#Pervez Musharraf Trial

[news-of-the-day]

2/6/23

A 7.8 earthquake followed by a 7.5 aftershock hit southern Turkey near the Syrian border. There are 2,300 dead across the two countries and that will continue to rise as workers search through the rubble. Unfortunately most buildings in that area are built of brick and mortar, which don't have much defense against earthquakes.

The State of the Union address will be tomorrow at 21:00 EST.

Hong Kong started its national security trial. Two years ago many pro-Democracy leaders were arrested on conspiracy to commit subversion charges. This trial is being seen as how far Xi and the party's influence has taken control.

Over the weekend there was an incident over a balloon that originated from China. The US claims it had spy equipment, China said it was a civilian manufacture for weather monitoring purposes. The US waited for the balloon to traverse the country and eventually shot it down in the Atlantic Ocean, where the military is now going through the debris. It is unknown who is right at this point, but it was very large for a weather balloon (about two buses together, which is why the US didn't want to down it over land).

Dell is shedding 5% of its workforce. The Wall Street Journal has a thorough article listing all the recent layoffs since the beginning of the year.

A sixth police officer was fired for his involvement in Tyre Nichols' death. He was already under suspension, and is under consideration for criminal charges.

House Republicans voted to removed Representative Omar (D-MN) from the Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar is part of the "the Squad," a group of very progressive Democrats, who draw a lot of ire from Republicans. Omar has gotten criticism for anti-Israel/antisemitic remarks, which is what Republicans removed her for. 

At least 34 are dead in Somaliland. In the early 90s Somaliland said it broke away from Somalia, but that to this day hasn't garnered much international recognition. Every now and then there is still fighting over this dispute, and it seems this was one of them.

Israeli forces killed five in the West Bank during a firefight.

Pervez Musharraf, former military leader turned president of Pakistan, died at age 79. He led a coup in 1999 and a few years later held elections where he became president. His tenure was a very transformative time for Pakistan, both good and bad.

1) Al Jazeera 2) whitehouse.gov 3) Reuters 4) Axios, weather.com 6) Washington Post 7) Voice of America 8) Reuters 9) Haaretz 10) NYT

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.18 (after 1940)

1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain, takes place. At that point, it is the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides. 1945 – Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day. 1945 – Soviet-Japanese War: Battle of Shumshu: Soviet forces land at Takeda Beach on Shumshu Island and launch the Battle of Shumshu; the Soviet Union’s Invasion of the Kuril Islands commences. 1949 – Kemi Bloody Thursday: Two protesters die in the scuffle between the police and the strikers' protest procession in Kemi, Finland. 1950 – Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists. 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States. 1958 – Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so, placing first among the 39 competitors. 1963 – Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi. 1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war. 1966 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province. 1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. 1973 – Aeroflot Flight A-13 crashes after takeoff from Baku-Bina International Airport in Azerbaijan, killing 56 people and injuring eight. 1976 – The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers. 1976 – The Soviet Union’s robotic probe Luna 24 successfully lands on the Moon. 1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies. 1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars). 1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia. 1993 – American International Airways Flight 808 crashes at Leeward Point Field at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, injuring the three crew members. 2003 – One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary and led to reform of Canada's bail laws. 2005 – A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java; affecting almost 100 million people, it is one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history. 2008 – The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment. 2008 – War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs. 2011 – A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40. 2017 – The first terrorist attack ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two and injures eight. 2019 – One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after having once covered six square miles (15.5 km2).

[xtruss]

Arab News: Gen Musharraf’s Life in Photos

In this photo from Nov. 14, 2006, then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf talks to reporters at his camp office in Rawalpindi. (AFP)

He is Pakistan’s first military ruler charged with high treason

Now lives in Dubai, reportedly suffering from multiple health conditions

Islamabad, Pakistan: Former President Pervez Musharraf was sentenced to death by a special court in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Convicted of high treason, he is Pakistan’s first military ruler to stand trial for superseding the Constitution.

Musharraf seized power in 1999 in a bloodless coup. He stepped down in 2008.

After the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Musharraf joined the US “war on terror,” despite criticism in Pakistan.

During his term as president, he had survived several assignation plots.

Musharraf left the country in 2016 for medical treatment and has since been self-exiled in Dubai.

Top: In this photo from Sept. 8, 1999, then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s Most Corrupt, Traitor and Looter, (left) is looking at a pistol of then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf while they visit the families of soldiers killed fighting in Kargil. (AFP) Bottom: General Pervez Musharraf speaks as army chief during a nationwide address on state-owned television in Karachi, Oct. 13, 1999. (AFP)

Top: Pervez Musharraf gestures as he addresses Pakistani expats in the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi on Oct. 27, 1999. (AFP) Bottom: Pervez Musharraf takes oath for the office of President of Pakistan during a ceremony in Islamabad on June 20, 2001. Chief Justice Irshad Hassan Khan receives the oath from Musharraf. (AFP)

Top: Then President Pervez Musharraf bids farewell to then Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and then Indian President K.R. Narayanan at the end of an official welcoming ceremony in New Delhi, July 14, 2001.(AFP) Bottom: General Pervez Musharraf and his wife leave the Taj Mahal in Agra on July 15, 2001, after the then Pakistani president's historic visit to India July 14-16, 2001. (AFP)

Top: Gen. Pervez Musharraf addresses the nation in Islamabad, on Sept. 19, 2001. (AFP) Bottom: Still as president, Pervez Musharraf waves to his supporters during a mass rally in Lahore, April 9, 2002, as he launched a campaign to remain president for five years ahead of a national referendum later that month. (AFP)

Imran Khan presents a crest of the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer hospital he founded to then President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in Lahore, Feb. 19, 2002. Musharraf then announced a donation of $500,000. (AFP)

Top: Pervez Musharraf casts his vote in the 2002 presidential referendum along with his wife Sehba Pervez and mother Zarin Musharrafuddin in Rawalpindi city, April 30, 2002. (AFP) Bottom: Then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and then Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh salute the crowd while arriving on the pitch for the final one day international between India and Pakistan cricket teams at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi, April 17, 2005. (AFP)

Then US President George W. Bush and then Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf shake hands after a press conference following a bilateral meeting at the Presidential Palace in Islamabad, March 4, 2006. (AFP)

Pervez Musharraf prays after he arrived at Karachi International Airport from Dubai on March 24, 2013. The former military ruler returned home after more than four years in exile, defying a Taliban death threat to contest the 2013 general election. (AFP)

Ailing Pervez Musharraf speaks from his hospital bed in Dubai on Dec. 3, 2019. (Screengrab from Musharraf's video message)

