Unforseen Pictures of Benazir Bhutto's last moments

Checking her make-up: Miss Bhutto applies lipstick as she prepares for the rally that led to her death


The fateful salute: Benazir Bhutto stands up through the sunroof to wave to her supporters. Less than a minute later she was dying


From top, Bhutto pictured 30 seconds before the shooting which killed her, 2nd row, the suicide bomb blast, 3rd row, supporters carry Bhutto's body through the streets, relatives grieve loved ones, and another injured man is carried away from the carnage

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Benazir assassination: Musharraf will not comply with warrant, says spokesman
By AFP / Express
Published: February 12, 2011
The Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court on Saturday issued the arrest warrant for former President Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto assassination case. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
RAWALPINDI: Former president Pervez Musharraf will not comply with a warrant for his arrest issued by a court in Pakistan over the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, his spokesman in London said Saturday.

“No, he won’t be going back for this hearing,” Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesman for Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League party, told AFP, adding that the warrant was “totally ridiculous.”

Earlier, the Rawalpindi Anti-Terrorism Court had issued the arrest warrant for Musharraf in the assassination case.

“Judge Rana Nisar Ahmad has issued non-bailable warrant for former President Pervez Musharraf and directed him to appear before the court on February 19,” special prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told AFP.

He said that “a joint investigation team that had been formed to probe the assassination said in its report Musharraf had involvement in the case and was equally responsible.”

“The report said it was a broad conspiracy involving Pervez Musharraf, two police officials and terrorists,” Ali said after the closed-door hearing that took place in Rawalpindi’s Adiala prison.

Asked what would happen if Musharraf did not appear in court, the prosecutor said: “We will see when the time comes.”

A detailed charge-sheet had been presented in Rawalpindi’s Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) on Friday, including Musharraf and Baitullah Mehsud as those directly involved in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Earlier, an interim charge-sheet had been presented in the ATC in this regard on Monday. The detailed charge-sheet says that there was a planned conspiracy behind Bhutto’s assassination, adding that Musharraf provided Mehsud with the opportunity to carry out suicide attacks on Bhutto.

The latest investigation report compiled by the FIA investigation team probing the Benazir murder case also came down hard on Pervez Musharraf. The report compiled by head of investigation team Khalid Qureshi says:

“Musharraf was equally responsible for facilitation and abetment of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto through his government and justified failure in providing her the requisite security protection that her status demanded twice. There was a security lapse.” The fresh report is likely to be submitted to Interior Minister by end of this week. The report also says: “Musharraf himself appointed Saud Aziz on junior assignment in Rawalpindi on April 10, 2008.”

The hearing has been adjourned till February 19.

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SECOND EDITORIAL: Proclaimed offender

Former president General (retired) Pervez Musharraf has been declared a ‘proclaimed offender’ by an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi in the Benazir Bhutto murder case. The court was compelled to do so by his non-cooperation with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) during the investigations into the murder. According to the prosecutor, due to Musharraf’s non-cooperation, the trial of five suspects has been on hold for several months. Since General (retired) Musharraf is out of the reach of the investigators as well as the court’s jurisdiction after it was deposed in court that there was no extradition treaty with Britain where he resides, the court has declared him a proclaimed offender on the plea of the prosecution. All Pakistan Muslim League Punjab chapter’s general secretary Fawad Chaudhry responded by saying there was no legal ground for this verdict and that Musharraf’s opponents are trying to drag him into this case. No matter how Musharraf’s party and his well-wishers try to defend him, the fact of the matter is that he was at the helm of affairs when the PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in broad daylight in Rawalpindi. In fact, all the leads of the investigation point to him and his aides for their acts of omission and commission in this incident and in its aftermath. Mere statements cannot absolve him of his responsibility and involvement. Not only for Benazir Bhutto’s murder, General (retired) Musharraf has to answer for many other atrocities committed during his tenure, including the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, launching of a military operation in Balochistan, embroiling Pakistan in a neo-jihadi movement of the ‘good Taliban’ while going after the ‘bad Taliban’, undermining institutions of the state and much more.

Musharraf has announced that he would come to Pakistan on March 23, 2012 to organise his party and prepare for the next elections. However, public memory is not so short. Not only will he have to face the anti-terrorism court, but also the court of the public and will have to answer for his wrongdoings. Perhaps it is not a gainful proposition to leave behind a luxurious life in London and enter the minefield of politics in Pakistan. He would be better off if he avoids the latter. *

