In an effort to subvert the Long March, the Pakistani Government has passed emergency legislation to ban democratic dissent, issued detention orders for leaders of the lawyers’ movement and preemptively arrested several hundred opposition political party members and lawyers. Following the imposition of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, persons may be detained up to three months without charge for asserting their constitutional right to free speech and political assembly.

The ROLI demands the immediate release of all persons arrested and/or placed under house arrest, an end to all preemptive house raids and arrests and the withdrawal of all detention orders issued for the leaders of the lawyers’ movement. Further, the ROLI demands the withdrawal of Section 144 and all other restrictions, which unconstitutionally prohibit free speech and political assembly.

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The Rule of Law Institute (ROLI) aims to defend constitutional democracy wherever around the globe its components are threatened. Democratic societies must respect — and ROLI will promote — principles of separated & balanced powers among government authorities, judicial independence, free and open media, and individual rights consistent with international norms. ROLI also promotes economic opportunity for all and universal access to basic needs including shelter, food, health care and education.

Our organization takes particular interest in countries where the international community has inhibited these principles. ROLI addresses each issue in a variety of ways, including: policy and legal analysis, private diplomacy, investigative & fact-finding delegations, and public education efforts.

SUPPORT THE RULE OF LAW AND THE LAWYERS OF PAKISTAN ON MONDAY – 01/26/09!

WHAT:         Pervez Musharraf Lecture (World Affairs Council)

WHEN:         Monday January 26, 2009

WHERE:      The Franklin Institute, 222 North 20th Street Philadelphia, PA

TIME:           5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

CONTACT: pakistanjusticecoalition@gmail.com

Please join the Pakistan Justice Coalition and the Philadelphia Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild on Monday January 26, 2009, to reiterate the significance of the rule of law and human rights over repression and autocratic rule.  As lawyers we have a professional and ethical responsibility to confront violations of the rule of law no matter where they occur.

See: Philadelphia Bar Association’s Statement; Pennsylvania Bar Association’s President’s Statement; American Bar Association’s President Neukom’s Statement; Defending Dictatorship: U.S. Foreign Policy and Pakistan’s Struggle for Democracy.

The World Affairs Council of Philadelphia has invited, Pervez Musharraf, former military dictator of Pakistan “to address the prospects for peace and the formidable challenges of diplomacy in South Asia.”  It is ironic that a former military dictator has been invited to lecture on the subject of democracy and the prospect of peace when his rule resulted in Pakistan becoming, as President Clinton declared, “the most dangerous country in the world.”

The Bush Administration supported the Musharraf regime on the grounds that it was an ally in the so-called “war on terrorism” and overlooked its violations of fundamental democratic rights.  However, the true battle being waged today is not between democracy and “terrorism.” Rather, it is the battle between advancing the values of democracy, rule of law and human rights, on the one hand, and repression and autocratic rule on the other. The way to combat extremism and the repressive rule to which it aspires is by supporting the expansion, rather than the contraction, of human rights.

Background Information:

On November 3, 2007, the President, in his capacity as Chief of Army Staff, declared an emergency and issued a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and suspended the constitution. Musharraf ordered the arrest and detention of twelve (12) of seventeen (17) Supreme Court Justices, sixty (60) Senior Judges and several thousand lawyers, journalists, and civil society members throughout Pakistan.  Further, the (PCO) suspended fundamental rights guaranteed by Pakistan’s Constitution such as freedom of movement, assembly, association, speech and property rights.  In response bar associations all over the world condemned Musharraf’s actions.  The Philadelphia Bar Association stated, “We condemn the actions of the President of Pakistan, who has taken it upon himself to violently attack the lawyers and judges as he systematically shuts down his nation’s lawful institutions of justice. That he does this in the name of fighting terrorism is horrible in the extreme. Institutions of democracy should never be victims of fear. It is precisely this strength of democracy that guarantees that a just society may continue, especially in troubled times.”  On August 18, 2008, in order to avoid impeachment proceedings, Musharraf resigned as Pakistan’s President.

Musharraf’s rule at a glance:

