Mehvash Amin invites you to the launch of "The Fundamentals of Sufism" a book by Rehman Anwer at 3:30 pm on Wednesday, January 5, 2022 at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore (above Indesign, adjacent to Standard Chartered Bank). RSVP Mehvash Amin 0333 4771000.
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC)
‘Deals’ in the air
Rashed Rahman
Nothing in our blessed country is ever simple or straightforward. What appears to be ‘true’ very often turns out to be a figment of some overactive imagination. What appears ‘false’ is often turned into a ‘misunderstanding’, ‘misquote’ or ‘misinterpretation’. Spare a thought then for the ordinary citizen’s inability to sift truth from fiction or lies, and the subsequent confusion that follows almost inevitably.
The political atmosphere in the country has taken a sudden and unexpected turn that has given rise to a ‘buzz’ in the air about portentous events in the offing. Let us begin in sequence from the recent local bodies (LB) elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The province had come to be considered a stronghold of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) for having won the KP provincial elections (part of the general elections) for the past two terms. Extended incumbency, however, can often prove a double-edged sword. To put it mildly, the PTI has been administered a drubbing in these LB elections at the hands of its (now) main opposition in KP: the Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). The latter had virtually been written off as a force in its home base of KP in recent years, allegedly because the ubiquitous establishment no longer found Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s party as useful as it had proved during the Afghan wars of yesteryear.
The LBs election drubbing in KP is being considered a ‘signal’ from the establishment that the PTI can no longer assume it has its backing. So much for the by now overused ‘same page’ mantra. This interpretation makes sense if you consider the almost certain concern of the establishment that brought it to power through the allegedly manipulated and rigged 2018 general election that the PTI’s performance in office leaves much to be desired (to put it politely). The relatively free, fair and non-manipulated or -rigged LBs election in KP indicates the seeming strategy the establishment has now plumped for, three and a half years into the PTI’s incumbency. The establishment may have calculated that removing Imran Khan and his government ‘forcibly’ may provide him a handy response from on top his favourite container to argue that he was removed because he went after the alleged corrupt amongst the opposition leadership. This may accord him both the moral high ground and political momentum. Therefore the wiser course may be to let him fall under the weight of his own mistakes, inadequacies and bad performance in power. If the LBs elections in KP are any guide, this is a sure-shot strategy given the general disillusionment with the PTI government, centring around, but not necessarily confined to, the handling of the economy, a handling that has delivered precious little except galloping double-digit inflation, unemployment (hardly any investment to speak of) and failure to deliver on any of the much trumpeted social welfare policies around which the PTI’s election rhetoric revolved (the peanuts from Ehsaas and other dole-out programmes notwithstanding). Imran Khan’s (always) misplaced response: dissolve the entire PTI party structure, especially at the local level and ‘replace’ it with federal ministers! Imran Khan’s habitual misplaced concreteness has not been honest enough to admit its own bad governance is the main reason for the defeat, instead blaming local favouritism and wrong choice of candidates. The foisting of a highly centralised party structure has aroused resentment and grumbling at the grassroots level of the PTI in KP and arguably throughout the country. The efficacy or otherwise of this move will soon be tested in the Punjab LB elections.
The uncertainties about PTI’s future have also received a fillip from former Speaker of the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Ayaz Sadiq’s recent startling statement after returning from London where he met Nawaz Sharif that the latter would be returning to the country soon amidst a ‘big bang’. This ‘big bang’ remains as much a mystery to date as the one that theoretically gave birth to the Universe. Ayaz Sadiq confirmed that ‘non-political’ people had been meeting Nawaz Sharif in London of late, but confessed ignorance as to their identity or the content of these discussions. However, he did argue that this development made sense given that the establishment had realised it had blundered in foisting Imran Khan and the PTI on the country. Implied in this argument is the unstated but highly desirable outcome of future elections at all levels being relatively free and fair (at least till 2023).
As per by now the tired and familiar script, both the government spokespeople and the opposition are going hammer and tongs at each other over the possibility that Nawaz Sharif may return under a ‘deal’, which would have to include a review of the Supreme Court’s disqualification of Nawaz Sharif from holding public office for life, merely because he had not declared his iqama(residence and employment certificate) while in exile and was therefore found not sadiqand ameen(honest and truthful) as required by General Ziaul Haq’s inserted provisions in Articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution. But this is not the only possible ‘deal’ causing a stir. Asif Zardari too has chimed in with intriguing hints of being ‘approached’ to find a way out of the present political impasse.
What all this amounts to may be succinctly summed up with the observation that Pakistan’s polity has sunk to a new/old low: the incumbents are actual and chosen collaborators of the establishment while the opposition waiting in the wings is a potential collaborator. What a state the long-standing struggle for a genuine democracy has been reduced to.
When these lines appear, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) faithful will have flocked to Garhi Khuda Buksh to commemorate Benazir Bhutto’s assassination in 2007 after she returned from self-imposed exile. Unfortunately, the closure of this dastardly case has suffered the same fate as all other similar conspiracies in the past. The real culprits, including General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, are still beyond the reach of the law or justice. The case is still pending 14 years after the event. If a former prime minister’s murder case can suffer this kind of delay, what hope for justice for ordinary mortals? With her untimely death, Benazir Bhutto’s passing reflected the death of hope in our hearts, our longing for at least a civilised, democratic state and society.
With a heavy heart full of sorrow for the state of our beloved country, ‘Happy’ New Year.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
OIC conference on Afghanistan
Rashed Rahman
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) met in Islamabad on December 19, 2021 to discuss the Afghanistan humanitarian and economic crisis. The OIC decided to set up a Humanitarian Trust Fund and Food Security Programme to deal with the rapidly aggravating crisis. It also pledged to play a leading role in delivering humanitarian and development aid to the people of Afghanistan. This wording reflects the efforts of our Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan in his address to the conference to delink the 40 million Afghan people from the Taliban government. The former are in dire straits, the latter unrecognised, shunned, under sanctions, and with Afghanistan’s $ 9 billion reserves frozen by the US. Imran Khan has put forward this argument in the light of the world’s reservations about the Taliban government and its willingness, despite verbal assurances, to uphold human and women’s rights and forge an inclusive government. What to speak of ‘inclusive’, the present Taliban-only government (arguably true to its nature) has been charged recently with committing summary executions of former members of the Afghan security services all over the country.
Reportedly, there were expectations ahead of the OIC conference that it would evoke pledges, commitments and money for aiding the almost 23 million Afghan people facing food shortages (i.e. hunger), including 3.2 million most vulnerable children. However, those harbouring such hopes did not perhaps take into account the track record of the OIC in seldom being able to agree on anything (a Muslim house divided, therefore) or do anything worth mentioning in its 47-year existence. Sure enough, the only pledges forthcoming were $ 265 million from Saudi Arabia and $ 30 million from Pakistan. The rest was silence, ostensibly because, according to our redoubtable Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, countries that wanted to make aid pledges were hesitant to do so since there was no channel through which aid could be delivered (implying, again, the Taliban government could not play this role). The channel created, the Humanitarian Trust Fund and the Food Security Programme, would be hard put to it to implement their decision to set up the structures and means for aid delivery by March 2022. Even if that deadline is met, it may prove too late for the over half the population freezing and dying of hunger and malnutrition in what is proving to be an unusually harsh winter. Troubles, they say, never come except in batches. We must wait and see whether after these channels become functional, what the level of aid committed and delivered will be. To repeat oneself, the OIC has never done anything like this or even remotely mention-worthy so far in its existence.
