A telling account of the Islamabad violence

A detainee in the Islamabad protest speaks

Kamil N.

On midnight of December 15th, President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan officially lifted emergency rule.

Let us forget for now, that the judiciary has been deposed of and that his own puppet judges have now been installed. Let us forget that the constitution of this nation has been treated as if it were a cheap, common whore, to be used and abused at will, changed and altered to justify what Musharraf has done and to grant him more power than ever more. Let us forget that the military, with its new "Army Act" now has the power to court martial civilians in military courts, with no chance of appeals (yes, carried forward from the emergency). Let us forget that, the shedding of his uniform, the lifting of the emergency, all of this is meaningless, since Musharraf had managed to garuntee that he stays in power for at least 5 more years. We were told that Pakistan would "return" to its "road to democracy" after the emergency had been lifted. This is the same "democracy" that Musharraf claims to have been leading us to for the past 8 years.

Allow me now, to show you, my friends, just what "democracy" truly means for Musharraf and for his masters (a.k.a. The United States of America and their lapdogs).

December 17th, 2007 was the day that 280 odd citizens in Islamabad managed to demolish any and all multi-million-dollar worth propaganda that the Pakistani government had been trying to put up regarding how the country would become "peaceful" and "democratic" once the emergency had been lifted. It would have been an ordinary, everyday protest. We marched down the Blue Area road, towards the parliament, accompanied by the police. As we neared the turn to the Geo office, we decided that it was high time to put President Pervez Musharraf's word to the test: Were the deposed judges of Pakistan really "free" to travel around the country as he claimed?

The moment we tried to turn left towards the judges' colony, the police tried to block us. We pushed past them, and that was that: They attacked us.

To call it chaos would be an understatement. They hit us with their laathis (long, stout wooden sticks) and rammed us with their shields. An APC screeched up and down the road, lobbing tear gas shells at us. The air was soon thick with the substance, making us feel as though as our eyes were going to burn out of our sockets and our lungs were about to collapse. We realized that a few of our own had been beaten so brutally that they had succumbed to the tear gas and had simply fainted right there in the middle of the green belt area where we had fled to from the road where the police had chased us off from. It could not have been in a worse location, so some of us ran back, coughing and choking, to lift them up and bring them back.

The police were charging at us from all directions yelling and screaming, attacking anyone they could get their hands on. To make matters worse, some students began pelting the police with stones. However, what the newspapers NEGLECT to mention is that most of us, i.e. the organizers and others students were beside ourselves with rage when this happened. We screamed ourselves hoarse and tried to stop them.

These students were NOT part of the original protest; they seem to have simply "appeared" out of nowhere. Earlier, they were seen harassing some of the journalists covering the protests, fairly odd considering that we wanted this to be fully covered. It is likely that these "students" were not students at all. Their agenda? Thrill seeking? Seems a bit passé, no? At times like this, I wouldn't exclude the idea that they were agents of the government deliberately placed among us to stir up the situation and instigate violence.

The police used this opportunity as an excuse to beat us even more brutally and lob more tear gas. They even threw stones of their own at us, and injured a few of us very badly.

Things came to a head when the SP was hit on the head (no pun intended) with a large rock. The police came charging into the woods like a wave of black, screaming and clashing their batons against the trees. We had no choice but to disperse and only around 20 of us managed to head up north to the judges' colony. When we got there, we found a "welcoming committee" in the form of around 300+ policemen waiting for us. We were surrounded before we knew it. Despite this we refused to wait quietly. We continued with our slogans and one of us stood up and, in front of the entire gathered "crowd" gave a speech decrying what had happened.

Then, before we knew it the anti-terrorist squad (yes ladies and gentlemen, the anti-terrorist squad) had grabbed us from behind and shoved us all into a prison bus that had pulled up silently behind.

Even as we were driven to the thana (holding cell), we refused to keep quiet. We yelled our slogans and decried the police every time we saw them.

At the thana, they eventually separated the men and women. When some women who had escaped the protest earlier came to see if we could be released, they too were arrested. They were not doing ANYTHING but inquiring about our release. The women were eventually taken to another thana in the G-7 sector, for women.

They kept us all locked together in a small holding cell (there were around 30 of us) and took away our mobile phones. By this time our families had heard about what had happened and had gathered outside to try and see if we could be released.

Several hours later, an agreement was reached: The students would be released.
Although we objected to this, saying that we wanted everyone released together, we were encouraged to leave and not be "martyrs".

They kept most of those men, some of them over 50+ overnight. That cell had absolutely no heating and a stone floor with only straw mats to sleep on. In winters, temperatures can reach 0 degrees centigrade in the mornings, which is a cause of great concern for those of us who were released. These were men who had been beaten earlier and some needed medical attention. We were told that they would be released by the morning of the 18th.

But I can't blame these policemen. They were only doing their job. They had been ordered to do what they did, as brutal as it was.

What was done on December 17th was only another example of the sheer desperation of the Pakistani government and the brutality it is willing to use against its own citizens. And all this with the emergency lifted and the constitution restored!

So, where does this leave us? At least now we have no illusions: The upcoming elections WILL be rigged and this "emergency" has not been lifted at all.

The excuse of "terrorists in the North" is another farce that has been used time and time again by the Pakistani army to justify its actions. These same militants were spawned BY the army decades ago, just like the Taliban in Afghanistan were by the United States of America. It's the same case of using ones own monster as an excuse to justify these actions.

Fund for slain Journalist Hayatullah Khan's children

Hayat Ullah Khan was a Pakistani journalist who was the first one to photograph the wreckage of a US missile that killed Pakistani civilians inside Pakistani territory. After reporting on this, he disappeared in December 2005. He was shot dead and his body was found in June 2006 in the North Waziristan region. His wife had protested against his abduction and murder. She also died when a US bomb blew up near her house.

Hayat Ullah Khan was awarded the International Press Freedom Award by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). The death of both parents has left behind five children aged 2 to 10. A fund to help the children has been set up by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). Mohsin Abbas, a friend of Hayat Ullah Khan, makes sure the money from the fund goes to the children. A six-year-old Canadian girl recently donated money to the fund from her own pocket after she heard the story of the slain journalist in school, read more about it below.

To read more about the work of Hayat Ullah Khan visit http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/search/tribal/

Re-inventing Pakistan's Presidency

Dr. Haider Mehdi

(Courtesy The Nation)

“No culture has ever expected its leaders to be saints; in fact, some cultures have prized leadership that is decidedly un-saintly,” wrote an eminent academic, an expert in media and democracy.

Conceptualizations of the political character of leadership have changed since the inception of the idea of democracy which was founded in the ancient Greek “Republic,” when leadership character was defined in Aristotelian terms: “an observable collection of habits, virtues and vices.” In modern times, a significant and fundamental contribution added to Aristotle’s definition was made by Sigmund Freud. Freudian psychology has altered that definition to include “motivation, the subconscious and relationships that help to form all of us as people.” Consequently, political leadership is a sum total of observable personal habits as well as an aggregate of personality traits rooted in an overall development from childhood cognitive factors to career advancement to how a person steers through life – a complex combination of attitudes, motivations, ascribed moral values, self-perception, the perpetual view of others and the nature of interaction with them. Hence, political leadership in the modern sense is a holistic view of a leader’s overall personality development with special emphasis on the notion of what motivates such a person to what he/she does in the realm of political life.

Just like the world at large, the Pakistani masses do not expect their leaders to be saints. However, consciously or unconsciously, whatever the case, the majority of people have come to realize that leaders cannot be taken at face value or for what they say as symbolic rhetoric on a daily basis. The masses are now aware that a political leader’s “motivations” (hidden from visual observations) are the basic ingredient in how they conduct themselves and how they run the business of the state. For example, a self-centered leader bent on prolonging his/her rule or a leader with anti-democratic attitudes is obviously driven by personal motivational forces that do not serve the public’s interests and are consistently opposed and contradictory to the people’s welfare. Therefore, the masses have come to understand and question their present and past leaders’ intentions – they are looking through the prism of leaders’ personal motivational agendas and openly showing contempt and rejection of their politics.

Just like the world at large, the Pakistani masses do not expect their leaders to be saints. However, consciously or unconsciously, whatever the case, the majority of people have come to realize that leaders cannot be taken at face value or for what they say as symbolic rhetoric on a daily basis. The masses are now aware that a political leader’s “motivations” (hidden from visual observations) are the basic ingredient in how they conduct themselves and how they run the business of the state. For example, a self-centered leader bent on prolonging his/her rule or a leader with anti-democratic attitudes is obviously driven by personal motivational forces that do not serve the public’s interests and are consistently opposed and contradictory to the people’s welfare. Therefore, the masses have come to understand and question their present and past leaders’ intentions – they are looking through the prism of leaders’ personal motivational agendas and openly showing contempt and rejection of their politics.

No wonder then that the incumbent ruler of Pakistan, having been in the highest office of the state – the presidency – for eight years, is completely shut out of the public’s hearts and minds. The fact is that no matter what Pervez Musharraf does now or for the rest of his political career, he will never be restored in the public’s eyes. Nor would such a restoration be possible for Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan , or Zia-ul-Haq. The Pakistani presidency is in the ultimate crisis of confidence, distrust and historical evaluation by the public at large. The presidency in Pakistan needs to be re-invented.

The Pakistani masses do not wish the incumbent holder of the presidency or leaders like past military dictators to be in the presidency again (Just like Musharraf, Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan , and Zia-ul-Haq all claimed political and constitutional legitimacy.). People want a Pakistani Nelson Mandela to lead this nation. They want a leader in the presidency that acknowledges the significance of the historical moment in the life of this nation, a commitment to the general public’s welfare and an exceptionally selfless attitude towards public life. They want a president above and beyond personal interests and manipulative politics -- a leader who has an absolute determination for the respect of constitutional democratic norms and fully complies with the principles of ethical political conduct. They want a president who will demonstrate complete understanding and respect for public sentiment and have zero-tolerance of self-propelled ego-centric political behavior. Pakistanis do not wish to be served by a ‘messiah’ in the presidency (that all military dictators have claimed to be), but they expect a leader who will work tirelessly for emancipating the masses (as opposed to women emancipation only) from poverty, illiteracy, lack of health services, polluted cities, unemployment, inequitable social injustice and the restoration of national self-respect, self-reliance and full sovereignty over matters of the nation’s internal and external affairs. The public expects a president to liberate them from the yoke of the American connection and break the traditional colonial pattern of diplomatic relations with the West. The people expect to live in their own country with self-respect and dignity.

The Pakistani masses do not wish the incumbent holder of the presidency or leaders like past military dictators to be in the presidency again (Just like Musharraf, Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan , and Zia-ul-Haq all claimed political and constitutional legitimacy.). People want a Pakistani Nelson Mandela to lead this nation. They want a leader in the presidency that acknowledges the significance of the historical moment in the life of this nation, a commitment to the general public’s welfare and an exceptionally selfless attitude towards public life. They want a president above and beyond personal interests and manipulative politics -- a leader who has an absolute determination for the respect of constitutional democratic norms and fully complies with the principles of ethical political conduct. They want a president who will demonstrate complete understanding and respect for public sentiment and have zero-tolerance of self-propelled ego-centric political behavior. Pakistanis do not wish to be served by a ‘messiah’ in the presidency (that all military dictators have claimed to be), but they expect a leader who will work tirelessly for emancipating the masses (as opposed to women emancipation only) from poverty, illiteracy, lack of health services, polluted cities, unemployment, inequitable social injustice and the restoration of national self-respect, self-reliance and full sovereignty over matters of the nation’s internal and external affairs. The public expects a president to liberate them from the yoke of the American connection and break the traditional colonial pattern of diplomatic relations with the West. The people expect to live in their own country with self-respect and dignity.

The presidency in Pakistan has to be re-invented:

1. From now on, with the new legitimate and constitutionally accepted president to-be, the term of office for the president should remain only 4 years, non-extendable (remember Nelson Mandela, after 27 years of national liberation struggle, chose only a 4 year presidential term). The presidency must be elected by direct public vote.

2. From now on, military generals (serving or retired) shall be constitutionally barred from the office of the presidency.

3. From now on, the development of the presidency’s relationship to power and authority shall be regulated purely by strict legislative measures.

4. From now on, in order to streamline clause (3), the presidency shall have no powers to make appointments of the armed forces chiefs, judges of the apex courts or ambassadors. The presidency shall have only powers to recommend or nominate candidates for such positions. The relevant Parliamentary Committees must approve such recommendations with the presidency having no authority to veto the committee’s non-approval.


5. From now on, the presidency must demonstrate flexibility, adaptability and purposefulness by mature political judgments in all matters of national discourse. The presidency must obtain prior approvals of all of its political initiatives from the parliament.

6. From now on, the presidency shall have no powers to impose martial law, issue ordinances, and dismiss judges of the apex courts or order military operations within Pakistan territory.

7. From now on, the presidency shall have a credible manifesto on establishing direct contact with the masses.

8. From now on, the presidency’s public relationship manifesto must have detailed explanations of how the public’s sense of trust will be maintained in this institution.

9. From now on, the presidency shall have no powers to curb the mass media, regulate freedom of speech and expression or exercise overall control over the broadcasting air-waves. Neither shall the president have a monopolistic presence in the media.

10. From now on, the presidency shall not be the sole spokesperson for national policies, or the making of such policies, both internally and externally. All such powers shall remain vested in the parliament and made operational through the head of the elected government. The presidency shall remain in an advising role.

Demanding sainthood standards of conduct from political leadership is neither desirable nor advisable. But given the history of presidential excesses in Pakistan, this proposal sets the minimum reform expectations for the future democratically-elected presidency of this country.

In re-inventing the presidency, the Pakistani civil society must remain vibrant and engage itself in a deep exploration of the political character of anyone who wishes to occupy the presidency. This will help Pakistanis think deeply about what they, as a political system, mean by and need from leadership.

Indeed, the moment has arrived to change the equations of power in Pakistan from a single entity to the public domain…! Won’t you join in this struggle?

SAC Lahore vigil tomorrow to express solidarity with Islamabad students

The Student Action Committe (Lahore) is holding a candle light vigil starting outside Neher Ghar, 5 zaman park, (close to Aitzez Ihsans house).

This is being held for those in Islamabad who were brutalized, tear gassed, baton charged or arrested on Dec 17th.

Please join us in this act of solidarity and committment that we are all in this together. The agencies, authorities and the regime need to be retold that these voices will be heard, that we will not be silenced, we will not be threatened.

Come light a candle with SAC (Lahore) and other supporters for those in need.

Student Action Committee (Lahore)