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Stop maligning the military
By Mohammad Jamil
The legal battle over the double murder committed by American national Raymond Davis is over, as the heirs of the two murdered Pakistanis have accepted Diyat, which is in accordance with the law of the land and Islamic injunctions. However, some political and religious leaders and media men question the haste in Davis’ release after settlement between the heirs of Fahim and Faizan and Raymond Davis.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N leader formally declared that the military and the ISI played the main role in getting the release of Raymond Davis. Some irresponsible media men also share similar views without verifying from the legal heirs of the Faizan and Fahim, who reportedly received Rs. 200 million as blood money. After release of Raymond Davis, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had categorically stated that once Raymond was released by the Sessions Court, the Punjab government had no option but to set him free. It is unfortunate that the politicians are not willing to take ownership of their decisions.
Since the day Raymond Davis was arrested, the PPP and the PML-N had stated that they would accept court’s decision because the courts are independent. In a petition about Raymond Davis’ immunity, Lahore High Court had also declared that the matter of immunity would be decided by the trial court. PML-N spokesman Pervez Rashid while appearing on various TV channels accused the military of pressurizing the legal heirs of Faizan and Fahim into accepting the blood money. All politicians, analysts and panelists should be honest in giving their opinion and comments. They should realize that the personnel of the law enforcing agencies have given tremendous sacrifices and have lost more than 2000 personnel. How could they forget that the present military top brass had more than once refused to buckle under American pressure? Military had taken exception to the language used in the Kerry-Lugar Bill and had taken the position that Americans must respect Pakistanis. On the question of visas also, the military were averse to issuance of visas by Pakistan embassy in Washington without proper verification.
They should compare the present military top brass with the previous one, when on a telephone call, the government used to hand over any wanted person to the US. But now despite the tremendous pressure, Raymond Davis case was heard for at least 45 days. This case got wide projection at international level to the extent that US President Barrack Obama called for his release and US Senator John Kerry undertook a visit to Pakistan, while contacts at the highest level continued day in day out with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Yet the case has been decided in accordance with Pakistani law; Americans accepted that Raymond had no diplomatic immunity and expressed their regrets over the loss of four lives. It is true that there is a lot of hatred against America for its past shenanigans and now for continuing drone attacks, which has been condemned by the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in the strongest terms, stating that these attacks are unjustifiable and intolerable. Earlier, military had resisted the efforts to place the ISI under interior ministry, as desired by the government and the US.
As regards Raymond Davis’ release, legal fraternity seems divided. Some question the haste in which Raymond Davis has been released. But there is another view. Former Lahore High Court chief justice Dr Javed Iqbal and former judges Dr Khalid Ranjha and Nazir Ahmad Ghazi said that law provides for Diyat and the court has to accept it if both parties reach an agreement un Diyat law. Advocate Asad Manzoor Butt, who earlier represented the victims throughout the trial, said the jail authorities did not allow him to enter the courtroom and he was kept in ‘detention’ for four hours till the proceedings were over. He did not believe that his clients agreed to Diyat of their free will and was mulling the option to lead his ‘detention’ matter to the court of law. But again this is travesty of the truth because legal heirs had cancelled his power of attorney/wakatnama and issued a new one in favour of another lawyer who prepared all the documentation. Our media men cry hoarse that why the government had kept the matter so confidential and why the people were not informed about the agreement beforehand. But the matter of Diyat was the matter between the two parties, and they had no right to question them.
Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the release of Davis under the Diyat Law has vindicated the stand he and the Foreign Ministry had taken regarding his immunity. In an interview with a private TV channel on the release of the American, the former foreign minister said the nation must be taken into confidence about the circumstances that led to the release of the CIA spy. He however said it was the right of the legal heirs of the affected families to voluntarily pardon Davis, accept Diyat to pardon him or pursue the case to get him punished. Our media and politicians must be careful not to show to the world that they are divided. The US and the West have all along been accusing Pakistan of playing a double game and supporting and ensconcing the terrorists, which is travesty of the truth, as military could not arm the militants to get killed. It has to be said that thousands of military personnel and members of other law enforcing agencies have been martyred in the war on terror.
The nation was still grieving the terrible slaughters of Hangu and Bara that terrorists struck Nowshera recently when the monsters took 11 innocent lives, including two children’s, and gored another 25 with the blast of a time-bomb they had planted in the mosque of Akhwand Punjo Baba’s shrine. About thirty people were killed and more than 150 injured in a failed attack on the offices of the ISI in Faisalabad. The bomb was planted in a car that went off near the CNG station located near a ticketing office of the Pakistan International Airlines and also a regional office of the ISI. Indeed, there is need for a national strategy with built-in mechanism, and collaboration between intelligence agencies and security apparatuses of the Centre and the provinces at various levels is imperative. Instead of taking the terrorists head on, centre and provincial governments blame each other; Punjab provincial government complains that it is not getting the information from the centre, whereas federal government rebuts the charge. Who stands to gain from such blame-game? Certainly terrorists.
Pakistan is at the crossroads of its destiny. For over six decades, the profligacy of the rulers and politics of power and pelf have brought the country to brink of economic collapse. There is a perception that ours is a degenerated society where more or less all institutions, parties, groups and individuals are impacted. And media men, writers, poets and intellectuals are no exception. Some pseudo-intellectuals, columnists and writers have the habit of criticizing the government and its institutions such as military and the ISI. Look at the anchor persons; invariably all of them pitch one political party against another and one institution of state against another. They should act responsibly, and stop playing into the hands of enemies’ agents. There is a perception that the CIA, apart from penetrating into militants’ networks is also investing on some media men to bring Pakistani military and its premier agency into disrepute. They should understand that if any harm is caused to Pakistan, we all stand to suffer immensely.
—The writer is Lahore-based senior journalist.
