I had a long talk just now on whatsapp with a friend who hails from Pakistan, but has been living in Toronto, Canada for about 40-50 years. He was very pessimistic about the situation in Pakistan, where many of his relatives and friends still live.
I disagreed with him, and told him I am optimistic. He asked me to explain, and this is what I told him :
There is a saying ” Whenever there is oppression there is resistance ”.
In Pakistan the real rulers are the army. After the events of 9th May, 2023 ( which many people say were stage managed ), a fascist reign of terror was unleashed by the Pakistan army, and about 14,000 people arrested on trumped up and concocted charges, many beaten and tortured, and then incarcerated in jail where they are still living in inhuman conditions. Some have even ‘disappeared’. The judiciary, headed by that shameless, sold out, toady of the Pakistan Establishment, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Qazi Faez Isa, has become totally servile, and does nothing to protect the liberties of the people, which was its solemn Constitutional duty, and the media has been largely silenced.
In this situation most Pakistanis are terrified and scared that if they raise their voice of opposition against the ongoing atrocities they themselves will be promptly picked up by the police, beaten and tortured, and then jailed for long periods.
It is this scenario which creates gloom and pessimism in the minds of many Pakistanis, including my friend.
What these people forget, however, is that this situation will not remain the same forever..
What I have seen on Youtube is Pakistani lawyers bravely putting up a fight against Qazi Faez Isa and his henchmen, in connection with which I have congratulated them in an article I wrote recently
Thus, what was seen recently is that while other sections of society are still lying cowed down and silent, the Pakistani lawyers are bravely beginning a struggle against the tyrannical Pakistan Establishment, a struggle which will soon include other sections of society too.
A study of modern history shows that lawyers have often given leadership to a nation at critical moments. Thus, most of the leaders in America’s War of Independence ( 1775-1781 ) were lawyers, e.g. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, etc. In the great French Revoluion of 1789 more than half the members of the Third Estate ( which converted itself into the National Assembly ) were lawyers, e.g. Robespierre, Danton, Billaud Varenne, Barnave, etc. In the Russian Revolution of 1917 the leader of the Bolsheviks was Lenin, who was a lawyer ( though he did not practice for long ). In the Indian freedom struggle most of our leaders were lawyers e.g. Gandhiji, Pt. Nehru, Sardar Patel, CR Das, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Rajaji, etc
Why is it that it is usually lawyers who provide leadership to nations, and not doctors, engineers, or people from other walks of life ? This is because while doctors only deal with medical problems, and engineers with technical problems, lawyers deal with all kinds of social problems. A lawyer’s clients are often from all walks of life—businessmen, workers, students, politicians, civil servants, teachers, criminals, people having matrimonial problems, property disputes, etc. Thus a lawyer has the pulse of society better than people of other professions, as he knows society better. It is for this reason that lawyers have given leadership to the people in most countries in critical times, and it is for this reason that a heavy responsibility lies on the shoulders of Pakistan’s lawyers in the present troubled times to give leadership to the people, and show them the path for their emancipation..
When the tyrant Gen Musharraf imposed martial law and illegally removed the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Choudhary, because he refused to kowtow before the former, the Pakistan lawyers began a mighty agitation, which resulted in Musharraf’s ouster and the reinstatement of the CJP.
I am confident that the Pakistan lawyers will once again rise to the occasion, and restore democracy in Pakistan.
That is the cause of my optimism..