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Share	امریکا نے مشرف و بے نظیر کے درمیان معاملات طے کرائے، کونڈولیزا کا انکشاف
واشنگٹن(رپورٹ:شاہین صہبائی) امریکا کی سابق وزیر خارجہ کونڈو لیزارائس نے شائع ہونے والی اپنی حالیہ یادداشتوں میں اس وقت کے صدر پرویز مشرف اور بینظیر بھٹو کے مابین طے پانے والی این آر او ڈیل کے بڑے سرکاری راز کا کچا چٹّھا کھو ل دیا ہے۔اپنی ان یادداشتوں میں وہ ہر شے تسلیم کرتی ہیں اور سب کچھ منکشف کر دیتی ہیں۔کونڈی نے اپنی کتاب ” نو ہائیر آنر“ میں پیش کر دہ تفصیلات میں بتایا ہے کہ 2007 میں پرویز مشرف اور بینظیر بھٹو کو مل کر کام کرنے پر آمادہ کرنے کیلئے کس طرح رتجگے کاٹے۔یہ پہلا موقع ہے کہ کسی امریکی رہنما نے دوٹوک انداز میں تسلیم کیا ہے کہ واشنگٹن نے مشرف اور بینظیر جیسے دو ” اعتدال پسندوں“ کو قریب لانے اور ان کے مابین سودے بازی کیلئے کردار ادا کیا۔ اس حوالے سے بہت سی رپورٹس ہیں اور وسیع پیمانے پر قیاس آرائیاں تھیں کہ یہ سودے بازی کس نے کرائی لیکن استناد کی اس سطح پر کبھی کسی نے اس امر کی تصدیق نہیں کی۔ ایک ایسے وقت میں جب صدر زاردای سنگین بیماری کا شکار ہیں، پاک امریکا تعلقات اپنی نچلی ترین سطح پر ہیں، پاکستان نے نیٹو کی رسد روک رکھی ہے جبکہ امریکا نے پاکستان کیلئے امداد کی مد میں مختص رقم میں سے 70 کروڑ ڈالر کی رقم روک دی ہے،کونڈی کے نئے انکشافات پیپلزپارٹی کیلئے مزید پریشانیوں کا سبب بنیں گے۔ وقت کے مضمرات میں سے ایک یہ بھی ہے کہ یہ انکشاف ایک ایسے وقت میں ہوا ہے جب این آر او کو سپریم کورٹ آف پاکستان نے قطعاً مسترد اور کا لعدم قرار دے دیا ہے ، اب یہ دیکھنا ہوگا کہ تفصیلی انکشافات این آر او فیصلوں پر کیسے اثرانداز ہوتے ہیں،جن پر تفصیلی عملدرآمد بھی ابھی باقی ہے، اعلیٰ عدلیہ این آر او کے حوالے سے اپنے فیصلے پر عملدرآمد کرانیکی کوشش کر رہی ہے۔ کونڈو لیزارائس انکشاف کرتی ہیں کہ 8 اگست 2007 کو مشرف مارشل لا لگانے سے محض چند گھنٹوں کے فاصلے پر تھے جب انہوں(کونڈی) نے اس معاملے میں مداخلت کی اور انہیں ایسا نہ کرنے پر آمادہ کیا،اس کے ایک دن بعد بش نے اس پر انکی تحسین کر تے ہوئے کونڈی سے کہا تھا” تم نے ہی اسے روکا“۔لیکن حقیقی انکشاف وہ امر ہے، جس میں وہ صراحت سے بتاتی ہیں کہ وہ بینظیر اور مشرف کو کیسے ایک دوسرے کے قریب لائیں۔این آر او کے حوالے سے کردار کے بارے میں ان کے انکشافات سے قبل کسی کو کوئی آئیڈیا نہیں تھا۔ان کا کہنا ہے کہ 2007 کے آغاز پر مشرف نے بینظیر بھٹو کے ساتھ اختلافات کے خاتمے کیلئے امریکا سے مدد کی درخواست کی تھی ، بینظیر بھٹو اس وقت اپوزیشن کی طاقتور رہنما تھیں جو کہ مشرف کے پورے دور میں خودساختہ جلاوطنی میں رہیں۔یہ دُور کی کوڑی لگتی تھی لیکن اگر دو حریف شراکت اقتدار کے انتظام کے قریب آسکتے تو اس کے نتیجے میں سیاست کا وزن اعتدال پسندوں کے حق میں آسکتا تھا اور اسلامسٹوں اور سابق وزیر اعظم نواز شریف کو اوقات میں رکھاجا سکتا تھا کیونکہ اس وقت بینظیر کے بعد نواز شریف ہی پاکستانی سیاست کی نمایاں شخصیت تھے لیکن ان کے حوالے سے یہ شبہات موجود رہے ہیں کہ کچھ عسکریت پسندوں سے ان کے قریبی تعلقات موجود ہیں۔ایشیائی امور کیلئے امریکا کے اسسٹنٹ سیکرٹری فار اسٹیٹ رچرڈ باؤچر اس مر حلے پر سودے بازی کرانے کیلئے ” مرکزی حیثیت “ اختیار کر گئے اورانہوں نے دونوں جماعتوں کے مابین ”آنیاں جانیاں “ شروع کر دیں، وہ عموماً لندن میں بینظیر بھٹو سے ملتے ، اور باؤچر کی کوششیں اس حد تک رنگ لائیں کہ دونوں کے مابین روبرو ملاقات ممکن ہوپائی،یہ ملاقات جولائی کے اواخر میں متحد ہ عرب امارات میں ہوئی لیکن انکی بات چیت بے نتیجہ رہی ۔جب میں نے مشرف سے ہنگامی حالت کے نفاذ کے خاتمے کیلئے بات کی تو میں نے ان سے یہ وعدہ بھی کیا کہ بینظیر بھٹو کو ان کے قریب تر لانے کیلئے ہم اپنی کوششیں دگنا کردیں گے۔اس موسم خزاں میں باؤچر کی ’ آنیاں جانیاں‘ لگی رہیں، اکتوبر کے اوائل تک چار بڑے حل طلب معاملات باقی رہ گئے تھے: یہ کہ مشرف اپنی فوجی وردی کب اتاریں گے(انتخابات سے قبل یا انتخابات کے بعد)؟ : یہ کہ بینظیر بھٹو اور انکی پارٹی کے دیگر ساتھیوں کو ان کے خلاف قائم کئے گئے بدعنوانی کے متعدد مقدمات سے تحفظ دیاجائیگا یا نہیں(اور ان میں وہ بھی شامل تھے جو ان کے شوہر کے خلاف تھے)۔کیا بینظیر تیسری مرتبہ وزیر اعظم بن سکتی ہیں کیونکہ تیسری ٹرم پر آئینی ممانعت عائد کر دی گئی تھی؟ اور آخری یہ کہ کیا مشرف انتخابات سے قبل بی بی کی وطن واپسی کی حمایت کریگا یا نہیں؟۔تین اکتوبرکو سہ پہر کے 4:47 پر میں نے مشرف کو فون کال کرکے یہ سوالات اس کے سامنے رکھے، 5:47 منٹ پر میں نے اس کے جوابات کے ساتھ بینظیر بھٹو سے رابطہ کیا ۔ 6:18 پر میں نے مشرف سے دوبارہ رابطہ کیا ،6:53 پر میں نے دوبارہ بینظیر سے رابطہ کیا، یہ سلسلہ رات 11:28 منٹ تک ہر آدھے گھنٹے کے بعد چلتارہااور اس دوران آگے پیچھے مزید 9 فون کالیں کی گئیں۔ رائس اپنی کتاب میں اس حوالے سے مزید لکھتی ہیں ” بینظیر بھٹو مشرف کے محرکات کے بارے میں شکوک و شبہات رکھتی تھیں جبکہ مشرف بھی بینظیر کے بارے میں شبہات رکھتے تھے۔ہر فون کال ہمیں ڈیل سے ایک قدم قریب کر رہی تھی، صرف وہ کال باقی تھی جس میں اب تک حاصل ہونے والی کامیابی کا انکشاف کرنا تھا۔ “بینظیر اس دوران مسلسل یہ کہتی رہیں کہ انہیں اس معاملے پر اپنی پارٹی کانفرنس کرنا ہوگی کیونکہ پارٹی رہنما مشرف سے سودے بازی کے خلاف ہیں۔ میرا کہنا یہ تھا کہ انہیں یہ سب کچھ اپنے ملک کی بہتری کیلئے کر نا چاہئے ، کیونکہ ان دونوں (مشرف اور بینظیر) کے مابین اتحاد سے ہی پاکستان میں ایک مستحکم صورتحال میں انتخابات ہو سکتے تھے۔میں جب ایک سے دوسری فون کال کر رہی تھی تو میں نے اپنے آپ سے بار بار ایک سوال کیاکہ کیا میں ٹھیک کر رہی ہوں۔ شراکت اقتدار کے انتظامات مشکلات سے بھر پور تھے کیونکہ عمومی طور پر دونوں فریقین حقیقتاً ایک دوسرے سے شراکت اقتدار کرنا ہی نہیں چاہتے تھے۔مجھے تشویش اس حوالے سے بھی تھی کہ ہم پر جمہوری عمل میں مداخلت کا الزام آئے گا، کیوں نہ انتخابات کو ہونے دیاجائے اور ہونے دیاجائے جو ہوتا ہے۔؟پھر وہ لکھتی ہیں: ” خدالگتی بات یہ ہے کہ دونوں ہی بڑے بڑے اثاثوں کے حامل اور بڑی بڑی ذمہ داریوں سے بندھے ہوئے تھے: مشرف بغاوت کے ذریعے اقتدار میں آیا تھا لیکن وہ پاکستان کی طاقت ور فوج کو کنٹرول کرتا تھا اور فوج اسکی تعریف کر تی تھی: بینظیر بھٹو اور ان کے اہل خانہ کو بدعنوانی کے سنگین مسائل کا سامنا تھا، لیکن وہ پاکستان میں اصلاحات کی علامت کی حیثیت سے ابھر کر سامنے آئی تھیں اور عمومی طور پر لبرل سیاسی جذبات کی حامل تھیں۔دونوں ہی حریف اعتدال پسند تھے جو کہ انتہا پسندی سے لڑنے کیلئے تیار تھے۔ کم از کم اتنی لڑائی جتنی کوئی سیاستدان پاکستان میں لڑ سکتا ہے۔ ان دونوں کے مابین شراکت اقتدار کے انتظامات پاکستان میں جمہوریت کی بحالی کی جانب صرف ایک قدم ہوتا لیکن میں نے ملک (پاکستان ) کے آگے بڑھنے سے قبل اس قدم کو قطعی ضروری سمجھا۔تفصیلات افشاء کرتے ہوئے رائس کہتی ہیں کہ ” میں اس رات کوئی آدھی رات کو سونے کیلئے بستر پر گئی مگر12:41 پر مشرف کا فون آگیا ۔۔ میں نے کہہ رکھا تھا کہ وہ کسی بھی وقت فون کر سکتا ہے۔ میں نے بینظیر بھٹو کو 4:58 پر فون کیا اور تازہ ترین پیشکش ان تک بڑھا دی۔ اگلی صبح میں نے دونوں سے ایک ایک مرتبہ پھر بات کی، ان کے مابین ایک وقتی سودے بازی ہوگئی۔اس ڈیل میں سختی نہیں تھی لیکن اتنی تفصیلات تھیں کہ بینظیر بھٹو کو پاکستان واپس جاکر انتخابات میں حصہ لینے کی اجازت دی جائیگی جہاں وسط جنوری میں انتخابات ہونے والے تھے۔رائس یہ بھی کہتی ہیں کہ یہ سودے بازی ان افواہوں سے پیچیدہ ترہوتی گئی کہ مشرف نے صدارتی انتخابات ہونے کے بعد وردی اتارنے کا منصوبہ بنا رکھا ہے جسکا مطلب یہ تھا کہ وہ پاکستان کے چیف آف آرمی اسٹاف کی حیثیت سے پاکستان کے صدر کا انتخاب لڑیگا، بینظیر نے ایک بات پہلے ہی واضح کر دی تھی کہ انہیں اس پر اعتبار نہیں کہ وہ اپنا وعدہ پورا کر یگا، بینظیر بھٹو کا کہنا تھا کہ ” میں اسے صرف امریکی ضمانت سمجھتی ہوں کہ وہ ایسا کریگا“۔رائس کا کہنا ہے کہ 4 اکتوبر کو یہ ڈیل ہوئی”18 اکتوبر کو جب بینظیر پاکستان واپس پہنچیں تو ان پر قاتلانہ حملے ہوئے کیونکہ انکی واپسی کی خوشی میں منائی جانے والی ریلی میں دو بم دھماکے کئے گئے ، وہ بچ نکلیں لیکن اس حملے میں 140 افراد مارے گئے،“ ۔ 6 اکتوبر کے صدارتی انتخاب میں مشرف کی فتح سے صورتحال مزید خراب ہوئی ،اس پورے ماہ میں سپریم کورٹ اس پٹیشن پر غور کر تی رہی، جس میں کہا گیا تھا کہ مشرف کا انتخاب کا لعدم قرار دیاجائے کیونکہ اس نے آئین کو پامال کرتے ہوئے فوجی منصب کی موجودگی میں انتخاب لڑا تھا۔ جونہی فیصلے کا وقت قریب آتاجارہا تھا مشرف مزید مضطرب ہوتے جارہے تھے۔۔۔ بظاہر اسے یہ خوف تھا کہ اگر عدالت نے فعالیت دکھائی تو اسے غداری کے الزامات کا سامنا کرنا پڑسکتا تھا۔اس وقت نہ تو میری مداخلت اور نہ ہی صدر(بش) کی مداخلت، جنہوں نے اسے ایسانہ کرنے کے حوالے سے متنبہ کیا تھا، اسے ہنگامی حالت کے نفاذ سے باز رکھ سکی۔ 3 نومبر کو مشرف نے آئین معطل کر دیا اور بہت سے اعلیٰ ججوں کو برخاست کر دیا، ان ججوں میں ملک کے چیف جسٹس بھی شامل تھے۔رائس اس پر چراغ پا تھیں، انہوں نے اس صبح صدر (بش) کو اوول آفس میں بتایا”وہ کام کرگیا“صدر کا جواب تھا ” میں ایسا نہیں سمجھتا، اس نے فوج کو اپنے ساتھ ملالیا ہے“۔