Asma Jehangir’s Pathetic Attempt To Get Haqqani Off The Hook

She filed a “concise statement” pleading “the court to dismiss Sharif’s plea with costs being beyond the scope of Article 184(3) of the Constitution, which mandates the apex court to only take up matters of public importance requiring enforcement of fundamental rights.” Goes on to add crap like “matters relating to the working of ISI might come up for discussion in the US or the UK courts” so asks the court to not proceed in the case “purely out of national interest”. Did I smell a threat in there? She continues with it telling the SC that if  you proceed, we will get foreign courts to proceed with defamation hearings which will expose the workings of the ISI, there by attacking national interest and gain for it “adverse (foreign) media attention which would tarnish the image of the country.”

That this is a trick to try and save his skin was admitted by Haqqani himself who reportedly said “he would use every legal tool available to him to defend himself”. 😉

‘Uloo Ki Pathee!!!’ 🙂

OMG! Ayaz Amir Must Be Doing Atiqa Odho…

How low can an old Fauji go? I was surprised to find top PPP apologist, former journalist, PML-N MNA Ayaz Amir on fire in the National Assembly, suddenly realizing “Ziaul Haq’s invasion on the social and cultural fabric of this vibrant society,” demanding “the Supreme judiciary to move on instead of browbeating an issue which stinks of Ziaul Haq’s tainted laws”.

But what was curious was his focusing in on the laws against consuming alcohol (Historical Note: Though Zia did in fact introduce some twisted “Islamic rules”, it was Z A Bhutto who banned alcohol; Note also that the party Mr. Ayaz Amir belongs to WAS created by Zia himself):

But what remained the highlight of today’s performance was the unique suggestion of the chairman of Senate’s standing committee on Finance and Revenue, Senator Ahmed Ali of MQM. Though till the very last moment it remained unclear whether he was supportive of Attiqa Odho or criticizing the judiciary for taking suo-motto notice of her carrying merely two bottles of banned beverages, yet he flabbergasted not only the committee members but also the chairman of FBR Salman Siddique by asking him that how much taxes state would be able to earn if ban on these hard beverages is lifted? Upon finding Salman shying away by just blushing and staring at his own files, Senator asked in more definitive and substantive terms that would it be over Rs 70 billion? Then Salman had to hesitatingly and in his inaudible tone say that may be more than that. (source)

 Yes friends, the sleeping lion (who slept through corruption and injustice of every possible kind for three years, in fact supporting those with the excuse used by every scoundrel that ‘Democracy must be protected at every cost”) jumped out of his slumber howling because Mushy’s chick and central-office bearer of his (Mushy’s) party Atiqa Odho got caught at the airport with two bottles of the good stuff and was let go which did not sit well with SC that demanded to investigate how she slipped away.

That can ONLY MEAN ONE THING: Ayaz Amir is banging the old hag. Simply, there can be no other explanation for it and everyone can see through this (see suggestion of Senator Ahmed Ali abouve).

That Ayaz himself realized that he had dropped his pants in public is clear from his backtracking (“what I meant was….”)

Too late, Ayaz! The cat is out of the bag 😉

Supreme Injustice: Are SC Justices Clueless About The Law?

Or are they party to the crime?

While “going after” the defaulters, the court once again repeated the old con line “Jail defaulters if they don’t pay back.” That’s it? Is there a new law of the land that states “If a thief returns the stolen money, he has committed no crime and must be set free”? Now I am certain there is no such law. And I am certain the justices of the supreme court are aware of that. The only conclusion I can draw from that is that at the very least they follow two sets of laws: one for the rich, and one for the poor.

Of ‘Supreme’ Pigelitarians And More On April Fools Day

Apologies in advance for being haphazard. Want to write about all these but don’t have the time — or electricity. So here are some links to things that passed before me and caught my interest. Here it goes in no particular order:

Journalist Amar Jaleel revisits BB’s murder in ‘From Nowhere to Everywhere‘ and talks mostly about Zardari and his ‘rise’. He does seem to suggest it was AZ behind the murder and what he has managed to do since then:
“He has literally purchased the opposition in Pakistan.”
Indeed! So Nawaz fans, what do you say?

