Dear Friends,

The situation in the country is uncertain. There
is a strong crackdown on the press and lawyers.
Majority of the judges of the Supreme Court and
four High Courts have not taken oath. The Chief
Justice is under house arrest (unofficially). The
President of the Supreme Court Bar (Aitzaz Ahsan)
and 2 former presidents, Mr. Muneer Malik and
Tariq Mahmood have been imprisoned for one month
under the Preventive Detention laws. The
President of the Lahore High Court Mr. Ahsan
Bhoon and former bar leader Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd
have also been arrested. The police is looking or
6 other lawyers, including President of Peshawar
and Karachi bar. The President of Lahore bar is
also in hiding.

There are other scores political leaders who have also been arrested.

Yesterday I was house arrested for 90 days. I am sending my detention order.

Ironically the President (who has lost his
marbles) said that he had to clamp down on the
press and the judiciary to curb terrorism. Those
he has arrested are progressive, secular minded
people while the terrorists are offered
negotiations and ceasefires.

Lawyers and civil society will challenge the
government and the scene is likely to get uglier.
We want friends of Pakistan to urge the US
administration to stop all support of the
instable dictator, as his lust for power is
bringing the country close to a worse form of
civil strife. It is not time for the
international community to insist on preventive
measures, otherwise cleaning up the mess may take
decades. There are already several hundred IDPs
and the space for civil society has hopelessly
shrunk.

We believe that Musharaf has to be taken out of
the equation and a government of national
reconciliation put in place. It must be backed by
the military. Short of this there are no
realistic solutions, although there are no
guarantees that this may work.

Asma Jahangir