Kissa sote jagte ka
The establishment which had our country in her grip for decades is exposed as a result of their infighting. But most surprisingly, the "independent media" is desperate to cover their beloved elements of the establishment (read Nawaz Sharif). Anchors, columnists, spin doctors of PML-N and media in their attempts to cover this mess are creating stories at par with Alif Laila and Kissa Sote Jagte Ka. This Kissa Sote Jagte Ka has signs of their desperation and changing times.
It all started with Supreme Court's hearing of petition against Nov. 3 actions of General Musharraf. Supreme Court, partly riding on vendetta and partly on the quest for limelight, in one of its observations on July 29th proclaimed that if Cromwell's skeleton can be hanged after his death, it is time to punish the violators of the constitution in Pakistan. (Below is an image of Express News' next day coverage of Daily Express).
Next day, Supreme Court had a complete change of heart ruling they do not have the authority to initiate a treason trial of Musharraf (Image of Daily Express report below). Now, this statement coming from a very proactive Supreme Court famous for her ability to take suo-motto notices and extending her domain to issues of taxation (which by the way is a prerogative of parliament under the principle of "taxation with representation" which remains the cornerstone of parliamentary democracy) was a surprise to say the least. Not till you read a news in July 30th's The News (News Link) mentioning a meeting held between the Principled Ch. Aitzaz Ahsan and COAS. And so the Supreme Court conveniently passed the ball to Parliament.
Then the principled Aitzaz claimed that Parliament can decide to try Musharraf, Govt. can move with the case or even an ordinary citizen can go to Supreme Court for Musharraf's trial. What the Principled forgot in the due course was that he being the ordinary citizen of Pakistan should do it himself. (By the way an individual Zafar Ali Shah’s petition has been thrown out of Supreme Court on grounds that Supreme Court is not the forum to do Musharraf’s trial).
On August 6, fiery Ch. Nisar Ali Khan continuing the assault on the PPP-led Govt. (in N's trademark spirit of cooperation and stability) on the floor of National Assembly announced that PML-N will table a resolution demanding Musharraf's trial for high treason under article-6 of constitution. Then came the invisible hands and the upright and uncompromising PML-N had to back down from their commitment (N Backtracks). They needed an escape goat and so firebrand Ch. Nisar Ali Khan blasted MQM in NA for protecting Musharraf. In his rhetoric he even acknowledged that the operation against MQM was done on the behest of PML-N (a confession which since then PML-N is trying to dispell). This drew a sharp reaction from MQM led by Haider Abbas Rizvi. The reaction caught N off-guard and opened a Pandora’s box. Things got worse for PML-N when Brig. Imtiaz acknowledged that the allegations of Jinnah Pur on MQM were fabricated and the operation had the consent of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This drew a sharp response from Altaf Hussain and N was on defensive. But N being N, they and their media anchors tried to avert the issue in many different ways.
On one hand, the response was that MQM should also talk about PPP's operation without realizing that both MQM and PPP have apologized for past mistakes including the operation of 1995-96. On the other hand, they pretended as if Nawaz Sharif was kept in dark about operation against MQM (on this a friend of mine who supports PML-N jokingly said, Nawaz didn't know of operation against MQM in his first term, of Kargil in his second term, and we punks will make sure that the dumb gets the third term).
Another line of attack was that our Army and Agencies work on their own and so the spin was to blame everything on Army/ Intelligence officials. This line of defense also suits fundamentalist elements’ desire to malign Army when it is taking the Islamist Militants to task. For this, the instances were cited including Operation Midnight Jackal.
This started with "pseudo Liberal" Nusrat Javed's assertion on Live With Talat that this whole fuss is created by Army and Agencies to corner Nawaz Sharif. Nusrat allegedly quoted sources of Agencies saying that two more stories of wrong-doings and they will be able to control Asif Ali Zardari but the bigger trouble is Nawaz Sharif with his mass popularity. In his desperation to absolve Nawaz Sharif of the allegations regarding Midnight Jackal, Nusrat brought in many people in his program to discuss Midnight Jackal and pass the blame solely to Army and Agencies. But the truth could not be hidden. In the first episode, the fingers were openly pointed to Nawaz Sharif as being at the center of Midnight Jackal conspiracy. In desperation, in the second episode, Zahid Sarfaraz was brought in to deny Brig. Imtiaz's claims. He claimed that Brig. Imtiaz was no body in no-confidence motion. In the same interview, Mr. Zahid Sarfaraz also narrated a story which rather than absolving Mr. Nawaz Sharif of his role in the dark chapter of Pakistan's political history drags him further in. Mr. Sarfaraz claims that Arif Awan (A PPP MNA approached by Brig. Imtiaz to switch loyalties) asked a meeting with Nawaz Sharif. Now the very assertion proves that both sides (Imtiaz and Arif Awan) agreed that Nawaz Sharif was the key figure in the saga. Not only that but Mr. Sharif's agreement to meet Arif Awan at the request of Brig. Imtiaz proves a link between Brig. Imtiaz and Nawaz Sharif in Midnight Jackal.
