Daily Times

Freedom of expression is as central to a democratic society as the Sharif family is to the PML-N. It is the essence of any democratic system and thus enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan. Practically, it seems to be the last thing our governments and leaders care about. This is the only item on the agenda where major political parties find themselves on the same page; the less the people have the opportunity to express their thoughts freely, the better.
However, the problem with the democratic system of government is that it needs certain ingredients to prosper. It is the dialogue among horizontal and vertical layers of society that brings different groups and classes into harmony to achieve common objectives. An effective dialogue cannot occur if the participants do not have a chance to share views without any fear.
For an effective dialogue among various layers of society, freedom of speech and expression is a primary requirement, among others. If we take into account continuous and repetitive attacks on media personalities and opinion makers, it is no secret that speaking the truth and expressing an opinion is becoming more and more difficult. During the PPP government, under the leadership of Mr Zardari, the fundamental human right of expression and speech was badly exposed to Talibanised justice. During the tenure of the last government, standards of cowardice reached new and record heights. Unlike the current government, it was very focused and clear headed. It had a one-point agenda: to complete its tenure for five years. The rest of the country could go to hell. And it did.
Salmaan Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, had a personality quite opposite to most of his fellow politicians. He was bold, outspoken, visionary and brave. He had his own opinion and was never shy about sharing it. Like the majority of educated Pakistanis, his understanding of Zia’s introduced laws, under Islamic labels, was different from those of extremist outfits. However, unlike most of the Pakistani intelligentsia, he said it loud and clear. In addition, he went out of the way to support a Christian lady who was charged with blasphemy but who seemed innocent to him. When his own bodyguard showered bullets on him and took his life, the PPP leadership was completely lost. His killing in January 2011 was followed by the murder of Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for minority affairs. Both these people could have been heroes for the party, which could have steered the course of events in the country in the right direction, but the party leadership threw these high profile sacrifices into the dustbin, completely surrendered before extremists, and became focused on its single point agenda. Thus, at the end of its five-year term, freedom of expression and speech were already in a critical stage and on a ventilator.
In the general elections of 2013, the soul of the PPP took on the body of the PML-N, which emerged as victorious. The first thing the Nawaz-led government did was to renounce all promises made during the election campaign. Then, it shook hands with enemies of any sort of freedom and removed freedom of speech from the ventilator. The patient succumbed to death immediately. The authorities might have recorded the time of death but it was not communicated to the general public, which still believes it to be alive. This corpse now lies in some unknown morgue in Lahore. In the darkness of an unmarked night, the coffin of freedom of speech will be interred deep in the soil. The nation is proud to be blessed with a free and awake media but still no one knows who gave $ 1.5 billion to Pakistan and why. Thus, in all likelihood, the nation will never know when the death of freedom of speech occurred, the time it was buried and where.
The incumbent family dictatorship, which insists on being considered a legitimate democratic government, came into power facing major challenges such as terrorism, religious extremism, power shortages, rising inflation and unemployment, all requiring immediate measures. To curb terrorism and improve the law and order situation in Karachi, the government came up with its ‘best’ policy of action — do nothing at all. Then, it started operations in Karachi. To this day, both the operations and killing of innocents is going on hand in hand. To tackle extremism and the Taliban, it came up with another excellent policy: beg terrorists for talks. Now both sides are playing at negotiations to arrive at already obvious results. If the government does not want to live with such paradoxes, then the question it is facing is quite simple. Can we allow any person or group to use force to impose their so-called Islam on a population of 180 million?
However, like its predecessors, either our political leadership lacks the guts to address ruthless challenges or it is pondering how to benefit from a Talibanised state. Our religious leadership, on the other hand, is doing even worse. The nation is facing a direct threat to its existence of integrity, while our scholars of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) are telling husbands that they do not need to seek permission from the first wife to remarry. In addition, the CII also says that Islam does not put an age limit on the marriage of a girl. And, in the name of Islam, we are being forced to accept such interpretations as they are. Any question or difference of opinion can put us on the wrong side.
If our leadership is in a confused state then the Taliban and their sympathisers, quite clear about their objectives, are constantly moving forward to materialise the differences between the civil and military relationship and to divide the nation further. Those scholars who differ with the Taliban’s interpretations of Islam and whose opinion mattered have either left the country or have been killed. Those who still live in Pakistan are under threat, like writers, media personalities and politicians. At this moment, only those who express the same values and ideas as the Taliban remain safe.
At the start of this year, in January, the famous columnist and playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed was attacked. He received two wounds but survived. Some days ago, unknown persons fired at the car of a famous television anchorman and senior analyst, Raza Rumi. His driver succumbed to his injuries and his bodyguard, although injured, survived the attack. Very ‘active after incident’ Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif asked for the report of the event but it is an open secret that the report will be lost under an unattended pile of waiting reports, and the murderers will never be caught. However, the message for other writers is loud and clear: if they revisit their views they could be the next targets.
To ensure free expression of opinion is the sacred duty of every democratic government. While interring the coffin of dialogue and freedom of speech deep in the ground, our rulers today must not forget that sooner or later the fire will reach their bodies too. The government of the PPP refused to learn this. If they had, today the son of Yusaf Raza Gilani, former PM of Pakistan, would not be under arrest by extremists and Bilawal Bhutto, chairperson of the PPP, would not have had to cancel his visit to Lahore. Benazir Bhutto used to say that democracy is the best revenge. Our current rulers have the chance to learn from others’ mistakes and respect democratic norms. If they refuse, democracy will take its revenge.

The writer is a freelance columnist. He can be contacted at qmparis@gmail.com