Month: May 2021

PREAMBLE

An agricultural country which has recently accepted Zakat and Fitrana of rice from the Arabian Desert; is asking the Ummah to stand up and fight for the Palestinians.

Well, standing up is right. One should always condemn the wrongdoings – at least verbally – if nothing else can be done. Every one of us should call out Israel for its atrocities, terrorism, colonialism, and violence. But for us, Pakistanis; without any comparison to other nation states; we have to answer some personal questions while we stand for the Palestinians.

This is going to be a long one [3 chapters] as I was doing a lot of reading on this topic and was trying to figure out where we stand and where our flaws are. So, let’s start:

CHAPTER I OF III: HISTORY

In the not too distant past, the region was mainly known as Jerusalem, which is the capital city of Israel today. This land had civilization for thousands of years before Christ.

Alexander attacked it. Romans had numerous conquests. Constantine conquered it. Before Islam, Jews and Christians ruled this land and had various wars and conflicts.

Caliph Umar RA conquered Palestine in 637 AD – 5 years after the demise of the Holy Prophet Muhammad PBUH. Some great Muslim sahabas were part of this conquest including Abu Ubaidah Ibn-e-Jarrah, Khalid bin Waleed, Amr bin al-Aas among others.

According to one narration, Caliph Umar RA declined to offer Namaz in a church after the siege, to set an example of the righteous path, so that later Muslims would not find excuses for converting churches into mosques. [Some nurses did the opposite in a church of Lahore. Lesson forgotten.]

In 661 AD, Palestine fell under the Umayyad Caliphate. The Abbasids in 750 AD. The Fatimid in 970.

And the Crusaders in 1099.

Kingdom of Jerusalem – Palestine – was conquered by Crusaders in 1100.

In 1187, Saladin defeated crusaders and established control in the region.

The Third Crusade started in 1189 under Richard who recaptured major parts of the region by 1192 and had a truce with Saladin on Jerusalem. Saladin died in 1193.

In a long bloody history of the crusades, Jerusalem fell under different hands. Crusades ended in 1291 and Mamluk period started which lasted till the Ottomans came and conquered Palestine in 1517.

By the end of the 18^th century, Napoleon conquered Palestine after a series of attacks.

By the 19^th century, Jews from different parts of Europe started to settle in Palestine. That was the time when Ottomans were again in power in the region. Jews – at that time – were working to make their permanent settlements in Palestine, Syria and Egypt.

On April 11^th, 1909, Tel Aviv was founded in Jaffa.

Ottomans were defeated in World War I (1914-1918). While there was Khilafat Movement in the Sub Continent, the caliphate was abolished by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He was hated by the Muslims of Sub Continent and was also hailed as a visionary by some. Jinnah was his great admirer as he knew Ataturk is laying the foundation of a secular state.

Balfour Declaration was issued in 1917 by the British government. According to this declaration, the British announced establishment of an independent Jewish state in Palestine. Authors of Balfour Declaration were Walter Rothschild, Arthur Balfour, Leo Amery, and Lord Milner.

Remember, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire in 1917. The war in Palestine between Ottomans and British was in full force till the end of WWI. Palestine remained part of Britain from 1922 till 1947-48.

After WWI, the settlement of Jews in Palestine remained intact. The Great Arab Revolt (1936-1939) was an uprising against this settlement. However, it failed and the British were able to suppress the revolt.

On November 29, 1947; a formal resolution (Resolution 181) was adopted by UN General Assembly for formation of Israel by dividing Palestine between Arabs and Jews. The resolution was passed with 33 votes in favor, 13 against, and 10 abstentions.

On May 14, 1948, Israel declared independence. Hence, the State of Israel was formed. A long forgotten dream of Jews came true on the blood and soil of Palestinians.

Right after Israel’s declaration of independence, Arab-Israeli War began when Arabian countries – including Saudia, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen – attacked Israel. It was aimed to liberate Palestinians but it was a strategic failure. The Arabs were defeated. The State of Israel sustained. In fact, they occupied more land after the war. In the end, Palestinians suffered more from this war.

In 1967, Six-Day War was fought between Arabs and Israel when Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon attacked Israel to liberate Palestinians. This war – like the previous one – resulted in failure too. Israel expanded further. Palestinians suffered more. And the Arabs were crushed again.

