Casting a Cold Eye

[stingingnettle]

Casting a Cold Eye

The risk of being misunderstood is great in times of grief but the risk of chasing after miracles is even greater. Turning on our television sets is not without its risk, we all know that but not turning them on is rarely an option exercised by most. I do not think it is possible to recover from the news of Peshawar school massacre especially for the parents and relatives of those who died or were injured in this unprecedented act of barbarity by the TTP. I am painfully aware that TTP are not known for their tolerance of human plurality or for throwing flowers at those they consider infidels but systematically executing children in a school was something not even an insane mind could contemplate. Dreams often die with a whimper but not in Peshawar, it is impossible to escape the thought-flight of imagination; what amazing things would these children have done as adults?

Politically correctness is not a luxury I will afford myself today; I will just say what I need to say. Barely had the screams and streams of blood died down in Peshawar, we began to hear demands for reinstating the death penalty for terrorists. A fellow blogger asked, why only for terrorists? I had no answer for that so I ignored the question. Leadership failures of the past 65 years made the provision of justice extinct in Pakistan and in its place we have acts of personal or judicial vengeance.

I have no doubt that the perpetrators of Peshawar massacre belong in the hot valleys of hell but not as act of vengeance but through the delivery of justice. With enough people demanding death penalty; Nawaz Sharif gave the orders lifting the moratorium on capital punishment. This decision was not based on strategic thinking with a cold head but in the wake of emotional tidal wave of anger and grief. You might be forgiven given for thinking that Parliament to meet and discuss this before coming to a majority decision but then this is not a matter of saving Nawaz Sharif and his lovely Government.

Here is my point; if we are going to reinstated capital punishment, then we must begin by hanging all those political and religious leaders whose incompetence, corruption and intolerances necessitates the lawful taking of lives. When I see people like Fazlu, Siraj ul Haq and Abdul Aziz on TV, I realise we do not have the stomach or the will to deliver ‘capital’ solutions to our problems. So the bla, bla, bla goes on.

A committee formed, cobwebs removed from gallows, religious bigots preaching and morning show anchors milking every drop of emotional response from viewing public. Our TV anchors take no prisoners in the ratings war; so the distressed-looking faces, the tears, the quivering voices, the dark poetry and the scrapping of wounds repeatedly to make sure that our national grief is profitable. The one thing grieving families need is dignity and privacy to mourn their unbearable loss and these are the exact things that do not make money and hence the frenzy on our screens.

Anwar Maqsood is the only person I saw on TV making a sensible and humane plea to TV channels; please stop repeatedly showing images of dead and injured children, how would we feel if they were our children? So called religious ‘scholars’ are all over our channels like an acute viral rash, trying their best to sell their outrage and surprise – still believing that better preaching will deliver us from this evil. Then when we thought we had seen it all, Javed Chaudry invited Abdul Aziz for an interview – of course he was made to take off his burka before his appearance. The fact that Abdul Aziz is not rotting in solitary confinement, living a slow death, is clear proof of our not-so-latent tendency towards extreme hypocrisy. We want to have our cake and eat it too – good luck with that, I say.

Musharraf had made many poor decisions during his tenure but one of the worse one was to fornicate with political popularity by prolonging the Lal Masjid siege to the point of bloody crisis. Abdul Aziz and Musharraf are reminders of our inherent dishonesty when it comes to letting the axe fall where the fault lies. Do we think we should not hang the man whose direct orders made an aircraft full of people nearly run out of fuel and crash? Now I am scrapping flesh off our complacency, am I not?

Pakistan military has a lot to be proud of; there is no two ways about it. Our soldiers have delivered unparalleled service in times of disaster and I witnessed this in person during the 2005 earthquake. As an organised, resourceful and disciplined institution, it moves quickly and effectively whilst our political leadership is contemplating whether a shalwars can be hung on the Supreme Court fence. The sacrifices our soldiers make in defending the people and territory of Pakistan can only be commended. Whilst Nawaz Sharif’s Govt is trying to untangle its knickers from its knees, it is Pakistan’s armed forces that are fighting TTP in the North of Pakistan and along the Afghan border.

