South Asia News
Pakistan's Sharif leads massive anti-government rally (Roundup)
Mar 15, 2009, 16:14 GMT
Flames rise from a Police bus, that was set on fire by the demonstrators, during a protest by the opposition political parties, for the restoration of deposed cheif justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in Lahore Pakistan on 15 March 2009. EPA/RAHAT DAR
Islamabad - Pakistan's top opposition leader Nawaz Sharif Sunday, in apparent defiance of his alleged house arrest, broke through multiple cordons, and was leading a massive anti-government rally that is heading towards capital Islamabad.
The development deepened political turmoil in the nuclear-armed country which is a key ally of the West in the international fight against terrorism.
Tens of thousands of Sharif's supporters thronged streets as he left his residence in a dark green armoured Land Cruiser in eastern city of Lahore, despite a government ban on public gathering and a massive deployment of law-enforcement personnel.
'It's a sea of people. It looks as though the entire Lahore city is gathered here. Young, elders, women, children - everyone is here,' local journalist Younis Baath said.
The crowd chanted slogans against the government of President Asif Ali Zardari, including 'Death to Zardari,' 'Zardari is a dog' and 'Restore the judges.' There were also calls for revolution and change.
'It's a rare moment of Pakistan's history. It's prelude to revolution,' Sharif told Geo television in a phone interview as he led the rally.
The two-time prime minister and right-wing leader publicly supported a campaign spearheaded by defiant lawyers seeking reinstatement of judges, including former Supreme Court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was removed by ex-president Pervez Musharraf in 2007.
Zardari, the widower of former slain premier Benazir Bhutto, promised to restore the judges after he took over last year, but refused to do so later on, apparently out of fear that independent-minded judge might revive corruption charges against him.
But the broken promises turned him into a highly unpopular political figure.
Sharif plans to lead a so-called long march from Lahore to Islamabad for a sit-in scheduled to begin on Monday until his demand is met.
'Our destination is Islamabad. We have left for Islamabad. The government should listen to the voice of people and accept our demands,' said Sharif, who has been shown by some recent polls as the country's most popular leader.
Earlier, hundreds of policemen surrounded Sharif's residence and sealed all the access roads, Ahsan Iqbal, a spokesman of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
'Come and join me. I am leaving the house. The time has come to march hand-in-hand,' Sharif told a charged crowd before leaving as his party workers removed the road blocks. The police officers stood aside.
Some 15 kilometres from Sharif's residence, in the heart of Lahore, police using hundreds of canisters of tear gas and batons tried in vain to disperse his supporters who pelted security personnel with stones.
According to some media reports, several people were injured, including some policemen.
Law enforcers retreated following hours-long clashes and some policemen joined the crowd and chanted slogans in favour of Sharif, Geo reported.
The civilian administrator of the city, Sajjad Bhutta, refused to accept government orders while the country's deputy attorney general resigned from his post in protest against use of force against the protesters, the report said further.
Principal roads in nearly all main towns along Sharif's planned route to Islamabad were blocked using shipping containers, lorries and concrete barriers. The government also blocked text service on mobile phones and transmissions of some television news channel in capital.
More than 1,000 activists are already in police custody amid a countrywide crackdown on opposition groups to ward off the Islamabad rally.
TV footage showed Sharif's supporters using cranes to remove the hurdles and clear the route.
The political turmoil has raised concerns in Washington and other Western capitals which want Zardari and Sharif to end their feud and join efforts against Islamic extremism.
US and British officials have tried to mediate between the two traditional rivals, who briefly joined hands in early 2008 to defeat political allies of former military strongman Musharraf and remove him from the president's office.
Sharif differed on the issue of the judges and the rift between them widened after last months' court ruling that barred Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, from elected office.
The verdict also dismissed Shahbaz Sharif's provincial government in Punjab, Lahore, a stronghold of the brothers.
The Zardari government announced some concessions for the opposition leader late Saturday following phone calls from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Zardari and Sharif.
A presidential spokesman said the government would appeal the disqualification of Sharif brothers and pledged to resolve the issue of the reinstatement of judges sacked by Musharraf.
But the opposition groups rejected the offer saying only concrete actions would satisfy them, not merely announcements of good intentions.
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Older Talkback
page: 1
for the useless info. like we don't know that . what ever creams your pants i guess.
