[sacw] Right to Criticize Government, Judges & Military in Pakistan

[Harsh Kapoor]

May 28, 1999
Posted below is an article by the well known Pakistani journalist Beena Sarwar.
Harsh Kapoor
(For South Asia Citizens Web)
====================================
Everyone has the Right to Criticize Government, Judges and Military

Beena Sarwar

LAHORE, Pakistan - May 26, 1999 (Free Press Syndicate): You are free, you
are free to express yourselves, as long as what you say goes in our favor...
this is the message that seems to come across following the government's
recent high-handed approach towards the press.

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek,
receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.

This is the principle of freedom of expression, according to Article 19 of
the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that is, the principle
universally agreed upon. However, the principle has its variations in
different parts of the world, where it is subject to interpretations based
on culture, religion and traditions.

Thus in Pakistan, the citizen's right to freedom of speech and expression,
and freedom of the press, are "subject to any reasonable restriction imposed
by law in the interest of the glory of Islam or the integrity, security or
defence of Pakistan or any part thereof, friendly relations with foreign
states, public order, decency or morality, or in relation to contempt of
court or commission of or incitement to an offence." (Constitution of
Pakistan, Article 19).

But these rights, as enshrined in the Constitution, are blatantly violated
on a regular basis. During Ziaul Haq's martial law, of course, the
Constitution stood suspended so let's not get into the violations of this
Article during those dark days. Unfortunately, successive governments coming
into power one after the other proved that the values inculcated during that
time had been well and truly internalised: the traits of authoritarianism,
despotism and even fascism seem to have been growing since then instead of
receding.

This is well illustrated by the recent spate of pressure against the press,
as in the case of Najam Sethi, Hussain Haqqani, Rehmat Shah Afridi and
countless other journalists who are bullied, browbeaten and threatened for
writing and reporting the way they do. The point is that they may be much at
fault in what they write, but they must be proceeded against in accordance
with law.

Meanwhile, it is interesting to see that while journalists of a certain
dissenting bent of mind are regularly hauled up, great freedom is allowed to
those violating the last part of Article 19 of the Constitution, 'incitement
to an offence'. Take, for example, the inflammatory speeches of
'newspaper-leaders' (leaders only in the pages of newspapers) who regularly
exhort readers to attack or even murder, sometimes by name, various
Pakistani citizens whose views are unpalatable to them -- and conveniently,
to the establishment as well.

An interesting point is raised by the Islamabad-based scholar Dr
Inayatullah, who has been wondering about the fate of Rajmohan Gandhi, the
grandson of the Mahatama. During his visit to Pakistan, Rajmohan impressed
many people with his candid criticism of the Indian government's policies,
particularly regarding Kashmir.

Here in Pakistan, he openly expressed his shame over human rights violations
there, not only at a seminar in Islamabad, but also in a television
interview conducted by Dr Eqbal Ahmed. PTV, needless to say, showed the
interview several times.

"I wondered then whether Rajmohan would have the courage to return to his
country after making these comments. I believe he did. However, I do not
know if he has to face a case for treason for making such comments on 'enemy
territory'," says Dr Inayatullah.

This brings us to the major accusation that has been made against the
detained Friday Times editor Najam Sethi, that he criticised Pakistan on
enemy soil. He had been saying the same things on Pakistani soil, whether
one agreed with them or not, and on various other soils. In fact, he had
said pretty much the same things at a talk at the National Defence College,
Pakistan's premier defence institute, just last year. The talk, far from
drawing the ire of the army personnel attending the talk, had got Sethi "one
of the highest ratings for any guest speaker having visited the NDC",
according to a letter from Air Commodore Ateeb Siddiqui dated Oct. 10, 1998.

It was, wrote the Air Commodore, "indeed both encouraging and comforting" to
realise that Pakistan has intellectuals "who are so candid and forthright in
their discourse. In this realization I personally see some light at the end
of the tunnel, provided some assurance can be provided that you would
continue to pursue your many pursuits and contributions towards the
Pakistani society and politics of the country."

A speech made at the NDC, printed in a Friday Times editorial of Jan. 1
1999, and available the world over on the Internet, is deemed seditious and
treacherous when the same things are said in 'enemy territory' -- a country
with which the Prime Minister himself is engaged in a dialogue to reduce
hostilities and normalize relations -- whose prime minister recently
travelled by bus amidst one of the greatest media hypes one has witnessed...

Something is terribly wrong here. The point should not be whether Sethi or
anyone for that matter is critical of their government's policies in enemy
territory. If someone is seditious, he is as seditious at home as abroad.
Take him to task for that, frame charges and pursue them, lawfully.

Don't have the provincial authorities barge into a journalist's house in the
middle of the night while he's asleep in his own bed, beat him, manhandle
his wife, and drag him off without a warrant, not even allowing him to put
on his shoes and glasses. Don't hold him, or someone like columnist Hussain
Haqqani, without charges, without producing them in a court of law within
twenty-four hours as required by law. And then don't pretend that their
arrest has nothing to do with their writing or their interviews to the BBC.

Those who have a bone to pick with Mr Sethi's or Mr Haqqani's agendas or
their patriotism are certainly free to do so. But don't let's confuse the
issues here. This is still a democracy. Or so we'd like to think.

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