[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 176 (Wednesday, November 14, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H13943-H13944]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TIME FOR PAKISTAN TO STOP BEING A DICTATORSHIP

  (Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, Thirty years ago, I was 
in law school studying, among other things, the Constitution and 
deepening my passion for freedom under law. With me at Santa Clara Law 
School was Munir Malik. That small Jesuit institution instilled in me a 
sense of duty to stand for principle that led me to this House. That 
same sense of duty led Malik to leave behind a lucrative career as a 
CPA and lawyer to return to Pakistan. Last year, he was named president 
of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association. This May, he was the 
target of an assassination attempt. And, this month, he was arrested by 
our ally. Our ally? President Musharraf. His crime? Standing up for the 
rule of law.
  Musharraf is liberating al Qaeda members in the western territories 
while arresting judges and lawyers who believe in law. Pakistan is 
using our money to do it.
  It's time for Pakistan to tell us where Malik and the other lawyers 
are. Time for Pakistan to set them free. Time for Pakistan to stop 
being a dictatorship.
  I include for the Record a letter from the faculty at Santa Clara Law

[[Page H13944]]

School asking for a return to the rule of law and the release of their 
former student.

Statement by Members of the Faculty of Santa Clara University School of 
          Law on General Musharraf's Abrogation of Rule of Law

       We are deeply concerned about the abrogation of the Rule of 
     Law in Pakistan. General Musharraf, in a brazen attempt to 
     perpetuate his own rule, has used his state apparatus to 
     disband the highest courts of the country. Thousands of 
     lawyers, journalists, judges, human rights activists have 
     been jailed. in many cases families have no idea of the 
     whereabouts of the detainees.
       Our own concern is particularly sparked by the arrest and 
     detention of one of our graduates, Muneer Malik, the 
     Immediate Past President of the Pakistani Supreme Court Bar 
     Association. His fate is, of course, merely a small part of 
     the overall tragedy taking place but as we know him to be a 
     conscientious, industrious lawyer dedicated to the welfare of 
     his country, and not in the least a threat to law and order; 
     he symbolizes the injustice being practiced.
       We, in fact, are not an organized political group. We have 
     never before joined in a statement of this sort with each 
     other. What brings us together in this plea is the fact that 
     we are all professors of law who teach in the law school 
     which graduated Mr. Malik and who share a respect for the 
     rule of law. We deplore what has happened. We assume that 
     many more people like him have been swept from public view. 
     The Supreme and High Court judges have been locked in their 
     own homes. Police have stormed into bar-association 
     gatherings and have manhandled lawyers, some of them women, 
     some of them septuagenarian! TV stations have been blacked 
     out and police vans are carting off telecommunication 
     equipment from private TV stations.
       The U.S. must use all its influence and in no uncertain 
     terms demand the restoration of the Supreme Court status quo 
     ante Nov 2nd 2007. It must demand the immediate release of 
     and accounting for all persons who have been jailed after the 
     promulgation of the so-called emergency. It should be 
     recalled that President Musharraf removed the Chief Justice 
     once before, a short while ago, and that he was forced to 
     rescind his order because of the pressure of world opinion. 
     The embattled civil society in Pakistan must realize that 
     America stands for the rule of Law and the liberty of all 
     peoples.
       Signed by:
       George Alexander, Dean and Professor of Law Emeritus.
       Patricia Cain, Inez Mabie Professor of Law.
       Colleen Chien, Assistant Professor of Law.
       Rev. Paul Goda, S.J., Professor of Law.
       Allen Hammond, Phil and Bobbie San Filippo Professor of 
     Law.
       Ellen Kreitzberg Professor of Law.
       Philip Jimenez Professor of Law.
       Jean Love Elizabeth H. and John A. Sutro Professor of Law.
       Gary Neustadter Professor of Law.
       Michelle Oberman Professor of Law.
       Robert Peterson Professor of Law.
       Mack Player Professor of Law and Director, Center for 
     Global Law and Policy.
       Margaret Russell Professor of Law.
       Catherine Sandoval Assistant Professor of Law.
       Jiri Toman Professor of Law.
       Gerald Uelman Professor of Law and Director, California 
     Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice.
       Stephanie Wildman Professor of Law and Director, Center for 
     Social Justice and Public Service.
       Nancy Wright Professor of Law.
       Eric Wright Professor of Law.
       David Yosifon Assistant Professor of Law.

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