By Sikander Hayat
Finally, after so many days of pain, I have today heard what I should have heard a long time ago. Elections have been announced and not too late either. People of Pakistan will be given a chance to elect their representatives and if the elections are fair then the result would be a happy and prosperous Pakistan.
President Musharaf has made the right decision in removing the judges who were violating the limits of judiciary and instead of interpreting law and leaving law making to Parliament; they were trying to do all three roles.
Now the main thing to see is how parliament or new judiciary can help in rolling back the emergency while keeping the good aspects (removal of judges) intact.
The first way is that parliament reconvenes and enshrines the PCO in law by two third majority; this can only happen if PPPP and PML (Q) can join forces. Second way is that Supreme Court of Pakistan rules in favour of President so that he can keep the uniform and 58 (2B), which gives him the power to dissolve assemblies in case country falls into trouble again, letting him organise the elections in the presence of international observers and let it be.
If everything goes according to the plan, which in Pakistan seldom happens, new Parliament can be sworn in by the end of February 2008 and that will be that.
Media must be allowed to come back on air after the elections because during the elections they will create more trouble than they are worth. Free speech is good but propaganda is as bad as praising of government by state media just for being government. Media has criticised and criticised for reasons only known to them. I believe media is ideologically driven in order to roll back the present order in Pakistan for something that even they do not know about.
This perhaps is the time to have a national debate about
what we want to be as a nation. A nation which wants to be a secular multicultural federation or a fundamentalist state like Saudi or Afghanistan because if we don’t talk about it now then another sixty years will pass fighting over the ideological base of the country. Pakistan should be a secular country like Turkey where when given the choice, people have voted for Islam and not forced towards Islam. A true Muslim is that who belive in God without any fear, who goes to a mosque not to be praised by
other people but because he wants to worship the almighty. .
Every man, women & child should have the fundamental right of free speech as long as it is not violating the rights of fellow Pakistanis. Some critics argue that people should be able to say anything they want and do anything they want to do but then every society has certain laws. For example if you got a vehicle which gives out a lot of smoke it wont be allowed on the road because it infringes on the right of other people to
breath clean air. Now in this case the offence is not directed at any individual but it is still an offence. Similarly in countries like France denial of genocide of Armenians by the Turks is a crime, why? Throughout mainland Western Europe, Holocaust denial is a crime. Why? Aren’t these examples of breach of a right to free speech but certainly having these rules has a logic behind it. Allowing people to question the Holocaust will sow the seeds of doubt in new generations and eventually the air will be so muddled that a proportion of population will believe that it
never happened. We all know that if we forget history, we are condemned to repeat it and that is what will happen. That is the reason that I say to western people, do not have a knee jerk reaction to anything coming out of the East, think about it. The laws which you think to be draconian may be the only hurdle between innocent people and their would-be killers.
Finally, after so many days of pain, I have today heard what I should have heard a long time ago. Elections have been announced and not too late either. People of Pakistan will be given a chance to elect their representatives and if the elections are fair then the result would be a happy and prosperous Pakistan.
President Musharaf has made the right decision in removing the judges who were violating the limits of judiciary and instead of interpreting law and leaving law making to Parliament; they were trying to do all three roles.
Now the main thing to see is how parliament or new judiciary can help in rolling back the emergency while keeping the good aspects (removal of judges) intact.
The first way is that parliament reconvenes and enshrines the PCO in law by two third majority; this can only happen if PPPP and PML (Q) can join forces. Second way is that Supreme Court of Pakistan rules in favour of President so that he can keep the uniform and 58 (2B), which gives him the power to dissolve assemblies in case country falls into trouble again, letting him organise the elections in the presence of international observers and let it be.If everything goes according to the plan, which in Pakistan seldom happens, new Parliament can be sworn in by the end of February 2008 and that will be that.
Media must be allowed to come back on air after the elections because during the elections they will create more trouble than they are worth. Free speech is good but propaganda is as bad as praising of government by state media just for being government. Media has criticised and criticised for reasons only known to them. I believe media is ideologically driven in order to roll back the present order in Pakistan for something that even they do not know about.
This perhaps is the time to have a national debate about
what we want to be as a nation. A nation which wants to be a secular multicultural federation or a fundamentalist state like Saudi or Afghanistan because if we don’t talk about it now then another sixty years will pass fighting over the ideological base of the country. Pakistan should be a secular country like Turkey where when given the choice, people have voted for Islam and not forced towards Islam. A true Muslim is that who belive in God without any fear, who goes to a mosque not to be praised by
other people but because he wants to worship the almighty. .Every man, women & child should have the fundamental right of free speech as long as it is not violating the rights of fellow Pakistanis. Some critics argue that people should be able to say anything they want and do anything they want to do but then every society has certain laws. For example if you got a vehicle which gives out a lot of smoke it wont be allowed on the road because it infringes on the right of other people to
breath clean air. Now in this case the offence is not directed at any individual but it is still an offence. Similarly in countries like France denial of genocide of Armenians by the Turks is a crime, why? Throughout mainland Western Europe, Holocaust denial is a crime. Why? Aren’t these examples of breach of a right to free speech but certainly having these rules has a logic behind it. Allowing people to question the Holocaust will sow the seeds of doubt in new generations and eventually the air will be so muddled that a proportion of population will believe that it
never happened. We all know that if we forget history, we are condemned to repeat it and that is what will happen. That is the reason that I say to western people, do not have a knee jerk reaction to anything coming out of the East, think about it. The laws which you think to be draconian may be the only hurdle between innocent people and their would-be killers.
Geo TV & ARY Digital have been banned by the Zardari government. Pakistan's so called democrats are worse than the dictators. Zaradri & Pakistan Peoples Party must be ashamed.
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