By Mohammad Jamil
The legal battle over the double murder committed by American national Raymond Davis is over, as the heirs of the two murdered Pakistanis have accepted Diyat, which is in accordance with the law of the land and Islamic injunctions. However, some political and religious leaders and media men question the haste in Davis’ release after settlement between the heirs of Fahim and Faizan and Raymond Davis.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N leader formally declared that the military and the ISI played the main role in getting the release of Raymond Davis. Some irresponsible media men also share similar views without verifying from the legal heirs of the Faizan and Fahim, who reportedly received Rs. 200 million as blood money. After release of Raymond Davis, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had categorically stated that once Raymond was released by the Sessions Court, the Punjab government had no option but to set him free. It is unfortunate that the politicians are not willing to take ownership of their decisions.
Since the day Raymond Davis was arrested, the PPP and the PML-N had stated that they would accept court’s decision because the courts are independent. In a petition about Raymond Davis’ immunity, Lahore High Court had also declared that the matter of immunity would be decided by the trial court. PML-N spokesman Pervez Rashid while appearing on various TV channels accused the military of pressurizing the legal heirs of Faizan and Fahim into accepting the blood money. All politicians, analysts and panelists should be honest in giving their opinion and comments. They should realize that the personnel of the law enforcing agencies have given tremendous sacrifices and have lost more than 2000 personnel. How could they forget that the present military top brass had more than once refused to buckle under American pressure? Military had taken exception to the language used in the Kerry-Lugar Bill and had taken the position that Americans must respect Pakistanis. On the question of visas also, the military were averse to issuance of visas by Pakistan embassy in Washington without proper verification.
They should compare the present military top brass with the previous one, when on a telephone call, the government used to hand over any wanted person to the US. But now despite the tremendous pressure, Raymond Davis case was heard for at least 45 days. This case got wide projection at international level to the extent that US President Barrack Obama called for his release and US Senator John Kerry undertook a visit to Pakistan, while contacts at the highest level continued day in day out with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Yet the case has been decided in accordance with Pakistani law; Americans accepted that Raymond had no diplomatic immunity and expressed their regrets over the loss of four lives. It is true that there is a lot of hatred against America for its past shenanigans and now for continuing drone attacks, which has been condemned by the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani in the strongest terms, stating that these attacks are unjustifiable and intolerable. Earlier, military had resisted the efforts to place the ISI under interior ministry, as desired by the government and the US.
As regards Raymond Davis’ release, legal fraternity seems divided. Some question the haste in which Raymond Davis has been released. But there is another view. Former Lahore High Court chief justice Dr Javed Iqbal and former judges Dr Khalid Ranjha and Nazir Ahmad Ghazi said that law provides for Diyat and the court has to accept it if both parties reach an agreement un Diyat law. Advocate Asad Manzoor Butt, who earlier represented the victims throughout the trial, said the jail authorities did not allow him to enter the courtroom and he was kept in ‘detention’ for four hours till the proceedings were over. He did not believe that his clients agreed to Diyat of their free will and was mulling the option to lead his ‘detention’ matter to the court of law. But again this is travesty of the truth because legal heirs had cancelled his power of attorney/wakatnama and issued a new one in favour of another lawyer who prepared all the documentation. Our media men cry hoarse that why the government had kept the matter so confidential and why the people were not informed about the agreement beforehand. But the matter of Diyat was the matter between the two parties, and they had no right to question them.
Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the release of Davis under the Diyat Law has vindicated the stand he and the Foreign Ministry had taken regarding his immunity. In an interview with a private TV channel on the release of the American, the former foreign minister said the nation must be taken into confidence about the circumstances that led to the release of the CIA spy. He however said it was the right of the legal heirs of the affected families to voluntarily pardon Davis, accept Diyat to pardon him or pursue the case to get him punished. Our media and politicians must be careful not to show to the world that they are divided. The US and the West have all along been accusing Pakistan of playing a double game and supporting and ensconcing the terrorists, which is travesty of the truth, as military could not arm the militants to get killed. It has to be said that thousands of military personnel and members of other law enforcing agencies have been martyred in the war on terror.
The nation was still grieving the terrible slaughters of Hangu and Bara that terrorists struck Nowshera recently when the monsters took 11 innocent lives, including two children’s, and gored another 25 with the blast of a time-bomb they had planted in the mosque of Akhwand Punjo Baba’s shrine. About thirty people were killed and more than 150 injured in a failed attack on the offices of the ISI in Faisalabad. The bomb was planted in a car that went off near the CNG station located near a ticketing office of the Pakistan International Airlines and also a regional office of the ISI. Indeed, there is need for a national strategy with built-in mechanism, and collaboration between intelligence agencies and security apparatuses of the Centre and the provinces at various levels is imperative. Instead of taking the terrorists head on, centre and provincial governments blame each other; Punjab provincial government complains that it is not getting the information from the centre, whereas federal government rebuts the charge. Who stands to gain from such blame-game? Certainly terrorists.
Pakistan is at the crossroads of its destiny. For over six decades, the profligacy of the rulers and politics of power and pelf have brought the country to brink of economic collapse. There is a perception that ours is a degenerated society where more or less all institutions, parties, groups and individuals are impacted. And media men, writers, poets and intellectuals are no exception. Some pseudo-intellectuals, columnists and writers have the habit of criticizing the government and its institutions such as military and the ISI. Look at the anchor persons; invariably all of them pitch one political party against another and one institution of state against another. They should act responsibly, and stop playing into the hands of enemies’ agents. There is a perception that the CIA, apart from penetrating into militants’ networks is also investing on some media men to bring Pakistani military and its premier agency into disrepute. They should understand that if any harm is caused to Pakistan, we all stand to suffer immensely.
—The writer is Lahore-based senior journalist.