[762175]

Military general who morphed into many roles in a roller-coaster career

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf’s death in Dubai on Sunday from the ravages of a rare and debilitating disease marks the end of a roller-coaster and often unlikely journey that saw him transition from four-star general to military dictator to wannabe statesman to a pariah standing trial for treason.Musharraf, who helmed the country for almost nine years (1999-2008), had been…

[cryptoguys657]

Military general who morphed into many roles in a roller-coaster career

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf’s death in Dubai on Sunday from the ravages of a rare and debilitating disease marks the end of a roller-coaster and often unlikely journey that saw him transition from four-star general to military dictator to wannabe statesman to a pariah standing trial for treason.Musharraf, who helmed the country for almost nine years (1999-2008), had been…

[gamekai]

Military general who morphed into many roles in a roller-coaster career

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf’s death in Dubai on Sunday from the ravages of a rare and debilitating disease marks the end of a roller-coaster and often unlikely journey that saw him transition from four-star general to military dictator to wannabe statesman to a pariah standing trial for treason.Musharraf, who helmed the country for almost nine years (1999-2008), had been…

[risingpakistan]

جسٹس وقار کا دماغی معائنہ واقعی کروا ہی لیں

جنرل مشرف کی سزائے موت کے فیصلے پر اٹھنے والا طوفان تھمتا نظر آ رہا ہے جو اچھی بات ہے کیونکہ عدالتی فیصلے کی بنیاد پر اداروں کے درمیان ٹکرائو کی صورتحال کا پیدا ہونا کسی طور پاکستان کے لیے اچھا نہیں اور وہ بھی ایک ایسے فرد کی وجہ سے جس نے ایک نہیں دو بار آئین شکنی کی اور اپنے آمرانہ دور میں وہ کچھ کیا جس کے بارے میں کوئی سوچ بھی نہیں سکتا تھا اور جس کا ملک اور قوم کو شدید نقصان پہنچا۔ بغیر سوچے سمجھے اور تفصیلی فیصلے کے آنے سے بھی پہلے فوری طور ایسا ردعمل دینا جس میں غصہ جھلک رہا ہو، نہ حکومت اور نہ ہی ریاست کے کسی ادارے کے لیے مناسب تھا۔ چلیں! جو ہوا سو ہوا، کم از کم اب احساس ہو رہا ہے کہ ایسا نہیں ہونا چاہیے تھا۔ گزشتہ رات ایک ٹی وی پروگرام میں ایک ریٹائرڈ جنرل صاحب نے مجھ سے اس بات پر اتفاق کیا کہ آئی ایس پی آر کے لیے بہتر ہوتا کہ وہ خود اس معاملے میں کچھ نہ بولتے۔

سابق جنرل حضرات یا حکومت کی طرف سے ہی فیصلے پر ردعمل آتا تو کافی تھا۔ لیکن کیا کریں، یہاں تو حکومت کا حال یہ ہے کہ اس کو معاملات سلجھانے کا سلیقہ تو نہیں آتا لیکن بگاڑنے میں کبھی پیچھے نہیں رہتی۔ حکومتی ذمہ داروں نے گزشتہ ڈیڑھ سال کے دوران بارہا ثابت کیا ہے کہ غیر سنجیدگی کی اِن کے لیے کوئی حد نہیں اور کسی معاملے کو سمجھداری اور حکمت کے ساتھ سلجھانے کی ان سے توقع رکھنا ہی بیکار ہے۔ ورنہ مشرف کے خلاف اسپیشل کورٹ کے فیصلے کے بعد‘ کیا حکومت کے لیے مناسب نہ تھا کہ فوجی قیادت سے کہتی کہ آئی ایس پی آر کو کچھ کہنے کی ضرورت نہیں، حکومت خود اس معاملے کو ہینڈل کر لے گی۔ لیکن حکومت نے ہینڈل کرنے کا جو طریقہ اپنایا وہ انتہائی بھونڈا تھا۔ اپنے وزیروں، اٹارنی جنرل وغیرہ سے پریس کانفرنس کروا کر پہلے تو یہ ثابت کرنے کی کوشش کی کہ جیسے جنرل مشرف تحریک انصاف اور حکومت کا کوئی بڑا ہیرو ہے جس سے بڑی زیادتی ہو گئی ہے۔

پرویز مشرف کی سزائے موت کے تفصیلی فیصلے پر حکومت کا ردّ عمل ماضی میں اپنے رہنما اور وزیراعظم عمران خان کے مشرف سے متعلق بیانات کو یکسر فراموش کرتے ہوئے ان وزیروں، مشیروں نے تو جیسے عدلیہ پر حملہ کر دیا ہو اور اس حد تک چلے گئے کہ خصوصی عدالت کے سربراہ اور پشاور ہائیکورٹ کے چیف جسٹس محترم جسٹس وقار سیٹھ کے دماغ کے معائنہ کروانے تک کی بات کر دی۔ ان حکومتی وزیروں مشیروں جن کی اکثریت ماضی میں مشرف کی ساتھی رہی، کا مقصد جسٹس وقار کی تضحیک کرنا تھا تاہم میں نے سوشل میڈیا پہ اپنے ایک پیغام میں لکھا کہ حکومت کو جسٹس صاحب کے دماغ کا ضرور معائنہ کروانا چاہیے تاکہ یہ معلوم ہو سکے کہ پاکستان کی تاریخ میں یہ کیسا جج پیدا ہو گیا جس نے ایک آمر کو آئین شکنی پر سزائے موت سنا دی۔

ورنہ ہمیں تو جسٹس منیر اور جسٹس ثاقب نثار جیسوں کو دیکھنے کی عادت سی ہو گئی ہے۔ حکومت نے یہ بھی اعلان کیا کہ جسٹس وقار کے خلاف سپریم جوڈیشل کونسل میں ریفرنس فائل کر کے اُنہیں عدلیہ سے ہی فارغ کروایا جائے گا، لیکن شکر ہے کہ جوں جوں وقت گزر رہا ہے حکومت کو بھی کچھ احساس ہو رہا ہے کہ جلدی میں جو ہوا وہ شاید اچھا نہ تھا۔ اب میڈیا کے ذریعے حکومت کے حوالے سے یہ خبریں سامنے آ رہی ہیں کہ جسٹس وقار کے متعلق ریفرنس میں کوئی جلدی نہیں بلکہ اس بارے میں سوچ بچار کے بعد فیصلہ کیا جائے گا۔ جنرل مشرف کے پاس اپیل کا موقع موجود ہے اور اُن کو یہ حق حاصل ہے کہ وہ اپنی سزائے موت کو سپریم کورٹ میں چیلنج کریں لیکن عمران خان حکومت کو اس بات پر ضرور غور کرنا چاہیے کہ کہیں وہ مشرف کی حمایت کر کے پاکستان کے ساتھ دشمنی تو نہیں کر رہی۔ 

