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Wajahat Ali Khan
A prisoner of conscience
by Anwar Shaikh
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Wajahat
Ali Khan is a young journalist from Pakistan. Some two years
ago he had to flee the country for his life, and seek refuge in the traditional
haven - Great Britain, where men like Karl Marx found peace despite the
hostile attempts of his opponents.
Wajahat Ali Khan is no
revolutionary; he is an ordinary young man with a clean record, yet he
has been declared an outlaw for the sheer crime of believing in democracy,
human rights and free speech. These are virtues in the West, but in some
Eastern countries they are held as vices because they thwart the Fascist
designs of the political operators. Mr. Khan's plight is made worse by
the fact that he openly defies the Islamic dogma, which is the most effective
weapon of gaining power and prestige in Pakistan.
It has been reported
in several Pakistani papers such as The Frontier Post and The
News that the immediate relatives of Mr. Khan in Pakistan are being
harassed by the authorities to get him back. It is a doleful situation.
One can only hope that Mr. Khan will be given asylum in Britain, the land
of the Magna Carta.
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