Just to give you an idea of what kind of place Pakistan is and what kinds of ideas animate the "rulers" of Pakistan and it may give you some insight into the rubbish about majority being against terrorism -- what the majority are, is brutalized, and what the minority are is brutalized :
Ediitorial - the News International
Majorly’ shameful
Monday, May 30, 2011
Recently a lady lecturer was detained by the Islamabad Airport Police for an entire night. Her crime: she dared question the driving etiquette of a major of the Pakistan Army who called the Islamabad Military Police and ordered her arrest without charge or FIR. Lady constables only arrived at the scene after the media learnt about the incident the following morning. When asked under what law the lecturer was kept in custody all night, the SHO of the airport police station, Rawalpindi, only smiled. The woman had written an application of protest the night of her arrest; it was made part of her record but was retracted the next morning when both parties ‘agreed’ not to proceed further with the disagreement.
The incident has caught the imagination of a public which has long complained of the tendency of armed forces officers to step out of line with civilians. There have been occasions in the past too where personnel from the armed forces violated discipline and chose to take the law into their own hands on strictly personal grounds. This tendency must not be condoned by the top brass who need to take swift and firm action against those who abuse their positions. Incidents of this nature can only harm the image of the armed forces, already taking a bruising following the recent events in Abbottabad and Karachi. The public belief, right or wrong, that the armed forces can get away with anything without being taken to task must be countered by strong action and accountability. This is as true of major national debacles such as the Osama affair and the PNS Mehran attack as it is of acts by individual officers, such as the recent incident involving the lady lecturer. The nature and seriousness of these incidents may be very different but the common denominator is often the same: many army officers consider any check on even genuine transgressions a personal affront and get away with anything with little more than the conviction that they just can. In these difficult times, the army urgently needs to tackle this impression. As things stand today, major attitudinal changes are required – quite apart from changes in the army’s institutional thinking – to strengthen people’s trust.
