Black Saturday By Mir Jamilur Rahman

It will never be known for certain who had ordered the Karachi police to disappear from the scenes of carnage and let the innocent suffer death and injuries. It will not be known for certain whose brilliant idea it was to block the major roads with water tankers and huge trucks loaded with heavy containers, their tyres deflated. It will never be known for certain who had ordered the police not to apprehend the stout gunmen who were shooting to kill those who had gathered to welcome the chief justice of Pakistan. It will never be known for certain who had ordered the siege of a private TV channel. We will never know the answers to these questions because the Sindh Government has turned down the demand to hold a judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts about the May 12 slaughter in Karachi.

Sindh's home secretary, Brig (r) Ghulam Muhammad Mohtarem, was asked by journalists at a press conference on Thursday how many gunmen were arrested on May 12 considering that they were identifiable from the TV images, but he refused to divulge the identities of those detained.

Television is an incredible medium. The images it transmits live cannot lie. The impact its images have on the viewers is indelible. A picture of a murdered man lying at the roadside in a pool of blood published in a newspaper would have a passing effect on a reader. But the same picture depicted on the TV screen would have far larger impact on the viewer. What people saw on their TV screens on May 12 will haunt them for the rest of their lives. There is no way to justify the anarchy that was let loose on May 12. The day would go in the history books as 'Black Saturday'.

The gunmen could easily be identified from TV images, but the law enforcement agencies have not bothered to identify and arrest them. So far, not a single gunman has been arrested who was seen on the TV screen taking part in target practice. It is strange that Karachi was subjected to utter lawlessness on May 12 and not a single arrest was made nor a single shot fired by the police to control the anarchical situation. In fact, the 13,000 police force and 8,000 Rangers were no where to be seen near the scenes of the gun battles. These 21,000 law enforcers were either ordered to rest in their barracks or posted far away from the troubled areas.

Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, lead counsel for the chief justice, told a press conference after being asked to leave Karachi, that in future we may need a visa to enter Karachi. He was not far off the point. A day earlier, MQM MNA Nawab Mirza had told a TV channel that Pakistan is everybody's but Karachi is ours. He claimed that Karachi is the biggest vote-bank of the party and that it would not allow anybody to disturb its number one position in Karachi. A prominent MQM leader has said that the chief justice and his lawyers are welcome to Karachi but the lawyers' rally should be without politicians. We can say that the chief justice and his lawyers have been granted conditional 'visa' to visit Karachi.

The order of deportation itself is an indication that 'undesirable' Pakistanis are forbidden to enter Karachi. To be sure, the word 'deport' is only used for the foreigners. It literally means 'remove a foreigner forcibly to another country'. The Sindh government has therefore attained the unenviable position of deporting Pakistani citizens from Pakistani territory. The decision to ask the lawyers to leave the province clearly shows that the Sindh government would not let any opposition politician enter its domain. If he managed to do so, he will be forcibly thrown out.

The federal government has personalised the administration to such an extent that the four provincial governors enjoy different levels of authority in their respective provinces. For instance, we can safely say that in Punjab the chief minister wields administrative powers and is the chief executive of the province. The governor is a figurehead and performs non-political functions and attends to those public complaints which concern federal departments. In Punjab, the governor and the chief minister are moving along splendidly because they do not tread on each other's toes.

The situation in Sindh is radically different. There, the governor is the boss not because the constitution says so but because the federal government wants it so. Most of the time, the chief minister is a silent spectator as was observed on Black Saturday. It was the governor who was seen visiting hospitals and issuing orders and answering questions from the media while the chief minister was conspicuous by his absence. The latter just cannot afford to play his constitutional role because that would annoy the governor. If that happens, the MQM will pull out from the coalition and the government of Dr Arbab Rahim will collapse, which is the last thing that the chief minister would want to see happen.

May 12 also saw a large rally in Islamabad organised by the PML-Q to show solidarity with President Musharraf. There is nothing wrong with such a rally. However, it was more of a carnival than a political rally. The whole area was abuzz with the sound of multiple drums and people were found more involved in bhangra and luddi than listening to their leaders. The tally of dead in Karachi had crossed 40 while in Islamabad it was carnival time. It was most inopportune and regrettable that while Karachi was burning, there was jubilation in Islamabad.

President Musharraf has stated categorically while talking to a TV channel that Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif would not be allowed back to Pakistan before the next general elections. If that happens then the fairness of elections becomes doubtful. It is these two leaders whose participation would ensure clean and transparent elections.

Karachi carnage & government’s inaction By Zamir Ghumro


IT appears that successive governments in Pakistan have only paid lip service to the words of the Quaid that “the first duty of the government is to maintain law and order.” From Governor-General Ghulam Mohammed to General Pervez Musharraf, every authoritarian ruler has tried to carve out for himself a permanent niche in power, often adopting extra constitutional means to do so.

With most of their time and energy consumed by the struggle to remain in power, they have left the people to the mercies of a partisan police force and administration.

Putting the current crisis in perspective, it was the denial of the right to change a government through elections that has now led to a situation where even the Chief Justice of Pakistan is removed by a sitting president so that the next change of government is in his favour. The Karachi carnage of May 12 is the result.

It is surprising that rallies by political parties in Pakistan should result in bloody clashes when dozens of demonstrations are taken out in the capitals of democratic countries by different parties on the same day, each enjoying its fundamental right to assemble.

As far as Karachi is concerned, it should not have been impossible to hold rallies in the city on the same day by different political groups. The basic duty of maintaining law and order rests with the government in power although everyone including the opposition has to abide by the law. When the government senses a threat to its authority, it resorts to violent methods either through police or other law-enforcement agencies.

The Karachi violence has brought before us one stark reality. The federal government is selective when it comes to intervening in such grave matters. In this case, the government knew that a clash was likely between the ruling coalition and the opposition. After all, its countless agencies must have been reporting the sensitivity of the situation to the government. Unfortunately, it chose to do nothing.

For the Chief Justice’s visit to Karachi, it was the duty of the government to ensure that the security measures were tight and to direct the provincial authorities to take all necessary steps in this regard. Had the president or prime minister been making the same visit, proper arrangements would have been made. But in the case of the Chief Justice, the Sindh government itself blocked the roads and made sure that the security arrangements were inadequate.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan is head of one of the organs of the state. His visit should have been coordinated by the federal government and the Sindh government and each and every detail discussed. The federal government, however, abdicated its responsibility and left everything to the Sindh government.

