As thousands of Pakistani journalists and opposition figures are jailed, demonstrating lawyers beaten, and much of the country’s media shuttered, I thought it was a good time to check in with some of Pakistan’s bloggers. The blogging community is fearful that, at any moment, their access to the Internet will be blocked, as it was in 2006, during the Danish cartoon debacle. But for the moment, everyone seems to be still be able to get online.
And there are many brave people shouting out into the darkness, kindred spirits to all of us. Some put up notices for upcoming protests, instructions to fellow protesters to be peaceful, and tips on how to deal with tear gas. Others monitor and comment on the news, while still others talk about the roller-coastering emotions the government’s clamp down has engendered. The posts are detailed, personal, informative and poignant.
Here’s a smattering of what I found:
(SIDE NOTE: If you ever for a moment doubted the international importance of YouTube and Flickr, cruising the Pakistani blogs will quickly set you straight.)
One of the emerging star bloggers is Teeth Maestro, a dentist named Dr. Awab Alvi, living in Karachi. He writes:
Early today morning there were strong rumors throughout the country that the junior squadron of Army leadership had turned onto Musharraf and had him under house arrest, the rumor fizzled out to be smoke and Musharraf went on record to state that this was ‘a joke of the highest degree’ An interesting article by BBC helps us understand the loyalty within the army and it might be difficult to expect something from within, my personal gut feeling is that such a resistance will only happen if Musharraf faces a strong public revolt, which he has managed to control till today…
In an earlier post, Dr. Alvi reports on a demonstration at a Pakistani press club. And, in true devoted blogger fashion, he live blogs from his Blackberry from the protest itself: “…one journalist severely beaten and about 5 arrested,” he posts. Then later he writes:
…We request all those who plan on joining protests and demonstrations happening across Pakistan, to please protest peacefully as this sends across an effective yet powerful message to those in favor of/imposing martial law in Pakistan added to the fact that the police will find it much more difficult to be violent if there is ‘passive resistance’.
Two other popular sites are Metroblogging Karachi and Metroblogging Lahore. For instance at Metroblogging Karachi….
…. a blogger called Monsoor has put up an emotion-edged post titled, Depressing, Yes, Hopeless No, in which he writes “The internet is still on (as the posts and comments on this blog are testament to), mobile and SMS services are still on and our link to the outside world has not been severed….”
Then over at Metroblogging Lahore there’s an amateur video posted showing a recent student demonstration at Lahore University of Management Sciences—or LUMS. A bloggers writes in the accompanying post:
Right now, quite a few members of the LUMS faculty are being detained at the Kot Lakhpat Jail – and the reason for their arrest? Peaceful protests! Are these the ‘terrorists’ that the military dictator mentioned in his lousy speech?
The role of the students and teachers has been pivotal in getting rid of dictators in the past. And at this yet another critical juncture of our history, it is extremely important that the students of various colleges and universities show their resentment at the declaration of emergency by taking out massive peaceful rallies. Yesterday, the students of LUMS took out a protest rally against the illegal actions of the Government. I hope others will hold similar rallies in their universities in order to kick-start nation-wide protests!
Another strong blogger is Siblogger at Democracy and Freedom, who talks about the arrest of Ali Ahmad Kurd, the highly-regarded former Vice Chairman of Pakistan’s Bar Council, the so-called “lion of Pakistan.” In another post Siblogger pleads for Benazir Bhutto’s 25-year old niece, Fatima, an outspoken newspaper columnist and poet, to:
“….please step forward and claim Bhutto’s legacy. Your aunt Benazir Bhutto, I am ashamed to say, is selling the legacy of Bhutto for temporal and transient gains. The glitter of gold, palaces, power and dollar has left her completely blind…”
And here, blogger Adil Najam writes of the “Chronology of a Political Meltdown”
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Our thoughts are with you, friends. Blog on.
My only problem with the outcry against the thug Musharref from the left is that there is not a corresponding outcry against the thug Chavez. Is it because Chavez is anti-us or is it because Musharref is an “ally” in the war against the terrorists or some combination of the two.
I’m equally displeased about the rights outcry against Chavez, but none against Saudi Arabia or Musharref.
GM could it be because Chavez hasn’t turned a third of his country over to extremists that force women into burkhas. That his military doesn’t shield the people who attacked us on 9/11 – you remember the day that changed everything?
We probably don’t have much of a choice. But disengaging now would probably be a good idea. Musharef already has survived two assasination attempts and I would want to insure his life long term. We worry about a fictious bomb in Iran. Meanwhile Pakistan has nukes and the “Johnny Appleseed” of proliferation is given protection by our “friend” in Islamibad. Hugo just sells us oil and sends orhestras our way.
GM, quite a few people do criticize Chavez. I know Marc C. has frequently. He has also repeatedly taken on Castro, and I’ve frequently added my two cents when he does the latter (or at least I did before I began blogging over here).
I’m personally far more knowledgeable on the Middle East than I am Central and South America, so—if push comes to shove—you’re more likely to find me speaking up on a ME issue.
I don’t think Musharraf is the worst in the world by a long shot. Pakistan has certainly seen a lot worse. (My well known Pakistani playwright/producer friend, Shahid Nadeem, has been imprisoned under three separate Pakistani regimes and has had comparative freedom under Musharraf.)
