Gameplan
Sir,
A year has elapsed since the last elections, which in all fairness is not enough time for the PML-N government to be assessed, but judging from choice of individuals appointed to head important public offices, not much can be expected from the mediocrity that dominates those who have been tasked to deliver.
With Narendar Modi ruling Delhi, India’s constitutional commitment to secularism preached by Gandhi might have received a jolt, but it is time that the government grasps the reality of the dangers that confront Pakistan from within and outside. What Pakistan and its establishment cannot afford is to seem to be cultivating the likes of Hafiz Saeed, or that red hat wearing Zaid Hamid, nor for our sensationalism bitten electronic media to give them undue coverage.
Pakistan needs to restore rule of law within its geographical boundaries, with no space for private armed militias challenging the writ of the state and collecting more funds through extortion than the FBR, from traders and retailers in big cities such as Karachi. This country needs to collect taxes from all sources of income to fund its constitutional commitment of providing education, health and security of life and property for all citizens, while all state funded institutions are confined to adopt strictly their legally defined roles.
Power must only flow from constitution and laws, never from the barrel of a gun, otherwise the likes of Taliban and other sectarian and ethnic outfits will hold this country hostage for ransom, as has been the case for over four decades.
The masses, the poor and deprived must be sole beneficiaries of state largess and dole outs, instead of the civil or khaki bureaucracy, or the nexus of land mafia and corrupt elite that have misruled this country for years.
Capping the dollar at Rs100 alone does not provide any relief to poor, unless massive corruption is curtailed, inflation brought down by imposing direct taxes instead of burdening consumers with indirect taxes and flight of capital eliminated. For this to happen the prime minister must appoint men of integrity on merit with undivided loyalty to Pakistan at helm of state corporations, monetary agencies, law enforcement and accountability organizations.
Zahid Khan,
Lahore.
Street smarts
Sir,
The capital was abuzz with slogans by the followers of PTI and its chairman Imran Khan on May 11, 2014. The oratory skills of PTI demagogue Imran Khan were undoubtedly at their best, as always. He, undoubtedly, succeeded in touching the hearts and igniting the minds of the exuberant and emotionally charged mass of people present at the venue of the demonstration, the D-Chowk in Islamabad, in thousands.
Was the show of strength demonstrated by the Tehrik-e-Insaf chief on the occasion something unusual? No, it wasn’t. Demonstrations and long marches, all and sundry would agree, have become a common feature in this country. True, that they take place everywhere in the world. But the difference is that in our part of the world demonstrations and marches have started occurring a little too frequently and that too for no solid rhyme or reason.
In the protest rally of May 11, the PTI leader demanded dissolution of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and asked the incumbent government to immediately bring about electoral reforms in the country. This assertion, right or wrong, was made by him because he strongly felt that the people of Pakistan have lost their faith in the electoral system. The concerns raised by Imran Khan may carry some weight but the way the issue has been blown out of proportion compels one to think that the blatant aspersions cast by the PTI chief on the Election Commission is not without pre-meditated intent.
Leaving things at that, let us not forget that the Election Commission and its chairman Justice (r) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim were praised by Imran Khan when it was set up, and almost every other political party of the country. In fact, the sparkling stature and integrity of Justice Fakhruddin was particularly eulogized by all and sundry, and very rightly so.
While saying so, it must not be misunderstood that the issue of polls rigging, if it has taken place and wherever it has taken place, should be considered a trivial matter and therefore condoned. The issue is serious and must receive due importance and consideration of the authorities concerned, and resolved in the larger interest of this nation and democracy. Let this also be clearly understood that demos and long marches are no solution to the massive predicaments that Pakistan is confronted with today.
Let’s not play with the emotions of this nation for personal gains any more. Pakistan cannot afford futile and meaningless activities such as demonstrations and long marches. Time has come for the political parties of this country to quickly realize this and work in unison to steer Pakistan out of the quagmire that it is currently trapped in.
M Fazal Elahi,
Islamabad.
Dirty politics
Sir,
According to the Supreme Court Pakistan, Karachi’s main political parties are responsible for patronizing criminal mafia style gangs. Yet these political parties have been consulted and their consent obtained to appoint key police officials in the city.
How is it possible to restore law and order in Karachi, nab target killers, extortion racketeers, and those involved in heinous crimes such as kidnapping for ransom, when working of police and their scrutiny itself is subject to powerful criminal mafia supposedly enjoying patronage of political parties? If a crime has been committed, law enforcement is required to nab those it considers guilty, interrogate them and present them before judiciary for prosecution.
Pakistan is undergoing is terrorism from within. We face a crisis that threatens our very existence and survival as a sovereign responsible state, which is ruled by laws, not by individuals or groups, irrespective of whether they are elected or armed.
