by Marcvs Tacitvs Cicero
This is the story of the Lawyers struggle. Observed and cataloged during conversations and interviews with the participants, it is a triumph of hope against massive odds.
This is Pakistan’s Story.
I met Iqbal Shah at a roadside Chai khana in Raja Bazar, Rawalpindi during the heady days of Long March. The lawyer convoys were converging on Rawalpindi from across Pakistan and the whole country was glued to the live TV coverage. Sitting in the sickly green painted teahouse, he spread his nubby hands on the dirty table as he told me in a steady voice about his life, about his small triumphs and large setbacks. A short, stocky man of 45 with a salt-and-pepper beard and deep-set worry lines running down his cheeks, he radiated a sense of triumph and cynical determination. He had climbed his way to the bar ladder rung by rung, he told me. Starting off as a junior clerk in Lahore kutchery, he had passed his LLB in 1994 taking the exams part time. Now, he had a respectable life, if not too comfortable. “My wife says I am too predictable”, he told me, “but I always had this streak of rebellion in me. I always wanted to fight, to stand for the little guy.”
That’s what Shehla, Iqbal’s daughter told me too. During the Emergency period, he had protested with his fellow lawyers on the Constitution Avenue. “A day of infamy”, she said of Nov 3rd. “Hamari tareekh ka bad-tareen din”, she explained as we sat in the family’s tiny and spare drawing room. Iqbal had braved through savage lathi-charge to keep the police out of the sacred precincts of Rawalpindi Bar. That day, he had come home from the police station with his only coat and white shirt soaked with his blood. “There was dried blood on Abbu’s beard”, she told me, her voice choked with tears. “Had to use bleach to wash the blood out.”
Remember, remember the 3rd of November
PCO and the dictator’s plot
I see no reason, why Khosa’s treason
Should ever be forgot.
That cruel November, there was rebellion in the air. The bar associations across Pakistan banded together to launch a historic grass-roots movement for judicial independence. The Emergency Proclamation had shut down media outlets, imprisoned Pakistan’s judiciary and shackled Pakistan. The Lawyers of Pakistan were out on the streets protesting and campaigning, undaunted by the brute force of the state. That’s when Iqbal Shah met Altaf Abbasi, a rising lawyer from Karachi. Even though they argued for and against various strategies of the Lawyers’ Movement, the two became good friends.
Altaf Abbasi was around 40 and came from a respected Urdu-speaking background with a long line of scholars and jurists among his forefathers, all the way back to Lucknow. I always thought that his pure Urdu and high expression reflected his noble breeding and cultivation. Never one to miss a chance to quote Ghalib, Faiz or Jalib, I called him “the poet”. With his sharp aquiline nose, thoughtful expression and wrinkled forehead, he was the picture of an impartial jurist, a scholar par excellence.
“The Lawyers’ struggle has changed Pakistan forever”, Abbasi told me one balmy evening in Karachi as we sat on hard benches of a roadside restaurant in Saddar. “Look around you, do you see poverty? deprivation?” he asked rhetorically. “This whole country is full of it. From Munno Bhail’s imprisoned family to the missing persons case. What is the establishment? It is every powerful figure in this country that does not want justice, that does not want equal rights for the poor. It is every Wadera who has killed a hari, it is every Jagirdar who has raped a kisan’s daughter, it is every ghunda in Karachi who collects bhatta for the don. None of them want the judiciary restored. All of them want to enslave us and keep us in chains.” Abbasi grew passionate as he spoke about the establishment.
The “Establishment” is described as a vague and all-seeing mysterious force in the classic Pakistani discourse on politics. This shadowy power cabal is composed of wealthy Army Generals, Captains of the industry, wily politicians (bearded and otherwise) and the intelligence agencies. Their aim has always been to keep power concentrated in their hands in order to guarantee their economic exploitation. Pakistan Peoples Party and its various TV talking heads talked themselves hoarse about the wily Establishment. Until, that is, they won the election. The PPP’s interior minister finally revealed the secret: “I, Rehman Malik, AM the Establishment now.”
The Pakistani Establishment had consolidated its hold on all levers of power: the army, the judiciary, the political parties and the bureaucracy. They say history repeats itself first as tragedy, then as farce. The players of the Establishment have re-enacted the circuitous history of Pakistan many times as farce.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“This farce is familiar to Pakistan’s hapless citizens in every aspect of their lives.” This “farce!”, spoke Abbasi, the Karachi Lawyer, as he hatefully spat the word out. “The powerful take what they want with force, the upholders of the law conspire with the enforcers of the law to legitimize the theft and all share in the proceeds. This is what the Establishment does and wants to continue doing”, Abbasi explained in his chaste Urdu.
