fatman17
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Welcome to The Friday Times
A new anthology of writings on, and sayings of, the Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was launched in Karachi last week before a distinguished gathering of intellectual and media elites. In its preface, the authors, Liaquat Merchant (President of the Jinnah Society) and Professor Sharief al Mujahid, wrote that the book "includes thematic essays on some critical aspects of Jinnah's politics and Leadership - such as the sort of constitutional set-up visualized by him...., his role in emancipating and empowering women...". Mr. Merchant dwelt at length, amidst clapping, on the sort of democratic, constitutional, just and secular Pakistan envisioned by Mr. Jinnah in which all sects and minorities, regardless of colour, caste or creed, would be equal citizens of the new state of Pakistan.
The same day, every newspaper carried headlines from Sufi Mohammad, the leader of the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), and Muslim Khan, the spokesman of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), the conquorer of Swat, that the constitution of Pakistan approved by every political party of the country, was un-islamic and un-acceptable; that the Supreme Court, for whose supremacy and independence the country has recently witnessed nothing less tha a revolutionary upsurge, was un-islamic and un-acceptable; that democracy for tens of millions of Pakistanis have fought and voted over the last sixty years, was un-islamic and un-acceptable; that women, whose heroic struggle for emancipation and representation which has been backed by all mainstream political leaders across the spectrum, are mere chattel who deserve no education and have no human rights. Both gentlemen proclaimed their determination to extend their "Islamic system and views" to the rest of Pakistan by force. The same day Buner, a neighbouring district of Swat in the NWFP, fell to the TTP.
As on the fateful day in 1971 when General A.K.Niazi signed the surrender document in Dacca dis-membering Pakistan, Mr. Jinnah must have turned in his grave the day Pakistan's suppine parliament approved the Nizam-e-Adl regulation giving legitimacy to an un-holy peace deal signed between TSNM and the NWFP government on the point of a TTP gun.
The tragic irony is that President Asif Zardari did not want to sign that document into law, and dragged his feet over it for months, because he believed it was inimical to Pakistan's interest. But a chorous of agressive voices, from the Awami National Party that succumbed to the fear of the Taliban, to a hoard of "media-mujahideen" sympathic to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, coupled with the stunning refusal of the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Muslim League-N to condemn and resist the Taliban onslaught, compelled Mr. Zardari to turn to Parliament for cover. Only the MQM that rules Karachi, and a clutch of liberal journalists and papers (including this one, of course) has had the consistent courage and imagination to stand up and resist the Swat deal.
Thankfully, however, the tide is beginning to turn. it began after the TV channels plucked up the courage to show the outragous flogging of a young swati girl in public by the Taliban. subsequently, the TNSM and the TTP have alienated all of Pakistan by their recent outbursts against the constitution, Supreme Court, women, democracy and the rule of law. Worse, they have repudiated the core elements of the "Swat deal" (to lay down their arms and not to use force to seize other territories) and the Nizam-e-Adl (to accept the Qazi appointed by the NWFP government, to allow the right to appeal by the yardstick of the constitution, etc) even before the ink on it was dry. The TTPs armed seizure of Buner district and encroachments into Dir, coupled with continuing attacks on security forces in Hangu and elsewhere, have exposed its aims.
Meanwhile, three disquieting questions arise. First, why havnt the articulate spokesman and cheerleaders of the lawyers movement protested the sidelining of the lawyers of Swat and the trampling of the law and constitution by the TTP?
Indeed, where is the Chief Justice. Mr, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whose suo motu actions in defense of law and liberty have given him a legendary status but who is now silent in the face of the Taliban threat to the very law and constitutionl that he has vowed to defend and uphold?
Second, why does the Pakistan Army support the Swat deal? Indeed, why did it stand by while the Taliban liquidated civilian officials and landlords allied to the ANP during their peaceful conquest of Swat and then Buner but swung into action unilaterally with helicopter gunships and jets when its own soldiers were attacked by the Taliban in violation of the same deal?
Third, why is Mr. Nawaz Sharif's attitude to the TTP and TNSM so equivocal? He supported the Swat deal and urged the Zardari government to desist from military action "against its own people". Now he has the gall to tell a foreign newspaper that Taliban are a menace and must be resisted "if they try to export their brand of Shariah to other parts of the country". He has not once said the same thing on Pakistani television. In fact, he thrives on ambiguity, wooing the international community while pandering to the anti-American sympathy for the Taliban at home?
