Introduction to Moeed Pirzada’s Recent Statements
Justice Katju’s Critique: Key Points of Disagreement
Justice Markandey Katju critiques Moeed Pirzada's recent speeches and vlogs on Pakistan's political issues. In his detailed response, Justice Katju highlights Pirzada's avoidance of critical topics such as Balochistan’s exploitation and the true nature of Pakistan’s judiciary. Explore the discrepancies and key points in Justice Katju’s analysis.
Moeed Pirzada obfuscates
By Justice Markandey Katju
Moeed Pirzada is a brave, upright journalist of Pakistan, who had to flee his country to avoid persecution. He has been living for quite some time in USA where he has been giving speeches about the happenings in Pakistan, and posting vlogs on YouTube and Twitter about it.
However, one can be brave and upright, and yet lack deep understanding, which I am afraid is Moeed's attribute.
He gave a speech recently in a function in Los Angeles, which is given below :
Thereafter he also posted a vlog on Youtube about the function
In response, I wrote this article :
Now Moeed has posted another vlog on youtube and twitter, in which he has referred to my article :
There are several points in this vlog to which I would like to mention :
1. Moeed has avoided dealing with the issues I raised in my article, saying he will respond later. But when ?
2. Moeed has discussed in detail the issue whether Imran Khan should be tried by a civilian or military court. I submit this is really irrelevant. Moeed forgets that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was ordered to be hanged by a civilian, not a military court. So if it has been decided by the power which really controls Pakistan to eliminate Imran Khan, the shameless Pakistani judges will duly carry out the orders they receive, as they have always done in the past..
3. Moeed has referred to Balochistan, the ISPR statement, and the Corps Commanders Conference, but he has not said a word about the looting of Balochistan's natural wealth viz gold, oil, gas, copper etc, first by Punjabi businessmen, and now by the Chinese wolves.
4. Moeed delivers meaningless homilies and platitudes e.g. that the hands of the Islamabad High Court should be strengthened, there should be agitations, rallies, TV shows etc
5. He mentions about terrorist attacks in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even in Punjab by the Balochistan Liberation Army.
I would remind Moeed what the great Indian freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak wrote in his newspaper Kesri in 1908 when Bengali revolutionaries threw bombs on British officials, killing some :
''Violence, however deplorable, becomes inevitable when the rulers begin to terrorise the people without any justification, commit largescale atrocities on them,, and turn the entire country into a prison. Then the sound of the bomb is spontaneously produced to impart to the authorities the knowledge that the people have reached the limit of their endurance to oppression''.
Moeed has deliberately not mentioned anything about how brutally Balochs were treated ever since Partition and the creation of Pakistan. When they did not agree to join Pakistan, they were forcibly made a part of it, and the Pakistan army ( which consists mainly of Punjabis ) repeatedly massacred Balochs, looted them, raped their women, and made many Balochs simply 'disappear'.
All this Moeed avoids mentioning, for reasons best known to himself.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India. These are his personal views.)