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.
democrat_first i totally agree with you … when you talk sense and dont take jibes like the mills and boons and what was it …. wait let me scroll up … ah ! stitching !
You see when you say that no nation can prosper under the boots of power weilding generals , it stands out as an unchallenged truth but having said that i do not recall saying Musharraf was the end all and be all for Pakistan , the only point where i took his side was regarding the media freedom that we have seen under his regime.
I feel , and correct me if i am wrong, that even the devil should be given his due so why not Mush ?
As a nation , we love bashing up people , see some one fallen down , kick him instead of giving him a hand to dust and stand up.
Yes this judicial crisis seems to be the waterloo for Musharaf but if we are quoting alternatives and want to compare the two , there is no harm in it , is there ?
Peace to you too ;)
Well said Ayesha! I wish you exhibit some of this maturity while commenting on the judicial crisis too instead of blindly defending Musharraf.
An educated and mature person like you should realize that no nation can progress and prosper if the law of land and the constitution are trampled under the boots of law-breaking generals.
Peace.
[quote post=”702″]Why are you so fixated on Imran Khan. It’s not about him, it’s about Pervez Musharraf. As people have said on this blog, this movement is for the rule of law and the supremacy of consitution. It is not for any individual.
These matters are clearly beyond your limited intellectual ability. So just stick to your stitching and reading Mills and Boons. Thanks! [/quote]
I really dont think i care to dignify this person with a response !!
just one word though for the writer … juvenile !
Editorial, The News, May 20, 2007
Under attack, again
In yet another attack on the press and media, an Islamabad-based journalist was assaulted in broad daylight on Friday and beaten so badly that he had to be admitted to hospital. Recent days, starting from the brazen attack on the Islamabad offices of Geo TV and this newspaper (for which apparently only a police inspector has so far been held responsible), have seen harassment and intimidation of the print and electronic media rise manifold. The man, who works in a local news agency, according to the well-respected New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists had written a story a day earlier contesting the government’s claim that police personnel had manhandled the chief justice on the day he was made non-functional. In his story, he had, according to CPJ, written that intelligence agencies personnel were in fact involved. CPJ also reports the journalist’s statement given to his brother that as he was being beaten, he was asked by his assailants whether the chief justice was “his father”. Prior to this incident, TV channels have been taken off air twice, have been served with notices which are meant more as a form of harassment, and print media journalists have been routinely intimidated and pressured when reporting and writing on certain issues.
These days that issue seems to be coverage of the crisis arising out of the chief justice being made non-functional by the president, upon the filing of a reference against him with the Supreme Court on the advice of the prime minister. Now in an interview to a private TV channel, the president has again accused the media of being one-sided about the whole matter, particularly mentioning coverage of the chief justice which he said was being given minute-by-minute updates as if it were a “cricket match”. The president also pointed out that a helicopter was even offered to the chief justice upon his arrival in Karachi but the media did not give due importance to this and other aspects of the whole issue and gave a one-sided and biased view. He also implied that the media was playing a major role in the politicisation of the crisis, which has been a constant refrain ever since the crisis emerged.
With due respect, it needs to be pointed out that the politicisation started when the government dealt with what should have been a purely legal and administrative matter in a most ham-handed fashion. The chief justice of Pakistan was virtually made a prisoner in his own house, along with his family, and was not allowed communication or contact with the outside world for some time. On the day that he was made non-functional, he was physically stopped from entering his office and escorted to his official residence by police. Also, when the hearing of the reference began, in full view of television cameras, as he walked the short distance from his official residence to the Supreme Court building he was physically jostled by several law-enforcement personnel and forced to sit in a car. Before an inquiry into this most unfortunate instance by a Supreme Court bench, the law-enforcement officials in question, many of whom were shown on TV footage and front-page photographs published by several national newspapers, denied having done any such thing.
This was followed soon by the attack on the offices of Geo TV and this newspaper in Islamabad, which was also shown live on television, and then by the taking off air of three major television channels for their coverage of the crisis. It then culminated in the wanton attack (which lasted for several hours) on the offices of a Karachi-based TV channel on May 12, and which has now been dismissed by the Sindh home secretary as being an unfortunate instance of the offices getting caught in crossfire between two rival armed groups.
