Silence of the lambs

Praise be to the lawyers’ movement and its shining stars. One can congratulate them on the release of Maulana Abdul Aziz, a man who was an integral part of the massacre at Lal Masjid in 2007. But one must put things in some perspective. No matter how much we are critical of the actions of President Musharraf, it was not his government that brought on the bloodbath at Lal Masjid. It was the clerics who egged on their supporters, held young students against their will to act as human shields and challenged the writ of the state.

For 18 months, the men and women of Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa provoked the government, engaging in violent demonstrations, hate speeches, destruction of property, kidnapping, arson, and armed clashes with the authorities. The government of President Musharraf can be faulted with letting matters come to this. Notice should have been taken much earlier. It was not. This prompted many to say that it was a government conspiracy to let the issue grow

But even the government’s patience snapped after Lal Masjid militants set fire to the ministry of environment building and engaged in an armed clash with the Rangers who were guarding it and a siege of the Lal Masjid complex began.

We all remember how the complex was besieged from July 3 to July 11, 2007. The government was clearly on the defensive. Our brave men were put under risk by our media, which was broadcasting the proceedings live. There was no cohesion in government policy. Channels were interviewing the leaders of the siege in the mosque, enhancing their image and making them heroes. Nowhere in the world do we see such bizarre examples of media irresponsibility.

The negotiating team that went in to talk to the militants was confused. After negotiations failed, as has been expected, the Masjid complex was stormed by the Army and members of the Special Service Group and retaken. But at high cost.

The operation resulted in 200 deaths, and 50 militants were captured.

Most of those killed were innocent. Today we see on our TV screens that all charges have been dropped against the man who instigated this action. Men and women are celebrating his release. What will this do to the morale of our nation, especially the families of the men who died in action? What do we say to the parents of the children who were held, and many of whom died?

More important, what message are we giving others who are intent on challenging the writ of the state? Will they also be given the same allowances that are given in this case? We are actually encouraging more people to come out and do the same.

It was not without reason that some in the lawyers’ movement had warned in the midst of the long march that it had been hijacked by others. One shudders to think what else will happen now. While all of us supported the call for the reinstatement of the chief justice, what we wanted in exchange was supremacy of the rule of law.

Praise be to our political leadership. This week donors pledged over $5 billion in loans to Pakistan and more in military hardware, on grounds that Pakistan was facing a serious terror threat. Money has been extracted from donor states, already facing economic recession. But they want more bang for their bucks.

But one must ask our wise and able president how he can fight terrorism when he is himself dancing with the wolves. It may be recalled that in 2007, after the Lal Masjid massacre, pro-Taliban groups scrapped a 10-month-old peace agreement with the government which led to the deaths of 3,000 people and marked another surge in militancy and violence. It was then that the two suicide attacks a week regimen came into place.

Possibly this was in his mind when he signed the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, effectively handing over charge of Swat to the Taliban. Till then, the Taliban had control of the Valley but we were lulled into believing that our army would be able to rout them. This has not happened. Now the Taliban are fully in charge too.

Again the donors are insisting that the hardware be used against the militants and not pointed towards other countries. To ensure that the loans are used for the purpose that they are given, we are told that the US and the Friend of Pakistan will both open offices in Pakistan to check and verify on ground.

More Pakistanis have been killed by militants and American drone attacks than by any other country or force in the region in the past five years. And yet, our establishment insists that India is the enemy. Which makes one wonder how we define our enemies and, more importantly, our friends.

Praise be to our Members of Parliament. Especially the 60 women MPs who seem to have lost their ability to speak on the day the Nizam-e-Adl regulation was presented before the house. Some of these women speak vocally on the plethora of TV channels that we have now become addicted to. And yet when the time came to speak, they were all silent.

It was left to Ayaz Amir and to the MQM, quite an unexpected combination, to speak out at the fundamental flaw in the agreement with the militants. There cannot be two laws in one land. The government did not come out with specific details. But this fact was further clarified by Sufi Mohammad the next day when he told journalists that the decisions of the Qazi courts in Swat could not be challenged in any other court of the land, even the Supreme Court.

Praise be to the Pakistan People’s Party and the Awami National Party.

These two parties, which are supposed to draw strength from the vote banks and from the level of support they enjoy amongst the people, capitulated before the militants. The political leadership in both these parties is clearly weak and without direction. It is not they, but we who will pay for the deal they have made. They will go to Dubai. Can we forgive these parties for their deception?

Praise be to the rightwing parties of the country, spearheaded by the Jamaat-e-Islami and its supporters. These apologists of the Taliban are making all efforts to prove that the video of the woman being flogged in Swat, aired recently, was a fake. While the Taliban are making no bones about what they are doing in Swat and what they intend to do, our rightwing friends are also looking for excuses for what happened to that helpless girl. Some are even justifying the action. Little do they know that the Taliban have no time for them too. In the eyes of the Taliban, they are equally unacceptable.

Finally, praise be to our media, which has done little to ensure that voices of reason and common sense are heard. Instead, some in the media have become crusaders themselves. Many have taken the government line of praising the Nizam-e-Adl agreement. Others have taken to defending the new system of justice in Swat. One gentleman actually praised the flogging of the girl. There is very little reporting of the human tragedy that is taking place there. Few are putting things into perspective.

Colleagues in the media are not stating the obvious. That the surrender of Swat is just the beginning of a long-drawn-out strategy. Swat is the first victory. The suicide attacks will not stop. The peace in Swat that they talk about is the peace of the graveyard. While our politicians bicker, our military vacillates, our rightwing parties lull us into a false sense of security, our media pushes its petty agenda, the future of Pakistan as a modern and peaceful state comes under a direct and imminent threat. The question is when, and if at all, will we wake up.