Live Coverage of the Long March to save the Independent Judiciary

More images of the Long March - courtesy YPL

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 08:38:00 +0000

These pictures were taken by Kashif Saleem, a member of the YPL (Young Professionals Lahore) group. The group had organised a bus and had mobilised 25+ professionals for a gruelling 24 hours.

The most interesting pictures are those showing the response of hitherto un-interested citizens... one gets the feeling that a lot of people were at least thinking about letting hope back into their attitude towards a collective life.

Yes, it failed in its superficial objectives. But just to see that spark of hope again, to dare to think that these kids might grow up in a better - a fairer, a more humane - society, just for that, it's worth doing ten times over:

Samad Khurram Refuses to Acknowledge US Ambassdor

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +0000

Samad Khurram, an active member of SAC and a student in Harvard Business School refuses an award from the US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson in protest of US policies regarding the support of an illegal President Musharraf and the Mehmand Agency attack.

As the video shows that Samad Khurram is called on stage to receive the award and simply walks past the US Ambassador in defiance and to the podium where in his 30 second speech, he simply hits out on the American Government for supporting this illegal military ruler and severely condemns the recent American attack within the borders of Pakistan. It reminds me of the photograph from China when a lone man stood in front of a tank. The United States is also a similar juggernaut all muscles and no brains. They are not used to seeing people who can stand up with dignity and protest boldly and publicly.

What really make us proud that our leaders stumble over their feet trying to please the American leaders and an unknown student has the courage to defy this hegemony and chooses to stand up for his country

I personally had a telephonic discussion with him barely and hour before when he was going to the event - at that time he mentioned that 'someone' might not be ready to take the award and he is going to the event to support him, little did I know that the 'someone' was he himself. Bravo Samad you make us proud

Video uploaded by Jaaf - Thanks

ONLINENEWS: A Pakistani student, Samad Khurram vociferously refused his Harvard University scholarship award presented to him by the American Ambassador Anne W. Patterson, which simply awed her into a terrible confusion. The said student refused the award, which was presented in an event held by a private collage at the National Art Gallery, as a protest against the recently carried out American attacks on Mehmand Agency. The American Ambassador greatly regretted these attacks, terming them as a "terrible misunderstanding", and stoutly refuted the notion that the student was refusing the award, maintaining that currently there were 5400 Pakistani students studying in America. The entire hall resounded with thunderous clapping for the student, who was later on restricted by management to talk to any media member.

THE CLEARING FOG

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:20:00 +0000

By Cyril Almeida

THE Asif-Musharraf axis has won; the warrior judge has lost; and the black coat will not go down in history as a symbol of revolution. The transition is back on, and the country is better off for it.

We now know how the judicial crisis will end: the PCO judges will stay; Chief Justice (CJ) Iftikhar's powers and tenure will be cropped; and Dogar will be CJ again one day. It's been Asif's roadmap for a while now, but he hadn't figured out how to get his partners to compromise. Turns out they had no real stomach for confrontation.

Nawaz is the media's latest darling, delighting them with his fulminations against Musharraf. But the significance of his sound and fury was lost on many. By refusing to send his workers over the
barricades and the coalition government into oblivion, Nawaz demonstrated a degree of political maturity many doubted he had. Sure, he will continue to try and prise Musharraf away from the presidency, but a bright red line has been drawn – political rhetoric aside, the fate of the president will not be decided by the street.

Legend has it that Governor Jilani, Zia's henchman in Punjab, went to the Sharif household in search of an adoptive son of the army, a figure who would become the civilian facade of the military establishment. The governor wanted the younger, more capable Sharif brother, but 'Abbaji' offered Nawaz instead. The country suffered the foolishness of that decision for a quarter of a century as a lethal combination of dullness and ego reduced national politics to a zero sum game. Until last weekend. Nawaz is clearly obsessed with removing Musharraf but by stopping short of hijacking the long march as a vehicle to finish the job, he signalled a new pragmatism.

