International condemnation

The Law Society, Bar Council and Association of Muslim Lawyers (AML) have voiced their concerns about the treatment of lawyers in Pakistan. The state of emergency declared by General Musharraf, and the dismissal of Chief Justice Chaudhry, has prompted international concern and condemnation of events within the country.

The suspension of the rule of law comes in the run-up to the scheduled elections, which are due to take place in January 2008. Demonstrations by lawyers within Pakistan over the last two days in support of the rule of law have been repressed by the police.

Andrew Holroyd, president of the Law Society, said:

‘Events in Pakistan must be of concern to everyone who supports the rule of law, and they underline once again that the rule of law is nothing without lawyers. I can think of no starker demonstration of this commitment to the law than the extraordinary courage, fortitude and bravery of the lawyers we see in Pakistan. They have rightly demonstrated against the government measures. The suspension of the Constitution, the denial of fundamental rights and repeated attacks on the judiciary removes any semblance of a just and civilised society. I have written to president Pervez Musharraf on behalf of the Law Society, to urge him to re-instate the Constitution, lift all restrictions on the judiciary, to release those lawyers held in detention and allow lawyers to exercise their freedom of expression and assembly.’

Commenting on the sacking and arrest of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, chairman of the Bar Geoffrey Vos QC, said:

‘The sacking and arrest of Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is especially reprehensible, and I note with concern his message to lawyers yesterday. I take him at his word when he says that the Supreme Court followed the constitution and the law in making all its decisions about the forthcoming elections, and that the constitution has been ‘ripped to shreds’. I have set out my concerns in a letter sent to the Pakistan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, and await an urgent response.’

Ifath Nawaz, Chair of the Association of Muslim Lawyers, said:

‘The AML continue to be deeply concerned by the appalling events unfolding in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan since the Declaration of emergency and the suspension of the constitution. It has not gone unnoticed that since this declaration was issued Courts, Judges and Lawyers in particular have been targeted. Courts of Law able to uphold due process, an independent judiciary and the ability of lawyers to conduct their work without fear, favour and prejudice remains one of the cornerstones of any free and civilised society. We strongly urge the government of Pakistan to end emergency rule and call on the government to respect judicial processes, reinstate the judiciary, adhere to the rule of law and return to governance in accordance with the constitution.’

More details here.

Emergency Plus – improvising, so you don’t have to!

Yes, our Army Cheif-cum-President-cum-One Man Ruler, has yet again shown his versatility in the face of hostility, by imposing his own personal brand of justice, lovingly christened as ‘Emergency Plus’. The thought and amount of zealous effort that must have gone into naming and implementing this beacon of ‘enlightened moderation’ must surely exceed our mental facilities, thus rendering any future discussion/debate/protest entirely useless. Still, a ’small’ (about 90% of the population) group of people continue to be ignorant enough to question the General on his actions (or lack thereof in terms of his ‘war on terror’). So what exactly forced mushy to take such an adequate and quaint step towards democracy? Lets look at some of the possibilities.

A) Dog-Eat-Dog conflict with the Supreme Court:

The pending decision by the Supreme Court pertaining to the authenticity and validity of Mushy’s dual role in governance seems a tame reason for Emergency Plus. I mean…after all, all the Supreme Court was about to do was proclaim that one man cannot possibly hold two such different offices. This hasn’t been the reason for Emergency Plus, seeing as that this decision is flawed at the core. I mean what sort of independent judiciary would try to stop a man who so desperately wants to save his country??

B) Poor Governance:

I don’t think the lack of order in the country and the deteriorating situation of law and order had much to do with Emergency Plus. This was just one of the slip-of-the-tongue remarks that were made by a General under pressure. We can’t blame him for saying it because he hasn’t been trained to be a public speaker and he hasn’t presided over the Oxford Union Debating Society. I mean…think about it…a deteriorating situation of law and order and a de-motivated police force stem from poor governance. If this logical connection holds true, than mushy’s state-of-emergency-plus has actually been imposed against his OWN handpicked government! Truly a stupid assertion.

