Musharraf, army and Islamist parties big losers[VIDEO]

Aijaz Ahmad: Rise of secular urban forces in Pakistan; US not controlling the process

read more digg story

Troops to shoot rioters in Pakistan polls: Musharraf

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said troops will be ordered to shoot anyone trying to disrupt general elections due on February 18. The elections are meant to complete a transition to civilian rule and allies of...

read more digg story

shoot rioters? this in no way a democracy with free elections! The US messed up big time by trusting the government of Pakistan...

Pakistan lawyers call for election boycott

Transcript:

Lahore, Pakistan

SHAMIN UR RAHMAN MALIK, SECRETARY OF LAHORE BAR ASSOCIATION: We have already announced the boycott of elections, because these elections in presence of this judiciary and in presence of President Musharraf over there, we don't expect, and it is essential, that these elections cannot be fair and free.

CROWD: Murderer, murderer, Musharraf, murderer.

SAMINA AHMED, ANALYST, INTERNATIONAL CRISIS GROUP: Why we think a postponement was desirable. The other preconditions still don't exist. This would not be a free and fair contest, unless Musharraf leaves the scene, unless there are neutral caretaker governments that oversee the process, unless the election commission, which is perceived as partisan—and with good reason—is not reconstituted, and the judiciary doesn't regain its independence. How can you have a credible election?

CROWD: [slogan shouting]

I would say that we've already seen half the country up in flames, and this was before Bhutto's murder. After Bhutto's murder, we've seen the extent of public anger. Think about it. Is this sustainable? No, it's not. You can either have a peaceful and orderly transition to democratic rule, or you will have a transition all the same, but it'll be bloody and chaotic.

DISCLAIMER:

Please note that TRNN transcripts are typed from a recording of the program; The Real News Network cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.


read more digg story

US troops in Pakistan? [VIDEO]

US troops in Pakistan?

Aijaz Ahmad: Is there a military solution in Afghanistan and Pakistan?

read more digg story

Bhutto to release report of Musharaff vote rigging

Bhutto was assassinated Thursday, hours before a scheduled meeting with US politicans Patrick Kennedy and Arlen Specter.A top Bhutto aide who helped write the report showed a copy to CNN."Where an opposing candidate is strong in an area, they [supporters of President Pervez Musharraf] have planned to create a conflict at the polling station,even killing people if necessary,to stop polls at least three to four hours."

read more digg story

Amy Wilentz: Benazir Bhutto: A Killing and Three Funerals

"Death is a proof of sincerity," Graham Greene wrote in The Comedians. That holds true here.

As for the motivations of the killers. Their real targets were secular liberalism, the Bhutto dynasty, and the U.S. What they feared was a Bhutto premiership, beginning in about ten days, when the elections were to take place. Whoever they are exactly, they see an opening to power and control now, and they would not permit Benazir to stand in their way.

LA Times: The Benazir I Knew

Amy's profile of Benazir Bhutto appears in the December/January issue of More magazine.

Read more reactions from HuffPost bloggers on Benazir Bhutto's assassination

read more digg story

The Bhutto Assassination: A Human Rights Perspective

With the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the human rights community has lost a strong and steadfast ally.

by Mary Shaw Page 1 of 1 page(s)
http://www.opednews.com/

On Thursday, December 27, Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and the current opposition party leader, succumbed to an assassin's bullet. Chaos has ensued.
Will this be a step backwards in efforts to restore democracy in nuclear Pakistan? I hope not, but Bhutto's assassination is not a good sign.
Benazir Bhutto was good for Pakistan and good for the world. She worked tirelessly to promote democracy in her country, and to stand up for the rights of the poor and the needy. This is in stark contrast to Pakistani President Musharraf's preferred method of governance by military dictatorship.
As the first woman ever elected to lead a Muslim state, Bhutto was also a symbol of progress for women's rights in the Islamic world.With Bhutto's death, the human rights community has lost a strong and steadfast ally.
In response to the assassination, Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch said, "Benazir Bhutto was a democrat who believed in the supremacy of constitutional rule and, throughout her career, sought power through the ballot box. She died campaigning for votes and calling for a free election."
Amnesty International (AI) is calling on Musharraf's government to uphold the rule of law and the rules of democratic behavior in the aftermath of the Bhutto assassination. AI's Catherine Baber stated, "The killing of Benazir Bhutto must not be allowed to become a setback to civilian governance or indeed lead to a further crackdown on civil liberties."My condolences go out to Bhutto's family and political followers.

May she rest in peace.

###

http://www.maryshawonline.com/

Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.

read more digg story

'Al Qaeda Killed Bhutto'

Bruce Riedel, a former defense and intelligence official who helped make South Asia policy in the administrations of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, says he believes Benazir Bhutto's assassination "was almost certainly the work of Al Qaeda or Al Qaeda's Pakistani allies." He says, "Their objective is to destabilize the Pakistani state, to break up the secular political parties, to break up the army so that Pakistan becomes a politically failing state in which the Islamists in time can come to power much as they have in other failing states." He says the United States should press the government of President Pervez Musharraf to go ahead with the parliamentary elections—perhaps after a brief pause. "The only way that Pakistan is going to be able to fight terrorism effectively is to have a legitimate democratically elected secular government that can rally the Pakistani people to engage Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other extremist movements," he says.

read more digg story