I would still like an answer, baby la-la, to the questions asked below.
Lance, in some of your posts you refer to the need for tighter controls on people. You don't seem to have any good to say about western market economies or their somewhat individualistic societies, either. Especially English speaking ones. What is your own political philosophy? Does it, by any chance start with a capital 'C' and finish with Gulags and five mile long meat queues that subsist mainly on cabbage? Are you a devotee of someone's little red book? Or has your own country finished up on the wrong side of a war, or something? Or was it traded away, or given back to somewhere a tad unpleasant by one of us wicked old Imperialists? Eh, Lance?
I know that we native English speakers have effectively run the world for the last couple of centuries or so. Lots of you others have been a trifle miffed about that: And even more so by the fact that, on the whole, we've done it rather well and look set to continue doing it for the foreseeable future! Of course, we have our differences; family squabbles if you like, and go our own ways when we wish. Of course the US is now the most powerful and influential of us (is that why you reserve your venom for the Yanks in particular, la-la?). Even Her unsupported writ is not universal, yet when we all act together there is nobody on this earth who can gainsay us with impunity.
Come, give us a little credit, lance. Would you rather Germany, Russia, or Japan exercised global hegemony now or at any time over the last 100 years? Or the EU! (Hahahahahaha) Do you look forward, to the rise of China, or of Islamic fundamentalism? We know, we British, Americans, Canadians, Australians, New-Zealanders, that many hate us. It’s water off a duck’s back to us, mate! Half the world hates us, and half the world is civilised only because one, another, or all of us have made or kept it so. Wars? We’ve fought many over the last century: Hot and Cold. Can you honestly say, lance, bearing in mind the nature of our various opponents, that you would have preferred their victory?
Our achievements are too many to list here, as are the benefits we have conferred upon humanity as a whole. Great evils we have also committed. Yet unlike many other societies throughout history we are capable of acknowledging them openly and learning from them. We are far from being wilfully ignorant in any sense. We are all vibrant democracies and our sternest critics are to be found amongst ourselves and in each other. You are very much a naive amateur by comparison, lance. All of our Governments policies, actions, initiatives, and endeavours are subjected to intense public debate: Beforehand, throughout, and afterwards. If they get it wrong they can be and have been removed routinely by our electorates: Something we manage to accomplish in OUR societies without carpeting our streets with dead bodies!
We do not consider ourselves to be intrinsically better than anyone else, lance, but we are certainly no worse, either. It is our common culture, based upon respect for the individual, tolerance of others, and personal freedom, all buttressed by the rule of law that has made us so successful. Yes, there are thousands of individual instances that anyone can cite to refute that assertion, yet taken as a whole it remains more valid amongst us than anywhere else that you, for one, could name. The computer you sit tapping your poison into is, lance, our invention, as is the world wide communications system that allows you to irritate us; and it is our language that is fast becoming the Global lingua franca. That, I assume, is why you’ve bothered to learn it, and I compliment you on your fluency. Use it to give us a modicum of thanks, will you! There’s a good little boy!
'... like we don't know that ...'
Well, don't take things for granted. The 'willfully ignorant' U.S. citizen ALWAYS needs to be reminded over and over and over again about who supplies WMDs to the world. The U.S.A. of course.
And who supplied WMDs to Saddam to mass kill people: The U.S.A.
The 'typical U.S. citizen' has a shield of 'willfully ignorance' and repeating these facts is definitely required.
Everyone join in! 'Who supplies WMDs to the world?'
THE U.S.A.
Truebrit,
yes, yes, we've been over that before.
Providing charity, food and money to the world gives the U.S.A. the right to mass kill people.
I realize that is the law of the jungle, but it doesn't make it right or good.
LANCY WANCY,
Another sententious pronouncement from la-la, the Porcelain God’s juvenile oracle!
You have not addressed any of the points I made. You sit typing your simplistic trash and posting it on these pages round the clock! We are all aware of your elementary schoolyard philosophy by now. You never say anything new, answer a direct question from anyone, or concede that any other view but your own may have even the slightest merit. I, and others have extended what “Tonny from Belgium” described as an open hand to you. It was quite obviously a wasted exercise. The most sensible answer I have ever managed to elicit from you was “I’m speechless.” Would that were true!
