Inside Mamoon's head for a while [its full of shit I know but please bear a lil] Everything seemed to be going smoothly for me of course if I put aside Iftikhar's victory and Javed Hashmi's release that is. The deal went well. The only problem was to make some more political amendments and provisions so that BB could become PM for a 3rd time. But someone forgot that I couldnt get re-elected after two terms in office specially in uniform. Where's Wasi Zafar and his politico-legal advice when I need one? He must be scratching his balls and abusing the media right now. [For more visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vtx8JOF9AI ] And well, Shujaat doesn't like BB coz he thinks the PPPP was involved in his father's assassination. Aitezaz Ahsen's guilty conscience is also making him disrupt BB's alliance with me. These lawyers are loyal to no one.Nawaz is also thinking of coming back and contesting elections. The damn SC will support him too. If he comes back, 70% of my lotas from the Q league will join him. What's with Shujaat btw? He doesn't like Nawaz either! The US is also exerting pressure. Dang! We killed our own Muslim brethren mercilessly right in the heart of the capital without a regard for public sentiment. The whole Pakistani public now thinks that the army stands for whatever I stand for. They, who saluted a foot soldier wherever they saw one wouldn't spit at Pak Fauj anymore but Bush still thinks I'm a pussy and not doing enough. What to do, what to do, what to do? Hmmm declaration of emergency seems to be the best solution. Neither would the courts remain this mobile nor would Nawaz land here [and well if he does we've got a lockup ready]. Great! And we could also shut the media up somewhat after the proclamation of emergency. AND I would also get re-elected IN UNIFORM and from the same god-damned assemblies where I have somewhat of a standing. A new assembly poses too much of a risk to my successful re-election. The SC wouldn't be able to do a thing. Hmmm...I'll do that right awa...wait I'll take this phone call first. Oaey Condomeeza Batameeza! Kesi ae meri kojee jaan ki totee? Kiya?! No emergency?! [silence] People are willing to blow themselves just to blow me up and you're asking me why I didn't attend the Grand Jirga? What The F....OX News.. (the US declares [although its also in their best interest to have a military ruler in Pakistan - somewhat of a "controlled democracy"] that they want free and fair elections without the imposition of emergency) *Sigh* Haan Shujaat AB KEE HOYA? Ab kee masla pae gaya ae tuaano? Great! He doesn't want a temporary solution either. Something that gets me re-elected but doesn't offer his lota league anything. Ab is paindoo ko kaun samjhaey k sab saath nahin mil sagda. Ok Mush, focus! Focus! Lets put things on hold for a while. Lets just celebrate 'independence' [Aishwarya on SaharaOne] and 'enlightened moderation' [read Reema's sleazy performance on ARY] for a while and we'll decide things after August the 14th.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Not so random ramblings
Celebrating sixty years of independence. Its a choice really. Pretty much everything we look at appears grim. With American diktat guiding almost everything we do, independence and sovereignty seems questionable. Economy on a downslide, provincialism greater than ever before and the clash between the religious and the secular so vividly evident, there's really not much to celebrate is there? Ah, but I forget. Civil society hasn't be so mobile. Media this independent, never before! Judges who paved way for military rule earlier haven't been this eager to put their foot down. In fact, its only the SC which brings a glimmer of hope in all this darkness. Be it bringing up the case of missing people, taken away by foreign agencies for questioning. Be it re-opening of the Lal Mosque facts. Be it the 12th May tragedy. Be it the release of ppl falsely implicated in conspiring against the army [Makhdoom Javed Hashmi]. It was only the SC because of which our dear general was almost forced to commit political suicide by declaring emergency. That was the only way he could immobilize the courts and their proceedings a bit. The only thing that can go wrong now is the exhaustion of the fervor of the ppl in their support of the Supreme Court and its judges. Of course we can't expect Mush to deliver free and fair elections to us so its pretty much upto the Supreme Court to overlook the operations of the Election Commission. The only way forward rather the only thing that can save this country now are free and fair elections. The middle class which is (quite unfortunately) the only strata of society with a bit of intellect, education and zero personal motives [read political ambition], has totally segregated itself from the election process. It has rightfully become disillusioned, disenchanted and aghast at the state of socio-polity in the country.What I feel is that they too are partly responsible for the status quo. If we leave the election process totally upto people who are so unaware so as to choose the same murderers, embezzlers who looted and pulverized them before, then what's the use of lamenting the election process? This time around, DO CAST A VOTE. Make whatever YOU feel is the RIGHT choice. Fulfill a social and national responsibility. Empower the right people and be empowered.
