Saving Pakistan with the Constitution

I personally think that the Balochis, Punjabis, Sindhis, Mohajirs and the rest should try to learn to live together in peace and harmony. The Mullahs should be asked to stay inside the mosques, the terrorists and smugglers should all be jailed. The army should return to the barracks and the civilian leaders should be allowed to return and fight elections. There should be complete freedom of press and women should enjoy all the rights that men take for granted and the minorities should have all the rights that the majority does.

There! I feel better already.

And one more thing. Manto should be made PM.

Rozaiba: The ``logic`` in your article is almost as strong as if it had been written by a squirrel. And a not too bright squirrel at that.

A despotic rule however humane results ultimately in a clash between the rights of the people and what they call `writ of government`. I saw this phenomenon in three provinces of Pakistan- NWFP, EX-East Pakistan and Baluchistan - which always lead to the hatred of Punjabies.

I, as a Punjabi, had a bitter experience of it. I was in Dhaka in 1970 at the time of election to the Provincial Assembly. A Bengali friend and a colleague of mine gave me a dinner at his home in Dhaka. I had never seen such an hospitality. After the dinner during the friendly chat my host got an inkling that I was a Punjabi (Earlier, for some reasons, he had been taking me as a Pathan). You believe me he stopped talking to me there and then. I saw the changing colour of his face and left the house quickly without being seen off.

As for the writ of government it was on West Pakistan media only when only the writ of Awami League was running there at that time. And when Niazi Tiger (incidentally another Niazi tiger is doing the same these days) tried to restore the so called writ he lost his pents instead. La Hukmo Illa Lillah.

Our Balochi brothers should however know that the people of Punjab love them and hate the Punjabi Mafia as much as they do.

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Rozaiba,

No point in blaming ordinary Punjoos (or anyone else) for the current state of affairs. Surely an average Punjoo cannot be held guilty of whatever an unelected, non-responsible junta of generals is doing.

You are right that restoration of constitution and restitution of democratic functioning is the only way Pakistan can go forward.

Regards

Well said. Whatever Bugti`s flaws as a tribal leader, only a constitutional process has that ability of correction and rehabilitation as well as nation building. Restoration of the constitutional process, unfettered and unchecked, is the only way forward.

It is a question of priorities... often Pakistanis - educated ones like us- have ideological priorities... we have our ideas of what the country should be... and then we forget the right course of action. The Mullahs supported General Zia-ul-Haq`s unconstitutional regime because they thought he would sincerely impose Islam... liberals- self included- naively supported Musharraf in the beginning because we believed he would undo what Zia had done....

All the while... we must realise that whatever our motivation and ideas of how to run the country... whether Islamic, Islamist, mainstream, secular, communist, capitalist etc etc ...
we have to work through a legal framework to achieve our objectives. Therefore... above all else .. above the liberal secular Pakistan... I place the ideal of a constitutional Pakistan. This has been a lesson well learnt.

#6 Pyare Manto,

Woh sub theek hai – but to enforce the constitution – or to enforce any kind of code, you need:

FORCE!

And who has the force?

The armed forces, of course! Baaki sab to Shikhandi hain!

The question now is the same that it has been for eternity!

Who will bell the khaki cat?!

The thundering silence is its own response.

Therefore, Manto – subuj sapne mat dekh!

Khaki nightmare dekh!

Aur Mushy ko galiyan deta rah – ki woh kuttey jaisa hai!

Lekin woh to chup hai – kewal TU hi bhaunk raha hai!

Isi tarha khaki nightmare dekh!

Aur apne pyare vamp ko shukariya de, unhe pranam kar!

Sashtaanga dandawat!

oh pai... is army not extracted from the people. If the people of Pakistan develop a sense of constitution above all else.... don`t you think it is logical that the same sense would prevail in the army as well?