There have been various suggestions from other posters here as to why you bother. After all, everyone who reads these pages sees your “Tag,” heaves a sigh of resigned frustration, and nine times out of ten scrolls down to try and find something a bit more rational. Are you simply a deranged monomaniacal tit as many would have it? A ‘disturbed’ young nerd as others have suggested?
My own theory is that you do it to try to impress some equally spotty, anally retentive, political correctness obsessed ‘significant other.’ So long as she / he / it? continues to nurture in their fuddled pea-sized mind the misapprehension that you are the most caring and enlightened human being ever born, you will be able to continue to enjoy an occasional inept thrash in the sack. Fatuous dribble supplied via your computer to secure continued access to another sort of box entirely. If so, one can only hope that you are as sterile physically as you are mentally.
One of the most amusing ideas came from a wise man of my acquaintance. He speculated that you are an Oriental student, whose tutor had advised him to;
“post Borrocks on Engrish Website, To Fu! Fan-Qi wir themse-ves perfect your understanding of Barbarian idioms.”
We imagined you sitting there with a tourist phrasebook and the Mandarin version of Wiki (wha’ is idiot-stick??… …AH! hahaha, Amelican velly funnee maan!!)
It may even be true for all I know or care. In any case, surely “Time for you to reave, Glasshopper!”
You are not a “lance.” You are a boil sorely in need of one!
That's funny. Also full of irony.
A ranting post dribbling on about dribbling on. The irony is obvious.
Glad you liked it! Now back to the 'Jesus Bombs' eh?
'Now back to the 'Jesus Bombs' eh?'
Lets wait for a good jesus bombing and then maybe I'll feel like a good jesus bomb post.
Love and peace at the tip of every jesus bomb. Your savior awaits you.
'nuclear-armed country'
... with stickers on each of them that says: 'Made in U.S.A.'
Lance's rice bowl knowledge of affairs is full of maggots. The Nuclear reactors that were sold to Pakistan for peaceful purposes, came from Canada. The U.S. had nothing to do with it. The Pakistanis then took the technology and against international law created their own weapons. The U.S. had nothing to do with it. If you had any brains whatsoever, you could search the web, or go to a library( do you know what a library is?) and get all the needed information to design your own. I have done this myself,35 years ago, before the web, for a school project. I was immediately visited by certain security agencies. I did not have the money, advanced machining skills, chemical explosives, timers, materials and mind numbing stupidity to actually build one.
But we all know that you don't have the brains, the resources or the technology to do the deed either. I am surprised that your brain generates enough electricity for you to be able to type. You are no danger to anyone. Your vast ignorance and stupidity is only a danger to yourself. Go sit on a chopstick, some technology you can understand.
... in time, most U.S. citizens will think the way you do, and then history will repeat itself.
The then president will state that Pakistan has WMDs (without mentioning where they came from) and the faithful shall follow to their deaths in the next holy war.
... kinda like Iraq War - The Sequel.
my dear chopstick, you spew this:... in time, most U.S. citizens will think the way you do, and then history will repeat itself.
Thank the gods that no one else on this planet 'thinks' the way you do. It would be a tadgedy of global proportions if there were 2 of you. We might have invoke Sharia Law, declare Fatwah, proclaim Jihad, and descend upon you like a pack of crazed Maccabees. You too stupid for words, glasshoppah.
you say: 'The then president will state that Pakistan has WMDs (without mentioning where they came from)'
You didn't read the post did you? Or are you that f*cking stupid to not understand? The technology DID NOT come from the U.S. Do I have to come over to your place and beat it into your head with a hammer? I find it hard to believe that anything as stupid as you could have the temerity to consider itself as being alive. Allahu Ahkbar. And lance isn't.
www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/13/usa.pakistan
www.pogo.org/investigations/government-oversight/rbarlow.html
www.mideasti.org/summary/deception-pakistan-united-states-and-secret-tr ade-nuclear-weapons
'Mr. Levy and Ms. Scott-Clark discussed their new book, Deception: Pakistan, the United States, and the Secret Trade in Nuclear Weapons. '
the Guardian?????? Now there is a newspaper of record. Yeah, right, lance
What an idiot you are. Barlow is no hero. He's a discredited nut job, like you.
Pogo.Org is run by lawyers and religious nuts. Have you done any research into the backgrounds, and politics of the board members and staff? NO? I thought not. Pogo was a cartoon character. That says a lot about the organization.
