Dr. Aafia Siddiqui Case

Aug, 2008: Aafia Siddiqi disappearance in 2003 and then re-appearance in the custody of US is a blatant violation of human rights.

ANAA joins the community in asking for justice for Ms Siddiqui. We would like to see the case investigated by UN sanctioned body and then tried in International court that will have the confidence of all parties involved.

BBC reports, Aafia Siddiqui is the youngest of three children of a British-trained doctor.

Her brother is an architect based in Houston, while Fauzia is a neurologist who used to work at Mount Sinai hospital in New York.

Aafia Siddiqui went to school in Karachi and graduated with a biology degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

In 2004 then-FBI director Robert Mueller announced at a press conference that Aafia Siddiqui was wanted for questioning.

She was later named as part of an alleged al-Qaeda diamond smuggling operation in Liberia.

Publications such as Newsweek quoted the FBI as saying this was to finance al-Qaeda's biological and chemical weapons programme.

Read full story
ANAA's Press Release

HRW on Musharraf's intimidation of Pakistan Supreme Court

“Musharraf should publicly state that he will accept the decision of the Supreme Court and withdraw the threat of martial law,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government is attempting to frighten the judiciary into submission and is holding Pakistan, its constitution and its people hostage to Musharraf’s desire to cling to power.”

Events since 1999 coup by General Musharraf is as follows:

2003: Musharraf pledged to cede one of the posts by December 2004. But he publicly reneged on this pledge a year later.

Oct 6 2007: Musharraf was elected President by parliament that is about to finish their term in November. Pakistan’s opposition parties resigned their seats or boycotted the election in protest, leaving only Musharraf’s supporters, who enjoy a majority in the electoral college, to elect him.

Oct 16, 2007: Pakistan Supreme is hearing case of challenge of Musharraf election as the President.

Under the Pakistani constitution, a candidate for president cannot run for office until two years after retirement from a military position. Musharraf is presently the head of Pakistan’s army.

“Musharraf seems to be giving the Pakistani people an impossible choice: ‘democracy’ if he succeeds in his bid to stay in power or martial law if the judiciary tries to prevent him from remaining in office,” said Adams. “After eight years of military rule, Pakistan needs legitimate parliamentary and presidential elections to get back on the path to genuine democratic rule.”

Human Rights Watch called on Musharraf’s international supporters, particularly the US and UK governments, to urge an immediate return to constitutional civilian rule.

full report

Bomb blast at Benazir's Rally

Oct 19, 2007 Karachi witnessed another sad day. 2 bombs exploded killing more than 125 and injuring more than 500 people. ANAA is outraged at the failure of government to give security to its citizens.

B Raman, an analyst for outlook India , writed that no other political leader of Pakistan has as many personal enemies as Mrs Benazir Bhutto. Her support is confined to Sindh and to the Seraiki areas of Southern Punjab. In the rest of the country, she has as many enemies as she has friends.

He furrther writes that any wise leader would have noticed the widespread anti-Americanism in Pakistan and realised the importance of not projecting himself or herself as a leader blessed by the US and as the US choice to facilitate the transition of Pakistan back to democracy.

Many of her statements were like the red rag to the jihadi bulls-- that she would hand over A.Q.Khan, Pakistan's nuclear scientist, to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna for interrogation, that she would co-operate with the US in the war on terrorism, that she would hand over Dawood Ibrahim, the Indian mafia leader living in Karachi, to India etc etc.

He further adds that Benazir and Musharraf have many things in common. One of them is an inability to keep their mouth shut. The second is a weakness for the TV cameras. The third is an eagerness to be liked by the Americans. The result: All anti-American groups in Pakistan were waiting for an opportunity to kill her.

Pakistan is a society inextricably caught in the clutches of the jihadis. The jihadis are not yet in a position to capture power, but they are in a position to keep the country bleeding and targeting its leaders and public servants.