Arabs did try in subsequent decades but they had no long-lasting success. In 1973, Syria and Egypt attacked Israel and captured Sinai back from Israel.

THE PARTITION PLAN OF 1947 & GRADUAL EXPANSION OF ISRAEL

Israel was proposed and established on a partition plan which was adopted by UN General Assembly (Resolution 181). UN proposed the plan and after all the undue processes, Palestine was divided as:

• Gaza (or Gaza Strip) and West Bank for Palestinians
• Rest was for Israel.
• Jerusalem was declared as separate entity. Corpus Separatum.

However, today’s Israel is much bigger than the partition plan mentioned above. Today, Palestine is nothing but a scattered state with refugees and unsettled aboriginals. Due to the failed Arab attempts (mentioned above) and support of Western power to Israel, today’s map of the region is completely different from the actual partition plan.

There are numerous major settlements of Zionists in West Bank. Both Gaza and West Bank are nothing more than prison states. All routes (air, roads, water) are under control of Israel. Permits are required to travel within and around. Permits are even required to enter Al-Aqsa to worship.

CHAPTER II OF III: THE SACRED LAND & CURRENT SCENARIO – 2021

The current situation occurred when forced settlers were entered in Sheikh Jarrah and Muslims were stopped from praying in Al-Aqsa. But that is not the entire reason.

There were times when Christians conquered and ruled Jerusalem. There were times when Jews did. There were times when Muslims did.

Israel was forced into Palestine by the UK and Western powers on the eve of World War I when the Ottomans lost. It was settled illegally, though with a formal UN resolution. Gradually, with the use of force and terror activities, Israel took hold of all of Palestine except Gaza and West Bank. Palestinians are now prisoners in their own homes because of the power and terrorism of Israel.

Palestine or Jerusalem is home to all the Abrahamic religions. This part of the world remained at war and in conflicts throughout history and it will remain so in the foreseeable future. It is destined to suffer as it is a sacred land for three major religions of the world.

The solution to Palestinian problems is none at the moment. All these years, with monopoly in suffering, Palestinians were unable to do anything substantial. Resistance should continue, but the Arabs actually did more than their actual power to liberate Palestinians. They did it thrice by initiating wars. Even today, various countries, particularly Iran with her bold stance, has stood against Israel’s hegemony.

When Israel was not even properly established, the Palestinians were clueless. From 1922 to 1947 was the time when it should have taken through strong resistance by the locals under a leadership. No one is going to give them freedom on a plate. No one can, at the moment.

Just a while back, Arab countries were gradually formalizing their relations with Israel. In 2020, Bahrain, UAE, Sudan and Morocco established diplomatic relations with Israel. Many countries, including Saudia, have covert relations with the Zionists.

A recently exposed investigative piece by Al-Jazeera exposed Bangladesh’s military relations with Israel. Pakistan too had its secretive relations with Israel during Zia’s regime, mentioned clearly by Charlie Wilson.

You may dislike this, but Iran is the only country from the Muslim world which has stood boldly against Israel consistently. It didn’t bow down to the US and always gave Israel some nightmares.

Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela are the three other countries which vehemently oppose Israel. These three countries have no diplomatic / formal relations with the Zionists.

Around 31 countries in the world have no relations with Israel. However, out of these, many do have covert relations.

But nothing is solving the ugliest human rights crisis. The UN is numb. So as many other organizations. Those who were calling for ‘Freedom of Speech’ are also dead somewhere around Charlie Hebdo. Al-Jazeera stood tall and let us hope it will stay strong among the impotent press of the world.

Hypocrisies are being exposed with the rising death toll in the largest concentration camp of the world.

A thing to understand: the difference between Zionist and Jewish. Zionist is a person who is in favor and pursuit of an independent Jewish state with whatever means necessary. Be it violence or terrorism. The blood of all the dead Palestinians is on the hands of Zionists. You cannot blame this on all the Jews. There are Jews who are against this terrorism and have been very vocal. You will see Jews standing against Israel. I can give you one example of Abraham Gutman – a journalist – who vehemently opposes all the violence by Israel. And he is hated and abused for his righteousness by the Zionists.

Before ending this part, let me write correctly that:

• All those praising Hitler and atrocities of Germans against the Jews during WW-II are despicable.
• Israeli Zionists are as despicable as the Nazis once were.
• All the liberals – anywhere around the world – supporting Israel’s violence against Palestinians, are not liberals but scumbags.

CHAPTER III OF III: PAKISTAN, PAKISTANIS, AND HYPOCRISY IN AND ON BLOOD

Pakistan and Israel. Two countries of the world founded in the name of religion. Two countries of 1947 origin. Came out of the British Empire. The two have so many things in common but let’s not go into that for the time being.

Pakistanis are on social media since this new wave of violence by Israel against Palestinians. Calling the Ummah to stand. Abusing the rulers for not doing anything. Abusing the west. Abusing the east.

Well, the Ummah did stand. And fought. And lost. In 1948. In 1967. In 1973 (Yom-e-Kippur). They were not only defeated but crushed within 06 days. It was Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and other Muslim countries, including Pakistan, who aided against Israel.

But again you cry that the Ummah is doing nothing.

The Ummah can’t do anything.

The Ummah has nothing. Not even Ummah itself.

Before you jump into the Caliphate, wait!

Islam didn’t present a political system comprehensively. It just presented ideas of democracy and secularism – yes democracy and secularism – and nothing much besides that. It gave principles but not a complete system in itself. The Muslims were supposed to use their brain to move ahead.

The Caliphate was not an Islamic system. It was based on nepotism. Family dynasties flourished. The bloodshed under Caliphates – particularly of Muslims by Muslims – is beyond comprehension.

Karbala is one of the examples of how corrupt and corruptible – like all other systems – was the system then. It didn’t even leave the House of Prophet Muhammad PBUH.

So, don’t Caliphate here. And don’t Ummah here. One is outdated and the other doesn’t even exist.

There was a dialogue in a Lebanese movie “The Insult” that no one has a monopoly on suffering. That was what the Lebanese said in a court to the Palestinian. No one – neither Jews of WW-II nor Palestinian since 1947 – have monopoly on suffering.

But we – Pakistanis – do have a monopoly on hypocrisy.

We don’t talk about hundreds of thousands of people killed in Yemen because Saudia killed them and we get our pimping dollars from them. We managed the army for Saudia to kill kids in Yemen. And we just got rice from Saudia. So, we don’t talk.

By the way, just to write the figures:

• 30 were killed in a bomb blast in a guest house in Puli Alam, Afghanistan on April 30^th, 2021.
• 85 were killed – mostly school girls – in a bomb blast in school in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 8^th, 2021.
• 12 were killed in an explosion in a mosque during Friday prayers in Kabul on May 14^th, 2021.
• Though the violence has decreased in Yemen, yet the basics are denied. Tens of thousands of people will starve to death this year in Yemen.

So?

We don’t talk about men, women and kids being killed in Afghanistan. Because we have our own political philosophies. Of good men and bad men. Of snakes. We don’t talk.

We don’t talk about education camps for Muslims in China. Hundreds of education camps with thousands of Muslims being ‘educated’. We don’t talk about them because we don’t know about anything that happens in Uighur. Or Mainland China.

We talk about Kashmir. That’s business. That’s our philosophy of life. It gives direction to our budget and priorities. It makes us a security state.

And we talk about Palestine.

After the Ummah’s failure within 6 days, we want the UN to do something. Why would the UN do something? What interest does the UN have in you? None. You have nothing to offer. No research. No budget. No scientists. Funding to the UN by the entire Ummah doesn’t even count to pennies in comparison. But yes, we want the UN to do something for us because we failed and our OIC is impotent.

As said earlier, Ummah doesn’t exist. In fact, it never existed on the political platform of the world. Ummah means brotherhood. It’s like alumni of the same university – i.e. Muslims following the same Book and the Prophet PBUH. It’s an affiliation. It is not what is portrayed here in Pakistan.

Ummah: Saudia is killing Yemen, Talibans are killing Afghans, ISIS is spilling blood in Syria, Uighur is never spoken of, Iran and Saudia play proxy wars in Iraq and Syria, Kurds are fighting for their rights from Turkey, Turkey has its own political preference against Saudia, Pakistan has its hand in Yemen and Afghanistan. Muslims against Muslims. Is this Ummah? This is Ummah.

• This Ummah cannot come together on deciding a unified Eid day.
• This Ummah cannot offer Namaz the same way. They don’t even know the exact way the Prophet PBUH offered Namaz. This is the practice the Prophet PBUH maintained 5 times a day for decades yet we don’t know.
• This Ummah has its own sets of kafirs and momins. A kafir here can be a momin there and vice versa.
• And this Ummah has its relations with Israel. Some despise it and some make a trade out of it.

You can praise Mia Khalifah and Bella Hadid; and curse Malala (neither a fan nor a hater). As you are misguided about history, your love and hatred is also misguided. Doesn’t matter. Why Malala said it that way is not going to solve issues. She is not your PM. Or anyone’s PM. She is not COAS. She does not hold any political office. Yet, you blame her for her tweets. It’s only your hatred. And that’s ok; you hate her. Fine. But this is not the way towards any resolution.

FORESEEABLE FUTURE

There were people who fought even when they couldn’t achieve their target. Imam Hussain. Che Guevara. Bhagat Singh. Nelson Mandela. Maximillian Robespierre. Malcolm X. Jinnah. And many others.

They all were different on different stages against different fascists but they didn’t wait for others. They didn’t beg. They planned. They stood. And they fought. With whatever means necessary. With or without a victory.

The solution is long-term. And it is evolutionary.

First, make yourself better. Grow economically. Enhance educational standards. Improve your healthcare system. Research more. Nurture scientists, philosophers, ideologists, thinkers, and rationalists. Follow religion but excel in it with Ijtihad. End these dogmas and orthodox ideas. Get your funding priorities straight. Get out of all the wars of the world and focus on yourself until you are someone with influence.

Get out of ghosts. Get out of graves. Get out of tombs. Get out of these people who sell and make a living out of religion.

Read. Think. Unlearn. Re-learn. Evolve.

Revolution and wars are not your way. Evolution is your way. It took 23 years for the religion to be bestowed upon you; evolution. The Holy Book was completed in over two decades; evolution. Evolve. Learn. Grow. Become someone so that you don’t have to beg others to stand for your causes. Become someone to become an impactful voice.

End this hypocrisy. Empathize above religion and ethnicities. I feel for Palestinians not because they are Muslims but because they are humans. Like there are humans suffering in Burma, China, Kashmir, Yemen, Egypt, Africa, India, Syria, Iraq, and Pakistan.

We just got rice from Saudia. An agricultural country getting donations of rice from a desert peninsula. Shame! We are succumbing to new downfalls every year. We are falling, yet we want the world to behave according to our wishes.

Caliph Umar RA declined to offer Namaz in a church in Palestine. Remember that? And what were the nurses doing in a church in Lahore? Wasn’t that blasphemy? Or do we have monopoly on blasphemy too?

Voice must be raised. No doubt. But it must be raised without hypocrisy. And one must remain realistic too.

And before asking our neighbors and the world to mend their ways, we need to mend our ways. A kid of a missing father lost his mother recently. Did we offer him his father back? Did we give him justice? No.

There are people suffering in our country. Are we offering them justice? Did we offer justice to the brutally killed family in the Sahiwal massacre? Did we give justice to the families who suffered by the bullets of Raymond Davis? Did we give justice to the parents of the APS incident? Did we give justice to the 444 murders of Rao Anwar? Everyday kids are raped and killed here. Everyday people are dumped here. People go missing here on a routine basis. People are dying of hunger. There are severe discriminations in different parts of this country. There are grave human rights violations in our own home.

We need to get our house in order before we point fingers at the rest of the world.

Till then, your hypocrisy is at your disposal. The choice is yours: to become someone. Or to remain nothing.

May Palestinians find their way to peace and freedom. With whatever means necessary. The two-state system could work without discrimination and violence. If not, then may it be the Palestinians’ way. Amen! 

Crocodile tears. That’s what you all are shedding for Palestinians. You hypocrites.

Your Prime Minister goes – every now and then – to embrace the butchers of Yemen in Saudia. With military support. For blood to spill.

