Can victim mentality lead to Introspection?

In the last few days my homeland has seen unprecedented events and imagery we have not seen before. Before I comment on the events themselves I would start by commending Imran Khan for creating political interest in a historically electoral aloof nation and specially generation that gew up in ugly 90s politics. To his credit, whatever other good or bad he has done, in my view this will remain his prime achievement.

I didn’t grow up at time of Z. A. Bhutto so I don’t know if current level of popularity Khan enjoys is same as the level of ZAB but it is safe to say among his contemporaries, there is no one closer to him. The way families have showed up including children and elders organically is a sight in itself. Of all the amazing pictures however this picture to me defines existentially both the strength and weakness (with much touch of hypocrisy) fundamentally within PTI.

Strength of course is that IK’s fans are dedicated and have shown they have courage to support their leader. Another perspective however is that this reeks of their own hypocrisy. It shows they always knew who the real power brokers in this country were who had been abducting civil society activists, journalists, politicians and tribal men without any trials, at times tortured, threatened or forced exile. But PTI supporters were OK with this because it did not impact them personally. In fact it used same power brokers to come into power in the 1st place quite happily. Not just these, but despite going after corrupt elites being his single talking point of 20 years of struggle, PTI got the majority in parliament through dacoits of sugar mafia, land grabber mafia and ayyash nutjobs of British diaspora.

When that was the case in the first place, why does PTI and Khan fans pretend that what happened to them was something unexpected?

So will there be any introspection by PTI and it’s fans over things critics have been saying all along about it? The actions so far suggest otherwise.

Khan likes to give examples of UK a lot. In UK parliamentary system it’s pretty normal for PMs to get booted out when they no longer hold the majority. Pakistan is modeled on same system. It’s not a presidential system. Despite what he may claim what happened to him, whatever the motivations of the actors, it is part of Democratic process. Reason I’m skeptical of any introspection is because he tried to stop that through unconstitutional measures despite coming on live TV and committing in front of nation that he will let vote happen and accept the results. Instead he went on the route of victim mentality and when ur channeling ur whole politics with victim mentality, it hardly leaves any room for introspection.

Sure, we all would love for him to spill the beans on the real power brokers of this country, something which sections of civil society kept warning Khan about since years and he only got the taste of it from the other end of the stick. But more than that, PTI as an institution itself needs this introspection.

JJ! The icon of 90’s Pakistan

I haven’t written anything in a while. I have been thinking of writing about few things for quite some time now, but somehow did not feel motivated enough to do so. But something happened today. Something that has affected me on a personal level and I feel like it will consume me if I don’t put it into words.

In all honesty I feel surprised at how much of a personal loss I felt when I first read the news of Junaid Jamshed aboard the ill fated PK-661. But I understand. Being a Pakistani millennial (or 90’s kid as we prefer calling it here), it was almost impossible not to have any effect of Junaid on your personal life. I am not using ‘personal‘ here in loose terms. This is true for many of us.

My first memory of him, like thousands of other kids back in the day is, of course, ‘Dil Dil Pakistan‘ and the nostalgia connected with it. It is more than just a patriotic song of my homeland. It was the song for which I would especially ask my mother to wake me up during late night PTV  programs. It was the song for which I would turn my focus away from my books and towards the TV while my mother was trying to put some Math in me (and ultimately pay a hefty price for it). It reminds me of happy times. And simpler times. It reminds me of 14th August every year. It reminds of the small Pakistan flags I would put up all over the walls of my childhood home. It reminds me of a time when I could proudly and whole heartedly embrace my love for my country without looking into its many flawed dynamics.

For many, his voice is reminiscent of their first love. Junaid belonged to first true ‘pop‘ boyband of Pakistan. For 90’s youth, melodies produced by Vital Signs provided a hefty dose of the carefree elation of young love as well as an antidote for broken hearts. Then of course there was a time when he started his solo career and many people weren’t sure if it would make the same impact. However when the first album came out it was an even bigger success with the most memorable romantic melodies and music videos that are timeless and still resonate with the common man, kind of like Ghalib’s poetry. The very first mix tape I made had the most songs from that very album. I still remember the countless times I would switch on my PC sitting in my hostel room only to listen to ‘Aietbar‘ on Winamp. It might not be true to call Junaid the best vocalist or musician ever produced by Pakistan, but his voice certainly resonated with the common man’s heart in the rawest, most honest manner no one else’s could. Sometime after he had decided to call it quits on his music career, he once happened to be on board the same flight of which my Uncle was captain. He recalls a frank chat with Junaid where he asked him the reason for quitting music, especially when his voice meant so much for so many people in Pakistan and around the world. “Why would Allah want to take that help away from people?”, he argued. My uncle, an avid fan, felt compelled to ask this question because he like many others saw it as no less than a tragedy to never be able to take the positive energy from his voice again.

But as time showed he never actually quit music. Not truly anyway. Apart from voicing ‘nasheeds‘ and ‘Naats‘, he would occasionally sing something, without musical instruments (if he could stop Salman from playing the guitar). While it was not the same thing, many of us who loved his voice still cherished these rare occurances.

