Pak Tea House

This is a passionate and rather heartfelt piece from our young contributor Shaheryar Ali

Re-throne Iftikhar Chaudhry and hang Zardari, and sing all Faiz and Jalib on Geo. It will be the same. That’s the bitter truth…

“What I call middle-class society is any society that becomes rigidified in predetermined forms, forbidding all evolution, all gains, all progress, all discovery. I call middle-class a closed society in which life has no taste, in which the air is tainted, in which ideas and men are corrupt. And I think that a man who takes a stand against this death is in a sense a revolutionary. Fervor is the weapon of choice for the impotent.” Frantz Fannon

The quotes from Frantz Fannon form the basis of my thoughts on the problem of libertarian politics in Pakistan. The problem that has been disguised in the fervor of middle class intelligentsia, civil society and the so called lawyer’s trade union “movement” to reinstate the judges who were “not called” to take oath under the PCO of General Pervez Musharaf.

The first casualty of this movement was “clarity”, quite understandably when middle and petty bourgeois classes and institutions of a post colonial state are the stalwarts of a “libertarian movement”. When I am writing down these lines the “count down” to the end of days is over in Pakistan. The serene voice of Iqbal Bano singing Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s epic revolutionary poem Hum dekhen ge is glorifying the “Judicial Movement.” The day promised by Faiz being the day the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of The Islamic Republic of Pakistan should and must be “re-throned” in his “Castle of Justice” in Islamabad.

This and this alone is the solution to all Pakistan’s problems. This and this alone was the goal of all libertarian politics of Pakistan, from Syed Sajjad Zaheer to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This and this alone was the meaning of all progressive discourse, from Manto to Faiz, from Jalib to Faraz. Any other view is treason, anyone suggesting an alternate view is a “sell-out.”

Pakistan Peoples Party and its evil leadership, its evil supporters have betrayed the revolution, the Messiah of liberation incarcerated for months in dungeons, the dungeon being official residence of the Chief Justice in Islamabad with his family. Mr Ten Per Cent spent 8 years in jail without conviction and bail, never saw his children growing up, enjoying a “married life”, half of which was spent in friendly imprisonment in the worst of Pakistan’s jails, where his back was broken and his tongue was cut!! (Bol keh lub aazad hein tere). Yea our Messiah of Liberation was manhandled during his long march from his palace to the court, the haircut was destroyed, the black coat martyred. And all in front of cameras.

Mr Aitzaz Ahsan, the Marxist lawyer, who charges six-figure fees and delivers justice to 80% of the people of Pakistan who earn less than 2 dollars a day, speaks, his voice crackling with passion over the fate of the children who were forced to live with their parents in their own house. Has anyone ever heard from him any names other than Balaj and Palwasha? Any names like Bilawal, Asifa, and Bakhtawar who grew up without a father, who were not allowed to see their father for years and years. Who were not allowed to live in their country. When they got their father, their mother was killed. Who killed their mother? Did anyone talk about any “countdown” to start a probe into murder of leader of people of Pakistan? Of course it’s the destiny of Asifa to live half her life without a father and the rest of her life without her mother. Destiny!!

The Glorious Judge:

A military dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, imposes martial law, suspends the constitution and takes over. Army surrounds the Chief Justice House, arrests the Chief Justice. Our glorious Judge Iftikhar Ahmad takes oath of personal loyalty to General Musharraf accepting him as the “source of law”

The great Judge sits in 4 benches of the supreme court declaring : (more…)

This is an engaging piece by Ali Eteraz who writes with much intellectual energy and passion. The views expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily subscribed by the Pak Tea House.

Hindus in Pakistan have suffered grievously since the founding of the nation in 1947. Recently, in the southern province of Sindh, a Hindu man was accused of blasphemy and beaten to death by his co-workers. This comes at the heels of the abduction and dismemberment of a Hindu engineer. (more…)

* Do large groups in young people ages 15-24 increase the risk of armed conflict, terrorism and riots?

Daily Times Monitor

KARACHI: It has frequently been suggested that exceptionally large youth groups or cohorts, the so-called ‘’youth bulges’’, make countries more susceptible to political violence.

