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justice Where
Pakistan bashing does not help Yeh
Woh prohibited The
state of Punjab’s health
justice In the years since standing ‘restored’ and
‘legitimised’ in the wake of its breathtaking and bruising tussle with
military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has
come to gradually assume a role that seems suspiciously grander than the
responsibilities that are given it, and as citizens understand them. This has
become so obvious that the government’s primary occupation these past three
years has come to be defending itself against a premature demise in the court
of law rather than the court of public opinion that birthed it. By consequence, the government is robbed of a fair amount
of its capacity to govern since its very legitimacy, granted by the people of
Pakistan, is pulled away to dramatically enhanced duties of survival. And
then the government is accused of poor governance! In the several months that it took the current governing
alliance to restore the judges to their positions, there was no legal
challenge against the alliance in general and the Pakistan People’s Party
in particular in the higher or superior judiciary. And why not: it was a
government formed through fair legal contest on the floor of the people’s
House armed with people’s mandate for 5 years after a brutish bout of
military rule. Justice hurried is justice buried Post-restoration, however, the apex court started
fielding not just case after case against the ruling dispensation but also
invoking its suo moto jurisdiction to try it on counts still without a
petitioner. Key cases that the Supreme Court agreed the government
must stand trial for include, among a long list of others, a deal between the
PPP and Musharraf on waiving cases of alleged corruption (or the ‘NRO’,
as it’s called) for ruling party leaders; immunity (or not, as the Supreme
Court has all but declared) for the president against prosecution while he is
in office; contempt charges against the prime minister that can see him
jailed and disqualified from the next elections; and thinly-disguised treason
charges for an alleged memo that sought international help against a feared
military coup. In the last case, also at stake is the very parliamentary
sovereignty over a judicial probe. What characterises these cases is that they have
petitioners that include not just the opposition but also the military and
judiciary itself! All are political cases, not constitutional disputes, and
include quarrels that can be settled in the parliament, but are pre-empted
from resolution in the people’s assemblies by being made sub judice. Not surprising, then, that the superior judiciary has
come across as a vengeful institution rather than a neutral arbiter. The
astounding view of an elected, lawful prime minister made to stand in the
symbolic dock in the court before judges as a ‘dishonest’ person (without
being convicted, mind you, and one who was jailed in the past by the same
august judiciary under charges pushed by the military) was difficult to
stomach in an era of supposed democracy. Such scenes belong to dictatorships.
And then the apex court has also continued to be less
than discreet in expressing views disdainful of the lawfully elected
president who hasn’t been charged with anything other than being political
since getting elected, leave alone convicted! Such has been the nature of hurried pace of justice
against one party on the request of all other legitimate and illegitimate
political players. Nearly all front-ranking leaders of the legal movement for
restoration of judiciary — Aitzaz Ahsan, Asma Jahangir, Ali Kurd, Muneer
Malik, and Tariq Mehmood — have expressed dismay at the stance being taken
by the judiciary that clearly seem to be tilted in favour of traditional
non-democratic forces and which seems to be undermining the parliament. It is in this context, then, that a rattling skeleton has
come out of the Supreme Court’s cupboard. Arguably the “mother of all
political cases”, deeply rooted in constitutional mire, this is the Asghar
Khan petition, also known as simply the “ISI case”. Looks like even the
honourable judges care about perceptions. The case is a virtually an
open-and-shut indictment of the Establishment and parties it supports and
agendas it pushes on the strength of astonishing mea culpa files on oath
before the Supreme Court by no less than a former army chief and a former ISI
chief who also headed the Military Intelligence. Justice delayed is justice denied For once a rare case has been put up for hearing —
after being in the Supreme Court cupboard for years — that has PPP as the
aggrieved party and the military as the principal accused along with some of
the biggest politicians and Islamist leaders. You can’t get more damned in
Pakistan than the likes of Nawaz Sharif and Qazi Hussain Ahmed as the
recipients of money from government servants General Beg and Gen Durrani to
sabotage the mandate of the people, steal an election and wilfully sabotage
the constitution to become candidates for trial for treason. Will the case continue in the Supreme Court for a while
to serve the needs of appearing neutral arbiters and some justice as well
before it is shortchanged into a non sequitur remains to be seen. This
cynicism and skepticism is based on a pattern. After all the Supreme Court in the memo case accepted a
plea from the current army chief that he agreed with his top spy that there
were “reliable grounds” for suspecting foul play by Ambassador Haqqani
— and veiled linkage with the president — that the government tried to
get help to cut down the influence of the military. If this is a charge —
based on allegations from a non-Pakistani who looks at the same army and ISI
with contempt — then it is curious that the bench of judges (headed by the
chief justice) did not find it ironic that the current army chief was among
the five generals who tried to force the chief justice’s resignation in
March 2007 in a bid to stop him from resisting military influence! Justice clear is justice here Justice in the ISI case would be the real justice for it
would set the benchmarks for the limit on wilful violation of the
constitution and precedents for punishment that would serve as deterrents.