“No one denies that the common Baluch have immense hatred for Punjabis. We are not here talking about the tribal leaders – but of the average Baluch who realizes what has happened to his people, and his province.”

A statement of this nature by a writer who professes to follow liberal and progressive strand in the country is truly unfortunate.
Common Baloch don’t hate Punjabis per se. Common Baloch are extremely hospitable, loving and peaceful people. And looking at the political awareness in the province where tribal chiefs still control vast swatches of land, chances of Baloch following the problems to the extreme of hating and killing Punjabis are next to nothing.

This article is flawed and was written in perhaps under extreme emotional strain. I would have ignored this article if this was written by BJ Kumar or any other person who shows mental unstableness and is given to emotional outbursts, he has no control over.

I am going to put this article through extremely harsh criticism as I think it is time for Rozaiba to understand that political problems and issues are not emotional issues and they should never be treated like one. Articles like this mostly come from rightwing writers who lack the political sophistication to rationalize an issue based on the hard facts on the ground. Rightwing authors rely on emotions as they don’t understand substance. But a progressive writer must learn to control emotions in political analyses especially when they are putting together an article on a burning political issue.

Every one talks about divide and rule method used by the ruling groups and especially the groups who usurp power either by force or rule by undemocratic means. Talking abt divide and rule is one thing but spotting it in the emotionally charged environments is entirely different matter. Most of the political observers are swayed by the actions and headlines of the day and fail to see what surrounds the issue.

Take for example the incident of train stopped by the army in Sibi. There were no reports that Baloch were massacring Punjabis or blowing up trains en masse after the Sardar’s death. There were some incidents of protest against the government. There were no widespread incident against Punjabis in any major town of Balochistan then why would people assume that poor Baloch villagers would embark upon killing Punjabis in the countryside? The whole incident of stopping the train was played by the admin to firm up support in Punjab. The news of train stopped in sibi perhaps traveled fast in Punjab and played on peoples mind. People in Punjab who might have sympathy or were even neutral in the army vs the Baloch confrontation, all of a sudden were consumed by the fear that Baloch were killing Punjabis and for them the army became a heroic force that was saving Punjabis by guarding the train and providing shelter to Punjabis in the cantonment. Whatever little support of sympathy that Punjabi had for Baloch immediately evaporated and chances of Punjabis supporting the Baloch were eliminated with a time tested method of divide and rule.

“That the Baluchis will solidify their hatred for the regime, and thus naturally Pakistan, is an acceptable short-term consequence in the regime’s myopic and short-sighted political view.”

This is again is a good example of the writer following the regimes talking points unwittingly. The Baloch hatred for the regime is not a bad thing but how that would translate into hatred of Pakistan unless author also believes in the regimes slogans that opposition to the regime is opposition to Pakistan. This is the same logic that Rummy used recently and it is again a time tested method that defuses opposition and maligns the already oppressed group. The opposition group despite legitimate political demands becomes an anti-state group thus losing support in other sections of the population, in this case Punjabis. In Pakistan these games are played for such a long time that every political observer should be able to see it right away instead of parroting the admin line that any opposition to the army is opposition to Pakistan.

“The foremost step is for the people of Pakistan to completely disassociate themselves with the current Musharafian regime in all its ugly forms and show the Baluchis that the people of Pakistan wish to remain united and want to preserve the federation by honoring the contract of the Constitution we all agreed to.”

This is not an obvious step but actually a childish desire. Author comes up with a very simplistic solution to the problem but fails to show how even that simplistic desire can be accomplished.

To wit: Despite his education and political consciousness, the author himself is susceptible and vulnerable to admin’s political manipulation (as discussed above). Why he assumes that uneducated and ``not so politically conscious`` masses would “disassociated” themselves with the current regime overnight?

PS
I hope chowk staff would control spamming by a certain BJ. His spamming just eliminates any chance of a serious discussion on any board.

It seems this piece has been written under the pressure of extreme diaorrhea..

