interview
"There's enough evidence against Altaf"

In an unprecedented move, the Punjab Government barred Chairman Tehrik-e-Insaaf Imran Khan from going to Karachi. This came in the wake of the allegations Imran Khan levelled against MQM leader Altaf Hussain and his recent announcement of going to the courts against alleged criminal activities of Altaf Hussain in London.

For the moment the spotlight is on Imran. Would he succeed in going to the courts in London or would he be stopped once again before his departure?

On May 12, 2007, ten activists of PTI were shot by MQM on Karachi's Drigh Road in broad daylight. Imran Khan announced that he would take up the case of the murder of innocent people including the activists of Tehrik-e-Insaaf to the courts in London. He has openly blamed Altaf Hussain for masterminding the killings on May 12 in Karachi.

The reaction of MQM to Imran's announcement was astounding. Out came mudslinging stories from Imran's past onto the walls of Karachi.

Following are the excerpts of the interview he gave at his residence in Zaman Park Lahore shortly after being barred from going to Karachi.

By Noreen Haider

The News on Sunday: You have said that Altaf Hussain master-minded the bloodbath in Karachi and has been running the city through remote control for the past so many years. Why have you decided to speak against him only now?

Imran Khan: I had never openly declared Altaf a criminal. I was very careful like everybody else in Pakistan but it was not because of fear for my own self. I was afraid for the lives and safety of my party workers who were all afraid of Altaf Hussain. They used to tell me that great trouble would befall them if I went against Altaf Hussain and I had promised them that if anything happened to them I would go to the courts in London against Altaf Hussain. I owe it to my dead party workers, my boys who were killed point blank on May 12, innocent and unarmed.

TNS: What have you actually planned with regard to your proposed case against Altaf? What home work have you done so far?

IK: I have a legal team ready in London and they are collecting evidence and preparing a watertight case against Altaf Hussain. But the most alarming thing is that there is enough evidence against Altaf with the agencies who have got the whole record of the people murdered by Altaf; they have the maps of Jinnahpur that he got prepared. The agencies have the whole criminal record of his activities and they know everything.

Musharraf is actually allied with the biggest terrorist of them all despite getting hundreds of innocent Pakistanis killed in the name of the war on terror.

I am now going to challenge Altaf in London. This is what they are afraid of now because they have absolutely no fear of Pakistan's legal system. I have actually hit their Achilles heal.

TNS: Is there any political party backing you or offering any help in this regard?

IK: Nobody is backing me financially at the moment. I am taking this up myself on my own expenses. But I have every hope of winning a very legitimate case. I believe that everybody dislikes Altaf Hussain immensely. He actually humiliates his own party officials terribly who are there because of the fear for their lives and their families.

How can a political party claim to represent a large section of population when its top leadership comprises murderers and criminals. The way they have attacked my private life speaks volumes about their shameful mentality. It is a fascist party with a mafia don as its chief.

TNS: It seems that the focus of your attention is now Altaf Hussain and MQM rather than the ouster of Musharraf?

IK: Not at all. That is part of the struggle for the rule of law. Why are we actually struggling with CJP? It's because we want the rule of law. The case against Altaf would not take much of my time. I will soon come back to Pakistan and my actual focus is still restoration of real democracy and the ouster of Musharraf.

TNS: The president has declared that there would be no inquiry into the Karachi massacre. Your comments.

IK: President Musharraf wants to make Pakistan a banana republic. This is the violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan. Fifty people lost their lives on the streets of Karachi in broad daylight and the head of the state is saying that there would be no inquiry into the killings. It means that the state itself is involved in the killings.

We have to understand what the war is all about. On May 12, a fascist party prevented the public from welcoming the Chief Justice of Pakistan by their terrorist activities. The welcome would have proved that the movement for the rule of law is accelerating. This would have weakened the already shaky position of Musharraf but as the fate of MQM is linked with the dictator they went all out to prevent the people from welcoming the CJP. If the courts were free in Pakistan or there was rule of law I would have gone to the courts here.

