The daily Dawn ran an interesting point/counterpoint set of articles on the presumptive prime minister of the country.
Nasik Elahi
https://www.dawn.com/news/1426403/is-imran-khan-an-extremist
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Category Archives: Politics
Understanding Pakistan’s relationship with Journalism
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Freedom of press being put to the test.
By Maha Makhdum
With the reputation of journalism on the guillotine across the world, Pakistan is an extremely interesting case.
The country has a multi-layered relationship with journalists which is complicated and complex. Here in Pakistan, it is not only the government that wields power. One has to remember the very close influential relationship between the State and its military body, and then, being the Islamic Republic, additional religious elements.
Before trying to assess the current landscape and the future of journalism in Pakistan, the following should be noted: for this piece, a majority of reporters and representatives requested to stay anonymous due to security concerns. The latest string of incidents reported on journalists emphasizes how the field itself is life or death in many circumstances. Geo.tv, for example, highlights that “117 journalists have been killed in the past 15 years in Pakistan, and of these, only three cases were taken up in the judicial courts”. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists lists 60 journalists who have been killed in Pakistan since 1994. The 2016 IFJ reported 115 deaths since 1990, making Pakistan the 4th most dangerous country for journalists in the world, and most recently, the RSF ranks it 139 out of 180.
These reports paint a pretty bleak picture of the state’s relationship with journalism. However, after speaking to journalists reporting on local, district, national and international issues, the situation becomes grey as each face different situations depending on the nature of the articles and information being shared.
The constitution of Pakistan includes Article 19A, which states that “every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation and reasonable restrictions imposed by law”. Pakistan’s Electronic Media Regulatory Authority is a constitutionally-established federal institution responsible for regulating and issuing channel licenses, print and electronic media. Mohammad Tahir, General Manager of Media and Operations, states that “PEMRA has transparent guidelines for the code of conduct, monitoring, and parameters for information shared”. All this suggests positive signs. In theory, the relationship between State and press is one of respect.
However, Pakistan is aware of its struggle with anti-state elements and the consequences of fighting a war against terror in its own and neighbouring countries. National Security has used fear of war as its primary reason to monitor and at times restrict the flow of information. This means that journalists have to work within set parameters in order to get their stories printed- and to remain safe.
2003 is an example of the challenges journalists faced due to National Security. Local journalists reporting on security elements in controlled conflict areas such as FATA had very clear boundaries to work within due to Talibanisation in the area, ongoing military operations, and warfare between militants and Pakistani forces. These journalists gathered information from local political groups, the security agency and witness reports. All of the journalists interviewed for this article said that they have been “advised due to the nature of their reports to bear in mind National Security”. This advice can be interpreted as a silencing tactic and a way to censor the information, evident in the lack of research being published and publicized. However, the notion of National Security’s ability to withhold information from the public is a debate taking place worldwide. If it is a threat to journalism and its credibility, then this is something the journalist community needs to unite against and to debate and tackle.
Another problem for Pakistani journalists in the field is a lack of organisational support. Local journalists face different types of pressures and must be mindful of multiple perspectives when reporting on issues within conflict zones. Every local reporter I spoke to, for instance, mentioned that voluntary and involuntary self-censorship are used to avoid clashes with tribal elders, security agencies, the political power in that area, as well as different militant organisations who may get provoked by the piece, or pressure from these groups to share specific information. The reality for local journalists when filing a story is that it is bound to upset one of the factions. Then, the threat is not just to the reporter; if a local journalist reports on stories which tribal leaders or the militant factions do not approve of, they have enough power to expel the reporter from the area, destroy their homes, and threaten their families. It is vital, therefore, that journalists are provided with enough protection in order to report with integrity and without the fear to self, family or financial stability. In speaking to national and international journalists, it is apparent that the relationship between journalism and the different actors stated above depends on also how much traction a piece receives.
Governing bodies, however, have “not managed to provide legislation to meet the needs of journalists and the structures within media are weak”, as Myra Imran, Vice President of National Press Club Islamabad Chapter, highlights. For example, one journalist- who wishes to stay anonymous- describes how he had been kidnapped and injured while carrying out his duties reporting in one of the conflict zones. After his release, he was no longer able to continue work and now faces an uphill struggle to get any form of aid.
