Laal's song

Guns sustaining justice?

The Swat deal highlights the conundrum the country is in.  On February 18, 2007, in the shadows of Taliban threats, tens of thousands of people of Swat voted for the ANP and the PPP to represent them in the national and provincial parliament so that the problems of security and lack of justice could be solved. 

But a few armed men lead by warlord like mafia have managed to trump the democratic process by defeating the Pakistan security and military forces.  The politicians who the people voted for have mostly run away from the fear of guns.  

The only possible 'reason' offered for the complete breakdown of the state in Swat is said to be the post 1974 integration of Swat into the Pakistan legal framework and the consequent lack of justice for the people.  The people of Swat had justice under the tribal-sharia of the Wali of Swat.  Once integrated into Pakistan's legal codes, corruption and inefficiencies built up resentment of the people against the new system creating a field for militants rise as alternatives.  

While justice denied is a source of the angst, the militants are not the solution.  If anything, they are a consequence of the problem and do not bring justice, but fascism and fear.  This is why these militants cannot imagine running for elections in which the people vote freely and choose their representatives.  

The fascism unleashed in Swat cannot be put back by military means (which stand defeated and humiliated) not can be addressed rhetoric.  The only anti-dote is to make the legal system work expeditiously and effectively as was being briefly done when CJ Iftikhar Chaudhary was reinstated from July 20 - November 3, 2007.  The speed with which pending cases were being judged is what the people all over Pakistan mired in legal tangles need.  

Guns have never sustained justice.  Already the militants of Swat rival the brutality of ancient warriors like the Aztecs or Mongols.  Perhaps the brutal violence will prove to be a force of catharsis, convincing people that barbaric forms of punishment are not the foundation for sustaining 'justice'.  The criminals of Swat who have adopted these means have nevertheless convinced many that the quest for justice is not to seek answers from the 7th century, but move forward with the legal codes we already have and provide an independent and impartial justice system.  

The Swat 'peace deal' is an acceptance of defeat but defeat was the only option.  The government should implement a better alternative - and there is one - and follow it up.  This is the only way to defeat the decadent ideology of the militants.