Everyone else should too
Top leaders of Pakistan Army decided in a meeting last week that they would make no compromises on ‘national security’, and according to reports, also promised to provide protection to Mansoor Ijaz – the man who said the army “breeds hatred among Pakistan’s Islamist masses and then uses their thirst for jihad against Pakistan’s neighbours and allies to sate its hunger for power”.
Mansoor Ijaz may come to Pakistan to testify against former ambassador Husain Haqqani.
It is not clear if Haqqani collaborated with Ijaz to write a controversial memo asking the US to depose Pakistan’s top military leaders, but his travel documents have reportedly been confiscated, he is not allowed to leave the country, he is hiding in the Prime Minister’s House because he fears for his life, and he will likely be charged with treason. But it is clear that Mansoor Ijaz did write the memo. It is ironic that he has been promised security by the very army he had asked the US to act against. If the memo was a conspiracy against Pakistan, why is army supporting one of the conspirators? What are the legal implications of such a move?
It is not clear whether Husain Haqqani violated any regulations, but he was summoned, questioned, and made to resign before the probe began although he was in no position to influence the probe.
But it is clear the ISI chief did not inform the prime minister before or after he met Mansoor Ijaz, although he is required to report to him. He was not made to resign, although he is in a position of influence. When the prime minister made statements that the military must follow the constitution, the army warned of “grievous consequences” through a press release.
Apparently, Shahbaz Sharif was more upset about the statement than the military itself. His elder brother Nawaz Sharif, one of Pakistan’s top politicians, has taken the issue to the Supreme Court doing exactly what the army had wanted him to do. Earlier, he had said in public meetings that the ISI was supporting his rival Imran Khan.
The government is fighting with both the judiciary and the military, and it must go, a key leader from his party said in a TV debate. When his opponent reminded him his own party’s government had fought with the judiciary and the military before it was deposed in 1999, he admitted it was a mistake. Nawaz Sharif and his party had also made appeals to the US to support his government against the military. Some of the judges who had given a legal cover to the 1999 coup are still part of the Supreme Court. The top court of Pakistan took up the memo case before several other matters of public interest as they too vowed to protect ‘national security’.
Haqqani’s lawyer Asma Jahangir said the court gave the petitioners relief more than they had asked for, and decided that ‘national security’ was more important than her client’s fundamental rights.
“I am also a parent and a citizen of this country and feel concerned,” Justice Jawad S Khwaja said in a comment during the hearing. But judges do not show similar concern in the ongoing cases in which ISI is accused of breaking rules, such as picking people up without due process, or funding conservative political parties in elections against the PPP.
The judges did not even show concern when the military promised to protect Mansoor Ijaz, the man who admits he wrote the memo that could jeopardise Pakistan’s ‘national security’.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan has promised to rally towards Islamabad and topple the government that the people of Pakistan had elected for five years. Most of the political leaders he will be flanked with were part of the previous military regime and have recently left the party believed to be backed by the military establishment. They will try to usurp power from a legitimate civilian government that includes leaders who opposed them when they were in power with a uniformed president.
President Zardari has been in jail for about a decade over charges of corruption of which none was proven. The people who had made those cases later admitted they were made under pressure from the military establishment.
If everybody else’s actions are past and closed transactions, why must Zardari hang? And if Zardari must hang, everyone must hang.
The writer is a media and culture critic and works at The Friday Times. He tweets @paagalinsaan and gets email at [email protected]
good
Forget everything else you have written – its this line that i find the most amusing
"If everybody else’s actions are past and closed transactions, why must Zardari hang? And if Zardari must hang, everyone must hang."
Forget Zardaris previous actions – he must go for the state this country has sunk to in the 4 years he has been in power.
Nice analysis…
Bravo Bravo Harris, very well said, salute to your courage
Factual facts . remarkable article, but, sorry,might is right in this opportunist world.
Harris is wonderful in analysis as usual! If past actions of elected politicians are OK then what about Pakistan Army's raping of Muslim Begali women in operation Search-Light in 1971? How come no officer was ever charged? That was the main reason Pakistan was broke in to two pieces.
