Category: Pakistan

Lahore has its charm. Winter arrives at night and leaves at noon. Long nights with stars and planets above with a beautiful metropolitan below. Wide roads. Parks and trees – depending on where you wander or live; but yes.

Smog came and disrupted the air we breathe. Then it went away. Every day getting better than before. Today, the Queen has lifted her veil completely and beauty has mesmerized the believers of the city.

And then this city never sleeps. It’s wide awake. Just when you can’t eat outside after 10 pm, is the exactly the time when you eat outside.

Don’t get me wrong. Have seen London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Stockholm, Brussels, and Paris. In days and in nights. In weeks and months. Once you live and know Lahore… it’s Lahore afterwards. Or you can keep on comparing. Like just when you want to eat street food. Or cheap BBQ. Or even a cheap cigarette…

Would definitely choose this city again, in any given day in any given life.

Because it is relatable for me. I can feel Amritsar from here and can relate to it through my grandparents. I can relate to mutiny of 1857. I can feel the era of Ranjit Singh and can feel the affiliation. I can relate to this city personally from before arrival of Budha to reign of Asoka to the arrival of Alexander to Maurya to Gupta to arrival of Arabs to Delhi Sultanate to Mughals to Sikhs to British Raj.

Just stand there on Azadi flyover and you can see generations and eras this city has embraced. Lahore Resolution in the form of Minar-e-Pakistan, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the form of Badshahi Mosque, Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the form of Gurdwara Guru Arjan of Sikh Rule, Lady Wallington Hospital of British Raj, multistorey homes of Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims on the other side of the Ravi Road, and the Red Light Area that survived through the eras mentioned above.

Which other city offers such an incredible and historical panorama from a single vantage point?

Can you relate to French Revolution in Paris? English Civil War in London? Fall of Berlin Wall in Berlin? Or Red Light Area of Amsterdam? Ok, don’t answer the last one.

Just wanted to talk about this city. An ancient living wonder of the world; that embraced and renounced different religions and faiths at whims and bloodshed. A blasphemous city; hence, a beautiful one.

Lahore. A whore. As Bukowski said, “like one of the greatest whores of all time.”

Imagine this December. This winter. These long nights. This city. And a walk to remember in a park under a zillion stars and some planets – with a significant other whose hand gives you shivers down the bones more than the wintry night itself; then you may understand. It’s not just the significant other but the significant city too.

Even your husband shouldn’t be allowed to picture / record you during intimate moments. This is not just red line but far from red line. This is the first thing you must know about yourself and your self-respect.

But as majority is comprised of idiots, so they do. They record such moments as just another normal moment to be recorded. You really need to be top-level-stupid to do that.

Rest is what has been written earlier. The online world is unsafe for all genders EQUALLY. Anyone can be a victim. However, women suffer more in the end. Men are awed by their ‘scoring’ even with their tiny instrument they happily record and share. This is another level of being an idiot.

Here, in this discourse, we are part of the problem. The problem is our obsession with seeing others doing things which are natural and biological.

We all do the same things. As we all are the same. With the same needs and systems. Just because you are safe by now doesn’t mean you have moral authority over today’s victims.

Involuntarily, people have been taped in washrooms, try rooms, cinemas, hotels and everywhere. Married couples have been taped by hidden cameras. Because cameras are everywhere.

Only if we stop talking about leaked stuff and stop sharing it, this shall change. If society will stop labeling someone because of a leaked video or picture – made voluntarily or involuntarily – the related risk and trauma will diminish gradually.

On a sidenote: Every single share is a downgraded version of your moral self. And every single share is kind of “gunah-e-jariya”. You’ve seen, fine. Why is there this need to share?

The moral brigade who thinks naming and shaming would make them pious. Well, that won’t. Those who are caught doing anything – including cheating – were just unlucky.

That reminds me of what Adam Sandler once said in a movie: “It’s easy to be a judgmental prick when nobody wants to fuck you.”