صدر (بش)اس موقع پر مزید تائیدی رویّے کے حامل ہوگئے ، ان کا کہنا تھا کہ ” میں نہیں چاہتا کہ کوئی اس کے نیچے سے کرسی کھینچے، امریکا ایسی پوزیشن میں نہیں ہے کہ وہ اس کے اقتدار کے خاتمے کی کوشش کرے“ رائس کہتی ہیں کہ میں نے بھی اختلاف نہیں کیا لیکن ریکارڈ پر یہی تھا کہ ہم پاکستان میں جمہوریت کی حمایت کر رہے تھے اور مشرف نے پاکستان میں پر امن انتقال اقتدار کے تمام چانسز بھک سے اڑا دیئے تھے۔”جناب صدر“ میں نے کہا ”میں نے اس کے وردی اتارنے اور بینظیر بھٹو کے پاکستان لوٹنے اور انہیں وزیر اعظم کے انتخاب میں شرکت کی اجازت ملنے کی ذمہ داری لی ہے، اس نے یہ وعدہ امریکا کے سیکرٹری خارجہ سے کیا ہے اور اب اگر وہ پیٹھ دکھاتا ہے تو پاکستان کے ساتھ ہم کوئی تعلقات نہیں رکھیں گے، خواہ یہ رابطہ صرف ایک شخص مشرف سے ہی کیوں نہ ہو“۔اس وقت اوول آفس میں جو دیگر لوگ موجود تھے ان میں نائب صدر ، اسٹیو اور جوش بولٹن تھے تاکہ اس معاملے پر ہم ایک دوسرے کے ساتھ زیادہ سے زیادہ براہ راست مشاورت کر سکیں۔صدر کا کہنا تھا کہ ” میں نہیں چاہتا کہ لوگ اسے کچرا بناڈالیں“ نائب صدر(ڈک چینی) نے بھی یہی کہا کہ دہشتگردی کے خلاف جنگ کیلئے مشرف ضروری ہے۔لیکن میں نے کہا کہ ”پاکستانی عوام میں اس کی کوئی ساتھ نہیں رہ گئی ، اس کا خاتمہ اب کچھ دیر کی بات ہے“ ۔ رائس کا کہنا ہے کہ میں نے صدر کو یقین دہانی کرائی کہ میں مشرف کی حیثیت کم کرنے کیلئے کھلے عام کچھ نہیں کہوں گی لیکن اس امر پر اصرار کیا کہ ہمیں مارشل لاء کے نفاذ پر تنقید کرنا ہوگی۔ اور ہم نے بالآخر ایسا کیا بھی جس پر مشرف نے این میری پیٹرسن(پاکستان میں امریکا کی سابق سفیر) سے شکوہ کیا کہ امریکا نے اسے تنہا چھوڑ دیا ہے۔ صدر نے کہا کہ وہ آئندہ پارلیمانی انتخابات تک ذاتی طور پر اس (مشرف ) سے بات کیا کریں گے اور اسے معاملات ٹھیک کرنے پر آمادہ کریں گے تاکہ وہ انتخابات کے صاف اور شفاف انعقاد کا وعدہ پورا کرے ۔ یہ ایک مشکل کام تھا لیکن صدر(بش)نے اس کے حصول کیلئے ان تھک کوششیں کیں۔ملک میں صورتحال بگڑتی رہی ، ہم تقریباً روزانہ مشرف پرزور دے رہے تھے کہ وہ ہنگامی حالت ختم کرے اور انتخابات کرائے ، بالآخر مشرف نے 11 نومبر کو جنوری میں پارلیمانی انتخابات کرانے کا فیصلہ کیا لیکن مارشل لاء لگانے کے اپنے فیصلے کا دفاع کیا ۔ صدر بش سے صورتحال کے حوالے سے پوچھا گیا ، انہوں نے مشرف سے کہا کہ وہ انتخابات کرائے اور آئین بحال کرے۔ لیکن اپنے مفادات کو متوازن رکھنے کیلئے ہم نے انتہاپسندوں کے خلاف کریک ڈاؤن میں پاکستانی کردار کا دفاع کیا اور یہ واضح کر دیا کہ وہ اب بھی ہمارا اتحادی ہے۔ کچھ لوگوں کا خیال تھا کہ امریکا کی اس پوزیشن سے مشرف اپنے کئے کے نتائج بھگتنے سے بچ نکلنے کے قریب آگیا۔صدر اور میں نے اس حوالے سے بھی بات کی، ہم ایک ناقابل دفاع حالت میں تھے اور مشرف کیلئے ضروری تھا کہ وہ ہنگامی حالت ختم کرتا۔” بینظیر بھٹو اس دوران لاہور میں ٹی وی کیمروں پر آگئیں، انہیں وہیں نظر بند کر دیا گیا، انہوں نے دنیا کو بتا دیا تھا کہ وہ مشرف سے ڈیل نہیں کریں گی، اور اس شراکت اقتدار کے انتظام کی رہی سہی امیدیں بھی ختم ہوگئیں، منصوبہ یہ تھا کہ اگر بینظیر بھٹو کی پارٹی پارلیمنٹ میں زیادہ نشستیں جیتنے میں کامیاب ہوتی ہیں تو وہ وزیر اعظم بنیں گی اور مشرف بدستور صدر رہیں گے ، یہ وہ طریقہ تھا جس سے اعتدال پسند قوتیں متحدہوسکتی تھیں۔” اب ہنگامی حالت کے نفاذ نے بینظیر بھٹو کو اس سودے بازی سے پھر جانے کا موقع دے دیا تھا“بینظیر کا کہنا تھا ” اس (مشرف) کے ساتھ میرا مکالمہ ختم !“میں نے انہیں فون کیا اور ان سے اپنے فیصلے پر نظر ثانی کیلئے کہا لیکن وہ مضبوطی سے اپنے موقف پر جمی رہیں۔ کچھ دن بعدنواز شریف بھی اپنی جلاوطنی ختم کرکے پاکستان واپس آگئے ، مشرف نے تاش کے پتوں پر جو گھر بنایا تھا، وہ اب منہدم ہورہا تھا ۔“رائس کہتی ہیں کہ یہ واضح ہوتاجارہا تھا مشکل میں پھنسے پاکستانی صدر ایک ایسے شخص کے طور پر سامنے آرہے تھے کہ پاکستانی فوج میں ان کیلئے حمایت کم ہوتی جارہی تھی، حالانکہ یہ وہ ادارہ تھا جس نے ان کے پورے اقتدار کے دوران انہیں سپورٹ کیا تھا۔تکلیف دہ مذاکرات کے بعد مشرف نے اپنا فوجی منصب بالآخر چھوڑ دیا (جس کا اس نے وعدہ کیا تھا)۔ اور فوج کی کمان جنرل اشفاق پرویز کیانی کومنتقل کر دی، اس سے اگلے روز بطور صدر اسکی حلف بردار ی ہوئی، 15 دسمبر کو اس نے بالآخر ہنگامی حالت ختم کر دی۔ وہ اگلے 8 ماہ صدر رہے، لیکن پاکستان پر پر ویز مشرف کا سیاسی دور ختم ہو چکا تھا۔ پاکستان میں صاف اور شفاف انتخابات ہوئے اور جب مشرف نے بالآخر استعفیٰ دیا تو اس نے پر امن طریقے سے استعفیٰ دیا۔حالات کے تناظر میں یہ ایک اہم کامیابی تھی اور یہ صدر (بش) کی جانب سے اس (مشرف) کے ساتھ مل کر کام کرنے کی کہانی کا کوئی چھوٹا حصہ نہیں ہے۔سابق سیکرٹری آف اسٹیٹ نے یہ انکشاف بھی کیا کہ مشرف 8 اگست2007 کو مارشل لا نافذ کرنے سے چند ہی گھنٹوں کے فاصلے پر تھا جب رائس نے اسے یہ کرگزرنے سے روک دیا ۔”میں اسلام آباد میں رونما ہوتے ہوئے حالات پر محتاط نگاہ رکھے ہوئے تھی اور اسلام آباد میں اپنی سفیر این میری پیٹرسن کے ساتھ قریبی رابطے میں تھی ، این میری پیٹرسن کو بجاطور پر دنیا بھر میں ہمارے سفیروں میں سے طاقتور ترین خیال کیا جاتا تھا۔ پاکستان میں ان کے اچھے خاصے رابطے تھے اور سیاسی طیف میں یہ رابطے پھیلے ہوئے تھے۔این میری پیٹرسن ہمیشہ کھیرے کی طرح ٹھنڈی رہتی تھیں لیکن جب 8 اگست کو انہوں نے مجھ سے عجلت میں بات کی تو میں نے ان کے لہجے میں موجود تشویش کو بھانپ لیا۔ سفارتخانے سے آنے والی کیبلز میں ان اطلاعات کی ٹریکنگ کی جارہی تھی کہ مشرف ہنگامی حالت نافذ کر سکتے ہیں ۔ این میری پیٹرسن کا کہنا تھا ”اب وہ بس ایسا کیا ہی چاہتا ہے“اور یہ کہ پیٹرسن صبح اس(مشرف ) سے ملنے والی تھیں۔اس دن سہ پہر میں صدر بش کے ساتھ میری ملاقات پہلے سے شیڈول تھی اور اس میں ہم نے مشرف کو ”کسی پاگل پن“ سے باز رکھنے کی ضرورت کے بارے میں بات کی تھی، اس رات میں گھر گئی تو جو کچھ میں نے سنا تھا، اس کے پیش نظر گہری پریشانی میں تھی۔واشنگٹن اور اسلام آباد کے وقت میں آٹھ گھنٹے کا فرق ہے۔میرے فون کی گھنٹی بجی اور میں ایک بجے رات کو اپنے بستر پر دراز گہری نیند سے بیدار ہو کر زقند بھرتے ہوئے فون کی طرف گئی۔فون پیٹرسن کا تھا اور وہ مشرف سے ملنے جارہی تھی، ان کے لہجے میں کل رات سے بھی زیادہ تشویش تھی اور ان کا خیال تھا کہ مشرف اب مارشل لا نافذ کرنے کے عمل کے دہانے پر ہے۔میں نے اس(پیٹرسن) سے کہا کہ جب ملاقات ختم ہوجائے تو مجھے فوراً فون کرنا ، میں نے پھر سونے کی کوشش کی ، 30 منٹ بعد فون کی گھنٹی دوبارہ بجی۔ مجھے یہ تو یاد نہیں کہ کیا میں دوبارہ گہری نیند سوئی تھی یا نہیں لیکن جو کچھ میں نے سنا اس نے مجھے ششدر کر دیا۔اسٹیٹ ڈپارٹمنٹ کے آپریشن سینٹر کے ایک نوجوان افسر کا فون تھا” میڈم ، سفیر پیٹرسن آپ سے فوراً بات کرنا چاہتی ہیں“ پیٹرسن نے بلاتمہید چھوٹتے ہی کہا” میرا خیال ہے بہتر ہوگا آپ اسے فون کریں“ ” ابھی ؟“ میں نے دریافت کیا؟۔”جی میڈم سیکرٹری“پیٹرسن نے جواب دیا”میرا خیال ہے کہ صبح ہونے سے پہلے وہ اعلان کردیگا“۔”انتظام کرو“ میں نے کہا اور میں اٹھ کر منہ دھونے اور اپنے خیالات کو مجتمع کرنے چلی گئی ۔”رات دوبجے کا عمل تھا، جب فون پر مشرف سے میرا رابطہ ہوا، میں نے کہا ” جناب صدر میں نے سنا ہے کہ آپ کے سامنے ایک مشکل فیصلہ رکھا ہوا ہے“ میں کوشش کر رہی تھی کہ میرے لہجے میں احترام بھی رہے اور مضبوطی بھی موجود ہو، اس نے وضاحت کی کہ ہنگامی حالت ضروری ہوگئی ہے کیونکہ پاکستان میں تشدّد ہے، اور یہ کہ وہ موسم خزاں میں انتخابات تو کرائے گا لیکن اسے یہ کرنا ہوگا کیونکہ بقول اس کے ملک کو بچانا تھا“۔میں نے اس کی منّت کی کہ وہ ایسا نہ کرے ، پاکستان جمہوریت کی جانب بڑھنے کیلئے عبوری اقدامات کر رہا ہے، چندماہ بعد انتخابات شیڈول ہیں، ہنگامی حالت نافذ کرکے آئین معطل کرنا پیچھے کی جانب بہت بڑا قدم ہوگااور ایسا کوئی امکان بھی نہیں کہ اس اقدام سے تشدد ختم ہوگا۔ درحقیقت اس سے تشدّد بڑھے گا۔ رائس لکھتی ہیں میں نے مشرف سے یہ بھی کہا کہ اس سے انکی صدارت کو بھی اٹل نقصان پہنچے گا، میں نے اس سے یہ بھی کہا کہ مجھے نہیں معلوم کہ ہنگامی حالت کے نفاذ کے بعد آپ بطور صدر اپنا دوبارہ انتخاب کس طرح دیکھتے ہیں۔ یہ کہتے ہوئے میں امید کر رہی تھی کہ میری بات زیر غور آئیگی۔ہم لگ بھگ 15 منٹ تک بات چیت کرتے رہے۔ میں نے اس سے ایک مرتبہ پھر یہ درخواست کی کہ وہ ایسانہ کرے جس کے بارے میں مجھے خوف ہے کہ وہ اب ناگزیر ہوگیا ہے۔ اس کے علاوہ میں کچھ زیادہ کربھی کیا سکتی تھی۔ چند گھنٹے بعد مشرف نے کھلے عام آئندہ صدارتی اور پارلیمانی انتخابات کے حوالے سے اپنے عزم کا اظہار کیا لیکن اس نے ہنگامی حالت کے نفاذ کے بارے میں کچھ نہیں کہا ۔اگلی صبح جب میں نے اس حوالے سے صدر(بش) سے بات کی توان کا کہنا تھا ” تم نے اسے روک لیا“ میرا جواب تھا” صرف اس مرتبہ“صدر نے پوچھا” تمہارا کیا خیال ہے تم نے اسے ٹھیک مشورہ دیا، فرض کر و اس کے دشمن اب اگر اس کے پیچھے آتے ہیں تو وہ ہمیں ہی دوش دے گا“۔ میں نے کہا ” شاید وہ مجھے ہی مورد الزام ٹھہرائے گا“ ۔ اس کے ساتھ آپ کے تعلقات پر اثر نہیں پڑا۔ لیکن اس وقت تک یہ واضح ہوچکا تھا کہ مشرف اب پاکستان میں مانگے ہوئے وقت پر گزارا کر رہا ہے۔میرا خیال تھا کہ اس کا ستارہ گردش میں آچکا ہے ، لیکن میرے اس خیال کو امریکی انتظامیہ میں بڑے پیمانے پر شےئر نہیں کیا گیا۔سوال یہ تھا کہ جو وقت خریدا گیا ہے اسے آئندہ انتخابات کیلئے بہتر صورتحال بنانے پر کیسے صرف کیاجائے۔ اس کے جواب کے بارے میں ہمارا یہی خیال تھا کہ پاکستان کی دو طاقتور ترین سیاسی قوتوں کے مابین ایک اتحاد بنایاجائے جس میں مشرف صدر اور سابق وزیر اعظم بینظیر بھٹو شامل ہوں۔ ======================

