PAKISTAN: Bloggers take on the emergency

This is a guest post by Taimur Khan, who's previously contributed to SAJAforum (Newshour reports from Pakistan). If you have any sites we should know about, please add to the comments section.

-----------------------------------------------------------

In Pakistan, citizen journalism is flourishing when it's needed most. To fill the information void left by Musharraf's media blackout, a group of anonymous Pakistani student activists have created The Emergency Times, a blog they describe as "an independent Pakistani student initiative against injustice and oppression."  In addition to its ardent calls to action, the site provides daily multimedia updates on the latest developments in Pakistan and features eyewitness accounts and photos of student protests, posts from other news websites and blogs, information on upcoming direct actions, and even motivational poems for Pakistan's embattled democracy movement.   

While The Emergency Times may have more at stake than most, it's certainly not the only blog in blogistan.  Many other blogs also cover Pakistan's complex political dynamics under the emergency situation and provide a much-needed supplement to the sometimes stale updates from American news sources. 

Teeth Maestro - run by Dr. Awab Alvi, a dentist in Karachi - outlines the implications of the recent amendments to the Pakistan Army Act of 1952:

According to sources within the Pakistani security forces, amendments have been made to the Army act of 1952 and any civilian can be arrested under the act and tried in military courts while hoarders and profiteers are to be tried in special courts. The revised act also states that attacks on armed forces are now an offense under the new act.

Metroblogging Karachi provides running multimedia updates of the most current anti-emergency protests in the city. The blog also discusses a large and unprecedented get-together of photo-bloggers who met on the Karachi Metroblogging Flickr group and have been documenting protests and life under martial law.  Metroblogging Lahore recently discussed a less vociferous tactic in support of the lawyers and judges opposing the emergency:

Just saw a Justice who had refused to take the new oath speaking on GEO this
morning--he had tears in his eyes as he spoke. A handful of people had left
flowers outside his gate. And the news anchor was saying that it is a pity that
so few had done so--yes it is hard to withstand a baton charge or a tear gas
attack, but leaving a few flowers is not hard. Perhaps you can use your network to encourage people to leave flowers outside the houses of the justices and the bar association officials--just leave them as far as the police will let them go. This would also be a way of catching the attention of the international media.

Democracy and Freedom and Pak Lawyer both focus on the judicial and legal activism that has come to define the opposition to Musharraf's policies.  Law blogger Anil Kalhan (a good friend of SAJAforum) has also announced a rally in New York City on Tuesday November 13 that is being organized by the NYC Bar Association among other groups, as an act of solidarity with Pakistan's beleaguered lawyers.   

iFaqeer - run by SAJAforum contributor Sabahat Ashraf - speaks of the solace and inspiration that South Asia's Urdu poetry provides.  Faiz Ahmed Faiz, the revered Pakistani poet, wrote many of his greatest works in prison, a fact not lost on Adil Najam at All Things Pakistan (aka Pakistaniat.com):

The words of Faiz certainly cut deeper than anything I can say. They are an invitation to action. But they are also an invitation to thought. An invitation to responsibility.  An invitation to continuing the struggle no matter what. An invitation to keep moving onwards despite the odds. An invitation to celebrate the spirit of defiance of those who will not give up.

Acknowledging the role of the United States in Pakistan's current state, Chapati Mystery asks readers in the U.S. to make the emergency a campaign issue at home:

Remember that the over 2000 people currently under arrest are being terrorized with military hardware that comes from us and with the political clout that comes from us. This is not some abstract, far away land, where Oriental despots do what is their wont. This is our Oriental despot. He is wearing our tax paid threads.

Perhaps to keep from crying, Chapati Mystery never forgets his sense of humor ("In Pakistan, a popular way of showing support is to wear a black arm-band. I would go buy a black suit but I think I might break some Pakistan Bar Association or Johnny Cash Appreciation Society rule. So, in the meantime, just more news"), and posts some pretty hilarious artwork as well.

The Global Voices blog at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society has an entire page dedicated to the Pakistan emergency.  Aside from their own blog entries, Global Voices aggregates posts from Pakistani bloggers as well as del.icio.us entries from a diversity of sources.   

--Taimur Khan

Have any more blogs to add to this list? Please post in the comments section below. But stick to Pakistani or Emergency-related sites.

Earlier on SAJAforum:

• PAKISTAN: Asma Jahangir's email appeal
• OPINION: The NY Times op-ed page goes All-South Asia
• PAKISTAN: Police crack down on Protesters - a firsthand account
• PAKISTAN EMERGENCY: The World Reacts
• PAKISTAN: State of Emergency Declared

Comments

[kyla]

There are a number of Urdu language blogs addressing the emergency in more or less the same vein: analysis, poetry, activism, etc. Most of them can be reached by the blog aggregator Urdu Sayyara (http://www.urduweb.org/planet/) but a few are particularly noteworthy:

Badtameez (Ill-behaved) - http://www.badtamiz.com/blog
Hakim Khalid - http://hakimkhalid.blogsome.com/
Mera Pakistan (My Pakistan) - http://www.mypakistan.com/

[matthew broussard]

i have been following the developements in pakistan with some degree of embarassment, and some sensation of predictable disaster.
be that as it may:
if there is a ban on"assembly" that doesn't necessarily exclude collective protest on a massive level. if people gather to protest they create an easy target for the oppressive police. would it be possible to have aprotest which is capillary: dispersed throughout the territory and society? could all interested protester and concerned citizens just stop what their doing at a specific time: say 11:30 am on monday, and step into the street blocking traffic, wherever they happen to be? the police can't be everywhere, all the time. and such a move would stop the country dead in its tracks for a long while due to ensuing logistical problems and also send a stong message to the govenment: the same one which Ms Bhutto said: "they can't arreste everyone" especially if they aren't all in the same place. and that the country can shut the military down, even without having means or money or arms. in the wake of a media blackout and oppressive military force, one could imagine taking advantage of alternative ways of thinking: exactly what the military is incaple of.

