Overseas Pakistanis have been holding rallies and demonstrations in USA and other countries, demanding freeing of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is in jail since August last year, but to no avail.
In my opinion, a mistake which these overseas Pakistanis have made is not joining hands with overseas Indians, and not forming a joint Indo-Pak overseas organization to deal with their problems, and unitedly struggling for them.
By Justice Markandey Katju– (Justice Markandey Katju is a former Judge, Supreme Court of India, and former Chairman of Press Council of India. The views expressed are his own) Pakistan’s judiciary is in the grips of its biggest scandal in memory as several senior judges accuse the country’s powerful security service, the ISI, of using violence […]
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Holi, the festival of colors, is on March 25 this year, and I appeal to Pakistanis and Bangladeshis of all communities to celebrate it. Before 1857, Hindus would participate in Eid and Muharram, and Muslims in Holi and Diwali together, and there were no communal feelings among them. There were no communal riots or animosity till that time.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: News has come that the Pakistanis and the Afghans are fighting each other. These fools should be helping each other instead of fighting. Both are poor; their real enemy is poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, price rise, lack of healthcare and good education, etc. If they had any sense they should join hands, pool their resources, and launch a mighty historical united struggle, along with Indians, to eliminate these real common enemies.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: The Punjab Government in Pakistan has banned meetings with former Prime Minister Imran Khan in Adiala jail by his lawyers and close relatives for 2 weeks (a period which may well be extended later). This was done despite an order of the Islamabad High Court permitting such meetings with persons approved by Imran Khan.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: I have been strongly critical of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa in the past. However, I applaud and acclaim his recent verdict upholding the rights of Ahmadis, and setting free an Ahmadi accused of distributing an Ahmadi commentary of the Quran.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: It is almost universally accepted that the Pakistan parliamentary elections held on February 8 were rigged on the orders of the army generals, and had the elections been free and fair former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) would have won close to 225 out of the 266 seats being contested, instead of the 100 independents being declared winners.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Most people have a superficial understanding of events, and do not penetrate the surface to see the underlying realities. To understand what is really going on in Pakistan, one must view it in a broader, world context.
Today, the main contest in the world is between two alliances
(1) The US-Europe alliance, and
(2) The China-Russia alliance.
What is happening in Pakistan is a proxy struggle between these two groupings.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: The election results for the Pakistan National Assembly held on February 8 show a confusing picture. If the elections had been free and fair, then Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party (PTI), whose leader Imran Khan has popular support of 80-90% of the people of Pakistan would easily have swept the polls.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: India and Pakistan are scheduled to hold parliamentary elections soon, and the results in both countries can be safely predicted — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP will register a massive victory in India; and in Pakistan, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) or PMLN, in coalition with Bilawal Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), will win a majority.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, along with former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi, were sentenced by a special court on Tuesday to 10 years imprisonment in the cypher case. There is an adage in Hindustani: “Jaat kahe sun jaatni, isi gaon mein rehna. Billi oonth le gayi, to haanji haanji kehna” (A jaat said to his wife: Listen, we have to keep living in this village; if the king says that a cat carried away a camel, just nod your head and say, “Quite right, Your Majesty, quite right”).
Justice Markandey Katju writes: The recent verdict of the Pakistan Supreme Court deprived former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI party of its election symbol. This has almost murdered democracy in Pakistan by ensuring that there will be no free and fair parliamentary elections on February 8. The question is: what is the way out for Pakistanis to restore democracy?
Justice Markandey Katju writes: A disquieting thing happened yesterday. Three days ago, Pakistani journalist Ali Hasnain Shah, who works as researcher/producer with Khabarhar Team of Aftab Iqbal, called me and said he wants to interview me on the recent judgment of the Pakistan Supreme Court that deprived former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI party of its symbol.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: It may seem terrifying, but it looks like Pakistan is drifting towards a state of civil war. Consider the situation. A large majority (80-90 per cent) of Pakistanis support former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is in jail since early August last year on trumped-up charges. If free and fair elections are held, Imran Khan’s PTI party will sweep the polls.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: My article on the recent judgment of the Pakistan Supreme Court regarding the bat symbol published in Indica News has been read and acclaimed widely in Pakistan and elsewhere. Many have asked me to elaborate on the legal flaws in the verdict. As I see it, there are four glaring flaws in the judgment.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Mr Qazi Faez Isa (I refuse to address you as Justice as you do not deserve that appellation), I am writing to you to tell you some bitter truths. You are a disgrace to the judiciary of the whole world, as you have shamelessly betrayed your solemn oath to uphold the Constitution of your country and protect the liberties and rights of the people of Pakistan.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Strictly speaking, elections should have been held in early November 2023 as mandated by Article 224(4) of Pakistan’s Constitution, but we need not go into that. The Pakistan Constitution is more followed in its breach, and is often consigned to the dustbin. All opinion polls indicate that former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party enjoys support of about 90% Pakistanis, and will sweep the polls if there are free and fair elections.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that elections to Pakistan’s Parliament will be held in the last week of January, 2024. The question is whether they will be free and fair? At present, 90-95% of Pakistanis support former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his PTI party and if free and fair elections are held, PTI will sweep the polls. In this situation it is obvious to me that since the people have been denied all rights, and a reign of terror has been unleashed against them by the Pakistan army, a people’s guerrilla war against the army is inevitable.
I had written an article comparing the situation in Pakistan to potentially another Gaza.
https://www.hastakshepnews.com/2023/10/why-justice-katju-thinks-pakistan-is.html
A Pakistani friend living in the United Kingdom, with whom I often talk on WhatsApp, and to whom I had sent my article, asked me how I could compare the situation in Pakistan with that in Gaza.
On October 14, the important World Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan will be played in Ahmedabad, which will be watched eagerly and with great excitement all over the cricketing world, particularly in the Indian subcontinent.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: The Chief Justice failed in his effort to vacate the stay order, and the case has been adjourned to 3rd October. I am afraid that the new Chief Justice, who only recently assumed office, has made the Supreme Court, which was already divided at the time of former CJP Bandial, even more sharply divided. Turbulent times are ahead for the Pakistan Supreme Court.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Army officers must have realized that their families will not be safe if hostility through a popular uprising to the army grows. After all, their wives and children cannot remain cooped in their guarded homes forever. The wives have to go for shopping and social visits, and the children to schools and colleges.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Justice has been murdered in Pakistan, and these conscienceless and spineless judges are party to the killing, and will have to pay the penalty for their misdeeds and gross neglect of duty on Judgment Day.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Pakistan is in a terrible state. The government is bankrupt and the economy is in a shambles. Massive protests are being held everywhere against exorbitant energy bills, and rise in prices of oil, gas and food.
Justice Markandey Katju writes: Dark clouds have descended over Pakistan. The Pakistan army, abetted by the corrupt PDM Government, has run amuck and imposed a fascist reign of terror in Pakistan. Thousands of people have been arrested and imprisoned, after dragging them out of their houses, often by breaking open their doors, torturing and beating them, the judiciary rendered impotent, the media largely muzzled, human rights grossly violated, and all kinds of atrocities inflicted on the populace.
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