TNS: What would you do if you are prevented from going to London?

IK: If I am prevented I will stage demonstrations in front of Governor House and Chief Minister House. If my name is put on the ECL it will prove once and for all that General Musharraf and Altaf are one and the same.

I would be going to the High Court with a petition against my detention orders and if they reject my petition I will protest. It is totally against my fundamental rights.

TNS: What are you planning to do regarding the character assassination and mud slinging campaign of MQM?

IK: Nothing really, they have again harmed their own self more than doing any damage to me. Actually I am glad that they have talked of invoking Article 62, 63 against me. I want to see who really would be able to escape unscathed if these articles are invoked.

TNS: What do you think is the future of the grand alliance, especially with PPP not becoming a part of it?

IK: I would actually appeal once again to Benazir Bhutto that this is a golden opportunity for the restoration of real democracy and she should not waste it by staying out. If the lawyers can forget their differences and join hands, why can't the politicians come together on a single agenda. This is not an electoral alliance where she cannot negotiate with MMA for the fear that it would offend USA. That would come later.

TNS: You have been grouped with the so-called extremist parties. How would you respond?

IK: If you go by the definition of extremism, MQM is the biggest extremist party in Pakistan. I call my party a liberal and a progressive party but liberal not in terms of what America thinks is liberal but liberal according to the ideology of Iqbal and the vision of Jinnah.

TNS: If Musharraf goes for supra constitutional step what would you do?

IK: If Musharraf goes for any unconstitutional step he would only succeed in further damaging the armed forces as an institution. At the moment I can accept nothing other than free and fair elections under a free and fair election commission in the presence of a free and fair judiciary.

The Golden beach
 The Sonmiani tehsil, now in the news, is a sleepy town that consists of people and sea creatures that live in perfect harmony

 By Shahid Husain

Situated in the northwest of Balochistan's district Lasbela, some 95 kilometres from Karachi on the coastal highway, Sonmiani is an unpolluted beach with serene blu-ish water that attracts thousands of migratory birds from Siberia between August and April every year. The Sonmiani tehsil comprises of Sonmiani village (population 4,000), Dam (population 8,000), Baloch Goth (population 1500) and Bera (population 800).

The name Sonmiani is derived from the words Son (gold) and miani (port) because it happened to be a port in the yesteryears; when people were so prosperous, locals claim, that they paid taxes in gold. Alexander the Great and Arab conqueror Mohammad bin Qasim accessed the Indo-Pakistan through this route and it also served as a trade route between Middle East and the South Asia for centuries.

Citing M. F. Heddle, Mohammad Usman Damwihi, author of 'Karachi Tareekh ke Aiane Mein' writes that in 1830 the revenue in terms of customs duty at Sonmiani Port was equivalent to that of Karachi Port and it beat the latter when the Khan of Kalat reduced the duties. As a result, traders at Karachi started preferring Sonmiani Port. Subsequently, the Mirs of Hyderabad were compelled to cut duties in Karachi as well.

Another interesting fact is that the Muslim and Hindu communities in Sonmiani live peacefully. One can find a mosque, a temple and an Imambargah side-by-side in Sonmiani. In fact there are two temples in the small village. Though there are only 50 Hindus in the village at the moment, their population was significant prior to partition. Interestingly, today there is no family from the Shia minority community in Sonmiani but nobody has ever tried to encroach the Imambargah.

"When Babri Mosque was attacked by fanatics in India some Mullahs from nearby town Winder attacked our temple but the Hindu families were protected by local Muslims," says Suresh Kumar, president Sonmiani Development Organisation.

The temple known as Balpuri mandir has nine graves of Sadhus and one can find inscriptions such as "dhoni sahib sudh swai balpuri ke jeay", "sheraanwali mata ke jeay" and "seetla maan ke jeay" on its walls.

The Hindus in Sonmiani are mostly shopkeepers. Suresh Kumar himself sells diesel oil to the boats operating in Dam.

At about three kilometres from Sonmiani village is Miani Hor where one can find a unique ecosystem comprising naturally occurring mangroves species viz; Avicennia marina, Rhizophora mucronata and Ceriops tagal, spread over about 3,500 hectares. The importance of mangroves can be gauged from the fact that 60 to 80 per cent of world's commercial fish catch are mangrove-dependent species, according to the Tropical Rainforest Portfolio 1996-2001, a report prepared by the Dutch government and the WWF International. "The mangroves in Balochistan could easily disappear if no proper action is taken," the report warns.

In Dam, some four kilometres from Sonmiani village, there is a jetty where one could find fisherfolk transferring their catch of soft, spongy, white colour jelly fish in big drums, indicating that the seawater is unpolluted since jelly fish do not thrive in polluted water.

"Jelly fish is found during May and July. A drum of 60kg is sold for Rs 1200-1300 and sent to Karachi. We have heard that it is exported to China ," says Mohammad Iqbal, a local fisherman.

Commodore (retired) Tayyab Naqvi, former chairman, Pakistan Fishermen Cooperative Society confirms that there was a time when the water at Karachi Port was unpolluted and jelly fish would stick to the bottom of naval ships but one can not find them anymore because the port has become a cesspool due to marine pollution.

"The WWF-Pakistan is creating awareness among fisherfolk not only to conserve mangroves but also to plant new saplings because they are vital for their survival," says Pir Bux, field in charge WWF Sonmiani. "We are also collaborating with community-based organisations (CBOs) namely Sonmiani Development Organisation, Society for Social Development and Conservation of Nature, Mahigeer Tarakiati Tanzeem and Mahigeer Itehad to inculcate the idea of sustainable fishery. This is requires since the use of fine-mesh katra, bhulla and gujja nets that do not spare any kind of fish. Even the juvenile fish is being caught by unscrupulous elements despite a ban on it by the government," he adds.

"The fisherfolk are rendered jobless between May 20 and September because the mouth of the channel is closed due to silt. Yet another problem is that half of the population does not have access to drinking water and they spend Rs 400-500 on a tanker to quench their thirst," he laments.

The Balochistan Coastal Development Authority is constructing a jetty at Dam to accommodate 400 boats but locals say it's so narrow that it would hardly allow berthing of 50 boats.

The government of Pakistan is contemplating to build a port in Sonmiani but locals fear it would destroy mangrove forests and degrade the area environmentally.

"We are not against development but locals should be involved in it. We fear that marine ships will destroy mangroves that are nurseries for shrimp and fish," says Mullah Mohammad.

"In 1958 I worked at Karachi Fish Harbour and there were lots of fish. Today there is no fish at the harbour. Same will be the fate of Sonmiani," he fears

Taal Matol
Amaltaas!

 By Shoaib Hashmi

The 'Amaltaas' are in bloom, although we have not had the kind of spell of solid, day and night heat which is a killer for men but which is necessary for the seasonal flowers, and which makes the mangoes sweet and the water melons juicy and the jamans and the falsas and all the scrumptious summer fruits. And maybe it is that, or maybe it is old age, which makes me think we have stopped paying attention to some things which brought us much joy in olden days.

Like the 'Amaltaas' for instance. As it is the 'Amaltaas' is not a graceful tree, just a shapeless bundle of branches, which most of the year is hung with those ugly hot-dogs that are its seed pods, all brown and shrivelled. And then, just before summer arrives, and before it has grown any of its leaves, it bursts forth in these lovely bunches of yellow flowers, the second most beautiful in nature!

The most beautiful are the flowers of that other showpiece the 'gold mohur', which range from a deepish yellow to a flaming crimson. The tree itself is no great shakes but slightly better than the other one. Both trees have always grown in Lahore, but it seems we have stopped paying them any attention.

The reasons are obvious; with the zillions of mad motorists and bikers hunting for you with blood in their eyes, taking your eyes off the traffic to look at a tree could be suicidal. In any case most of the trees, like everything else is hidden behind the billboards that keep springing up like a plague everywhere.

Mind you my crib against the billboards is rather muted, because although I can recognise them as eyesores, there are occasional compensations. The stalk of a few, have you got an eyeful of the lovely light eyed beauty the new milk-wallahs have found for their mascot, and plastered her pictures all over. I am for nature as well as the next man, but she beats an 'Amaltaas' by a mile. And before that it was the phone-wallahs and whoever who treated us to the delectable grand-daughter of the great Madam Nur Jahan!

But back to nature and her bounties, I don't know if you remember that many places have lost what used to be their identities. Davis road at one time used to be a sight for sore eyes with row upon row of 'Flame of the Forest' trees which all bloomed at the same time and turned the place into a fiery heaven.

And then if you turned right at the crossing you came to a street which has no name except 'Vaansaan Vali Sarak', the street of the bamboo trees. It's the one that runs along Mayo Gardens to the canal, and it used to have these huge clumps of bamboo trees all along.

Some vestiges of the Flame trees and the bamboos are still there, but believe it or not there also used to be in Lahore a street called 'Kaylian Wali Sarak' which was the street with the banana trees! Even more unbelievable, it was the place now called Brandreth Road. If you have seen it lately you will know that there is so much iron and tools there not a blade of grass that grows within miles.

Word was that Lahore also used to be home to many Maulsaree trees, which bore oodles of Maulsaree flowers and they were sold as garlands in the evening. I cannot comment because I am not quite sure what a Maulsaree tree looks like, or its flower.

Which cusses me no end, as does the fact that I do not know what the Shah Baloot tree looks like, and what is so special about it. Because the Emperor Jehangir writes that he was passing through some place and heard that someone there had such a tree in his house, and he went there to look at it. I have tried to find out and all I can get is that it is the Water Chestnut. That doesn't sound right!

issue
Operation begins

Finally the police has raided a few hospitals in Lahore and arrested doctors on charges of illegal kidney transplants and trade

 By Aoun Sahi

Muhammad Nasir and his wife Saba from Karachi came to Lahore to earn their livelihood some two months ago. Both started working as labourers in the construction sector. Bhati Gate was where they went to get work. All went well till a one month ago when Nasir met Ijaz, who belonged to Lahore. They became friends.

Two weeks ago, Ijaz took both husband and wife to his house in Kot Lakhpat where they found themselves detained with eight other persons. All were trapped by Ijaz through different means. He came after one day and tried to convince each of them to sell one of his/her kidney to get rid of poverty. He promised to give Rs65000 for one kidney. "Two of the detained people who already had got their kidney removed told them that he was trying to trap them. Removing a kidney was a difficult operation and Ijaz would not pay them even a penny. We were lucky that police caught Ijaz before he could get our kidneys," Saba tells TNS.

Every year thousands of poor people in Pakistan either sell their kidney or are forced to do so. According to Dr S.A. Jaffar Naqvi, one of Pakistan's most prominent kidney expert and chief executive of The Kidney Foundation, in the year 2006 more than 2000 transplants were done in alone Lahore through 13 centres from bought kidneys. "Patients from Europe, Saudi Arabia and India paid 500,000 to 100,000 rupees for a new kidney. While donors are paid 20,000 to 60,000 rupees and often get no medical care after giving up a kidney," he tells TNS on phone from Karachi.

Kot Lakhpat police last Friday on a tip-off raided the house in Liaquatabad, near General Hospital and recovered 10 labourers, including Ijaz, Nasir and Saba, who were detained for kidney transplant. Four of them had already been operated upon. Later on information provided by victims and two security guards arrested from the house, police raided Masood Hospital, Kalma Chowk, Rashid Hospital in Garden Town and Al Shafi Hospital in Allama Iqbal Town and arrested seven people including two doctors who were allegedly involved in the illegal kidney trade.