But he was not just a singer. It would be unfair to his legacy to look at only one aspect of his life. If we are talking about the 90’s generation and the effect JJ had on their lives on a personal level, it would be dishonest not to mention that he was also an inspiration to a large segment of population for his religious and spiritual transformation. While all may not necessarily understand or agree with the choices he made, it is true that he found peace in something which eludes a lot of people and who spend their lifetimes without having a moment of acceptance. He had found it in religion. In this aspect as well, he very much represented the 90’s Pakistan and his transition to post-90’s evangelism that mirrored what was happening with a large segment of Pakistani youth which meant that he continued to be a hero to many people, even if not the same ones. His brand of religiosity like all other brands had its positive and negative elements. People, even fans like me, had a field day joking about some of his lets-just-say ‘inconsistencies’ for the lack of a better word. I would argue that even that was on many levels purely out of love for him because we all felt personally connected to him and felt ownership over his personal life like only true fans would. But by all accounts he was content with the life choices he made and continued to touch people’s hearts one way or the other. Like most people he was a man of many colours. But he was definitely THE icon of 90’s Pakistan and his life journey had stark similarities with Pakistani society itself. He may no longer be among us but he left an indelible mark and us 90s kids will forever be indebted to him.

 

P.S Time to listen to ‘Aitebar‘ one more time.

 

Building the National Narrative

 

“He is Maalik Ashtar of today. Imam has sent him in his place to fight for him”, said my taxi driver in Tehran couple of years back while pointing towards a billboard that we passed by. That time Iranian revolutionary guard commander General Qassem Suleimani was not that much camera comfortable as he is today so I did not recognize the face. The billboard depicted him in deep though while in the background Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was waving a salute cum salutation towards him.

“Even Rehbar sends him salam. He calls him a living martyr. He is alive but still a martyr”, he continued. His references were towards the historic Maalik Ashtar who was sent by Hazrat Ali a.s to be the governor of Egypt where constant threat of war was looming over.

And the references did not end there. As we our journey continued towards the city of Qom, more billboards came with more heroes and their pictures with Ayatullah Khomeini and Khamenei with Persian couplets praising the martyrs or Iraq war or the ones fighting in different parts of the world through IRGC or even some key diplomats.

“Here what you see is Muslim Bin Aqeel. Imam has sent him as an ambassador on a very critical mission”, “He is Ammar Yasir. He died in the battle in Iraq”, “He is Ghazi Abbas. He got martyred in command in attempt to save others”, he went on and on till the point where I stopped trying to figure who was who. All the references were mostly from the time of Hazrat Ali a.scaliphate or Karbala. Throughout all his talk what stroke most was how casual he seemed while telling this. It was like he was stating a matter of fact like adding two and two equals four. The decade long Iran Iraq war, the international sanctions and the continuous engagement in Syria has taken its toll on the Iranian people and perhaps this is the reason why everything from a normal cab driver to an organized state machinery makes sure they remember what they are fighting for and that they never forget their heroes, like they would not forget a family member.

The current continuous turmoil that has hit Pakistan is nothing less, if not more than the experiences of Iranian people. At least for Iran’s case they are clear that they have external enemies. In our case the enemy is internal. It is within our society, growing continuously like unsupervised weed. It can be your colleague or your next door neighbor and you would never know. And yet, after losing more than sixty thousand lives we still lack a common national narrative. We still move on from one tragedy to the next, thinking it as part of our routine lives, like taking the car out for tuning once in a while. Unless of course, the tragedy hits us personally.

Do we remember our martyrs? Have we celebrated our heroes enough? We cannot even seem to decide whether people being affected in this war can be called our heroes or not. We are still debating whether this is our war or not. If in any other country Aitzaz Hassan who stopped a suicide bomber in Hangu to enter his school and got martyred in the process, there would have had a statue carved in his honor or at least a memorial in his name. We cannot even seem to honor people like him and Malala by naming schools after them in fear of provoking our ‘misguided brothers’ for another attack. If not for his heroics, Hangu would have witnessed the same tragedy which Peshawar has.

How many precious soldiers have we lost? How many children may never grow old to be doctors, engineers, soldiers or to just be a regular brother who had plans to stand by his father’s shoulders on his sister’s weddings? Sometimes they were in a ‘supposed’ wrong place i.e a wrong mosque, a wrong Imam Bargah, a wrong jaloos, a wrong church and were just part of big collateral damage. Other times they just happened to be in schools, buses, markets. The enemy is clear that they want to do a hard blow wherever they can, while we are still in a fix of trying to talk to them to figure out ‘what actually is their problem’? If their problem is desire for revenge, what do we plan for the revenge desires of all their victims if we plan to pardon them? Consider the curious case of Asmatullah Muawiya who recently attended a funeral of his father in a big village and even stayed during his illness for many days. There was not even an attempt made for arrest. It seems like all his crimes have been vanished in a puff!

How many scholars and intellects have we lost? Do we even remember their names? Everyone in Pakistan knows the name of Hakimullah Mahsud, how many know who was Shakil Auj? Why did we lose a national poet like Mohsin Naqvi? Did we ever catch the killers of Sibt e Jaffar? Why don’t we have the answers of these questions?

