Imposition of Emergency and Ex-CJ Chaudhry
By Mastan Khan
Beaumont,
CA
Musharraf should have declared emergency a long time ago. That he did not do so is his fault. He has been more democratic than any elected prime minister of Pakistan. My country never had so much freedom of speech, free movement, free expression of ideas against the sitting government since he came to power. All the so-called previous, democratically elected prime ministers acted more like dictators than liberals and now they are crying hoarse about democracy. Benazir and Nawaz looted and plundered the country with both hands and have billions of dollars in their accounts. They have assets which are beyond their means. Now, the US and Great Britain are trying to thrust Benazir Bhutto upon Pakistan and this will not sit well with the Pakistanis. There was no freedom of speech when they were at the helm. There were more prisoners of conscience, nobody could make a statement against these democratically elected prime ministers. It was a woeful situation. Supreme Court judge Justice Chaudhry did immense damage to the judiciary when he started interfering in the day-to-day affairs of the country, including security related issues and their management, by taking suo moto action on each and every issue. The worst Supreme Court decision came when it ordered the govt. to re-appoint the nephew of Maulana Ghazi, who openly defied the government in the Lal Masjid operation, as the assistant preacher of the mosque. The Court also ordered the govt. to reinstate the wife of that preacher as the principal of the girls school attached to the mosque! The newly appointed assistant preacher justified the terrorists’ action of killing and beheading soldiers and civilians captured in the Frontier Province. He also justified suicide bombings. His interviews appeared in the print media and also aired on the TV. Lamentably, the opposition parties were openly justifying suicide bombings against the govt. in their interviews on the national TV channels. The justification the politicians gave was that if the govt. takes police action in a certain area and people are killed, their family members have the right to retaliate against the govt. forces by any means available to them and if they resort to suicide bombings, that too is okay. These interviews were telecast by GEO TV, ARY DIGITAL, AAJ TV and many other channels. Such politicians included the right wing party chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed and his affiliate partners, Imran Khan, members of the previous prime minister Nawaz Sharif's party and members of Benazir's party as well. I don't see this type of criticism in the USA. I don't hear any suggestions to take action against the law enforcement agencies to retaliate against police brutality. If someone is killed by the law enforcement agencies, nobody comes on the TV channels and instigates people against the government or asks them to stage suicide bombings. It makes me really sad that Supreme Court Justice Chaudhry had a great opportunity to take the Pakistani judicial system to the next level of success and freedom after he had won the court reference against him. He should have worked for better pay and benefits for judges, better job security, more judges to decide legal cases some of which have been pending for 40 to 50 years. The worst decision that the Supreme Court took was the release of 61 terrorists held by the govt. intelligence agencies. These people were being held and interrogated for terrorist activities against the govt. Musharraf has been the only one who has been fighting the ills plaguing Pakistan. Americans and America must support him at all costs. Musharraf has stood with the US through thick and thin and he needs the whole-hearted support of the Americans at this critical juncture.
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