First, we are curious to find such videos and pictures. Then we use them ‘personally’. Then we share and talk about them. And after that we give lectures about morality and religion and how bad society has become.

Bhai, society has always been like that. Read Manto or Ismat or anyone. Or pretty much anyone who has penned down human behavior. You love Bukowski, however pretty much he offered was words for what we have cameras now. Cameras. The only difference. Cameras in our pockets all the time, with memory disks, to record stuff and make lives around us miserable.

And what has changed actually? Nothing. Bodies are same. They have pretty much same operational capacities. The numbers are same. Yet, there is this constant sale of sex, sexuality, and glamour on TV (and now social media particularly Instagram) that people are becoming obsessed more than ever before.

With more additions. Strange ones. Porn. More porn. More and more porn.

Society is as ‘immoral’ as it was before. For me, this isn’t even immoral. Immorality is violence, rape, child abuse, domestic abuse, and related stuff. If madrassahs don’t make you angry for unsafe children, then it’s better to shut up now because these male dominated schools are the foundation of sexual molestation in Pakistan which then spreads all over the country.

May be, some day, when the entire world will be naked, no one be curious enough to count the moles over other bodies. By the way, this is to happen. This is the way next life would be, during the final trial, and no one would be looking and lusting at that time.

You have all just become materialistic and worldly and consumer of the modern world. You have forgotten the great lessons.

Remember tasawwuf. Spiritualism. Sufism. Mysticism or meditation in case Osho is your guy. Or anyone. Every faith has a name for it.

The point is: you forgot the lessons.

If you inhale the negative energy, and think positively, and then exhale it out – the negative energy wont damage you. It will make you stronger. Because what doesn’t kill you, makes you spiritual.

This smog is just a test. Of your faith and spirituality. Become Rumi – not while reading him but while inhaling the smog. Take deep breaths. Deeper. Keep it inside for long. And then exhale the positivity out. Make the world better with your lungs.

The thicker it is, the better. It’s more about IQ. Not AQI.

Smokers have been serving forever. Inhaling tobacco and exhaling art. Offering the world and spreading positivity around the world. All over the world.

Don’t forget the lessons. Don’t be terrified. It’s nothing around you except an aesthetic world to be painted and written about. Be a Rumi or Osho – whoever suits you – and be on the path of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch or Iqbal’s Khudi.

Finally, he’s gone. Delayed riddance. Not just from his post of Chief Justice but also from the country.

He’s the second person to trash the hopes of people across the country. He made an image of himself larger than life. Stood against authorities. Stood against the government. Delivered bold speeches in conferences.

Qazi Faez Isa has not only broken the hopes but also the constitution, procedures of courts, judicial independence, freedom of speech, rights of missing people, free and fair elections, and what not.

He didn’t care about hundreds in jail since the drama of 9th May.

He didn’t raise his eyebrows against Military Courts he always hated when he wasn’t a CJ.

He has empowered ECP that Military doesn’t even need to rig elections anymore. All they need is a ‘seasoned bureaucrat’ like Sikandar Sultan Raja – a man without conscientiousness – to come and deny a party. With that shall go the 26% reserved seats. And with that, that party may not be able to form a government.

Simple recipe: made by military, served by Faez Isa through the hierarchy of bastards of bureaucrats.

But how could you judge such a man? Such a fine hypocrite. He stood against military courts and wrote a beautiful dissenting note. Words. With example of Jinnah. 8 years later, as a CJ, he stood for military courts. How could you judge a judge who would eat his own vomit live on TV?

If it would have been a movie – like The Godfather – where Michael Corleone took revenge from all, served it cold, as a dish; then we could call Qazi Faez Isa our modern-day Corleone who took revenge from all who were against him and ruled shamelessly to empower the same powers he once was against.

PTI and military together wanted to remove him from the scene. Today, PTI is removed. Military itself relied on Faez to get a Constitutionally-Amended-Perpetual-Martial-Law.

