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special roots Taal
Matol islamisation Clean
shame RIPPLE
EFFECT
The
movement against the governmental attempt to remove a Chief Justice who could
no longer be taken for granted has revealed a reservoir of courage, anger and
attachment to the ideal of an independent judiciary that has surprised many.
It is moments of resolve like the present that create a bond between the
people and the spirit of the constitutional order. The people then come to
own their Constitution which can no longer be tampered with by every
opportunistic wayfarer riding a tank. An act of defiance, rather than
usurpation, becomes the grundnorm of a new era. It has been so from Antigone
to Mandela. It is
clear to all that the reference against the Chief Justice of Pakistan was
filed not merely because his conduct had allegedly transgressed the limits of
judicial propriety: transgression of constitutional limits has hardly ever
been an issue with the Musharraf regime that has systematically mangled the
spirit as well as the text of the Constitution in order to create a
governance facade that now fools no one. The force of the people's fury has
obviously rattled the government. Quite
understandably, the main plank of the government's strategy to manage the
public outcry against the reference, gloriously reflected by the media, is to
declare that the matter is judicial in nature and therefore beyond the ambit
of legitimate political protest or free reporting. Private television
channels that are subject to a draconian regulatory framework have been
threatened. Two were actually taken off air and only restored after procuring
assurances that certain footage embarrassing to the government would not be
aired. The Supreme Judicial Council has itself, through a press release,
expressed concern about the media reporting of the matter and has advised the
print and electronic media to refrain from publishing or airing comments that
could be viewed as prejudicial to the proceedings before the Council. The
government and, more importantly, the Supreme Judicial Council have sent out
a message. The message derives its force from being ambiguous in so far as
the limits of the legitimately political and the sacrosanct judicial remain
unclear in a situation that is unprecedented. What are the people and the
media to make of it? Should the public debate, the protests and the
independent coverage now be folded up while the PTV continues to describe the
unprecedented lawyers' strikes all across the country since March 12 as
partially successful? The
propriety of the Chief Justice's conduct is under scrutiny before the Supreme
Judicial Council and may not be commented upon.
However, the collateral objectives that appear to have inspired the
presidential reference are not the subject of any judicial proceeding and
may, therefore, be examined in the light of the attendant political and
historic context. To say that the filing of the reference by the president
was his constitutional prerogative is to miss the point of the mass revulsion
altogether. The existence of a power is one thing, the decision to use it is
another. No law against contempt of court bars the people and the media from
scrutiny of this decision. Equally,
it would be an abdication of journalistic duty to deny people insight into
how the Chief Justice's removal is likely to affect the future make-up of the
judiciary in the country. For instance, which honourable judges are likely to
become Chief Justice over the next seven years or so, the remaining period of
Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's tenure, were the Supreme Judicial
Council to recommend his removal and were the president to act in accordance
with such recommendation? The
people also have a right to be reminded of the interplay between judicial
decisions and the political process at key junctures in Pakistan's history. Justice
Monir's decision in Dosso's case has long been a metaphor for complicity in
the unconstitutional. The death sentence to prime minister Bhutto was
described by the judgment in Tariq Rahim's case as 'assassination' while
Justice Nasim Hasan Shah, a member of the sentencing bench, has described in
print the bargaining that preceded the judgment. He has also admitted the
judgment itself to be a mistake committed under pressure. Justice Sajjad Ali
Shah has written of his belief that certain judges were prevailed upon by the
government to act against him. The
media would clearly not be remiss in recalling that the past was not another
country when the entire Lahore High Court had stood firmly behind Chief
Justice M.R. Kiyani, threatening mass resignations, in a face-off with an
obnoxious martial law administrator. The people must be told that the
generals had retreated in disgrace giving birth to the Kiyani legend that
lives on. If the people derive conclusions from such insight and feel
inspired to take a position as regards the present situation then that is a
privilege of citizenship that none can deny them. While
the manner in which the Chief Justice of Pakistan has been treated has
appalled the nation, even more horrifying is the realisation that there is
nothing to protect a judge from being targeted by an increasingly arrogant
president. The president nods, a puppet prime minister not accountable either
to his cabinet or the parliament produces the desired advice, the president
acts and the targeted judge becomes non-functional. Even if
the president has no formal power to suspend the referred judge, contrary to
what was done in the present case, it is extremely unlikely that the judge
concerned could go on performing normal functions with any dignity. The
constitutional safeguard against abuse by the executive of the power to make
a reference is to leave the matter ultimately in the hands of the senior most
judges of the country as members of the Supreme Judicial Council. The
present saga, and the lack of confidence expressed by the Chief Justice in
some of the members of the Council, suggests that there is clear need to
review the constitutional mechanism that leads to the filing of a reference.