بلکہ مجھے تو یوں محسوس ہوتا ہے کہ حکومت کے قانونی مشیروں فروغ نسیم، انور منصور اور شہزاد اکبر نے تحریک انصاف اور عمران خان کی اپنی سوچ (جس کا ماضی میں بارہا اُنہوں نے اظہار کیا) پر اُس سوچ کو مسلط کر دیا جو جنرل مشرف کی تھی۔ یاد رہے کہ فروغ نسیم، انور منصور اور شہزاد اکبر تینوں کا جنرل مشرف سے تعلق رہا جو وہ بڑی خوش اسلوبی سے اب بھی نبھا رہے ہیں۔ جہاں تک فوج کے ترجمان کے ردعمل کا تعلق ہے تو میں اُن حضرات سے اتفاق کرتا ہوں کہ مشرف کی سزا پر فوج کی طرف سے ایسے ردعمل کی ضرورت نہ تھی۔ جنرل مشرف اب ایک سیاستدان ہیں، اُنہوں نے فوج کے حلف کے برعکس اور آئین و قانون کی منشا کے خلاف دوبار مارشل لا لگایا جس سے فوج کی بدنامی ہوئی۔

اس کے علاوہ مشرف نے اپنی آمریت کے دوران جو جو فیصلے کیے، جس قسم کے اقدامات کیے اور جس طرح پاکستان کو شدید نقصان پہنچایا اُس پر مشرف کو پاکستان کی تاریخ کے سب سے متنازع ڈکٹیٹر کے طور پر یاد رکھا جائے گا۔ مشرف نے تو اپنے دور میں اپنے ذاتی مفادات اور اپنے آمرانہ فیصلوں کی وجہ سے فوج کی ساکھ کو بھی بہت نقصان پہنچایا تھا۔ مشرف بیمار ہیں، اُن کی صحت کے لیے بحیثیت مسلمان ہمیں دعا ضرور کرنی چاہیے، اگر مشرف سے کسی کو ہمدردی ہے تو اس کے اظہار کا بہترین طریقہ یہ ہے کہ اُنہیں مشورہ دیں کہ اپنے رب کے حضور دن رات توبہ کریں۔ لیکن جہاں تک عدالتی معاملات کا تعلق ہے تو اُنہیں آئین و قانون کے مطابق ہی چلنے دیں، اسی میں سب کی بہتری ہے۔

انصار عباسی

بشکریہ روزنامہ جنگ

[emergingpakistan]

پرویز مشرف کے پاس سزائے موت سے بچنے کا قانونی راستہ کیا ہے؟

سنگین غداری کیس کی سماعت کے لیے قائم خصوصی عدالت کی طرف سے سابق صدر پرویز مشرف کو سزائے موت سنائے جانے کے بعد قانونی ماہرین کے مطابق پرویز مشرف کے پاس سپریم کورٹ میں اپیل کا حق موجود ہے تاہم اس حق کو استعمال کرنے کے لیے انھیں ’سرنڈر‘ کرنا پڑے گا۔ خصوصی عدالت کی جانب سے پرویز مشرف کو سنگین غداری کا مرتکب قرار دیے جانے کے بعد موت کی سزا سنائی گئی ہے۔ پرویز مشرف اس وقت کمرہ عدالت میں موجود نہیں تھے۔ عدالت نے مختصر حکم نامے کے ذریعے سزا سنائی اور کہا کہ تفصیلی فیصلہ 48 گھنٹ�� میں جاری کر دیا جائے گا۔ اردو نیوز سے گفتگو میں پرویز مشرف کے دور حکومت میں وزیر قانون رہنے والے خالد رانجھا نے کہا کہ ’ٹرائل کورٹ کو مختصر حکم نامہ جاری کرنے کا اختیار نہیں ہے۔ ٹرائل کورٹ کو تمام وجوہات کے ساتھ تفصیلی فیصلہ ہی جاری کرنا ہوتا ہے۔‘ خالد رانجھا نے کہا کہ ’پرویز مشرف صرف اس مختصر حکم نامے کو بھی چیلنج کر دیں تو سپریم کورٹ اسے غیر قانونی و غیر آئینی قرار دے سکتی ہے۔ تفصیلی فیصلے کو چیلنج کرنے کے لیے سرنڈر کرنا لازمی ہے۔‘ پرویز مشرف کے سابق ساتھی احمد رضا قصوری نے کہا کہ ’یہ درست ہے کہ قانون کے مطابق اپیل کے لیے سرنڈر کرنا لازمی ہے لیکن قانون موم کی ناک کی طرح ہوتا ہے جسے جس طرف چاہے موڑا جا سکتا ہے۔ اس لیے پرویز مشرف سرنڈر کیے بغیر بھی اپیل کا حق رکھتے ہیں۔‘ انھوں نے کہا کہ ’اس ملک میں عدالتوں نے دس، دس سال بعد بھی اپیلیں سن کر نواز شریف کو ریلیف دیا ہے۔‘ ایڈووکیٹ سپریم کورٹ اکرام چوہدری کہتے ہیں کہ ’اس ملک میں ابھی تک تو سرنڈر کرنے کے علاوہ اپیل کی روایت موجود نہیں ہے۔ اس لیے پرویز مشرف کو قانونی راستہ اپناتے ہوئے سرنڈر ہی کرنا ہو گا اس کے بعد وہ اپیل کا حق استعمال کر سکیں گے۔‘

انھوں نے کہا کہ ’وفاقی حکومت اس فیصلے پر عمل درآمد کرانے، مشرف کو وطن واپس لانے اور سزا پر عملدر آمد کرانے کی مکمل پابند ہے۔ البتہ حکومت کو ایسا کرنے کے لیے ہمت دکھانا پڑے گی۔‘ جولائی 2018 میں احتساب عدالت کی جانب سے نواز شریف اور مریم نواز کو ان کی عدم موجودگی میں سزا سنائی گئی تھی۔ اس وقت قانونی ماہرین نے قرار دیا تھا کہ نواز شریف اور مریم نواز اپیل کا حق صرف اسی صورت استعمال کر سکتے ہیں جب وہ خود کو عدالت کے سامنے سرنڈر کرتے ہوئے جیل جائیں گے۔ دوسری جانب سابق صدر پرویز مشرف کی سیاسی جماعت آل پاکستان مسلم لیگ کی جانب سے جاری ہونے والی پریس ریلیز میں کہا گیا ہے کہ پارٹی اس فیصلے کے خلاف اپیل کرے گی، پارٹی قانونی ماہرین سے رابطے میں ہے، مستقل کے لیے لائحہ عمل طے کر لیا جائے گا۔

