“Disappearing” Pakistanis
Pakistan has seen a lot of civic unrest over the past few week with street demonstrations and hunger strikes. Lawyers and media in particular are very concerned that President Pervez Mussharraf, who is both chief of the armed forces and political leader, has removed the country’s Chief Justice from office. The judge’s activism was apparently the problem for the government, and one of the issues he had raised was the ‘disappearance’ of 400 under post 9/11 terror laws. Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Muslim States and Society at the University of Western Australia says Pakistan is in a difficult position, having to appear tough on terror but also now in needing to show the West that they are democratic. She says since 9/11 the gap between rich and poor in Pakistan has grown, and the judge’s removal has becomea focus for general discontent.