12 October: Why Media forgot it?

12 October 1999 : Why Media Forgot it?

Not a single newspaper write an editorial on the Black Day which is enough to understand priorities of our media and civil society. Interestingly everyone is champion of democracy in Pakistan but if we scan where they were standing at October 27, 1958, March 25, 1969, July 5, 1977 and October 12, 1999 it will expose claims of many easily. Every dictator constructed justification of his illegitimate act by criticizing previous rulers and he often found intellectuals and journalists from rightists, leftists, liberals, fundamentalists etc. Every dictator told us that he did illegal act just to SAVE COUNTRY. It is a sad story of misuse of power. Those dictators not only ruined the country and society but also made all institutions controversial.Since 2008 Pakistan has a democratic governments but some forces are not happy with this and their ultimate goal is to break the democratic continuity as early as possible. They are very smart and often get help from Pro-democracy section as well. It happened during Bhutto time in 1972 and 1977, it happened few months before October 12, 1999 where pro-democracy, secular forces too joined dictator plans. If they had reservations regarding some policies of Z A Bhutto during 1972-77, or they had reservations against some policies of Nawaz during 1997-99 it did not mean to support Zia or Mushraff at all. If freedom of press is important then it is also important that you can enjoy it in a democratic setup. In the absence of democracy and constitution you cannot guarantee freedom of press. The bottom line of resistance during a democratic rule is not to support non-elected forces. It is important where you are standing in a civil military conflict.
If you read editorials published today you will not find any paragraph about 12 October. You can find editorial about Afridi-Miandad shadow games, Cyril story and 10th Muharam but not about the day when a dictator killed democratic system. As par story published in Dawn the writer Cyril clearly mentioned civil military disagreement

Exclusive: Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military

but smart insiders fire the canon towards civil. Pakistan's isolation was the important point but smart insiders twisted it with the impression that was not even discussed in the meeting regarding action against religious groups in the Punjab. Contrary to this as par report  published in Dawn said ''At that point came the stunning and unexpectedly bold intervention by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Addressing Gen Akhtar, the younger Sharif complained that whenever action has been taken against certain groups by civilian authorities, the security establishment has worked behind the scenes to set the arrested free. Astounded onlookers describe a stunned room that was immediately aware of the extraordinary, unprecedented nature of the exchange.

To defuse tensions, Prime Minister Sharif himself addressed Gen Akhtar and said that policies pursued in the past were state policies and as such they were the collective responsibility of the state and that the ISI DG was not being accused of complicity in present-day events.''

Instead of dealing with this issue civil society pasdaran raised the issue of ECL which looks strange. Cyril said i donot want to go out of country then why to divert emphasis? 

Exclusive: Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military