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Academics, students react strongly to emergency
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Karachi, Nov 2007: Majority of academics and students have condemned the imposition
of emergency terming it martial law for all intents and purposes. They expressed
abhorrence of the idea that, to keep one person afloat, the entire nation was
being thrown into a bottomless pit. |
Dr Tahir Masood, a senior professor
in the Department of Mass Communication (MC), University of Karachi, was
explicit and minced no words when he said that it was pathetic that the Armed
Forces had not learned its lesson from the past. "The suppression, too, has
limits, when it goes beyond that limit, things might take new turn.
The
political leaders and the civilians carved a new country but the armed forces
lost half of the country and they seem to harm the remaining part by their
continuous suppression", he said bluntly.
Dr Moonis Ahmar, Chairman of
the Department of International Relations, KU, declined to give his opinion. "No
comments", he said sheepishly and advised this scribe to talk to another
professor of the Political Science Department.
Prof Inam Bari of Mass
Communication Department declared: "It is a martial law. To say that it is an
emergency is a fallacy and spinning of the rulers. A president can declare
emergency not the chief of army staff (COAS). It is sad that the whole nation
had been put on sword to save one man", he said curtly.
Dr Rafiq Alam
Khan, Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, termed it another nail in the coffin
of civil liberties and mused what was the fate of the hapless nation. "I wonder
about the insensitiveness of the armed forces that have set aside their role to
become dictators and ruthless rulers who were ready to do any thing for the sake
of continuing their rule," he said angrily.
Jibran, a final year student
in the Department of Chemistry, had no hesitation in saying that it was wrong.
"It is not right. I, as a student of the university, think it is preposterous to
take such steps to keep the interest of a military ruler intact. It is
horrible", he fumed.
Bilal, a second year student of Pharmacy Department,
said: "It is bad. It should not happen at all. It is not the solution. Army is
not the solution. Leave the country to the civilians. For God's sake, go back to
the barracks and save the nation from disintegration."
Farah Naz, a
first year student of Applied Chemistry said that it was horribly wrong. "The
Army is always ruling and plundering the country. The prime minister is a dummy.
How can our country progress if the army continues with its ruthless rule?" he
said
While Adeel A Khan, a BBA student of a private institute, said that
he was not sure what the state of emergency really meant, he did feel that its
consequences, as told by our elders, must be disappointing. After all, emergency
in a country is not widely accepted especially in developing countries like
ours. So he felt that it was not a good sign for Pakistan and its citizens.
Kahkashan, a recent college graduate, said that the country had been
going through a very tense situation for the last few months due to the
intensified trouble in the tribal areas and the Supreme Court's work on the
petitions questioning Musharraf's eligibility for holding dual designations and
his election as president.
The most obvious reason of this emergency,
she felt, was the upcoming result of the case challenging Musharraf's election
as the president. The result was expected to be against Musharraf because, out
of 13 judges, eight were not seemingly supporting Musharraf, and, to be on the
safer side, Musharraf declared the emergency just before the
verdict.
Shagufta Abbasi, a Karachi University graduate, said that the
imposition of the emergency all over Pakistan showed that the president was
awaiting the verdict coming from the judiciary and when he got alarmed by the
situation and felt that it might go against him he issued a new PCO.
This is quite disturbing for the people of this country as it was
already going through a law and order situation in Waziristan and Swat.
Secondly, it could be that the rulers also panicked due to the heavy
protocol given to Benazir Bhutto on her home coming after eight years as the
deal between the president and Benazir may have failed which threatened the
present rulers' re-election bids, she added.
Sameena who has just joined
a private school as a teacher said that the worst effects of the state of
emergency could be very well conceived as it had just been implemented and the
power or what we call the freedom of the media had been snatched. How could a
country develop when it had zero power to the information arena that is the
media?. -The News
Your Comments
"Musharraf did the right thing by declaring emergency. The supreme court and its judges were too busy working against the government and its fight against terror but rather more concerned about appeasing the Opposition lead by corrupt leaders. What's more: suicide bombings increased to new levels, whole villages taken hostage by pro-Taliban terrorists, beheadings in public, bombings of CD shops, barbers threatened, girls schools bombed. Emergency was needed for a long time. Enough is enough."
Name: Muhammad Khan
City, Country: karachi, Pakistan
"Running a country is not like running an educational institutions or be in educational institutions. All those students who are opposing this emergency must keep the ground realities in consideration."
Name: Mrs. Munir
City, Country: karachi, Pakistan
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