12. 28. 07
12. 27. 07
timely…
Dec. 26, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Deborah Hakes, 404-420-5124
THE CARTER CENTER URGES RESTORATION OF JUDICIARY IN ADVANCE OF PAKISTANI ELECTIONS
Atlanta…The Carter Center calls on President Pervez Musharraf to restore immediately the independent judiciary he incapacitated during the recent state of emergency in Pakistan.
“Holding credible elections on January 8 will be impossible without the restoration of independent institutions that will supervise and determine the legality of the voting process,” said former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
When President Musharraf lifted martial law on December 15 he continued to preclude judicial independence by confirming his hand-picked replacements of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and other judges he sacked and imprisoned in November. The legal system in Pakistan was also undermined by a massive crackdown on the lawyers’ movement. An estimated 5000 lawyers were arrested and charged with serious crimes because they demanded that the government restore an independent judiciary and respect the rights of disappeared persons. They will now have to defend themselves within a judicial system that Musharraf firmly controls.
The American Bar Association and many other similar organizations around the world have condemned this debacle in Pakistan. However, Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan, has pointed out in a recent New York Times editorial that “The White House and State Department briefings on Pakistan ignore the removal of the justices and all these detentions.”
President Musharraf can begin to repair this damage by reinstating the dismissed judges, restoring the power to license lawyers to the independent bar council, and dropping the charges against lawyers who participated in the protests. Otherwise, the elections will be a travesty.
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The Carter Center has observed 69 elections in 27 countries since 1989. The Center is a not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization working to advance peace and health worldwide by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; improving mental health care; and teaching farmers in developing nations to increase crop production. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University. Please visit www.cartercenter.org to learn more about The Carter Center.
Letter
December 21, 2007
The Honorable Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Secretary Rice:
Thank you for meeting with the Human Rights Leadership Coalition on December 10. We would like to follow up on the conversation we had on Pakistan and respond to Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher’s recent reply to our November 13 letter.
We remain deeply concerned that you and President Bush have not yet called unequivocally for the restoration of an independent judiciary and the lifting of restrictions on the media, particularly television. Pakistan’s judiciary supervises the nomination and polling process at every level, while High Court and Supreme Court judges hear appeals regarding qualifications and fraud. The Election Commission is composed of retired and serving judges. The removal of independent-minded judges has rendered free and fair elections impossible, while strict curbs on media further impede accurate reporting on the political and electoral processes. It does not make sense to call for free and fair elections without addressing these concerns.
Assistant Secretary Boucher’s letter notes that the U.S. government has called for the end of martial law and the release of detainees. But the letter’s language lacks urgency when discussing judicial independence, stating only that the U.S. “encourages an independent judiciary as a significant part of any democracy.” Our organizations have heard consistently from colleagues in Pakistan that they cannot understand the silence of the U.S. government on the necessity of an independent judiciary and an unwavering commitment to the rule of law.
Since our meeting, President Musharraf has formally lifted martial law, as the United States had called on him to do. However, in his revocation order and another order issued the day before, President Musharraf renewed his attacks on the judicial system, permanently replacing the dismissed judges and barring judicial review of his actions. Orders and amendments imposed during martial law, fundamentally changing the constitution and people’s access to basic rights, remain in place and outside judicial review. Such provisions allow for military trials of civilians and suppression of the media by imposing harsh prison sentences and fines for “anything which…brings into ridicule” the head of state or other government officials.
We urge the United States government to call on the Government of Pakistan to restore the judges to their positions and to lift media restrictions prior to the January 8 elections. Furthermore, the Pakistani government must return the power to license or disbar lawyers to the independent Bar Council. Without such steps, some of the most dangerous aspects of martial law will become enshrined in the Pakistani legal and political system, and neither free elections nor long term stability will be possible.
Sincerely,
Mr. Larry Cox, Executive Director
Amnesty International USA
Ms. Karin Ryan, Director
Human Rights Program
The Carter Center
Ms. Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director
Freedom House
Mr. Salih Booker, Executive Director
Global Rights
Ms. Maureen Byrnes, Executive Director
Human Rights First
Mr. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director
Human Rights Watch
Mr. Gary Haugen, President
International Justice Mission
Mr. Robert Arsenault, President
International League for Human Rights
Ms. Felice D. Gaer, Director
Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
Ms. Robin Phillips, Executive Director
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights
Mr. Frank Donaghue, Chief Executive Officer
Physicians for Human Rights
Ms. Monika Kalra Varma, Director
Robert F Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights