Category Archives: Politics

The tsunami’s vortex

Constitution, Guest Contributor, Law & Order, Politics, Terrorism and Violence

By Rifaat Hamid Ghani
guest-contributorThere have been many who have played a destructive role in Pakistan’s politics but Imran Khan may well come to head the list.

He has never had the kind of stately intellectuality or revolutionising party political standing another eventual political disaster did so one does not want to honour him by comparison with the giant; but if Bhutto’s political use of the Punjab-dominated western wing of Pakistan culminated in the loss of east Pakistan, Imran’s focus on the Punjab mass might take care of the remains.

Bhutto had the capacity to revitalise a truncated defeated nation: Would anyone wager that Imran has the capacity – or even the will – to collect the pieces of the Pakistan he is pushing towards implosion? For that could well be the way the curtain falls on his political dramatics if he persists in routing democratic leadership the Azadi March way. It is a pity as well as a national humiliation that so shallow a political entity has to be taken so seriously in terms of the damage he can inflict. And it saddens that Imran Khan, an individual who has used his privileged position to significantly positive social effect establishing ShaukatKhanum Hospital; and his cricketing gifts to delight and animate nationally should be cutting the kind of political figure he now does in his August antics. Continue reading The tsunami’s vortex →

Somewhere buried

Guest Contributor, Law & Order, Politics, Terrorism and Violence

guest-contributorBy Rifaat Hamid Ghani

SOMEWHERE  buried under multitudinous leaders lie we the people. What is it like to be a citizen of Pakistan, a plain ordinary citizen who does not want or cannot aspire to dual nationality? An anonymous citizen unlikely to be granted asylum or residence in Dubai, London, Saudi Arabia; or green cards in greener pastures:Citizens with horizons so narrow as to be nationally rather than globally oriented. Citizens threatened by terrorism.

None of us want to be bossed around by the foot soldier with an officer behind him. But neither do we enjoy being served the way we are by civil politicians, be they with the opposition or the government of the day. There is a limit to the amount of tomfoolery that can be endured in the name of democratic dissent and freedom of speech. Or perhaps there is not for we remain easy prey to demagogues and fallacy-mongering. Continue reading Somewhere buried →

Clash of the titans

Human Rights, Law & Order, Media, New, Politics, Terrorism and Violence, War and Peace

By Zubeida Mustafa

MUCH has been written about the media crisis that has gripped Pakistan in recent weeks. It should not take anyone by surprise considering the environment we live in. These are not normal times and there are political cracks in the economic and social systems that conventionally hold state and society together. Thus the institutions and their functionaries have lost the coping capacity that is supposed to keep them going in times of crises and that helps them emerge from them unscathed.

Had corrective mechanisms been in place, corrective measures would have been taken a long time ago — when the first stone was cast. Matters have now come to a head. We have seen a running battle between a media house and the premier security intelligence agency. The government is trapped in the crossfire of its own making.

The need of the hour is to protect the lives of journalists and to resist arbitrary methods to suppress the media. On this we must be united. Having said this, I would add that we also need to revisit our history so that we do not make blunders again. We have always responded so belatedly to a long-brewing problem that we have allowed interested parties to exploit the situation. Continue reading Clash of the titans →

Book, not Facebook

Books, Foreign Policy of Pakistan, New, Politics

By Zubeida Mustafa

IN his newly published book, Baar-i-Shanasaee, Karamatullah Ghori, a retired Pakistani diplomat, recounts incidents from his professional life that make an interesting read. The book comprises character sketches of nine personalities who are dubbed in the book’s sub-title as the “history makers and history breakers” of Pakistan.

The book is by no means an objective historian’s analysis of its subjects — all of whom were politicians/military rulers, with the exception of Faiz Ahmad Faiz, the Lenin Prize winning poet, and Prof Abdus Salam, the Nobel Laureate scientist. The publication is more in the nature of reminiscences and the author vouchsafes for their authenticity as he was witness to or participant in the events narrated.

An anecdote from Ghori’s account of his encounter with Gen Pervez Musharraf struck me as worth recalling. Soon after seizing power in October 1999, the general visited Turkey where he had spent seven years of his childhood. The author was at that time Pakistan’s ambassador in Ankara. On seeing the ambassador’s personal library and on being told that Ghori was an avid reader, the general commented, “Mujhay parhnay ka shauq naheen”. (I am not interested in reading.) Continue reading Book, not Facebook →

Gandhi’s message

Economy, Education, New, Politics, Social Issues, Terrorism and Violence, War and Peace

By Zubeida Mustafa

THE fifth edition of the Karachi Literature Festival was like a gust of fresh air in the environment of despair and gloom that now engulfs the country. It came, it thrilled us and it left. All the sessions were food for the soul and did serve to drive away — even if momentarily — the depressing thoughts that seem to have come to stay permanently.

Of course, laughter is said to be the best medicine and there was plenty of it around. The halls were packed where satire, humour and comedy ruled. But what was more healing were the words of wisdom we received from sages such as Prof Rajmohan Gandhi each day of the festival. Continue reading Gandhi’s message →