Lessons from the Islamabad fiasco

[M Ali Khan]

http://pakteahouse.net/2013/08/16/lessons-from-the-islamabad-fiasco/

Lessons from the Islamabad Fiasco

August 16th, 2013 | 1 Comment

by Abdul Majeed

(This is a useless post because Pakistan and Pakistanis have steadfastly refused to learn any lessons from the past).



On 15th August 2013,a middle aged man in the Capital of Islamic Republic of Pakistan started aerial firing in the middle of the city. He started firing into the air in the central Jinnah Avenue neighbourhood less than a kilometre from the presidency and parliament buildings after being stopped for a traffic violation on Thursday afternoon, police said, according to the report published by AFP. He was holding a Sub Machine Gun in one hand and a Klashnikov in the other.

He was accompanied by a Burqa clad woman and two children in his car. Negotiations were started with the man by Islamabad Police but to no avail. The saga continued for more than five hours and most of the electronic media was transfixed on this issue for that duration. It was described as a Bollywood movie sequence by one channel and a Hollywood scenario by another. Later, different TV Channels interviewed the guy and his wife alternately.

The drop scene occurred when a local politician Zamurd Khan physically tackled the guy and brought this fiasco to an end. Some of my observations about this are as follows:

State, What State?
In the last two months since the new government took over, an average of four bomb blasts have taken place per day in the country. A Jail containing dangerous militants was broken with expertise, foreigners were killed at a trekking camp thousands of feet above ground, police officers have been killed mercilessly from Quetta to Chilas, a national heritage site in Ziarat has been burnt to ground, a Judge has been killed within court premises, a bomb even targetted the foodstreet in Lahore.

In this background, a mentally unstable guy starts shooting in the air with a submaachine gun in the middle of the Capital, and it takes five hours to bring him down. Writing on the wall says that Capacity of Pakistani State to protect its citizens has eroded. We are each, to our own now.

Emergency Response?
Considering the fact that state has abdicated its responsibilities, the lack of a hostage specialist team to deal with such incidents is alarming. Hundreds of kidnappings have taken place in major cities of Pakistan(Read the latest report by BBC on Flash Kidnappings) and terrorists have used hostages as bargaining chips previously. Why cant our police force have a specialist unit to deal with such situations by now. Oh Wait, we do have an Elite Force, most of whom are performing Protocol Duties alongside VIPs.If political parties in Karachi can have Target Killer Squads, Why cant the Police and Rangers hire a few snipers?

Common Sense
For a ratings-hungry electronic media, this incident was like manna from heaven. Sikander and his enatrouge were enacting a wet-dream of a news program director. The mature response from the media would have been to kill the coverage after the initial hour because people who pull such stunts are craving for attention. It doesnt take a post-graduate degree in psychology to figure THAT out. But No Sir, our media is not a mature institution and they proved last night that they would go to ANY lengths to increase their ratings. Non-Stop coverage was accorded to Sikander and his stunt, while thousands of lives were being endangered by floods in different parts of the country. Evidently, Sikanders marital details and pictures were more important that the hundreds of protestors dying in Egypt.

The worst aspect, in my humble opinion, was the attitude of anchors towards Sikander and his wife. First of All, talking to such people on live Telly is a major blunder, then acting as a trauma counsellor or a psychiatrist is not the job description for news anchors(last time I checked). This was an unnecessary action by our erstwhile Free Media that considers itself Free from even ethical boundaries. It proved that even Media is failing badly as an institution, like the rest of our country(Amir Liaqat dug the grave of media sensibility during his Ramzan Shows). The Laal Masjid Incident many years ago was the starting point for 24/7 media frenzy, It has sadly not died down after so many years.

Brave or Foolhardy?
I remember what a friend of mine once said to me during my newfound activism days: There is a thin line between bravery and being Foolhardy. Zamurd Khan and Nabil Gabol, two politicians from different parties, crossed that line last night. Getting up close and personal with a volatile person who was armed to the teeth is not a sign of bravery. While a foolhardy act did bring down the scene, it was extremely dangerous and uncalled for. We, as a nation, have resorted to hero worship, and the lionization of Zamurd Khan is one latest example.

