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.
@Yahya: Agree with you totally. Musharraf has become an expert in media manipulation giving allusion to his loyalists of which there are many on this blog that there is complete freedom of press in Pakistan.
From various sources cited on
http://politicalpakistan.blogspot.com/2006/10/paki stan-hits-near-bottom-on-press.html
[quote post=”362″]Pakistan came at 157 out of 168 countries in Reporters Sans Frontières Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2006.
Pakistan remains attracted to control and censorship. Omnipresent military secret services continue to harass investigative journalists, while the Urdu-language press is closely watched.
“There is a democratic environment in the country and that the press is free. We believe in the freedom of the press.” But then inadvertently Shaukat Aziz came closer to the truth by adding, “We give permission for criticism….” [Key word: permission]
A former editor of The News Beena Sarwar has described the activities of these agencies:
Among the tactics of intimidation used are phone taps, surveillance, threatening or interrogating phone calls, or visits from intelligence agency personnel.[/quote]
And the thing we ended up discussing in this post was length of beard, binoria town etc
Governments let such people off to attain some credibility. Public situation however does not improve even with such speeches. Talk is cheap indeed.
heres a link of Kh. Asif’s speech on the annual budget back in June.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1756388578 265363312&q=khawaja asif
im sure some of you who have criticized the speech above will find more meaning to it after viewing this one.
i’d like to hear your comments.
p.s. i don’t know if you have seen the third speech from the same person , regarding the steel mill issue, in cae you haven’t heres the link
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-348928928 6311870773&q=khawaja asif
MQ and Bilal, I understand your agony and think that being selective in these threads would help. I can’t use a better analogy than that of the wall but talking of Ghalib, how about:
yaarab ! wo na samjhe haiN na samjheNge meree baat
de aur dil unko, jo na de mujhko zubaaN aur
[quote comment=”5049″]
“… I am sure you would agree that banging your head against a wall is hardly a useful exercise.” [/quote]
Bilal,
You are so right. If one has to bang his/her head against the wall then, as Ghalib said:
Tau phir aye sang-dil (or band-dil?) tera he sang-e-astaaN kiyooN ho?