How much is too much...

People of Pakistan (amongst others) have had it! They are clearly of the view that Musharraf ought to exit the big stage. The latter, being perceived as a ‘Musharraf-syndrome’, seems to be the raison d’etre of the mental agitations persistent amongst the masses, not only in Pakistan, but beyond that. Not only Musharraf, his so-called beloved army personnel (should accompany him as well).

Pakistan Army (by means of the respective Generals during their tenure) has been directly in power (usurped over and over again) under the guise of martial law for almost 30 years and in clear disregard of the principles and viewpoints of its founders and to utter dismay of the public and world at large.

The list of tragedies suffered by this country and its inhabitants is non-exhaustive. Pakistan lost its two former premiers through unnatural deaths. Sindhis and Urdu speaking Sindhis (some like to call them Mohajirs) were divided ethnically forever with the apparent and commonly perceived notion that the same was done so that Sindh never stands united for its basic rights.

Zulifkar Ali Bhutto, as a leader, endeavoured to uplift the image and integrity of Pakistan at the expense of his life. He was hanged because his pro-active stances gave birth to the ‘fiction’ that the power should lie in the hands of the people; i.e., attainment of democracy, as understood in civilized nations.

Our nuclear program is subjected to concerns like falling into unsafe hands and should be rolled back or secured by the West, raising serious question marks over the control and safety of our nukes.

Widespread violation and abuse of human rights from Mukhtaran Mai case to house arresting more than 200 hundred judges and lawyers tells a tale to all those who are willing to comprehend the graveness of the persisting unrest in Pakistan.

Every time the Generals’ have taken control they have violated and abrogated the Constitution so much so that the country has been exposed to risks like disintegrating, which are reminiscence of the Dhaka fall in 1971.

Unwittingly and unintentionally, our Army jawans are being used as mercenaries and the Americans have payed 10 billion dollars during a span of six years for fighting their proxy war on our land. Our own soldiers, who are duty bound to protect us are killing our innocent children, women and men, inadvertently or otherwise, with the purpose of winning the hearts of the Americans.

Three out of four provinces are aggrieved to the extent that they are openly challenging the genuineness of the bond between the provinces and there appears to be no desire to stay united; depicting similar discontent as was seen in the people of East Pakistan.

Few amongst us are aware of the contents of the Hamood Ur Rehman Commission report or even its existence. Such report never got published. All the 12 copies of the report were destroyed except the one that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had, which too, by design, was not published.

Political and constitutional crisis in the country is deepening by the day and none of it is likely to be resolved/addressed by parliamentary elections (if held) scheduled for February 18.

Pakistan has been repeatedly termed as a failed, corrupt dangerous and a terrorist state but no remorse was / is forthcoming from our government on branding Pakistan with such derogatory remarks.

Suicide bombings are frequent as ever and scores of innocent people have been killed in such bombings. Everything has been tried and tested by the government to mute the critics; from lashing people to assassinating them.

Private media was silenced through promulgating laws against them. All the past elections were rigged and the coming elections would also be rigged to the extent that there should not be any one in majority so that the imposed President (by the Army) could not be impeached.

Judiciary has been repeatedly used as a tool to perpetuate the terms of Musharraf but recently all those judges who defied the so called ‘King’ are under house arrest and threatened to be eliminated if they do not accept the PCO, which indeed, shall remain a mockery of any legislation and by any standard.

The manner in which Benazir’s murder investigations were handled, led the common man to think that the same was not undertaken with the requisite conviction and seriousness; leading to doubts and rumours apropos the possibility of the involvement of the government in this heinous act.

Eight years of Musharraf’s power has given people sugar debacle, wheat crisis, poisonous water in certain parts of the country, cement crisis, stock exchange scams and acute gas and electricity shortages. With the aforementioned status quo, buying a vote for a meager Rs.500 would not be difficult at all in the upcoming election campaign.

The new Army HQ to be built on 2500 acres of Islamabad’s prime land, which includes lakes, schools, hospitals and housing projects, is estimated to cost the exchequer more than Rs.120 billion. Can a third world nation like ours afford such an infrastructure? Musharraf should question himself: isn’t this divide and injustice enough to indoctrinate the destitute to take steps like suicide bombings?

Insurgency in NWFP has claimed more than 80 lives. Has anyone given a thought about them? As to who will feed their families? Who is responsible for such ghastly acts? Those injured in the attacks will have to live with their disabilities for life. Seems like we are also waiting for a promised Messiah.

All the Army generals who seized power had to leave unceremoniously and had to step down unwillingly; one of them even lost his life. Does that mean anything? I would leave that to your imagination! .

I quote Asma Jehangir: “If a civilian president had done what Musharraf has done, he would have been dragged by his hair to the sea.” If he were to contest the elections, he wouldn’t even win a seat for himself and same goes for his Q league. They are aware that people are not going to vote for them and that is why the postponement of the election seems a looming possibility.

There is a lot of discontent among people; feelings are running so high that the Army officers have been advised not to venture in public places in their uniforms to avoid retaliation of people. Time has come for the establishment to realize that power should only rest in the hands of people and usurping power with force is most detrimental to all concerned.

In view of the preceding observations it seems to be a fair comment to make that Pakistan will have to bear the brunt of the inhumane attitudes. To me the imposed President should bear the brunt; not Pakistan.

Asim H. Akhund