The lawyers were doing something right. Earlier this year when they began their movement, they appeared too narrowly focused on their demands for restoration of the judiciary and the constitution, reinstatement of the chief justice, and the ouster of Musharraf. I felt these demands were too limited, as they did not incorporate explicit calls for the rights of various oppressed groups - women, poor people, workers, prisoners, and religious minorities.

However, they shook the core of the military establishment. By questioning the arbitrary disappearances in Baluchistan and elsewhere, they challenged the military - an institution that is virtually unanswerable to anyone. They did this, particularly, by questioning the military's ability to control the political process, of Generals holding referenda to legitimize their rule, running for elections in uniform, and suspending the constitution. The judiciary was considering a case as to whether Musharraf could run for president in uniform before the -announcement of the emergency.

The Supreme Court also stopped the privatization of the Pakistan Steel Mills, which people felt was a corrupt deal benefiting private interests. Some speculated that the judiciary might intervene in the yet to be announced privatization of the Pakistan State Oil company. Ayesha Siddiqa's recent book, Military Inc., highlights the extent of the military's financial control of land and industry in Pakistan. The judiciary, however, had not yet challenged the establishment of military financial ventures.

The judiciary may not have been fighting for the rights of the poor and other oppressed groups directly, but they were presenting enough of a voice against the executive military arm of the government to be a formidable opponent. Using ethics, lawyer codes, discipline, and old school professionalism, they have united and mobilized lawyers by the thousands.

The lawyers both surprised and alarmed people by their sustained show of street power. Through the year, bar associations mobilized, and countless lawyers took to the streets calling for the Chief Justice's reinstatement. They were arrested and police attacked them with batons. However, they maintained visibility and continued protests. The top tier leaders, Munir Malik, Aitzaz Ahsan, and Ali Ahmed Kurd (all now in custody), toured the country all year with their demands for restoration of the judiciary.

Many judges have now refused to take Musharraf's loyalty oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order that suspends the Constitution under his emergency rule, and are under threat. Under the emergency, there are now an estimated 3500 political prisoners - many of whom are lawyers along with human rights workers, journalists, and political party workers.

The War in Waziristan: a Pretext for the Emergency?

War wages on in Waziristan. Its truths are disputed. The government claims it is attacking religious militants in Waziristan and Swat who threaten to impose a barbaric version of the Shariah law in all of Pakistan. Their rule would be havoc for women as they would prevent women from partici-pating in public life. In October 2007, the military bombed the village of Mirali killing 255 people. Many amongst them were civilians. Most of the village was evacuated.

I was at a civil society meeting where many articulated the dilemma for us progressives. We do not want religious extremism, but the army's bombing of civilians is abhorrent to us. Underlying this debate is the fact that the military fostered this religious extremism. The army trained such militants in the 1980s (with the help of the United States) to fight the Soviets. They now fight battles for the military, e.g. in Kashmir. And now, on assignment for the U.S's war on terror, the military is bombing not only its own countrymen, but its allies and protégés. Much of this area in the North, strongholds of the militant groups, are neglected economically. Many of the people there have had little economic opportunity to better their lives and have been susceptible to military recruitment.

Waziristan remains distant in the minds of people in urban centers. Independent news out of these regions is difficult to come by. Journalists in the past have been disappeared. A true picture of the make up of groups resisting the army remains unclear. It is also geographically far enough North that it does not yet feel that the level of violence there (aerial bombing) will spill over into cites like Karachi and Lahore.

Benazir Bhutto:the Only Real Opposition

The popular wisdom is that Benazir Bhutto's PPP (Pakistan People's Party) is the only party with the street power that can show resistance to Musharraf's emergency. However, Bhutto was busy finagling a deal with Musharraf to secure a third crack at prime ministership of the country.

When the deal seemed tenuous and she was placed under house arrest, she resorted to shows of street power. This story is under development; John Negroponte is talking to both Bhutto and Musharraf and the US is pushing for reconciliation between the two.

