As fate would dictate, your Blogger happened to be away when Musharraf decided to inflict his constitutional illegality on the people of Pakistan.Since my return I have been preoccupied with working with other citizens to defeat the state of oppression that has been placed upon us. Writing a Blog did not seem an adequate enough response to the changed world we suddenly find around us.
I began this Blog over thirty months ago with the sole aim of trying to convince people that the Musharraf regime was morally bankrupt and that its intentions were self-seeking and oppressive. Today it would be difficult to find any member of Pakistan’s civic society who would disagree with me. In other words The Glasshouse is now largely redundant.
Here is my list of modern Pakistani heroes:
Our Lawyers.
What a valiant and principled lot they have turned out to be. Bless them!An admiring US lawyer commented: ‘They may be beaten and gassed, but they are representing the last line of defense against a dictatorial regime bent on suppressing the law.’
In my personal roll of honour the following three lawyers have to be mentioned by name:
Aitzaz Ahsan
Muneer A Malik
Ali Ahmed Kurd
Members of the Press
Apart from the usual unmentionable rats that are found in every profession, most members of the press have resisted all attempts to become PR spokesmen for the regime. My personal favourites being:
Talat Hussain
Mushtaq Minhas
Nusrat Javed
The Judiciary
All judges of the senior judiciary who refused to take oath under the PCO are worthy of praise. They have ended a 50 year hiatus of subservience.
Imran Khan
Betrayed by a gang of student thugs bribed by the regime, he held his head high throughout. He once again proved to us what courage and leadership are all about.
We should all be proud of these people. There are others, of course, whom I have forgotten to mention. So, Readers, I would now encourage you to add to the list of our heroes in the comment's column. Let them get the praise they deserve for fighting for our rights in face of lathis, tear gas, imprisonment and physical brutality.
(And, yes, you are also welcome to compile a list of your favourite villains as well.)
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There are currently tens of millions of Pakistanis who are currently unable to access news of ongoing events in Pakistan. To them I suggest a traditional alternative - BBC Urdu Service.
In view of the blanket media ban in Pakistan BBC has increased the time and frequency of its Urdu broadcasts. The live broadcasts are available at the following times:
6:30 am to 7:30 am (PST) on medium wave at 1413 kHz
12:30 to 1:00 pm (PST) on 6065, 7180, 11750 and 15510 kHz
3:00 to 4:00 pm (PST) on 5965, 7205, 9510 and 15160 kHz
5:30 to 6:00 pm (PST) on 6060, 7205, 9605 and 11690
8:00 pm to 9:00 am (PST) on medium wave at 1413 kHz
10:30 pm to 10:30 am (PST) on medium wave at 1413 kHz
And internet users can listen to all these broadcasts on http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/
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Readers, many thanks for your concern.
As you can see Onlooker is alive and well. Unfortunately, due to the abounding political chaos he has been too busy these past few days even to check on the blog. (Only today did I finally manage to read my readers’ responses. Please accept my sincere apologies).
With the technology available to intercept Al Qaeda’s electronic communications, your Blogger is pretty sure that the authorities might have some clue to his identity, but then perhaps, lucky for him, they are simply to busy countering the latest terrorist threat – our lawyers!
Anyhow Onlooker is off again this coming week to attend a meeting in the capital where it is anticipated there will the usual welcoming lathi and a charming dose of tear gas thrown in for good measure. The important thing is that the people of Pakistan seem to be winning the battle. Good luck to us all!
