Haroon Riaz
Source: Unknown
For too long, former comrade Hassan Nisar has been spewing a bit too much hate for democracy and for the intellect of the people of Pakistan and for far too long he has been tolerated. He has been tolerated because the general public perception is that he is an intellectual. Perhaps he is, but the idea he has been propagating for years now. You do not need to take my word for it. Go and watch hours after hours of footage on YouTube and Pakistani social media and you will have some idea about what we are saying.
Of course, the secular elements in the country take a lot of pleasure in his scathing commentary on the mullahs and the religious fundamentalists. They love how he destroys the religious clerics and their approach to secular education and science.
With such opinions, at least the secularists liked to listen to him because he was a secular man. However, his recent disappointing comments about religion card has put shadows of doubt over this idea as well. To add insult to injury, his decision to paint Imran Khan as a savior ended up in great embarrassment for himself due to the dismal performance of his administration, which he has admitted himself.
Recently, the PTI government has taken upon itself to defend former dictator General Pervez Musharraf in court for the proceedings against him in the treason or Article 6 charge. The General had abrogated the Constitution in 1999 in a bloodless coup to oust Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, which according to the Constitution itself is a treasonous act. In turn, Nawaz Sharif opened this case against him when he came to power.
The Report Card show from Geo TV Network which involved this subject had a discussion on democracy that quickly escalated into the following. Hassan Nisar, like always, was cynical about any hint of democracy in Pakistan.
As a student of politics and history I used to listen to hassan nisar sahab. But after seeing,his behaviour towards the authentic questions of @reema_omer “O bhai,o bhai” and “ oh nahi nahi aty chorein”. I’ve realised that even scholars/analyst can’t take harsh questions. pic.twitter.com/HkuOZKBaVI
— Basit Javed (@basitjaved58) November 29, 2019
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Anchors like Hassan Nisar and Irshad Bhatti should be banned on media. They pollute people’s mind and misguide them by distorting history. @geonews_urdu https://t.co/8JjvPhb6af
— Asma (@AsmaZhk) November 25, 2019
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The full show can be watched in the following video.
Hassan Nisar’s basic thesis is that the Pakistani people must be educated first before they can be trusted with something such as democracy. While the cynic in us would tend to agree with him, it cannot be stressed enough how dangerous this line of argument is. It is a self-defeating statement more than anything else and has nothing to do with any solutions.
Hassan Nisar, just like all the defenders of the military establishment, he blames all of the current democratic and constitutional crises on the politicians. He considers any legal proceedings against former military dictators as needless and even refuses to recognize “sham” democratic institutions in Pakistan. To make matters worse for himself, he even defended Musharraf’s controversial properties dismissing it as his private affair. However, he would refuse to apply the same principle to the Sharifs, who he has been bitterly opposing for decades.
This is not just one incident but the clip in this tweet is perhaps Hassan Nisar at his worst. He is not arguing but ranting. What is worse, he was being inexcusably and unnecessarily rude to other speakers on the show. Many on twitter were blaming it on him possibly being drunk at that time but those who have listened to him for years now are familiar that his moral constipation has a far longer history and it has nothing to do with a moment of weakness.
We have been following Hassan Nisar for a very long time and obviously, his rhetoric has some basis on logic. Only for that reason, he has gathered a fan following or viewers or readers over the years. But people, especially the youth should be wary of considering him an ideal for deriving their political thought.
For too long, Pakistanis have been fed the Caliph Syndrome thanks to a quote by Umer II or Umer I about a ruler being even responsible for a calf dying by the Euphrates river. Such cynicism has only harmed both democracy and public thought in Pakistan. People expect unrealistic miracles and solutions from political leadership, looking for a Caliph, and when they fail to meet those goals, they wait for a Messiah in the shape of a military general who would have a silver bullet solution for all their woes. Of course, the dictator never works for them either but at least they were happy about the sudden “appearance” of a charismatic leader out of nowhere without any voting. Perhaps, military dictators such as Zia and Musharraf are indeed sent by Allah. It is the same principle that is being applied to the binary regime of Imran Khan and General Bajwa.
Hassan Nisar is great for social media moments and gratification of the emotions of the political cynic in Pakistan, but in terms of substance and ideology, we should surely look elsewhere.
The caustic, cynical fascism of Hassan Nisar must be rejected.
Filed under: Commentary, Videos | Tagged: argument, Caliph Syndrome, class warfare, cynic, cynicism, Debate, democracy, education, fascism, Geo TV, Hassan Nisar, logic, Messiah Syndrome, military establishment, Pakistan, political leadership, politicians, rational, rationality, religion, Report Card, science, Secularism, theology | Leave a comment »
The Truth Journal 
The Student Solidarity March: Students Across Pakistan Are Waking Up
Source: Pakistan Today
The progressives students across Pakistan did it. They were not threatened. They were not deterred. They were not intimated… by the threats of authority, by the threats of the state establishment, by the threats of their conformist parents and teachers, and by the threats of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Never in the living memory of the generations since the 70s, has such a large, broad, and vibrant secular, leftist crowd taking to the streets in Pakistan. It is the kind of student politics that I most certainly missed during my college days and was always looking for. I was looking for a platform to express my secular liberal views but were not finding any like-minded people, let alone allies around me. I am relieved to say today that so many of the young students today cannot say that. The struggle of the leftist activists in Pakistan has made its impact.
Students all across Pakistan, from Karachi and Sindh to Quetta and from Southern Punjab to Lahore and from Islamabad and Peshawar to Gilgit, students came out in great numbers. They made their presence felt and reminded the authorities of what to expect in the future.
The most beautiful part of the march was the participation of Iqbal Lala, the father of martyred secular student Mashaal Khan. Any such march is incomplete without saluting heroes such as Mashaal Khan who have become a symbol of resistance against Islamic fundamentalism and the tyrannical state of Pakistan who collectively murdered them.
The progressive students also revived the spirit of Bhagat Singh, an indigenous hero of the War of Independence against the British that the Islamic Republic has completely forgotten.
There still is a long, long way to go for us. This is only the beginning. Still, there were nearly not enough people coming out. Still, the numbers nowhere near matched the injustice and threats faced by the students, women, labor, and minorities in Pakistan. There is still a long way to the restoration of student unions in a country that only appreciates monolithic behavior. There is still a long way to go for improving access to education and better health, or even the right to life and dignity in most parts of Pakistan.
Most importantly, there is a long way to go before the secular left, socialists, and social democrats can become a considerable voting bloc in Pakistan. The ANP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has always been a start but it is somehow disconnected to the left in the rest of the country.
While many liberal friends were put off by the Marxist and revolutionary slogans in the march, they must never forget the bigger secular, democratic cause, In order for the struggle of the secular left to be more effective, broader coalitions need to be built without sacrificing the principles of social democracy. We are up against the dictatorship of the military establishment and the ignorant, obscurantist tyranny of the Islamic Republic, the ignorant rule of the PTI and conservative Punjab, and the violent Islami Jamiat Talba. It is in the best interest of all center liberals, secular liberals to progressive left and socialists to unite to build a secular coalition, just like in the recent Israeli elections where Kachol Lavan appeared as a major coalition.
Zia must be turning in his grave on this day because he did all in his power to destroy the left from reemerging. But on this historic day, it has. Who would have thought that these visuals would be possible in the 80s.
Congratulations, progressive students of Pakistan, you have made history.
You are waking up. You are alive.
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Filed under: Commentary, Videos | Tagged: Constitution of Pakistan, democracy, Islamic Republic, left, Marxist, Pakistan, Progressive Students Collective, Progressive Students Federation, PRSF, Revolutionary, secular coalition, state establishment, student politics, student union, Students Solidarity March | Leave a comment »