مزید کہا گیا ہے کہ سابق صدر کی جانب سے بار بار استدعا کے باوجود عدالت نے انہیں دفاع کا حق نہیں دیا اور ان کی غیر موجودگی میں فیصلہ سنا دیا گیا حالانکہ پرویز مشرف درخواست کر چکے تھے کہ غیر موجودگی میں فیصلہ نہ سنایا جائے آل پاکستان مسلم لیگ کی جانب سے خصوصی عدالت کے فیصلے پر تحفظات کا اظہار کرتے ہوئے کہا گیا ہے، فیصلہ ایسے وقت سامنے آیا ہے جب پرویز مشرف جان لیوا بیماری سے لڑ رہے ہیں فیصلہ آنا مناسب نہیں ہے۔

بشیر چوہدری 

اردو نیوز، اسلام آباد

[pakistantime]

جسٹس کھوسہ کا مشرف غداری کیس نمٹانے میں کلیدی کردار

سبکدوش ہونے والے چیف جسٹس آف پاکستان آصف سعید کھوسہ نے سابق فوجی حکمران جنرل (ر) پرویزمشرف کیخلاف غداری مقدمہ نمٹانے میں کلیدی کردار ادا کیا۔ سینئر وکلا کا ماننا ہے کہ پاکستان کی تاریخ میں جسٹس کھوسہ کانام یاد رکھا جائے گا۔ سیاسی و عدالتی حکام کیخلاف فیصلے دینے والے جسٹس کھوسہ جو 20 دسمبر کو رٹائر ہو رہے ہیں ،انھیں جرات مند جج کی حیثیت سے یاد رکھا جائے گا۔ وہ این آراو کیس میں سات رکنی بینچ کا حصہ تھے جس نے سابق وزیراعظم یوسف رضا گیلانی کو 2010  میں نااہل کیا تھا۔ قانونی ماہرین کے مطابق آرمی چیفس کی توسیع اورمشرف غداری مقدمے میں فیصلوں کے بعدعدلیہ طاقتورادارہ بن کر ابھری ہوئی ہے۔ غداری کا مقدمہ ن لیگ کے اقتدارمیں آنے کے بعد نومبر 2013ء میں شروع کیا گیا تھا تاہم متعدد وجوہات کے باعث زیرالتوا رہا۔ ایک سینئر اہلکار نے ایکسپریس ٹریبیون کو بتایا کہ یہ مقدمہ متعدد بار مردہ ہوا تاہم یہ جسٹس کھوسہ تھے، جنھوں نے اسے زندہ رکھا۔

[veenaspakistanlitblog]

Five Interesting Pakistani Nonfiction Books

The Reluctant Fundamentalists by Mohsin Hamid (Summary from Amazon)

     1. https://www.amazon.com/Reluctant-Fundamentalist-Mohsin-Hamid/dp/0156034026

Changez is living an immigrant’s dream of America. At the top of his class at Princeton, he is snapped up by the elite valuation firm of Underwood Samson. He thrives on the energy of New York, and his budding romance with elegant, beautiful Erica promises entry into Manhattan society at the same exalted level once occupied by his own family back in Lahore. But in the wake of September 11, Changez finds his position in his adopted city suddenly overturned, and his relationship with Erica eclipsed by the reawakened ghosts of her past. And Changez’s own identity is in seismic shift as well, unearthing allegiances more fundamental than money, power, and maybe even love. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a riveting, brilliantly unsettling exploration of the shadowy, unexpected connections between the political and the personal.

     2. Moth Smoke by Mohsin Hamid (Summary from Goodreads)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/440777.Moth_Smoke

When Daru Shezad is fired from his banking job in Lahore, he begins a decline that plummets the length of this sharply drawn, subversive tale. Before long, he can't pay his bills, and he loses his toehold among Pakistan's cell phone-toting elite. Daru descends into drugs and dissolution, and, for good measure, he falls in love with the wife of his childhood friend and rival, Ozi—the beautiful, restless Mumtaz. Desperate to reverse his fortunes, Daru embarks on a career in crime, taking as his partner Murad Badshah, the notorious rickshaw driver, populist, and pirate. When a long-planned heist goes awry, Daru finds himself on trial for a murder he may or may not have committed. The uncertainty of his fate mirrors that of Pakistan itself, hyped on the prospect of becoming a nuclear player even as corruption drains its political will.

     3. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai (Summary from Goodreads)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17851885-i-am-malala

When the Taliban took control of the Swat Valley in Pakistan, one girl spoke out. Malala Yousafzai refused to be silenced and fought for her right to an education. On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, she almost paid the ultimate price. She was shot in the head at point-blank range while riding the bus home from school, and few expected her to survive. Instead, Malala's miraculous recovery has taken her on an extraordinary journey from a remote valley in northern Pakistan to the halls of the United Nations in New York. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. I Am Malala is the remarkable tale of a family uprooted by global terrorism, of the fight for girls' education, of a father who, himself a school owner, championed and encouraged his daughter to write and attend school, and of brave parents who have a fierce love for their daughter in a society that prizes sons. 

     4. The Khyber Pass: A History of Empire & Invasion by Paddy Docherty (Summary by Amazon)

https://www.amazon.com/Khyber-Pass-History-Empire-Invasion/dp/1402756968

Combining personal travelogue with history, Paddy Docherty chronicles the story of the Khyber Pass, the gorge separating Afghanistan from Pakistan and northern India that has been the path of invasion for generations of aspiring conquerors. Docherty paints a fascinating historical portrait of mountain warriors, religious visionaries, artists, scientists, and figures from Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan—and examines the Pass’s modern significance as a lawless region of gunsmiths, drug smugglers, Taliban fighters, and Al Qaeda operatives.  Through his own travels in this frontier region (from Pakistan through the Khyber to Kabul), Paddy Docherty brings the Pass’s epic history into the 21st century.

