DTN News - CHINESE PREMIER LI KEQIANG IN PAKISTAN: Li Keqiang Begins Pakistan Visit And Pledges Stronger Partnership

DTN News - CHINESE PREMIER LI KEQIANG IN PAKISTAN: Li Keqiang Begins Pakistan Visit And  Pledges Stronger Partnership

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 22, 2013: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to strengthen his country's partnership with Pakistan as he arrived Wednesday for a visit less than two weeks after the country's general election.

The long-time allies will look to use the two-day trip to boost trade ties, and Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif - who has not yet been sworn in - as well as holding talks with senior officials.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party swept to victory in the May 11 general election on a promise to revitalise the struggling economy. Help from its giant northern neighbour will be important to this.

Trade between China and Pakistan hit an annual US$12 billion for the first time last year, according to Islamabad's foreign ministry, and the two sides plan to raise this to US$15 billion in the next two to three years.

Li, arriving from India on his first overseas tour as premier, was met by President Asif Ali Zardari on the tarmac at Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi next to Islamabad.

"The purpose of the visit is to devise a strategy to bolster future cooperation and friendship," Li said in a statement quoted by state broadcaster PTV.

"We will strengthen a strategic partnership with Pakistan in whatever the international scenario and circumstances are."

The Chinese premier will hold talks with Zardari and caretaker prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Wednesday before meeting Sharif on Thursday.

Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States Tariq Fatemi said the visit was crucial in drawing the economic roadmap for the incoming government.

"Normally foreign visitors don't go to countries during the interim setups, but China has recognised that the visit to Pakistan is necessary even at this stage, and that is why they have organised a separate one-on-one meeting with Nawaz Sharif," Fatemi told AFP.

The PML-N faces a daunting array of problems: a bloody Islamist militancy, sluggish economic growth, high inflation, a crumbling currency, the threat of a balance of payments crisis and crippling electricity shortages.

There are an estimated 10,000 Chinese people and more than 120 Chinese companies in Pakistan, many working on infrastructure and energy projects. Beijing built two nuclear power plants in the country and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

In February Beijing took control of Pakistan's port of Gwadar, which through an expanded Karakoram Highway could connect China to the Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, a gateway for a third of the world's traded oil.

Li will address a special session of the Pakistani senate, the upper house of parliament, and the two sides are expected to sign memorandums of understanding on economic, energy and science issues.

Li arrived in Pakistan after a visit to arch-rival India, where he promised to open China's vast domestic market wider to India and forge a "dynamic trade balance" with the South Asian giant.

His tour will takes him on to Europe for visits to Switzerland, with which China is negotiating a free trade agreement, and Germany, its largest European trading partner.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang vowed to strengthen his country's partnership with Pakistan as he arrived Wednesday for a visit less than two weeks after the country's general election.

The long-time allies will look to use the two-day trip to boost trade ties, and Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif - who has not yet been sworn in - as well as holding talks with senior officials.

Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party swept to victory in the May 11 general election on a promise to revitalise the struggling economy. Help from its giant northern neighbour will be important to this.

Trade between China and Pakistan hit an annual US$12 billion for the first time last year, according to Islamabad's foreign ministry, and the two sides plan to raise this to US$15 billion in the next two to three years.

Li, arriving from India on his first overseas tour as premier, was met by President Asif Ali Zardari on the tarmac at Nur Khan air base in Rawalpindi next to Islamabad.

"The purpose of the visit is to devise a strategy to bolster future cooperation and friendship," Li said in a statement quoted by state broadcaster PTV.

"We will strengthen a strategic partnership with Pakistan in whatever the international scenario and circumstances are."

The Chinese premier will hold talks with Zardari and caretaker prime minister Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Wednesday before meeting Sharif on Thursday.

Pakistan's former ambassador to the United States Tariq Fatemi said the visit was crucial in drawing the economic roadmap for the incoming government.

"Normally foreign visitors don't go to countries during the interim setups, but China has recognised that the visit to Pakistan is necessary even at this stage, and that is why they have organised a separate one-on-one meeting with Nawaz Sharif," Fatemi told AFP.

