MicroPakistan

Update: At about 4 a.m. today the army advanced into the Lal Masjid and according to some reports has taken control of 70% of the mosque. DG ISPR has said that 40 militants have been killed in the operation with no known women or children killed whilst Maulana Ghazi has stated that his mother was killed by the army. Meanwhile, the Poly Clinic in Islamabad has been made a ‘no-go’ area for journalists and ARY has gone so far as to say that there is a ‘shoot-to-kill’ order given to the security personnel inside the medical center incase a journalist breaches the order.

Although the government and Maulana Rasheed Ghazi have kept the media engaged with frequent interviews it has done little to answer the questions raised from the standoff or lift the cover of secrecy that seems to surround it. Given this, Operation Silence is certainly the right name given to the government’s actions. As a result, it is unfortunate that the media outlets and I can only reproduce what is being fed to us but I hope that the questions raised by the media and the general public are only creations of our cynical minds rather than anything which affirms our beliefs of government wrongdoing.

Question 1: Why ban journalist from entering the Polyclinic?

One answer seems to be that women and children were killed or injured by the operation and that the only reason for the ban was to preclude the media from reporting and showing images of such. However, given the media indiscretion in the past it can also be that the government is trying to keep the media from showing images of the ‘militants’ killed or injured which may in any case raise emotions amongst the many that sympathize with the those inside the Lal Masjid.

One would certainly hope that the government has been truthful in its various interviews not because it can least afford another blunder of dishonesty but because it concerns the lives of women and children – without which this episode would have long been over [or so one would think]. There is little doubt in my mind that this question of the ban would be answered in the coming days, if not today, given that there are many inside the Polyclinic, doctors and nurses, that would/should talk to the media whether in secret or in public to let us know what exactly is the truth. My personal belief is that journalists, without any recording equipment or cameras should be led inside to clear the air of uncertainty.

Question 2: Who are these men inside the mosque?

There has been much speculation as to these alien men, the most inventive and far-fetched of which has been that Osama bin Laden himself is held up inside; others have concluded that they are of Chechen descent. Whatever their nationality or identity the conclusion to which many have rightly reached, given the lack of information, is that the only reason the government is adamantly opposing compromise (although ‘negotiations’ have taken place) is because these are men potentially wanted by the US on its so-called war on terror. Parallels have been drawn with the Bajaur incident and rightly-so because as in Bajaur it seems that Pakistani children have been compromised (but hopefully, not sacrificed) in the interest of another nation.

Question 3: Is this confrontation anywhere near its end?

Today is the seventh day of the standoff and it cannot be said that at any point there has been a lull in the confrontation, although there was no progress to end it through negotiations given that a step forward was always countered by a step back. On the other hand, I assumed that once the army and other security personnel were inside the Lal Masjid they would continue fighting until there was an ‘end’ to it. Now it seems that the government is once again giving the armed men a chance to surrender. How long they will be given to surrender; only the government knows.

A personal view

The government’s duty

The women, children and men who bear no arms deserve to come out unharmed and it is the government’s duty to protect them from their own armour and from the armour of those who fight against it. The protection of these lives far outweighs the need to capture the militants and that battle can be left for another day. In any case, the fundamental problems will remain within Pakistan resulting from the fight to impose an identity and it may not be Abdul Rasheed Ghazi tomorrow but there will surely be someone else fighting for the same cause, in the same manner. Then this battle will resume anyways.

Our duty

I am particularly alarmed at our (the general public’s) reaction: whilst we fret and get angry over the government’s inaction to protect the lives of women and children (which we should) it is clear that we have and will have little impact on the government’s response. On the other hand we can have great impact on the forgotten lives of the hundreds and thousands that are suffering from the aftermath of the cyclone and monsoon that hit southern Punjab, interior Sindh and Balouchistan. For those people we barely spare a thought. For those we barely shed a tear or raise a voice of concern or take any action. Are their lives worth any less than the lives of those held up inside the Lal Masjid? Are they not deserving of equal sympathies, equal concern and equal (if not more) action? Are they just worthy of an after-thought? To the last question, maybe I’m guilty of doing the same here but maybe this will have more of an impact here by leaving you with these final words: I plead to you to make a difference where you can and pray where you cannot. Contact your nearest Edhi center (http://www.edhifoundation.com/contact.asp lists international and national numbers) to donate clothes, food and medicine or call-in to the various media outlets to plead to them to raise the concerns of those affected by the monsoons. Maybe that is the best we can do right now.

[Please feel free to put up more links or ways to help Pakistanis in distress in the three provinces].