C) Outsmarting Benazir Bhutto in a bout of Strip-Chess (similar to Strip-Poker):

Here’s a plausible reason for Emergency Plus. Maybe Mushy just wanted to beat BB at her own game (strip-chess) by using BB’s own battle cry to avoid giving power to such a sexy woman. I mean…it makes sense, Mushy is saving time and multi-tasking by doing the exact same thing BB would do once in power; i.e. cracking down on the terrorists. Why bother going through a democratic process and general elections, when he can just as easily do the deed himself. In fact, Mushy played a safe(r) hand by arranging a couple of suicide hits right before his Emergency Plus to create a more suitable environment, a contrived environment if you will.

D) The MOST plausible Reason: He Watched Borat:

This is THE reason. Initially he just wanted to watch the flick because it had something to do with Pamela, but as the movie progressed further and further, Mushy realized that the political satire had substance behind it. Especially Borat’s little speech on the ‘war of terror’…it goes something like this:

“We support yout war OF terror,
May we show our support to the boys in Iraq,
May USandA kill every single terrorist,
May George Bush drink the blood of every single man, woman and child of Iraq!
May you destroy their country so that for the next 1000 years not even a lizard will survive in their desert!”

Cant you just visualize mushy sitting their in his comfy recliner, next to his favorite white-and-black-spotty-cow going “yesss…yessss” as Borat speaks. The idea was all there in front of him and he grasped at it! And my oh my, didn’t he come out as one king-of-improvising-bastar d! Borat’s youthful looks (and the scene where he’s nude) provided further stimuli as Mushy imposed Emergency Plus that VERY same day. Some say he looked like a beaten man that night on television. I say he looked like a man smitten! But then nothing I say makes much sense…hell I belong to that TINY group that opposes Emergency Plus!

By: Anonymous # 10

(the numbers we’re assigning are as random as anonymice)

Protest in Chicago

On Sunday, 11th November, 2007 at 1.30pm

at the Pakistan Consulate (333 N Michigan Avenue) , Chicago

It has now been over 5 days since General Pervez Musharraf revoked the constitution of Pakistan, imposed martial law, abolished the judiciary and blocked media and press.
Protests have sprung up all over the country. In reaction, police and military personnel are indiscriminately arresting protesters and moving them to unknown locations. Hundreds have been taken away in the past few days. Amendments to law are being made to allow civilians to be tried in military courts.
As members of society who support democracy, this is the time to unite with those who have had their basic rights usurped and speak up,  lest the will of one dictator overshadows those of 160 million people.
Protests have already been held/planned in London, New York, Boston, Hague, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris and Copenhagen. Students from other colleges – Harvard and Columbia – have already gathered once and are going for a second round. It is time for us to speak up as well.
Please support Pakistan in this time of need by joining us outside the Pakistan Consulate at 333 W Michigan Ave at 1.30pm on Sunday (time has been set to coincide with protest in Washington).

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Soldiers and Citizens: Dictatorship and Democracy in Pakistan

---

The emergency measures provision of the Pakistani Constitution can be invoked either in situations of war and external aggression or when internal unrest has reached such a stage as to incapacitate an elected Provincial government. As opposed to this, a martial law proclamation is an extra-constitutional measure taken by the military to usurp power from an elected government. The emergency proclamation of November 3rd in Pakistan is effectively an act imposing martial law in the country as it was issued by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

The ticker tape of news running alongside the stultifying discussions about the necessity of emergency action on the one channel (state-owned) that was allowed to function on this ‘black Saturday’, carried the news of the COAS’s action in immediate succession to the promise that the President of Pakistan would be addressing the nation later on in the evening. Musharraf, to revive a seemingly incontestable issue in wake of the martial law order, occupies both roles himself. While he would reveal sure traits of megalomania later on in his broadcast address to the nation, it was uncanny that the issue of his occupying these roles simultaneously, an issue which the Supreme Court has been wrangling over for the last month, would be avowed with such candor. I was tempted to look up the diagnostic criteria for dissociative personality disorder at the time.