Pakistan’s leadership, from COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa to PM Imran Khan and down the food chain, is warning the world of the implications of not aiding the Afghan people, including, according to our PM, the world’s worst man-made disaster. One is tempted to ask the PM who are the authors of this impending disaster? Whereas the US cannot avoid or deny its responsibility in the debacle of its 20-year war and occupation of Afghanistan, which ended precisely in the ignominy informed analysts had been predicting from the start, Pakistan’s role cannot be ignored either. Pakistan’s meddling and interventions through armed religious zealots since 1973 in Afghanistan’s internal affairs have produced the outcome of a medieval Taliban regime, isolated internationally and unable to govern meaningfully. In the process, whatever triumphalism and backslapping self-congratulation may be going on as a result of achieving this Pyrrhic victory, the Taliban’s isolation is wearing off on Pakistan too. In fact, as the proceedings of this OIC conference and Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts show, Pakistan’s establishment’s two dearest causes, Kashmir and a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, hardly raise a sympathetic murmur now in international diplomacy.
One headline in our press declares that the Islamic countries at this OIC conference are ‘one’ on helping Afghanistan. Even if one foregoes one’s scepticism regarding this claim, it may be sufficient to point out that currently, this ‘one’ Islamic world is virtually silent except for lip service on Kashmir, and is witnessing an obscene stampede by one Arab country after another to recognize Israel and betray the Palestinian cause. What price ‘oneness’?!
The truth lies in the almost daily dose of news about women and minority nationalities in Afghanistan raising voice and protesting at their treatment and denial of rights. Witness the queues of hundreds of Afghans seeking passports to leave the country as soon as the Taliban government revived the service. Some seek urgent medical treatment abroad, most seek to escape from the dreadful antediluvian order imposed on them by a backward religious extremist Taliban whose best (or worst) has yet to come.
Islamic State (IS) may be posing the most immediate and potent threat to the Taliban regime as witnessed in their continuing terrorist bombing campaign, but one should not prematurely write off the anti-Taliban resistance that has perforce had to retreat to safe havens in Tajikistan. As Taliban rule unfolds in all its ugly manifestations, more and more ethnic minority nationalities, religious minorities (particularly Shias), women and others are poised to join, or be pushed, into the arms of the resistance.
It ain’t over yet.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
Dear friends,
As proposed earlier, the first meeting of the broad platform we would like to see emerging in the country under the suggested title "Coalition of the Oppressed" was held at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC) Lahore on December 18, 2021. Unfortunately the turnout was below the widespread support the idea had attracted in the first instance. This could be because people forgot, were distracted or busy, or reflect the general apathy our society appears to have fallen into. Nevertheless, the meeting went ahead, with Rashed Rahman introducing and mooting the idea of a broad coalition of workers, peasants, oppressed nationalities, women, youth, students, religious minorities and all other oppressed communities. Difficult as the task appeared to the participants in the obtaining circumstances and political atmosphere, the consensus that emerged after the discussion was to broaden our engagement and appeal, prepare to hold similar meetings in all the major cities of the country, and only contemplate some organisational structure after this round of consultations is over and the sense of the discussions can light the way forward.
Further updates will be presented as this initiative goes forward and unfolds. Thanks to all those who attended, and hope that those who were unable to make it will contact us and be open to future interactions.
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore.
Cells: +92 302 8482737 (WhatsApp) & +92 333 4216335. Email: rashed.rahman1@gmail.com
Gwadar reflects Balochistan’s cruel deprivation
Rashed Rahman
Almost a month after the people of Gwadar have been protesting in the thousands in the streets, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has finally woken up to the “very legitimate” demands of the protestors. Imran Khan has vowed to take ‘strong’ action against the illegal fishing by trawlers that has deprived the poor fishermen of Gwadar of their already precarious livelihood. Promising to speak to Chief Minister (CM) Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo on the issue, the PM may or may not be aware that some (if not all) of the ‘illegal’ trawlers are Chinese, whose fishing activities in the sea off the Gwadar coast have been tacitly allowed by the authorities. This ‘bonanza’ is no doubt part of our grovelling gratitude to the Chinese for making Gwadar Port the flagship project of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The ‘strong’ action promised by Imran Khan may have unforeseen negative effects on the already strained relations between Pakistan and China over the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government’s perceived foot dragging over CPEC and its projects.
The list of 19 demands by the Gwadar protestors reflect not only their anger and disappointment over the much vaunted CPEC development of the port ignoring the people of the area and their basic rights. These 19 demands include stopping illegal fishing by foreign trawlers, removal of the Gwadar Development Authority Director General as well as Pasni’s Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner, restoration of cross-border trade with Iran (the sole means of earning for many in the region), provision of clean drinking water, closure of wine shops (a demand owed no doubt to Maulana Hidayatur Rehman, Balochistan general secretary of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and the leader of the Gwadar protests), jobs, job quota for the disabled, free 300 units of electricity and boats and vehicles confiscated under the Customs Act to be returned to their owners.
Adviser to the CM on Home and Tribal Affairs Mir Ziaullah Langau resorted to the wearingly familiar tactic of throwing dust in the eyes of the protestors by claiming that the Balochistan government had already fulfilled most of the 19 demands! In other words, in Mir Ziaullah Langau’s eyes, the protestors are mad to continue their campaign. One report says the only demand that appears to have been fulfilled so far is the closure of wine shops. The track record of the most crucial demand, clean drinking water, without which life itself is impossible, indicates the seriousness of the authorities in redressing the genuine deprivations of the people of Gwadar. Balochistan is suffering from an acute drinking water crisis, in which 70 percent of the province has been hit, with Gwadar in the worst predicament. The Ankara Dam was built in 1994 to provide water to 35,000 people in the Gwadar area but dried up four times. Lack of maintenance has led to the loss of half of its storage capacity. In the last two years, three Chinese-funded dams have been completed, while two are under construction as part of CPEC. Unfortunately though, none of these is connected to Gwadar. In 2015-16, a desalination plant was provided to Gwadar to supply 1.1 million litres of water against a target of 7.5 million litres. Currently, no desalination plants are operational. Water tankers from Mirani Dam have to be relied upon, no doubt accompanied by the tender ministrations of the ‘tanker mafia’. The long standing issue has consistently fallen on deaf ears. The only reason Imran Khan has woken up to Gwadar’s misery, and that too after a month, is the size of the protests, which have broken through traditional tribal norms with the incredible number of Baloch women seen in the protests.
If the five-star hotel in Gwadar was not affront enough to the poor and deprived people of the area, we now hear that the cost of the new Gwadar airport has risen by 550 percent. In the face of the poverty and deprivation of rights of the people of Balochistan, nothing but the usual mish-mash of promises, promises (never fulfilled), is fed to them by the authorities. Empty gestures and promises remind the Baloch people of the history of broken promises (some bordering on the treacherous) to which they have been subjected since Pakistan’s independence. Is it any surprise then that Balochistan is in the grip of the fifth nationalist insurgency since Pakistan came into being?
