The Moharram Tragedy

At 4:20 pm today there was a bomb blast in the city as the Main Ashura procession was passing at M.A.Jinnah Road. Till now almost 20 people, and around 50 people have been injured.

Till yesterday under this very heading I was going to write with a different perspective, that can be summed up as below.

It has always been astonishing to me that people usually don’t care about having their voice heard. They don’t come out when the country is going through a crisis, like when the democratic government was toppled by a military General who would live up to the term “dictator”.

But every year people would come on to the streets every Moharram and perform their religious acts with such dedications- sometimes crossing over to the point of barbarity. This was explained to me by my friends in more or less these words

This is an act of piety, we mourn the death of our Imam and his followers who lost their lives fighting the evil that was Yazid. This procession every year is a sort of symbolic act which is meant to say that we are here against any Yazid that would rise today. We mean to show that we have power in our numbers, and every year you can see the wave of men and women who come out to warn anyone who would dare strike the innocent.

Now I am all for religious independence and I have many friends who are Shia and I respect their believes tremendously. But I think most of the people have engaged themselves too much literally to the concept.. Shouldn’t the point be to rise and come out in the streets against the wrong? And not just in Moharram? Where are all these people year long when so much wrong is going on in the world which is wrong?

The symbolism of the Ashura Procession

I dont mean to sound Prejudce and therefore I should say that it is not only the tragedy of one sect but of all of us. We all take religion literally, when I hardly think that it is the reasonable approach because most of the religion is not literal . There is symbolism and meaning between the lines.

Today, after hearing the news of the blast, I am going to change my perspective a bit, and say the following, that it is certainly very courageous for people to go out year after year knowing the possibility that is out there, knowing that each year after year there is a chance that there is going to a blast. Even as I type this, there are people who are out there on the streets who are continuing with the Moharram Procession.

The Burden on a Democratic Government

I think we as people like to live under the curtain of illusions, we like to pretend that things are not what they are and thus we always seem to be invaded by the massive propaganda machine that surrounds us. This point was very beautifully voiced by Hajrah Mumtaz in her today’s article in Dawn, one of the few voices that I have come across that are saying something real in this jungle of noise.

Since the NRO decision by the Supreme Court, it seems that the only people who are being called for accountability are the members of the Pakistan’s Peoples Party (PPP) especially President Zardari. I beg people not to take this post as a sign of my support for the current Government or for President Zardari. I have my differences with the government and they will remain in their place, but i am however in support of the process that is democracy and thus I would support however is the President, let it be Sharif’s, Gillani, or the Chaudarys.

A news item in today’s paper said that Nusrat Bhutto, the wife of the founder of PPP, is being summoned for accountability. At this point it becomes important to remind the Committee for Accountability that the women has suffered more than enough on the behalf of the democracy that we seem so fond of, and therefore today article by Ather Abbas in Express News became very relevant.

Nusrat Bhutto- Paid for democracy by losing 4 members.. but still not donw

I appreciate all that the courts are trying to do considering that their own independent is not such an old story, and therefore they do have to be careful, but why is it that whenever there is a democratic government all characters come running from all directions to destroy the reputation of it, or in some way to destabilize it. There are 8000 cases in the NRO, and there are the names of many of the leaders like Altaf Hussain, Waseem Akhtar, Farooq Sattar, Nawaz Sharif, and many of the army generals who have pardoned an amazing amount of money from the courts, and have now run off to greener pastures, why is it that the court is not asking them to come before the committee and explain themselves.

Another blast rips the country

Every blast sends new waves of fears through out the country, and makes you reassess the entire political system of this country. Yesterdays blast at the Mosque at Parade lane in Rawalpindi were thus not an exception to this fact.. or at least that is true for me.

