The PDM movement is gradually turning into a fight for civilian supremacy. Dressing up the truth while referring to the military establishment, by calling it ‘offstage players’, ‘the powers that be’ or ‘khalai makhluq’, was replaced during PDM’s Sunday rally by calling a spade a spade. PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz said Imran Khan’s 2011 rally at Minar-e-Pakistan was organized by the then ISI chief Gen Pasha and that Parliament was being run currently by an ex-ISI Colonel. PDM chair Maulana Fazlur Rehman said if the planned long march was stopped, the contest would turn into people versus establishment. BNP (M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal said Balochistan had faced the dread and the barbarity for over seventy years while still remaining committed to democracy. He maintained that if Punjab, which alone could put the genie back into the bottle, remained comatose, the ongoing repression could lead to secession. Mian Nawaz Sharif said he stood for Jinnah’s Pakistan while asking the audience who was responsible for the hanging of ZAB, the coup against him and manipulation of the 2018 elections.
There is equally a need on the part of the politicians to recognize the part they played in seeking military intervention against their opponents in power in the past. They should also accept responsibility for retaining the draconian NAB laws to use them against their opponents. Politicians also continued to retain interpolations in the constitution introduced by military dictator Zia ul Haq, like Articles 62 and 63 and the seditions act in PPC. They accused each other of corruption and prepared cases against one another. Is there any change in them?
The first stage of the protests planned by PDM is over while the march on Islamabad will come either by January’s end or beginning of February. This provides the two sides more than a month to do much required soul searching. Last week, the government delegated the powers of the cabinet to register sedition cases under the colonial Section 124A of the PPC to interior secretary to facilitate the process of jailing anyone who “brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection” towards the government. The government needs to realize that instead of deterring the opposition, the measure would only add fuel to the fire.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/12/14/is-the-age-of-euphemisms-over/
Is the age of euphemisms over?; Editorial in Pakistan Today, Dec 15th, 2020
The PDM movement is gradually turning into a fight for civilian supremacy. Dressing up the truth while referring to the military establishment, by calling it ‘offstage players’, ‘the powers that be’ or ‘khalai makhluq’, was replaced during PDM’s Sunday rally by calling a spade a spade. PML-N VP Maryam Nawaz said Imran Khan’s 2011 rally at Minar-e-Pakistan was organized by the then ISI chief Gen Pasha and that Parliament was being run currently by an ex-ISI Colonel. PDM chair Maulana Fazlur Rehman said if the planned long march was stopped, the contest would turn into people versus establishment. BNP (M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal said Balochistan had faced the dread and the barbarity for over seventy years while still remaining committed to democracy. He maintained that if Punjab, which alone could put the genie back into the bottle, remained comatose, the ongoing repression could lead to secession. Mian Nawaz Sharif said he stood for Jinnah’s Pakistan while asking the audience who was responsible for the hanging of ZAB, the coup against him and manipulation of the 2018 elections.
There is equally a need on the part of the politicians to recognize the part they played in seeking military intervention against their opponents in power in the past. They should also accept responsibility for retaining the draconian NAB laws to use them against their opponents. Politicians also continued to retain interpolations in the constitution introduced by military dictator Zia ul Haq, like Articles 62 and 63 and the seditions act in PPC. They accused each other of corruption and prepared cases against one another. Is there any change in them?
The first stage of the protests planned by PDM is over while the march on Islamabad will come either by January’s end or beginning of February. This provides the two sides more than a month to do much required soul searching. Last week, the government delegated the powers of the cabinet to register sedition cases under the colonial Section 124A of the PPC to interior secretary to facilitate the process of jailing anyone who “brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection” towards the government. The government needs to realize that instead of deterring the opposition, the measure would only add fuel to the fire.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/12/14/is-the-age-of-euphemisms-over/
Published in Pak Media comment and Pakistan