As the sun sets on yet another unneeded crisis in the country, the Army decides to rename their endeavour as Operation Sunrise. They can call it whatever they want, but that cannot change the darkness that we are experiencing at the moment. The minute by minute coverage of Pakistanis fighting their own and the Army killing civilians has left the nation sad and shocked. We are now forced to face certain realities that we cannot ignore.
The image and reputation that we had been able to somewhat salvage has now once again been horribly tarnished, innocent commandos and bystanders have lost their lives for an unknown cause, the sanctity of a mosque has been destroyed, and Musharraf has once again proved to the USA that he needs to be in charge.
Rumours are circulating and quite honestly they are hard to ignore. Was this really a government production? Were the maulanas ’silenced’ before they revealed too much? Did Abdul Rasheed Ghazi get his wish of being a Shaheed or was he merely whisked away by the authorities (speculaton stemming from the fact that his body was not shown by the Army)? Were the inhabitants of this mosque really terrorists or was it a ploy to distract the public and gain some brownie points from the US?
Unfortunately we will probably never know the answers to these questions. Even if we do, they will probably come at a time when they are of no use to us. However we were witness to the extreme irresponsiblity and callousnes of both our politicians, and our media during this crisis.
GEO insisted on repeatedly announcing “Naazreen hum aap ko ye bata dein ke Abdul Rasheed ke halaak hone ki khabar sab se pehle GEO hi ne report ki theek 18:53 par!” What the hell is that? I did’nt know there was a competition…Dam! I wish DAWN News had won?
Furthermore they could not resist the temptation of making things worse. Families whose loved ones were trapped inside the mosque were repeatedly asked “Do you think you will ever see your brother/son/sister alive again?” Even the most strong-hearted can be reduced to tears when asked such hard-hitting and insensitive questions-which is probably exactly what GEO was looking for.
As Saad K. had mentioned, this was not the only crisis in the country. The flood-stricken areas of Sind and Balochistan are in dire need of attention, not only from the Government but also from the donating public.
But our politicians conveniently ignored all these issues and decided to have a pleasant holiday in London ala the APC. Not even one of these politicians deserves to be elected if they have no compassion for their fellow man. I have been reading a lot of pro-Imran Khan propoganda lately and I must say it is really disheartening that our public has its eyes closed.
He is worse than the rest in that he talks the talk but does not adhere to the advice he gives. I particularly find his suggestions regarding religion difficult to swallow considering his personal conduct! Its a wonder he managed to secure even one seat!
Needless to say the events of the past ten days have left me slightly pessimistic. Once again we have to start from scratch…and prove to the world that Islam is a religion of peace. Sadly the behaviour of all the major players in this crisis i.e. the media, the politicians, and the Army has left me with a feeling that there is a long way to go before things get better…much longer than I thought before…
Well I must say that this article is strongly biased against the government… just as much as I hate Busharraf and the policies of the regime, it should be our social responsibility, and perhaps more so of the admin to give David what is David’s.
I will not get into the intricate details and refute every point of the post, but would point out that the sanctity of the mosque was tarnished by Ghazi and his brother. Yes one can speculate, the rumour mill always works and conspiracy theories are always there… but the fact remains… yes it was a past military regime that patronized religious extremism by undermining democratic process and keeping the secular parties at the margins… yes this festered the tumour of religious extremism, but then again tumours are dealt with on urgent basis.
No mosque or madrassah should be allowed to take a radical initiative, taking laws in their own hands. It was funny though how having taken law in his hands, the radical cleric wanted a safe passage out as well.
Why create and get into such a mess in the first place that you end up being a symbol of shame, creeping out in a burqa or asking for safe passage. Well now its a totally different ball game if one says that perhaps they were set up and installed by the regime itself, to extend its shelf life. We should refrain from such speculations.
We have also got some very healthy and controversial threads going on, on our site, regarding this issue. Your views would certainly provide a different perspective.
Our army mashallah is now learnt to take u turn, so now operation sunrise for Bursharaf Republic of Pakistan. 103 Bastard and Bloodies died after more than a week altogether( who is shaheed any way). Congratulation to Pakistan army who regained control of occupied Army Republic of Pakistan one more time ( although this was few hundred yards) otherwise our Busharaf Loyal army is famous for conquering country many times and with out bloodshed.