Saturday, January 9, 2021

Editorial: Resign, Senator Cruz. Your lies cost lives - Houston Chronicle calls on Cruz to resign

BY CELINE CASTRONUOVO

The Houston Chronicle's editorial board is calling for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to resign after he helped lead the effort to challenge the 2020 election results in Congress.

The Chronicle, which has been a vocal critic of Cruz over the years, wrote in an opinion piece Friday that the senator’s actions helped fuel Wednesday’s deadly pro-Trump mob at the Capitol.

The Texas senator "knew exactly what he was doing, what he was risking and who he was inciting as he stood on the Senate floor Wednesday and passionately fed the farce of election fraud even as a seething crowd of believers was being whipped up by President Trump a short distance away," the editorial board wrote.

The editorial board blasted what it called "Cruz's cynical gamble," saying he "peddled his phony concern for the integrity of our elections, he argued that senators who voted to certify Biden’s victory would be telling tens of millions of Americans to ‘jump in a lake’ and that their concerns don’t matter."

The editorial board then addressed Cruz directly, arguing that “those terrorists wouldn’t have been at the Capitol if you hadn’t staged this absurd challenge to the 2020 results in the first place.”

Cruz has defended his move to object to certification of the Electoral College count, saying in an interview Friday that he wanted to investigate allegations of fraud in order to "reestablish widespread trust in the system."

“What happened at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism,” Cruz said in the interview with Hearst Newspapers. “The violent criminals who attacked the Capitol should be fully prosecuted and they should go to jail for a very, very long time.”

The senator also said that President Trump's rhetoric "certainly contributed to the violence that occurred" when the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol complex, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Rioters swarmed the Capitol as Congress met to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Several GOP lawmakers ahead of the vote had signaled their support to challenge the validity of certain Biden electors, and Trump ahead of the riots repeated his unsubstantiated claims of a “stolen” election as he urged his supporters at a rally to march toward the Capitol.

Cruz and fellow GOP Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) have drawn criticism from fellow lawmakers for seeking to challenge the vote certification, with several Democrats calling on them to resign. Hawley and Cruz proceeded with voting in favor of objecting to slates of Electoral College votes Wednesday, even as some fellow Republicans backed down from the effort following the riot. 

This week, The Kansas City Star’s editorial board also slammed Hawley, arguing that the senator’s “actions in the last week had such impact that he deserves an impressive share of the blame for the blood that’s been shed.”

Five people died amid Wednesday’s chaos, including a woman who was shot by a Capitol Police officer and an officer who died after suffering injuries while responding to the rioting. Both fatalities are under investigation.

Multiple Democratic senators have called on Cruz and Hawley to step down, including Sens. Ron Wyden (Ore.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Chris Coons (Del.).

“We’re done with the drama. Done with the opportunism. Done with the cynical scheming that has now cost American lives,” the Houston Chronicle editorial continued, adding, “Resign, Mr. Cruz, and deliver Texas from the shame of calling you our senator.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/533478-houston-chronicle-calls-on-cruz-to-resign#.X_naKCISN4o.twitter