Speaking of the BB murder, Zardari has blocked the release of UN report for now so in the meantime you can read the new book out by Shakeel Anjum titled “Who Assassinated Benazir Bhutto”

In “The story of the pet goat”, Taj Khattak talks about the army’s rise and attributes it to the failings of the politicians.

Ameer Bhutto disappoints with his “The sky is not falling, it’s just democracy” as he turns it into…well read the last bit yourself:

Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto spoilt the nation by getting the 1973 Constitution passed through parliament unanimously. Maybe that is why we now expect everything to be done by consensus. But that was the outcome of the genius as well as strong and sincere leadership of a giant among men. Expecting the insignificant self-styled politicians who now happen to occupy his seat because of a tragic kink of history, and who have their own personal agendas, to perform the same miracles is a joke.

Well, Ameer, they appear to have done it. So should we now equate the two? (Take your pick: “geniuses” or “insignificant self-styled politicians” both?)

On the US/Pakistan talks, Asif Ezdi’s title says it all: “Strategic dialogue or strategic farce?”

You might also like GHQ winning like never before from a few days ago…

Proving they don’t believe it themselves, 20 MPs send bill to NA speaker to ensure parliament’s supremacy. The group is led by — now don’t laugh — Marvi Memon. Rest are bozos I have never heard of.

Of course army cannot survive without lies so we have Gen Masood telling us “Swat operation saved country from terrorism“. Well, you know which dick he is smoking…

Speaking of liars and cheats, here are a few stories from today’s paper:
Zardari stunned, sends four aides to support a jailed crook (whose son he is hiding in the presidency and paying him a salary of more than Rs 4 lacs)

“He will certainly be accommodated but his title will be decided after he walks out of the prison,” one of them said. “The government has many ways to install its pets at lucrative berths like Dr Qayyum Soomro has no official title, yet the clout and power he carries is known to all and sundry simply because of his closeness to the president.” Beneficiaries of the sprawling wealth of Sheikh allegedly abound in different segments of the society.

Sheikh’s replacement of course is Sheikh’s replacement: Another FIA eagle has a rude crash landing
ISLAMABAD: Sajjad Haider, the blue eyed staff officer of the interior minister, was unceremoniously dismissed from service, within a day of another dubious high flying FIA eagle (Riaz Sheikh) getting its wings clipped and falling straight inside Adiala Jail.

Sajjad Haider is also the co-accused with Interior Minister Rehman Malik in a corruption case alleging misappropriation of funds in unauthorised release of imported yellow cab cars. As The News broke the story Wednesday about how an accused had not only been kept in service notwithstanding the court verdict on NRO, the secretary interior took action and sent Sajjad packing by reverting his status to that of October 5, 2007, when he stood a dismissed assistant director of the FIA.

Which brings us of course to Rehman Malik. Appears NAB is set to challenge withdrawal of cases against Malik.

Oh, and here’s another piece on him from a couple of days ago:
Reference filed against Rehman Malik in Senate

The Federal Interior Minister Senator A Rehman Malik, already loaded with litigation, gets another one to field as a Pakistani citizen residing in the United Kingdom has challenged his eligibility before the chairman Senate arguing that Malik stood dismissed from service at the time of filing his nomination papers as senator from Sindh

Ansar Abbasi rightly asks:
If accused advocates and govt join hands, what can courts do? I must say Mr Abbasi is being a bit optimistic when he states:

This is going to cause hue and cry. However, all were mum at that time; the NAB was mum; and criminals were being acquitted. This class of people wants the return of Dogar era when all the big guns, capitalists, bureaucrats, ministers, and rulers were safe, all their crimes notwithstanding. The courts even paid them respect. But now a change has come to Pakistan and we must learn to live in a changed country.

