Let’s be honest- Is criticizing #national #army justified or the misuse of the term #Freedom of #speech
Why we are not discussing the issues of public health: #Polio, #Ebola?
By Imran Ghaznavi
**
One of the renowned journalist posted the link of Mrs. Asma Jahangir‘s
television program on facebook, in which she has been seen criticizing #Pakistan #Army and hitting the institution left
right and centre.
My argument here is very simple, #Pakistan is the only country where everyone
can speak against its own army, can anyone dare to speak against its national
army in US, India, UK, Russia, and China etc. I doubt. There must be national
laws protecting the sanctity of the national institutions, moreover civil
society do understand the importance of their defense establishment and refrain
to pickup unnecessary criticism. Issues come up everywhere in the world but
those are handled without bringing them out in public and in accordance to the
law.
Yes, there may be issues with Pakistani defense establishment in past
and will come up in future as well but those have to be resolved in the light
of prevailing laws, constitution and norms, most of all in national interest.
#Pakistan army presently is engaged in all dimensions and need national
support to crush hostilities on national boarders and international support to
eliminate the menace of #extremism and establish peace in terror hit areas.
We have to be honest in criticizing the national institutions, must have
valid justification and before going ahead should first answer the question, “are
we misusing of the term #Freedom of #speech“ or justified in our maligning of
the army. We must understand that the misuse of liberty can have serious
consequences for liberty itself.
We all believe in democracy, respect democracy and understand that
effective progress and development can only occur in #democracy, but how?,
The democratic philosophy to its core is that the representatives of the
citizens honestly and whole heartedly works for the betterment of the public;
decide what is good and bad for them on their behalf.
Politician’s primary mandate is the law making in public interest and not
to protect their own pity interests. Interest groups or powerful lobbies should
not win over or influence the representatives of the public to serve their
agendas. It is feared that any form of governance other then democracy can be
easily influenced by interest groups and public interest is harmed, so very
true.
Now let’s analyze the present political scenario in Pakistan, can we
honestly say that the pubic representative or the #government is serving the public
in true sense of democracy, you can answer it, better than anyone else, from
law making to infrastructure development, to the hiring of professionals for
key government positions, to general public sector employment, to disbursement
of youth loans, to laptops scheme, grant of transport vehicles etc., nothing is
transparent nor in public interest neither government has any business plan or
any mechanism to gauge the return on investment (ROI). Has anyone questioned
where the money is coming from? This is public money and public ultimately has
to foot the bill, we all must understand this.
Another matter of serious concern is that where were the politicians,
civil society, media, top TV anchors or the opinion makers in raising concerns
over the spread of #polio virus and what are the reasons and issues in
vaccination.
Can anyone feel the agony of the parents of more than 250 “children of lesser
God*” suffering from poliovirus recently reported? Why the matter was not taken
up by relevant authorities of the government in time to avoid this breakout. There
are so many other health issues which are killing people every day like “Dangi”
“Neglaria” and most recently the “Ebola” – which has yet to cross the boarder –
but my question remains there, are we prepared, did our law makers asked the
government to declare health emergency. NO
Regarding polio the government should get into the root cause, debate
the issue, develop consensus among the political leaders, religious scholars,
scientists, opinion makers, highlight what other Muslim countries like #Egypt, #Indonesia,
#Malaysia, #Bangladesh etc are doing about #Polio vaccination. What are the
issue here and how to overcome them? The recipe is very simple and practical
but who will bring wisdom, will and ability to preempt problems affecting the
general public.
I am neither favoring the vaccination nor against it, I am trying to put
forward the public health issue and someone in the name of #GOD must seriously
look into it.
Dear parliamentarians, #National #Assembly and the Senate is the forum
to point out and debate on the public issue and issue a wakeup call to the
sleeping government to do good for public instead of asking it for quotas in
jobs and development funds, making public appeals for the protection of democracy.
What a joke. We all know how reserved seat parliamentarians sell their
development funds on 15% to 30% commission.
I think National Accountability Bureau #NAB should immediately conduct
an enquiry and make example of those who are or were involved. Anyway let’s not
beat about the bush as we know nothing will happen.
The #politicians have to be above board and #honest, must show their
true ability to govern in a #transparent and righteous manner, must have heart
for poor and downtrodden, feel their pain and serve them with true spirit. They
must not bow down on national interest; believe me they will be respected by the
Army, world and the common people.
So called liberals criticize army and its role in politics to get space
on media or favors of interest groups, have they every realized what is the
root cause of theses interventions. My humble advice to them is, in spite of flushing
out personal venom and towing the line of interest groups, must realize the
situation and understand the need of the hour.
Strengthen the democracy by
dissecting public institutions which are built to bring change and relief in
common man’s life, media and civil society must become the watchdog on the
performance of public institutions and raise the flag whenever and wherever “wrong”
has been done.
If media start picking up social issues effecting general public and
stop discussing politics half of the problem is solved.
“Let’s raise our voice for
general public and their real issues, expose the wrong doings in the public sector.
You can forward the scandals with supporting documents. Can reach me through
twitter @ighaznavi, and facebook public profile or email: ighaznavi@taxpayer.com.pk ,
LinkedIn profile : Imran Ghaznavi”
Key words:
#freedomofspeach, #Pakistanarmy, #democracy #Media, #civilsociety, #publicinstitutions
#politician #Pakistan
*Children of
a Lesser God
is a 1986 American romantic drama film directed by Randa Haines and written by
Hesper Anderson and Mark Medoff
**
References: Photographs are open source and are obtained from the internet. Video
footage source Zemtv
