Sacrifices made by students, political activists and farmers have kept Pakistani society intact but have never been acknowledged by the state, Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani remarked at the inauguration ceremony of a monument dedicated to the memory of journalists killed in the line of duty at the National Press Club (NPC) in Islamabad on Monday.
"Before this, monuments were constructed only in the memory of those who had laid their lives for the country on the front-lines," the ideologue said.
The lawmaker paid rich tributes to journalists killed in the line of duty, saying: "In a country with weak institutions and politics marred by chaos, the role of journalists becomes more prominent,".
He said that the political leadership could not be complacent in the circumstances which Pakistani society currently faces.
"Our politics will exist only if the federation remains," he warned.
"If attempts to control the society are made, neither will your institution remain nor will the parliament," Rabbani said; not naming anyone in particular, but apparently referring to recent attacks on journalists and the abduction of bloggers critical of the so-called 'establishment'.
"The people will have to stop this intrusion," he urged.
He said that for institutions to continue working within their constitutional limits was the only way that the country could escape "a dangerous fate" that he said he foresaw "if the country continued on the path it was on."
"The state is helpless since the past fourteen days," Rabbani said, commenting on the government's sluggish response to the ongoing Faizabad sit-in.
"Pakistan's masses, political workers, journalists and institutions will have to come together on the same page and decide that 'warlord-ism' will not be tolerated," he said.
"What bad will happen if a law to protect journalists is created? A law is already present but is it being implemented?"
Rabbani also regretted that the law was implemented differently based on which segment of society a criminal belonged to, and stressed the need to implement the law equitable.