Iqbal had been quite and contemplative during my exchange with Abbasi. Soon, he chimed in with his opinion. “An independent judiciary would be the death knell of the Establishment. For Pakistan to survive, we need a free and independent judiciary. A judiciary that would not bow down to PCO, a judiciary that would stop the loot-sale of state assets like the Steel Mills, a judiciary that would recover billions in looted wealth and a judiciary that would investigate cold-blooded murder of political activists by Fascist mafias.”
Apparently, the Chief Justice had thrown a spanner in the Establishment’s works. Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, had taken the wheel and turned the direction of the ship of judiciary. No longer it would stay silent on the illegal abduction of Pakistani citizens. No longer would it keep mum on the burning death of thousands of Madrassa students. No more would it seal its lips against the selling of state assets for pennies.
The Establishment Strikes Back
But the Establishment was having none of it. The rich Army Generals, adept at wheeling and dealing in Defense Housing Authorities, had played this game one too many times. One honest, upright individual must not succeed in a sea of corrupt politicians from Raiwind and Larkana, in a sea of thugs and cut-throats from the back alleys of Laloo Khet and Azizabad and in a sea of Jagirdars and Waderas from Punjab and Sindh. One upright and honest individual had challenged the full power of status quo and had rubbed the Establishment’s nose in the dust.
He had to go. On Nov 3rd, the axe fell.
I kept in contact with both Iqbal Shah and “the Poet” through the tumultuous events of the Elections, Benazir’s shahaadat and the subsequent PPP ride to victory. Iqbal was a card-carrying member of the Peoples Lawyers Forum and he was especially ecstatic about the victory. Altaf Abbasi was non-partisan, though he tended to sympathize with the PML-N’s stance on judiciary. They had become like an old couple, sometimes quarrelling, always quick with a rejoinder but ready to finish each other’s sentences. I thought I could find no better microcosm of the Pakistan political structure. Like Iqbal and Altaf, the PPP and PML-N complete the picture of Pakistan’s politics, representing two different points of view, two different strands of thought and two different ethno-social identities.
After the March 30th deadline, Iqbal was always apologetic and evasive in his conversation as he stroked his beard. He felt Pakistan had been betrayed by his own party. He felt conflicted but he insisted his primary loyalty lay with the cause of the Judiciary. Altaf, on the other hand, was in a dark mood. He had received death threats from the MQM unit in his area but he wasn’t one to back down to a bully. He told them to go get stuffed. “Chashm-e-nam, jaan-e-shoreeda kafi nahin”, he joked as he recounted the famous Faiz couplet to me:
It was early April. As T.S. Eliot had written, the cruelest month. It was the first week of April and the Karachi Bar Association had planned a schedule of protest marches to the courthouse. It was normal. It was routine. But it all changed on April 9th, 2008. Armed thugs of the MQM barged into Tahir Plaza, locked some leading lawyers in their offices and torched them alive.
Advocate Altaf Abbasi of Karachi Bar Association was one of them.
Rest. In. Peace.
The Poet was dead. All his poetry and eloquence and dreams were mute when faced with the logic of the gun, of the bori-band laash and the don in London.
Soon, the don was on all the TV sets weeping and whimpering inconsolably. Iqbal was in Karachi at that time and he told me “they” had come to Abbasi’s house and had taken control. They had declared it an anti-MQM act and claimed Altaf Abbasi as an MQM martyr. The Don had announced his resignation and within a safe time period of 90 minutes, had taken it back due to “huge” public demand.
The Poet, Altaf Abbasi, my old friend, recently deceased, would have appreciated the black irony of it all.
April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
—- T. S. Eliot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I saw Iqbal last in Lahore after the Long March. The sun was setting over the Punjab Assembly Chowk when Iqbal began making tea for me in his kitchen. We talked while he poured Tapal Danedar into a bowl as the water boiled. “The Long March was the last excuse, the akhri hujjat. Now they have no more excuses. They must reinstate the Chief Justice”, he said.
“What do the lawyers think of the old judges taking oaths?” I asked him. “It shouldn’t have happened but here it is. No matter. After March 9th, last year, only the Chief Justice was out of the court. And we fought. Now there are at least 10 judges of the Supreme and High courts who are out. They think we will give up? Never.”
He was cynical but there was a hard edge in his voice. He had finally left the PPP. He had chosen logic and reasons over emotions and slogans. He put down the Gold Leaf cigarette back in the dirty ashtray as he collected his thoughts. Among the shifting and rising patterns of smoke, his eyes glowed with renewed intensity. He seemed to be lost in deep thought.
“Shah Sahib! we are ready to struggle. Our children may be hungry, our hearts may be heavy and our pockets may be empty. Naik and Khosa and Zardari may have bought a few judges but haven’t they also bought Dr. Shahid Masood? What did that change? Nothing. Maybe you think we are sad and tired today. Perhaps you think we have lost the fire in our belly. Who knows? Perhaps you are right. Perhaps today you are right.