Structural ambivalence is the new game in Islamabad. The N-League will keep its foot on the president's neck even as it learns to live with an Asif-Musharraf axis. It's a messy arrangement, but Asif must be happy. His perma-grin could only have widened as the marchers dispersed peacefully. After the Bhurban gamble failed, Asif must have wondered if his government's last rites would be read on Parade Avenue. Instead, things have moved back inside the relatively sober walls of parliament where the numbers are in his favour.

Pakistan being Pakistan, political theatre and brinkmanship will rear their heads ever so often, though hopefully nothing that can't be smothered by Asif's cheerfulness. He has a plan in hand to deal with the judges, now he must execute it quickly and let the cabinet get on with the business of governance. The problem with Asif's attritional approach to resolving the judicial crisis is that it creates time and space for events to overwhelm his plan. Right now there are winners on many fronts; Musharraf keeps the presidency, Asif keeps the centre, Nawaz keeps Punjab and Aitzaz keeps alive the hope of a triumphant return to party politics. This particular configuration may not last long, so the constitutional package needs to be sliced up. Get the judicial amendments out of the way first and return later to correct institutional imbalances.

The big loser of the long march is Chief Justice Iftikhar. His dream of returning to the Supreme Court to vanquish his nemesis, Musharraf, is gone. The biggest threat in the lawyers' arsenal – the long march – has been deployed and it didn't even quell talk of paring the CJ's powers or tenure. In fact both seem more likely than ever, as Aitzaz and Nawaz have all but yielded to Asif's roadmap.

The problem for Chief Justice Iftikhar was that he needed to play politics while appearing not to be politicised. His strategy was to allow Aitzaz and later Nawaz to take up his cause, using the bar
associations and the N-league party workers to swell the numbers protesting for his reinstatement. It was a strategy born of necessity and suffered from an inherent weakness: he was at the mercy of the political calculations of Aitzaz and Nawaz. And in the rough and tumble world of Pakistani politics, it's best not to be at the mercy of others.

Assessing the legacy of Chief Justice Iftikhar is premature at this point. At the very least he will be remembered for his heroic defiance of an army chief. However, to enter the pantheon of greats he must do something more. The problem is that since last July, he has decided that the something more is to send an unpopular president home. Compounding that problem is the fact that he lined up the Supreme Court against parliament, much of the political firmament, the army, the establishment and a superpower. These were simply institutional strains the Supreme Court was never designed to withstand.

This hardnosed assessment often rubs Chief Justice Iftikhar's supporters the wrong way. To them it equates power with legitimacy, for illegitimate power must be rejected at the earliest and
Musharraf's power is patently illegitimate. From this perspective, the Chief Justice's earlier sin of validating Musharraf's first coup can be forgiven because it was too early to challenge Musharraf's illegitimately acquired power. But with Musharraf's popularity sinking and the people behind the chief justice, 2007 was the year to aggressively challenge illegitimate power.

Chief Justice Iftikhar's supporters are only two-thirds correct. Yes, illegitimate power must be rejected and it must be rejected at the earliest. But illegitimate political power must be opposed
politically. If Nawaz harangues Musharraf into resigning or Zardari quietly slips a knife in the president's back while embracing him, then let the nation rejoice.

There was another, more practical reason for the chief justice's Supreme Court to step back from its catastrophic challenge to the president. The chief justice and his band of avenging judges had an array of small devices at their disposal to systematically reduce the president's sphere of influence. As army chief, Musharraf had only one tool to cut a recalcitrant judiciary down to size: a second coup.

In the battle between the warrior judge and the warrior president, the country was always going to suffer collateral damage. It is good that the politicians have stepped back from inflicting further damage of their own.

cyril.a@gmail.com

Whatever is to become of the Movement for Justice

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Whatever is to become of the Movement for Justice

a letter to activists of the People's Resistance by Dr. Awab Alvi

One issue which we all have dodged to question ourselves, is to decide what is acceptable when the powers-to-be talk about the 'conditional' restoration of the judiciary, either in the form of the much trumpeted 60-point constitutional package or separately.