Like all things human, Pakistan’s military must face much justified criticism. Pakistan’s military enjoys unwarranted exclusivity and a highly subsidised life style. They have their own banks, airlines, grocery stores, schools, shops, residential societies and even their own funeral services. It makes perfect sense for the military of any country to ring fence its military offices and assets but it is nothing short gross arrogance for it to ring fence all the non-professional needs of its members. Pakistan’s military needs to reconnect with the people it is meant to defend and the only way to do that is by desegregating its civil life from that of ‘bloody civilians.’

The murdered children Peshawar were the all the children of Pakistan, irrespective of what their parents do for a living and that is the way we should look at all the people of Pakistan. I hope we can cast a cold eye on our lives and find the courage to say and do what is right and not fall for just those things that placate us.

[Mirza Ghalib]

SN, Once again you write with your own cool logic (and style to match) about the things that most grieve us at the moment, starting with the unnecessary, cruel deaths of so many children in Peshawar. Let me begin by saying that if I hold NS mainly responsible for this massacre. The army, too, is very much to blame since it did not provide the kind of security their school needed. I know someone who lives on the road the school is located on. We are told there are 3 checkpoints each one must pass, each time showing his/her identity card before being allowed through. And yet terrorists could walk in and no one the wiser? No, SN, I'm sorry. With the best will in the world, I can find no words to praise (or condemn) the Pakistan Army today. I can just ask a few questions to which there seem to be no answers.

As for justice, hanging and the like, NS has no intention of being involved. He has already received death threats against himself and his family from various Terrorist Groups, some of whom he's closely associated with in other ways as well. So if anyone signs any death warrants it will have to be the man for all seasons, our COAS. Rumour has it he's done so already and the Dr Usman Group of 6 men have either been hanged already or will lose their lives before too Long.

The Judiciary, the delivery of justice? We may as well forget all of that, it's simply a joke. We have an all-powerful NS sitting on our heads and whatever he says goes unless we get to unseat him. The people deserving of the death penalty you mention are all allies of NS, nothing will happen to them and they will appear repeatedly on various talk shows, never doubt. It's PTI workers protesting in front of Lal Masjid who get arrested and kept in detention. Perhaps they might even be "hanged" by mistake if NS got his way.

How guilty Musharraf was or was not over Lal Masjid, I'm no longer in a position to say. I used to have an answer to this in the past. Now I simply do not know. I do know, however, that NS & Co killed and maimed in Model Town not so long ago and should be made to pay a price for that barbaric act.

Finally, I do agree with you that if from now on the People of Pakistan concentrated on doing and saying what is right irrespective of the consequences, we may finally take a step forward. Otherwise all we'll get is more of the same dished out to us by the criminal mentality of our ruling classes.

[stingingnettle]

Thank for your comments MG sahib.

There is something we should not forget about Nawaz Sharif and his corrupt posse; their history. Nawaz Sharif has cut many deals in the past, he has made thousands of promises and signed many agreements; they common element of all these is that he has almost never stayed true to his words. If you want to rule like a king, then you need to have the courage to die like a king; this point is completely lost on Sharifs and my view is they are not just incompetent but they are also Pakistan worst cowards. For those who cannot face charges of electoral fraud, do we expect them to face the wrong end of a terrorist's gun?

You are right to despair both in the judiciary and the Army because both have failed Pakistan in moments of great distress. This morning Nasir ul Mulk called a meeting of judges of ATCs so that procedures could be speeded up; here is the simple questions, is that not what he is meant to be doing as part of his job? How come he has just woken up to realise that something is not quite right in the way ATCs are working in Pakistan? Nawaz Sharif and Raheel Sharif met this morning and both Sharifs promised to fight terrorism till it is eradicated; so what have they be doing up to now? So we are only at the stage of promises and more crap.

