A kangaroo court is a judicial tribunal or assembly that blatantly disregards recognized standards of law or justice, and often carries little or no official standing in the territory within which it resides."
Merriam-Webster defines it as "a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted".[SUP][1][/SUP]
World: South Asia
Bhutto blasts 'Kangaroo court'
Benazir Bhutto has been giving her reaction to the court decision in Pakistan to sentence her to five years in jail on charges of corruption. Watch the interview in full The case rests on documents made available by a Swiss investigating magistrate. But, in an interview with BBC World television, Ms Bhutto said the documents are forgeries.
Edited transcript of interview between Benazir Bhutto and the BBC's Stephen ColeI know the Pakistani regime has been seeking my elimination, and to that purpose they have fabricated charges and sent them to judges who are close family associates of theirs.
Our defence witness was supposed to testify today. I have been denied defence witnesses in this trial.
My husband was allowed two defence witnesses, but when one of those witnesses came, be was suddenly told he could not speak.
I believe that this order was passed to try and divert international order away from Pakistan's ballistic tests yesterday, and the decision of a British court the day before, fining the Prime Minister's (Nawaz Sharif's) family over $30m.
Do you think this will end your political career?
I certainly hope not. The people of Pakistan know that these charges are (politically) motivated; that I have been denied a fair trial; that my lawyers were arrested during the course of the trial; that I was not even allowed a single defence witness.
The defence arguments were not even over. So what has happened is not a court trial, it's a kangaroo court -- it's the murder of a trial.
Will you be appealing -- is it worth appealing?
Yes, I think we will be appealing. I think the government wants this case heard before July, because in July they are going to appoint a new Chief Justice, and they want to bargain with the next Chief Justice over my fate. So I want to talk to my lawyers to see how we can get this case heard afterwards, but I would also appeal to human rights organisations to come to Pakistan and examine the court record, because if they examine it, they will find that the person who acted wrongly was the judge, and not me.
App PTI walay social media pe Pakistan k sab se ziada chahay janay wali jamat aor awam ko ghar ki dehleez pe insaf faraham kernay walay judges k khilaaf apna propoganda band ku nahi kar rahay hain ?
App k iss propoganda ki wajah se aaj gawadar pe discussion nahi ho saki warna hum ne Aj rat ko yeh port fully operational ker k iss ki income main se amreeka ko qarz denay ka plan bana lia thaa. Ab Pakistan phir kayee dahayeeyan prechay chala gya hai
Ye wo hi noora hai jis ne Cheif Justice Sajjad Ali Shah k khilaf judges ko kharedne k lie Quetta k lie ek jehaz bhejwaya tha jis men croron rupees the jo us waqt k judges ko deke superem court ka satyanas karwadia tha koi nahi bhola aj tak en Be ghairton ko..
Ye wo hi noora hai jis ne Cheif Justice Sajjad Ali Shah k khilaf judges ko kharedne k lie Quetta k lie ek jehaz bhejwaya tha jis men croron rupees the jo us waqt k judges ko deke superem court ka satyanas karwadia tha koi nahi bhola aj tak en Be ghairton ko..
It would be better if at the end he also tell how much money he get to write a column :) ; about IK i know he don't like , but about GEO and gang group and their ppl i am 90% sure they all only lie
Benazir Bhutto given five-year jail term and 5m fine for corruption
Pakistan's former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was yesterday sentenced to five years' imprisonment for corruption, disqualified from holding public office and fined more than 5 million.The high court in the city of Rawalpindi handed the same sentence to her senator husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who has been held at a Karachi jail since 1996. He faces other charges, including involvement in the murder of his brother-in-law. The court also found Bhutto - daughter of the late prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Pakistan's only woman prime minister - and Zardari guilty of receiving kickbacks on a government contract with a Swiss firm during her second term of office in 1994. The prosecution alleged that the contract was awarded for illegal monetary gain, leading to huge financial loss to the national exchequer. Yesterday's verdict was the first reached in a series of trials on charges of widespread corruption during Bhutto's two terms in office. It was not clear if she had been immediately stripped of her membership of the national assembly. Bhutto's second government was dismissed abruptly by President Farooq Leghari in 1996 amid allegations of widespread corruption and economic incompetence. Her first term as prime minister came to a similar end in 1990. In all, Bhutto and her husband have been accused of stealing as much as 62 million - charges they deny. Bhutto, who is currently visiting London, described the high court verdict as 'an act of injustice', and said the people of Pakistan knew the trial was not fair. 'The present government wants to try and eliminate me from politics,' she said. She said that although she would be arrested on her return to Pakistan, she would go back to her country within a week. It is expected that her lawyers will already have lodged an appeal with the supreme court.
