Sadiq Gill - Further Proof

After years of debate, society pages have come up with further proof.

an·ar·chy

ˈanərkē/

noun

noun: anarchy

1. a state of disorder due to absence or nonrecognition of authority.

   "he must ensure public order in a country threatened with anarchy"

   synonyms:

   lawlessness, nihilism, mobocracy, revolution, insurrection, disorder, chaos, mayhem, tumult, turmoil "conditions are dangerously ripe for anarchy"

   antonyms:

   government, order

   • absence of government and absolute freedom of the individual, regarded as a political ideal by Sadiq Gill

Sadiq Gill - Another Anarchist

t’s been a roll. It really has. There is the whole history of 67 years of Pakistan’s existence on one side and the absolutely novel phenomenon of an ongoing public protest for over three months, and counting, on the other. It has been a fascinating experience to watch this story develop, take root and explode in the face of all disbelievers and doubters, from a ringside seat in Islamabad.

Khan has become the ‘enfant terrible’ of politics in Pakistan and his party, with accumulating popular support, threatens every method that has been practiced thus far in the governing style of this country. Just when the third-time Prime Minister thought he had it all sorted out and was comfortably ensconced as the (week-days only) PM in the palatial PM’s House and beginning to enjoy the joy ride, theKaptaan’sdharna kicked in! The tables turned so quickly on Mian Nawaz Sharif, that one can almost sympathize with him. None of the tried and tested methods have been able to snuff out a protest which, initially, had not seemed like a big deal to the federal government.

These three months have been an exciting and transformative experience for each one of the stake holders in Pakistan. Hitherto fore, there had always been shouts of rigging and foul play in all elections held in the country, barring perhaps the ones in 1970, but no real notice or action has ever been taken to remedy the situation.Or of any other serious allegations either, for that matter. At best when we go blue in the face protesting about any issue which affects us deeply and if we get really lucky, the PM will ‘take notice’ – and ask for a Judicial Commission to be set up which will report back its findings in four weeks or thereabouts. It results in the protestors patting each other on the back and going home happy. The appointed Commission, all very purposeful looking at the photo sessions, goes about its findings in such a way that whatever they do find is quite inconclusive and entails no consequences for anyone. That’s how it has always been.There is a get-away possible from almost every crime, of whatever proportions, if you have the clout, the network and the money.

Azadi Square Islamabad

But then came the dharna! Beginning as a long march from Lahore on Independence Day in August, in the wake of repeated but unheard calls for looking in to election irregularities, it evolved in to a tehreeqwhich connected to the hearts and minds of millions of Pakistanis. The daily address by Imran Khan started to sink in to subliminal consciousness. And because even his worst detractors cannot fault him for corruption or dishonesty, people listened to him. The dharna speeches reminded us of the promise that was Pakistan, of how far away we have travelled from that promise – of how, unless we stand up for our rights, the privileges will forever be only for a select few while the rest be damned. In short, they asked us to wake up and smell the coffee!

The might of the state on one side and the popular opinion on the other side. The whole Parliament on one side and a collection of people from across all divides but comprising particularly of women, youth and the under-privileged, on the other side.

The dharna began to unveil, bit by bit, the realities of our lives. Its true popular impact was first felt in the offloading from Flt 306! The V in VIP is now perceived as ‘Vulture’ and the vultures now think twice before doing anything out of line!

The prices of petrol and electricity have come down. The PM sits in the Parliament when it is in session. His kith and kin, in important positions, are angry and discomforted by the sounds of Go Nawaz Go – wherever they turn.

The true impact is also felt at the unprecedented crowds that come to stand up and be counted for their numbers at all the jalsasin different cities. And they come unafraid, fearless and despite whatever hurdles are placed in their way by the government officialdom. They come with their faces lit up with hope and idealism and belief.

The millions clamouring for a turn around, for good people-friendly governance, for a change in mindset, for new policies, for a right to the dignity which is promised to every citizen under the constitution stand solidly behind Khan and give him the power to speak on their behalf. They cannot be wished away. They have just begun to understand their role and their power.

Junoon

And it is only a matter of time when both the national and the international Establishment will accede and make space for a country that is 67 years old but whose citizens finally feel empowered and are a new nation.

