Adil Najam
This photograph of lawyer leader Aitzaz Ahsan on top of an ambulance putting his hand together and begging for peace and a stop to the needless violence by some who are ’supposedly’ his supporters, speaks volumes. It speaks volumes about Aitizaz Ahsan; volumes about the culture of anger and violence that has gripped Pakistan, and volumes about the the state of Pakistan politics. A sense of anger and angst continues to define Pakistan.
Read also, Aitizaz Ahsan’s letter to his fellow lawyers, back in December.
Whether the violence is the result of nefarious ‘agency’ designs to discredit the lawyers movement or the disgruntlement of frustrations within the movement, it does not bode well for the country and for democracy in the country. It may serve the short-term interests of some, but it cannot be in the long-term interests of Pakistan.
The pictures (above) of mayhem and violence on the streets of Pakistan are are equally articulate about the state of affairs in Pakistan.
Aitzaz Ahsan is a true law abiding citizen. He standing up on van speaks volumes. Volumes and Volumes. Volumes about his humility. Volumes of how he cares for people of Karachi. Volumes about his care for state of Pakistan. Volumes about his desrire for peaceful resolution of all issues. Volumes about his ability to control a crowd. A lot has been written by violence in Karachi. Volumes and Volumes. But, here we are at it again… Inshallah, when will this insanity stop. Even after volumes and volumes have been written, is all this violence happening so that more and more volumes and volumes can be and will be written in future so that our future generations can continue to talk volumes and volumes about these disgraceful incidents which will go down in history.
The scenario presented by Zach is perhaps inspired by an article by Prof. Michel Chossudovsky under heading ‘The Destabilization of Pakistan’ doing rounds for quite sometime. Also, the political leadership looks cognizant too of the ‘dooms day’ scenario predicted therein and seem trying to counter it, if the reconciliatory moves among past rivals after Feb 18 is any manifestation. But, these efforts are not yielding positive results and the opposite forces, it looks, are gaining momentum to realize, what? God Forbid.
My request to all Pakistanis is to please realize the grave situatioin we are in and sincerely work to thawrt such ugly designs of the enemies of Pakistan.
God bless our country.
This couldn’t be clearer. Pakistani recent history has shown that when MQM is treated with concessions i.e. their crimes forgiven, it is even more encouraged to continue their terror designs.
It happened with Jaam Sadiq government in 1991-92.
Unfortunately, they are ready to support whatever are a military dictator’s evil wishes only because he is a so called “apnaa hai”.
This armed organisation has to be brought to justice and subdued to the will of the majority of pakistanis.
What is happening in Karachi now is shameful and potentially fatal for Pakistan.
I think we have come a long way to democracy and we need to uphold it no matter what happens - this everyone needs to understand. Even Mr Ahsan needs to change his tone. On one hand he says that country is plunging into violence and on the other he threatens to march on the Army House.
All political parties must address the issue without the blame game - lest things turn into an uncontrollable scenario
Had May 12 been properly investigated and the culprits brought to justice April 9 would not have happened.
It is a game and MQM is acting as pawn of Mush and USA and lawyer movement is acting as pawn of Nawaz and Saudia arabia. Where Zardari belong? That will decide winner.
Let me ask you a question. How lawyers can afford so many buycott. Dont they have client to serve in order to run their family or there is a “deep pocket” helping them.
This is from THE NEWS:
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id =14029
Eleven people were killed, at least six of them feared to be lawyers, and several others injured when violence broke out in various parts of the city following a clash between two groups of lawyers outside the City Courts on Wednesday afternoon.
The most horrifying incident took place at Tahir Plaza, where six charred bodies including those of two women were recovered. The police said that the six bodies were of lawyers. The rioters also torched around 50 vehicles in different parts of the metropolis.
The clash between the lawyers at the City Court left eight members of the MQM Legal Aid Committee injured, who were taken to the Civil Hospital. They were identified as Javed Hashmi, Aurangzeb, Shagufta Ijaz and others. Soon after, violence gripped the city, with masked armed men roaming around firing in the air and torching vehicles.
There was unprecedented violence in the vicinity of the City Courts, where unidentified miscreants locked the main gate of the Tahir Plaza, situated opposite the courts. There are more than 200 offices of lawyers in the building. The miscreants opened indiscriminate fire at the building and later set it ablaze.
The police personnel from the Risala Police Station, who were present at the scene, said they called the fire station repeatedly but the firemen refused to come. They police said that even after a police mobile was sent to ensure them security, the firemen still did not arrive.
Having no ladder or help from the fire brigade, the policemen climbed the building adjacent to the Tahir Plaza, broke its wall to make way to the burning building and vacated the trapped lawyers and other people inside. The Risala police further said that the fire tenders reached the spot two hours after they were called and started efforts to extinguish the fire. After the flames were doused, the rescue staff entered the building and found six completely charred bodies, including two bodies of women, lying in the burnt building. The bodies were of lawyers whose offices were situated inside the building according to the police. One of the bodies was identified as that of Makhdoom Altaf Abbasi, advocate.
Several Chippa workers including Mahmoodul Hasan, Aftab, Asif and Mursaleen received burns injuries while carrying out the rescue work at the building. The fire was extinguished after hectic efforts.
Meanwhile, Muhammad Ali, a driver of Ziauddin Hospital, Clifton Branch was shot dead in a wagon in the Burnes Road area. He was sitting inside the wagon KM-9634, when unidentified masked armed men stormed the wagon and shot him dead when he resisted.
The driver of route G-3 mini-bus was killed on the MA Jinnah Road. Eyewitnesses said the deceased, Qadir Jan, was driving the vehicle when armed men tried to torch it. When Qadir resisted, they shot him dead.