The PML-N faces a daunting array of problems: a bloody Islamist militancy, sluggish economic growth, high inflation, a crumbling currency, the threat of a balance of payments crisis and crippling electricity shortages.

There are an estimated 10,000 Chinese people and more than 120 Chinese companies in Pakistan, many working on infrastructure and energy projects. Beijing built two nuclear power plants in the country and is contracted to construct two more reactors.

In February Beijing took control of Pakistan's port of Gwadar, which through an expanded Karakoram Highway could connect China to the Arabian Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, a gateway for a third of the world's traded oil.

Li will address a special session of the Pakistani senate, the upper house of parliament, and the two sides are expected to sign memorandums of understanding on economic, energy and science issues.

Li arrived in Pakistan after a visit to arch-rival India, where he promised to open China's vast domestic market wider to India and forge a "dynamic trade balance" with the South Asian giant.

His tour will takes him on to Europe for visits to Switzerland, with which China is negotiating a free trade agreement, and Germany, its largest European trading partner.  


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources AFP
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/chinese-pm-pledges-stronger-partnership-/683984.html

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO: Barack Obama Snubs Asif Ali Zardari At NATO

DTN News - NATO SUMMIT IN CHICAGO:  Barack Obama Snubs Asif Ali Zardari At NATO
*U.S. has dole out over $100 billion to Pakistan since 1950 with zero gain and multifaceted problems
>Five Decades of Aid to Pakistan, 1950 - 2001
It is not much of an exaggeration to state that since independence in 1947, Pakistan has been an aid-dependent nation. Some estimates suggest that the gross disbursement of overseas development assistance to Pakistan from 1960 to 2002 (in 2001 prices) was $73.1 billion, from both bilateral and multilateral sources.
Almost 30 percent of this official development assistance came in the form of bilateral aid from the United States, the largest single bilateral donor by far.
>U.S. Financial aid to Pakistan since 9/11
Between 2002-2010, Pakistan received approximately 18 billion in military and economic aid from the United States. In February 2010, the Obama administration requested an additional 3 billion in aid, for a total of $20.7 billion.
Western officials have claimed nearly 70% ( roughly $3.4 billion) of the aid given to the Military assistance has been misspent in 2002-2007 and used to over Civilian Deficit. However U.S-Pakistani relationship has been a transactional based and U.S military aid to Pakistan and aid conditions has been shrouded in secrecy for several years until recently . In a startling revelation, an update released says that US funding to Pakistan has more than doubled since President Obama took office in 2009. In fiscal 2010 US gave nearly $4.3 billion to Pakistan, up from about $3 billion in 2009 and $2 billion in 2008. The US fiscal year runs from October to September.
>As of May 21, 2012 - Is Pakistan an opportunistic or a greedy country
In an unmistakable snub, President Barack Obama left Pakistan off a list of nations he thanked Monday for help getting war supplies into Afghanistan and refused to meet Mr Zardari yesterday in the midst of Pakistan's refusal to compromise over increasing the fee for trucks to pass through its territory to Afghanistan from $US250 ($253) to $US5000 almost two-thousand percent increase. Now, Pakistan has lost its credibility globally as a reliable or a dependable ally to fight or to stamp out terrorism and militancy.
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BY: BRAD NORINGTON, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT From: The Australian
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 21, 2012: BARACK Obama has snubbed Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari despite inviting him to a NATO summit in Chicago, as a bitter dispute rages over supply routes that could disrupt the planned US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The US President refused to meet Mr Zardari yesterday in the midst of Pakistan's refusal to compromise over increasing the fee for trucks to pass through its territory to Afghanistan from $US250 ($253) to $US5000.

Pakistan closed its borders and then demanded the huge price rise for moving US supply trucks through its territory after US air strikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November.

Mr Zardari was invited to the NATO talks at late notice and US officials appear to have hoped a settlement of the transportation issue could have been reached before his arrival.

Instead, the conflict worsened yesterday.

It was made clear that Mr Obama was unwilling to meet Mr Zardari, and the diplomatic task was handed to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The dispute with Pakistan has forced unacceptable costs on the US as trucks transporting up to 40 per cent of equipment to and from Afghanistan have been forced to use a longer route through Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

The US insists strikes that killed Pakistani soldiers were accidental because the troops concerned appeared hostile.

