BBC News world
Pakistan's well-known lawyer, poet and politician Aitraz Ahsan has announced in a press conference on Thursday that he is still a part of the Pakistan People's Party.
He has also explained that he has an old friendship with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan and that his house and Imran Khan's house in Lahore's Zaman Park are connected to the wall.
But the question is, why did Aitzaz Ahsan feel the need to tell that he is a part of the People's Party?
Those who closely observe Aitzaz Ahsan's style of politics believe that this is not the first time that he has had to explain his political affiliation.
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan has seen Aitzaz Ahsan's advocacy and politics very closely for 17 years. He told BBC that there have been occasions before that Aitraz Ahsan had to give such explanations.
Gohar Ali said that since Aitzaz Ahsan also exercises his right to dissent within the Jamaat, that is why some people project his statements without knowing the background.
According to him, even within the Jamaat, there is mutual politics between different groups, then in such a context, when it is necessary, then it becomes necessary to give an explanation for having a difference of opinion.
Why does Aitzaz Ahsan have to give explanations?
Obviously, Aitzaz Ahsan can answer this question himself. And while explaining this, he also explained his political career.
Talking to BBC, Aitzaz Ahsan said that he had to give an explanation because a campaign was being launched against him continuously and every day some news was coming out in this regard.
He said that he has good relations with the political leadership of the country including Imran Khan and there is a relationship of mutual respect.
However, in response to a question, he said that the reason for his harsh tone regarding Nawaz Sharif is that he considers Nawaz Sharif responsible for the current disorder in the country.
"I never left Pakistan People's Party, I was kicked out"
Aitza Ahsan said that his relations with the leadership of his party are very good and he has not moved away from his party even for a day.
However, his response to joining Tehreek-e-Istiqlal during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's tenure was that he was expelled from the People's Party at that time and that he himself did not leave the party.
According to him, when the shot was fired on April 9, 1977, he had openly opposed the action, for which he was expelled from the party. According to him, after Zia-ul-Haq imposed martial law, he became part of the political struggle against him, for which he had to endure hardships and long imprisonment.
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, this was the time when PPP's comrades were also in jails with him and then this became the reason for his rejoining the PPP.
It should be noted that Aitzaz Ahsan has also held the positions of Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Law during Benazir's regime.
About Aitzaz Ahsan, writer Christina Lamb in her book 'Waiting for Allah' chooses harsh words, introducing him as a 'feminizer' minister in Benazir's cabinet.
A few years ago, during a media talk in the premises of the Supreme Court, in response to a journalist's question, Aitzaz Ahsan denied the allegation, calling it a "strong word".
An account of the political struggle against Pervez Musharraf
This is a topic on which Aitzaz Ahsan himself is currently compiling a book. According to him, the subject of his book is the lawyer movement and the atmosphere inside the court.
Aitzaz Ahsan is also the author of two books 'Indus Saga' and 'Divided by Democracy'.
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, when Pervez Musharraf imposed martial law, he first kicked out Nawaz Sharif from the Prime Minister's House. According to him, this was the period when he was the leader of the opposition in the Senate and was openly criticizing Nawaz Sharif and his style of politics for the past several years.
However, he told BBC that he received a request from Nawaz Sharif that 'I become his lawyer in the cases filed by Pervez Musharraf.' The famous and prominent lawyers who were considered very close to Sharif had distanced themselves from him.
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, regardless of Pervez Musharraf's martial law, he became Nawaz Sharif's lawyer and fought his case in the courts.
When Pervez Musharraf removed Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry from the post of Chief Justice
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, there was no dearth of lawyers in the country, but it was his 'luck' that the deposed Chief Justice's eyes fell on him. According to him, he fought Iftikhar Chaudhry's case regardless of the outcome and became a part of the lawyers' movement.
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, he was told that since his party, the People's Party, was not supporting the Lawyers' Movement, he should choose between the party and the Lawyers' Movement. According to Aitzaz, he told the lawyers that he can neither leave the party nor withdraw from the lawyers' movement, but he is ready to resign from the leadership of the movement.
However, according to him, the lawyers took the stand that it would not be easy to carry forward the movement without your leadership. And so he continued in spirit until the restoration of the Chief Justice of this movement.
After the lawyers' movement, Aitraz Ahsan announced that he would not appear in the court of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as a lawyer because he had been his lawyer.
