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Voice of People
Mixing violence with politics
A H Raja
It is indeed unfortunate that the MQM despite being led by lower and
middle class leaders and having become the most organised and
well-knit political party has somehow tended to mix violence with
politics. Although this deadly mix has ruined the peace and
tranquility of Karachi, but its leadership has somehow become
obsessed with the idea that without power of the gun its survival
would become difficult.
Ever since its inception in the mid eighties, the party has been
subjected to several military and police operations on account of
its efforts to create a state within state in Karachi through
high-handed tactics and acts of terror. It wants to remain the
unchallenged party of Karachi with no scope for any other political
party or ethnic community to have any stake in it. It is owing to
such obsessions and adoption of violent means to achieve political
ends that it has so far remained a regional party and has also been
frequently subjected to state repression. While the security forces
have always been going after the miscreants and criminals, the MQM
make claims without furnishing any proof that its innocent workers
had been victimized and killed in thousands. But for its madness on
12 May and again on 9 April and its black-mailing tactics, it could
have improved its image. It is high time that the MQM shuns its
violent behavior and becomes a healthy political party in the larger
interest of the country.
—Rawalpindi
BISE rude staff
Waheed Hassan
I am approaching Chairman Board of Intermediate and Secondary
Education Rawalpindi in a very serious incidence of misbehaviour by
a staff of BISE Rawalpindi. On May 16 at around 11.15 a.m I visited
Pindi Board to check as to why my nephew who lives in a distant town
has not received his roll no. slip/date sheet for Inter Part II
exam, although he received roll no. slip/date sheet for Part I. He
had in fact submitted fee for a combine exam of Intermediate. He
could not himself visit the Board as he was preparing for the exam.
I gave roll no., form ID and computer no. to one of the staff and
requested him to check as to why my nephew has received only one
roll no. slip instead of two i.e. for Part I & Part II. The man,
whose name I came to know later as Mr. Abdul Latif Mughal, Jr. Clerk
without bothering to check the computer ledger, placed right in
front of him on his desk, told me to come tomorrow morning with roll
no. slip. for correction. I requested him that time is short and
since I have all the particulars, he should at least check the
record so that I could bring the required documents tomorrow to get
the issue resolved. On this, he flared up and shouted at me saying
‘Get out’ ‘ Get out’ pointing his figure towards the exit door. This
was a stunning reply for me. I have never heard such insulting words
in my whole life, neither from any younger or elder, I am now
forty-five, and the man who said me get out, surely looked quite
junior to my age.
I rushed to the office of Secretary Board, Prof Humayun and told him
the insulting behaviour of Mr. Latif. He simply regretted declined
to reprimand the said staff Mr. Latif on his misbehaviour with me.
Prof Humayun looked helpless. I am bringing this matter of grave
misbehaviour to the knowledge of Dr. Baig, Chairman, Board of Inter.
& Secondary Education, Rwp for suitable action so that other fellow
citizens especially parents of students and teachers are saved from
dishonour and disgrace at the hands of Mr Mughal.
—Rawalpindi
Media encouragement
Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan
One thing that the media people in the Third World lack is that we
don’t make our own doings a topic of our discussions in a way that
it should be discussed. For example, rarely does it happen that the
chief editor of any news organization would find time to chat
directly with a professional journalist, who in fact is the real
investment and the actual boss-on-ground in any media outlet,
because he is the one who will make or break a story. This news of
Washington Post stuck to my mind when I was fortunate enough to be
among that lot of Pakistani journalists, who a few days back, were
out to meet the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mehsood.
The young and promising journalists worked extremely hard to make
the most out of such once-in-a-blue-moon trip, but sadly and
unfortunately the local channels played down the whole story as if
they had done nothing extra-ordinary, thus wasting the efforts of
those professionals. I can still recall the young journalists
recording their reports, but alas, only a few clips and words were
all that was aired.
Some newspapers even resorted to quoting international agencies and
completely ignored the presence of their own correspondents. In such
cases, a serious question comes to the mind of those who ponder,
“Can the international media reflect the national interest of a
country more than the local media?” If not then why did the
Pakistani media not give priority to the reports of their own
correspondents and preferred to pick up stories of those agencies,
which were not even on ground? Media is a weapon in itself and the
Pakistani media at the time of Afghan Jihad was the only window of
the world to Afghanistan and vise versa. They earned great respect
and fame during that time by their relentless reporting, unlike now,
where the Pakistani media seems to have receded. One can only hope
that somebody, somewhere is seriously thinking and trying to
understand the reasons behind this behavior.
—Via email
As free as a bird
Dr Irfan Zafar
Mr Asif Ali Zaradari is now “as free as a bird” to venture new
horrizons after his acquittal from all the corruption cases. “This
is a Court of Law, not Court of Justice” (Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr,
American Judge and Jurist)
—Islamabad
Interesting?
Mehran Leghari
Amid rumours of Gen Musharraf’s removal, Senate Chairman
Mohammadmian Soomro was hurriedly called back from his tour of
Germany. I recall when the General overthrew Nawaz Sharif’s
government, Waseem Sajad, an avid traveller on public expense, too
was in Germany on official visit. He had requested the government
not to withdraw his official protocol and his staff car. Two
Chairmen having so much in common is interesting. Another common
trait they both share is their love for power and pelf. Mr Soomro
manipulated to enhance his retirement perks but failed because of
public outcry, while Mr Sajad extorted huge professional fee, again
from public kitty, when he represented the government in the steel
mills case. Waseem Sajad is indeed much different than his late
father.
—Lahore
Name for NWFP
M K Bangash
In the proposed constitutional package, the PPP is going to rename
the NWFP province as Pakhtunkhwa. The PPP has been going after such
type of controversial non-issues which are not urgent while ignoring
the core issues like atta crisis, loadshedding and gas problems,
price hike, law and order, inflation and the restoration of the
judiciary along with hundreds of other problems faced by the public
on a daily basis. What fortunes will it bring to the public if the
name of a province is changed and that too against the will and
consent of a considerable section of the local populace? Nearly two
months have passed after the PPP came into government but nothing
concrete has so far been done to solve the real problems of the
people. On the contrary, the PPP seems to be supporting the military
ruler and continuing his economic policies.
—Peshawar