It has also refused to issue a full apology, which has been demanded by Pakistan.

The rise in Pakistan's fee per truck is not only considered unreasonable retaliation but also a potential stumbling block as Washington draws up plans for withdrawing large amounts of military equipment from Afghanistan for a planned troop withdrawal by the end of 2014.

The argument over transportation fees is only the latest flare-up in relations. It follows US doubts about Pakistan's loyalty and its alleged double-dealing with the Taliban and insurgent groups considered terrorists.

The US still suspects senior Pakistani intelligence officials knew al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in a town with one of the country's largest military barracks for five years when Mr Obama ordered a commando raid on his hideout last year.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government resents the unauthorised raid on its territory.

The US President yesterday met Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai at the NATO summit in Chicago.

The pair discussed plans to wind down the war and hand security to local forces while maintaining an American military commitment for a decade after the official 2014 withdrawal.

Using words similar to those for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Mr Karzai thanked Mr Obama for "taxpayers' money" used to support his country as the US pledges continued support for an Afghan military after the official foreign troop withdrawal at a cost of $US4 billion a year.

Under the withdrawal schedule, local Afghan forces are meant to be responsible for the country's security by mid-next year.

All combat troops are to be withdrawn by the end of 2014.

Administration officials said yesterday that the invitation to Chicago for Mr Zardari had not come from Mr Obama personally but through NATO.

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources BY: BRAD NORINGTON, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT From: The Australian
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - NATO NEWS: NATO Invites Pakistan To Chicago Summit

DTN News - NATO NEWS: NATO Invites Pakistan To Chicago Summit
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - May 16, 2012: NATO said on Tuesday it had invited Pakistan to a summit in Chicago next week, lifting a veiled threat that it might exclude the country from the talks on the future of Afghanistan.

"Allies decided to invite President (Asif Ali) Zardari of Pakistan to Chicago to the meeting on Afghanistan," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement.

"This meeting will underline the strong commitment of the international community to the people of Afghanistan and to its future. Pakistan has an important role to play in that future."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen suggested on Friday that Pakistan could be excluded from the May 20-21 summit if it failed to reopen the supply routes to Afghanistan that it closed after 24 of its soldiers were killed by a NATO cross-border air attack last November.

Rasmussen noted that other countries providing supply routes to NATO had been invited to the summit, which will map out a future for Afghanistan after most foreign combat troops are withdrawn at the end of 2014.

President Zardari's spokesman said he was considering whether to attend the Chicago summit and that the invitation was "unconditional and not linked to the opening of ground lines of communication for NATO or to any other issue."

Pakistan has demanded a formal apology from the United States for the attack before it reopens the supply routes, and has also called for an end to U.S. drone strikes on its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistan boycotted an international conference on Afghanistan in Bonn in December in protest against the NATO air strikes.

(Reporting By Sebastian Moffett; Additional reporting by Sheree Sardar in Islamabad; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)


*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Reuters
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DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Sectarian Violence From Kohistan To Karachi

DTN News - PAKISTAN NEWS: Sectarian Violence From Kohistan To Karachi
*Protests rage over Kohistan killings
*Pakistani Shiite Muslims chant slogans during a protest against the killing of their community members in Karachi on February 28, 2012. Sectarian gunmen disguised in military fatigues hauled 18 Shiite Muslim men off buses on February 28 and shot them dead in cold blood in a usually quiet region of northern Pakistan. Authorities blamed the assault on Islamist militant groups, without naming a specific organisation. The attack took place in the northern district of Kohistan, which neighbours the Swat valley, a former Taliban stronghold.

Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Dawn

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 29, 2012: Gunmen in military uniform forced people going from Rawalpindi to Gilgit to disembark from buses in Kohistan’s Harban area on Tuesday and gunned down 16 of them after checking their names on their ID cards which invoked protests all over the country.

“Sixteen people were killed in the incident. The bodies were handed over to the deputy commissioner of Chilas after autopsy at Shitial hospital,” Mohammad Ilyas, district police officer, Kohistan, told reporters.