An attempt at provoking thought
Ours is a nation that has been torn apart in the choice of being a secular state or an Islamic Republic. The people who say that Quaid-e-Azam single handedly won Pakistan for its people pretty much forget that it wasn't the Quaid or his relatives who used to get cut up as the trains were flooded with dead bodies when arriving from Amritsar.Even then it was the poor man and even today its the 70% of the rural population upon whose efforts this country is thriving and God forbid Pakistan comes under attack by USA or Israel or India it will again be the poor man fighting for Pakistan's survival and most of us would be packing off to some place in our airplanes. The Quaid-e-Azam was a secular man undoubtedly. Eid ki namaz k ilawa kuch nahin parhtay thay and as Stanley Wolpert quite articulately writes in his book Jinnah of Pakistan and I quote.The birth of Pakistan and India are both big events in their own right but we can never refrain from the fact that these two countries were born only to a lesser extent because these two nations Hindus and Muslims couldn't coexist rather because these two towering personalities couldn't!!I don’t want to base my opinions on the thoughts of an individual but the fact remains that it is more important that Pakistan have an alignment with the desires of the country’s individuals rather than those of the Quaid-e-Azam alone. Do all Pakistanis really want a secular state? What do most of them want? What about the remaining? Can we frame a constitution or something which streamlines the wishes of both these groups? These are the questions we should ask. By saying over and over again, that Ye woh Pakistan nahin jo Quaid ne chaha tha we see the dynamism of the same groups that assassinated Liaquat Ali Khan for framing the Objectives Resolution; the very same pre-amble because of which every single constitution of the country states that there would be no law against Islamic teachings and if there is any the Islamic Ideological Council which would be a collection of elected representatives should aim to bring that law in line with Islamic conjunctions. Today, what the West is trying to achieve is a secular Pakistan with total separation between religion and governance just like they themselves a separation between the church and the state. And please I assure you that the only reason that binds so many different nations such as Urdu speakers, Punjabis, Pathans, Balochs and Sindhis together; irrespective of the tremendous differences of their culture, clothes, dialects and language, folk songs, food, everything!!- it is religion. For these people it really was and is religion that was the driving force behind this country’s creation. So, the reason for this lengthy speech? Any attempt against mosques and madressahs or seminaries is perceived by these people as an attack against Islam and they will not tolerate it. Be it a foreign transgressor or invader or the government inside this very country. These people perceive these suicide attacks as jaaiz and shahaadat wielding just as those people who blew up Indian tanks by wearing bombs to themselves and colliding against them in the ’65 war. This is not a purposeless example. It is important because Ayub [however a bad person he might’ve been] had the whole Pakistani nation behind him and he had said k dushman ko pata nahin k us ne kis qom ko lalkaara hai. Musharraf has only created divisions in the national fabric and people can’t really decide whether these suicide bombings in the name of Islam are right or are these people wrong. I am not justifying the act of a suicide bomber. I’m just trying to highlight the act as one out of sheer frustration; something one does when he does not where to go. It can be compared to the act of a widow who has already lost her spouse and not knowing what to do starts the maatam and hitting her own chest. These suicide bombers do the same thing. They know they can’t destroy America, they can’t reach the higher ups so they cause this horrible disruption in normal civil life and hurt themselves [and other common men].Today when I chat across international boardrooms, foreigners bombard me with questions such as is this what Islam is? Is this what Islam preaches? The only sane thing to do was not to alienate these people in the madressahs and seminaries. We should’ve provided them extra-religious education as well. We should’ve brought them in the mainstream. These are the only authentic people to answer the people on international chatrooms and places where the name of Islam is being smothered. The obvious question would be Yehi tau Musharraf ne karma chaha tha! Yehi tau baat ki thi of introducing reforms! Kia ye loag tayyar huway?Tau bhaiyon aur behnon “do baatein hain” as Mushi says; if in the name of reforms we try to change the existing curricula insteading of making those required worldly additions, they’ll never accept them. If we’ll talk of scrapping Jihaad from their syllabus do we really think they would let us eliminate such a fundamental pillar of Islamic thought? Secondly and more importantly, we have always talked of introducing madressah reforms, have we ever talked about introducing some Islamic basic teachings in our own schools?? Leave the levels people, have we ever thought of implementing this in the public schools jahan se bachay ko nikal kar sirf kuch ahaadees rati hotee hain and kuch Quranic verses and that’s it. Bachon ko Wazoo [ablution] aur Namaz k tareeqay nahin aatay!! Have we ever thought of doing that? We do encourage celebrating Holi and Diwali in some schools. We have started celebrating Halloween. Sex education [however necessary it really might be], was to be a fundamental part of the Aga Khan Board's curriculum. Some Cambridge medium schools have ENFORCED celebrating of Valentines Day but do we ever see whether our children get to properly know about Islamic teachings? Of course not, then why wouldn’t the seminary people be reluctant to implement these reforms smelling foul play?There’s a lot of bias and a lot of hypocrisy in our thought. I’ll just close on something I heard from a friend of mine in GIKI which would certainly help to reflect how much we know as Muslims when we call ourselves as enlightened moderates. There is no good or bad Muslim my friends, either you are one or you’re not! If you’re not leading your life according to those principles at least have the courage to admit it instead of trying to halal-ofy music and dance parties. Jo karma hai karo at least ghalat ko ghalat jaano aur maano tau!! Ok so here goes. Yaar Islam is so right dude. I was just thinking that we really should read the Quran and say our prayers and all. You reach a higher mental level when you meditate, like Buddha. Namaz too is just a short form of meditation dude. I mean not too much but I read it a bit, the Quran is so awesome man!! It totally rocks. I think that the Prophet must’ve been a genius to write such a thing --->!!!!!! Now here we have a Muslim who doesn’t even know that this Book is from God Himself and not something the Holy Prophet wrote. And this not just a singular instance I can quote. Huh, enlightened moderates!
Playing the Death Tarot
Mushi's decisions finally unveil the far-sightedness of his vision. Suicide attacks everywhere from Miran Shah to DI Khan and from Karan Kot to Swat.Lets assume there's an operation in Swat as well as Mr Aftab Sherpao quotes has been in the boondocks for a long time; will it solve anything? The tribal populace of Waziristan is now saying that the resolution is over and they too are prepared to wage war on the Frontier Constablary, the Army, the Police and all other security personnel.The only thing that the Lal Masjid operation has basically achieved is alienating the second hand of the Pakistan Army; the Frontier. Its no mystery that the Pak Fauj is basically constituted of Punjabis and Pathans as compared to any other nationality in the country."Extremism" as President Saheb puts it can only be eliminated by total annihilation of 2 provinces of this country and unless and until Mushi is preparing to do that as well; there's no stopping people who don't care for their own lives; as we can vividly see from the exponentially rising frequency of these suicide attacks. Even that wouldn't solve the problem. Out of the 160 million people residing in Pakistan, a staggering 20 million!! Yes, 20 million are in Karachi and out of these, a great 2.5 million are Pathans-from the educated elite to the Imam Masjid, the scavenger kid and the Naan-bai at the roti stand. [Don't know about the Balochs and the Makranis but the Bugti incident was enough to piss a few of them off as well.]Its high time everybody involved in policy making realizes that extremism isn't a 'few' million people prepared to kill and be killed; its a mindset-and ideologies and mindsets aren't changed by bombing such people to smithereens.On a different note, Mushi keeps on talking about bringing a change at the grass root levels. We have a different form of "extremism" that we witnessed on May the 12th. What about them President Saheb? And these were the same people shouting for an army operation on the Red Mosque when they themselves suffered the same fate at the hands of the army in the 92-96 period and cry foul play to date. Aap loag sab apnay double standards khatam kar dein please, khuda k liye!!P.S. Can't wait to see Shoman's new short film Khuda K Liye. Its on extremism and its got Iman Ali. What more can one possibly want?
End of a chapter in Pakistan's History
Tuesday 10th June 2007, 6:44 pm, Maulana Abdur Rasheed Ghazi was killed in the precluding army operation. Lets hope the nation doesn't spilt in two on this. People are already rising in Swat and FATA. Lets hope people from Karachi and Lahore don't rise. Its pretty certain that the government wouldn't be able to 'draw the line' everywhere. Because each time the 'enlightened moderates' will plan an army action, another 'extremist' group will rise some place else. How many people will die in this process is beyond contemplation at this point.I still think the government could've let better sense prevail. When they can let the criminals responsible for the 12th of May go (heh or should I say allow them to continue to rule us); when they can let go of Shahnawaz Bhutto's Al-Zulfiqar in spite of losing a major (who was thrown from the cockpit); when they can resolve matters with illiterate Talibans in the North Waziristan and Wana regions; this was perhaps something the government could've emulated. People might question that should we let this continue? Shouldnt an example be set? Well my friends after today extremism will either totally vanish from teh face of this country or it would be the other way round. And I seriously seriously doubt that it would be the former. On how many fronts Musharraf is going to wage war and commando action is only for time to tell and his bloody self to decide.
Random
Accountability sucks big time.I finally realize they are changing definitions. They call it freedom. Escape from religion is what it is. What is religion? Its a code of life. Something that incorporates discipline and probably gives a sense of direction to the meandering soul. Heh, nice way to write it all off by saying "Hey,Im spiritual. Just not religious". I think its necessary to be answerable to someone at all times. Whoever the superior is,whatever the stage might be.
Transformation
The rushes of blood to the head have increased all of a sudden.It started of as gory, grisly and gruesome, to plain heart wrenching and nerve-racking and now it has culminated into something that holds a peculiar fascination.There is something awkwardly exciting about the sheer concept.Its only a matter of time before the transformation is complete. Then it'll all be ok. As if its perfectly normal. The fear of getting caught being probably the sole impediment. Damn! All we strive to do is to lead the perfect suburban life. Good job, wife and two kids. Aah! So ordinary. Look at our passions. Mine 'seem' the same; they aren't. Ive to do whatever it takes to be normal or should I say 'act' normal. Ive to fit in. Ive to blend so well as if I were one of you, when I am not. I have to do it now. Ive to kill somebody and it has to be someone of prominence but I shouldnt hasten. Its better to start of with the scum of society; the non-entities, the virtually non-existent.I need to grow in skill. I need to evolve and work my way to the top.
