And the ground realities
While Sharif was busy placating the liberals of the country who are increasingly worried about the dismal human rights record, his enigmatic interior minister, Nisar Ali Khan, was singing to a different tune in the Senate
Prime minister Sharif is on a roll these days, stomping all over the country making speeches, portraying a more liberal and humane image of himself in the process. The other day he offered saalam, namaste, satt sari akaal and good afternoon while at the Katas Raj Hindu temple in Chakwal.
According to him he is not merely the prime minister of Muslims, but of Parsis, Hindus Christians and Sikhs as well. Noble thoughts. But is he willing to walk the talk?
While Sharif was busy placating the liberals of the country who are increasingly worried about the dismal human rights record, his enigmatic interior minister, Nisar Ali Khan, was singing to a different tune in the Senate. Answering a question why he met Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi of the banned Ahle Sunnat Wall Jamaat (ASWJ) the interior minister gave a novel explanation: the proscribed sectarian outfits could not be equated with banned terrorist groups.
Nisar made an apology for the Sunni Shi’a schism by claiming that it was 1,300 years old. Whatever his personal views, he happens to be the interior minister of the country. It is his job description to keep a check on sectarian violence and law and order in general, instead of breaking bread with those who should be behind bars.
Sharif made a symbolic gesture by visiting the Hindu temple. Some years back such a visit by a PML-N stalwart would have been unimaginable.
But much more needs to be done. The manner in which minorities are discriminated against is certainly not as bad as the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Burma. However, it is bad enough.
Attacks on minorities’ worship places have become the norm rather than an exception. Religious zealots and members of banned terrorist organisations regularly target the Shi’a minority with impunity, especially in Balochistan. The plight of non-Muslim minorities like the Christians, Hindus and the Ahmedis is even worse.
In this context, the sudden disappearance of five liberal bloggers is not merely a coincidence. The interior minister maintains that his government is not in the business of disappearances and hence his ministry could not be held responsible for such occurrences.
But the question that begs an answer here is that his ministry is certainly in the business of ensuring that such acts do not take place and those who are picked up surreptitiously are recovered in real time.
The ubiquitous agencies have also denied any knowledge of the disappearances or having anything to do with them. But this has been the norm and modus operandi. In the past suspected religious terrorists were made to disappear. Now it seems is the turn of the liberals.
The bloggers were guilty of raising their voices against forced disappearances and shabby treatment of the minorities. Some critics claim that they were also guilty of maligning the military.
Whatever the nature of their perceived crimes; they should have been charged and tried under relevant laws. However, if the state (or the deep state) had nothing to do with their abductions, no stone should have been left unturned in recovering them. Those who know the score in the Islamic Republic are skeptical about the fate of the vanished bloggers.
The ruling PML-N is already in the general elections mode, as is quite evident from the premier’s recent speeches maligning the opposition and the media for its negativity
The government, instead of engaging in its signature Orwellian doublespeak, should be seen to act to make Pakistan a tolerant and humane society. If Sharif really wants to be the prime minister for all Pakistanis then he should initiate removing all discriminatory laws from the statute books. He has the relevant majority in the National Assembly.
In order to evolve a consensus for possible amendments in the law the PPP would be more than willing to reach a consensus. Nonetheless sheer street power of the zealots and the state’s weak-kneed approach towards them would prevent the government from even thinking about embarking upon such a course.
Civil-military relations were ostensibly on the mend since the exit of General Raheel Sharif as COAS. However, the government is in for a rude shock if it assumes that under the new military dispensation it would have a free ride.
With the sunset clause kicking in after two years, the military courts are no more. The Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, thought it an appropriate moment to bash the defunct courts for their lack of efficacy. Similarly the interior minster declared unequivocally that they were not needed.
But both the PML-N senior functionaries who have the ears of their respective bosses had to eat crow the very next day when COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa, with his ISI chief in tow, informed the prime minister that the military courts were actually needed and hence a fresh mandate to re-establish them should be sought. A subsequent corps commanders meeting also underscored the need for re-establishing military courts.
The Rana, like a good politician, has recanted his statement. But the damage was done. Reportedly, when the military chief visited the Jhelum and Kharian garrisons the other day resentment against the Punjab law minister’s remarks was expressed.
Of course military courts are an anathema in a civilian dispensation. Since their convictions could be appealed in the high courts and Supreme Court only twelve persons were hanged on their watch in two years.
It is indeed ironical that during this period the interior minister, despite his signature verbosity, did not lift a finger to reform the cumbersome legal system or reorganise the civilian courts. That is why the anti terrorism courts have proved to be ineffective in bringing terrorists to book.
The provincial governments have proved to be equally inept on this count. In fact the Punjab government is in a constant sate of denial about terrorists operating from their safe havens in the province.
It is claimed that everything is in control and hence there is no need for paramilitary forces like the Rnagers being deployed in Punjab. It is another matter that NAP (National Action Plan) despite claims to the contrary by the chief minister remains largely unimplemented.
For the sake of political correctness there is a lot of talk about changing the so-called narrative. But most of it is hubris like the prime minister’s recent speech in Chakwal.
The ruling PML-N is already in the general elections mode, as is quite evident from the premier’s recent speeches maligning the opposition and the media for its negativity. The Rana declared the other day that if the EC (Election Commission) allows member of the proscribed organisations to contest elections how can the government prevent them? This is perverse logic.
Obviously backroom alliances with the jhadists to contest elections will be the norm rather than the exception in the election year. People like Professor Sajid Mir, a PML-N senator, and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, as an ally, are the best insurance policy for the obscurantist forces to keep on ruling the roost.
In the meanwhile, talk of making Pakistan a tolerant and egalitarian society according to the teachings of Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah will hence remain a pipedream.
