In declaring martial law, a besieged President General Pervez Musharraf has finally ripped asunder the pretensions of returning his volatile country to some form of democracy.
Obviously, the General has come to believe that his powerful mentor and benefactors in the United States are not really serious when they proclaim that they are “deeply disturbed” that Pakistani President had declared emergency rule, and describe this development as a “sharp step backward for democracy”.
At a time when the world knows that Musharraf dare not take any independent line, the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice makes a strange/funny statement to the CNN television: “…Pakistan’s declaration of emergency rule was ‘highly regrettable’ and I hope its intention was to have free and fair elections.” In other words, “it is all right buddy boy, so long you can stage-manage the elections…”
Wow Ms Rice…some diplomacy this!
Meanwhile, shots were heard in several neighbourhoods of the southern Pakistani city of Karachi hours after emergency powers were invoked, says The Irish Times. There is strong backing for opposition leader Benazir Bhutto in Karachi and Sindh province, and the most intense firing was heard in the Lyari neighbourhood, where support for Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party is high, witnesses said.
Pakistan’s constitution was suspended today as President Pervez Musharraf invoked emergency powers, state run Pakistan Television reported.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and eight other judges refused to endorse the provisional constitutional order, and Chaudhry has been told his “services are no longer required”, private news channels said.
ABC News says that “U.S. Told Musharraf Not To, but He Did…” If that’s the case then either the Pakistani military dictator is thumbing his nose at his beloved benefactor in the White House, or has some secret arrangement with his mentor.
If it is the former, then General Musharraf may be getting into what I call a “martyr’s syndrome”. A little more than a fortnight before former Pakistani President General Zia-ul-Haq was killed in a mysterious plane crash, he (Zia) had begun to defy his mentor Ronald Reagan and opted for an independent line…
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.