June
14 , 2007
State-Sponsored
Hooliganism
The situation has
gotten increasingly desperate in Pakistan.
The state machinery resorting to hooliganism
and then denying it is both surprising
and sad.
The sworn affidavit of the Chief Justice
of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudhry makes for very depressing reading.
That he was detained at the camp office
against his will for five hours, persuaded
to resign, left for extended periods
by himself and when he tried to leave,
was physically prevented from doing
so, makes him seem like a common criminal
and not the Chief Justice of a sovereign
nation. When he was finally allowed
to leave, his driver was prevented from
taking him to his office, and only allowed
to drive the car if he promised to take
him home, or else an army officer would
drive him.
After four days of virtual house arrest,
at the time of his hearing, he was pulled
by his hair and pushed into a car. And
the television station that broadcast
footage of this paid for it dearly later.
On May 12, 2007 during the Karachi unrest,
video footage from the rooftop of Aaj
television shows government cars driving
up to the station giving arms to waiting
men, who thereafter sprayed gunfire
for five hours on the station.
On the same day of the first hearing
of the CJ, GEO’s television station
was attacked by police. As a wave of
disgust gripped the nation, General
Musharraf also expressed dismay at the
GEO television station attack. Apparently
the government did not authorize the
attack. One wonders who did.
In a television discussion about the
Karachi carnage, Imran Khan of Tehrik-e-Insaf
squarely blamed MQM’s Altaf Hussain
for all the loss of life. In the same
discussion, he mentioned Shaukat Aziz
being mentioned in Condoleeza Rice’s
biography in very unflattering terms.
Within 24 hours there were widespread
demonstrations all across Sindh by MQM
followers; it was understandable that
the protestors were angry at the disrespect
toward their leader. What is unfathomable
is the order by the Sindh government
banning Imran Khan’s entry into
Sindh for three days and entirely incomprehensible
was the Punjab government following
suit, and preventing his exit from Punjab.
The premise was to help maintain public
order. Now, really.
An MQM Sindh provincial assembly member’s
Karachi house was recently razed to
the ground. This was apparent punishment
for providing information to Imran Khan
in his effort to sue Altaf Hussain in
a British court for the May 12th Karachi
carnage.
Three journalists found bullet-containing
envelopes in their cars; with the envelopes
inscribed with threats that the bullets
would be housed elsewhere if they did
not curtail their free speech, read
governmental criticism.
A well respected Pakistani author Ayesha
Siddiqa had reserved the Islamabad Club
for the launch of her book “Military
Inc.”; an expose of the extent
of the military’s involvement
in Pakistan ’s economy. Suddenly
she could not launch it at the Islamabad
Club, nor could she at the various hotels,
because, she claimed, the government
had given orders expressly preventing
this. A small private office packed
to capacity had to be chosen.
Indeed the physical launch of a book
can be muzzled. But in the Internet
age, Ayesha Siddiqa’s words cannot
be. Several Pakistani-Americans are
buying her book to express protest at
the shenanigans of the Pakistan government,
especially its latest descent into the
bullying arena.
General Musharraf states that the Unites
States has the most liberal press. How
sadly misinformed that is. After 9/11,
the American press is muzzled to the
point that the Pakistani press is what
I get my news from. Right after 9/11
the major news organizations were called
by the White House and advised to only
publish news that was patriotic and
to self-censor items that are not good
for public morale. Not only are casualties
in Iraq not reported, even information
that is far removed from the war on
terror is not reported. The slant on
the news and the tilt on the opinion
pages are so blatant as to be semi-irritating.
It is actually European and Canadian
media that is truly uncensored.
Murmurs from General Musharraf now say
that there needs to be some censoring
of the media. His ministers parrot the
same refrain: Sheikh Rashid would parrot
anything for that matter. Interestingly,
Sindh governor, MQM’s Ishratul
Ibad enunciated very clearly in a public
speech that the media had gotten off
with too much freedom. All ominous statements,
especially one day after ARY and Aaj
television were taken off the air on
the order of the government.
The most tragic of all cases, by far,
is that of Syed Hamad Raza, the deputy
registrar of the Supreme Court. For
weeks he was being hounded to testify
in the case of the Chief Justice and
he was not complying. He was murdered
in broad daylight in a residential area
of Islamabad, and the “jeans-wearing”
perpetrators were allowed to escape,
and it was stated that he was killed
during a burglary attempt. As pressure
rose, the flavor changed and the background
of the pressure on Hamad to testify
was revealed. The killers have been
suddenly found as well, and clapped
in jail to boot.
Ayesha Siddiqa has clearly hit the army’s
Achilles’ heel. She has written
a previous book and several articles
about the military, and for now is too
high profile to harm. But it is not
overkill to fear for her.
Undoubtedly, General Musharraf’s
greatest gift to Pakistan was freedom
of the press. But what he hath given,
he taketh away, slowly but surely. One
hopes though that the hooliganism that
has become the order of the day, does
not degenerate into frank intimidation
and terror.
(Mahjabeen Islam
is a physician and freelance columnist
residing in Toledo Ohio . Her email
address is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)
