Amidst Democracy

by Hadeed Sher

It was sudden , very sudden. Renowned columnist and media personality was shot 6 bullets while he was going from Karachi Airport to his bureau office in Karachi. And the very next moment GEO started breaking this news while suspecting DG ISI responsible for this assassination attempt. For 8 continuous hours , GEO telecast at this news repetitively claiming that an in service general is responsible for this attack. Their reaction was supererogatory, however, it is not new that a serving General is held responsible for criminal acts. Previously, it was General Musharraf whose name was written in the First Investigation Report (FIR) of assassination of former CM and governor Baluchistan Nawab Akbar Bughti. The foundation of Lal Masjid also named Pervaiz Musharraf for the ruthless operation in the year 2006. Former PM Benazir Bhutto indicated that in case of her assassination, Gen Mushrraf, IB chief Ijaz Shah and Parvazi Elahi will be responsible. The incident however, provided candid opportunities for those having a head to head competition with GEO TV network. Media groups like Express News and specially ARY news showed their true colors while bragging that the skirmish behavior of GEO news is a shame to the journalism. It was same ARY news that telecast false and fabricated news regarding the Punjab Youth festival some weeks ago and the same Express news telecast Indian media psychopaths daily as their news item. I consider all channels in this regard as the same. Repeatedly i stated that the pseudo control on this media is useless unless a clear line is drawn. Like our police, our media has learnt a little bit of lot from the western media. They show live bloodshed with a small ticker on some corner stating "bachay na dekhain" yet they are so drunk that they did programs on hunting eunuchs and dating couples in public parks.  My blog earlier on media ethics was on the very same issue. Then what went wrong between the media gurus on the issue of Hamid Mir Vs ISI ? Why schism on this issue among those who remained united for decades ? The answer is simple  Its the rat race of money. Ratings and ratings to earn more revenue. For example, ARY was suffering from dementia when it disseminated 8 years old speech of Khawaja Asif portraying that the defense minister is abusing the present command of Pak Army. No one questioned the integral values of journalism. No one questioned when the channels deliberately provoked the pillars of state. None of the so called journalist dared to told this nation that this is a fabricated news. ARY news maligned the sports board of the largest province of Pakistan by claiming its youth festival records as FAKE. This was not an insult of the institute because bloody civilians constitute the governing mechanism of Punjab Sports Board. Not long ago the liar liar Mubashir Lucman accused Punjab Govt of violating international copyrights laws for using pirated windows in the Laptop scheme. However, the shun ethics in journalism never urged any of the parachuters like Dr. Moeed Pirzada (The famous rudimentary analyst of election 2013) to slam ML for a false fabricated story about Punjab Government. After all it was a matter of Shahbaz Sharif and PMLN, all of whom are bloodiest civilians in the present Pakistan. Express Newspaper in order to show sympathy with ISI or to show enmity with GEO TV network, to be more precise, published one column by Abdul Qadir Hassan where he stated that India's inner peace was at the mercy of ISI . Read the line again and here i am quoting it , ponder on this one liner and see how foolish and utter nonsense it is..

The point i want to make is that all media channels exhibit skulduggery according to their periphery , therefore they all are one and the same thing. They jeopardize the national security whenever security forces operate, Bolan Medical Complex operation for an instance. They are fatuous enough to pass dangerous columns and programs without any censorship on their shows and in their newspapers just for the sake of profit. Therefore, singling out GEO as an Indian agent and its scoffing by the rival media groups wont help unless we deal with the ground realities. Suspects of a victim has a right to point finger on anyone they like. The due process of investigation happens only to verify the victims claim. GEO did stupid programs, but wasn't it GEO that fought at the forefront in the Judicial movement ? 

Not many would have bet that Prime Minister Of Pakistan would announce to invoke Article 6 against Dictator Mushraf but yes miracles do happen and dreams do come true. Pakistan seemed to have detracted from the Quaid vision of "Civilian Supremacy" and a country where civilian will take the driving seat, take key decisions on interior and foreign policy but alas down the road we lost that dream and "State" became a ping pong between "Dictatorship and Democracy". Dictators ruling the country in the name of larger interest and indirectly meddling in civilian matters even when they were not in power, end result Pakistan State heading towards economic bankruptcy, Sectarian chaos, Institutional collapse and breeding ground for terrorist activities..