‘Bhutto and I’

The News talks to Hafeez Lakho, lawyer of ZA Bhutto,who recalls the Quaid-e-Awam’s last days

Saturday, April 04, 2009
By Imtiaz Ali

Karachi

Along with Ghulam Ali Memon and Yahya Bakhtiar, Abdul Hafeez Lakho, was among

three prominent lawyers on the defence team of the case

against the former premier Z.A. Bhutto.

Lakho spent long hours holding meetings with the founder leader of the Pakistan People’s Party during his last days, and in this interview with The News on Bhutto’s death anniversary, he talks about the case, his long association with Bhutto and how the legal events leading up to his hanging had been manipulated by the executive.



Bhutto and I

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and I had been together since 1953 when I was General Secretary of the Sindh Youth Front. After Bhutto Sahib returned from abroad, he replaced Sheikh Anwar’s position as president.

We were together during the struggle against the formation of the One-Unit, and when he became Chief Martial Law Administrator and President, we reminded him of part he had played against the One-Unit.

Bhutto, however, said he had to consult his associates, and we parted ways for nearly three years.

But we got together again after the dissolution of the One-Unit. The late Ghulam Ali Memon was appointed as Advocate General Sindh, and I as Additional Advocate General of Sindh.

After General Zia-ul-Haq imposed martial law in the country, all the law officers appointed by the government of Prime Minister Bhutto decided to quit in protest, but as General Zia had promised to hold election within 90 days, the other AGs and I were asked not to resign during the interim period. However, I resigned.

