Darwaish
I was watching the dramatic developments regarding Chief Justice of Pakistan’s case on GEO news today and wondering how much more we have to see after seeing police misbehaving with Chief Justice and his family.
Little did I know what was in store for me. During Kamran Khan’s show, Ansaar Abassi – investigative editor of The News, Islamabad – brought viewers attention to a shocking incident which happened during a live Voice of America ( VOA ) radio show interview (Round Table) yesterday (Listen by clicking audio symbol below)
[Audio:http://pakistaniat.com/audio/WasiZafar.mp3]
Not surprisingly, it involves our Law Minister, Mr. Wasi Zafar. We have often read various reports about public displays of misbehaviors by Federal Minister for Law Wasi Zafar. But this is quite unbelievable.
Listen to the abusive language after the 34th minutes in particular. But also listen to the tone of the discussion of the entire interview in general. This, then, is our Federal Law Minister in action. Its worth hearing.
The Federal Minister said all this in response to a story by the investigative editor The News in which he wrote about the Law Minister’s “long arm of law.” Apparently he doesn’t know the difference between long arm and giving “a big hand.”
Listen to the clip and judge for yourself. I am just speechless!
ADDED 14 March: Here is the video clip of the report on this incident on GEO.
(Report on this in The News).
good rebuttal saad — btw if you go on sabahat’s blog — she seems to equate politics with journalism — says that both as “bastions of blackmail and deceit” — or something to do that effect
this is from today’s The News (editorial)
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=4688 9
A matter of shame
The abusive language used by none other than the law minister against a journalist of this newspaper during a live round-table discussion aired by a US-based radio network is shameful. The minister, who in the past has been reported for slapping a waiter in a five-star hotel and also looking on as his son allegedly thrashed a passenger at Karachi airport in 2005 (the passenger became irate after he saw the son jump the queue), was clearly out of line as he spoke in very intemperate language on the programme. The minister seems to have become annoyed by the presence of the said journalist who had some two years ago covered the airport incident. He then referred to the headline of that 2005 story and extrapolating from its headline, ‘Long arm of the law’, went on to make crude and unprintable remarks.
Fortunately for the journalist this was being recorded and the transcript of the show has now been aired on private television networks and is widely available on the Internet and several Pakistani blog sites. The minister did try to deny that he hurled abuse at the journalist but has been proven wrong. His manner of speaking and the content of his speech is most unbecoming – not only of a member of the prime minister’s cabinet but also of a civilized person in general. In most countries, when such things happen the government functionary exposed in this manner himself voluntarily steps down or is made to step down by his superiors. Only time will tell whether similar good sense prevails in this situation.
Sabahat,
I did not hear Ansar Abbas calling Mr. Wassi a mental patient, rather a joker (Maskhara to be exact). Would you mind clarifying it for me as to where did you hear him calling the law minister, a mental patient?
And please, it is not like the editor was talking to a nobody, he was talking to the Law minister. The least you expect out of a person of that strature is to know what he’s talking about.
It seems that while condemning the Law Minister, there is a tendency of seeing this incident in isolation at several levels.
The arguments by several people — on this forum and in the national media — goes something like this: Mr Zafar is inherently a deranged person, hence his behaviour. Here the blame is on his personality, and not on the sociology of politics in Pakistan. We all know how leaders come into being in a society that is patriarchal to the core, and operates in a patron-client style. People who are loud, aggressive, and maverick become leaders (in almost all spheres of life). Mr Zafar is no exception. People who have witnessed political leaders closely will vouch for me.
Others are criticizing Musharraf for his selection, and for being a dictator — that he is. But what about earlier regimes? We have had a number of incidents in the past — both in democratic governments and martial law regimes — in which the people holding offices have used their “power” to abuse the rights of others who were less powerful — not in a sadistic way, but, of course, to gain more space and power. This is what politics is all about, especially in a country like ours.
Removing the Law Minister is a solution in the short term. A regime change in Pakistan is also a short to medium term solution for the issues that we are facing. But, we should not be romantic about the return of democracy. We have had democracies that were only a little better than the martial law regimes. Don’t get me wrong: I am pro-democracy, and against the intervention and rule of armed forces. But the social structures that bind us, make our leaders so intoxicated that they are unable to contain them. Having said that, I am, like others, looking forward to the elections and hope to have democracy restored. The process should go on…
Saad, it is NOT dignified of Ansar ABbasi to call Wasi Zafar a mental patient and so on, a far more dignified response (i think) would have been to laugh at his poor English skills and his not understanding a simple term like the ‘long hands of the law’. (Admittedly easier said than done), but that is what would have set him apart.
I guess with Kamran Khan off the air, it is Wasi Zafar who gets the last laugh!
Indeed his BIG ARM is the LONG ARM and it did finally get to Kamran Khan. Now its Ansar Abassi’s turn.