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Washington, DC: “Condescending statement by some Western leaders notwithstanding, the people of Pakistan have won a great victory by defeating the combined forces of authoritarianism and imperialism,” Dr. Agha Saeed, founder of Pakistan American National Alliance (PANA), a US-wide coalition of Pakistani-American organizations that spearheaded US-wide community mobilization in support of the restoration of the independent judiciary, said in a statement. “Consequently, the traditional conception that Pakistan is run by triple ‘A’, namely, ‘ Allah, America and Army’ has been replaced by ‘Allah, Aayeen and Awam’.”

PANA has been working closely with CJ’s team and the Pakistan American Democratic Forum (PADF), a member of PANA, had hosted a symposium in CJ’s honor in New York on November 25, where the iconic former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark had repeated his famous remarks: “ What you and your colleagues have done has never been in the history of the world. The whole world is indebted to you. You are an inspiration to all of us.”

In a statement, the Pakistani American National Elections (PANA), said: “We join the people of Pakistan in celebrating this great victory and congratulate the CJ and his team, the legal fraternity, political parties, independent activists, the media, and other civil society institutions…

“Although a great milestone has been achieved, much more needs to be done. Pakistani-Americans must remain informed and involved.

“Now we need to focus on empowerment of the parliament which can be achieved only after repealing the 17 th Amendment, particularly the 58 (2) B and the National Security Council.

“Similarly, we need to keep working for the repeal of Article 270AAA, which in part reads: ‘The proclamation of emergency of November 3, all President's orders, ordinances, Chief of Army Staff orders, including the Provisional Constitution Order No 1 of 2007, the Oath of Office (Judges) Order 2007, the amendments made in the Constitution through the Constitution (Amendment) Order, 2007 and all other laws made from November 3, 2007 to the date on which emergency is revoked’ and declares them ‘to have been validly made by the competent authority and, notwithstanding anything contained in the Constitution, shall not be called in question in any court or forum on any ground whatsoever’ ”.

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