Wars cannot be fought with soldiers alone. We need to build a national narrative that reaches every house in the country till the point each one of us remembers it as important as drinking water. We may move from one tragedy to another, but we will only remember those that deeply affect us on personal level. So the faces of martyrs need to be paraded in all corners of the country. People need to own each and every hero. Our soldiers, our generals, our brave politicians who refused to bow down to blackmail, our men who spoke and wrote bravely and paid the price. Our women whose liberty they fear.

But above all we need to remember our children. Remember our children who died without even proper concept of crime. Remember them because they were the future we could have had and instead we are heading towards a future where there is a dark abyss unless something is done quickly.

And most importantly do not forget the enemy, because they never forget they are in a war. We do. National narrative cannot be set without the proper media campaign reminding us that we are in a constant state of war. It may take years or a decade, but sooner we own it the better. We need to do long marches to declare we are not afraid. If this is the war on terror, only way to defeat is to come out and say “Yes this is my war and my country and I will not allow you to burn it”.

Pakistan bans Ahmadi’s circumcision

In a bid to enforce its citizen’s adherence to the spirit of constitution of the country, Pakistan national assembly passed a historic and unanimous resolutions to ban doctors from performing circumcision on children belonging to the heretic Ahmadiyya sect.

After the landmark resolution was passed, Law ministry issued a statement thanking all the political parties who had drafted the bill together through their legal experts. Ministry reaffirmed government’s mission to eradicate all Muslim signs from Ahmadiyya ‘places of worship’, stating that since erected phallus-shaped-minarets were already being demolished, expanding the operation to actual penises was the only logical way to move forward.

As per article 298 C of the constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Ahmadis are barred from impersonating themselves as Muslims and insulting sentiments of real circumcised Muslims. After this bill, every Muslim parent wishing for hospitals to do the circumcision on their child will have to sign the following oath:

“I solemnly declare and personally attest that Qadiani dicks are ugly. And so are their relatively less ugly Lahori group’s. But ugly none than less”

Speaker National Assembly, on being contacted by the reporter, expressed his satisfaction over the resolution and expressed his hope that Ahmadis will not erect new ways of impersonating Muslims.

“State has got nothing against Qadianis. We only want them to respect the constitution of the land like all other Pakistanis”, he further added while talking to the reporters on his way to attend SC hearing about embezzlement cases.

Speaker also praised veteran journalist Sangsaar Abbasi for bringing the issue to the attention of the nation after his numerous reports and articles highlighting the issue.

Teary eyed Abbasi while talking to the reporters expressed his gratitude towards Almighty for enabling him to carry out his mission without any fear. He complained that liberal fascist had terrorized him with their abusive language and sound reason.

Renowned moderate cleric Molana Tahir Ashracuppi through the platform Islami Nazriyati Council welcomed the decision and has also demanded that government setup a separate commission to check for already existing Qadiani dicks to penalize those who had impersonated Muslims in the past. Considered as somewhat of an expert over the subject, the good Molana has offered to head the commission itself and look for all the ‘cases’ personally. He demanded that all Ahmadi male adults be put in ‘concentration camps’ till he can ‘concentrate’ fully on the given task against each of them.

Kabhi ao concentration camp, Khushbu lagaa kay!

Government has already shown positive response to the idea. The proposed commission is being dubbed as Markazi royat e boner committee.

Disclaimer: Any references of names similar to real personalities is purely and extremely intentional

Shrine of Lady Zainab a.s! As I remember it

Piece originally written for Express Tribune Blogs: http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/18275/my-visit-to-bibi-zainabs-as-shrine-memories-cannot-be-destroyed/

Following is the complete unedited version:

I was twenty three. My last year of Bachelor Honours’ degree was in progress and perhaps like every young soul, I just had too many questions, just about everything; Religion, nationalism, God, everything. My mind used to wonder in abyss of confusion at times even though I always flaunted by beliefs with utmost certainty. But I had not been certain for some time.

That was the time in 2008, when I visited Syria and fell in love with it. I loved its people, the cultural diversity and above all, the sacred shrines that invoked spiritual awareness of God inside one’s soul.

Of course, my view of Syria was limited to the areas I lived in and visited i.e mainly Damascus and the small city near outskirts of Damascus where shrine of Lady Zainab a.s is located. I visited the currently much troubled area of Aleppo, only to visit a mosque with the sacred legendary stone upon which it was believed that head of Imam Hussain a.s was presented in court. Most part of my journey of that day passed in sleep but whatever small part I remember, it was a beautiful area which has currently been torn apart by war.

The city where the shrine of Lady Zainab a.s was located was even named after her. My main stay was in that same city. The shrine consisted of a beautiful dome, a mosque, surrounded by a big courtyard and a main hall where the mausoleum was located.

The dome of Shrine of Lady Zainab a.s

The surrounding area consisted of humble markets with shops of different variety, some of which were operated by students from Pakistan as well. Syrian shopkeepers used to greet the pilgrims warmly. Many seemed to know much about Pakistan and each seemed to have his own favorite politician of Pakistan including Shaheed Mohtarma, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf.

