This is not martial law. Democracy reigns in the beloved homeland. The people are ruled by God, democracy is in full swing.
The rulers are accountable to the people, personal freedoms exist, long live human rights, no fear of usurpation of rights, no restrictions on justice, courts guarantee freedom of expression and Prime Minister loves his subjects and poors.
Thankfully, there is no martial law, otherwise, journalists and scholars would have disappeared if they had asked questions.
The people of Balochistan and FATA are not oppressed nor are they deprived of life for demanding their rights.
The constitution is fully enforced, the army is subject to the government and its prime minister according to the constitution, away from politics and only the guardian of borders.
Political, economic, and foreign policies are formulated only in parliament, where the prime minister is accountable to the people’s representatives and the elected parliament. The harmony that exists between the current government and the state has never existed in the last seventy years.
Just a few days ago, at the behest of the state, the government banned a religious organization and now, if the court allows them to perform at will, there isn’t anything to restraining them. Thankfully there is no martial law!
The media is completely independent, thousands of newspapers and magazines are printed, and there are more than a hundred TV channels and countless websites and YouTube channels. There is so much freedom that now journalists, media owners themselves want sanctions to be imposed on themselves.
Recently, senior anchor and journalist Hamid Mir closed his own program ‘Capital Talk’ saying, “Don’t give me so much freedom that I forget where I come from.”
Thankfully there is no martial law in Pakistan. If Martial Law had existed, journalists would not have been openly publishing stories of opposition corruption, nor would opposition leaders have been jailed.
Had martial law been imposed, Absar Alam himself would not have stood in front of the pistol and Asad would not have beaten himself. Just as Matiullah Jan kidnapped himself and roamed in the army of Vigo vehicles all day through his hired kidnappers.
On social media, women journalists are treated with polite words, and government spokespersons are respected. Neither character assassination nor gossip, women journalists are respected just as they would be in the state of Madinah.
It is a sign of political freedom that the leader of the largest opposition party left to the UK and banned himself from appearing on media.
However, as much freedom as we have got, we should think, what will we do with so much freedom? Thankfully there is no martial law in the country.
Note: This is an excerpt from Asma Shirazi’s satirical column for BBC.
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