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.
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@aquarian,
yes, we must not bring in or exploit ethnicity, linguistic
or racial, and also not pointing at a city or province etc.
I used two identical expressions in my comment ” rhetoric and Baja “,
one at the begining the other at the very end, of course,
very significant was the matter in between, I always like to end up with little humour or a qata’a . Pls. don’t mind !!
We have to be very very careful with all prof.Politicians.
jiay Pakistan, sada jiay.
@Faraz Waseem,
Jamaat Islami’s record since 1940 is been open to every
one, they never ever tilted towards arming themselves,
you say about 80s
” Jamat Islami was also fully loaded at that time ” ,
you must be joking, some MQM’s munafiqs
claim that they were with Jamaat, but the truth is that
they are lying and cheating, this is a usual MQM’s tactic, one does not have to be a member of Jamaat to get him/her
selves being armed.
The only political entity in Pakistan which does not believe in armed struggle within a muslim society is Jamaat- Islami ,
and is today even, the most civilized, tolerant, non-violent,
educated people working within the Party, please learn,
that you don’t have to be a member of Jamaat–e-Islami
in order to appriciate her.
@pakistani
“Let’s focus on stopping violence and supporting those calling for calm.”
Agreed
This is not an ethnic issue so let’s not make it one.
I am from Karachi and Urdu speaker. I do not see the MQM representing me or my community. Not in this violence. Nor does violence by some members of a community mean that this community is violent. Last many months we have see horror violence from all communities all over the country for different reasons. Let’s focus on stopping violence and supporting those calling for calm.
Today I identify most with Aitzaz Ahsan and his call for peace no matter what his ethnicity.
Rafay
When you stay ’stop your baja’, then how am I supposed to react to this comment? Am I supposed to take this as humor?
I am being respectful to you and to all other readers and want to have a dialog. Let me also start the thread by saying that I have my opinion but I may be wrong b/c I don’t know everything in this world. If I am proven wrong by civilized dialog then I will accept that I was wrong.
Everyone can diasgree with eachother but use respectful language to send your point across.
I love this blog because diaologs here mostly stay respectful.
Faraz Waseem
I mostly agree with your analysis except one of your earlier comments where you suggested some kind of mini martial law for Karachi. no. I think democracy is the only way forward. many problems arise when you treat one part of country at lower standards than others. We saw this in 1992-99 period in Karachi when the city was treated differently than other parts of the country. There was less personal freedom, less freedom of movement and less human rights.
I agree with your analysis that use of force will only make matters worse. The root cause of violence should be addressed by the political leadership. A leadership which is mature enough, whom the city people can trust that they won’t be bitten again like they were done in all PPPs, martial laws and PMLs governments. Right now they don’t see a SINGLE leader who can safeguard rights of people of Karachi b/c all current leaders are basically representing their own ethnic groups only including Imran Khan. This may be the reason that same party keeps getting elected again and again from Karachi b/c there is no sincere alternative.
Now why MQM is violent. I remember late 80’s when PSF and APMSO used to exchange gun-fire. Jamat Islami was also fully loaded at that time. so MQM has been eveolved in end of zia era which has seen plenty of weapons.
PPP,ANP and Jamat Islami may be nice in other parts of Pakistan, but in Karachi they are also fully loaded(weapons) may be one step less then MQM.
Well I am from Karachi and I know dynamics of city as I am grown up there. MQM support is based on “reactionary” thinking in the same way many muslims supports “radical Islam”.
From 1965-1999 there is a series of unjustices with ppl of Karachi by STATE and main stream political parties specially PPP. Now MQM philosphy is like “jini out of bottle”. One has to analyze the underlying propblems to defeat this Jinni. Brutal use of force as STATE has done in 1992-1997 will make memories only worse.
The biggest underlying problem is that ppl of sind are ethinically divided in two groups. As one group is living there for centuries their right over land is accepted more by rest of Pakistan. These groups should be brought closer.
Infact Karachi is the only city where ppl of all ethinic groups lives in such large number. It has more pashtuns then Peshawar, more Baluch then Baluchistan and more sindhis then Larkana. So Karachi shows what is wrong with Pakistan. I think Karachi can be given special status as “mini-pakistan” with special government.
Rafay
All i am saying is that everyone comes from same society with similar defects and qualities. When you start blaming one city of the country or people who share one language ONLY for all ‘naa-karda’ and ‘karda’ gunaah then you are dividing Pakistan further and not helping to unite.
This is the time to talk of unity and not division or finger pointing without proofs.