![man on fire man on fire](https://i1.tribune.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/244710-SaroopIjazNew-1315147314.jpg)
Dr Mirza levelled allegations of extortion and sponsoring and patronising target killing on the MQM and on Interior Minister Rehman Malik. Perhaps the gravest charge was directed towards Altaf Hussain, i.e. of treason by being an instigator and an active party to a plan to break up Pakistan. The veracity of these allegations is open to question, however the significant point is that they have been levelled and done so very publicly.
The analysis on television immediately following his first firebrand press conference had one common thread, that his life is now in clear and imminent danger. There was also unanimity in the opinion that some violence will likely follow (which thankfully has not happened yet, at least not anything out of the ordinary). Since the venue and the subject of the press conference was Karachi, these concerns and observations were accepted as routine. Even if the press conference was deliberately provocative and politically incorrect, the threat of violence to Dr Mirza or random violence in the city does not logically follow, at least not outside of Karachi. As an example, some time back an MQM legislator went berserk at Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhary Nisar outside the National Assembly, punctuating his diatribe with hair transplants and humiliating and distasteful insinuations about very personal matters. It did stir up controversy, yet there was no concern for the safety of the said MNA. Similarly, people choose to express their opinions rather freely about President Asif Ali Zardari without arousing too much concern for their lives or the lives of an ethnic group. I admit that the parallels are not exact, since Karachi has a complex multi-ethnic composition and the accusations made are very serious. Yet, to me this does not obscure the primary principle that violence or the threat of it is not an appropriate response to speech (even to irresponsible and false speech).
Words have a peculiar and incurably violent life of their own in Karachi. Dr Mirza made an insensitive speech a couple of months ago regarding migrants from India and as a result dozens died in the next couple of days. The MQM said that the bloodshed was due to Dr Mirza’s statements. Here, again, the causal relationship is tenuous at best — while Dr Mirza should have been strongly censured for the speech, it does not explain the violence. The expression of displeasure in telephonic speeches often results in violence and mayhem soon after. William Butler Yeats was terrified to find out that some Irish rebels in 1916 went to their deaths at the hands of the British Army quoting lines from his play Cathleen ni Houlihan, and was prompted to write these words in his poem “Man and the Echo” — “Did that play of mine send out/Certain men the English shot?… Could my spoken words have checked/That whereby a house lay wrecked?”
The MQM chief is no Yeats, yet his words hold the same potency. Violence seems to have become an acceptable arbiter of social and political conflicts in Karachi.
Once Dr Mirza has said what he has chosen to say, it cannot be ignored in the guise of reconciliation or to avoid confrontation. A slap on the wrist to either of the parties is not sufficient. Either what he says is false, in which case he should be taken to court for slander and defamation, sending a clear unequivocal message to everyone that slurs of this nature will not go unaccounted for. Or, in the alternate, he has the means to prove his assertions. The allegation of patronising target killing cannot be answered by the interior minister claiming that Dr Mirza is like a younger brother. The response is diabolically irrelevant. The allegations have to be either proved or disproved in a court of law and one of the parties held culpable. An appropriate forum would be the suo motu hearings being conducted by the Supreme Court on the Karachi law and order situation. The trend so far of grand, ambitious, overarching suo motu actions is the absence of holding identifiable individuals culpable. An imprecise term like target killing further perpetuates this false sense of objectivism. Every individual who dies in a ‘target killing’ is the victim of murder and hence has at least one individual responsible for the act.
Reconciliation between senior political leadership taking place at Governor House and the Presidency has its place. However, the suggestion that because some distanced, removed bosses have made nice and that makes all the individual murders less barbaric or that they can be ignored is nauseating and has a revolting tinge of mafia operations to it.
Letting the present fiasco slide without holding someone guilty is setting an unbelievably dangerous precedent. The nature of the allegations distinguish this particular episode from the everyday political point-scoring that we have become accustomed to being witnesses to. Murder and treason are probably the two most severe charges that can be levelled on an individual or an organisation. The Supreme Court should ask Dr Mirza to produce his evidence in the ongoing proceedings and the MQM and Rehman Malik should be asked to put up their defences and one of the parties should be held accountable.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 5th, 2011.
