Saki Nama – Page 26

Random Numbness (Sep 2021)

Long time, no Highness.

It’s easy to accept that 9/11 was an inside job. But it’s tough to get the same insight regarding APS 2014. However, one thing for sure is, both the incidents served intelligence and militaries of the respective countries.

That’s why people like Ehsan Ullah Ehsan escape like Jerry and no one bothers.

Here we are again. Crying out loud in the UN General Assembly for everything we like. Islamophobia. Kashmir. Afghanistan. Taliban. Our cherry-picked favorite topics. Never cried for Yemen and many others.

We have been the pro bono – though not-so-pro-bono – spokesperson for Kashmir since 1947. Not for nothing. We accumulated a mighty arsenal based on Kashmir. India did the same. The two armies suck blood from the poor people for the sake of poorer people of Kashmir. In the name of nationalism and emotions.

The two poor nations have made two huge armies, equipped with atomic bombs, to mess around. A little mess here, a little mess there, and here goes another tranche.

But not everywhere. The monthly border bombings and firings – to keep the armies and their budgets intact – are mostly in Narowal and Sialkot sectors. Though DHA Lahore is much closer. Why not there? Because this is all set. Like 9/11. Like APS 2014.

Why don’t you get that this is all business of the Lords of War?

So, Ehsan Ullahs escape. But that doesn’t concern His Highness. What concerns His Highness is your dumb silence and your unquestioning loyalty. No one took the guards by the collar after he escaped. As if nothing happened. As if cognitive revolution is yet to happen.

Business. Nationalism and patriotism and everything. Your emotions are played. Sometimes with religion and sometimes with music. It works both ways as ISPR has proved. The same people with revealing bodies, cover themselves and give you religious sentiments and ultrasonic vibes, just because they play it better; with and without covers.

Byproducts. Nothing more than that you are.

Come to the current affairs. This includes affairs of Zubair Umar too but let’s save that for later.

Our loudmouth for our brothers from another mother – Talibans – is causing us not only moral embarrassment, but also economic setbacks. With New Zealand and England gone, Cricket is pretty much back to where it was 5 years ago. To be honest, that doesn’t even matter in the macro-economic view.

But we need to be good with words. It is not like PM Imran Khan is talking about women and their bodies and their clothes and men getting erections. It is about foreign affairs and international relations. Your big mouth can put the whole country and all the expats in serious trouble. Faiz’s move to Kabul for a cup of tea is nothing fantastic.

Iran is also on its toes. Things are getting real ugly with all the neighbors getting suspicious about us. We play religion with one. Sectarianism with the other. Brotherhood with the third. And Taya Gee with the fourth. And it is working. Against us.

With our support for ‘talibs’ in Afghanistan, we are disowning our own students in Islamabad. A mess has been created here since President Alvi’s ordinance of Pakistan Medical Commission. The poorly planned, month long, and expensive entry test is dubious. The whole medical system has been hijacked by this regime.

Life was so easy on the container. These same self-righteous men of the disguised-martial-law were supporting doctors and students all the way until they got their foot on the pedal. Now, the dream is collapsing and students are suffering. From the Capital to IBA Karachi. Just like the government itself, the schooling institutions have become Zia in itself. The guy who blew the whistle of harassment was expelled by IBA Karachi. How cool is that?

Because when nobody talks, nothing happens. No one escapes. No one is guilty.

Congratulations on the petrol price hike by the way. Again. While Zubair Umar was digging, and people were digging his digging, the actual petroleum products’ digging went up globally. There is petroleum crisis around the world. So, this time, we have a justification. But this utter nonsense of hiking prices every fortnight is ugly. Plus, we have so many other business oriented hikes like of sugar, wheat, medicine and other commodities.

Now the tapes. Hidden cameras. Hotel rooms. And stuff like that. Your favorite part of the post.

This happens everywhere, and when it’s with consent, you can buzz off. Your moral policing and bickering is not required because you are not the PM as yet. It’s happening. Just because you dislike Manto and your eyes are shut, doesn’t mean the greasing isn’t happening. It has been happening since the beginning. (Not advocating it.)

The point is: it shouldn’t be a tool to ridicule or embarrass anyone. It is Zubair now. A while back it was Sheikh Rashid. Before that there have been various celebrities, politicians, muftis, major sb, and common people. That was all with consent and you don’t need to play God. Disagree, please. But don’t ridicule.