The Case for Removing Donald Trump

By Jeannie Suk Gersen
One day after a mob incited by Donald Trump stormed and ransacked the Capitol, disrupting Congress’s certification of election results, Chuck Schumer, the soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader, and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, said the President should be removed from office. Both proposed the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution, with Schumer describing it as the most effective legal means of removal. Under Section 4 of the amendment, which has been a subject of discussion throughout Trump’s Presidency, if a majority of the Cabinet were to join with Vice-President Mike Pence to declare to Congress that Trump is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” Pence would “immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.” As Schumer said, “it can be done today.” The Cabinet was said to be considering it, but Pence reportedly opposes it. On Friday, Pelosi announced that the House would begin impeachment proceedings if Trump does not immediately resign. On Monday, at least a hundred and seventy House Democrats plan to introduce an article of impeachment charging Trump with “willfully inciting violence against the government of the United States.”
There is little doubt that Trump did incite a mob to attack the Capitol in order to interfere with Congress’s performance of its constitutional duty in our democracy. On Wednesday, he gathered a crowd of thousands of supporters, fomented anger at an election that he falsely said had been stolen, and urged them to “walk down to the Capitol” and “fight much harder.” He goaded, “You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.” The Times reported that Trump was initially pleased as his supporters stormed into the Capitol and that he resisted requests to call in the National Guard to help stop them. Just after 4 p.m., when the rioters had been terrorizing the Capitol for nearly two hours, Trump posted a video in which he urged them to go home, but told them, “We love you. You’re very special.” Pipe bombs were found at both parties’ headquarters, and a cooler of Molotov cocktails was recovered from the Capitol grounds, underscoring the fact that the violence could easily have been far worse.
There will be time to assess Trump’s criminal liability for his leadership of the insurrection; right now the urgent issue is the danger of having him remain President until January 20th. For weeks, Trump considered imposing martial law in order to use military force toward overturning the election. Senior military officials were so concerned about the possibility that all the living former Defense Secretaries made a joint statement denouncing it. Trump remains Commander-in-Chief, even as we face the risk of further riots incited by him; the government would need to mount an effective, disciplined, strategic response, which he can’t possibly be entrusted to lead. He still has access to nuclear codes; simply hoping that military or other personnel would disobey his commands highlights how insecure and untenable the situation is. He may yet issue destructive and self-serving executive orders—if we have to wish for officials to ignore or thwart them, that, too, promotes an air of lawlessness in our governance. He may attempt to pardon himself for crimes, and now has even clearer incentive to do so.
In the coming days, we can expect Trump’s rage and instability to intensify, as former allies blame him for the violence, members of his Administration leave their posts, and House Democrats once again prepare for impeachment, this time expecting some Republican support. His own Justice Department has suggested that it will not rule out charging him under federal laws against inciting riot. Trump has already attempted to remain in power without regard to law or reality, and has consistently shown vengefulness toward those who thwart him. Even after Wednesday’s calamity, he is said to have remarked that he was happy that the two Republican Senate candidates in the Georgia runoff elections had lost their races, because they didn’t adequately defend him. In his statement on Thursday, forecasting “an orderly transition on January 20th,” he also vowed that “it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!” It’s no longer reasonable to believe that his stated intent to fight on is mere rhetoric. As Pelosi said, “any day can be a horror show.”
By Thursday, the Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao, and the Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, had resigned from Trump’s Cabinet. But this is not the time for Cabinet secretaries to be resigning in horror. It is, instead, time for them to take seriously their responsibility under the Constitution to determine whether Trump is able to govern until the new President is sworn in. If Pence and a majority of the Cabinet were indeed to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment, and declare that Trump is unable to serve, Pence would automatically become the acting President. Trump presumably would then insist that “no inability exists,” as the Constitution allows the President to do, but Pence and the Cabinet majority could immediately override that claim with a second declaration, all while Pence would continue in the Presidential role. To complete the removal, the amendment then requires a two-thirds vote by Congress that the President is unable to serve—and the vote must be taken within twenty-one days of the Cabinet’s second declaration. But, in our current situation, Congress need not act at all, because in less than two weeks Joe Biden will become President. The antidemocratic implications of removing a duly elected President should make us extremely wary of invoking the Twenty-fifth Amendment. But the violence that Trump has caused, and his resistance to a peaceful and democratic transfer of power, justify its implementation.
At this point, it appears most likely that the Cabinet will not act, and that Congress will, for the second time, impeach Trump. A benefit of removal via impeachment is that the Senate could, as part of its remedy for conviction, prohibit Trump from running for federal office again. The process would take longer than the Twenty-fifth Amendment route. Congress could vote to adopt much simpler procedures than the ones used in 2019. However, the fact that a hundred and thirty-nine congressmen and eight senators went through with objecting to valid Electoral College votes for Biden, even after a violent siege on their workplace and on democracy, suggests that Trump loyalists are likely to resist haste in removing him. The Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has indicated that, according to Senate rules, an impeachment trial would likely not begin until the day of Biden’s Inauguration. Still, achieving a House majority for impeachment would not be difficult, and even the two-thirds vote needed for conviction in the Senate is not out of the question.
This kaleidoscope of legal possibilities brings into focus the key example of Richard Nixon, who resigned the Presidency on the eve of his impeachment, after a delegation of his own party’s lawmakers informed him that the Senate would remove him from office if he did not resign. Nixon soon received a pardon for federal crimes that he might have committed in office, from President Gerald Ford. Ford denied that there had been any deal to exchange the resignation for the pardon, but it strains credulity to think there was no understanding at all. If McConnell were to put it to Trump that he could be removed by the Senate, but that if he resigned, then Pence, as President, could consider a pardon, it’s conceivable that Trump would take that deal. He might even brag about it. It might strike McConnell and Pence, too, as an advantageous pact. If Trump resigns voluntarily, his supporters and cultists are less likely to falsely believe that their beloved leader was removed by a Republican coup, which Pence and McConnell may well be concerned about. And given the precedent of the Nixon pardon having been left unchallenged, the Biden Administration is unlikely to want to challenge the validity of Pence’s pardon of Trump by attempting to bring a federal prosecution. However the legal drama ends, the worst option for the country is allowing Trump to remain in office until Inauguration Day.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-case-for-removing-donald-trump?utm_social-type=owned&mbid=social_twitter&utm_brand=tny&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter

Pence has not ruled out 25th Amendment, source says

By Jim Acosta, CNN
Vice President Mike Pence has not ruled out an effort to invoke the 25th Amendment and wants to preserve the option in case President Donald Trump becomes more unstable, a source close to the vice president says.
The source said there is some concern inside Pence's team that there are risks to invoking the 25th Amendment or even to an impeachment process, as Trump could take some sort of rash action putting the nation at risk.
For now, the source said Pence and his advisers hope to provide a bridge to the next administration and do as much as possible to assist President-elect Joe Biden's team in preparing for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.
But, the source cautioned, it has become clear this week that it is necessary to keep the 25th Amendment option on the table based on Trump's actions. https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/09/politics/mike-pence-25th-amendment/index.html

Video Interview - #GOP #CapitolRiot #RickWilson : 'There is no moderate Republican Party' - Republicans 'in part responsible' for riot

Republicans need to purge Trumpism from the party, says Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project. But he doubts that they are "mentally or politically" capable to do so. He fears there may be further violence before Biden’s inauguration.

#HazaraShiasWantJustice #Pakistan - PPP demands an apology from Imran Khan - Hazara martyrs blackmailers???

 


Secretary General Pakistan Peoples Party, Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari has demanded an apology from Imran Khan for calling the bereaved families of Hazara martyrs blackmailers. In a statement Nayyar Hussain Bukhari said that calling people in grief blackmailers represents the low mentality of Imran Khan. This statement of Imran Khan is height of insensitivity. 

He has shamed the entire Pakistani nation with his despicable personality. Imran Khan should ask for an apology from the Hazara community and the nation, Bukhari demanded. In a separate statement information secretary PPP, Faisal Karim Kundi has said that the egoistic Imran Khan should be ashamed of his words and he demands of Imran Khan to immediately take his words back. He said that treating a grieving community with such disdain represents a sick mind. It seems that the selected Prime Minister Imran Khan has embarrassed his selectors as well. 

