We are at the crossroads. As Mirza Ghalib says in his couplet
Eeman mujay rokay hai jo khenchay hai mujey kufr
Kaaba merey peechay hai kaleesa merey aagay
We are trapped between push of development and pull of traditions. Young generation is confused and bewildered where to get reconciliation. Main stream religious leaders failed to satisfy the post-modern political issues. The situation is further aggravated by the absence of any kind of discussion and dialogue in the society. This absence of dissenting views has led to proliferation of orthodox and violent means to assert ones point of view.
Recent kidnapping of three residents of Islamabad by female students of an Islamic school is nothing but a 'vigilante justice'. The way government took a very soft stance against the occupation of children library by female students of the same school emboldened their courage and now they are threatening to establish an Islamic court in their school. This is blessing of having military power in over society. This is exact opposite what Jinnah had dreamt for, a tolerant, secular society, where everyone would be identified as Pakistani.
But I think one should not to be surprised by these events as a cursory look at the evolution of political economy will reveal the true picture of Pakistani society. It is a society where one can do whatever he wants as long as he has the monopoly of violence. A constitutionally elected prime minister dismisses his Army Chief, but as Army Chief rejects his orders and topples his democratically elected government. Why? Here gun power is more powerful then peoples power in Pakistan.
Have we ever entertained a thought, what if Chief Justice rejects his authority and establishes his own government just like the way General Musharif did to Nawaz Sharif? I know we can not even imagine about it because army as an institution holds the monopoly over violence in our society. By the use of their coercive power they have managed to twist laws in their favour. Why the managed to do this because of our silence. They willfully have twisted the political history of Pakistan under the guise of indispensableness. They are not the guardian of national interest; people of Pakistan are the guardian of national interest. Armed forces in every civilized society are one instrument among many at the disposal of the people to achieve their national interests. Nations are indispensable not the institutions.
Just like in Animal Farm, in our society all institutions are equal but some institutions are more equal then others. Pakistan Army since the inception of Pakistan has been 'the most equal institution' of Pakistan. Now the time has come to put everything in its right order. A place where it belongs
In order to have a balance institutional structure power must to be handed over to the people of Pakistan. This can only be achieved by the way of establishing a tradition of scrutinizing each and every action no matter how sensitive it is. This can only be achieved by revisiting our history and questioning all the values and dogmas. We need to stand up and as Soraya Shahpour-Ulrich writes," we must defend justice with our lives lest we need justice to defend our lives."
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Beginning of an End
After trampling down every democratic institution in Pakistan under his military boots, General Pervaiz Musharif turned his guns towards the last bastion of civil liberties in Pakistan i.e. Supreme Court of Pakistan. After failing to intimidate Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Choudary to resign he then suspended him on false and flimsy accusations. We need to remember he is the same Chief Justice who ruled privatization of Pakistan Steel Mills as illegal. He is the same Chief Justice who directed the government trace disappearance of people by secret agencies of Pakistan.
This could be very important juncture in the political history of Pakistan where judiciary has a dark history of following military orders by providing military rulers ‘legal justifications’ for their unconstitutional acts by legal creativeness of “doctrine of necessity”. Here great care should be taken for not to transform present political struggle in to a fight between two institutions i.e. Supreme Court of Pakistan and Pakistan Army. As it is a norm with all oppressive regimes to first try to intimidate people into submission. If they fail in getting peoples’ unconditional submission they then try to highjack their struggle by describing it as ‘this struggle is nothing but a mere clash of personalities’. That is what General Musharif tried to portray in his recent interview on the same channel which his police force ransacked few days earlier. In this interview he presented himself as a good boy, who always goes by the book and respects the sanctity of the constitution which he abrogated in November, 1999. And obviously Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Choudary was a bad boy in his version of story.
