Recently I had the courage to see two talk show programs almost together. They threw some light on the pathetic state in which our country is.
The first talk show was 'Live With Talat', in which he povided some analysis and root cause of the support that Taliban are enjoying in our tribal areas. The whole world including our leaders call these people as extremists and the criminal elements of our society. They force purdah, they bomb schools, they execute capital punishments in public! Then why are these people enjoying the support of the locals of the area where they are living? Why don't the locals rat them out?
The profiles of these Taliban Commanders discussed in the program were more or less the same. Uneducated (both in Deeni and Worldly knowledge) and mostly poor. But still they enjoy support in every area in which they go! Why? The program argued that the only thing that these Taliban deliver is speedy and cheap justice to the locals. Which is the truth. I have never heard that these people have built roads, dams, industries etc Infact, I realized, that these are the very things that a progressive nation can do on its own! But for resolution of disputes, a third party is required which is strong, can deliver fair judgements and have the authority to execute these judgements.
Imagine you live in these areas and you fall below the poverty line. You take some loans to start a business. The business starts off well and you start seeing profits and a stable future for yourself and your family. In comes now the local landlord, the politician, the mafia, or just a plain stupid whose only qualificiation is that he is connected with the CM, Governor, DIG, IG or some other powerful personality protected by the state. He slaps you twice on your face and asks you to leave the shop and transfer the ownership to him. The choice offered to you is simple, your life or your shop? Do you have anyother option? People who don't live in Pakistan, will immediately say, 'Where are the courts?'. Well okay for arguments sake you go to the police station to lodge the FIR. The police says no because they want to keep their jobs as well. So now you have no FIR and no case to be presented in the court. Still persistent, you go to the courts to complain about the police. But for that you need a hot shot expensive lawyer. You take more loans to hire him. The lawyer starts the case, and now you are sitting at home jobless trying to not only feed, but also protect your family from the local gooons. You wait desperately for a quick and speedy justice. After a year of endless series of arguments, counter arguments and adjournments you find that even if you do get your shop back, you are now effectively in 20 years of debt!
In comparison, now let us discuss an area where the state has lost its writ. And these so called extremists are in charge. These 'extremists' create a court, appoints a person who has knowledge of Quran and Hadith (in other words Shariah Law). The person is known as a Qazi (or judge), he is given the support of a few Taliban gunmen. Now you, not even bothered about FIRs, or hiring a lawyer etc, run to the Qazi court, wait for your turn and tell the Qazi what wrong has been done to you. The Qazi orders the Taliban gunmen to produce your opponents in his court. He boots out the lawyers and hears both sides of the story from the defendent and accuser directly, studies the documents and questions the witnesses. He doesn't hear arguments or counter arguments and doesn't give any adjournments to corrupt lawyers for 'preparing' a case! He orders severe public punishment for your opponents, which the Taliban gunmen execute immediately. You get your shop back within a day or at most 3-4 days. Not even a dime was spent by you.
My question is simple. Will you support a state which protects the Rich, powerful and criminals and in return indict the poor, weak and innocent? Or will you support a militant organization fighting that very state and promising you justice and equal opportunity? .
Well, you would say, that things can't be that bad. We do have a judicial system don't we? Thats exactly what I thought. But then comes the second talk show, 'Jawab Deyh' presenting Mr. Aitezaz Ahsan a prominent lawyer. Mr. Ahsan went on endlessly explaining his legal point of view in reply to a question, basing his answer on this case and that case and this technicality and that technicality. Seeing his arguments I immediately gathered what it would be like inside a court room. And thanked God that I have never ever seen one. During the show it was also discussed that he gets crores (billions of rupees) in fees for high profile cases, yearly.
Finally, I questioned myself and I put the same question to you. Are these people, which the international media and our state label as 'Taliban', 'Extremists' and 'Religious Fanatics', really just that or are they controlled and powered by people who had been repeatedly denied justice by the very state which should work to protect their interests? Even if these 'Taliban' are criminal, shouldn't a fair court and judicial system based on equality and providing, quick and inexpensive justice, catch and punish these criminals as well? Shouldn't we ask our leaders that instead of wasting millions and millions of tax payer's money on the Presidency, PM House, Governor houses, CM houses, Parliament, protocols etc they should rather invest this money on the poor people of our country, providing them at least speedy and cheap justice? If we are calling Taliban (which by the way are Pakistanis) as criminal and wrongful challengers of our state's writ, shouldn't we first compare the life style of the Taliban commanders with the life styles of the commanders of our state?
