Yesterday I came across blurb about the latest troubles of Malik Riaz of Bahria Town, one of the most corrupt people in Pakistan, and was not at all surprised that the guy representing him was none other than Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan. Now I have written enough about Aitzaz to not be surprised by this. My only curiosity was to see what sort of “plea bargaining” he would be trying to do this time (Remember I have stated before that looking at the cases our most brilliant attorney has been involved in, you’ll find his only trick is plea bargaining, nothing more — look at “Aitzaz jumps in with his pig brothers” here where I talk about the Bank of Punjab case; also have a look at his brilliant work for his client in the submarine scam).
Reading about the SCBA elections, this bit gave me the giggles:
“Former president SCBA Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan has kept himself at distance from the bar politics. He had gone abroad and would not return till the polling day. However, Hamid Khan’s group is claiming his support. Lahore has gained significant importance in the polls, as almost half of the eligible voters are registered here.”
Ah, so this is how Aitzaz was had played it — the usual double-crossing way. That Hamid Khan was so naive is something I had not expected. To think that Aitzaz was “keeping himself at a distance from bar politics” and supporting Hamid Khan’s group was foolish to the extreme. Aitzaz (behind the scenes) and his cronies (openly) were certainly working for Asma Jehangir (also see Past Heros, Now Zeros and Past Heros, Now Zeros – II). Aitzaz of course was found standing on Asma’s podium at LHC on election day — so much for keeping himself at a distance. Also supporting/canvassing for her were Musharraf’s PCO judges.
Babar Awan:
The role Babar Awan too must not be over-looked. He distributed hundreds of millions to the bars and even managed to snag Qazi Anwar in the week before the election (How could Qazi be so stupid to accept the check from him and appear in the press with Awan is beyond me. And to top it off, Qazi returning the check a couple of days later certainly didn’t help).
Federal Law Minister Babar Awan, a close aide of President Asif Zardari also spent election day in Lahore and is (rightly) believe that the minister had come there to make last-minute “arrangements” for Asma’s election.
Let’s not also forget the stunt Babar Awan pulled a couple of days before the election: His meeting Chaudhry Pervaiz of PML-Q which started a media frenzy on the last day before SCBA elections and hogged all air time away from the elections.
Another name that needs mentioning is the other crooked PPP lawyer group of Latif Khosa which too was working for her.
“Let me first commend you that you have managed to catch me when I am on the plane…um…Like Noon Meep Rashid said “Zaindagi say bhaag ker aaya houN main!” but zindagi has followed me here (in Spain)..”
Yes, Aitzaz! I believe you that our media is so good they can track and get hold of someone (who didn’t want to be found) IN A PLANE all the way over the skies in Spain (Curiously, why did he choose Spain to run to? Managing some legal matters for the other “Chaudhries of Gujrat” who have siphoned most of their monies there?)
Role of the Media:
The media certainly played a huge role in this victory for Asma. Of the tens of talk shows I watched, most featured only people from what I call the “Aitzaz Asma Zardari” group, pretending to be offering differing opinions but in fact going against the judiciary and the other group. I only saw three shows that featured the other group and that too in a very negative way. Two (including the one above) featured Qazi Anwar and one featured the other candidate Ahmed Owais (A hatchet job was performed on him by Kamran Shahid in Front Line, who had Owais on the phone and Asma in studio. Karman blatantly lied, attributing statements to Owais which he had never stated). In all such cases, the hosts seemed to be handed their talking points by the winning side.
After the election, we saw analysis like “The defeat of bigotry” to define Asma’s win. Huh? WTF?? The writer “is a lawyer and political commentator based in London”, Ayesha Khan is using another dirty trick played by Asma’s team and blaming the Hamid Khan group for it (“somebody” distributed pamphlets saying a vote for Asma was a vote for Qadyanis. Of course no one else was behind it but her team itself. At least it confirms her being a Qadyani, something I have heard about Aitzaz as well).
Asma Jahangir represents modern, progressive and forward-looking sections of Pakistani society across the globe. Her election to the office is bound to bring about a sea change in Pakistan’s perception around the world, as a state of strife struggling to counter the menace of Talibanisation of society.
Before the election, we also saw repeatedly items like:
People like Justice (retd) Tariq Mehmood, Abid Hassan Minto, Muneer Malik, Aitzaz Ahsan and others stand above politics. (Source)
[And let’s not forget to add Ali Ahmed Kurd and Athar Minallah to this list and the shame-of-all-shames Justice Fakharuddin G. Ibrahim]
Of course these were total lies as all those named (except Aitzaz of course 😉 ) were openly supporting Asma and campaigning for her and stood shoulder to shoulder with her of election day…
Notes:
Well, at least some other big “champions of truth” stand exposed. Now I had already written about the others but never suspected Fakhuruddin G. Ibrahim and Abid Hassan Minto to be part of the cabal. So it is pretty safe to say that all the names we know, we know why we know them: they have been hand-picked to easily insert themselves into any ‘threat’ that appears on the horizon and hijack any such movement.
