What IS the matter?
It was facebook that had us worried just a little over a week ago. Then came anything between 600-1000 sites that were also blocked. Sabeen, Awab, Abid, and myself, went into the KPC to lodge a protest about why we think the 'internet multiple ban' was stupid and - when necessary - the pages that carried information that was causing the protest should have been banned. There we faced enough protests and had to run out or move away.
How badly a press, about whose freedom we had all fought, had turned us away.
On Tammy Haq's TV show the ban was being discussed. One of the guests was JI's Mairaj-ul-Huda — an out and out liar who insisted that no crimes had ever been committed in the Danish Cartoon protests, when all of us remembered the Lahore scenes.
Amazing how a self-proclaimed guardian of truth could speak such lies … and with a straight face.
Then came Friday. Lahore burst into flames. Ahmedis were murdered in cold blood. The police whizzed around but did little. The two people who were eventually caught by two Ahmedi boys - who held them down for 30 minutes - and were given over to the policemen who came in. The police fired shots in the air to say that they'd won. Won? 93 dead, 110 injured … and you've won?
Not a soul from the government, politicians, leaders, celebrities, sportsmen - no one really - could find the time to call up the victims, the children, the families, and offer them sympathy.
Then came Sunday. We woke up to the news that Israelis had bombed/ raided the ships heading out with food and medicine equipment to Gaza. Talat Hussain of Aaj TV was one of the 40-50 members on the ship that was hit. We wait for him, now, to come back and tell us more about it.
The Israelis did have a spokesman on the news channels. He said the crowd (that had Al Qaeda support!!!) had opened fire. You climb their ship in open seas and they raise white flags. You say they opened fire?
Time to go to bed, tonight…
Labels: Activism, Bloggers, Events, Media, People, Politics, Religion, Technology
posted by Zakintosh at 5/31/2010 08:45:00 PM
2 Comments:
The boarders (if this happened off the coast of Somalia, we would call them pirates) were actually rather savagely set upon, with metal rods. The Israelis claim their soldiers (marines, evidently) were at first only armed with paintball guns, doubtless hoping to paint the entire situation in a different colour.
The videos (I have seen the ITN reports) show an exceedingly inept boarding process, and one must feel sorry for those first troops, who were simply tossed into a provocative scenario, with no protection or way out. They don't even have a chance to get their bearings before they are throughly bashed up.
Violence begets violence, and undoubtedly the initial Israeli action was foolish. It remains to be seen whether it was also illegal ie., if the ship was boarded in international waters.
Israel has never had a tolerant policy towards any anti-government actions, beginning right from the Partition, when they shot down an aircraft carrying arms for the extreme Zionist faction. Unfortunately, for several years now, it is that violent faction that dominates Israeli politics. The trauma of Gaza is the festering result of this swing towards extremism, just as the trauma of the Ahmadiyyas is the result of an extremist movement.
01 June, 2010 16:33
Justice can often prove elusive for certain sections of the world's population, especially those that comprise minorities, religious or otherwise.
01 June, 2010 17:07
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