In those days, lawyers used to ask him this question a lot that you will not leave us somewhere in the middle? One day, standing on the balcony of the Chief Justice's residence in Judges Colony, I said that Aitzaz Ahsan will not back down, no matter what the cost.
During the movement, when the lawyers raised slogans against the leadership of the People's Party and former President Asif Zardari in rallies and demonstrations, they used to take the microphone and sometimes begged the lawyers not to raise such slogans.
Once the lawyer leader Ali Ahmad Kurd made a strong speech and the news started coming out that a case of treason should be filed against him. That 'I accept the things done by Aitzaz Ahsan Man and Ali Ahmed Kurd and I also say the same things.'
Aitzaz Ahsan told his close lawyers that it was necessary to build a legal wall near Ali Kurd and now if someone makes a case of treason, not just one person but the whole movement will stand in front of him.
Nasir Iqbal, a senior reporter of the English newspaper Dawn, is among the close watchers of the lawyers' movement.
According to Nasir Iqbal, Aitzaz Ahsan was a very good lawyer in the beginning. However, I have not seen Aitzaz win any case for a long time.
According to him, at one time when he appeared in the case of Iftikhar Chaudhry, he used to argue in this case on a daily basis for several months.
According to Nasir Iqbal, he used the art of eloquence and poetry well in these arguments and gave reasoned arguments. He was enthusiastic, he spoke to the media, he came prepared, he was very confident.
According to Nasir, it was Aitzaz Ahsan's routine at that time to 'drive for hours, hold press conferences, go from city to city. Arriving early in the morning on the day of hearing the case and being very active in matters.
According to him, he remained ill after that and perhaps because of this, he could not practice law and politics. According to him, he did not see him so active after the case of Iftikhar Chaudhry.
It should be noted that Aitzaz Ahsan appeared in the court of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as a lawyer in the case of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, in which the court disqualified him for a period of five years for contempt of court.
However, in this case too, Aitzaz Ahsan argued for hours in a day and once told the bench headed by Iftikhar Chaudhry that a cousin of his in the traffic police told him that he was not standing to keep the traffic flowing on the roads. As much as you stand before the court as a lawyer.
The 2008 elections were boycotted due to the decision of the lawyers.
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, the impression that he has not been politically active after Iftikhar Chaudhry's case is not correct. According to him, he boycotted the 2008 elections in the light of the decision of the lawyers' movement. However, later he became a senator on the ticket of his party People's Party.
According to him, he played an active role in the Senate. According to Aitzaz Ahsan, it is true that his legal and political activities have decreased with age. According to him, when he was fighting the case of Iftikhar Chaudhry, he was 62 years old at that time, while today he is 78 years old.
According to him, he participated in this movement based on principles and fought the case of deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry against 16 'hostile' judges and one 'hostile' Army Chief Pervez Musharraf and then won the case.
When Aitzaz Ahsan was arrested during Pervez Musharraf's tenure, 30 US senators raised their voices for his release, including former President Obama, current President Joe Biden, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton and Senator Kennedy.
First position in CSS in United Pakistan and a love story
Aitzaz Ahsan confirmed that he had secured the first position in the CSS examination in the year 1970. According to him, at that time the present Bangladesh was also a part of Pakistan.
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, he did not do CSS out of love, but he definitely fell in love after CSS. According to him, despite the top position in the competitive examination, he preferred to start his journey as a lawyer and then became active in practical politics and has been making difficult statements and decisions in every era.
Referring to one of his recent statements, he said that he is surprised that what Azam Swati has said, he has already said and there is no difference between 19 and 20. However, he said that he believed that Azam Swati had been raped.
In response to a question, Aitzaz Ahsan said that "I give every statement a lot of thought."
According to Aitzaz Ahsan, in his more than four decades of politics, he has never said a word or phrase on the forum of the Parliament that the Speaker or the Senate Chairman had to delete.
According to Gohar Ali Khan, after appearing in courts for many years as lawyers, we used to talk about why Aitzaz Ahsan does not get angry and why he does not speak harshly to the judges. According to him, Aitzaz Ahsan is so 'composed' that even the judges have never been given a chance to get angry.
According to Nasir Iqbal, he has seen Aitzaz Ahsan appearing in several cases against former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, among other high profile cases.
clik here link
clik here link
Comments
Post a Comment