tagged w/ Pervez Musharraf
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A Pakistani court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for exiled former president Pervez Musharraf in connection with the 2007 assassination of Benazir Bhutto, officially implicating him for first time in the death of the former prime minister and rival.A Pakistani court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant for exiled former president... more
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"The question of whether I am running for president or prime minister will be seen later," he told CNN News.
Due to security issues he could not give a timeframe for his return, he said, but added he would go back before mid-term elections in the country.
Pakistani officials say Mr Musharraf has applied to register a new party, AFP reports.
Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/10135253.stm"The question of whether I am running for president or prime minister will be... more
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eva2
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added this
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1 year ago
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A new report says Pakistan's powerful military has actively worked to undermine efforts by the elected government to improve human rights in the country. It also tried to destabilize the elected government, and force out President Asif Ali Zardari.A new report says Pakistan's powerful military has actively worked to undermine... more
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The U.S. terror war as seen through the eyes of a prisoner
When we first began corresponding with Khalid Awan in 2007, we had no idea why he was serving time in U.S. federal prison. We soon discovered Awan was one of the first of thousands of Muslims taken prisoner in the post-9/11 U.S. “terror war.” As the story began unfolding in our letters, we began to realize that this honest, humble and sincere man was not only innocent, but the ongoing injustice being done to him provides critical insight into the mindless, meanspirited, bureaucratic-yes-men idiocy fueling the illegal U.S. “war on terror” (and just about everything else that is going wrong in this country). At our insistence, Awan wrote his story and supplied us with whatever documents we requested. And now, after three months of cooperative efforts, the story of Khalid Awan can be told. We have come to know Awan as a peaceful man engaged in peaceful work who has been wrongfully accused, detained and repeatedly convicted of crimes he did not commit because he was a Muslim with international connections and an office in New York on 9/11. We present this to you in faith that you will realize a deeper understanding of the levels of complicity necessary for the “land of the free” to tolerate the phony war on terror year after year and in hope that Awan—and all the other million or more political prisoners being held by this country—will one day be reunited with their families.
Khalid Awan # 50959-054
USP Marion
P.O.BOX : 1000
Marion, IL 62959
USA
http://www.freekhalidawan.com/,
http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_entry.asp?eid=3759,
http://awankhalid.com/,
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60600467317The U.S. terror war as seen through the eyes of a prisoner
When we first began... more
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India Thinks it can help corner Pakistan along with the international community, under the banner of "anti terrorism" and continue to conduct it's own terror campaigns in the Kashmir conflict. Why is it that India is allowed to spend all and any aid it receives towards its military, largely pitted against Pakistan, and when Pakistan does anything of that sort, it is chastised.India Thinks it can help corner Pakistan along with the international community, under... more
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Sans Papiers
The youth of our age, surrounded by a swarm of difficulties and problems is in search of a solution, but what he eventually finds is more and more of difficulties and disappointments. When unemployed and poverty numbs all his senses, paralyzes all his muscles, he feels life is nothing but a futile effort, a bottomless pit of poverty and indigence. According to one estimate, in past 10 years, around 10 thousand Pakistanis have been killed by security forces, crossing Greece-Turkey border illegally. In pursuit of an ever evading happiness, who are these ill-informed people and who are the traffickers involved in this heinous trade of human trafficking. The real issue is how come the educated ones of our country fall prey to these human traffickers. Poverty and related problems are the main reasons behind human trafficking and illegal immigration. Your pursuit of happiness can bring this much misery and suffering, one can only know by meeting the people under Custody of FIA, who have recently been deported from the Turkey Border. It seems an obvious enough advice to have a safe albeit simple life at home, than to a have risky prosperous life abroad. But mired deeply in the troubled waters, it’s only dreams of a happy living that make these people go through all sorts of troubles.
I just pray that my country Pakistan finds a leader, a person who can improve the situation in our country, so that no one thinks about leaving this country and going through this humiliation This heinous crime of Illegal immigration, despite efforts by the State, is flourishing. One obvious contributors of this crime are the people who become a victim of agents’ treacherous promises, lost their lives’ savings and became a victim of dark alleys.
The question that haunts us all is till what time these traffickers would dupe the gullible of their livelihoods and till what time the carcasses of the youth of our country would be feasted by the beasts in unknown wildernesses.
Directed and Produced By
Kazim Raza
Masmedia Productions
Pakistan
923333705114Sans Papiers
The youth of our age, surrounded by a swarm of difficulties and... more
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Kazim
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added this
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2 years ago
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Demonstrators outside the Islamabad Stock Exchange in July
The UK's Daily Telegraph reports that Pakistan may be the first nation to go bankrupt as a result of the continuing global financial meltdown.