The day before yesterday, after many heated arguments I decided to change my stance towards the army. I thought that I would from today onwards limit my hatred towards the Generals and the majors only, and not towards the many soldiers that have lost their lives, either fighting in Swat or Waziristan, or for that matter even during performing their duties at the many residential quaters that they have so lovingly built for themselves and their families with our tax money. After all not everyone in the army is the like of  Zia’s and Ayub’s and Yahya’s and the Musharraf’s. I thought I would change my perspective, but then the blast happened yesterday and did it make my blood boil.

First, it boiled when I heard the news about the blast, then it boiled when I saw the nightly agonizing show of Kamran Khan.. a paid ISI man. He and to be fair, many of the other anchors on many of the other shows clearly highlighted the fact that the bombing of this mosque marks the darkest day in the Pakistani history.

Army cordons off the area after the bomb blast

City Government’s Latest Venture

Has anyone seen one of those boxes painted blue with the triangle top on it ? On its own the boxes are spacious, and a good idea, even if they are a bit distasteful for my taste. (Dont know if that statement makes sense). Although the reasons why the City Government decided to start this productive venture is still not clear, beacause there are far too many cons in this project, as compared to the pros.

These boxes have been designed for small enterprenurs, mostly commonly known in our lingo as the “Thalle wala” or the hawkers. The few shops that have been so far sold, at a price some where between Rs. 56,000 to 60,000, have been bought by Flower walla or the puncture shops.

Anyways, so out on the streets yesterday, I passed through Bahdaurabad and let out one of the weirdest shreieks ever. Anyone of you out there who have been to Bahadurabad (which i am sure most of you have, thanks Eid no 1 and eid no 2), you remember those small alley like streets in which no matter how hard you try you just have to bump into the other person every now and then to be able to get to another random point on the street. Well those alley ways have now been lined with this great design solution by the CDGK.

For years, every city government has declared that enchroacments have been the cause of great traffic jams and how they are illegal , how every few months the Faisal Borad, or the city gvernment would come and round up all the cabins, or anything that it thinks comes under the heading of enchroacments. This has resulted in my poor pan wala Bashar’s cabin been taken several several times.

So does the city government thinks (if it thinks at all) that this is a practial solution? NO a big big NO. In half of the places, they have been put up with no consideration about their impact, or the fact that they back many of the shops in these prime locations, thus greatly effecting the business that is already established in the area., one of the instance being the Bahadurabad alley. This “great solution” is simply lined on a footpath intelligently hides away the shop fronts.

Not only that they add to the congestion in the area. Another problem is that the much-hated enchrochments were ditested for so many years, but now this solution is in its essence nothing more than another form of that. They are being placed all over the city on the footpaths literally being a visual barrier and acting as berlin wall, and taking the very little sacred space that a pedestrian has in this country.

Lets close our eyes for our Army

Mubashir Lucman

That definitely has been a national policy for every person in this land of the Pure. It is an approach taken by every politician, citizen, and especially the media. I mean God forbid if someone can ever find a fault with the Army and especially when the army is in the government.

It is as though the army is the all almighty that can never be wrong or make a mistake, and that became pretty obvious in the media in the last few days. It seemed that everything that is happening in this country is the fault of the President of Pakistan, Asif Zardari. Now I am not at all a supporter of PPP or the President, but it seems as though he is being blamed for even the death of a stray dog. It is as though there is a mental block towards the acceptance of a democratic government.

Yesterday in his show, Mubashir Lucman showed a video of a convoy going on the streets of Islamabad, and although he didnt know who was in the convey the point however of showing that clip was simply to inform the naive people of Pakistan how this government is misusing its authority.

I think that he simply has forgotten about the 2-3 hour-long traffic jams and blocking of the streets that used to happen when the ex-president Musharraf used to come to the city, let that be any city and how the petrol pumps used to be closed fro hours. No Sire the army should never be blamed! It is one of the commandments after all of being a reporter in Pakistan, isn’t it?