What Pakistan needs at this critical hour in its history is a leader, who is widely perceived as independent and not an American stooge. Neither Musharraf nor Mrs.Benazir Bhutto is such a leader. Mr Nawaz Sharif, if he is able to come back to power, could turn out to be such a leader. He has maintained a distance from the US. He does not fawn on the US like Mrs.Benazir does. Pakistan needs Mr Nawaz Sharif more than it needs Musharraf or Benazir.

If the US really wants to save Pakistan and its nuclear arsenal from the clutches of the terrorists, it would be wise enough to encourage a genuine transition to democracy without any favourites. (full article)

Benazir Bhutto's Swiss Case: New Development

Sept 1998: Benazir Bhutto charged in Switzerland for money laundering allegation having access to the money obtained by kickbacks and commission paid by companies which had contracts with the Pakistani Government. (Swiss Indictment)

July 2003: Benazir Bhutto found guilty and received 5 year suspended jail term and $50,000 fine. (Swiss conviction). She and her husband Asif A Zardari was ordered to return $13 million.

Benazir Appeals the decision.


Oct 2007: Judge Vincent Fournier submits his confidential finding to Geneva Chief prosecuter Daniel Zappelli about money laundering allegation of Benazir Bhutto. After amnesty given by President General Musharraf to Benazir Bhutto from corruption charges at home it would be hard to prove the money laundering allegation under Swiss law. Pakistani government has withdrawn their own prosecutor.

Geneva Chief Prosecutor now has 3 options:
1. Bring the case to trial.
2. Suspend it.
3. Dismiss it.

At least $13 million remains frozen in bank accounts in the Swiss city in connection with the criminal case, which relates to alleged kickbacks from Swiss cargo inspection companies in the 1990s. (Read here)

Carla Del Ponte: Brave Woman who froze Benazir's Swiss Accounts

Carla Del Ponte, a brave woman, who said, ""I have never served anyone or anything but the law."

Sicilian mobsters call her "La Puttana - the whore". Milosevic terms her "the new Gestapo". She is a brave woman who gave up her private legal practice in Switzerland to become a servant of the state.

Since September 1999, the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has been the Swiss lawyer Carla Del Ponte.

She produced evidence (read her interview) for the money laundering charges against Benazir Bhutto . Read more

Sept, 1998: The Swiss indictment of Benazir Bhutto accuses her of having had access to money obtained through kickbacks and commissions paid by companies which had contracts with the Pakistani Government. (Read more)

July 2003: Investigations found several numbered accounts in Switzerland in which more than $11m had been deposited.

Ms Bhutto and husband Asif Zardari each received six-month suspended jail terms and $50,000 fines.

The original Swiss ruling ordered Ms Bhutto to return nearly $12m and a diamond necklace worth $188,000 to Pakistan.

BENAZIR BHUTTO (from BBC June 2004)
1953 - born in Sindh
1979 - father executed
1990/96 - dismissed as prime minister
1999 - convicted for not appearing in court
2002 - barred from standing in general elections
2003 - found guilty of money laundering by Swiss judge

The Swiss magistrate issued a summons for her husband, her co-accused.

Mr Zardari was then serving a jail term in Pakistan for corruption.

He refused a Pakistani government offer to allow him to go to Switzerland to defend himself, saying he was too ill to travel.

Musharraf Vs Chief Justice: Who Will Win?

ANAA follows the development of Musharraf vs Chief Justice. It was reported in rediff India abroad that high level meetings are going on in Islamabad in the last two days to chalk out a new strategy against Justice Chaudhry who is becoming a real threat to the Musharraf-Benazir understanding by puncturing the highly-publicised presidential ordinance through which leaders of the Pakistan People's Party got amnesty from corruption cases.

This has a precedence in Pakistan history. Report adds that a top government legal expert informed a high powered meeting that former prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto removed Justice Anwar ul Haq in the 1970s by reducing the tenure of the chief justice through the 6th constitutional amendment. After the 6th amendment Justice Yaqoob Ali Khan became chief justice and the tenure was reduced to four years. When General Zia ul Haq imposed martial law in 1977, he again appointed Anwar ul Haq as the new chief justice and 6th amendment was cancelled through the 8th amendment. It was Justice Anwar ul Haq who pronounced the death penalty on Bhutto.