Local journalists are additionally troubled by lack of balanced reporting, which greatly impacts their credibility. If journalism is to both survive the threats it is currently facing and maintain a healthy relationship with the State, then local journalists are in strong need of adequate training, especially in reporting. Many young journalists struggle as they are untaught, untrained, and uneducated on the full scope of such dealing with sensitive matters and information. This is not helped by the fact majority of Pakistani media houses, channels, publications relay messages in line with their personal, political, and business affiliations, compromising the journalistic integrity of the information shared.
One needs only to consider the reality of the situation within the borders of Pakistan in which no journalist could write about blasphemy or corruption without fear. And the threat extends beyond just military or security reasons. With the weak state of privacy laws implementation, it is relatively easy to get information about the majority of people in the public eye. Fear of reprisal and those with power and influence adds another layer to the many conflictions and hesitations journalists have while reporting, which leads to self-censorship.
Due to the different military, religious, and political practices mentioned above for the silencing of voices and the (lack of) security situation within Pakistan, the middle narrative has faded and people have been pushed into camps: pro-military or pro-government. In a sense, the relationship between the State and press seems to be surviving. Above highlights how journalists have to contend with multiple factors due to political, security and religious reasons, or are manipulated due to financial vulnerability. As a result, local journalists feel that their futures and that of journalism are being put to question. If the middle man is completely eradicated, then the relationship between press and Pakistan would be that of a vessel which projects an image that may not necessarily be true. In other words, the injustices faced by thousands of people continue until something catastrophic happens.
Imran Khan is only a player in the circus run by Pakistan’s military
Written by :Fatima Bhutto.(The Guardian)
Shared by : Syed Ehtisham
As the nation elects its next leader, it is a tragedy that such hopeful people are offered this glut of shoddy candidates.
In the run-up to Wednesday’s elections in Pakistan, hard-pressed attempts at democracy seem to have given way to a fully-fledged circus. We have powerful, all-knowing ringmasters, caged lions, knife-throwers, trapeze artists flying from perch to perch, even cruelty to animals is included. Ours is a circus which looks to be performing its last show before it shuts down – evidenced most clearly by its last act, the clown. The political record of the former cricket star Imran Khan, who is thought to be near to victory due to the backing of Pakistan’s powerful military establishment, has long been one of opportunism and obeisance.
In 2006, he voted against the women’s protection bill, an amendment to the grotesque Hudood Ordinances, which jail a woman for the crime of pre-marital sex or adultery. As a consequence, allegations of rape are nearly impossible to prove unless the victim can call upon four upstanding men who witnessed the exact moment of rape. Without those witnesses, it was often the victim, not the rapist, who found herself behind bars. The 2006 amendment only did away with the requirement of witnesses; which would have allowed a woman who said she had been raped to be taken at her word and given the right to file a police case and have a rape test administered in a hospital. Khan voted no. He has defended Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, hascalled for the military’s gargantuan share of the national budget to remain untouched, declared that feminism degrades motherhood, attracted an army of online trolls who send death threats to his critics, and most recently welcomed the support of Fazlur Rehman Khalil, who reportedly founded the militant organisation Harkatul Mujahideen, was reportedly an associate of Osama bin Laden and remains on a US terror watchlist.
Khan’s morally flexible manifesto is sadly not unique. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is billed as an anticorruption party, yet it has welcomed droves of allegedly corrupt people from the Pakistan People’s Party, an Olympic-level bunch of looters and thieves, and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who have long flatlined the aspirations of their people. The Ahle Sunnat Wa Jammat is a sectarian hate group that calls for the murder of Shia Muslims. Not only have they been openly participating in the elections, they have also endorsed candidates belonging to all the major parties –no one has refused their support.
The few young independents or dynamic voices that exist in this overwhelming arena of the bad and the ugly are continually hounded and menaced for their lonely acts of bravery. It is Pakistan’s supreme tragedy that such a young, hopeful, promising people are offered this glut of shoddy candidates.
While none of Khan’s misogyny, cuddling up to the military and his militant affection is new to anyone who has watched his career, this election campaign has certainly been disturbing for its displays of cruelty. On 17 July, PTI supporters in Karachi tied a donkey to a pole. They punched its face till its jaw broke, ripped open its nostrils, and drove a car into its body, leaving the animal to collapse, having been beaten to within an inch of his life. Before they left, they wrote ‘Nawaz’ (the name of the former prime minister) into its flesh, seemingly inspired by their leader, Imran Khan, who has taunted PML-N workers as ghaddhay or donkeys. The donkey was rescued by the ACF Animal Rescue team, a private organisation, who noted that, even days later, it could not stand up on its own because of the ferocity of its torture. It soon succumbed to its injuries, an innocent creature beaten to death for entertainment.
A day later, another donkey in Karachi was mercilessly attacked, this time the skin on its face was ripped off, the flesh on its forehead torn apart till all that remained between its eyes was a pulpy, bloody hole. The ACF did not say whether the animal was a victim of the same party but, in a landscape of venomous online trolling, people are afraid to say very much these days. In Sarghoda on 20 July, the PTI brought two sloth bears to an election rally and forced them to dance to their turgid campaign songs. The bears were dressed in PTI colours and their handlers stood nearby, controlling them with lathisand rope threaded through their snouts.
Pakistan is a country afflicted by unremitting violence – the poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz called us a “congregation of pain” –and this election alone has seen three devastating suicide blasts targeting candidates. But the PTI supporters’ particular brand of savagery, seemingly incited by thoughtless, debasing rhetoric, strikes many as yet one more troubling sign of what is to come. This political culture of vulgar triumphalism will always require victims to publicly humiliate, the more helpless the better.
Khan would be wise to learn from history and note that his nemesis Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister and head of the PML-N party, jailed in the weeks before the election on corruption charges, was once an army man himself. Sharif began his political career as a protege of the same military dictator who cheered Khan’s cricket victories, General Zia ul Haq. The same institution that once carried Sharif upon its shoulders has hunted him down and locked him up.
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Pakistan’s Most Rigged Election
A commentary on Pakistan’s election.
Written by : Farooq Tariq
Shared by :Syed Ehtisham
ON 26th July 2018, in his election victory speech, Imran Khan gave a sober talk contrary to his very violent language used throughout the election campaign. He has “won” 116 seat of the 342 seats National Assembly of which 278 seats are contested directly on First Past The Post (FPTP) system. He is short of the 137 seats needed for the majority in the parliament. However, there are plenty of parliamentarians elected as “independents” who would either join his party or would vote for him.
Demonstrations in several cities are taking place against the post poll rigging. The majority of several dozen candidates has been turned into minority votes overnight by “unknown hands” These unknowns: are known to everyone but if you write with the right name, you may disappear for this crime. Almost all the commercial media is under control by these “unknowns”.
The media is instructed on daily basis by these “unknowns”, all this to get a favorable mandate for their loved one “The great Imran Khan” who once was captain of the most popular game, the cricket, and won a world cup for Pakistan in 1992. Imran Khan is a conservative politician who had developed in recent years his magic love for the army generals and is keeping a kind heart for religious fanatics.
This was the most rigged elections in the history of Pakistan. From Pre poll period until today on 28th July, all efforts are made that Imran Khan gets a simple majority. Prior to the elections, there were consistent attacks on Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz, the ruling party, by the judiciary on the name of accountability.
The PMLN has fallen apart from the military and judicial establishment on mainly two issues. The most important was the supremacy of civilians over the military. The second was the relationship with India. PMLN wanted more trade with India and no war.
Mian Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister and a right wing politician, has to pay a heavy price for his insistence that as PM, he rules Pakistan and not the army. He was ousted by the Supreme Court, disqualified for life and now serving a ten years sentence along with his daughter at a Rawalpindi jail.
When the dates of the elections was announced, the media portrayed Imran Khan as the cleanest politician with a plan to curtail corruption. His main election slogans were “change” and “a new Pakistan”. Billions of rupees were spent on advertising by his billionaires party men. The richest always smells the changing directions of power and they accordingly change their political affiliations. Most of these are called “electable”, a politician who could spend billions on elections and buy votes. Imran Khan Party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (Justice Movement), saw an influx of these “electable” who changed their party from PNLN to PTI without a hint of shame. They always did the same at the election times.
When PMLN gave tickets (nominations) to their probable candidates, phone calls were made by these “unknowns” to those nominated and were asked to return the tickets at the eleventh hour and contest elections as independent. Those who refused were beaten up physically in their offices and homes. Threats and intimidations worked and around 40 of those who were nominated by PMLN returned their tickets and announced to contest as independent.