If law and order had been solely the responsibility of the provincial governments, the federal government would not have interfered in Balochistan, bypassing the provincial government and assembly there. It is clear that where the interest of the federal government is served by interference in provincial affairs, it does so, but where its interest is served by inaction and abdication of responsibility, it shifts the latter to the provincial government.

If the provincial government is unable to restore law and order, the responsibility of the federal government extends to taking over the executive authority of that province under Article 232 of the Constitution. Is this not strong enough a weapon in the hands of the federation to check errant provincial cabinets and to ensure that the provincial government addresses matters of law and order in a proper way?

Moreover, the federal government has made the Police Order 2002 part of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution till 2009 which shows that it exercises control even over the police in the provinces.

The Sindh government has failed to discharge its responsibility under the Constitution to provide security and maintain law and order. Ordinarily, under a democratic and responsible government, it would have resigned or the federal government would have taken action against it. But, in this case, the federal government continues to defend the Sindh government which is least perturbed by the loss of lives in Karachi on May 12.

It seems that from the very beginning, the only purpose of the centre has been to malign the Chief Justice and make him controversial.

This suits its strategy and the motive behind its refrain that this is a constitutional and legal issue and not a political one. Since when have the Constitution and law been divorced from politics? The politicians approve changes to the Constitution when it is abrogated; it is, in fact, the politicians who should uphold its integrity.

When all precepts of democracy were brazenly violated by the government on March 9 by making the Chief Justice non-functional and later sending him on forced leave, it was the responsibility of the politicians to come to the rescue of the Chief Justice who stood for the rule of law and constitutional supremacy. Both rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution are basic provisions in the manifestos of all political parties.

When an organ of state is held in awe by the use of force, it has every right to refer its case to the court of the people who are the ultimate source of all power. Do we forget that when the head of government (another organ of the state), the prime minister, is dismissed through force, he goes to the people for a final verdict because all organs of state derive their authority from the will of the people? Faced with the use of force, everyone refers to the people.

The government itself forced the Chief Justice to knock at the door of the bar and the people. Bar council rules clearly enunciate that every lawyer has to uphold the Constitution and the independence and dignity of the judiciary.

At no time in our history has the judiciary resorted to the power of the people though it represents their precious rights and values. It has always been browbeaten and forced into silence by successive governments. At no occasion has the Chief Justice appealed to the people to join him on his way to addressing the various bar associations. People have responded spontaneously because their interests and rights have been put at stake through this unconstitutional step against him. It is a step that has been seen as mala fide by the people from the very beginning.

Instead of heeding the voices of millions of people, the government is trying its utmost to make the Chief Justice appear controversial. In order to derive political mileage, it wants him to behave like its ministers. So far, he has dismissed such efforts by making it clear in the beginning of all his speeches that he does not intend to make political speeches. He has stuck to the high level of dignity and honour expected of him. It is now the government which should show scruples if it has any.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Where was the government on May 12? By Kamal Siddiqi

The writer is editor reporting, The News

The media is full of reports of the events of May 12 in Karachi. Our pundits and politicians — both in the civvies and in uniform — are now discussing the merits and demerits of what happened and who is to blame. But these are academic discussions. For the people of Karachi and of Pakistan, the questions are very simple.

Earlier this week a man walked up to a Rangers sepoy standing at a traffic intersection in Karachi and asked him innocently: “Where were you when we needed you most on May 12?” In response to the growing public resentment against the presence of the Rangers in the city, the chief of the Rangers held a press conference some days back in which he defended the work of his force. He concluded by saying: “I am proud of my men.” The question of course is whether the common man and the taxpayers, on whose considerable burden we have the force in Karachi, share those sentiments.

What we have come to know, or are being told, is that our law enforcers did all they could to make sure that the day was peaceful. What happened instead was, “an unfortunate series of events.” The Rangers and the police proudly say that they were able to protect the buildings and installations in Karachi. One wonders who we need to protect the people.

However, in the final analysis it is not the Rangers, the police or the coalition partners who should be held wholly responsible. It is the government. Both in Sindh and in Islamabad. Instead of ordering an inquiry, the president in all his wisdom has endorsed some of what happened that day. This is scary.

Needless to say, investor confidence is quite low. The stock market reacted very negatively to the May 12 incidents when it opened and closed on negative sentiments on May 14. The fallout has already started. Majyd Aziz, the energetic chief of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce holds his head in frustration. His organisation’s flagship event, the “My Karachi” exhibition which is due to open in June has received a flood of cancellations.

Nobody wants to come to a city where armed men can take control and fight pitched battles at will while the government looks the other way. But this day’s events have had somewhat of a backlash. People are angry. And some in Islamabad and Rawalpindi are taking note. Some even argue that this may be the beginning of the end. However, it is too early to say that for now.

But there are also bigger worries than whether the government will stay or go. Panic has set into the government in Sindh as well as the law administration set-up. This is because the other ethnic communities in Karachi have decided to react. The most worrisome threat comes from the ANP. Karachi has a considerable Pakhtun community — the number of Pakhtuns in Karachi, we are told, exceed those in Peshawar. The next danger that Karachi faces is sliding into ethnic strife. The political fallout of this is not restricted to Karachi. It has national repercussions. General Musharraf has also weakened his position by endorsing the role of his coalition partners. The PPP may now have second thoughts about entering into a political alliance with him as while Ms Bhutto may very well be interested in that alliance, selling this agreement to the party’s stronghold in Sindh after May 12 would be almost next to impossible.

As the people of Karachi go about picking up the pieces, a sentiment that some are pushing is that one should move on. This is the line that the government is also promoting. Move on, let bygones be bygones. But it is not as simple as that. By abdicating its role for a day, the government has in effect shown to the people how unreliable and uncaring it is. It has also made many sit up and question the huge amounts being spent on law and order in the province.

If we can’t be given security when we need it most, why should we be maintaining such a large police force and a Rangers force? Is it only their job to provide security to VIPs? Is there no other function they can perform?

Given this scenario, one is scared of what to expect in the forthcoming general elections. Some say that May 12 was a trailer so that all could see what which party is capable of doing. These tactics are not new. However, for the president to endorse them puts the whole process of elections in doubt. We have seen how effective the law enforcement agencies are at controlling the law and order situation.