LOL!!!! Seems like an article straight out of the Presidency. I am amazed how people come to proudly defend the worst crockery, thuggery, pillage and plunder in the history of this country. A 'legitimate' government elected on the crutches of NRO and 45% bogus votes.
Only good at troll, vote him out if u can, otherwise stop this drawing room fascism
U r right bro
yep!
Mr.Haris should do some research in greater detail on Zardari's more than a decade in jail and charges of corruption remaining unproved.It is said that Zardari is the prophet of delay tactics in getting postponements of court hearings.One weapon employed by him was use of medical certificates which run in hundreds.His lawyers successfully used all the available weaknesses of our judicial system and prosecution machinery.After becoming President ,instead of making amends for the past he worked very hard to add new material to the already 'unproved charges'.You cannot whitewash Zardari by claiming that there are others who are equally or more unclean.
Bravo harris…you nailed it…we don't expect justice from this politiced judiciary…!they give clean chit to Lal masjid cleric but take suo motto notice of two bottles of wine from Atiqa odho….:-)
It is certainly a very balanced and forthright article. Something very fishy is indeed happening in the country. I draw your attention to a news item of today that an official of ISI met one Kidwai in Dubai and asked him to reassure Mansoor Ejaz that he will be protected by the Army when in Pakistan. This reeks of a deep conspiracy somewhere along the line.
It is really disturbing that educated people speak for & support for shame democracy.The system which allows criminals to rule.For how long the ruling elite want to rule paksitan Harris?
Hussain Haqqani lives in PM house not becuz of fear for his life but due to his creditability .Everybody knows his past and his ever changing nature ..he is not confided in PM house with his own will ..Zardari is fearful that if he is out somewhere he could change his coat and turn against zardari and could reveal who is actually behind this memo..he could be charge of treason if he is out ( as per haris) …..?? cant he be charge with treason while he in PM house ?????? PM is on God's land and law could reach to him there even ..so please stop twisting facts around
What's with your hair dude? Hahaha!
what a pathetic piece of an article. This is a SHAM democracy which is shameless I might add! No doubt that Zardari is an evil genius though. Haqqani is a traitor and will be dealt with accordingly inshallah. All you 'articles' have inclination towards this pathetic government, just name me one good deed they have done for the poor masses not for their rich parliamentarians!!!!!
government has not done any good deed but army has done like they have patronised talibans for years, they have lost four wars and had four coups. they did genocide in bangladesh!!! they eat 60% of our budget… what a record of achievements!! bravo
Get your facts correct before trying to be sarcarstic. Lost four wars?? Genocide?? Are you out of your mind. You want to get rid of the army? You have no problems with the atrocitites of indians to the kashmiris? Army patronises taliban? Did not previous governments of nawaz and BB recognise the Afghan taliban as govt? And now the bloody mericans are also engged in talks with them? We are not taliban, Afghan culture is different to ours. Had it not been our army operation, Swat/Pesh would have been taken over by TTP by now!!!!!
To see how well a country is doing, just look at the ECONOMICS! We are down the drain because of this nincompoops.
I don’t think you really know what you are talking about! This is just PPP fanaticism! A few points I would like to bring to your attention:
1. Whatever Ijaz has said in the past makes no difference as he is a US citizen and cannot be treated the same as people in the Pakistani Government. There is no treason on his part. He is not a conspirator and was just approached by the actual conspirators to pass on the message. Additionally, Ijaz did not “write” the memo, he was only the scribe. The credit of writing it has to be given to the actual conspirators who thought it up.
2. The Army does need to provide him protection as he is a witness, in this case, and the Government, who should provide the protection, are the ones threatening him. So who else will provide the protection, Santa Clause?
3. HH did violate regulations and the fact that he is not allowing the Blackberry records to be seen is a clear admission of guilt. If he has nothing to hide then he should authorize RIM to hand over the records.
4. The ISI Chief met Ijaz to investigate a possible treason case against the high-ups in the Government. Asking their permission before investigating them is a pretty ridiculous proposition.
