This one from Tarek Fatah’s notes:

Jamaat-e-Islami to organize anti-American march to defend Supreme Court Chief Justice

Friends,

If there was any doubt in anyone’s mind that Pakistan is going through a judicial coup backed by the army and the right-wing Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, this news item should clear the air.

In announcing this long march to Islamabad against the US and to ‘defend’ the Supreme Court, the Islamofacists have also targeted the ANP, the MQM and the JUI along with the PPP.

Despite the evidence, there are still some useful idiots that are naive and refuse to see the reality of pro-Taliabn forces seeking to overthrow a democratically elected government in Islamabad. Wake up before it is too late and the nukes are under the control of the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Tarek

Monday, December 21, 2009

JI Chief Munawwar Hassan announces anti-American march to Islamabad

“Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Altaf Hussain and Asfandyar Wali were equally involved in ‘the crimes of the government”

By Muhammad Anis
The News, Pakistan
http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=26201

ISLAMABAD: Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Syed Munawwar Hasan on Sunday announced to go all out to defend the Supreme Court and to march towards Islamabad in support of the SC verdict against the NRO. He also termed the military operation in Fata a failure and claimed that Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Altaf Hussain and Asfandyar Wali were equally involved in the ‘crimes’ of the government.

“As the government has decided to fight against the judiciary, we are also prepared to protect the supremacy of the Supreme Court and enforce its decision against the NRO,” Munawwar Hasan said while addressing a big “Go America Go” rally on the Murree Road,Rawalpindi.

He said the Jamaat had decided to extend full support to the Supreme Court and, in this connection, tens of thousands of workers and masses would march towards Islamabad from all over the country to foil all the conspiracies against the judiciary. He said the 17-member bench of the Supreme Court, with its consensus decision, had exposed the NRO beneficiaries.

Munawwar Hasan declared that the Jamaat would not only continue the “Go America Go” movement but would also promote the anti-US culture in the country. The JI chief strongly criticised the statements of Interior Minister Rehman Malik in which he had denied the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan. “Why is he issuing such statements? Is he a daily wager of the US government,” he questioned.

“This is high time for the United States to stop its interference and Blackwater should also leave the country,” he said. Terming the military operation in Fata a failure, he said that it had been counterproductive and instead of reduction in terrorist incidents, terrorism was on the rise. He said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Altaf Hussain and Asfandyar Wali were equally involved in ‘the crimes of the government’.

He was confident that the JI’s “Go America Go” movement would succeed and Dr Aafia Siddiqui, whom he called the daughter of the nation, would also return home. The protesters, carrying banners and placards, chanted full-throated slogans against America and the government’s alleged pro-US policies. The rally, which was also participated by JI Punjab Amir Dr Wasim Akhtar, Naib Amir Mian Muhammad Aslam and local leaders from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, began from the Liaquat Bagh and culminated at the Waris Khan Chowk.

The charged JI workers were about to go out of control when a police official from the City Police Station informed the Jamaat leaders that Section 144 was enforced in the country. “It was an unwise and failed attempt of the Punjab government to stop the rally but it was not possible as thousands of workers had already arrived at the Liaquat Bagh,” the JI spokesman said.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/tarek-fatah/jamaat-e-islami-to-organize-anti-american-march-to-defend-supreme-court-chief-ju/362938530246

If PPP wants to evade the Bangladesh model, here is way forward:

The PPP can only survive if it does the right thing.

THE PML-N’s assurance to the PPP that it will not try and destabilise the government if the government implements in letter and spirit the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO is not a game-changer, but it is yet another sign that the PPP can survive the latest political crisis — though only if it plays its cards right. First, credit must go to the PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif who has apparently rejected the pleas of the more hawkish members in his party for now and refused to exploit the PPP’s precarious political position. Given the history of opportunistic moves by parliamentary oppositions in the country, it is certainly a relief from the point of view of protecting the transition to democracy that Mr Sharif has held his fire against a beleaguered government that was clearly in some disarray following the Supreme Court’s short order last Wednesday. But neither should too much be read into the PML-N’s ‘generosity’ and ‘good will’ — with the PPP floundering and under immense pressure from the courts, there is little to be gained for the PML-N by piling on further pressure.

Which brings us to our second point: fact is, grateful as the government should be for support from other quarters the government’s fate ultimately lies in its own hands. A week since the NRO judgment, the PPP has regained some of its poise and begun to understand that while some of its members will be under immense pressure, the judgment does not have to be the beginning of the end for the government itself. What’s needed, though, for survival is a seismic shift in the PPP’s attitude towards governance and politics. A business-as-usual approach will simply not do. On the political front, the PPP co-chairman, President Zardari, needs to realise the inevitability of the repeal of the 17th Amendment and use that occasion to begin to rescue his tattered reputation. If the constitutional amendment is shepherded through parliament quickly by the PPP, the party could rightly claim credit for that move and would gain some fresh political capital. But as in the case of the restoration of the deposed judges, if the PPP is seen to only reluctantly agree to the inevitable after it exhausts all avenues of opposition, then credit would go elsewhere — and the party would find itself under even more pressure.

The PPP would also be better placed to fend off political attacks if it worked seriously on improving its governance record. Presently, a cabinet reshuffle is believed to be on the cards, with a possible reduction in the unwieldy and unseemly number of cabinet members. But swapping or increasing portfolios of ministers will be meaningless if there is no sustained emphasis on a better performance by cabinet members. It won’t be easy, but there is no surer way for the government to recover its lost political ground.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-a-lifeline—il–05