The stories that come out are somewhat horrifying: how an SHO guided a procession into an ambush. How ambulances were stopped by armed men and sprayed with bullets. How a woman had to deliver her baby on the roadside as armed men did not allow the family to reach a hospital. For all this, our president has blamed the chief justice.

The government looks for the hidden hand. The people of Karachi worry whether the season of strikes and hartals has returned to the city. When one is not sure whether to open shop or close. To take children to school or not. To go to work or not. Which route to take and when.

In all this, we are told by some pundits that this is “just one side of Pakistan”. One very naive radio personality commented: “This is not the reality. Pakistan is truly a peaceful place.” Public perceptions are based on some sort of reality. And the reality is how painful it is that Pakistan is seen neither as moderate nor enlightened. Instead of spending millions on changing peoples’ perception of Pakistan, one should work on reality as well.

However, the party must go on. Wasi Zafar will continue to be the law minister. The paragliding queen of the country, Nilofer Bakhtiar, who also serves as the minister for tourism, continues to promote the Visit Pakistan Year 2007. She will shortly be in Karachi, taking time off from her busy foreign schedule (most previous trip: India) to tell people why they should visit Pakistan (that is if reports of her resignation, which surfaced over the weekend, prove untrue).

Imagine the irony: a tourism expo is being hosted in a city where some weeks back for more than 24 hours the government abdicated its role of providing law and order and allowed armed men to roam the streets, and loot and harass, while the Rangers and the police looked the other way.

Now we want people to come and visit and experience what Pakistan has to offer. If May 12 is anything to go by, most people will be well advised to stay away.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

From inside the MQM rally

Sadiq Jafri ventured out on a very scary day in Karachi

On this oppressive, hot Saturday afternoon (May 12), all markets and business centres flanking M A Jinnah Road are shut, and no crowd is visible. A person here and there, moving about in the adjacent lanes and alleys, is either a wary plainclothesman or an odd journalist walking past what look like abandoned, big vehicles, and going on to the venue of the MQM rally.

Amidst this isolation, about a kilometer-long fraction of M A Jinnah Road, from Tibet Centre to the Quaid’s mausoleum, stands out a place where a crowd has gathered. This is the setting for the MQM rally’s convergence into a public meeting, to be addressed shortly by the party’s chief Altaf Hussain on telephone from London. The meeting cannot be called “packed”, as the organisers would like. No wild estimate can put the attendance anywhere near 30,000, which is a small numeral keeping in view the crowd-pulling track record of the party.

Muffled sound of rifle shots can sometimes be heard from the Guru Mandir crossing side, where a bunch of armed men, we are told, is busy attacking Aaj TV’s building. We are also told that from this side the main rally led by the Naib Nazim of Karachi, Mrs Nasreen Jalil, will emerge. Reports of violence are also pouring in from various points along Sharae Faisal, where people are reportedly dying in gun battles. Everybody looks tense, yet a curious confidence prevails among the participants.

Those who have made it to the rally are mainly from party cadres rather than the MQM’s common supporters. One organiser blames non-availability of public transport and the risk to one’s life for thin attendance. Without reference to the violent past of his party, he explains that the overwhelming majority of the participants present have reached here on the buses provided by the organisers.

The atmosphere, even before Mr Altaf Hussain gives his electrifying speech, is fully charged against the presence in the city of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. He is seen here as the challenger who has dared President Pervez Musharraf to a public dual at a time when the latter’s political rivals like Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto could do little against him.

Feelings contrary to the warm welcome given to the Chief Justice by the people in Punjab and the NWFP prevail among the participants in the MQM rally in Karachi. The mood suggests that the honourable judge stop his planned outdoor activity here and go back to the courtroom where he belongs. A banner reads: “Solution to the problems of the judiciary lies inside the courts.”

Its refusal to tolerate the Chief Justice’s presence in Karachi singles the MQM out as the only party to have actively tried to dent the CJ’s claim to popularity among the people everywhere. Though many in the rally echo their London-based leader’s views on the issue, one woman carrying the party flag says she has no idea of her own on the subject, and she is just accompanying her husband.

Many others sound determined not ‘to grant any piece of the city’s politics’ to the honourable CJ, assuming that it is politics he is after:

Sajid, 35, from Nazimabad, says: “The CJ is chasing his own cause, while our leader Altaf Hussain is pursuing the collective interest of his followers.”

Mansoor Sheikh, 46, from Liaquatabad, comments: “He is not a victim but one among the tyrants.”

Tariq Burney, advocate, 42: “PPP lawyers are supporting the opposite camp. Their armed men have been blocking Guru Mandir to stop our people from reaching the rally.”

Arif Ali, 60, from Buffer Zone: “The 14 parties which cannot pull crowds to their own meetings are now using the judiciary for this purpose.”

Sajida from Gulberg, 40: “We are here to unveil the dual face of what people wrongly consider a reality …” (abrasive comment withheld)

Zahida Kanwal, 45, from Liaquatabad: “We are against the proxy game being played by the political parties. We are ready to brave the bullets and we will not run away.”

Mohammad Raza, 65, from SITE: “The CJ stands accused till proved innocent by the Supreme Court. His supporters are making noises to pressure the court, which is wrong.”

Noor Jehan Zaidi, 43, from North Karachi: “The Chief Justice should not get involved in politics. He should not have chosen the same day for coming to Karachi when President Musharraf was to address a public meeting in Islamabad and the MQM had scheduled its rally in Karachi.”

Politics for many present at the MQM rally seems a matter of life and death.

As the battle for Karachi raged, the city gave over three dozen lives to politics this bloody Saturday, May 12.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

May 12 carnage: The imperative of exposing those behind it By Syed Ashfaq Ali

What happened in Karachi on May 12 is very likely to have far-reaching repercussions. Only a high-level judicial inquiry can ascertain the truth. Unless there is an investigation, people will see the mayhem as something that the government rather not investigate

It does not take a genius to see that the gruesome scenes witnessed on the streets of Karachi on May 12 were actually the result of a calculated move to push the megapolis back into the violence and target killings reminiscent of the late eighties and early nineties. Over 40 people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the riots erupted in the city shortly after the Chief Justice arrival at the airport here on May 12. Not only have precious lives been lost, the deep rifts between different sections of Karachi's multiethnic society, which in the past engendered so much ethnic violence and deadly clashes, have been opened again.