• General Perevz Musharraf came to power in 1999 through a military coup;
• Musharraf held the post of President and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in violation of Pakistan’s Constitution;
• Post 9-11, Pakistan received $11 billion dollars in direct U.S. aid for fighting terrorism, funds that Musharraf diverted in efforts to retain his support within the military and upgrade weapons to be used against India while terrorism related violence increased;
• Pakistan’s intelligence agencies detained hundreds of persons without providing them any procedural due process protections pursuant to Pakistan’s Constitution.  Over six hundred persons are still missing in Pakistan;
• Journalists and press outlets faced state censorship, repressive policies imposed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), direct and indirect threats to media institutions and individual journalists, loss of advertising revenues, revocation of broadcasting licenses and, most insidiously self-censorship;
• Journalists working along the Afghan border alleged that Musharraf’s government engaged in direct support of militants by providing arms, ammunition and supplies;
• Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) admitted that they led the effort to manipulate Pakistan’s national election in 2002 and offered to drop corruption cases against candidates who would back President Musharraf and Musharraf issued a series of executive decrees to bar political party leaders from contesting the polls;
• A historically unprecedented number of national and provincial seats went to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of six religious fundamentalist (Pro-Taliban) parties;
• In 2006, Musharraf reached an agreement with tribal leaders along the Afghan border in Balochistan entailing the withdrawal of Pakistan’s military from the tribal areas in exchange for self-policing by tribal leaders. A  2007 NIE revealed that, after having been displaced from Afghanistan by the NATO invasion following 9-11, al-Qaeda had reconstituted its network and expanded its original capabilities in Pakistan;
• Nuclear proliferation by Pakistani authorities remains uninvestigated. In 2004, nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, whose work establishing Pakistan as a nuclear state won him acclaim as a national hero, admitted to running an international technology smuggling operation which provided nuclear weapons technology to Libya, Iran, and North Korea. Despite his initial arrest, he was eventually pardoned by Musharraf and has yet to be produced for debriefing by international investigators despite demands by the U.S. House of Representatives and the Swedish Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission; and
• Prior to his 1999 military coup, Musharraf led Pakistan in an armed conflict with India in the Kargil region in northern Kashmir.  The Pakistani military fought alongside armed militant insurgents such as Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The events in Pakistan since the fall of 2007 sparked a response from the legal profession worldwide. In particular, images of Pakistani lawyers being arrested as they were peacefully protesting to uphold principles of the rule of law in their country, mobilized the ABA to respond. The ABA issued statements, organized a march in solidarity with Pakistani colleagues, and presented a petition to the government of Pakistan calling for the restoration of the Constitution, reinstatement of deposed Supreme Court justices, and the release of lawyers and civil leaders who had been wrongfully jailed. In recognition of their tremendous efforts, the ABA gave the lawyers and judges of Pakistan the Rule of Law Initiative Award in August 2008.

With the end of military rule, the installation of a democratic government and the restoration of judges, will the lawyers’ movement fix the judicial system? Will they be able to address the ailments that are hampering the process of the delivery of justice? Will they examine how judges are appointed, how cases are fixed, how much money is to be paid to the staff at every step, why abnormal delays take place, and whether the poor can afford to seek justice?

We will explore the public purpose of a constitution and the linkages between a feudal landholding political culture and access to justice for Pakistan’s 160 million people. Civil society estimates of the landholding scenario in Pakistan reveal that 0.24% of the landholding population controls the majority of the agricultural land. Will the lawyers address the overbearing influence of the feudal families on the executive, judicial, and legislative apparatus that neglects the interests of the great majority (93%) of poor farmers?

The event will take place on September 25th, 11:00 – 12:30
Sponsoring Entities:
· Asia Pacific Committee of the ABA Section of International Law
· ABA Center for Human Rights
· ABA-UNDP International Legal Resource Center

Program Chairs:
· Brigitte R. Gambini, Paris, France
· Mohammad A. Syed (”Mo”), King and Ballow, Nashville, TN

Introductory Remarks: Aaron Schildhaus, Chair, Section of International Law, American Bar Association
Moderator: Catherine M. Doll, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York, NY

Speakers:
· Ms. Faryal Jooma, lawyer and partner at Jooma and Soomro, Karachi, Pakistan
· Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Lahore, Pakistan
· Mr. Imran Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Movement for Justice, Lahore, Pakistan (former international cricketer)
· Professor Roy Prosterman, Founder and Chairman of the Rural Development Institute (RDI), Seattle, Washington

Six years after it promulgated its 2002 Police Order governing the functioning of the force, the military government of President Pervez Musharraf had established very few public safety commissions, supposedly
the cornerstone of the accountability process, and those that existed lacked enforcement mechanisms. The police remained political pawns, with transfers and promotions used to reward those willing to follow illegal
orders and to punish the few officers who dared to challenge their military masters. As an institution, it was widely distrusted and disliked by citizens.

Police reform should be high on the agenda of the democratically-elected governments that have now taken power at the centre and the provinces. Unlike the military did for years, they cannot afford to ignore the
demands of constituents for safety and security.

“Political appointments must end; postings, transfers, recruitment and promotions must be made on merit alone”, says Samina Ahmed, Crisis Group’s South Asia Project Director. “The recommendations of police managerial bodies must be given due weight, and emphasis placed on the police serving and protecting citizens”.

The international community, particularly the U.S. and the European Union, should realise that helping the police and civilian intelligence agencies with training and technical assistance would pay
counter-terrorism dividends. The government and its Western allies would be best served by reallocating resources from the military to the police. This means not only more money and the latest weapons and
equipment, but vitally also better training and an end to military dominance and control of internal law enforcement institutions, processes and decision-making.

“The new civilian government has inherited a brutal and corrupt police force”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director. “Reform will be difficult and requires time, patience and resources, but
it is essential to undertake it”.

10:00-11:30 AM
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
2237 Rayburn

The focus of the briefing will be recent promises to restore the constitution and an independent judiciary, what steps are actually being taken by the government, and what obstacles lay ahead. During this period of transition, it is imperative that we examine these pressing issues in Pakistan, a nation that is a friend of the United States and a vital ally in the war on terror.

The distinguished panel consists of:

Ali Ahsan, Attorney and son of Pakistani lawyers’ movement leader Aitzaz Ahsan;

Nadeem Azam, Pakistani lawyer and Professor of Law and Director of the Human Rights Studies Center at the University of Peshawar;

Justice Richard J. Goldstone, Former justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, former chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center; and

Maureen Byrnes, Executive Director of Human Rights First (Moderator).

Please contact Samia Elshafie (Samia.Elshafie@mail.house.gov) at 225-3816 with any questions or for additional information.