Basic Rights. Different for different set of folks?

Reproduced from Beena Sarwar's article on FP:

Author,

You are right on the dot. Something has definitely stirred in the soul of this nation. You have identified many factors leading to this change such as the lawyer's movement, May 12, and the Nov 3 assault on judiciary/media, but there's a further and more important factor. This is the sudden and shocking realization of civil society that this is 'it' - the final straw - it is now or never.

Let's see if it snowballs into a mass movement. I hope it does.

The problem with civil society has always been that they've been confused with what they want and how. With unclear goals, and vague priorities, they have been picking off the fruits of foreign supported dictatorships - while paying lip service to universal values like human-rights, democratic norms - at the same time completely forgetting with disdain that they live in Pakistan which is a bit larger, a bit more complex, and a lot more diverse than the minuscule civil society - world they live in.

When Jamia Hafsa was incinerated just 4 months ago along with all men / women/ children inside by the same musharraf, this very same civil society was silently gloating in his support. Now that the same musharraf has obliterated the superior judiciary and media, civil society suddenly sees itself losing all basic rights.

Are basic rights of banner waving secular civil-society elites fundamentally different from those of some habit-clad stick-wielding nuns? The former certainly appear to think they are. Fact is, both are (were in latter's' case) equally the citizens of Pakistan and enjoy/ed the same protections under the constitution of the country.

Has any of the civil society recognized even now, after we've slipped so far and so fast, that if they had resisted rather than supported the Jamia Hafsa massacre, the current situation may never have arisen?

I suspect they still don't have a clue.

Truth is, civil rights in Pakistan were buried in the Jamia Hafsa compound and the building (read Federation of Pakistan) demolished on top of it.

In the meantime, as you would know, the Jihadis (miscreants / shiddat-pasand/ askriat-pasand/ dehshat-gards etc, take your pick) do not regard any enemy too big or too powerful - and they have absolute clarity. Not only in what they want, but also the means to get it.

As I always say, may the best man win.