For me, this movement (People's Resistance) has been for the unconditional restoration of the Nov 3rd Judiciary (which also has included condemning the Martial Law & the restrictions on the media) When the powers-to-be talk about 'middle ground' compromises in the restoration of the Judiciary, it is sadly FAR from our own objectives. The irony is that we, in PR all seem to be preparing for a celebration the day Zardari restores the Judiciary in whatever way he thinks its best 'for-him'. Is this 'whatever-way-possible' acceptable to PR. It sadly is not my wish, and I may venture to say that it might also echo the sentiments of other like-minded friends in this group

In my opinion the only reason to make a circus of the constitutional package is to show the judges that the powers-to-be have given them grace, and they should remain grateful to have received this gift-from-god. It is just another facade to the traditional appointment by the President / establishment which ensures that the buck stops at the supreme authority thereby ensuring the status quo. I hope we, in PR, are not fooling ourselves to believe that the 'Zardari form' of restoration comes without any strings attached. Had they been sincere then all this hoopla was not necessary and the legal way, via an executive order, was not too difficult to pull out of the bag. As opinion makers in this resistance we should be clear on our position, and be willing to call a spade, a spade and not worry otherwise.

Long March or Long Mobilization

In my opinion the Long March 'mobilization' was a tremendous success, it showed us that there are still thousands of Pakistanis who continue to believe in Pakistan. But sadly the Anti-Climatic end was a tragic blow which took us all by surprise and our movement is profusely bleeding as a direct consequence of the fateful decision to terminate the event so abruptly.

It is not the fact, that we did not have a dharna, it is not the fact, that there was no confrontation, it is not the fact, that we did not achieve anything except show up at 2 am in the morning and disappear just before sunrise. For me it is the feeling of immense betrayal which was most visibly seen on the faces of the thousands of patriotic Pakistanis standing on Constitutional Avenue in front of the Parliament, the feeling of having been 'sold out' by yet another leader.

My heart goes out to our friends who traveled 1200 km up north from Karachi in a mind numbing frenzy, rocking to the tunes of Mujhe-Insaf-do or the rhyme of Lab-hain-Azaad having been drummed to the chant of "Hum Mulk bachanay Niklay Hain - Aao Humaray Saath Challo" and even to convincingly tell their colleagues 'Hum Judges restore kar kay aain gay' this sudden change of plan was tragic it was like having been disgraced publicly barely 3 hours into their arrival in Islamabad, as if to have said 'go back home, you crazy patriotic fools, we only wanted to test your mobilization skills'. It literally turned out to be nothing but a Long Mobilization, a show of strength, a game of numbers. If numbers was the intention, then the money spent to mobilize people from Karachi, Sukkur, Multan and Lahore, could have been better utilized to hire a sizable audience like the one purchased by Musharraf on the night of May 12th 2007, standing on the same stage before an audience of thousands he too, like Aitzaz, lacked the umph to deliver the goods, little good did the May 12th Jalsa do for Musharraf, that we expect miracles from the lawyers mobilization on Friday the 13th

Instinctively I blame the core leadership which naturally points to the figure-head Aitzaz Ahsan, who will forever carry the burden of this fumbled catch, he alone had the opportunity of a life-time to have been garlanded in the history books as the man who changed Pakistan, but sadly, he now is regarded as yet another leader that 'could have changed Pakistan, but couldn't'. This rising star turned into a shooting star, vanishing into infinity barely moments after it appeared on the horizon of Islamabad.

