Pakistan

Pakistan’s Supreme Court, Disrespected and Dissolved
(Despite Having a Theme Song)

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Pakistan Flag.jpgSeveral of you have requested a post about recent events in Pakistan. So here you go.
Truth be told, what’s going on over there — namely, a wholesale assault on civil society and the rule of law — isn’t typical ATL fodder. It’s deadly serious stuff, so it doesn’t fall under the entertainment prong of ATL’s mission. And it has nothing to do with “NY to 190,” so it doesn’t qualify under this site’s greed promotion function.
But the Pakistani protests are not completely devoid of more lighthearted aspects. Jezebel offers this take:

Is it too obvious that our initial reaction to all those shots of lawyers in protest of military rule in Pakistan was, “Umm that’s sort of hot!” a thought that led immediately to the query, “But are they as hot as those monks protesting military rule in Burma a month back?” Of course it is! And would it be kind of TMZ of us to run a thoroughly meaningless poll wondering what you think about this pressing issue? Very much so!

You can vote in the poll over here.
And there’s more. From a reader:

The Pakistan Supreme Court has an official “50th Anniversary Theme Song” from last year, entitled “And Justice For All.” It even has a bonus video! It’s dreadfully earnest, and is rather ironic given the circumstances.

The new version will be called “And Justice For All — Unless the President Says Otherwise.”

You can check out the video here (wmv file). Even though the Pakistani Supreme Court’s website has already been updated — to show Abdul Hameed Dogar as the “new” chief justice, and to scrub all references to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and the other ousted jurists — the video is still available. So enjoy it now, before it gets taken down.
Finally, in a gesture towards real journalism, we present the house arrest order against prominent Pakistani lawyer Asma Jahangir, as well as an email from her.
Check out these items, after the jump.

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(Despite Having a Theme Song)”

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Sucks To Be This Guy

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Osama bin Laden Usama Bin Laden lookalike doppelganger Above the Law blog.JPGFalse arrests: they’re not just an American phenomenon. From ABC News (via Drudge, of course):

An Afghan tribesman with an uncanny resemblance to Osama bin Laden has now been arrested twice, both times following reported sightings and massive manhunts for the al Qaeda leader, Pakistani intelligence officials tell ABC News.

Over six feet tall and with the same angular nose as bin Laden, Sher Akbar comes from an Afghan village, Bagh e Metal, in an area where U.S. officials believe bin Laden has been hiding.

Best part of the article:

[A Pakistani intelligence] official said an extensive investigation involving Pakistani and U.S. intelligence officers found that the look-alike has no connection to bin Laden, but that local residents had tried to collect rewards based on Akhbar’s resemblance to bin Laden.

(And in case you’re wondering, no, this item did not come from The Onion.)
Look-alike Arrested Twice; Close But No Bin Laden [ABC News]

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