We must exorcise our devils
I WRITE this one day before Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, elected prime minister of this luckless country, was murdered 32 years ago by an army usurper and his handmaiden judiciary, and two days before he, the beloved leader of millions of Pakistanis, was buried in the presence of seven or eight people, the rude charpoy on which his body lay for the funeral prayers so short that his feet were protruding a foot off it.
His wife and daughter were not allowed within hundreds of miles of the funeral, jailed as they were in the headquarters of the establishment, Rawalpindi; not a sparrow flew that day in Larkana. The military establishment under Zia had had its revenge: killing the very man who put salve on the deep wounds inflicted on the hapless nation, and upon the army rank and file, by unthinking and cruel and stupid generals led by a drunken sot.
And then some say his murder should not be revisited, yes that is the word I want, by our newly emboldened and muscular (the Almighty be praised) superior judiciary; trotting out mealy-mouthed reasons and technicalities and more mealy-mouthed reasons and technicalities. There are very many reasons to look at the disgraceful way in which ZAB was tried and then done to death.
The first, of course, is the shameful way in which his so-called ‘trial’ was held, first by denying him a court of first appeal by trying him in the Lahore High Court instead of in a sessions court. Secondly, by bringing him before a judge who was an avowed enemy: Maulvi Mushtaq, whose appalling behaviour towards ZAB during the trial is a horror story in itself. And thirdly, by the army usurper putting pressure on pliant (all of them from Punjab, please note) judges through the servile chief justice, Anwarul Haq as admitted by Nasim Hasan Shah, one of the hanging judges, and later the chief justice(!) of Pakistan. I ask you.
Indeed, by the dictator and his collaborators in the judiciary using every trick to get rid of those judges who were considered ‘unreliable’ (all non-Punjabis, please note again), and changing the make-up of the bench to facilitate their plan to hang Bhutto come what may, forced retirement of judges included.
Nor is this all. Noted lawyer Raza Kazim disclosed just the other day that Anwarul Haq, who headed the hanging bench, tricked Bhutto into stating that (unlike the Lahore High Court) he had faith in the Supreme Court which was hearing his appeal. The quid pro quo was that the death sentence imposed by the Lahore High Court would be commuted to life imprisonment by the Supreme Court. This trick was played on Bhutto through Mr Hamid Mehmood a great gentleman, who had grown up with Anwarul Haq, and who also knew and liked ZAB.
When Mr Mehmood visited Bhutto in Rawalpindi jail and made the proposition to him, ZAB asked him if he was sure this was not a trap being set by Anwarul Haq. Mehmood replied that he had known the chief justice since childhood and that he would not go back on his word. We all know what happened subsequently. Hamid Mehmood was a broken man after that and could never forgive himself for trusting Anwarul Haq. He died of a broken heart not long after. No, gentlemen, no, ZAB’s case must be revisited and if it opens other Pandora’s boxes so be it. We simply must exorcise our devils.
Maulana Fazlur Rehman is an unfathomable personality if he is anything: requesting the American ambassador (thank you, WikiLeaks) to push his candidacy for the premiership of this luckless country one day; the very next saying the Americans are the worst thing that ever happened to Pakistan, and the Taliban the very best; the very next offering to mediate between the Americans and the Taliban, but not in Pakistan (thank you again, WikiLeaks).
Let’s say it straight: why will their apologists not understand that the Taliban and their friends and associates whether they be called Al Qaeda or Hizbut Tahrir or Al-Muhajiroun or Afghan Taliban or Pakistani Taliban, and all other such, are all linked to one another, and are in the business of taking over the state of Pakistan, a first step to global jihad? And that they will kill and maim all who come in their way: innocent men and women and children; our army soldiers; our police, even their own apologists such as Maulana Fazlur Rehman simply because he too is a part of the organised state.
Why will the maulana, deft son of the greatly deft, and shall we say most innovative, politician Mufti Mahmood, not understand that he was targeted twice in as many days last week precisely because he is a part of the democratic system, by the very same terrorists he supports? Plainly said, anarchy is the aim of these murderers.
Nor is it only people like the maulana who refuse to smell the coffee, so does my friend Imran Khan. Nor do my friends in the afwaj-i-Pakistan, hung up as they are on being India-centric whatever the devil that means. Really, one despairs at the shallowness of the thinking that goes into their ‘strategic’ policies. Consider: the so-called and short-lived Kurram peace deal seemingly done, and now allowed to be undone to further the self-same agenda, taking with it many innocent lives so cruelly cut short by the terrorist murderers.
The denouement is at hand, however, and no matter what lies are told to the common people and more harebrained schemes thought out, this country is in for a very high jump indeed. Remember that the US presidential elections are to be held in 2012 with campaigning starting this autumn. Remember too that the Republicans, more hard-line than the democrats, will up the ante re: Afghanistan many notches. Think about it, gentlemen, and for God’s sake come to your senses.