In his stunts, Faez Isa didn’t even shy to cut the hands of Mansoor Ali Shah – the hands who saved his tenure as the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Because he was for revenge. And he took his revenge even from those who stood with him. From journalist. From activists. From all the common people who saw him with hope. He hurt everyone without discrimination except the military. In fact, he has done his part to hurt the future generations of the country too.

It’s debatable if he was the worst Chief Justice of Pakistan but it’s not debatable that he was among the worst ones.

It has always been like that. You cannot put your home in a single person in political and social levels. As soon as you do, he/she will trash them in no time.

Anyway, it’s better to fall to the worst level than to prolong the worse. Now you know the enemies (of course) who are not outside the border but within. But know one more thing. No politician or political party can change the course of Pakistan. The framework in which they are asked to govern is compromised. The constitution is nothing more than trash. The bureaucracy needs to be abolished – its already invalid – to change the system. And military needs to be cut down to barracks and barracks only. Until then, nothing and no one can change anything for good. Be it a long-awaited messiah to come down from heaven. Nope.

Strange are the ways of the world.

Who could have thought this Chief Justice would hit rock bottom? Almost everything he said in his good old days, were overturned by himself in his chief days. Whatever he said at the lower echelon, turned 180-degree at the top echelon.

But then, strange are the ways of the world.

The Politician this Chief is against played the same game. Did everything in 180-degree as soon as he reached top echelon. Whatever he said is available on YouTube in reverse. Every single thing.

The Chief at the moment is trying to take all the supreme judicial powers in his hand. He is also looking to the proposed Federal Court as him being the Chief Justice of the Constitution. Again.

Ironically, the Politician in jail once wanted that too.

Remember what Imran Khan was hoping for in the end. Federal finances. Technocracy. Presidential System. In the last manifesto of PTI, direct elections for the Prime Minister’s Office were proposed – bypassing Parliament.

In the end, the Chief Justice wants that too.

Like Bajwa wanted another term after another term.

Like Asim would ask for another term.

Like Boys always ask for blood and everything in the country that has a price.

They are all Pharaohs of our time. We are just unlucky to have them together in a single time period.

Maybe you have forgotten but thousands have not. When houses of poor people of Gujjar and Orangi Nullahs were being demolished in Karachi by the orders of the Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed – can be you good chief on your bias; a giant 300+ kanal house in Bani Gala was being regularized at Rs.6.66 per square yar. Imagine their idea of themselves being Divinely Chosen.

I’m not exaggerating. They actually think they are the Divinely Chosen Ones by the God. They think they are to rule. They get direct messages from the heaven. They take decisions on whims and rollback decades of national progress in mere seconds.

Khan could have accepted the VoNC. Could have kept the government in Punjab and KP. Could have managed a strong opposition. Could have chosen to fight the constitutional way. Like Jinnah or Lincoln or any other great leader of past. Could have changed the course altogether. But he was always an idiot who believed in his Divine rights.

Forget the cause of all the mess in Pakistan (yeah, military) for a second; and you will realize that Khan teased the wrong guy. Faez took his time. Waited with big great constitutional letters. And after getting the Chief Post, served the cold dish of revenge.

If you have seen the trilogy of ‘The Godfather’, you may understand that Michael won not just because of patience, but because he was a lawyer too. He knew how to serve. In time. Though, in the end, time was not merciful to him at all.

Faez has forgotten that he is the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The history shall not forget this until he is dragged to new trials in each book.

“Who exposed them?” asks another one. Then another one. Then another one.

And they all want to hear one name in answer. So that they can awe for long and sleep for another decade.

Only those who never read history and had a short-term memory were inspired by this neo-exposition done indirectly for vested interests. They conveniently ignore that man in question still wants the lap to be offered, only lap is offended and old friends in uniform are retired. And new generals have new friends to serve them.

Anyway, let’s settle this one last time.

Hundreds and thousands of books exposed them.

Jaffrelot, Walsh, Talbot, and so many others exposed them.

Jinnah himself exposed them in his last days.

Jalib and Faiz exposed them with poetry and couplets.

