By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
AS PAKISTAN goes through a grave political and constitutional crisis, it increasingly becomes clear that we have learnt nothing from history, to borrow the title of Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan’s book. But how can we, when students are no longer taught history as a subject in our schools? You do not learn a lesson from something you are not even aware of.
Continue reading How will historians see May 12?
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
IT IS intriguing why the government has not responded promptly to the public demand for a judicial enquiry into the carnage in Karachi on May 12. Given the scale of the killings, the mayhem and the paralysis or collapse — whichever way one may view it — of the law and order machinery in the city, this would seem to be the most logical thing to do.
Continue reading Judicial probe to heal wounds
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
THE 34 who met a violent death in Karachi on its black day on Saturday had not even been buried when the blame game started. President Pervez Musharraf placed the onus for the tragic happenings in Karachi squarely on Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and the opposition parties.
Were not they the ones to politicise the reference issue? And were not they the ones to proceed to Karachi against official advice when the government had reports that there was going to be trouble on May 12?
The opposition retaliated by blaming the Sindh administration — specifically the MQM which is a coalition partner in the provincial government — for being the first to unleash violence and for letting it spiral out of control. The police were either conspicuous by their absence or stood idly by watching the carnage.
Continue reading The day Karachi bled & burn
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
ACCORDING to a report, 20 suicide bombings have occurred in Pakistan since last year in which 213 lives have been lost. Since all of these have been carried out by people emerging from madressahs run by religious extremists, it is plain that they have been indoctrinated and trained by their mentors.
One wonders what makes a person commit such a heinous crime and that too in such a way that he gives up his own life in the process. It is now common knowledge that people committing suicide are mentally ill – it is depression and an intense sense of hopelessness and despair that drives them to resort to the extreme measure of taking their own life. But psychiatrists and psychologists are unanimous in their view that suicide bombers are not suffering from depression.
Continue reading The making of a suicide bomber
By Zubeida Mustafa
Source: Dawn
LAST week, the print and the electronic media flashed two images that were striking in their similarity. One was that of the Hafsa Madressah girls draped in black burqas and veils marching in Islamabad and demanding the imposition of the Sharia in the country. The other was the picture of the rally organised by anti-Musharraf lawyers who were protesting against the treatment meted out to Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.
Continue reading Unending violence syndrome