     5. Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military by Husain Haqqani (Summary by Amazon)

https://www.amazon.com/Pakistan-Between-Military-Husain-Haqqani/dp/0870032143

Among U.S. allies in the war against terrorism, Pakistan cannot be easily characterized as either friend or foe. Nuclear-armed Pakistan is an important center of radical Islamic ideas and groups. Since 9/11, the selective cooperation of president General Pervez Musharraf in sharing intelligence with the United States and apprehending al Qaeda members has led to the assumption that Pakistan might be ready to give up its longstanding ties with radical Islam. But Pakistan's status as an Islamic ideological state is closely linked with the Pakistani elite's worldview and the praetorian ambitions of its military. This book analyzes the origins of the relationships between Islamist groups and Pakistan's military and explores the nation's quest for identity and security. Tracing how the military has sought U.S. support by making itself useful for concerns of the moment—while continuing to strengthen the mosque-military alliance within Pakistan—Haqqani offers an alternative view of political developments since the country's independence in 1947.

[digitarapk]

Higher education, lack of consultation and removal of Chairman HEC

Prof. Dr. Chaudhry Abdul Rehman (Chairman APSUP)

To anticipate the future of a nation, closely monitor the quality of education of that country.

Nations which prioritized education successfully proved their mettle over time yet the ones who ignored education, digged the depths of decline. Sadly it was worse than that in our case as said in the following words of Hakeem-ul-Ummat, Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal:

Alas, the treasure of the Caravan was looted

And the Caravan remained oblivious of this loss & realization!

(Pity that nation kept losing all they had, for they lost the ‘realization’ of losing it)

Field of higher education lays the core foundation of future progress and strength of any nation economically but it is evident that whenever higher education got compromised, not only this sector sank but hopes for flourishing economy also got shattered.

In Pakistan also, it’s been a long time now, the higher education sector is entangled in hurdles and trials crafted by governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.

From 2002 to 2008 was a six years’ tenure when the growth of higher education in Pakistan was at its peak. During this era, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was set up by the University Grants Commission in 2002 and Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman was appointed its very first founding chairman.

I would say that it doesn’t matter how disputed role of former President General (Rtd.) Pervez Musharraf might be in country politics, his act of establishing HEC from the UGC was a commendable decision which brought the best higher educational opportunities for Pakistani youth.

From the HEC centric reforms and facilities for quality education and research, we could have turned our youth into aspiring icons provided with sheer abidance to the rules and merit system introduced by the then chairman HEC.

During the tenure of Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman, universities’ budget was greatly increased, many private universities were established and the culture of quality education & research was flourished in universities in a glorious manner. Profound opportunities and same merit criteria for higher education promotion were created without differentiating whether it were public universities or private.

Over time, an "undemocratic government" changed everything in the country and led to the rise of Pakistan Peoples Party.

Provincial autonomy happened with the passage of the 18th Amendment, hence, tug-of-war started between the federation and provinces over higher education.

Governmental departments and their clerk-mafia dealing with the provincial higher education institutes started the practice of earning a living by looting universities and considering them golden sparrows.

Not only the owners and stakeholders of private institutions but also the officers of public universities got blackmailed in result of a ruthless show of unlimited official powers primarily to make a fortune. This is evident from history of higher education and the thousands of HEI pending files.

The bribery culture has become an addiction in officials which has already destroyed institutions and continues to do so. Particularly private universities across country have been the victims of this scourge, even though private universities have more than 50% stake in the field of higher education. Without private universities, 50% of Pakistani youth would remain illiterate, which could have a devastating effect on the country's economy. A patriotic Pakistani would shudder at this thought .

It is not possible to ignore the productive role of qualified young people who came to the forefront after studying in these private sector universities and became forerunners of the country’s progress.

The irony of fate however is that the same universities got treated as a rolling stone in hands of unchecked authorities. The pending files kept rolling from one department to another seeking wheelers to get due approvals; which were never given.

When the problems of private universities went too far and could not be solved far and wide, in early 2020, stakeholders of private universities across the country formed a forum “Association of Private Sector Universities Pakistan (APSUP) to make a concerted effort to solve their legitimate problems.

Through this platform, the responsibility of 86 universities (and their 31 sub-campuses) approved by the Higher Education Commission has been placed on my shoulders.

Soon after its establishment, APSUP presented its Charter of Demand to the government, the main point of which was to consult the 50% stakeholders from the private sector to seek their recommendations in the matters of life & death of the higher education sector.

It was reinforced that those patriotic higher education stakeholders who have invested billions and trillions of rupees to actually partner in the bigger dream of constructing a great future for the country, must not be considered as a sheep-hoard worthy of no opinion; their demands must be listened to carefully.

In addition, it was appealed to the government to provide a roof over the years long cases circulating in various departments and offices, through one window operation system instead of a meaningless, wasteful and useless exercise of dragging files from one to another office.

Eliminate policies that are degrading rather than promoting a culture of research.

Special grants for deserving students should also be given to private universities so that they can study in a private university if they want to.

While acknowledging the services of private universities, the government should patronize them, consider them as their partner, friend and helper in the sacred mission of promoting education and not rivals.

Approval cases have been stuck in government offices for years and the punishment for their delay should not be given to private universities through tactical policies; this is sheer unjust.

The autonomy of private universities should be taken care of like public universities, they should be given decision making power for the betterment of the country.

The HEC should provide equal opportunities to private universities in research, travel, conferences, workshops and grants.

Committees should be formed by including stakeholders to deal with years long issues that are still unresolved.

At the government level, there was an immediate good response to the appeal and recommendations made by APSUP. The Punjab Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun assured support on every issue and advisory committees were formed.

Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar was also kind and sympathetic. He understood the problems of private universities and ordered that no file be withheld for more than a week but after a long sigh and sadly let it be said that despite all this, the private sector is in clutches of the clerk-mafia which was born in the aftermath of the 18th amendment.

Only by the dint of malicious courage and fortitude of the mafia, those good sentiments and positive instructions have been thrown in the trash. So we are facing the same attitudes, tactics and difficulties in the new Pakistan which modern states have declared obsolete not if centuries but decades ago.

The chairman of the Higher Education Commission has been replaced recently. What are the factors behind his change is another debate.

Apart from those however, the government is requested to appoint any new chairman to meet the educational needs of the country, future requirements as well as the current situation. Be aware of the bitter ground realities that have been mentioned above. Be sure to consult stakeholders instead of doing one-man show; instead of being dictatorial, take everyone on board.