Clearance of the proposed reference by a non-partisan parliamentary committee
would appear to be an acceptable reform. There must also be a mechanism to
ensure that the membership of the Council inspires confidence in both the
judge referred to it as well as the public at large. These
are matters that address the possibility of future reform and may be taken up
by the media. A
profoundly political moment, rich with possibilities for the future, has
arisen. Civil society, led by lawyers and backed up by the media, is
demanding the democratic space that a military-backed establishment has never
allowed to the people of Pakistan. To suggest that the politicians are
exploiting the situation is to entirely, and perhaps deliberately,
misrepresent the situation. On March 12 when we were pounced upon by the
Punjab police and thrashed before our peers genteel lawyers, men and women,
who had never voted in a bar election stood firm and alone against the
unprovoked barbarity. If anything, the politicians have lagged far behind the
people and are being forced to reconsider their deal-making with a regime
that continues to reveal its despotic disregard for decency in public life. In
telling the nation that the country's chief adjudicator can be shunted out
and hounded like a criminal the regime has assaulted the people's last
bastion of hope. The anger that has descended all across the country springs
out of desperation. The present reference has shamelessly brought down the
barrier of self-restraint that had, in the past, prevented irked
administrations from resorting to this stratagem for getting rid of a
tiresome judge. If the Chief Justice is being pressurised and humiliated in
order to procure a 'voluntary' resignation, while being denied access to his
lawyers and the relevant record, the people must be told. If not checked by
the people the consequences of the government's actions for the possibility
of an independent judiciary will be catastrophic. This is
not a technical matter to be left only to judges and lawyers. The issues are
much too important for that. The people of Pakistan will not be denied.
Neither must the media retreat in its finest hour.
A faith issue Lala Mehar Lal Bheel, a former minority MPA from Bahawalpur, has many documents which he has moved time and again drawing attention of authorities to the plight of scheduled castes in Pakistan, particularly in Southern Punjab. From seeking land rights for scheduled castes residing in Cholistan to ban on forced conversion, he has suggested several remedies to bring in a change in the lives of Pakistani dalits. In his unending struggle for rights, the 70-year-old Lala
Bheel has a very few successes stories to tell. More recently he has been
able to convince DIG police Bahawalpur division to send a letter to The letter issued on January 31, 2007 reveals that it's actually not a new instruction but reiteration of orders that were passed by the provincial government in 1981. According to the orders, a minority girl kidnapped should immediately be recovered and separated from captors. The claim of conversion should be independently verified and made without any pressure. Ironically, these and other such instructions are frequently violated. Representatives of Bheel and Menghwar, two major scheduled castes from Rahimyar Khan and Bahawalpur, blame that their girls and women are kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. They say police refuses to lodge an FIR due to their weaker social and political position; then they hear that the girl had converted to Islam and got married on her own. All this comes happens at the captors home or a madrasa. The girls' families are provided no chance to check the authenticity of the claim. "We understand that we are poor and we may not have as many rights as Muslims but at least we should have the security of our honour," complains Peter Jan Bheel. The constitution of Pakistan, the supreme law of the country, makes protection of property and honour of citizens an obligation of the state without any discrimination. It has failed to discharge this responsibility so far. Lala Bheel suggests the formation of a commission to investigate and oversee the process of faith conversion. "This is