5. Asma Jahangir is confused and not a very bright legal mind! You should not be looking at her as a source of legal knowledge. She is primarily a human rights activist based on American concepts! When she says “fundamental rights” over national security, she is referring to the American system. Unfortunately for you guys, THIS IS PAKISTAN! To understand the difference, you need to read up on the difference between the Bentham (British) vs Locke (French) philosophy of constitutions. Pakistan follows the British philosophy where national security is more important that individual rights, whereas, America follows the French one. Therefore, her “fundamental rights” statement is nonsense! Both you and Asma Jahangir need to study a bit more before you make comments in public!
6. Bringing up requests for other cases to be tried over this are ridiculous and pointless so I won’t even comment.
7. As for Imran Khan trying to “usurp power from a legitimate civilian government that includes leaders who opposed them [Q League] when they were in power with a uniformed president”…well, please do keep in mind that the masterminds and leaders of the Q League are in a coalition with Zardari (PPP) at this time. The people joining PTI are now PTI members and are following the PTI manifesto. Additionally, it was the PPP who made the NRO deal with that same uniformed president and then gave him a Guard of Honor to leave scot-free!!! I hope the hypocrisy and pointlessness of your argument here have become clear to you???
8. Lastly, if Zardari were innocent, he would not be hiding behind the immunity clause and would allow the prosecution of the Swiss bank accounts issue.
Therefore, Zardari must hang and the only one to hang with him, right now, should be Haqqani!
Please continue your studies at NYU and understand how the world works before commenting on it.
Regards.
bias or greed? or perhaps the hair style is behind this stupid article? i will hang Z for rental power projects, pakistan steel, rupee deval, circular debt, lng scam, nicl scam, gas and power crisis. come on dude, if you didnt change, pak wont. stop siding with the corrupt just because your article can be published.
"If everybody else’s actions are past and closed transactions, why must Zardari hang? And if Zardari must hang, everyone must hang."
Who will bell the cat?
Thanks a lot Mr. Haris….for justifying the transparent and efficient govrnment that Mr Zardari is leading…Yes Army needs to be punished for talking of national security…and Mr Haqqani needs to be applauded for keeping US interests ahead of Pakistan's interests…lets hope we do not meet the end we truly deserve as a nation……………………….
Who pays you to write this…….Harris
This country is full with dishonest and fraudsters..in the end it again will be a matter of money…we must be punished as we r born in Pakistan?
Army is from the society and will act in the same selfish way…IMRAN MUST BE GIVEN A CHANCE ATLEAST HE WILL NOT PLUNDER!
I don't think you really know what you are talking about! This is just PPP fanaticism! A few points I would like to bring to your attention:
1. Whatever Ijaz has said in the past makes no difference as he is a US citizen and cannot be treated the same as people in the Pakistani Government. There is no treason on his part. He is not a conspirator and was just approached by the actual conspirators to pass on the message. Additionally, Ijaz did not "write" the memo, he was only the scribe. The credit of writing it has to be given to the actual conspirators who thought it up.
2. The Army does need to provide him protection as he is a witness, in this case, and the Government, who should provide the protection, are the ones threatening him. So who else will provide the protection, Santa Clause?
3. HH did violate regulations and the fact that he is not allowing the Blackberry records to be seen is a clear admission of guilt. If he has nothing to hide then he should authorize RIM to hand over the records.
4. The ISI Chief met Ijaz to investigate a possible treason case against the high-ups in the Government. Asking their permission before investigating them is a pretty ridiculous proposition.
5. Asma Jahangir is confused and not a very bright legal mind! You should not be looking at her as a source of legal knowledge. She is primarily a human rights activist based on American concepts! When she says "fundamental rights" over national security, she is referring to the American system. Unfortunately for you guys, THIS IS PAKISTAN! To understand the difference, you need to read up on the difference between the Bentham (British) vs Locke (French) philosophy of constitutions. Pakistan follows the British philosophy where national security is more important that individual rights, whereas, America follows the French one. Therefore, her "fundamental rights" statement is nonsense! Both you and Asma Jahangir need to study a bit more before you make comments in public!