Even if Dr. Tariq Banuri had made decisions in consultation, his performance would have been at least satisfactory enough that even if the government had decided to remove him from office, it would have never been in the current manner bringing disgrace!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.18

684 – Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria. 1304 – The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias. 1487 – The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces. 1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I. 1572 – Marriage in Paris, France, of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics. 1590 – John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted. 1612 – The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England's most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes. 1634 – Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France. 1721 – The city of Shamakhi in Safavid Shirvan is sacked. 1783 – A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast. 1826 – Major Gordon Laing becomes the first non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu. 1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads. 1848 – Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas. 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. 1868 – French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought. 1891 – A major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead. 1903 – German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers. 1917 – A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless. 1920 – The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage. 1923 – First British Track and Field championships for women, London. 1938 – The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1940 – World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides. 1945 – Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day. 1950 – Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists. 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States. 1958 – Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first among 39 competitors. 1963 – Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi. 1965 – Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war. 1966 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province. 1971 – Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam. 1976 – The Korean axe murder incident in Panmunjom results in the deaths of two US Army officers. 1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under the Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies. 1983 – Hurricane Alicia hits the Texas coast, killing 21 people and causing over US$1 billion in damage (1983 dollars). 1989 – Leading presidential hopeful Luis Carlos Galán is assassinated near Bogotá in Colombia. 2003 – One-year-old Zachary Turner is murdered in Newfoundland by his mother, who was awarded custody despite facing trial for the murder of Zachary's father. The case was documented in the film Dear Zachary and led to reform of Canada's bail laws. 2005 – A massive power blackout hits the Indonesian island of Java, affecting almost 100 million people, one of the largest and most widespread power outages in history. 2008 – President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf resigns under threat of impeachment. 2008 – War of Afghanistan: Uzbin Valley ambush occurs. 2017 – The first terrorist attack ever sentenced as a crime in Finland kills two and injures eight. 2019 – One hundred activists, officials, and other concerned citizens in Iceland hold a funeral for Okjökull glacier, which has completely melted after once covering six square miles (15.5 km2).

[xtruss]

Pervez Musharraf, Former Military Ruler of Pakistan, Dies at 79

Mr. Musharraf took power in a bloodless coup in late 1999 but resigned under threat of impeachment in 2008. He drew fire for his ties to Washington.

The General who Kicked Out Pakistan’s Most Corrupt, Looter and Traitor Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif

— By Alan Cowell and Stephen Kinzer | February 05, 2023 | New York Times

Pervez Musharraf in 2008, when he resigned as president of Pakistan. Adversaries called him a lackey of President George W. Bush, nicknaming him “Busharraf. Credit...Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Pervez Musharraf, the onetime military ruler of a nuclear-armed Pakistan who promised critical support for Washington’s campaign against Al Qaeda after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but faced growing resistance at home in a land seething with anti-Western passions, died on Sunday in a hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where he was being treated for a long illness. He was 79.

His death was confirmed by Lt. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza, the head of the joint chiefs of staff of the Pakistani military.

From the moment he took power in a bloodless coup in late 1999 to his resignation and self-exile under threat of impeachment in 2008, Mr. Musharraf offered the world the swashbuckling image of a former army commando and ally of the United States who guaranteed a measure of regional stability in the upheaval after 9/11 and the subsequent United States attack on Afghanistan.

But Washington’s demands for firm action against Islamist militancy collided with competing pressures from Pakistani Muslims who were resentful of Mr. Musharraf’s close ties to Washington.

Mr. Musharraf in 2001 giving a speech in which he promised support for Washington’s campaign against Al Qaeda. Credit...Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse

Indeed, Mr. Musharraf’s efforts to maintain a measure of democracy while ruling as an authoritarian, and to promote secularism in a country where religious radicals wielded broad influence, brought him few friends and a growing roster of enemies.

By the time he suspended the Pakistani Constitution and imposed emergency rule in late 2007, the patience of President George W. Bush, who had once called him a “courageous leader and friend of the United States,” was wearing thin.

Yet even in exile, Mr. Musharraf continued to see himself as a potential savior. In 2013, he returned to Pakistan with the hope of regaining power as a civilian at the ballot box. However, he encountered an array of criminal charges, as well as broad indifference among Pakistanis who might once have supported him.

Within a year, he was barred for life from running for public office. And a year after that, a special court indicted him on treason charges, which he denied, and eventually sentenced him to death, though the ruling was later overturned by the country’s High Court.

Revelers celebrated the announcement of Mr. Musharraf’s resignation in 2008. His presidency highlighted many of the paradoxes of his land.Credit...Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

The indictment seemed to represent a shift for Pakistan, where no previous military ruler had been tried for abuse of power. But in March 2016, before a trial could get underway and in what seemed to be a trade-off between the powerful military and the civilian government, he slipped out of the country, ostensibly to seek medical treatment in Dubai. By then, his once pervasive role in Pakistan’s political life had been reduced to appearances on a television talk show.

A Land of Paradoxes

Mr. Musharraf’s time as president highlighted many of the paradoxes of his land. American officials became increasingly frustrated with what they viewed as his refusal to crush terrorist groups that maintained bases and training camps in tribal areas of Pakistan. That the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, was widely believed to be living in those areas after his escape from Afghanistan in 2001 only intensified American anger.

Mr. Musharraf, left, in 2006 with President George W. Bush and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan. Credit...Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

When U.S. Navy SEALs finally located and killed Bin Laden in 2011, the Qaeda leader was hiding in a safe house in Abbottabad, just a few hundred yards from Pakistan’s top military academy, apparently shielded by elements within the country’s intelligence community. American officials said that Bin Laden had been living there for five years.

Such ambiguities permeated Mr. Musharraf’s relationship with American officials. Because he was generally pro-American, and because he seemed far preferable to any other possible Pakistani leader, the Bush administration strongly supported him. During his years in power, the United States provided Pakistan with aid worth more than $1 billion a year. Most was military.

Yet every time Mr. Musharraf made even a tentative effort to crack down on foreign fighters from the Taliban and Al Qaeda, radicals and fundamentalists at home — often led by religious leaders — staged mass protests. Denouncing him as a lackey of the Bush administration, adversaries nicknamed him “Busharraf.”

The conflict reached a climax in July 2007 at a redoubt known as the Red Mosque in Islamabad, the capital, when Mr. Musharraf ordered troops to attack Islamists who held sway there. About 100 people died.

The fundamentalist opposition was a question not only of policies but also of personality. Mr. Musharraf was scorned as having adopted a Western lifestyle. An avid sportsman who favored squash, badminton, golf and sailing, he had a reputation as a bon vivant.

A graveyard of militants in 2007. About 100 of them died after Mr. Musharraf ordered troops to attack the Red Mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. Credit...Farooq Naeem/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images

He was sometimes photographed with his two Pekingese dogs, ignoring Islamic teachings that dogs are impure and should not be kept as pets.

In his spare time, he played bridge and devoured books on military history. In a land more used to obfuscation, he had “a horrible habit of unexpected candor,” according to Salman Haider, a former chief of India’s diplomatic corps.