I had grown listening to the tales of bravery of Lady Zainab a.s in times of Karbala and after it. She was a symbol of resistance to the oppression as well as women empowerment. When I first entered the main hall of the mausoleum, I was overwhelmed, so much so that I could not even lift my head up to look at it and had a total breakdown near it. All I remember is the agonized cry coming out of me, the tears and a distant uncle holding me. I do not know how long I went on crying loudly. All I know is that for that moment and for the coming days I felt such a strong presence of God that has not left me ever since, even in times of most confusion and distress.

In old Damascus, I visited the historic route of passage from the old souk or market, to the Omayyad Mosque, close to which originally court of Yazid was located. Half a kilometer away was the shrine of Ruqayya Bint al Hussain a.s, commonly known as Lady Sakina a.s, the four year old daughter who had died in imprisonment and buried within.

Ruins of Yazid palace and gates of Omayyad Mosque

Omayyad Mosque

Grave of Prophet Yahya a.s, also known as John the Baptist inside Omayyad Mosque

Mausoleum of Lady Saikna a.s

If anyone had told me then that in three years, the violent struggle against the regime would start and the sacred places attacked, I would have told him that he must be hallucinating.

But it happened nonetheless. Before the recent attack on shrine of Lady Zainab a.s, the shrine of companion of Prophet SAW, Hujr Bin Adi was also attacked by rebels. Not only was it attacked, but the rebels took complete control of it, totally destroying the mausoleum including the grave within and allegedly taking the body as well.

Mausoleum of Hujr Bin Adi (RA), 2008

Hujr’s desecrated grave after the destruction,2013. Courtesy aimislam.com

Before these, tomb of one of the most revered companions of Prophet SAW, Ammar Bin Yasir r.a was also destroyed and the mosque associated to one of graves of one the greatest Prophets of Islam i.e Abraham a.s was also bulldozed by the rebels. In an instance of rebel-government crossfire, tomb of Khalid Bin Waleed has also been destroyed.

While thankfully the shrine of Lady Zainab a.s has not come to such a state and may it never will, the attack left the respected caretaker of the shrine, Mr. Anas Roumani killed. It appears that a democratic struggle has been hijacked by the splintered groups, many of whom have their own agenda. The most dangerous of it is to rid Islam of all of its diversity and sources of inspiration. In this ‘Spring’, flowers of treasured heritage are being plucked to leave a hollow desert.

However it’s a futile goal that will always remain unsuccessful because inspiration is connected to the souls and not just places. Lady Zainab a.s will always remain an inspiration to everyone fighting against tyranny and oppression. As for the place itself, it will always remain in the hearts of those who cherish it and remember it. If only those who attacked it, had a heart of their own.

آخر اس بس ہوسٹس کا نام مریم نواز کیوں نہ تھا؟ – زین گردیزی

Originally posted for LUBP: http://criticalppp.com/archives/270103

Some in Pakistan are not able to access however so re posting on my personnel blog:

آخر اس بس ہوسٹس کا نام مریم نواز کیوں نہ تھا؟ – زین گردیزی

ہاۓ افسوس!

اس کے والدین سے یہ خطا کیوں ہوئی
ان کو دیکھ بھال کر لینا چاہئیے تھا. ادھر ادھر سے پتا کراتے. آج کل کے تخت نشینوں نے اپنے بچوں کے نام کیا رکھے ہیں. تب شاید کوئی افاقہ ہو جاتا. ذرا سی چوک ہی تو تھی. ‘نواز’ تک تو کام پورا تھا. اب اقرا کی جگہ مریم ہی رکھ لیتے.تب شاید جان بخشی ہو جاتی. تب شاید نگہت صاحبہ اپنی سیٹ بھی خالی کر کے اس کے قدموں میں ڈال دیتیں

یقینن ماں باپ کا قصور ہے
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انہی کا ہی ظاہر ہے قصور ہے. آخر اس کا باپ کبھی کوئی بڑا افسر کیوں نہ بن سکا؟ اگر سی ایس ایس کر لیتا تو پھر اس کی بیٹی کو ایک ہوسٹسس بننے کی ضرورت ہی کیوں پیش آتی؟ دوسروں کو پانی اور ڈبے پیش کرنے کے بجاۓ یار لوگ اس کے والد کی کرم نوازی پہ اسے اور اس کے بھایوں کو تحائف دے رہے ہوتے. آخر اس کا باپ کسی کالے کوٹ مافیا کا حصّہ کیوں نہ بن سکا؟ تب جا کر شاید کسی عدل کی گھنٹی بجتی، کوئی انصاف کا ترازو اپنے میزان پہ سمبھلتا، کوئی نوٹس بھیجے جاتے، کوئی سرزنش کی جاتی. اس کا اپنا بھی قصور ہے. تھپڑ کھانے کے لیے نوں لیگ جیسی عظیم جماعت کی رکن ہی ملی تھی؟ کسی اور سے ہی کھا لیتی. لے دے کے بات ووہی آ جاتی ہے. اس کا باپ آخر ایک طاقت کے نشے میں چور پارٹے کا سربراہ کیوں نہیں تھا؟ اور اس نی اس کا نام مریم کیوں نہ رکھا؟