The present government can pass a new constitutional bill in the current parliament only with the help of PPP which is also feeling threatened after the first hearing against the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance in the Supreme Court last Friday. A three-member SC bench stopped any benefits from the amnesty ordinance. Read here

Khalid Hasan, a leading journalist based in Washington, who writes for Daily times and Friday Times in his article remembers that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was executed on flimsy, hearsay evidence. Justice Anwar-ul-Haq is dead and lies unremembered in dishonour. Read here

This will be an irony if military is supported by Benazir the daughter of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

Take Action: Killing in Karachi and Threat to the Sindh Chief Justice

May 2005 Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed was appointed as Chief Justice of Sindh High Court Karachi. Born in 1949, honourable chief justice was founder of Human Right Commision of Pakistan (HRCP) and served as its vice-president from 1987-90.

ANAA is gravely concerned about the smear compaign against chief justice. We have learned from an action alert from Asian Human Right Commission (AHRC), Singapore based Human Right group, that one ruling party of the Sindh Province, the Mutehda Qoumi Movement (MQM) has threatened Mr. Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed, on taking cases of members and office bearers of various Bar Associations.

ANAA learned that Justice SabihUddin Ahmed has granted bail to the four arrested lawyers, including Mr.Salah Uddin Gandapur, executive member of the Sindh Bar Council, who had held the protest meeting and rally on September 29. This was held in support of injured lawyers and journalists who were severely beaten by police in Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, on the occasion of the filing of papers of President General Musharraf on September 27, 2007.

This legal action of the Chief Justice infuriated the ruling party, the MQM.He was then threatened on the telephone.

When asked by the journalists on the smear campaign against the Chief Justice, the Chief Minister of the province, said whilst supporting the campaign that "this is the voice of the people and he has to face it". On these remarks registrar Sindh High Court issued a contempt of court notice to the Chief Minister and formed a five-member bench to hear the contempt of court proceedings.

The lawyers are alleging that judges of the highest court of the province have been threatened by reminders of the cold-blooded murders of two prominent lawyers, Mr. Raja Riaz and Mr. Atique Qadri. Mr. Raja Riaz was murdered when the workers of the MQM attacked Sindh High Court building on September 10, 2007 and Mr. Atique Qadri was murdered on September 16 when he addressed and participated in a protest meeting on the murder of Raja Riaz.

The chief justice of the Sindh High Court was also threatened on May 12,2007, when the Chief Justice of Pakistan was stopped by the Sindh provincial government and the MQM party leadership from entering the city.

Chief Justice of Sindh High Court, Mr. Justice Sabih uddin Ahmed, then constituted a large bench of High Court judges to probe the incidents of theMay 12 killings.

On September 10, 2007 some 2000 workers of the MQM attacked the Sindh High Court building and stopped the proceedings of the large bench, which was hearing the evidences of the May 12 killings.

Please take action and support action alert by AHRC by signing the appeal.

Click here for appeal.

Pakistan: Peoples' movement and deals "elites" make

Dr. Manzur Ejaz while examining the support of Burma's people by US and the military by China focuses attention on increase in sectarian violence in Pakistan. He traces the funding of Jamaat-e-islami by Saudis government to de-stabilise Zulfiqaar Ali Bhutto.

Dr. Ejaz writes, "by aggressively interjecting Wahabi Islam into Pakistan, Saudis have aided the communalisation of Pakistani society; sectarian violence has been closely associated with Saudi supported madrassas."

Supporting the movement of people he said that the movement will re-emerge in a few months under another guise. It is typical of mass movements, like the economic markets, that they fool most of their players. Pro-status quo forces get false boosts when the movements go into temporary retreat.

He further adds that whatever the other nations do, the politics of a country changes due to its internal dynamics. If the democratic movement has its legs, it will stand up and change the scenario. Otherwise, the status-quo will prevail. full article



Another wonderful tribute to peoples' movement from Ayaz Amir in Dawn.

