Aaj goes off air for airing Nusrat Javaid's views

The appearance of Nusrat Javaid of Bolta Pakistan fame disturbed Musharraf so much that he forced Aaj tv to go off air for 12 hours - freedom of to control the media for which he is so proud of !

Read the AP's news story here. Some exceprts:

The satellite transmission of Aaj television was blocked late Wednesday after commentator Nusrat Javed appeared on-screen, said Aslam Dogar, an assignment editor at the station.

Prior to the broadcast, Musharraf's spokesman Rashid Quereshi had advised Aaj that it should not allow Javed to appear on any of its programs, Dogar said.

Update:

Just saw a related blog post from teeth maestro.

Wiredpakistan banned in Pakistan by the PTA

Just learned that Wiredpakistan.com has been blocked by PTA. This is yet another site being blocked without any valid reason whatsoever (even though not much is being done by Govt. based on reasoning).

For those new to the subject, PTA is very fond of blocking various sites and under the ordinance, it has the right to block any website without even getting an order from a judge - the major highlights of last year was a long blogger ban and intermittent WP bans.

Links:
Wiredpakistan banned in Pakistan by the PTA
Wiredpakistan now blocked in Pakistan

Evolution of judicial activism

A nice editorial appeared in Dawn on Evolution of Judicial Activism - Read it with reference to Pakistan and the way General Musharraf destroyed it with Emergency and PCO. And now we have to see laws like the NRO (pardoning politicians like Benazir, etc) and no one will be able to question that legislature. Some excerpts:

"IT is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is," says Chief Justice John Marshall of the US. Consequently, the judges necessarily have to exercise their power, irrespective of the posture of the power-hungry executive or the touch-me-not attitude of the legislature.

...

Judicial activism is the role etched out for the judiciary in a democratic society governed by the basic law to keep the horizon of liberty clear and to give substance to the all-pervasive concept of the rule of law. If the judiciary fails in this, nothing can save the democratic policy, as Chief Justice John Marshall concludes: "The constitution itself becomes a solemn mockery."

Read complete editorial at: http://www.dawn.com/2008/01/28/ed.htm#4

Faiz Ahmed Faiz - a documentary

A good documentary on Faiz:

Habib Jalib - Poetry of Defiance

I just came across some inspiring poetry by Habib Jalib and wanted to share some of it.

Here is a collection of 10 poems by him (in roman urdu and english translation): http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/rdv9n1/jalibpoems.htm

Listen his collection 'Poetry of Defiance' here (with English subtitles):


This is another of his poem in urdu:


And this is the one I liked the most and suits the current situation (translation courtesy of Karachi Metroblog):
Deep jis ka mehlaat hee mein jaley
(A lamp only in palaces lit)
Chand logon kee khushion ko lay kar chaley
(Shed light for a chosen few)
Voh jo savay mein har muslihat kay chaley
(Shade in which one has to fit)
Aisey dastoor ko, subha-e-beynoor ko
(Such rites and lightless dawns)
Main nahin maanta, main nahin jaanta
( I will not accept: I refuse to know.)

And for anyone reading this far, this is a nice article by Adil Najam

Pakistan electoral rigging outsourced to Montreal

From KO's blog: http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/2008/01/pakistan_electoral_rigging_outsourc.html

ECP has outsourced the task of online access of voter's list to a Canadian company (who also run Mehndi.com), and they intend to host it inside Canada - doesn't sound like an ideal situation.

I wonder if they even tried to contact NADRA or some local company. After all, most of the queries would be originating from Pakistan - apart from that of hackers. Does someone knows about relevant laws in Canada and if Canadian government can have someday access to all of this data ....

Related Links:
http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/2008/01/pakistan_electoral_rigging_outsourc.html
http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/2008/01/dating_service_provider_to_match_vo.html
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=2f0ffeb5-44d0-49e6-8d21-7baf9df82148&k=41646