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.
@ Omar R. Quraishi,
These are your words “…you are living in dreamworld â€
tut tut , why does it have to end in a bout ?
that is our typical mentality , make two teams , watch them fight , applaud for the winning side , but when it wins , cry foul and smell a conspiracy theory.
Why cant we for once fight for Pakistan and its betterment and survival ?
by the way… all this media freedom, musharaf govt bashing , politician interviews, live coverage of events like lahore/karachi rallys etc … due to the liberal policies of the present regime.
Gentlemen …Round one to Musharaf !!
[quote comment=”47567″]Right , lets assume Imran Khan wins and becomes out next PM. Does his party have the support of the entire nation ? Does his party have the checks and balances that are the requirement of a democratic system of a party/government that will keep him in his place and not make a despot out of him ? Does he seem like a mature individuall who can take us out of the muck we are in at this point in time ? Isint he the same individuall who ( and correct me if i am wrong here ) having won the world cup, refrained from thanking his team or the australian crowd and instead went on about SKMT ?
He too shall be surrounded by a coterie of nincumpoop advisors and the beurocracy and end up thinking of the ‘kursee’ instead of the nation.
Having said that the biggest tragedy here is that the system has never been given the chance to self cleanse itself, before it could do that , some one or the other ( mostly the army ) took it upon themselves to save the country from disaster and in the process landed it into a bigger tragedy.
My friends are telling me to move to Canada , i still have hope. If not for me , perhaps for my children ![/quote]
You are right, and that is why the judiciary must win this bout vs the army. Pakistan will only get on track once there is supremacy of law and consitution. Once that happens the political system will get cleansed.
“Having said that the biggest tragedy here is that the system has never been given the chance to self cleanse itself, before it could do that , some one or the other ( mostly the army ) took it upon themselves to save the country from disaster and in the process landed it into a bigger tragedy.”
Don’t you think that bigger tragedy is unfolding itself as we speak?
I do believe Imran is a lesser evil. In no way I will write a defence argument here for Mr. Khan even though with each day passing by he sounds more and more intelligent. While mentioning his world cup note and his reference to the hospital he was building for Lahore I am glad you didn’t mention his personal flaws because so few of our politicians have them.
Keep up the hope for, to quote from shaw shank redemption, ‘hope is a good thing and no good thing ever dies.’
Right , lets assume Imran Khan wins and becomes out next PM. Does his party have the support of the entire nation ? Does his party have the checks and balances that are the requirement of a democratic system of a party/government that will keep him in his place and not make a despot out of him ? Does he seem like a mature individuall who can take us out of the muck we are in at this point in time ? Isint he the same individuall who ( and correct me if i am wrong here ) having won the world cup, refrained from thanking his team or the australian crowd and instead went on about SKMT ?
He too shall be surrounded by a coterie of nincumpoop advisors and the beurocracy and end up thinking of the ‘kursee’ instead of the nation.
Having said that the biggest tragedy here is that the system has never been given the chance to self cleanse itself, before it could do that , some one or the other ( mostly the army ) took it upon themselves to save the country from disaster and in the process landed it into a bigger tragedy.
My friends are telling me to move to Canada , i still have hope. If not for me , perhaps for my children !