Ayesha Siddiqua exposed them with numbers, data, and graphs.

Tariq Ali exposed them with historical events.

Asma Jahangir exposed them for years and was abused by the same lot.

Muhammad Hanif exposed them with fiction based on true events.

Cyril had exposed them with sarcasm every other week.

People like Absar, Toor, and Ayaz exposed them in their voices without fear.

Maulvi Tamizuddin exposed them long ago in the court of law.

The Students’ Unions that ended in fall of Ayub exposed them in East and West.

Fall of Dhaka exposed them.

Bhutto, Benazir, Nawaz, Fazlur Rehman, and others exposed them from time to time for vested interests.

Bacha Khan exposed them.

Manzoor Pashteen exposed them.

Hundreds of women from Balochistan exposed them.

Yet, you just want to hear one name.

And I feel very sorry for that. For you.

Gandhi said, “poverty is the worst form of violence.”

This could have been one of the finest sayings of all times, but we don’t ponder over it because poverty doesn’t concern us. Or at least that poverty which we see in heartbreaking reels and pictures and in faraway lands to shed some crocodile tears. Some tears. A sigh. And swipe to the next content of vulgarity.

That was violence you just didn’t recognize. And violence breeds violence.

With the global debacle of human race, we are reaching new lows here in Pakistan. The new trend is rich killing poor or middle-class commuters here and there. Mostly in elite areas of cities like Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad; but nonetheless, everywhere.

The rich usually have vehicles that are more expensive than the house value of the poor or the middleclass they just rammed under their vehicle – if they are not living on rent. A 5-marla house in Lahore would be less than Rs.2 crore. Cost of Land Cruiser would be… leave it. 5-marla house would sound too cheap.

Imagine this difference. Imagine this difference ramming over you. Crushing your bones and soul under the tyres which are more expensive than your bike. Or whatever.

Post-incident SOPs are exactly the same. Play with the usual games of mental instability, drugs, etc. Take police into confidence and manage to file an FIR full-of-errors, missing key penal codes. Get a loudmouth lawyer with zero conscientiousness – easiest part. Keep an eye on media but ignore it all the way. Get a bail. And get the killer fly out of the country.

Simple. With a middle finger to people.

Now wait for another similar incident being played on the face of the poor of this country in 3, 2, 1…

It may have been one dead or two, but a whole family dies with one death in the family. The leftover souls and bodies of that home would grieve for months and years to come. They would always be living in if and what-if and why.

Now the final part. The dead is dead. Or the dead are dead. It’s same as singular and plural just like its ‘poor’ both ways and not ‘poors’ because you really don’t matter. Until you resist strongly and consistently so much so to make them notice you. Only after that laws of the jungle shall change.

If not even in that case, then you always have the option to burn the citadel down.

Or you can ignore all this and keep on lifting the dead bodies one after another. Doesn’t matter.

Somehow, justice has prevailed. Not because it is what I wanted it to be, but because it should have been this. Credit goes to judges like Mansoor Ali Shah and Athar Minallah, who led from the front.

Qazi Faez remained shameful, badly compromised, and too tainted to be spoken of.

Apart from some judges and courts – like Babar Sattar and the Islamabad High Court – the country is completely gagged. The current Martial Law has transformed itself into one of the ugliest periods in Pakistan’s history. While the puppets in parliament can be blamed for this and that, it is Rawalpindi that runs the show.

You may have enjoyed 1984 but I’m sure you cannot enjoy 2024.

We are living in an inferno. We are in mayhem at both micro and macro levels.

A pregnant woman named Sania Zehra was tortured and beaten to death by her husband. After killing her, he hanged her to make it look like a suicide case. This is a micro example: events happening at the domestic level, at home. Just like how seven children are abused daily in this country. In domestic settings. In holy carpets.

At the macro level, blood is spilled publicly, so all may know that you can be killed if you speak out. You may not speak because you might be killed. You may die in an accident so the state may survive over blood and bodies. Recent example: Gilaman Wazir.