Read the stories linked above and you will see how the full of shit out upper houses are…

But before going I must give you at least one story that made me laugh:
Nawaz wants several new Dubais in Balochistan
Nawaz does crack me up. Does he not know how trouble Dubai is in? I think Balochistan ought to take a pass on this one! 😛

A Quickie: Zardari Tries To Hide Behind The Dead Body Of Benazir

From Fresh move to stop reopening of Swiss cases:

The federal government submitted in the Supreme Court on Monday that reopening Swiss cases would be like putting the late Benazir Bhutto on trial and it was against all norms of justice, decency, morality and law…

One thing I don’t understand: Why is SC allowing them to continue with this absurdity? They know these are only attempts to delay and not implement their verdict.

Also — and more importantly — WHY is SC ignoring the fact that the Swiss courts already convicted both Zardari and Benazir Bhutto???

Eric Margolis — hardly a part of the ‘establishment’ had an interesting piece a little while back:
Mr. 10%: Our Man in Islamabad

In it, Eric sets the record straight about that Swiss case that the SC too seems to be ignoring:

“Skeletons are dancing out of Zardari’s closets: $63 million in illegal kickbacks and commissions allegedly hidden in Swiss bank accounts; accusation of laundering $13.7 million in Switzerland. Charges of kickbacks on helicopter and warplane deals. In 2003, Swiss magistrates found Zardari and Bhutto guilty of money laundering, sentencing them to a six month suspended jail term, a fine of $50,000, and ordering them to repay $11 million to Pakistan’s government.”

Let me repeat:

“In 2003, Swiss magistrates found Zardari and Bhutto guilty of money laundering, sentencing them to a six month suspended jail term, a fine of $50,000, and ordering them to repay $11 million to Pakistan’s government.”

And exactly why is this fact not mentioned by our press??? Why is the SC ignoring it??? Why is the impression given as if the case was still ongoing and stopped in the middle??? I am even surprised SC talked of “reopening the Swiss case” when no reopening is needed. They should just be asking for implementing the Swiss verdict.

BTW: Here’s another interesting piece from the article:

Washington is almost back to square one in turbulent Pakistan. When Zardari goes or is kicked upstairs as an impotent figurehead, attention will turn to Pakistan’s 617,000-man military and its commander, Gen – or should we say “president-elect” Ashfaq Kiyani? He is already in almost constant contact with the Pentagon.

And of course we know where he is right now….

Missing Persons: NO Relief From The Courts

While Dawn asks us to feel “relief” over the issue, the courts have once again failed miserably at bringing relief. All the big talk by Justice Javed Iqbal appears to be a tempest in a teapot. A decision was promised on end of March but now we we have talk of a “Judicial Commission” being set up by the very Government behind people going missing. And what the Honorable Judge has said of late is not very comforting:

Justice Javed Iqbal said “We will not take any illegitimate action against the lawlessness of the secret agencies but a solid action to recover the missing persons.” Justice Javed Iqbal observed that being supreme, no one can hold the Parliament accountable.

I find these remarks extremely insulting,

From One Pocket To Another: BoP Scam’s Disappearing Billions

Yesterday’s headlines screamed the Chief justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry celebrating the “recovery” of monies scammed from bank of Punjab by Haris Steel Mill owners, declaring BoP case a precedent for loan recovery. That he would declare this in response to NAB stating that of the Rs. 13 Billion scam, only Rs. 5.6 Billion have been recovered is further proof that the fix was on Have the courts become part and party to the looting? (The only other possibility is that the justices are too dumb)

Why do I say this? I say this because what started out as a Rs. 13 Billion scam was quietly reduced to a Rs 9 Billion scam (and now to Rs. 8.4 Billion) and what started out as Rs 7.5 Billion recovered months ago (from the HSI owner, Sheikh Afzal alone — their are at least 17 co-accused) is now reduced to only  Rs 5.6 Billion, right in front of the eyes of these courts and the judges are pretending not to have noticed. (For a complete background, see my previous posts —  links at the bottom).