Meanwhile, the case against Bhutto Sahib had already started at Lahore, and his defence team had been formed. When he was convicted by the Lahore High Court and imprisoned in the Rawalpindi jail, Mr Bhutto sent me a message through Ghulam Ali Memon to come and see him. He asked me to join the team of lawyers to defend him in the Supreme Court (SC). I readily agreed.

And so, on April 4, (just a year before Bhutto was hanged), I left Karachi and went to Islamabad to start work on the case.

Last efforts to save Bhutto’s life: The case

After the first judgment, we filed a review application before the SC, only to have it dismissed. I must mention here that Justice Durab Patel had subsequently said that they signed the judgment of review as they were assured by late Anwarul Haq (the then Chief Justice of Pakistan) that in case the whole SC requested that his (Bhutto) case may be considered for lesser punishment, that is not death. Justice Anwar was assured that recommendations of the SC would be accepted.

But none of this happened, and we had every reason to believe that in spite of international pressure, a person like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was going to be hanged.

In consultation with Yahya Bakhtiar and Mr Sharif of Mirpurkhas, I prepared a second review petition which was duly signed by the late Yahya Bakhtiar. It was given to me as an “Amanat.” I was to file the petition as soon as Bakhtiar told me to do so.

Yahya Sahib finally called me on the evening of April 2 and told me to present the petition to the SC bench in Karachi. I immediately contacted my advocate on record (AOR), but he refused to sign the petition on the grounds that SC rules had been amended. According to him, he was forbidden to sign our second review petition, and said that he would lose his job if he did.

Without the signature of an AOR, no document can be presented in the SC, so I immediately contacted Mr Siddiqi, our second AOR in Islamabad, who readily agreed to come to Karachi and sign the petition.

Mr Siddiqi came in on the morning of April 3. The team, myself, Mr Siddiqi, and my other colleagues including Raza Rabbani (former federal minister who resigned recently) and barrister Saleem and his wife, (the couple was not enrolled as SC lawyers, but helped us prepare the case) all went to the Sindh High Court (SHC) building, where the SC bench was located.

But this time, the Deputy Registrar of the court refused to receive the petition, so I got the intervention of Justice Mohammed Haleem (former Chief Justice of Pakistan who had given a dissenting judgment in the Bhutto case). At that time, he was a senior SC judge in Karachi. We waited outside to be called in, but at about 1:00 p.m., Justice Haleem’s peon locked the chamber and informed us that he had already left.

We rushed to his house, where he was offering his Zuhr prayers, but when he met with us, he told us he was unable to do anything. In the meantime, Justice Dorab Patel had come to Karachi from Quetta. Justice Patel was senior to Justice Haleem, and by then was the only one who could entertain the matter.

So at 3:30 that afternoon, we visited his house near Frere Hall. His clerk wanted to know why I had come, and when I told him the reason and that it was urgent, he returned with a message saying I should present the appeal in court the next day.

I told the clerk that it would be too late and also informed Yahya Bakhtiar, who asked me to rush to Islamabad and present the petition at the main seat where Ghulam Safdar Shah was in Islamabad as the judge in charge.

This may surprise you, but I was so confused that when I left home for the airport, I forgot to take along my briefcase which had all the files. I realised it only when after I had already crossed the security barrier and could not come back. But the security staff was very cooperative. They and the PIA staff gave me 15 minutes time to get my bag and said they would try to make sure the plane didn’t leave without me. I rang up my home and my neighbour Colonel Aziz - at one time a prisoner of war in East Bengal, who was released by Z.A.

Bhutto’s efforts ñ who then reached the airport in 10 minutes and handed me briefcase.

Back in Islamabad, I stayed in the same hotel I had been staying for entire year, but the next morning on April 4 just as I was about to leave for the court, Ayub, the Bera who had served me for a whole year, came in crying and carrying an Urdu newspaper (Nawa-i-Waqt) containing news of the death of Mr Bhutto. I immediately contacted Yahya Sahib at Quetta, who said I could go back to Karachi.



Predetermined judgment

It was a predetermined judgment. This was the first time that a judgment had turned into judicial murder. From day one, we had known the fate of our appeal. Shaheed Bhutto had already said that the people may be able to get him released but also said that we lawyers should continue do our duty. There may be judgments that can carry doubt, but this is the only judgment where murder appears to be apparent.

We had raised “good grounds” in our first appeal, but since our second review would have further exposed the blunders committed and been taken up again by the international media, the SC’s rules were amended to avoid such an embarrassment.



Benazir Bhutto sends a message through “shopkeeper” woman

The time of Bhutto’s death, or rather, his Shahadat, was probably fixed in the early hours of March 1, (just over a month before he was hanged). We received a message from Shaheed Benazir Bhutto that both she and Begum Nusrat had been asked to visit the jail for their last meeting. BB was not feeling well and excused herself, but was warned that it would be her last opportunity.

Through a woman who runs a small make-shift shop near the Rest House where the two ladies were kept under confinement, BB then sent word to a friend in Islamabad about it, who then passed it on it to a friend in Karachi and Yahya Sahib. That is how we tried our second appeal for filing a review. I handed over the original copy of the second review to BB for safe custody and future record.

Dissenting judgment

While judges were given understanding that their orders or instructions would not be carried, the Registrar of the SC would not convey the same. Justice Waheedudin (member of the SC bench) had said on record that since he was not well at the time, he had passed a dissenting judgment from his bed.

I, meanwhile, was told in Islamabad that he (Justice Waheedudin) was ready to pronounce his dissenting judgment in public and face the consequences.

I went to visit Justice Waheedudin at his house, along with both local and foreign journalists, but his son Mr Wajihuddin (former SC judge) told us that his father was not feeling well and he would not meet with the media.

The significance of Waheedudin’s dissenting judgment is that it would have raised the judgment to 4-4, meaning that there were an equal number of the SC bench members both in favour of and against Bhutto.

In that case, Bhutto would have been given the “benefit of doubt”.

Originally, it had been a nine-member bench, but one of the judges had retired. We requested that the government give him (the retired judge) an extension for this case on the grounds Justuce Waheedudin had also received an extension, but our written application was rejected. Had it been otherwise, five judges out of nine would have passed a judgment in favour of Mr Bhutto.



The longest meetings (Katchehris)

Out of all the advocates on the team, I was the one who’d had the longest meetings with Bhutto. Whenever the court was closed for a week or more during a holiday, everybody went back home, but Mr Bhutto had said that I should remain with him to visit him in jail everyday. This to the extent that when I left Islamabad on the night before Eid, I offered my Eid prayers in Karachi and returned to Islamabad the same evening, just so I could meet Mr Bhutto.

A brave man

When I knew that meetings of advocates would be stopped after the judgment in the first review petition, Bhutto Sahib would want to ask about all the rules. I went through the relevant rules concerning preparations for hanging, and when I met him that evening, he asked me things like whether the jail authority would allow him to retain “shaving safety” for shaving. I told him “They may even take away the cummerbund.”

When I was leaving, he said “Hafeez, you just behave as if this is not our last meeting. Leave me as you used to leave me. Just shake hands and go. Do not look back and do not show your tears to the people who are watching us.” He was a brave man.



Vivid memories

There was one occasion that people may not know about, or that those who do know about it are no longer with us. The SHC Bar Association was holding its annual dinner at the SHC premises. I was a member of the managing committee at that time and the late Sharaf Faridi was president of the association. Security staff (government agencies) asked us to provide a complete list of our guests, including all advocates who would be attending the dinner, but we refused. We informed Yahya Bakhtiar, and he said we had done the right thing.

The security people told Prime Minister Bhutto, that they have not cleared his visit to the dinner. They asked him to cancel the dinner.

Bhutto Sahib contacted Yahya Sahib and told him his predicament.

“I have invited friends as Attorney General,” Yahya Sahib told him. “I will have to go whether you come or not as there would be guests coming from outside the country as well.” He asked all of us to continue to prepare for the function and not to think that it would be cancelled.

About half an hour before the function was scheduled to begin Yahya Bakhtiar was informed by his wife that she had received a message from the Prime Minister House saying that he (Bhutto) had decided to attend the function with or without security. Bhutto Sahib did not succumb to pressure of the security personnel.

After dinner, the security personnel informed us that their persons had taken care of security as all the tables near main table where Bhutto was sitting had one or two security personnel sitting close by.

When we asked how they could say this with all the front tables occupied by advocates or judges, they told us that their “trusted” persons were among them.

Why Zardari need a Khakhali & Adolf Eichmann

Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962) was responsible for the persecution and murder of millions of Jews in the death camps in Europe during World War II.

On May 13, 1960, Adolf Eichmann was seized by Israeli agents in Argentina and smuggled back to Jerusalem to stand trial for his role in the murder of one-third of Europe's Jewish people during World War II. The Eichmann trial of April through August 1961 gained worldwide attention as the most important trial of Nazi criminality since the Nuremberg trial of 1945-1946. For the first time a Jewish court convened in judgment upon a former persecutor. Eichmann was that SS (Schutzstaffel) officer responsible for transporting Jews and other victims to the extermination camps. What motivated him? The trial testimony showed him to be the ultimate conformist in a criminal state. As he said to an interrogator, "If they told me that my own father was a traitor and I had to kill him, I'd have done it. At that time I obeyed my orders without thinking, I just did as I was told. That's where I found my - how shall I say? - my fulfillment. It made no difference what the orders were."