The selectors must be reviewing their choice, he said. Kundi said that the Hazara community should not pin hopes with such a hopeless puppet prime minister. The entire nation is grieving and mourning the Machh tragedy but the egoistic person who suffers from illusory perception of himself is calling the mournful community blackmailers. Nothing could be more disgraceful than this narrative, Kundi said.

https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/24281/

Covid-19 cases near half a million in country; 10,598 die so far

 Around 2,007 new coronavirus cases were reported in the country during the last 24 hours, lifting the national tally of cases to 499,517, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday.

According to the NCOC, the coronavirus pandemic claimed 40 more lives, taking the death toll to 10,598. Around 1,617 patients recovered from the virus on Friday and the total count of active cases is 33,474.

Out of a total of 2,779 people admitted to 631 hospitals across the country, 2,266 patients were stated to be in critical condition, while 305 patients are on ventilators.

A total of 40,898 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours, while 7,043,604 samples have been tested thus far. Overall, 455,445 people have recovered from the deadly disease.

At least 1,505 new Covid-19 cases emerged in Sindh overnight, lifting the tally to 225,509. According to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, 14 more patients died due to the deadly disease as the death toll surged to 3,693. He also said that 758 patients recovered during the last 24 hours, taking the total to 203,328.

Punjab reported at least 600 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 144,111. According to health officials, 21 more patients succumbed to the deadly virus as the death toll jumped to 4,242. They further said that 129,852 patients have recovered from the disease in the province so far.

The NCOC reported that out of the total deaths, 3,679 deaths have occurred in Sindh, 4,242 in Punjab, 1,718 in KP, 436 in Islamabad, 187 in Balochistan, 235 in AJK and 101 in GB. The committee stated that of the 40 fatalities reported on January 8, 9 were reported in Sindh, 21 in Punjab, eight in KP, one in Balochistan and one in AJK.

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/01/09/covid-19-cases-near-half-a-million-in-country-10598-die-so-far/

#Pakistan: Power outage plunges country into darkness

 


Millions have been left without light or electricity across Pakistan after the national power grid was disrupted by a fault in the transmission system.

Pakistan's national power grid experienced a major breakdown on Saturday, leaving millions of people in darkness, government officials said.

"A countrywide blackout has been caused by a sudden plunge in the frequency in the power transmission system," Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan said on Twitter.

Residents from cities across the country, including Karachi and Lahore, reported massive power outages on social media.

One social media user tweeted a picture of the blackout from the city of Karachi.

Another user shared a video showing a noisy road lit only sporadically by car headlights.

'Power transmission failure'

Pakistan's Energy Ministry urged people to remain calm while the authorities dealt with the problem. The ministry said that the outage had been caused by a fault in the power transmission system.

"Electricity blackout in the country due to sudden drop in the frequency of power transmission system from 50 to 0 in less than a second," it said.

Initial reports stated that the fault arose in the Guddu power plant and then caused other power plants to shut down.

Follow-up tweets said the ministry was working to solve the problem "quickly" and gave updates as different facilities were fired up again.

"Systematic restoration of power will be initiated soon," they explained. "Once the initial frequency is met, the restoration work speeds up."

The blackout is one of the worst that the country has experienced. In 2015, around 80% of the country was left without power after a key transmission line broke down.

https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-power-outage-plunges-country-into-darkness/a-56183216

Court in Pakistan Bans ‘Virginity Tests’ in Sexual Violence Cases

By Emily Schmall and Zia ur-Rehman 
Jan. 6, 2021
The Lahore High Court said the practice was humiliating and casts suspicion on victims rather than the accused.
A court in the northern city of Lahore in Pakistan has abolished so-called virginity tests, which women are subjected to in sexual assault cases, setting a precedent for the practice to be potentially outlawed nationwide. The practice — banned in neighboring Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh — continues to take place in Pakistan and more than a dozen other countries where it is seen as a measure of virtue and of whether a woman is trustworthy.
If two fingers can be easily inserted into the vagina, supporters of the practice say, it shows that a woman is not a virgin, and thus lacks moral authority to make an assault or rape accusation.
The petitioners — a group of women that includes a sociologist, a journalist, an activist, a lawyer and a psychologist, as well as a member of the lower house of Parliament — argued that examining whether the hymen was intact had no scientific or legal bearing in sexual violence cases, and violated constitutional rights to privacy and dignity.
The Lahore High Court, in the province of Punjab, agreed on Monday.
“It is a humiliating practice, which is used to cast suspicion on the victim, as opposed to focusing on the accused,” Justice Ayesha A. Malik wrote.
The ruling was immediately hailed across Pakistan, with no high-profile public critiques, suggesting it has widespread support.
Women’s rights activists called it a necessary step toward improving the investigative and judicial process for victims of sexual violence in a country where rape convictions are rare.
“We hope that the judgment will be implemented by all government authorities across the country to ensure that such unlawful practices are immediately prohibited,” said Farieha Aziz, a Karachi-based rights activist and one of the petitioners.
Shireen Mazari, the human rights minister in the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, wrote in a tweet on Monday that the ruling was a “landmark judgment” against a “demeaning and absurd” practice.
Editorials in English-language Pakistani newspapers also praised the ruling. “A raped woman needs justice, and that certainly doesn’t require her sexuality to be placed in the dock,” one editorial in The News said Wednesday.
Sameer Khosa, a lawyer representing the petitioners, said the court’s judgment could pave the way for a ban on such testing elsewhere in Pakistan.
“It will also end character assassination and humiliation of victims of rape and sexual assault in court proceedings,” Mr. Khosa said.
The Sindh Province’s court in Karachi, which is hearing a similar petition, asked the authorities in December to present guidelines on forensic examinations in sexual assault cases consistent with internationally recognized practices.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has rejected claims in recent years that a woman’s accusation of rape can be dismissed on the basis of a “virginity test.”
In its judgment, the Lahore court cited a 2010 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled that even if a woman did not pass the test, “no blanket authority can be given to rape her by anyone who wishes to do so.” In its ruling, the Lahore court also considered Pakistan’s international obligations. It pointed out that the country is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Experts charged with implementing that treaty have said there is no scientific or medical basis for “virginity testing” in sexual violence cases.
The World Health Organization and United Nations said in a 2018 report urging countries to ban the practice that it “reinforces sociocultural norms that perpetuate women’s inequality, including stereotyped views of female morality and sexuality, and serves to exercise control over women and girls.”Still, the W.H.O. says the practice persists in at least 20 other countries, where it is used not just in criminal sexual violence cases, but also before a marriage or even, in Indonesia, to assess employment eligibility.Legislation in New York State was proposed in 2019 to ban the practice after the rapper T.I. revealed that he took his daughter to a gynecologist every year to ensure that her hymen was still intact.
In Pakistan, President Arif Alvi issued an ordinance outlawing the so-called two-finger test nationwide in response to protests over a grisly rape on a highway near Lahore in September. The ordinance, however, will lapse after 120 days unless it is voted into law by Parliament, which is unlikely to happen.
The presidential ordinance also says men convicted of rape can be sentenced to chemical castration.
In a religiously conservative country where trust in police and the judicial system is low, a “virginity test” provides a further obstacle for rape victims and their families, activists say. They have demanded that investigators rely more heavily on standard DNA kits to determine the validity of rape accusations.
Dr. Qarar Abbasi, a senior police surgeon in Karachi and a member of a Sindh Province reform committee, said the tests were taught in medical school textbooks and used as a point of reference for legal practitioners.
He said the committee was updating the medical curriculum and hoping to hire more women doctors who specialize in forensic medicine in government hospitals, where the police bring evidence, as well as offer them “training to familiarize themselves with modern medico-legal practices in the cases related to violence against women.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/06/world/asia/pakistan-virginity-tests.html?searchResultPosition=1