There is no doubt about the democratic nature of this struggle which includes almost every section of society from lawyers to journalists to students to political activists. With the inclusion of mass political parties like Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N) this struggle has a potential of becoming a harbinger of new political culture in Pakistan. Though sign are very encouraging, like the case of every rotten and dying military regime anything can be expected from General Musharif. Like the most orthodox advocate of Generak Musharif’s ‘moderate enlightenment’ Mr Shujaat Hussain insulted current democratic struggle by reducing it as a fight between two institutions (Army and Judiciary) for more perks and privileges. Whenever one speaks he speaks from his experiences and Mr Shujaat’s experience tells him that his struggle has always been for political perks and privileges. If people of Pakistan stood fast and did not accept regime’s explanation of events as a last option before using their brute force- they are so familiar with, they will try to create confusion by inviting different political parties to enjoy power-share with them.
We should give this struggle its rightful status which is the struggle of people of Pakistan for their democratic rights and civil liberties. Signs are very ominous of military junta in Pakistan and eventual outcome of this struggle will be the removal army generals from the political scene once and for all. And any group of people or political party tried to come in from back doors in order to restore the status-quo, it would be considered to sabotage peoples’ struggle in the favour of those who kept people of Pakistan away from their democratic rights since 1947. So Benazir Bhutto should be bewared of ‘soft corner’ which General Musharif mentioned in his TV interview for her political party. He is desperate for political support. Supporting him at the present moment means back stabbing peoples’ struggle for democratic rights.
It would be wrong to look at the present unrest in Pakistan without global context. It is part of global trend where more and more people are expressing their unhappiness with the way USA (Bush) uses its military muscles for corporate purposes. It is part of current massive wave of anti neo-liberalism which stretches from South America to Asia. Anyone who is friend of Bush is considered enemy of people. So the present upheaval is rejection of neo-liberal policies by peoples of Pakistan. They broke the seven years long silence by voicing their instance anger at military government of General Pervaiz Musharif, a Bush ally in the so-called fight against terrorism and his suspension of Chief Justice provided only a channel and a way out to express peoples’ disgust for military rule in Pakistan.
Friendships do have impact as General Musharif learnt few tricks from his friend President Bush. He tried to manipulate judiciary the same way Bush administration did to US judiciary. In both the cases judges have been removed from their offices on performance related issues. However on looker know that Bush administration’s actions were politically motivated. In the same way present military regime are going to face two very far-reaching court cases in coming months before elections. One related to General Musharif’s having two offices at the same time i.e. Chief of Army Staff and President of Pakistan. The second related to dual nationality of Prime Minister of Pakistan Shoukat Aziz. Obviously military regime does not want to have an independent Chief Justice hearing both these far-reaching cases. One has to remember that Prime Minister Aziz has been linked with the people responsible with the recent Karachi Stock Exchange crash as well as with privitisation of Pakistan Steel Mills.
Public protest in Pakistan is not just a protest for Chief Justice but it is a protest against Bush’s friend and a mass demonstration against US foreign policy. So here is very ready made remedy for General Musharif from present turmoil. If he denounces US foreign policy and refuses to be a part of Bush’s war for corporate dominance this might mitigate the intensity of current hostile political atmosphere in Pakistan. However this is only a beginning, in fact a beginning of an end. The beginning of the people’s power in Pakistan, the end of military dictatorship. General Musharif has to go sooner or later it would be advisable if he retreats back to his barracks and leave all the institutions to the people of Pakistan. And for army generals they need to reconcile their internal culture with the present changes and ground realities in Pakistani society. They should do what they are paid for, to serve the people of Pakistan not to rule over them. They should stop conquering their own country and turn their attention towards their profession by dismantling all their commercial enterprises in Pakistan for the protection of which they have to invade democracy in Pakistan again and again.
So if people of Pakistan kept their aims and objectives clear then this could be the last nail in the coffin of military rule in Pakistan.
This could be very important juncture in the political history of Pakistan where judiciary has a dark history of following military orders by providing military rulers ‘legal justifications’ for their unconstitutional acts by legal creativeness of “doctrine of necessity”. Here great care should be taken for not to transform present political struggle in to a fight between two institutions i.e. Supreme Court of Pakistan and Pakistan Army. As it is a norm with all oppressive regimes to first try to intimidate people into submission. If they fail in getting peoples’ unconditional submission they then try to highjack their struggle by describing it as ‘this struggle is nothing but a mere clash of personalities’. That is what General Musharif tried to portray in his recent interview on the same channel which his police force ransacked few days earlier. In this interview he presented himself as a good boy, who always goes by the book and respects the sanctity of the constitution which he abrogated in November, 1999. And obviously Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Choudary was a bad boy in his version of story.
