests with its own, I found my journalist friend Kunda Dixit trying to draw this cartoon, that I re-drew for him. It was published with the commentary “Let them eat grass” in Himal Southasian, June 1998. I’d been trying to find it – thanks Roman Gautam at Himal for emailing the page scan.

Filed under: Pakistan-India | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Pakistan’s medical fraternity plea re: the tragic death of Dr Aftab Qureshi and SayNoToWeapons

Posted on June 5, 2012 by beenasarwar

Dr Aftab Qureshi: Another life snuffed out

Received via email, a doctor’s heartfelt plea about the tragic death of his colleague, the eminent neurosurgeon Dr Aftab Qureshi who had been kidnapped and was killed during a rescue operation that also claimed the lives of two security personnel, followed by citizen activist Naeem Sadiq’s note about his “Say No to Weapons” campaign. Unless police are properly trained, equipped, empowered, de-politicised and allowed to tackle crime at the local levels, with successful prosecutions, there’s no winning ‘war on terror’.

To: Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Human rights activists condemn threat to Asma Jahangir’s life

Posted on June 4, 2012 by beenasarwar

 Link to South Asians for Human Rights (SAHR) statement of concern regarding the threat to Asma Jahangir 

Signatories to HRCP Press release condemning threat to Asma’s life:

Lahore, 4 June 2012: We the undersigned citizens, belonging to various sections of Pakistan’s civil society, express our serious concern and alarm at the information-leak from a responsible and highly credible source that there is a serious threat to the life of the country’s leading human rights activist and one of the most influential leaders of the bar, Ms Asma Jahangir. What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate Asma Jahangir especially serious is, firstly, the environment of target-killings, in which dissident persons’ dead bodies are being dumped all over, and, secondly, the fact that the finger of accusation has been pointed at the extraordinarily privileged state actors. We wish to make it clear to all and sundry, especially those who preside over the security apparatus, that they must not under-estimate the consequences of any harm being caused to the life of Asma Jahangir. This is not a conspiracy against one individual alone; it is obviously a plot against Pakistan’s future as a democratic state, of which the threat to Asma Jahangir may be only one, though crucial, part. What the duty of the state in this matter is and how the civil society must face the challenge thrown to it need no elaboration. Continue reading →

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

WAF statement on May 22 killings in Karachi

Posted on May 25, 2012 by beenasarwar
A young man, bleeding apparently due to gunshot wounds, runs for his life after "unknown assailants" opened fire at a rally in Karachi on May 22, 2012. Photo: Faysal Mujeeb/Whitestar

A young man, bleeding apparently due to gunshot wounds, runs for his life after “unknown assailants” opened fire at a rally in Karachi on May 22, 2012. Photo: Faysal Mujeeb/Whitestar

The violence in Karachi on May 22, 2012 that killed 11 people reminded many people of the firing that claimed nearly fifty lives on May 12, 2007 (about which I wrote ‘Eyewitness Karachi‘, originally published in The News on Sunday). Below, a statement from Women’s Action Forum (WAF) about the recent bloodshed:

Women’s Action Forum Hyderabad, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad is appalled that a peaceful demonstration against the division of Sindh on May 22, 2012 was violently attacked, resulting in the tragic death of at least 11 people, including two friends and comrades. We strongly condemn the use of force under any circumstances and particularly when it is used to subdue the democratic rights of the people to express their sentiments and political positions. Continue reading →

Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Rinkle Kumari: A Test Case for Jinnah’s Pakistan (Updated)

Posted on May 25, 2012 by beenasarwar

Marvi Sirmed raises some critical questions about the complex case of Rinkle Kumari, with a timeline of the case, on her blog Rinkle Kumari: A Test Case for Jinnah’s Pakistan (Updated).

Filed under: Human rights | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »