The government of Punjab’s actions in securing the recently held marathon was a sad reflection on the nature and the value of law and order.

No one has the right to stop or prevent a person from doing anything s/he wants or wishes within the ambit of the law and if the MMA wants to protest the marathon, it should have been allowed the right to voice its opposition. MMA and its supporters have the right to protest but not to make laws on what are the legal and social resonsibilities of the citzens of Pakistan. They do not have the right to resort to physical intimidation or violence to attest their arguments.

However, the actions of the Punjab government arresting people by force was also wrong and illegal. The protestors were not committting treason; merely stating a political point of view and the constitution does allow them this right. The true nature of a democracy is not what General Musharraf calls the essence of democracy, but when the governments in power are themselves accountable and responsible to the laws, which they enforce. Democracy is the toleration of dissenting voices and democracy does not mean arresting people to gain some additional "air time" on CNN.

In the case of Pakistan, democracy and respect for human rights and tolerance does not mean that these rights are only applicable to the liberal intelligensia of Pakistan. These rights are also applicable to the people, who oppose the liberals and just as the liberals wish their opinions to be tolerated and respected; they have to tolerate and respect the opinions of those who oppose them. In the case of the marathon, the Government of Punjab along with the liberals turned out to be just as intolerant as the clergy they usually castigate.

In any case, what happened last Sunday was the creation of another false image of Pakistan, because it was an image which does not suit Pakistan. There is no use denying the fact that Pakistan is a society in transition, but to suggest that this society is not fraught by dissensions is eqaully wrong and misleading. The aura of calm, which was created last Sunday and which enabled the marathon to end peacefully was ensured by the batons of the police and not by any sense of tolerance or mutual self-respect and to pre-suppose that this was the norm would be to over look the abnormality of how this sense of normalcy was really achieved.

Last Sunday, Pakistan learned that law and order pales into insignificance before the fruits of political exploitation and there are different laws for different people, in Pakistan, based on different interests in different contexts.