And then there is one more anchor who it seems have taken an oath to always take side of the army. And that is none other than Kamran Khan of Geo, who so clearly mentioned that “the establishment, by which every one knows means the army, is not so happy with the President.”

Strength and determination: An interview by Varda Nisar

Raees Fatima: Continuing with her crusade

There are very few people in this world who know what is their calling, and it is in these rare people that we find a determination that doesn’t stop them ever from doing what they think right. Raees Fatima is one of them. Her love for Urdu is still strong and growing. Not only is she a well-known educationist but also a columnist and an author of six books in Urdu.

Getting her early education from Karachi, it wasn’t by chance that she fell upon this great love for Urdu. “I always knew that I wanted to be an Urdu professor, as I had always been interested in writing. Since an early age, I was exposed to Urdu literature and reading. I was always writing for my college newspapers and that love is still strong.”

Her education career covers almost four decades and she has left her mark in many of the colleges of Karachi, which include Jamia Millia, Saudabad College, where she taught for 12 years to then finally retire from Nazimabad College.

“I have never been able to deal with the corruption that exists so blatantly in our education system. I retired early because I could never lie about my age as many of my colleagues had done. Many of my older colleagues are still teaching at that college.”

But this is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many things about the system which she was a part of that greatly agitate her. “When you construct a building and its basic structure is weak, you can never expect the building to stand on its own for long. That is the tragedy of our education system.”

She shows her displeasure on not only the coaching system that seems to be booming in the country but also the cheating mafia. “It is such a different situation now. Even a matriculate during my father’s time could speak better English and Urdu but now the education standards have stooped so low that you can’t expect the same from even a college student.”

Strongly against the coaching system, she says that she has always built a case against this latest trend. “Most of the professors don’t even bother teaching in the colleges anymore and I have seen that happening myself. They would be guaranteeing positions for the students that are taking classes in their college. How can we expect the system to work when this is the footing that we are building for the future of our youth.”

Today’s Episode of Fareed Zakaria GPS: Interview with Mathew Hoh

Today’s Episode at this show was definitely worth watching. It shows that how the views of the American people are changing, which is the need of the hour, drastically regarding the issue of Afghanistan.

In the episode, the interview was conducted with Mathew Hoh, the first to resign from Afghanistan and is now of the opinion that the government too should realize that the war in Afghanistan would yield no results.

According to his opinion, the USA is in the middle of a civil war in Afghanistan, which has no end, and can only be seen with regret, lets say 4 years from now, when we would come to realize that there is no future to this war.

The statement that really stuck was the line that went something like this we now have to realize that the Soviet Union came in to stabilize the situation in a country which had been devastated by the constant civil war.

The man of the hour - Mathew Hoh

It was interesting to note his observation regrading the difference in the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan according to him, there are two type of people, mostly those that are Pakhtun and living in the rural area, having a strong hold with their traditions, who just want to be left alone to their ownlifestlye. In Iraq, however, you had people that were feeling insecure and welcomed the allied forces. The people of Afghanistan are poor people, and thus the way and the new policies of the centeral government have only helped in increasing their negative perception about how the situation is being handled in this region.

His point of view about how in a population of 3 million, you can hardly stop a 100 or so people from joining a fringe group like the Al-Qaeda is also valid, to a point where the presence of the American forces or the increase of their numbers only help to justify the point of AL-Qaeda and their acts towards these troops.

A definite must watch episode.

Attack on the Islamic University

Not before has any tragedy hit home to me as much as the bombing on the Islamic University. You can call me an insensitive person who has no compassion for other people’s pain. But its not that.

You see, whenever the bombing used to take place in the many girls school in Swat, I used to dismiss it as a war-zone. Of course we said that it was barbaric, and that those people should be executed and all those words of hate and anger.

A Girls' School in Swat bombed off

Every time it happened in Peshawar, I again dismissed it by saying well it always happened there. NO big deal. The images on the tube managed to intice me for a minute until finally something more shiny comes along.

