The first murder of election season 2023 has been committed, and the deceased has been lowered into the ground.
The person chosen as the recipient of this barbarity was Zille Shah. He was an emotionally and mentally disturbed young man who had yet to grow out of childhood. He was what they call, a “special person….a Masoom.”
He was no threat to anybody. They picked him up in a police van to take him to a police station. But their patience probably ran out, and so they seem to have beaten him to death well before they reached their destination. And then they put him in a private car and threw him on a road outside a hospital and drove off.
The doctor who did the postmortem and gave as the cause of his death, violence that was inflicted on him, was transferred out for not covering up the crime. And most dutifully, the police charged Imran Khan and other leaders of his party for the murder.
Number one on my list of murderers stands Mohsin Naqvi, the adopted “son” of Asif Ali Zardari. He, as the chief executive of Punjab, put together a plan to keep Imran Khan from electioneering AFTER the police had approved the route which Imran’s rally would follow. The purpose of this plan to approve and then to cancel the route of the procession was, to provoke Imran’s supporters into clashes with the police. These clashes would open up avenues for the government to either cancel the coming elections, or to keep Imran Khan out.
To further this provocation the police indulged in free use of water cannons and tear gas shelling to disperse a peaceful crowd, and randomly indulged in hooliganism, attacking women and children and breaking up cars and vans belonging to PTI supporters.
Zilleh Shah’s person presented the police with an easy target for violence. This violence was enacted to put fear into the hearts of Imran supporters, so that they would rather remain at home, than canvas for him.
” The cure for poor democracy is more democracy!”
So, it was “more” democracy that took the life of Zilleh Shah. One wonders if still more “democracy” is waiting to unfold on the people of Pakistan.
This brand of democracy was let loose on the country by Bajwa when he brought down a legitimate government and replaced it by a collection of Thugs, and then supported these Thugs. He did this because of orders from his lords and masters, and because he was bribed by the Sharif family to do so. But why Asim Munir should have taken the baton from Bajwa and chosen to keep running with it, is beyond being understood. What was his compulsion to give the support of the army to a gang of thieves? Why is it that he should be taking orders from an absconding thief and his disreputable daughter? He might well insist that the army is neutral, while in fact it is behaving as if he and his high command have been “neutered” instead, and they don’t know the difference!
By positioning the army in support of the Thugs, a grave threat has come to engulf national security of which the army are the ultimate guarantors. With Bajwa’s act of regime change and with Asim Munir clearly following his lead, the army has not merely lost the support of the people of Pakistan and its own rank and file, it has come to be detested by them. Armies in a state of such moral decline cannot stand and fight a foreign enemy on a field of battle. They can only fight against their own unarmed people, but only for a limited time, before they are overwhelmed by them.
Our army is a unique institution. When it was raised by the British, a foundational strut on which it was built was the alternate family it gave to its officers and men. This was the unit to which they belonged. So, they continued to belong to this family even after retirement.
Therefore, on many subjects the sentiments and feelings of the serving and the ranks of the retired are in harmony. So, if those who are serving are hesitant to speak the truth about the prevailing situation, Gen Asim should summon the courage to hear those that are in retirement. This experience will not be pleasant for him, but it will put him in touch with the truth. And truth will tell him in no uncertain manner that the first murder committed to cancel the elections was one murder too many, and one for which he will continue to get a generous portion of the blame. The only way out for him or for the high command under him, is to give up the support of the thugs, and stand up for Pakistan instead.
An ego built on arrogance will not easily allow this change. But fear of God may bring it about.