The details emerging out of Pakistan are still somewhat sketchy but some facts are clear; more than 30 people are dead and over 115 injured. The Chief Justice of Pakistan was unable to address the Sindh Bar Association and was forced to go back to Islamabad and the private television station Aaj TV, which has been in the forefront of covering pro-judiciary and anti-Musharraf protests, was attacked by armed gunmen. This is indeed another dark day in the checkered political history of Pakistan.
It is now well past time for the Musharraf regime to go. This government has now lost the last shreds of moral authority required to govern. I salute the men and women of the civil society of Pakistan and the courageous independent media who are leading this struggle for the supremacy of the law and freedom of expression at grave risk to their life and limb.
As tragic and sad as events in Karachi are, this political moment is of historic import for the people of Pakistan and even on this day of darkness I see some hope for a better future. Since the sacking of the CJP on March 9th, the heroic struggle of the lawyers has germinated greater democratic desire and decisively strengthened Pakistan’s civil society and its beleagured independent media.
In the face of relentless governmental coercion there have been heartwarming displays of peaceful resistance, none more evident than in the historic journey of Justice Chaudhry through the heart of Punjab. Those in Pakistan and abroad who desire an eventual constitutional democratic polity rooted in a rule of law have to be encouraged by these developments. The conclusion of this episode, however, remains highly uncertain because no political sagacity can be expected from those who have brought us to this pass.
This grassroots peoples’ movement has also forced the politicians of all hues to make a choice; they either stand on the side of the rule of law or for the perpetuation of a dangerously unstable, one-man military banana republic. Mainstream politicians (despite all their historical shortcomings) clearly seem to grasp the national mood and the King’s men who are standing up for the present dispensation to save their personal fiefdoms will hopefully pay a steep price whenever they face the electorate in a fair election.
MQM more clearly exposed itself today than it ever has in its sordid history (thanks to private TV channels). The party that started with great hopes, rooted in the educated middle classes has over the years just become a collection of vicious thugs. It is wielding its fascistic tactics on behalf of people who seem to believe they have a divine right to perpetual power and who originally nurtured this party as a counterweight to PPP. MQM has shown itself the mirror image of the worst of MMA; both groups want people to acquiesce to their ideologies by force. Neither believes in nor has any fundamental respect for a constitutional rule of law.
Pakistan stands at a critical juncture as it has so many times in its unfortunate 60 year independent history. I would urge all Pakistanis and their well wishers to lend thier support to the struggle of Pakistan’s revitalized civil society. Let’s hope that the forces of peaceful democratic activism led by the country’s courageous lawyers ultimately emerge victorious and we can close this latest chapter of the military’s recurring era of authoritarian and unconstitutional misrule without further human suffering.
Fawad is a California-based literati-at-large and writes the blog ‘Moments of Tranquility,’ where a version of this was first posted.
people here have evidence mqm’s complicity on saturday. i have evidence of chief justice taking money from ppp. when people post evidence of mqm leadership ordering qutl-o-gharath on saturday, i will post evidence of chief justice being in ppp jaib.
as for bhatta, thats obviously more to the detriment of pakistan than the hundreds of billions of rupees stolen by benazir and nawaz sharif and billions pocketed by mullahs from money collected for jehad. raiwand estate, surrey palaces, multiple apartments in central london and 100k necklaces were bought from legitimate income. both benazir and nawaz sharif have tax filings to document billion rupee cash flow. moreover compare the kid glove treatment meted out to mqm leadership versus that to other parties. i certainly hope the likes of aitzaz ahsan one day receive the “mqm specialâ€
King_Faisal:
“i think its very revealing that mqm is being singled out when even on may 12 stalwart punjabi politicians like sheikh rashid, chaudry shujat and pervaiz elahi held a massive rally in support of musharraf. people here seem to think that its ok for punjabis to side with musharraf but that kaalay, low caste mohajirs should know their place.”
MBM (Mutahida bhatta movement) is being singled out not because it held a pro-Musharraf rally (it has every right to do so), but because it deliberately resorted to terror tactics on saturday, something which the Chaudhris of Gujrat did not. Even in their stronghold Gujrat, the CJ’s rally passed peacefully without any firing.
