Comments on: Lawless in Pakistan

By: Agency - Chapati Mystery

Agency - Chapati Mystery — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:10:29 +0000

[...] March of 2007, when lawyers came out on the streets, there were only two available narratives. Those who held a results-based approach argued that [...]

By: Chapati Mystery » Tick Tock IX

Chapati Mystery » Tick Tock IX — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:24:37 +0000

[...] The conventional wisdom, however, remains against such a reading. Take Fareed Zakaria’s Pakistan’s Pinstripe Revolution in Newsweek - where he feels that benevolent dictators should be cut some slack and that Pakistan needs that helping hand. But Zakaria seems to misread Pakistan’s judicial and political history and, at the very least, Musharraf’s entire public persona. He argues that the judicial problems of Musharraf begin in 1999 when he asked - for the first time - for the Supreme Court justices to resign and re-take their oaths of allegiance. What he fails to point out is that Musharraf was simply following in the footsteps of every dictatorial regime in Pakistan - all of whom asked the judiciary to re-take their oaths and that the judiciary acquiesced in every single case. The ‘new-ness’ of Pakistan’s recent judicial crisis is that only recently did they decide not to rubber stamp the military regime. The causes for this break are diverse and I have outlined them elsewhere. [...]

By: Weblog Name » Live from Pakistan, Goodmorning Islamabad

Weblog Name » Live from Pakistan, Goodmorning Islamabad — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 23:20:37 +0000

[...] Lawless in Pakistan [...]

By: pass the roti on the left hand side » Musharraf Saws off Branch, Finds He’d Been Standing on it

Fri, 11 May 2007 13:13:24 +0000

[...] “chequered” past (granting legal legitimacy to military rulers), I recommend this post from Sepoy at Chapati Mystery. The Glasshouse has been an excellent resource for almost daily [...]

By: Sin

Sin — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:21:10 +0000

Hell, even I wore the damn’ armband. I just wish the lawyers would stop shutting down the courts each time I wind up going there to settle some long-outstanding disputes.

By: Global Voices Online » Blog Archive » Pakistan: Lawlessness and the President

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 21:19:21 +0000

[...] chapati mystery on the situation in Pakistan, and how it threatens Musharraf’s seat of power. “Two weeks ago, General Musharraf suspended the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, on vague corruption charges. Since then, daily riots and protests have broken out in major cities; the goverment has tried to shut down tv stations which reported on these riots; the police have repeatedly assaulted the lawyers who are leading the process. “ Neha Viswanathan [...]

By: farangi

farangi — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:08:41 +0000

Oh, the horror. Lawyers even look like lawyers in Pakistan. I wasn’t exactly expecting jewel-encrusted turbans, or for people to be riding elephants or anything, but must we, worldwide, wear ill-fitting suits and non-objectionable ties? Also, is that Sheheryar Hasnain in the near background of the photo?

By: sepoy

sepoy — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 16:05:46 +0000

Jonathan: I think you are correct in pointing out that there are obvious parallels to the pre-modern systems. Interestingtly, the normative Dictator [if there is such a thing] creates a new riff on the King’s Two Bodies by personifying the State.

The case in Pakistan, though, has some key departures. Zia, for example, after 1981, strays away from the Court to find a new source of public legitimacy: Islam - populist and ever malleable.

By: Kafr al-Hanadwa

Kafr al-Hanadwa — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 07:42:37 +0000

[...] 22nd 2007, 9:42 am Filed under: Friendly neighbourhood dictators, Desiland There is an excellent post on this topic at Chapati Mystery. No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on [...]

By: The Acorn » Brasses and Wigs

The Acorn » Brasses and Wigs — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:04:18 +0000

[...] Which means that when scandal does erupt around the Court, it has far greater reverberations. [Chapati Mystery] Permalink | « Facing down the Mufti’s [...]

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:02:00 +0000

Historian’s second thoughts: Actually, the executive-judicial axis is the model for a lot of non-democratic systems, with the executive as the “court of highest appeal.” It’s not just Islam, I think.

By: Jonathan Dresner

Jonathan Dresner — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 21:46:11 +0000

Shallow essentialism alert: I’m kind of struck by the parallel between your description of an executive-judiciary centered government and the traditional (i.e. pre-democratic) governments of Islamic areas, particularly in the role of the judiciary as honest comfirmands for executive piety (and therefore, authority).

Partisan commentary: when will these people learn that laws exist for a good reason, and you don’t have a functioning society without a basic respect for law and rights?