Kerry mentioned in Pakistan press article on restoring judges

[Muttocracy]

This popped up in my Google Alerts that I never turned off after the primaries... I bet they can't wait to work with Obama, Biden, and Kerry in whatever roles they have.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=146131

Will Biden press govt for judges restoration?
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
By Ghulam Dastageer
PESHAWAR: The victory of Joe Biden for the slot of vice-president of the United States of America has catapulted him in a position to use his good offices with the Pakistani government vis-‡-vis the restoration of deposed judges of the Pakistani superior judiciary.

It will be pertinent to recall that on November 8, 2007 — four days after General (R) Musharraf imposed martial law in the country under the garb of self-defined emergency — senators Joe Biden and John Kerry moved a resolution in the US Senate, calling on the then president of Pakistan to “(ensure) freedom of the press and judicial independence; and reinstate all dismissed members of the Supreme Court.

“This resolution sends a strong message on the need for a speedy return to the democratic path — a message that I sincerely hope President Musharraf will take to heart. Musharraf should immediately release the lawyers, journalists and human rights activists he’s arrested since imposing de-facto martial law; restore the independent judiciary he’s subverted by firing Supreme Court justices unwilling to sign a loyalty oath to him; make good on his pledge to hold free and fair elections in the legal timeframe; and restore rule of law and constitutional government to Pakistan,” said Sen Biden, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

After taking oath of his new office in January 2009, he would be in a position to directly ask the Pakistani government to pay proper heed to his resolution, which was introduced a year back.

Former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Muneer A Malik however has not pinned much hope on the new US government. Talking to ‘The News’ by phone, he said the newly elected president and his deputy had explicitly said that they would support democratic process in Pakistan.

“If they’re sincere in their pledge for strengthening democracy in Pakistan, they would definitely support the independence of judiciary in Pakistan,” he said. Muneer said our sympathisers in American civil society, like Association of Pakistani Physicians in North America, would certainly engage the Democrats to fulfil their commitment to restore superior court judges of Pakistan.

Some other lawyers at the provincial capital of the Frontier province are of the opinion that the Bush administration was against the restoration of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry due to his active role in pursuing the cases of missing persons.

But now they are hopeful that the Democrats would not toe the lines of Bush administration and some key persons in the present set-up in Pakistan would not be able to delay the restoration of Justice Chaudhry on the pretext that the US was against his reinstatement.

Hamid Khan, who is also ex-chief of SCBA, told ‘The News’ by phone that Joe Biden’s understanding on South Asia politics was very impressive. “This is why he had underlined the need for augmenting infrastructure in Pakistan instead of giving military aid to it,” he said. Hailing the victory of Biden, he said his entrance to the power corridor would definitely prove a good omen for lawyers’ movement in Pakistan.

Hamid said the legal community would use its connections with the US lawyers to build pressure on the upcoming Democratic government regarding Biden’s resolution on judges’ restoration.

[JI7]

1. Pakiston will be one of the toughest areas Obama will be dealing with

much of it is Bush's fault as everything he did just made things worse in all the years he has been in office(i guess this is true of everything).

but Obama understands this as he regularly brought it up in the Primary.

[karynnj]

4. I agree, but Pakistan's problems

existed far before President Bush took office. BCCI funded A Q. Khan's development of a Pakistani bomb in the 1980s - against the non-proliferation agreements - and they were an unstable country at that time. In addition, Pakistan ISI was reputed to be behind the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s. The US often had a "Pakistani tilt" to their relationship with India and Pakistan.

Though there is a lot that I need to learn to understand that part of the world, it seems that the type of fp the US had at least since the 1960s of aiding known bad guys as a ploy (including the Contras and OBL) in a complex geopolitical game was part of the problem there. That is the type of foreign policy I knew Kerry would change - because for decades, he was one of the few in government who spoke against it at the risk of sounding naive and idealist. It is Kerry's words that make me hope that Obama will stand against this as well.

[JI7]

2. Pakiston will be one of the toughest areas Obama will be dealing with

much of it is Bush's fault as everything he did just made things worse in all the years he has been in office(i guess this is true of everything).

but Obama understands this as he regularly brought it up in the Primary.

[BlueIris]

3. This situation is still an absolute powder keg. Here's hoping

the new administration has the best of all possible luck trying to help get it sorted out.