Farewell Shujaat Bukhari
Madam,
Our beloved colleague and senior journalist Shujaat Bukhari was killed a day before Eid. I condemn this murder and the heinous attack on freedom of expression. Murder of journalists is the most extreme form of censorship and sadly, it is not too uncommon in our part of the world. One reason is that the murderers often have impunity and these cases remain a mystery.
Hopefully, this murder will be thoroughly investigated and those behind it will be brought to justice. Shujaat had expressed his concerns for his own safety recently and asked for additional security from the Kashmir government. This is one more case where the government didn’t take a journalist’s safety concerns seriously enough.
Shujaat’s death is a loss for everyone who supports peace in this region. He served both Kashmir and journalism with utmost integrity. As a senior journalist, Shujaat was very helpful and humble. He was an active member of the press and we are slowly coming to terms with his absence. However, we will remember his values and remain committed to his ideals of peace, justice, and equality.
I am thankful to The Friday Times for bringing this very potent voice from Kashmir to Pakistani readers. I wish his family and particularly his children all the best. The thought that Shujaat’s wonderful weekly column will never appear in TFT again is heart breaking.
Ammara Ahmad,
Lahore.
A terrible performance
Madam,
Fate favoured Nawaz Sharif to rise from obscurity to finance minister of the Punjab and ultimately become prime minister. While his two previous tenures were cut short, once by Article 58-2B and second by unconstitutional takeover, he managed to get elected in 2013 to become only person to hold office for a third time.
It was expected that NS would have learned some lessons and acquired democratic norms and ethics during his 10-year exile. Unfortunately, in his recent term, he lost all interest in governance, which was outsourced to his daughter’s father-in-law, who wreaked havoc with the economy, piling up debts and facilitating tax evasion. His obsession with mega projects and weakness for sycophancy blinded him to responsibilities and the constitutional obligation to invest in socio-economic development schemes such as education, health and other basic necessities of life. The PM was out of country for 300 days, which is record by itself for any elected head of state. He hardly attended any parliament sessions.
Adding salt to injury was the arrogance of his family members, his susceptibility to cronyism and their involvement in matters of state and visible conflicts of interest. His sharp-tongued daughter openly claimed status of the ruling family, forgetting that in a democracy, an individual alone is elected to serve people and electoral office does not bestow powers to whole family. State institutions like FBR, State Bank, PIA, SECP were handed to cronies to be abused as spoils of war. His choice of political loyalists to serve as ambassadors has harmed Pakistan.
Malik Tariq,
Lahore.
An unprecedented step
Madam,
Traffic wardens in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa fined over 50 police personnel riding motorcycles for not wearing helmets. The extraordinary incident took place in Chitral, where police motorcycle riders were fined. Orders were issued to initiate a departmental inquiry against them. PTI chairman Imran Khan, whose party governed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has long been praising the provincial police. He had claimed the police department in the KP was completely depoliticised and asked the other provinces to follow in their footsteps. Justice is being ensured in its truest sense because in KP laws are only for civilians but also for policemen as well. I appreciate this step.
Shameem KB,
Islamabad.