Adil Najam
Well, not really.
Headlines like that were in rage today and referred to the fact that Imran Khan and Jemima, now divorced, appeared together in a protest outside 10 Downing Street, London, where Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf was meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. According to The News:
The high profile divorced couple stood side by side in front of the prime minister’s office for some time, where a large number of overseas Pakistanis had gathered to protest the arrival of Musharraf in London and his “anti-democratic†steps in Pakistan.
Many believe here that this was one of the biggest rallies of overseas Pakistanis in the recent days who had gathered to protest against Musharraf’s policies. The protesters kept on chanting slogans against Musharraf for more than two hours without any break. The intensity of the slogans was so powerful that these could be heard from a long distance. The PPP and PML-N activists were also present there in a large number.
The news about the protest had many interesting aspects, but pictures of the event including this one have me thinking about something else. Notice what you see in the picture. The eye gravitates, of course, to the now-divorced couple. However, you also see a person carrying a portrait of assasinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. In the background are flags of the Jamaat-i-Islami. You also see a flicker of a PPP flag. Not in this picture but also in the rally were flags and supporters of the PPP and of the PML-N.
Unlikely comrades. But united for a cause. The picture should be seen as yet more testimony to just how deep and widespread the opposition to the Musharraf government has become. Maybe, just maybe, Gen. Musarraf can unite the usually bickering opposition forces in Pakistan after all. It is, after all, not an easy task to bring people with such certifiably “irreconcilable differences” – such as Imran Khan and Jemima, but also recall the strong words that Jemima and Imran have had to say about Benazir – together.
@ Adil Najam,
ghaur talab hay !!
Iktarfa tamasha hay, NaseeboLaal ki tasweer ka
wallah us ki ankhon ka teer, kaman ka mussawir nikla
I think it is clear that the oppsition to Musharraf is now widespread across Pakistan. As someone saud there is only one thing that all true paksiatnis can now agree on, and that is Musahrraf must go. Its time to put Pakistan first and make Musharraf leave.
Its irrelevant to post but somebody plz tell me how an overseas pakistani can vote. I have tried to look up postal ballots but apparently one neesd a special ballot paper to vote via postal ballots. plz plz do let me know if there is a chance that I can cast my vote.
Unwavering Commitments
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This might look as off-topic but I thought that since this site has been extensively covering Aitezaz Ahsan from his arrest to his letters, this omission seems somewhat intentional or otherwise?
in memoriam: Benazir Bhutto
Aitzaz Ahsan
“I will remember her for three qualities: a constant urge to reach out to her people, a willingness to take on Herculean challenges, and for her ability to forgive, even embrace, her enemies. These three qualities made her superhuman. And all three took her to her tragic, yet heroic death?”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008 1\29\story_29-1-2008_pg3_4
It seems to me that common animosity toward Musharraf is enough to bring together even divorced couples like Imran and Jemima Khan. This seems to be a metaphor for all kinds of unnatural alliances and strange bedfellows against Pakistani governments, past and present, based on abundance of negative energy. The question that gets ignored is: What happens after the government of the day is removed? Another feudal? or a general? or an autocrat? Does the cycle start all over again? Like the three previous cycles from military to feudal to military? What do the lawyers or the judges or the NGOs or the human rights folks get out of it? More chaos? More suffering? Even a failed state? It’s time we seriously ponder these questions.