Aitzaz of course is a master of this and the more I find out about him, the uglier the picture gets. Here I would like to point out a couple of things that I have become aware of lately that leave no doubt about him being a “Sayan”:
Talking to some former school mates of his (Aitchison College, Lahore) I discovered that Aitzaz was ‘recruited’ way back in high school. I am told that back then Aitzaz was invited to every American Consulate function and they thought it was something odd though they could never put their finger on it.
And do you know that Aitzaz had pulled the “I-was-thrown-out-of-PPP-but-now-I-am-back-with-PPP” trick that he pulled during the lawyers movement to gain their trust once before? Well, he did, and there his victim was none other than Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto himself. It happened during the PNA Movement against ZAB in 1977 (When Bhutto claimed the Americans were behind it, he was 100% correct. Let’s remember here Kissinger’s warning — “We’ll make an example out of you!” — to him and the fact that a lot of foreigners descended on Pakistan under the cover of being “reporters” and dollars flowed freely — so much so in fact that in those days of strict currency restrictions where you could buy dollars only from the State Bank, dollars were available on the street at lower than the currency exchange rate). Using the excuse about some lawyers being shot, he abandoned ZAB at that most crucial of times. He of course falsely claims he was “thrown out” of the party. What exposes that lie is that right after the coup by Zia ul Haq, he managed to rejoin PPP as a central leader (if he was really thrown out by ZAB, why would the party accept him at that trying time?). We see the same script being followed just before the second Long March, where he had managed to loose favor with the lawyers and they were openly accusing him for siding with Zardari against the movement. There he pulled the “thrown out of CEC bit by Zardari” and managed to sabotage the movement by calling off the Long March before it got to Islamabad (remember he was NOT part of the lawyers leadership at the time but it was he who made and announced the decision to stop on their part. The fool who was the leader at the time — Ali Ahmed Kurd — managed to get himself stuck in the middle of nowhere — at the Balochistan/Sindh border — leaving Aitzaz to make the call. It must also not be forgotten how Aitzaz just managed to insert himself into the vehicle of Nawaz Sharif that day and how Kiyani also called him instead of the lawyers’ leadership). Kurd today of course stands in the pocket of Aitzaz.
The next chapter in this Aitzaz saga that must be remembered is his role in dismembering the Sikh resistance. Remember In July 1989, working as the Interior Minister under the Benazir Bhutto Government, Aitzaz Ahsan personally handed the complete list of Sikh activists who were working in league with Pakistani intelligence (so it couldn’t be with Pakistani intelligence’s ashirwat). Within weeks of his handing over the list the entire top Sikh brass that was working with Pakistan was eliminated, something from which the Sikh Seperatist Movement never recovered. So maybe when he gave that list of sikhs to India, he wasn’t following BB’s orders but those of the (common?) master, the US.
Another — somewhat hilarious — example comes to us from Punjab where the Punjab Government lawyer arguing the case against illegal construction in a public park by the previous Punjab government, argued the current Punjab government be allowed to carry out construction in the very same park. Simply amazing! I am glad the absurdity of it was not lost on the judges:
The bench asked the counsel to take a clear stand on the issue, making it clear if the construction on the ground by the previous government was legal or not. The bench observed if the illegal constructions by private persons could be demolished why the government illegal construction would not meet the same fate.
Continuing another Mush tradition and spitting even on Benazir’s policy, PPP honors it’s lowest of the low…
(BTW: Don’t miss out the ironic bit at the end)
ISLAMABAD: As the president of Pakistan decorates “distinguished citizens” today with prestigious awards, many of the recipients have been dubiously selected for the honour including Law Minister Dr Babar Awan, who is being conferred Sitara-e-Imtiaz in violation of the policy formulated in Late Benazir Bhutto’s second term, reveal documents.
Another person to be awarded “Sitara-e-Imtiaz“, Sohail Mansoor, supposedly the highest taxpayer, will receive the honour without the consent of the Federal Board of Revenue. A well-known beautician, Musarrat Misbah, will receive “President’s Pride of Performance Award” at a time when her NGO — Depilex Smile Again — has stopped receiving funds from main donor for alleged embezzlement and fraudulent presentation of performance. Two Pakistani cricketers, Younus Khan and Shahid Afridi, are also receiving “President’s Pride of Performance” award at a time when their conduct is mired in serious controversy. Continue reading ‘Oh So Orwellian’
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