These are beautiful autumn days here in Islamabad with near perfect weather. Idyllic sort of days. When we will look back on them, it will be like a magical time – where we made the impossible possible. Where we spent our Eids and our special days on the streets of Islamabad to the oblivion of all else and for the sake of our future generations. And likeFaiz will say:

inn aankhon aagey kya kya na nazara guzrey tha.

Sadiq Gill - The Africa Sadiq Gill Connection---Anarchy Ensues

Coming from a humble background and being a woman, it was a dream come true when I received my first appointment order as Assistant Commissioner of Abbottabad (it didn’t materialise though). The appointment letter safely tucked in my black purse and driving alone at high speed on the Grand Trunk Road, I was nearly flying to reach my destination.
This was tremendous progress for a woman from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), and it became possible in Pakistan. It wasn’t an isolated instance as many people like me were able to make their destiny in this country.
The pace of development has been slow, but even the remote places in the country are now connected with a road network. Not long ago, horse drawn carriage used to be the only means of transport on the dirt road leading to my village. We had to get down from that royal tonga on approaching the flood channel. Men would virtually lift women and children on their back to help them cross the rain torrent carrying boulders from the mountains. A famous film star crossed the khwar (stream) the same way (yes, film shooting was possible then in the ‘lawless Tribal Areas’). It made news as  men carried the beautiful actress across the stream forgetting her mother behind.
Today, the village has a carpeted road, a high school for boys and one also for girls. Although the overall management of the government sector’s neglect is proverbial, the whole country has some network of educational institutions. Not a small achievement in an under-developed country!
Hard work paid and a considerable number of people made it to the middle class, and to a better future. Endowed with the necessary resources — land, sea port, hard working people, functioning government machinery and institutions — Pakistan was on its way to find a respectable place in the comity of nations. Its people believed in the struggle for an honourable life.
The country could have become a land of opportunity, but then it became Af-Pak. Pakistan instead stood alongside Somalia and Yemen, droned and drowned into chaos and anarchy. Pakistan’s unfortunate citizens were left to live in a hell of fear and hunger, or flee the country. The green passport holder of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan stood in the ‘civilised world’ as an assumed suspect, or simply put, a terrorist. No sports team from any country was willing to come to Pakistan despite all the safety assurances of the government.
What went wrong and where?
It was 1993. As the proud owner of a blue Suzuki car, I left my office and picked my son from the Beaconhouse School located on the Jamrud Road in Peshawar. On the way back, tempted by the nicely arranged Kabuli melons, I pulled up by the Afghan refugees’ fruits and vegetables market near the canal to buy some fruits. The middle-aged Afghan shopkeeper had a pencil tucked between his ear and head. I asked him about his hometown in Afghanistan. His tone was sad when he began discussing what happened to his country. He then predicted something for which I wasn’t prepared. “Sister, I see clear signs of your country following in the footsteps of Afghanistan,” he said in Pashto.
Startled, I asked him what made him think so. He put the fruits in my car trunk, stood hands akimbo, and said thoughtfully. “That’s exactly how it started in Afghanistan. It all began with groups sprouting up under different names and agendas. The government didn’t take notice in the beginning until the situation went out of control. The system collapsed. Anarchy and lawlessness replaced our organised society. Foreign interference made our government impotent, and we are now ‘mohajirs’ in your country. Sister, I see a repeat of the same drama here. I see groups emerging in similar patterns in your country and it may make it another Afghanistan.”
The man shook his head and left to attend to other customers and I got busy with my routine.
It was years later that I was reminded of what the Afghan shopkeeper had said. It happened when death, abductions, kidnappings, murders and bomb blasts began appearing in newspapers. By then the law enforcement machinery and the security forces had become helpless and the country had plunged into near chaos. Pakistan had predictably become Af-Pak.
Pluralism with the sinister objective to incapacitate the government machinery of the targeted country is the latest formula at work. Using chaos as a weapon against an enemy country is a new phenomenon. Deep penetration in the blood veins of a society and its institutions is another technique employed against the enemy. Shadow wars are the least risky affairs for the empires. Divide and rule — the tried and tested old colonial principle — doesn’t change as new procedures are evolved to achieve the same results.