For those who have argued that Musharraf’s occupancy of the dual roles of civilian President and COAS are inconsequential, that concessions need to be made on the path to democratization in this country, there is a need for them to be convinced otherwise. In his address to the nation laying out the conditions which necessitated the emergency, it was his oft-repeated claim that he could not sit idly while members of the army, police and bureaucracy were being made subject to the humiliation of being summoned to court, directed to abide by laws framed as checks on executive abuse of authority and in a few cases, temporarily suspended through successful conviction on the basis of such laws. Whereas one would think that judicial review of such a sort would signal successful governmental functioning, the fact that this was the point which propelled the man to tears is telling. It was particularly at this moment of Musharraf’s lament that it was resoundingly clear that the army man, despite all his pretences at enlightenment and benevolence, could never think as a civilian ruler is required.

The army functions through the mechanism of direct order and presumed compliance. It also rewards those who obey orders efficiently and well. As the well-developed jurisprudence around the international law concept of command responsibility for instances of war crimes makes certain, the actions of subordinate soldiers and officers are oftentimes presumed to be mechanical applications of higher orders. Egregious violations of human rights standards and laws of war suggest knowledge and direction at the highest levels. The presumption rests on the empirical evidence presented by the hierarchical organization of army units, where action is directed through a chain of command, internally policed to ensure compliance. Additionally, the individual capacity of the soldier is limited to questions of maneuver, limited at the outset by the need to achieve team objectives.

In a civilian-led government all tactical decisions involving the army are undertaken through a joint consultative process, limited not only to the executive branch but often necessitating legislative action to enable military maneuver. Where the army and the civilian government are melded with only minimal dissonance, as in Pakistan, the chain of command remains unitary from beginning to end. Musharraf is now rewarding the loyalty and obedience of his higher subordinates in both military and civilian dress. The problem that underlies all this is that we, members of what is somewhat spuriously termed civil society, are understood from position of the high command to be as divested of capacity as the lowest ranking soldier. We are asked repeatedly to take them on their word that a better future is promised if only we’ll point and shoot with minimal reflection of who the moving target might be. In this case, we ourselves are surely the targets.

On Monday, I and several friends and colleagues joined the lawyers who had turned out to protest the criminal orders of the COAS at the Lahore High Court and were witness to the General’s personal vendetta being cruelly acted out against this brave professional fraternity. Standing out somewhat for not wearing the black and white uniform of lawyers, we were repeatedly asked by media persons about our reasons for protesting. While I find this a vexing question, I would nonetheless give a standard answer listing my grievances as against martial rule and the suspension of fundamental rights. One journalist responded that the government was only invoking a constitutional emergency provision. I responded at the time that they can call it ‘a walk in the park’ for all I cared. If one encounters a shower of bullets and batons whilst strolling in the park then the park is actually a battlefield.

As I alluded somewhat above, a debate has been raging in the pages of English language papers in Pakistan as to the relative desirability of a ‘transitionist’ v. ‘transformationist’ approach to freeing the government from a veritable military monopoly of control. The former camp are incrementalists who caution that ‘shock transformations’ have been shown to harden and prolong periods of authoritarian governance and that power sharing agreements are a necessary stage in changeovers to civilian rule. The latter however have clung to an ethical legal standard emphasizing the constitutional illegitimacy of Musharraf’s hold on power and the perversions it engenders. The fact that Benazir Bhutto, the US-ordained partner of such a power sharing agreement has reacted only balefully, if at all, to the discreditable act of annulling the judiciary in this country is proof of such perversion. It was completely foreseeable and expected that the judges of the Supreme Court would have soon given a verdict against the National Reconciliation Ordinance, the executive act granting blanket amnesty against criminal and corruption charges filed against her and other politicians. In an odd twist then, such transitions can turn army men into mercenaries but nowhere does the question get answered of how the army can deal without censure when they themselves encounter reflective and oppositional citizens and not soldiers in the country they rule.

Sadaf Aziz is a professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences

From here.

Musharraf’s Real ‘War on Terror’ in Pakistan

General Pervez Musharaf claims he has imposed what is effectively Martial Law in the country to enable the security services to prosecute the War on Terror more efficiently. He has alleged that Pakistan’s superior judiciary had to be rendered compliant since it was undermining the security agencies.

