May 12, 2007 will probably go down in the history of Pakistan as the day when people realized how deadly Karachi can become. The city which has seen one of the worst bloodsheds in the early nineties when two major political forces clashed with other was again painted with red today. Interestingly I fail to understand who exactly is called a political worker in Pakistan, the youngster who is not treated equally at his home to someone who probably has committed a serious crime and finds a secure place to hide under the flag of a political party. Whatever it is, he lives with a weapon in the buckle of his belt for self defense or exploiting someone else’s defense.

The Chief Justice as they say is the guardian of the law of the country is running all over country to find justice for himself. I wonder how people who have decades long cases pending in different courts of Pakistan sees this, maybe they are smiling deep inside as now is their chance to finally draw the conclusion that Justice is a failure in our country. The lawyers who play with the laws and dates everyday are now waiting for right dates and the right decision to secure their future at least for sometime. They seek refuge in the banner of opposition parties whose life long dreams of million marches have finally come true. Whatever is the outcome of this reference will be, one thing is for sure, it is not right versus wrong, its not even government versus the opposition (they are one and the same thing except for different faces), its not MQM versus PPP, its actually “The General Versus The Chief.” I won’t be surprised to see Chaudhry Ifthikar’s name in the candidates list for the next president.

In no country you will see ruling parties holding rallies to show their strength and popularity. They are ruling because they have the majority of the support, they are ruling because they have the strength to outnumber the opposition in the assemblies. By calling peace rallies or by coloring the whole city with banners of green and red served no good for MQM and I have to say this that this decision of holding a rally on May 12 will probably go down as one of the worst decision made by Altaf Hussain in his political career. The image which they tried to build in the last 4 years, the idea of using lesser force to meet their demands have all shattered into pieces. The street rats with gutkas in their mouths and with an accomplice on their backseat of Honda 70 are back to show how much frustrated they are.The place of final showdown was unfortunately my hometown Karachi. What people saw was the exhibition of firearms not in expo centre but on the main streets of Karachi. The law enforcement agencies enjoyed a day off and preferred to sit back and enjoyed the show.

The state which is responsible for providing security to its citizens was busy in organizing their Gala Affair at Islamabad where president of the country is to preside a gathering for the ruling party. The only thing that is on his mind is probably his re election. The city where they say people love enjoying and going out remained in their homes hearing the sounds of crackers outside their homes. Eighteen people died today up to now. Who are they, which political party they belong to, the either side is calling them martyrs, were they justified in terrorizing the city, were they justified in their protests.

I think as a society we are unable to choose the medium of expression for ourselves, we don’t know how to put our demands, we don’t know the means to acquire them. I think we all are seeking justice of some kind. We finally want some rules to prevail in our country but are we ready to accept them.

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