Mr Amir writes, So what do we have? Dictatorship on the retreat, Musharraf’s military trappings about to be mothballed, a ruling party in ferment, Benazir feeling ditched and therefore fuming (hell hath no fury…etc, although I am almost certain the deal will come through and she will get the amnesty ordinance she is dying for), an army trying to gain lost respect, lawyers on the march, a media conscious of its power, a judiciary finally waking up to its responsibilities, and Justice Chaudhry still Chief Justice. A weakened presidency, an assertive judiciary: not bad at all.Pray, one more thing.
Everyone knows Wajihuddin will not be president. Then why are people rooting for him? Why is he receiving so many plaudits? Are the people of Pakistan finally coming to realise that true respect comes from integrity not authority? click here

Dawn Report next day Oct 5 2007 giving amnesty to Benazir and other politicians.
MQM cases withdrawn click here

Can Army Chief run for the office of President?

27th Sept 2007, Interesting debate happened when Barister Aitizaz Ahsan addressed the 9 member bench of supreme court as amicus curiae, or ‘friend of the court’. Bench is hearing petitions challenging General Pervez Musharraf’s position as president and army chief and his eligibility to be a candidate in the next presidential election.

Chaudhry Aitizaz said that the government counsel had argued that impediments in the way of the president becoming army chief had been removed through the 17th Amendment and the two-offices bill, but “impediments” in the way of the COAS becoming president were still in place.

He questioned how a presidential candidate could assume the office after winning the election when he was not qualified for the post at the time of submission of nomination papers.

“Can a non-Muslim file valid nomination papers promising to convert to Islam if elected? Can the chief election commissioner, for that matter, stand for election on a promise that he would resign from government service if elected?” Ahsan asked. Daily Times Report (click here)

Interestingly, next day, Chaudhry's sahib's party chairperson Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto said that she would accept General Pervez Musharraf as her president if she became prime minister, provided the Supreme Court passed a verdict in his favour and he was re-elected as president. (Click here)

Constitution of Pakistan: (click here)
Article 63 (clauses 1-D and 1-K) - deal with the qualification and disqualification of parliamentarians and presidential candidates.

Who Killed Murtaza Bhutto?

20th September 1996 Mir Murtaza Bhutto, last surviving son of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was shot dead.

Ms Fatima Bhutto, then 12 yrs old, daughter of late Murtaza Bhutto remembers the assasination of her father.

She writes that no other but her aunt Ms Benazir Bhutto was the prime minister and DG of Intelligence bureau, Masood Sharif, who reported directly to the prime minister on "police intelligence" and "law and order" was rewarded, after her father's assassination, by a position on the central committee of Benazir-Zardari PPP.

Ms Bhutto further writes that in a somewhat magical move, Mr. Zardari has been given a position on the board of the Oxonian Society (Website), Oxford University’s networking organization. The president of the Oxonian society, a gentleman named Joe Pascal (joe@oxoniansociety.com), introduced Mr Zardari, who joins CEOs, captains of industry, and Rhodes scholars, as a ‘Pakistani political prisoner’. Someone ought to write to Mr Pascal (joe@oxoniansociety.com) and tell him that murder cases, narcotics cases, and corruption cases worth billions of dollars do not make a Nelson Mandela.

She laments that eleven years later we have a court case in which the defence shows no interest because they have no fear that they’ll ever face punishment for their crimes – how many men and women were murdered in extra-judicial killings in Karachi from 1993-1996? Thousands. Check the records.My father is only one of those victims. They have killed many more and gotten away with it and they will kill many more so long as violence is politically rewarded and injustice is tolerated by the highest levels of the government. (full article)

Life of Mir Murtaza Bhutto. (click here)
Asiaweek report on the assassination (click here)

Spain Case: Benazir $150m alleged Corrution charges

Ansar Abbasi uncovers another aspect of Benazir-military deal. Benazir and Rehman Malik, additional DG FIA, have been charged by Madrid Spain court for being involved in UN oil for food program scam. It is alleged that both have siphoned $150 million.