Around 40 people – mostly young girls – died in a bomb blast in Kabul. You have our share in that massacre. Because blood is on your hands too.

You loved snakes. Good ones. Bad ones. Playing with Dollars in one hand and dead bodies on the other.

Cunning hypocrites.

A woman died of heart attack. She was asking for justice for her husband who was missing for last three years. Leaving behind a daughter. Fatherless. Motherless.

Did you cry?

That’s one of the thousands of stories of missing people.

Sahiwal Massacre happened. Rao Anwar’s 444 happened. Ehsan Ullah Ehsan happened and unhappened. So much happened inside your home when you were snoozing and yawning.

Over 70,000 were murdered here. As collateral damage. While the business of ‘War on Terror’ was on play; generating revenues worth of billions.

People were sold to US. Musharraf wrote that in his book. As bounties. For Dollars.

Did you mourn then? Or were you moaning?

Anyway.

Don’t cry now. Don’t waste your crocodile tears. Stop nurturing snakes first. Stop killing and missing your own people. Stop supporting the good old bad guys in the neighborhood.

And feel pain for everyone.
For Yemen. For Uighur. For everyone.

But first of all, for people at home. Because from home starts your domain to which you will be answerable to Allah on the Day of Judgement.

So, save your tears and have some mercy on yourself.

Yes. Bin Laden happened today in 2011.

Whether we knew about Bin Laden or we didn’t; is equally embarrassing.

If we knew about the American operation or we didn’t; it’s the same embarrassing tale to tell.

Can US Navy Seals through two Black Hawks come for an operation, near the Federal Capital Islamabad, in the Garrison City of Abbottabad, and then operate for 40 minutes, and then leave successfully without any hurdle?

We knew. Or we didn’t. Embarrassing.

A commission was made. Like usual. But then the Abbottabad Commission Report was not revealed officially. Like Hamood-ur-Rehman Commission Report. So that blunders can be made, again and again, with the heads up high with pride.

Anyway. That Bin Laden is a hero and shaheed for our Prime Minister. He said this in the Parliament. While sitting in the lap of those who made the blunder of his Shahadat.

A beautiful world it is. Everything is connected. Even blood, violence, the dumb and the duffers.

We have an existential crisis, and we have a rationalism crisis too. We can’t think on our own. With blood of thousands on Bin Laden’s hand, we are still unsure if he was a hero or a villain. Right? Wrong.

He was a villain. Like anyone who plays with lives. And in the story of Afghanistan, there are no heroes. There are only villains. The Soviets, the Saudis, the Afghans, and the Americans; all were villains.

Ah! No. Not us. We were not villains in Afghanistan. We were mere pimps. Just making our cut from the business of war and blood.

So, Happy Embarrassment Day. Hear nothing, feel nothing.

At ease, soldier!

RANDOM NUMBNESS – May 2021

Happy late Labor Day! Nothing to be happy about being labor or the day. It is what it is. A holiday for the bourgeoisie.

Maulana Tariq Jameel has joined the business and is celebrating labor day too. Now he will be selling what he never brought. It happens in business and business is not the issue. The issue is the discretion you allow yourself when you want to make some bucks.

The world, which was a useless place a while back, with lust of money and graveyard of sins; is suddenly a market now. Not a dead cow anymore. A cash cow.

Anyway. He has always been a Maulana of the bourgeoisie. Not the proletariats. Maulanas have markets too. Some have a niche and a unique selling point. Some have nothing but hate and discrimination. Whatever sells. Whatever makes you sit and listen to them.

The other day, NA-249 happened. Like shit happens. Vawda left the seat for his post as Senator, because he was unqualified to be an MNA. Strange. But his legacy was simply unmatched. The winner of 2018’s PTI was not even in the race this time. Ugly Vawda. Ugly legacy. But who cares.

Iremember his one big demo where he brought a boot in a TV show to present the complete political history and present of Pakistan. Rightly so. For that, he deserves to be a Senator. An untouchable senator, nonetheless. His service – of that TV show – will always be remembered.

But the ugliest part was a banned outfit contesting the elections. The state banned it. The state let it have a re-run. How a state can be so dumb and dummy is beyond comprehension. The whole episode of banning it and letting it contest in the by-polls happened in a mere couple of weeks.

No wonder that GSP+ status granted to Pakistan is in question. It was always in question due to blasphemy cases and attacks on journalists; but this banned TLP’s contest in by-polls must have been a trigger.

But thank goodness we have a PM who understands the West.

His boasting of knowing the West in every single presentation is becoming a nuisance. Same speech. Be it any city. Be it any issue. He has the same stance. In a single speech, he goes from Riyasat-e-Madina to Chinese Model to Scandinavian Welfare System to a mixture of everything and a final touch of religion.

A little Nawaz. A little Bhutto. A little past. A little religion. Then boasting. A lot of boasting. Then some more religion. Then more Nawaz. Then the West. Then filtering of the West. Adding the East with patriarchy. A little salt of the latest debacle – which can be blasphemy, rape, sugar crisis, corruption, inflation, something, anything – and then again some Nawaz and then some religion. The dish is ready to be served.

However, the dish is not selling anymore. It didn’t sell in Daska. It didn’t sell in Karachi.

The fall is evident but it doesn’t matter. The selectors will have the final say and it can be anything. It can be the PM again. And again. And again. Because he’s so good.

In other news, Chief Justice of Lahore Higher Court, Mohammed Qasim Khan took the stage to be the new voice in town against the fascist. He took the actual land mafia by the collar and dragged it for a whole day in his courtroom. He called DHA as illegal and tagged them as the biggest land mafia. He was so furious that he mentioned that even 50-kanal of land of Lahore High Court has also been grabbed by the boys.

Boy on boys. Wow!

Dr. Israr Ahmad once mentioned Punjab and its army as a British stooge. He was elaborating the difference between Sindhis and Punjabis and lambasted Punjabis for always siding with the one in power. He said Sindhis must be proud of their history as they took brave stands and were never in service of serving the masters. He praised G. M. Syed and Bacha in the lecture.

Rightly so. Punjab must admit. Like Habib Jalib did. Punjab needs to rise above its selfish interests to become a voice of the weak people. It must. It must nurture brave warriors like Asma Jahangir.

Oh! An Asma Jahangir from the other side of the border – Arundhati Roy – has just jolted the whole system with her article in The Guardian. She took the Modi Sarkar by the collar and reminded her government that not long ago, Modi was running an election campaign with “Shamshan! Shamshan!” just to oppose “Kabristan”.

And, here is India: a giant Shamshan because the government was shamelessly unprepared.

I will share fragments from that long article of Roy in a day or two. But don’t get goosebumps just yet. We have our own Sarkar with similar stupidities and blunders. We have our Modi. We have our Amit Shah. And we have our Yogi Adityanath.

The only difference is of spectrum. And that they have an original cast while we have mannequins.

Pardon me, but we don’t matter. In South Asia, the general public doesn’t matter. We hate each other because this is what our TV screens tell us to do, but we are genuinely living in the exact same shithole. Be it that side of the border or this.

They have public crisis. So do we.
They have drought. So do we.
Their farmer is looted. So as ours.
They have Dalits. We have minorities.
They have business mafia. We have land mafia.
They have blasphemy charges. We have blasphemy laws.
They have hunger, thirst, illiteracy… and we have exactly the same problems.

Yet, the poor classes hate each other just because they are on the other side of the border. Equally poor. Equally illiterate. Equally extremist. Equally misinformed. Equally malnourished.

Equally unequal.

Hush, His Highness!

Back to Islamabad.

Qazi Faez Isa won by 6-4. 6 were traitors. 4 were lickers. Depends on your side of bias. The thing is, the President Alvi – being a puppet – made a mockery of himself and his government. There was absolutely no need to file a reference.

Faez Isa gave a verdict. A very significant and far sighted one. But as he hurt the boys – one boy actually – so he was dragged and insulted. Only if we would have taken Faez’s verdict with some sense, TLP’s recent episode could have been avoided.

But no.

We play politics with religion, blasphemy, fire and the mob. Because the proxy version of politics is the key version to have power in Pindi and not in Islamabad.

Well, what else do you want?
His Highness will have His Sehri now.