Nation of Voyeurs
This is not the first incident or instance that people gathered at the scene just for the sake of watching the proceedings. At every traffic accident, skirmish or even a punctured tire, Pakistanis are in a habit to gather around that place to watch. While a burst tyre is not a risk to life in most cases, watching a Police Encounter is not a mature reaction. There was media outrage when cameramen and reporters were forced by the police towards the periphery.!! This appetite for Voyeurism is very unhealthy.

The Aftermath
The demand of the the clearly drugged man was Imposition of Sharia and Dissolution of Current Government. It was said in hushed tones by many right-wing commentators(Im looking at you Javed Ch and Talat Hussain) that the demand was right but the methodology was incorrect. It shows the mental level of those anchors and many of their viewers that ANYONE with a demand for Sharia imposition HAS to be right. Thus, there is a constant confusion in our society about rights and wrongs as TTP and their ilk are also demanding the same thing, while taking part in atrocious activities. Sikander and his (alleged) wife have been arrested and would be presented before court some day. Based on recent judgements and actions of our courts, they may be released.!! After all, Sikander is not a bigger terrorist than Hafiz Saeed or Malik Ishaq, who are rotting in JaiOh.

 

[Peer gony]

Ye bi ik darama tha warna ye mota pass bi na jata

 

[Rizwan2009]

بے وقوف قوم اور مکار و عيار ميڈيا و حکمران
​

 

[v r imran k]

hum india sy larrny ja rahay hian k hamari agenices aik shaks ppp planted ko islamabad sy na pakar sakien ...............kia hum iss qabil hian k dushman sy larr sakian..................kia iss daramy sy hamari kamzoori zahir nahi hoti

 

[gorgias]

کہتے ہیں کہ ایک ملک میں بادشاہ کا ایک پہرے دار صبح صبح بادشاہ کے پاس آیا اور کہا؛میں نے خواب دیکھا ہے کہ آپ کو اس پیالے میں زہر دیا جا رہا ہے۔ بادشاہ نے فوراً پیالے میں موجود شربت کسی جانور کے سامنے رکھا۔ شربت پیتے ہی جانور مر گیا۔ بادشاہ نے اس واقعے کے بعد پہرے دار کو انعام و کرام سے نوازا ۔اور پھر فوراً ہی فرائض سے غفلت برتنے اور ڈیوٹی کے دوران سونے پر جیل بھیج دیا۔

زمرد خان کا عمل بھی اسی زمرے میں آتا ہے۔میں ذاتی طور پر زمرد کان کے اس عمل کو قدر کی نگاہ سے دیکھتا ہوں ایک مجرم کو گرفتار کروانے پر اسے شاباش مگر؛
زمرد خان سرکاری اہلکار نہیں تھا اور نہ ہی مسلح دہشت گرد سے مذاکرات کا مجاز تھا۔ اسے کیوں مسلح مجرم کے پاس جانے کی اجازت دی گئی۔
سرکاری اہلکاروں کا تاخیری حربہ بالکل درست عمل تھا۔ کیوں کہ جہاں انسانی زندگیوں کا مسئلہ ہو وہاں ایکشن میں جلد بازی نہیں کی جا سکتی۔ ایسے میں مذاکرات کو طول دے کر مجرم کو ذہنی اور جسمانی طور پر تھکایا جاتا ہے۔
زمرد خان دہشت گردوں کو پکڑنے کے لیے ٹریند نہیں ، اسی لیے مجرم کو دبوچنے کی کوشش میں فوراً ہی زمرد خان خود زمیں پر گر گئے۔ ایسے میں مجرم اسے بھی گولی کا نشانہ بنا سکتا تھا۔
فوری ردِعمل کے تحت مجرم وہاں موجود لوگوں اور اپنے اہل و عیال پر بھی گولی چلا سکتا تھا۔ اس کے نتیجے میں اموات ہو سکتی تھیں۔

