Pakistanis for Peace and Alternative Development (PPAD) Deplore Assaults on Democracy
Dear Friends,
As most of you know, Pakistanis for Peace and Alternative Development (PPAD), is a Think-Tank comprising concerned Pakistanis which seeks to provide alternative, enlightened, progressive perspectives, informed by humanist ethics and principles, on existing situations in Pakistan, in the South Asian region, and beyond. Please use your own contacts to disseminate the statement, made by the Core Group of PPAD on recent events in Pakistan, to various websites and organizations interested in such information.
Sincerely,
Dr Ishtiaq Ahmed
Co-ordinator
17 May, 1999
The Prime Minister
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Prime Minister House
Islamabad
Pakistan
Pakistanis for Peace and Alternative Development (PPAD) Deplore Assaults on Democracy
Pakistan's travails with democracy have always run aground because the fundamental premisses of a democratic order - secularism, rationalism, social justice and a progressive outlook have been subordinated to short-sighted interests of governments seeking to strengthen their hold over the reigns of power at all costs and by all means.
This year began for Pakistan and its people on a positive note, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart, Atal Behari Vajpayee, signed the Lahore Declaration on 21 February. Indeed it was an act of great statesmanship on the part of these leaders. In essence it signified that both countries had decided to forsake the use of violence to sort out their disputes.
For all concerned observers of the Pakistan situation, it seemed that the stage had been set for bolder and daring policy initiatives from the Pakistani Prime Minister in the domestic sphere. Indeed a government seeking to establish peaceful relations with a neighbouring country could not ignore the need to promote similar conditions within the country. Durable and just peace in the modern period cannot be established unless all forms of human degradation are rejected and instead a frame of mind cherishing tolerance, democracy, freedom of expression, social and economic justice, gender equality and a general progressive outlook is cultivated.
To our great disappointment, nothing substantial was done to back up the vision of peace in South Asia with a vision of a democratic and progressive Pakistani social and political order. The following are some happenings which underscore our concerns:
1. On 6 April 1999 a bizarre and perverse act of so-called 'honour killing' took place when 29-year-old Samia Sarwar, a mother of two young boys, was shot dead in the Lahore office of Hina Jilani, a human rights lawyer, apparently on the orders of her own mother who was present at the scene. The government did not denounce such a heinous crime. Samia Sarwar's murder was by no means an exceptional happening. The so-called honour killings occur usually when a woman decides to take an independent line on questions of love, marriage and divorce. In 1998, several hundred honour killings were reported in Pakistan, but the actual number is thought to be considerably higher. The practice is rooted in a traditional view that family honour requires women to obey customary norms regarding chastity and proper conduct. The ultra-conservative tribal traditions and outmoded mediaeval Islamic laws and traditions serve as the legitimation of violence against women. Most honour killings go virtually unpunished as the police and judiciary are usually sympathetic to the offenders.
We urge Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to employ his parliamentary majority to outlaw and criminalize reactionary tribal customs and to rescind mediaeval Fiqh laws, included in the Pakistan penal system, which serve no useful purpose in a modern, democratic, egalitarian order.
2. The government has in recent months intensified its campaign against the free press. There has been a sharp increase in disappearances of media men, accompanied by intimidation, threats and attacks on the press in general. Earlier this year the owner of the Jang Group was harassed because he refused to sack some journalists the government did not approve of. When he refused he was charged for evading taxes and his newsprint withheld. The Sindhi paper "Subbuh Thendo" was banned recently. In the past one month, several photographers have been arrested or intimidated. On 2 May, M.A.K. Lodhi, a journalist who was assisting a BBC team, which had been investigating charges of corruption against the Nawaz Sharif government, was arrested. On 4 May, a senior journalist, Hussain Haqqani was picked up from his brother's house in Rawalpindi. Earlier he was refused permission to board a plane to Dubai. Hussain Haqqani is missing ever since and the government refuses to disclose his whereabouts. On 5 May the car of Imtiaz Alam, another senior journalist, was set on fire in his own residence. In the early hours of Saturday, 8 May, Najam Sethi, another senior journalist and editor of Friday Times, was beaten up and picked up by the police from his residence. Force was also used against his wife. Sethi had earlier given an interview to the BBC team. His whereabouts remain unknown. The government has accused him of making unpatriotic remarks during a speech in Delhi, some days earlier.
We demand that the government immediately abandon such high-handed measures. A free and independent press is the backbone of a democracy. A government which has nothing to hide need not fear investigation of its activities. We demand that all the journalists held in captivity should be released forthwith. Charges of unpatriotic conduct are usually trumped up accusations which governments employ to stifle dissenting opinions and perspectives. In any case, Najam Sethi should be given an opportunity to defend himself in an open court.
3. The announcement by the government that 28 May will be a national holiday to commemorate the first anniversary of its nuclear test explosions is perhaps the most serious setback to the peace process in South Asia. Although provocations have been coming from across the border, in terms of continuing missile tests and other jingoistic antics, the Vajpayee government took a more subdued attitude towards the anniversary of its own explosions of 11 and 13 May, 1998. In sharp contrast, Pakistan has declared a 10-day celebration of the nuclear explosions. Among other things, the government has sponsored an official competition, announced daily on national television, with a prize of Rs. 100,000 (about $2,000, equivalent to about year's income) to whoever comes up with the most appropriate name for this 28 May anniversary celebration. Every day Pakistan television shows coverage of the new missiles, Ghauri and Shaheen, being paraded and launched. According to the programme, 28 May will begin with a 21-gun salute and there will be special prayers of thanks at all the mosques. The people are expected to stand for a one-minute silence while the national anthem is played at 3:17 pm, the time when Pakistan detonated its nuclear devices. The Pakistan flag will be raised on state buildings, provincial capitals and local government offices. The prime minister will address a public rally at the mausoleum of the founder of Pakistan, and later he will preside at an award ceremony to honour Pakistan's nuclear weapon scientists.
In our opinion, such display of ultra-nationalism and patriotism will not benefit the people of Pakistan in any meaningful sense. On the contrary, it might unleash another way of fundamentalist fervour and militarist extremism. There is no guarantee that such irrational mass psychosis will not devour its own progenitor, i.e. the Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The lessons of world history in general and of Pakistani history in particular are very clear in this respect. Whenever governments transgress democratic norms and practices, they sooner or later themselves pay a heavy penalty for their follies.
We therefore urge Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to remain steadfast in his peace initiative, take necessary steps to restore democratic norms in the practice of his government, ratify all the current human rights instruments approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations, and give up the pursuit of aggressive nationalism.
Statement prepared on behalf of the Core Group of PPAD
1. Dr. Ishtiaq Ahmed, Sweden, Co-ordinator
2. Prof. Hassan Gardezi, Canada,
3. Prof. Bilal Hashmi, USA,
4. Amar Mahboob, USA,
5. Ayyub Malik, UK,
6. Prof. Amin Mughul, UK,
7. Dr Babar Mumtaz, UK,
8. Dr. Saghir A Shaikh, UK,
9. Dr. Ahmed Shibl, UK,
10. Ijaz Syed, USA,
Original sent to:
The Prime Minister of Pakistan
email: primeminister@pak.gov.pk
Fax:(92-51) 920 8890
: (92-51) 920 1545
Copies sent to
The Federal Minister of Information and Culture,
email: mushahid@pak.gov.pk
The Pakistan Mission to the United Nations (New York)
8 East 65th Street, New York NY 10021.
Tel: (212) 879.8600
email: pakistan@undp.org email
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