But, tomorrow?
Tomorrow, we fight.”
The PPP had played out its final betrayal beautifully. Scaring them off from the specter of a new Martial Law, the PPP had convinced the lawyers to conclude their Long March without a dharna. It had impeached Musharraf with PML-N’s help but then stabbed it in the back and Zardari ascended the presidency in shameful glamor. Has ever a new government in Pakistan’s history started off with less lack of trust than this one?
Nairangeay siyasat-i-dauran to dekhiyay
Manzil unheeh mili jo shareek-i-safar na thay
It was one of the weekly protest on The Mall. It was a hot sticky day and the lawyers were back and out marching on the road. In the Pindal of Lahore Kutchery, I sat on rickety old folding chairs listening to the speech of a young lawyer. The audience was mostly non-lawyers: housewives, students, professionals and working class people. I could sense their emotions surge and wane with the pull of the lawyer’s speech. I felt, for the first time in my life, I was witness to the awesome, sober and silent Pakistani discourse taking place all around me. I felt at ease. (Dekho! Dekho! Wo manzil hai!) Ordinary, decent and everyday citizens of Pakistan had come out to send a message to the powers-that-be, to the Establishment no less. They wanted to be counted. They wanted ownership of this great and magnificent country. (Zalim dar kar bhaag raha hai!) I cherished the feeling that was sweeping over me, the feeling of being one of them, no more than them, no less than them. They were in charge of the judiciary’s struggle now. And I was part of it.
It was the logic of fate. Through the mist of despair and the haze of misery, the hands of fate had set all the pieces in their places. Pakistan COULD not lose. Pakistan MUST not lose. The young lawyer grew passionate as his voice broke: “A lawyer fought for this country for 7 years. A lawyer beat the Angrez and the Hindu. A lawyer got us this nation. This nation fought for 7 years. We beat the Angrez and the Hindu then. We wanted freedom then. We want freedom now! This is the second Tehreek-e-Pakistan. This is the renewal of Pakistan, a Tajdeed-e-Pakistan”
How true that was, I thought. A new kind of Pakistan was being born among this multitude. We fought the Angrezi Raj and the Hindu Raj to get Pakistan. We would fight the Khaki Raj and the Wadera Raj to renew this country. A Pakistan for its people. A Pakistan of its people. The majestic roads of Lahore and Islamabad used to be the beating grounds for lawyers and journalists before. I have seen them bloom into orchards of dissent and democracy. These “do hazaar” lawyers, as Musharraf called them, chased him out of the Presidential Palace. They got rid of the dictator for us. A new and civilian dictator has replaced him, but not to worry.
The lawyers are back.
You had to be there in Lahore to believe it. And they were not alone. At long last, the people too had come. They were so many. They had come to prove the naysayers wrong. They had come to revive the cause.
I stood by the edge of the road and it felt like standing next to the skipping bogies of Shalimar Express. A slowly moving thunderstorm of black coats, white shirts and endless faces burning with anger. Their foreheads shining with sweat as they marched and pumped their fists in the air against the red of the setting sun.
The dusty Mall Road reverberated with slogans as we marched.
“Zinda Hain Wukla! ZINDA HAIN!”
Lalkaar ke bolo
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
array zor se bolo
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
maa se poocha
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
mamta boli
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
baap se poocha
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
shafqat booli
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
phool se poocha
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
khushbo boli
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
Sindh me dekho
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
punjab me dekho
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
jurnul se takra kar
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
koray kha kar
—- ZINDA HAIN!!
All traffic had halted and the gannay wala was handing around free jugs of juice. The white-haired munshies, bearded petitioners and old massis bent with age stood by the side of the procession. Almost every face I saw among them was mouthing the words silently. I saw hope and determination in those eyes.
“Zinda Hain Wukla!
ZINDA HAIN!”
Suddenly I thought about the YouTube clip (offensive material) of the old baba cussing Raza Rabbani and Sheikh Rasheed, calling them America’s piTThoos, shemales and trannies. We knew the old baba was right about Sheikh Rasheed (Q) but how exactly did he latch on to Raza Rabbani’s (PPP) secret, I’ll never know.
Who said the people are ever wrong?
—————————————————————————————–
N.B: Some details have been altered to protect the participants’ privacy and lives.
The News on Lawyers Protest in Lahore: “Impressive Show by Lawyers“, Oct 10th, 2008
* Artwork courtesy of Abro at Flickr.
This has been Pakistan’s history or ’story’ if you will,since day one ., i.e; 14 Aug 1947.
After all, we ARE a banana republic,CONFIRMED.
It’s no use weeping over the ’spilled milk.’