It is absolutely wrong to be exposed this way. Equally wrong for all genders. As a society, we are losing morality. This way, private lives can be mocked right from the Prime Minister’s personal life to everyone.

Don’t watch. Don’t share. And ignore. This can be you tomorrow.

By the way, this is the right thing to ignore. But you choose to ignore Ehsan Ullahs. And your questions. And your conscientiousness.

And His Highness.

Babus & Babies

It’s easier to make a kid understand a thing than a DMG/PAS officer. Or any CSP/PMS in general.

What’s the hierarchical idea of private organizations?

Imagine a new CEO is imposed on Google. A CSP of course.

Or in Yahoo. Or Tesla. Or Amazon. Or NASA.

What will that lead to? Obvious disaster.

Here Education Department is under CSPs. As well as Health. IT. Roads. Communication. Buildings. Everything.

They sit at the top of the hierarchy of P&D Departments of all the provinces too. Handling development portfolio of tens of departments. Over a hundred across the country.

Nutshell: Dump. Garbage producing garbage from taxpayers money. As easy as a nod.

The uglier part is they come as a Secretary or CEO or DG of a Department as a newborn child. The third tier of the hierarchy teaches them from A, B, C to D. That’s it. They cannot go further than that.

Then when they are at D, they are transferred and another newborn arrives. Baby’s day out starts again and the whole department becomes a daycare center.

This is how we have messed up the civilian departments of the country. CTP to CTP. Step by step. Every year with commoners without common sense.

Now imagine the high profile meetings. Cabinet and Board meetings where they all sit after years and decades of service. They discuss. Imagine them discussing issues and projects and their feasibilities. The intellectual discussion is so fuckin embarrassing that your existence feels like a misfit in a club of unknowns; enjoying the dumbest party ever.

Like Marla in the testicular cancer club.

Every other word is nothing more than a joke for the guys sitting behind them who have actually done the work. Imagine the homeworkers talking and having a discussion. Would be worth a sitting.

Anyway. This is how it works. Those who sit behind, near the walls, are the girls and guys who know; while those who chair and the ones in the front rows are the miserable beings of our system.

A system which has given us these babus and babies.

The Federal and Provincial Government should end this system. With no second thoughts or ifs and buts. Let the senior most employee with due qualifications and set of criteria be at the top till his/her retirement.

There is such a system in the Judiciary and various other setups. Or in private organizations where employees from the middle and bottom hierarchies rise to the top due to their performance and experience.

Putting a new kid after every few days to head a Public Department will give Government nothing. Absolutely nothing.

The top-notch cream – so called – starts from being an AC usually. Then with different intra and inter departmental rotations, they become DCs. Then, over the years experience of various postings here and there, they become commissioners and secretaries in their late 40s to 50s. And by the time they reach the top of the hierarchy, they are as pure as a newly baptized kid.

Hallelujah!

I know the politicians have their cons. But they face questions from the public most of the times because of the lethargic bureaucracy and it’s incompetence.

Let’s take an example.

The Prime Minister goes to Peshawar tomorrow and announces a university. Now it will take ages for the bureaucracy to make this happen. Not that they are going deep into feasibility but because of their routine red-tapism.

First there will be a Directive from the office of the PM which in itself will take 2 weeks at least. Then it will reach the department’s right wing in another week. Then the department will ask the district to make a feasibility report which is nothing more than a couple of pages’ shit. Then that will come back to the department. Then after long ‘please put-up’ and ‘urgent please’, PC-I will see the day. Then it will go into the intellectual board of P&D which will approve it – obviously because the PM had already announced it – after amusing discussions. And then the case of allocation of funds will come. Then it will lead to release.

All this will easily take a year.

And in the meanwhile, the PM will face the harsh questions and the bureaucrats will keep on playing merry go rounds of transfers and postings.

The solution is simple but it’s an abrupt one. Discontinue the establishment. And by establishment, I mean both the establishments: civil and not-so-civil.

