Talking Like
Robin Hood
By Ibne Batuta
Via email
I
am an avid reader of Pakistan Link. I like it
because it publishes views of all sorts and enlightens
its readers with thought-provoking articles/comments.
This has reference to "Talking Like Robin
Hood" by Mohammad Ashraf Chaudhry (PL--Dec
17). Besides Pakistan Link I am also an old reader
of Mr Wajid Shamsul Hasan since the days when
he was the editor of Weekly Mag of Jang group
and contributed regularly a column for the magazine.
I was fascinated by his contribution since his
was one of the few columns published in Pakistani
newspapers that I found forthright and fearless--especially
in those days of late President General Muhammad
Ziaul Haq's martial law when even to write truth
in the best national interest or reproduce Qur’anic
verses were acts of blasphemy punishable severely.
Censorship then was so severe that newspapers
carried blank spaces until such time when the
regime made them perforce to fill them up with
innocuous pieces.
I do not usually join in any controversy but since
I have learnt a lot from his pieces -- notwithstanding
some of his biases -- that I have been compelled
to offer a rebuttal to Mr Chaudhry. Mr Hasan's
articles were varied and I can say the information
that they carried helped me a lot in my examinations
for the CSS. These enabled me to qualify for Pakistan
's prestigious Foreign Service.
This has reference to the objection by Mr Chaudhry
on his use of the word "FL". I can appreciate
Mr Choudhry's exception to the use of Farooq Laghari's
abbreviation and his sensitivity to it. I can
give Mr Hasan the benefit of punning the alphabets
that Mr Chaudhry interpreted as objectionable.
I know some people are allergic to the use of
FL in any case. And I am one of them.
I am no PPP jiyala nor do I hold a brief for the
party or its leadership. I am also not that sympathetic
to late Aamil Kansi or what he did to take his
revenge. Where I agree with Mr Hasan is that as
President of Pakistan, Mr Leghari should have
observed the laws of the land, let Kansi have
right to course of Pakistani justice -- notwithstanding
its worth. By helping him to be whisked away by
foreign forces and attributing his arrest to ISI
when it just acted as an informer as to where
Aamil was hiding, he did not acquit himself well
in the spirit of the Constitution that he had
taken solemn oath to protect and serve. I am happy
to note that even Mr Chaudhry shares Mr Hasan’s
view that Aamil Kansi should have been extradited
after due process of Pakistani law.
It is a common feature in writing since ages to
abbreviate names wherever possible to make best
use of the space. I am sure as a seasoned journalist,
you must have used dozens of time John F. Kennedy's
abbreviation as JFK. The airport named after the
great American President is also known as JFK.
It could be just coincidental that when Leghari
was born, his parents did not realize his name's
abbreviation could be objectionable for some like
Mr, Choudhry and for others a matter of safer
pleasure.
If Mr Hasan means by the abbreviation 'FL' what
Mr Chaudhry wants him to believe, I beg to differ
with Mr Chaudhry. While the sort of social circle
Farooq Leghari had grown up with, I can understand
him being called ’FL’ with no ill-will
to him meant by his friends. I would also be at
variance with Mr Hasan if he meant what Mr Chauhdry
has understood.
Mr Chaudhry accuses Mr Hasan of eulogizing Aamil
Kansi when the fact is that he has said it in
so many words that Kansi was an ex-CIA man who
beat his trainers/promoters at their own game
and in their very headquarter where even a fly
is not allowed to move its wing without its permission.
Like many others I too have many complaints against
Benazir Bhutto and her style of state management.
However, I do not agree that FL dismissed her
government as per the words of Mr. Hussain Haqqani
in his book, “Pakistan: between Mosque and
Military” (p.241), “Leghari accused
Bhutto of failing to ‘put an end to extra-judicial
killings’ ‘undermining the independence
of the judiciary’, and ‘corruption,
nepotism, and violation of rules in the administration
of the affairs of government”.
I would not like to go here into the past and
present professions of HH since it is a separate
and more interesting subject that would need to
be put in a separate article.
I have no brief to defend Mr Hasan. While I agree
with Mr Choudhry that as a veteran journalist
it was Mr Hasan’s duty to warn Benazir of
what was coming since it was all crystal clear
in the media that she was going.
While I will beseech you to give me the same space
as given to Mr Chaudhry, I will also request Mr
Hasan through you to come out and defend himself
on the other charges that Mr Chaudhry has leveled
against him. As a person who has had links with
Pakistan ’s Foreign Office, I know a little
how he was framed in the so-called container case.
It was a Foreign Office official who had consigned
him the alleged goods when he was head of the
mission in London as High Commissioner without
informing him about the contents. The official’s
deputy based in Karachi had sent faxes to PIA
MD and Deputy Collector of Customs to freight
the goods on PIA to London free of charge and
without custom inspection. This information is
a matter of record in the Pakistan Foreign Office
and it is with the court as well. You can check
it up.
Farooq Leghari, instead of doing what he did,
should have resigned from the Presidency and told
Benazir that he could no more carry the guilt
of her alleged sins of omissions and commissions.
He would have become a national hero for his self-respect
by quitting the post that he owed to Benazir Bhutto
and PPP. It would have been his finest hour.
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