There is no doubt about the democratic nature of this struggle which includes almost every section of society from lawyers to journalists to students to political activists. With the inclusion of mass political parties like Pakistan Peoples Party and Pakistan Muslim League (N) this struggle has a potential of becoming a harbinger of new political culture in Pakistan. Though sign are very encouraging, like the case of every rotten and dying military regime anything can be expected from General Musharif. Like the most orthodox advocate of Generak Musharif’s ‘moderate enlightenment’ Mr Shujaat Hussain insulted current democratic struggle by reducing it as a fight between two institutions (Army and Judiciary) for more perks and privileges. Whenever one speaks he speaks from his experiences and Mr Shujaat’s experience tells him that his struggle has always been for political perks and privileges. If people of Pakistan stood fast and did not accept regime’s explanation of events as a last option before using their brute force- they are so familiar with, they will try to create confusion by inviting different political parties to enjoy power-share with them.
We should give this struggle its rightful status which is the struggle of people of Pakistan for their democratic rights and civil liberties. Signs are very ominous of military junta in Pakistan and eventual outcome of this struggle will be the removal army generals from the political scene once and for all. And any group of people or political party tried to come in from back doors in order to restore the status-quo, it would be considered to sabotage peoples’ struggle in the favour of those who kept people of Pakistan away from their democratic rights since 1947. So Benazir Bhutto should be bewared of ‘soft corner’ which General Musharif mentioned in his TV interview for her political party. He is desperate for political support. Supporting him at the present moment means back stabbing peoples’ struggle for democratic rights.
It would be wrong to look at the present unrest in Pakistan without global context. It is part of global trend where more and more people are expressing their unhappiness with the way USA (Bush) uses its military muscles for corporate purposes. It is part of current massive wave of anti neo-liberalism which stretches from South America to Asia. Anyone who is friend of Bush is considered enemy of people. So the present upheaval is rejection of neo-liberal policies by peoples of Pakistan. They broke the seven years long silence by voicing their instance anger at military government of General Pervaiz Musharif, a Bush ally in the so-called fight against terrorism and his suspension of Chief Justice provided only a channel and a way out to express peoples’ disgust for military rule in Pakistan.
Friendships do have impact as General Musharif learnt few tricks from his friend President Bush. He tried to manipulate judiciary the same way Bush administration did to US judiciary. In both the cases judges have been removed from their offices on performance related issues. However on looker know that Bush administration’s actions were politically motivated. In the same way present military regime are going to face two very far-reaching court cases in coming months before elections. One related to General Musharif’s having two offices at the same time i.e. Chief of Army Staff and President of Pakistan. The second related to dual nationality of Prime Minister of Pakistan Shoukat Aziz. Obviously military regime does not want to have an independent Chief Justice hearing both these far-reaching cases. One has to remember that Prime Minister Aziz has been linked with the people responsible with the recent Karachi Stock Exchange crash as well as with privitisation of Pakistan Steel Mills.
Public protest in Pakistan is not just a protest for Chief Justice but it is a protest against Bush’s friend and a mass demonstration against US foreign policy. So here is very ready made remedy for General Musharif from present turmoil. If he denounces US foreign policy and refuses to be a part of Bush’s war for corporate dominance this might mitigate the intensity of current hostile political atmosphere in Pakistan. However this is only a beginning, in fact a beginning of an end. The beginning of the people’s power in Pakistan, the end of military dictatorship. General Musharif has to go sooner or later it would be advisable if he retreats back to his barracks and leave all the institutions to the people of Pakistan. And for army generals they need to reconcile their internal culture with the present changes and ground realities in Pakistani society. They should do what they are paid for, to serve the people of Pakistan not to rule over them. They should stop conquering their own country and turn their attention towards their profession by dismantling all their commercial enterprises in Pakistan for the protection of which they have to invade democracy in Pakistan again and again.
So if people of Pakistan kept their aims and objectives clear then this could be the last nail in the coffin of military rule in Pakistan.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)