Geo Vs ISI

[Amal]

Re: Geo Vs ISI

@Jolie

Please. Don’t bother getting all defensive.

I quoted a specific statement of yours twice to highlight the the level emotional blackmailing it carried. I did not question nor condemned your ‘right’ to have an opinion. Surely, there’s a difference.

This whole argument that a solider’s life is more equal than a civilian’s life is thoroughly outdated and pejorative. My problem is with this statement alone, and the mentality behind it. No amount of context analysis can make such thinking acceptable to me. Simply because the zealous level of over idolising of army has taken Pakistan absolutely no where. It’s that kind of thinking and attitude which has always undermined the need to build strong and independent civil institutions. It really is about time we stop this overly judgmental, black and white soldier-civilian comparisons. It’d be a good exercise to start using the word equal and equality for all citizens of Pakistan, regardless of who they are and what they do.

In regards to rest of your post which I didn’t quote, if there’s anyone who’s creating a new holy cow, then it’s none other Pakistan Army/ ISI who’s acting like insecure and desperate Soviet police by calling for a ban on an entire channel. Acting above the law by already closing down the channel in various parts of Pakistan without any orders from court is not helping their case, at all.

You are misleading the whole argument and over-focusing on a portion of my views that was there to augment the argument, not that it was the crux of the matter itself. What do you think of a soldier on borders is none of my concern. And it does not bother me at all how overwhelmed you were by the “emotional blackmailing” my views contained. In my view, the job of a soldier is more dignified than a reporter. Period! Now I really don’t see how the “emotional blackmailing” in this statement will result in global warming. I maybe wrong. Fine. You can put forward counter-arguments, but you cannot be a judge on my views.

Everyone is important in his own sphere, including servicemen. Civil society and media are part of the package we call Pakistan, not the whole of it. Unlike you, I will not want to cut one to size so that the other one appears larger. That’s your opinion which I respect, but do not accept. That’s precisely how you create a new genie after bottling up the existing one.

Army did try to overstep its domain in the past which was not acceptable. And it shall never be acceptable for all the times to come. But haven’t we seen civilian and judicial dictatorship in this country? Must Army be overrun to strengthen civil institutions? Must we weaken one institution in order to fortify another?

I refuse to be swept away by the liberalistic fashion of disparaging the military in order to appear wide and tall and I hope it will not weigh on anyone who thinks otherwise.