How difficult is it for a human rights activist to work in a country like Pakistan?
Since this was election time, people were free to move around and see. We also acknowledge where some help is given. For instance, the election commission allowed our volunteers to observe the election and I think this is a good practice. But we must agree on the principles. At the seminar mentioned earlier, you remarked that General Pervez Musharraf had surpassed his military predecessors in his avarice to cling to power. Don’t you think his regime is better than the draconian era of General Zia-ul-Haq, who had arrested you and subjected you to severe mental and physical torture when you were an active journalist in the late 1970s? This is not the issue. Journalists fared very badly under General Zia-ul-Haq. Each age is different from the other. What was done by General Yahya Khan in 1970 cannot be repeated today. The difference in eras makes comparison almost impossible. We are looking at the institutional framework. No military ruler before the present one had made so many changes i
