Pakistan: Women's Action Forum - Peshawar condemns crackdown under emergency

The WAF resented that a military dictator has dared again to trample rights of the 160 million people of the country with the power of the barrel of the gun, throwing all civilized norms to the winds. “It is highly deplorable to note that when Pakistanis are being crushed with the brutal state power, the chief international backer of the Musharraf’s regime, the Bush administration, has chosen to be content with only statements of “concerns”.

Coming down hard on the draconian actions initiated by the Musharraf regime after slapping the emergency rule in the country on November 3, 2007, the WAF pointed out that it was the second coup by Generel Pervez Musharraf and this time too, like in the past, the despot moved to display a total disregard to the supreme law of the country (Constitution) just to save his own seat.

Pointing to the mala fide nature of the emergency and the actions being taken under that, the WAF said a revitalized apex court was a thorn for the military dictator who feared that his unlawful actions were being a challenged by an independent judiciary, adding the 11-member Supreme Court bench heard the Musharraf's eligibility case braving all the state pressures and that shuddered the despot who was eyeing more after amassing unprecedented powers as the president, army chief and supreme commander of the armed forces.

The WAF blamed the extremism on the unwise policies and actions of the of the military regime, saying the blind support offered to the West in much-trumpeted war on terror had made the entire country a battle field to fight the proxy war for the Americans. “The ill-advised policies of the regime pursued in the last 8 years, not the judiciary, are responsible for the worsening law and order situation in the country that is plaguing the country,” said the press release while demanding the re-instatement of all the judges of the superior judiciary, including Supreme Court and high courts as their removal was without any legal authority.

The WAF believed that emergency and the actions resorted to by the military–led regime under it are in fact directed against the independent judiciary and the free media. The press release criticized the continued detention of the deposed judges of the Supreme Court, adding the move to forcibly send to Quetta the deposed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudry is highly condemnable.

The WAF took a strong exception to the banning of a dozen independent private TV channels of the country and blocking of the international TV channels after the emergency. It termed the step a negation of the basic rights of the people to have a free access to information.

Criticizing the curbs on free media, the WAF said the Press, Newspapers, News Agencies and Book Registration Ordinance 2002 and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority, 2002 have been amended again just to throttle the free media which was the only source to give balanced news and information to the people unlike the state-controlled media which was engaged in one-sided state propaganda to further the cause of the dictator. The WAF extended all support to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) that had started a protest movement with effect from November 9, 2007 to register protest against the restrictions and protect the media freedom.

Hitting out at the arrest of the lawyers, political leaders/workers, civil society activists in various parts of the country, the WAF said that on the one hand a brutal crackdown was going on against the defenders of the law rule of law by citing restrictions under the emergency rule , while on the other hand the Punjab chief minister and other federal ministers had been given a free hand to hold public gatherings that speak of the double-standards of the military –led regime and their surrogates.

The WAF renewed the pledge to take on the dictatorial regime and stand by the defiant judges, lawyers, medipersons, political workers and the civil society activists in the struggle for the rule of law, supremacy of the constitution and rights of the people.” We took on General Zia-ul Haq at a time when the country was passing through the worst martial law and we will resist General Musharraf who is holding the entire Pakistan hostage,” concluded the press release, while urging all the country people to unite for rights and freedom.

Working Committee WAF Peshawar

10 November 2007