But a review of the FIR (First Information Report) pursuant to which 344 lawyers, out of an approximate total of one thousand, arrested during the crackdown on protests at the Lahore High Court on Monday have been charged with anti-terrorism offences reveals the nature of Musharraf’s real War on Terror.

The lawyers have been charged with a range of offences including attempted murder; property damage; rioting; public nuisance; and disobeying, hindering and assaulting public servants in order to deter the performance of their duties. This makes for rather mundane reading. More interestingly, the dissident lawyers have also been charged with a breach of §16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance, dating back to the early days of Pakistan’s first military dictator, General Ayub Khan. This provision criminalizes the publicizing of ‘rumours’ that may spread alarm and endanger public safety: presumably, the dangerous rumour that was being spread by the protesters in this case is that there is Martial Law in the country.

Most interestingly, these protesting lawyers have also been charged with a violation of §7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997. In this regard, they were presented before the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore on Tuesday afternoon before being transferred to various jails in the country for a period of at least 14 days. It is anticipated that most of them shall be detained for a period of 60 days or more. Bail may not be granted to a person charged under this anti-terrorism provision, and hence the protesters may be detained without further recourse to judicial process. This may be somewhat frivolous, given that many of the lawyers who had gathered outside the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore were also attacked and arrested by the police.

The protesters who have been targeted with these specifically harsh measures include most of the leaders of the legal community. This action is clearly designed to prevent the reorganization of the legal community for further protests. The protesters include several female lawyers, and many senior members of the bar.

As for the newfound efficiency of the security forces, their vigor was fully displayed inside the Lahore High Court premises on Monday. During earlier protests against the first suspension of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the police never ventured beyond the entrances of the court complex. On the one occasion that the police tried to enter the Lahore High Court premises, the Supreme Court intervened and swiftly reined in the police.

This time the police forces had no fear of the Supreme Court, for no such court exists. All we have left is a building and eight old men playing dumb charades.

Moeen Cheema is an Assistant Professor of Law & Policy at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Lahore, Pakistan

Original Source.

Solidarity With Pakistan’s Lawyers: If Not Now, When?

It is time for lawyers worldwide to show solidarity with lawyers in Pakistan who are waging a struggle to challenge the lawlessness of an ugly usurper, a power addict, a man in military uniform determined to undermine a Muslim nation that yearns for democracy.

From the Lawyers of Pakistan…

The lawyers are protesting in the streets of Pakistan because the usurper has suspended the Constitution “in exercise of all powers.” The usurper has arrogated to himself the license to “amend the constitution, from time to time, as he deems expedient.” When one man can suspend and alter the fundamental constitution of a nation, the abuse of power is unlimited.

The lawyers of Pakistan are putting their lives on the line because the usurper has suspended the basic rights of the people of Pakistan. The constitutional right that no person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law has been suspended. This suspension means that the government can imprison or kill anyone in Pakistan with no protection of law.

The lawyers of Pakistan are refusing to submit to the usurper because under the new regime anyone can be arrested without being informed of the grounds for such arrest. No longer does the arrested person have any right to consult or to be defended by a lawyer.

The lawyers of Pakistan are protesting on the courthouse grounds because the usurper has suspended the freedom of movement. Many Supreme Court Justices and politicians have been detained in their houses. Numerous human rights lawyers have been made political prisoners in their own homes.

The usurper has suspended the right to free speech and the freedom of press. The electronic media have been turned off. The newspapers are no longer free to report the crimes of the regime. They are not free to comment on the news or criticize a lawless government. The lawyers are marching in unison because a nation without free speech is a dead nation and a nation without a free press is vulnerable to gross violations of human rights.

The usurper has suspended Article 25 of the Constitution, which says: All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of Law. When the government abandons the equal protection of laws, weak individuals and weak groups are the first to suffer, and suffer the most. The lawyers have taken the vanguard of protest because legal safeguards against blatant discrimination have been removed.

The usurper has fired the Supreme Court Justices who refused to accept unlawful dictation and who demanded that the usurper respect the Constitution.

The lawyers of Pakistan are being beaten, detained, and taken away from their children and families. They have been charged with the crimes of terrorism because they have made a commitment to stand for the rule of law, democracy, and fundamental rights.