Late Wednesday night, Jauhar Shah, the driver of Dost Coach, was shot dead in Khudadad Colony of Brigade police station and a tanker driver Laeeq was shot dead in front of a hotel situated in Metroville. In the same incident, two brothers, Tariq and Shabbir, were injured. Another person killed was a driver of Bilal Coach identified as Arbab at Babar Kanta, Sharafi Goth Police Limits.
Twenty people were injured in various localities. They included a man Wakeel and his wife Shahnaz, who were going on a motorcycle in K-Area of Korangi Industrial Area when unidentified armed men shot at them and critically injured them. A minor Kamil, 8, who was standing in the gallery of his house at Burnes Road, was injured by the aerial firing of the miscreants. He was shifted to the hospital.
Meanwhile, masked men entered Ranchore Lines and started firing, injuring Rakhshanda Khatoon and her five-year-old son Raheel. They were shifted to hospital where Raskhshanda was in critical condition.
Others who received bullet injuries on the MA Jinnah Road were Ismail, Police Constable Khalid Mahmood of Preedy police, Saeed Akhtar, Muqeem Alam and Zaheer. Police and Rangers restored traffic on the M A Jinnah Road and I I Chundrigar Road and were continuously patrolling the violence affected areas.
A number of buses, coaches, trucks and cars were torched in various parts of the city. A mechanised shovel was burnt at Nagan Chowrangi, while another shovel was torched near Cafe Piyala in Gulberg police area. A police mobile of Nazimabad police station-197 was also burnt.
The unidentified miscreants, who were riding on motorcycles, arrived at the premises of Malir District Bar Association. The police said they were 20 to 25 in number and resorted to firing at the office of the bar association. They torched the office and its library and also torched a number of vehicles and three motorcycles parked in the premises.
In Landhi, unidentified miscreants torched six mini-buses, one taxi and one truck. In the Korangi Industrial Area, four mini-buses, two trucks and one bus was torched. In Surjani Town, two mini-buses were burnt while one bus was set ablaze in Shadman Town. A truck loaded with cotton thread worth millions of rupees was burnt to ashes in Sector-16? of North Karachi.
Two mini-buses of route G-19 and W-11 were torched in New Karachi No 3 and No 5. Fire tenders were also attacked when they reached there to extinguish the fire. In another incident at the S M Law College, the miscreants torched three parked vehicles, while a car was torched near the PIDC.
There were more incidents of burning of vehicles on the M A Jinnah Road, where a rickshaw was torched near Gul Plaza, a bus was torched at Jubilee Market, two mini-buses were torched at Jamia Cloth Market, while eight vehicles were torched outside the City Courts. Two cars were burnt at Saeed Manzil, a minibus was torched in People’s Colony of North Karachi, a trailer was torched near Nagan Chowrangi and a bus was torched near Power House of North Karachi.
The miscreants targeted the road from Jauhar More to Jauhar Chowrangi and torched a rickshaw, a Hi-ace and one Hyundai car, while a Shehzore truck and a Hi-roof was burnt at Bund-5 within the Shah Faisal Colony police limits.
Meanwhile, unidentified armed men entered the flat of General Secretary Karachi Bar Association, Naeem Qureshi in Block-18 in the Sharae Faisal police limits. The police said five armed men entered the flat C-423 situated in Qasim Complex. They broke the door open and beat the four students of Iqra University and snatched cell phones and cash from them and torched their pillows and bed. The police further stated that the flat was given on rent to the students by Naeem Qureshi. A case has been reported at the police station.
Hundreds of thousands of commuters were stranded in various areas, while crippling traffic jams were witnessed on all the major roads of the city. Meanwhile, public transport was completely suspended in the troubled areas.
Continuous aerial firing was reported in these areas, forcing shopkeepers and buyers to run for safety. Many drivers and passengers of public transport vehicles fled their vehicles to save their lives. The affected areas were Liaquatabad, North Nazimabad, Korangi, Landhi, Quaidabad, Sadar, Gulberg, Nazimabad, Garden and Preedy.
Main markets, including Jamia Cloth, Denso Hall, Light House, Bottle Gali, Burnes Road, Frere Market and others were closed. The police and the LEAs were not seen in a number of troubled areas, while people witnessed armed miscreants burning vehicles and harassing them.
In this regard, the Provincial Police Officer, Sindh, Azhar Ali Farooqi, taking a serious note of violent incidents at the City Courts and the adjoining areas in Karachi on Wednesday ordered the police to take stern action against the miscreants and rioters.
He ordered to increase security in the affected areas besides enhancing patrolling. He ordered immediate arrest of those involved in the violent incidents. The PPO Sindh asked the citizens to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies and keep an eye on miscreants and inform the police on 15 Emergency Helpline.
I’m sure the speech writer in Army House is dusting off his saved template of “Mere Aziz Hum Watnon” and trying to be as creative as he can to fill in the blanks, since bettors start placing their bets on 60 or 90 days scenarios. It is very interesting for me to see how gullible and naive Pakistanis are to fall into a cheesy Indian Masala movie plot drummed up by Musharaf, MQM and their minions. Mush is still at it and let me tell you his goal is not to destablize the government and bring in his QML minions back but he wants to do away with whole dispensation called Pakistan. He is convinced that the salvation lies in the Balkanization of this country along ethnic lines and re-create the map of South Asia by dividing Pakistan in smaller states which will be easily managed and exploited by powers that matter. His son and son’s father-in-law is investing heavily in that venture along with some powerful hedge funds managers. Drums have start beating and Empire will strike back soon, very soon.