Farrukh Khan Pitafi’s Official Website

Believe me, I am not a prophet of doom or gloom. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that our country is in grave peril. If my memory serves me right my country was not like this. We never had fear of any suicide bomber, any angry mob crushing us to death or even general breakdown of law and order on the national scale. It was the Pakistan we grew up in. Women could drive from one city to another without being robbed or assaulted. Children could still watch what little entertainment PTV or video tapes could offer without being reminded of the V word better known to us as violence. But things surely have changed for the worse.

We have become less tolerant, erratic, uncouth, bitterly divided, extreme in our religious outlook and racially polarised. A classic example of this intolerance was evident in the shape of the assault on former minister Sher Afgan Niazi. Folks, I am not a great fan of the man either. But vandalizing a senior citizen in such brutish fashion leaves me lunging for breath. God, a mob so bitter that it ignores the pleas of senior lawyer leaders especially Aitzaz Ahsen. I know someone would say that this old man who was nearly stifled to death was a supporter of dictatorial rule and the heartless, mindless coterie of sycophants that ruled the country under Musharraf. So what? What is the point in complaining about someone’s arbitrary behaviour when are ready to sink down to his level. Shall we forget that we believe in the principles of justice and not mob rule? I must commend the attempts of Barrister Aitzaz to manage the crisis though. It can be said with certainty that had he not chosen to stand on the roof of the ambulance, jeopardizing his own safety the angry mob would have put the vehicle to torch gutting along with Sher Afgan the poor crew.

Having condemned the incident I must say that I am at a loss to understand how can you possibly blame the democratic alliance for what happened in Lahore yesterday? Folks the new administration has not even taken oath and for all practical purposes is powerless being a government in the waiting. Let me also say that the vestiges of the old order are using such incidents as excuse to invoke return to the dark days of dictatorship.

Such elements are requested caution. I have been telling you for months that the eight years of the dictatorial rule has left the polity badly bruised and people really angry. This rise in temperature was evident to us when the then incumbents refused to acknowledge it. And to tell you the truth this trend of using brute force to make a political point was actually introduced by none other than the very Musharraf regime that seems to be banking on it now. Have you forgotten the bleeding heads of the lawyers baton charged by the police upon the instruction of the government? Have you forgotten Musharraf’s statement that you would be hit in a way that you wouldn’t even know? Have you forgotten the incident of May 12, 2007 which was quickly dubbed by Musharraf as the display of the people’s power? Have you forgotten the assassination of Bugti, Balach Marri and Benazir Bhutto? The country is in ruins and no one should be allowed to play with its ashes. Those who believe that such incidents will help them in convincing the forces that be to impose another martial law or employ article 58(2)B forget that the army and the state institutions have only just started taking stock of the damage done to their stature owing to Musharraf’s prolonged use of his army post. Hence they would hardly be interested in returning to that mess. However any attempts to create an excuse would lead to the meltdown of the state infrastructure and god forbid to outright civil war.

I say it because everyone in this country has a cause to be angry right now. Balochs and Pakhtuns are really pained by the prolonged military operations. Sindhis consider Benazir Bhutto’s assassination as a conspiracy against them. In Punjab and elsewhere the lawyers have not forgotten the state torture and the martial law curbs. Likewise the religious folks are angry over the Red Mosque and countless other such issues. Again the fact that AQ Khan and other such people keep appearing in foreign press does not help the matter any further. In short it is high time for a total transition to democracy and the initiation of a national dialogue. I can only beg the man at the heart of all this controversy namely Pervez Musharraf to kindly step aside and save this country from further discord and degeneracy. Likewise the leaders of the former regime are begged to reduce their media exposure and public appearance for else they can become easy targets of the mob’s vendetta. People like the Chaudhry brothers and Shaikh Rashid are requested to kindly shut up for their statements are creating further trouble. It was due to Aitzaz Ahsan and other such conscientious people that Dr Sher Afgan Niazi was saved from a brutal death. I am sure Niazi would have done nothing to save Aitzaz had their roles been reversed. Now when Shaikh Rashid says that he does not see the government completing even three months I fear that it may not prove a dark self fulfilling prophecy in the shape of an end to his sight or life rather than the end of government. Sir please have pity on this nation if have no mercy for your own self. Again someone please ask this Ahmed Quraishi (http://ahmedquraishi.com/) and his like minded crony journalists to kindly shut up and stop playing with the situation. Let us save Pakistan before it goes whole hog to the dogs.

PS: May be it is time for the Prime Minister to address the nation with the appeal for calm and Asif Zardari to address a press conference doing the same reiterating the same principles. May be it is time for him (Zardari) to revisit and revise his decision not to assume the post of the Prime Minister or the President. The country needs a strong person to steer it out of the crises.

Posted on April 9th, 2008 under Important, Main • Tags: Chaos, Democracy, Law and Order, Musharraf. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback