Order and Anarchy

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, whom the government suspended on March 9 over undisclosed charges of misconduct, had been scheduled to visit Karachi today to address a gathering of lawyers at the Sind High Court as part of the concluding ceremony of Supereme Court’s 50th anniversary. But fate had other designs on this address…..

Just as the Hon’bl Judge’s plane hit Karachi Airport, the law and order situation of this megapolis took a sharp U – turn and the city got converted into a vast battlefield. Coincidentally or otherwise, the MQM had too arranged a rally for today….however, it’s perplexing as to what the MQM would be protesting against, the party being part of the current dispensation that rules the country as well as the province of Sind. Many roads in Karachi were blocked apparently to disrupt the CJ’s program from going ahead.

The story does not end just here. Three days back, appearing in an ARY talk show , Waseem Akhtar of the MQM challenged the protests of the lawyer community and the opposition parties on the matter of the CJ’s suspension and retorted that the MQM would hold rallies on all those days when the opposition parties will hold rallies, when asked as to why did MQM was adamant on going with its plans for its rally to be held on the same day as the CJ’s. This comment definitely shows how callous the MQM leadership is towards others’ democratic rights. And why wouldn’t it be?? The party that fosters on a Nazi ideology would definitely be averse to democratic principles!!

Anyhow, back to Karachi affairs: media reports that atleast 27 people have lost their lives as a result of today’s showdown between the fascist MQM and opposition supporters and the death toll is expected to rise. The media was again one of the parties to have taken the hit; Aaj TV’s offices on the Business Recorder Road were attacked and have been under continuous gunfire since midday. The channel has been telecasting live pictures of armed terrorists roaming around the locality and virtually holding the area under siege. Interestingly, the police and the rangers have only acted as bystanders letting rape of the city’s peace take place under their noses. BBC reports:

One exchange of fire went on for half-an-hour between supporters of the pro-Musharraf Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and activists from the Pakistan People’s Party of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto near the airport, with several deaths reported.

Dozens of people are reported injured.

Overnight, two men from the party of exiled former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif were shot dead at a roadside cafe.

Later another political activist, belonging to the religious opposition party Sunni Tehrik, was killed while he was putting up posters and banners. All three were killed by unidentified gunmen on motorcycles.

The Sind High Court, on the other hand, was cordoned off and all the roads leading towards the court premises were blocked by placing huge cargo containers and trucks across the roads; this cordon was again strengthened by the seige laid down around the court premises by armed MQM hoodlums.

Television clips also showed that armed MQM workers holding party flags managed to enter the airport terminal building to prevent lawyers and opposition workers to receive the Hon’bl judge. It’s so hard to imagine that the provincial administration, hijacked by the MQM leadership managed to disable the Airport Security Force, which led to armed MQM men actually making it to the terminal building.

A question that comes to mind over today’s affair is how come the CJ’s program became such a law and order situation specially given the fact that other such programs in other cities have remained largely peaceful? For this, the government functionaries both at the provincial and federal levels have been continuously blaming the person of the CJ but their arguments are so blatantly ridiculous. The Sind Governor is on record for saying this on TV today that the CJ should not have gone ahead with his plans for the program given the fact that a possibility of such a situation had been explained to him earlier. But why did they require the CJ’s program to be scrapped? One line of argument is that the government might have become nervous due to the huge reception that the CJ was accorded with in Lahore and thus, the establishment must have felt the need to show its strength too. This is probably the only reason for which the MQM was used today and its rally organized. This, coupled with Waseem Akhtar’s remark stated above, lends credence to the thought that the government may be running out of patience over the CJ issue and how it has turned out to mobilize huge masses. If this really is the truth, it also reflects how insecure the government has now started to feel regarding the situation that has arisen due to its own actions. Strengthening this line of thinking is another rally that is currently taking place in Islamabad, organized by the ruling party and where Musharraf finds enough time to rant out and bore participants from his address.

Nevertheless, today the CJ issue has taken a totally unexpected turn due to the government’s own nonchalance. Karachi, which had returned to peaceful times after a long time and arduous efforts again witnessed scenes reminiscent of the mid and late 1990s when again the MQM made this city a living hell.