The New Disorder

Two wrongs don’t make a right. If I suggested that Talibans are Yazidis, it doesn’t mean that Americans / NATO were Hussainis. You made idiotic analogy on your own. I said “Afghanistan is going from worse [under America] to worst [under Taliban]”. I have written against the wrongdoings of America. From Syria to Yemen to Iraq to Afghanistan. Multiple times. Particularly on collateral damage and drone strikes. This War on Terror was an ugly idea. But the issue started when we wanted to become a part of it. In the 1980s, we became part of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. We provided our services [which I referred to as ‘pimping’] to America and Saudia. We got dollars in return for providing training camps, human resources, Dollar-funded-Jihadists, routes to Afghanistan, and our intelligence. Then came 9/11. We again provided our services – yes, pimping – to our usual masters. We again provided air bases, routes, human resource, and intel. The only difference was everything. Then we were killing those that we made. We became anti-Jihadists. We were pro-collateral-damage. We abducted people. Sold them for bounties [exact words from Musharraf’s book]. And made billions. According to WikiLeaks, General Kayani made a deal in America and he urged them to enhance the drone attacks. We lost billions on one side but we made billions as well. The public lost billions, but a specific elite class made billions. Papa Johns’ laid its foundation exactly at those times when the whole country was bleeding. Do you know who gave a bad name to “Jihad”? Pakistan’. Pakistan had turned the word “Jihad” into “terrorism”. With the short-sighted-policies for dollars, Pakistan has hurt the image of Islam in the worst possible way globally. Now coming to Talibans. Yes, they are Yazidis. Anyone who is Zalim is Yazid. Anyone who enforces and kills innocent people is Yazid. And anyone who supports Yazidis is a Zalim. What is an Islamic State? Now this “Islamic State” in itself is a terrorizing combination of words since the rise of IS or ISIS. What have we made of this religion? But let’s dig out how Prophet Muhammad PBUH designed His state of Medina: • Prophet Muhammad PBUH reached Medina after hijrat in 622 AD. He gradually started working on His community. With verses coming from Allah, He laid the foundation of an Islamic society. Read “Islamic Society”; not a state. • It is also to note here that God’s way is the evolutionary way. Not the revolutionary one. God sent hundreds and thousands of prophets. Various books. And in the end, when he finalized the Prophet-hood on Muhammad PBUH, He finalized it gradually. o 40 years before He was told that He is the last Prophet. o 23 years for Quran. o Evolutionary. Not revolutionary. • Gradually, Medina became a Muslim majority state. But it didn’t become a theocratic state. Jews, Christians, and idol worshippers remained in Medina and they had complete freedom to follow their religious teachings. • Non-Muslims were treated and trialed according to their own religion. • The State of Medina remained completely secular and no religion was declared as the religion of state. Medina didn’t become “Islamic State of Medina”. • Educated non-Muslims – who were caught in war – were asked to teach Muslim students. • Women were doing business. The wife of the Prophet, Khadija RA did business even before formation of State of Medina under the Prophet PBUH. • ‘Constitution of Medina’ was implemented to maintain peace and harmony in the region. • The constitution maintained and ensured religious freedom for all. The constitution also maintained that stakeholders from all backgrounds – Muslims and non-Muslims – will participate during formulation of foreign policy. • And there was no ‘Blasphemy’ against non-Muslims or Muslims. The Prophet PBUH had a very clear idea of the state. There were no ifs and buts. There were no grey areas. People were free. Wars were defensive. Mecca was taken-over without a single drop of blood spilled. Amnesty for all was granted in every possible scenario. But then, the Ummah gradually changed the religion. Altogether. Blasphemy became a common tool against the weak. Clear concepts became confusing. And then those subjects, which religion didn’t touch, were taken up by the Ummah. Topics like modern equipment, music, singing, business, etc. Quran is completely silent on the topic of music. You may have your own strict views on music but objectively speaking, Allah didn’t call it haram. Allah didn’t talk about it in Quran. He, perhaps, left it on you. But Ummah called things haram. All the practices which kept the Molvi in-charge of the faithful, were enforced. Taraveeh is enforced even with the idea that fasting is dependent on it, though religion never insisted on it. But Taraveeh keeps a Molvi’s position intact. Same goes for Zakat, fitrana and everything. These Molvis do not talk about education, human rights, women rights, rape, child abuse, government, corruption of the elite, etc. It’s going to drag if we start going topic-by-topic. Anyway. With centuries, and with some staunch religious scholars, the religion became orthodox. It became powerful, as well as enforcing. Powerful rulers used it to conquer lands. Powerful soldiers used it to take bounties in the form of wealth and women. Powerful scholars used it to make shrines around them. Powerful landlords used it to keep their weak laborers in line. Hence, it became a tool. And then came Pakistan. One of the only countries in the world which was formed on religion. Perhaps this idea is also