Live Updates of Azadi March

[Jolie]

Re: Live Updates of Azadi March

@Sir_Dig_A_Lot

In the 90’s, Benazir and NS took turns prosecuting each other and failed to achieve any result out of it. In the 2000’s, Pervaiz Musharraf took over the system (which I supported at the time), and tried to prosecute them. Either the proofs are not good enough, or the ramifications so grave that he ended up compromising on these prosecutions too and allowed these same politicians to start over. Luckily, since the departure of Musharraf and resumption in the current democratic process we haven’t had any major scandals that match the scale of 80s and 90s organized corruption, and the alleged attempts have been sufficiently chased after by the media and judiciary.

I recognize the frustration you must feel when you see established politicians and their relatives constantly being elected. But please realize that every time someone decided to wrap up the system in the name of estesaab, these attempts failed. However, with a robust media and independent judiciary, it has now become significantly difficult to engage in massive organized corruption. The lower level corruption is not because of the politicians at the top but they do need to control it. I see both Punjab and KPK improving in this regard. We don’t need to cut people’s hands off, we just need to close the loop holes. Digitizing the property transactions (Punjab) and police information system (KPK) will make a huge dent in this.

So I urge you to realize that gradual improvements are finally tangible and will only accelerate from here. If on the other hand your frustration makes you feel that it’s not enough, and a sweeping change is required, then I’ll certainly join you in that cause when I see someone deserving such support and revolutionary path. Imran Khan with Sh Rasheed and Shah Mehmood on either side, and TUK with his destructive agenda are not enough to risk the fragile system that is finally showing signs of movement.

There is a fundamental ideological difference here, or dispute rather. I believe a quick and widespread free and fair investigation sans Nawaz Sharif’s influence will strengthen democracy, and restore people’s trust in the system. True, it may put Nawaz Family in the hot waters, but they are not a synonym for the system in my books! Democracy is bigger than governments. Pick up a history of any democratically elected government in Pakistan and you’ll see that their short lives were contaminated with rigging allegations that ultimately brought them down. Clearly, this proves that rigging is the single biggest threat to Pakistani democracy and it must not taken lightly at any cost. Enough is enough. This reminds me, considering Nawaz Sharif’s government was toppled 1993 because the same very reason, I’m baffled at his perpetual buffoonery to once again to do everything possible to resist acknowledging the curse of rigging and propose an action plan to save the credibility and the ultimate future of his government, and democracy.

If sitting governments stop blocking free and fair anti-rigging investigations, chances are they would never find themselves under such threat. For sake of some balance, it is imperative that people instead of asking opposition to withdraw their riggings demands - ridiculing them, chastising them and outright rejecting their concerns under all kinds of pretexts - must ask the sitting governments to clear their name to save and serve democracy that claim to represent. Where is the harm in that? The rule is simple: if you have done nothing wrong, you should have nothing to hide.

When the sitting governments employs every little dirty trick in the book to avoid free and fair anti-rigging investigation, you cannot expect people to have unbound faith in the system or better, in that government that claims to run that system. People will be bound to question it, challenge it and ask for better version of that same system. If you really want a better system, you must take absolutely zero tolerance to rigging. No matter what, the public must ask and pressure the government to come clean on this. It makes absolutely no sense to tell people that for sake of ‘protecting the system’, they should trivialise and tolerate every crime and abuse committed against that system.

I am going to highlight another basic ideological difference here between you and I. Just because organised corruption was conducted in the 90s, I see absolutely no reason they should not be punished now! That money belongs to Pakistan. It must be brought back, if it is already in the country invested in terms of private industries, it must be re-claimed.

By no means widespread investigation into rigging should be seen as threat against democracy, yes indeed it’s a threat against any government that comes through rigging. We may have a fragile system, but we are handicapped and we must continuously brainwash ourselves into thinking that we prohibited to take any thorough measures to sort our problems that could easily be dealt with. While slow and steady change must be appreciated, but if there are opportunities for you to do more and you can do more, by all means, avail those opportunities.

I don’t support martial law under any circumstances.