Month: May 2020

George Floyd

Malcolm X is as relevant today as he was back in the 60s. His brutally honest words took him to his grave. He knew he would be assassinated. There were attempts and phone taps and followings.

But he didn’t bow down.

Not to the FBI. Not to the US Government. Not to Elijah Mohammad. Not to the NOI. Not to anyone.

So – as he said after Kennedy’s assassination – chickens are coming home to roost.

US has seeded racial, religious and class discrimination across the world. Here, it is facing what it has done. But there are so many divisions among the Black community itself that it wouldn’t be now. Not this time. Until another Malcolm X arrives with the same brutal honesty.

Not Martin Luther King. Not Elijah Mohammed. Not Wallace Fard. But Malcolm X.

Now come to the police brutality.

Well, isn’t it the same here? Have you forgotten Sahiwal massacre? If you’ll compare US’s police with our local police, it will be a grotesque comparison. That cop who killed George Floyd has already been charged. On the contrary, our security personnel always go free after years of cooling-down-the-anger.

Like the killers of Sarfaraz Shah. The incident was recorded and went viral. But impotency here is so high that there wasn’t a single rally against the perpetrators.

And who can forget Rao Anwar’s 444 encounters. Even Supreme Court succumbed to his tactics.

And even if the police will do something tangible, like they did in case of Raymond Davis, boys will come to the rescue. Remember Pasha escorting Davis to the airport? Yes, you do. You didn’t utter a word.

But.

Your hypocrisy is conveniently making you talk. Big words. Justice. Equality. Law. Punishment. Shame.

Shame!

We are still on our way to become an uglier society. For over a decade, Hazara community has been targeted and killed. By state owned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Even IK tweeted this once.

Now, Hazara community has done the same and killed three young boys. This is completion of the cycle. But it is just the beginning of a vicious cycle. When victims become perpetrators, you know what’s coming.

So, don’t bother. You still have to compete with your own hypocritical dumbness.

And you have a topic. That Uzma, Usman, Sadaf, Shehroz stuff. Talk about that. Because you still have to figure out what’s better: to cheat and keep OR to divorce and marry.

Carry on.

Music!

Letter

Dear Taya Abu,

Glad to know you are doing so well in Ladakh. We are going mad with happiness. We are already trolling Phupho on Twitter. Proud of you.

But Taya Abu! While you are doing so good, do come forward for our little cousins in Srinagar. This is a request. End their misery once and for all.

In return, we will remain unconscious about our cousins in Uighur. Who? We don’t even know them. Keep making your concentration camps. If you need any help – I mean labour – we are a yuan away.

P.S. we accept your sons’ proposals for our sisters. You are welcome to take them anytime.

Best regards for your future endeavors in Hong Kong.

Collectively yours,
Begana Abdullah.

8303

Behind every flight is a story. Some are going for a family gathering. Some to attend a marriage. Some to grieve.

Some are with money and gifts. Some empty handed.

There are incomplete goodbyes on departure and awaited welcomes on arrivals. Goodbyes are always incomplete. There is always that last handshake, hug or kiss which is missed. Always.

And then there are plane crashes.

Mayday. Mayday. People waiting for their loved ones at the airport now have to receive them from the morgue.

The idea of crashing in itself is horrible. Imagine yourself in a plane going down. Your life flashing in your eyes. Death – horrible death – covering you from all dimensions. And you are stuck on your seat and can do nothing.

Behind every plane crash is a different story. Different tragedy. Sometimes, there are blunders. Sometimes, it’s technical. Sometimes, the planes are not managed properly – like in most cases of PIA. And other times, it’s just the call.

Death is fine. The way it comes isn’t. And we don’t have a choice. Except to die anyway.

Dying in a plane crash is one of the most horrible ways to have an ending. No hope. Severe shock. Everything jolting. Sudden knock of death. Everyone already mourning their own end. Everyone not-ready to be burnt alive.

And being on such a tragic plane with your family is another misery altogether. What can you do? What have you done? This can’t be karma. This can’t be explained.

Another such tragedy is of missing people. Families don’t know if their loved ones are alive. Some actually pray for their deaths. Mothers have gone on long marches demanding dead bodies of their son.

Because when you bury, you know the whole story. When you don’t, you are hanged alive. Not dying. And dying every moment.

May there be some value of life.
May there be some sense of responsibility in those who are working in such sensitive jobs.
May there be some empathy in those dealing in repair and maintenance of planes.

‘Here’ is before ‘hereafter’. Hereafter is nothing without here. It doesn’t even exist without here first.

With cornona epidemic, plane crash, unsafe kids, state violence, and national misery… can’t say ‘Eid Mubarik’.

May everyone rest in peace!
Those who are gone.
And those who aren’t.

Colonel Virus

Corona virus is new. Colonel virus is not.

Just imagine, if she did this with policemen, what would she do to civilians.
Then Imagine wives of higher hierarchy.
And then Imagine the higher hierarchy itself.

Try to get an idea of what the people of tribal areas and Balochistan must be going through.

Remember PTM? Their demands? One demand was to reduce the number of check-posts to save them of their daily dose of humiliation.

A few days back, a senior military official was fined due to traffic violation in India. In Pakistan, Motorway Police was beaten and tortured by the boys in 2016 for doing their duty. Pistols were shown. Power was demonstrated. And the case was done and dusted.

Like the case of Sarfraz Shah killed by Rangers in Karachi.
Or the case of Sahiwal massacre.
Or the case of Wapda lineman killed by an officer.
Or the case of Rao Anwar’s 444.
Or the mysterious escape of Ehsan Ullah Ehsan.
This can be a never ending list.

You cannot trial those who run the system. You cannot trial the owners. You cannot trial who can make you evaporate. You cannot do anything.

See the government. Imagine its helplessness. There are retired and on-duty officers on major civilian posts. Almost every major department is taken over. Like lands of DHAs all across the country.

Situation is as ugly as Suparco.

Founded in 1961, Abdus Salam was its first chairman along-with other great minds of the time. Administrative control of the commission remained under doctors and experts of the relevant field till 2001. Then it was taken over by army. Since 2001, you-know-who are running a pathetic show.

So, this colonel virus isn’t new. But our response and numbness is as miserable as it’s against corona virus.

Anyway,
Just accept.
Welcome this acceptance.
This would be your first step towards realization.
And this realization would materialize someday.

Till then, eat grass.

Random Numbness (May 2020)

As the number of confirmed cases are growing exponentially on a daily basis, we are here with eased-locked. Or smart lockdown. Or whatever.
The official binary debate was: save jobs vs. save lives. And it’s ‘save jobs’. [Why do I feel like writing ‘Steve Jobs’ instead of ‘save jobs’?]. Well, with 5 million kids coming in the next six months, the decision is quite sensible. You can make ‘lives’ on bed but you can’t create ‘jobs’ that way.
PM was right. And smart.
With the binary debate, I got to remember that binary question which changed our fate forever. Remember when Islamabad got a call from Washington after 9/11? “With us or against us?” Exactly. Smart. Catastrophically smart.

[Not using ‘dumb’ or ‘duffers’ today as people complained that I get personal. Duly noted.]
Every other day, PM opens his puzzle box and no one is sure what he is playing. Sometimes he praises his actions and other times his inactions. Sometimes it is a conspiracy of elites and other times it is his charisma.
Just when he was worried about the hungry and the poor and needy and the jobless; ECC approved a grant of Rs.1.66 billion for the richest for a telecom monitoring project.
A conspiracy of elites! To keep an eye on you. To make Orwell’s Big Brother stronger. And better. Because now is the ideal time for real business.
In the name of national security.
In a parallel universe meanwhile, two Baloch graduates of Quaid-e-Azam University were killed in Balochistan by Security Forces. This happens when you keep on labeling people and are not ready to talk.
Like in 1971, we were not ready to talk to the inferior Bengali race. Today, we are not ready to bear these inferior Baloch and Tribal races. So, there are a couple of million traitors in the country at the moment.
Words will bleed.
We will ponder for a while.
Then we will switch on the TV. For stupid debates and advertisements of things we don’t need.
And Ertugrul.
Game of Thrones had a crowd following. So does Ertugrul. So, not on the cards and not at all interested.
But if you are interested in Turkey, then remember this country did something in recent history which we never could. In July 2016, Turkish Military attempted to impose Martial Law. The public came out and stood before tanks. And the coup met with a historical failure.
This is a better story than falling in love with Ertugrul and then feeling betrayal after googling ‘Halime Hatun’.
[Watching movies / series / dramas are based on personal interests. As long as you are having fun – and learning – keep watching. Anything.]
Sadly, we don’t cherish our ‘own’ heroes. Like Bhagat Singh who stood against oppression. We cherish those who came and assaulted us. Mughals, Ghazni, Bin Qasim, Aibak, Ghori, Abdali… were all foreign invaders. Who came for their vested interests. Like America came to Afghanistan.
Moreover, why don’t we wonder why we always cherish those who killed thousands / millions? These warriors rarely fought for anything moral or upright or anything other than their own personal interest.
But yes. When the invaders become rulers, they become part of the society. They become part of the culture. Urdu came into being that way. The monuments of the last 10 centuries are our heritage. That’s why we cherish Mughals. Then why don’t we cherish British rule?
Argh…
Wrong question.
History works in mysterious way. With the sword of the powerful. And the pen of the writer.
All we need to do is: to know history and to be critical of it and never to repeat follies.
And never, ever to forget.