Benazir expects US assurance that this and other charges in England, Switzerland and other countries will be dropped and that Pakistani government will let go of her corruption cases. In return Benazir is expected to play a role of "friendly" opposition to military directed smooth transition to "democracy". (Full Story)

More details on how money reached Spain. (full Article)

Further reporting by Ansar Abbasi, on NAB files (Click here)
UN Independent Inquiry committee on oil-for-food program (Full Report)

HRW on Nawaz Deportation

Jo Johnson, in Financial Times, writes an excellent article on Nawaz's deportation. He explains that in coming days judiciary and military can come head on.

If Supreme courts rules that constitutional amendment is required for Musharraf to be elected by the present assemblies then majority vote of 2/3rd of the parliament would be required. This is where Benazir (PPP) becomes more useful for Musharraf otherwise she would just be required not to hit the streets in exchange for a pardon on her alleged corruption charges. (Full Story)

“Sharif must be allowed to leave Saudi Arabia and return to Pakistan if he so wishes, and the international media and independent monitors must be provided immediate access to him,” says Ali Dayan Hasan, of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

“Anything less would make a mockery of international law.” HRW Report

In Pakistan "Rulers" are the Law.

Masud Alam, BBC reporter from Islamabad, accurately describes the problem of Pakistan. He says that the incompetence of bureaucracy, ignorance of politicians, greed of military for power and money has created and then compounded the social anarchy.

He mentions the complete disregard of rule of law by democratically elected leaders, liberals and conservatives, and repeated coups, defined in Pakistan's constitution as "high treason", by armed forces.

He accurately describes the condition in Pakistan, "in this country, laws are not made "for the people", more often than not they are made to be used "against" them. "

He concludes saying that what brought people out on the street for Chaudhry Iftikhar is that for the first time a common person saw that the law was not siding with the "law maker". (Full Article)

Nawaz Sharif denied entry into Pakistan

ANAA Press Release
12th Sept 2007

ANAA Condemns the Flouting of the Rule of Law in Pakistan

Asian American Network Against Abuse of Human Rights condemns the poor and extra judicial treatment afforded to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his return to Pakistan on September 10, 2007. ANAA also condemns the arbitrary arrests of hundreds of political workers that took place prior to his arrival. These workers are being held under the Maintenance of Public Order Act, the Anti Terrorism Act or simply without charge.

As per the decision of the Supreme Court, Pakistan's premier legal authority, Government officials did not have the right to deport him. The agreement on which the Government based their decision does not have any legal standing in International law or Pakistani law and hence is a blatant violation of the rule of law in Pakistan. The detention of political workers also represents the abuse of power by Government officials seeking to crack down on political opposition.

We urge the Government of Pakistan to follow the orders of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and to end its crackdown on political opposition workers.

For details of the case (Click here)

Nawaz Sharif Case: Govt risks contempt of court.

Pakistan Supreme court on 23rd August 2007 rightly said that Mr. Sharif like any other Pakistani has an in-alienable right to return. This was an important decision as it could have provided a chance for Pakistani people to chose the leaders of their choice in up-coming general elections. (Read Dawn Editorial)


Mr. Sharif landed in Islamabad on 10th September 2007. More than 2000 of Mr. Sharif's supporters were arrested weeks before his arrival. Risking contempt of court the military government refused to let Mr. Sharif leave the airport and he was put on a flight to Jeddah. Earlier Saudhi government officials have met Pakistani government and made it public that they would allow Mr. Sharif to come to Saudhi Arabia. (Read Dawn editorial)

Rise of religious extremism and increasing poverty and inflation can only be solved by a politically stable government that is backed by the will of people. Pakistan stand at a cross road. If the will of people will be respected Pakistan has an opportunity to evolve into a stable democratic society strong to fight the menace of terrorism. Otherwise, Pakistan might be heading to a chaos and become a breeding ground of terrorism.

Read ANAA Press Release