nawaz
While I apologize profoundly for my momentary absence from the blogosphere, I must point out that all this time I have been present on the tube. All my readers had to do was to switch on television and watch my views on News1 TV. I am saying this because that which I had feared has finally happened and there are more fears that can come true within no time.  In this space and others I have repeatedly warned you of such a possibility yet our leaders who very kindly inform me that they read this site have not even realized what they are doing. How sad!
Let me begin from the unfortunate disqualification of the Sharif brothers for which they alone are to be blamed. Why do I say that? I say it because the brothers whose political career started with thanks to a martial law and who have always played a Tom and Jerry show with the country’s judiciary and democracy are now trying to portray themselves as the martyrs of the cause of the judicial independence. You might have forgotten but I have not the way former president and justice Rafiq Tarrar used to carry a bag full of money and illicit promises to buy judges over to Nawaz Sharif’s side against the then chief justice of Pakistan. You might have forgotten good ol’ Saifur Rehman the draconian head of the accountability bureau and his victimization of all dissent but I have not. Now from such leaders one should have expected a bit of flexibility but there was none to be found. And I am not talking of any flexibility that didn’t them. I am talking of just a bit that would have ensured their stay in power and made life easier for the Pakistanis.
Do you know why they were disqualified? Not because the president wanted them to be disqualified. No matter how much you believe in conspiracy theories that is not how things worked here. They were disqualified only because of a mere technicality. The verdict featuring their disqualification is not new. It happened when Musharraf was in power. The issue was of an appeal against it. While the two brothers could have appealed in the courts and would have very conveniently been exonerated they refused to appeal against the verdict on the grounds that they do not accept the sitting courts as legitimate. Tell me if you were handed out a death penalty and you wanted to save yourself would you not appeal against the verdict not matter how doubtful the court was? You most certainly would. Refusal to accept the legitimacy of a court does not meant that it will seize to exist. However in order to capitalize on the moment’s sentiments the brothers did not appeal and instead allowed themselves to appear likely victims. Had they not believed in the very courts I would have understood it but opportunism was not lost even here. A hitherto unknown group  calling itself Ahlian-e-Lahore (the citizens of Lahore) appealed in against the verdict in their stead. The group essentially was supported and sponsored by the brothers. Why go to this extent if you don’t believe in the court. The appeal however was dismissed on the grounds that the group had no locus standi in this matter. Is it rocket science that we cannot understand that in the entire world all courts have decided in a similar fashion?
The brothers could have swallowed their hubris and decided to appeal directly without any proxy but they did not. Instead they brought this matter on the street regardless of the danger it posses to democracy and the country. The arsen that ensued in Lahore ensured the imposition of governor rule. I don’t understand why this is being portayed as a conspiracy. Constitution of the country has to ensure that no power vacuum emerges. Perhaps because the media that was so badly victimized by Nawaz Sharif’s successive governments still wants to see him in power and hence is bent on projecting him as a victim. Just in case our media peers have forgotten let me remind some of them how things were in late 1990s. Nawaz Sharif’s government was stifling the Jang group, the owner of my previous employer, to a slow death. How on earth can we forget that? PPP has never done that to the media in my memory.
I am worried folks because I realize that the Taliban is sitting in Swat which is a hundred mile from Islamabad. I am worried because a deal was cut with the Taliban which allows it a safe haven. Meanwhile the tribalization of Southern Punjab, Balochistan and rural Sindh continues. If this sad trend continues our nationhood may come under further duress.
The trouble is that the form of dictatorship that the Taliban engenders makes even military dictators like Zia look tame. I have two daughters now and in no way can I allow them to live in a culture which behaves as if being a girl is a crime. The trouble is that even if the long march and the sit in succeeds it will create a power vacuum that cannot even be filled by a military intervention for Musharraf’s stay in power has weakened the army and in case of another military coup the country most definitely will implode. The only option then is to bring both sides back on negotiating table and force them to save democracy that we have struggled to bring to the country for last nine years. If Messrs Sharif do not understand the grim situation the country is passing through they will be the first ones to regret their decisions when the consequence play out.

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