یقیناً ماں باپ کا قصور ہے
.
آخر اس دو کوڑی کے مڈل کلاس کمی کو یہ جرات ہی کیوں ہوئی کہ وہ اپنی بیٹی کو ایک حق حلال روزی روٹی کے کام کی اجازت دیتا؟ اسے اس کے لیے کوئی اچھے رشتے کی تلاش کر لینی چاہئیے تھی ور جب تک نہ ملتا گھر می بڈھا رکھنا چاہئیے تھے کونکہ وہی اس کا مقام ہے. اب نتیجہ خود بھگتے. کیا اس نی اپنی اس سر پھری لڑکی کو اتنا بھی نہ سمجھایا کہ ایک مریض کو فورا پانی دینے کے بجاۓ جو اس ملک کے مائی باپ ہیں ان کے حکم کی تعمیل زیادہ ضروری ہے؟ یہی مسلہ ہے ان سر پھری لڑکیوں کو پڑھانے کا. خود سے سوچنا شروع کر دیتی ہیں. محنت کی کمائی کے بجاۓ اگر چاپلوسی کے گر سکھاۓ ہوتے تو شاید کوئی مرہم انہیں بھی ریزرو سیٹ پہ ‘نواز’ دیتیں.

یقیناً ماں باپ کا قصور ہے

Flowers of treasured heritage, plucked in ‘Spring’

Spring usually is a long awaited and pleasant affair. After the brisk autumn and a long winter which dampens the moods, spring promises to bring blossoms, not only to the gardens but for the faces as well.

That is why, when a wave of ‘change’ seemed to sweep over deserts of Arabian lands, it was almost like poetry when it was termed ‘Arab Spring’. Lead by Tunisia and Egypt, the ‘Spring’ fever caught up with many youth of Middle East and soon calls to topple tyrants and dictators were started to be heard from Libya to Yemen. Egypt was the first to produce a result in successful ouster of Husni Mubarak and Tunisia soon followed.

Than of course things did not happen as people envisioned. Egyptians even after electing their own president are still not satisfied by the amount of power/influence given up by the establishment to the elected president. Tunisia seems to be still engaged in unrest with the elected government not meeting demands of hardliners who themselves have lot of street power. Libyan ‘revolution’ was brought up with the help of NATO aircrafts carrying the heavier weight. Of course it did not stop the hard-line elements to kill the US Ambassador in Benghazi who had aided in weapons supply to the very rebels in the first place.

And than there are cases of Syria and Bahrain. Condition of ‘revolution’ and the world response regarding them is only a reflection of inherent hypocrisy that plagues International Relations of different countries. Arab And Turkish leaders who fervently are backing the rebels inside Syria are silent in case of Bahrain, some of them even helping regime to crush them. Iranian Ayatullahs had come out to prophecies end to kingdoms of Middle East and yet in case of Syria, Iran and Lebanon continue to put their weight behind Assad making the problem much more difficult to handle. Any ‘direct’ western show of power may result in total unbalance of the demographic of Middle East.

And than in the midst of all the chaos are the opportunist groups which are taking advantage of the whole situation to fulfill their petty short term goals. Syrian rebel forces which now consist of lot of non Syrian millitants of other countries as well do not just desire to ‘liberate’ Syrians of the tyranny but to see their hard work result in their personal desires. That is why in Tunisia even after the elections, tensions and clashes run high.

While the rival forces of such countries with ‘Spring’ murder each other, another collateral damage cum murder of its own kind is being taken place with their national heritage as well. Besides the destruction of the country’s infrastructure due to natural outcome of internal conflicts, targeted attacks are being carried out splintered groups against historic landmarks and places of reverence. In Tunisia, till January this year, [40 different *Sufi* shrines had been destroyed][1]. Similar attacks are being carried out in Syria as well.

The most recent example is of the destruction of shrine of companion of Prophet Muhammad SAW i.e Hujr Bin Adi a.s who ironically was martyred during the Omayyad Rule by than Syrian regime under Muawiyyah. Apparently the Syrians have yet not forgiven his sacred corpse of his boldness of truth. I had the fortune of visiting the mausoleum in 2007 when Syria was somewhat peaceful. Its current picture after the destruction feels like a stab to my wonderful memory.

The desecrated grave after the destruction. Courtesy aimislam.com

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[The desecrated grave after the destruction. Courtesy aimislam.com][2]

The tomb was not destroyed but the grave dug up as an insult the remains as well. Also, the sacred and legendary stone on which head of Imam Hussain a.s was placed and kept was preserved in pre-spring Syria. However since the fighting started in Aleppo which is the main source of unrest in Syria, the whereabouts of it have been unknown.