Since the filing of the presidential reference against the chief justice the country has been in a state of turbulence. And the proceedings which were carried out after the reference created more commotion giving rise to an unpredictable air. The elements of conspiracy became quite evident when the opposition leaders, instead of demanding an impartial inquiry into the carnage by a high-level judicial or national inquiry commission, leaded to continuous violence in the country. They further added fuel to the fire by issuing provocative statements. These highly provocative and prejudiced attitudes instigated backlash and caused the tragic situation to deteriorate further.

The government has already demanded an independent inquiry into the May 12 tragedy and subsequent violence. However, they have left it to the opposition parties to decide whether they want a judicial probe or some other inquiry. Of course that would be the most democratic way of dealing with this grave issue. Even though the government has insisted, the findings of the inquiry should be accepted by all parties and those found to have any kind of involvement in the conspiracy behind it should be given exemplary punishment irrespective of their political affiliations or statures.

A lot of discussions and statements have been passed since May 12 by the dignitaries of the country. According to the Chief Minister of Sindh, Dr Ghulam Arbab Rahim, there is no point in conducting a probe in the massacre, which was the most horrifying event that happened in the history of Karachi. The reason he gave for the dismissal of inquiry was this that it would only make things worse. Another disclosure made by Sindh Home Secretary Brig (retd) Ghulam Mohammed Mohtaram at a recent press conference was, "we were anticipating clashes if the two rallies were taken out on the same day".

The mayhem seen on the roads was due to the 'uncompromising' attitude of all the parties. If only this press conference would have been held before this mishap, it would certainly have brought the two sides under tremendous pressure to rethink over their plan to avoid responsibility of deadly clashes that took place on May 12. Even though the atmosphere of uncertainty and dark clouds of tensions were already building up in Karachi since the announcement made by different political groups of taking out historic rallies on the arrival of the chief justice in the city. And all these signs showed that a clash was bound to take place as predicted by the political analysts.

No matter what were the reasons of all these happenings that took place, it was the denizens that became the victim of it. After along time all this blood shedding took place, which feared the people to a very large extent. It has always been like this that clashes that take place at political level have proved to be damaging for the citizens of the country. Apart from this such incidents also cause loss to the economy of the country. Karachi has always been the port of revenue, our country leaders should rethink before taking any such step, which could bring financial damages to the country's economy. Since the establishment of Karachi Expo Centre, a lot of financial investments started to drop into the country but incidents like May 12 can lead to vice-versa.

Most of what happened on May 12 might never have happened if all this had been kept in mind.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Pakistan unrest & nuclear security By Alex Stolar

On May 12, over forty people died when violence broke out in Karachi between political factions supporting and opposing President Musharraf. Three days later, a suicide bomber entered a hotel restaurant in Peshawar and detonated the explosives strapped to his body, killing at least 20 persons. Recent turbulence has renewed fears that Pakistan's nuclear weapons and materials may be vulnerable to breakdowns in command and control or theft. The good news is that these nightmare scenarios are unlikely to occur during the current political unrest. The bad news is that Pakistan's domestic unrest will continue and grow worse without the restoration of a representative government, and that extremists have many ways to further destabilise Pakistan.

Are Pakistan's bombs safe? In theory, Pakistan's nuclear weapons could be vulnerable to theft, illicit transfer, or unintentional use if the army's discipline and command and control structure faltered. Concerns about the security of Pakistan's weapons are greatest in the west when Pakistani politics enter a rough patch and during leadership changes.

Fortunately, these worst case scenarios are highly unlikely. Pakistan has been through worse passages of political unrest. Intimidation, politically-driven violence, and sectarian strife are all too common in Pakistani politics. If past experience is any guide, the current unrest will not lead to anarchy or chaos in Pakistan. The vast majority of Pakistanis desire a moderate and stable state, and the army has an institutional interest to prevent the breakdown of national authority and cohesion. Pakistan's weapons were secure during previous periods of political instability, and they are likely to remain the most protected national assets during the current unrest. There are no signs of a breakdown in command and control in the Pakistan Army.

After the security leakages associated with A Q Khan, Pakistan's military leadership took important steps to establish improved safety and security practices. Pakistan's military authorities and civilian leaders also established a robust nuclear command and control structure after testing weapons in 1998. Today, the military's Strategic Plans Division devotes over 8,000 men, mostly undercover, to protecting Pakistan's weapons and fissile material. The Pakistani military is a highly capable and professional force. It is highly improbable that it would hand over its crown jewels to individuals or organisations that it cannot control during this period of unrest.

It is equally unlikely that terrorists would be able to steal Pakistani nuclear weapons or fissile material. It is true that the fiat of the Pakistani state is being challenged throughout Pakistan, and especially in the tribal regions bordering Afghanistan. In the most troubled regions, police and military forces are struggling to maintain order. However, the installations that house Pakistan's nuclear weapons and fissile material, as would be expected, are heavily guarded and among the most secure facilities in all of Pakistan.

Similarly, fears that the current unrest could lead to a takeover of the Pakistani government by extremists are also misplaced. Religious parties are an important element of Pakistani society, but their political clout remains limited. It is unlikely that religious parties could engineer a takeover of the Pakistani government, as they lack both the popular support and the military power that would be required. The political power of religious parties would be further diminished if General Pervez Musharraf would remove the shackles from the two major political parties in Pakistan that do not define themselves in religious terms.

Unfortunately, unfounded fears about Pakistan's nuclear weapons have obscured more pressing threats. Radiological terrorism in Pakistan, as elsewhere, is possible. To conduct an act of radiological terrorism, extremists would need to fashion a radiological dispersal device (RDD) which consists of little more than conventional explosives and radiological materials that can be found in laboratories and hospitals. Though an RDD would cause a few deaths, it could contaminate a large swath of land and stretch Pakistan's emergency response capabilities.

Extremists, however, need not resort to RDDs to wreak havoc and instil fear. As recent bombings have illustrated, detonating conventional explosives in a crowded area suffices to cause extraordinary suffering.

With each bombing, President Musharraf's vision of an enlightened and moderate Pakistan seems more illusive. The unravelling of Musharraf's vision of enlightened moderation was not unpredictable. For far too long, Musharraf has avoided making hard choices on the most pressing problems which confront Pakistan -- on madressah reform, militancy in Kashmir, the resurgence of the Taliban, and democracy.

Musharraf is now entering a critical period, and he faces very difficult choices about his future and the future of Pakistan. While most alarmist predictions about the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons are unlikely to materialise, instability is likely to increase unless Musharraf redirects the Pakistani ship of state.