a serious issue and should be verified by an official commission comprising members from all faiths and not a mullah," he added. Participants of the consultation claim that the trend of kidnapping of girls from scheduled castes and then their conversion has increased in recent years where young girls have been kidnapped and forcibly converted. Usually a girl disappears with a Muslim man. Then comes an announcement of conversion at the place of a religious cleric followed by court marriage. Many people particularly the Muslims in Rahimyar Khan say that girls leave their homes on their free will to convert to get married to Muslim men. It's also interesting to note that many Muslims believe that scheduled caste girls convert to get rid of extreme poverty and discrimination they face. Lala Bheel and Bukhsha Ram, also a former MPA, say they been hearing this rhetoric for long time. "Our argument is that the girl should be provided independence to decide," says Lala. "Once she is kidnapped, police should recover her and she should be allowed to live with her parents for 15 days before asking for a statement in court." They also complained that police is not willing to lodge FIR. Once a Muslim man kidnaps a Hindu girl, it becomes a religious issues. "We are told that we should forget her because she is Muslim now," says added Bheel. -- Zulfiqar Shah roots Slum total of achievements Sheedis in Lyari -- descendents of slaves brought here from Middle East and Africa till the beginning of twentieth century -- are now trying to break the shackles of poverty By Shahid Husain Though
gang war and drugs and arms culture has cast a shadow on one of the largest
slums of Asia called Lyari, it has failed to snatch its vibrant culture. If
one travels in time one can visualise slaves from Muscat and East Africa
being traded in Baghdadi in Lyari whose descendents have today emerged as
proud citizens carving out a niche as teachers and sportsmen in one of the
most neglected areas of the megalopolis Karachi. "Vessels
from Muscat brought dates, almonds, elephant tusks, copper in bars, drugs and
slaves from the Middle East and East Africa. There was a mandi (market) in
and around Baghdadi and Shah Baig Lane (existing Lyari neighbourhoods) where
slaves brought from Africa (called Sheedi) and Abyssinians (known as
Habshishs) were sold and purchased anywhere in the range of 5 to 500
rupees," writes Sarah Siddiqui and Rashid Khattri in 'Community Studies:
Four Case Studies from Karachi,' edited by noted architect and town planner
Arif Hasan. A visit
to Lyari with over 1.6 million population shows that it's home to Baloch,
Sindhis, Muhajirs, Punjabis, Pushtoons, Kashmiris, Bengalis, Memons,
Kathiwaris, Bohras and Ismaelis, but strangely enough there has never been
any ethnic, communal or religious strife in the impoverished land. "Residents
trace the history of the area back to over 250 years when a trader named
Bhojumal shifted to Karachi -- a small fishing town and natural port -- with
300 people from another small seaport, Kharak Bandar, located on the western
bank of the Hub river. Karachi as a natural port was not in much use when
Bhojumal moved here. He found 20 or 25 huts of fishermen in the Karachi
village. The reasons for abandoning Kharak Bandar are not very clear to most
residents. However, some claim that the port was destroyed by an
earthquake," write Sarah Siddiqui and Rashid Khattri. After
the British annexed Sindh in 1843, Karachi's population shot up from 15,000
to 56,000 in 1870. By 1922 its population had increased to 203,000 and in
1941 it touched the 435,887 mark, according to Hasan. The influx of
immigrants after 1947 followed by rapid industrialisation transformed Karachi
into a megacity but the fate of poor people of Lyari remains unchanged. This is
despite the fact that the inhabitants of Lyari have played a pivotal role in
democratic upsurges. In the 1968-69 democratic movement, for instance, the
people of Lyari, especially its youth, under the leadership of Baloch
Students Organisation (BSO) played an important role in mobilising the people
against military dictator General Ayub Khan. Earlier in 1965 elections, the
Lyariites rallied behind Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah and later the slum area
became a stronghold of the Pakistan People's Party. The erstwhile National
Awami Party (NAP) also made deep inroads in the area but its fate never
changed. However,
deprivation and coercion have failed to dampen the spirits of the people of
Lyari. Even the sons and daughters of slaves of yesteryear are waking up from
their slumber. "We
have a Sheedi village in Lyari. We also have Sheedi Arabic Masjid. Then there
is Mombassa Street named after a town in Kenya. People say that the third
tranche of slaves came to Baghdadi as late as 1935," says Asghar Baloch,
a teacher at Government Boys Secondary School No 2, Gul Mohammad Lane, Lyari
Quarters, his tanned face charged with emotions. He is said to be the first
Masters in Mathematics amongst the Sheedis. "In
November 1991 the West Indies cricket team visited our area. I remember that
Sir Vivian Richards was surprised to see his people in Lyari," he says. "My
father was a labourer at Karachi Port Trust. We are the product of street
schools. In fact the entire educated lot of Lyari has acquired education in
these street schools," he says. "We
excel in sports such as football, boxing, cycling, gymnastics. Allah Bux
Baloch, the coach of Pakistan's boxing team who is also an Asian gold
medalist hails from Lyari. Then we have top boxers such as Hussain Shah,
Meharullah Malong Baloch, Jan Baloch, Mohammad Siddique, and Mohammad
Siddique Makrani. In football, we have produced great players such as Captain
Omer Baloch, Ali Nawaz, Ghulam Abbas Baloch, Abdullah Rahi, Maula Bux Ghotai
and Abdul Ghafoor Baloch. Similarly, Mohammad Nisar Baloch, Mohammad Hasan
and Lal Bux have excelled in cycling. In fact every Lyariite plays some game.
But sadly enough we never enjoyed state patronage," says Asghar Baloch. "We
have been running street schools that provide education up to intermediate.
Shehnaz Wazir Ali, advisor to the prime minister on education during the
Benazir government even mentioned our street schools at a conference held at
Geneva," says Mahmood Alam, a teacher at a street school in Lyari.
"After 1980 our experiment was replicated in other parts of the country
as well." "Noted
educationist Prof. Anita Ghulam Ali provided us typewriters and now one of
our street schools have been shifted to Haji Yaqub Wali Mohammad Girls
School," he says. "We are weak because we lack in education but we
are trying our level best to compete." "You
will notice that even gangsters in Lyari acquired some education. But
unemployment pushed them to crime," says Asghar Baloch. Here,
there and everywhere "The
Arab slave trade refers to the practice of slavery in West Asia, North Africa
and East Africa. The trade mostly involved East Africans and Middle Eastern
peoples (Arabs, Berbers, Persians, etc.), while others such as Indians played
a relatively minor role in comparison. Also, the Arab slave trade was not
limited to people of a certain colour, ethnicity, or religion. In the early
days of the Islamic state --during the 8th and 9th centuries -- most of the
slaves were Slavic Eastern Europeans, people from surrounding Mediterranean
areas, Persians, Turks, other neighbouring Middle Eastern peoples, and
peoples from the Caucasus Mountain regions (such as Georgia and Armenia) and
parts of Central Asia, and various other peoples of often predominantly
Caucasoid origins. Later, toward the 18th and 19th centuries, slaves were
increasingly mainly coming from East Africa." --
Source Wikipedia
It was
all true to form, and it was a real mess. And it brought home to me why we
are the third world, and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The
most striking news of last week was the Chief Justice affair. As expected
mediapeople descended on the news and went at it hammer and tongs all day
long! These
same channels ordinarily spend their lives killing themselves to fill their
time; this time one was constrained to watch for hours! And in all that time
one heard not one word of sense, or grace or wisdom! Perhaps
it was too much to expect of media anchors or their guests to talk wisdom,
but one did expect them not to talk only bilge and utter nonsense; one did
expect at least a bit of sobriety. One was a fool to expect any such thing.