When elected leaders are hanged, jailed, exiled and killed on roads, these
serve as benchmarks of ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’ punishments for
politicians while the government servants who wilfully abrogate, suspend or
vitiate the constitution with non-mandated amendments, all legitimised by the
Supreme Court, these serve as inducements to unrepresentative forces to
continue unabated their assaults on the nation’s fate. Not prosecuting
violators is itself injustice. If Beg, Durrani and Musharraf get even symbolic
punishments like stripping of their ranks and government privileges, the
country will become a more normal state and the Supreme Court will become the
neutral arbiter that it should be. If the ISI case is properly tried and taken to its
logical conclusion, a lot of parties will become ‘cleaner’, many
politicians charging others with corruption and making money will become
disqualified from running for election (Article 62 dealing with qualification
having come into play) and — most of all — a new legal levee will appear
that redefines and rationalises the coercive civil-military relations that is
at the root of injustice in Pakistan. The Pakistani variety of justice seems to be more a means
by which established injustices are sanctioned than delivering the spirit of
law that militate on paper against violations but still allow them to happen.
Will we get real, deserving justice? Doesn’t look like it anytime soon but
what joy it would be to be proven wrong!
Where
Pakistan bashing does not help Out of the 5 Indian states where assembly elections are
being held, one state which is being watched with keen interest is Punjab.
The Punjab assembly elections have been receiving wide coverage, with the
2012 election being dubbed as a battle between two personalities, current
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
and Captain Amarinder Singh of the Congress Party. Amidst this keenly contested battle between the two
parties, one thing is clearly evident. Pakistan bashing certainly does not
yield any political dividends in this border state. On the contrary, having
good relations with the former and opening up borders is more likely to
strike a chord with the inhabitants of Punjab. This is all the more true for certain border towns such
as Amritsar, also a holy city for the Sikhs, which in pre-partition days was
virtually a twin city with the neighbouring Pakistani town of Lahore and due
to its geographic location was considered a core city as it was North
India’s gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia. The other border town,
Ferozepur, has also been eagerly looking forward to opening up of the
Hussainiwala border for trade with Pakistan. Interestingly, all the frontline political parties
including the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal and even its ally the
Bharatiya Janata Party have spoken about the necessity of cross-border trade
with Pakistan. While Amarinder Singh has made it a point to include this
issue in his election campaign, the BJP has also included this in its
manifesto. In the aftermath of partition, trade carried on freely
till 1965. However, with the rise in hostilities after the 1965 war, Amritsar
and Ferozepur suffered a major setback. Increasing acrimony between the two countries, followed
by a decade of militancy in the border state of Indian Punjab, did not help
things and Amritsar, once a trade hub of North India, was left behind, while
Lahore being an important city of Pakistan continued to grow. Trade through
third destinations such as Dubai, however, carried on and traders from Punjab
in general and Amritsar kept on complaining about the restrictive trade
regime between India and Pakistan. While erstwhile prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s
bus journey that travelled through Amritsar could not change things as the
Kargil war led to the overthrow of Vajpayee’s counterpart Nawaz Sharif. The period between 2003-2007, which was witness to some
incredible strides in the peace process between both the countries, also saw
greater interaction between the Indian Punjab and the Pakistani Punjab. Apart
from interactions at the official level, there were numerous cultural
exchanges and greater interaction between businessmen from both the sides,
with the Chambers of Lahore and Amritsar working quite closely. The first consequence of this closeness and anticipation
of trade activities was the sudden skyrocketing of land prices in both the
border towns of Amritsar and Lahore. Interestingly, during a visit to Lahore