All that said, everything RLC points out is true. And to think that the tragic, unconscionable bungling in Iraq, the dangerous and misguided sabre rattling over Iran, isn’t intricately involved in the mess that we’re seeing right now in Pakistan is….naive. I don’t generally take on international political commentary on this site, which is why I simply chose to promote the Pakistani bloggers, so we could hear their voices. But it’s not for lack of frustration and fury over the issues.
ric, it isn’t Musharaf who has put women into Burkas — he’s fighting the mullahs and extremists who want to do that. Which is what religion has been turned into there, a club for the rightwing religious extremists. With 75% of their public uneducated, and even educated women looked down on as freaks (I love Raza Rumi’s categories of women which comes up under your links — so apt, for India which I know well first-hand, too!), “democracy” there does not mean what it would in the west. Look at the blood bath which ensured when Bhutto returned a couple of weeks ago, “to restore democracy.” Keep in mind that Musharaf is damned if he does (try to maintain order and root out Al Qaeda, incurring the hatred of much of his people for it), or if he doesn’t (from the west). The public looks to the judiciary precisely as an alternative to the government but as Pakistanis attest, the judiciary, including the much-famed Chief Justice opposing him, they support the opposition, including some convicted for terrorist acts. (One person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter, is central to the issue.)
(By the way, in reference to Mubarak, he has a similar dilemma between civil rights and keeping order. When I went to some famous archeological sites south of the tourist areas of Luxor, around the fundamantalist stronghold of Asyut, it was only with a convoy of armed soldiers escorting our car front and rear — four Jeeps, with some twenty armed soldiers, escorting me and three European scholars, driving at a quick pace. When we stopped for coffee, the hatred of the people and the danger in the air was palpable. Just because we were western. Had similar experiences elsewhere. Despite a friendly, educated elite in Cairo, just like the bloggers you reference from Karachi and Lahore.)
I’m not saying what Musharaff is doing is just fine, but that it is not analagous to arresting judiciar, media and students in a country with a history of democracy and an understanding of why it’s desirable as a tool for peace.
We must ensure that those arrested are well-treated and released ASAP, and push Musharaff towards a process for open elections. But this is a process — if it happened next week, he’s right, there would be riots and a bloodbath.
I feel for the articulate students and intellectuals like those blogging away (most of whom acknowledge the things I’ve noted about their country but blame Musharaff’s refusal to work towards change), and they will be a key part of the process towards democracy. This will take a more nuanced approach than the approach the Bush admin. is capable of — I could see Bill Clinton or Obama as an Ambassador there. (Not polarizing Jimmy, though!)
Excuse me Maggie but you better read up on the situation on ground in Pakistan. The “Tribal Areas” along the NW Frontier are contolled by political parties allied with the Taliban and, of course, that is where you will find Osama and his band of Merry Men. In order to keep the peace there, “Secularist” Musharef has permitted the introduction of Sharia law in that region. Mubarak has a lot of problems but ceding control of a third of his country to the Muslim Brotherhood is not one of them.
Ali Khan, the scientist who was the Pied Piper of Nukes and who was active in spreading bomb technology has been “punished” by being given a very permissive form of “House Arrest”. Fact is he is a hero to millions for promoting the “Islamic Bomb” and Pervez does nothing about this as he knows it is his own ISI that backs this. He has survived two assasination attempts and he has to know that they were probably inside jobs.
I doubt very seriously if the Pakistani forces don’t know exactly where where AQ and Osama are hiding out but they are playing a dangerous game. Ever since Zia played the religion card back in the day when we used these nuts to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan the vision of Mohammed Zinnah to see a secular state for the Moslem minority in the Raj has disintigrated.
Frankly, I look for a renewal of tensions with India in the near future. Kashmir makes a great diversion.
ric, I can always be sure that whatever I say, I get something contrary back from you or L A Res or Reg, whether you know wht you’re talking about or not — I’m not getting drawn down by you guys again, into your arguing he’s ceded 1/3 the country, etc. If you’d ever gone to the border regions you’d know that on both sides, Pakistani and Indian, tribal forces have controlled the region for a long time and since Partition, neither country’s military purports to totally control them; even in India tourists to these regions are told by the gov/t that it can’t guarantee their safety and if you want a visa, it’s very, very onerous and comes with all sorts of disclaimers to go at your own risk. I’ve done that too. Glad you’re bored enough to enjoy another war in Kashmir — I was there when that war started, got stranded on a houseboat on Lake Dal, and a military convoy had to escort us out after we walked on foot (with the help of our hospitable host’s sons) because the “bund” meant no drivers, total strikes… Their business has since dried up and they wrote us they are barely making it, after investing their fortune redoing their beautiful boat’s woodwork. Many have lost their lives, Hindu and Muslim. Such leftie fun, enjoy your links and contrarian comments.
Celeste — you’ve been quiet so must be at the PEN awards. What happened w/ Jerry Roberts, what a weird deal at the Santa Barbara paper and that management battle. The FTW Award goes to Jahal Abdull (think I sp. it right) from Mogadishu, Somalia Reuters, I’ve received various updates about him and what he’s gone thru, “awesome” is totally appropriate here.
Maggie now writes …
ric, I can always be sure that whatever I say, I get something contrary back from you or L A Res or Reg, whether you know wht you’re talking about or not.
Maggie previously wrote …..
The armed thug dictator of Chad, Idriss, has arrested French aid workers and even airline attendants who were planning to take some orphans to France for adoption, claiming they were planning to harvest the kids’ organs among other evil crimes.
He’d never have gotten such a bizarre idea into his own evil skull if it weren’t for the way the self-criticism of the western press is played up abroad, especially among the most ignorant parts of the Third World.
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This was Maggie’s last comment which I “questionedâ€Â. I still stand by my comment of calling that comment “fuzzy logicâ€Â. And if anyone thinks I am wrong, well that is fine by me.
And I can’t count the number of times; a certain individual did not comprehend or misrepresents my comments.
Yep, was at the PEN awards, as you can see from the new post.
And, yes, Sahal Abdulle was utterly awesome.