قانوں کہتا ہے کہ کسی مجرم کو گرفتار کرنے میں اگر کسی بے گناہ کی جان کو خطرہ ہو ،تو گرفتاری میں حتی ا لامکان احتیاط کی جائے۔ اور اگرایسا مشکل ہو تو مجرم کو جانے دیا جائے۔ اگر زمرد خان کا ایکشن ناکام رہتا، تو مجرم بے دریغ فائرنگ کر سکتا تھا۔

پولیس کو مجرم کو گولی مارنا آسان تھا۔ لیکن ایسا کرنے میں اس کی بیوی اور بچوں کی جان کا بھی خطرہ تھا اور پولیس کسی صورت یہ خطرہ مول نہیں لے رہی تھی۔

اس پورے واقعے میں میڈیا اور لوگوں کا طرز عمل بالکل نا مناسب تھا۔وہان بے شمار لوگ تماشہ دیکھنے کے لیے اکھٹے ہوئے جو قانون نافذ کرنے والے اداروں کے لیے مشکلات پیدا کر رہے تھے۔میڈیا نے بھی پارے پاکستان کو ایک ہیجان میں مبتلا رکھا۔لائیو کورج کا جو بخار اس میڈیا کو چڑھا ہے وہ نہ جانے کب ہٹے گا۔

​

 

[sumisrar]

I personally feel

All these events are part of creating an environment of failed state.

Starting long ago but more recently we evident attacks on neval base, UBL incident, attack on GHQ, attacks on jails, attackes in quetta, situation in karachi and now this Isb issue (all were successfull) to create a general public thinking that in Pakistan any thing can happen.

India had one or two incidents like that and they hanged the culprits, we failed to take any action, as a nation, and withing our different pillars of govt. and institutions, everywhere, we simply failed.


Media, creating a proper environment, ppl are disappointed with the abilities and capabilities of institutions, agencies has lossed trust.


Allah he reham keray, dont know where we are going, it looks like Irag and libya and syria's situation, Allah na keray

 

[M Ali Khan]

[h=1]Police & media failure: Islamabad saga[/h]

IT was a classic example of how poor coordination and mishandling of a security threat can enhance the danger at hand. For several years now the security and law-enforcement forces have been trying to map out counterterrorism and emergency-response policies and strategies to respond to the terrorist threat inside the country.

But the drama that unfolded in Islamabad on Thursday shows that such efforts, even when applied to a lesser threat, have been practically in vain. When representatives of several law-enforcement and security agencies converged on the gun-toting Mohammed Sikander, his wife and two children, one would have expected them to adhere to some sort of standard operating procedure or response plan.

Instead, we witnessed the mystifying spectacle of different law-enforcement bodies working at cross-purposes.


The appalling failure to respond with any degree of sense or knowledge of how to proceed in hostage situations was painfully evident. Potentially fruitful efforts to defuse the tension through negotiation were interrupted.

And while PPP politician Zamurrad Khan may have brought about the dnouement, he put in danger several lives, including those of the two children. The TV channels, too, must shoulder their share of the blame for contributing to the security risk and for turning a crime scene into a farce. Details were given out by the media, for example about the movement of commandos, that could have jeopardised lives given that both the gunman and his wife were connected to the cellular network.

This and many other factors, for instance the absence of any time delay, went against the code of media coverage of terrorist acts and hostage situations that almost all channels had agreed upon four years ago. The Islamabad police chief said that commando efforts were hampered by members of the media and the public, and this is no doubt true. Efforts to have these onlookers move further away produced only outcries — unfairly — of police highhandedness. At the same time, was there any need for policemen to indulge in aerial firing after Mohammed Sikander was brought down?


This incident did not involve militant and extremist outfits that operate with a high degree of organisation but a lone, seemingly disoriented gunman. There is good reason to contemplate the response to a real attack or a true hostage situation with a high degree of trepidation. While the militant network has demonstrably improved its functioning, it is clear that our law-enforcement apparatus has not. If the situation does not change, the costs can be truly appalling.



http://dawn.com/news/1036372

 

[seekers]

but we need now zamarud khan to get action against terrorist after being waiting for decade genuine action of security agencies