in 2007, I was told, on a lighter note, that war is no longer an option as
the Pakistan army has bought land close to the border. Another joke aimed to highlight the sudden rise in land
prices in Amritsar states that while former prime minister Manmohan Singh and
General Musharraf were negotiating about Kashmir, the latter told the Indian
prime minister that he is prepared to give up Pakistan’s claim on Kashmir
if India hands over Amritsar to Pakistan! As a consequence of the thaw between both the countries,
bonhomie between the Punjabs and pressure of the business lobby on both
sides, trade was opened up through the Attari-Wagah land route in October
2007. This has persisted even during periods of intense
political tensions between both the countries and trade actually increased
even in the aftermath of Mumbai. It is no surprise thus that Pakistan’s
decision to grant MFN status to India, which was welcomed by all sane
Indians, came as a special boon for the businessmen of Amritsar who have been
patiently waiting for this day. For long, landlocked Punjab has been left behind in the
economic sphere and while it would be naïve to expect that trade with
Pakistan could act as a panacea for the state’s economic ills, but it will
open up another market for businessmen, smaller traders as well as farmers of
the state, apart from helping in creating a strong tertiary sector and good
infrastructure. The Punjab Haryana Delhi (PHD) Chamber was quick to welcome
this move stating that trade between both the countries was the best CBM. It is encouraging to see that political leaders of Punjab
agree that having cordial relations with Pakistan is a necessity for Punjab.
A lot will also depend, however, on the infrastructure on the border and
whether security agencies would allow increased trading hours and days. It
would be a pity if the gates which open up for a provocative ceremony which
encourages jingoism cannot open up for unrestricted trade and ultimately free
movement of people on both sides of the border. The writer is an
Associate Fellow with The Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi. Yeh
Woh The honourable judges of Sindh, Lahore and Islamabad High
courts, assalam-o-alaikum. Please forgive me for not writing to you directly.
Reaching your offices would have required me to travel by air or train, or to
engage a lawyer or a law firm, and who would know better than you how
obscenely expensive and utterly hopeless both options and all four
alternatives are. And anyway, by using low grade newsprint to communicate
with you, I believe I am doing my bit to preserve environment, though I would
certainly not be as presumptuous to expect a citation from the august courts
for my act of conscientious citizenship. I know, your honours, your time is very precious. You are
concerned with matters of utmost importance for this country. Ateeqa Odho’s
case comes to mind immediately, but I am sure there are a lot more. So I’ll
get to the point without further ado. My lords, we are invaded by urban jihadis. They bring
their own code of morality and they are out to enforce it on us against our
will, and against the laws of this land. No, your honours, I am not talking
of Taliban, though if it happened to be your jurisdiction I’d have
certainly included them as co-accused. Here I seek relief and protection from
racketeers who dress and speak like normal, decent people and are therefore
far more dangerous for the society. They are men and women who use cameras
and voice recorders to humiliate us into submission. This trend originated in big cities but has by now spread
far and wide: Annex A contains names of all the small towns and villages of
Sindh and Punjab where local men are reported to have spied on or set up
local young women in compromising situations with digital devices. The images
or voices recorded are not necessarily sexual in nature; just something the
victim wouldn’t want everyone to know. The material is then used as a
threat to gain favours in cash and kind. Some of these images eventually end
up on the internet and become public, resulting in more people learning how
easy it is to use their digital cameras or mobile phones to make money,
titillate themselves, and punish the immoral at the same time. Annex B
contains the record of suicides and murders committed because of the
blackmailing. More worryingly, your honours, some of this stuff is
bought or produced by our television channels and is being distributed right
into our homes in the name of ‘social issues’. It shows right wing
hippies gate crashing private gatherings where Indian films are being played.