Henrik Urdal from the Centre for the Study of Civil War, The International Peace Research Institute, Oslo examined this in a study titled ‘A Clash of Generations? Youth Bulges and Political Violence’ in 2006. (more…)

This is a forcefully eloquent piece on the incidence of violence in Karachi. PTH does not necessarily agree with its contents and the arguments - by  Rukhe Zehra Zaidi

It seems that recycling storylines and repeat performances are not solely the prerogative of cinema and theatre. In Pakistan, the plot of politics is often repeated and rehashed until the performance has become a fine tuned and much rehearsed drama on the ongoing tussle between democracy and the military. Dictators replace democrats, democrats negotiate and bargain with each other and the army, and the masses stand by much like the citizens of fair Verona caught in the crossfire of the fighting between the Montagues and the Capulets. And although the actors change on a seasonal basis, the transition is now almost seamless and perfect. Costume changes require minimal refitting as the Ayubs make way for the Zias and Musharrafs, and the MMA of today steps into the shoes of the Islamic Democratic Alliance of yesterday. And repeated though it might be, the performance is by no means dull as bloody assassinations, behind the scenes plotting and scheming, horse-trading, and even exploding helicopters all add to the political experience in Pakistan. (more…)

Raza Rumi

On the flourishing ‘column’ industry despite the slow growth of readership’

What is so peculiar about the Pakistani media opinion factories churning out problems and solutions products day after day? Frankly, they are self perpetuating oligarchies and boring at best. The slightly discerning mortals who browse the daily newspapers in English and vernacular languages or bother to engage with the electronic media discussions are struck by certain repetitive trends. Let me map them out before rambling any further. On a note of caution, there is no intention of making generalisations here. Exceptions, they say, prove the rule!

The curse of self-importance

Nowhere else would you find brazen references to the importance of a writers’ opinion particularly among the Urdu language newspaper columnists. Despite the slow growth of readership, the ‘kalam-navees’ industry is flourishing. A few years ago, a new Urdu newspaper with a hefty advertising budget, ensured that a few big names in the column industry were under its wings. (more…)

I have no comments on this news-item published in the Daily Times. Since it is still not verified by either of the parties, it remains uncertain whether this incident ever happened?

NAUDERO: PPP Co-chairman Asif Zardari is reported to have ticked off Aitzaz Ahsan in an after-dinner gathering of the PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) members in Naudero on the subject of the restoration of the judges, independence of the judiciary and the threatened long march by Aitzaz and his supporters. According to sources present on the occasion, Zardari took Aitzaz to task for constantly threatening to launch a long march to force parliament to restore Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the other deposed judges. Zardari advised Aitzaz to go ahead with his long march if he was so keen on it instead of constantly threatening the PPP about it. He told Aitzaz that he was wrong to think that the lawyers movement had forced General Pervez Musharraf to take off his uniform or hold the elections. He said that honour belonged to Benazir Bhutto who had compelled Musharraf to do so and paid for it with her life. He said the entire credit for restoration of democracy went to Ms Bhutto and Aitzaz and the judges and lawyers could not rob her of her victory. Zardari also reminded Aitzaz that while he was incarcerated for eight long years none of these heroic judges had given him justice, even when he had asked for one day’s reprieve to attend a funeral of a close relative. Zardari is reported to have said that Justice Chaudhry had politicised himself overtly and ruined his case as an advocate for an independent judiciary. He also cited other instances when some of these judges had not conducted themselves with any degree of integrity or independence in the past. Aitzaz tried a feeble defence but could not deflect Zardari’s irritation. “I thought Aitzaz would get up and leave but he just sat there,” said the source. staff report

How could we claim to be a democratic country where academics, ostensibly a sacred profession if one were to follow our own rhetoric, are mauled for speaking up?? I am posting a press release from the citizen’s group, People’s Resistance that gives a detailed account of the rotten incident.

KARACHI, April 1: The People’s Resistance, a coalition of pro-democracy individuals and organisations, strongly condemns and demands immediate inquiry into the manhandling and beating up of Dr Riaz Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Applied Chemistry at Karachi University by Pakistan Rangers. (more…)

Email Picture

K.M. Chaudary / Associated Press

Prominent Pakistani opposition lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, center, is greeted by lawyers at a rally against President Pervez Musharraf in Lahore. While under house arrest, he did what many of his compatriots do in times of personal and political crisis: He wrote a poem. When restrictions on his freedom were eased, TV crews besieged him and, one after another, beseeched him to recite his verse for a country that takes its verse seriously.