A new anthology of writings on, and sayings of, the Quaid-e-Azam, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, was launched in Karachi last week before a distinguished gathering of intellectual and media elites. In its preface, the authors, Liaquat Merchant (President of the Jinnah Society) and Professor Sharief al Mujahid, wrote that the book "includes thematic essays on some critical aspects of Jinnah's politics and Leadership - such as the sort of constitutional set-up visualized by him...., his role in emancipating and empowering women...". Mr. Merchant dwelt at length, amidst clapping, on the sort of democratic, constitutional, just and secular Pakistan envisioned by Mr. Jinnah in which all sects and minorities, regardless of colour, caste or creed, would be equal citizens of the new state of Pakistan.
The same day, every newspaper carried headlines from Sufi Mohammad, the leader of the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi (TNSM), and Muslim Khan, the spokesman of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), the conquorer of Swat, that the constitution of Pakistan approved by every political party of the country, was un-islamic and un-acceptable; that the Supreme Court, for whose supremacy and independence the country has recently witnessed nothing less tha a revolutionary upsurge, was un-islamic and un-acceptable; that democracy for tens of millions of Pakistanis have fought and voted over the last sixty years, was un-islamic and un-acceptable; that women, whose heroic struggle for emancipation and representation which has been backed by all mainstream political leaders across the spectrum, are mere chattel who deserve no education and have no human rights. Both gentlemen proclaimed their determination to extend their "Islamic system and views" to the rest of Pakistan by force. The same day Buner, a neighbouring district of Swat in the NWFP, fell to the TTP.
As on the fateful day in 1971 when General A.K.Niazi signed the surrender document in Dacca dis-membering Pakistan, Mr. Jinnah must have turned in his grave the day Pakistan's suppine parliament approved the Nizam-e-Adl regulation giving legitimacy to an un-holy peace deal signed between TSNM and the NWFP government on the point of a TTP gun.
The tragic irony is that President Asif Zardari did not want to sign that document into law, and dragged his feet over it for months, because he believed it was inimical to Pakistan's interest. But a chorous of agressive voices, from the Awami National Party that succumbed to the fear of the Taliban, to a hoard of "media-mujahideen" sympathic to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, coupled with the stunning refusal of the Pakistan Army and the Pakistan Muslim League-N to condemn and resist the Taliban onslaught, compelled Mr. Zardari to turn to Parliament for cover. Only the MQM that rules Karachi, and a clutch of liberal journalists and papers (including this one, of course) has had the consistent courage and imagination to stand up and resist the Swat deal.
Thankfully, however, the tide is beginning to turn. it began after the TV channels plucked up the courage to show the outragous flogging of a young swati girl in public by the Taliban. subsequently, the TNSM and the TTP have alienated all of Pakistan by their recent outbursts against the constitution, Supreme Court, women, democracy and the rule of law. Worse, they have repudiated the core elements of the "Swat deal" (to lay down their arms and not to use force to seize other territories) and the Nizam-e-Adl (to accept the Qazi appointed by the NWFP government, to allow the right to appeal by the yardstick of the constitution, etc) even before the ink on it was dry. The TTPs armed seizure of Buner district and encroachments into Dir, coupled with continuing attacks on security forces in Hangu and elsewhere, have exposed its aims.
Meanwhile, three disquieting questions arise. First, why havnt the articulate spokesman and cheerleaders of the lawyers movement protested the sidelining of the lawyers of Swat and the trampling of the law and constitution by the TTP?
Indeed, where is the Chief Justice. Mr, Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, whose suo motu actions in defense of law and liberty have given him a legendary status but who is now silent in the face of the Taliban threat to the very law and constitutionl that he has vowed to defend and uphold?
Second, why does the Pakistan Army support the Swat deal? Indeed, why did it stand by while the Taliban liquidated civilian officials and landlords allied to the ANP during their peaceful conquest of Swat and then Buner but swung into action unilaterally with helicopter gunships and jets when its own soldiers were attacked by the Taliban in violation of the same deal?
Third, why is Mr. Nawaz Sharif's attitude to the TTP and TNSM so equivocal? He supported the Swat deal and urged the Zardari government to desist from military action "against its own people". Now he has the gall to tell a foreign newspaper that Taliban are a menace and must be resisted "if they try to export their brand of Shariah to other parts of the country". He has not once said the same thing on Pakistani television. In fact, he thrives on ambiguity, wooing the international community while pandering to the anti-American sympathy for the Taliban at home?
and until or unless we dont "band together" we wont be able to beat this menace!
hope its not too late!
