Entries for March 2007

The Chief Organizer PTI Toronto Mr. Salman Shuaib has noted that the current battle for independence of judiciary will decide Pakistan's fate - whether it is to become a great muslim nation or wither away as a banana republic.

The Information Secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Toronto, Ms. Ayesha Zubair, has criticized PPP’s leadership/ workers for not taking part in country wide protests launched by All Parties Conference (APC). Ms. Zubair said that by withholding from joining forces with APC, PPP is helping the undemocratic military dictatorship to stay in power, because if the opposition parties were truly united at this defining moment in Pakistan’s history, they could rid the nation of not only the tyranny of the present government, but also of the possibility of anyone ever again attacking the constitutional rights of Pakistani people - an independent judiciary, and access to information.

The Information Secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Toronto, Ms. Ayesha Zubair, has said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf fully supports “All Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention’s” demand for Musharraf’s immediate resignation, and that CJ’s removal was a direct military assault on the judiciary, and was unconstitutional. 

In order to understand the dilemmas faced by Muslims today, one has to rediscover the past and examine those processes which led to the disappearance of the world of Saadi and Rumi. While one cannot expect one million Iraqi refugees in Syria or the culturally dispossessed masses to accomplish this task, one wonders what thousands of learned Muslim scholars are doing with their learning.

The Information Secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Toronto, Ms Ayesha Zubair, has said that CJ’s unlawful suspension is the worst form of dictatorial terrorism in Pakistan’s history. Quoting PTI’s chairman, Imran Khan, she said that CJ’s suspension carries the message that judges should either obey military regime’s dictates, or be ready to face a similar fate. She added that according to PTI’s leadership, government has taken this step because it was under tremendous pressure as the suspended chief justice had recently taken a suo motu action against government agencies in a human rights case about the disappearance of a large number of people, also the SC’s judgments on privatization of Pakistan Still Mills did attempt to check government’s unabashed misuse of authority. It must be added here that current year was very crucial in terms of judiciary exercising its independent judgment and power in Pakistan, as SC was to take up various important cases, including those of missing people, dual citizenship of PM Shaukat Aziz, and the decision whether the present assemblies could re-elect the president for another term and if he was eligible to contest the elections at all.

The Information Secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Toronto, Ms Ayesha Zubair, has severely criticized the federal government’s withholding of advertisements for Pakistan’s most responsible, and widely circulated English daily, Dawn. In light of military dictatorship’s denial of federal governments’ advertisements for Dawn, she disputed government’s claims of “complete freedom of press” in the country, and said that the situation, on the contrary is quite gloomy. She said that advertisements are the life line of any newspaper, and federal government, which is a major source of advertisements in the form of public notices, and awareness campaigns run by several federal ministries, has curtailed the flow of advertisements to Dawn, only because Dawn’s editorial team refused to give into government’s blackmailing and threats following publication of news reports dealing with the situation in Balochistan. It is to be noted here that federal government advertisements are supposed to be distributed among newspapers on the basis of several criteria including circulation, readership, language and the target population. She added that this is sheer violation of the Constitution’s Articles 19 and 25, that guarantee freedom of press, and prohibits discrimination respectively.

The Information Secretary for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Toronto, Ms Ayesha Zubair, has noted with alarm that the almost 50% increase in Pakistan’s Public Debt (from PKR 2.946 Trillion in 1999 to PKR. 4.411 trillion in 2007) has put national sovereignty on stake. According to Ms. Zubair country’s heavy indebtedness has not only retarded economic development, but has also provided undue diplomatic leverage to the “donors” and has impinged on the exercise of national sovereignty by a nation’s people.

LAHORE: Chairman Pakistan Teheek-e-Insaf Imran Khan and other leaders of the party have said bomb blasts taking place across the country are nothing else than manifestation of popular revulsion against the government and sheer loss of lives.