Postmortem, even Aitzaz accepts that it may have been a 'strategic mistake', but in an attempt to do damage control, he claims it to have been a good decision in hindsight, blaming the diminishing numbers of lawyers on the front-line in the presence of an overwhelmingly politically charged crowd which had the potential of running out of control. The scenario might have been true, but the sudden dismissal like the Anti-Climax orchestrated by Aitzaz was precisely what the doctor could have ordered in the prescription written out to Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari, who may have been cowering at home in tachycardia watching the buildup to the Long March, they both truly could not have asked for a better finale to the Long March, a finale one would always wish your arch nemesis to always have before any big contest. It was simply finger lick'in good. Did Aitzaz and his team leaders play into the hands of the establishment, willingly or unwillingly they might have.

The Anti-climax witnessed that fateful night can be compared to the feeling one has while rocking to great music in a dance club and all of a sudden the lights & music turn off, the frenzy dissipates instantly and the people disappear, dismayed, disgruntled and disheartened. It was this feeling of helplessness that destroyed the movement, with no hope to live for, a nation limps back home to try and forget to never dream again. this is what destroyed the movement. Whatever is to become of the Movement is a fading dream shattered on the morning of Friday the 13th in year of Two Thousand and Eight

What to do?

How so ever, one may feel regarding the actions of the Lawyer leadership that day, one must quickly recover in time before the powers-to-be make minced meat out of our issue. I fear that is exactly what Asif Ali Zardari is doing these days, trying to cajole a restoration so that he alone can bask in glory, while he attempts to sneak past his version of the conditional restoration while we tend to our wounds

My suggestion for members of the People's Resistance is to urgently get to work primarily to re-evaluate our position on what form of judicial restoration is acceptable to us. Maybe crack open the 60-point package and go through it one by one deciding what's acceptable and whats not, once this position is determined then I urge PR to issue a public statement, independent of any lawyer movement or political party but simply as a civil society urging for our demands. We must remain as a pressure group that leads the change for the un-conditional restoration of the Judiciary, let not the promises of compromises be our guiding light to salvation. Let us for once stand up for Pakistan and lead the way and not be led.

Awab Alvi

Some Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:58:00 +0000

Title: Reception given by Rawalpindi to participants of Long March
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UE1A06ErzQ

Title: Rawalpindi giving reception to Pasban's Rally on Long March
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgXL1MG03uY

Title: J Salik chanting anti-Musharraf slogans at Long March
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJW3nH-b708

Title: Children chanting slogans against Musharraf at Long March
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrOuKMrVW1k

Title: Qazi Hussain Ahmed speed at Long March
URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1YlfPfexh0

Long March caravans at Murreee Road, Rwp

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:44:00 +0000

BBC - Long March Summarized

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 04:37:00 +0000

BBC Urdu

مہلت نہیں رہی !

چودہ جون کی شب اسلام آباد میں پانچ لاکھ افراد جمع ہوئے یا بیس ہزار، دھرنا دینا چاہیے تھا یا نہیں ان باتوں اور دعووں سے قطع نظر لانگ مارچ نے کئی ایسے زاویے واضح کیے ہیں جو اب تک دھندلے دکھائی دے رہے تھے۔

پہلی بات یہ کہ پاکستان کا عام آدمی اس قابل ہوگیا ہے کہ وہ عوامی نمائندگی کے روایتی دعویداروں کے اشارہ ابرو سے بے نیاز ہوکر خود بھی اپنے گھر سے نکلنے کا فیصلہ کرسکتا ہے اور اپنی قیادت خود کرسکتا ہے۔

دوسری بات یہ ثابت ہوئی کہ یہ آدمی تمام تر مایوسی، لاچاری اور روزمرہ مسائل میں گھرے رہنے کے باوجود پرامن طور پر ایک اجتماعی سفر کا حصہ بن سکتا ہے اور حکومتیں اگر اس پر اعتماد کریں تو وہ اب بھی حکومتوں کو کچے پکے ، آدھے پونے وعدے وفا کرنے کی مہلت دے سکتا ہے۔

تیسری بات یہ کہ عام آدمی نے ساٹھ برس میں آج تک روٹی، کپڑے یا مکان کے لیے پانچ دن کا لانگ مارچ نہیں کیا۔بلکہ مارے غیرت کے اپنا تماشا بنانے کے بجائے گھر کے اندر بھوکے رہنے یا خودکشی کرنے یا بچوں کو مار ڈالنے کی کوشش کی۔