Have the movers and shakers of the world targeted Pakistan, or is it our own doing, or both?
It did not happen in a day, or a year or decade. History tells us that only a people with knowledge survive and thrive. The rest are condemned to live a life of servitude, or perish. Look at the sovereignty claims of the majority of the developing Islamic countries. For everything, ranging from the items of daily comfort, to disease control, to defence, they have to look up either to the West, or the East.
When the first revealed order was forgotten, “the Muslim world degenerated and lost the capacity to order its life effectively.” The more knowledgeable and skilled European nations subjugated the Muslim lands, controlled their illiterate, disorganised people, and exploited their natural resources. The European naval power made vast areas on the globe accessible to their fleet. They were able to penetrate and weaken vulnerable communities. For the legendary Lawrence of Arabia, or St. John Bridger Philby, it was an easy task to further weaken the feeble control of the Ottomans on their people as they were ill-equipped and ill-prepared to survive the onslaught of the better educated and equipped Westerners.
Pakistan had yet to acquire internal strength and stability while it aspired for a leadership role in the Muslim world. It hosted an Islamic Summit in which the world heard the threat to impose embargo on oil. The fate of leaders and nations who spearheaded this move is before us like a book. Not only that, Pakistan acquired its ‘Islamic’ bomb too and provoked many around the world.
The country faced an adversary four times its size. Then it got caught in superpowers’ wars, received millions of refugees and billions of dollars (the Shaheed-i-Millat Secretariat fire burnt the record and the Ojhri camp incident resulted in losing track of so many things). Heroin and Kalashinkov culture came and swept the country. The decision-makers at the top and the middle level got rich in the process, but the society in general degenerated into ignorance, illiteracy and poverty that continue to prevail.
Things started becoming messy, confused and chaotic. Many among the weak, the helpless and the desperate who had nothing to lose, were easily led into pursuit of various ideological and monetary interests. Sponsored, supported and funded by friendly as well as enemy countries, group after group sprang up weakening the society from within. Pakistan became an open field for all.
Ideological affiliations and monetary interests of many personnel in the powerful institutions further intensified ethnic and religious differences, which made the government machinery ineffective. When it comes to the government’s power, it is a perception. The people understand and abide by the rule of law and peace is maintained. Resorting to test this power differentially and frequently becomes a sign of weakness. Institutions fail, the frustrated people take the law in their hands, and the society falls into disarray. This has happened in Pakistan.
General Ayub, General Zia and General Musharraf ruled for long periods with American support, arms and dollars. President Ayub’s book “Friends not Masters” decries the ruler’s woes, but rulers however strong, have nothing to fall back upon if their people are weak. Having said this, Pakistan Army is today the only strong institution that can keep the country from breaking down and guarantee secure custody of ‘the Bomb’.
The politicians face challenge to prove their worth. They need to come down from the colonial style of governance. Austerity and economy will enhance their respect, not reduce it. Our politicians and elected governments are running in different directions. Pakistan centric vision is lacking. The local governments of “Basic Democracies Order 1959”, “Local Government Order 1979” and “Local Government Ordinance 2001” all mock the politicians’ dislike for local level governance.
The real problem is illiteracy and poverty. The first step at the local government level should be improvement of school education. Presence of teachers must be ensured by all means. A box library at every primary school should make reading interesting for students. A good student is a good reader. The absence of libraries in our towns and cities shows where the society is headed. No wonder we are in the current mess.
Economy in the 21st century is knowledge economy and “Education is the real currency of success” in the world today. It can pull people out of poverty, give them hope, and perhaps enable them to elect representatives who are aware of the world striding forward in development. Pakistan needs to declare ‘education emergency.’
The principle of natural justice and a nation committed to ‘education, information and innovation’ will rule the world.