Mr. Musharraf also faced questions about his handling of Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist, who was regarded as a national hero by many of his compatriots for pioneering a nuclear capability to match that of India. In 2004, Dr. Khan admitted that he had been running an illicit and lucrative network to spread nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and elsewhere.

Pressed by Washington to take stern action, Mr. Musharraf placed Dr. Khan under house arrest. But he then pardoned him when, in what opposition politicians called a trade-off, Dr. Khan publicly admitted to taking full and exclusive responsibility for running the network.

In 2004, in an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Musharraf said that he had been concerned for several years that an investigation of Dr. Khan could provoke a political backlash. “It was extremely sensitive,” he said. “One couldn’t start investigating as if he’s any common criminal.”

A rally in support of the Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan in 2004. Mr. Musharraf faced questions about his handling of Dr. Khan, who had been running an illicit network to spread nuclear technology to North Korea, Iran and elsewhere. Credit...Shakil Adil/Associated Press

Pervez Musharraf was born on Aug. 11, 1943, into an Urdu-speaking family in Delhi, when the Indian subcontinent was still under British rule. During the partition riots of 1947, his family fled to what became Pakistan.

His mother, Zarin Musharraf, worked as an academic. His father, Syed Musharraf, who had been a civil servant during the last years of British rule, joined Pakistan’s incipient diplomatic corps. In 1949, Syed Musharraf was sent to Turkey.

After seven years there, the family returned to Pakistan, where Pervez attended St. Patrick’s High School in Karachi and Forman Christian College in Lahore.

His time in Turkey, then regarded as the most secular country in the Islamic world, left a deep impression, and he later cited Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Western-oriented founder of the Turkish Republic, as his “most admired person.”

Mr. Musharraf entered the Pakistan Military Academy in 1961 and three years later joined an artillery regiment. He also studied at the Royal College of Defense Studies in Britain. In 1968, he married Sehba Farid, who came from a family of Urdu poets. They had a son, Bilal, and a daughter, Ayla. Complete information on survivors was not immediately available.

Mr. Musharraf with members of his family after taking power in 1999. Credit...Agence France-Presse

Because Mr. Musharraf was a muhajir, or emigrant from India, he was able to rise above Pakistan’s ethnic and political divides, which sometimes pit Pashtuns, Punjabis and others against one another.

As a young officer, Mr. Musharraf saw action in Punjab during the 16-day war that Pakistan fought with India in 1965 and was decorated for bravery. He was a commando in an elite unit during the 1971 civil war that produced the breakaway nation of Bangladesh. In 1999, he directed a military incursion into the Kargil region of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

An Epochal Coup

Mr. Musharraf was serving as the military chief of staff when, in the 1990s, he came to detest the two politicians who then dominated Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. It was against the political establishment they represented that Mr. Musharraf, by then a general, staged his epochal coup on Oct. 12, 1999.

On that day, he was in Sri Lanka for a series of military meetings sandwiched around several rounds of golf. There he received news that Mr. Sharif, the prime minister who had appointed him to his post but from whom he had become estranged, planned to fire him. Mr. Musharraf resolved to fly home to confront Mr. Sharif, but when his plane approached the airport in Karachi, controllers radioed that they were under orders not to allow it to land.

Mr. Musharraf ordered it to land anyway. By that time, other rebellious officers had seized the state-owned television station and the president’s residence. Emerging from the plane looking dazed and disheveled, Mr. Musharraf realized that he was now his country’s leader.

A billboard of Mr. Musharraf in 1999. During his presidency, he embraced liberal economic policies that impressed business leaders and led to remarkable economic growth. Credit...Agence France-Presse

He later arranged a trial at which Mr. Sharif was convicted of hijacking, kidnapping, attempted murder and treason, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Less than a year later, responding to appeals from the Saudi royal family, Mr. Musharraf pardoned Mr. Sharif and allowed him to leave the country.

Some changes that followed Mr. Musharraf’s coup were immediately palpable. Crime dropped sharply. Police officers stopped pulling cars over to demand bribes. Even airport taxi lines became orderly. And Mr. Musharraf embraced liberal economic policies that impressed business leaders and led to remarkable economic growth.

The army remained fundamental to his power. Pakistani analysts agreed that as long as he was able to maintain a measure of social peace and bring home huge amounts of military aid from the United States, the army would support him.

Regionally, Pakistan was a prime sponsor of the militant Taliban movement, which seized power in Afghanistan in 1996, and Mr. Musharraf continued that support. In January 2000, President Bill Clinton warned that Pakistan was in danger of being added to the American list of countries supporting terrorism.

In 2001, as Americans prepared to attack Afghanistan, Mr. Musharraf tried to broker a peaceful settlement. When his efforts failed, he threw in his lot with the United States and backed the American campaign that forced the Taliban from power.

Mr. Musharraf also set out to find a peaceful solution to the Kashmir dispute. He met several times with Indian leaders and agreed with them on measures to reduce tensions. In 2004, before a thrilled television audience of several hundred million, the two countries played their first cricket match in 15 years.

Mr. Musharraf, right, in 2004 with Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister. Credit...Chip East/Reuters

On Jan. 12, 2002, Mr. Musharraf made a televised speech in which he offered a grand vision for Pakistan. He said it should be a “dynamic Islamic state” in which religion would guide private morality but not public policy.

Militants were quick to respond. Less than two weeks after the speech, they kidnapped a Wall Street Journal reporter, Daniel Pearl, whom they later beheaded. Soon afterward, they attacked a church near the United States Embassy in Islamabad, killing five people, including two Americans.

In August 2002, Mr. Musharraf announced that he had unilaterally added 29 articles to the Pakistani Constitution, including ones that gave him power to dissolve Parliament and fire prime ministers. He also organized a referendum on whether he should be allowed a five-year term as president. He won with 98 percent of the vote, but critics said it was a sham.

Parliament voted to allow Mr. Musharraf to remain on active military duty while serving as president, which is forbidden under Pakistani law. That dispensation was valid until he resigned from the military in late 2007, shortly after declaring a state of emergency.

Seeking to rebut charges that he had become a puppet of Western powers, Mr. Musharraf refused to give American troops permission to operate in regions of Pakistan that border on Afghanistan.

In 2006, he reached an agreement with tribal leaders in the turbulent Waziristan region, where the Taliban and other militant groups had a strong presence. He agreed not to send the army there as long as tribal soldiers policed the region. Critics said that this accord turned Waziristan into a “state within a state” where terrorists could operate freely.

Mr. Musharraf in 2007, the year he resigned from the military. Credit...Aamir Qureshi/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images

News reports, however, suggested that Mr. Musharraf covertly allowed American and British commandos to stage raids aimed at capturing Taliban or Qaeda fighters.

