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.
and no, i dont think calling someone’s comments idiotic warrants an equation with wasi zafar
Sir, it has been pointed out to you and if anyone wants to scroll up they can read for themselves, you did not call my remarks idiotic (which would have been a personal attack too), but you used directly abusive language, in the light of that your mention of ‘The News’ carrying op-eds against Wasi Zafar is hilarious since I can really see no difference between his behaviour and yours.
If you can distort statements that are in front of us for all to see why should anyone believe that you have any integrity in your writing?
darwaish sahib — i think i know and understand the world around me without anyone presuming i dont – i am only 34 after all and i should think i am not aging — yet — i dont think i need to explain to you on this forum that i actually have publicised quite a few blogs in recent articles that i have written — what i am trying to say is that a lot of people here seem to have an over-exagerrated view of the importance of blogs — that is my view but they cant seem to digest it and launch personal attacks — which is a shame i think
as for taking names, the news actually mentioned the names of the judges who met sharifuddin pirzada at islamabad club — or dont tell me you failed to read that story — also the names of the generals who were present there — incidentally, we were probably the only paper which allowed our columnists to write on the nirala accident affair — i never saw anything on it in dawn either
ayaz amir btw is a columnist and not a full time staffer for the dawn — hence he is not a professional journalist per se, like ansar abbasi who is bureau chief of the news in islamabad — like i keep telling people, please get your facts right at least
and since you keep on mentioning ayaz amir and ansar abbasi why dont you independently find out from them what kind of journalist i am — :) they will tell you how much or not i am like mujahid barelvi —
thank you for your advice on press freedom as well darwaish sahib — actually i know what to do to protect press freedom — i suspect you however need to read the print media bit more — since you seem so concerned about what i need to do, i suggest you read the editorials of the news for some time and then come back and have a debate on what i need to do and not do
also i hope you dont mind me asking what you do professionally darwaish sahib – given that you are advising me on what to do, its only fair that i be allowed to repay your compliment :)
MQ — the media should be following that story as in reminding the govt to unearth the real culprits, which it does and to continue to ask questions, which it does as well — the job of unearthing is the govt’s, not the media’s —
darwaish sahib, let’s not be disingenuous here — i thought on a blog one could easily use the word ‘idiot’ by qualifying its usage, without offending everyone? i m afraid i dont get why you should be so upset about that — i found an interactor’s posts idiotic and told her so — you cant seem to accept that? but you seem to have no problem with people making unsubstantiated insinuations about another interactor’s profession and his involvement/conduct in it — kindly dont give one or two examples where a newspaper could not print a name not because it was scared of censorship but for legal reasons –btw who do you think exposed wasi zafar by playing his taped remarks which he made on a VOA broadcast? was it a blog?
you think if they were no newspapers around, people would be ok because they would get their information from the blogs? you too, darwaish sahib, seem to be living in a dream world — are you by any chance an expat as well — i have seen this tends to happen a lot with expat pakistanis
also a lot of the blog sites, including this one, often draw on ideas from the english print media — so would you mind explaining that contradiction to your thesis to me now?
Aeysha Sajid, May be Imran Khan but I wonder how long would it take for the corrupt establishment structure (which has always been a constant denominator among all regimes) to neutralize him. From mine and many other comments you can tell that many ex supporters of musharraf have been thoroughly unhappy with him and with the recent disaster in karachi there seems to be no turning back. [Ironically the govt wanted karachi to be a nonevent and it became an even bigger event than lahore because of the lives lost]. Thinking out loud I do worry as to who would replace musharraf if he goes. A maulive brigade, a ppp with an inept leadership, pml n, are all a scary thought. But then looking at the people surrounding the general, Durr Fitte, Tariq Azeem and the finest gujrat has to offer, I feel sick too. Second tier of ministers serving because of their family connections are also useless by definition. In fact their 8-5 job is to protect and to work on their personal interests. This is our tragedy. As Ghalib said:
kio aablaa paa iss vaadeey’ai purkhaar mein aa way
:).. AAJ tv hosted a debate a week or so after the attack on GEO and journalists from electronic and print media were discussing what to do to protect press freedom. Omar Sb, I think you should watch that program if you can get it on a CD or something. Mujahid Bralevi was one of the participants and you sound just like him though he would never words like ‘idiot’ during his public conversations. Some of the points you have made indicate that you are a bit unaware of the change that has occured outside The News office during last 4-5 years or so. Also you forgot to respond to the pressure stories told by Ansaar Abbasi and Ayaz Amir on various forums (I am sure they are professional journalists).
Frankly most of the issues in this debate are relative. If we only focus on that very little segment of our society who read English news papers then blogging is quickly becoming a vital source of information for that particular segment. Anyone who knows how to use internet is spending more and more time reading blogs than English news papers and using blogs as their news source. Yes, News Paper’s importance will always be there to some extent but most readers in Pakistan, specially the young ones, who can read angerezi are quickly shifting towards blogs as an alternative source. One reason for this shift is the fact that Pakistani media, for whatever reasons, often provides vague and incomplete news on matters of public interest. Let me give you an example. Recently a federal minster’s nephew, who was drunk, got a little out of control did some badmaashi and danga fasaad in one of Lahore’s dance clubs. Most of the news papers gave vague and incomplete reports and did not mention who the hell was that minister but you can easily find the full story with names on several blogs. Similarly, our media reported about a meeting between Sharifuddin Pirzada and a few ‘important’ people just before CJ trial in SC. Thanks to blogs, you can actually report who met whom with names. For our tiny little angerezi samajhne wala segment of society, blogging is the next big thing for sure.
Having said all that, if we look at the broader picture then blogs have long long loooooong way to go before becoming a useful news source for masses. Hopefully a time will come when an average rairhi wala or khokhe wala will have internet access just like mobile phones these days and there will be an Urdu version of ATP available for them :)
Omar Quraishi,
I am digressing from the above debate but I wonder if any investigative journalist tried to find out who ordered the attack on Geo TV on March 13 that was watched live by the world. We know that 13-14 constables and an SI were suspended the same day, but who ordered the attack? Shouldn’t the media be following that story?