I would strongly urge all those who are gearing up for the Azadi March to please re-consider. There is no doubt that the elections of 1977 were widely rigged however taking on to the streets to ouster the “elected” prime-minister, Z. A Bhutto, paved the way for a martial law, with the General in command emphatically promising to hold elections within 90 days, which became a decade of lies and deceit and which endowed us the gift of the infamous Article 58 2b, among many others . More recently, in 1999, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was thrown off in a military coup which was hailed and celebrated by many political leaders, among the forefront of which was Imran Khan, who will be leading the upcoming “Azadi March”. What happened afterwards is still so fresh in our memory that we don’t even need to state it all but keep in mind in the autocratic Oath of Judges Order No. 2000 and Legal Framework Order 2002. And most recently was the movement against the democratically elected (in what was and is still declared a free and fair election) Egyptian President Morsi which did oust him in every sense of the word (he has not seen the daylight for more than a year now) and his government by imposition of the Martial Law, and the usual ban on political parties and activities and the use of bullets and false indictments, but also resulted in the General declaring himself the president in not only a rigged elections but with a voters turn out of less than 50%. Elected governments and peace and continual transitions of power through elections are a blessing. Yes, there is corruption, plutocracy, bad governance and a host of other serious issues but let the system breathe. Do not use street power and violence to initiate instability, turmoil, violence and bloodshed- all a recipe for a budding dictatorship or anarchy. You need to see no further than the state of affairs in Libya, Syria, Iraq and Egypt. Imran Khan’s stance of “I am not open to talk or negotiations” is undemocratic as well as irresponsible, particularly when peace and stability are on such a precarious balance, particularly when leaders go on record to incite people to take the law in their hands and take revenge of a possible murder, particularly when the media openly talks about a possible dismissal of government and imposition of a martial law, and particularly when the government is showing clemency and willingness to talk and negotiate. Let’s not create anarchy. (You have got street power, so have they. You throw them off now, so will they later. No points for guessing who wins then. ) Let the system work. (It’s only a year and don’t see the point of this extremity) Negotiate to make the system better. (Present electoral reforms and bills in the parliament)
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 06:56:26 +0000