The guests had all come with their prepared agenda, flying their flags and
beating their drums and blowing their trumpets and the purpose was their own
aggrandisement and that is what they did. A few of
the guests were de-frocked political aspirants who long ago reached the level
of their incompetence, and they thought it was a good opportunity on TV to
try to revive their non-existent political future by posing as experts and
analysers and pundits. The opportunity was lost as soon as they opened their
mouths to trot out cliches and self serving half-baked opinions. Others were
legal activists who are perpetually striving to make a name for themselves,
and a future, by disguising pre-disposed prejudices and more half-baked
opinions as righteousness. More mess! The most
disturbing aspect of the whole thing is the impression it created of what
passes for journalism around here. Perhaps it is not peculiar to us only. It
is a worldwide phenomenon which shows how we have unthinkingly distorted
basic values in the headlong rush for celebrity. All
along one took it as a matter of faith that the purpose of journalism was,
first and foremost, to report facts, objectively and to the extent that their
veracity could be ascertained. Of course a journalist was free to have his
own opinion, and even to be partisan; and he was free not only to air his own
opinion, but also to seek the opinions of others who had expertise, in the
search for truth. That is
not what journalism is about now. The modern journalist is no longer happy
just to report news, he must create the news he airs. If an event is to be
reported, the facts are of no consequence; the idea is to generate a
controversy which creates the maximum publicity for the journalist as a
'crusading journalist'. (I couldn't resist that)! It is not just that the
'medium is the message' but more so the man is the medium and the message. If a
journalist talks to someone, the point is not to let the interviewee get his
view across, but for the journalist to make a name for himself by asking
provoking questions, trapping the man into stumbling and taking that up to
create screaming headlines next morning. The latest episode was a prime
example of all this. And yet
I am curiously content. I don't think all this fire and brimstone is really
convincing anyone. It is peculiar that all the commentators who came to the
'shows' all insisted their opinion was the last word on the constitution, and
all gave conflicting opinions. And as for the 'journalists', they think they
are the people and their opinion is what counts. They aren't, and it doesn't!
islamisation Movement forward Maulana Fazlullah, like his uncle Maulana Sufi Mohammad, is aggressively demanding enforcement of Sharia in Malakand region and becoming popular by the day By Javed Aziz Khan Swat is
gearing up for militancy once again as a son-in-law of the jailed Maulana
Sufi Mohammad has been reorganising the workers of Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariat
Mohammadi (TNSM) for the past few months. Maulana Fazlullah appears to be the
right successor of his hardliner uncle; he is leading prayers of thousands of
his followers every Friday while his words too are regarded as decrees. The
Maulana opposed the polio vaccination campaign going on across the country.
His followers seemed to have a blind faith in his verdict that the campaign
is a US plot and its vaccine harmful for human health. The situation nearly
halted the campaign in the region depriving many children of the chance to
get polio drops. The
strength of the newly emerging outfit, which is yet to be given another name,
could be guessed from a single incident last week when police tried to arrest
the controversial leader but failed after thousands of people came out on the
streets to confront the law enforcers. Police had to postpone the arrest of
Maulana Fazlullah to avoid a clash with the public but cases were lodged
against him in Kabal police station under section 11(F/3) of the ATA and
sections 148, 149 and 120-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. These
sections deal with rioting by an unruly group of people armed with deadly
weapons. The Maulana has warned police not to repeat the mistake of
attempting to arrest him because next time his supporters will not spare
them. He has been quoted saying that preaching Islam is not a crime and
police cannot arrest him for that. The firebrand religious leader enjoys a
great support in his village and many other areas of Swat. An
example of the influence and popularity of Maulana Fazlullah is his
announcement to change names of a number of towns and villages. The
previously Imam Dehri has been named as Iman Dehri now while Koza Banda is
being named as Islam Banda and Bara Banda as Shariat Banda. The people of the
area have torched their television sets, VCRs and other such stuff in public
gatherings to express their support to the newly emerging Islamic group.
