Guest post by Karachi
As the sun rose in my Karachi yesterday, so the curtain was raised on the day of much anticipated, expertly choreographed blood shed many had predicted. That it was all so properly scripted made it all the more shocking, then disgusting, and then of course dreadfully sad.
The “supposed” purpose of the Chief Justice’s visit to Karachi was to address the Sindh High Court Bar Association. He was adamant he should make a joyous little picnic out of the day and travel to the Quaid’s Mausoleum as a symbolic gesture; (the whole he was a lawyer I’m a lawyer same-to-same theme). But of course not once during the time that he was Chief Justice of Pakistan did Chief Justice Sahib ever make this trip to the Mausoleum when visiting Karachi. The MQM had scheduled a rally in solidarity with the government for the same day, and the routes of both processions were expected to cross which had many fearing a clash. However the CJ arrived in Karachi to find he could not leave the airport as the roads leading to the airport had been blocked. The government of Sindh offered to have the CJ transported in a secure cavalcade or helicopter; however he chose to attend his function at the SHC. He refused to leave unless his supporters came to receive him. So the day ended with him getting back on a plane to Islamabad after spending the day at the airport.
While the CJ and his lawyer-turned-groupies snacked on cookies during their day trip to the Arrivals Lounge at Karachi Airport, the blood of 34 dead and over 120 injured was spilled on the streets in several parts of the city. The AAJ television studio on Business Recorder Road was fired at, bullets shattering the glass windows. The police were MIA, and the streets of Karachi were a free for all. Governor of Sindh, Dr Ishrat ul Ibad explained that the deployment of police at the scenes of the shootings would only have exacerbated the situation as the police opening fire on the mob would only have caused more loss of life, and then the finger would be pointed at the police. What a circus. What may I ask is the purpose of having a police force if they are not there to prevent citizens killing each other in the streets? Why were the police not present during the events of yesterday when the road to the airport was blocked at around 10pm the night before, in a bid to beef up security and avoid clashes? Where were the thousands of police and Rangers that had supposedly been mobilized in Karachi? The Rangers finally came onto the streets at about 7pm after the street fighting was over.
If you read the newspapers in the last three days it was apparent that Karachi was being set up for carnage on May 12th. Ominous predictions of yesterday’s events set to throw the country into civil war, of 200-300 people being killed, of possible suicide bombings, of emergency being imposed were used so loosely it was disgraceful. To say the senseless loss of life yesterday could have been avoided is a gross understatement. Why the MQM didn’t postpone their rally, and why the CJ didn’t pay heed to the countless requests from the government of Sindh is something I’m not going to venture into here because the fact is; each woke up yesterday morning hell-bent on cashing in on a situation that was to suit both.
It is important I make my position clear; it was an abysmal day in Pakistan’s history when President General Musharraf called the Chief Justice to GHQ and asked him to resign or else. I was in full support of our deposed CJ standing up for the independence of the judiciary. But lo and behold, like every political figure in Pakistan (yes, political figure) I lost all respect for him yesterday. By dancing to the tune of his puppeteers, he’s our very own court jester.
In the days immediately after 9th March 2007, Musharraf was being lambasted by all, the CJ was our beacon of hope in the face of yet another despotic leader who we hoped would guide us away from our past. Much criticism has been sent the CJ’s way in recent days as an issue that should be left up to the legal system to decide is being “politicized” and taken onto the streets. The claim; it’s a struggle for the independence of the judiciary and that in itself makes it a political issue that should be taken to the streets. However in riding on the shoulders of political parties that are clearly using this to further their agendas and destabilize the government, this stopped being about the independence of the judiciary sometime ago. Why is it not shocking that his lead counsel is a very prominent member of the strongest party in the country? Why were the workers of that party going to receive him at Karachi airport yesterday, threatening to by pass barriers and road blocks? Who’s paying for the air tickets for the “lawyers” (25 odd accompanied him to Karachi) as they shuttle around the country with him? I’m sure the parties involved can quite comfortably include his entourage in their traveling budget. If the purpose of the visit was simply to address the SHC Bar Association why didn’t he take up the offers of the government of Sindh that were willing to offer him safe passage?