So far police has arrested Dr Masood and Dr Rafiq Zaki of Masood Hospital, Dr Shafiq and Dr Omer (also working in a public sector hospital in Lahore) of Al Shafi Hospital, Dr Rehmat Ali and Dr Rana Amjad of Rasheed Hospital, all allegedly involved in the 'forced kidney transplant' business.

Factory area police, Kot Lakhpat, has registered the case against the accused under six non-bailable sections (109, 334, 337, 337J, 347 and 365) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The punishments for these crimes range between seven to 10 years of imprisonment as described in the PPC.

At present there is no law in Pakistan to regulate organ transplant. Police officials think that in the absence of a relevant law, they cannot initiate action against doctors who take undertaking from a person that he or she is 'willingly' donating his or her kidney.

"But now they have enough evidence to arrest some of the culprits," says CCPO Lahore Malik Iqbal. According to him Chief Minister Pervez Elahi has asked IGP to take stern action against the mafia involved in illegal kidney trade across the Punjab. He says that police has got information about the involvement of some other private hospitals and clinics in Lahore and other cities of province in the business. "The raids to arrest owners of Rashid hospital in Lahore and Fatima Hospital Multan are being carried out," he tells TNS.

Punjab health minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal also claims that the provincial health department was unable to take action against the people involved due to lack of a law in this regard. "However, in case a person was forced to donate his vital organ, it became a criminal offence. It's the first time that we found evidence and the accused doctors if found guilty will not escape punishment."

While both police and Punjab health department claim to be 'desperately' pursuing evidence and using all modern means of investigation, they still haven't found a clue about the mafia involved in kidney trade. Technically they ought to have arrested al least some culprits some four to five years ago. The official website of Masood Hospital (www.masoodhospital.com) clearly shows they have been involved in this business since 2001. "On June 2001, the first successful kidney transplant surgery [was] performed at the hospital while till 11-28-2006 Masood Hospital had completed 2500 Kidney Transplants," shows the website of the hospital that contains a separate link for international patients.

It is an open secret that Pakistan is known as kidney bazaar internationally. Thousands of patients both within and outside the country get kidneys transplants from different private hospitals and clinics mostly in Punjab every year. Donors are mostly poverty-stricken, unfortunate people who are being trapped by middlemen.

A summary of health ministry sent last year to the cabinet also pointed out the severity of the issue. "Incidents of kidney selling by the poor are on the rise. Patients from certain developed countries visit Pakistan buy organs for transplantation at local kidney centres," reads the summary. Although a bill was also drafted as long ago as 1992 on organ transplant, no government has pushed it through. The 1981 Islamic Code of Medical Ethics also favours the kidney transplantation business. The Islamic code of ethics recommends "the donation of body fluids or organs such as blood transfusion to the bleeding or a kidney transplant to the patient with bilateral irreparable renal damage is 'fardh kifaya', a duty that donors fulfil on behalf of the society and if the living are able to donate, the dead are even more so.... This is indeed charity." Pakistan Islamic Council has also approved the phenomenon of kidney donation as Islamic.

An official of federal health ministry tells TNS that the final draft of the bill will soon be presented in parliament for approval while cabinet has already approved the bill. He thinks that as donating blood or kidney is allowed in Islam, it cannot be banned completely in Pakistan.

Dr Naqvi thinks the proposed law is only meant for legalising the commercial transplant "because the said law allows one to donate kidney on emotional basis to non-relative patients after satisfying the evolution committee that such a donation is voluntary and not for payment." He thinks this will actually make whole law ineffective.

Political chairs

The future course of national politics seems to be largely hinged on the way the movement in support of the chief justice shapes up

 By Adnan Adil

Both President General Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan People's Party leader Ms Benazir Bhutto deny any deal or agreement with each other. They do so rightly because whatever understanding they have is indirect -- through American mediators. Benazir has in a way acted like Nawaz Sharif who reached an agreement with General Musharraf about his ten years' exile via the Saudi Arabian government. Sharif to date denies any agreement with the Musharraf regime. He is right because both parties signed separate agreements with the Saudis.