If this was not enough came the statement by Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani that he on the behest of Gen. Aslam Beg distributed PKR 140 million to leading politicians including Mian Nawaz Sharif. Despite repeated questioning by Express News, Pervaiz Rasheed, NS's spokesman, refused to categorically deny the allegation. Now the myth of Principleds in shattered and assertions by the likes of Talat Husain that N wouldn't come down easy are desperate attempts to do the damage control. Question is not whether Brig. Imtiaz did it on behest of Army or Agencies or a long-shot Husain Haqqani? Question is whether what has been said is true or not? These spin doctors are trying to divert attention from the real issue. If Agencies are to be blamed for controlling the polity, the politicians who collaborated with them must not be absolved either.
So in the spin of media and N, following are the real issues - without any spin - give them a thought my fellow countrymen:
It all started with Supreme Court's hearing of petition against Nov. 3 actions of General Musharraf. Supreme Court, partly riding on vendetta and partly on the quest for limelight, in one of its observations on July 29th proclaimed that if Cromwell's skeleton can be hanged after his death, it is time to punish the violators of the constitution in Pakistan. (Below is an image of Express News' next day coverage of Daily Express).
Next day, Supreme Court had a complete change of heart ruling they do not have the authority to initiate a treason trial of Musharraf (Image of Daily Express report below). Now, this statement coming from a very proactive Supreme Court famous for her ability to take suo-motto notices and extending her domain to issues of taxation (which by the way is a prerogative of parliament under the principle of "taxation with representation" which remains the cornerstone of parliamentary democracy) was a surprise to say the least. Not till you read a news in July 30th's The News (News Link) mentioning a meeting held between the Principled Ch. Aitzaz Ahsan and COAS. And so the Supreme Court conveniently passed the ball to Parliament.
Then the principled Aitzaz claimed that Parliament can decide to try Musharraf, Govt. can move with the case or even an ordinary citizen can go to Supreme Court for Musharraf's trial. What the Principled forgot in the due course was that he being the ordinary citizen of Pakistan should do it himself. (By the way an individual Zafar Ali Shah’s petition has been thrown out of Supreme Court on grounds that Supreme Court is not the forum to do Musharraf’s trial).
On August 6, fiery Ch. Nisar Ali Khan continuing the assault on the PPP-led Govt. (in N's trademark spirit of cooperation and stability) on the floor of National Assembly announced that PML-N will table a resolution demanding Musharraf's trial for high treason under article-6 of constitution. Then came the invisible hands and the upright and uncompromising PML-N had to back down from their commitment (N Backtracks). They needed an escape goat and so firebrand Ch. Nisar Ali Khan blasted MQM in NA for protecting Musharraf. In his rhetoric he even acknowledged that the operation against MQM was done on the behest of PML-N (a confession which since then PML-N is trying to dispell). This drew a sharp reaction from MQM led by Haider Abbas Rizvi. The reaction caught N off-guard and opened a Pandora’s box. Things got worse for PML-N when Brig. Imtiaz acknowledged that the allegations of Jinnah Pur on MQM were fabricated and the operation had the consent of the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. This drew a sharp response from Altaf Hussain and N was on defensive. But N being N, they and their media anchors tried to avert the issue in many different ways.
On one hand, the response was that MQM should also talk about PPP's operation without realizing that both MQM and PPP have apologized for past mistakes including the operation of 1995-96. On the other hand, they pretended as if Nawaz Sharif was kept in dark about operation against MQM (on this a friend of mine who supports PML-N jokingly said, Nawaz didn't know of operation against MQM in his first term, of Kargil in his second term, and we punks will make sure that the dumb gets the third term).
Another line of attack was that our Army and Agencies work on their own and so the spin was to blame everything on Army/ Intelligence officials. This line of defense also suits fundamentalist elements’ desire to malign Army when it is taking the Islamist Militants to task. For this, the instances were cited including Operation Midnight Jackal.
This started with "pseudo Liberal" Nusrat Javed's assertion on Live With Talat that this whole fuss is created by Army and Agencies to corner Nawaz Sharif. Nusrat allegedly quoted sources of Agencies saying that two more stories of wrong-doings and they will be able to control Asif Ali Zardari but the bigger trouble is Nawaz Sharif with his mass popularity. In his desperation to absolve Nawaz Sharif of the allegations regarding Midnight Jackal, Nusrat brought in many people in his program to discuss Midnight Jackal and pass the blame solely to Army and Agencies. But the truth could not be hidden. In the first episode, the fingers were openly pointed to Nawaz Sharif as being at the center of Midnight Jackal conspiracy. In desperation, in the second episode, Zahid Sarfaraz was brought in to deny Brig. Imtiaz's claims. He claimed that Brig. Imtiaz was no body in no-confidence motion. In the same interview, Mr. Zahid Sarfaraz also narrated a story which rather than absolving Mr. Nawaz Sharif of his role in the dark chapter of Pakistan's political history drags him further in. Mr. Sarfaraz claims that Arif Awan (A PPP MNA approached by Brig. Imtiaz to switch loyalties) asked a meeting with Nawaz Sharif. Now the very assertion proves that both sides (Imtiaz and Arif Awan) agreed that Nawaz Sharif was the key figure in the saga. Not only that but Mr. Sharif's agreement to meet Arif Awan at the request of Brig. Imtiaz proves a link between Brig. Imtiaz and Nawaz Sharif in Midnight Jackal.
If this was not enough came the statement by Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani that he on the behest of Gen. Aslam Beg distributed PKR 140 million to leading politicians including Mian Nawaz Sharif. Despite repeated questioning by Express News, Pervaiz Rasheed, NS's spokesman, refused to categorically deny the allegation. Now the myth of Principleds in shattered and assertions by the likes of Talat Husain that N wouldn't come down easy are desperate attempts to do the damage control. Question is not whether Brig. Imtiaz did it on behest of Army or Agencies or a long-shot Husain Haqqani? Question is whether what has been said is true or not? These spin doctors are trying to divert attention from the real issue. If Agencies are to be blamed for controlling the polity, the politicians who collaborated with them must not be absolved either.
So in the spin of media and N, following are the real issues - without any spin - give them a thought my fellow countrymen:
- Try Musharraf for breaking constitution and try him and his aides and those who abetted him, but not for Nov. 3, 2007 but for October 12, 1999. Not only Musharraf but try Zia Ul Haq for his act of July 5, 1977. Try Aslam Beg, Hamid Gul, and Brig Imtiaz for their role in Midnight Jackal, creation of IJI and rigging of 1990 General Elections. Also, try those who collaborated with them.
- Nawaz Sharif should live up to the standards he preaches or should preach what he has practiced.
- Alleged involvement of Prince Naif, Saudi Arabia and Osama Bin Laden must be probed and made public.
- Saudi Arabia must be warned never to interfere in political affairs of Pakistan again and must be demanded a public apology for the past deeds.
- And in the spirit of national reconciliation, all the trials must not be aimed at vendetta and sentencing the culprits but to set the record straight.
- As for Nawaz Sharif’s popularity, of Pakistan’s 107 districts, N has presence in only 28 (a mere 26%). In Punjab, of 34 districts, N has parliamentary presence in 24 districts (71%). Also in Punjab, there are only 11 districts where N has more than 50% of seats (a mere 33%). N neither has a nation-wide spread nor a dominant penetration in Punjab as we are made to believe by the media and opinion polls.
- And last but certainly not the least, Armed Forces of Pakistan must let the political process take its due course without any intervention in future. My fear is that with Nawaz Sharif’s image being tarnished, knowing their history, some in the Defense Establishment of Pakistan might be thinking of creating an alliance comprising Aitzaz Ahsan, PPP-SB, PTI, elements from PML-N and Hamkhayal’s to raise a counter force to PPP. This has not succeeded in past and is not likely to succeed in the future. The Army must learn their lessons from the debacle of Creation and Glorification of Nawaz Sharif. In the continuation of political process, ultimately a counter force to PPP will organically emerge. We must wait for that rather than engineering things and creating more mess.
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