البتہ حصولِ انصاف کے لیے اسے جون کی دوپہر میں سفر کی صعوبتیں گلے لگانے سے ھچکچاہٹ نہیں ہوئی۔شائد اسے آج بھی امید ہے کہ انصاف کی مملکت ہوگی تو ایک روٹی میں سے بھی اسے اپنے حصے کا ٹکڑا مل جائےگا۔اور جنگل کا قانون ہوا تو طاقتور اسکا فاقہ ، تن کا ننگ، بے گھری اور عزت بھی بیچ کھائے گا۔

لانگ مارچ میں جتنے لوگ شامل ہوئے ان میں سے کسی کو بھی توقع نہیں کہ سپریم کورٹ میں سترہ کے بجائے انتیس جج بیٹھ گئے تو سب ٹھیک ہوجائےگا۔وہ صرف اسے لیے اس سفر کا حصہ بنے کہ زندگی پر ڈاکہ ڈالنے والے اب انکے خواب بھی ریپ کرنے پر تلے بیٹھے ہیں۔

عام آدمی کو اب اقتصادی و قانونی موشگافیوں، دلداریوں اور مجبوری کی کہانیوں سے قائل نہیں کیا جاسکتا۔اس پر سب کچھ کھل چکا ہے۔اسے معلوم ہوگیا ہے کہ چودہ اگست انیس سو سینتالیس کو محض بیرونی آزادی ملی تھی۔اندرونی آزادی اب بھی ایک سراب ہے۔لیکن وہ پھر بھی فراخ دلی دکھا رہا ہے۔

ایسے لشکر سے ڈرنا چاہیے جو ہدف تک پہنچ کر لوٹ جائے۔ایسے لشکر کے صبر اور اعتماد کو کمزوری سمجھنے کا نتیجہ تاریخ میں جگہ جگہ بکھرا پڑا ہے۔ایسا لشکر سٹیٹس کو یا جاری نظام برقرار رکھنے کے حامیوں پر ایک مرتبہ اعتبار کرتا ہے۔دو مرتبہ اعتبار کرتا ہے۔لیکن تیسری مرتبہ اپنا نظریہ، اپنی قیادت اور اپنا نظام ساتھ لاتا ہے اور ریاست کے ستونوں کو اپنےساتھ لے جاتا ہے۔

لانگ مارچ کے پرامن اختتام پر حکومت کو سکھ کا سانس لینے کے بجائے تشویش ہونی چاہیے۔یہ اختتام نہیں مہلت ہے۔سو دن کی ترجیحات مکمل کرنے کی مہلت۔عدلیہ کو خودمختار کرنے کی مہلت۔بھوک،ننگ، جہالت ، بیماری اور عدم تحفظ کے خلاف ترجیحات وضع کرنے اور قومی حقوق دینے کی مہلت۔اگر اب بھی مسخرہ پن جاری رہا تو پھر یوں بھی ہوسکتا ہے کہ

مہلت تھی جب تو دل کو تھا بے کاریوں سے شغل
اب کام یاد آئے تو مہلت نہیں رہی۔

PTI Secretary General shares his concern about the Long March

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:36:00 +0000

A message to the People's Resistance network, Dr, Arif Alvi, the Secretary General of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf shares his concerns about the sudden Anti-Climax of the Long March

Dear Friends,

The long March ended with some disappointment, almost like the famous cliché from Macbeth 'Full of sound and fury; Signifying.... Nothing'

What a disappointment. I was on a TV channel for 4 hours, and I said there are 3 demands (oust Mush and PCO judges, restore Pre Nov 3 judiciary) and few very clear outcomes of the Long March. My conclusion was simple:

