The Thin
Veneer of Power-Mania
By Dr. Mahjabeen Islam
Toledo, Ohio
Within
an hour of learning of the emergency imposition
in Pakistan my back revolted by herniating a disc,
paralyzing me in 25/10 pain, putting my mind in
a narcosis induced not only by opiates, but the
shocking turn of events in Pakistan.
Suffocating screams it took an eternity to lie
down and thereafter I lay frozen on my side, for
the slightest movement sent lancinating pain down
the back into the leg. And what a Catch-22, I
wanted nothing more than to hear, minute by minute
what was happening in Pakistan, and then again
there was nothing else I could do.
First the Supreme Court judges who called the
emergency imposition unconstitutional were surrounded
and held for several hours in the Supreme Court
building. Then I saw Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar
take the oath as Chief Justice under Musharraf’s
Provisional Constitutional Order; maybe his sharply
down turned mouth is representative of his deeply
unhappy conscience. And then another part of me
said, no, people such as that buried their consciences
ages ago. Or perhaps he can be likened to members
of the oldest profession, where the enticement
of money or power can make individuals stoop low.
Then in my pain and narcosis I saw Benazir Bhutto
land back in Pakistan from Dubai. It is published
now that Benazir knew prior to going to Dubai
that emergency would be declared. She called the
state of emergency actually martial law. A week
ago she had sworn that if emergency were declared
the people would come out on the streets. At the
time of this writing it is 55 hours that emergency
was declared, and a small number of individuals
have protested, but 1500 or so lawyers have. Where
are the 200,000 PPP workers that came to welcome
her to Pakistan? What happened to her promise
that the people would come out on the streets?
Having trouble, Benazir, getting people to come
out to face baton charge and tear gas? Or are
you too busy making some back-door deal with General
Musharraf?
Prominent politicians from the MMA and Imran Khan
and Human Rights Commission members have been
arrested. Even judges of the Supreme Court and
other judges have been placed under house arrest.
But Ms. Bhutto roams free. Where is her indignation?
What is her plan of action? And where, oh where,
are her protesting people on the streets of Pakistan?
Is it that she has no power over her followers
or is it that the PPP members are not interested
in head injuries, burning eyes and broken bones?
Rubbing the collective Pakistani nose in the dirt
Musharraf said in his address to the nation that
it was he that gave the media the freedom that
it had, but that it had not used it responsibly.
Promptly after the institution of the state of
emergency, there is a total media blackout, closure
of private TV channels and even an attempt to
stop the printing of the largest Urdu paper, Jang,
which was prevented by journalists protesting.
Musharraf’s speech was long, and I could
swear worsened my physical pain. The visual paradox
was interesting: the emergency order is from the
Chief of the Army Staff but he was attired in
a sherwani rather than army mufti. After much
prefacing, he finally came to the point. The reason
that he had to declare emergency, he said, was
because of “judicial activism”. Apparently,
judges of the Supreme Court were releasing terrorists
and were working against the legislative and executive
branches of the government. In essence, errant
judges had to be replaced by more compliant ones.
He dedicated a portion of his speech to address
to interested folks in the West in English, leading
to articles titled “Musharraf defies Bush,
snubs Rice”, “Musharraf’s second
coup”, “Coup within a coup”.
He said the legislative assemblies would continue
working. Without a constitution? Huh?
Not caught in the actual thick of it, I have even
the physical advantage of a bird’s eye view.
And one tries hard to maintain perspective and
objectivity and give as much benefit of the doubt
as is possible.
But this is nothing more than the thin veneer
masking the very brazen face of a deep desperation
for power.
At the time of the declaration of emergency, the
Supreme Court was in the process of hearing the
case of legality of Musharraf’s election
as army chief of staff, and there was strong likelihood
that it would rule against him. If at that time
Musharraf had declared an emergency it would have
been a total loss of face and entirely unjustifiable.
Now he had used the key phrase for the Americans
of “fighting terrorism” and that he
had declared an emergency so that the fight against
terror could be made more effective. But what
is that saying in Urdu about throwing dust in
people’s eyes? Or the English one about
a gross insult to one’s basic intelligence?
The fact that the grounds for the institution
of an emergency are disingenuous is proven by
the fact that two of the judges that ordered that
the Lal Masjid be rebuilt, that the “terrorists”
be released and compensation be paid, namely Justice
Muhammad Nawaz Abbasi and Justice Faqir Muhammad
Khokhar have now taken oath under Musharraf’s
Provisional Constitutional Order.
What has not been seen before March 2007 was the
movement for justice and truth by the lawyer community
of Pakistan. My pain was intensified by the fear
that there would be deaths if there is civilian
unrest, but that became somewhat of a moot issue,
for there has been unrest by the legal community
and thank goodness, no deaths. At least not yet.
And though I would weep if lives were lost, I
am disappointed at statements like “48 hours
into the Emergency, Pakistan was Afwahistan
for rumors of Musharraf being under house arrest,
among others, kept circulating”. 1500 lawyers
staged protests and the courts were on vacation,
basically, but this is not the mood of a nation
under siege.
This should not be the response of a nation that
is being held hostage to the power-mania of one
man. Not after the tremendous sacrifices that
gave birth to Pakistan and kept it despite the
worst. If Pakistanis remain in the narcosis that
I was in for two days after my disc herniated,
then we deserve the trail of martial law that
we have had.
I cannot sit nor stand for very long and have
written this article in many contorted positions
— half draped over the bed, lying on my
abdomen etc. My pain medication induced narcosis
was so much easier, flipping the remote between
Geo and ARY, watching from the sidelines.
But this pain is better than the narcosis. This
pain balms my mind, my heart and my conscience.
The Pakistani nation needs this painful fight
for democracy, civil liberties, due process and
simply freedom. To rid itself of the yoke of military
absolutism forever.
(Mahjabeen Islam is a physician and freelance
columnist residing in Toledo, Ohio. Her email
address is mahjabeenislam@hotmail.com)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
