London: Hi-tech advancement in media has done wonders. I could not believe my eyes when I was a witness to the blowing up of New York ’s Twin Towers on 9-11. Though rightly described as a media event that would change the whole complexion of the world and that this god’s little earth will never be the same again, it definitely has changed our lives, is proving a bigger challenge to our sensitivities and has already become unstoppable encroacher into our privacy. The vastness of media impact is serving as the most effective means that compels people with emotions to even wake up to causes that do not affect them directly.
Friday March 9, 2007 will no doubt be remembered as one of the darkest days in our history following President General Musharraf’s decision to suspend the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on various charges including corruption and abuse of office. Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chouhdry claims that his hands are clean and he would come out of the whole sordid drama vindicated. He has so far refused to resign despite approaches, pressures, humiliations, manhandling and intimidations to him and his family.
The General and his advisers had thought that the Chief Justice would not be able to resist his blackmail by the state and would opt to quit with some morsels to sustain him. This assessment has been so far proved wrong. Though he belonged to a judicial fraternity that did not enjoy much of the confidence of the people nor an enviable reputation because of the despicable roles in the past of judges like Muhmmad Munir, Maulvi Mushtaq, Justice Anwarul Haq, Justice Nasim Hasan Shah and others of the same ignoble mettle, the bold and courageous stand taken by Justice Iftikhar Mohmmad Choudhry is a manifestation of a man who—by dint of circumstances—has become a symbol of national frustrations at a time when these had rolled into powdered keg just in need of a flicker of a match to ignite.
Justice Iftikhar by deciding to convey enough is enough to the power drunk regime has tried to whitewash his own and his community’s sins of omission and commission that enabled successive military rulers to sustain themselves against the wishes of the people. His showing of preference to stand for a right cause this time has ignited a Prairie fire that seems beyond the fire fighting capacity of the rulers. The spontaneous support that he has received from the people, lawyers’ community, politicians, human rights organisations, media and their determination not to let him down is a sure sign that something good for the country may finally come of it.
While public agitation is gaining momentum by the day, other forces too– fed up by his personalised rule, land grabbing, corruption, his continuation of wearing army chief’s uniform and shredding into pieces whatever fig leaf of respectability that the military as an institution was left with—seem to join in the building inferno against the regime. Not only that, his enemies within his rank and file—among his cronies and advisers—too seem to have lost balance of their mind and have been advising him steps that are taking him nearer to the denouement of his despicable rule. One such incident was the naked police invasion of Geo TV and offices of Jang and News in Islamabad adding yet another black Friday (March 16) to our history at the hands of the military rulers. And the occasion coincided with the hearing of the Justice Iftikhar’s case before the Supreme Judicial Council
Thanks to the global satellite networking, Geo cameras, its daring TV crew, team of reporters and second-to-second commentary with live pictures by Kamran Khan and Hamid Mir—sitting six thousand miles away in London—I was witness to the most brutal assault on the freedom of the press. While GPM’s information Goebbels Mohammad Ali Durrani was caught too embarrassed with his clothes on, rest of the clips that punctuated the horrendous commentary from the scene showed the use of naked brute force by police. One saw his thugs breaking into the Geo Office, destroying furniture and computers and manhandling the staff members. These uniformed goons did not even spare the female workers of their assault. And the irony was that the Information Minister who had allegedly gone there to stop the rank sack looked more like an adroit supervisor inspecting his bulls on rampage in Geo’s China shop.
Hats off to Kamran Khan’s tongue-and-cheek sense of humour. While one could see the living example of GPM’s freedom given to the Pakistani media as manifested in the bleeding heads and destroyed computers at Geo, KK was generous to remind us that the media had never had it so good as now under GMP. Perhaps he was overwhelmed by the ugly turn of events otherwise he would have remembered the fact that internationally Pakistan under GPM has come to be the second most dangerous country in the world for the journalists after Iraq. It was also no time to recall the larger number of media men who lost their lives or got their heads broken, beaten up and intimidated by GPM’s Savak-like intelligence apparatus.