(Karl) Adolf Eichmann was born into a religious middle-class Protestant family in Solingen in western Germany near the Rhine river on March 19, 1906. His father, an accountant for an electrical company, moved his family to Linz, Austria, in 1914. Eichmann's mother died when he was ten. Unlike his three brothers and one sister he was a poor student. Because of his dark looks he was apparently chided as "the little Jew." In Linz Eichmann went to the same secondary school Hitler had attended some 15 years before.

The resentment in Germany and Austria after defeat in World War I twisted an already inflamed nationalism, fed a lie that Germany had been "stabbed in the back" by the Jews. In 1919, amidst this new wave of anti-Semitism, the 13-year-old Eichmann was named in a newspaper as a member of a gang of youths who had tormented a Jewish classmate. Eichmann kept a precise record of each gang member's turn in beating up the victim (who died 20 years later in a death camp).

In the 1920s Eichmann drifted. He studied electrical engineering without success until his father decided that he should become an apprentice in an electrical appliance company, but his father wasn't satisfied with his son's progress there either. In 1928 Eichmann became a travelling salesman for an oil company through the help of Jewish relatives of his stepmother. He enjoyed his independence and his sporty car and became a joiner. As a member of the youth section of the Austro-German Veterans' Organization, he marched through the streets of Linz challenging the social democrats and cheering German nationalism. In 1932 the fanatical young Ernst Kaltenbrunner recruited Eichmann for the Austrian Nazi party and the SS. The Nazis promised that Austria would become part of a powerful German nation-state, and being a member of the SS gave Eichmann the chance to act superior after years of feeling inferior. Kaltenbrunner's father and Eichmann's father had been friends; their sons would make careers together in the SS. Kaltenbrunner became chief of the Security Service of the SS, second to Heinrich Himmler (and was hung as a war criminal in 1946).

When the Austrian government banned the Nazi Party in 1933, Eichmann, who did not have a job at the time, moved to Nazi Germany and joined the SS "Austrian Legion in exile." After a year he transferred to the Security Service where he found a niche for himself as an "expert" on Jewish affairs. He learned about Zionism and even briefly visited Palestine. When Austria was annexed by the Third Reich in 1938 Eichmann efficiently organized the expulsion of 45,000 Austrian Jews, first stripping them of their possessions. He became known in SS circles as the expert on forced emigration. When Germany invaded Poland, Hitler decided to exterminate the Polish Jews, and Eichmann's organizing ability turned towards mass murder. In the summer of 1941 he was among the first to be told of the "Final Solution," and on January 20, 1942, he was one of 15 who attended the Wannsee Conference where the formal pact was drawn between the political leadership and the bureaucracy to send European Jewry to the death camps. Jews were forced to wear the yellow star of David for easy identification; they were assembled for easy transport to their doom. Eichmann's principal concern was to maintain the killing capacity of the camps by maintaining a steady flow of victims. All the principles of civilization were turned on their head. First into the gas chambers were children, mothers, and the old. About 25 percent of each train load, the strongest men and women, were spared for slave labor. Very many died of starvation, sickness, and overwork. In 1944 Eichmann reported to Himmler that some four million Jews were killed in the camps and some two million more had been shot or killed by mobile units.

Eichmann was a bureaucratic mass murderer; he avoided the extermination sites and shielded himself from his acts through a bureaucratic language that deadened his conscience. Eichmann was limited, compartmentalized in mind and spirit. "Officialese is my only language," he said at his trial. Eichmann exemplified the terrifying discrepancy between the unparalleled and monstrous crime and the colorless official who carried out the evil. He viewed his victims as objects to be transported to their deaths as if they were nuts and bolts, and in 1944 he unsuccessfully sought to trade the lives of one million Jews for 10,000 trucks.

At the end of the war Eichmann was rounded up, but he managed to disguise his identity and escaped detection. ODESSA, the secret SS organization, arranged his flight to Argentina in 1952. Under the alias of Ricardo Klement, Eichmann created a new identity as the unassuming employee of the Mercedes-Benz car factory in Buenos Aires. His wife and two sons joined him.

On December 15, 1961, the Israeli court sentenced Eichmann to hang. His last words on June 1, 1962, were that he would not forget Austria, Germany, and Argentina. He was 56; his corpse was cremated, and his ashes scattered over the sea. Eichmann's inhuman acts in the name of Germany seemingly confirmed one 19th-century Austrian's fear that Europe was moving from humanity through nationality to beastiality.

Further Reading

Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963) and Jochen von Lang, editor, Eichmann Interrogated: Transcripts from the Archives of the Israeli Police (1984) provide additional information on Eichmann's activities and thoughts.

Additional Sources

Malkin, Peter Z., Eichmann in my hands, New York, NY: Warner Books, 1990.

Revert American Women And Bad Marriage Experiences, What makes some women vulnerable?

It cannot be denied that a significant number of American Muslim women have had very negative experiences with Muslim men. While some have married and lived happily ever after, many have really been mistreated and taken advantage of. For example, there is the stereotypical story of a Muslim man marrying an American lady for a green card. She thinks the marriage is for ever. Perhaps she converts. Then he gets his citizenship, divorces her, and marries his cousin. Or else there is the other ubiquitous story of a Shi'a man doing mutah with an American non-Muslim woman. He leads her to believe they are going to get married, and she has no reason to suspect that he is not sincere. She converts, and then he leaves her.

(Please don't make this a mutah thread; I don't want it to end up in the distiller. That's just an example. The guy could also be doing haram and not mutah as well. Or else maysar marriage. It's the idea, not the practice)

If you're going to argue with me that this doesn't happen, then, please, don't bother. It DOES happen. I am not saying that men are evil. Indeed, many women are evil too. devil.gif Men can be victims too, and non-convert/revert women also have miserable marriages sometimes. But this is still a very real problem; didn't someone post on another thread that, in her area, there is now a support group for American women formerly married to Shia men of a particular nationality who left them?

Why does this happen? I was thinking about this today and realized that, perhaps, there are many aspects of American culture - particularly among the generation of women now in their 30's-50's - that make them particularly vulnerable to these situations. This is just a THEORY, and sociology is not a science, but here are some thoughts.

Incidentally, this is NOT my own personal experience. However, it has happened to enough people that I know.

1) Especially among middle class white women (and when women did not have financial power), there is an idea that women should "accept". (This may be a Christian idea) Despite our rhetoric as feminists, women aren't socialized to be "demanding" or "complain". It is as if we are socialized to act as if we have low self esteem. Yes, we may inwardly object to how we are being treated, but our mothers and grandmothers taught us to "endure", not to "complain". So, for example, if a guy says he wants to get married, but only after a few years, then unless we're a religious Christian who believes in chastity before marriage, then it is better to "accept" rather than to be "demanding". It's like society teaches us to think, "You aren't worth that much, so who do you think you are to be complaining?"

(Note to prospective suitors: I have overcome those voices! So don't get any ideas...)

In other words, women are culturally socialized to accept how they are treated, not to complain (except to their girlfriends lol). As a result, many American women unconsciously tolerate things that would be unacceptable in Muslim cultures, and some of our men know that.

2) Weddings. Weddings are not just parties. They introduce the bride and groom to society and announce their family bond. In addition, they also express an inention of life commitment, because no one is going to put out a few thousand dollars for a temporary marriage. Particularly, they demonstrate that the bride is deserving of respect.

On the other hand, for various reasons - family reasons, cultural reasons, etc - most reverts/converts do not have weddings. Or else, they have very small/simple weddings (such as an aqd in the masjid). While simplicity is noble, it also sends a very different social message which does not emphasize the lifetime commitment of the couple or the willigness to invest in the union.

Obviously, in American culture, it is normal to have weddings. People who get married are expected to have weddings. However, weddings have a lesser role in American culture than in Muslim cultures. For instance, weddings are considered to be more of a formal and private event among many Americans. It is not abnormal to only invite family and close friends.

In addition, Americans tend to be much more understanding of people who choose not to have weddings. They're more willing to chalk it off to lack of funds. It doesn't have the same social stigma that it would have in many Islamic cultures where young couples are expected to have a ceremony.

3) Social indepdendence. Although many Muslims in other countries do not believe it, marriage is still a family matter in America. Parents and relatives can and do express strong feelings about whom their chidlren marry. (Such as: "You'll marry him over my dead body and after I disinherit you!!!") However, generally speaking, there is a cultural idea nowdays that adult children have the right to choose their own partner, and families "shouldn't" intervene (even though they may object).

Unfortunately, an "independent" woman in one society may be perceived as a "vulernable" woman in another society which expects women to be protected by relatives.