Why Hazaras in #Pakistan have been victims of sectarianism & ethnic conflict

 


The Hazara tribe of Pakistan, meanwhile, has been protesting against the massacre of 11 coal miners in Machh, Balochistan last week, for which the Islamic State has claimed responsibility.

In episode 657 of ‘Cut The Clutter’, ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta focuses on the hardest-hit and most oppressed victims of terror activities in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how sectarianism and ethnicity have become their mortal enemies.

Pakistan’s sectarian issue

In Pakistan, the Hazara tribe lives mostly in Balochistan while a larger population lives in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Many Hazaras have refused to bury the bodies of victims killed in Machh till Prime Minister Imran Khan visits them and guarantees punishment for the guilty. Khan had asked them to bury the bodies first. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal had visited Machh but the people refused to bury the bodies.

In 1985, during the time of General Zia-ul-Haq, a new Sunni right-wing Deobandi supremacist organisation was set up — Anjuman Sipah-e-Sahaba ( soldiers of the Prophet), which later changed its name to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) to get a better acronym for itself. In due course of time, the organisation was banned as it had begun attacking people — mostly those Muslims who they considered apostates, the Shias and Ahmadiyyas. And Hazaras are predominantly Shia Muslims.

The organisation later had an offshoot — the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, led by Riaz Basra, that carried out many assassinations in Pakistan and attacked Iranian cadets who were studying at the Pakistan Air Force academy. Basra was later killed in an encounter. In 2007, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was held responsible for the assasination of Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

In 2009, it was also held responsible for the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team. “They are now widely suspected to have carried out this latest massacre (of 11 coal miners in Machh),” Gupta said.

SSP was reborn as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) and started associating with the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan too. In 2011, the outfit sent an open letter to the Hazaras in Balochistan, saying all Shias are not Muslims and therefore worthy of being killed. “After this there were many rounds of massacres,” Gupta said.

Data from the Pakistan Human Rights Commission and other reports have suggested that almost 3,000 Hazaras have been killed in bombings, car bombings and suicide attacks so far. Nearly 50 Hazara doctors in Karachi have been assassinated, and hundreds of them forced to leave Pakistan. In 2013, nearly 700 Shias were killed.

In a suicide and car bombing attack in January 2013, 91 people died. A February bombing the same year killed 110 Hazaras. In March, two bombs went off at a Shia mosque in Karachi, killing more than 50. In June again, there was another attack in a town with a predominantly Hazara population. In February 2014, in Quetta, there was another bomb blast that killed 84 people.

In October 2017, 20 people were killed at a Hazara shrine. “This is a big contradiction in Pakistan because the establishment, government and the military doesn’t make a distinction between Shias and Sunnis,” Gupta said.

Who are the Hazaras

Hazaras are a very distinctive ethnic tribe, with Mongoloid features. “They look different and this doesn’t help them as they already have a different sect which is under attack from Sunni supremacists in Pakistan. They got into trouble on two accounts — sectarian and ethnic prejudices,” Gupta said.

The word ‘Hazara’ or ‘Hazarajat’ (a large area in the central highlands of Afghanistan where most of them live) is not very ancient. The first mention of the word ‘Hazarajat’ was in the Babarnama.

Ibn Battuta, a Morrocan traveller, who had travelled to the region in the early 14th century doesn’t mention Hazaras or Hazarajat. “So the presumption is, it evolved from the Mongolian armies, or Ghengiz Khan’s concept of a thousand strong formation of their armies, known as a battalion now,” Gupta added.

In Afghanistan, their population is between 40-50 lakh. A million of them live in Pakistan, including as refugees from Afghanistan.

