How many wrongs, General?

Last year General Musharraf read in this column of a great miscarriage of justice in Multan, the “honour” killing of 21-year-old Afsheen Sahu allegedly by her father and grandfather, her hurried burial in a shallow grave in the family’s ancestral village, and the ensuing conspiracy of silence. Afsheen’s “crime” was that she refused to abide by the forced marriage her family had thrust upon her, and made her own choice of husband clear to all. This is what cost Afsheen her life.

As soon as he read about it, General Musharraf took a pro-active interest in the case and ensured that a post-mortem was done.This process returned a verdict of “death by strangulation”. The case then went to the Sessions Court where the learned judge refused the plea of the accused for “reconciliation” under the Qisas and Diyat laws whereby the “wali” or heirs of the deceased can “forgive” the murderer/s. In Afsheen’s case both her “wali” and her murderer could be deemed to be the same person – her father. The judge ordered that the trial proper should commence given that the initial investigation revealed that Afsheen’s father and grandfather were guilty as accused. Many months later, the Multan bench of the High Court has overturned the ruling of the Sessions Court and decreed that the victim’s “wali” can indeed forgive her murderers. So, Afsheen’s father can now forgive himself and his father for having murdered their daughter/granddaughter.

How many wrongs will General Musharraf right by his own intervention? The fact of the matter is that the Qisas and Diyat law needs to be scrapped immediately.

Khakis vs civvies

Last Sunday saw an interesting game of cricket being played in Isloo. This was a match between khakis and civilians, with the khakis scraping a victory thanks to two scions of generals. The boys are both civilians and were persuaded to play for the khakis against the rules. This anomaly was not lost on the litigious amongst the civvies, especially Big Ben’s famous legal eagle AA, who cried foul and said that as usual the khakis had maneuvered a victory taking advantage of the services of two civilian collaborators. “You cannot win”, proclaimed AA in a statement dripping with irony, “without your civilian collaborators!”

The Great Khan, Pakistan’s greatest cricketing legend, should have played on the side of the civvies, given that he is a member of Parliament. The Khan however refused to take part in the match, saying that he was out of form.

Big Brother’s watching

The government agency NADRA, playing the true Orwellian Big Brother, has developed an unique software whereby it is able to monitor computer usage by officers of the great civil services of Pakistan. Much to Big Brother’s chagrin, it has been discovered that officers spend the bulk of their time a) surfing pornographic sites b) chatting online, and in that order.