It's a fact intermittent "Coups" and hatching conspiracies against civilian rules caused lots of damage to the state, only one Institution was able to prosper and stand on its own was "Pakistan Armed Forces" and I think that's where they remained successful and able to rule because of their superior institutional depth and resources available to them. They were able to manipulate the system and turn horrendous acts like "Kargil" in their favor and hence were able to sent packing a sitting Prime Minister who won by 2/3 majority. Sitting Prime Ministers were jailed, hanged and exiled, literally leaving a black dot on Pakistani history. 

But miracles do happen and history took a new turn, Judiciary historically worked as a subordinate institution to establishment and validated their illegal acts, hanging one sitting Prime Ministers and Life imprisonment to the other on orders of their masters, found a new lease of life when "Justice Iftikhar Ch" took over as "Chief Justice Of Pakistan" and started making few independent decisions in dictatorial regime, threatened by his powers, Dictator threatened him and asked him to resign from his post, Iftikhar Ch for once wrote his name in Pakistan's Judicial History with stood the pressure and said no to Dictator, starting the beginning of a new struggle, ending in historic long March and his reinstatement, importantly laying foundation of a judicial institution.

Secondly Credit must be given to "Nawaz Sharif", standing by the judiciary and leading that historic "Long March" ending in Judges Reinstatement. But he didn't stop here, remained very vocal about Democratic values and his commitment to Parliament as an institution. He was the sole reason "Zardari Regime" was able to complete their term because he was very clear in his mind that people of Pakistan trusted PPP and voted them to power, his popularity which skyrocketed after Long March, took a big hit and allowed Imran Khan PTI to emerge as a force. But Nawaz Sharif believed in people's wisdom, turned down every opportunity to topple Zardari Regime unconstitutionally and unlawfully, stuck to the Democratic and Parliamentary norms, acted as a Statesman, in the end he was proved right, his perseverance with Democracy, trust in the people of Pakistan paid, was elected by simple majority by people of Pakistan and literally wiped off PPP from Pakistan and restricting them to a regional party.

Pakistan Print Media and Social Media acted as a rumor factory, many senior and renowned journalists talked about NRO 2, many political activists started promoting the idea that Nawaz Sharif winning of GE was part of the deal and giving Mushraf's safe passage was mandatory according to that deal. Columns written and stories were broken on a daily basis in print and Social Media, whispers were heard about electronic Media as well. This was more or less the same group who was declaring 2013 GE rigged ones and finding excuses for their disastrous predictions regarding Polls despite every survey declaring PMLN front runner with PTI a force as well but still a long way from getting a simple majority. Unfortunately people were bombarded with "Tsunami" rhetoric's to such an extent that PTI voters believed in PTI victory, their emergence as the second biggest party in elections was not enough for their young and exuberant supporters because they were told all along about the Tsunami and the clean sweep. PMLN won the GE and one started to hear NRO 2 again, daily rumors of Mushraf leaving the country, stories of "Saudis and Americans" breaking the deal but in the mean while Courts kept on doing their job and it was a business as usual. Nawaz Sharif kept his cards close to his chest until the Supreme Court during the hearing asked the then Care taker rulers about their position on Article 6 and imposition of emergency on 3rd November but Care Takers remained mum and elected Government had to take the decision. Nawaz Sharif stunned everybody and announced to invoke Article 6 against the Dictator, puncturing rumors of NRO 2, impressing everyone with his decisions and wisdom.

Now let us come to the very important point why on earth Mushraf left a peaceful self exiled life in the UK and came back. There are two reasons, he was fed wrongly that he was very popular, his Facebook got a million likes and thousands add to daily. Secondly he was of the view that current Establishment will bail him out and he be allowed to contest Elections, his Face book likes will materialise into a big victory, despite the fact that current Military Regime led by General Kiyani asked him many a times to stay away from Pakistan but General Mushraf seems to be an arrogant man, as I still remember his famous saying "Mein Aik Commando Hoon, Mein Darta Werta Kisi Sey Nahi Hoon", another saying "Those who haven't taken the Oath are no more judges of Supreme Court and High Court", rubbishing all the warnings and coming back, infect threatening Establishment that if he was not protected he will name many and Military as an Institution will pay the price of his wrong doings, his Lawyers are already talking about opening up a Pandora's Box by invoking Article 6 against Mushraf as many will go down with Mushraf.

Now one should hope and pray that the Establishment will take it as an act of one individual, think in the larger interest of the country. General Kiyani seems to have learned a lot and under his Command things have definitely taken a turn and moving in the right direction. The Pakistani Nation must rejoice the true emergence of another Institution "Parliament" under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif , must not be carried away by the events because it is a big step forward to lock a dictator and impeaching him under Article 6, it doesn't matter what is the outcome of the case but history has been made and many have been proved wrong.