PAKISTAN'S LAWYERS PREVAIL, CHIEF JUSTICE CHAUDRY TO BE RE-INSTATED

At last we see the Pakistan government allow the reinstatement of Pakistani supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Former president and military dictator Pervez Musharraf booted Chaudhry out of office for refusing to rule in the general's favor. Talk about the rule of law! And I thought the era of absolute monarchs had disappeared in the 18th century. Musharraf's actions amounting to "get rid of the judge who won't rule in my favor" evokes memories of Henry II's famous line about Thomas Becket in 1170, "who will rid me of this troublesome priest?"

The new Pakistan leader and president, Asif Ali Zardari, whose deceased spouse was the assassinated Benazir Bhutto, continued in opposing Chaudhry's reinstatement. Why? Because he was worried that Chaudhry would rule against him too. Fortunately, because of the street protests and marches led by Pakistan's lawyers, Zardari has now backed down and agreed to Chaudhry coming back.

Note that Zardari has shown himself as bad as Musharraf in trying to quell peaceful protests by the lawyers with canes, clubs and threats of imprisonment.

PAKISTANI LAWYERS PROTEST FAILURE TO RE-INSTATE, RELEASE JUDGES

The current protests and street demonstrations in Pakistan are a continuation of the rightful demands of Pakistan's legal profession to reinstate Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudry and all the other judges and lawyers who have been illegally dismissed from office or imprisoned at the hands of former strongman Pervez Musharraf.

Pamela Constable reports from Islamabad for The Washington Post:

"Pakistani authorities arrested hundreds of political activists and banned public gatherings in two provinces Wednesday as President Asif Ali Zardari attempted to squelch a massive protest march organized by a coalition of opponents that includes lawyers and a former prime minister.

"The march, slated to begin Thursday, was originally planned by Pakistani lawyers as a peaceful action to demand the reinstatement of the deposed Supreme Court chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry. But in recent weeks it has been overtaken by the clash between Zardari, the leader of the Pakistan People's Party, and the rival Pakistan Muslim League faction led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz.

"In scenes reminiscent of repression under Pakistan's former military regime, television footage Wednesday showed activists being dragged into police vans, even as major opposition leaders addressed boisterous rallies in several cities."

The current president Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, is proving himself no better capable of preserving the rule of law and a democratic government in Pakistan than Pervez Musharraf, former president and general of the Pakistan army.

2007 AWARD FOR UTTER RECKLESSNESS GOES TO BENAZIR BHUTTO.

How could Benazir Bhutto have been so reckless? Her caravan was hit by a deadly suicide bombing upon arriving in Pakistan and yet she recklessly offered herself as a target after a rally in Rawalpindi by sticking her head out of the sun roof of her bomb-proofed SUV.

Bhutto also believed Condoleeza Rice and the Bush gang when they whispered that she would be able to bring a softening to the military and dictatorial rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf did not appreciate her return. The Pakistani Army did not appreciate her return. Many anti-Western elements in Pakistan also did not want to see her come back. The U.S. blessing was merely that - encouraging words doled out to an ingenue, a modern Jean d'Arc, who believed she had a mission to save Pakistan

So there she was on the day she died. No body guards. No crowd control. No party intelligence to warn her of opposing elements that were out to take her life. She was on her own.

Did she have to be so reckless?

CONFLICTING REPORTS ON DEATH OF BENAZIR BHUTTO

I heard on BBC Radio this morning that a close aide to the assassinated Benazir Bhutto said that Ms. Bhutto had definitely been shot. There was blood all over Bhutto's SUV and then when she was transferred to the aide's car, there was blood all over the second vehicle. The aide also said that Bhutto had a two wounds in her neck, one corresponding to a bullet's entry point and the other an exit wound.

But Musharraf's government is trying to lay blame on Al Qaeda, Carlotta Gall reports in today's The New York Times. It claims that it has intercepted a telephone conversation between two Al Qaeda members congratulating each other on the apparent success in assassinating Ms. Bhutto. Also the physician treating the injured Ms. Bhutto claims there were no gunshot wounds.

Writes Carlotta Gall:

"The government identified a militant leader with links to Al Qaeda, Baitullah Mehsud, who holds sway in tribal areas near the Afghanistan border, as the chief suspect behind the attack.

"“We have an intercept from this morning in which he congratulated his people for carrying out this act,” Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said in a briefing to reporters.

"“We have irrefutable evidence that Al Qaeda and its networks are trying to destabilize the government,” he added. “They have been systematically attacking our government, and now a political icon.” Ms. Bhutto, he said, was on the hit list of Al Qaeda and other terrorists."

But Ms. Bhutto's supporters deny anyone other than the government was responsible. See this account on BBC.com:

" . . . Ms Bhutto's associates disputed the official account, saying the government was trying to abdicate its responsibility for her security.