Similarly women have sold their gold ornaments worth millions of rupees to
donate the money for construction of a seminary and run the affairs of the
religious outfit. Malakand
now has a reputation for serving as a platform for organising religious
sentiments. The administration has always kept the religious views of the
people in mind and given them due respect. However, what is new is the
recently emerging hatred against the administration and the prompt reaction
by the public to a call against the law enforcing agencies. Apart from the
incident regarding Maulana, in a village in Swat, a commoner gathered
hundreds of people after making an announcement on the loudspeaker of a
mosque to fight police that attempted to arrest him for brandishing illegal
weapon. When
asked about any action planned to calm down such elements, district police
officer Swat, Mohammad Yamin Khan, told TNS:
"We have started work to engage the community. We are trying to
involve the elders and rehabilitate certain elements. As for the criminals
and terrorists in their ranks, we are going to deal with them in an adequate
way." TNSM
(Movement for the Enforcement of Mohammad's Laws) was once the most powerful
religious platform in Swat. It launched an aggressive movement in 1994 to
pressurise the government over enforcing partial Sharia in the region in May
1994 through an ordinance. Qazi courts were established and people were
directed to consult them to get a verdict according to the Sharia. Though the
ordinance was withdrawn only after a few months the judges in the region are
still called Qazis and verdicts being given are mainly based on Islamic
Sharia. Malakand
became a part of NWFP some four decades back. It comprises three
semi-autonomous states of Swat, Dir and Chitral that were made part of the
Frontier province in the 1970s. The laws of the country were extended to the
newly included parts of the province in all the three states. When
Maulana Sufi Mohammad parted ways with Jamaat-e-Islami in 1981 and formed
TNSM in 1989, he started an aggressive movement to introduce Sharia Laws in
the region. In 1994 TNSM came out with very open demands for Sharia Laws in
Malakand. Backed by thousands of supporters, Sufi Mohammad almost took over
control of the administration. Even the traffic flow was ordered to be on the
right lane like those in most Muslim countries, as a gesture of becoming a
Muslim state. This was
followed by clashes between the supporters of government and TNSM that
resulted in the deaths of a number of people. The highway was blocked and
thousands of vehicles were stranded. A number of government officials in a
religious seminary.were made hostage by TNSM. Though the Frontier Corps led
by the then Inspector General Fazal Ghafoor forced Sufi Mohammad to surrender
and took back the administrative control of the area, TNSM continued to
exist. It reportedly sent thousands of people from Dir, Swat, Buner and
Bajaur to Afghanistan to fight against the US invaders, when they attacked
the neighbouring country. Sufi Mohammad also went to Afghanistan and on
return was arrested by the authorities. Later he was convicted on April 24,
2002 along with his 30 companions, to seven years of imprisonment for
inciting people to go to Afghanistan and violating state restrictions. Maulana
Fazlullah became the leader of the organisation after the conviction of his
uncle Maulana Sufi Mohammad and is gaining popularity with each passing day
-- more through his broadcasts on illegal FM radios. The newly emerging group
is demanding enforcement of Sharia in the region, like it used to be before
1970.