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Democracy, constitution, Political parties don`t come with a promise of peace and economic sustenance. Not at least in Pakistan.
Its not a Pill.For.All.Ailments.
Particularly, it has weaved pogrom-inciting elements like Altaf.Bhai. Its an easy means to the pot of gold at the end of the pseudo-rainbow. The former being not fake but latter to be originally fake.

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What is needed for the hour is corporate like running of the affairs.
One party, permanent, is the board of Directors, who in closed doors map out strategies for the benefit of the shareholders. The menial and trivial paraphernalia of the corporation is better left for the competent Managers, which the formers have to endeavour but once to acquire.
The manager`s cadre, would be a part of the council again, overlooking the affairs and later reporting and innovating in their areas.

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The corporate like structure is evident and much alive and spoke about of the Middle East. The rule is `governed` by one family.
The affairs of the country `managed` by the councils which sees its members shifted and promoted often for other requiring areas.
Success rate - More than 80%.

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Would any politician set out again after every four years to replace his father with another person as a `new` father for his mother? This is Democracy.

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Awaayein Nai Karday Dubai Dubai Loaki.

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Even the politicians know that keeping the masses restless and unsettled is guaranteed Rotis from the country and Haddeez from the foreign lobbies.

Bugti was yet another piece from the rotten lot.

The restoration of the 1973 Constitution which provides provincial autonomy is the only way out for a united Pakistan!

I think it`s a bit late for that now. The only time to have done that was betwen Oct 1999 and Sept 2001 but then the entire main-stream political spectrum (except the exiled ones) was busy supporting the trashing of the constitution in its entirety, let alone to think about the 1973 version.

Now, the War on Terror (WoT) will dictate the poltical governance of Pakistan, and not any document or internal factors such as Baluchistan. The insurgency of Baluchistan itself will also be seen in the overall context of the WoT and dealt with accordingly. Any which way Pakistan leans, will tilt the balance of WoT.

In the very clear understanding of Robert Fisk, it Is Pakistan Stupid!

On his meeting with Khatami and Iran`s nuke programme:

Yeah. Well, he -- I mean, I didn`t question him about it, because it seemed to me that he had basically dealt with this on Saturday night, because in his speech he talked repeatedly about Islamophobia and the way the media hypes constantly and changes the direction.

And I wasn’t really interested in it, because, you see, from my point of view, I think there is a Muslim nation, which is extremely dangerous to the West, which is packed with Taliban and al-Qaeda supporters and which does have a bomb, and it`s called Pakistan. And that`s the real crisis. And the more you get involved in discussing the crisis in Iran, the crisis in Iran, the crisis in Iran, you help to put building blocks and foundation stones underneath the Bush administration’s policies, because it`s the story. And I think Pakistan is the story. I think Pakistan is a very dangerous place. I think Pervez Musharraf is playing this balancing game between the military and the ISI, the Intelligence Services, and the Taliban supporters and the large number of extreme Sunni groups in Baluchistan and other parts of the northwest territories.

#10 by kaptain

KaptanJi ... are you proposing a caliphate? Or a Monarchy i.e. Dubai Sheikh Muhammad style? Good idea either way .... but where do you find the Chairman of the Board?

Re: # 12-Hu Jintao..:P

kaptain: I guess a lifetime spent obeying orders causes you to look for someone to give you orders.

#10

As a lawyer focusing on corporate matters, I`ll say the following...

Each company has

1. Memorandum of Association
2. Articles of Association
3. Annual General Meeting
4. Election of Directors
5. Financial accountability
6. A legal framework out of which it can`t operate.

Therefore your 10 actually doesn`t make much sense... when one considers that corporate world has left ``seth`` and ``family`` owned business far behind the past.

ylh #15 Greetings. You may wish to reconsider your item 6 (``6. A legal framework out of which it can`t operate. ``). Although it does reflect the reality in Pakistan today, I suppose. :-)