They are going around asking under-trial prisoners why they had sex with dead
bodies, and how many times. They are telling bearded men to their face that
they are all child rapists, and as a fit reward they’ll go to hell and
their daughters will be raped too. Their special target is women though,
erring women to be precise. They are chasing women suspected of prostitution
with entire camera crews in toe. They are threatening couples meeting in a
park, or in a restaurant. They are following young women to their student
hostels in England, to report on who they are sharing the room with. It’s true your honours this despicable crime against
personal freedoms and general decency is aimed at the weaker and meeker
segments of our society only, and your and my children are spared, all thanks
to Allah, but taking suo moto action against this racket is in the interest
of us respectable people too. The sacking of a particularly offensive TV
presenter and all the noise surrounding the scandal is likely to make her
into a sleaze queen, who’ll be much in demand on other sleazy channels. The
Facebook community singled her out because of her grotesque appearance, not
because she is the only offending anchor person. There are dozens of them and
they are likely to up the ante to match her notoriety. In the absence of policing by police, governance by
governments, and ethics in the television industry, the blackmailing racket
is, therefore, only expected to flourish. It’s a matter of time before the
cameras take their vigilante action to a supermarket near us, showing our
grocery basket to the whole world, and a concerned presenter asking a wife if
she is the beneficiary of the Viagara pills bought by her husband? You
wouldn’t want to be the subject of that programme, my lords. Neither would
I. masudalam@yahoo.com
prohibited The government’s move to ban supply of ammonium
nitrate, an ingredient used in fertilizer, to Afghanistan and impose
restrictions on its sale within the country may not help Pakistan meet the US
conditionality and get $700 million financial aid. Rather, it will further
add to the woes of poor farmers in the under-developed tribal areas. The United States has made its $700 million aide
conditional with Pakistan’s curbs on smuggling of ammonium nitrate to
Afghanistan. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her last visit to
Pakistan had alleged that ammonium nitrate is being smuggled from Pakistan to
Afghanistan, where militants use it in homemade explosives (HMEs) or
improvised explosives devices (IEDs) and inflict heavy losses on the Nato
forces. Pakistan started regulating purchase of the chemicals and
explosives in the country four years ago for the first time and evolved a
strategy to have a check on sale of these commodities in the market. After Hillary Clinton’s allegations, the Federal
Interior Ministry directed the four provincial governments and the Fata
secretariat in Peshawar to further strengthen the ban on ammonium nitrate so
that the fertilizer should not land in the hands of militants in Pakistan’s
lawless tribal areas and neighbouring Afghanistan for use in bomb-making. The government has also sought recommendations from the
provincial governments and the Fata secretariat to develop a mechanism and
stop its smuggling to Afghanistan. Security experts believe these efforts may not help the
government achieve desirable goals as restrictions on its supply to the
tribal areas to stop its likely smuggling to Afghanistan would cause problems
to the poor farmers there. Additional Inspector General (AIG) Shafqat Malik, also
known as explosives expert, is member of the Counter IED Strategy Committee
and has played an important role in preparation of regulations for purchase
of chemicals and explosives. In his view, ammonium nitrate has never been
used in HMEs or IEDs in Pakistan. He says the committee is now working to regulate purchase
of ammonium nitrate in the country and ensure it is not misused by militants.
