The Pakistan Tragedy: Imran Khan Arrested

Re: # 18
Nikhat, I totally agree with you, not to commit a sin for being a silent watcher, and the literate people must raise their voice to avoid a failed state posture. Is it enough or we need to do more than that??? The gravity of the situation demads more than just to pronounce.

How to counter??? Any suggestion!!

#18 Nikhat " I believe that if literate Pakistanis (resident & non resident) donot play their part do not voice against injustices and liberal atrocities by Pervaiz Mussharaf then Pakistan will be a failed state. Its equivalent to sin for me to be a silent watcher these days."

Well said.

Dear Maryam, I totally second whatever you have said. i believe that this is the time when people of pakistan show their 'Backbone' their 'soliderity'. This is the time when each one of us and especially the prieveledged the educated among us should get together and strike with full force against the oppressors. I believe that if literate Pakistanis (resident & non resident) donot play their part do not voice against injustices and liberal atrocities by Pervaiz Mussharaf then Pakistan will be a failed state. Its equivalent to sin for me to be a silent watcher these days.

Continue writing as pen is mightier than sword.
Nikhat Riaz

Re: # 15
Agreed
Although I think IK is too right wing..
But he is the only one coming out as a genuine resistance to Musharraf regime

ravian #15 "Get rid of dictator first and then go for real democracy."

Exactly. One step at a time. No one is totally selfish or totally selfless (except in the minds of simpletons), and democracy is the best way to deal with imperfect humans. Dictatorship simply breeds unchecked corruption.

Yes!! You have expressed the core feelings of the majority. Shameful act against IK… hatred for Mush.... but no leader to follow ...and common man dissociation with the situation.
You are absolutely right that we must all go beyond our affiliations and partiality but to struggle for a common goal ... Get rid of dictator first and then go for real democracy.
We have no chrismatic leader to follow but have some options …BB! Unreliable….Nawaz! noooo….Qazi! never…..IK! unable to mobilize masses. Then what to do in this situation?? Where to find such leader?? We don’t have much option but we have to make a move from cards in hand. The only valuable card is IK at the moment as he is the only pure sign of resistance to the Mush regime and showed his stature so far. He is not much rooted in the common class but have symphethies within. We the ‘e-class’ must move out and support him to make his numbers....eventually the chain reaction starts.
We must step forward practicaly rather than watching the situation and depressing ourselves. We have to take some bold and targeted steps in different stages. Firstly organize some compaign to encourage the people arround us for street mobilization….but “charity begins at home�!!!

Brickinthewall : Well said!!

Dear writer,

OK article, sounds genuine but lacks any real punch. Pakistan is in deep sh+t, we are losing territory to the turbaned ideologues. To make matters worse, we have idiots like IK who calls them heroes and chooses to ally himself with right-wing fanatics (JI). Maybe these rightwingers succeed, guess who will they hang first? Imran Khan the adulterer.

Two wrongs do not make a right. If Benazir and Nawaz Sharif were corrupt it should have been left to the people to reject them. That is what constitutes a democracy. President Musharraf came through the back door and his very first action was unconstitutional. How can we expect the rest of his actions to be otherwise. As for the saving bit, haven't we played the 'damsel in distress' part for too long? Lets take responsibility. If something happens to Pakistan, each one of us is accountable.

{"When the President made it clear on television, his was a choice between saving the country or democracy, thereby imposing emergency and gagging the media, it only added insult to injury. I wonder what qualifies him to be the knight in shinning armour to come save our ‘failed state’, in the first place."}

Maryam,
Thank you for a passionate and thought-provoking article. My comment about your statement, cited above, is that Mushy was that "knight in shining armor" back in 1999. If Bezamir Bhutni and Najaaiz Sharif had not been corrupt and misgoverned the country so blatantly and so ineptly there would not have been a Perv in power. Unfortunately, the country was almost bankrupt and the "democratically-elected" government of Pakistan was asking for charitable donations from citizens to keep the regime functioning.

How quickly Pakis forget the times when their bellies were not full and corrupt "democracy" was extremely unpopular. Motto is keep Pakis hungry with empty bellies and emptier wallets.

Yeah this is embarassing. I have never agreed with IK's right wing ideals but he is personally a great guy and its sad that he should be betrayed in this humiliating way by his own.

Poor Imran, no one to call from abroad for hsi release, if only Jamima could send some money to the paki generals.

Good one Maryam!!! This seems to have be your debut article on Chowk. Please keep it up.

You say:
"I wonder what qualifies him [MUSHARRAF] to be the knight in shinning armour to come save our ‘failed state’.."

I could not agree with you more.

In his farcical “election campaign� in September of this glorious year, Mushrraf “threatened� that he would take an increasing “professorial� role in the media.

He has already come through on that promise. He was on PTV yesterday to give a lecture to us on statehood.

Can you belive that?

What a joke!!! What an insult to the actual professors and academics!!!

Students at PU had great success in their Anti Jamiat rally, the Jamiat leadership was driven out, their offices ransacked and the rank and file is confused and distraught. On the other hand I would not classify Imran's politics as "radical right"- the Jamiat's politics, yes but not Imran's.

The incidence hopefully would actually instil much needed moderation in Imran Khan. He is good fellow though too much right wing. I respect him but his ideology is just too much on the right side and this incidence would open his eyes to the hypocricy and intolerance of radical right.
Good luck to Imran
He does have courage

IK needs to learn who his real friends are.