Adil Najam
Today Chief Justice Chaudhry Mohammed Iftikhar is to appear again in front of the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). It is not at all clear what will happen today or in the days to follow. But the verdict from ATP readers does seem to be quite clear.
(Click above to view larger image)
The last week has been a whirlwind of disturbing development. Starting with the removal of Chief Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Iftikhar by the President, things just kept going from bad to worse. Protesting lawyers were mistreated, as was the Chief Justice, Minister Wasi Zafar embarrassed himself as well as the nation yet again, and most recently we saw that not just the judiciary but also the press is under stress as private TV channels are told to cool off and the GEO TV news show by Kamran Khan was banned.
We have tried to look at and make sense of these events fromvarious angles, including the poetic. But like Pakistanis everywhere we remain confused and concerned about the direction of events. Things seem to be spinning out of control. The government seems to be panicking. And public frustration with the turn of events is escalating.
But one thing is very clear. Much more clear, in fact, than one might have imagined. It is not just that these events have left Pakistanis rattled, it is also that the sacking of Chief Justice Chaudhry Mohammad Iftikhar is not supported by many – and possibly most – Pakistanis. At least this has been the result of the ATP Poll that we have been running the last many days and which we today closed. Notwithstanding the fact that this was not a scientific poll and was subject to all the (many) limitations and problems of web-based polls, this is a result one can be quite confident of. Indeed, one did not need to run a poll to come to this conclusion. It is obvious from the reaction of the lawyers, of judges, of shopkeepers, of the media, of bloggers, and just about everyone else. However, our poll results do strongly validate the all-too-evident view. Here are some highlights:
- At the time of closing the Poll a total of 786 responses had been recorded (not including some 60 duplicate responses that were discarded).
- Of these 625 votes – a whopping 80 per cent – believe that the decision to remove teh Chief Justice was a wrong one and an expression of abuse of power by the President.
- Only 65 people – a mere 8 per cent – believe this to have been the right decision.
- 96 votes – 12 per cent – were for the ‘Don’t Know’ option; signifying that these people wanted more facts before they made up their mind.
- Votes were still trickling in at a steady pace when we closed the poll, but the interesting – and very surprising – finding is that the proportions for the three options have remained steady and nearly unchanged from the very beginning. Between 78-80% consider the decision wrong; around 8-9% consider it right. From the very beginning, this proportion never really changed even as events took many unforeseen twists and turns. (Compare this, for example, to our current cricket poll, where the response proportions have fluctuated widely over about the same period). This, in fact, is one reason why we closed the poll; it seems that what needs to be learned from it has been learnt – i.e., this decision is strongly rejected at least by the type of Pakistanis who woudl visit bogs like this!
- If one looks at the comments that go with the various posts on the subject, it is very striking that many people say that they were Musharraf supporters but are no more; that this and other recent events have pushed them out of that camp. Indeed, it seems from the comments that this vote is more ‘against’ Gen. Musharraf than ‘for’ Chief Justice Iftikhar.
While one must never over-analyze such non-scientific web-based polls that necessarily give only a snapshot of a limited internet-savvy community, the rather decisive numbers and the content of the accompanying comments suggests that the result is, in fact, rather robust. Long time readers of ATP will also realize that although the reader participation has been very enthusiastic, excited and even emotional, for most part most people have actually been in strong agreement. Indeed, while this has been an emotional discussion, it has not been a confrontational or even controversial one!
To end on a personal note, I want to say something about comments of despair for Pakistan that some people left here or are being made at other blogs. I must confess, I do not feel despair. Indeed, I think ordinary public – particularly lawyers, but also others including bloggers – have demonstrated that at our core we as a society DO WANT DEMOCRACY. Earlier this evening I was giving a lecture at Harvard University (Kennedy School of Government) on democracy in Pakistan and there I introduced the notion that “Pakistan is a democratic society trapped inside an undemocratic state” and that “this moment we are living through right now is a quinessentially democratic moment; a moment of turbulence, but also of hope.”
While the abuse of democratic norms by state institutions should be rightly condemned, let us not forget to celebrate the courageous and honest demonstration of democratic values by societal forces, including the legal profession, journalists, and ordinary citizens. Ultimately, it is not as much a question of ‘who will win’ as a question of whether the societal urge for democracy will overwhelm the statal desire for control… and, in that process, transform the state.
P.S. This video news report clip from GEO includes Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s response to the current state of affairs. In fairness, we should also give this a hearing.
Correct address for part2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y12dMH3L6aQ
Dr. Shahid Masood’s take on the events after the ouster of the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan. A must see.
Meray Mutabiq – Rad -e- Amal
Part1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-RBNonzY4I
Part2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhpnbTzwfqg
Part3:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipQPkXvK4ts
Part4:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15PtLnZgWNw
As always Faiz has something to say which is immensely moving and immensely relevant.In the present situation:
Jis dhaj say koi maqtal mein gya
Woh shaan salamat rehti hai
Yeh jaan to aani jaani hai
Is jaan ki koi baat nahin..
