Sometimes we go too far

This is a group on facebook that i came across that said:

All Musharraf supporters are TRAITORS and should be hanged for high treason

http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?friends#/group.php?gid=31758963988&ref=mf

I mailed the owner of this group and the conversation, we had, went like this:

Me: I hate Musharraf too and i firmly believe no indemnity to be given to him. But surely that does not teach me to harbour feelings of hatred for the commons who support him. Everybody has the right to own his views and we should respect that. Please delete that group that says. all musharraf's supporters should be hanged. Tolerance is what we are lacking today. Cheers.

Group owner: no actually, for all the missing persons.. including dr. afia.. musharraf should be hanged, so should be all his supporters, whether its the common man or the military or pml-Q or MQM.. and like u say, everybody has the right to own his views, so do i.. and if we let traitors get away this time, you can pretty much bet on what musharraf said in his going-away speach *pakistan ka khuda hafiz*

Me: Yes i do support the hanging and public trial of Musharraf. But with due respect people can own to support Musharraf. We strive for democracy. Right? and lets accept everyone can have a different view than the other. But surely that does not mean hanging all the people with different opinion. A milkman in my market supports Musharraf as he thinks that he was better than corrupt Zardaris and Nawaz and in his narrow perspective he is far better off in Musharraf's era. Does this mean we should hang him? Be objective.
We are fighting for a caue. We fought against the dictator and now we are fighting for the missing persons and Judiciary. These kind of irrational and extreme tactics will only hurt our cause and will question aour rationality ! Everybody has the right to own different views and so do you but this necessarily means respecting the view of others too. I have heard no mushi supporter saying that we should hang the antagonists of Mushi.

Group Owner: well, im sorry.. but zardari and nawaz, how ever "corrupt" they might've been, didnt sell their own citizens to the US, didnt leave pakistan in such an energy crisis either.. i see the so-called "facts n figures" between 1999 and 2008, but im afraid zardari and nawaz didnt sell off the steel mill or ptcl "dirt cheap".. they didnt fudge any figures to place the assetts in the other allocations to show their "success".. and also, im sorry but zardari and nawaz didnt lead pakistan to "101 suicide bomb incidents in 05 years" all in the name of *war against terror* which was actually not even our own war in the first place.. extremism, well again, im afraid there hasnt been one single incident in the US since 9/11 and the war against terror is absolutely un-just, destroying iraq and afghanistan, and im sorry (going a bit into when the taliban were created against russia back in zia's days.. because they would rather support the *ehl-e-kitaab* against the *laa-deen*) this time, its muslims killing other muslims.. which is quite shameful altogether.. so yeah, the milkman in your market prolly hasnt had a family member or a close relative killed or "picked up" by security agencies and made into a missing person, so yeah he can support musharraf and prefer him over zardari and nawaz, but going back to musharraf's fudged figures, there's NO point whatsoever in having foreign universities coming to pakistan, when there's no real education for the primary level, getting to *higher degrees* is a much later stage in the education ladder.. also, there's no point in any foreign university coming to pakistan, when pakistani's who're foreign qualified (such as doctors) either dont get jobs worth what they deserve, or need to acquire an "equivalence" for their foreign degrees (which reminds me a case of imran khan being asked to provide an equivalence for his degree from oxford, back during the 2002 elections!!).. and when it comes to corruption, again, there's no explanation for failed constructions (like that flyover bridge in karachi, that collapsed within weeks of opening), in contrast to that, nawaz who started the isb-lhr motorway atleast 12 years or so ago, is still running perfect.. also, coming from a military background, i can give u exact names of all the army higher-ups who've *supported musharraf* (as i called THEM "traitors who should be hanged" and ripped off most of the military funds, and seem to get away without a scratch on their record.. also, in 61 years of pakistan's history, if you'd look at the page on your passport which lists all the countries you're allowed to visit, you'd see israel exempted from the list, but after musharraf's recent *friendly relations* with the israeli government, there isnt quite an explanation for *accepting* the existence of israel.. which neither zardari nor nawaz ever did.. again, to reiterate, musharraf's supporters are the pml-Q, the mqm, the military higher-ups who're partners in all his heinous crimes, and the general public who still think he's an honest man, after selling so many pakistani's to the US and waging a war in his own country, also launching a military operation against lal-masjid (and please dont tell me they were on the wrong side, cuz ofcourse they were.. i remember the lal-masjid ppl out on the roads with arms n gas masks, but please dont expect anyone to believe the govt had no idea what was going on all these years).. also, when you talk about "development", i think in the last 500 years, the entire world has developed, and not too many countries have gone thru a power-crisis like we're facing now (loadshedding one hour every two hours!!).. i believe "energy" projects are usually the top most thing on the agenda when u think of developing something, even something as measely as a small soap-making factory, you NEED energy.. but this lack of "national interest" has led to pakistan being thrown back into the dark ages.. irrespective of how many cellfone users there are and how many cars are on the roads, for god's sake pakistan is still not a "welfare state", the cars are people's OWN property, they've bought them and paid for them by their OWN money, not by government loans.. which reminds me, its so easy to pull out the NRO every slightest opportunity u can get to make zardari look like the bad guy, but all the NAB cases against the entire pml-Q seem to get sidelined everytime.. and also, im sorry, its irrelevant whatever "good" might've come out of musharraf's 9 year stuntman-role in pakistani politics, he still remains a usurper, and if his initial action wasnt an honest one, not one single action afterwards matters the slightest bit.. if zardari and nawaz were given 9 years to rule pakistan just like musharraf, im sure they wud've put up just as many "mega-projects".. which makes me think, bhutto initiated the nuclear program, even zia carried it on, and nawaz brought it to completion, but im afraid there's been NOTHING done in the last 9 years on that, infact we're a sorry nation if we still want to let *musharraf-supporters* keep their "right to own an opinion", after what he put the premier nuclear scientist thru (yes i know there were also other people involved in the nuclear program as well, but dont make me start off with dr. samar mubarakmand's exploits), infact, in 9 years, pakistan should've developed a nuclear carrier, which we couldnt.. we dont even have the capability to CARRY the nuclear weapon from isb to lhr, let alone using the nukes to *USE*.. the JF thunders and what not, are all used-abused-battered-and-t