He is not in favour of putting a ban on supply of the fertilizer to the
tribal areas and wants the commodity should be brought under regulation to
stop its misuse. “The fertilizer itself is not dangerous. It is ammonium
that is one component of the fertilizer used in homemade bombs,” Shafqat
Malik observes while talking to TNS. Under the regulations, a fertilizer factory will be
required to sell the commodity to its registered dealers having licenses and
then the distributors would further maintain record of buyers to ensure that
the fertilizer is not misused. Similarly, there will be proper checks on its
transportation and the government will make sure that the commodity reaches
only to the end users, farmers. Shafqat Malik, who is in favour of bringing regulations
instead of putting a ban on the fertilizer, was shocked to know that the
government has already banned transportation of ammonium nitrate to the
tribal areas. The government had banned its transportation to North
Waziristan three years ago and the fertilizer dealers, after bringing the
fertilizer to Bannu from the factory, had to send it through smugglers to the
tribal region via unfrequented routes for agricultural purposes. Fertilizer dealers Waris Khan and Abdul Hameed in
Miramshah say that since the government has banned transportation of the
fertilizer beyond Bannu, they had to pay extra Rs600 per bag to smugglers to
take it to North Waziristan which eventually cause rise in the prices of the
commodity and the ultimate sufferers are the poor farmers. “The same one bag of fertilizer sold in Bannu at
Rs1,400 costs Rs2,400 in North Waziristan due to its smuggling. There are so
many farmers who cannot afford to purchase fertilizer for their crops due to
its higher prices,” farmer Usman Dawar tells TNS. He says the agriculture department in Miramshah has
recorded 30 per cent decline in agriculture production in the volatile tribal
region after farmers have been unable to use fertilizer for their crops. In South Waziristan, another troubled tribal region
bordering Afghanistan, there is also a ban on its supply and the military is
regulating its transportation through six registered distributors in Wana. Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) of Fata, Fazal Karim
Khattak, says that after consultations with the army and political agents,
the Fata Secretariat has already banned its transportation to the tribal
areas so that it is not misused. But when he is told that the commodity is
smuggled to the tribal regions and instead of stopping its misuse, the ban is
actually causing hardships to the poor farmers, Khattak responds that they
would regulate its transportation to Fata to benefit the farmers. Waris Khan says the government has banned the movement of
all types of fertilizers to North Waziristan and other tribal regions two
years ago. Khan says there has been no export of fertilizers from Pakistan to
Afghanistan in the past, though like other several items, fertilizer is
smuggled to the war-torn country. “We approached each and every government
and military official but none of them were able to allow transportation of
fertilizers to Waziristan.” Shafqat Malik, however, says the government has not
banned transportation of all types of fertilizers to the tribal areas, but
formed a committee to regulate the purchase, use and movement of the
commodity in the region. Secretary Home Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Mohammad Azam Khan
says they are working with the federal government in evolving a strategy to
check the misuse of the fertilizer anywhere in the country. “We want to
develop a strategy under which we will track from where the commodity is
coming and where it is used. There should be complete information about the
commodity right from the factory to the user,” the home secretary says.
The
state of Punjab’s health Why is it, the common person may ask, that the health
system in Punjab lurches from one crisis to the next? We barely recover from
one before we find ourselves beset by another. The superstitious among us,
and there are many, may feel that we are cursed and this is divine punishment
for our sins. As the faith for our government to deliver dwindles, we turn to
the Almighty for salvation. Ample evidence of this trend may be seen by the
ever-increasing number of meat sellers lining the newly-widened Lahore canal.
A steady stream of disillusioned, anxious, people stop by and throw meat out
of pink insoluble plastic bags into the canal as ‘sadqa’ to ward off the
evil in their lives. That seems to be their only hope. Why? Why are the people so unhappy? It is because
everything that affects their daily lives is falling apart. And nothing
symbolises this decay more than the health system. When Shahbaz Sharif
decided to keep the health portfolio for himself, one doubts if he realised
what he was getting into. Health is no simple matter, because unlike the lay
perception, it is much more than hospitals, medicines and doctors. Health has
to be seen from multiple aspects: clinical, definitely, but also equally
importantly, social, political, financial, constitutional, legal and ethical.
