‘Transitioning’ to an Immature Democracy
By Ahmed Quraishi
Islamabad, Pakistan

The lawyers-cum-terrorists involved in the public murder attempt against former federal minister Sher Afgan Khan Niazi need to be arrested, summarily tried, and then executed in public. We cannot allow this to happen in Pakistan.
I wrote my column in The News International today, where a nameless editor censored and removed an entire paragraph on the hypocritical politics of this group of Aitezaz Ahsan- and Iftikhar Chaudhry-led lawyers. 
I never thought that two paragraphs from this column – and one prediction about Aitezaz Ahsan – will prove so true in such a short time.
Tonight, Mr. Ahsan has jumped the ship of the lawyers’ movement as I predicted. [The complete column, including the portions censored by an unknown editor in The News, is published below.]
If you are a Pakistani citizen, please take strong exception to the two-faced, double-meaning statements coming from Mr. Ahsan and some politicians in a vain attempt to absolve themselves of the crime of creating and feeding hatred within Pakistanis that almost led to the murder of two gentlemen, Mr. Niazi and the former Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim.
These ‘hooligan apologists’ are trying to absolve themselves and the criminal elements in this so-called lawyers’ movement of what clearly are the worst two incidents of undemocratic behavior in Pakistani history and in the history of British democracy that they so love to imitate.  Gangsterism is part and parcel of the politics of the undemocratic Pakistani political parties and politicians.
Without any shame, Mr. Shehbaz Sharif is accusing our proud officers at Pakistan’s intelligence services of orchestrating this heinous crime.  Asma Jahangir says this is a “conspiracy against democracy.”  Sherry Rehman, the information minister, makes a half-hearted and hypocritical statement, condemning what happened but at the same time making lame excuses and trying to justify what happened to Mr. Niazi.
What a funny thing this accusation is. So our intelligence officers, finding Mr. Niazi surrounded by lawyers screaming blood and ready to lynch the former Musharraf ally to death, immediately send their men to malign the good name of these black coated vultures. What a theory, Mr. Shehbaz Sharif.
Joining the band of apologists, Mr. Rehman Malik, the de facto interior minister, said intelligence officers would be prosecuted if found involved.  Can politics get any lower than this? Mr. Rehman won’t condemn the lawyers’ and his party buddy Aitzaz Ahsan and his lawyers who actually were involved and instead chooses to make a statement on intelligence officers based on a hypothesis.
The funniest joke on this sad day came from none other than Mr. Ahsan himself.  In the true colors of a seasoned cunning politician, Mr. Ahsan hurriedly called a press conference to accuse President Musharraf for what happened. 
How is Musharraf responsible?  Mr. Ahsan said that his client, the former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, is not responsible for the political tension in the country, Mr. Musharraf is.
Not a single reporter dared to ask Mr. Ahsan this follow-up question:  Is this the time to play politics and deflect the anger of the Pakistanis and try to divert it toward your political foes? Is not this the lowest form of cheap politics?
Mr. Ahsan tried to create confusion by referring to men in white dresses, which is a cheap way of implying that undercover police was involved. He tried to blame the police saying there wasn’t enough of them on the scene. In short, Mr. Ahsan played every single dirty trick in their political book to absolve himself and his lawyer colleagues of responsibility.
But the most stunning move of the wily Mr. Ahsan was his resignation from the leadership of the lawyers’ movement. What a sharp political mind he has. For the past few days, I have been reporting that Mr. Ahsan has reneged on his word and is now willing to enter this newly elected parliament whose election he so feverishly campaigned to boycott. Now he discovers he can’t stay out of politics for five years and make a simple living out of leading a bunch of crazy, unruly, and un-lawyerly lawyers. He has been planning to ditch the lawyers’ movement for several days now. Tonight, he seizes a perfect opportunity to jump the ship.
All Pakistanis should know that Mr. Aitezaz Ahsan and Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry are directly responsible for making scores of hate speeches and encouraging the politics of hate, confrontation and disrespect for their countrymen who hold different opinions.  They have wreaked havoc with the nation’s stability and made Pakistan a laughing stock in the world, showing us as a people incapable of rational, civilized behavior.
This incident, and the shameless, deliberate physical violence in the cheapest form against Sindh’s former chief minister, show that this existing lot of Pakistani  politicians is incapable of leading Pakistan to democracy.
I have been one of a handful of Pakistani commentators who have been urging President Musharraf for the past five years not to prematurely restore democracy and focus instead on reforming the political system, improving the constitution, and cleanse the system through harsh accountability.  Today, we are reaping the rewards of that premature decision in Fall 2002.
Pray for Pakistan.

 

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Editor: Akhtar M. Faruqui
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