The writer is a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow with the Stimson Center's South Asia Programme. This article first appeared on the centre's website. Email: astolar@stimson.org

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Fixing responsibility for May 12 By Rahimullah Yusufzai

The federal and Sindh governments are committing a grave error by refusing to order a judicial inquiry into the tragic events of May 12 in Karachi. If the past is any guide, a probe by the judiciary may not achieve anything in terms of dispensing justice to the victims and their aggrieved families or making accountable the perpetrators of the violence on that fateful day. But governments in the past have not hesitated in quickly appointing judges of the superior courts to inquire into both major and minor tragedies not only to cool tempers but also to send the message that members of the normally neutral judiciary rather than the biased executive would fix responsibility and dispense justice.

The situation, however, is different this time. The government seems fearful of the judiciary after having aroused its anger through some provocative measures, including the uncalled for and unconvincing reference against Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry. It appears reluctant to empower judges to sit on judgment in the case of the Karachi killings. There is so much physical and visual evidence, mostly captured by daredevil photographers and brave camera crews of private television channels, to prove that the MQM-dominated provincial government was hand-in-glove with the trained killers on May 12 that all those involved in the planning and execution of the pre-planned Karachi killings would find it hard to escape exposure. This should explain why no judicial probe has been ordered even two weeks after the incident, although in the past the government has been quick to order such an inquiry into happenings where the death toll was far less and the implications were not so critical.

The government's stance is reinforcing the public perception that it is seeking to hide something. Most of the blame is being laid at the door of President General Pervez Musharraf, who as the creator of the present, military-backed ruling arrangements is ultimately responsible for all that is happening in the country. Stung by accusations of being partisan, the president has rightly gauged the mood of the people and commented that he is being linked to the MQM on account of his Urdu-speaking and Mohajir family origins. That indeed is the perception even if it is difficult to say openly or prove it through solid evidence. In fact, the president contributed to the strengthening of that perception by not ordering a judicial probe into the Karachi killings and by publicly praising the MQM-sponsored 'people's power' that violently ruled the streets of Karachi on May 12 and prevented Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from coming out of the airport and driving to the Sindh High Court premises in downtown Karachi to address the members of the bar. It amounted to patting the killers on the back and assuring them that nobody would be able to hold them accountable. The president of a country isn't supposed to do or say such things. Politicians of almost all hue and colour have acted more sensibly by refusing to present the murders on Karachi's streets in ethnic terms or to exploit the tragedy for political gains.

As many as 41 innocent people, or 51 according to some accounts, lost their lives in two days of state and government-inspired violence in Karachi on May 12 and 13. The ANP, a party of Pakhtun nationalists, lost 13 of its workers when its procession was fired at and some of its members and supporters were wounded and disabled. Three workers each of the PPP and Jamaat-i-Islami were reportedly killed on May 12 along with one member of PML-N and one of the Sunni Tehrik.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is claiming that 14 of its activists were killed. Families of some of the Pakhtuns and two Azad Kashmiris killed on May 12 and listed by the MQM as its members have refuted this claim. In fact, the grieving families of the slain Pakhtuns in the NWFP have unanimously and angrily blamed the MQM for these deaths and have denied having any link with the ethnic-based and Mohajir-dominated party. Some MQM leaders were proudly claiming that Pakhtun members of the party by sacrificing their lives in Karachi had bonded in blood with fellow workers from other ethnic groups in the party and joined its long list of 'martyrs.' The MQM also faced an awkward situation in Azad Kashmir when both its Kashmiri lawmakers were told not to turn up for funeral of the two men killed in Karachi. These lawmakers were elected to the Azad Kashmir Assembly in controversial circumstances on the MQM ticket from the quota of Kashmiri refugee seats in Karachi and had helped in changing the image of the party from being Mohajir-centric to one capable of taking on board members of other ethnic groups. That emerging image took a battering in Karachi on May 12 before it could be sustained and will be difficult to restore.

There is consensus that the majority of those mercilessly killed in Karachi on May 12 and 13 were Pakhtuns. Among them was Faizur Rahman, who belonged to Nowshera and was a driver employed by the Edhi Foundation. He had served for nine months there and transported almost 2,000 bodies of dead and injured people in his ambulance. On May 12, while Karachi burned and most Karachiites stayed indoors to avoid harm, Faizur Rahman was at the driving wheel of the Edhi ambulance and had driven to Malir to collect some dead and wounded protestors to transport them to the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre. He was shot dead by merciless killers, who then pumped bullets into the dead and injured men in the ambulance. This was only the fourth incident of its kind in the world that an ambulance was fired at. Pakistan with two such attacks, the earlier one being in 2003 also in Karachi, has the dubious honour of being the leader on this count also. Faizur Rahman deserves every award that this country can offer to a person of courage but sadly enough nobody in the government has even bothered to condole this poor man's death.

Also killed was Syed Ahmad Shah, aged 50-plus and father of nine young children. He had come to Karachi from his native Chagharzai in NWFP's Buner district as a five-year old and done every manual labour that the city has to offer to illiterate and semi-literate workers from upcountry. In a profile done on his life by Rahman Buneri on the Pashto TV channel, AVT Khyber, it emerged that Shah sahib, as the deceased was fondly called, was unarmed like scores of his ANP colleagues who were part of a procession on the way to Karachi airport to welcome Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry. Suddenly, they were fired at from a bridge on Sharea Faisal by men carrying G-3 guns, which are provided to members of law-enforcing agencies and not to civilians, and AK-47 (Kalashnikov) rifles. Survivors of the incident in their interviews narrated how some persons wearing trousers were directing the fire at them while Rangers positioned nearby were oblivious of everything. The claimed the firing continued for two hours and nobody from the Sindh police and Rangers came to their rescue even though some of the ANP activists managed to call police emergency numbers from their cell phones.

No answers have been provided as to who made and okayed the security plan for May 12 despite reservations of Sindh chief secretary Shakil Durrani, why the police was disarmed and given sticks so that the armed assassins could safely and smoothly carry out the killings, and on whose orders huge containers and trucks were parked on roads to block opposition processions from reaching the airport. Accusing fingers have been pointed at federal ports and shipping minister Babar Ghauri, whose ministry would have in its possession such containers, and the Sindh chief minister's adviser on home affairs Wasim Akhtar, who reportedly made the security plan for the day. Both are MQM stalwarts and they would not have done anything without getting approval from above, which means Sindh Governor Ishratul Ebad (who seems to have taken over powers of his chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim) and party boss Altaf Hussain. And to take the argument further, such a plan to deny welcome to the chief justice in Karachi would have the sanction of the federal government and President Musharraf, who in his own words is in favour of the concept of 'unity of command' and, therefore, the final arbiter of all that has been going well or wrong in Pakistan since October 12, 1999 when he overthrew democratically elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a military coup d'etat.



