tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68033225094125229332011-05-02T09:39:55.245+05:00A Group of independent Pakistani academics have launched a new blog which is going to inform Pakistani and international audiences through analytical insights into the immediate and longer term adverse impacts and ramifications of the imposition of Emergency in Pakistan on November 3, 2007.Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.comBlogger151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-36026701059585715642007-12-05T20:09:00.000+05:002007-12-05T20:22:06.898+05:00

By Arif HasanRetrieved from: www.dawn.com.pkTHE present political crisis has been discussed to death in the press, and before it was curbed, in the electronic media. However, its governance related repercussions still need to be analysed. The process of trying to legitimise ‘constitutional deviation’ is more destructive of the institutions of governance that affect the lives of common citizens,

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-66785581219168258802007-11-27T17:38:00.000+05:002007-11-27T18:00:27.614+05:00

Muneer Malik, the ex-President of the Supreme Court Bar and one of Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s lawyers, has suffered kidney failure while in Attock Jail, after being arrested right after the imposition of Martial Law on 3rd November 2007. News has it that the kidney and liver failure was a result of the acute disregard shown by Jail authorities and Government of the repeated health related

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-47088297513067469292007-11-25T18:59:00.000+05:002007-11-25T19:01:44.715+05:00

by Ali Cheema The renowned sociologist Saskia Sassen, having witnessed the suspension of Pakistan’s Constitution during her recent trip to Lahore, raises a critical question in her Guardian article: will the street rise? Based on her experience of the street in Lahore she concludes that “(m)y experience…was of bustling shops and bazaars: no closed shops, no drawn shutters”. In brief her

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-83616442729853774262007-11-24T13:10:00.000+05:002007-11-24T13:13:48.491+05:00

The genes of our political discourse have up till now been as formidable and constant as those that determine the hue of our eyes or the inflection of our speech. Two chromosomes have paired up unimaginatively to interject our Constitutional order every few years: one which is imprinted with the idea that our political nascence and supposed lack of able political leadership render us ill-equipped

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-84301882095350674822007-11-23T12:04:00.001+05:002007-11-24T15:57:21.069+05:00

Retrieved fromhttp://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/saskia_sassen/2007/11/pakistans_two_worlds.htmlI arrived in Lahore, Pakistan from Mumbai Sunday night. All flights were operating normally, no matter the state of emergency. On Monday I was driven around Lahore. I saw only bustling shops and bazaars. No closed shops, no drawn shutters.Yet when I stepped back briefly into my international hotel and

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-38414329809230066762007-11-22T09:24:00.000+05:002007-11-22T09:26:50.489+05:00

Pakistan’s year of troubles following General Pervez Musharraf’s attempts to procure re-election has almost reached a climax. Since its beginning people have looked for explanations for the extraordinary missteps and blunders that have marked the re-election campaign. One common theory on the street takes its cue from the alleged psychology of military servicemen. The two variants of the ‘bloody

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-56862925922174406412007-11-22T09:11:00.000+05:002007-11-22T09:28:55.657+05:00

With the imposition of the ‘emergency’ General Musharraf has not only suspended most of the fundamental rights clauses of the Constitution, he has suspended the Constitution itself as well. The Provisional Constitutional Order (a problematic term surely when a Constitution was in place when the PCO was imposed and when the Supreme Court of the country had announced that any PCO would be illegal)

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-87906274909974696512007-11-20T02:14:00.000+05:002007-11-20T02:18:27.167+05:00

Veena DasIt happens frequently – people get fed up with politics. When Indira Gandhi declared a National Emergency in India in 1976, there were reasonable people who pitched the need for democracy against the needs of economic development and argued that the country needed stability and discipline. No one now remembers that notorious period with any fondness, for it became clear that the

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-7749456631122230992007-11-17T14:33:00.000+05:002007-11-17T14:36:46.333+05:00

Senator Joe BidenCenter for U.S. Global EngagementNew Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm's College,Manchester, New HampshireNovember 8, 2007(AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY)I want to thank our hosts -- the New Hampshire Institute of Politics here at Saint Anselm's College... and the Center for U.S. Global Engagement -- for bringing us together.I'm proud to stand with both organizations

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-80499292386541428402007-11-17T14:28:00.000+05:002007-11-17T14:31:23.531+05:00

By Samia AltafPakistan, labeled the most dangerous country in the world, with loose nukes and angry jihadis, is unraveling. It needs help. To be helped it needs to be understood. Urging a transition to “true democracy,” after the fourth military dictator has suspended the constitution for the second time and sacked a judiciary that dared to question his legitimacy, betrays either naiveté or

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-46243404085360853122007-11-16T00:44:00.000+05:002007-11-16T00:45:27.353+05:00

Nomenclature is important here. This word, "emergency", is being shoved down our throats to confuse us into thinking that what General Musharaff has done may be just a little less "unconstitutional" than it actually is. Yes, it is correct that the Constitution recognizes the word "emergency" and if certain conditions exist a "proclamation of emergency", with limited consequences, may be made

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-51315611343123154452007-11-16T00:31:00.000+05:002007-11-17T14:20:57.888+05:00

Much of the week since the imposition of martial law has been dedicated to a voicing of outrage and protest from almost all quarters. However, just as many voices have been heard pointing out that while they are unhappy with what Musharraf has done, they are not ready to accept the politicians. And based on this they go so far as to express their lack of desire to see a return to democracy in

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-85721758692440595982007-11-15T20:23:00.000+05:002007-11-17T14:23:02.019+05:00

In these dark, bitter days, Pakistanis stoically retain their sense of humour! Two quips that have been lately doing the rounds are: ‘One coup per dictator please!’ and ‘News of the Day: General Musharraf sacks President Musharraf!’ In many ways they encapsulate the ridiculousness of the situation. Here is a man who has held more or less absolute power during his forced occupancy of the top

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-73942403245350803902007-11-15T20:14:00.000+05:002007-11-17T14:22:32.594+05:00

Students are often the vanguard of social movements that seek to overthrow repressive and authoritarian regimes. In the current crisis in Pakistan—the imposition of Emergency rule (read Martial Law) by General Pervez Musharraf—students across a number of campuses have awakened, organized, rallied, and have made their opposition felt.. Although a nascent movement, the students’ systematic and

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6803322509412522933.post-28058139631245583272007-11-15T12:36:00.001+05:002007-11-15T20:22:40.105+05:00

Retrieved from: http://nation.com.pk/daily/nov-2007/12/columns1.phpWith one stroke of the pen, issuing the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), a contradiction in terms when a constitution is already in place, General Musharraf has pushed us back by decades if not more. With that act he has negated the constitution, made the legislature and the judiciary ineffective and created a legal havoc

Academics for Freedom: Movement for Democracy in Pakistannoreply@blogger.com0