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This time around the long march aims to agitate for more than the restoration of deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. The political future of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif now depends on the success of the event.
In an address to a public meeting in Abottabad on Wednesday, Nawaz has claimed that the Zardari-led government is in a state of panic. ‘Pakistan is in the grip of the worst ever crisis. It is our responsibility to save Pakistan…I listened to Zardari for Pakistan's sake…[but] our government would have been in Punjab if we had made a deal,’ he said.
Dawn’s correspondent in Abottabad, Rashid Javed, tells Dawn.com that since Section 144 has not been imposed in NWFP, the rally went off smoothly and no arrests were made.
The situation in other parts of the country is a bit more tense. Section 144, which bans the gathering of more than four persons, has been imposed throughout the provinces of Punjab and Sindh. Reports are also coming in that the government has reportedly launched a countrywide crackdown on PML-N activists and lawyers. Raja Zafarul Haq, a senior PML-N leader, has been detained and leaders of the lawyers movement such as Aitzaz Ahsan are believed to have gone into hiding to avoid arrests.
The crackdown against PML-N activists and lawyers has not been widely protested. It remains to be seen whether the long march - that is expected to reach its climax on March 16, when protestors arrive in Islamabad - will be able to achieve its stated goal of mobilizing people in the name of democracy and an independent judiciary.
The fate of the long march is further complicated by the sporadic enforcement of Section 144 across Punjab. In Sahiwal, for example, District Nazim Sahiwal Hassan Nawaz Khan refused to impose Section 144 in the district. Meanwhile, Shahbaz successfully led a rally in Gujranwala, where SSP Civil Lines Gujranwala, Athar Waheed, refrained from arresting supporters of the PML-N.
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The writer was a former member of the Dawn.com portal launch team and life-long disciple of the Sanwal Sufi order. He tweets @salmansid
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Comments (25) Closed
Mar 13, 2009 11:29am
Very well said Perflead. Imran Khan truly has a vision and his past record is clean and also as I keep saying he has done something for the country at least despite all hardships. We should all pray and make efforts towards convincing people that he is a right choice to lead Pakistan.
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Mar 13, 2009 10:23am
@Adeel Alavi
"First of all the numbers have been misquoted. " ---- If I misquoted the numbers then please tell us the actual numbers.
"despite the arrests and unconstitutional hindrances there is still a march." unfortunately poor strength of Long March (should be read Short March)forced the marchers to end their short march at Toll Plaza on Super Highway !!
It should be an eye-opener for the supperters of Nawaz League, Jamaat-e-(ghair) Islami, Tehrik-e-Imran, Sunni Tehrik, Lawyers/Liars, PKMAP, etc etc as all these parties were not able to bring enough marchers. Remember nobody could have dared to stop the marchers if they were in good numbers say more than hundred thousands.
"Justice Iftikhar has been a symbol of standing up against unconstitutional steps. " ---- hmmmm it was IMC who first took oath under PCO and then his court give legal cover to LFO. It was him who used his influence for the selection and then promotion of his son. It was IMC who gave several judgements in favour of terrorists from militant organizations. It was IMC who was famous for taking Suo Moto actions but he did not bother to hear Asghar Khan
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Mar 12, 2009 08:29pm
Wow what a nation are we, these are the same politicians and the same chief justice who during the days of Martial law did say and endorsed every irregularities as legal and lawfull,to day people have forgotten their past, and are on the streets.Well as long we have these feudalism system in the country these nation shall remain hostage and would sometime dance on the orders of a few families.
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Mar 12, 2009 06:09pm
During the elections Obama accused Clinton, belittled her, dismissed her. Obama won the elections and, appointed her as her secy of state. This is the greatness of Obama. Obama is beyond is personal grief. He is a man of vision. He is flexible, proactive, focused on achieving results has a broader vision for Americans and the world. We need a leader like him in Pakistan. I see Imran Khan to be the man of vision & integrity. I wish the best for Pakistan.
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Mar 12, 2009 05:57pm
It is very obvious, if Chowdhry becomes the Chief justice, Zardari & Musharraf will face the judge and get punished.
Zardari will not allow that to happen, as long as he can.
It is obvious Musharraf & Zardari have their interests interlocked & have a common enemy in Nawaz Shareef.
It is okay to bring everyone to justice, nobody is questioning that.
But the chief justice should not be Chaowhdry.
He has an obvious personal bias towards one party or bias against another party.
He has his personal interest tied up with Nawaz Shareef, because his job in a way depends on Nawaz Shareef's success.