The organizers should not make people stay for long beyond the morning (the crowd would erode) e.g Hizbollah's rally surrounding the parliament in Beirut eroded in a few days. They had food water etc. and were much more organized. (Orange and Purple revolution succeded because they wanted to change the government).
The lawyers etc should make fiery speeches and say that as the NA would be in session tomorrow show your strength to the Parliamentarians. 'Tomorrow we will table the bill for restoration of the judiciary, some of you must stay to ensure and take receipt (oratory), then go home and we will fight the battle in parliament, and we will call upon you for 'civil disobedience'.
Give an ultimatum to the Government of ten days (15-20 or whatever), and say that if the judiciary is not restored and PCO judges out, there will be no next march but we will paralyse the government and gherao the parliamentarians.
Give a timeline and say if Musharraf does not go by the month of July we will bring the 'Phansi ka phanda' to Islamabad and drag him out.

All the above would have been satisfying to the people (though some would have been rhetoric, it would have kept spirits high). What should have been a historic day is mere history now. Some rising stars turned out to be only shooting stars (mere asteroids).

I talked to lawyer leaders and said that I could have more easily accepted the set back to my party, but it is more difficult to accept the setback to civil society. I have spent 12 years enticing civil society and people to come forward and play their role, and this incident is a setback. Most politicians have disappointed the people who thought that this time some
leaders would emerge with a spine. Little did they realize that it may not come true yet.

However there is a silver lining. Now we know the potential of the people of Pakistan, the Civil Society, the Lawyers and of some politicians who still are still steadfast to the cause.

Dr Arif Alvi
Secretary General
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

Article: Long March NROed

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Long March NROed

The Post June 13, 2008

http://thepost.com.pk/Arc_OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=166550&catid=11&date=06/13/2008&fcatid=14

Khalil Ahmad

CMKP Participation in Long March

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Some pictures of our participation in the Long March -

http://flickr.com/photos/25483407@N07/sets/72157605608914188/

(We will send a detailed report as soon as we have recovered from this grueling
experience).

In solidarity
Taimur Rahman

Pictures from RWP/ISB courtesy Waqas

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Courtesy: Waqas Bin Najob

a few pictures from Rwp/Isd

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:40:00 +0000

Here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/binnajib/LM

In Solidarity,
Waqas

Aziz Begum - the oldest participant of the Long March

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:44:00 +0000

Ninety-year-old Aziz Begum is perhaps the senior most participant of the 'Long March' in Islamabad. She is determined to be around till the show is over.

She has come all the way from Wazirabad to take part in what she says a noble cause for reinstatement of deposed judges and packing up of President General (r) Pervez Musharraf.

...

Aziz Begum is happy to be in Islamabad at this juncture and says she will go back triumphantly as will the lawyers, who have gathered here from all across the country.

"I have braved sweltering weather at this age just to see that the nation gets out of the troubles as a result of the legal fraternity's unprecedented sacrifices. Free judiciary is the panacea for all ills," she says in a thoughtful manner while trying to comfort herself with a handmade fan (pakkhi), she brought with her from Wazirabad.

The old woman says she does not fear anyone. And counter-questioned this correspondent, why should she hesitate from speaking the truth and alleged Musharraf and Chaudhrys of Gujrat had not done any good to the country.

-- http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=118490

Pakistan will be the same never again

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:22:00 +0000

Excerpts from Dr. Farrukh Saleem's new poem, "Long March for justice":

Ambassadors of law are here
Missionaries of justice are here
Messengers of virtue are here
Emissaries of due process are here.

They seek no seat of power
No umras at state expense
They demand no foreign junkets
They long for no bullet-proof limos;
All they seek is justice
Justice for all their only call.

They carry no guns, no bombs
They threw no stones, they hurt not a soul;
They danced to the dhol, they danced to the chimta
They danced to the tumbi, they danced to the tabla
They sang baliyaan, they sang kafis;
They sang all night long
They danced all night long.

Alternative power centres are here
Media and the civil society are here
Geo and Aitzaz are here
Here to stay they are
Here to take care of autocracy
Both military and civilian;
Here to reform
Both state and society;
This is historic and monumental
Substantial and consequential.