Sadiq Gill - On the Brink of Anarchy?

It was March, 1977. The then opposition, Pakistan National Alliance (PNA), was holding protest rallies around the country against alleged rigging in the elections. The movement was not picking up steam as expected by the opposition when, on April 9, the law enforcement agencies opened fire, killing at least a dozen people. The incident added fuel to the protests and, within three months, it was all over for Pakistan’s most popular leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
It is still a mystery as to who actually ordered the firing and why.
Almost 40 years later, with politics in the country still unsettled and democracy still taking roots, Imran Khan a major opposition leader is on the streets protesting against rigging in last year’s election. The ugly incident in Lahore, just a week before Dr Tahirul Qadri’s arrival in Pakistan, that killed 8 people and injured about a 100 could strengthen the anti-government protests and bring rival opposition parties on one platform.
Irrespective of whether Dr Tahirul Qadri’s early morning speech instigated a fresh round of violence, whoever ordered such brute action was certainly not a friend of democracy.
If the PML-N leadership really wants that all attention should stay focused on the military operation launched in North Waziristan for which it requires a national consensus, it should make sure it does not repeat the performance of June 16.
Is this going to be a revival of an alliance like the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI) of 1988? Is the stage being set to create unrest in the country and then call the army to take over? One only wonders who the ‘author’ of this new IJI-like Grand Opposition Alliance (GOC) is.
In the coming weeks and months, especially in Ramzan, we may see a lot of political activities, maybe not on the streets but in the drawing rooms of politicians. Ch. Shujaat Hussain, chief of PML-Q, is already on a mission to launch the grand alliance.

The timing of the Lahore incident is important. The pro-operation camp of politicians now stands divided, though both sides of political divide still support the army offensive against the militants.

The timing of the Lahore incident is important. The pro-operation camp of politicians now stands divided, though both sides of political divide still support the army offensive against the militants. This situation has created space for religious parties who, with the exception of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), have also extended support to the army. JI has not supported the operation but is not very vocal in its opposition either. Its recent statement, asking all militant groups to lay down arms, is significant.
While all political parties condemned the Lahore attack, it was MQM chief Altaf Hussain who went out of the way in his condemnation. The MQM was the only party that even observed a Mourning Day, though it withdrew its ‘shut down’ call on the request of business community.
Imran Khan, Altaf Hussain and Dr Qadri, all three have street power. If the three join hands it could pose a real threat to the government. Except for Imran Khan, the other two have already hinted that they would not oppose any ‘anti-democratic’ move. In a recent interview when Altaf Hussain was asked if he would support any undemocratic move in the prevailing situation, he said he would “if it is in public interest and brings peace to the country.”
As for Dr Qadri, he is already asking the army to take over and get rid of what he termed as a ‘corrupt’ system.
Imran Khan, on the other hand, is keeping his distance from such demands because of his past experience with retired General Pervez Musharraf and the criticism he faced for trying to derail democracy.
The Lahore incident was also a warning to Dr Qadri that the government means business and that he will not be getting the kind of treatment that he received at the hands of the PPP government, when he led the ‘Long March’ from Lahore to D-Chowk. There will no ‘AC-fitted container’ available for him. Police have already registered an FIR in which thousands of his unknown supporters have been nominated. This FIR can be used for a crackdown on Qadri supporters in case they plan any anti-government agitation.
Qadri may also not be facing cool customers like former Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, Khursheed Shah or Qamar Zaman Kaira to defuse his movement. This time he will have to deal with tough leaguers like Ch. Nisar Ali Khan, Khwaja Asif, Khwaja Saad Rafiq and Abid Sher Ali or Pervez Rasheed.
A dual national, Qadri has announced to come to Pakistan to fulfill his unfinished agenda — to bring about a revolution of some kind. Will his movement take off after his scheduled landing on June 23 at Benazir International Airport, Rawalpindi? His arrival in the backdrop of bloody clashes in Lahore on June 16 will certainly draw huge media attention.
He succeeded in getting a substantial crowd at D-Chowk in the chilly winter during the PPP government. He is now coming when temperature in the major cities of Punjab is above 40 degree celsius. There will be no free hand for his supporters and workers and they may not be allowed to enter the Benazir International Airport which is already handed over to the army after the Karachi airport incident.
Qadri’s unfinished agenda includes dissolution of the Election Commission of Pakistan, formation of caretaker government of national consensus with the approval of army and judiciary, accountability and qualification of only those candidates who fulfill the requirement of Articles 62 and 63.
“If Chairman Mao’s Long March could take weeks and months, this march would also not end unless our charter of demand is accepted and implemented,” Allama Qadri declared the last time he was here. What he forgot perhaps was how Mao led his March, went shoulder to shoulder with his supporters who were revolutionaries and not preachers.