(more…)

A picture that should say it all - though APP has some words for those who might wonder what is happening here…

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

A few suggestions to remove ambiguities from the AHRC

History is being made in the National Assembly of Pakistan. The Speaker was elected and the debates have already begun. True to the pledge given to the voters to restore the chief justice and all the other judges who were ousted, a resolution has already been drafted and is being discussed now. The newspapers have published this draft and we reproduce it below in its entirety with just a few suggestions for the strengthening of the resolution and the removal of any ambiguity regarding the intention of the legislature with regard to the restoration of the Constitution of the Republic of Pakistan as it stood in November 2007; that is before the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) was promulgated.

(more…)

This is a brilliant summary of Human Rights Watch’s reports on Pakistan during the last one year. These are diverse topics that cover the entire range of key issues concerning rights. Pak Tea House would like to acknowledge the hard work that its staff and researchers have undertaken in their tireless advocacy. Most importantly, HRW has been unique in trying to understand Pakistan and its issues from within. And not, as external, patronising monitors but as friends and those who are trying to understand without pre-conceived notions.

• Pakistan: Winning Parties Should Keep Commitments on Rights February 21, 2008    Pakistan: Media Restrictions Undermine Election February 16, 2008   
  Pakistan: Attorney General Aware of ‘Massive’ Election-Rigging Plans February 15, 2008
  Pakistan Goes to the Polls February 14, 2008
  Pakistan: Election Commission Not Impartial February 11, 2008
• Video: President Musharraf Shows His True  February 11, 2008
  Pakistan: Judges Remain Under Arrest Before Election February 9, 2008
• UK/Pakistan: Brown Should Press Musharraf on Rights January 26, 2008    Press Release
  Pakistan: Scotland Yard Should Quit Flawed Bhutto Inquiry January 24, 2008
• UAE: Meetings Should Address Migrant Workers’ Rights January 18, 2008
• Injudicious imaginings January 11, 2008   
• Commentary: Dynasties, democracy and dictatorship December 31, 2007
• Video: Political Leadership in Pakistan December 30, 2007    Video
  Pakistan: Bhutto Assassination a Tragedy December 27, 2007   
  Pakistan’s future imperfect December 21, 2007
• Human Rights Groups Call on Bush Administration to Stand Up for Pakistani Judges and Media Freedom December 21, 2007
• Pakistan: End Persecution of Lawyers and Judges 
  Destroying Legality Download PDF, 1770 KB, 86 pgs
  Audio: Free and Fair Elections in Pakistan are Impossible With A Dismantled Judiciary 
• Pakistan: Destroying Legality December 18, 2007   
• Letter to Governments in Asia and the Middle East on International Migrants’ Day 
• Asian Migrant Workers Abandoned to Abuse
  Pakistan: Musharraf’s ‘Restoration of Constitution’ a Sham
  Letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the ‘Restoration of the Constitution’ by Pakistan’s President Musharraf
  Pakistan: Free Judges Held Under House Arrest
  Pakistan: Dubai Should End Shutdown of Pakistani Channels
  Pakistan: Musharraf Uses Anti-Terror Laws to Jail Critics
  Pakistan: Rescind Decree Allowing Military Trials of Civilians
  Turn off the aid tap
  Letter to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urging increased US pressure on Pakistan
  Pakistan: Release Judges, Lawyers and Activists From Arbitrary Detention
  US: Suspend Non-Humanitarian Aid to Pakistan
  Letter to Representatives Lowey and Wolf on US foreign operations funding
  Pakistan: End Emergency Rule and Restore Constitution
  Pakistan: Musharraf Should Accept
• Pakistan: Musharraf Illegally Forces Sharif Back Into Exile
  Pakistan: Release Opposition Party Members
  UN: Hold Peacekeepers Accountable for Congo Smuggling
  UN: Hold Peacekeepers Accountable for Congo Smuggling
  Pakistan’s General Problem
  An identity under scrutiny
  Is There a Human Rights Double Standard?
  US Policy Toward Saudi Arabia, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan
  Leading Human Rights Groups Name 39 CIA ‘Disappeared’ Detainees
  Off the Record
  Pakistan: Broadcast Media Muzzled by Musharraf’s Decree
  Pakistan: Pandering to Extremists Fuels Persecution of Ahmadis
  Pakistan: Musharraf Proposes Sham Election Plan
  Letter to President Musharraf About Attacks on Journalists in Pakistan
  Afghanistan: Civilians Bear Cost of Escalating Insurgent Attacks
  Letter to SAARC Leaders In Anticipation of Summit In New Delhi
  UAE: Draft Labor Law Violates International Standards
  Pakistan: Protesters in Judge’s Case at Risk of Violence
  Pakistan: Release Chief Justice of Supreme Court
  Ghost Prisoner
  US: Secret CIA Prisoners Still Missing
  Pakistan: Improve Security for Civilians in Tribal Areas
  