COMMENTS (17)
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Nice point of View. but i speak one thing. it's very important to view and investigate any issue on both two ways. every issue have same like a Mirror. one is reality and other one is just Projection of issue. it's very difficult to understand every situation in Politics. because of Politics look like a Tea. every one try to his/her on mood. I am not taking side to any political party or any politician. we the citizens of this country also a Politician and play politics. we know that someone is wrong and it is not illegible to take a position that he/she want. but our family relations, our community, our FIQA, our religion, our future needs and lots of others things are going in the way to select a wrong or illegible person. we know that every Politician plays our minds, our economy, our Life's. but no one can stand our own relative if he/she is politician. why because of no body accept truth. And if someone is going to take stand he/she are going to face thousand of problems in his way. the main is Money, Family relations, Jobs and Scaring to death(family or him/her). so please don't become emotional of any one statement. view and analyze the premises. Thanks and Take care of Pakistan.
"As an example, some time back an MQM legislator went berserk at Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhary Nisar outside the National Assembly, punctuating his diatribe with hair transplants and humiliating and distasteful insinuations about very personal matters." Very true your above remarks about MQM , but very unfortunately you forgot these were in response to personal insintuations against MQM chief Mr Altaff Hussain , leader of millions karachiite. This dirty match was given a kick off by none other than our opposition leader ch.nisar hussain . I think the real cause to all our trouble is that we speak half thruth , that is what you wrote when u wrote about MQM MNAs out burst i am amazed how could you forget that it began by very unethical remarks by person mentioned above .I hope next time we expect unbiased write up from young writers
@Nadeem Ahmed: First the judiciary would have to find MQM responsible for all the bad things of recent years, then we can think about who would enforce any punishment.
so saroop ejaz has also a formula to write a piece... after some language somersaults, pepper the piece with some poetic allegory or couplet and voila!
Objective and pertinent criticism by the writer with one exception, is MQM and Government of PPP the only guilty parties in this chaos? I have no disagreement with what Saroop has said, I think he makes a valid argument and maybe this is the only aspect he wishes to highlight. Karachi is plagued with old and new aspiring thugs Mafia style, each trying to protect and spread their turf. As they say, in this Hammam sub he nangay hein.
Nice article! I want all journalists to be brave like Saroop Ijaz.
why doesn't Pakistanis hold these guys responsible for their loose tougues - also what is this business of MQM being led from London. Also I hear that Zardari's son leads meetings from London? Hasn't Pakistan gained independence from the British in 1947? I also read of so many Pakistan leaders with dual citizenship - how crazy is that - they need to be immediately kicked out!
Dr. ZM should have done his one-act play on Sindh card/political stage after the holy month of Ramazan and Eidul Fitr.The poor people of Pakistan (PPP)are already suffereing from all sort of deprivations and human humiliation of the lowest possible level, they should have been allowed to celebrate Eid in peaceful atmosphere and with due spiritual involvement and joyful participation.The poor ones(masses) deserve not what your 2-hours long (ill-timed)press conference had in store for them in the form of mental restlessness and agony of more sleepless nights, even when there was no load-shedding during three Eid days.
Brilliant Article very few people in the media have the courage to speak against the MQM.
Interesting read. At least you have managed to cut through a lot of the garbage, defined the issue and suggested a solution.
very important points. hear hear!
What exactly is ZM's credibility that suddenly people want to believe him. He is on record(while holding the holy Quran in his hands) that Rehman Malik is a liar and a traitor and so on , but he respects him a lot as he is an honourable man.One doesn't have to have an IQ equivalent to Einstien to figure out that ZM is just trying to prepare of next elections and whipping up ethnic frenzy.If u have proof, why wait for more deaths to occur, why not prove ur charges in court ???
If people of Pakistan are yet not tired of ZM and Rehman Malik, then hats off to their tolerance !!!
Let's suppose for a moment that judiciary is the only neutral and honest authority and judiciary holds MQM responsible for all the bad things of recent years. To punish MQM for their crimes, judiciary needs another trustworthy and neutral authority to implement their findings. Please tell us who is in your mind, who can do the job. Is it Army, Police, Taliban, PPP or you are going to hire some foreign agents?