For 60 painful years
Justice has been standing still
No justice no peace
No justice no sanity
No justice no progress
No rationality, stability or economics
No justice no balance
No justice no future
No justice no reason to live.

Why is their chaos, I say
Disorder, anarchy and turmoil
Inequity, poverty and illiteracy
Hunger, lust and frustration
Shame, sorrow and discontent;
Lack of justice the root of all evil.

Lithuanians had neither guns nor bullets
Their songs their guns and hymns their bullets
They sang for four long years
At the end, guns lost songs won.

The world has seen Rose Revolution
Orange and Tulip too
Wait, here comes Bhangra Revolution
Has neither a parallel nor an equal
They danced in wajad (ecstasy)
They danced in qabd (despondency) / They danced in bast (happiness) / And, they danced in sahu (awakening)

Imagine: peak summer Punjabi heat
Imagine: a hundred thousand roar
'Go Musharraf go'
Imagine: the PPP getting caught
Caught on the wrong side of history.

Geo here to hold governments accountable
Now that's truly meaningful and plentiful
Tangible and valuable
Considerable and weighty
Historic and monumental
Substantial and consequential;
Pakistan will be the same never again.

Friends back in Karachi

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:13:00 +0000

Hi guys,

we r back in our city Khi after attending long & fruitful journry of lawyers long march.

I m really greatful to all those who extended their support during long march; though they were physically not with us but they were all the time with us through phone calls & sms.

I reahed today early in the morning.

best wishes,

Lala Hassan,

Proud to have made a difference : SAC

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:32:00 +0000

From all corners of the country they came. Men, women and children. Across party lines and cultural, provincial and religious divides, braving heat, humidity and hardship, to stand together for the rule of law, in what was the biggest long march and largest peaceful assembly of citizens ever seen in this country.

We at SAC are proud to have been a part of it,

Abdullah khan.

Images from the Long March assembled on Constitution Avenue

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 09:48:00 +0000

The Bush in Mush

No fooling around - straightforward demands

The caption reads, "The nation awaits this day"

Fists raised, spirits high!

Musharraf laments in Punjabi, "Now where do I go?"

The caption reads simply, "Article 6." This is the article of the Constitution which prescribes the penalty for subverting the Constitutiuon of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The posters illustrates a charged Aitezaz Ahsan presenting arguments in court with Musharraf cowering behind bars and a hangman's noose suspended in the air above him.

"Restore the suspended judges - These cruel laws, we do not accept (a popular slogan) - South Waziristan Welfare Society ISlamabad - Musharraf, stop being a pain in the neck for us Pakistanis - Go Musharraf Go"

Crowd shots

crossing Sukkur

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:40:00 +0000

SHCBA bus to karachi has just crossed sukkur

They have been on the run for over 15 hours and have another 5 hour stretch till they get home to karachi

Entering Sindh limits

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:22:00 +0000

As usual our proactive activists still are struggling through the long journey back - this return journey is equally as important as the fan fare surrounding the ride up with the much publicized Long March

Our effort here is to ensure full coverage of the long March and soon many stories from people who may choose to perseve their experiences for eternity

Hence a lot more to follow on the long March blog - until the stories start coming in Lala Husain reports that the SHCBA bus has entered into the Sindh Province - looks like they are making good time and should be home in a few hours

Pakistan looks forward to a better and brighter future

@ Rahimyar Khan

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 13:05:00 +0000

Lala Husain reports from the SHCBA bus which is headed back to Karachi that they have crossed Rahimyar khan

Mujahid are on the way back

Long March and... a new generation learns to mobilize

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:24:00 +0000

History made an entire cross section of civil society of Pakistan learn and transform from its own struggle against rules from above. The Long March ended today at 6 AM with thousands of agitators sending a strong message to those in the corridor of power that they know how to mobilize nationwide and the next time the rulers will not have a chance.

