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Old Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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Where is the state?

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
By Shireen M Mazari

The entire nation watched with horror and anger the killings and sheer terror unleashed in Karachi on May 12 and the complete abdication of responsibility by the state. Who could remain unmoved by the loss of innocent lives? Who could distance themselves from the shock of seeing young men wielding weapons with no restraining element of the law and order elements of the state? And all that blood … why is the blood of Pakistanis so cheap for the state that allows it to be spilt unchecked? The nation has been left with a gaping wound and the state is unwilling to move towards healing it. Instead, we heard the callous sound of drumbeats and song emanating from the capital that very evening when Karachi was counting its dead.

Instead of silence in respect of the dead, we heard hollow sloganeering as no one sought to at least stop the music and dim the lights. The leadership should have led the mourning and halted the celebrations that had taken on a nauseating repulsion after a day of unbridled killings in Karachi. Where was the responsiveness and sensitivity of the leadership to the pain of the nation, which could have allowed us Pakistanis to have a national catharsis through a national grieving which could have put us on the path of national healing?

That was not to be. Instead, more violence has followed, including the loss of yet another innocent life -- that of Syed Hammad Raza. The credibility of the state stands so low today that no one gives any credence to the story of his death being a case of dacoity -- especially since the police standing across the street made no initial effort to catch the "dacoits". The general perception has taken hold that this was a target killing to terrorise others into submission. So we stand polarised today, with no one stepping back and with battle lines being drawn and cross currents of accusations and vilifications hurtling us all into an unknown abyss.

Clearly Karachi was not simply a case of state ineptitude since once the state authorised the Rangers to move in, we saw the Rangers and police in full force, post-May 12. Yet, on May 12 no Ranger was in sight, despite being deployed permanently in Karachi, and only a sprinkling of police who acted more as bystanders watching the carnage unfold. Also, no bureaucratic or political heads have rolled for the official lapse of law and order. It seems no one in power is prepared to shoulder any responsibility for this latest national tragedy. Instead, from the Karachi Nazim to members of the MQM to all officialdom, a futile blame game against political opponents, and even the CJSC, has begun -– with no expression of regret or apology to the nation for what happened.

What happened in Karachi on May 12 was the state allowing a fascist party to run amok in the country's commercial and financial heart. For those who have seen films relating to the rise of the Nazis and read the history of that time, the similarity with the events of May 12 was frightening. The same pattern of attacks against all opponents, the media and so on. Even the tone and incantation of the MQM leader's address from London had an eerie ring of familiarity to Hitler's rabble-rousing speeches. (It is also ironic that just as British Prime Minister Chamberlain pandered to Hitler at Munich, so now the British Government is sheltering a Pakistani fascist leader -- as well as many Pakistani terrorists.)

That other political groups in Karachi also responding with fire power and violence only added to the tragedy, but the responsibility lies with the state and the fascist party in power in Karachi. The crucial question is simply: Where was the writ of the state? While Nero fiddled as Rome burned, Karachi was a case of the ruling party of the province actually doing the burning, the forces of law and order in Karachi keeping their distance while Islamabad fiddled away and the nation watched in a state of frustrating helplessness.

For those who accuse the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (CJSC) and his accompanying lawyers for the Karachi bloodbath, theirs is a bizarre and desperate rationalisation. Perhaps the CJSC could have chosen to give in to the blackmail by the fascist party ruling in Karachi or simply been more cautious given the warnings conveyed to him and his lawyers. Yet, the CJSC has been going all over the country to address lawyers and there has never been any untoward incident. In fact, there has been a democratic tolerance shown by the local and provincial governments while the people have celebrated the assertion of the power of the judiciary. So who would have thought fascism would unleash a national tragedy. At the very least there was an expectation that the forces of law and order would be present and that the senior bureaucrats responsible would not be wasting their time standing guard outside the airport lounge where the CJSC and his lawyers were being kept.

But again, the issue is why fascism must be pandered to in all its forms? It is not just in Karachi, where the state could have ordered a ban on processions and simply allowed the CJSC to address the lawyers. Earlier, we saw the fascism of the religious extremists of Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid also being pandered to by the state. In fact, while the issue has been sidelined in the face of the judicial crisis and the Karachi melee, the Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid combine have become a fortified no-go area in the heart of the capital. While the government has been conceding point after illegal point to these fascists, the latter merely keep upping the ante. Clearly, all commitment to enlightenment and moderation, on which so many of us had laid our hopes, has been lost sight of in the wake of the challenge by the terrorists of Jamia Hafsa-Lal Masjid.

So where do we go from here? Are we going to be overwhelmed and terrorised by varying forces of fascism while the writ of the state vanishes in their wake even as it is unleashed mercilessly against those using democratic and peaceful norms of protest? Pakistan's detractors could not have wished for a better scenario -- especially with the dreaded prospect of an eventual civil--military confrontation.

Who in the leadership will boldly begin a national healing process which accommodates and tolerates peaceful dissent and protects the nation from the violence and terrorisation of the forces of fascism? Target killings and terrorisation of the innocent by those forces of the state that are meant to protect them cannot intimidate the nation into a brutal submission. The credibility chasm is widening by the moment and this beautiful country's white and green seem to be a receding vision through the growing haze of a wounded nation's unstoppable tears.

The writer is director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad. Email: smnews80@hotmail.com

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=56046
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