Threatened
with dire consequences, the barbers in Bajaur agency have decided to comply
with the directions of the hand-written pamphlets regarding beards. While
the authorities were still unclear as to who issued those warning pamphlets,
similar threats were issued to barbers in settled districts of Mardan, Dir
Upper and Lower and in the semi-autonomous tribal region of Dara Adam Khel. In other
incidents, girl students in Mardan district have been asked to wear burqa
while going to schools. "Otherwise they would be killed in suicide
attacks" is how the warning has been worded. In Dara Adam Khel, a
barber's shop, a music centre and an NGO office have been destroyed after
delivering them threatening letters to stop their business. In the
pamphlets, the barbers in Bajaur have been warned of strict action if they
did not stop their 'un-Islamic' activities (shaving and trimming of beards
and cutting hair). The authorities, on their part, have asked barbers to
carry on their business 'as usual'. No
individual or group has so far appeared to take responsibility for issuing
the leaflets that created unrest and harassment in these areas. However,
it is widely suspected that local militants or Taliban, as they're locally
known, issued these pamphlets as part of their manifesto for Islamisation of
the society. First,
the barbers were addressed through hand-written pamphlets in Pashto language
asking them not to shave beards or cut hair as, according to them, it was
against the teachings of Islam. After a few fays, in the same volatile tribal
region, drivers of public transports were told to stop playing music in their
vehicles; otherwise they would do it perforce. The
barbers were also warned that their shops would be bombed if they failed to
comply. And they did it by razing two barber shops and a music centre to the
ground with bombs at Inayat Kalley bazaar, a second major town of Bajaur
Agency after Khar, which serves as regional headquarters. "I
lost my only source of income. This was the shop that helped me earn bread
for my children. The government, despite all claims, did nothing to arrest
the culprits," barber Khairullah, whose shop was destroyed in the blast
told The News on Sunday. After
receiving pamphlets, the barbers in Bajaur held an emergency meeting and felt
the time had come to choose what they called the 'lesser evil'. Thus they
agreed to comply with the directives of the pamphlets and even decided to
impose Rs5,000 fine on those defying the decision. Almost
in every shop, the barbers displayed banners inscribed with a clear message
for the customers not to force them to shave beards or cut hair, as it had
been declared un-Islamic. Barbers complain they had witnessed a record
decline in their business by 70 per cent after issuance of pamphlets. They
also said they have been feeling extremely insecure since they are more
vulnerable (barber shops open early in the morning and do not close till late
at night). In the
first few days, after the pamphlets were distributed, barbers found it
difficult to refuse or convince their regular customers. In at least one
instance, a disgruntled customer broke the glasses and mirrors of a barber
shop he refused to offer him the service required. "I explained to him
but he got infuriated and started abusing and breaking mirrors of my
shop," complained barber Nasir Khan. But
that's not where it stopped. Nasir Khan was then taken into custody by the
local administration and put in jail for defying the government order by
refusing to shave beards. "The
government wants us to continue with our business while militants warn us of
destroying our shops with bombs. And then there is the fear of shopowners who
may ask us to vacate in case of damage to their property," explained a
harassed barber, Niamat Khan. Barbers
in Bajaur Agency were conveyed the same message through two similar leaflets
some time ago. They did not take those warnings seriously and continued their
job. But the latest warning, issued on February 10, has been almost an alarm
bell for barbers and may force them to quit their years-old profession. "We
did not pay proper attention to the first letter which was issued about six
months ago and then the second one two months later," said Ghulam Khan,
president of the recently-formed Hajjam (barbers) Association. There
are around 200 barbers in the tribal agency. They had, in all probability,
never heard the name of 'association' in the past, but the present situation
has convinced them to get united on one platform. After receiving the last
letter, the association members went to the local tehsildar who referred them
to the assistant political agent and finally to the political agent. The
authorities apparently assured the barbers of their support and asked them to
carry out their business and ignore the warnings. But aware of this 'hidden
force' active in that isolated tribal region for the past few years, the
barbers have announced to obey what was conveyed to them in the pamphlets. Ghulam
Khan said: "When the government cannot protect its own officials and
pro-government tribal elders, how can it provide protection to poor barbers
like us." The
issue aroused strong criticism from local tribal people majority of whom
already sport beards. Still they don't like to be dictated. "I am a
Muslim and I know that no one can force me to shave or not. This should be my
own decision," said Javed Khan, a regular customer at a barber shop in
Khar. "It would send a very bad image of Islam and the tribal areas to
the rest of the world." Despite
fear and harassment, some teenagers have still opted to stay clean shaven.
