ISLAMABAD, 24 July 2006 — Renowned Pakistani poet Ahmed Faraz, in a unique protest, has returned a top civilian award, saying that the “country’s constitution has been flagrantly violated by the government, human rights are being denied and the country is heading toward dictatorship.”
Acknowledging that ‘Hilal-e-Imtiaz’ (civil) awarded to him in 2004 was “a great honor,” Faraz said this was given to him “by a regime that has denied the people their basic democratic rights,” The News said.
He said, in my whole literary career I have served human causes and now I feel guilty of retaining the Hilal-e-Imtiaz because human rights and justice is being denied to the people of Pakistan. He said the continuing military actions in Balochistan and Waziristan was the reason behind his decision. “In protest, I have returned the award.”
“In accepting the award, I had hoped that as promised the democratic rights of people would soon be restored,” Faraz said in a letter addressed to the media. Faraz’s action was prompted by his “great disappointment” at Musharraf’s address to the nation last week. Faraz warned that “Musharraf was treading the same path that we treaded in 1971 that led to the dismemberment of the country,” referring to the break up of Pakistan’s eastern wing that became an independent Bangladesh.
Digging deep on the reason behind returning the award, Faraz said: “My conscience will not forgive me if I remained a silent spectator of the sad happenings around us. The least I can do is to let the government know where it stands in the eyes of the concerned citizens, whose fundamental rights have been usurped.”
Meanwhile, in a rare coming together of diverse opinion, Musharraf has been urged to shed the army chief’s post to help the depoliticization of Pakistan’s armed forces.
“Besides being a constitutional office, the office of president is also a political office. Combining the presidency with the office of chief of army staff politicizes the latter post as well as the army,” reads a letter signed by 18 personalities, The Nation said.
The group includes MPs, including one from the pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League, former MPs, former ministers, former governors, two former chiefs of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, two academics and an editor.
Surprisingly some of these general remained very close to Musharraf like Lt. Gen. Tanvir Naqvi, the architect of ‘Devolution Plan”, Lt. Gen. Talat Masood, Lt. Gen. Assad Durrani the former chief of ISI, Lt. Gen. Hamid Gul former spymaster, Sen. S.M. Zafar from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League, columnist Mujibur Rehman Shami and former Information Minister Javed Jabbar. Former Interior Minister Lt. Gen. (retired) Moinuddin Haider, former Balochistan Governor Lt. Gen. (retired) Abdul Qadir and former Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz also signed the letter, according to paper.
— With input from IANS