“Hazaras are similar to the Kurds and Armenians, both in terms of their geographical location, their issues and the cruelties they have suffered in the last 100 years,” Gupta said.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the Hazaras of Afghanistan had suffered massive massacres, after which a lot of them migrated to Pakistan, mostly areas in Balochistan and Iran.

In 1933, Abdul Khaliq Hazara assassinated King Nadir Khan in Afghanistan that led to another massacre of the tribe. “Since 1993 again, the reprisals and attacks against the Hazaras started because Sunni groups dominated both Taliban and Al Qaeda,” Gupta said.

The last major killing of the Hazaras was in Bamyan, Afghanistan, in which 20-25 Hazaras had died.

https://theprint.in/opinion/why-hazaras-in-pakistan-have-been-been-victims-of-sectarianism-ethnic-conflict/582519/

ریاست کہاں ہے؟

تحریر: خورشید ندیم

جنوری 2013ء کی ایک سرد رات، جب ہزارہ قبیلے کی 86 لاشیں بے گوروکفن پڑیں تھیں تو عمران خان صاحب نے یہ سوال اٹھایا تھا۔ حکومتیں بدل گئیں اور سوال باقی ہے۔ آج بھی یہ مظلوم گیارہ لاشوں کے ساتھ اسی طرح، جنوری کی یخ بستہ راتوں میں بیٹھے ہیں، اس فرق کے ساتھ کہ خان صاحب وزیر اعظم ہیں۔ آج وزیراعظم مقتولین کے وارثوں کو بلیک میلر کہہ رہے ہیں۔ ہزارہ والوں کویقیناً جواب مل گیا ہوگا کہ ”ریاست کہاں ہے‘‘؟

ریاست کا جواز ہی یہ ہے کہ وہ اپنے شہریوں کے جان و مال کا تحفظ کرتی ہے۔ اسی ضرورت نے ریاست کو جنم دیا۔ انسان نے اپنی مرضی سے قانون کی حکمرانی کا قلابہ اپنے گردن میں ڈالا کہ اس کا حقِ زندگی محفوظ رہے۔ ریاست اگر یہ ذمہ داری پوری نہیں کرتی تو شہری کیلئے اس کا وجود گہنا جاتا ہے۔ اس کے بعد ریاست کا حقِ اطاعت بھی ماند پڑ جاتا ہے۔

ریاست کی اطاعت غیر مشروط نہیں ہوتی۔ یہ ایک معاہدے کی بنیاد پر وجود میں آتی ہے۔ معاہدے کی پابندی سب فریقوں پر لازم ہوتی ہے۔ ایک فریق اگر اسے توڑ دے تو یہ دوسروں کی صوابدید ہے کہ وہ معاہدے کوقائم رکھے یا توڑدے۔ عوام ریاست کے مقابلے میں کمزور ہوتے ہیں۔ وہ فریقِ ثانی سے معاہدے کی پابندی نہیں کرا سکتے۔ یوں انسان ریاست کے جبر کے خلاف بے بس ہو جاتا ہے یا اس کی لاتعلقی کو بادلِ نخواستہ قبول کرتا ہے۔

تاریخ یہ ہے کہ یہ صورتحال تادیرگوارا نہیں ہوتی۔ ریاست اگر لاتعلقی کو عادت بنالے تو پھر لوگوں میں اضطراب جنم لیتاہے۔ جمہوریت میں عوام حکومتوں کی تبدیلی سے اپنے غصے کا اظہارکر لیتے ہیں لیکن اگر حکومتوں کے رویوں میں یہ تسلسل برقرار رہے تو پھر ریاست ہدف بن جاتی ہے۔ پھر لوگ حکومتوں کی تبدیلی کو کافی نہیں سمجھتے۔ پھروہ براہ راست ریاست کو مخاطب بناتے ہیں۔ ریاست کو مخاطب بنانے کا مطلب ریاستی اداروں کو ہدف بنانا ہے۔

وزیراعظم کا منصب حکومت کی علامت ہے۔ ہزارہ والوں نے عمران خان صاحب کے ساتھ بوجوہ رعایت برتی ہے۔ اس سے پہلے ان کے مطالبے ریاست سے ہوتے تھے۔ اس بار حکومت سے ہیں۔ عمران خان نے لیکن اس موقع کو گنوا دیا۔ انہوں نے ہزارہ قبیلے کو یہی پیغام دیا کہ وہ حکومت سے کوئی تو قع نہ رکھیں۔ حکومت انہیں بلیک میلر سمجھتی ہے۔

خان صاحب ایک غیر اہم مطالبے کو تسلیم کرنے پر کیوں آمادہ نہ ہوئے؟ میں اس سوال کا کوئی جواب تلاش نہیں کر سکا۔ ایک مخصوص مقام پر سکیورٹی کی فراہمی کوئی ایسا مسئلہ نہیں جو ریاست کے لیے لاینحل ہو۔ پھر یہ ریاست کی حاکمیت اور ساکھ کا بھی سوال ہے۔ کیا ریاست اپنی سرحدوں میں اپنے ہی وزیراعظم کو سکیورٹی فراہم نہیں کرسکتی؟ یہ بات میرے لیے تو قابلِ قبول نہیں ہے۔

پھر کیا اس کی وجہ روحانی ہے؟ کیا وزیراعظم کوکسی روحانی شخصیت نے منع کیا ہے کہ لاشوں کے قریب جانا ان کے لیے اچھا شگون نہیں ہے؟ کیا اس بات کو مان لیا جائے کہ ملک کا وزیراعظم توہمات پرست ہے؟ یہ ماننا بھی مشکل ہے کہ خان صاحب آخر آکسفورڈ کے ڈگری یافتہ ہیں۔ اس لیے یہ امکان بھی دل کو نہیں لگتا۔

