Pakistan's
New Jihad
By Ayesha Ijaz Khan
London, UK
When
President Pervez Musharraf attempted to dismiss
the Chief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, on March
9, 2007, allegedly on charges of corruption, he
did not realize that he would have a fight on
his hands. Since then, Chaudhry has toured the
country north-to-south with his team of defense
lawyers, rallying public support in every corner
of Pakistan. Although appointed by Musharraf in
2005, it soon became clear that "the Chief"
as the public endearingly refer to him, had a
mind of his own. Deciding against government interests
in a notable privatization case, he took up several
human rights abuse cases, including those where
individuals had gone "missing" in the
middle of the night in the name of fighting the
"war against terror".
As Chaudhry's popularity soars, Musharraf's has
diminished significantly. The government is viewed
as insecure and balking in the face of criticism
previously tolerated. Independent television channels
covering the rallies organized to protest Chaudhry's
ouster were reprimanded initially and subsequently
barred from live coverage. Previously, the government
prided itself on encouraging a free press, but
today, it insists the media is biased. In the
eyes of the people, the media has played its role
exceptionally well, covering all sides of every
story.
Rebuked by government officials for airing every
word of the Chief's address and criticized for
its over-zealous coverage of the dead bodies that
lay helpless in Karachi on May 12 when thugs allegedly
supported by the provincial government, a coalition
partner of Musharraf's party, clashed into opposition
forces, the media have braved threats, sticks
and even bullets to bring the true picture to
the homes of average Pakistani citizens.
"You are leading the new jihad," call-in
viewers tell current event talk show hosts, ratings
for whose programs far surpass those of soap operas
and reality television. Jihad, an Arabic word
adopted into Urdu, literally means struggle. Newspaper
editorials and op-ed pieces regularly comment
on the struggle for an irreversible transition
to democracy and civilian supremacy over military
rule.
Musharraf's government is suffering its worst
political crisis yet and the silent majority who
did not speak up when Pakistan allied itself with
the United States in the "war on terror"
and did not respond to Musharraf's call for "enlightened
moderation" is finally rallying behind a
cause. Independence of the judiciary, the separation
of powers and establishment of rule of law are
subjects the Chief speaks about in his rallies
and the common folk come out in droves to listen
to him. Sixty thousand turned up at the address
in Abbottabad, where the population of the entire
district is less than a million.
It is no longer just the lawyers in their black
coats marching out in solidarity with their Chief.
The movement has reached out to the common person.
A distance normally covered in three hours takes
the Chief's car sixteen because of the large number
of people surrounding his vehicle and lining the
streets in every little town along the way. In
Faisalabad, the Chief's birth place, they prepared
for his arrival as they would for a prince's marriage,
horsemen on white horses standing guard, dancing
in the streets to the beat of powerful drums,
rose petals covering every inch of his car.
Chaudhry did not disappoint. "A society can
live with kufr (non-believers)," he said,
"but not with injustice." The liberal,
secular nature of the movement is clear from the
signs on display in the audience, which no longer
read "Down with America," but instead,
"We want Freedom!"
The team of defense lawyers, more articulate than
the Chief himself, is carefully chosen, comprising
of lawyers representing the spectrum of Pakistan's
linguistic and ethnic backgrounds. Led by Mr.
Aitzaz Ahsan, Ali Ahmed Kurd, Hamid Ali Khan,
Tarique Mehmood and Munir Malik together can pull
crowds the way ex-prime ministers Benazir Bhutto
and Nawaz Sharif may no longer be able to.
Criticized by the government for politicizing
the issue of the Chief's dismissal, the lawyers'
movement is filling the political vacuum created
by exiling the leaders of the two mainstream political
parties in the last decade. The old guard political
leadership has come out stale and largely irrelevant
in the current crisis, with Ms. Bhutto watching
the unfolding events from her villa in Jumeirah
and Mr. Sharif from his flat on Park Lane, analysts
are speculating that the Chief and his legal team
may be the dominant political players in the upcoming
elections.
Lead counsel, Aitzaz Ahsan, calling for the reinstatement
of the Chief, has told wildly applauding crowds
that "our struggle does not end there."
Politically groomed in Bhutto's party and a serving
member of the National Assembly on her party's
ticket, Mr. Ahsan may have political ambitions
of his own. Traditionally, Lahore has been his
constituency, but today he is nationally recognized
for his role in taking on the Chief's case against
the President. A Cambridge-educated barrister,
Mr. Ahsan is outspoken yet level-headed. His bold
piece, "Time for Moratorium," called
for an end to the senseless violence that erupted
in Pakistan after a Danish newspaper published
derogatory cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, when
other politicians used the controversy to gain
political advantage.
With support from the masses, a liberal, secular
democratic movement led by Mr. Ahsan and his legal
team is poised to take root. Skeptics argue that
existing politicians will be too ready and willing
to strike a deal with the military and thus the
movement of lawyers will not be allowed to reach
its fruition. However, when the media is willing
to fight till death for transparency and the common
man living on less than $2 a day is tired of sixty
years of injustices, the cry for a jihad against
injustice is quite a potent one, as in the words
of Victor Hugo, "There is nothing as powerful
as an idea whose time has come."
(Ayesha Ijaz Khan is a lawyer and London-based
Pakistani writer. Her new novel is titled "Rodeo
Drive to Raja Bazaar". She can be reached
at: khan_ayesha@yahoo.com)
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