The lawyers of Pakistan need the moral support of lawyers around the world.

To the Lawyers of the World…

The lawyers of the world must support this struggle against a lawless dictator and express solidarity with the lawyers of Pakistan.

Global solidarity among lawyers will forge effective resistance to a dictator in Pakistan who has revoked all constraints of law to gratify his infatuation with power.

Global solidarity among lawyers is needed because dictators can rise in any nation. No legal text furnishes security against power addicts who subvert even the noblest constitution to maximize their willfulness.

When the lawyers and judges of the world are fearless and determined to uphold the rule of law, the tide of tyranny can be abated. The power of law lies in the lawyer’s commitment to subvert injustice. Lawyers are the guardians of the law.

Global solidarity among lawyers will show to the world that the profession of law anywhere and everywhere stands for the rights of the people, all the peoples, and a right diminished anywhere is a right diminished everywhere. A tyrant tolerated in any nation pollutes the whole world as lawlessness spreads across borders.

Let the lawyers of the world get together in big cities and in small towns. Let them assemble peacefully, exercise free speech, and pass resolutions to condemn the mistreatment of lawyers in Pakistan.

Let the lawyers of the world speak against the suspension of fundamental rights in Pakistan. Let them demand that the Justices of Pakistan Supreme Court be freed from detention so that they can continue their charge of maintaining the rule of law. Let the lawyers of the world petition their leaders to put pressure on the Pakistani dictator to restore the constitution.

If the lawyers of the world do nothing to support the lawyers’ resistance in Pakistan, tyranny will be entrenched.

Ali Khan is a professor at Washburn University School of Law in Kansas.

Original Source.

Coverage of the protests at LUMS

Pakistani Students are standing tall with its judiciary, Lawyers and civil society activists. Study bodies all across Pakistan our participating in the struggle for the restoration of democracy and rule of law in Pakistan. Help us in our cause! Forward this message so that people know how we are
registering our protest.

We have been covered by:CNN, BBC, The New York Times, MSNBC, Yahoo, The News, Daily Stanford, and all local print & electronic media etc.

Links:http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.irpt/index.html 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKMZDimkScc 

http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/11/7/pakistaniStudentsProtestMartialLaw

http://ufovid.abovetopsecret.com/tag_lum.html 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21609019 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asadk/1900032629/ 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C11%5C06%5Cstory_6-11-2007_pg13_2

http://www.thepost.com.pk/ShortNewsT.aspx?shortid=4790&catid=3http://lahore.metblogs.com/archives/2007/11/protests_at_lum_2.phtml

http://pakistanmartiallaw.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=79320http://mohsenali.wordpress.com/ 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBSYv1vTIGM

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/world/asia/06pakistan.html?_r=3&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=sloginhttp://bigblog.com/top_stories/pakistan-police-attack-lawyers-at-protest-1164591447.html 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/06/world/asia/06pakistan.html?_r=1&ex=1352005200&en=872d94565fc63ad3&ei=50&oref=slogin 

http://anna.typepad.com/herstory/2007/11/in-complete-uni.html

http://www.thepost.com.pk/CityNewsT.aspx?dtlid=127204&catid=3http://hasansheikh.blogspot.com/2007/11/luminites-protest-against-imposition-of.html

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/hotline/http://www.buzzvines.com/anti-emergency-protest-lums-students

http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=79141 

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.irpt/index.html?iref=topnews

http://www.buzzvines.com/related-tags/lums   

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cmkp_pk/message/8933 

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/11/92488.html

http://bloggers.pk/http://video.aol.com/video-detail/emergency-in-pak-cj-detained/3355824625 

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/11/06/pakistan.irpt/index.html

http://broadcast.organicframework.com/p/World-News-Students-protest-in-Pakistan___477,139240.html

http://winterpatriot.blogspot.com/2007/11/police-battle-lawyers-in-protest.html

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/11/07/pakistan-stability-activism-and-the-emergency/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071106/ts_nm/pakistan_dchttp://videos.desishock.net/101779/Anti-Emergency–protest-on-Pakistani-campus-(1-of-2)

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\118\story_8-11-2007_pg13_1

http://www.thepost.com.pk/ShortNewsT.aspx?shortid=4804&catid=3 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C11%5C08%5Cstory_8-11-2007_pg13_1

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=79541

http://thepost.com.pk/ShortNewsT.aspx?shortid=4804&catid=3

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=79542http://www.dawn.com/2007/11/06/nat27.htm

http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article8076 

http://emad.nomadlife.org/2007/11/protest-at-lums.html

http://hrfrompakistan.wordpress.com

This email was circulated amongst the LUMS student body by one its societies.