Your other 'source' mideasti.org is propaganda front for the spread of islam and who knows what else. Hardly credible.
Do you have any credible sources, Chop Suey? Do you have anything REAL to say? Where are your powers of discernment, rice cup? Do you only believe 'sources' that print what reinforces your own illogical positions? Do you have any PERSONAL KNOWLEDGE of these matters? No? I knew not.
Yuck Fou, One Hung Nut.
you still have not addressed the issue of Canada supplying the nuclear reactors that started Pakistan down the path to membership in the Big, Bad, Nuclear Arms Club. Or do your indoctrinators have no knowledge of that either? Come on, address an issue for once in your misbegotten life. I suspect you can't because you have no knowledge, no brains and nothing to recommend you to the world. You only know what your propaganda proselitizers tell you. You are no different than SP4. You are nothing. I have flushed better sh*ts than you down the toilet. Do you know what one of those is? Do you have any in your country? If so, find one and stick your head in it. Go for a swirly with the chunks. Don't forget your spoon, dipstick.
step up to the microphone. Speak, boy. It's on that stand over there. Yeah, that's right the thing that looks like the thing that the priest introduced you to. I mean into you.
He pops his head in, drops his pants and leaves a message, farts a bit and then he f*cks off. He can't back up anything he says, with hard facts. He's just one more stinky diaper, like SP4.
Since we seem to have a healthy tirade of opposition groups, does anyone 'thinky' that Pakistan will ever stabilize and have peace and prosperity?
I think so...
The nuclear technology aquired by Pakistan indeed originates from unexpected sources.Israel,the USA and Turkey are involved .Pakistan was allowed to recieve nuclear technology in compensation for it's aid in allowing the existence of allowing taliban training camps wen Afghanistan was under soviet influence and rule .The story ws not invented by the Guardian,sources are multiple .THe whole affair would have been made public if ever Sibel Emonds;the most gagged person in US history would have been able to freely speak before congress or any other commission with inevestigative powers .THe scenarion might seem rocambolesque but it is common knowledge that nuclear technology was shipped from New Jersey to Pakistan via South Africa,with the help of turkish and israeli influenced mantle organisation .very inconvenient for the past US administration ever came to light and so Sibel Edmonds is to be kept gagged as nobody ever before in the history of the USA.
More in this:
sibeledmonds.blogspot.com/2006/10/israel-turkey-neocon-nuclear-agenda.h tml
And here you 'll find the procedures and channels used to divert critical nuclear knowledge and materials from the USA and Israel to Pakistan with the help of the usual 'friends ' of the USA to be used when operations not suitable to be carried out in broad daylight are to be implemented.Most of it has been cooroborated by evidence already .It provides the key of understanding why Sibel Edmonds is 'the most gagged person in the history of the USA ':
www.wbpnet.org/Research%20Library/Cheney/Cheny%20Palme%20Nuclear%20Smug gling%20WMR.pdf
tonny,
nice going!
However, the 'willful ignorance' of the 'typical U.S. citizen' can not be broken by information and reason.
I suspect that is why opposing factions want to kill Americans. i.e.: there is no way to stop the U.S. from supplying WMDs to the world besides putting the 'willfully ignorant' out of their misery.
Shitty world for sure, but better to acknowledge facts than be part of the zombi willfully ignorant masses.
Don't believe anything you read in the Guardian or any other newspaper or outlet. I worked as newsman for 30 years. Believe me, don't believe anything you read or hear on radio or see on television. With one exception. The Christian Science Monitor. I am not talking about those pamphlets that religious people pass out on street corners. The newspaper is not a religious rag and is the most unbiased source there is. By the way, I have no religious affiliation, so I cannot be accused of being biased, or blind.
I do not believe that is really you, Tonny. The spelling is too good. The grammar is too good. No one improves that quickly over such a short period of time. The style and content doesn't sound like Tonny. That plus 3 posts in a row is not Tonny's style. This whole thinks stinks of lance.
look at the time stamps. It's lance all right.
page: 1
lanceMar 15th, 2009 - 19:13:35
'nuclear-armed country'
... with stickers on each of them that says: 'Made in U.S.A.'
Why worry about Iran and North Korea when the U.S.A. exports nukes all over the world. I think it has something to do with trying to maintain a monopoly on one of the last remaining manufacturing capabilities of the U.S.A.
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