Officially, the central bank holds $8.14 billion (£4.65 billion) of foreign currency, but if forward liabilities are included, the real reserves may be only $3 billion - enough to buy about 30 days of imports like oil and food.
Nine months ago, Pakistan had $16 bn in the coffers.
The government is engulfed by crises left behind by Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler who resigned the presidency in August. High oil prices have combined with endemic corruption and mismanagement to inflict huge damage on the economy.
Given the country's standing as a frontline state in the US-led "war on terrorism", the economic crisis has profound consequences. Pakistan already faces worsening security as the army clashes with militants in the lawless Tribal Areas on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan.
... Mr Zardari told the Wall Street Journal that Pakistan needed a bail out worth $100 billion from the international community.
"If I can't pay my own oil bill, how am I going to increase my police?" he asked. "The oil companies are asking me to pay $135 [per barrel] of oil and at the same time they want me to keep the world peaceful and Pakistan peaceful."
The ratings agency Standard and Poor's has given Pakistan's sovereign debt a grade of CCC +, which stands only a few notches above the default level.
The economic crisis might yet end Pakistan's newly elected government, which is facing a crisis of confidence already as it battles 25% inflation, a drowning currency and a President with a reputation as "Mr 10%" for past corruption. It's also unclear that even a $100 billion bailout would be enough to stave off Pakistan's money woes, since the security situation is itself feeding the economic crisis there - investors don't want to know about a nation so obviously on the verge of failure.
Nor is it certain that even the US and Western allies will care to throw such a large sum of money into Pakistan. Sure, they could probably secure protestations of working harder to enact economic reforms after the mismanagement of the Musharraf years and to more strongly pursue the War on Terror, but what would those promises be worth? The question "whose side is Pakistan on?" is being asked in NATO circles nowadays, and more are coming to the conclusion that the Pakistani feudal elite are content to play the West for all it is worth while caring precious little for their own people's fate. Then again, Pakistan has nukes and the prospect of a truly failed state there is a terrible one to contemplate. As usual with that nation, the situation is a Gordian Knot created by decades (dating back at least to Reagan and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan) of local and Western leaders ignoring very real problems. It's a knot with no easy, or short-term, solution. It will take decades of strategic containment, careful stick and carrots, law enforcement outwith Pakistan to catch the terrorists it gives safe haven to and some simple truth-telling to roll all that back. There are no fixes with a timeline of less than decades.
And, as John Robb at Global Guerrillas writes, don't expect Pakistan to be the last nation to find itself on the financial brink.
The global financial system is much LARGER, FASTER, and COMPLEX than the nation-states that are trying to bail them out. As a result, nation-state intervention won't return things to the status quo. What it will do, however, is tightly couple western nation-states to the now inevitable failure in the financial system (this is akin to lashing a dingy to the Titanic to prevent it from sinking). The rampant proliferation of bankrupt and hollow states is now likely inevitable.Demonstrators outside the Islamabad Stock Exchange in July
The UK's Daily... more
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It went down to the wire. Would he or wouldn't he resign?
When President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation mid-way into his one-hour address to the Pakistani nation today, the news came as a shock to many aides, pundits and journalists who were expecting him to resign only after fighting the charges against him. Musharraf had been under immense pressure from the newly elected coalition government to either resign or face impeachment charges for gross misconduct and violations of the constitution during his nine years of absolute military rule
It went down to the wire. Would he or wouldn't he resign?
When President... more
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The revamped war on terror: Who's who in Pakistan's tribal areas. Part 2
In the second part of this series, Pakistan analyst Khawar Mehdi explains to Pepe Escobar how US forces crossed from Afghanistan to Pakistan in hot pursuit, in their raid on the tribal areas on September 2. Mehdi identifies the key tribal leaders the US is after, from fabled Mujahideen Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran of the jihad in the 1980s, to Baitullah Mahsud, the leader of the Tehrik-e-Taliban, the top Taliban group in the Pakistani tribal areas. The aims and strategies of different groups are also discussed. Included is rare, recent footage shot in North and South Waziristan.
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89316301_the_revamped_war_on_terror_exposed
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89318873_al_qaeda_and_jihad_s_tribal_connections
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89323433_pakistani_army_protected_bin_laden_and_taliban
The revamped war on terror: Who's who in Pakistan's tribal areas. Part 2... more
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How Pakistan reacts against US Special Forces in the tribal areas. Part 1
This is the first part of a series on the new face of the "war on terror" in the Pakistan-Afghanistan region. This follows the latest US Special Forces operations inside Pakistan in the last few days. Journalist and analyst Khawar Mehdi tells Pepe Escobar about the main political players involved; the strain the new US strategy puts over the Pakistani military and government; the ways Pakistani public opinion and tribal area Pashtuns are angrily reacting to it; and the consequences of renewed anti-US sentiment spreading to most sectors of Pakistani society.
Khawar Mehdi, born in Rawalpindi, is a Pakistani journalist and political analyst. Even before 9/11 he had advised numerous journalists, academics and researchers from North America and Europe working in the tribal areas of Pakistan and in Afghanistan. In 2004 he was imprisoned and tortured by President Pervez Musharraf's regime while investigating the presence of Taliban training camps inside Pakistan. He was released thanks to an international media campaign - after a personal intervention by Musharraf. Mehdi has unparalleled access to sources in Pakistan's FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas). He has been living in Virginia since 2005, working as an analyst/consultant.
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89316341_who_s_in_us_line_of_fire_in_pak_tribal_areas
See Part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89318873_al_qaeda_and_jihad_s_tribal_connections
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89323433_pakistani_army_protected_bin_laden_and_taliban
How Pakistan reacts against US Special Forces in the tribal areas. Part 1
This is... more
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Asif Ali Zardari has been elected the new president of Pakistan. He is the US-leaning widower of Benazir Bhutto, a former politician and campaigner for democracy who was killed in a suicide attack in December 2007, and had been widely tipped to win the race.
Members of parliament and its four provincial assemblies voted for a successor to Pervez Musharraf, who resigned last month. It's hoped that the ballot results will bring stability after months of political and economic turmoil, but the president will spend his first few months tackling problems such as militant violence and the falling rupee.
The news of Zardari's election comes after a suicide bomb attack killed 10 in Peshawar today. Asif Ali Zardari has been elected the new president of Pakistan. He is the US-leaning... more
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richjm
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added this
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3 years ago
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Gunmen in the Pakistani port city of Karachi set fire to two armored personnel carriers (APCs) bound for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, police said on Monday.
There have been reports Islamist militants had threatened to start attacking supplies bound for American in Afghanistan in Karachi, where many supplies arrive before being trucked overland into Afghanistan.
This comes in the midst of a deteriorating political crisis engulfing the Pakistan government since the ousting of President Pervez Musharraf.Gunmen in the Pakistani port city of Karachi set fire to two armored personnel... more
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Pakistan's fragile ruling coalition is at risk of being pulled apart today, setting the stage for a major political showdown two weeks before the country's politicians choose a new president.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, head of the second-largest party in the coalition, has laid down a Monday deadline for the reinstatement of judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf, who resigned as president last week.
But it was unclear if the coalition's other main party, the PPP, would agree to their immediate restoration. Sharif has threatened to pull out of the coalition if the PPP refuses.
The PPP still would have enough allies in parliament to hold the government together with the withdrawal of Sharif's party, but analysts say that governing in the long term would be difficult with Sharif in opposition.
The political bickering has also underlined concerns for Pakistan's stability as the country tries to keep a lid on Islamic militants from the Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Nearly 100 people were killed in suicide bombings last week alone. Pakistan Taliban say the bombings were carried out in response to a military campaign against them - and have threatened more attacks to come.
Musharraf sacked the judges last year to ensure there would be no legal challenges to his re-election as president while holding the dual role as head of Pakistan's powerful military.
Their sacking set off a wave of public protests, however, and eventually led to the coalition threatening to impeach Musharraf before he stepped down last Monday.
Now critics say the PPP may not want to restore the judges either, because of fears that they could overturn the amnesty on corruption charges that allowed PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari to return to the country last year.
Zardari took over the party after his wife Benazir Bhutto, another former premier was assassinated in December, and he is likely to be selected by MPs on September 6 as the new president.
But Sharif's party could split from the coalition and then run another candidate for the presidency if the two sides do not find common ground on the judges. Nomination papers are due to be filed by tomorrow.Pakistan's fragile ruling coalition is at risk of being pulled apart today,... more
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ivxx
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added this
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3 years ago
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Pakistan's ruling coalition teetered on the brink of collapse as the two main partners squabbled over a successor to ousted President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan's ruling coalition teetered on the brink of collapse as the two main... more
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The party of assassinated Benazir Bhutto has nominated her widower to be Pakistan's next president, a party spokesman said Friday.
Asif Zardari will decide whether to accept the Pakistan People's Party nomination by Saturday, information minister Sherry Rehman added.
Pervez Musharraf stood down as president on Monday as the PPP and its ruling coalition partners threatened to begin impeachment proceedings.
Under Pakistan's constitution, parliament has to elect a new president within 30 days of the resignation. An election is scheduled for September 6.
Zardari moved to the fore of Pakistan politics after Bhutto's was killed by a suicide bomber while she was leaving an election rally in December 2007.
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more at linkThe party of assassinated Benazir Bhutto has nominated her widower to be... more
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