[Ahmed Jalal]

Look your blogs and comments are all one sided. You have to balance this out. As a Pakistani, I can tell you that Asma Jahangir is not a freedom fighter, she came to defend Akbar Bugti who muredered several people, starting at the age of 12. Today FOX News today had journalists calling Musharraf a "SOB". Where is SAJA's balance?

[Rukhsana]

A balanced view into what is happening in Pakistan.

Bhutto landed at the Dubai international airport and was welcomed by her husband, then whisked off in a Bentley to her family villa in an upscale Dubai neighborhood overlooking a lake and a golf course... - MSNBC - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12913301/

BB's Bentley Aprox. Value Pakistan Rupee 26260500, that is 2 Crore 62 Lacs car.
GBP 205,000 US $430,500

The PPP rallyers who died during the Bhutto Blast in Karachi were given Rs. 5,000 each by Bhutto (about $83).

[Taimur Khan]

In response to Mr. Jalal, if the intent of your point about balance was to say that the political opposition to Musharraf shouldn't be blindly supported, then I agree. Though I don't share your views regarding Asma Jahangir. However the intention of this post was not meant to be a round-up of different perspectives in the press on the situation in Pakistan, but a survey of blogs by Pakistanis to serve as a resource for those interested in what people on the ground and outside of the mainstream media have to say, and for more current info than is available in the US press. None of the bloggers that I could find support Musharraf's actions, but they also do not express any endorsements of other politicians or political parties. They simply oppose the abrogation of the law and constitution in Pakistan, a position that seems to encompass otherwise opposing ideological and political beliefs.

[Pakistan Politics Dot Net]

You might also add Pakistan Politics Dot Net

http://pakistanpolitics.net/

[ahmad]

See it updated: http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/

[Ali]

an interesting human rights blog by 2 LUms kids under cover as anonymice: www.hrfrompakistan.wordpress.com

makes for an interesting read!!

[Taimur Khan]

here's another one by LUMS students that was posted on chapatimystery.. http://riseofpakistan.blogspot.com/

[waqar]

Some observations, might be of some interest

1. Mr Bhutto the most popular leader in the history of Pakistan after Quaid-e-Azam was hanged till death after a revolt by General Zia ul Haq, he had started working on Islamic idealogy, use of oil as a weapon, uniting Muslim world, development of Nuclear Program of Pakistan, logical conclusions?

(i) No matter how important a leader is, in Pakistan he can be hanged.
(ii) No matter how important internationally any leader is, he can be sentenced to death without taking care of any international pressure from brother muslim countries.
(iii) No matter how important a leader might be for Pakistan in long term, he can be sacked anytime.

(Nothing happened to so called civil society of Pakistan)

2. Musharaf openly staged a coup against elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr Nawaz Shareef, exiled him, he was even man handled. What were logical conclusions?

(i) There is no worth of opinion of people.
(ii) Even an elected Prime Minister is inferior to a General
(iii) Might is right, that is the only criterion to be followed in Pakistan.

(Nothing happened to so called civil society of Pakistan)

3. Pakistan took the most critical U-Turn of its history by deciding to support USA against Afgahnistan. What were outcomes?

(i) Concept of Islamic Brotherhood, Nishat e Sania.
(ii) Left radical Ismaic Militants whom our own forces and government along with US government have been supporting.
(iii) Gave United States the chance to sit in our neighbour and interference in our matters which can de-stabilize Pakistan anytime.

(Nothing happened to so called Civil Society of Pakistan)

4. Next most crucial step was U-Turn on Kashmir Policy, what were outcomes?

(i) Literally betrayed Kashmiri freedom fighters.
(ii) Stopped all sort of moral and diplomatic support even to those people who were fighting for us.
(iii) Bowed in front of India the most emotional stand point for people of Pakistan

(Nothing happened to so called civil society of Pakistan)

5. I believe imposing emergency, enforcing PCO, sacking judges is not worse than complete abolishment of constitution of Pakistam, hanging a leader to death, forcing a popular leader to exile, leaving concept of Islamic brotherhood, leaving stance on Kashmiri struggle, helping US in killing afghanis

Where from has civil society of Pakistan emerged suddenly?

What a revolution!
Within rule of a military ruler we matured so much as a nation that we were able to produce a civil society of our own, which can influence decisions of power players?

Hats off to all those who think some civil society indeed exists in Pakistan, if it does credit has to be given to Musharaf and his government, the mile-stone which no democratic or dictator leader we able to give to people of Pakistan, that was achieved in rule of General Musharaf.

Please open your eyes, dont be part of a mob being funded and motivated by people with some vested interests. Where from all these banners, slogans, media coverage, reports coming?? I didnt see anyone gathering funds for such activities.

Even now if conditions change and US starts needing Musharaf again, there will absolutely no civil society in Pakistan again.

Please read these lines again

4. I believe imposing emergency, enforcing PCO, sacking judges is not worse than complete abolishment of constitution of Pakistam, hanging a leader to death, forcing a popular leader to exile, leaving concept of Islamic brotherhood, leaving stance on Kashmiri struggle, helping United States in killing afghanis.

Where from has civil society of Pakistan emerged suddenly?

Regards

[moses]

HI
ABOVE comments are like . This site is DOING great job .
========================================
moses
Paid Surveys