We have instead tackled it uni-dimensionally, more like a philanthropic
business concern. The chief minister no doubt relating well to this set up
hospitals and clinics and filling them with doctors and nurses from the
market (cheapest bargain available). The government wants brownie points? Provide free food
and medicines in the hospitals (quality doesn’t matter). Accountability and regulation? Make random raids in
different hospitals, suspend the absent or negligent staff, give a lecture on
the need for hygiene and move on (and don’t forget to invite the media). Each time a crisis has occurred, it has highlighted the
gaping holes in the health system. Just to mention a few: The case of Imanae
Malik brought up issues of quality of medical education, regulation of
private medical care, accountability and medical jurisprudence. Huma
Waseem’s case highlighted the dual practice of doctors in private and
public sectors. The various instances of women survivors of violence/rape
coming face-to-face with the health system showed the lack of ethics,
sensitive medico-legal procedures, forensic labs and expertise. The young
doctors’ strike brought up the issue of service structure and pays; the
state sponsored mass exodus of doctors to the Gulf States highlighted lack of
planning and vision; the LHV crisis showcased the decades old problem of
federal vertical programmes and the deficiencies in the implementation of the
18th Amendment. Along came dengue and we became aware that we didn’t
have a functional local government system and so our public health
engineering system, health education, awareness were all inadequate. It also
showed that there was no regulation on quackery or sub-standard labs. The
resurgence of polio has made us aware that there are issues of procurement,
cold chain management, donors agendas, kick-backs and commissions and finally
now, the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) fiasco has brought us
face-to-face with the drug mafia, the unregulated pharmaceutical sector,
multinational corporations and a big web of corruption, incompetence and
criminal negligence, exacerbated by a half-baked constitutional amendment and
a nauseating blame-game. But each time the response is frenetic firefighting. We
fail to look at the bigger picture; rather like the blindfolded people,
feeling different parts of an elephant, unable to figure out what it is they
are touching. Each crisis is dealt with sternly. The ‘authorities’ take
notice. A committee is formed. The workaholic CM is seen to be personally
spraying houses, visiting rape victims, ordering inquiries, making surprise
raids, sacking random officials and holding endless crisis meetings in which
the whole administrative and bureaucratic machinery comes to a standstill. He
wouldn’t need to do that if there were a functioning SYSTEM. A system comprises personnel, structures and procedures.
In a smoothly functioning system there are in-built checks and balances.
There are things called policies, strategies, standard operating procedures
and strict regulatory and monitoring mechanisms. There are several levels of
accountability. While no system is foolproof, a good system is designed to
auto-correct itself at each level. A failing would never get to the level of
the CM unresolved, because the system would catch it at a much lower level
and take corrective measures. What we, the people, need to demand from our government
is a functioning health system. The thing that goes by that name right now is
designed by politicians, (vision being to get votes and make profit), managed
by bureaucrats (aim being to curry favour, wield power and make profit),
owned by no one (aim being to pass the buck). What we need is a system
designed by technical experts, managed by health professionals and owned by
politicians. That would be a win win for everyone.