I was there when the blast took place on the 18th of October. The bomb went off in front of me. Although the impact lasted for almost 4 days but  the fact of the matter was that it wasn’t unexpected. The loss of lives was immense, the effect on me even greater. How could that happen? How can anyone do that?

The attacks on the Islamic University for the first time scared me.. I have been scared since that day that it can happen here.. in my university. It can happen when I am taking my classes, it can happen when I am not in the university, but my friends are. They aren’t playing by the rules.. for them everything goes and we are a weak piece of humanity that has the power to do nothing.. our words, our tax money, our army, our prayers all of it is useless. Nothing can change the situation.

Lahore Attacks

LAHORE IS ONCE MORE UNDER ATTACK, AS MULTIPLE ATTACKS TOOK PLACE IN THE CITY IN THE EARLY HOURS, LEAVING 20 DEAD. THE PLANNED ATTACKS TARGETED THE SECURITY ZONES OF THE CITY, PUTTING SERIOUS QUESTIONS ON OUR INTELLIGENCE ABILITY

I am so furious right now.. and I am shocked right now. This is the country that can always be found bragging about how it can take over USA and India and Israel any day. And yet the situation in reality is that within a week, a certain pattern of attacks has continued, bringing the tally up to a 5.

3 attacks have taken place in Lahore, 2 in places that have already been attacked before, and despite warnings circulating of attacks in the Capital and in Punjab, the security preparations were less than perfect. Todays attack were targeted at the

• ELITE POLICE ACADEMY, BEDIAN

Almost 7 people have been reported injured so far, and the search is still on for any more suspected terrorist that might be in the building still.

A member of the Bomb Disposal Squad taking of a suicide jacket off of an Attacker

Courtesy: dawn.com

• THE FIA BUILDING,

The building has been cleared and the injured have been shifted to the hospitals. A suicide jacket was also found from the vicinity. The last time the FIA building was rocked from its very foundations (literally) was last year on 11th March when almost 26 people and injuring almost 176 people.

• MANAWAN POLICE ACADEMY, MANAWAN

At the Manawan Training School, grenades were fired, as a number of terrorist entered the building and started firing, while 2 suicide bombers blew themselves up. News is that the building is clear of terrorist. But then should the agencies be believd?

The recent attacks on GHQ tell us that the attacks on security agencies is being underplayed in the media. And there  is no certainty, in my mind at least, that there wont be news of the fighting continuing and the security officials being surrounded by the terrorist as hostages.

I am so furious right now, where the hell was our ****** **  intelligence? Where was the security? Where is 50%  of our budget that is used by these agencies going? What is it being used for?

Myths and facts about Kerry-Lugar bill

WASHINGTON: US Senator John Kerry, one of the co-authors of the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act, has issued a list of ‘myths and facts’ about the proposed legislation also known as the Kerry-Lugar bill.

This is how he explained the bill:

Myth: The $7.5 billion authorised by the bill comes with strings attached for the people of Pakistan.

Fact: There are no conditions on Pakistan attached to these funds. There are, however, strict measures of financial accountability on these funds that Congress is imposing on the US executive branch — not the Pakistani government, to make sure the money is being spent properly and for the purposes intended.

Such accountability measures have been welcomed by Pakistani commentators to ensure that funds meant for schools, roads and clinics actually reach the Pakistani people and are not wasted.

Myth: The bill impinges on Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Fact: Nothing in the bill threatens Pakistani sovereignty.

Myth: The bill places onerous conditions on US military aid to Pakistan that interfere in Pakistan’s internal affairs and imply that Pakistan supports terrorism and nuclear proliferation.

Fact: The conditions on military aid reinforce the stated policy of the government of Pakistan, major Pakistani opposition parties, and the Pakistani military and are the basis of bilateral cooperation between the United States and Pakistan.

Myth: The bill requires US oversight on promotions and other internal operations of the Pakistani military.

Fact: There is absolutely no such requirement or desire.

Myth: The bill expands the Predator programme of drone attacks on targets within Pakistan.

Fact: There is absolutely nothing in the bill related to drones.

Myth: The bill funds activities within Pakistan by private US security firms, such as Dyncorp and Blackwater/Xe.

Fact: The bill does not include any language on private US security firms. The issue of how private security firms operate in Pakistan has nothing to do with this bill. The laws governing such firms —which are employed by many US embassies and consulates throughout the world — are not affected by this bill in any way.

Myth: The bill aims for an expanded US military footprint in Pakistan.

Fact: The bill does not provide a single dollar for US military operations. All of the money authorised in this bill is for non-military, civilian purposes.

Myth: The United States is expanding its physical footprint in Pakistan, using the bill as a justification for why the US Embassy in Islamabad needs more space and security.

Fact: As the US Embassy in Islamabad works diligently over the next five years to properly distribute the $7.5 billion to the people of Pakistan, it will need to take into account its own personnel and security needs to make sure it has the right staff with the right expertise on hand. This is common sense.

(Originally published in Dawn Newspaper on Saturday 10th October 2009)

Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize!

I have always been  fascinated by this man.. He is for me a symbol of change.. And I don’t mean that because of his election campaign but because of the fact that he defied the odds against him and rose to be the Commander-of-Chief of the world’s biggest super power at a time when the situation in the USA was less that ideal. He took the oath at a time when due to such a less-than-ideal situation, any mistake of his would either be blamed on his lack of experience, or his race, or his color or his background.

A symbol of Change

Hearing the announcement yesterday of him winning the Nobel Peace Prize has certainly been a very happy moment for me, for here is a young president who is trying to bring a change into the world through dialogue, presenting a side of USA that we have rarely seen and trying to the clear up the mess that the last conservative administration left, not only in the White House but also in many parts of the world.

The announcement on the Nobel Peace Prize page says,

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples…. Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons….has as President created a new climate in international politics…. Multilateral diplomacy…..emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play…. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred….. for resolving… international conflicts……  stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations……  constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting….. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened…

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

Oslo, October 9, 2009

The announcement automatically has followed criticism, which is no surprise .. i mean if his clothing can be an issue of such debate then this is a 100 time greater a news in magnitude…In the news published in Voice of America, this certain part was interesting..

The Eid Issue

The one thing that is great about Pakistan is the fact that there are never any surprises.. you always know what to expect.. from the political humdrum to the price hike before Ramadan.. you can always be sure what is going to be around the corner.

And therefore the issue of the moon sighting is no surprise at all. As usual the scientist said one thing, the maulvi said one and the politicians played their part to get as much air time during this conflict as they can.

The controversy started from the sighting of the moon of Ramadan which happened a day earlier in NWFP. The zonal Ruet-i-Hilal committee sat a day earlier to sight the moon of Shawal, indicating of the fact that whether Eid would be on Sunday after 29 days of observing the month of Ramazan.

The moon was sighted, as could be expected, and the province of NWFP, wuported by the Provnicial GOvernment celebrated the Eid. This has led to a row between the Head of the Ruet-i-Hilal, Mufti Munib and several figures of ANP.

It is a shame that in a time and age of Science and technology that we live in, we have issues like these. But more than that, these things have to do a lot with the political hands that are at play in this region. There is a majority that is playing in the hands of the Saudi influence and would justify anything that the Saudi’s are doing and more so, they would think that it is okay for us to follow it too. The sighting of the moon and celebrating Eid according to it is just one of those issues.

The issue of the moon sighting always seems to be an issue only for Ramazan and then for Eid, and never for any other month.. which is shocking in itself.. and a bit disturbing.. for there has hardly been any Eid where this issue hasn’t risen causing the whole nation to question that if it would ever be possible to celebrate this day together…… Well there is always next year!