Karachi: the protest spreads

 

November 7, 2007 5:00 pm:

Demonstration at Agha Super Market, Clifton, Karachi

Several activists of civil society and students from different colleges and universities suddenly appeared with placards and banners at Agha Super Market, Clifton, Karachi and staged a demonstration against Emergency / Martial Law / Military Rule today on November 7, 2007 at about 05:00 pm.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against General Musharraf and strongly demanded
that: 

·        an independent election commission should be formed forthwith.

·        Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan and other
judges of Supreme Court and high courts should immediately be re-instated. 

·        Independence of the judiciary must be restored with immediate effect.

·        Curb on print and electronic media should be lifted;

·        Lawyers, political and human rights activists arrested all over the country
must immediately be released unconditionally;

·        Freedom of association and political activities should not be curbed

(This was emailed to Anonymouse 1 by the HRCP Karachi chapter)

Canada: the protest spreads

FOR URGENT RELEASE

Toronto Nov 4, 2007: 

The imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan is an unjustified action against the people of Pakistan. Fundamental rights and civil liberties must be restored immediately. This was stated in a meeting of the South Asian Peoples Forum in Toronto on Sunday afternoon. The meeting was addressed by Professor Sara Abraham, Mrs. Talat Zehra, Syed Azeem, Ameer Hussain Jaffery and Barrister Abdul Hamid Bashani Khan.

The participants expressed their deep concern over the situation and termed it an assault on human rights and civil liberties. The group demanded that the emergency be lifted immediately, the hundreds arrested be released, and democracy be fully restored. South Asian Peoples Forum (SAPF) has expressed its complete solidarity with democratic forces, lawyers and human rights activists in Pakistan who oppose this latest ominous development in Pakistan politics. The group has announced that it will organize a demonstration in front of Pakistan Consulate in Toronto at 3:30 pm on Friday afternoon and has called upon South Asian people and friends to collectively come out for this.

(This was emailed to Anonymouse 1 (through the HRCP network) from Canada)

The EU’s reaction to the Emergency

Declaration by the Presidency on behalf of the European Union
on imposition of emergency rule in Pakistan
 
 Date:   2007-11-06
 
The EU is deeply concerned with the declaration of the state of emergency and suspension of Pakistan’s constitution and fundamental liberties announced by President Musharraf on 3 November.  It strongly reiterates the importance of holding free and fair elections on schedule, of restoring civilian rule and the full respect for human rights, including the independence of the judiciary and freedom of the media. The EU is particularly concerned by reports of numerous arrests of leaders of political parties, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and representatives of civil society. 
The EU takes note with interest of the statement by PM Aziz that the elections will take place, as scheduled, in January, and will look forward to the implementation of the necessary conditions to guarantee free and fair elections.  
While recognising that Pakistan faces threats to its peace and security, the EU believes that stability and development can only be achieved through democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law.
The EU therefore now calls on the Government of Pakistan to take urgent action to:

i) restore the Constitution; ii) implement the necessary conditions to guarantee free and fair elections on schedule in January; iii) release all political prisoners, including members of the judiciary, as well as Ms. Asma Jahangir, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief; iv) honour the President’s commitment to step down as Chief of Army Staff by 15 November; v) pursue energetically reconciliation with the political opposition; and, vi) relax restrictions on the media.
At the same time, the EU urges all parties concerned to show restraint and to work together for a peaceful and democratic solution.

Many thanks to A.B (we are not disclosing names for safety reasons). This was mailed to us at humanrightsblog@gmail.com