Details on these pieces below (more…)

Afshan Khoja

“I was very disturbed after watching the video that Geo and Dawn TV have been airing, where the Lahore bomber runs over a guard to enter the building gate. It is such a traumatic video. DAWN TV went ahead and showed it in slow-motion. This was all without any warnings for disturbing content.
 
While I know PEMRA regulations are ridiculous, there has to be some form of third party accountability system that makes guidelines, if not rules, about what is worth printing and airing and what’s not. We’ve all seen the pictures of dead mutilated bodies in Jang and other newspapers. While there’s no way to determine what’s right or wrong, at least there should be a body of people (civilians) who can talk about where the media should draw the line — what’s responsible journalism? PEMRA has ruined any scope for dialogue but the civil society should do something about this. In a country where we are fighting for all sorts of freedoms, we all (at least in this group, I hope) realize that freedom comes with responsibility. We need to make sure that media outlets realize that too.
 
I’m not sure if there’s an NGO or some other institution working on this issue, or if we have something like the Society of Professional Journalists  in Pakistan. If someone knows any such institution, please let me know and I would love to work with them. If not… we should do something. I just can’t seem to get that image out of my head… and what about the families of that person who died?
 
The point here is not to start a discussion about whether or not showing that image was right. The point is, people should be talking about where the media should draw its line… In fact, such a discussion would be worthy even for the judiciary to determine, concerning its role should be only for checks and balances.
 
I was disturbed and thought I should share my anguish.”

Here is the video that Afshan is talking about - this is disgraceful and almost akin to glorification of terror as an instrument.

by iFaqeer 

In my last post, I mentioned the then breaking story that the Pakistan Telecomm Authority was in the process of blocking YouTube from the country. The “reason” given a video that was disrespectful to “An Hazrat, Maulana Mohammad, Rasul Allah”, as we are wont to say in Pakistan, or “The Gentleman, Our Lord, Mohammad, Prophet of God”. Of course, amongst our wonderful, patriotic Pakistanis, there were the immediate questions about whether that in itself was a rumour or documented. Well, please do take a look at one of the documents that went out from the Pakistan Telecomm Authority to the ISP’s on Siliconstani’s blog.

The suspicions on the part of the grapevine is that this blocking/censorship happened when it happened because of videos that were ending up on YouTube of vote rigging–both in Karachi and Lahore and elsewhere. Though the brunt of the suspicion is about videos of rigging in Karachi, and pro- the MQM.

But, wait! There’s more!!! Breaking news right now is that the way the regulatory organizations for the Internet in Pakistan went about blocking YouTube has caused an outage/inaccessibility of the site globally! Check out the BBC report here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7262071.stm

The first thing that went through my head when I saw that story was that people like me often hear from fellow Pakistani expats that we should not discuss our home country’s dirty laundry in public–you know, like raising Internet censorship at meetings where Pakistan’s technology industry is being discussed. I wonder what they think of sweeping our issue under the rug till a SNAFU like this happens does for the much-maligned Image of Pakistan that our PUPPIES (Pakistani Yuppies) keep talking about.

Interesting thing is, as I was saying earlier to someone, this case illustrates beautifully the issues related to censorship. If you accept that censorship is okay in some circumstances (the one that the British set the precedent for in South Asia just happens to be hurting the sensibilities of major communities–today’s Shining India also continues to ban stuff on that basis, from Rushdie to blogs), then governments will inevitably use the power either ineptly, or maliciously.

