Tedla Asfaw
Chief Judge Iftikhar Chaudery of Pakistan who was thrown with other judges by the former western loved dictator Musharraf is now reinstated to its former position by the organized protest which is a lesson to our own country. The protesters went out in force yesterday on the streets of Pakistan and planned to stage a huge demonstration today and the Pakistan government has back down after consulting with its western supporters.
Ms. Clinton was heard saying yesterday that the struggle in Pakistan is with the extremists and she wanted the government to focus on fighting Taliban and Pakistanis extremists. It is a shame that for her throwing judges to jail or the struggle to free them as was demanded by the majority of Pakistanis is not an issue that has to worry her.
Secretary of State, Ms. Clinton on her recent visit to Asia she made it also clear that she is not standing for human rights and rule of law and cajoling with dictators to get their help in fighting the world economic crisis and do business as usual. Now in Pakistan she affirmed that what she needs is a partner to fight American war. Is this the change the Obama was talking about on his campaign ?
On March 21, citizens in huge numbers are coming to Pentagon in D.C. to demand the end of war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Middle east and force the Obama Administration to focus on the big economic crisis at home. A bankrupt USA has not the means to fight multiple wars and people are demanding their tax dollars not to be spent in any kind of war.
For the world dictators who are suffocating their people with the help of USA military machine and tax dollars they should learn a big lesson from the Pakistanis mobilization that succeeded in forcing the release of their judges. Similar actions can be taken to secure the Ethiopian judge, Birtukan Mediksa, who is now behind bars for three months.
Members of the party she is leading, UDJP, tried to stage protest rally in Addis Ababa recently and the TPLF regime denied permit. The next step is to come out and challenge the authorities like the Pakistanis did and face the consequence. If the current leadership of UDJP is not be able to stage a protest it officially has to stop calling itself an opposition party and be disbanded.
The call in western cities for Judge Birtukan release has not produced any result so far because it is not supported by similar actions back home out of fear by current leadership of UDJP. Persons like Yackob Hailemariam are good only on radios and televisions lecturing law and scared to practice law on the streets of Ethiopia.
The grassroots supporters of UDJP should be supported by the masses of Ethiopians in a huge demonstration to demand for the unconditional release of Judge Birtukan Mediksa and all political prisoners. The financiers of Meles Zenawi will back down when they see an angry crowd that condemn both the ethnic apartheid rule of TPLF and their evil hands.