Commenting on the rapid explosive developments and the possibility of a change in Pakistan London’s Financial Times team comprising of Jo Johnson and Farhan Bokhari in its report (March 14) believes that Pakistan is slipping from the grasp of its generals.
Ever since his joining of hands with the United States following 9-11 and surviving various internal and external threats, it is now for the first time “the political cost to Gen Musharraf of being seen as a puppet of the administration of President George W. Bush is becoming unsustainable.”
What has got him into a trap is his own mounting unpopularity when he provoked nationwide protests by unceremoniously suspending the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary who had some how alarmed GPM by taking an independent stand on a number of controversial cases and potentially jeopardising the general’s re-election plans. “By accepting, in particular, that there should be an investigation into suspected “disappearances” of terror suspects, Mr Chaudhary seems to have overstepped the mark.” Human Rights Watch called on Washington and other governments to urge upon GPM to take steps to restore the rule of law in Pakistan , including the release of the Chief Justice and holding of free and fair elections.
FT analysis believes that GMP’s clumsy attempt to rid himself of the judge betrayed his mounting insecurity ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections due this year. By only stacking the Supreme Court with pliable judges he could be sure of rejection of constitutional petitions that could pose challenge to his re-election as president from the current assemblies and that too in uniform. GPM wants the apex court to give him a veneer of legitimacy, enabling Washington that has made the spread of democracy the cornerstone of its foreign policy to continue backing his authoritarian regime.
While his domestic problems are likely to grow in days ahead, his external position too has become rather wobbly. Washington ’s wariness with him is becoming rather obvious. Attack on American Vice-President Dick Cheney at Bagram Base following his visit to Islamabad late last month is being investigated especially in the light of the fact that it could have been plotted in Pakistan by the pro-Taliban rogue elements in the ISI. Unidentified sources claim that the censored portions of the “confession” of Al-Qaeda master mind behind 9-11–Khalid Mohmmad Sheikh– have overly compromised Musharraf’s regime’s position and cast serious doubts on its sincerity vis-à-vis its role in the war on terrorism. KMS’s sensational disclosures that include his claim of beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl besides the classified information regarding proliferation of Pakistan ’s nuclear programme and the possibility of Taliban getting an access to the nuclear know-how/material—have put the investigators onto new tracks to look into more horrendous aspect of terrorism that emanates from the official quarters in Pakistan .
Notwithstanding their findings and without undermining them either, the question posed by analysts that question the professionalism of Al-Qaeda and Taliban remain unanswered. Their questioning is related to four attacks by Al-Qaeda/Taliban in Pakistan —three on GPM and one on his prime minister. If the Al-Qaeda operatives were so thoroughly professional that they could plan their attacks on vital American targets (9-11) and getaway with them successfully how could they end up school boyishly in their four attempts on Pakistani VVIPs ? Or is there something more than meets the eye? An answer is being searched: were these four attempts stage-managed to win American sympathy?
Pakistan is rapidly moving towards a change. This is the considered opinion of foreign and Pakistani experts. And for the blow up much credit would go to GPM and his advisers since it is they who are committing one blunder after the other as the situation slips out of their hands. American Secretary of State Richard Boucher has described GMP’s decision against the Chief Justice as a “very sensitive” matter while Robert Richer, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official said recently that if GMP goes there is no chance of possibility of an extremist government coming into power in Pakistan any time soon. “If something happened to (General) Pervez Musharraf tomorrow, another general would step in.” And Financial Times named him as pro-Western General Ehsan Aslam Hayat, Musharraf’s Vice Chief of Staff. On the civilian side Senate Chairman Mohammad Mian Soomro would do a Ghulam Ishaq Khan act ( after Zia’s death in 1988), by becoming Acting President to hold free and fair elections.
Observers obviously feel such a development would offer the chance that Pakistan so well needs for its survival. Musharraf’s exit could only pave way for the return of democracy and exiled leaders –former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Mian Nawaz Sharif. And as all reports indicate an electoral landslide awaits Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan.
w.hasan@virgin.net
* Wajid Shamsul Hasan is Pakistan’s Ex High Commissioner at the UK