Nawaz Helps Biggest Threat to Democracy – UPDATED

Two curious news items brought ‘NA-123: Nawaz Continues To Lie‘ back to mind:

1. SC remands NA-123 polls case to LHC
2. Nawaz withdraws nomination papers for NA-123

BoP Scam — The Fix Is On Again

So much for “free judiciary”! Appears the Bank of Punjab Scam is all set to be swept under the rug along with other such scams not even getting a mention.

Today we hear NAB is all set to “plea-bargain” with the suspects (Haris Steel) and give them a “clean chit”:

NAB may accept plea bargain by BoP culprits
“Wednesday, December 02, 2009
By Usman Manzoor

ISLAMABAD: All is set for the culprits of the Bank of Punjab (BoP) Rs 9 billion fraud, the biggest scandal of the country’s banking history, to negotiate a plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and get a clean chit…”

That this is happening is really no surprise. Remember the guys heading NAB are the very same ones appointed by Musharraf under who’s watchful eye, this and other such scams were perpetrated.

Hai, Bhagwan!

Appears the once stalwart Justice Bhagwandas has a new bhagwan and that bhawan is none other than Zardari.

Remember Justice Bhagwandas had been working for the supreme court heading the judicial commission investigating oil and gas prices. The commission had found glaring faults in the mechanism and reported that the oil companies had been given a free hand to bilk consumers and made huge profits (one refinery alone saw it’s profits go up more than 4,331%) . In fact it was on the basis of that report that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry defined it as  “A massive embezzlement of billions of rupees in price fixing mechanisms for petroleum products in local markets since 1999 by the beneficiaries, oil companies, OGRA as well as the Federal Government has been detected“.

(Of course nothing has been done to implement the recommendations of Bhagwandas Commission by the government.)

That an attempt to buy Bhagwandas was ‘on’ became apparent a few days back when Justice Bhagwandas himself revealed offers were being made to have him appointed Chairman, Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC). Though he said he had not rejected the offer, he did point out to those offering him the job that he was barred from accepting any position as per constitution (clause 2 of Article 207 of the Constitution placed a bar on retired Supreme Court and high court judges to accept an office of profit till the expiration of two years from their retirement, and Justice Bhagwandas would not complete that term until Dec 14, 2009, as he himself stated.)

Now imagine my surprise when I opened the paper today and saw this headline glaring at me on the front page:

Bhagwandas appointed FPSC chief

Yes, Bhagwandas — excuse me for not using the title ‘Justice’ — has accepted the job and as his first act visited the Presidency Mandir to get the ashirwat of Bhuwan Zardari.  Yes, we are still weeks away from Dec 14, 2009 so wonder what happened to that ‘clause 2 of Article 207 of the Constitution’?

Also note that the position of the chief of FPSC is today a neutered one, thanks to Bhagwan Zardari and Devi Gilani, so Bhagwandas will just be a figurehead, giving an aura of legitimacy to appointments that will not be based on merit but will be strictly ‘political promotions’.

I am just surprised Bhagwandas sold so cheaply.

Side note: Regarding that Bank of Punjab case, CJ Iftikhar is certainly appearing compromised and letting crooks off the hook. More on that soon….

Two Hails for the Judges…

CJ denies relief under NRO

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Tuesday observed nobody could be granted relief under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) till the petitions challenging its legality were adjudicated.

The chief justice observed this during hearing of a review petition filed by a sacked DSP, Mehr Muhammad Baqir, who was sentenced by the accountability court on corruption charges. The decision was later upheld by the high court as well as the Supreme Court….

But this is only a start. I just wonder still WHEN — if ever — those petitions challenging the legality of granting relief under NRO will be adjudicated. For me there is no doubt about their illegality nor any doubt about the illegality of the NRO itself.