For the sake of argument, even if the home secretary’s version is to be believed, why did it take the provincial government so long to send police and Rangers to control the situation, especially given that the attack was being shown live as it was taking place. On May 12, the media did report that a helicopter was offered to the chief justice but the fact of the matter also is that he was confined to the airport and not allowed to leave its premises, even as hundreds of lawyers waited for him at the Sindh High Court bar. Also, at that time parts of the city were witnessed to full-blown gun-battles with armed men moving around freely on some of the city’s most prominent roads, firing at will. And to top this all, May 12 also saw mela-like scenes at a government rally in Islamabad, at around the same time dozens were dying in Karachi (something that has been roundly condemned by all shades of opinion). So in all of this, not just May 12 but going back to March 9 when the current judicial crisis began, what was the media supposed to do? If anything, it has tried not to take sides and only presented to its readers and viewers things as events as they have happened. Of course as far as commentary is concerned, it can go either way but it needs to be balanced, and by and large that has been the case. To imply that the media has moulded public opinion in a manner inimical to the government’s and hence national, interest, is to miss the point that the media’s primary job is to reflect reality, not manipulate it.
The News, May 20, 2007
Laugh or cry — or just die
By Omar R. Quraishi
One doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at some of the things that have happened in the country in the past couple of weeks. What is worse: the mayhem and carnage of May 12 or the way in which the provincial and federal governments allowed it to happen?
The MQM has blamed the opposition and the chief justice’s visit for the violence (echoed the same day as the May 12 carnage by President Musharraf at that most inopportune rally held outside Parliament House in Islamabad) while the rest of the country has blamed the MQM, Sindh and federal governments for allowing its ally a free hand wreak havoc on its opponents. The party has also been accused of showing on May 12 that it had not changed its old ways. TV channels have been caught in the crossfire — literally — and the residents of the city are still unable to digest what has happened.
This is true particularly for those young enough to not have seen or have a lasting memory of what Karachi was like just 15 years ago. I remember in the early 1990s, on visits during the summer in between semesters, there came a time when you couldn’t drive around in some decent neighbourhoods without risking being shot at — so the trick was that your head only remained high enough (above the steering) to ensure that you could see the road ahead and no more.
One would have thought that such days would be a thing of the past, but one was proven wrong by what happened on May 12.
The following is quoted verbatim from Karachi Metblogs — sensibly the person who has written it has chosen not to reveal his/her identity:
“I am a doctor. I work at a government-run, large and well-known hospital in Karachi. I have been at work for more than 32 hours. I attended to people with multiple gunshot wounds but nothing struck my soul more than what nine fully armed workers of a political party along with two sector office-bearers did [on May 12]. They tried to drag out a wounded man who had been brought in an ambulance to the hospital saying, presumably to ‘finish’ him off. When my junior resident tried to prevent that from happening, he was slapped by these men. Me and my junior were both dragged by these men to an alley and left there. The men, armed with shotguns, pistols and AK-47s, then went in to the lobby, presumably to look for the wounded man. I ran out to the Rangers and a police ASI standing at some distance from my hospital’s main gate asking for their help. I was told: ‘Jaante ho in logoun ko, phir bhi kyun lartay ho. Hamain upar say order hai kay inn ko char bajay tak karnay do jo karna hai. Char bajay kay baad dekhainge’. I immediately called a friend in Bohrapir who is related to a senior member of this party. Five minutes later, the armed men received a call on their cell phones and they left. One of them was wearing a bandana and threatened me as he left saying: ‘Naam dekh liya hai tera. Koi shor sharaba karnay kee zururat nahi hai baad main — warna samajh ja kya hoga’. He also took my junior resident’s mobile phone saying ‘chikna set hai’. The man they had come looking for had been shot more than once in the head.”
Fast forward to May 16 (when this was being written) and the federal government through the ministry of information and broadcasting placed an advertisement in the national press with the pictures of the president and prime minister looking at you.
The advert had the following text (excerpts): ‘Let’s Give the City A Healing Touch! – Karachi belongs to all of us. On the 12th of May the unthinkable happened: So many valuable lives were lost at the hands of the (sic) merciless killers who are humans only in name. They are the common enemies of humanity and of Pakistan . Let us resolve to not fall prey to their machinations. Let us resolve to fight this common enemy: Not through violence, but through unity in or ranks and through complete rejection of violence (bold as in the ad).’
So where were you on May 12, Mr President and Mr Prime Minister? Oh yes, now we remember, you were both addressing a rally in Islamabad that evening, a rally that was more of a mela, with large sections of the apparent rent-a-crowd dancing. Normally one doesn’t have a problem in the least with people dancing but when surely it cannot reflect too well on you if you happen to be the head of state and head of government when this happens at the same time as your largest city is in flames?
The writer is Op-ed Pages Editor of The News.
Email: omarq@cyber.net.pk
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