During the election campaign, several PMLN nominees were arrested and some disqualified for life and sent to jail on pretext of corruption. All these measures gave a general impression that military and judicial establishment want Imran Khan to win the general elections at any cost. Imran Khan has already created a myth among the youth that we need a change and a corruption free government. There was a euphoria among a large section of youth in Pakistan that Imran Khan is not corrupt and that he needs “electable” to win an overall majority.
The two banned outfits of religious fanatics were allowed to contest elections by the Election Commission. The strategy was if the extreme right would contest elections, they will reduce the PMLN votes who were favored by these religious groups in the past. One religious group Tehreek Labaik became the third largest party in terms of fielding candidates all around Pakistan after PTI and PMLN.
Over 300,000 military men were deployed in all the polling stations with a judicial power to military officers on the “request” of the Election Commission to ensure a complete security. This was aided by the religious terrorists who carried out suicidal attacks on public meeting during election campaign killing hundreds including the candidates. In one unfortunate incident, over 150 were killed in Mastung district of Balochistan province including the candidate.
Most of the human rights groups in Pakistan including Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) criticized this gross pre poll rigging through press conferences and termed these extra ordinary measures to favor a certain political party.
On the Election Day, the polling went smoothly and military presence was at everywhere. However, the rigging work started after 10 pm, four hours after the counting started. Suddenly most of the results of the constituencies where the difference was between 1000-5000 were stopped. Then, there was an almost blackout of the counting, it remerged early in the morning, those winning elections at night time were losing and PTI candidates were always the winners.
The final results were delayed for over 72 hours, it never happened earlier..
The results showed PTI with 116 seats, PMLN 63 and PPP with 43 seats at the national parliament. PPP under the young leadership of Bilawel Bhutto improved from their previous devastating results of 28 seats. PPP kept control of Sindh assembly with more seats than they held previously, Khaiber Pukhton Khwa saw PTI “land slide”. In Punjab, PMLN kept it majority with a drastic reduction of seats and PTI now vowing to form the government in Punjab also with the help of the elected “independents”.
The two religious fanatic groups who contested got no national assembly seat but one of them Tehreek Labaik got two Sindh assembly seats. They did not do badly. In almost every constituency, they got from 1-10 percent of the votes and in some they got over 20 percent votes. This is quit alarming situation.
The Left contested almost 50 national and provincial seats from all over Pakistan. However, one Wazeer Ali from The Struggle group who is part of Left Democratic Front won a national assembly seat from former federally administered area called FATA. The area is dominated by religious fanatics. However Ali Wazeer comfortable majority of 16000 votes had given a new hope the forces of the Left in Pakistan. Ali Wazeer contested as independent candidate. He was leader of Pashtun Tahafaz Movement which has organized this year mass public rallies across Pakistan for compensation of those victims of “war on terror”.
In my home constituency of Toba Tek Singh, where I contested elections for Punjab Assembly in 2013 elections, AWP candidate Mohammed Zubair came on third position with 4586 votes leaving behind the candidates of the religious fanatic parties and Pakistan People’s Party. I did not take part in the elections as candidate because of health issues, however, campaigned for our candidate with two mass rallies in the constituency.
Almost all political parties except PTI has termed this general election as the most rigged. They have rejected the results. PTI who launched a three year long movement against the rigging during 2013 elections termed this election as the most free and fair in history of Pakistan, the only party to say so.
The new government is in the making. It is quite obvious that Imran Khan will become the new prime minister. This new government will be a weak one and would have to face a severe economic crisis.. The designated finance minister of PTI has already hinted to turn to IMF for a new loan. One of the main issue that PTI campaigned was the massive foreign loans obtained during PMLN five years from China. Now they have no shame to say even before taking over power that they have to turn to IMF.
The government would try to improve the tax base in the initial period and that would bring them into contradiction with strong traders lobby who have no habit of paying taxes. Imran Khan hinted to have friendly relationship with India. This would not be done. With an open support of the army generals, it is out of question that there will be improved relationship between Pakistan and India.
Religious fundamentalism will grow in the next period as Imran Khan has already pledged to “negotiate” with Taliban and he had always a soft attitude towards religious fanatics. He has supported some known Madarasas associated with Taliban with state subsidies while he controlled KP government during 2013-18.
Although the opposition parties have announced agitation against the election results and have demanded fresh elections. However, they might not succeed in launching a successful agitation. Interesting times ahead.
By; Farooq Tariq
farooqtariq@hotmail.com<
28th July 2018