news details |
|
|
| Pakistan Treading Failure –II | | Swat under Shariah | | D SUBA CHANDRAN
Maulana Fazlullah, leader of the Taliban openly advocates against women education and has been targeting girl schools in Swat. He has asked men not to shave and wear their tunics with a specific length. Music and dance are banned. Any one who has refused to adhere to his diktats are publicly being executed in the main chowk in Mingora, which is now called as Khooni-Chowk.
In the Swat Valley alone, the Taliban has succeeded in destroying more than 120 girl schools, besides 80 other schools. Women in particular are bearing the brunt of this Taliban onslaught. Women have been asked not to leave houses without assisted by a male member, who is a relative. Women activists currently are taking to streets, as the video footage of a girl being whipped in public has found its way to the electronic media. Her mistake: she went to the local market, with a male, who is not her relative.
Women have been asked not attend hospitals with male doctors. Even if there is a medical emergency, they cannot go for treatment alone. They have to wait for a male, who is their relative to take them to the hospitals. Says a nurse in a local hospital in Swat, “Women, however sick, can only be admitted if accompanied by a male relative. Every woman fears she will be killed if she comes out, so even sick and pregnant women have to visit hospital with their husbands.”
Beauty parlours have been closed. Women cannot even go to local markets. Those who have been working in governmental and non-governmental offices have been asked to resign or threatened to face the consequences. Says, a teacher, mother of two, who was teaching in Mingora, until recently, “Life bores us to tears. There is no entertainment. We can't even think about cable TV, cinema, film and music. Imagine I can't even go shopping or to the bazaar as women are banned by Taliban.”
The government, unfortunately has signed a deal with the Taliban and has agree to impose the Shariah. While the local population is reeling under the Taliban rule, Fazlullah is euphoric. He is considering to expand his areas of operation outside Swat and include the neighbouring Dir now. After all, if it has worked for him and the Taliban in Swat, it is likely to work elsewhere.
Punjab: After the Restoration of PML-N
Zardari almost took Pakistan to a total disaster in March 2009, when he decided to take a confrontationist approach vis-à-vis the PML-N of the Shariffs on the lawyers issue. Earlier, he had dismissed the PML-N government in Punjab, as he realized that Sharif was unlikely to prevent the lawyers’ movement from entering Islamabad.
Why was Sharif so insistent on the restoration of judges? Was that based on a principled stand or there are other political reasons? An analysis of Sharif’s real intentions would reveal his objectives on the issue of restoration of judges and his decision to increase the pressure, which was clearly based on politics than on any principles or convictions.
The reasons were threefold. First and foremost, 2008 election results. PML-N’s success has been limited only to Punjab; both for the National and Provincial assemblies, except for few seats in NWFP, the PML-N has won the rest from Punjab. Even in Punjab provincial assembly, though the PML-N has got more seats than the PPP and PML-Q, theoretically, Zardari could form an alliance with the PML-Q. Given Zardari’s tendencies to ignore commitments he has made, Sharif fear that the PPP could destabilize his government in Punjab. With the popular support in Punjab at an all time high in favour of Sharif, he will not mind destabilizing the government and forcing an early election.
With popular disaffection on the PPP growing, Sharif believes if there is a mid term election now, he will be able to win more seats, especially in Punjab, in such a way that there will be no opposition here. Sharif’s calculations are true; if there is a mid term election in the near future, most of PML-Q will get wiped off; and even PPP is unlikely to repeat its performance. PML-N will be the biggest beneficiary in Punjab and that is what Sharif wants.
Even today, after the reinstatement of the Chief Justice and his own government in Punjab, Sharif will be looking for yet another reason to come back to power with complete victory both in the province and at national level.
The second reason, why Sharif was emphasizing on the restoration of entire judiciary, mainly the reinstatement of Iftikhar Choudhary is the fact that the latter may act as a bulwark against any Presidential intrusions in Punjab, in terms of dismissing the government or engaging in any other foul plays against the PML-N. Besides, Sharif also believes that Iftikhar Chaudhary, if reinstated, is likely to question the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) which Gen Musharraf signed with the PPP. The NRO, amongst many other issues, sidelined the cases against Benazir and Zardari, enabling them to take part in elections. The NRO, clearly is based not on moral grounds, but on political pragmatism. If Chaudhary is to declare the NRO as null and void, the entire political process that followed it, including the February 2008 elections stand cancelled. This means fresh elections, which is precisely what Sharif wants.
Finally, both the Sharif brothers are waging a war in the courts against their disqualification. Sharif believes, his support for the lawyers’ movement and his ‘principled’ stand on the reinstatement of sacked judges and call for an independent judiciary will earn him support amongst the legal fraternity. The issue today clearly is neither moral nor legal – it is political. Given the politicisation of the lawyers’ movement and even some of the recent statements made Iftikhar Chaudhary, Sharif’s expectations are not totally unfounded.
Clearly, Sharif is playing according to a plan, keeping in mind his personal interests and that of his party. He is well aware, in this process he is likely to destabilize the entire nation and also the slow but steady political process being set in the other three provinces – Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP. Punjab, today after the restoration of the PML-N appears relatively stable. But this stability will remain, only till Sharif find another reason to start a confrontation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
