Adil Najam
The stream of disturbing images from Islamabad continues. It has left one dumbfounded. But one must never be silent in the face of injustice. Of the many disturbing reports and images that have been floating in, there is probably none more poignantly disturbing than this one from ARY:
Violence, of course, can only beget violence, and one saw this too in the manhandling of the State Minister for Information, Tariq Azeem. Yet more evidence that violence is replacing discourse as the mode of disagreement in Pakistani society.
This is not a question of which side you are on. Ultimately you have to be against violence. We have written about shameful violence and police brutality before – tearing down the shalwar of a young man in a ‘missing persons’ protest and then also against the lawyers during the CJ movement. But this is not just shameful; it is needless. Now there are also reports of muzzling the media; another tactic we have seen before. It demonstrates the government’s slipping grip on power, but it also demonstrates a society that is so torn that every issues – may it be religious, social or political – has to end in violence.
The government, after all, has already gotten the verdict it wanted. At least let the people vent out their anger. There is nothing to be gained from this violence. For a nation that has already lost so much, this is merely also losing whatever little dignity that might have remained. As I have written already in a comment elsewhere, history shall judge the merit of the decision that was given by the Supreme Court on the 28th of September, but the violence of the 29th of September was shameful and needless and will remain (yet another) blot of our national political psyche.
Aamir, as someone who served in the Army for 24 years and fought two wars for the country, my single biggest reason to want Musharraf to leave is that because of him the respect for the military is going down. He is now the greatest threat to the respect for military. Because now he is only interested in his position. It is also clear that he wants to be President more than he wants to be soldier which is why he has said he will drop uniform after election. I want my military to be a military and nothing more.
Faisal Bashir:
We are not as eager for civil war in Pakistan as you and we respect the army, which has made mistakes but which also defended the country against internal and external threats.
The lawyers and journalists and opposition are behaving like mobs and rejecting the Supreme Court verdict.
Good, but isnt this too late:
“ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan has taken suo moto notice of police violence against lawyers, newsmen and representatives of the civil society on Saturday at Constitution Avenue of Islamabad on report of the Registrar of the Supreme Court.
According to Geo News correspondent, Supreme Court has summoned Secretary Interior, Advocate General Punjab, Chief Commissioner Islamabad, I.G. Police, D.C. and SSP Islamabad to appear before the court tomorrow.
The apex court has also directed the Chief Commissioner Islamabad to submit the September 29 security plan, daily security plan and all FIRs to the court.
The Chief Justice has also issued directives to directors of PIMS and Polyclinic hospitals to submit their reports to the court about patients admitted in these hospitals on the day and nature of their injuries.”
Well sometimes i think how easily we get carried away. Although I did nto read all the posts but all i see is Musharraf. Well again we are on the wrong track targetting just one man. He goes….. someone other may come in coming few years. Actually we must target the institution which backs such traiters as Musharraf, Ayub Khan and Yahya. Army as an institution has done more harm to Pakistan than any worst imaginable enemy. We simply created two classes. Army being the one and the rest of pakistan in the other. Somehow they are above the law(Almost legally). All they need is money. And btw by army i donot mean the jawans, I only mean the officers especially officers above the rank of colonel. Till we keep targeting persons, we might get rid of persons (when they have done enough damage). But the dictator making factory will keep producing more. TO end this, there is no easy solution. All the civil society should stand against them. Audit their accounts and take back the wealth they have sucked from the perople in the form of LANDS, AWT, FAUJI FOUNDATION, SHAHEEN FOUNDATION. If it means a CIVIL WAR, let it come but trust me it will be the last war of Pakistan’s final and eventual freedom.
Pl. read Omar’s posting again!
Any one really interested in finding why Musharraf and his partners want to retain power at every cost, must read OMAR ‘s honest and jargon free posting once again in conjunction with the following:
Washington, Sep 26 (ANI): Ninety percent of the current US assistance of two billion dollars a year to Pakistan goes to the military, a report has said.
The report titled ‘Pakistan: A perilous course’, was unveiled at a meeting on Pakistan held at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The panel of speakers was made up of Teresita Schaffer of the CSIS, Robert Oakley and Wendy Chamberlain, former US Ambassadors to Pakistan. Rick Barton, a former senior official of the Geneva-based UN High Commission, conducted the meeting for Refugees.
The US should support the democratic process in Pakistan, and not an individual, the Daily Times quoted Chamberlain, as saying.
Commenting on the current situation in Pakistan, Robert Oakley said that Musharraf threw open a Pandora’s box, which he couldn’t now close the lid on.
He said Musharraf had put the army in deadly confrontation with the extremists in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and it had lost many lives.
Teresita Schaffer said that the US should work “visibly” with “competing” leaders, and added that it must work for democracy, instead of latching on to one person.
____________
Has any one ever seen any accounting of billions, yes billions, ending in Musharraf & Company’ s hands, in our name?