Phir bhe ZINDA HAIN.
I was never ever that hopeful about the future of Pakistan as I was during this lawyers’ movement. And its so heartening to admit that its over, or almost over now. I still wish in the hearts of my heart that somehow, some dying last light could once again could ignite the fire and bring the whole movement to life.
Good article that was, where it mentions the treason of Khosa I wonder how the writer forgot to mention the contribution Aetzaz Ahson made towards the success and then sabotaging the this historic movement.
“but how exactly did he latch on to Raza Rabbani’s (PPP) secret, I’ll never know.”
‘Cause he’s an bloody “know-all”, an enemy of the “democratic forces that are on the offensive” and he is “paid well” to spread such “lies”, working perpendicularly parallel and parallel-y perpendicular with the “Establishment” and his rant proves the “Establishment is on the defensive”.
I think if we dismantle Paki Army and ISI and spend that money on Gurkhas, Pakistan will be better protected. I have lost hope on these Generals and ISI. It sound they are sucking our blood and working for others….
@ Jamshed khan.
Your idea is worth millions & billions of dollars. If this Napak fauj & ISI is disbanded
it will save the country that much amount.
It was also commented in these columns a long time back, that Switzerland & another 20 plus or minus number of countries do not have an army.
Then why us? Just to protect the private lands of our Jarnails along the border?
whats the piont to maligne pak army now,they are not doing politics any more,plz just concentrate how to make pak a better country.
No movement can succeed without the people. As long as the people keep on supporting different parties and do not want to support their own cause, they deserve the punishment at the hands of these useless generals, the sickening leaders of the party and the completely corrupted administration. The danger is that if poverty keeps growing, and human rights are violated in abundance, then there is the danger of a Bloody Revolution where the lower ranks of the Army will disobey the generals and the people will march to overthrow the entire administration. Of course majority of the top generals and other crooks will run away to the West where they are accumulating their wealth. But they will probably loose their sleep and die an early death just like the Shah of Iran and his associates. Both China and Iran suffered a lot but every nation will have to pay a price. Independence and freedom are not served on a plate.
This is undeniable & established fact that as & when “Lawyers Movement” is gained such admirable momentum Ms.Peterson-the American Ambassador is also moved here & there in the end of the day Aitzaz Ahsan & Co. get astonished till further determined line of action.
Why it is say so because America think ownself she does have only right to decide what is wrong & right?
nicely written….book coming?
A very good article reminding me of the good old days when EVERY PAKISTANI,s heart was filled with hope of a new DAWN.PAKISTANI ESTABLISHMENT and their US masters were able to hijack and kill TAJDEED-E-PAKISTAN movement using the so called DEMOCRACTIC FORCES(PPP,MQM,ANP,JUI(fazlu) etc).
we must remember Lawyers movement and salute to Mr Iftikhar Ch –Chief Justice of Pakistan for his character… he is a man of words, who gave us a lesson of self-respect, courage and loyalty with the country and people not personality… all persons like senator Latif Khosa, Farooq Naik would be a part of history’s dustbin… the big culprit and black sheep Mr Itezaz Ahsan will remember as Meer Jaffer and Meer Sadiq… he has lost a chance to be a leader but its his choice…. What we can do… but we should always remember with respect the man who taken stand for a principle stance…Salam to Iftikhar Ch and those a few judges who r still stands with Mr Iftikhar ..slam to those journalists /tv anchorpersons who r still remembering them and did not forget him like other tv anchors as kashif abbasi, hamid mir and talat hussain , they were supposed very enthusiastic supporters of lawyers move and CJ-Iftikhar ch but now they r quite on this issue… perhaps funding is over?????????
@ Marcvs Tacitvs Cicero
Thanks a lot for the heartening first hand account of the lawyers struggle. We refuse defeatist like mental activity. Any just seeking individual will NOT bow down for the military and civilian dictators. Off course the struggle will continue and reach its ultimate destiny i.e. a free and independent judiciary. A new beginning for Pakistan! The struggle goes on.
Btw: what about the dubious role of Aitzaz Ahsan? Could you please shed some light on his role?
@democrate
“whats the piont to maligne pak army
now,they are not doing politics any more”
Are you sleeping or just far away from what is happening in Pakistan?
Assalam-o-Alakum,
After long time, a very interesting and well written article which I read again and again to get the message and knowledge contained in it. I feel the pain and courage what mostly general public of Pakistan is facing in this system. Who is going to change this system, to whom we trust, God Knows.
The time will prove Inshah Allah, how the reverse treatment Niaz A. Naik, Latif Khosa, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Baber Awan, Farzana Raja, Farkhanda Wahab and Shiren Rehman will face when this show is over.
It is not an article, it is a biggle for those who forget the basics of lawyers struggle movement, it is not the end its the beginning….. I can feel it.