Awami Workers Party and Baloch Muttahida Mahaz president Yousuf Mustikhan was invited to address the rally of the protestors. He delivered a speech that reminded the audience of the Baloch people’s long standing grievances, including the forcible annexation of Balochistan to Pakistan in 1947-48, the province’s gas being ‘stolen’ since 1953, etc. He ended with a rhetorical verbal flourish that the Baloch people are considered ‘slaves’ in Pakistan but they will not bow to this status. These are hardly new revelations. They have been in the public space for decades. Nevertheless, Yousuf Mustikhan was arrested a day after his speech on December 8, 2021 from his hotel and charged under numerous ‘anti-state’ provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code. The arrest of an elderly leader who is also a cancer sufferer provoked widespread condemnation, with a bevy of lawyers rushing to his aid and managing to have him released on bail on December 10, 2021. Maulana Hidayatur Rehman responded to this development by stating that they are not afraid of arrests, but the attitude of the authorities is pushing their peaceful protest towards violence. This last may not be mere rhetoric since reports say thousands of police are being sent to Gwadar from other districts to maintain ‘law and order’.
The Gwadar protest has no intention of being seduced and misled by the familiar refrain of the authorities’ promises of redress. In an astonishing turnaround, the JI, hitherto never considered a strong party in Balochistan, has to its credit tapped into the long standing life and death concerns of the people of Gwadar, including its women, and produced a sustained protest by thousands of people for a month, with no sign of fatigue or giving up until the promises of the authorities are translated into reality on the ground. The JI’s taking the lead on these issues (owed a great deal to the fact that Maulana Hidayatur Rehman comes from a poor fishing family background) has caused a great deal of heartburn and gnashing of teeth amongst the Baloch nationalist parties, who complacently perhaps regarded the area as their exclusive political preserve. Perhaps the shock of being displaced if not replaced by the JI in this unprecedented protest campaign is just the medicine they need to get off their hands and engage with the people of Balochistan, beset by a mountain of complaints, deprivations and injustices. History does not wait for anyone.
The 1905 unsuccessful revolutionary uprising in Tsarist Russia was inspired by a protest march for bread led by a Father Gapon, suspected of being a Tsarist spy. The protest procession was attacked by the Tsar’s troops, a massacre to be dubbed ‘Bloody Sunday’ followed, and fed directly into the revolutionary upsurge. Although it was eventually crushed by Tsarist absolutism, 1905 proved the ‘dress rehearsal’ for 1917, throwing up in the process the new form of political organisation called soviets (councils) of workers, peasants and soldiers. Maulana Hidayatur Rehman may be no Father Gapon, but he has certainly lit a torch that if not handled carefully, could produce unexpected results and fallouts.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
The December 2021 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out. Link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com
Contents:
1. Rashed Rahman: The National Question in Marxism – V.
2. Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri: A comparative tale of Indian communism in Kerala and West Bengal: elections, governance and performance.
3. Dr Farhat Taj: Strategic Depth Approach – Inadequate Explanation of the Afghan Challenge.
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore.
Cells: +92 302 8482737 (WhatsApp) & +92 333 4216335.
Dear friends,
Given the rise of religious extremism as seen recently in the Charsadda and Sialkot blasphemy cases, and given the mainstreaming of TLP and accommodation of the TTP, and in the light of our failed efforts over the last 4 years to unite the Left and nationalists, not to mention the Left itself, there is a suggestion that the very real threat to democracy and progressive politics should be countered by creating a broad front of workers, peasants, oppressed nationalities, women, students, youth, religious minorities and any other oppressed community to be called a Coalition of the Oppressed. Since the response to this suggestion has been generally positive and encouraging, a meeting to discuss the proposal will be held at the Research and Publication Centre (RPC), 2nd floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore on Saturday, December 18, 2021 at 3:00 pm. Kindly respond to give us an idea how many friends will be attending and need to be catered for. Tea will be served.
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre, 2nd floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore.
Cells: +92 302 8482737 (WhatsApp) & +92 333 4216335
Email: rashed.rahman1@gmail.com
Link to my address "Pakistan ki maujuda siyasi soorat-i-haal aur Left" to the NSF Punjab Study and Organising School November 28, 2021:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=316801576932172&id=100068450438563
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC)
Slippery slope of descent into barbarism
Rashed Rahman
The Sialkot incident in which a Sri Lankan factory manager, Priyantha Kumara, was brutally bludgeoned to death by an enraged mob of the factory’s workers for alleged blasphemy and his body dragged into the street and burnt has elicited cries of shame, expressions of disgust, and the usual laments about this having nothing to do with religion, across the board. The universal shock, horror and outrage is understandable, given the extreme brutality on display, but this is neither the first such incident in our country nor, given the rise of extremist religious ideas, likely to be the last. Nearly half a century of ‘accommodating’, encouraging and using the religious card for internal political and external strategy considerations has unleashed this Frankenstein’s monster that even its authors are unable to control, let alone eliminate. One cannot help but ask, Quo Vadis,the Quaid’s secular, non-religious state?
The case, it seems from reports, involves the attempt by a strict disciplinarian foreign manager to overcome our lack of efficient work culture, a minimum requirement for an enterprise exporting to famous brand houses in the world. On the day in question, Kumara inspected the factory premises, pulled up the cleaning staff for inefficient working, and removed posters from walls that had to be whitewashed. Amongst them was a religious poster. Although after some workers protested at this (inadvertent) blasphemy Kumara apologised, but some amongst the workers present nevertheless instigated them to attack Kumara. He fled to save himself to the roof but fate had decreed a violent death for him at the hands of a now swelling mob, including, it is reported, some outsiders. A colleague, Malik Adnan, tried to shield and save Kumara from his attackers, but even he was bludgeoned, though thankfully not seriously enough to kill him. His valiant efforts have been recognised by the authorities, and he has been awarded a Tamgha-i-Shujaat,the civil award for bravery. The worst outcome was reserved for Kumara, whose brains were bludgeoned out of his skull and then his dead body (half naked) dragged out in the street and set on fire.
The wonderful local police force arrived with an officer and three constables in tow, only to be reduced to passive bystanders in the face of a by now overwhelming mob. Our police are in any case normally wary of intervening in such outbreaks of religious violence since they fear being labelled blasphemers too. In the recent Tehrik-i-Labaiq Pakistan (TLP) confrontations, the death of seven of their compatriots without even a whimper of consolation from the authorities has probably persuaded the police in such situations to double their concern about their own safety first. So much for our law enforcement. Madness grips people on such occasions, partly at least because they have little faith in our justice system providing justice. Blasphemy accused Asia Bibi’s lawyer, Saiful Mulook, out of the best motives, suggests the army or paramilitary should have been called out, given the universally acknowledged truth that our police cannot handle such incidents. But his demand is belied by the role of the Rangers called out in support of the police in the TLP confrontations, which ended up as a mere ‘presence’, without risk or meaningful action.
The course of rising religious extremism cannot, it seems, be diverted to saner channels, let alone quelled by the so-called ‘moderate’ ulemausually in the service of the state. The arguments in Islam about the correct interpretation of the Quran and the Prophet’s (PBUH) message are as old as the religion itself. Extremist interpretation in the service of the monarchies that emerged after Islam spread into an empire remain a fact of life and feed into today’s extremist positions. Even a cursory glance at the Prophet’s (PBUH) behaviour with and attitude towards those who insulted and abused him (early days) and those accused of apostasy (later), would disabuse us of the notion that barbaric behaviour of the sort witnessed in Sialkot has anything to do with our faith.
