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Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2009, page 66 Waging Peace Pakistani Americans Hold March
PAKISTAN AMERICAN National Alliance (PANA) and other organizations spent the day of March 11 in Washington, DC, demonstrating in support of judges whose firing two years ago sparked protests and political turmoil and ended the presidency of Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry was dismissed by then-President Musharraf in March 2007, when the Supreme Court was about to decide whether the military ruler could legally hold the office of president. Protesters called for Pakistan’s current government, led by Asif Ali Zardari, to reinstate Supreme Court and provincial court judges. They also demanded freedom for all Pakistani political dissidents and activists who have been arrested by Zardari. They called on the Obama administration to express support for an independent judiciary and other reforms. Leaders of a coalition of Pakistani-American organizations, including Dr. Agha Saeed, a California State University political scientist and founder of PANA, held a press conference outside the Cannon House Office Building. U.S. Representative Andre Carson (D-IN) joined them, saying U.S. support for an independent Pakistani judiciary would help combat extremism in Pakistan. Dr. Saeed asked the Obama administration to put the United States on “the right side of history” by supporting protesters in Pakistan the following day. Muhammad Salim Akhtar of the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections added that President Obama’s support for protesters would send a signal that the United States favors full democracy in Pakistan. Speakers at the press conference, as well as demonstrators throughout the day, said they were showing solidarity for protesters in Pakistan who planned to defy a government ban on rallies the next day and begin a “long march” to Islamabad, where they would hold a massive sit-in at the parliament building on March 16. A few hours after the Capitol Hill press conference, a motorcade staged a “short march,” driving from the National Mall to the Embassy of Pakistan. Pakistani-American community leaders spoke to reporters outside the embassy and, later, Pakistani diplomats joined them to hear their views. Faqir Syed Asif Hussain, a minister from the Pakistani Embassy, invited PANA chairman Dr. Muhammad Ashraf Toor inside for a meeting. He promised to relay their statement to the government in Pakistan. The announcement on March 22 by Pakistan’s prime minister that Chaudhry would be reinstated came as a clear victory for the people of Pakistan and their American supporters. —Delinda C. Hanley |
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