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry … Zindabad.
Niaz A. Naik … Murdabad.
Iftikhar choudry has done his job what he initiated and put his contribution in it he is 100% successful in the eyes of Allah and the people of this country.we should not be disappointed perhaps the time hasn,t arrive yet according to Allah,s planning bcz he would like to expose Khosa & naik co for their miscreant role they are playing .It is my firm belief that the lawyer movement will be rewarded one day later or sooner.
@Hameed Chaudhry
“The time will prove Inshah Allah, how the reverse treatment Niaz A. Naik, Latif Khosa, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Baber Awan, Farzana Raja, Farkhanda Wahab and Shiren Rehman will face when this show is over.”
You are right, but I think you have not included maybe the biggest culprit of them all…..Aitzaz Ahsan, who was the most successful ZPP sleeping cell in the lawyers movement. I hope @Cicero will write about his negative role in this noble movement. But anyhow he was only successful to the extent that he slowed down the movement temporarily. The lawyers are not going to give up…….Never, inshallah!
I am myself a lawyer, still member of the Lahore High court Bar Association. Now leading a retired life in Canada. My heart sincerely goes out to my learned friends there in Pakistan. Their struggle is historic. By the grace of Allah they will succeed.
CJP Iftikhar is giving us hope of new Pakistan and support of lawyers is his strength.if we want to get rid of mafia cultures that has now strongly rooted it into our national institutions.If this movement is not here we would had been on mercy of previous looters or absconders who again trying to be act like our national heroes.
@ Jamshed khan.
Further to my comments, above, on you idea, of disbandment of army, some more points are as follows:-
1. Make a google-search for ‘countries without armies’ & you will come across almost 22 such countries, as per wikipedia.
2. It makes lot of sense, if standing army is disbanded, & our defense is handed over to our ‘great friend,’ the People’s Republic of China.
3. ‘ Na rahhe ga ban(s)s, aur na baje gi bansri’? No JURNAILS wiil take-over the country. The billions & trillions of U.S dollars thus saved, may be spent on the long needed uplift & welfare of our masses?
4. Anybody who is against this idea, is either a JURNAIL himself, or his relation 7 friend.
5. Worth debating this issue in the present
parliament.
Dearest Beloved Pakistanis,
Remember there are hidden Hindu/Jews agents(presuming Muslim names) on every blog relating to Pakistan. Their soul purpose is to de-moralize the spirits of Pakistanis and propagate hopelessness and frustration. The local agents of Hindus and Jew in Pakistan are Qadianis. They all are working desperately for one purpose and that is to destroy Pakistan internally. This is a time when all of us should pray hard and make Istughfar to Allah. Please have your family members and friends get involved in collective supplications. Take sometime out and pray TOGETHER at Thahajud time and seek Allah’s forgiveness. Please people TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY, THIS IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN COME OUT OF THIS MESS. Abstain yourselves from acts that would call for Allah’s wrath. If this is not done, then nothing can stop what we are destined for. COLLECTIVE REPENTANCE, have your families and loved ones/friends involve in this ASAP.
Salam Everyone
@Edge: What a beautiful statement you are given, exactly we need to do it everyday.A revolution is inching forward day by day. Distinguish between the Zalim Curropt and the Sincere leader. Inshallah we are heading towards the revolution of all time leaving behind the 1979 Iran’s rev.
But off course our lanat and Badua to every hypocrite and corrupt specially to their supportes. May they face the burning of the Hell due to illminded and blind propagation. Ameen
Ya.Allah.Khair
“Impressive show by lawyers”: http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=140234
“The joint rally marched towards the Governor’s House while chanting slogans against President Asif Ali Zardari for not restoring the deposed judges’ en-bloc.
On reaching outside the Governor’s House, the lawyers gathered in different groups and remained over there while delivering anti-government speeches and chanting slogans”
“While passing through the Mall, some young lawyers removed banners from the roadside, which had photos of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer and President Asif Zardari.
They also damaged billboards installed on the roadside in favour of PPP by throwing bricks and stones at them. However, some senior lawyers stopped them from damaging the posters, banners and billboards saying that they should refrain from violence for the sake of the movement. “
dear friends, lawyers movement is successfull,dictator has gone.
Tragedy is that most of the times a revolution is robbed by the similar forces.
Case in point the so called revolution in Iran, when a population revolted against a Dictator, a King and his undemocratic regime, another equally vicious undemocratic and cruel regime took over.
Benazir’s death got PPP a sypathy vote that it will never get again if elections are held today or in the future -obviously-
That success has given some short sighteed fools in PPP that it is going to last forever. I feel sorry for them.
Lawyers are the real Heros,they became the conscience of a nation.
it all started with one person saying no to a Dictator,the violator of the constitution.