The writer is an executive editor of The News International based in Peshawar.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

The May 12 carnage and its fallout

By Manzoor Ali Isran

THAT May 12 will be remembered as one of the blackest days in the annals of our tragedy-ridden political history goes without saying. The scars caused by the senseless shooting spree on that day by terrorists of various hues have left indelible marks on the face of our national politics and the echoes of what happened on that day will continue to haunt us for long time. But its critical fallout is already becoming visible.

Despite accusations being endlessly hurled on the opposition parties for being responsible for the ugly carnage that turned Karachi into a ghost city, those at the helm of the affairs are now showing a great sense of unease as they begin soul-searching and look back to why and how it all happened. It is more than evident from the fact that many ministers are either shy of indulging in the offending blame game or are simply trying to come up with different explanations that may satisfy both their superiors and their own conscience. Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali’s resignation from the PML membership is a case in point.

Then, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement which played a lead role in grinding to halt the Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s caravan’s scheduled visit to the Sindh High Court at the behest of the federal government and the president in particular and, as a result, earned the notoriety for unleashing the reign of terror and deaths on the roads. That it is feeling too uneasy for its part in the tragic episode is evident from its high command’s three-day marathon meeting in London which reviewed the May 12 happenings and considered measures to salvage its reputation in the country, its appeal among its workers and its standing in the national politics.

So, the MQM has sought opinion of its rank and file about which option out of the three it has outlined be adopted by the party as future course of action. These are (1) withdrawing its ministers from the federal cabinet, (2) withdrawing its ministers from both the federal and provincial cabinets, but continuing to sit on the treasury benches and (3) quitting the ruling coalition and sitting on the opposition benches. But many doubt if any of the three options will be decided upon and carried out by the MQM leadership after receiving the feedback from its party workers. That the whole exercise is aimed at improving its image among the citizens of Karachi is the possible reason, many analysts are of the view. It is considered imperative for protecting its vote bank as the elections are now only months away.

The regime is already under great pressure from various sides. Looking from broader perspectives, one may say that the events in Karachi and other parts of the country, especially, the suicide bombing in Charsadda and another one in Peshawar and defiance of burqa clad girls at Jamia Hafsa in Islamabad have brought under severe challenge the writ of the state and already beleaguered government of General Musharaf. So, in light of these unpleasant developments, many question the viability of the current dispensation and the ability of the military-led set-up to run the political affairs of the country. Prof Stephen Cohen, an expert on South Asian affairs, in his recent comments has said that the political structure in Pakistan has to be rebuilt because the military is not competent to govern the country, being no substitute for organised political parties.

This requires a new social contract between the state and the people as the current political system does not consider the latter as one of the stakeholders and hence does not provide security to the common man. But the military general are more impatient to pursue the course of conflict and confrontation to eliminate the regime’s opponents.

In short, Karachi carnage will have serious socio-economic and political repercussions on the politics of Sindh and Pakistan, unless corrective measures are taken to defuse the hatred it has aroused among various ethnic groups against each other. For that, the government has to undertake confidence-building measures and involve all the stakeholders in creating durable peace and ethnic harmony in the city. Given the commercial profile, the city cannot afford to be shut down even for three hours, let alone three days ––– as planned by Pukhtoon Action Committee but now postponed for a fortnight –– as several millions’ bread and butter depends on their daily work.

The failure of the state, whether accidental or deliberate, to provide security cover to the people on May 12 has given rise to apprehensions among the people. The common perception is that the security aspect was deliberately compromised for the sake of political gains by the government.

Apparently, the government of Gen. Musharraf felt demoralised by the grand reception the Chief Justice got in the interior of Sindh, the NWFP and Punjab. So, it did not want to see similar welcome in Karachi and put pressure on its coalition partners (Muslim League and the MQM) to show their strength by holding counter rallies. As part of the plan, the MQM fanned out its workers around the city, Sharae Faisal was barricaded, airport and Sindh High Court were literally cordoned off, police was absent, a private TV channel was attacked and the CJ was held in virtual incommunicado at the Airport lounge for about eight hours.

The May 12 violence was in fact the result of confrontation between pro-Musharraf and pro-CJ parties. It has certain political dimensions. Since the president’s action to ‘suspend’ the CJ was politically motivated, the opposition parties began rallying around the lawyer’s movement which is, in fact, fast turning into a movement for democracy. The MQM committed a great mistake by becoming a tool of the authorities and hence indulging in the politics of violence which it claims was actually initiated by the other side. Being a middle class party, it was expected to be supporting the lawyers’ movement as the latter is also a middle class movement aimed at making the judiciary independent. Initially, it may be recalled that the MQM had kept itself at distance by saying that it had not been taken into confidence when the reference against the CJ was filed. But by suddenly jumping into the fray, it surprised, if not disappointed, even its supporters.

However, whatever has happened on May 12 in Karachi and the reaction it has aroused across the country has caused political damage, if at all, to the MQM and not to the opposition or the CJ’s cause. Since that day, the MQM has been under tremendous pressure and it was because of this factor that the governor of Sindh found it necessary to make a courtesy call on ANP leader Asfandyar Wali Khan at the residence of Shahi Syed to condole the deaths of ANP workers. Later, he made a similar call on Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

The writer teaches at Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur, Sindh. He is also a visiting faculty member at SZABIST, Karachi.
Email: m_isran@hotmail.com.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Conspiracy theory will not do

It is bad enough that the people of Karachi, and of Pakistan, have to live with the terror and mayhem that gripped the provincial capital on May 12 and the lingering insecurity that has followed. The last thing they need are the imaginative conjectures that have been generously dished out by both the government and the opposition. Continuing on this path, President Pervez Musharraf, in an address in Dera Ghazi Khan on Thursday, termed May 12, as well as the general backlash against the suspension of the chief justice of Pakistan, a "conspiracy" to stoke ethnic tensions. Now, while one can expect such sentiments to be repeated by the opposition, whose job, after all, is to make life difficult for the government, one cannot quite swallow such theories being iterated by the president and the chief of army staff of Pakistan – regardless of whether or not it is in actuality a "conspiracy". The people of the city, and of the country, are awaiting serious and substantiated answers, not more political notions, that have all, to date, been tainted with political opportunism, more so than anything else. The onus of providing credible answers, corroborated with proper evidence, lies with the government, and it has so far not done so. The president's choice of words, simply pointing to "certain elements" as being responsible for giving the crisis an "ethnic flavour," suggests that the government itself is at a loss how to figure out what really happened.

