News
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Protest rally staged in San Francisco* Demonstrators demand end to martial law, restoration of judiciary
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: A large number of people staged a rally at the San Francisco City Hall at the weekend to protest the imposition of “martial law” in Pakistan and the US government’s support for Gen Musharraf.
According to the organisers, people drove from as far as Sacramento to participate, carrying homemade signs. For two hours, the demonstrators stood in the rain, raising slogans as they listened to various speakers. They hoped to build international support for their demands which include an immediate end to the emergency rule, withdrawal of the US support for the military regime, unconditional release of all political prisoners, restoration of the judiciary, reinstatement of fundamental rights, and an end to media curbs.
Khurram Mahmood, a rally organiser, explained what the emergency meant to Pakistanis: “If you are living in Pakistan today, you don’t have the right to free assembly, you do not have any right to criticise the government, and if you are found criticising the government, you can be hauled to prison, and tried in military courts for treason. Gen Musharraf can now single handedly amend the Constitution of Pakistan to systemically remove the checks placed on the executive branch.”
Ijaz Syed, another rally organiser, elaborated on the scope of people’s resistance in Pakistan: “Since the media has been banned, there is little news coming out of Pakistan of the phenomenal resistance that people have put up to the martial law. However, phone calls, blogs, and the Internet are being widely used to disseminate information about what is happening on the ground. Human rights activists, lawyers, teachers, students have taken to the streets in unprecedented number. Reports say that in that all of Sindh had been practically shut down in opposition to martial law.”
Syed also questioned the claim that the imposition of “martial law” was necessary to counter religious extremists in Pakistan. “Just see who is being arrested today – thousands of lawyers and judges and opposition party activists have been thrown into jail, while not a single religious extremist has been arrested since the imposition of emergency. Instead, some of them have been actually released in the last week as Musharraf has been negotiating with religious parties to build support for his government. This supposed war on terror is a war on people and democracy.”
Mazda Majidi, from the antiwar group ANSWER, spoke about the US support of dictatorship in Pakistan.
Roshni Rustomji, a well-known writer and educator from the area, reminded people that the taxes paid by workers in the US must not be used to support injustice or dictatorships anywhere, at any time. She reiterated the main demands of the rally – an end to emergency and “martial law” in Pakistan, and speedy restoration of the judiciary, constitutional rule and democracy in Pakistan.
James M Thompson, a senior lawyer, addressed the rally as a close friend of Munir A Malik. Thompson highlighted the central role played by lawyers in Pakistan in resisting oppression and protecting the independence of the judiciary. He emphasised the importance of separation of powers as the model of governance of democratic states. “The doctrine of separation of powers rests upon the recognition that the concentration of absolute power in one man or one body will inevitably lead to exploitation and tyranny,” he said.
Thompson said, “The main danger facing Pakistan today is the tendency towards monopolisation and concentration of all state power in one body. This lust for unrivalled power and ultimate authority destroys all those institutions that form the foundations of a modern civilised state.”
Courtesy DailyTimes.com.pk