تو کیا یہ انا کا ناقابلِ عبوردریا ہے، خان صاحب کو جس کاسامنا ہے؟ سوال یہ ہے کہ کوئٹہ جانے سے ان کی انا کو کیسے ٹھیس پہنچے گی؟ کسی مظلوم کے سر پر ہاتھ رکھنے سے انا کیسے مجروح ہوتی ہے؟ کیا اس لیے نہیں جا رہے کہ مریم نواز اور بلاول بھٹو نے یہی مطالبہ کیا ہے؟ کیا ملک کا وزیراعظم اس طرح ردِ عمل میں سوچتا ہے؟ وزیراعظم کا منصب تو اس سے بلند ہے۔ اس لیے انا کا مسئلہ بھی میری سمجھ میں نہیں آیا۔

اورپھر یہ بلیک ملینگ کیسے ہوگئی؟ اگر کوئی گروہ یہ کہتا ہے کہ وزیراعظم ہمارے دکھ میں شریک ہو تو کون سے قاعدے اور دستور سے یہ بلیک میلنگ ہے؟ ایسے اجتماعات میں جانا، عوام کو یہ احساس دلانا ہے کہ ریاست ظالموں کے نہیں، مظلوموں کے ساتھ کھڑی ہے۔ ان کے جانے سے مرنے والے دوبارہ جی نہیں اٹھیں گے لیکن یہ ایک گروہ کو احساسِ تحفظ دینا ہے۔ یہ مطالبہ تو وزیراعظم کی عزت افزائی ہے۔ اسے بلیک میلنگ کیسے کہا جا سکتا ہے؟

واقعہ یہ ہے کہ خان صاحب کے اس موقف کے حق میں کوئی سیاسی، اخلاقی یا منطقی دلیل موجود نہیں ہے۔ انہوں نے اپنی سیاست کو نقصان پہنچایا ہے۔ اپنی اخلاقی حیثیت کے سامنے کھڑے سوالیہ نشانات میںاضافہ کیا ہے۔ کوئی ذی عقل اس کا دفاع نہیں کر سکتا۔ شبلی فراز صاحب یا شہبازگل صاحب کا معاملہ البتہ دوسرا ہے۔

ہزارہ والوں کا قتل میرے لیے وہ عقدہ ہے جو کبھی حل نہیں ہو سکا۔ بے شمار شواہد ہیں کہ انہیں بحیثیت گروہ نشانہ بنایاجاتا ہے۔ سوال یہ ہے کہ ایک مختصر سے گروہ کوکیوں تحفظ فراہم نہیں کیا جاسکا جبکہ یہ معلوم ہے وہ بار بار ہدف بنتاہے؟ بلوچستان کے عمومی حالات سے ان واقعات کا کیا تعلق ہے؟ وہاں اس وقت کون برسرِ اقتدار ہے؟ کون کس کو جواب دہ ہے؟

ان سوالات کے جواب ہمارے پاس موجود نہیں۔ یہ کبھی واضح نہیں ہو سکا کہ بلوچستان میں لوگ کس سے فریادکریں اور کون ہے جو ان کو تحفظ فراہم کر سکتا ہے؟ کوئی ریاست اپنے ایک حصے کو مسلسل ایک غیرواضح نظام کے حوالے نہیں کر سکتی ہے۔ بلوچستان دیگر صوبوں کی طرح کیوں نہیں ہے، جہاں ایک سیاسی نظام موجود ہے اور کمزور ہونے کے باوجود، لوگ اس کا دروازہ کھٹکھٹاتے ہیں۔

قبائلی علاقہ جات کے بارے میں کم از کم قانونی طور پر تو واضح ہو گیا کہ ان کا حکمران کون ہے۔ وہ ایک صوبے کا حصہ ہیں اور شہریوں کو معلوم ہے کہ صوبے کا انتظام کیسے چلتا ہے۔ امید ہے کہ حقیقی حکمرانی کا مسئلہ بھی حل ہو جائے گا۔ بلوچستان میں تو ابھی پہلا مرحلہ ہی طے نہیں ہوا۔ ابہام در ابہام ہے۔ اس سے نکلنا اس وقت پہلی ترجیح ہونی چاہیے۔

ہزارہ والوں نے خان صاحب کو ایک موقع فراہم کیا تھا۔ اگر وہ سیاسی مزاج رکھتے تو اس سے فائدہ اٹھاتے۔ یہی نہیں وہ آگے بڑھ کر اسے قومی مسئلہ قراردیتے اوراس کے لیے ایک قومی مکالمے کے میزبان بنتے۔ ایک آل پارٹیز کانفرنس بلاتے اور لوگوں کودعوت دیتے کہ اسے مسلکی یا سیاسی مسئلہ بنانے کے بجائے، ایک قومی مسئلہ سمجھا جائے۔ اپوزیشن جماعتوں کو دعوت دیتے کہ وہ آئیں اور اپنی تجاویز پیش کریں۔

ایسا نہیں ہوا اور نہ ہی اس کا امکان ہے۔ یہ بات بار بار ثابت ہو چکی کہ عمران خان صاحب قوم کو مجتمع کرنے کی صلاحیت سے محروم ہیں۔ یہ ایک لیڈر کی پہلی خوبی ہے کہ وہ لوگوں میں اتفاقِ رائے کے امکانات کو بڑھاتا اور اختلافِ رائے کو کم کرتا ہے۔ خان صاحب کی سیاست اس کے برعکس ہے۔ وہ نفرت اور ہیجان کو اپنی قوت سمجھتے ہیں۔