Examine cursorily the track record of persecution and killings on alleged blasphemy charges. The Supreme Court, in its judgement exonerating Asia Bibi on blasphemy charges in October 2018 revealed that 62 people had been killed over the years since the dark night of Ziaul Haq’s reign on blasphemy allegations without any recourse to even our flawed justice system. Recently, a mentally challenged man was accused of burning pages of the Quran in Charsadda. Though the police in this instance guarded and saved him from a bloodthirsty mob, they suffered two police stations burned down in retaliation. In 2012, Rimsha Masih, aged 12, was accused of blasphemy but was fortunate to be finally exonerated. Mashal Khan was killed by fellow students who alleged he had posted blasphemous material. Shama and Shazad, a brick kiln couple, were burnt alive in 2014 by being thrown into the kiln where they worked for alleged blasphemy. And let us not forget Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, who was gunned down by his security guard in Islamabad merely for defending falsely accused Asia Bibi. The assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, emptied his automatic weapon into Taseer’s body, calmly reloaded and discharged a second magazine into the victim. The other members of the Governor’s security detail did not even fire a single shot at the assailant, who just as calmly, after the grisly murder, put down his weapon and surrendered. So much for our security structure. Mumtaz Qadri today has a shrine over his grave, erected by the Barelvis, the sect to whom he belonged, and who have now emerged as the TLP to be ‘mainstreamed’ and used as the latest incarnation of our establishment’s undying love affair with religious extremist groups.
Blasphemy today stands weaponised and is used for perfectly mundane earthly purposes such as a land grab, revenge, or some other motivated reason. It has little to do with religion, if it ever did. The Prophet’s (PBUH) honour, respect and dignity resides deep in our hearts as Muslims. But we cannot deviate from his path down the slippery slope of barbarism without forfeiting our claim to be his devout followers.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
Dear friends,
Given the rise of religious extremism as seen recently in the Charsadda and Sialkot blasphemy cases, and given the mainstreaming of TLP and accommodation of the TTP, and in the light of our failed efforts over the last 4 years to unite the Left and nationalists, not to mention the Left itself, there is a suggestion that the very real threat to democracy and progressive politics should be countered by creating a broad front of workers, peasants, oppressed nationalities, women, students, youth, religious minorities and any other oppressed community to be called a Coalition of the Oppressed. Friends are requested to respond to the suggestion of holding an informal gathering to discuss the general situation and the idea of creating such a Coalition. Depending on the response, a meeting will be called at the Research and Publication Centre to concretise the idea. All responses, even critical ones, are welcome.
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre, 2nd floor, 65 Main Boulevard Gulberg, Lahore.
Asma Jahangir Conference 2021 – II
Rashed Rahman
After the first day’s explosive inaugural session on the judiciary’s role, past and present, the run of sessions of the Asma Jahangir Conference 2021 (AJC21) on The Right to Dissent (practiced in the breach in our polity), The Afghan Crisis and its Impact, Violence Against Women, Rights of the Child, Accountability or Victimisation? (Moderated by this writer), and a whole host of subjects (21 sessions in all) related to human, legal and constitutional rights comprehensively covered the concerns that Asma Jahangir would have had today had she not left us in untimely fashion. The entire gamut of discussions reflected the legacy bequeathed to us by Asma Jahangir, that indefatigable fighter for truth, justice, and against oppression of all kinds.
However, the proceedings ended on a note that left the participants and the public musing on how things stand and are handled in our country. The AJC21 organisers had invited former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to address via an online link. They had also invited Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry to address the same final session. However, the worthy minister cancelled his appearance when he learnt that Nawaz Sharif would be addressing the conference. Lo and behold, soon after the address by Nawaz Sharif started, the conference’s internet connection was severed by cutting the necessary cables. Munizae Jahangir, the daughter of Asma Jahangir and one of the main organisers, ascribed this development to the habits of ‘rats’, i.e. chewing through cables and such stuff. However, later it was revealed that the ‘rats’ in question were ‘official’ ones. That left no choice but to take Nawaz Sharif’s speech on the telephone, without the aid of any video or picture being available.
Did Nawaz Sharif say anything new or different from his narrative since being removed from office by the superior judiciary and disqualified for holding an iqama(residence and employment permit) that did not involve any monetary gain? Not really, nor was this anticipated. However, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government was so rattled by Nawaz Sharif being allowed to address the conference that everyone from Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan to his ministers and spokespeople went to town in condemning AJC21’s invitation to the deposed PM. Imran Khan thought it inappropriate that a convicted absconder had been allowed to address a conference where the Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmad also spoke. The fact, however, is that the conviction by the Supreme Court is certainly questionable on the grounds of judicial and legal appropriateness (even if appeal against it is not available) and the ‘absconder’ was allowed by Imran Khan’s government itself to proceed to London for medical treatment. Therefore if there is any angst in government circles about Nawaz Sharif now being beyond their reach, they have only themselves to blame (and kick).
The AJC21 organisers have defended their decision to invite Nawaz Sharif to address the closing session, citing their past precedent of inviting opposition (and government) leaders to address it. They have denied the charge of any partisan agenda, arguing they offer a platform for all shades of opinion to speak openly on issues impacting the rule of law and protection of fundamental freedoms. They also pointed out that the Pakistan Electronic Media Authority (PEMRA) had banned certain categories of individuals from being broadcast on television, but no such prohibition applied to addressing public gatherings. In fact Nawaz Sharif had addressed such gatherings previously without any objection from the authorities.
Why then, in spite of all these obvious but seemingly once again necessary to reiterate facts, has the government taken such umbrage at Nawaz Sharif’s address that they tried to stop but failed? The real reason is the current looming political crisis in the country and Nawaz Sharif’s position. Nawaz Sharif may have been a product of the military establishment, which manoeuvred to bring him to power on the argument that Pakistan’s history was replete with leaders from all other provinces, but not Punjab. Since the establishment felt confident of its political and social base in Punjab, the thinking was that a leader from Punjab, suitably groomed to do the establishment’s bidding and follow its directives, would be a very important departure from the past of Urdu-speaking, Bengali, Sindhi and Pashtun leaders.
However, in their shortsighted manipulative approach, the worthies of the establishment failed to take note of, or understand, the dynamic of power. Having been elected PM three times, Nawaz Sharif’s desire to be vested with the authority that should accompany the highest elected office brought him again and again into conflict with the establishment, with the military at its heart. The core issue on which the two sides fell apart again and again was Nawaz Sharif, as a capitalist entrepreneur, seeing the interests of the country being better served by a rapprochement with India that would soften the Line of Control and international borders to allow the Kashmiri people to be relieved of the extreme repression by the Indian state, while opening up the enormous potential for trade and investment across the borders to the mutual benefit of both traditionally hostile neighbours.
Was this desire for normalisation and economic cooperation with India sufficient irritation for the establishment to conspire to throw him out of office thrice and convict, disqualify and imprison him? It would appear so. The core reason for this perception may be the implications of peace and normalisation with India. Such a development would inevitably, sooner or later, call into question the need for such a large army, on which the country spends an enormous budget out of defence and security concerns. A leaner, meaner army could then be considered better, without sacrificing the ability of the country to defend itself and deal with internal security threats such as terrorism. But a paring of the army (and consequently its budget) would not sit well with the perception of the military establishment that it is the guarantor not only of external defence, but also the internal system of governance to be imposed according to the establishment’s wisdom.
The fact that none of the interventions by the military establishment in the politics of the country have ended well suggests that Nawaz Sharif, despite his failings, has landed currently on the right side of history.
(Concluded)
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
Asma Jahangir Conference 2021 – I
Rashed Rahman
After a hiatus of two years brought on by the Covid pandemic that forced postponement last year, the Asma Jahangir Conference 2021 (AJC21) was held in Lahore on November 20-21, 2021. The Asma Jahangir Conference has become an eagerly awaited event in a milieu in which free expression is conspicuous by its absence in an incrementally worsening manner. Over two days, the speakers and audience were regaled with views that otherwise have become virtually non-existent in our polity. There were so many sessions packed into these two days, some held simultaneously, that space constraints make mention of, let alone doing justice to, the valuable contributions to the discussions difficult. For this lapse, apologies to those not considered or adequately dealt with in these lines, without meaning in any way to depreciate their invaluable input.
Day one of the AJC21 saw more than its fair share of fireworks. The first, inaugural session was on “The Role of Judiciary in Protecting Human Rights and Strengthening Democracy”, with a whole galaxy of the country’s top legal minds in attendance. The panel of speakers boasted the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, Supreme Court (SC) and high court judges, the Bar, diplomats, etc. The tone was set by a fiery speech by former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) and a leading figure in the 2007 lawyers’ movement in support of the judiciary against military dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s attack on the venerable institution, Ali Ahmad Kurd. The bee in Mr Kurd’s bonnet seemed to reflect his disappointment and anger at the dashing of the hopes accompanying the restoration of the judiciary in 2008 amidst Musharraf’s ignominious departure from power that the appropriate lessons had been learnt by the superior judiciary from the 2007 events as much as the past controversial role of the judiciary vis-Ã -vis military dictatorships and the people’s constitutional and human rights. Expressing his deep seated anger during his speech, Mr Kurd did not spare anyone. The AJC21 organisers were taken to task for the very title of the session and its implications. “What judiciary are you talking about?” Kurd challenged the organisers. He then went on to assail the judiciary for the state of affairs in our judicial system. He claimed our judiciary was on the lowest in world rankings because of its controversial functioning. He further claimed a division within the judiciary (without explicating the basis of this division). Disparagingly, he said one army General was superior to the 220 million citizens of the country, contributing thereby to the perceived lack of credibility of our judiciary in the world rankings.
Kurd’s uninhibited lambasting caused unease amongst the organisers, not the least because CJP Gulzar Ahmad was in attendance as the chief guest and keynote speaker for the session, but also because Kurd’s fiery rhetoric evoked constant sloganeering from the audience, particularly its younger component and students. It was left to SCBA current president Ahsan Bhoon (recently elected to his post) to intervene and ask the participants to show respect and maintain the decorum of the event.
Amongst the other speeches in this session, there were two that stood out in stark contrast. Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Athar Minallah (also a former heavyweight of the lawyers’ movement) threw away his prepared speech in favour of addressing impromptu the criticism levelled by Kurd. To his credit, despite being one of the top judges of the present judicial structure, CJ Minallah struck an honest note in arguing that the judiciary could not refuse to accept its mistakes. As examples of such mistakes, he quoted the Nusrat Bhutto and Zafar Ali Shah verdicts of the SC (the first was the controversial trial and hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto). Had he wished to, CJ Minallah could have found many other examples stemming from the Doctrine of Necessity that provided justification for military coups, martial laws and military dictatorships in our troubled history. Perhaps CJ Minallah exercised deliberate restraint despite his exemplary honesty. Following on at the end of the session, CJP Gulzar Ahmad attempted to defend his institution by dismissing the overly broad and generalised critique of the judicial system implied in Kurd’s remarks. He then turned the argument towards his own and his fellow judges of the superior judiciary’s mode of dispensing justice without fear or favour or accepting any pressure or dictation. While it is possible to agree with CJP Gulzar Ahmad’s assertions, he chose to ignore the elephant in the room from the past to which CJ Minallah had (partially) pointed.
While discussing the judiciary and its mistakes and failings in our history, CJP Gulzar Ahmad’s desire not to throw the baby out with the bath water, thereby preserving the respect and credibility of the institution, is perfectly understandable. However, this may not satisfy the trenchant critics of the judiciary’s history like Ali Ahmad Kurd. Only a reckoning with the past, and efforts not to repeat previous mistakes can restore and even enhance the respect, dignity and credibility of our judicial institutions.
(To be continued)
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
Let the people speak
Rashed Rahman
The situation in the country can only be described as the fortunes of the imposed government of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) increasingly dwindling, with the beleaguered incumbents increasingly feeling the invisible noose tightening around their necks. A quick survey of the present scenario is troubling, to say the least. The PTI government’s negotiations with the terrorist Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), brokered by the Afghan Taliban government after its refusal of Pakistan’s request to either take action against the TTP ensconced on Afghan soil or expel it, have yielded contrasting demands from either side, according to news reports. For example, while the TTP insists on demands like the implementation of sharia, the PTI government insists the TTP must lay down its arms to be granted amnesty. These positions are so diametrically apart as to cast grave doubts on the efficacy of the TTP offer of a one-month ceasefire (the offer has yet to be implemented, since cross-border and in-country attacks by the TTP have yet to end).
Meanwhile the Tehreek-i-Labaiq Pakistan (TLP) has been forgiven for its use of egregious violence that led to the deaths of at least seven policemen. Not only that the leadership and incarcerated supporters of the TLP are in the process of being released without any action against them, the process of mainstreaming and legitimising the TLP is moving forward. Critics are wary of the possibility that behind the ‘rehabilitation’ of the TLP lies another establishment gambit to position the TLP as a fallback option, either in coalition with the ruling PTI for the 2023 general elections, or on its own as the reportedly fourth largest party in the country. What effect this will have on the polity can be gauged from the track record of religion’s rise in our political affairs since General Ziaul Haq’s regime.
The people are groaning under galloping inflation traceable to the inept handling of the economy by the PTI government. The virtually daily dose of price rises for food, gas, electricity, petrol and everything else you can think of has broken the back of the poor and put immense pressure on all other classes’ purse. Apart from foolish moves such as first resisting but eventually accepting the new DG ISI incumbent, removing a retired General as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia just months after his appointment, the appalling record of the PTI government on the economic front have all seemingly converged to cast a shadow on the ‘same page’ mantra. That is why the speculation about the TLP’s future role in politics gathers more gravitas than usual.
Meanwhile an opposition rejuvenated by the government’s failures is gearing up for a renewed series of protests leading to the by now almost inevitable long march on Islamabad. The fractured opposition has mended some fences, allowing it to put up a united, and therefore effective, resistance to the bulldozing tactics of the government in parliament. The miffed Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) seem poised on the cusp of a reconciliation, if not a return of the PPP to the PDM ranks. As one more example of this government’s brutish attitudes, federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar’s threat to use the danda(knout) against the opposition if it marches on Islamabad included the same treatment to journalists since the media is allegedly in cahoots with the opposition! Needless to say, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has roundly condemned the Minister’s statement as undemocratic, fascist, and aimed at suppressing a free media and dissident voices.
The change in direction of the wind is indicated by the PTI government’s allies such as the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) distancing themselves from the incumbent government. This could reflect the disquiet in the establishment regarding the fumbling PTI government, but also points to the allies’ fears about their fate in the next general elections. It needs to be remembered that without these allies, the PTI government does not have a majority in the National Assembly. These developments have strengthened the case of the PPP for attempting an incremental in-house change or defeat of the government through a no-confidence strategy. Shahbaz Sharif, the Leader of the Opposition, seems of late to have veered towards the PPP point of view in this regard.
As if all this were not considerable food for thought, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was summoned by the Supreme Court (SC) and a barrage of questions and comments thrown at him regarding the failure of the government (and arguably the state) to bring those responsible for the security lapses that resulted in the Army Public School Peshawar massacre in 2014 despite the passage of seven years. What was left unsaid by the honourable SC and the PM in this one-sided ‘exchange’ was the difficulty in bringing the high and mighty named as responsible for the tragedy to accountability and justice.
But this was not the only shocking development on the judicial front. The former Chief Justice (CJ) of Gilgit-Baltistan, Justice Rana M Shamim has sworn an affidavit on November 10, 2021 claiming that he was a witness to the then Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar’s ‘order’ on the telephone to a high court judge (who remains unnamed so far) not to release Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz on bail at any cost before the 2018 general elections. Although former CJP Saqib Nisar, whose tenure gave birth to many controversies about his overstepping judicial limits, has denied the report, the proverbial sh** has hit the fan. The electronic media has gone virtually berserk on the issue, and the print media must be gearing up to follow suit in depth since the odd report on this conundrum will not suffice.
The above brief survey of happenings and emerging trends points in only one direction. The days of the PTI government seem numbered. How it will fall, and who will be the authors of the final push out of the corridors of power attracts as many theories as the growing numbers of inveighed commentators. This juncture must be worrying the government’s establishment backers, who logically must be burning some midnight oil in their war games rooms to plan ahead for the seemingly looming transition. If they have the capacity to learn from past experience, in the long term interests of the country, they should take their foot off the political accelerator and allow the people to speak through a fair and free election as a minimum demand. Establishment interference in, and domination of, the democratic political process has spawned nothing but crises. Each one gets worse with time. Only a consistent, genuine, permanent adherence to the people’s will can save Pakistan from a fate worse than death: perpetual crises, instability and mayhem, which must inevitably one day engender an irretrievable disaster.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
Lull before fresh storms
Rashed Rahman
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government is increasingly hemmed in by problems and issues, all crises largely of its own making. The ‘ban’ on the Tehreek-i-Labaiq Pakistan (TLP) has been revoked just six months after it was imposed by a federal cabinet decision that reports say elicited strong dissent from some ministers. Such disquiet over the end outcome of the government’s bluster, climb down and final surrender are understandable since such agreements in the past have not produced the desired results because such militant outfits soon go back to their violent confrontationist ways. This time, the TLP claimed at least seven police scalps in an unprecedentedly violent series of mass protests. It is said the establishment is behind the agreement whose details have been kept secret, with critical observers wondering whether this reversal of its proscription and mainstreaming of TLP means the establishment has some political purpose in its bag of tricks to use this militant outfit to control the national narrative, confine it within religious parameters, and use the TLP against the mainstream opposition. As in the past, there are few who do not believe that the government will soon rue its abject surrender.
If there are innocent souls who believe the government’s rhetoric that the agreement with the TLP was necessary under the circumstances, in the greater national interest and for the sake of peace, let them chew on the news that the same government is in talks with the even more ferocious Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) for an agreement to halt its attacks from across the Afghan border and its actions by its cells within Pakistan. Reportedly, it is the Afghan Taliban who have brokered these talks. The terms so far available are that the TTP is dangling a one-month ceasefire before the government in exchange for the release of its incarcerated cadres. Severe objections to such a course have come from the parents of the slain schoolchildren in the Army Public School, Peshawar massacre by the TTP, as well as the families of other victims of the TTP’s bloody terrorist campaign. Even if this agreement comes through, what is the guarantee the TTP will not revert to its customary terrorist violence once its workers are set free? This has been the trajectory of every agreement with the TTP since 2004.
These are not the only issues portending an even more difficult time for this government. The opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is gearing up for another series of protests leading up to a long march on Islamabad despite the falling out with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and divisions within the main PDM component, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). The PPP and PDM seem inclined to consider a rapprochement while the internal rift of the PML-N remains, but under wraps.
Meanwhile its opponents have much material to lambast the PTI government with. The Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP’s) report on the Daska by-election reads like an indictment of the government for trying to rig the election. Considering the manipulation by the establishment of the 2018 general elections that brought the PTI to power, it is worth considering whether the ubiquitous establishment adopted a ‘hands off’ policy vis-Ã -vis the Daska by-polls. The establishment may not be happy with the PTI government’s, and particularly Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s attempt to challenge the appointment of the new Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Although the PM finally succumbed to the establishment’s wishes in this respect, the military brass may feel offended at his ‘courage’. The ECP report seems to have put paid to the credibility of the PTI government’s tall talk about electoral reforms and using electronic voting machines, issues on which the opposition and the ECP both had reservations.
Then there is the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance. This has effectively reduced the Chairman NAB to an office in which the incumbent serves at the executive’s pleasure, i.e. the PM can remove him and the President is bound to obey the PM’s advice. Previously, the power of removal of the NAB Chairman lay with the Supreme Judicial Council. The Supreme Court Bar Association and other lawyers’ bodies have already declared they will challenge the Ordinance in the Supreme Court. One wonders whether the PTI government in its wisdom has taken this step to pre-empt the possibility that the by now controversial NAB anti-corruption campaign aimed so far at the opposition may turn against it or at least some sitting ministers. Were this to happen, it could be another signal of the establishment’s unhappiness with the incumbent government.
The economic management of the PTI government is another case in point of self-inflicted wounds. The price of sugar has increased 200 percent in the last three years of the PTI government and the commodity still faces consumers with availability issues. The Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) repeated fiascos also point to the sheer incompetence of PM Imran Khan and his team.
Had the establishment not foolishly thrown all its eggs in Imran Khan’s basket, they would have been spared their current blushes. Having relegated the opposition to the margins through an anti-corruption crusade that despite the tall claims of recoveries by NAB turns out to be peanuts, the establishment’s embarrassment at the arguably most incompetent government in Pakistan’s history would be turning many a face red. Currently, the establishment is stuck on the horns of a dilemma. If they stick with Imran Khan and company, they risk having the blemishes of this government tarnishing their reputation too. If they abandon him, now or after two years, they could also come in for some stick at the bar of public opinion. This now is a classic case of damned if you, damned if you don’t.
What our establishment needs to learn, and there is more than enough experience in our past for this purpose, is that every manipulation of the political scene engenders a bigger crisis tomorrow. The establishment may be able to ride such crises out, but the damage to the country returning to square one again and again is simply incalculable. Pakistan desperately needs, at least as a minimum, a credible, democratic system. This actually poses little or no threat to the dominance of the establishment. It does, however, promise the evolution of a consensual system that lays down the rules of the political game through reliance on the will of the people, not elevated non-elected individuals or institutions.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
The wages of appeasement
Rashed Rahman
Once again, the Tehreek-i-Labaiq Pakistan (TLP) has wrested a ‘compromise’ agreement from the sitting government after a violent protest movement bolstered by its repeatedly demonstrated street power. This time, though, the level of TLP violence against the police reached new heights, including the use of deadly weapons. As on previous such occasions, the details of the agreement have not been made public. Mufti Muneebur Rehman, one of the leading ulema of the Barelvi sect that TLP belongs to and who was inducted along with other Barelvi ulema to help conduct negotiations with the TLP, said the details would be revealed at an ‘appropriate time’.
From sketchy reports, it appears that the agreement is an attempted halfway house (again) that attempts to persuade the TLP to give up its long march on Islamabad in return for the release of its leader Saad Rizvi and hundreds of his supporters arrested during the two-week confrontation. The TLP’s long march to Islamabad remains encamped at Wazirabad, although the protestors are packing up while awaiting instructions from their leadership. The government has set up a committee to oversee the implementation of the agreement.
Chances are the TLP demand for expulsion of the French Ambassador if not cutting off diplomatic relations with France over the repeated publication of blasphemous caricatures will be defused by reference to parliament, as an earlier agreement had promised. The French Ambassador is no longer in the country and reports say the former incumbent has been posted as French Ambassador to Egypt.
Since its formation in 2015 by the late Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the TLP has conducted seven violent protests, causing economic losses of some Rs 35 billion, apart from paralysing cities and their functioning. Each time, the government of the day has attempted compromise agreements to defuse the protests, which keep springing back time and time again on the grounds that the terms of the accord have not been met. Informed observers view the emergence of the TLP as apiece with the establishment’s unreconstructed habit of playing with the fire of extremist religious groups for one purpose or another, with the by now almost inevitable result of these establishment proxies slipping off the leash as their strength and power increases. Then follow the mixed messages (and actions) of repression, retreat, compromise, soon to be followed by the by now familiar pattern of return to challenges to the writ of the state.
This pattern is discernible in the reliance in the past on the Deobandi sect for so-called jihad in Afghanistan, a venture that gave birth to the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), with tragic and bloody consequences. Some analysts read the emergence and attempted mainstreaming of the TLP as reliance on the dominantly majority Barelvi sect to offset Deobandi extremism through recourse to the Barelvis’ adherence historically to Sufi Islam. However, the brew has boiled over to make the erstwhile peaceful Barelvis another militant religious outfit in the avatar of the TLP.
Playing with religious groups of one denomination or another is the favourite ploy of the establishment to control the national narrative and meet critical, especially progressive voices’ challenge through recourse to a religious narrative. In the process, the multiplying threats to the security of the state and (flawed) democratic system have failed to teach any lessons to our stubborn and shirt-sighted establishment, which seems unable to learn from this accumulated experience.
Playing on the religious turf has proved a swampy terrain. Opening the gate to religiously inspired extremist narratives only works briefly, soon to be overtaken by the autonomy acquired and claimed by such groups from the control of the establishment. It also carries the added burden of rendering even our less than credible democratic ‘system’ a victim of extremist religious pressure from the street or even the barrel of a gun.
The present TLP-government agreement could perhaps have not been possible if the military establishment had not applied its shoulder to the wheel on the side of the government. This has been confirmed by one of the Barelvi ulema negotiating with the TLP. COAS General Qamar Jawed Bajwa has been cited as the main figure in this outcome.
Pakistan has been rendered infructuous as a credible, functional state by the establishment’s games to preserve its hegemony. In the process, the slow and difficult process of allowing a genuine democratic system to take root finally, with all its admittedly attendant difficulties given our fraught history, has taken a fatal hit. This manipulation of the polity has prevented Pakistan from acquiring the legitimacy and credibility of a modern, democratic state internationally. Perused with a critical lens, Pakistan has been incrementally reduced to isolation because of its policies regionally and domestically, currently rendering it, partly because of US estrangement over Afghanistan, into a dependent but pariah status.
Perhaps it is time for the ubiquitous establishment to return to the drawing board and examine what the wages of creating, encouraging, and later appeasement of religious fanatics has wrought. Time for some fresh thinking gentlemen, particularly in the light of the impasse the establishment has landed itself in by putting all its eggs in Imran Khan’s basket, a venture on which the people, sans leadership, are nevertheless pronouncing daily.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
The November 2021 issue of Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) is out (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Contents:
1. Rashed Rahman: The National Question in Marxism – IV.
2. Jamison C Heinkel and Richard deVillafranca: Baluchistan's Insurgency: implications for Pakistan, the region.
3. Albert Einstein: Why Socialism?
Rashed Rahman
Editor, Pakistan Monthly Review (PMR) (link: pakistanmonthlyreview.com)
Director, Research and Publication Centre (RPC)
Trouble all round
Rashed Rahman
Trouble has raised its disquieting head, or is looming, on diverse fronts for the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government. First and foremost, Chief Minister (CM) Balochistan Jam Kamal Alyani has finally succumbed to the logic of having lost the trust of his own party, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), and resigned on October 24, 2021, on the eve of voting on the no-confidence motion moved against him by BAP dissidents and virtually every other party in the Balochistan Assembly, which the numbers showed even before the vote he was bound to lose. Thus drew to an ignominious close the two month long crisis in the province. The denouement seems to have been clinched by the talks Senate Chairman Mir Sadiq Sanjrani and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak held with Alyani after flying into Quetta. Sanjrani had earlier made attempts to reconcile the alienated BAP MPAs with the former CM, but to no avail.
Alyani lost out to ignoring one of the by now cardinal principles of our so-called parliamentary democratic system, which more than ever fails to justify this description for this ‘system’. It’s about constituency politics, stupid. His own party members incrementally got alienated from Alyani for his failure to take into account their concerns about development funds for their respective constituencies, without which they feared losing the next election. The system of political patronage in the country has therefore two layers, the first between the incumbent government head and his Assembly members, the second between those members and their constituency electorate. If either or both are disrupted, the end is nigh.
Following Alyani’s late night resignation after assertive denials of the same earlier, the Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, was named as the new leader of the house, i.e. the would-be next CM. On October 25, 2021, Bizenjo resigned as Speaker, thereby clearing his path to the CM office. His replacement as Speaker is likely to be Mir Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali, a veteran of serving as CM and Speaker Balochistan, and Deputy Chairman Senate twice. What change, if any, can be expected from this ‘new’ dispensation? Hardly any, except perhaps greater sensitivity to and accommodation of MPAs’ constituency concerns. The development funds of the country’s poorest province are now more likely than ever to end up in pockets they were not intended for. To single out Balochistan in this regard, however, would be unfair since the whole political structure functions at its core on this basis.
The successful BAP dissident group mentioned and thanked Asif Ali Zardari for his support, although everyone and his uncle had pitched in to ensure seeing the back of Alyani. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which left the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) over strategic and tactical issues, is now trumpeting the success of its preferred strategy of bringing political change through no-confidence motions, in Balochistan today, Punjab and the Centre tomorrow, it argues. The latter two challenges may appear more daunting than the Balochistan collapse of Alyani’s rule, however.
The second, and even more serious crisis confronting the PTI government simultaneously was the Tehreek-i-Labaiq Pakistan (TLP) agitation against the continued incarceration of their leader Saad Rizvi and the failure of the government to implement the agreement signed with the TLP in November 2020 regarding, amongst other things, the expulsion of the French Ambassador over the republication of blasphemous cartoons in France through a reference to parliament. The trouble started a few days ago in Lahore, which led to deaths and injuries to both the law enforcement agencies (LEAs) as well as the TLP protestors. The latter announced in the wake of these clashes a long march on Islamabad in an ominous reminder of their previous demonstrated ability to use their undoubted street power to paralyse the federal capital. Last time round, a months-long sit-in in Islamabad by the TLP was only dispersed through the open distribution of cash to the protestors by an LEA official, an incident that Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the Supreme Court roundly criticised in a judgement and which sparked off the honourable judge and his family’s protracted round of troubles of one kind or another.
Now the PTI government called in Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid to negotiate with the TLP to halt their long march at Muridke, where they are still camped, in return for the release of Saad Rizvi and the hundreds of incarcerated TLP supporters. Seemingly successful, the new agreement reiterates the fulfillment of the earlier commitment to take the matter of the French Ambassador’s expulsion to parliament and revisiting the inclusion of TLP supporters’ names in the Fourth Schedule under the ant-terrorism laws. All this palaver conveniently ignored the fact that there is in fact no French Ambassador currently in Pakistan, the incumbent having left the country to avoid any embarrassment or threat when the blasphemous cartoons issue re-emerged and French diplomatic relations since then being handled by the Charge d’ Affaires.
The third direction trouble is looming from is the opposition campaign against the PTI government’s incompetence generally, and its inability to control runaway inflation particularly. On this battleground, whatever their differences, the PDM, PPP and even the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) are marshalling their troops. How far a divided and so far less than inspirational opposition can trouble the incumbent government cannot be firmly predicted at present. But if the PTI government’s demonstrated incompetence and lack of grip or direction over the last three years continues, all bets are off.
Fourth, the quite unnecessary controversy in public about the appointment of the next DG ISI. Strange things surround the issue. The ISPR issues a ‘proclamation’ in this regard, which appears to fall foul of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s preference as well as irritation at indicating the decision was made by the army as an institution rather than the PM, whose theoretical prerogative it is. This ‘storm in a teacup’ may well blow over soon, all indications say, but our commentariat has read this as the ‘shredding’ of the same page narrative.
However, things may not be as black and white as this. There are indications the top brass is less than pleased at the manner in which the issue has been handled and bandied about publicly rather than discreetly behind closed doors. One fallout of the shredded same page thesis is the palpable unease and distancing from the PTI of its coalition partners, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), who are reliable weather vanes of which way the political wind emanating from the establishment is blowing.
Two years away from the next general elections, the chickens of that establishment’s imposed government seem to be on the verge of coming home to roost.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
Colonial atrocities: belated reckoning
Rashed Rahman
On October 16, 2021, French President Emmanuel Macron commemorated the 60thanniversary of a massacre of Algerian independence protestors by Paris police by characterising the state bloodshed as ‘crimes’. He admitted several dozen protestors were killed. The precise numbers of victims remains unclear, not the least because the police threw many bodies into the River Seine. The protest rally was called in 1961, the final year of France’s increasingly violent attempt to retain Algeria as a colony. However, as expected, President Macron failed to issue a formal apology for this (or any other) atrocity against Algerians fighting for their inherent right to independence.
France occupied Algeria in 1830. By 1959 more than one million European (largely French) settlers constituted 10 percent of the country’s population. These settlers, dubbed Pieds-noirs, had a sense of entitlement to be seen as superior to the natives to the extent of instituting an apartheid-like system. By the 20thcentury, a proliferation of nationalist Algerian parties and movements were incrementally radicalised as the understanding sank in that peaceful means of struggle were not enough, especially after World War II when protestors demanding independence were massacred in Setif on May 8, 1945. With the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam (another colony the French attempted to hold on to by force after World War II) in 1954, the emboldened Algerian resistance turned to armed struggle under the leadership of the National Liberation Front (FLN). This struggle lasted from 1954 to 1962, starting from the rural areas but soon moving on to urban guerrilla struggle in 1956-7 in what came to be known as the Battle of Algiers (immortalised in a film of the same name, which shows the first three bomb attacks that sparked off the Battle being planted by women).
The French colonialists response to any manifestation of resistance, peaceful or armed, was mass atrocities, massacres, torture, and summary executions. This unwittingly fed into the resistance, since the populace increasingly became convinced that there was no other way to get rid of the French colonisers drunk on their so-called ‘civilising mission’ and unable to see Algeria as anything other than part of Metropolitan France.
A major turning point was the May 1958 storming of the offices of the Governor-General in Algiers by a mob of Pieds-noirs angered by their government’s inability to crush the resistance. With the support of French army officers, they clamoured for World War II hero Charles de Gaulle to be installed as leader of France. But de Gaulle turned out to be a realist who recognized by September 1959 that French continued control of Algeria was untenable and declared self-determination necessary for Algeria. The Pieds-noirextremists were aghast, the FLN wary. The former supported a French Generals’ colonialist revolt against de Gaulle under the rubric Organisation de l’Armee Secrete(OAS) in April 1961 but the putsch was unsuccessful. The latter eventually chose to enter into talks with the de Gaulle government.
May 1961 witnessed the first (and unsuccessful) round of negotiations between the French government and the FLN in Evian, but the second round in March 1962 yielded a French ceasefire. On July 1, 1962, a referendum was held in Algeria to approve the Evian Agreements, which called for an Algerie algerienne. Six million Algerians cast their ballots for independence, which soon followed.
The bravery and courage with which the Algerian people fought French colonial occupation amidst massacres, torture, summary executions and other atrocities is both an inspiring and tragic tale. Colonialism across the globe was guilty of similar atrocities wherever it found lands to conquer. Its victims, running into the millions, included indigenous peoples (some wiped out, others reduced to a miserable state), black African slaves, and even relatively developed civilisations such as the Subcontinent and China. For at least three quarters of a century since independence was incrementally granted to the subject peoples of the erstwhile colonies and even longer in the case of the victims of slavery, the western developed countries responsible for these colonial atrocities remained ‘oblivious’ to their guilt, having brushed this criminal history under the carpet amidst a nauseating repetition of their stubbornly claimed ‘civilising’ role in the former colonies.
Only in recent years, and especially since the turn of the 21stcentury, a better educated, knowledgeable series of generations in both east and west have brought to the fore in stark daylight this atrocious period of world history. As a result, slavers’ statues are being demolished, the ‘heroes’ of the slavery and colonial causes are literally being ‘unseated’ from statue plinths and horses and their much lauded status critiqued, as an increasingly assertive movement insists on removing these vestiges of a shameful past.
Had such atrocities been committed in reverse, i.e. if the shoe were on the other foot, the (unlikely) perpetrators would have been subjected to insistent demands to be brought to justice. Instead, the peoples of the erstwhile colonies cannot even receive a decent apology from the perpetrators of these injustices and atrocities. So much for a fair and just world where every human being, let alone whole peoples, can expect to be treated with the respect and dignity they deserve.
rashed-rahman.blogspot.com