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=4730 4
Editorial, The News, March 18, 2007
Dealing with dissent
One would have thought that going by the tumultuous events of Friday and the general response of the nation to them, on Saturday the police would have been ordered to be a little more circumspect in their dealing with those protesting the ‘suspension’ of the chief justice. On Saturday, the ‘action’, so to speak, seems to have shifted to Lahore, with dozens of lawyers arrested, manhandled and lathi-charged by the trigger-happy Punjab police. And while the chief justice’s lawyers are now claiming that the tight security cordon around him has been relaxed, it should be remembered that this has happened (pending independent corroboration) only after the Supreme Judicial Council made it clear on Friday that there were no restrictions on the movement of Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. As for Saturday’s actions by the police, they were mostly unprovoked again, this time beginning when lawyers were prevented by the police from going inside the premises of the LHC to attend an all-Pakistan convention organised by the Lahore High Court Bar Association. The police lathi-charged the lawyers and fired tear gas shells and this rash action eventually snow-balled into a full-fledged street battle between the unarmed lawyers and the Punjab police constabulary.
The question that one would like to ask is why cannot the government let the lawyers meet if they want, why cannot it be okay with people protesting whatever it is they wish to protest against, provided it is peaceful and does not disturb public order. Surely by now, it should have realised that an all-out confrontation with either the lawyers’ community or the media is going to be a futile if not downright negative exercise in that it will only serve to further exacerbate an already tense situation and that this heightening of tension will only damage the government’s own credibility and lower its image in the eyes of Pakistanis in general as well as the outside world. As for the attack on the office of The News and Geo TV on Friday, the government has reportedly suspended 14 policemen who allegedly took part in the raid. A judicial inquiry has been promised as well one can only hope that it succeeds in unearthing the real perpetrators of this naked assault on press and media freedom. Again, it is worth reiterating that it defies common sense and logic to believe that junior-level policemen on their own would attack and ransack the offices of a national newspaper and a news channel in the heart of Islamabad, a stone’s throw from the Parliament House, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the Presidency.
The best way forward for the government would be to allow peaceful forms of protest. As it has already said, the matter is now before the SJC and the directives of this body should be followed. One of them relates to the coverage of the SJC’s proceedings and of the hearing of the reference. Here, as directed by the SJC print and electronic media have reported only the press release detailing Friday’s proceedings. The government, and especially the electronic media regulator PEMRA, should not seek to unnecessarily extend this directive, as has been done so far, to order newspapers and TV channels not to cover the events and incidents arising out of Justice Iftikhar’s suspension and to desist from giving him any coverage.
Such a blanket prohibition impedes the people’s right to be informed on all matters related to the chief justice’s ‘suspension’ except of course those that are sub-judice, i.e. the contents of the reference against Justice Iftikhar and the proceedings of the SJC to examine it. Also, by prohibiting any coverage of the issue, a situation may well arise in which, because of absence of any information, rumours begin to gain currency and that only serves to destabilise things further. As a first step, the government should call off the police on the lawyers and permit them to exercise their democratic right to register a peaceful protest and this should be applicable for civil society in general. As has already been pointed out by some commentators, those at the helm of affairs should realise that the rise of the information age, characterised particularly by the coming of age of the country’s electronic media (and to some extent of the Internet, especially blogs and so on), has changed everything. Clamping down on the flow of information and on dissent is next to impossible and only counter-productive. Ban a TV channel and one will find the information on the Internet or on a blog, blackout a newspaper and get the story on a web forum. The dictum that the Internet is perhaps the biggest encourager of a democratic mindset (and certainly a facilitator of a level-playing field in terms of who controls and provides information) has never been as true as now in Pakistan’s case. Now only if the country’s polity was as democratic, with its head of state and head of government, both accountable solely to the people.
Dear All ,
Asian Broadcasting Network Chicago, a non-profit urdu talk radio show will be airing a live Talk show hour on CJP issue where Dr.Awab will also be there to discuss his Proud-Pakistani movement and other issues.
All listerners all more than welcome to call in during the show.
Here is the updated link for the ethnic radio station which airs our program. Do tune it at the time mentioned:
Go to http://www.1590wonx.com/ on Sunday at 10pm Pakistan Time / 12pm US Central Time / 5pm UK Time.
Dr.Awab Alvi and the CJP issue will be discussed in the second hour of the show.
I would everyone to listen to our complete show if possible.
We will have two hours of talk show on this issue. This is really going to be an INQUILABI show since garnished with couplets of Faiz the great revolutionary poet.
Here is this week’s program format:
1st Hour youth show : Songs request, of course Faiz ghazals keeping in view of the theme of the next hour. World Cup fiasco discussion.
2nd Hour : Awab and discussion on CJP issue. Callers call in.
3rd Hour ; Discusion , Mujalla containing Faiz and Ibne Insha and Cemendtaur’s Aik Khayal (an audio blog) on the recent crisis.
Studio phone numbers (US) : (1) 847-475-1555, 56 and 57.
Share your thoughts be calling during the show