یہ ریاست کی ناکامی ہے یا حکومت کی؟ جب آٹھ سال پہلے خان صاحب نے یہ سوال اٹھایا تھا کہ ریاست کہاں ہے تو یہ سوال خود جواب بھی تھا۔ یہ سوال آج بھی اپنی جگہ ہے۔ خان صاحب ہزارہ والوں کو حل دے رہے ہیں۔ گویا آج وہ اسے حکومت کا مسئلہ سمجھتے ہیں۔ عوام پریشان ہیں کہ اس حادثے کا ذمہ دار کسے قرار دیں۔ میں جب بلوچستان کے حالات پر نظر ڈالتا ہوں اور خود کو وہیں کھڑا دیکھتا ہوں جہاں خان صاحب آٹھ سال پہلے کھڑے تھے۔ ہزارہ والوں نے اپنا مخاطب آج کیوں تبدیل کر لیاہے؟ میرے پاس اس سوال کا کوئی جواب نہیں۔

https://samachar.pk/

سانحہ مچھ، ٹرمپ اور عمران خان

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بعض حوالوں سے ٹرمپ اور عمران بالکل متضاد شخصیت کے حامل ہیں۔ سب سے بڑا اور بنیادی فرق تو یہ ہے کہ ٹرمپ غیرمسلم جبکہ عمران خان مسلمان ہیں۔وہ امریکی نیشنلسٹ بننے کی کوشش کررہے ہیں جبکہ عمران خان ریاست مدینہ کا نام لے کر عالم اسلام اور مسلمانوں کا ہیرو بننے کی ۔

ٹرمپ اپنی دولت کے سہارے سیاست میں وارد ہوئے اور اپنی دولت کے زور پر اقتدار تک پہنچے ۔ عمران خان کرکٹ کی بنیاد پر سیاست میں داخل ہوئے اور اپنا پیسہ جمع کرنے یا خرچ کرنے کی بجائے جہانگیر ترین وغیرہ کے پیسے سے سیاست میں آگے بڑھتے رہے۔

اسی طرح ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ ا سٹیٹس کوکی طاقتوں کو چیلنج کرکے امریکی اسٹیبلشمنٹ کے کاندھوں کے بغیر (ہاں البتہ یہودی لابی ان کے ساتھ تھی) اقتدار میں آئے جبکہ عمران خان کی سیاست اور اقتدار دونوں اسٹیبلشمنٹ کی سپورٹ کے مرہون منت ہیں ۔ یوں ان اور ان جیسے کئی حوالوں سے دونوں میں کوئی قدر مشترک نہیں۔ لیکن شخصی اور سیاسی حوالوں سے دونوں میں بعض عجیب مماثلتیں بھی پائی جاتی ہیں۔

ذاتی مشترکات تو بہت ہیں لیکن ذاتی معاملات پر بات کرنا میرا شیوہ رہا ہے اور نہ آج اس کا ذکر کروں گا البتہ سیاسی مماثلتوں کا تذکرہ ضروری ہے۔ مثلاً ٹرمپ بھی اسٹیٹس کو توڑ کرنیا امریکہ بنانا چاہ رہے تھے اور عمران خان کا نعرہ بھی نیا پاکستان ہے۔ٹرمپ بھی یوٹرن لینے کے ماہر ہیں اور عمران خان بھی۔

ٹرمپ بھی اپنی خوبیوں کے بجائے مخالفین کی خامیوں کے تذکرے کی بنیاد پر حکومت کررہے تھے اور عمران خان بھی ایسا کررہے ہیں۔ ٹرمپ نے بھی ماضی کے امریکی صدور کی روایات توڑ یں اور عمران خان نے بھی۔

مثلاً ماضی کے صدور خود موبائل فون استعمال نہیں کرتے تھے لیکن ٹرمپ نے استعمال کرنا شروع کیا‘ یہی کام عمران خان بھی کر رہے ہیں بلکہ عمران خان تو غیرملکی سربراہان سے بات کرتے ہوئے بھی ریسیور کان سے لگاتے ہیں اور اسٹاف کی نوٹ ٹیکنگ کیلئے سپیکر آن نہیں رکھتے۔ ٹرمپ بھی ٹویٹر بے تحاشہ استعمال کرتے ہیں اور عمران خان بھی اسی کے ذریعے حکومت چلاتے ہیں۔

ٹرمپ بھی اپنی غلطی ماننے کی بجائے آئے روز وزیر مشیر تبدیل کرتے رہے اور عمران خان بھی وزیروں اور مشیروں کو بار بار تبدیل کرنے کو تبدیلی سمجھتے ہیں۔

لیکن دو بنیادی تباہ کن مشترکات یہ ہے کہ ٹرمپ نے امریکی روایات کو ہلا کے رکھ دیا جبکہ عمران خان نے پاکستان کی مشرقی روایات کو ۔ ٹرمپ کی شخصیت کے ان پہلوئوں کا نتیجہ یہ نکلا کہ دنیا کا واحد سپر پاور یا پھر لبرٹی اور جمہوریت کی علامت امریکہ آج دنیامیں تماشہ بن گیا ہے۔ اگلے روز ٹرمپ کے حامیوں نے پارلیمنٹ پر جس طرح حملہ کیا ، اس نے امریکی جمہوریت کے چہرے پر کالک مل دی ۔تاہم امریکہ میں چونکہ ادارے مضبوط ہیں اسلئے معاملہ کنٹرول ہوا۔

خود ٹرمپ کی جماعت کے سابق صدر بش اور سینیٹ اور کانگریس کے ارکان ٹرمپ کے خلاف کھڑ ےہوگئے کیونکہ وہاں خوشامد کا وہ کلچر نہیں جو ہمارے ہاںپایا جاتا ہے ۔

