Adil Najam
This is a shocking picture.
I too was shocked to see it right on the top half of the front page of Dawn (29 December, 2006). I was even more shocked to read the details of this incident that took place in Rawalpindi:
Police broke up a protest demonstration organised by family members and relatives of missing persons, badly beating and arresting several of them after they tried to march to the GHQ to present a memorandum to the Vice-Chief of the Army Staff. More than a hundred people, mostly women and children belonging to the families of the disappeared, arrived in groups to the square in front of the Flashman’s Hotel. According to the organisers of the protest, the participants had planned to peacefully march to the GHQ to register their concern over the detention of their loved-ones, who they say, have been in the custody of the army and secret agencies for the last several years.
Eyewitnesses said the trouble began when a heavy contingent of police, led by SP Yasin Farooq, SP Muhammad Azam and DSP Rana Shahid, pushed some of the protesters inside the hotel’s boundary wall, shoving and manhandling them badly. After some time more protesters arrived and started shouting slogans against the police. Those who had been detained inside the hotel also came out to join them. This led to skirmishes between police and the protesters. According to the eyewitnesses, the protest took a turn for the worse when the police stripped a young man, Mohammad bin Masood, the son of missing Masood Janjua. The witnesses said even then the police continued to drag him, finally throwing him into a police van.
The incident enraged other protesters, especially the man’s young sister, who started crying and flagellating herself. The police also shoved aside the father of a missing man and later arrested him. After having failed to march to the GHQ, the protesters blocked the Mall Road for about three hours. Police and protesters fought running battles for some time. Scared by police highhandedness and arrests, a young girl and a small child lost consciousness and fell on the road, the eyewitnesses said.
Unbowed and determined, the protesters refused to leave the place, end the protest and open the road until the arrested men were released. Later, on an assurance from SP Azam that the detained men would be released, the protesters dispersed peacefully. However, the younger brother of detained Mohammad bin Masood told Dawn by telephone that his brother had not been released by the police. The eyewitnesses said that besides an old man and Mohammad bin Masood, several women had been detained and not released till late in the evening.
The report of the incident in The News, adds the following:
Placard-holding women and children held a demonstration close to Flashmans Hotel here. But the police force stopped the procession going beyond Flashmans Hotel. “We planned a ‘freedom walk’ and wanted to hand over a letter to the vice chief of army staff in the General Headquarters (GHQ),� said Amina Masood, whose husband Masood Ahmed Janjua has been missing since July 30, 2005. Masood is among at least 105 persons missing from all over the country during the last five to six years. The SSPs, SHOs and dozens of constables from various police stations of Rawalpindi were deployed at the roadsides and tried their best to disperse the procession that lasted nearly two hours.
A handful of policewomen were also present at the rally and helped their male colleagues once the protesting women tried to walk towards the GHQ. “Do we belong to the same country,� questioned one aggrieved woman from an SHO when she was stopped. “Do we have arms in our hand? Why are you stopping us?� she shouted. The women shouted slogans and demanded the release of their males before Eid-ul-Azha. Some of the women and their children were even crying. In an unfortunate incident that could easily have been avoided by the security personnel a young man, Mohammad bin Masood, son of Masood Ahmed, was dragged into a police van and forcibly driven away from the scene.
The shame here is not on the young man without his shalwar. It is on the police for allowing this to happen. And in some ways it is all our shame.
My first reaction on seeing the picture was that maybe the young man’s shalwar fell off in the scuffle. The News story calls it “unfortunate incident that could easily have been avoided”; Dawn, however, suggests that he was “stripped.” In either case, the indignity inflicted on the young man is reprehensible. Even more reprehensible is that 105 individuals are ‘missing’ without their families having any news of them.
Here at ATP we try to be as fair and even-handed as possible. We have praised the police in a number of posts when it has done well (here and here). We try to highlight what is blatantly wrong (here and here) when we see it. Silly attempts to spread lies is one thing; disappearances are quite another. They do not do anyone any good and cause irreparable harm to the reputation of the country, and to all of us. To those who worry about Pakistan’s image internationally, we have asked before, and we ask again: Who is giving Pakistan a bad name?
But this is not about ‘image.’ This is about the reality of disappearances. If these people have committed crimes, then let them be charged and presented in courts. And if they are not, then the guilt and the crime is not theirs, but of whoever holds them.
Educate the masses about their rights. Feel the difference…
Here is my conclusion
1. In our history the same patterns keep repeating.
2. Never underestimate the people even if they are illiterate.
Baber, yes I agree - Lets not flood this board further - its already spilling
Just two things I will say before concluding :
1. It wouldn’t be fair to compare Musharraf with Zia and others before him.
2. All of us have answers for all the questions - yet fail to uplift Pakistan’s status and stature in the world. Yep, its the military !!!
So long…
The only reason we don’t have democracy is because of the PAK ARMY interference in politics. We don’t need to have western style democracy atleast the govt should be of people, Look at India they never had martial law. As for failed state status under Nawaz Shariff, you can’t entirely blame him for it , and status has not changed. Do you really think the current govt really represents the people? Don’t try to make democracy sound something impossible to achieve. Its simple PEOPLE’S GOVENMENT NOT MILITARY’S GOVT. Forget the refernce, SARADR and MUSHARRAF same shit, they all together and hurdle in the path of democracy. I have answer to all your question, but then you will ask more questions. I don’t mind but it will be like flodding this discussion board. You can say NAWAZ stupidity led to MUSHARRAF. But what led to AYUB, ZIA and YAHYA. These dictators would make up reason to get in and rule. As for revolution against sardars and establishmnet, I am for it not against it. Seriously, I don’t think Musharraf or any other COAS will bring democracy look at Zia-Junajo Yahyeh-Bhutto. Musharraf’s best friends the chaudhary cousins are no lesser evil then Benazirs gangsta husband.