Fuelling
trouble This January 29 witnessed
thousands of religious extremists belonging to banned religious outfits —
Jamatud Dawa, Ahl-e-Sunnah Wal Jamaat (former Sipah Sahaba Pakistan) and
other parties — marching towards an old Ahmadiyya community worship place
in Rawalpindi. Carrying different flags,
banners, posters, and placards, containing anti-Ahmadi content, the charged
rally was protesting against the worship place of Ahmadis which was situated
close to the venue of public rally of these groups, which was staged the same
Sunday to protest against America. Some of them were also
carrying portraits of Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of former Punjab governor
Salmaan Taseer over a blasphemy controversy. They were chanting slogans
against Ahmadis and their ‘uncalled for’ activities in Rawalpindi. The Ahmadiyya community
worship place ‘Ewan-e-Tawheed’ situated in Satellite Town near Holy
Family Hospital has recently become a bone of contention. Some Muslim
residents of the area now blame that the piece of land was bought for
residential purposes but was later converted into a place of worship which is
not allowed according to Pakistani law. The protest was arranged on
the call of Anti-Ahmadiyya Action Committee and, according to estimates,
around 7,000 people and members belonging to traders’ community, Jamaatud
Dawa, Jamaat-i-Islami and Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, actively participated in
it. It was announced that an
intersection close to the worship place will be named “Khatm-e-Nabuwat
Chowk”, a title which indicates and alarms Ahmadis to beware of these
groups. “We have been requesting
the local administration for the past four months to solve the issue and
asked them to close this worship place otherwise the people who attended this
rally will themselves solve the issue,” says Sharjil Mir, 36, resident of
the area and head of Anti-Ahmadiyya Action Committee which consists on 13
leading Muslims of the locality. The committee was formed
eight months back to fight this problem. “We are struggling to uphold the
law of the land. We only want the local authorities to act according to the
Constitution of Pakistan which disallows Ahmadis to call their worship
‘prayer’ or preach their beliefs”, he tells The News on Sunday. Mir says they have no
objection to members of any community living in the residential area but
according to law they are not allowed to preach. He says that around 60-70
per cent who attended the rally were traders belonging to different parts of
the city while there were activists from all different religious parties. “We have never asked
anybody to come and join; they were sent by Allah to help us. This is a
campaign for the cause of Allah and he has chosen me for this movement.” Security hazards outside
the place, especially after the attack on Ahmadis in Lahore in May 2010,
killing around 90 people, is said to be one of the ‘reasons’ to lodge
protest as the affected community has deputed its own volunteers with latest
guns in their hands. “The road leads to three
mosques and a hospital. They even started searching all those passersby
Muslims of the locality who wanted to go to their mosques. It started a huge
problem as some of the Muslims do not want to be touched by them,” says
Mir. Ahmadiyya community in
Pakistan has been facing a systematic opposition from the extremist religious
groups in Pakistan for the past several years. “The community has lost
hundreds of members and is left in hot waters by the state and the masses
alike. After May 28, the community decided to arrange for their own security
on the advice of law enforcement agencies which is becoming an issue now. The
community’s right to prayers and congregation is in grave danger today,”
says Saleemuddin, spokesperson of the community while talking to TNS. “Ewan e Tawheed has been
there for the last 17 years. It is the property of Jama’at Ahmadiyya and is
used as a place for prayers. Some elements have started a false, baseless
campaign of hatred to create problems. The bottomline is that miscreants want
to deprive Ahmadis of their right to pray and congregate,” he says, adding,
“We can sacrifice for any right but not these rights.” He says the miscreants gave
an open warning to demolish the place. “This campaign is a plan
to deprive the community’s peaceful members of their right to pray and
gather,” Saleemuddin says, adding the founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali
Jinnah gave this right to all Pakistani citizens on Aug 11, 1947. Mir, who is also president
of Rawalpindi Traders Association, which is affliated with the Punjab ruling
Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, does not seem satisfied with the performance of
their elected parliamentarian on this issue. “There are only a few – four
or five – Ahmadi families living in the area and they are creating problems
for others,” he adds. An official of district
administration tells TNS that they are in contact with both parties and are
trying to resolve the issue. “We have requested leaders of Ahmadiyya
community to close down their place of worship temporarily till the people
cool down,” he says, requesting not to be named. “It seems that Muslims
of the area are not going to accept anything less than that. We have made all
arrangements to provide security to Ahmadiyya community.” Muhammad Usman, 30, a
resident of Satellite Town, believes the situation has reached a point of no
return. “I think the government should try its level best to avoid the
worst — which could be an attack on worship place of Ahmadis by Muslims. If
Ahmadiyya community is not following the law, the people should go to court
rather than take law in their own hands.” “The banned religious
groups are openly operating and threatening minorities while the government
seems mum on these issues,” says Shahid Ahmad, an Ahamdiyya community
member, “Are they waiting for some other furious attack on this minority in
the country?” Many families in Rawalpindi are believed to have already left
the area because of fear and panic. vaqargillani@gmail.com
Additional
reporting by Aoun Sahi |
|