Sacred Stone preserved in a mosque in Alleppo – 2007

And now the Hujr’s a.s body’s whereabouts are also ‘unknown’. Even the Arab channels reporting the news are mentioning conflicting reports. Many however reported that despite the blasts there was a flowery scent in the air. A fitting situation for the flower that was present in the desert which now has regrettably has been plucked. Is this the last heritage of this sort the receive this fate before the war is over? Unfortunately that is not the safe bet. Syria is filled with historic landmarks and revered graves and the splintered groups with their own agenda may think of such roses as unsuitable with the stink of their hatred in their very own desert.

How my own defensive argument came back to haunt me

Ever since the attack on Joseph Colony, my mind has been going back to September 2002. It was one of the early weeks of my first semester in the university. Our batch was huddled in the lecture hall for an open cum moderated discussion over the topic ‘Pakistan is a failed state and has a bleak future’. Lot of high pitched voices were arguing with each other and our Professor cum moderator would sometimes interrupt to add his own bit or to point someone to deliver a five minute speech and than again the discussion cum brawl would resume. I had been silent for most part of the discussion that day. Ok well I had silent for ‘all part of that day’. As it is usually the case with me normally I used to avoid making a point if I did not have one or did not strongly believe in it. So yes I was quite. Right up to the point when one of my batch mates started talking about how Pakistan has treated its minorities and gave an example of a bomb blast that had occurred near Islamabad in which mostly Christian community was killed.

And than I spoke up. I countered that while the attack condemmable, the example does not justify the overall generalization that Pakistan had been ‘that bad’ to minorities. Comparing the incident to Indian Gujrat massacre, I said that while this was a random terrorist attack that could happen anywhere, Gujrat was the case of systematic communal violence to eliminate an entire community. Something which has never happened in Pakistan. Our professor who up until that point was favoring the ‘other side’ of the argument suddenly switched side and said that this argument was the first intellectual argument made during the whole session and the hall went into applause.

Yes I felt kind of proud. How very naive I was.

Of course at that time I did truly believed in it. I did not know that in 1953, Ahmadiyya massacre had also occurred. I also did not know that if an Ahmadi would write write even ‘Alhumdulillah‘ on his daughter’s wedding invitation, a case can be filed against him on the pretext of blasphemy.

My first hand of sectarian/communal hatred was just limited to the anti shia taunts that I received as I grew up. While those weren’t exactly ‘fun’ but I never imagined any of those people doing them would be filled with real hatred in their hearts to actually resort to violence against a powerless group. Sure there acts of terror against shia professionals in Karachi and Southern Punjab, but it were limited to the very groups who were indulged in it. At least that is what I thought at that time anyway.

But the real test of a person comes when he is in state of power and as our society grew more intolerant by every hour, and the state gave in slowly to extremist’s blackmail, I started noticing more evidence to communal violence, which I earlier used to shoo away as a ‘random terrorist attacks’. If one only looks at last five years only, evidence is far from overwhelming.

Mobs gathering for protest against Ahmadiyya mosques for using Quranic verses, terrorists killing shias in provisional capital Quetta and finding time to roam around free after that without a care in the world, burning of churches in the excuse of protest against youtube video (YES A STUPID YOUTUBE VIDEO SERIOUSLY), showering killer of governor who supported a poor Christian woman with garlands, Gojra, Badaami Bagh are all the examples of cases where hatred with in the general public against a different set of thought has emerged out in the open. If Modi was a criminal in Gujrat than same is true for Punjab government in case of Gojra who silently withdrew all the prosecution against a mob attack which resulted in eight people being burned alive just because of a false blasphemy alarm. In fact some of the pictures of Gojra and Badami Baagh are so similar that I cant help but keep on getting haunted from the defensive argument that I had used.

Does by any chance he looks outraged?

The very fact that I felt the need to ‘compare’ a sad incident with the other country example itself was a wrong thing to do. A nation (not a dead nation) would always acknowledge its fault and work to overcome it. many of problems of Pakistan has been prolonged unnecessarily as we as a whole have collectively failed to look at our own-selves and have created the bubble of a superiority complex that all the world is somehow doing conspiracies against us and we are all little angels. The refusal to acknowledge the inner problems is the reason that we are quick to jump in to any apologist conclusion any one provides us. Just like my professor did

How is Pakistan army coerced into blackmail?‏

I had a pretty normal childhood like many Pakistani children. I was born in a generation which was regularly taught that all ailing problems of Pakistan are due to corrupt politicians and whenever Army will again come into power, things would just magically start to place themselves in rightful places.

Yes, I am of the generation which grew up fascinating about khaki uniforms and watching Sunehrey Din and ‘Alpha Bravo Charlie’. Then of course came the time when army DID take over the country and I saw people smiling and distributing sweets.

So did things start to magically place themselves back where they belonged after that? Well, not exactly. In fact, shortly occurred an event which for the first time in my life made me feel unpatriotic; At least from the point of view of state narrative. Just after couple of months of military coup, an Indian plane was hijacked by terrorists demanding the release of Maulana Masood Azhar. Throughout that time, PTV kept on pumping the state narrative into its audience that Pakistan or any of its state or non state actors have nothing to do with it and Indians are just feeling the backlash of their approach towards Kashmir, by the Kashmiri themselves. I bought that argument. So you would imagine my surprise when after few weeks of Azhar’s release, I found out in our newspapers, that not only did Maulana came to Karachi after the release but was announcing his own organization Jaish-e-Muhammad.