چنانچہ امریکہ میں معاملہ آگے بڑھنے سے رک گیا لیکن نیا امریکہ بنانے کی مشق میں ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ نے گزشتہ پانچ سالوں کے دوران امریکی سوسائٹی میں جو زہر بھر دیا ہے، اب اس کو ختم کرنے میں جوبائیڈن جیسے پرانے امریکہ کے پرانے سیاستدانوں کو بڑے جتن کرنا ہوں گے۔ لیکن پاکستان میں تو نہ جمہوری ادارے مضبوط ہیں، نہ ان کی پارٹی کے اندر کوئی ان کے سامنے زبان کھول سکتا ہے۔

ہماری فالٹ لائنز پہلے سے بھی گہری ہیں‘ یہ بھی ضروری نہیں کہ عمران خان کے بعد پاکستان میں کوئی جوبائیڈن جیسا سمجھدار سیاستدان حکمران بنے۔ اس لئے میں حیران ہوں کہ یہاں سوسائٹی میں پھیلائی جانے والی نفرتوں اور پولرائزیشن کا کیا انجام ہوگا؟

ایک اور قدر مشترک ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ اور عمران خان کی یہ ہے کہ دونوں انسانی حوالوں سے نہایت سنگدل ہیں۔ ڈونلڈ ٹرمپ کی سفاکیت کا عملی مظاہرہ اس وقت دیکھنے میںآیا جب امریکہ میں ایک سیاہ فام امریکی کو پولیس نے قتل کیا۔ ٹرمپ کا یہی رویہ رہا کہ سیاہ فام امریکی اگر احتجاج کرتے ہیں تو کرنے دیں۔

عمران خان کی اس بے رُخی کو ملاحظہ کرنا ہو تو کوئٹہ میں دھرنا دینے والے ہزارہ کے مظلومین سے متعلق ان کا رویہ دیکھ لیجئے ۔پانچ دن گزر گئے۔ وہ لوگ اپنے جگر گوشوں کی لاشیں رکھے کوئٹہ کی ٹھٹھرٹی سردی میں دھرنا دیئے بیٹھے ہیں۔ یہ لوگ حکومت کے مخالف بھی نہیں۔ ان کی نمائندہ جماعت بلوچستان حکومت کا حصہ ہے جبکہ گلگت میں بھی ان کی حامی جماعت عمران خان کی پارٹی کے ساتھ ہے۔

اب ہزارہ مظلومین کے قائد نے قرآن پاک سر پر رکھ کر عمران خان سے آنے کا مطالبہ کیا لیکن ان کی بے حسی ملاحظہ کیجئے کہ کبھی اپنے وزرا سے ملتے ہیں، کبھی ترک فنکاروں سے ملاقاتیں کرکے ان کے زخموں پر نمک چھڑک رہے ہیں لیکن ان کے پاس جانے سے گریزاں ہیں۔

چار دن اپنے ترجمانوں سے کہلواتے رہے کہ سیکورٹی کلیئرنس نہیں ہے لیکن جب مریم نواز، بلاول بھٹو، سراج الحق اور غفور حیدری وغیرہ ان کے پاس گئے اور یہ بہانہ مزید کام نہیں آرہا تو اب اپنے دل کی بات زبان پر لے آئے۔ پتہ چلا کہ ان کی انا اور ضد آڑے آرہی ہے اور حد یہ کردی کہ مظلومین پر بلیک میل کرنے کا الزام دھر دیا۔ ہزارہ کے مظلومین کہتے ہیں کہ وزیراعظم آئیں گے تو وہ لاشیں دفن کریں گے اور عمران خان کہتے ہیں کہ وہ لاشیں دفن کریں گے تو میں جائوں گا ۔

اب یہ بے حسی کی انتہا نہیں تو اور کیا ہے؟ کیا یہ اس بات کا ثبوت نہیں کہ ریاست مدینہ کا انہیں شعور ہے اور نہ بنانے کا کوئی ارادہ کیونکہ ریاست مدینہ کے حاکم تو دریائے فرأت کے کنارے بھوک سے مرنے والے کتے کے لئے بھی اپنے آپ کو ذمہ دار قرار دیتے تھے۔ پیپلز پارٹی کے پرانے پاکستان میں جب ان لوگوں نے ایسا دھرنا دیا تھا تو نہ صرف اس وقت کے وزیراعظم ان کے پاس گئے تھے بلکہ ان کی خاطرپیپلز پارٹی نے اپنے وزیراعلیٰ کو ہٹا کر گورنر راج لگا دیا تھا۔

مسلم لیگ ق ہو یا کوئی اور اتحادی، جب وہ آپ کو بلیک میل کرتے ہیں تو آپ ان کے پاس جا کر قدموں میں بیٹھ جاتے ہیں لیکن یہ مظلومین آپ کو کیا بلیک میل کریں گے؟

خدا کا واسطہ ان کے زخموں پر مرہم نہیں رکھ سکتے تو انہیں بلیک میلر کہہ کر ان کے زخموں پر نمک پاشی تو نہ کریں اور ہاں یاد رکھیں،ان کی ٹیم میں تو کوئی نصیحت یا تنقید کرنے کی جرات نہیں کرسکتا لیکن مولانا طارق جمیل عمران خان کو سمجھائیں کہ انا پرستی اور بے حسی کا انجام بہت برا نکلتا ہے۔ خان صاحب اس معاملے کو اسی طرح ڈیل کرتے رہے تو ایک نہ ایک دن ان کو یہ کام کرنا پڑے گا لیکن تب تک بہت نقصان ہوچکا ہوگا۔

https://jang.com.pk/news/869715