India must speak up for missing bloggers in Pakistan
Pakistan is already plagued with a host of problems — domestic terror, a fragmented military, human rights abuses, strained relations with neighbouring Afghanistan, resentment brewing in Balochistan and PoK — keeping the establishment on its toes. In addition to all these, a new malady has struck the nation — the curious case of missing bloggers. The problem assumed monstrous proportions as several bloggers went missing within the first week of January.
Judging by history, Pakistan has never been very tolerant towards men of letters. It was a sound and wise judgement on the part of urdu poets and academics that they chose to remain in India after the Partition. Their vision paid off and poetry flourished in a tolerant India, where even the common man remains a patron of Urdu literature.
Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Ali Sardar Jafri, Sahir Ludhianvi, Jan Nisar Akhtar, Shakeel Badayuni and other such luminaries would not have prospered in today's Pakistan. Same holds true for musicians and artists belonging to diverse disciplines.
To illustrate the argument, Josh Malihabadi (1894-1982) ignoring the advice of Jawaharlal Nehru and others decided to go and live in Pakistan acquiring Pakistani citizenship in 1958. Already recognised for his literary work in India (Malihabadi was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 1954), his work never got the same kind of acceptance in Pakistan. Crestfallen for being ignored, Malihabadi sent numerous feelers to India to return, but, sadly, by then it was too late.
Coming back to the mysterious disappearance of bloggers in Pakistan, the establishment seems helpless and not really interested. There is no place for dissent and free speech even as the right-wing zealots accuse the vanished bloggers of blasphemy and anti-state utterances.
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| A policeman intervenes as supporters of a religious group chant slogans during a protest against human rights activists in Karachi. (Credit: Reuters photo) |
Since January this year, an estimated 14 bloggers and activists have been reported missing. These bloggers were raising their voices against extra judicial killings and highhandedness in Balochistan.
A couple of days ago, Pakistan interior minister Nisar Ali Khan issued a statement decrying what he described as “negative propaganda” particularly on social media against the missing men, and alluded to the perils inherent in the allegations against them.
Does that mean the disappearances point to state endorsement?
Coincidentally on January 19, supporters of various religious groups in Karachi hurled stones at protestors demonstrating against the disappearances, and strongly demanded that the men be put on trial for blasphemy. This is indeed disturbing.
According to Raza Rumi, visiting faculty at Ithaca College and Cornell Institute for Public Affairs (who has also authored The fractious path: Pakistan's democratic transition), in recent years hundreds of suspected men from south western Balochistan have been picked up by religious extremists. He reckons that a government-appointed commission is dealing with as many as 1,129 cases of missing persons.
Rumi further alleges that the exact relationship between the right-wing bigots and the security establishment remains suspicious and far from any conviction.
From the recent developments, it appears that Pakistan too has joined Bangladesh and China in silencing the bloggers with the support of extremists. If the trend continues in Pakistan, things would go more out of hand with a spurt in terrorist-driven activities.
While those in power seem complacent and oblivious of the sad occurrences, secular and progressive intellectuals in Pakistan are facing increased risks from extremists.
Unless the international community speaks up, the number of such missing persons will keep increasing. Why is the Indian intelligentsia silent? Why isn't anyone expressing solidarity with the Pakistani activists and helping build up pressure against the extremist forces?