TAKE HEED FOR THE SAKE OF GOD

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLE BY HAMID MIR PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY JANG ON 28^TH JULY 2011

He was given a pre-written statement in his hand and told that he had to read that statement in a press conference. He was said that he would be released after that. When he read that statement it said he had been smuggling weapons to Karachi on the instructions of Altaf Hussain. It also said that he was responsible for the incidents of killings and mayhem on the instructions of Altaf Hussain. He was disturbed on reading the statement upon which he was told that there was nothing to worry about as after this confessional statement only a small case would be registered against him and his release would be obtained through bail.

He refused to hold the press conference. They started beating him with wet sticks after hearing his denial. One man pulled out a revolver and placing it upon his temple asked him to recite the kalima. Another man asked him to write down a last message for his family. He was given a pen and a paper. The only thing that he wrote was that he had not committed any crime. When they read this he was asked to take out his shirt. When he wavered he was badly beaten with sticks. He took out his shirt. Later he was asked to remove his trousers as well. When he refused to do this a number of men assaulted him and forcefully removed his trousers and started beating him with sticks.

When the helpless and denuded man lost consciousness while he was being beaten with sticks, they started hitting his soles to bring him back to consciousness. He sank again being hit continuously with the sticks. When he regained consciousness after several hours he wept bitterly after remembering his mother. This is the cruelty that Aftakhar Akbar Randhawa had to undergo in 1995. Aftakhar Akbar Randhawa has compiled the story of this brutality and cruelty in the form of a book “Riyasati Dehshatgardi”, the Tyranny of State.

Aftakhar gave this book to me nearly two years ago. I went through it in the first instance of my leisure and saved it after marking it at several places. Aftakhar was organizer of the Punjab chapter at the time of his arrest. He was arrested in Multan and brought to Islamabad where he was incarcerated and subjected to severe bodily torture for nine months. A few days ago I inquired of a retired intelligence bureau officer about the reasons for heartless torture on Aftakhar. He said that even though a large number of the MQM workers were arrested at that time and they were persecuted but Aftakhar was particularly beaten all the more so because he was organizing the MQM in the Punjab. I could not face Aftakhar after verifying his story from the intelligence officer. There was an inner feeling of having done something wrong in me. I thought that this man was being subjected to cruelty in the torture cells in Islamabad. He continued to weep after remembering his mother and his mother left this world in the grief of his son. But while all this was happening, all the well-informed journalists including me could not know anything as to what happened with Aftakhar Akbar Randhawa.

Aftakhar called me the day before yesterday. He was asking for my email address in a very humble manner as always because he wanted to send a letter to me. When I inquired after his well-being after giving him the email address he commented on my column of 25^th July in which there was a criticism of the MQM. He said that I had written that the MQM had created a constitutional contradiction in Sindh. In Sindh the offices of the governor as well as the leader of the opposition belonged to the MQM. He said that I had forgotten to mention the Punjab where the governor as well as the leader of the opposition belonged to the PPP.

Aftakhar made his complaint in such a humble way that I avoided giving a direct reply in order not to hurt is feelings. I did not expect such an amiable and humble criticism from the MQM. Frankly speaking I had expected strong and hot words but the gentle demeanour of Aftakhar and some of his senior colleagues was a pleasant surprise for me.  I would nevertheless like to submit that it is true that the offices of the governor and the leader of the opposition rest with the PPP in the Punjab as well but there is a difference.

Governor is the representative of the President. The president is also the co-chairman of the PPP so the situation is a little bit different in the Punjab because the president, the governor and the leader of the opposition belong to the same party. In Sindh the governor belongs to the MQM while the MQM has been accusing some ministers of the PPP of being responsible for the killings and mayhem in Karachi. There is no denying the fact that the governor must act on the advice of the provincial government and in the Punjab the PML (N) government has effectively emasculated the PPP governor. Keeping in view the example of the Punjab the MQM should have realized if it would benefit them or discredit them if the PPP government marginalized the governor of their party.

The leader of the MQM Mr Altaf Hussain has begged for peace from all political parties. I want to remind the leaderships all those political parties that you have all faced concocted cases and hardships of captivities. Asfandyar Wali of the ANP has told me several times that when he was arrested in 1975 on the charge of terrorism, he was hung upside down and beaten and the nails of his feet were pulled out. I have had personal meetings with President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik and several other leaders of the PPP in jails. I have written a number of times about what happened with Nawaz Sharif in Attack and with Shahbaz Sharif in jail. I have also written about the physical torture to Jawed Hashmi, Pervez Rashid, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Rana Sanaulla and other Muslim Leaguers in jails.

From Baloch and Sindhi nationalists to religious leaders all have suffered torture at one time or another. It is nonetheless unfortunate that our political leaders have not taken a lesson from this torture. Earlier they used to throw each other in jails and now they are stabbing each other in the guise of friendship.

I am saddened to say that the present conduct of the politicians has made politics and democracy terms of abuse. Today confrontation is being done with the superior judiciary for the protection of petty personal gains. Today the root cause of all the problems facing the country is the utter contempt for the supremacy and implementation of the law. The government has become the greatest threat for the law and the constitution and the officers implementing the orders of the courts are being side-lined as a way of punishing them.

Peace will not come in Pakistan as long as all political parties not get united for the supremacy of the law. The common man will continue to undergo the coercion of circumstances that people like Aftakhar Randhawa has to face in government torture cells.