According to foreign news agencies, this was a sectarian attack as confirmed by a man claiming to be spokesman for the Jandullah faction of Taliban. He said the 16 were killed by ‘Mujahideen’ because they were Shias.

A large number of people came out on roads in protest against the killings. They burned tyres at different chowks. Shops and markets were closed. The district administration imposed Section 144 in Gilgit city and announced closure of offices and schools for three days.

Protesters took out a procession from Imamia Jamia Mosque in Skardu and marched up to Yadgar-i-Shuhada Baltistan.

Jafria Alliance Pakistan (JAP) has condemned the brutal killings and announced a three-day mourning and country- wide protest on Friday.

According to officials, the attackers intercepted four buses on the Karakoram Highway, asked the passengers to get off, shot 16 people dead after checking their ID cards and escaped.

DPO Mohammad Ilyas said 117 passengers were on the buses. Police took the bodies to the hospital.

Harban is about four kilometres from Tangier and Darail areas where security forces have been attacked for several times in recent past.

MPA Abdul Sattar Khan, who belongs to Dasso tehsil, said the carnage was apparently related to recent sectarian clashes in Gilgit.

Senior officials of the Kohistan district administration were tight lipped about the nature of the killings.

“We have registered an FIR and started investigation and everything will be clear after completion of preliminary investigation,” Mr Ilyas said.

Farman Ali Baltistani adds from Skardu: Seven victims were from Baltistan division, four from Nagar, two from Astore and one from Gilgit. The bodies of the other two could not be identified.

Meanwhile, two people were injured in incidents of firing in Sakwar village. They were identified as Zulfiqar and Abdul Mannan, residents of Gilgit.

President Asif Ali Zardari took notice of the incident and summoned a detailed report within three days.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik formed a joint investigation team.

Malik said that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have been involved in similar crimes in the past.

Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Pir Karam Ali Shah and Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah condemned the Harban killings. They said the culprits would soon be arrested.

Our correspondent adds from Shangla: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti called Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah and condemned the incident.

He termed it a cowardly and brutal act and said the elements involved would be brought to book whether they belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Gilgit-Baltistan.

AP adds: According to lawmaker Abdul Sattar the victims were Shias. He said eight gunmen were involved in the ambush, and all were wearing military uniforms, presumably to make it easier to stop the buses.

Officials initially said 18 people had been killed and that just one bus was involved.

Mr Sattar and Sher Khan, an official at the Rawalpindi bus station, said attacks had been feared on travellers after an incident last month in which an unknown number of Sunnis were killed in the Gilgit region. Sher Khan said buses were travelling in convoy as a security measure.

Aamir Yasin adds from Rawalpindi: Private transporters running buses from Rawalpindi to Gilgit-Baltistan suspended operation after the incident.

More than 50 buses for Gilgit and Skardu run on the route. Due to insecurity, people mostly use air route to go to Gilgit.

The transporters said they would not resume the bus service unless the government took adequate security measures and ensure safety of passengers. “The government should take serious steps to stop such attacks,” said Nisar Ali, the owner of
Mashabroom Tour Operators.

He said that most of the passengers on the buses were pilgrims returning from Iran and some army officers and personnel.

“Luckily, 47 pilgrims remained safe because their bus had departed one hour late,” he said.

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*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Dawn
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DTN News - PAKISTAN TODAY: Analysis ~ On Trial - Yousuf Raza Gilani

DTN News - PAKISTAN TODAY: Analysis ~ On Trial - Yousuf Raza Gilani
*DTN News presents an article "On Trial" analyzed by Asad Jamal and Muhammad Badar Alam 
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Asad Jamal and Muhammad Badar Alam - Herald - Dawn Pakistan
(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - February 17, 2012: Yousuf Raza Gilani is creating history of sorts: With just one month to go before he completes his fourth year in office, he is already the longest serving prime minister of Pakistan. With a mix of luck, guile, compromise, concessions and even confrontation, he would expect to pull off another historical feat — of surviving his full constitutional term in office.

