Qazi Hamidullah a Taliban connectionWriting in the Jang, Nazeer Naji stated that the MMA leader MNA Qazi Hameedullah, who attacked the marathon in Gujranwala along with his extremist seminarians on April 3, was a hardline Pushtun cleric with a Taliban background. The daily Pakistan wrote that Qazi Hameedullah led a batch of Afghan students who were staying at his seminary illegally. The police said that a raid would soon be conducted into the seminaries to apprehend illegal Taliban students. Khabrain reported that the DIG of Gujranwala had stated that 38 assailants of the marathon in police custody were youths from the NWFP.
Hizb al Tahrir boys freed
According to the daily Din, eight members of the banned organisation Hizb al Tahrir were freed by the Multan Bench of the High Court, which ruled that distributing anti-government pamphlets was not a crime. The members of the banned organisation were caught distributing pamphlets in the Multan and Rahimyar Khan area.
PMLN is really moderate
Columnist Ataul Haq Qasimi wrote in the Jang that when the Punjab Assembly condemned the MMA attack on the Gujranwala marathon, the PPPP sided with the PML because it was a roshan khayal party, but the PMLN sided with the MMA and opposed the resolution of condemnation. If the PMLN sided with the PPPP, it would not be able to compete with its modern approach; and if it went with the MMA it could not compete with the religious fervour of the clergy. Therefore it was a moderate party staying the 'middle course.' Yet the PMLN should not have stood with the MMA on the marathon issue, as that took the PMLN too close to the MMA's extremist stance.
Did the MMA attack the girls?
Columnist Aftab Iqbal wrote in the Nawa-e-Waqt that after the attack on female marathon runners in Gujranwala, MNA Qazi Hameedullah said that his followers had not attacked the girls and those who threw stones and damaged property were some other elements. The columnist said that another source also implied that the real vandalism was perpetrated by agents of some other entity. Yet the MMA leader Liaquat Baloch warned the government that the MMA would agitate unless its workers were released from jail.
PPP not 'enlightened' enough
Columnist Khurshid Nadeem wrote in the Jang that the PPP had the ability to metamorphose itself and present Pakistani nationalism in the correct roshan khayal (enlightened) perspective, but it was not performing this function. Its leaders Iqbal Haider and Aitzaz Ahsan were promoting secularism, which was wrong and a step back from Bhutto's own explanation of Muslim nationalism. It appeared that the two were not able to decide the true position of Islam in the present civilisation.
Benazir and America
Writing in Khabrain, Azam Sultan Suhrawardi stated that Benazir Bhutto was wrong when she told the Americans that they should get Pakistan to adopt democracy the same way Iraq and Afghanistan had. The columnist said that he was not in favour of defying America as long as Pakistan's air force was not able to attack America and defeat it, but Benazir was steps ahead of Musharraf in becoming a slave to America.
State coercion in Gujranwala
Writing in the Nawa-e-Waqt, Irfan Siddiqi said that MNA Hameedullah in Gujranwala had warned the government that he would not allow the marathon; the government had ignored his warning and had not cancelled the marathon, with the result that action was taken by the MNA which led to violence. This was an example of state coercion (jabr) which is undertaken to forcibly change the accepted cultural norms.
Gilgit civil servants asked to return
Tthe daily Jang reported that the government had asked those government functionaries who had fled the sectarian riots of 8 January 2005, to return to their offices by 12 April 2005. Thus Gilgit and the Northern Areas lacked a complete bureaucracy for three months because of the sectarian slaughter.
Girls unsafe in Pakistan
Writing in the Jang, Javed Chaudhry stated that a friend of his who became a Dutch national 20 years ago told him that he thought of Pakistan every day, but could not return. The reason was that he had daughters who would be unsafe in Pakistan. In Amsterdam, they were free to roam about and in fact, returned from work after midnight in public transport. They were respected by Dutch men. In Pakistan, they would have to be protected and kept indoors. In Pakistan, he did not allow his daughters to go too far from home. He had read that at a musical programme in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Hall, boys had molested girls. Girls colleges were haunted by rowdy (awbash) boys who teased them and threatened to kidnap them. News of rape was an everyday happening. The columnist wrote that the roshan khayal government was trying to get girls to run marathons, but the mullahs were out to hurt them. His friend from Holland did not believe that the government was sincere. The rulers did not let their daughters run marathons.
The power of Akbar Bugti
Writing in Khabrain, Shakir Mazari from Rajanpur said that the Bugti tribe had three branches: Raheja, Kalpar and Masuri. Nawab Akbar Bugti led the Raheja sub-tribe by destroying and enslaving the other two. After one Kalpar sardar joined the PPP and became powerful in Sui, Akbar Bugti had him killed, after which the Kalpars killed Akbar's son Salal. Akbar Bugti had completely crushed the Kalpars and made them flee. Then Akbar Bugti heard that the territory of the Masuris could be the place for new gas finds. He arrested their leaders and put them in his personal jail. Mir Ghulam Qadir Masuri and his sons were in this jail for a long time, till someone had the compassion to free them without Akbar Bugti's permission. Akbar Bugti has a personal army. He has 3,000 of his Bugtis employed at Sui, but they perform duties for him. His army was constantly fighting the following tribes around his territory: Jakhrani, Bijrani, Sundrani, Khoso, Golatho, Domki and Mazari, inhabiting the localities of Kashmore, Jacobabad, Kandhkot, Shahwali, Rajanpur and Rojhan.
We will throw girls into the river!
Tthe daily Khabrain reported the senior minister of the NWFP, Sirajul Haq, as saying that if any girls in the NWFP took part in marathons, his government would throw them into the River Indus. He said that the world was concentrating on the NWFP to harm it, but all evil designs would be defeated.
Marathon race and Pakistani identity
Columnist Abdul Qadir Hassan wrote in the Jang that the Pakistani nation was not really a nation, but a people with a certain kind of Islamic mind. It is an ideological nation that doesn't change its mind and if a dictator had to change it, it would take him a long time. America was trying to change this mind through changing the textbooks and through the Aga Khan, but it was not changing. Now, making girls run in marathons was another trick but the people of Pakistan will not change their minds and will reject marathons.