In March 2007, Mr. Musharraf demanded the resignation of the chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry, charging him with abusing his office. The demand set off fierce mass protests, led by lawyers, in what was widely interpreted as an explosion of pent-up grievances. One retired general, Talat Masood, said after the demonstrations that protesters were telling the government, “This one-man show cannot continue.”

Mr. Musharraf soon tried a new gambit: He opened contacts with the country’s two previous civilian leaders, Ms. Bhutto and Mr. Sharif, who were both in exile. When Mr. Sharif tried to enter Pakistan in September 2007, however, he was turned back. Ms. Bhutto returned that October and was assassinated two months later.

Mr. Musharraf’s ill-fated effort to return to power from exile in 2013 was haunted by the legacy of his term in office.

In a country then led by Nawaz Sharif, whom he had ousted in 1999, Mr. Musharraf arrived to face a battery of charges stemming from the deaths of Ms. Bhutto and of a nationalist politician, Akbar Khan Bugti; the siege of the Red Mosque; and the suspension of the Constitution in 2007. He referred to treason charges as “a political vendetta.”

“Having done so much for the development and welfare of the people,” he asked, “is this what I deserve?”

— Salman Masood contributed reporting.

[baloch-hn]

Balochistan ! An exploited Gold mine

General Pervez Musharraf killed Nawab Akbar Bugti on 26 Aug 2006 in a military operation , since then a new string of anger insinuated in people of Balochistan that continues to this day , thus formulating to more aggression more enforced disappearances more torture , rights violation , inconsequence ! more deaths , mutilated bodies by the State . All this just for demanding rights and protesting , refuting the State governing authorities of their unjust exploitation of the Natural Resources of the Province ( Balochistan ) .

For more Bio about Akbar Bugti Click here

For Bio of Mushahid Hussain Click here

Balochistan ! A Province of the country ( Pakistan ) that is suffering in consequence of racism apartheid on basis of ethnicity , language , culture . An Area of 347,190 km² (134,050 sq mi) & a population of 12,344,408 . Greater than Cuba , Belgium , Finland , New Zealand , Switzerland , Jordan , Portugal , Austria , Sierra Leone , Greece , UAE , Ireland , Qatar , Kuwait , Albania , Cyprus , Estonia , Latvia , Uruguay , Panama , Tunisia , Singapore . Balochistan ! Where people are slain in the name of national security by the Racist state , Homeland Security Agencies including the Pakistan Army , the Frontier Corps , Inter-Services Intelligence ( ISI ) . Tortured , drilled , burned , you name it . Possibly all inhumane acts one can't even imagine of , in the name of national security . With no trials , hearings whatsoever , just disappearance and mutilated bodies . All this just for demanding rights , facilities . For it is the richest ( in Natural Resources ) Province  Balochistan .

For more geographical info Click here

Balochistan is suffering in consequence of Racism , Supremacy on basis of ethnicity , language and culture by the State of Pakistan . The situation can be understood from History as concluded by Late Benazir Bhutto when she enlightened the reason behind the partition of East Pakistan ( Bangladesh ) from Pakistan ( then West Pakistan ) in her book ' Daughter of Destiny ' where she wrote Quote " How many times since have I asked God to forgive me for my ignorance . I didn't see then that the democratic mandate for Pakistan had been grossly violated . The majority province of East Pakistan was basically being treated as a colony by the minority West . From revenues of more than 31 billion rupees from East Pakistan's exports, the minority in West Pakistan had built roads, schools, universities, and hospitals for themselves, but had developed little in the East . The army, the largest employer in our very poor country, drew 90 percent of its forces from West Pakistan. Eighty percent of government jobs were filled by people from the West . The central government had even declared Urdu our national language, a language few in East Pakistan understood, further handicapping the Bengalis in competing for jobs in government or education. No wonder they felt excluded and exploited . I was also too young and naive at Harvard to understand that the Pakistani army was capable of committing the same atrocities as any army let loose in a civilian population . " End quote .

To get her Book Click here

For Bio of Benazir Bhutto Click here

Where else now the violations are same though , just East Pakistan has changed to Balochistan or we can say Balochistan is the new Bangladesh . Where in doing so their has been a consent of the privileged ethnically and industrialized Provinces , that benefitted from the Balochistan's resources which still continue . Enjoyed , stood silent for the exploitation by allowing/directing the army use force to silence demanding people of Balochistan , asking for Rights . Once a beast ( Army ) let loose finds it hard to hold its self for it has learnt to overpower , meddle in civil affairs , playing , blackmailing , practicing its tactics & skills , meddling in State politics by supporting a favoured political party aligned to their liking , interest ( the practice of which still continues ) and deframing peoples chosen candidate/party who would become their voice , who has potential to put forth or resolve their issues and proclaim justice and accountability of the corrupt , criminals . This meddling behavior misuse of power somehow got convicted in Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2012 but no response , action , accountability of the criminals could be seen to this day . Because rules , law don't restrain any Army personnel , General in Pakistan which has a practiced History no matter how wrong , inhuman it may get . No action whatsoever to this day .

For evidence Click here

This is the Supreme Court of Pakistan ! so what feasibility , influence would ethnically contemned , educationally deprived simple people of Balochistan would have ?

What's funny about Oppression is it never stops unless certain measures , actions , accountability , steps aren't taken , or else it grows . There are way a lot of Voices that remain to be heard . To square things up and to find out the reality , simplest thing that one can do is just pay a visit to Balochistan and compare it by self to the other counter parts ( Provinces ) of Pakistan for health , education , infrastructure , facilities . The richest Province of Pakistan in Natural Resources i.e Balochistan .

To what level has this ( Oppression ) grown ?

For an idea Click here

Since when it's growing ?

Watch this

Bare this in mind , if you haven't seen accountability after following this chain than be sure without an iota of doubt that this oppression is still going on , it has grown worse , stronger , more tactical , more deadly , more delusional .

[mypakistan]

Remember Pervez Musharraf By Irfan Siddiqui

 Remember Pervez Musharraf By Irfan Siddiqui

[icymirss]

The world has forgotten me. Though I once had friends, now I have nobody. Though I once had a government, Pakistan has turned its back on me. Though I once was a human being, I have been reduced to a number (1461) and abandoned in a dark hole: the military prison at Guantánamo Bay. I am officially a prisoner of war, though the only battle I ever fought back home, as a taxi driver in Karachi, was the rush hour traffic. I was mistaken for an extremist, captured by Gen. Pervez Musharraf's government and sold to the CIA for a bounty in 2002. I've now been detained at Guantánamo, without trial, for nearly 14 years.