Haroon Riaz
Source: Jibran Nasir
Up till this morning, I had been pretty clear in my mind that my Pakistani person of the year would be none other than Malala Yousufzai. But then again, I thought there should be better reasons than just being the Nobel peace laureate for the year. She is making her difference alright, and the Nobel Peace Prize is certainly the highlight of the year before she largely becomes irrelevant.
But who has contributed something different for Pakistan this year?
Who is it that has been willing to face the danger of challenging Mullahs for their understanding of what is good for the country, without putting their personal safety first.
For these reasons alone, my Pakistani of the year has to be Muhammad Jibran Nasir.
Though I cannot fully get myself to agree with the Charter of Demands of the movement. Article 3 more specifically, which gives PEMRA and PTA more reasons to live, and calling for the kind of social media profile witchhunt and ideological targeting that could kill free speech in this country. Because while it would be meant to target those inciting hate (hopefully), such internet policing would eventually target pro-secularism elements.
I also oppose suppressing the voice of Maulana Abdul Aziz, who is only doing the cause of secularism a favor by honestly expressing his Islamist beliefs. Let his madness be known to all.
Furthermore, I have no interest or inclination to call for the protest of someone who did not condemn or had celebrated the Peshawar massacre, and so what if he ultimately apologized? It means nothing.
But despite all those differences, his cause is absolutely right.
There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the clerics of Lal Masjid and the administrators of Jamia Hafsa are killing freedom of hundreds of children. And it is not hard to imagine that if it were up to them, they would take away whatever freedoms we enjoy.
Even during the anti-Abdul Aziz protests, a father was looking for the release of a detained daughter in the female seminary of the mosque run by the wife of Maulana Abdul Aziz.
This, apart from their active militant activity back then, is why the Lal Masjid operation carried out by the military in July 2007 was absolutely justified, though seemingly a little excessive in its execution.
Jibran Nasir became a hero for the secularists and liberals in Pakistan as soon as he started his protest movement, but he also gained the support of most skeptics when he received the first death threat from the Lal Masjid terrorists.
A death threat from these people is no joke. It is not freedom of religion, though that is what gives them a free pass, and it is surely not freedom of speech.
If that was not enough, Maulana Abdul Aziz dug his own grave by threatening Nasir, the MQM chief and other protesters. It was primarily his own stupidity more than anything else that got him into trouble. Even resorting to sending out threats of suicide attacks. But the credit must go to the protesters outside the Aabpara police station who persisted on the calls of his arrest.
While a local judge has issued the warrant, Maulana Abdul Aziz has not been arrested as of December 31, 2014.
Meanwhile, Jibran Nasir has been accused of all sort of things that the pro-Islamist, pro-Taliban nationalist right wing considers to be evil under the sun. He has been called an anti-Islam agent of the Indian, US and Jewish lobby, member of the MQM, a Hindu-loving Holi-celebrating traitor and an Ahmedi, the ultimate enemies of the state and the root of all evil in the universe.
No, he is not anti-Islam. It is probably people like me who would bash him for not being precisely that. But no, we won’t.
He responded to each and every falsehood though, and has proved to be the moral victor. But moral victories do not matter in the real world, or at least in Pakistan.
While I am aware that the militantism that the anti-Abdul Aziz movement is taregeting does not address the root of the long term problem of faith based violence, but I must also concede that his movement is probably the best shot we got. This, along with the government’s decision to crack down on religious extremist elements.
However, our law enforcement still looks pretty weak, and almost unwilling, when it comes to cracking down on the real culprits, namely Islamist extremists, and would be far more comfortable targeting the protesting workers of AWP as easily as they would drink water.
It is people like Jibran Nasir who are actually making a difference for Pakistan, out in the battlefield, and putting the rest of us to shame.
Dear Pakistani expats, this is the sort of person you may want to support.
His battle is the battle of the people of Pakistan and is the battle for democracy.
And for all you Islamists out there, he is not alone.
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Read about my Pakistani person of last year here.
Filed under: Commentary | Tagged: 2014, AWP, democracy, extremism, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, hate speech, Islam, Islamism, Lal Masjid, Maulana Abdul Aziz, Muhammad Jibran Nasir, Pakistani Person of the Year, PEMRA, politics, PTA, religion, terrorism | 1 Comment »
The Truth Journal 
The Arrest of Awami Workers Party Protesters: Pakistan’s Fascism on Full Display
Source: Express Tribune
Manzoor Pashteen has become a symbol of resistance in Pakistan. He is singlehandedly freaking the Pakistani authorities out and bringing out the worst in them. Of course, he would argue that what his people have been going through at the hands of the Pakistani military is far worse. He was recently arrested in Peshawar following a peaceful rally. He was charged with sedition and terrorism. This probably did not come much as a surprise to many following the threats issued by the former DG ISPR.
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However, in the manner that the Islamabad police raided and arrested the peaceful protesters raising their voice against the arrest of Manzoor Pashteen only strengthened his criticism of the state. Perhaps in the most brutal crackdown on an obviously peaceful protest in the capital’s history, the police raided and assaulted the political workers of the Awami Workers Party expressing solidarity with the PTM in the protest space of the Islamabad Press Club.
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Islamabad Police had physically assaulted Ismat Shahjahan, the veteran leader of Awami Workers Party and the Women Democratic Front, and arrested several Awami Workers Party leaders, most prominently Ammar Rashid, a candidate from NA-53 constituency, and others such as Nofel Saleemi. Tooba Syed was spared somehow but at least she was free to tell the story. Waziristan MP and PTM mouthpiece Mohsin Dawar was also manhandled and arrested in the raid and later released. A day ago, he was a part of the press conference explaining the position of the PTM along with Senator Afrasiab Khattak, former MP Bushra Gohar, and Shahjahan.
Manzoor Pashteen himself was arrested under the charges of sedition. Cases against him are a pattern now which the state uses to arrest and abduct the activists of this non-violent movement, most probably for making “anti-national comments.” This time around, the charge of “conspiracy” has been added, which is very consistent with the rhetoric initiated by the former DG ISPR and which will be continued by the military establishment. These charges allude to the fact that Pashteen and his movement are the proxies of Afghanistan, another unfriendly neighbor of Pakistan. The news of the arrest even made it to the New York Times and other global publications, reminding the world that Pakistan does not enjoy the moral authority to lecture India on political repression and violating fundamental constitutional rights.
The shameless face of the fascism of the PTI government and the hybrid Bajwa-Imran regime is the Interior Minister Ijaz Shah. Not only does he f, he lies when he alleges that the peaceful protesters of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement have committed a crime. He should also elaborate on the “crimes” committed by the brave and peaceful political workers of the Awami Workers Party.
Let Pakistan’s fascism be out there for the world to see. But the people who need to see it the most and understand what that means are Pakistani citizens more than anyone else.
Every citizen must be ashamed of a state and a country like Pakistan.
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Filed under: Commentary, Videos | Tagged: Afghanistan, authoritarianism, Awami Workers Party, AWP, Bajwa-Imran regime, civil rights, conspiracy, Constitution, democracy, ethnic community, fascism, fascist, fundamental rights, Islamabad Police, Manzoor Pashteen, Mohsin Dawar, New York Times, Pakistan, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, Pashtuns, PTI government, PTM | Leave a comment »