We must never forge Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. He alone is the reason Dictator is in a safe sactuary- provided by our valiant Army and the PPP-
Shame on those who supported a Dictator.
We shall never forget their names too.
@SnrCTZN
Two days ago Talibans at 11 am in broad day light set ablaze SWAT Excellcier college along with a girls school which was set up by christian missionary in 1960. They destroyed it and were doing so for 2 hours alomost 1 km away from main city of Mingora. The Army was watching from the top hills and then the masked Talibans left with no resistance whatsoever.
On the other hand the army shells the villages and once village called Koza Bandai 7 km from Mingora was vacated by Army and then shelled and PAF jest bombarded for 17 days. Then the army entered and looted the houses and destroyed the houses. After Eid the same Talibans have entered that village and is now under the control of these masked Talibans.
What does this tell you. Talibans are brother of Paki Army. I fails to understand what the hell is going on. People are clueless too….
Napak Faujaaaaaaaaaaaaa
@Snrctzn;Jamshed Khan;other Army Haters.
I have another suggestion for moving to prosperity after finishing with our Army: renounce partition and join akhund Bharat to creat a strong Muslim front. After all, India is not our enemy and we share the same culture of Sas bhi kabhi bahoo thee. Alternately, we can either opt to be a protectorate of USA/Israel or Saudi Arabia/UAE, depending on our liberal or Islamic aspirations.How about inviting Usama or Al Zwahri to bring an Islamic revolution in Pakistan and train and lead us for a universal Jehad? They should be too glad to hear that because the only hurdle in their noble efforts to take over this Fort of Islam is its Napak Army.
We are a nation of 160 million. Not all are Zardaries. Oue defence forces are over two hundred thousand soldiers. Not all are generals,and not all generals are Musharafs. Yes, if we were as stable, integrated and universally acceptable as Switzerland, we surely did’nt need a standing Army. You want to reform the Army, go ahead. But first reform the politicians. Generals take over only in those countries where civil forces and institutions are weak and disunited and lack people’s full confidnece.Now that Mush is not there, and present chief is clearly uninterfering, why CJ Iftikhar not being restored ?
@SnrCtzn
“4. Anybody who is against this idea, is either a JURNAIL himself, or his relation 7 friend.”
Sir, I disagree a lot. I don’t buy this theory of “either you are with us or against us”.
The army should definitely not be phased out and the army should not be rented from a foreign country – whoever it might be. We need our OWN army, BUT in a different shape. We need an army doing what is described in the law of the land and not carry out the wishes of an enemy country. What we need is to get rid of the top brass in a Khomeini like action i.e. let the top jarnails loose their heads. The heads are filled with imported, useless and contaminated dirt.
@
“I have another suggestion for moving to prosperity after finishing with our Army: renounce partition and join akhund Bharat to creat a strong Muslim front”
Please have a medical check up…..A strong “Muslim” front with a Hindu majority …… lol……You must have been smoking something euphoriant.
The above message was for a Hindu with the username “moaziz syed”
@ Jamshed Khan.
Subject :Talibans. It is right to blame ‘Talibans’ for all the current ills in our backyard,i.e; in Bajaur, Swat, Fata, etc; BUT plz DO NOT FORGET, that these so-called ‘Talibans’ are NOT, I, REPEAT, NOT the Talibans of Afghan vintage; but these are No:2 ( DO NUMBER) as in Urdu language, & of Pakistani/ U.S /Indian (RAW) vintage; who never had their circumcision done. Hence they are NOT MUSLIMS.Time & again it has been repeated by politicians/Tv anchor persons/ print alike, about that the TRUTH about them, as stated by me above. Plz do not be carried by ‘dis-information’ on this account, by Napak ISI, American CIA, etc; disseminated thru our govt channels/ISPR etc; & who are acting like ‘His Master’s Voice.’
@moaziz:
I was expecting comments from my Pakistani brethren like yours. My advice is to think of this matter very coolly. Don’t get hyper or worked out. Neither you nor myself are in a position to change the thinking of our establishment or our Army in dismantling such a big monster as the military establishment which has been all-powerful since 1947 and will continue to do so in the future. I suggest look into Wikipedia and think coolly why 22 countries of the world are still without standing armies.
They must not be idiots nor morons to have done so. As I said before and I’ll repeat again and again that think very coolly on this matter.
Please take it for granted that I have observed and worked with our defence forces very closely since the last 55 years. I always loved my Army and will do so in future too. Nobody should get away with an idea that I am an Army-hater. Certainly not. As in my comments made earlier I have very categorically stated that anybody not supporting this idea of dismantling the Army is either a jurnail himself or his/her relation or friend etc. Lastly as I have stated before, give our defence over to the People’s Republic of China, our closest friend and neighbour. Rest is rhetoric, please don’t get involved in it.