Pakistan's military segregates itself from bloody civilians to the extent that they even convict and hang terrorist themselves. It is ironic that the first few to be hanged tomorrow were convicted of attacking GHQ and not a school, mosque or a market. That speaks volumes about Nawaz Sharif's lack of balls and his complete lack of leadership.

It pains me to write this but Nawaz Sharif and PML N are about to give PTI a perfect lesson in political deception. When Shah Mahmood says that after 15 sessions they had nothing to show for it then why does he thinking after two more the matter for election audit will be settled. With Sharif Govt in control, it is a fact that all judges can be bought or intimidated and PTI is about to learn this the hard way. You will remember these words in a few months time when NOTHING will come of all this wait, promises, deals, talks and concessions. The smartest thing IK says is that Nawaz Sharif cannot be trusted (and there are good reasons for thinking that) so I am not sure why PTI thinks Sharifs will honour any promise to hold a judicial audit.

Anyway, Zardari allowing Abdul Aziz and his cohorts to walk free is one of the reason why our children are dying senselessly. As long as we keep reacting to calamities and murder but never planning; we are unlikely to get the miracle we so desire.

As I said; if you want to hang people, start with those whose political, professional and failure in office has made it necessary to hang people.

[Shimatoree]

Lilliputians pretending to be giants and in DENIAL of their INSIGNIFICANCE.

COPYCATS of the worst kind.

Simply put THAT is the description specific.

An army that is being Admired by a group of Idiots devoid of any Gray Matter.

Rather than looking as to WHY it happened and WHO did not plan or do his job…………..they have gone down in the Abyss where the TTP lives.

No we do not wish to look in the Mirror………….we do not wish to acknowledge that this ARMY which has attacked North Waziristan with great Fanfare is UNABLE to think that the TTP would attack where THEY CAN…..and they did.
In medical Mal Practice this is called NEGLIGENCE.
The armed forces of Pakistan were NEGLIGENT………..the administration of the school was NEGLIGENT……….the Peshawar City police was negligent and so were the much ballyhooed ISI , IB and MI.

Has COURAGE and INTELLECTUAL HONESTY been banned from Pakistan………….were these 2 things ever there ?

Why did Imran not SPEAK about this……………it remained for the women-( yes it is always the women) to tell the TRUTH about what happened and of course the TV Channels promptly censored what they said except Talat Hussain of AAJ TV.

We never expected anything from the bunch of crooks in the govt:……….but IMRAN and his PTI.

And the brave soldier Raheel Shareef shows HIS own capabilities by HANGING those that were in his control……just like the TTP killed all those kids because the TTP had all the guns.

Mirza Ghalib often castigates me for pessimism………….but what the hell is left.

All our imagined IKONS have been found out. They are made of un-baked Clay and their hearts and brains do not exist.

And yet STING writes all this……………….I am again reminded of the Garbage in Nowshehra which at least is visible to the naked eye…………….we are just beginning to smell the stench of the Garbage within.

It is rotten. End of Story.

[stingingnettle]

My brother has a theory; he says that a vast majority of Pakistan's problems are due to incompetence as opposed to a deliberate attempt to wrong. I can see his point; the problem with incompetence is that we actually do not realise that it is not luck or fate that kills us it is we ourselves!

'It is rotten.' I think you are right; we keep obsessing about the breadth of the rot but our real problem is the depth of putrid decay we suffer as a society.

Sometimes I think the only way we stand a chance is to forgive absolutely everybody and start afresh; but the problem remains as Hassan Nisar puts it; you can put pig meat through this machine as many times as you like; you will only end up with minced pork. Where does that leave us?

"There is a time for every activity under the heavens." (Bible)

I guess there is a time to give up because hope has a shelf life despite all the crap we are told to believe.