His chances of success appear to be slim. When the opposition took the memo issue to the Supreme Court late last year and the army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha supported a judicial probe into the affair, everyone thought time was up for Gilani and his government as well as President Asif Ali Zardari. When Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry appointed a high-powered judicial commission to probe the memo case, and followed it up with a string of contempt of court notices to senior government functionaries, including Gilani, the end was deemed nigh.

Many thought that the prime minister and other members of his ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) were making a bad situation worse by indulging in a war of words with the military. From his December 2011 speech in the National Assembly, warning that he will not allow a state within a state to exist, to his statement to the Chinese media that Kayani and Pasha acted illegally and unconstitutionally by contradicting the government version of the memo in front of the Supreme Court, Gilani was either bluffing or calling the other side’s bluff. In any case, he was certainly living dangerously.

It all now appears to have receded behind closed doors. Gilani has retracted his belligerent statements against the military and intelligence chiefs, of course, after claiming the not-so-prized scalp of the defence secretary as a face-saving measure. The memo probe appears destined for the long haul and contempt and corruption cases are subject to procedural adjournments and legal hair-splitting among the lawyers and the judges. From being on the brink only days ago, Gilani looks like he is back in charge — for the time being at least.

But this could well be a temporary respite, not a permanent reprieve, for none of the factors nagging and troubling the government have gone away and many, if not most, of them are for the courts to take care of one way or the other.

Seeds of distrust

Even before the PPP came to power in February 2008, it had reason to feel threatened by the superior judiciary under Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. When General (retd) Pervez Musharraf sacked him a second time on November 3, 2007, Chaudhry had already drawn first blood vis-à-vis the PPP. On October 12, 2007, he admitted petitions challenging the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and, in an extraordinary order, immediately suspended the actions being taken under the ordinance without first deciding whether it was legal or otherwise. It was extraordinary in the sense that normally courts do not question the effects or benefits derived from a law while it is still being debated in the courts, says Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood, a senior jurist and a senior leader of the movement for the restoration of Justice Chaudhry.

It was only days after February 2008 polls when the Musharraf-appointed Supreme Court under Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar modified the order, allowing the NRO to end thousands of cases related to alleged corruption and other crimes. For the PPP, the ordinance was critically important as it had allowed its senior leadership, including Benazir Bhutto, to return from exile in October 2007 and participate in the political process. Stung by his previous decision on the NRO, the party led by Zardari post-election resisted the restoration of Chaudhry as much as it possibly could after coming to power. It feared that the Supreme Court under him would revive cases against the senior PPP leaders, thereby putting its nascent government in trouble.

Months before he became the president of Pakistan, Zardari started reneging on his political commitment with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) on the restoration of the judges sacked by Musharraf, more specifically Chaudhry. The government also did not want to sideline  Dogar, in return for his pro-NRO judgement. It was not until the lawyers and the opposition parties took to the streets Punjab and Dogar’s tenure came to an end in March 2009, that the government restored the chief justice, reportedly under pressure from the military establishment.

The damage had been done by then. Constitutional lawyer Salman Akram Raja believes the government spent too much political capital resisting the restoration. “Immediate restoration of judges was a golden opportunity for the PPP government to win huge political goodwill, which it lost wholly unnecessarily,” he says.

During the second phase of the NRO case in December 2009, Chaudhry struck down the NRO as void ab initio, ie illegal and unconstitutional from the moment it was promulgated, thereby immediately reversing and annulling any benefits it had ever accrued to anyone. The court also ordered the revival of cases against the PPP leadership in and outside Pakistan, most notably in Switzerland. For the party and the government, this was a frontal assault.

Earlier the same year, the Supreme Court decided constitutional petitions by the Sindh High Court Bar Association and others over the appointment of judges under the Musharraf’s emergency rule as well as the PPP government before March 2009 and sent home more than 100 judges. Many of them were considered sympathetic to PPP. The court has not looked back ever since. One case after the other involving corruption allegations against PPP members and leaders and senior functionaries of the government have come up before the apex court, invariably eliciting angry remarks by the judges, getting  negative media coverage and discrediting the government practically on a daily basis.

