Tuesday, April 10, 2007

'Real Democracy' vs. 'Sham Democracy'


Ghani Jafar tells us an interesting tale in The News today ('Deja vu, but vicariously')

Apparently in the early 1990s (during the days of ‘Sham Democracy’) our Amir-ul-Momineen-hopeful and his boys decided to get tough with media men for revealing too much truth for their liking.

It was decided to make a harsh example of a particular senior journalist so that others would tremble in fear from this brutal lesson. And so:

A minor traffic incident was staged to enable the cops to beat him black and blue, wreck the car he was driving and put him behind bars He was treated to third degree methods overnight before his colleagues learnt of the incident and managed to get him out.

As common with most plans made by ‘geniuses’ entrenched in Islamabad, the scheme backfired. The press was up in arms at the brutal treatment dish out their colleague. To appease them two policemen were suspended.

Later it emerged that:

The senior superintendent of police had addressed the entire staff of the relevant station. The high police official had basically patted his subordinates on the back for doing a good job in dealing with the journalist. But, he said that since the matter had taken a political turn…he needed two volunteers for suspension. Those who offered themselves for the purpose, he had assured the audience, would not only be reinstated but also given promotions once the heat died down.

Coming to the present, things do not appeared have changed much in these days of ‘True Democracy’.

After trashing the Geo office the Inspector in charge of the destruction, as Musharraf informed us, has managed to successfully vanish from the face of the earth.

Considering that the Inspector is held single-handedly responsible for the attack on Geo, is it possible that he might have – given his ‘violent outlook’ - decamped to Dera Bugti or Wana to lead a dogged insurgency against Geo TV?

Or, as Ghani Jafar suggests, that he currently might be instead ensconced somewhere in Islamabad awaiting swift promotion the moment the heat dies down?

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind!



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