orn-throw-away equipment, which we've bought with shitloads of "pride".. so what if zardari was mr. 10%? musharraf has been mr. 200% in ripping the country off.. so, in a country with SO MUCH *economic development*, most of the country including metropolitans like karachi dont get clean-drinkable water from their regular water source, let alone the smaller towns n villages.. and in a country with SO MUCH *economic development*, its a shame an average man earns the equivalent of only about 60 liters of petrol a month.. so id like you to ask your milkman if he's even able to send his kids thru school, or even if his kids GO to school at ALL without being asked for `rishwat` or `gernayl ki sifarish`.. and ask him about his *buying power* TODAY and 9 years back, im sure he'd tell you he was able to buy more amount of petrol back THEN, as he can TODAY.. (im using petrol as a standard for the value of money in any time, i think the only other thing could be gold, but im sure your milkman cannot afford gold for his daughter's dowry in today's pakistan!!)

(and husham, this wasnt 'directed' at you personally, im pretty sure we're both on the same side.. only that, maybe my view is a bit extreme, but im definitely not being irrational.. and if u think i am being irrational, then maybe i am.. but try to look thru dr. afia's eyes, where she doesnt know the whereabouts of any of her kids.. look thru amna masood's eyes, who doesnt know where her husband went and why they took her son away.. look thru the eyes of all those who lost a father or a husband or a brother in yesterday's blasts at wah-cantt.. and even if that fails to convince you, look thru the eyes of all those committing suicide because they're not able to earn enough or buy enough to feed their families.. look thru the eyes of the mother who ran herself and her four kids under a train, because of sheer misery and hunger.. im sure zardari and nawaz's "corruption" never brought pakistan to the point of no-return..)

Me: Brother I agree to every little thing you have mentioned. I agree Zardari and Nawaz can never be worst than this. And i am strongly in favour of putting Musharraf, and all those generals who helped him in coup, to be tried under Article 6 (the penalty of which is death). But then again i have met Amna Masood and agree i will never be able to feel what she is going through. But the Amna Masood i met was determined to fight this 'rational and just' war against tyranny. She was never of the view that all supporters (And by supporters i strictly mean the few* common who supported the dictatorial rule including my milkman and not the compliant Generals) should be hanged. Amna turned towards Judiciary to have a fair trial against the Musharraf and not against the common people who supported him. Just imagine if we have to hang the supporters of Musharraf we would be sacrificing our 20% population according to IRI Public survey.
You know why we are different of Musharraf and what makes us stand out; it is the war of justice and for the rule of law that we are fighting. Do you know why do we stand for missing persons. To fight against anarchy and despotism; again for the Supremacy of rule of law. Now truly tell me, can we prove that Musharraf's supporters are traitors in any court or by any law?? Yes we can try Musharraf and his general under article 6 but there is no article in our constitution that says common people cannot support certain leaders. So I would still be really glad if you edit the title of the group and make it more rational It can be: 'Musharraf and his Generals are traitors ; they should be hanged under treason act'. I am sure no one can try my milkman in any court and I am sure the poor fellow is wrong in supporting Musharraf as he clearly doesnt know what Amna masood is going through. But certainly owning an opinion is not a crime in this country where we strive for freedom of speech and media.