DR Riaz Ahmad’s letter regarding the NPC award to Lt-Gen Mujeebur Rehman (April 3) amounts to providing a subtle veneer of legitimacy to the treasonous regime headed by Gen Ziaul Haq.

The said award shows that Zia’s Goebles served the ideology of Pakistan which Nazria-i-Pakistan Council (NPC) is purportedly trying to portray and advocate.

This award means, inter alia, that:

–Zia was a champion of the dream of Pakistan,
–the judicial assassination of ZAB was in the interest of that dream,
–Zia’s suppression of freedom of thought, as well as murder of freedom of the press, was in national interest,
–Zia’s use of Islam to prolong his tyranny and to spread extremism was a manifestation of the ideology of the state, and abrogation and brazen distortion of the Constitution was service to Islam.

While the Constitutional Reforms Committee has rightly recommended deletion of the legacy of Zia from the political lexicon of Pakistan, the NPC has recommended an award to the chief spokesman for the murderer of Z.A. Bhutto and executioner of the rule of law.

Pakistan has still not recovered from the colossal damage inflicted by Ziaul Haq upon the state. By recommending a prestigious award to Gen Rehman, the NPC has committed treason by trying to resurrect the ghost of the murderous regime. By doing so, the NPC has done a stupendous disservice to the idea called Pakistan.

This award is a blatant conspiracy hatched by bureaucracy against liberal democratic Pakistan. The NPC, therefore, owes an apology to the nation for glamourising posthumously the wrong side of history.

The casual explanation given by Dr Riaz Ahmad does not fit into the post-praetorian democratic spirit of the country and hence the pressing need for the NPC to confess its mistake and seek forgiveness.

A CONCERNED CITIZEN
Islamabad
Source: Dawn
Date:4/8/2010