Ironically, the national politics and the establishment are so estranged that they can't even negotiate directly: they need foreign mediators to reach some sort of understanding. Not only this, they do not even want to be seen in public as shaking hands with each other. Soon after Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif signed the document to uphold democratic values, titled the 'Charter of Democracy', the establishment resumed its contact with Benazir Bhutto to prevent her from joining forces with the Jamaat-e-Islami and launching any agitation against the Musharraf regime.

Previously, Bhutto's talks with the Musharraf regime through the president's emissaries had collapsed several times. This time, Americans stepped in to save Musharraf, one of their main allies in the 'war against terror' in Afghanistan and anti-US Islamic militants in the tribal belt of Pakistan.

An understanding had materialised last year on Gen. Musharraf's return from the US when he stopped over in London. Incidentally, Ms Bhutto was also in London at that time. What are the exact details of the tacit understanding between Musharraf and Benazir are only known to them. What is clear though is that Bhutto will stay away from harnessing an alliance with the religious right and launching any agitation against the Musharraf regime. In return, the regime will soft-pedal on the corruption cases against Benazir and her husband Asif Zardari. The signs of some sort of compromise are evident in that during the last one year, the government has used delaying tactics in pursuing a hyped-up corruption case against Benazir Bhutto in the Swiss court.

Makhdoom Amin Faheem, the PPP chairman, said in a television interview (CNBC, May 30) that his party does not want the political situation to deteriorate to a level where it leads to another military takeover. He says what his party wants are free and fair general elections. This seems to be a part of the assurance Americans have given to Benazir in return for 'staying away' from destabilising Gen. Musharraf.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the main ally of the Jamaat-e-Islami in the six-party religious alliance MMA, is now quite blunt about the PPP. He says his party can't sit with the PPP which he says is pro-America. Ironically, he himself sits with an American ally, Gen. Musharraf. He helped legitimise the Musharraf regime by voting for the 17th Amendment and making a coalition government with Musharraf-led ruling party, the PML-Q, in Balochistan.

Both Benazir Bhutto and Maulana Fazlur Rehman are part of the same scheme of things envisaged by the Americans being carried out by Gen. Musharraf. Americans have such high stakes in Pakistan's political system that they can't afford losing Musharraf at this stage. If worse comes to worst for Musharraf, the US needs some civilian to fall back upon. Enter Benazir Bhutto because Americans mistrust Nawaz Sharif for his religious leanings. At the moment, Benazir may sit on the fence and get as many concessions as she can: maybe an entry into Pakistan, bail in cases against her to avoid imprisonment, an election with relatively better chances for her candidates.

The upshot is that the understanding is there but the mistrust remains -- on both sides. The establishment has brought several out horses in case one gets out of step. Pir Pagaro is active again. Former prime minister Zafarullah Jamali has left the ruling PML and is likely to put his weight behind Pir Pagaro with whom he has good relations. Pagaro serves two purposes: He could be an alternative support for the regime in Sindh and in case Chaudhrys fall out, he may put together the evergreen political notables of the Muslim League.

On the other hand, Benazir is not ready to ditch her main ally Nawaz Sharif for two reasons. One, she does not want to put all eggs in one basket and second, she does not want to alienate her supporters who want an aggressive line against the Musharraf regime.

As per Nawaz Sharif's claims, he may try to come back to Pakistan shortly before the general elections though his exile term expires in 2010. The government may send Nawaz Sharif back to Jeddah or London from the airport the way his brother Shehbaz Sharif was sent packing two years back. By merely trying to defy the ban on his entry into Pakistan, Sharif hopes to gain politically. Sharif may also receive the support of a section of PPP supporters who seem to be unhappy with Benazir's policy vis-a-vis Musharraf regime.

Nawaz Sharif's defiance is not the only thing that the government will have to tackle. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is also a party pooper. His 'No' to Musharraf has galavanised the civil society and political sections of the society against the military-led system in an unprecedented manner.

