Hizb ut Tahrir Britain will distribute tens of thousands of copies of a new leaflet this Friday 9th November 2007 all over the UK explaining the causes of the recent events in Pakistan. The leaflet can be read below.

On the 3rd of
November 2007, General Pervez Musharraf suspended the constitution of
Pakistan, sacked the Chief Justice, closed down private TV stations and
arrested leading politicians in an attempt, in his words, to save
Pakistan from ‘suicide’. However, contrary to Musharraf’s contention,
the subsequent events reveal that his primary role has been to put
western interests first and not those of the Muslims of Pakistan.

These events occurred a day after Admiral William J. Fallon, head of US Central Command met with him and other leaders. The talks were kept secret but on the 5th November 2007, the Guardian newspaper revealed that in a phone call, Musharraf had discussed emergency rule with Prime Minister Gordon Brown the night before he declared the state of emergency. The report said: "A Musharraf aide told the Guardian that the Pakistani president had ‘satisfied’ objections raised by Mr Brown during the conversation. ‘There was pressure from the US and Britain in the beginning. But later on, when the government gave them the detail that elections will be held on time, and the president will take off his uniform, they did not have any objections,’ the official said."

Despite what can only be described as an overthrow of the rule of law, the predictable public response from London and Washington was talk of ‘disappointment’, ‘concern’ and the continued aspirations of democracy for Pakistan. David Miliband, Britain’s Foreign Secretary’s benign statement contrasted starkly with the utter disgust and messianic talk of sanctions he and the so called international community recently levelled at the military dictatorship in Burma. Having given a state banquet to the Saudi dictator at the beginning of the week and unstinting support to the Pakistani dictator at the end of the week, America and Britain’s moral authority continues to free fall at a breathtaking speed. Miliband even called on Muslims to support Benazir Bhutto’s return saying "We hope that the strong communities in the UK of Pakistani origin will also use their contacts through family and business to make the case for democracy and the rule of law.’

In his address to the nation, General Musharraf blamed ‘extremists’, ‘terrorists’, journalists, lawyers, satellite television stations, opposition politicians, the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice. He even criticised the Islamabad police for not doing their job because of concern about what the Supreme Court would say. The General’s desperate attempts to blame everyone but himself will fool no one. It is clear that it is Musharraf himself who has brought the country to the brink of suicide. It is he, and his American masters through their war on terror, that have brought the country to its knees – destroying security and precipitating fragmentation. By supporting NATO’s illegal occupation of Afghanistan, he has helped to deliver chronic instability on both sides of the border. By massacring his own citizens in Waziristan, the Lal Masjid and Swat he has brought violence to the streets of the country while his divisive policies in NWFP, Balochistan and Karachi are threatening the very unity of Pakistan he purports to be so concerned about.

He is the only leader in history who has undertaken a coup against the very institutions he has set up. He, and no one else, has been in power for eight years. Eight years of incompetence, broken promises, American hegemony and corruption are his record. No amount of empty rhetoric can camouflage this. He blames so called extremists for opposing him, ignoring the fact that his alliance with the US is unpopular amongst every strata of Pakistani society. Musharraf claims that ‘extremists’ are creating a ‘state within a state’ and that the writ of the government is being challenged. However, this rings hollow to those living in Karachi, presided over by his MQM allies who run the city like a tribal fiefdom; and those in rural Punjab currently run by his feudal landlord cronies in the PML. It rings hollow given the fact that he has allowed the American security apparatus, the FBI, the CIA and US military forces to operate in Pakistan as if it were Nebraska. Musharraf’s frequent citing of Pakistan’s need to regain its sovereignty would be considered more credible if he hadn’t already outsourced Pakistan’s sovereignty over foreign policy to America, its economic policy to IMF bankers and domestic policy to the feudal landlords.

The key reason for the state of emergency is not for the best interests of Pakistan but concerns about how best to execute the interests of America’s militant foreign policy. By eliminating opposition in the judiciary and the political classes, Musharraf hopes to continue his violent crusade against the Muslims in Waziristan, Afghanistan and the NWFP unfettered. This policy squarely aligns him with the neo-conservatives in Washington and the Bush administration that have already cited Pakistan’s tribal areas as being a safe haven for ‘terrorists’. Despite the Pakistan army’s deep reluctance to fight against its own people, often preferring to surrender, Musharraf claims that such military failures are due to overzealous judicial activism. It is clear from his address that Musharraf is determined to accelerate his campaign of carnage in the NWFP to eliminate Islamic opposition, backed to the hilt by Special Forces from the United States.

Musharraf like every past dictator detests the principle of accountability, a key cornerstone of the Islamic political system. He detests being accounted because it is the main obstacle to his corrupted vision for Pakistan. An accountability which views his extrajudicial arrests as illegal and that innocent prisoners should be released not tortured; an accountability that believes Pakistan’s natural and economic assets should not be sold off cheaply to foreign companies; an accountability that questions the legality of a man to be head of state when he is subservient to the USA; an accountability that brings to book his government for its failure to tackle poverty or to challenge the power of the feudal landlords; an accountability that questions the government’s use of force against its own citizens in relation to Lal Masjid, Waziristan and Swat.

The people of Pakistan want their leaders accountable to them not to the heads of foreign powers. Many of the people Musharraf wants to kill are those who merely want to see the implementation of the Islamic Shariah through the Khilafah – a view that most Muslims agree with. Pakistan does not need another of Musharraf’s secular crusades, nor does it want the return of discredited politicians. The people of Pakistan do not want to live under either secular military rule or secular feudal rule. Only a strong Khilafah system can govern a country that was created in the name of Islam.

Dear Muslims! The British Foreign Secretary who helped facilitate the deal with Benazir Bhutto to secure Musharraf’s position has asked that you support his call to return Benazir. We ask you to support the call of Allah, to use your voice and influence and connections to join the Muslims in Pakistan in a call for a real change – which means both a new leadership and a new system – the Khilafah system.

As Allah (swt) calls us in the Quran:

"O you who believe! Answer the call of Allah (swt) and His Messenger to that which gives you Life."
[Translated Meaning of Quran Surah Anfal : 24]

Hizb ut-Tahrir UK Executive Committee
www.hizb.org.uk

4th November 2007
23rd Shawwal 1428

HIZB UT-TAHRIR WILL BE HOLDING A CONFERENCE ON THE CRISIS IN PAKISTAN ON 1ST DECEMBER AT 6PM – FRIENDS HOUSE, EUSTON ROAD, LONDON NW1.