Some speculate that Bhutto's street power is an illusion and its supporters are paid party workers. Not true. People need a visible and powerful leader to represent their rights. A friend who spoke to a crowd gathered to greet Bhutto on October 18 said they expressed hope that she brings democracy. Her corruption and her courtship of Western elites to propel her back into government are obviously not a hindrance to her party's popularity. The PPP has laid roots working with communities in rural Sindh, the party has many workers, and it is not represented by her personality alone.

Civil Society and Progressive Movements

Farooq Tariq of the Labor Party said in a recent interview that he did not believe conspiracy theories about Bhutto's collaboration with the military establishment. Truth is that there are no real labor movements or left movements with the prowess of the Pakistan People's Party. It would not be pragmatic for parties that want social change to ignore the PPP and its support base.

Labor groups have not been visible in their protest against the emergency. This is not a coincidence, but connected to labor's de-politicization over the decades. Trade unions have consistently failed to mobilize labor to struggle for their rights. An example of this de-politicization is reflected in opposition to repressive laws like the Industrial Relations Ordinance (a rule promulgated by Musharraf's regime that significantly curtailed the rights of labor and unions). It is challenged mainly by the NGO sector and not the labor movement.

The students, too, have a history of gradual de-politicization through the 1980s and the 1990s. Students at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad have come out in protest against Musharraf's martial law. Despite their determined and continual rallies, the students, in general, are not organized around progressive politics. On most other campuses, party politics pervade and students align themselves with the PPP, the Jamaat-i-Islami, and other mainstream political parties.

On November 14, the police arrested national cricket hero and leader of his own political party (Movement for Justice), Imran Khan, as he attempted to lead a peaceful student procession at Punjab University (PU). Student members of the Jamaat-i-Islami (a religious party) collaborated with police to effect his arrest. On Friday, there were reports of spontaneous protests where PU students were successful in ousting the Jamaat workers from their campus.

I teach law in Karachi. My students are astute. They are aware of rights being chipped away and the implications of the emergency. But they are not prepared or trained to organize.

Many members of civil society, women's NGOs, journalists, professionals, political workers of left parties, came together in Karachi to build a resistance coalition. They have staged daily flash protests to register civil society's disapproval of Musharraf's -martial law and US influence on politics. But, there are class barriers to overcome, and these present obstacles to the community organizing necessary to build mass mobilizations.

Protests such as these have happened throughout the country - many participants have courted arrest and many of the rallies have captured the attention of Western media and cyberspace. However, their power is not in numbers or frequency yet.

The Journalists

The journalists are also protesting daily and facing police action. Musharraf's attack was on the media. The media seemed to be siding with the judiciary, covering their -protests, and reporting on the violence of May 12 in Karachi. He chided the media for abusing their freedom and for reporting that tarnished the image of Pakistan.

Major news channels like ARY and GEO were shut down on the day of the emergency. Since then they have been under constant attack. On November 18, GEO operations in Dubai were shut down when the Pakistani government pushed the UAE to do its bidding. Some news channels like DAWN are reporting but we are not getting any real news or analysis about the political alliances being formed, the precariousness of Musharraf's regime, or updates on arrested lawyers, judges, and political workers.

What are we to make of it?

With Negroponte paying lip service to democracy and chastising Musharraf, with support cropping up for the resistance in the US (Bar Associations of America have come out against the emergency) it is likely that the emergency may be called off before the January election. Compromised elections will eventually be held, and a shaky, cynical alliance between democratic parties like the PPP and the Muslim League may be formed. Military hegemony through economic and political control will remain. US dollars will flow in for the war on terror which is being fought on Pakistani soil against a nebulous enemy. And true democratic rights for the citizenry may not be realized.

For many it is life as usual in Karachi. Just as the violence in Waziristan appears distant - for many, so does violence in the slums of Karachi. Lyari is one such slum. Last week in Lyari, a gun battle between police, shop-keepers and PPP activists trying to shut down stores in protest of Bhutto's arrest, resulted in the death of two young boys.

The resistance of the lawyers has to pervade through society for there to be effective opposition to the military and its imperialist ally in the West. Civil society has to forge real and long-term alliances with the judiciary and the media if there is to be a real revolution for democracy.