""To hear that Ms Bhutto fell from an impact from a bump on a sun roof is absolutely rubbish. It is dangerous nonsense, because it implies there was no assassination attempt," a spokeswoman for Ms Bhutto's PPP party, Sherry Rehman, told the BBC.

""There was a clear bullet wound at the back of the neck. It went in one direction and came out another... My entire car is coated with her blood, my clothes, everybody - so she did not concuss her head against the sun roof."

My inclination is always disbelieve governmental authorities, whether American or Pakistani. They always have political and personal motives for avoiding the truth.

MUSHARRAF MUST REINSTATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ILLEGALLY DISMISSED

I fully agree with Juan Cole in his observations at Informed Comment on the situation in Pakistan given the tragic assassination of Benazir Bhutto. If Gen. Pervez Musharraf is to remain in power and keep the backing of the United States, he must restore the rule of law. This means restoring the Supreme Court Justices, including former Chief Justice Ifthikar Chaudhry now under house arrest, to their rightful judicial positions before he illegally dismissed them. This also means freeing the lawyers and judges that Musharraf locked up after their street demonstrations in favor of the rule of law. Further, it means Musharraf must acknowledge that he will follow and respect the Pakistani Constitution, something that he has trashed whenever it did not fit his political ambitions.

Writes Juan Cole:

"In order to get through this crisis, Bush must insist that the Pakistani Supreme Court, summarily dismissed and placed under house arrest by Musharraf, be reinstated. The PPP must be allowed to elect a successor to Ms. Bhutto without the interference of the military. Early elections must be held, and the country must return to civilian rule. Pakistan's population is, contrary to the impression of many pundits in the United States, mostly moderate and uninterested in the Taliban form of Islam. But if the United States and "democracy" become associated in their minds with military dictatorship, arbitrary dismissal of judges, and political instability, they may turn to other kinds of politics, far less favorable to the United States. Musharraf may hope that the Pakistani military will stand with him even if the vast majority of people turn against him. It is a forlorn hope, and a dangerous one, as the shah of Iran discovered in 1978-79. ' "

FOREIGN POLICY OF BUSH/CHENEY/RICE NOW OUT OF OPTIONS FOR PAKISTAN

We all know that Bush, Cheney and Condoleeza Rice have been pushing for Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan from exile and participate in the forthcoming elections, so that she could add some legitimacy to the Pervez Musharraf regime, perhaps even sharing power with dictator Musharraf. Today Benazir Bhutto was assassinated.

Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler report on today's web page of The Washington Post:

"The assassination today of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto is a major blow to the U.S. goal of stabilizing Pakistan, a volatile ally with nuclear weapons that has served as a frontline against extremism since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to former U.S. policymakers and experts.

"The abrupt loss of a leading pro-U.S. political figure threatens the transition to democracy in Pakistan and leaves both Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Bush administration strategies vulnerable, they said."

Instead of opposing Musharraf for what he has done against the rule of law in Pakistan and the mockery he has made of civil liberties by beating and locking up lawyers and judges, Bush/Cheney/Rice are seeking to support him in his quest to remain in power. That's why they urged the unfortunate Benazir Bhutto to return to Pakistan and seek elected office. They thought she would stabilize and support Musharraf.

Write Robin Wright and Glenn Kessler:

"The administration was clearly taken aback by Bhutto's death, despite earlier assassination attempts and ongoing threats against her. . . .

"The United States is particularly concerned about the potential for initial demonstrations to become open-ended protests against the Musharraf government. U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson is also reaching out to other opposition parties and civil society groups to urge calm, U.S. officials said."

The assassination of Ms. Bhutto again brings into sharp focus the shallowness of U.S. foreign policy under the Bush gang. Instead of supporting the Pakistani middle class in their uprising against Musharraf, Bush & Co. can think of nothing but plugging the dike against Pakistani Islamists. Their plan to install Bhutto has now come to a tragic denouement. The Pakistani lawyers, judges and middle class are now solidly anti-American and anti- United States. And Bush/Cheney/Rice have no alternative policy for Pakistan. In their quest to make the world do their bidding, the American "leaders" have run out of options.

BHUTTO CALLS FOR RELEASE OF JUDGES, LAWYERS - IT'S ABOUT TIME

It is about time that Benazir Bhutto has come out with an appeal to free Pakistani Supreme Court Justice Chaudhry and the other Pakistani judges and lawyers who have been arrested by that dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Bhutto has been back in Pakistan for several weeks, yet only today did I read on the website of the BBC where she calls for the jurists' release. Without the freeing of the judges, Pakistan will exist without the rule of law.

This whole sordid affair shows the shallowness of U.S. foreign policy towards Musharraf and Pakistan. The U.S. policy centers on Musharraf whereas it should center on Pakistan and its people. Instead of arming Musharraf and the Pakistan army, the U.S. should be assisting the hoi polloi, the common peoeple, with roads, schools and hospitals.