4) Expectation of honesty/straightforwardness. Generally speaking, in America, people get married because they want to get married. It's not something that most people lie about. You rarely see people lying about basic things like their age, salary, or citizenship status before the wedding. There's no reason to. In contrast, deception has been known to happen in our community. Many women here simply may not be expecting it because it's something that's not common here.

Oh and also one more:

5) The media. Thanks to the worldwide spread of American media which objectifies women, American women are often portrayed as loose, immoral, or valueless, and stereotypes about American women spread. (You know what I'm talking about) As an American who has lived in other countries, I genuinely believe this is part of the problem.

These are just some thoughts; maybe some other people could contribute on this phenomenon...

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=234937437&view=findpost&p=1548934

Man opens fire in NY town, possible victims: report

Binghamton (NY) Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud claimed on Saturday responsibility for an attack on a US immigration centre in New York state in which 13 people were killed.

"I accept resonsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to US drone attacks," Mehsud told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.


Man opens fire in NY town, possible victims: report
Fri Apr 3, 2009 12:24pm ED

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man opened fire inside a building in the New York town of Binghamton, shooting as many as four people, local media reported, citing police scanners.

As many as 41 people were inside the building when a man entered and started shooting, WBNG television news reported on its website.

Some people escaped to a basement and more than a dozen were hiding in a closet, WBNG said, reporting that emergency dispatchers had been in contact with people inside.

Police closed down surrounding streets and locked down a high school, WBNG said.

Binghamton is about 150 miles northwest of New York City.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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A gunman may have killed 12 or 13 people and held as many as 40 people hostage at an upstate New York immigrant counselling centre this morning.

At about 10.30am, a gunman reportedly parked a vehicle at the rear of the American Civic Association building in Binghamton, New York, blocking the door. He entered the building and opened fire on people assembled for English classes, citizenship counselling and other services.

Police sources, speaking on background, said as many as 12 or 13 people had been killed, according to a reporter with WNBF radio, who described the gunman as being of Asian descent, and in his 20s. The reporter said as many as 40 people were held hostage.

Heavily armed local, county and state police were surrounding the building in Binghamton, a city of about 45,000 people, roughly three hours north of New York City. It is home to a large campus of the state University of New York.


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A gunman may have killed 12 or 13 people and held as many as 40 people hostage at an upstate New York immigrant counselling centre this morning. Four people were reportedly removed from the scene on hospital stretchers.

At about 10.30am local time, a gunman reportedly parked a vehicle at the rear of the American Civic Association building in Binghamton, New York, blocking the door. He entered the building and opened fire on people assembled for English classes, citizenship counselling and other services.

Police sources, speaking on background, said as many as 12 or 13 people had been killed, according to a reporter with WNBF radio, who described the gunman as being of Asian descent, and in his 20s. The reporter said as many as 40 people were held hostage.

Heavily armed local, county and state police were surrounding the building in Binghamton, a city of about 45,000 people, roughly three hours north of New York City. It is home to a large campus of the state University of New York.

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A gunman opened fire in an immigration centre in a sleepy American town killing as many as 13, according to reports tonight.

Another 41 people are still being held hostage inside the building, an immigration centre in Binghampton, New York state.

Witnesses described the gunman, who was said to be Asian and in his 20s, parking his car at the rear of the centre, walking inside and then firing indiscriminately.

It was around 10.30am local time and many dozens of people were attending the site for English classes as well as citizenship sessions.
Carnage: Emergency services remove a person on a stretcher from the scene

Carnage: Emergency services remove a person on a stretcher from the scene

'A number of people are dead,' Binghamton Police Captain Alex Minor told a local newspaper.

Around 36 people were reportedly cowering in a boiler room while 15 others had taken shelter in cupboards around the building.

There were reports that 20 had been released though the FBI were sending hostage negotiators to the scene.

At least four were carried out of the building on stretchers and taken to hospital. One was described as critical.

A spokeswoman at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton confirmed that a student from Binghamton University was being treated at the emergency room.

Linda Miller said she didn't know the nature of the injuries.

'We're on full alert anticipating we're going to get additional casualties,' she said.

Emergency services were in contact with some people inside by phone, WBNG-TV reported.
Binghampton, New York State

Under siege: A gunman has taken dozens of hostages at the American Civic Association, in Binghampton, New York State

Binghampton Mayor Matthew Ryan told a local paper that the gunman had a high-powered rifle.

Police and ambulances have surrounded the building and neighbouring apartments have been evacuated.

The American Civic Association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.

It also intervenes with emergencies, including fighting, hunger and homelessness, according to information from the association's website.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man opened fire in a building where services are provided to immigrants in the New York town of Binghamton on Friday and killed 13 people before killing himself, ABC News reported.

New York Governor David Paterson confirmed that a number of people had been killed. ABC News, citing federal and state authorities, said 26 people were also wounded.

There was no official confirmation of the death toll or the gunman's fate.

Other local media earlier reported between four and 13 dead in the incident in Binghamton, about 150 miles northwest of New York City.

"This is a tragic day for New York. While the situation is still developing and details are being gathered, we do know that a gunman entered the American Civic Association in Binghamton this morning and that there are fatalities," Paterson said in a statement.

The area was surrounded by police with rifles, some carrying shields. Some local media reports said the suspected shooter was Asian and that authorities requested a Vietnamese translator to speak with him.

Following the American defeat in Vietnam, close to two million Vietnamese were allowed to enter the US. Those who have betrayed their countries and helped the Americans to carry out horrendous massacres. Naturally it included prostitutes and common criminals. The Americans are planning to move 100000 Iraqi traitors and killers following their withdrawal/defeat from Iraq.

As many as 41 people were inside the building when a man entered and started shooting, WBNG television news said, citing police scanners. It said some fled to a basement and more than a dozen were hiding in a closet, adding that emergency dispatchers had been in contact with people inside.

Four people were removed from the American Civic Association building on stretchers and taken to hospitals, the Press & Sun-Bulletin newspaper reported on its website.

Others came out on foot.

"About 15 or so employees of the Civic Association came out crying with their hands behind their heads and they were escorted by the police and they took them to ambulances and took them away," a witness told WNBF radio.

The American Civic Association building is used to teach English and provide other services to recent immigrants to the United States who are preparing for U.S. citizenship.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta, Claudia Parsons, Joan Gralla and Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by David Storey)


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Gunman opened fire during citizenship exam - reports [Hostage drama in Binghamton, New York]
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 12:06PM Saturday Apr 04, 2009

BINGHAMTON, New York - A gunman opened fire on a centre where immigrants were taking a citizenship exam in downtown Binghamton, New York, killing 13 people before committing suicide.

The suspected gunman carried identification with the name of 42-year-old Jiverly Voong of nearby Johnson City, New York, a law enforcement official said. But the name is an alias that the man has used in the past, said the official, who was not authorised to speak publicly and was talking on condition of anonymity.

"It obviously was premeditated," said Binghamton Police Chief Joseph Zikuski, noting the gunman blocked the rear exit with his car. "He made sure nobody could escape."

Police did not mention a motive.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey, whose district includes Binghamton, said the gunman had recently been let go from IBM in Johnson City.

The man entered a foyer at the American Civic Association and shot two receptionists, Zikuski said.

One receptionist was killed, but another pretended to be dead, then crawled to a desk and called authorities, he said. Police responded within two minutes.

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Zhanar Tokhtabayeva, a 30-year-old from Kazakhstan, said she was in an English class when she heard a shot and her teacher screamed for everyone to go to the storage room.

"I heard the shots, every shot. I heard no screams, just silence, shooting," she said.

"I heard shooting, very long time ... and I was thinking, when will this stop? I was thinking that my life was finished."

The gunman entered a room just off the reception area and continued firing, the chief said. He fired on a citizenship class, Hinchey said.

"People were there in the process of being tested for their citizenship," Hinchey said in a telephone interview.

"It was in the middle of a test. He just went in and opened fire."

Twenty-six people hid in the boiler room and 37 people were safely removed from the building, Zikuski said. Four people are in a critical condition.

Most of the people brought out of the building couldn't speak English, the chief said.

The suspect's body was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in an office, according to the law enforcement official who reported the man's identification.

Waiting outside a Catholic Charities office where counsellors were tending to relatives of victims, Omri Yigal said his wife, Delores, was taking English lessons when the gunman attacked. He had no word on what happened to her.

"At this point, I know the scale of what happened, but I just hope Delores is OK," the Filipino immigrant said.

"I haven't got any information. ... The only thing I have right now is hope."

he gunman's connection to the centre isn't clear, Hinchey said.

"One of the first questions is going to be, what motivated this?" he said.

"What caused this to happen? What was the kind of person who did it?"

A woman who answered the phone at a listing for Henry D. Voong said she was Jiverly Voong's sister but would not give her name.

Asked if she was aware that he might have been involved in the shooting, she said: "How? He didn't have a gun. I think somebody involved, not him. I think he got shot by somebody else."

"I think there's a misunderstanding over here because I want to know, too," she said.