The whole purpose of maintaining an armed uniformed security service comes to a naught if the state is subjected to blackmail and dictated by groups who would require law enforcers to seek their consent, before proceeding against criminals. In the words of T Roosevelt, “No man is above the law and no man is below it, nor do we ask any man’s permission, when we ask him to obey it.”
Can anybody imagine a Senator in the US, a member of Lok Sabha in India, or a parliamentarian in UK threatening to bring to a standstill a major financial hub such as Karachi, if his demands are not met? What would have been response of establishment in Pakistan if an angry Baloch leader threatened to do something similar. What would be the response of the US government if a Congressman made a similar threat to grind to a halt New York or Chicago?
If we are to restore sanity in this country and enforce supremacy of constitutional rule, then police, paramilitary forces and the judiciary must not be slave to whims of individual power brokers, erring politicians or bureaucrats.
Malik Tariq,
Lahore.
Law of land
Sir,
Lawyers, traders and political groups are carrying out protests against the Geo television network all over the country, and it seems like many such groups have sided with the ISI in a row that began when the network accused the agency’s chief of orchestrating an attack on its anchor Hamid Mir.
The staff of the Geo network, which is the largest TV network in Pakistan, is worried about their personal security.
Instead of taking to the streets, making serious allegations against the channel and putting the life of its staff at risk, won’t it be nice if an independent team is constituted to probe the allegations leveled by Geo TV?
An independent enquiry by an international body could bring out the truth and then the culprit can be tried as per the law of the land.
Tejinder Singh Sodhi,
New Delhi.
Musharraf’s cardinal sin
Sir,
Ever since Ghulam Mohammad, Sikander Mirza and Ayub Khan derailed the democratic process charted for this country by our founding fathers, Pakistan has suffered with massive rise in corruption, abuse of power, collapse of law and order, deterioration in human development, and politics of opportunism.
Those in the corridors of power and those in whose hands are our development plans and our foreign policy are men of mediocre caliber, who have proven that they lack the vision and commitment to this country. Most of them have chosen to abandon this country, shifting their assets and families to safer foreign havens, having reaped a bonanza while sun shined on them.
Pakistan has endured a series of martial laws, followed by political governments, both allowing the elite to pilfer state assets, and carry out institutionalized tax evasion, massive flight of capital and brain drain. A state where most the influential players are land mafia dons known for involvement in organized land grabbing, smuggling, insider trading and running criminal Mafioso style gangs involved in heinous crimes, is a state waiting to be reduced to anarchy that is exhibited in Somalia.
Musharraf like Zia, Yahya, and Ayub, imposed martial law, but he crossed all limits when on 12 May 2007, he stood in Islamabad, while still in uniform, and defiantly claimed the brutal killings of over 60 innocent citizens of Pakistan on streets of Karachi as a show of his power.
By this act he brought into disrepute the institution of armed forces, creating a wedge between people and their army that could threaten very edifice on which our national security rests. It is mutual love and respect between the army and the people, which gives strength to our valiant soldiers to defend their motherland, protecting of lives of the citizens.
On 12 May, 2007, Musharraf committed this cardinal sin, for which he must pay.
Ali Malik,
Lahore.
Blind eye
Sir,
The cold blooded murder of a lawyer in Multan who was advocating a young man accused of blasphemy has made headlines around the world. Rashid Rehman was threatened openly in court.
The incident has once again exposed the sensitivity of the blasphemy issue in Pakistan. The Pakistani society is loosing its history of being a tolerant and a moderate one. The country has come under a lot of criticism since the introduction of the law, but a large number of Pakistanis also argue that the law is essential. In such a situation, it becomes even more critical for the state to conduct itself in a very cautious way while dealing with blasphemy allegations.
It is very unfortunate that the authorities in Pakistan despite being well aware of the sensitivity of the matter, very often take a careless approach in dealing with such cases. Judicial and administrative apathy in this case has taken the life of an outstanding lawyer who believed in the rule of law and fought for it.
The worst response to the incident was from the so-called free media in Pakistan. The electronic media ignored the matter, the reasons for which are better known to the champions of democracy and fair play in the circles of widely viewed non-issue-oriented so-called political talk shows aired by all major media houses in Pakistan.
Cowardice and opportunism rule Pakistani electronic media. If showing a man climbing an electricity pole can get more ads than the news of a murder of a lawyer, the media would go for the former.
Extremists are now setting the national narrative. In the recent episode of Geo TV versus the military establishment, questions are being asked about banned outfits rallying in favor of the army, as if the state and its institutions seek their support. This is a dangerous trend, and it sends the wrong signals to the moderate elements of the society.
The ideological path we seem to have chosen for ourselves is turning what was once a moderate, tolerant society into an intolerant and extremist one.
Let us hope that this murder awakens the conscience of the state.
Atif Mahmood Majoka,
Melbourne.