[van-announce] Please post - Pakistan Under the Gun, Dec. 11th Forum

[Amal Rana]

- Please post widely and forward to your networks - 
 
PAKISTAN UNDER THE GUN
Perspectives on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law
Public Forum, Film Screening and Discussion 
 
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TUES, DEC 11th, 2007
6:30 pm 
Alma Van Dusen Room, Vancouver Public Library
350 West Georgia - between Homer and Hamilton
(lower level -take elevator/stairs by main library entrance)
>From Granville Skytrain Station: 2 blocks east on Dunsmuir, 
1 block south on Homer
FREE EVENT
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Join us for a public forum and interactive discussion on
human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Pakistan. 
Support the resistance of the Pakistani people!
Co-sponsored by:
Vancouver and District Labour Council
India Pakistan Peace Network (IPPN) 
South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy (SANSAD)
Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada
Endorsed by the PSAC International Solidarity Committee
 
FILM SCREENING: 
Showing for the first time in Vancouver, "MISSING IN PAKISTAN"
Newly released documentary from Pakistan. The Pakistani
government is repeatedly preventing students from showing
this film in the country.
 
SPEAKERS:
Imran Munir, Pakistani journalist and activist
Gail Davidson, Lawyers' Rights Watch Canada and Lawyers Against War 
Bill Sandhu, IPPN 
Zahid Makhdoom, SANSAD
Vancouver and District Labour Council 
Other speakers tba
Phone updates from Pakistan 
 
"If they snatch my ink and pen, I should not complain,
For I have dipped my fingers in the blood of my heart.
I should not complain, Even if they seal my tongue,
For every ring of my chain is a tongue ready to speak" 
(Faiz)
 
The declaration of a state of emergency and the subsequent
actions of the Musharraf regime have pushed Pakistan and 
its people to the brink and have resulted in widespread 
outrage and protests within the country and throughout 
the world.
 
The resistance movement within Pakistan has been growing
stronger by the day, bolstered by international support 
from human rights and civil rights organizations, 
journalists, trade unions, lawyers' groups and many others.
 
Events in the country are unfolding at a rapid pace. President
Musharraf has scheduled elections for January and has said 
that he will lift the state of emergency in the near future. 
 
Yet there have been no commitments to restore the suspended 
Supreme Court Justices (many of whom remain under strict
house arrest) or lift the bans on the media or free the 
political prisoners who remain in detention. To fuel the 
blaze, all justices who refused to take oath under the 
unlawful PCO (Provisional Constitution Order) have been
given a forceful retirement.
 
The lifting of the state of emergency and scheduling of an 
election for January will also not address many critical 
issues facing Pakistan such as the continued oppression of 
the many tribal people in the country, brutal conditions of 
poverty faced by more than 1/3 of the population, repression 
of trade union activities and the widespread and growing cases 
of enforced disappearances and extra-judicial detentions of 
hundreds of people in the name of national security and the 
U.S led war on terror. 
 
In this setting, what are the prospects for peace, democracy 
and human rights in Pakistan?  Is it possible to have a fair, 
free and impartial election without the restoration of the 
judiciary? What does democracy look like and how can it be 
achieved given the historical and present day political 
realities in the country? What role has the U.S played 
in the history of Pakistan and the region? How does this 
impact the current situation, particularly in relation to 
the U.S led war on terror and the resulting assault on civil 
liberties in Pakistan, the surrounding region and around the world? 
 
For more information, email amaltaine at yahoo.com or call 604.764.6257
 
 
BACKGROUND: 
 
On November 3rd, 2007 Pakistan President and Army Chief 
of Staff Pervez Musharraf declared a state of emergency 
in Pakistan and suspended the constitution and the judiciary. 
 
Musharraf's actions came on the eve of a Supreme Court 
hearing to rule on the petitions contesting his eligibility 
to contest presidential elections. Supreme Court Justices 
such as Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry were arrested along 
with lawyers who were counsels in the petitions including 
Munir Malik and President of the Supreme Court bar association
Aitzaz Ahsan. Some members of the judiciary and lawyers
still remain under house arrest. Munir Malik remains in 
serious condition after being tortured in detention. 
 
Hundreds of human rights defenders, journalists, students,
trade unionists and many other pro-democracy activists were 
also arrested and many were charged with acts of terrorism 
under the newly amended Army Act which allows the army to 
court martial civilians speaking out against the state with 
charges of sedition, treason and terrorism, any of which can
carry the death penalty. 
 
One of the most tragic casualties of Musharraf's actions has
been the loss of hope for the families of the hundreds of 
people disappeared by the government under the pretext of 
national security and the U.S led war on terror. The cases 
of 485 disappeared people - many missing for 6 years and more
 - were set to be heard in the Supreme Court by Chief Justice 
Chaudhry on November 13, 2007. The hearings are no longer taking
place and after years of fighting to get back their loved ones, 
the families of the disappeared have had their hopes shattered. 
 
According to Amnesty International and other human rights 
organizations,Pakistan's involvement in the "war on terror" 
has led to horrendous abuses of civil rights. Mass arrests of 
alleged terror suspects - often for bounties of thousands of 
dollars - have led to detainees being taken away to the US 
detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, transferred to 
secret CIA detention centers, unlawfully transferred to other 
countries or held in arbitrary or secret detention in Pakistan
itself. Many - if not most - of these individuals have been 
tortured or otherwise ill-treated. 
 
Most recently this practice has been used to quell dissent by 
activists and those perceived to be against the military regime 
including lawyers, journalists and nationalists from Sindh and 
Balochistan.
 
General Musharraf has justified his recent actions under the 
guise of protecting national security and fighting terrorism 
within Pakistan and the surrounding areas. However, many leading 
human rights and civil society organizations in Pakistan and 
around the world assert that Musharraf's role as a key ally of 
the U.S led war on terror is a primary reason for the rise of 
insurgency within the country and the region. 
 
Join us for a public forum and interactive discussion on human 
rights, democracy and the rule of law in Pakistan. Speak out in
support of those that have been silenced under the rule of the gun. 
Support the resistance of the Pakistani people!