In Baden-Baden, Germany, President Barack Obama said he was shocked and saddened by the deadly mass shooting, calling it an "act of senseless violence".

The president, who is travelling in Europe, said he and his wife, Michelle, were praying for the victims, their families and the people of Binghamton.

The American Civic Association helps immigrants in the Binghamton area with naturalisation applications, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

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The association describes itself as helping immigrants and refugees with counseling, resettlement, citizenship, family reunification and translators.

Alex Galkin, an immigrant from Uzbekistan, said he was taking his English classes when he heard a shot and quickly went to the basement with 20 other people.

"It was just panic," Galkin said.

The association's president, Angela Leach, "is very upset right now," said Mike Chanecka, a friend who answered a call at her home as Leach wept in the background.

"She doesn't know anything; she's as shocked as anyone," Chanecka said. "For some reason, she had the day off today. And she's very worried about her secretary."

At the junction of the Susquehanna and the Chenango rivers, the Binghamton area was the home to Endicott-Johnson shoe company and the birthplace of IBM, which between them employed tens of thousands of workers before the shoe company closed a decade ago and IBM downsized in recent years.

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers George M. Walsh and Chris Carola in Albany; Kimberly Hefling and Devlin Barrett in Washington; Michael Hill in Binghamton; John Wawrow in Buffalo, New York; and the AP News Research Center.

- AP

'Please stop': Taliban flog girl, 17, as she begs for mercy in 'honour' punishment

By Debra Killalea
Last updated at 12:16 PM on 03rd April 2009



This is the chilling moment a 17-year-old Pakistani girl is punished in a horrific flogging by Taliban militants for being seen with a man who is not her husband.

Mobile phone footage shows the girl begging for mercy as she receives 37 lashes at the hands of her brother while two others hold her down.

'Please stop it,' she begs but the men completely disregard her desperate pleas and pathetic attempts to defend herself.

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
Swat flogging

The girl, 17, is held down by two men as a third raises a whip to flog her

The footage ends when the injured girl is dragged away into a nearby building.

Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan claimed responsibility for the flogging in today's Guardian, which obtained footage of the shocking act.

He said it was the Taliban's right to thrash women and that the girl was being punished for coming out of her house with another man who was not her husband.

But some claim the commander ordered the flogging to get revenge after the girl refused to accept a marriage proposal.
Swat flogging

The man, believed to be the girl's brother, brings the whip down as she tries in vain to protect herself

Pashtun documentary maker Samar Minallah, who lived in Swat for two years in the late 1990s, handed the footage to the media.

The footage has sparked alarm across Pakistan and the west, which fears the Taliban is seeking to extend its influence across the region.

The girl in the video, named as Chaand, was punished in Matta in the Swat Valley.

She did not receive a trial and was punished according to the suspicions of one neighbour.

Ms Minallah said the incident had taken place within the last 10 days, following the signing of a peace deal between the provincial government and militants which saw them gain control of the valley's judicial system.
Swat flogging

He gets ready to raise his whip again as the two men continue to hold her down

She said the video is being circulated because the Taliban wanted people to see it.

'They want to give the message that this is taking place after the peace deal because this is something they ideologically believe in,' she said.

Journalists and human rights workers have confirmed the video was recent, but could not say exactly when it was taken.

Human rights officials also claim that the Taliban have committed many atrocities since the peace deal was signed with officials settling disputes 'according to their whims.'

Mingora, the largest city in Swat district, has been under a mixture of traditional and Islamic law since the peace deal was signed on February 15.

Although the Taliban do not control the courts, they continue to carry out punishments in some regional areas.

The punishment is not the first to be dished out since the peace deal was signed with some sources claiming women have been whipped for harmless activities such as shopping.

'Worse than the Taliban' - new law rolls back rights for Afghan women

A burqa-clad Afghan woman

A burqa-clad Afghan woman walks in an old bazaar in Kabul. Photograph: Ahmad Masood/REUTERS

Hamid Karzai has been accused of trying to win votes in Afghanistan's presidential election by backing a law the UN says legalises rape within marriage and bans wives from stepping outside their homes without their husbands' permission.

The Afghan president signed the law earlier this month, despite condemnation by human rights activists and some MPs that it flouts the constitution's equal rights provisions.
Jon Boone reveals Afghanistan's new law denying women's rights Link to this audio

The final document has not been published, but the law is believed to contain articles that rule women cannot leave the house without their husbands' permission, that they can only seek work, education or visit the doctor with their husbands' permission, and that they cannot refuse their husband sex.

A briefing document prepared by the United Nations Development Fund for Women also warns that the law grants custody of children to fathers and grandfathers only.

Senator Humaira Namati, a member of the upper house of the Afghan parliament, said the law was "worse than during the Taliban". "Anyone who spoke out was accused of being against Islam," she said.

The Afghan constitution allows for Shias, who are thought to represent about 10% of the population, to have a separate family law based on traditional Shia jurisprudence. But the constitution and various international treaties signed by Afghanistan guarantee equal rights for women.

Shinkai Zahine Karokhail, like other female parliamentarians, complained that after an initial deal the law was passed with unprecedented speed and limited debate. "They wanted to pass it almost like a secret negotiation," she said. "There were lots of things that we wanted to change, but they didn't want to discuss it because Karzai wants to please the Shia before the election."

Although the ministry of justice confirmed the bill was signed by Karzai at some point this month, there is confusion about the full contents of the final law, which human rights activists have struggled to obtain a copy of. The justice ministry said the law would not be published until various "technical problems" had been ironed out.

After seven years leading Afghanistan, Karzai is increasingly unpopular at home and abroad and the presidential election in August is expected to be extremely closely fought. A western diplomat said the law represented a "big tick in the box" for the powerful council of Shia clerics.

Leaders of the Hazara minority, which is regarded as the most important bloc of swing voters in the election, also demanded the new law.

Ustad Mohammad Akbari, an MP and the leader of a Hazara political party, said the president had supported the law in order to curry favour among the Hazaras. But he said the law actually protected women's rights.

"Men and women have equal rights under Islam but there are differences in the way men and women are created. Men are stronger and women are a little bit weaker; even in the west you do not see women working as firefighters."

Akbari said the law gave a woman the right to refuse sexual intercourse with her husband if she was unwell or had another reasonable "excuse". And he said a woman would not be obliged to remain in her house if an emergency forced her to leave without permission.

The international community has so far shied away from publicly questioning such a politically sensitive issue.

"It is going to be tricky to change because it gets us into territory of being accused of not respecting Afghan culture, which is always difficult," a western diplomat in Kabul admitted.

Soraya Sobhrang, the head of women's affairs at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said western silence had been "disastrous for women's rights in Afghanistan".

"What the international community has done is really shameful. If they had got more involved in the process when it was discussed in parliament we could have stopped it. Because of the election I am not sure we can change it now. It's too late for that."

But another senior western diplomat said foreign embassies would intervene when the law is finally published.

Some female politicians have taken a more pragmatic stance, saying their fight in parliament's lower house succeeded in improving the law, including raising the original proposed marriage age of girls from nine to 16 and removing completely provisions for temporary marriages.

"It's not really 100% perfect, but compared to the earlier drafts it's a huge improvement," said Shukria Barakzai, an MP. "Before this was passed family issues were decided by customary law, so this is a big improvement."

Karzai's spokesman declined to comment on the new law.

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NEW AFGHAN LAW 'LEGALISES RAPE'
Story Image


Hamid Karzai signed law making it legal for men to 'rape' their wives

Thursday April 2,2009

A new Afghan law makes it legal for men to rape their wives, human rights groups and some Afghan politicians said.

They accused President Hamid Karzai of signing the legislation to bolster his re-election prospects.

Critics worry the legislation undermines hard-won rights for women enacted after the fall of the Taliban's strict Islamist regime.

The law - which some politicians say was never debated in parliament - is intended to regulate family life inside Afghanistan's Shiite community, which makes up about 20% of the country's 30 million population. The law does not affect Afghan Sunnis.

One of the most controversial articles stipulates the wife "is bound to preen for her husband as and when he desires". "As long as the husband is not travelling, he has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every fourth night," Article 132 of the law says. "Unless the wife is ill or has any kind of illness that intercourse could aggravate, the wife is bound to give a positive response to the sexual desires of her husband."

One provision also appears to protect the woman's right to sex inside marriage saying the "man should not avoid having sexual relations with his wife longer than once every four months."

The law's critics say Karzai signed the legislation in the past month only for political gains several months before the country's presidential election.

The United Nations Development Fund for Women, or Unifem, said the law "legalises the rape of a wife by her husband". "The law violates women's rights and human rights in numerous ways," a Unifem statement said.

The US is "very concerned" about the law, said State Department spokesman Robert Wood. "We urge President Karzai to review the law's legal status to correct provisions of the law that limit or restrict women's rights."

Wood added that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had met with female Afghan politicians in The Hague and had assured them that "women's rights are going to be paramount in this administration's foreign policy, not an afterthought."