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Why I Said No To Musharraf

Why I Said No To Musharraf

Author: Amir Mir
Publication: Outlook
Date: June 12, 2006
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20060612&fname=Col+Amir+Mir+%28F%29&sid=1

Introduction: Because he has stifled democracy, says Outlook's Lahore correspondent

"The APNS award in the category of the Best Investigative Report goes to Mr Amir Mir of the monthly, Herald. But the award cannot be given to him right now and the president of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Mir Shakilur Rehman, would honour Amir Mir once the award distribution ceremony is over," so said the man conducting the annual APNS award distribution ceremony in Islamabad, on May 26. On the rostrum stood the chief guest of the function, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, looking as impassive as ever.

But the announcement surprised me. Here I was sitting in the hall of a five-star hotel, waiting to receive the prestigious award for which I had travelled all the way from Lahore. Yet, I must confess, I had prepared myself for any eventuality-the very presence of Musharraf prompts such caution.

The script for the ceremony was supposed to be a trifle different. Let me explain: a little before the ceremony began, at the time of entering the hall, I had handed over a letter to APNS president Mir Shakilur Rehman. The letter expressed, politely, my inability to receive the award "from a military dictator-General Pervez Musharraf-who has violated the Constitution time and again and has no respect for the supreme law of the land". This apart, ask yourself: can you receive an award for best investigative report from a man who doesn't believe in freedom of expression and can't tolerate opinions different from his? Farce, too, must have its limits.

Hardly had I handed over the letter, minutes after it had been glanced at, than the hall buzzed with quivering voices. A veritable war of words ensued between me and APNS office-bearers. They were unwilling to "spoil" the ceremony or annoy the man who's both the Chief of Army Staff and President of Pakistan. It isn't that I detest Musharraf beyond forgiveness; it's just that I love my principles more.

I don't know what Musharraf loves. But it isn't the Constitution. He staged a coup following then PM Nawaz Sharif's decision to invoke his constitutional powers to remove him as army chief. He had himself elected as president via a farcical referendum, sweeping aside the constitutional requirement of seeking Parliament's endorsement. Again, anyone violating the 1973 constitution, under its Article 6, is to be tried for treason. My dilemma: how do you shake hands and receive an award from a 'traitor' in uniform?

Adherence to democratic principles has been my inheritance. My father, Prof Waris Mir, was a fiery journalist who adopted a defiant posture against Gen Zia-ul Haq, another president in uniform. He died at the age of 48 because of the pressure, and ensuing mental torture, inflicted on him by the Zia regime. You can't let your father down, can you?

As APNS office-bearers tried to persuade me to receive the award from Musharraf, I told them I could but I would also tell him that he's a usurper. They said either I agree to receive the award from Musharraf or return home empty-handed. Believing a compromise would violate my father's memory, I refused to rescind my position.

The general arrived, in a dinner suit, surrounded by commandos. The APNS president made the opening speech, commending the government for providing a breathing space to TV channels but holding it guilty for stifling the print media. His speech kindled the hope in me of not returning empty-handed from the ceremony.

Then came the general's turn to speak. He said he had liberally granted freedom of expression and speech to journalists, even to those overstepping their limits and hurting the national interest.

Freedom of expression, overstepping limits, national interest-sweet words these, conveying noble sentiments.They acquire quite another meaning when you are removed from the post of editor, as I was from the Weekly Independent in 2003, under military pressure. My crime? I used to, as I still do, write for Outlook magazine. That's enough for Musharraf to label you an 'Indian agent'. In November 2003, my car was torched. My crime? I had authored a book, The True Face of Jehadis, and written a piece in Outlook on Dawood Ibrahim's whereabouts. Days before the incident, at an iftar dinner hosted for newspaper editors in Islamabad, Musharraf had called me an 'Indian agent' bent upon playing havoc with the national interest.

Subsequently, I joined the Herald of the Dawn Group of newspapers. Soon, the owners were convinced by the Musharraf regime about my 'anti-state' credentials. I was sacked from there as well. Look at the delicious irony: the freedom-loving general was supposed to award me for an investigative report I had done for the Herald.

Postscript: at the APNS ceremony, there were plenty of renewed pledges to freedom of expression and speech. And, yes, I returned empty-handed to Lahore.


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