The future course of national politics seems to be largely hinged on the way movement in support of the chief justice shapes up in coming days. The parties may play their games with not-so-covert compromises, but the lawyers' movement has the potential to bring a drastic change in the political scenario of the country.

RIPPLE EFFECT
Bans and a 'she' couple

By Omar R. Quraishi

The ongoing battle between Imran Khan and the MQM has some aspects to it that are in very poor taste. For instance, take the wall chalking and graffiti that has been sprayed over many parts of Karachi with phrases like 'Imran Khan kutta hai' and 'Imran Khan kay kitnay baap? Bey hisaab, bey hisaab'. Many people who have read these 'slogans' say that they show the party, or at least its activists, in very poor light.

Also, what does one make of a statement made by the federal minister for ports of shipping to a TV channel who said that Imran Khan should come to Karachi and see what happens (something like 'Woh Karachi aa kay tau dekhain!'). He then qualified these unpleasant remarks by saying that his party was one that believed in peace but the reaction of the public ('awam ka radd-e-amal') was something that would be difficult to predict.

At other times, some party leaders have said that the while the party chief Altaf Hussain was telling the cadres to exercise restraint, the party was finding it difficult to control the activists on this matter, since what Imran Khan had said had caused them immense slight -- the implication being that if he were to come to Karachi, his security could not be guaranteed.

The Sindh government, like before, instead of trying to act as a calming force, only exacerbated the situation by banning Imran Khan's entry for 30 days. The Punjab government joined in this theatre of the absurd by restricting the cricketer-turned-politician to Lahore for three days. As a result, Mr Khan and his party managed to get a whole lot of publicity and presumably must have gained some popularity at least among some of Karachi's non-Urdu speaking population (he had wanted to visit the city to visit the families of those who had died on May 12).

Given that we are living in the twenty-first century, this whole business of banning a citizen from entering a particular province borders on the ridiculous. Yes, it has been widely used before the onset of Muharram in an effort to prevent sectarian strife but what was the need in this particular instance? Besides, to do it on the goading of a political party sets a dangerous precedent, because what is to prevent the MMA from forcing Akram Durrani's government to issue a similar directive against a member of a party that is the MMA's adversary in politics? Or what if the PML-Q does the same against its political opponents and bars them from entering Lahore for 30 days?

The powers that are given to the provincial home departments (the Maintenance of Public Order being the primary culprit, and was used in this case) to do this should be taken away (wishful thinking if ever there was a case of it) because they are better suited to colonial times (MPO 16 dates back to the Zia era, however) when the foreign power was concerned first and foremost with maintaining law and order and by keeping the so-called subversives and trouble elements at arm's length. Such things only lead to misuse of authority and are often used by the government of the day as a pressure tactic against those whom it doesn't like (and Imran Khan of late is surely not in the good books of the government).

In fact, the only winner in all of this has been Imran Khan. He gets a lot of publicity plus the sympathies of the non-Urdu speaking population of Karachi and for a change he gets to act and behave like a politician. And he is making a valid point -- that how can a citizen be barred from travelling from Lahore to Karachi and that the message that is being given by such actions is that the country's largest city is the exclusive preserve of one political party.  

********

And what does one make of the three-year sentence handed down to a so-called 'she couple' (a blatant case of insensitive use of words, if ever there was one) for committing perjury before a court of law. The judge of the Lahore High Court who sentenced the couple said that they had committed an un-Islamic act by getting married but that he was only sentencing them for lying to the court about the fact that the groom was actually a woman when doctors appointed by the court had said that he was still a woman.

The groom had apparently also told the court that he wanted to go abroad to have a sex-change operation and confessed that he had hidden this. Without getting into the religious aspect of such a union, one would like to say that hopefully the state and the judiciary will exercise equal promptness in punishing rapists, murderers, paedophiles and other such people who carry out acts that are designed to cause grievous physical harm to others.

The writer is Op-ed Pages Editor of The News.

Email: omarq@cyber.net.pk

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