There is no such thing
as a great talent without great will-power.
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Burning of lawyers alive
THERE was again mayhem in Karachi on Wednesday with terrorists and
saboteurs having a field day in the nerve centre of the nation. There
are scores of incidents of lawlessness including torching of private and
public property and injuries to several people but the most gruesome was
the burning alive of seven people including five lawyers.
The trouble is said to have been sparked by a clash between two groups
of lawyers over maltreatment meted out the previous day to former
Minister Dr Sher Afgan but the way innocent people were burnt alive and
others made target of sniper fire clearly show that there was an
organized attempt by trouble-makers to disrupt peace of the metropolis.
The administration and law-enforcing agencies were seen helpless in the
face of widespread disturbances created by law-breakers as a result of
which business activities came to a halt and that is what seemed to be
the end objective of our enemy. Unfortunately, we are providing excuses
to the enemies of Pakistan to undermine political and economic strength
of the country. After a long time of eight years, the country has
started its journey on the road to true democracy but some forces are
apparently trying to obstruct the march forward. We believe that the
incidents of Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Dr Sher Afgan and Karachi killings
were, in a way, linked together and meant to create an atmosphere of
uncertainty. It is in this background that we would urge the MQM, which
has overwhelming support in the city, to play its role in the
maintenance of peace and tranquillity. It is good that its leadership
have condemned the criminal acts but the Party needs to do much more to
promote peace efforts as deterioration of law and order in Karachi is
not only harmful to the national economy but also to its residents. We
would also urge the leadership of the lawyers community to give a second
thought to their existing strategy and take steps to ward off the
dangers of turning their movement into chaotic violence. Barrister
Aitzaz Ahsan is spearheading a campaign for the noble cause of supremacy
of the constitution and independence of the judiciary but this objective
should be realized while remaining strictly within peaceful means. It is
time that sanity should prevail and all stakeholders including political
parties, lawyers, religious parties/groups and above all people of
Pakistan lend their fullest support to the process of national
reconciliation, which is the only way out of the present quagmire.