It’s been done too many times before, ominous warnings about the future of Pakistan. It’s so easy to put everything down to the assertion that all our politicians are looters and plunderers who suck the country dry while their kids sit comfortably in universities/ at jobs abroad, and then ride away into the sunset with their blue/red passports and enjoy their spoils. I don’t want to do that. I’m almost certain President General Pervez Musharraf will remain the President of Pakistan after these elections. I also do not think Pakistan will ever be a democracy. This hype of converting ‘Third World’/ ‘LDCs’ into flourishing bastions of prosperity by the process of democratization promoted by the US in the Post Cold War 1990s is an impossible reality to achieve overnight, if ever at all.
Yes, democracy works in certain countries, but that doesn’t mean it works in all. Yes, countries in the West do enjoy higher levels of economic growth, higher standard of living and political stability than in the East. And yes, most of them do happen to be democratic. But like all things, so too is ‘democracy’ a relative term. And just because it works for some countries doesn’t mean it will work for all. Why can’t we just accept that democracy in Pakistan has never existed? You can argue that it was never really given the chance to exist because of the intricate nature of our political history. We have never had all the fundamental rights a democratic system promises. In a country where education and health are a privilege not a right, even if there were to be elections tomorrow, minus any military general as a candidate, ‘free’ and ‘fair’ take on a new meaning in a land where people are taken by the bus load to polling stations and instructed which column to put their thumb-print on as they are unable to read the names of different candidates.
It is clear the current government of our military dictator is not doing its job right. But somehow I have little faith in the alternative options being any better. Over the last sixty years countless players have come and gone, but the rules of the game never changed. Maybe we should think about settling for the realities around us.
A news report on the violence in Karachi
The video clips one can see on the various news channels are absolutely shocking. Young men are walking on the streets, threading their way through the bodies strewn around, cell phones in one hand and guns in the other. And then the various groups haggle over who gets which body, because each wants to show the largest number of casualties. These bodies will be given grand burials, wrapped in the party flag, with glowing obituaries, a huge media circus. No one cares about the absolute WASTE. This utter disregard for human life makes me want to puke.
And the fact remains that no one sabotages their own protest. Why would the Chief Justice’s men deliberately undermine their own cause?
I really like author’s comment with regards to present crisis in Karachi. Author’s views are complimented by the pictures and videos added long with the post. I like the style in which the author has put forward the argument that encapsulates the wretched political situation in Karachi. I think it will be good to read more accounts of this nature.
So, the CJ and his colleagues should not have had cookies but Musharraf should have been addressing the state-sponosred rally in Islamabad and Altaf Hussain should continue to have a great life in London?
Your entire post focuses on things like who is paying for the lawyers’ travel to Karachi as if lawyers cannot afford an airticket. You show no concern about state funds being used to build MQM into a killing machine for a state run by intimidation under jackboots.
Why shouldn’t the strongest political party in the country lend its best legal mind to the CJ? After all, constitutional and legal issues are always political. On the one hand you say the firing of the CJ by the Army Chief as not good. on the other, your hatred for political activists oozes from every other sentence in your post.
God bless the lawyers and the political parties, with all their weaknesses and flaws. At least they get off their haunches to do something, which is far better than just griping in the blogosphere.
Where is your disgust for the shenanigans of Sharifuddin Pirzada and other manipulators of the constitution?
I wonder if Pakistan would even have been created if the Quaid-e-Azam had not rallied flawed Muslim politicians from all over India to win the 1946 election for the All India Muslim League.
If you bloggers had been around, all the time would have been spent discussing where the Muslim League was getting its money from and who was behind the movement. Read up on the Pakistan movement. It involved feudal politicians like Firoz Khan Noon, Ayub Khuhro, and Mian Mumtaz Daulatana. The Quaid-e-Azam had no qualms about accepting funding from non-Muslim industrialists and businessmen like Seth Dalmia and Rustom Cowasjee (Ardeshir Cowasjee’s father).He understood that statecraft could not be perfect.
Pakistan was created by flawed politicians. It has been destroyed by generals and technocrats who instead of working with politicians (as in most countries) have always undermined politics from their ivory towers and perches.
And now, we have some anti-political bloggers to continue advancing the cause of the anti-politicians, which invariably means military rule and establishment manipulation.
God bless SIR IMRAN KHAN