I would like to skip some of the events in between. The CJ started leading rallies in different parts of Pakistan which were being held in his favor. However the major portion of the protests and rallies was occupied by political activists from all different political parties. CJ’s defense lawyer is Mr. Chaudry Aititaz Ahsan, a member of PPP. MMA, Tehreek-e-Insaaf and PML-N were also actively participating in these protests. There can be many questions from an ordinary person over here: Why was Mr. Iftikhar leading the protests like this? Wasn’t this a violation of rights and respectable position of CJ? However, the opposition political party leader Imran Khan was asked Why was this entire judicial crisis being made political? His reply was Had the political parties not interfered and showed their solidarity with CJ, the govt would have crushed the entire matter with force and would have also forced CJ to resign.
However we have to consider, none of these rallies were in the sense political rallies since the CJ addressed the different high courts and Bar Councils at the end of these rallies. From quite an impartial view, I will say after staging very successful protests and rallies in various cities of Pakistan, CJ decided to move to Karachi for his address at Sindh High court. The LC decided that CJ will visit Karachi on 12th May.
This is point where clash was being foreseen because MQM then declared they would also host a rally on 12th May! This was frightening for ordinary people because we all could smell blood in the air. When very high energetic rallies will cross each other at any point, there will be bullets and eventually blood on the street. This is not new for Karachites. They have seen it earlier part. in the 90s. So there were discussions everywhere in the media about the safety concerns. By the way, Saturday is a working day in most of the offices and universities, so there was even a further danger of loss of human life. None of the side changed their programs. The Lawyers were of the view that they had announced the program earlier, so MQM should postpone their rally. However one of the MQM leaders said whenever any party will stage a protest or rally in Khi, their party will counter it. MQM workers were saying that this is not a movement of Independence of Courts (btw, this movement was so-named by the LC and opposition parties) but was rather a political parties hijacked rally and had a political agenda. Many renowned political analysts and political talk-shows comparers that I saw on TV were of the view that its government’s responsibility to ensure peace and they should postpone their
rally. I was well shocked because my question to everyone is “Why does a govt, a
ruling party even need to stage a rally or a protest! Aren’t they in the govt!” Well this is Pakistan’s politics and is beyond a sensible person’s mental grasping abilities.
However what was feared did happen. EIGHT long hours of continuous firing!!! It was like hostile exchange of fire at the border of two hostile countries. If you are foreigner and are reading this, you might wonder where the Police was; But if you are native Pakistani, you might wonder why the Rangers didn’t step in? Well the answer appeared on Kamran Khan Show last night on GEO TV. The IG Sindh said to CJ who was trapped inside the airport that HIS HANDS ARE TIED and he cannot do anything. The local policeman when asked by the news reporters to act to stop firing, they replied “We had been asked to stay inside our offices; The Mgt. told us whatever happened outside will be kept under control by us; Further we were not allowed to bring guns today”; so that day when 42 people died and 160 others wounded, our policeman were seen snoring in few photographs. One of the news channel AAJ's office was under heavy fire by some young gunmen but a/c to them nobody came to their aid. One female reporter was seen crying and pleading for help and blood and corpses could be seen in the background!!!
Sindh High Court was surrounded by unknown terrorists! These Unknown terrorists are also being held responsible for the cross-fire. Actually a/c to news reports, if I can remember these cross-fires only happened when almost major part of opposition rally that was going towards the airport to receive CJ had passed at some point at Shahrah-e-Faisal. However MQM claims that about 11 of its workers were shot dead by these Unknown terrorists.
What happened with Mr. CJ at the airport was also shameful. The poor man had to wait at the airport for about 8 long hours and then had to go back to Isl. Why did he have to wait the airport? Because the opposition parties rally were caught or involved in cross-fire in the city and therefore could not come to greet him at the airport. However this wasn’t the only problem. All the street intersections and some of the places that the opposition parties had to go through had been blocked by buses and heavy-duty trucks that came from nowhere! Since govt says that they did not put them there, were the buses and trucks cursed in some sort of way? Moreover all the routes to airport were blocked!!! STILL a group of MQM workers managed to reach the airport and surround it. Therefore IG Sindh had to go to the airport and did not allow CJ to leave the airport for Security Concerns! However MQM had quite a successful rally and their leader Mr. Altaf Hussain addressed his workers through telephone from London where he resides.
I would like to share a two incidents which I found quite disturbing. Our Federal Govt was also staging another rally this time by PML-Q division in Isl. Nothing unpleasant happened in Isl during the function by Federal Govt. However when firing had been going on for hours and people were dying in Khi, Mr. General President Musharraf did not only address PML-Q’s function but also performed BHANGRA (a form of Punjabi Dance usu. performed as a sign of happiness and joy). Today Mr. Shaukat Aziz, PM of Pakistan, said the terrible events were due to Chief Justice of Pakistan!!! And that he applauds the services of Police and Army Rangers on 12th May!!!
I remember that Sen. George Bush usu. used to end his speech by saying “God bless America”. I think we as Pakistanis must say “May God save Pakistan”.
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