Bananaramus on the Constitution Avenue

WHEN a suggestion was made in this column some time ago about Islamabad having become the new Karachi what with the spiralling violence and its profound impact on the city, it drew affirmative nods from fellow denizens and a grudging acceptance by Karachiite friends, the erstwhile premier victims of dark purveyors. No-one, however, denies the compound effect of such occurrences in Islamabad given that it is the seat of the federation.

What happened on Saturday, the 29th of September, marks a new low for a dispensation, which has lost all sense of direction as it has respect for rule of law.

It seems as if the tennis-like score of 6-3 that the Musharraf regime snared a day earlier from the apex court to go ahead with its one point obsessive agenda of getting the general over the line in the presidential polls was a carte blanche to batter opponents of that idea till they bled to incapacitation.

The lawyers had to be taught a lesson for playing a vanguard role in questioning the unbelievable idea of having an army chief seek a presidential re-election.

But similar, if not worse, treatment was reserved for the media, particularly the more enterprising private electronic kind, which has braved tremendous odds to give the public live pictures of what the administrative arm of their “lost” government is indulging with a devil-may-care mien.

Such highhanded tactics as employed by the police and an army of unidentified people attired in plain clothes last week are not new even to the residents of the once sleepy capital but the frequency of the fare and its intensity is now getting a stranglehold on their nerves.

Moravet Ali Shah, the newly-appointed IGP of Islamabad — who, has since mercifully, been suspended on the orders of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry — raised the bar of administrative brutality by personally leading the physical assault on lawyers and journalists. It was like Sultan Rahi gone bonkers.

The IGP, who has earned quite a reputation for his blow-by- blow style of vanquishing opponents of his benefactors (previously, for Shahbaz Sharif, we’re told), wasn’t so much as pushed by how blatant an image of ruthlessness he was projecting of his force as its spearhead.

This gave rise to speculation that the villainous plot was prepared with some temerity, possibly at the bidding of someone at the palatial house where all roads lead today.

One couldn’t help confront a top police official, who happens to be a friend, about how he would justify the hooliganism of his superior. To his credit, the top cop conceded he found it “disgusting” and that he would rather not rise to such ranks himself, if only to spare himself the agony of having to fly at ‘our own people’.

But at the risk of cynicism, it is unlikely that Moravet’s suspension and that of the SSP and deputy commissioner will lead to redemption since our history of accountability does not quite pass muster. Suspension of errant officials, more often than not, is just a lay-off period that governments in this part of the world use to get out of the kitchen sink.

Suspended officials, on the other hand, are pampered for “deliverance” and when they stage a comeback, you find them more insouciant than ever.

The brazen blitz wrought by their like was a spectacle that the world is now getting familiar with.

Only thing is that such familiarity which has roots in one man’s blind ambition to hold on to power at any cost is usually equated with the likes of the dictatorial regime of Myanmar, where, too, bludgeoning activists of law is the mother of all art, they having embraced crackdown as the only tool of governance.

The one poignant moment of programmed madness as it were on Black Saturday was the beating up of Barrister Chaudhary Aitzaz Ahsan without provocation.

Now here is a man, any civilised nation would covet for his immeasurable and selfless service to the cause of justice and rule of law throughout his distinguished career. Not even his worst enemies dispute his propriety, decency and legal acumen.

Aitzaz also represents a rather lonely voice in his party, whose conscientious call on course correction has won him laurels from friends and admiration from foes alike.

The bashing up of the diminutive but vocal former Pakistan Bar Council Vice-President Ali Ahmed Kurd may have provided “cathartic relief” to his detractors but the maltreatment of the genial Aitzaz, more than anyone else’s, served as a symbolic descent into the moral abyss of the current regime.

The well orchestrated hammer-and-tong show also led to brickbats for State Minister Tariq Azeem and MQM leader Farooq Sattar, which was unfortunate. Not to condone the pasting they got, but it will most likely find an explanation in Newton’s third law of motion: to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Given the non-stop unruly fare on Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue, perhaps, the Capital Development Authority should consider changing the name as it has recently with regard to several avenues, roads and streets.

Amid the apparent made-to-order rampage, the chief justice has been the one source of redress for both the victims of state- sponsored brutality and traumatised citizens of what has become the ‘new Karachi’.

But with lengthening shadows of dark purveyors who stalk the land as if it was their fiefdom, one wonders, for how long.

The writer is News Editor at Dawn News. He may be contacted at kaamyabi@gmail.com

The ball is now in the court of the third umpire

The post-press conference air at the policeman-turned-tycoon’s Edgware Road apartment in London was far from jubilant. Those PPP stalwarts who in recent months were seen raising full-throated ‘Go Musharraf Go’ slogans on the streets of Pakistan seemed to have lost their voice. Most appeared to be wanting to disappear from the scene as fast as they could. And those who stayed back and were strolling aimlessly in the lane in front of the apartment looked as if they were coming straight from the funeral of a near and dear one.

Senator Raza Rabbani, the Leader of the Opposition in the upper house, was nowhere to be seen. Barrister Aitzaz perhaps anticipating the outcome had advisedly remained back home. Wajid Shamsul Hasan was seen standing all alone at the end of the street with the mobile glued to his ear. Sherry Rehman was unusually quiet. Even the evergreen Naveed Malik did not appear all that pleased. Naveed Qamar was seen leaving the venue very early.

And to be fair to Benazir Bhutto, she did not crack any jokes during the press conference. Normally a very good controller of her facial expressions, Ms Bhutto looked too serious for the occasion. Even Asif Ali Zardari who was in London and had attended the Wednesday session of the Central Executive Committee seemed to have preferred to stay away from the place.

Perhaps it was all an expression of uncertainty that had gripped the PPP leadership because it had yet to see the so-called National Reconciliation Ordinance promulgated and not because of any guilt they were feeling for violating the spirit of democracy by agreeing to participate in the elections being contested by an in-service COAS and legitimising the process.

But the one man who really looked very happy was Rehman Malik. And Mr Qasim Zia also gave fleeting looks of triumph. Though everyone with whom I talked to sounded not very happy, each one whispered into my ears that except for him and a few others, most of those attended the CEC meeting were happy with the decision. One said the happiest among them were from the Punjab.From the talks I had with a number of them I gathered that Ms Bhutto had carried the day against formidable opposition when she asked those who were for resigning what would be the PPP’s next step after that. I got the impression that no one had any concrete idea on this ‘morning after’ question. No one appeared to be prepared to accept it but it seemed that there was this realisation among the party leaders that not only the party was not in a position to launch a street agitation either all alone or along with other political parties, but also they thought that a free-for-all on the streets of Pakistan would only end up with the extremists hijacking the movement and turning it into bloody barbarism a la Iraq.

There was this feeling also among some that it was a victory which belonged neither to Ms Bhutto nor to General Musharraf but to the US and the UK. Washington and London appeared to have successfully pushed two extremely unwilling persons into a marriage of convenience in their own global interests. However, there also were those who said that although unwilling to join hands, the two, Ms Bhutto and General Musharraf, were motivated by their own self-interests -- one to return to power at all costs and the other to retain power at all costs. And that, they said, made this marriage of convenience into a non-starter from the word go.

Interestingly, a day earlier at a dinner given in her honour by a local think tank, Defence and Security Forum whose president, Lady Olga Maitland of Conservative Party, called it a farewell function for Ms Bhutto, the PPP Chairperson justified with a highly disingenuous argument Gen Musharraf’s insistence to keep the uniform while contesting the election. She said if he took off the uniform before the elections, he would be barred from contesting because of the two-year constitutional ban on taking part in politics for government officials after retirement. She seemingly ignored the fact that the relevant article has already been held non-applicable by the Election Commission in the case of General Musharraf.

So, the question why does he want to retain his uniform while contesting elections when according to his own submission to the Supreme Court he would take it off before taking oath of office is still agitating the minds of many. Indeed, many PPP stalwarts were wondering loudly why did he want to keep the uniform only for the next 40 days? Does he have some very important governance issue to address which he cannot do without the uniform, they asked. But whatever that job, one cannot but wonder if it was bigger than protecting the Constitution which would be severely damaged by a uniformed general commanding the Pakistan Army and in the pay of the government contesting elections for the country’s highest bipartisan office against civilians. And Gen Musharraf has taken oath both as the COAS and the President to protect that Constitution.

Perhaps this is why the Supreme Court has decided to go into the matter thoroughly and ordered that the results of October 6 elections be held in abeyance until it hah given the final ruling in the case. This has turned what had appeared to be a hotly contested match into one which has gone beyond the last ball.

The contesting teams are in dispute over what had happened on the last ball and the match referee has referred the issue to the third umpire. So, the result of the match will depend on the verdict of the third umpire.