Hamid Mir Today Column on 26th Constitutional amendment

What is wrong? In a society where a son thinks it is a good thing to cut his mother’s throat, there should be no doubt about the dominance of evil in that society.

Last night I heard a breaking news over and over again on my TV screen that kept hitting my nerves like a hammer.

A man named Bilal cut the throats of his mother, sister, brother-in-law and niece in Karachi. Bilal had performed Umrah a few weeks ago and was doubting his sister’s character.

Killing of sister and daughter due to suspicion is common in our society, but killing of mother by son is unbelievable. What kind of unlucky person was he who was given the opportunity of Umrah by Allah Almighty.

But even his presence at the house of Allah Almighty could not soften his heart and he returned from Umrah and bathed his paradise in blood.

Didn’t Bilal read in the Holy Quran that you should be kind to his parents? Would he not have heard the hadiths about the greatness of the mother?

Of course, Bilal must have read the Qur’an and must have heard hadiths about the greatness of his mother, but his bad intentions gave rise to bad actions.

This act brought misery to his entire family and became a proof of the domination of the society. This is not just a story of a Karachi family.

I have never seen what is happening around us today. Somewhere the son is getting his father killed by hired killers and somewhere the daughter is fooling her father.

Somewhere a brother is plotting against another brother and somewhere brother is killing the right of his sister.

Lies, slander, hypocrisy and conspiracy are reaching the last limits. Bullying and rigging have become our national interest.

When the leader becomes a thief, then the difference between a thief and a watchman also disappears. When the judge sitting in the court becomes a justice seller, people not only curse the Qazi but also the rulers.

When scholars and journalists stop speaking the truth of cruel king, then flattery becomes the greatest merit. Flattery promotes a culture of “yes sir yes sir” and this shakes the foundations of society.

The truth is that what has been happening in Islamabad for the last several days has damaged the reputation of all the state institutions of Pakistan including Parliament, Judiciary and Media.

The whole nation was trapped in the game of 25 and 26. Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa is scheduled to retire on October 25.

Shahbaz Sharif government believes that if Qazi Faez Isa leaves, the government will become weak. In order to save the government, he made a concerted effort to pass the 26th constitutional amendment before October 25.

Many faces were unmasked in this fateful game of 25 and 26. Someone’s democratism turned out to be a fraud and someone’s constitutionalism turned out to be a drama.

There were some whom I considered to be crop quails and bucks, but despite the physical violence in this game, they did not compromise their conscience.

When I saw the initial draft of the 26th constitutional amendment, I could not believe that it must have been prepared by Azam Nazir Tarar, whom I met for the first time with Asma Jahangir.

This draft was equivalent to imposing an unofficial martial law in Pakistan. I could not believe that the Muslim League (N) and the People’s Party agreed to suspend basic human rights in the name of the Constitutional Court.

Well done to Maulana Fazlur Rehman who rejected the initial draft of the 26th constitutional amendment and Tehreek-e-Insaf was forced to sing the song of his democratism and steadfastness.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman convinced Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to form a constitutional bench instead of the constitutional court. The consensus on the constitution bench meant that no new job could be arranged for Qazi Faez Isa.

Muslim League (N) took this bitter sip but then changes were made in the constitutional amendment draft to block the way of Justice Mansoor Ali Shah. Once again the ministers claimed that the numbers for the 26th constitutional amendment were complete and once again the media destroyed its reputation by making headlines of these claims.