We are in Rawalpindi right now. Last night we went to Islamabad.

A huge number of people in Rawalpindi/Islamabad are disappointed at the decision to cancel the Dharna.

We asked 50 people and 80% of them disagreed with Aitzaz.

Many young lawyers and civil society members were dumbstruck. They were ready for further action but were let down by the leadership.

When Aitzaz started his speech many students and activists, fearing that the Dharna would be cancelled, started agitating.

People present there were not consulted at all before the cancellation. If cancellation was done because of logistical reasons then proper arrangements could have been done and funds could have been raised to help those willing to sit in front of the Parliament. It was done in an undemocratic fashion.

This does not suggest by any means a betrayal nor this can be reduced to the vacillation of the middle class. But one very important reason for such a decision could be the fact that around 6 AM, 80% of the people present were lawyers.

When we left Pindi for Islamabad, it was phenomenal. There was huge public support. various people (old, young) responded to the slogans that we were shouting from the roof of our bus.

From central Punjab onwards, mainly youngsters openly abused Musharraf, in very foul language.

From Pindi, when the convoy started, it was 8 km long.

Till Zero Point, nearly 1.5 to 2 lac people stood on the sides to greet the procession.

From Aabpara onwards, we had to walk towards the main stage. It was nearly a 4km walk. While we were walking nearly 20,000 people were walking ahead of us.

At the main area there were not less than 1 lac people. There might even have been more but certainly no less than that figure.

The overwhelming majority of people were either from middle class or were lawyers.

The general feeling there was that something BIG is happening or rather has happened. And this feeling was that (at least in the short run) politics will not be done in the ways of the past.

The Karachi delegation of IS [International Socialists] is thankful to Messrs. Rasheed Rizvi, Noman Qadir and Salahuddin Ahmed for taking care of us during the journey - coordination, accommodation and ensuring that we are treated well by the host bar associations.

Over all our International Socialist comrades sold 390 socialist Urdu magazine and 415 booklets, over ten thousand leaflets during stopovers of the IS bus and at bar council rallies throughout the Long March. On June 13, 39 copies of Socialist and 82 booklets were distributed as well as over two thousand leaflets. On June 14, during the Dharna, 32 socialist were sold and 1,500 leaflets distributed.

Earlier, only the lawyers' protests were seen as respectful, but after this civil society shall also gain respect and will be seen as "agents of change".

Another transformation was that such a huge number of people can be gathered by a national call.

It’s now imperative to organise a national conference of activists belonging to various shades in the movement. We have to discuss the next call for long march mobilization to strengthen the movement from below.

The Long March has become a milestone for generations to come, it has shown that we can mobilize and organize but still it also shows that the movement, its leadership, has to look towards the forces that would like to forge a compromise between national capital and international capital. A number of times during the Long March, the lawyers' leadership had to look towards political support of Nawaz Sharif, Jama'at-e-Islami and Tehrik-e-Insaaf so as to mobilize masses. It’s these forces of the national capital who can’t fight imperialism on their own but they always like the professionals and the working classes to fight their wars of liberation. The professionals and working classes will surely learn from this historic mobilization.

Burhan and Riaz Ahmed.
Int'l Socialists Pakistan

SHCBA Bus near Muzafargarh

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:05:00 +0000

Lala Hussain reports that the SHCBA bus is near MuzafarGarh on an old track so should be nearing Multan

Back in Lahore

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:11:00 +0000

...and we are back to lahore.ale

SHCBA Bus crossing Lahore on its way to Karachi

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:33:00 +0000

Lala Hussain updates us on the progress of the SHCBA (Sindh High Court Bar Association) bus that they have just crossed Lahore

Moral High But a little Disappointing

noreply@blogger.com (Teeth Maestro) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 05:16:00 +0000

Message received from the SHCBA bus that is headed back to Karachi from Islamabad,

Lala Hussain reports

Moraal high but disappointing views as they were returning without restoration of judges, actually hopes were hi while going 4long march but i think work done