"I am clean-shaven and will remain so. All the barbers refused, so I do
it myself at home," said Zakauddin. Mufti Hanifullah, Khateeb Jamia Masjid Khar town in Bajaur, opposed all such threats to barbers and forcing people to grow beards. "Islam never supported this way of preaching. We can advise people through juma prayers and other congregations, as beard was Sunnah of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). But we cannot force them," he said.
The sordid happenings of
the past week in Islamabad with the suspension of the Chief Justice of
Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and then putting him under virtual
house arrest and not allowing people to visit him or access to the
television, newspapers or telephones is probably one of the biggest blunders
that the government (among quite a few others) has made since President
Pervez Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999. The fact of the
matter is that the president does not have the right, under Article 209, to
suspend a judge of the Supreme Court or the High Courts against whom a
reference has been sent to the Supreme Judicial Council. This was further compounded
by the treatment meted out to Justice Chaudhry and his family over the next
few days -- from March 9 when he was 'suspended' till the time he tried to
walk out of his house and was disgracefully surrounded by police and
law-enforcement personnel who literally refused to let him walk freely (so
much for the government's claims that he was a free man and that there was no
prohibition on him of any kind) which he apparently wanted to, as he headed
for the Supreme Court building. This was of course preceded
a day earlier by the attack of the police on a procession of lawyers on The
Mall in Lahore. Reports have also emerged of a single lawyer who has filed a
petition with the Lahore High Court asking that restrictions be placed by
PEMRA on Geo TV and AAJ TV for showing footage of the police action on the
lawyers (as if a confrontation with the lawyers was not enough, the
government now wants to open another front with the media). Here, perhaps, it is best
to quote from any eyewitness to the attack by the police on the lawyers (this
is from the www.proud-pakistani.com
blog): "The police attacked
the peaceful procession, which was to go from the Lahore High Court to Faisal
Chowk and back. In between, the lawyers were peacefully walking on one side
of The Mall, while traffic was moving smoothly on the other side. The people
in the cars driving by were honking their horns and showing the victory sign
in support. When the procession reached Regal Chowk, the police, without
warning and without provocation, lathi-charged the lawyers. "About 200 or so
lawyers were injured. After being attacked and seeing their fellow lawyers
being brutally beaten, some lawyers retaliated, which they shouldn't have.
But the police is making it sound as if the lawyers attacked first. This is
completely wrong. I myself received numerous injuries, including head and
hand injuries. I was hit repeatedly (from behind) by police batons when I was
simply walking back to the Lahore High Court... Even women and aged lawyers
were not spared by the police. I counted at least two dozen lawyers whose
shirts were drenched in blood. The police were using bamboo batons to strike
at the lawyers' heads. The electronic media was there and it was all captured
on camera. This is what is happening in Pakistan. It has turned into a
complete police state. The police used excessive and unwarranted force to
disperse what was a peaceful procession. Even though I was personally at the
receiving end of the batons of two policemen, I don't hold any personal
grudge against them because these poor guys are half-literate, poorly-paid
recruits following orders. But I blame the Punjab government and the Punjab
Police. Peaceful protest is a right [of every citizen] in a democratic
country. I, too, was once pro-Musharraf. I confess that I welcomed the 1999
military take-over because of my disillusionment with Nawaz Sharif and
Benazir Bhutto. But over the years, after seeing what has been happening to
this country, I've been constrained to change my opinion of him and I have
come to the conclusion that true democracy, no matter how bad, is still
better than military rule because in democracy, even a bad prime minister can
only transgress to a certain extent. When there is a military ruler, there
are no limits to the transgression because there is no one to hold him
accountable (except God)." The writer is Op-ed Pages
Editor of The News. Email: omarq@cyber.net.pk |
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officers
urging them to take due care while dealing with cases of kidnapping and
forced conversion of girls and women belonging to minorities.