@Shirkuh
This axactly was the idea.I am sorry if you could not understand my satire or did not read the comments completely.
@SnrCtzn
I share your desire of doing away with the defence budget but let’s face realities; which of the 22 countries without regular armies have ideological frontiers with a neighbour like India? You think Chinese will defend us for free? Should we also hand over our civil administration and judiciary to them as well because nothing seems to be working right.You have worked with the Army, I have worked in the Army fot thirty years.It is perhaps the only institution that we inherited in partition in good shape.It is no different than Indian Army – except DHA’s which is a later adulteration – but unfortunately in weaker political hands right from the beginning. I remember my high school teacher(non govt)eulogising Army and Ayub khan in Oct 1958 for ’salvaging the country’from the hands of slefish politicians and corrupt bureaucracy. I now regret my teachers thinking, but such were the feelings those days.Let’s pray and work for the strengthening of civil institutions like Parliament and Judiciary. No general will dare to take over in future if we put Musharraf to a fair trial along with his accomplices.This is possible and more practical than doing away with the whole military establishment under present scenario.
@moaziz
Sorry…I was too quick
I read recently that Aitzaz Ahsan wants to take the Honourable Chief Justice Iftikhar M. Chaudhry to USA.
For the following reasons..
1. To be honoured by the New York Bar association…the very city, in which a court has charged our Dr Affia, as we all know, on trumped up charges..the Bar Association prefers to look the other way here.
2. Harvard wants to give its medal of freedom to CJ IC.
This all looks very innocent. Even without Aitzaz Ahsan’s involvement it would be inappropriate to go there.The makers and the shakers in New York have no love for us , the local newspapers using CJ’s visit will run down Pakistan further; adding Aitzaz Ahsan’s invovement in this , one would suspect some foul play is at hand.
The Harvard medal is for freedom; freedom from what .Free from not being reinstated by this US appointed NRO president.
Somebody please impress upon Honourable Chief Justice Iftikhar M.Chaudhry that he has already won the biggest medal of his life from the nation, their trust in him, he does not need these trinkets from our foes.
@SnrCtzn
With regards to your idea of “Country without army” , let me ask you few questions.
1. Did you ever think that Pakistan army (specifically generals) are responsible for killing Pakistanis (whether in 1971 or in Balochistan or in FATA/NWFP or in Sind or in Islamabad or in any other part of Pakistan)?
2. If the answer to above question is yes, Do you think the motivition of killing their own people was saving the country? (Like massacring in Bangladesh for saving Pakistan, or burning innocent girls saving Pakistan from Taliban, Bombing and destroying Balochs saving the federation of Pakistan)?
3. If the answer to Question number 2 is NO, can you tell me any military in the world including the German Nazis or Army of Saddam or even the army of barbaric Bush which can kill people (en-masse) without any ideology?
4. Do you ever think that primary motivation for the army to kill the people of Pakistan was Money?
Now let me put this FINAL question to you (which I could not find the answer myself). An army armed with nuclear arsenal, which have proven time and again that they never had any qualms of concience to kill their own people, who are capable of killing innocent girls, raping unarmed women, murdering little children. All this for money. What this army can do when there is a real threat to their existence?Remember they are ready to nuke their own part of the land if required.
@SnrCTZN
You are 100% correct and though harsh to many Punjabi is nothing but absolute truth and reality. If anyone wants to verify and validate how unprofessoinal and inefficient Paki Army is, can do so in SWAT and Bajour. They kill innocent civilians and destory their homes and then release a statement that so many Taliban or terrorists were killed. They have yet not killed Mulana Faziullah of SWat or his colleagues. They have established their terror State in Swat and destroying schools every day and kidnapping and killing the educated people, while Army is staying back in barracks instead use PAF and artillary from 20 km and killing innocent people indiscriminately.
I have not heard of such a coward army in the world. I fails to understand how they will fight with India???
I always thought that Lawyers were the smartest people but I was wrong. They were used by politicians as a pawn and now they are being ignored because they have no use for them.I beleive they learned a lesson, I suggest they should reject some of their leaders who betrayed them.
baqaul Anwer Maqsood,
ek dumm wakeeloon kee hoyee cheekh-o-pukaar CHUPP,
hain etizaaz CHUPP.. to udhar Iftikhar CHUPP…
Sub nay Halaff uthaa liya, ab kaam kartay hain,
Supreme ho ya High ho, dono kee Baar CHUPP
http://vidpk.com/view_video.php?vid=17187
LOL…
It is interesting to see the frustration and pain of ‘fidayeen’ of musharraf, be they Anwar Maqsood or other MQM rats.
Seems like they have very conveniently forgotten the terrible mess in which their drunken idiot godfather musharraf has put this country in. So basically all this nonsense is just a way to vent their frustration at the demise of their master.
