Pakistan: PPP antics | Here’s to you Sherry!

The PPP’s decision to boycott a media group known for bad-mouthing the president and the government may have been debatable, but the decision to turn cannibalistically upon its own members is nothing short of frightening.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | INt'l Desk
Source/Credit: The Express Tribune
By Faria Syed | October 29, 2010

Earlier this week, MNA Sherry Rehman became one of the many Pakistani politicians to face the consequences of having a brain.

Yes, not only does she have a killer wardrobe, Ms Rehman is also in fact one of the few leaders in Pakistan who does more than steal, bribe or sit on talk shows all day. Ironically, it was exactly for this crime that the ruling PPP chose to penalise her and Senator Safdar Abbasi. How dare they appear on a talk show that would be broadcast on one of the county’s most popular television channels?

Actually, the real question is how they dared to appear on the channel after the party had told them not to.


This military-style crackdown on PPP members is shocking. Rehman and Abbasi were issued show cause notices by the central executive committee (CEC) for indiscipline. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan the former information minister’s house was late raided and her family harassed.

An HRCP statement said:

The police stood by as armed protesters blocked the roads leading to Sherry’s residence and blocked the entrance to her house. The protesters also called her a traitor to the PPP and the country.

This is an unfortunate trend in a country where one does not have to look far for methods of intimidation and harassment.

Disssent and democracy are apparently two diverging values, which the PPP has once again failed to reconcile.

The PPP’s decision to boycott a media group known for bad-mouthing the president and the government may have been debatable, but the decision to turn cannibalistically upon its own members is nothing short of frightening.

Does the government expect lawmakers to follow its every dictum without question? If so, that is not a government that I want running my country.

The party has long been one of the few groups to champion democracy and freedom of speech in Pakistan – so why now is the PPP punishing Sherry Rehman for believing in everything they taught her was right?



Read original post here: Here’s to you Sherry!