The government’s strategy during the NRO case, as well as in some other cases, has mainly been to deal with them more in a political manner and less through legal means; an approach which has had mixed consequences. If the strategy was to gain time, it could be argued that the government was successful. But it did cost it heavily in terms of loss of credibility. Hounded by the media over its reluctance to restore the judges and troubled by the Supreme Court judgement in the Sindh High Court Bar Association case, says Mehmood, the government “lost all its senses”. It continued “making one mistake after the other, especially in the NRO proceedings. So much so, it did not even argue anything in its review proceedings.” Even pro-government lawyers believe the NRO case could have been pleaded more vigorously on the legal front, possibly leading to a less harsh verdict.

Baggage of history

For those on the government’s side, the judiciary is playing its historical pro-establishment role in giving anti-PPP decisions, the most flawed among them being what many call Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s judicial murder. At one level, the present altercation remains between the two highest offices – the presidency and the chief justice – and could be interpreted in the historical context of an anti-PPP bias among the superior judiciary.

Zardari told an interviewer recently that a former PPP minister was imprisoned in the Hajj corruption case and the courts were not accepting his bail pleas even when there was no proof against him. Over the last two years, he has been demanding that the superior judiciary revisit the Bhutto trial as expeditiously as it is taking up cases with visible anti-PPP quotient.

Dr Osama Siddique, associated with the department of law and policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums), says three historical trends concerning the superior judiciary continue to have resonance in the present context. “One, the judiciary has had an invasive and power-accumulation propensity that is also characterised by illusions of self- grandeur; two, it is historically anti-PPP and favours pro-establishment parties which was poignantly displayed in the 1990s; and, three, it has repeatedly evinced a vulnerability to direct and indirect pressures from the army.”

Resistance versus activism

For a majority of hard-core pro-judiciary types, the roots of the judiciary-government stand-off lie in the PPP’s defiance of judicial authority and its inability to ensure good governance. They cite media reports on rampant corruption within the government to show that President Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani, federal and provincial ministers and leaders and members of the PPP are hostile towards the judiciary because it is providing the lone institutional check against their real or perceived wrongdoings.

Some in the PPP, however, say the hype around corruption in the courts and the media is hampering the government from taking important economy-related decisions such as the import of liquefied natural gas (See Qamar Zaman Kaira’s interview). But this hardly justifies controversial appointments that the government had made over the last four years (mainly in Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and the Federal Investigation Agency). Certainly, many of them were avoidable.

From the judiciary’s perspective, the only way to improve governance and curb corruption is to expand judicial activism. Raja believes the Supreme Court’s expanding role must be seen in the context of the government’s credibility having been lost completely due both to its ineffective governance as well as corruption. He cites the government’s attempts to stall investigation into corruption cases around Hajj, National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) and rental power plants and argues that “in effect there exists not a single independent investigative agency in the country that will be allowed to do its work.” For him, “it is in that context that the Supreme Court’s readiness to assume [activist] jurisdiction has to be seen.”

But such expansionist judicial role has led to some unprecedented developments. When, as part of the 18th constitutional Amendment, the parliament changed the procedure for the judges’ appointment, the Supreme Court immediately struck back, forcing the legislature to enact another constitutional amendment along the lines it prescribed. In subsequent judgements, the court has all but eliminated the role of the parliamentary committee on judicial appointments subjecting its decisions to judicial challenge and review.

Last month, the court went even further in expanding its role far into the executive domain. On a petition filed by advocate Fazal Kareem Butt, who sought an assurance from the federal government that it will not remove Kayani and Pasha, the court told the Attorney General to submit in writing an assurance from the federal government that it has no such plan.

Lawyer Faisal Siddiqi argues that this expansionism is neither new nor Pakistan-specific. “Judicial activism of the Supreme Court is nothing peculiar to Pakistan. It has happened in many countries during transition from military dominance to greater democracy,” he says. “When the security establishment struggles to retain power and elected government tries to reclaim its lawful domain, it is in such times that judiciaries often expand their role.”