@Edge
Oh for god sake stop blaming jews and Hindus for everything.
See for yoruself what you are doing. You have not been able to write an honest Islamic History uptil now.
Were those Jews who had murdered Hazrat Usman and for three days didnt let his dead body be taken out for a funeral and whose funeral had to be take place in darkness of the night and he was temporarily burred in Jews graveyard.
If you dont know these facts then read up the facts.
Is Asif Zardari a hindu or a jew
Is Musharraf a hindu or a jew
and the list goes on and on
It is time that we Muslims should GET HONEST WITH OURSELVES AND SHOULD TRY TO FIND OUT WHAT IS OUR MISTAKE AND THEN TRY TO RECTIFY THEM.
The guy who declared Qadianis as Non Muslims was hanged by a Muslim who considered himself Amerr ul Momineen. Now would you consider that as conspiracy of Jews or Hindus.
We handed India over to Hindus in golder platter and we think that we had achieved a great job in getting Pakistan.
Edge – isnt this Allah’s azab on us that after a long time when we eventually elected a president democratically we elected janab Asif Ali Zardari who is corrupt to the core in ever possible way. Our Senators, MNAs and MPAs sold us for their own gains
Now you know what they are planning – they want to build a wall around so called Red Zone in Islamabad to protect themselves from suicide bombers. Shame on them.
Thats why the biggest contribution any Muslim can make for Muslim ummah to write history which is based on truth provided we are ready to learn from history.
Aitzaz ruined his crediblity when he nominated Asif Zardari as president. That was his biggest career mistake. Next time even if he stands on PPP ticket he is not going to win.
@c Hussain
Exactly. Muslims MUST stop acting like cry babies. For Gods sake the Jews, Hindus and the Crusaders are our adversaries. What should be expected from them? Flowers and best wishes? We must put our acts together and learn to live in this world like mature people!
It also reminds me of the internal situation in Pakistan where almost everybody is blaming their opponents for ALL the evils. F.ex. ZPP blaming their predecessors for all the evils while they themselves are doing NOTHING. Do these people know what shame is? Unfortunately not
@ c Hussain
Glad you noticed the email and cared to reply on it. I am in agreement that all that is happening to us is due to our weak character as Muslims and immature attitude towards Islam, Quran. My intention in the previous comment was to point out some of the hidden agents(conscious or otherwise) who have constantly been posting heinous comments about Pak Army and sowing seed of hatred among Pakistanis/people in general. The problem is, most people would take their (agent’s) comment at the face value and then waste their precious time and energies in replying to propaganda. We need to work hard on identifying our enemies most importantly the ones who live amongst us in neighborhoods and presume the same names and lifestyle as Muslims but they are the assets of our adversaries(Jews and Hindus etc). They have ruled supreme during last 8 years and have brought Pakistan to the brink of its destruction and decimation. But behold!, their vicious endeavors will not bring fruits and they are at the loosing end here and hereafter. This is because they deliberately suppress the truth and prefer Kufr over Emaan. I think these people should repent to Allah and ask Him for guidance, while they can.
I know small number of Army’s/Gov top brass are traitors(Musharraf and likes). But our Army at large consists of men of character and valor. They have proved this, and are more then capable to do the same over and over again. We should not generalize the character of few for all. Army knows facts and secrets that a laymen like people on this blog can not even imagine, let alone commenting on the character of Army from their cozy comfort zones. We need a change of attitude, need to grow up a little.
Finally, about history, I am very well aware of our history(Islamic) and the history of those who believe in deceiving others. These Kazabs think they can fool people by the twist of their words and cheap psychological distortions, nay, they fail miserably. People, who are honest to themselves would not fall prey to the invitations of Shaitan inshaAllah.
The first step in the right direction is COLLECTIVE REPENTANCE, for the crimes committed by people are of astronomical proportions. No matter whatever kind of grand schemes there may be, without the help of Allah, they would surely fail. But the tragedy is, Allah and His messenger is nowhere in people’s equations of global resolutions. Yes, you do use and deploy all means available but the starting point has to be Him, if your connection is intact with Him, your plan would prevail, otherwise you will be part of oblivion, like many, and He remains beyond time, and our survival is dependent on His constitution.
I deliberately did not comment on circumstances of Usman’s(May Allah have mercy on him) death and other mentioned issues. Its would have been a tangent in a wrong direction.
The article touched my heart and soul. God has blessed this author with an incredible power of “Bayan”.
Keep upo your strength Cicero.
@Cicero
Would love your thoughts on Aitzaz’s latest piece linked here….
[...] Comment on The Once and Future Pakistan by nota@Cicero Would love your thoughts on Aitzaz’s latest piece linked here…. [...]
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