It is unfortunate that President Musharraf too is attempting to explain what happened on May 12 by using the ethnicity card instead of remaining resolute and waiting for all the intelligence to be gathered before embarking on explanations -- especially since he is in Karachi to be briefed about the evidence that has been collected by various quarters of the Sindh administration. It would have been a lot better for him, politically and ethically, to wait till he had spoken to the necessary quarters in person and then theorise about what happened. There is already widespread anger over the actions and rhetoric of senior government figures in Islamabad the day Karachi was burning, and such statements will do nothing to assuage that anger. To rub salt into the city's wounds, there has been no apology of any sort to the people of Karachi on behalf of the government. Politically speaking, it can be understandably frustrating to remain silent and steadfast while an avalanche of accusations are being unleashed upon you, but that is, ultimately, the sort of poise the leader of a nation has to have in times of a crisis.

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.

Eyewitness: Karachi
A narrative of the events of 'Black Saturday' and the 'stop-the-blame-game' argument
By Beena Sarwar

"Here in Karachi, we avoid 'name calling' and 'finger pointing' due to fear of having our knees drilled..."

On May 12, 2007, Karachi witnessed orchestrated mayhem. Such carnage is hardly unique to Karachi or to Pakistan -- law enforcement agencies have stood by and even participated in worse massacres elsewhere, like Northern Ireland and Gujarat, India. In Karachi that day, 'only' about 46 lives were lost, and 150 or so injured.

But this was the first time in Pakistan that live television cameras captured the situation for viewers to see: government tankers used to block off routes to the airport, police and rangers conspicuous by their absence or standing idle as armed men ran amok on the streets of Karachi, corpses and wounded bodies lying by the wayside in pools of blood.

The security plans chalked out for May 12 were abandoned overnight. The Sindh home department withdrew the weapons of most law enforcement personnel in Karachi on May 12. Armed only with batons, the 15,000 or policemen deployed in the city avoided the violent areas. Rangers who were to hold key positions on the 'flyovers' on the main airport road were nowhere in sight. Instead, armed men in civilian clothes held those posts, and fired into the crowds trying to reach the airport to receive the chief justice stranded inside.

At 50am on Saturday morning, Shahrah-e-Faisal (Drigh Road), the main airport route normally trafficked at all hours, was deserted as a journalist friend in Karachi found who was out and about early. He emailed me: "I saw something which gave me the chills -- no police or Rangers on the roads, just kids with guns guiding trucks, tankers to block the intersections, entry and exit points on the main artery of city. I saw an NLC truck also being used to block the road (picture attached). We all know NLC is Pakistan's largest trucking company, owned and managed by the army. Tie-rods were being removed from front tires so the vehicles could not be moved even by a tow truck. I thought, "What if ambulances are required to move on Shahrah-e-Faisal?" My thought was immediately answered when I saw two KKF ambulances moving freely (Khidmat-Khalq Foundation, MQM's social service wing) and MQM activists among those supervising the blockade."

Getting to office took him two hours, a journey that even during rush hour takes only 45 minutes. "I told my colleagues about my fear and almost all of them told me to relax as MQM is not that stupid they will not repeat the 1992 & 94 stupidity. By 12 noon Karachi was bleeding."

"There were bodies lying at every street intersection," 'Uzi', a reporter related later on her blog. "We picked up a whole bunch of them and put them inside police mobiles parked nearby." As for the police and the Rangers: "They did NOTHING! They stood around and LOITERED while my city was tainted with blood."

The areas she covered were the second bloodiest that day. It took her nearly an hour to get to Jinnah's mausoleum (Mazar-e-Quaid), normally a 15-20 minute drive from her house. At Kashmir Road the cab driver couldn't go any further and she walked the remaining distance. At around 010pm, she was stopped by a political worker who put a TT pistol to her forehead ("NOT the temple, the FOREHEAD"). She was allowed to proceed after showing her press card.

Over at the Sindh High Court, lawyer Ayesha Tammy Haq sent this text message around 5 pm Karachi time: "In the High court. Things getting worse. Judges will not leave as there will be a rampage..." (Later in an interview, General Musharraf denied such plans and reasserted his commitment to democratic politics. But then, he has also justified what happened in Karachi as 'the political activity' of a political party attempting to show its strength to its constituency -- interview with Talat Hussain, Aaj TV, May 18, 2007)

Another lawyer emailed: "Not only was the Sindh High Court under virtual siege by armed activists, but lawyers attempting to enter the Court were repeatedly beaten and roughed up. The armed activists did not even spare the Judges of the High Court." One judge was held at gun point and his car damaged. "While holding me at gun point, the youth called someone and stated 'Yeh bolta hai kay High Court ka judge hai...kya karun is ka?...achaa theek hai, phir janay daita houn.' (He says he's a judge of the High Court. What should I do with him? Ok then, will let him go)."

Many judges, unable to drive to the Sindh High Court, had to leave their official 'flag' cars and make their way through menacing crowds and climb over the court's back wall in order to reach their chambers.

Munir A. Malik, one of the 25 lawyers accompanying Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry from Islamabad to Karachi, narrates how they were forced to remain inside the airport. The Sindh government representatives offered to transport the Chief Justice by helicopter but this offer was for him alone. Since the lawyers with him had already foiled the attempts of 'two uniformed people' to "snatch the CJP and take him from the other side," he refused. ('Story at the Airport', The News on Sunday, Special Report, May 20, 2007)

Armed men attacked lawyers at Malir District Bar, Iftikhar Chaudhry's scheduled first stop in Karachi, killing a lawyer and injuring several others, including female lawyers. The CJP and his team, of course, were 'externed' to Islamabad after several hours. Late that night, residents in the low-income Ranchore Lines mohalla were awakened by loud banging on their doors. One resident relates that it was two young boys distributing freshly cooked biryani and suji in plastic bags: "Yeh chief justice ki wapsi ki khushi mein hai" (This is to celebrate the chief justice's return [to Islamabad]).

