Magnanimity, vendetta and justice
The propagandists are back in action, this time however to save their own skins. But before I move even a bit further on discussing their antics and semantics I must pay Pervez Musharraf a compliment. During his tenure, one must concede, propaganda was not only promoted as a cottage industry but experiments in this field were also taken to new heights. Not only quite polished people defying their commitment to their own community joined the bandwagon, but also for every step taken absolutely different and often contradictory though not entirely unconvincing arguments were given.
Now these folks are reminding everyone who would listen, the virtues of magnanimity and forgiveness. Vendetta, they say, damages everything, therefore the new government should neither be seen or heard being vindictive. Now this is quite a shrewd idea. Indeed these Platos at the time of the emergency (read martial law) imposition thinking that Musharraf was invincible, went to such an extent in sycophancy that even the personal security of many of the victims was considered perpetually under threat. It must be remembered that it was not any of the victors that shut down the Geo and ARY uplinking facilities from Dubai. Nor did they threaten the Owner of Geo/ Jang / The News through obnoxious emails. These were done by the previous government, its moles in intelligence and other places and above all the sycophants. These folks first claimed that the opposition parties had bought a lot of coats and placed their own workers wearing them in the lawyers’ conventions in order to show whip up anti Musharraf sentiment. When they realised that the movement was indeed represented by the lawyers they started questioning the patriotism of the protesters, including the media and media workers under censorship and complained about a foreign conspiracy. And of course you’ll remember the badly beaten lawyers and journalists too. Should everyone forget what was done to him/ her when these folks were in power and forgive their horrible excesses now that they do no longer have clout? Magnanimity sounds alright but forgetfulness will be an unforgivable crime in the present situation and I’ll tell it to you later in this post.
When the caretaker information minister Nisar Memon came to Multan for the launch of PTV local station here, he kept on parroting that the past should be forgotten and for the general good of the country future should conciliatory. I seized the opportunity and publicly asked him that since he was such a big proponent of national reconciliation and given the fact that the media had gone through huge financial losses and most damaging image persecution, should Musharraf, caretaker government and himself should not at least apologize to the media owners and practitioners? No sir. He refused to accept any such responsible notion. Later in a bit personal gathering just in front of me he just renewed all talk of a conspiracy. Next day during the launching speech the president again lashed out at his critics and the media. What a shame!
An interesting submission to the notion of magnanimity. I hope my readers will remember a Mr Ahmed Quraishi, who was part of those blaming Geo Television, claiming there was a conspiracy to topple the army, calling us the bad apples of the Pakistani media and publishing predictions on his website ranging from the assassination of Benazir’s remaining relatives and the failure of democracy in the coming days. I had also posted here sometime back an ISPR advice note recommending that all columnists should follow the example of Mr Ahmad Quraishi. Fortunately, quite soon the ISPR leadership was changed and a very professional new administration took over ISPR and discontinued a partisan stance. But do you know where is that gentleman working now? Well interestingly being part of TeamGeo I am facing great difficulty in being posted to Islamabad but Mr Quraishi for all practical purposes has joined Geo TV with his upport staff in the capital now that he may not like changes at PTV. How is that? And most probably he will now use Geo’s good repute to wage a war to save his own skin. Let me quote him for your interest. He says in fan page that he has created for himself along with a friend at Facebook answering his critics: ” If I join GEO or any other Pakistani channel, that will not mean for a second that I am changing my political beliefs or my style. I am a Pakistani nationalist to the core. To me, this line is religion: ‘My country, right or wrong!’. PTV didn’t change me. I tried to change PTV. So I appreciate those of you who questioned my credibility in case I join GEO. This shows that we, the younger Pakistanis, are sharp and we ask all the tough questions. And trust me, I will continue to do the same.” He sure will for one of these days he is quitting PTV for good.
Frankly being a Baloch vendetta is a practical part of my mental makeup. But for the more civilized people I have one particular question. Does forgiving in such horrible instances not imply that you are creating a perpetual exit route for those who perpetrate such crimes? Does it not encourage the future generations to do the same and then seek amnesty? If precedents are important should there not be at least a mild reckoning of their deeds and machinations? Not in the name of vendetta I agree yet in the name of justice. Otherwise our brightest people will certainly ditch us and the country for good.
Posted on March 25th, 2008 under Cause, Important, Main • 
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