Honestly, I didn’t know him. Never heard of him when he was alive. Received messages and comments to write about him and how I should be ashamed for missing this.

Well, not ashamed.

The state has been killing people in Balochistan and KP and in the entire western belt of Pakistan since the beginning. Jinnah himself let down the government of KP, initiating a debacle of the political decorum in the province that was actually ahead of the rest at that time. But no. A Governor General wanted to govern like a general. And since then, the blood of the western belt has been cheaper than the rest.

Another student is killed.

Another professor is killed.

Another journalist is killed.

Another voice is killed.

Another poet is killed too. So?

Nothing is going to change except you getting the lesson very clearly with your ears and arse open that you cannot ask for your rights and you cannot shout.

Sit down in your sit-ins and moan for days and nights how badly you have been fucked by the state.

You are a replica of the state. The state robs you; you rob those you can. It’s mostly this hierarchy – just like that hierarchy of bastards of bureaucrats.

I’m so sorry to hear the news. Condolences. Condemned. Again condemned.

And adjourned.

Please bring the next dead body so I may offer more. No!

I’m not a journalist. I don’t follow news to inform you people. Lately, I’m not even reading Dawn regularly and Twitter is down. Stop expecting “news” here. Follow news pages, read newspapers, and watch news channels. This is this: where words fall the way, they want to fall, against gravity.

X came to power and imposed taxes on salaried / middle class to increase the revenue base of the state.

X was thrown out and then came Y. Y tightened the screws even further, making X an angel.

Then came Z. Z imposed further taxes on the same middle class to take out as much for the state so that the elite capture can be captured further strongly.

Now, X was selected again with the assumption that he will start from where Z left. And he is doing exactly that.

All of them didn’t impose taxes on real estate, retail sector, or other markets. They showed intent for the sake of news and drama. They even imposed some minor taxes too to make a point. But then, only middle / salaried class was taken to the gallows.

After all these dramatics, they have subsidies worth over $17 billion. That’s around Rs.5,000 billion. That’s what they take through cabinet approvals. Billions and billions, lands and lands. They throw out the farmers, but they do care for the sugar mafia. Remember?

Why do you take sides then?

Some of you raise slogans of X. Some for Y. And some are ready to die for Z. This division is even more suitable for the real powers. Let’s call them L. L actually rules. This land. These pawns. These judges. This entire system.

Yet, you are too focused on X, Y, and Z that you don’t feel L who is standing right behind you. Harassingly close. Yet, you don’t even feel harassed. In fact, you get goosebumps with pride. At times. And that’s where this whole comedy turns real dark.

Rape: Four witnesses. Or a video in good print. DNA test is a big no.

Forced Conversion: A video message at gun point to dismiss the case instantly.

Murder: First of all, a dead body. Then it depends on the murderer. 444 can’t convict. 1 can.

Treason: A tweet would be enough.

Blasphemy: A blame would be more than enough.

Abduction: Can’t be proved until the abducted person comes forward himself. But then, he/she isn’t abducted.

Honor killing: A dead body. Followed by a long trial to acquittal for all. After all, it’s a family matter.

Harassment: Ah! Tricky slope of sin. It happens. And it never happens. No evidence is enough. Yet, a blame is enough.

Drugs: No urine test. No blood test. Nothing for evidence. Depends on who is not in power.

Fraud: Cannot be proved. Even banks don’t know who transferred the money to whom and where through bank accounts.

Theft: Clear CCTV footage where a burglar shows his CNIC. Otherwise, a future encounter will close the case.

Virginity: Two finger-test. It can escalate. In case… consent.

Civil rights: A mutilated dead body would be needed.

Mass murders: More than one mutilated dead bodies would be needed.

State violence: Instantly proved. Instantly dismissed. Instant transfers. Instantly forgotten.

Corruption: A jigsaw puzzle where rules and laws are presented but then there are countering rules and laws. Can never be proved. Bureaucracy on both sides.

Civil disobedience: To be a civilian is civil disobedience in itself.

And the list can go on.