I am copying the email from Pak-American org from my inbox here.
Pak-Americans Welcome SC's Decision, Demand Compliance, New Ambassador to US
Washington, D. C. - 12/16/09: Today, after the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared NRO null and void, the Pakistan American National Alliance (PANA), a US-wide coalition of Pakistani-American organizations, issued a statement "congratulating the entire Pakistani nation for winning yet another historic victory on the road to good governance; demanding full compliance with Supreme Court's injunctions and guidelines; and appointment of a new, trustworthy and competent, ambassador to the US."
"The humiliation experienced by the nation on
December 16, 1971 has finally been lifted on December 16, 2009," PANA founder Dr. Agha Saeed said. "We join our brothers and sisters in Pakistan in celebrating this moment of national redemption"
PANA has issued a four-point proposal addressed to PM Gillani:
1- Fully comply with Supreme Court's "ab initio" annulment of the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) and faithfully implement its injunctions and guidelines;
2- Legislate and support independent roles for the Election Commission and the National Accountability Bureau in keeping with the letter and spirit of the Charter of Democracy. Supreme Court's decisions cannot be faithfully implemented without such empowerment,
3- Support the judiciary rejuvenate presently comatose investigations into the missing persons' cases, particularly Dr. Aafia's case; and
4- Appoint a trustworthy, professional, and competent Pakistani ambassador to the US.
The statement issued by the Pakistan American National Alliance (PANA) in part reads:
We, Pakistani Americans, congratulate the entire nation of Pakistan at this historic victory which furnishes the legal foundation for establishing transparency and accountability.
We believe that the Supreme Court's decision gives PM Gillani a rare opportunity to save the nation from the rapidly deepening crisis. Available to him are two unprecedented resources: a fully energized civil society led by an increasingly aware and engaged middle class, and, a ready reserve of solutions, techniques and mechanisms innovated by various civil society institutions like PILDAT.
We believe that faithful compliance with Supreme Court's decision by PM Gillani necessitates immediate and purposeful implementation of following measures:
National Reconciliation Order (NRO)
Today's Supreme Court decision gives Pakistan a rare opportunity of putting its house in order. Yet only five inter-effective steps can accomplish this goal: submitting to the will of the nation, complying with the judicial injunctions, empowering transparency-and-accountability-ensuring institutions, disciplining the bureaucracy, and purging the federal cabinet of corrupt and incompetent ministers.
However, we feel that nullification of NRO further obliges the Gillani government to repeal the 17th Amendment, recover fraudulently "forgiven" loans, secure unpaid taxes, and fix legal loopholes that favor Pakistan's corrupt elites.
The magnitude of PM Gillani's unconditional compliance with Supreme Court's decisions and implementation of its verdict in letter and spirit will provide a measure of his integrity and acumen.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
Although, its mission statement commits NAB to "work to eliminate corruptionthrough a comprehensive approach encompassing prevention, awareness, monitoring and combating," yet, regrettably, to date NAB has utterly failed to achieve these self-determined goals.
PM Gillani could fix this problem by immediately implementing Article 13 (d) of the Charter of Democracy, which calls for replacement of "politically motivated NAB with an independent accountability commission, whose chairman shall be nominated by the prime minister in consultation with the leader of opposition and confirmed by a joint parliamentary committee with 50 per cent members from treasury benches and remaining 50 per cent from opposition parties in same manner as appointment of judges through transparent public hearing."
Given that all political parties have publicly supported the principle and process of creating an independent accountability commission, PM Gillani can move expeditiously if he so intends.
Missing Persons' Cases
On page 237 of his book, In the Line of Fire, General Musharraf has indicted himself by admitting, "We have captured 689 and handed over 369 to the United States. Various Pakistani individuals have earned bounties totaling millions of dollars. Those who habitually accuse us of "not doing enough" in the war on terror should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid to Pakistanis."
According to the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association, almost 9000 missing Pakistanis remain unaccounted for despite repeated orders by superior courts.
Therefore, we urge PM Gillani to truthfully, sincerely, and wholeheartedly cooperate with the Supreme Court and institute stiff punishments for those bureaucrats and military officials not complying with judicial orders and guidelines.
A New Pakistani Ambassador to the US
While, the Western media has declared Pakistan the epicenter of worldwide violence and lawlessness, two successive governments in Pakistan have miserably failed to plead its case before the international community, particularly to the people, media, and government of the United States. During the last two years, narcissistic diplomats of questionable integrity have been damaging Pakistan's standing in the world by misrepresenting the wishes of Pakistani people.
The best method of getting out of a hole is to stop digging. It cannot be overemphasized that given the present realities, there is no diplomatic assignment demanding the appointment of the most skilled diplomat than our embassy in Washington.
Therefore, we Pakistani Americans, who are uniquely qualified to understand the "ground realities" in the United States, urge Prime Minister Gillani to appoint a new ambassador who should be thoroughly professional and a career diplomat.
The new ambassador should have a proven track record of undivided loyalty to Pakistan; an unimpeachable commitment to Pakistan's national interests; profound knowledge of history, societies, systems, and international relations; ability to engage the Pakistani-American community and earn its respect; and a thorough grasp of challenges the country presently faces in arguing Pakistan's case before the international community, especially the U.S. .
For More Information Contact:
SALIM AKHTAR, ,
BESTUSA80@HOTMAIL.COM