Now, I am not one to buy into American exceptionalism, and am often the one in a discussion amongst immigrants to challenge the “Milk and Honey” view of our lives in this country, but the First Amendment to the US Constitution is written the way it is for a reason: “Congress shall make NO law restricting the freedom of speech“. No if’s, and’s and but’s; it’s something even the US Supreme Court has never really lived up to. There is no such thing, as someone once said, as “being a little bit pregnant”. Either you’re okay with censorship, or you aren’t.

The right way to control harmful speech, or offensive speech is NOT governmental control. It is in society; if you’re offended, use the avenues reserved for that offense. If you harmed, use the methods for restitution of that harm. In some societies, it is law suits and other legal action (used to be that was what Muslims believed in, too); in others it is duels with a choice of weapon at dawn.

I am sorry, but I have paid a personal price in my life because I refused to live in the Gulf. Both my dear mother and my father-in-law would have loved it for me to take a job there and be nearer to them. And as for Pakistan, I cannot with a straight face keep on complaining about a “Show Cause Notice” from the Zia Regime for a small, very small Christmas message I put on the Contents page of a youth magazine in 1987 and yet say it is okay to block YouTube or Facebook. My conscience won’t let me. If I am okay with the latter, then I should be okay with the former.

Censorship is censorship. If you’re okay with censorship, please say so. I am not.

There’s an old (from our youth :p) Bollywood song that goes “Main ro’oon ya hansoon; karoon mai kyaa karoon?!” or “Should I cry or laugh; To do, what do I do?”

Users subscribing to the Internet though the PTCL (Pakistan Telecom Corporation Limited, the semi- or formerly-government-owned corporation), in particular, have been getting the following message today if they tried to access YouTube:

————–
Dear Internet Users

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (www.pta.gov.pk)has directed all ISPs of the country to block access
to www.youtube.com web site for containing blasphemous web content/movies.

The site would remain blocked till further orders from PTA. Meanwhile, Internet users can write to youtube.com to remove the objectionable web content/movies because this removal would enable the authorities to order un-blocking of this web site.

Best Regards

Manager
Technical Assistance Center
Micronet Broadband Pvt. Ltd.
Islamabad
————-

For background, see:
http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/02/22/youtube-blocked-in-pakistan/
http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/02/22/vote-rigging-videos-in-karachi-could-this-be-why-youtube-is-blocked/
http://www.kidvai.com/windmills/2008/02/last-laugh.html

The NEWS (Thursday, February 21, 2008)
Raza Rumi

Much has been said on how the election results are a referendum against the policies of General Musharraf. While there can be little disagreement with this, there is a clear lesson for Pakistan’s urban intelligentsia that had been screaming about the futility of this election.

True, Pakistan’s troubled polity will not transform overnight, nor will the endemic civil-military imbalance dissipate in the air with the formation of the new civilian government. But this is the magic of electoral politics — it allows the least risky path to a civilian transition. The road ahead is messy we know, but that is the only road that a fractured polity can tread.

The classic failure of the Pakistani urban educated will not go unnoticed. Led by the rhetoric Imran Khan, the delusions of the lawyers’ movement and the rake opportunism of Qazi Hussain Ahmed and General Hameed Gul, the boycott chanting individuals and groups should re-examine their standpoint and ultimately their “politics.”

Unwittingly, they took the risky path of de-legitimising the main political parties that have had the roughest time during the Musharraf years. This was also the time, which the electorate vividly remembers, that Qazi and his allies were feasting on the fruits of power in two provinces and were de facto beneficiaries of the establishment. Not to mention that Mr Imran Khan was campaigning for the general during his referendum. The urban classes term the mainstream politics as “feudal” and the participants “uneducated.” This has to change, lest the opinion leaders are relegated to the dustbin of history. This dustbin already contains some rudiments of political streams, not to mention the left parties, such as the one headed by Mr Abid Hasan Minto, harping on the boycott mantra and middle-class pretensions over the National Reconciliation Ordinance.

In a country of 160 million people with strong traditions of democratic yearning, the process of change cannot be articulated outside the mainstream electoral politics, however faulty the political parties. This is the biggest lesson we have learned. Mian Nawaz Sharif who was lambasted for his pragmatism now stands vindicated. And, above all, the vision of Benazir Bhutto, who was attacked left right and centre for insistence on the electoral route, stands validated. There could not have been a better tribute to her legacy. (more…)