However, for someone who can’t apreciate the difference between the use of peaceful and violant methods and even openly advocates using violance (as you just did against the lawyers), this distingtion is obviously beyond comprehension and hence your twisted logic that it has something to do with racism on part of Punjabis.
And BTW, many of those who have been condemning MBM (Mutahida bhatta movement) here are themselves Urdu speaking, it’s just those who spread hatred who give everything a racist colour even when there is none.
[quote comment=”47359″]i think its very revealing that mqm is being singled out when even on may 12 stalwart punjabi politicians like sheikh rashid, chaudry shujat and pervaiz elahi held a massive rally in support of musharraf. people here seem to think that its ok for punjabis to side with musharraf but that kaalay, low caste mohajirs should know their place. imran khan wants to bring back altaf hussain to justice but he goes around hobnobbing with nawaz sharif who lives only two miles away from altaf hussain. imran khan in the past his made similar accusations against other political parties but now wants to get into bed with them.
this website has very strong policy against people using the forum to spread hatred. yet they have not acted against people making unsubstantiated allegations against mqm. it was only a matter of time before bashing of mqm would spread into vitriol against the community that supports mqm. if mqm has done a such a bad job in running karachi, why are people from rest of the country moving to karachi in large numbers? moreover, over the past few months, most violence including of the sectarian variety has occurred in nwfp. yet the scumbag lawyers and despicable ploiticians like imran khan have no problems in associating with the party running that province.
the statement of the head of peshawer bar council makes very clear the agenda of scumbag lawyers. they want to overthrow musharraf and they dont care if that destroys the peace of the country. the ethnic genie when unleashed can never be put back in. this website has taken a very strong stand in favour of lawyers without examining their motives. i think they have a duty to come out and condemn the statement of peshawer bar council.
waisay i would like to see lawyers cause more chaos. best people to deal with them is the army.when mqm got of line, army taught them a lesson. Time has come for the lawyers to take the same medicine. I am confident that as in the past, army will not let pakistan down.[/quote]
Shaikh Rashid and the Chaudhries are not even politicians. They are shameless people willing to do anything for generals. Unlike them, MQM is a political party with a constituency and a history of a struggle. Therefore, it is very disappointing to see them cohorting with a fascist ruler and parting ways with the rest of the nation.
i think its very revealing that mqm is being singled out when even on may 12 stalwart punjabi politicians like sheikh rashid, chaudry shujat and pervaiz elahi held a massive rally in support of musharraf. people here seem to think that its ok for punjabis to side with musharraf but that kaalay, low caste mohajirs should know their place. imran khan wants to bring back altaf hussain to justice but he goes around hobnobbing with nawaz sharif who lives only two miles away from altaf hussain. imran khan in the past his made similar accusations against other political parties but now wants to get into bed with them.
this website has very strong policy against people using the forum to spread hatred. yet they have not acted against people making unsubstantiated allegations against mqm. it was only a matter of time before bashing of mqm would spread into vitriol against the community that supports mqm. if mqm has done a such a bad job in running karachi, why are people from rest of the country moving to karachi in large numbers? moreover, over the past few months, most violence including of the sectarian variety has occurred in nwfp. yet the scumbag lawyers and despicable ploiticians like imran khan have no problems in associating with the party running that province.
the statement of the head of peshawer bar council makes very clear the agenda of scumbag lawyers. they want to overthrow musharraf and they dont care if that destroys the peace of the country. the ethnic genie when unleashed can never be put back in. this website has taken a very strong stand in favour of lawyers without examining their motives. i think they have a duty to come out and condemn the statement of peshawer bar council.
waisay i would like to see lawyers cause more chaos. best people to deal with them is the army.when mqm got of line, army taught them a lesson. Time has come for the lawyers to take the same medicine. I am confident that as in the past, army will not let pakistan down.
Forgive my ignorance but just a few months ago, Rauf Siddiqi used to be interior minister and responsible for all kinds of karachi’s security. I thought he did pretty good job in recent years. What happened to him? Was he dismissed or what? How come this guy Wasim is interior minister/advisor?
Can anyone enlighten me on this please.
Also during this entire episode, I haven’t heard anything from people like Aamir Liaqat Hussain?