I think it is in the best interest to appoint independent judiciary according to the original constitution, however Chowdhry should not be in it, because he will be doubted by everyone about his preconceived bias, specially against Mushahrraf. The net result will be injustice, lack of trust, due to the bias or the perception of bias, if Chowdhry becomes the justice.
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Mar 12, 2009 05:35pm
Don't you think Nawaz Shareef has a big ego? Don't you think he is self righteous?
Everybody is wrong, I am an angel,while forgetting ones own mistakes in ones hay days, kind of an attitude. I think there is only one person, Imran Khan, who really has a clean & competent professional track record? Don't mention his early personal life as a hunk? Once you repent, never repeat, Allah changes your sins to hasanat, two for one. Allah is merciful & forgiving, so should we forgive too. Also, it is not ethical to point fingers, nobody is infallible. I think Imran Khan alone as a vision based on justice. Nawaz Shareef seems to have his personal beef to settle with Musharraf, punish Zardari for his talked about thefts, & bring back Chaudhry. He is not able to think with a vision.
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Mar 12, 2009 05:16pm
Mr.Socrates, When you talk about the failure of long march in Karachi I think you are badly mistaken. First of all the numbers have been misquoted. Second, you should also remember that as a result of section 144 (read martial law) there have been a lot of impediments and despite the arrests and unconstitutional hindrances there is still a march. Justice Iftikhar has been a symbol of standing up against unconstitutional steps. You are right that Nawaz Sharif has done a similar thing in the past but at least he is trying to rectify by insisting on the restoration of judges but what is MQM and PPP doing???These two parties are the biggest fraud parties in Pakistan. They keep saying one thing and at the end they end up doing something totally opposite. Time will tell whether we maintain this status quo which has detrimented our country or are we willing to change for a better Pakistan.
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Mar 12, 2009 05:24pm
Is it possible that Gen. Kiyani may take over, if things get really bad?
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Mar 12, 2009 04:46pm
I hope on day someone will call all these criminal leaders on a ship and do what khumani did in Iran, All of them are bunch of criminals
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Mar 12, 2009 04:11pm
I want to add some thing else to my comments, be a true muslim but not like Osama Bin Ladin, Taliban, Al-Qaeda, LeT or Muhammad Aqeel (master mind of SL team attack). These people bring bad name to ISALM AND MUSLIM WORLD. Killing innocent people, no matter if they are muslim, christan or belong to any religion, is "HARAM" in Islam; Islam that we know and follow. I don't believe that those people are muslims. If they are muslims they would not terrorize the world.
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Mar 12, 2009 03:48pm
Guys, I'm confuse. Why lawyers and political parties participating in this long march. Are they trying to say, after the success of this march we will have "FREE' and "HONEST" judiciary. Lawyers' life will be change, they will he honest and they will fight for the truth only. Courts will not prolong cases and wind up the cases quickly in favor of deserving party. If it's true, I will pray for the success of this march. If not, then I will pray to Allah, please help our nation to become TRUE MUSLIM, who is honest to himself/herself, honest to Islam honest to Pakistan, obey laws imposed by the government for the betterment of the people. If we are honest muslim and honest person there will be no problem in our country.
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Mar 12, 2009 05:12am
If this time the sounds of Army boots echo in the corridors of PM & President House, if this time the Army jumps over fences of the PTV Station in Islamabad, if this time Nawaz and Zardari are expelled from this country, forever, if this time the Pakistani politics is 'derailed', the politicians will have none to blame.
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Mar 11, 2009 04:49pm
It is apparent from government's overreaction that long march is already having its effect, even before its start. I think government is cornerd; there is nothing much that they can do. They can put a lot of people in jail, but then what? There is absolutely no choice left for them but to agree to demands of lawyers and PML(N). This whole thing was masterminded by our genius president, but it has totally backfired. It is mind-boggling that why would government initiate some thing like Governor's rule in Punjab? I suppose Mr. Zardari wanted absolute rule over the country, with no opposition whatsoever. Some one should tell this President that in a democracy you've to tolerate opposition, and that means tolerating its government in a province as well.
We can only hope that this thing does not get out of control, and government comes to its senses. It is also true that PPP can't afford a free judiciary, given his previous history. It is anybody's guess where this situation is heading. And how easily every thing could have been completely different, if only our president had thought better.
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Mar 11, 2009 07:09pm
Is this march really to save Pakistan or to acquire power to destroy what is left of Pakistan? How naive is Nawaz Sharif to trust Zardari. Now he says he should have made a deal. So this is all about wheeling and dealing. To paraphrase Iqbal, Na samjho gay toe mitjawogay ai "Pakistanwalo", Tumhari dastanain bhi na hongi dastano main.
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Mar 12, 2009 01:50pm
Iftikhar M. Chaudhry is also PCO judge, he misused his powers as CJ.