The goals of organization apparently were to free Kashmir giving an end to Indian tyranny. His exact words to be precise were: “I have come here because this is my duty to tell you that Muslims should not rest in peace until we have destroyed America and India”. Ok, so maybe it was just more than about Kashmir.

Organizations flourished in Southern Punjab, while Maulana Masood Azhar himself started giving fiery sermons in Bahawalpur seminary which not just included the evils of India, America and the Jewish lobbies, but his interesting takes on other sects as well i.e Brelvi sunni and shi’as in particular. Southern Punjab of course is the same area which had been the hub of other sectarian outfits for many years, Lashkar e Jhangvi among them, with Sipah e Sahaba giving them a political cover. One thing to understand regarding all these different outfits is that they are brainwashed with same type of hate literature against non Muslims and all other sects which do not agree with their ideology. Also members of such groups have a history of transfer of people from one lashkar to another.

When Musharraf initiated a half hearted crackdown against different jihadist groups, after US pressure due to attack on Indian parliament many of such groups eventually formed into Punjabi Taliban in alliance with members of TTP and Al Qaeda of Afghanistan. One should also remember that during Taliban massacre of Mazar Sharif, there also emerged reports of members of Sipah e Sahaba participating alongside Taliban against Afghan Hazaara Shia population and Iranian consulate also came under attack resulting death of journalist and 8 diplomat members. So these groups at micro level shared the same ideology for a long time. In form of Punjabi Taliban, TTP found the most destructive ally and for years ahead groups like Lashkar e Jhangvi, Harkatul-Jehad-AlIslami and Jaish e Muhammad being involved in most of the attacks. The attacks escalated most when TTP ended peace deal after the Laal Masjid operation (which for instance also held many Jaish members) and military are police forces were targeted directly. Most prominent being GHQ attack in late 2009 and Manawan Police Academy attack in early part of the same year.

This is probably the period where our military strategists again started to gather some of the ‘perceived good Punjabi Taliban’ under their protective fold for reasons best known to themselves. But a fair guess can be made that they hoped these ‘good ones’ might be able to pacify the ‘bad ones’. The timelines of events before and after these attacks match the theory. In 2008, Baluchistan’s LeJ chapter’s head Usman Ali Kurd managed to escape high security zone of ‘Quetta Cantonment’ (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-20265-Usman-Kurd-the-man-who-caused-fall-of-Raisani-govt). During the GHQ attack, founder of Lashkar e Jhangvi Malik Ishaq came to persuade the main attack Dr Usman, another LeJ member, after he was flown out of jail specifically for this purpose (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-2-57832-Lashkar%E2%80%99s-Ishaq-had-clout-even-in-jail). Dr Usman reportedly after seeing him and Ahmad Ludhianvi (Chief SSP), said “I’d have wished to die instead seeing you here from GHQ side”. Which indicates that he felt betrayed and surprised to see his leaders who perhaps at some point had used him and many others like him. One and a half year later, Malik Ishaq was released at SC orders due to ‘lack of evidence’.

Incidentally, the lone suspect who was captured from Manawan police attack site with grenades and ammunitions and on whose tip, 10 other suspects from a ‘proscribed religious organization’ (http://dawn.com/2009/04/03/manawan-suspects-held-in-sukkur/) were also arrested, was also set free in June 2010. Manwan is not far from Cantonment as well and there is SSP seminary in Manwan also. During last couple of years, SSP has tried to show its street power in populated areas near Manawan like Bedian road, Bhatta chowk going till RA bazaar and Nishaat Colony by hate filled wall chalking and violent protests against blasphemous youtube video. All these areas are either near cantonment or part of it. In the wake of recent face saving attempts by PMLN this wall chalking has finally been removed which indicates earlier lack of motivation to do so. Malik Ishaq earlier this year had planned to give sermon in mosque of KB colony, near airport and Cantonment area but was arrested on hate speech in order to prevent him from speech in such a prominent place. However, he was released shortly afterwards.

Since the release of Ishaq, attacks on shi’as have intensified, especially in case of Baluchistan which saw many incidents on pilgrims going to Iran, local shi’a Hazaara and non Hazaara population. As indicated in Amir Mir’s report in The News (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-20265-Usman-Kurd-the-man-who-caused-fall-of-Raisani-govt) Malik Ishaq established contacts with Usman Kurd and his no. 2 in Baluchistan. That also explains why the material for the latest blast in Hazaara Town was taken from Punjab. However it does not explain why any of our security agencies failed to apprehend it on its long way towards Quetta.

Wajahat S Khan while deconstructing many theories about Quetta problems in his peace (http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-160664-Narratives-on-Hazara-pogroms) mention the private confessions of cops that the “chaps in the Cantt” may be thinking the LeJ is a lot of things but not anti-state; thus there may be a “strategic umbrella tolerance” for the group.

