Redefining terrorism

This refers to the news report, ‘Is there a state or law of jungle, asks Qaim’ (August 29). Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah has described the recent NAB actions as an attack on the provincial sovereignty and termed the accountability process discriminatory. The CM’s assertions aside, the PPP, which claims to be the party of the poor, should tell its voters how its top leaders accumulate so much wealth. Under the given circumstances, no one would buy Shah Sahib’s arguments. At the federal level, Opposition Leader Khursheed Shah speaks of a war if attempts are made to arrest Asif Zardari. One wonders why the PPP is indulging in retaliatory rhetoric. It is a democratic party. After all there are legal and constitutional options available to the party to agitate on.
Dr Asim Hussain has been charged under terrorism. Now investigators will sift through the record to glean evidence in this regard. But even if the terrorism allegation proves baseless, the marginalised majority still considers the PPP style of governance no less a form of terrorism. If billions of rupees meant for basic public services are wasted to support our rulers’ luxurious lifestyle while people die of hunger, disease and remain illiterate, a valid case exists for bringing all such crime into the wider definition of terrorism.
Gulsher Panhwer
Johi