6. Bringing up requests for other cases to be tried over this are ridiculous and pointless so I won't even comment.
7. As for Imran Khan trying to "usurp power from a legitimate civilian government that includes leaders who opposed them [Q League] when they were in power with a uniformed president"…well, please do keep in mind that the masterminds and leaders of the Q League are in a coalition with Zardari (PPP) at this time. The people joining PTI are now PTI members and are following the PTI manifesto. Additionally, it was the PPP who made the NRO deal with that same uniformed president and then gave him a Guard of Honor to leave scot-free!!! I hope the hypocrisy and pointlessness of your argument here have become clear to you???
8. Lastly, if Zardari were innocent, he would not be hiding behind the immunity clause and would allow the prosecution of the Swiss bank accounts issue.
Therefore, Zardari must hang and the only one to hang with him, right now, should be Haqqani!
Please continue your studies at NYU and understand how the world works before commenting on it.
Regards.
I don't think you really know what you are talking about! This is just PPP fanaticism! A few points I would like to bring to your attention:
1. Whatever Ijaz has said in the past makes no difference as he is a US citizen and cannot be treated the same as people in the Pakistani Government. There is no treason on his part. He is not a conspirator and was just approached by the actual conspirators to pass on the message. Additionally, Ijaz did not "write" the memo, he was only the scribe. The credit of writing it has to be given to the actual conspirators who thought it up.
2. The Army does need to provide him protection as he is a witness, in this case, and the Government, who should provide the protection, are the ones threatening him. So who else will provide the protection, Santa Clause?
3. HH did violate regulations and the fact that he is not allowing the Blackberry records to be seen is a clear admission of guilt. If he has nothing to hide then he should authorize RIM to hand over the records.
4. The ISI Chief met Ijaz to investigate a possible treason case against the high-ups in the Government. Asking their permission before investigating them is a pretty ridiculous proposition.
5. Asma Jahangir is confused and not a very bright legal mind! You should not be looking at her as a source of legal knowledge. She is primarily a human rights activist based on American concepts! When she says "fundamental rights" over national security, she is referring to the American system. Unfortunately for you guys, THIS IS PAKISTAN! To understand the difference, you need to read up on the difference between the Bentham (British) vs Locke (French) philosophy of constitutions. Pakistan follows the British philosophy where national security is more important that individual rights, whereas, America follows the French one. Therefore, her "fundamental rights" statement is nonsense! Both you and Asma Jahangir need to study a bit more before you make comments in public!
6. Bringing up requests for other cases to be tried over this are ridiculous and pointless so I won't even comment.
7. As for Imran Khan trying to "usurp power from a legitimate civilian government that includes leaders who opposed them [Q League] when they were in power with a uniformed president"…well, please do keep in mind that the masterminds and leaders of the Q League are in a coalition with Zardari (PPP) at this time. The people joining PTI are now PTI members and are following the PTI manifesto. Additionally, it was the PPP who made the NRO deal with that same uniformed president and then gave him a Guard of Honor to leave scot-free!!! I hope the hypocrisy and pointlessness of your argument here have become clear to you???
8. Lastly, if Zardari were innocent, he would not be hiding behind the immunity clause and would allow the prosecution of the Swiss bank accounts issue.
Therefore, Zardari must hang and the only one to hang with him, right now, should be Haqqani!
Please continue your studies at NYU and understand how the world works before commenting on it.
Regards.
bhai thora hoosla … app tu lagta hai guiness book main naam likhwanay kaa irada rakhtay hain!
Rubbish article as usual put by Haris, I dont understand what shit you eat , which influence your thought processes. His total onus is on Pakistan army and demonizing mansoor and army. Haris, you should be aware of fact that hussain haqqani has been involved in such activities for far too long.
Why cant you write a balanced article? Is it your age that your too young and given a chance post up on this newspaper sight or your too dumb full of trash in your head.
haris is distant cosin of ejaz nd writes abt him bcoz he is gellus of his impotarnce!
Trash article
As an outsider looking in, all I see is a writer showing blind support to a "leader" who has made your Nation a laughing stock to the rest of the world.
You are not his "love child" by any chance are you?.
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