What exactly is anti state? Perhaps ‘our chaps in the Cantt’ think anti state only means those who want to capture barren lands and mountains. One would rather think, groups engaged in killing and annihilating fertile families would also be anti state to some extent at least? Is the purpose of armed forces not to protect its country’s civilian population? According to some people, army wanted to engage with Malik Ishaq to deradicalize him and other terrorist.

Does this ‘deradicalization mission’ mean that he is going to prevent his likes from becoming another Dr Usman of GHQ attack and instead divert their focus and energy to become another Riaz Basraa?

Thankfully there are voices now being raised in the media. Anchors like Waseem Badaami, Mubashir Luqman and Muhammad Malick and politicians like Sheikh Waqas are openly discussing the Arab world connections with these militant groups and failure of our security forces to control them. As per Najam Sethi, military is reluctant to initiate any activity against terrorists because they do not have political support. This argument is good but not good enough. While it is true that parties like PMLN are giving political cover for these terrorists and some financiers of PPP are providing licensed weapons to these groups (as mentioned by Hamid Mir in his column), it does not exempt our military leadership and should not be used as an excuse. After all, when have they ever needed political support for kidnapping and killing Baluch nationalists? Don’t they do it when feel like it anyway?

The sudden change of heart of analysts like Malick is encouraging however and may be an indication that establishment may finally be starting to ditch its old pals and creating a healthy atmosphere in media to start an eventual operation. But this could also mean that Malick has just been divorced so I should not keep my hopes up too much.

Of course there are other international factors as well due to which our forces may find themselves handicapped. One primary factor is of course that a dog can’t bite the hand that has been feeding him for many years and this is the case where our top brass may not wish to disturb their Arab masters who neither want Pakistan to have Iran gas pipeline deal or for Gwadar to flourish as a port. It is high time our politicians and the security forces start to value lives of Pakistanis rather than worry about wrath of Arab masters.

– See more at: http://criticalppp.com/archives/246757#sthash.jAmQIhBf.dpuf

Jan lo keh tum sab qaatil ho

جان لو کہ تم سب قاتل ہو
جہنمی گروھ باطل ہو

ہر وقت ہر مسلک کے، کیڑے نکالتے رہتے ہو
اسلام سے مسلمانوں کو، خارج کراتے رہتے ہو
کبھی ‘ان’ کو بھی روک کے پوچھا ہے؟
کیوں بیجرم خون بہاتے رہتے ہو؟

قاتلو میں تم بھی شامل ہو
اس گندی سوچ کے حامل ہو
جہالت خود جس سے پناہ مانگے
ایسے  تکفیری جاہل ہو

جان لو کہ تم سب قاتل ہو

تمہاری ستاروں والی وردی میں، اس قوم کے خون کی زردی ہے
الٹی سیدھی تدبیروں نے، کیا ملک کی حالت کر دی ہے
ایسی تو نہیں پھر کہتے سب
دہشتگردی کے پیچھے وردی ہے

یہ کاٹنے والے کتے سب، تمہارے ہی تو پالے ہیں
بھرے بریف کیسوں کی خاطر، تمھاری آنکہ کے تارے ہیں
لگام ڈالو ان کو تم ورنہ
حسسینی اب ڈالنے والے ہیں

ظالمو کو ساتھ ملا کر تم، مجرم ہو مظلوموں کے
کیا نظر اتے نہیں تم کو لاشے، اپنے ہی جوانوں کے؟
تمہارے ہی اندر گھسے سب قاتل
بلوچوں ، ہزارہ کے، پشتونوں کے

جان لو کہ تم سب قاتل ہو

پیپی  کے تم جیالے ہو
کالے کرتوتوں والے ہو
تمہاری نسل پرستی بھی ملاوٹی ہے
منافق کمینے سالے ہو

وہ قاتل اب بھی زندہ ہیں
اسی سرکار میں تابندہ ہیں
انھیں بغلوں میں گھسا کے پھر
کہتے ہو ہم شرمندہ ہیں؟

جان لو کہ تم سب قاتل ہو

تم منصف نہیں قصاب ہو
اس دھرتی پہ الله کا عذاب ہو
انصاف کا ڈھونگ سب جھوٹا ہے
تمہی تو دجال ہو، کذاب  و

قاتلوں کو چھوڑنے کے، بناتے تم بہانے ہو
اندر ہی اندر تم بھی سب ، جانتے سب ٹھکانے ہو
بےشرم پھر کھل کے کہ دو اب
کہ تم آنکھوں سے  کانے ہو

جان لو کہ تم سب قاتل ہو

کیوں اپنے گریبان میں، جھانکنے سے کتراتے ہو
قاتلوں کا نام تم لینے میں، اتنا کیوں گھبراتے ہو
کیا تمہارے گھر سب محفوظ ہیں؟
کیا اسی لیے شرماتے ہو؟

اے اس قوم کے سوتے لوگو، تم بھی مجرم ہو
زرہ دل میں جھانک کے سوچو، تم بھی مجرم ہو
اس دور کے یزیدیوں کے خلاف
جب تک کھل کے نہ بولو، تم بھی مجرم ہو

جان لو کہ تم سب قاتل ہو