November
06 , 2007
The
Thin Veneer of Power-Mania
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)
