Adil Najam
The two videos attached below – one of a student speaking at a student convention presided over by Gen. Pervez Musharraf and the second of an MNA speaking in the National Assembly during the no-trust motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz – have recently been floating around over email on Pakistani lists.
[Thanks to Eidee Man for alerting us to this new version of the first video which includes Gen. Musharraf’s Response to the student’s speech. Even if you have seen the student’s speech already, the response is worth listening to.]
While the remarks from Muslim League (N) MNA Khawaja Asif is less surprising (especially since it came right after Nawab Akbar Bugti’s death and during a no-confidence motion) the speech from the student (Syed Adnan Kakakhel) is much more of a surprise. Gen. Musharraf listens intently, takes notes, and seems engaged. Indeed, as you can now see from his response (later in the video) the speech certainly got to Gen. Musharraf. He responds at length – including on the military rule and Balochistan issues.
I should also add that this event was organized by the government itself and also note that Adnan Kakakhel was awarded the second prize in the speech contest and also that this was telecast over Pakistan Television.
Whether you are a government opponent (i.e., this shows the depth of people’s frustration with the current order), a cynic (i.e., such talk is tolerated because everyone knows it will make no difference), or a government supporter (i.e., this proves that this government has given people real democracy and freedom of speech), you should celebrate these videos for what they are: a demonstration that political thought is alive and well in Pakistan (irrespective of whether you believe its content to be righteous or misguided).
Coming from the bol ke lab aazad hain tairay school of democracy, to me the space for dissent is itself important to the democratic polity; for that reason alone I beleive that these are important articulations.
[quote post=”362″]How do you judge the credibility of a person/entity if you don’t see who is saying? This is especially important when the organisations that they belong to have dubious pasts and naturally these organisation have a dire need to pull wool over everyone’s eyes.[/quote]
Dear Yahya, my own politics on this probably correlates very much with yours, but the problem with this argument is that it can backfire. Lets consider, for example, how the world views Pakistan. Most people view it as ‘dubious’ and having ‘a dire need to pull wool over everyones eyes’. To be honest, there are some (maybe many) Pakistanis who fit that bill. Yet, many of us are frustrated that the world treats ALL of us like that and we all become dubious because of the institution (country) we come from. So, if everyone were to only act on their stereotypes of others then we will only have dialogue of cardboard images. Which is what we have.
On to this student. Why should he be judged only on the institution he comes from and not on the merit of what he says? Do we know if HE was in that attack? Do we know if HE encouraged or defended it? do we know if HE calls for violence. Maybe he does, but until we know that why not at least give him the benefit of the doubt… who knows, he may be the change agent within the institution? Even if he is not, can we not simply say that we agree with what HE is saying even though we do not agree with the accts of the institution he belongs to.
Sorry for the long message, it seems to me that going by appearances can only be based on prejudices and that cannot be right. I do not agree with everything he says (some parts I disagree with vehemently), but I hope my decision is based on what he says and not on how he looks or where he is from.
The need to find heroes is greater than the quality of the heroes. Disconnect the person from his organisation and the organisation from its doing and there is a ready made hero right there. And if the person has religious over tones so much the better. There is glory of Islam right there too. Never mind if the hands are dripping with the blood of hundreds of fellow Muslims. We don’t care of such small things.
Why don’t we psycho analyse ourselves, find out and get over our complexes once and for all rather than continue to undersell ourselves every time. If we put any potential heroes through stricter criteria we will have a better investment and good service in return. We keep trying to clutch on straws, instead of placing our hopes in credible people and people with integrity. The result is we are left with straws in hand every time.
adnan sahib, how is the killing someone else instead of the murderer justified?
You fail to see the whole picture.
[quote post=”362″]Now you are getting personal my firend which was expected.[/quote]
Might be but unless you experience yourself, you wouldnt realize the pain and you would keep preaching western theories to us.
[quote post=”362″]I would persue everything in my power legally[/quote]
huh legally? you mean the guys occupied your home will let you to take any such action? maybe in dreamland?.
[quote post=”362″]killing people who had nothing to do with the act.[/quote]
Already answered, the guys and girls above 16 are military people hence they are not civilians. Yes i already said that I dont favor killing of old men/women and kids but your biasness is meaningless that you are ignoring killing of thousands of palestinians in last 40/50 years.
This post has attracted the highest number (59!) of responses. The so-called debate between Adnan and Musharraf is simply a FIXED match. The audience does not even realize that it has been cheated.