I still wonder why the then suppreme court only issued short judgement in favour of IMC in July, 2007. Gen. Musharraf sent home judges on 3rd Nov, 07 and SC was not able to release detailed judgment in four months !!!
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Mar 12, 2009 01:34pm
@Truth
--- "The Shafirs are not perfect but the future of Pakistan rests with them right now."--- hmmmm future of Pakistan is bleak if it rests with them !!! Remember elder Shariff wanted to be Ameer-ul-Momineen in 1998/1999 by enforcing Shariat Bill !!! Also remember attack on Supreme Court by Nawaz League's goons !!!
Shariff brothers signed deal with Gen. Musharraf and left Pakistan for Saudi Arabia leaving behind their hapless party colleagues !!!
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Mar 12, 2009 01:21pm
Long (read Wrong) March poorly failed in Karachi.
Pakistan's most popular party Nawaz League (kidding :) ), Jamaat-e- (ghair) Islami, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Imran (PTI), (non)Labour Party Pakistan, Sunni Tehrik and Lawyers (liars) etc etc were not able to even brought more than 2000 people on roads !!!
Remember KARACHI has population of around 12 million and it is the very city where MQM and PPP can bring hudreds of thousands of people on road and that too on a very short notice !!!
http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/
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Mar 12, 2009 12:05pm
I remember Benazir Butto blaming military dictators for democracy in Pakistan but here PPP is acting like a dictator. We Pakistanis in the west keep praying that sense may prevail and we have lovely peaceful Pakistan is it too much to dream!
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Mar 12, 2009 07:52am
nawaz and shahbaz should bring back their money stashed away in foreign banks to show there devotion to this country otherwise this movement is just another attempt to satisfy there own ego. i hope pakistanies can see through this facade
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Mar 12, 2009 07:38am
We in India would like to see a strong democratic pakistan as our neighbour. We have a Muslim population which is more than the total population of Pakistan, which lives in comparatively better conditions, which , of course emanates from the fact that they have better democratic and fundamental facilities..Ask any Muslim in Kerala to verify this.. And apart from the political standoffs, common man, whether Hindu or Muslim or any other religion faces the same problem, wherever he is, in the world.
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Mar 12, 2009 07:36am
Pkl. afternoon, 1pm, Thursday,12th March , 2009, Dharmendra Goel.
It is very important that Present PPP's
President janab AR Zardari Sahib realizes his democratic PLATFORM THAT HE SPORTED IN HIS PROTESTS AGAINST PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF'S UNWILLINGNESS TO LET THE JUDGES BE RESTORED TO THE APEX -COURTS .
Now , while most victims of Constitutional frame-work Order of Musharraf's military authoritaran admn. are already back to perform their juridical duties, it is bad Mr. Justice Chief Justice Iftiqar Chowdhury Sahib has not been restored with due respect and dignity that he is entitled for his role in standing up to Dictaorial fiats of Commando Musharraf.
This point is in Newaz Sharif's March has much wider backing, than what PPP fails to realize..Dharmendra Goel
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Mar 12, 2009 08:49am
It is very sad to see that the governement which is so called "democratic" is denying the basic civil rights to its citizens. As you mentioned in your article that section 144 has not been imposed in NWFP and so the rally was a smooth one. This very fact proves that this march is not aimed at creating agitation or violence. There are no weapons involved there is nothing to fear. The government should have confidence in themselves if they think they are doing the right thing and allow opposition to express their discontent. If the governement claims that the people are satisfied and have full confidence on their leadership, then there should absolutely be no reason for them to be panicked. If the people are with them, then the long march will itself end without achieving anything since there will no people to carry it out. 250,000 people demonstrated against the Blair govt in England when he decided to send troops for the war in Iraq. Did he impose emergency and order arrests???? We should realize that the political parties which have joined hands have done so for the reinstatement of the deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan. It is not aimed at the downfall of the government or the imposition or army rule.
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Mar 12, 2009 05:55am
We need media coverage for this. I urgent the specially the international media to cover this event in Pakistan. That way the corrupt ruling government abides by the law
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Mar 11, 2009 09:34pm
Well... this is all what our beloved democracy brings!!! wade it through... lets see wat becomes of Pakistan.. a dream went sour...the question which remains unanswered is .. are this stupid politicians, this selfish chief justice, and useless democracy worth it?!
People have started longing for the good ol musharraf days..
hayat
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Mar 11, 2009 09:23pm
The Shafirs are not perfect but the future of Pakistan rests with them right now. Zardari is only in power because of a military dictator who gifted him with the NRO. The public should support the march even if it does not support the Sharifs.
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