Right Daktar, not only our opinions but also the priniciples differ. All I am saying is if you want to have democracy, have it all the way - anything half-assed will not be very useful or beneficial. Also to impose democracy without substance and legal framework and proper representation is nothing but a joke.
These issues and problems need to be fixed by all means before a true democracy can be established. Just to have “fair” elections among aristocrats and form a civilian government does not qualify it as a democracy.
And to tow this democracy line on false pretenses and lack of infrastructure legally and otherwise will not achieve it. Its like asking a bunch of pseudo and non-skilled engineers to build some fabulous machine without understanding the physics and mechanics behind it - it will never happen or will be seriously flawed. Better approach would be to train and educate these guys and then provide them the opportunity to build this machine. That way they will save time in the long run and would have produced a machine based on solid science whose future scalability and improvements will be dependent upon its strong foundation - the one that doesn’t crumble everytime you build something on top of it over and over again.
The only key and tricky part is who trains, how, and for how long? So obviously there has to be a transition and some statesman who will supervise this transitional period till the maturity for such a system is achieved. The nation has to trust this person and get behind him with checks and balances to achieve such goals - Otherwise the future outlook will be nothing but hopelessness… repeating the same errors and not learning about what went wrong. There are no short-cuts - but a thoughtful future planning. If a change is proposed, it better be a better and proven one and not the one that reverts back to the failed experiments of past.
PS: For issues such as this, you can either condemn them or do something about it. It all depends on how you see things and how personal principles and opinions dictate it.
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Also will be keeping a running total of condemnations from your types once the democracy [read: aristocracy] “returns” [read: farse] to Pakistan. Tell me your democracy is so decent to honour Supreme Court of Pakistan
Supreme Court Attack
I wonder what you would have said or done if this happened on Musharraf’s watch.[/quote]
Since you ask. I would say exactly what I felt when the Supreme Court storming happened. It was one of the saddest days for Pakistan. It was a deplorable and shameful act. Even more shameful than the attack was how the Sharif government tried to manipulate the court before this attack. By the way, Musharraf manipulated it in exactly the same way (seeking new oaths and changing judges) once he came in.
Let me anticipate your next question, I think the ordering of diverting the plane with Musharraf by Nawaz Sharif was not only deplorable it was a criminal act. It has always escaped me why he was not brought to justice for that? Who is Musharraf to forgive him on behalf of all the other passengers whose life were put in jeapordy?
Niether of the above takes away from or is a justification for the unconstitutional act of imposing Martial Law (I am sorry, calling it by another name does not make one hoot of a difference). That was a personal power grab and every indication is that Musharraf would have done that anyhow, only later (if not, then he should have left by now, now that his ‘job’ is done).
But you know what, this is not about Musharraf. There are things he has done that are good things (read my comments on other posts here). The corruption of Benazir’s goevrnemnt matches the institutional machinations of Nawaz Sharif and the arrogance of the Musharraf regime. But the point is that there are some whose allegiences lie with people (certain people can do no wrong, or they can only do wrong). There are others amongst us who assess things on principle. I guess, that is really where our true difference of opinion lies.
Baber, I mentioned Sardars as one of the problem not all of the problem. Can you address the other problems please? Don’t be selective in your response and use Sardars as an escape goat to end your rant.
“Musharraf claims to have the support of 72 out of 75 Baloch Sardarsâ€Â?: in regards to what? Can you elaborate on what they are supporting him for and what type of sardars are these? Are they supporting him to keep Balochistan as part of Pakistan unlike others who want independence from Pakistan? Would love to know the details. Musharraf statement doesn’t say much without context you know.
So besides sardars and calling them escape goat, what proposals do you have for other problems? Baber, can you run for Prime Minister? I mean honestly, can you?
Also are COAS for the country or against the country? Seriously, where are their loyalties? Also would this COAS have been in power if Nawaz didn’t act like a stupid maniac? Can you justify Nawaz’s behavior and actions? Also can you also shed light on how Nawaz bankrupt the country? Weren’t we at the verge of a failed state status under your democratic civilian govt? Please explain all this… Would you have been able to stomach that status in the world? Wouldn’t the consequences of the failed state be further rise in extremism?
How about Ms. Bhutto and her gangster husband who called the shots for her? Would you want to be in his shit list? I am sorry you democracy thumpers have really not much substance or ground or history to go back to. Just think about it, like I said that there never has been a democracy in Pakistan before for obvious reasons… aforementioned here. Have a moment of self-reflection before dancing to western democratic tunes - your rythms don’t even match - matching ideoloy would be a far-fetched idea…
Lets float an idea of revolution in Pakistan - for real change. A change that can get us out of this aristocratic civilian/army cycles. Can you become a part of it? Do you have the will to be a member of this revolution? Regardless of the fear of death or torture as revolutionary? If not then they have a saying for this: shut up or put up!
COAS President = Dictator. There is no Martial Law but he COAS is running the country, he calls the shots.
So we can’t have democracy because we have few sardars?. I am from Balochistan I know that Makkaran Gawadar, Panjgur, bigger cities of Balochistan, where there are no Sardars plus no gas and electrcity in most parts. Most of the sardars you talking about are pro establishment like Jamali, Jam Yousuf and Yaar Mohammed Rind. Sardars control small areas and less then 3 million out of 9 million approx population live under the sardari system. So don’t blame everything on sardars. I am not a supporter of sardars but I have heared enough about “sardars blame game” and making them the scape goat for democracy.
Anyway, I found this on the internet for supporters of Musharraf:
“Musharraf claims to have the support of 72 out of 75 Baloch Sardars” (Dawn)