On the Karachi streets, Uzi's press card had saved her again at around 050 p.m. as she and a colleague tried to reach the Rangers Headquarters in Dawood College. "A car chockfull of ammunition passed in front of us, stopped, backed up and stopped in front of us, Kalashnikovs pointing at the two of us from the windows. We showed our press cards and the car moved on. NEVER in my LIFE have I felt more grateful to my press card than I did yesterday."

At around 060 p.m., she and her colleague were trapped by gunshots all around. "Short of climbing the walls and entering one of the houses around, there really was no other place for us to go." They stopped a police mobile and asked which way would be safe to go. The answer, accompanied by laughter: "You can be killed wherever you go. Choose your place."

In published reports, journalists prudently avoided naming the parties involved. "Young men toting flags and banners had set up camp outside the airport departure lounge. They hid, however, when policemen came by. Reporters in the vicinity were asked whether they had seen any political activists around. Munawar Pirzada (from Daily Times) said that he had seen some nearby. After the policemen had left, the activists came up to the reporter, dragged him by the hair and took him aside. They then proceeded to threaten him with dire consequences if he said anything the next time the policemen came around" (Urooj Zia, Daily Times, May 14).

But the affiliation of these gangs was visible in the live coverage provided by several private television channels, which showed plainclothes men brandishing weapons on the deserted roads, using government tankers as cover, exchanging gunfire with unseen opponents, the tri-colour MQM flag visible on their motorcycles.

After Aaj TV's continuous live coverage of such scenes, armed men attacked the television station, firing at it for several hours. Instead of stopping the coverage, Aaj showed live footage of reporters ducking behind a desk, shots being fired at their office, as anchor Talat Hussain provided an account of the situation on the phone. Reporters in the area asked the Rangers posted nearby to help the Aaj workers trapped inside their building. The answer: "We're helpless. We can't do anything unless we have orders from above."

Aaj TV's refusal to suspend its live coverage emboldened the new breed of 'citizen journalists'. "My faith in independent media was restored and I was confident that I am not alone," wrote one blogger. He had hesitated to post out the testimony of a doctor at a Karachi hospital who witnessed armed political workers turn up to finish off an injured political worker. Encouraged by the Aaj re-broadcasting of images that clearly showed the involvement of MQM workers in the violence, he published the testimony with a disclaimer that "it was an anonymously posted comment and could be entirely false, you be a judge for yourself."

There is a story behind each of those who were killed, some belonging to one or other political party, and others just because they were there. Masked men stopped ambulances and sprayed them with bullets, killing an Edhi Ambulance driver, Faizur Rahman Khan, 65, when he refused to throw out a wounded person he was transporting to hospital from near the airport; the wounded man was also shot again. Armed gangs herded passers-by into an alley and shot dead a young overlock machine operator along with another man, in front of two colleagues who were also shot but survived to tell the tale ("They shot us one by one..." by Munawar Pirzada, Daily Times, http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...5-2007_pg12_3).

There have been reports about an SHO who guided a procession into an ambush and a pregnant woman who had to deliver her baby in the car when armed men refused to let her proceed to the hospital with her husband. The Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) reports that several journalists were manhandled and nine wounded. Some TV cameramen were beaten and their cameras snatched or damaged.

In all these stories of horror, there is at least one amusing aside: the stranded reporter Uzi had the thrill of getting to ride a motorbike when her editors sent a senior reporter to pick her up. "You couldn't use a car etc, because on a bike your press card was visible, and that was a kind of immunity. In a car or a van, they'd shoot at you on sight. So yeah, I got to ride pillion on a bike, and I didn't sit sideways either, like women usually do here. I sat like guys usually do -- 'handsfree mode'. Initially I was scared shitless, but then I got used to it, and it was AWESOME -- like flying! MQM-waalahs on the way kept turning and staring at the weird Chick who was riding pillion like guys do and didn't have to hold on to anything to maintain her balance. AWESOME, it was! I want a bike now! :P"

Karachi educationist, Anwar Abbas, later emailed: "My son-in-law and daughter who live in a building adjoining Baloch colony flyover had a good look at the 'thugs' in action from their rooftop. Their only regret is that they did not have a camera to capture the ghastly scenes." They returned to their flat because their little daughter was alone with the maid and because the thugs had also climbed the roofs of adjoining buildings in order to obtain an aerial view of their targets and shoot at random.

He added: "It is not important which group they belonged to; it is important that they could behave the way they did in complete disregard to the rule of law; if indeed the law was awake or not in collusion with the 'thugs'." Many others, including Aaj TV's Talat Hussain and MQM's Dr. Farooq Sattar have also suggested that the 'blame game' be avoided.

But a lawyer friend, 'angry and distressed in Karachi', argues that "If we avoid 'name calling' and 'finger pointing', we will simply be brushing the events of last Saturday under the carpet of indifference. Here in Karachi, we avoid 'name calling' and 'finger pointing' due to fear of having our knees drilled. Even Urdu speaking lawyers, while talking of last Saturday's events at the Sindh High Court look over their shoulders and speak in hushed tones when mentioning the name of MQM...

"As we try to understand the carnage of 12th May, we have to ask the following question: Which political group stands to lose the most in a Musharraf ouster? Not the PML (Q). The Chaudhrys and their ilk will merely disperse and filter back into the PML (N) or the PPP. The unprecedented power and privilege of the MQM however is firmly tied with Musharraf's hold in Islamabad. It was the threat to their benefactor from the supporters of the Chief Justice, which unleashed the gunmen on 12th May." Zaffar Abbas is correct when he writes that Karachi was only at peace for the past many years because it suited its militants ('Back to the future?' Dawn, May 14, 2007)...

"'Finger pointing' is necessary, because throughout our history, instead of a catharsis, we simply go through a 'jo ho gaya ab bhool jaao, aagay daikho' (forget what has happened) attitude. Already, with the President's pat on the back at the emergency meeting of the ruling party in Islamabad (on Monday) the MQM is back on the front foot...

"Although it is unlikely that the perpetrators of Saturday's violence will ever be brought to justice, at least they should continue to be exposed before the entire country. More importantly, they should face the consequence of such exposure. Public image is very important to the MQM and the national outrage at their conduct may be the best prospect of compelling them to change their ways."

__________________
Time is like a river.
You cannot touch the same water twice,
because the flow that has passed will never pass again.
Enjoy every moment of life.

I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers.