Last week saw release of Maulvi Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid after his acquittal in all cases state was pursuing.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: How can someone be optimistic about Pakistan when we see that those who are supposed to uphold the law are themselves violating it? Last week was very pessimism-filled, full of depressing news. I am not even referring to the attack on an army general in Dir or that on a church in Peshawar. I am talking about those institutions that are not supposed to violate the law. Last week saw the release of Maulvi Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid after his acquittal in all cases the state was pursuing against him.
Let’s not forget that in 2007, Lal Masjid was a safe haven for heavily-armed militants, and that they fought pitched battles with the Pakistan Army during an operation that was launched to flush them out. Let’s also not forget Maulana Abdul Aziz’s fiery speeches where he threatened to unleash hundreds of suicide bombers if the army ever tried to attack Lal Masjid. Then came two decisions by the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) — first it said that courts should not accept DNA tests as primary evidence, even in cases of rape. The CII also rejected the death penalty for those who may file false blasphemy charges.
If all this depressing news wasn’t enough, the PTI leader then made a statement that the TTP should be allowed to open an office in Pakistan. Imran Khan doesn’t even call them terrorists, he calls them ‘misguided brothers’ — it seems you have to be quite a bit ‘misguided’ to kill 50,000 Pakistanis.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2013.
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