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In Islamabad, officials of Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party denounced the high court in Rawalpindi, saying:'It was a kangaroo trial by a kangaroo court.' But the government of Nawaz Sharif - her arch rival - was delighted with the verdict. Senator Saifur Rehman, a senior member of the ruling party and the man who has spearheaded the campaign to have Bhutto convicted of corruption, said it was a 'foolproof case of corruption and money-laundering', which they would have no difficulty defending at appeal hearings. The information minister, Mushahid Hussain, said the verdict was a crucial judgment 'because, for the first time, a ranking politician has been convicted for corruption', setting the precedent for a new culture of accountability within Pakistan's notoriously corrupt political elite. Public reaction is likely to be mixed. Many Pakistanis, including Bhutto's traditional supporters, have felt let down by her during her time in office. There were high expectations that she would introduce reforms to establish democracy and the rule of law in the country after a decade of military rule. But few progressive measures were introduced and public anger mounted as allegations of corruption emerged. Zardari was particularly disliked. Bhutto's party's devastating defeat in the 1997 elections bore testimony to the extent of public disillusionment. But many people sympathise with Bhutto's claims that the allegations of corruption against her were part of a 'political witch-hunt' by the government to eliminate the opposition. Despite winning a huge majority in the elections two years ago, the prime minister, Mr Sharif, has systematically removed anyone he believes threatens his power.
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So far, the chief justice of the supreme court, the president and the chief of the army staff have all been forced to resign and have been replaced by candidates believed sympathetic to the regime. There has also been a vicious campaign against sections of the press perceived as being too critical. More importantly for the opposition, however, Mr Sharif has changed the organisation of the body set up to investigate corruption cases to ensure that his right-hand man, Senator Rehman, has been able to control which cases have gone to trial in the courts. 'This is a political witch-hunt,' said a leading commentator, Najam Sethi, 'to the extent that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has launched corruption cases against his opponents.' On the other hand, Mr Sethi points out, none of the corruption cases brought by the opposition against Mr Sharif and his government have been investigated. Regardless of the fairness of her trial, Bhutto's turbulent political career is at a critical point. If she is to survive and re-emerge as a political force to be reckoned with, she will have to rally public support across Pakistan. It is not clear whether people will rally in large numbers in the streets on her behalf. In London yesterday, Benazir Bhutto declared she would appeal against Pakistan's sentence. Putting a brave face on a 'savage' act By Nick Hopkins For a woman who said she was 'shocked and traumatised' by her conviction, Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, put on a bravura performance yesterday, railing against the judiciary and vowing to force her political enemies out of office. Speaking from her sister's flat in west London, Ms Bhutto said she had heard about the verdict from the Pakistani ambassador a few hours after a late-night phone conversation with her lawyers. She said the judge had acted in a 'draconian and savage' way. 'I could not believe it. There is not one iota of evidence that I was individually responsible for this. Proving innocence before a judge whose father hanged my father, before a judge who is a close family associate of [the prime minister] Nawaz Sharif. 'That judge is not impartial, he's not fair, he's not doing justice. I knew I was not going to get a fair trial but I did not think that he would be so corrupt.' Ms Bhutto said she wanted to return to Pakistan but would wait until her lawyers lodged an appeal at the Supreme Court - her only hope for quashing the conviction. 'I hope the Supreme Court gives me leave to appeal. If precedent is anything to go by, then it should. I am worried about the future. I am worried about my children. I've lived under the possibility of being arrested for the last two and a half years. 'Obviously I would rather not end up in jail, but you have to take your chances. I want to fight on. 'Life is full of risks, and I am planning to go back within the month. I am happy to say that the people of Pakistan have rejected these charges and I hope the Supreme Court will give me justice.' Ms Bhutto foresees complications. Pakistan is due to appoint a new chief justice in July and she fears the choice will be political and she will be used as 'a bargaining chip'. 'I would like to think the judiciary will rise above all this. I hope the judiciary can put up with the pressures.' Ms Bhutto described how the government had tormented her since she left office.
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She said her property had been taken, including ancestral homes. She said she was being tried under new laws which had been passed solely to make her life difficult. However, Ms Bhutto said she had been buoyed by the support she had received from the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and thought people realised that Mr Sharif was a 'dangerous man'. She said the prime minister was trying to 'demolish the opposition', deflecting attention from his own problems, including being drawn into tit-for-tat missile launches with India. Mrs Bhutto admitted she is hungry for office again. 'Without a doubt, given a free and fair election, the people of Pakistan would vote for the PPP - and for me - because they were better off under the PPP. 'Certainly, they were disappointed with some of our policies, but I think they understand the PPP has learned from its mistakes.'
bas yehi wo wahid moka tha ke supreme court ne nawaz sharif ke khilaaf faisal diya. uska nateeja ye hua ke nawaz ne gullu ke zariye supreme court pe hamla karwadiya.