Others do not take such a benign view. Maryam Khan, an assistant professor of law at Lums, says “The judiciary has always exhibited a tendency to assert an exaggerated constitutional domain for itself and attempts to enhance it through its own pronouncements whenever the army goes in the background and a controlled democratic system is restored.” According to her, the court-centered development of the “public interest litigation” movement in the immediate post-Zia era of the late 1980s and early 1990s is an example of the judiciary’s strategic self-legitimation not only to assert an exaggerated constitutional domain for itself but also to reinvent its image as the custodian of constitutional and democratic values. “ … the judiciary has effectively evolved into an institution autonomous of, ascendant to, as well as deeply contemptuous and dismissive of, the political process,” she says.

Writing in the Economic and Political Weekly as early as 2009, Karachi-based political economist Haris Gazdar was even more scathing in his criticism of the judiciary and its main supporters, the lawyers. He argued that the constitutionalist pretensions of judges and lawyers were belied by their actions. “There is a pattern: media fuelled populism, encroachment upon the authority of the parliament and the executive, helping political allies, and keeping mum where core interests of the military might be involved. From a broadly-supported popular struggle against the Musharraf regime, the lawyers’ movement has morphed into a self-serving power grab,” he wrote.

Many others agree that such an expansion takes place at the expense of civilian governments and to the advantage of the military and security establishment. Former Supreme Court Bar Association president Asma Jahangir has publicly accused the Supreme Court of working “under influence of the security establishment” in the memo case. Those who support her point of view cite many long-pending cases, including those involving violence in Balochistan and missing persons, in which the apex court has never gone beyond summoning senior intelligence officials. Talking about the memo case, for instance, Sidiqqi says “unlike in the past when the army asked for legitimacy from the court, in the memo case the army is not asking for validation of its unconstitutional acts.” What it is doing, and seemingly achieving is even more troubling. “It has instead sought to increase its de facto power as opposed to its de jure power by using the judicial process.” As and when that power gets validated through a Supreme Court judgement, the army will be placed way above the democratic and parliamentary process. This in turn will put elected governments at the mercy of a security establishment controlling everything from behind the scenes, and without having to worry about law and Constitution.

(Asad Jamal is a lawyer.)

*Link for This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Asad Jamal and Muhammad Badar Alam - Herald - Dawn Pakistan
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*This article is being posted from Toronto, Canada By DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News Contact:dtnnews@ymail.com 
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DTN News - PAKISTAN IN TURMOIL: Is Pakistan facing a military coup?

DTN News - PAKISTAN IN TURMOIL: Is Pakistan facing a military coup?
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources Al Jazeera
 (NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - January 13, 2012: Pakistan is facing an unprecedented crisis.

Following the government's sacking of the defence chief, we ask if the country is on the brink of a military takeover.

Throughout the country's 64-year history, there have always been tensions between civilian governments and the military.

But this time, there is a bitter feud between the government of Asif Ali Zardari, and the generals.

And it is being fought very publicly in the media.

All this in a country with an economy in tailspin; a country at the centre of the West's fight against the Taliban; and of course a country equipped with a nuclear arsenal.

"The army has never been interested in taking over ... they know the environment for the next martial law is simply not there. The army wants the facts and reality of the Memogate scandal to come to light in one way or the other." - Hamid Nawaz, retired general/military analyst

"The Pakistani military is not the political player it used to be. It knows it's not in a position to capture political power in Islamabad ... not with the supreme court being the biggest impediment." - Moeed Pirzada, political analyst

In the latest twist - making things even more acrimonious - Yousuf Reza Gilani, the Pakistani prime minister, has fired retired General Naeem Khalid Lodhi, the country's defence secretary over claims of a coup plot.

How will this battle end? And is the government already so weak and discredited that it may soon fall?

Inside Story, James Bay, discusses with guests: Hamid Nawaz, a retired Pakistani general and military analyst; Moeed Pirzada, a political analyst; and Zafar Jaspal, a security analyst and associate professor of International Relations at Quaid-i-Azam University.

"For the first time in the history of Pakistan, political forces from both sides are united in not welcoming the army. Secondly, there is a proactive judiciary. In the present situation the internal dynamics of the country are such that they will create complexities and uncertainties but the system will continue."

- Zafar Jaspal, security analyst


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