enforced as its founder was a modernist and all against the idea of a theocratic state. But the state was soon taken-over. Jinnah died in an ambulance. Civil rulers were gradually taken in control. And the state became militarized within the span of a decade. It is a military state since then. A security state. Always in danger. Sometimes it is in danger due to external threats. Sometimes internal. Sometimes, it is safe but the religion is in danger. But the truth is, the custodians of the state are in danger because of their never ending greed. These war-mongering-custodians made proxy outfits within and without. One of them were Talibans. And here comes the topic. You can confuse it with “Good Taliban” and “Bad Taliban”. You can confuse yourself and you can confuse people around you. But actually, there is no confusion. These men who mock religion with their violence against men, women and children are not followers of the Prophet Muhammad PBHU. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. Because of terror of these Talibans, common people are running for their lives, riding planes madly, and falling. Squads of Talibans are making people leave their homes in terror and fear. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. The beasts threaten men without beards and women without burqa. They enforce religion. They enforce themselves on weak people. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. These Talibans use blasphemy as a tool to kill people to make a terrorizing environment. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. These people kill those who sing and dance. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. Prophet Muhammad PBUH never did that. When Prophet Muhammad PBUH entered Mecca, people were made fearful that a huge army is coming to takeover and kill everyone. Yet, entered a Man with the weapon of sympathy. Weapons were dropped. Amnesty was raised. Truce and a pact were made. All were forgiven. Even those, who hurt Prophet Muhammad PBUH and His family fatally. Every single one was forgiven and granted peace. Yet, you, unknown of your religion and your Prophet PBUH, are happily welcoming transgressors who behave like followers of the Prophet PBUH, but actually they are the enemies. You, blind followers of a security state, are brainwashed to the core. You cannot even differentiate between right and wrong. Yet you are stupid enough to make “good ones” and “bad ones” out of a crowd of beasts. By the way, playing Hamid Gul won’t make you victorious. Hamid Gul’s own hands were bloody with his games of decades where hundreds and thousands of people died. But those – you – were sleeping when choppers entered into the heart of the military city of Abottabad. The two choppers came, did an operation, bombarded a home, and took Bin Laden with them. The great intelligence and military didn’t even know about the operation until the choppers were out of the country. Or may be they knew. But knowing is more embarrassing and cowardly. Isn’t it? You may think you win with your snakes but you didn’t. You were taken by balls various times and you couldn’t even retaliate or get a sorry. But you kept on playing with weak people inside and outside the Durand Line. Ending this with ‘Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad’ by Ibn al-Jawzi; p.397: When Imaam Ahmad bin Hambal was imprisoned, one of the prison guards came to him and asked him: “O Abu ‘Abdillah! The hadith that is narrated regarding the oppressors and those that aid them – is it authentic?” He said: “Yes.” The prison guard then said: “So, am I considered to be an aide of the oppressors?” Imam Ahmad replied: “No. The aides of the oppressors are those that comb their hair, and wash their clothes, and prepare their meals, and buy and sell for them. As for you, you are one of the oppressors themselves.” Mind your thoughts and words carefully. If you cannot call an oppressor an oppressor, it is better to keep quiet and know it in your heart at least. But if your heart isn’t pumping the right flow of blood to your brain, then keep on chanting the narrative that the state has commissioned in your brain. You are done, already. There are no ifs and buts. There is no grey area. It is crystal clear. At least for me.

Lionel Messi

Prior to 2011, I knew nothing about football. I always thought of it as 22 men running after a ball madly. Faking injuries. Diving. Striving for penalties rather than scoring. And, I thought it as an artless game.

Then I got Xbox.

After some shooting games, came EA’s FIFA. With Messi on cover, I started playing online with ‘Barcelona’; which became a bad habit. I was addicted to online FIFA for years on Xbox. Mind you, I was a very good competitor.

With Xbox came curiosity for the real game and La Liga.

That transformed into actual love for FC Barcelona. La Liga. UEFA. Tiki Taka. And everything of Barcelona. Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta, Dani Alves, Alba, Mascherano, Busquets, Pique, Villa, Valdes, Neymar, Suarez, and Messi. From Pep Guardiola to Tito Vilanova to Luis Enrique.

And #Messi.

While watching his games in evenings, nights, and late-late nights; I fell in love with him. With Messi, Barcelona won everything. All the titles. Big fishes from all the other leagues were caught and ripped apart. They became undefeatable.

And then came Messi vs. Ronaldo rivalry. A treat to watch. Two giants in two rival clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid. El Clasicos became another treat to watch. I used to wait for El Clasicos as kids waiting for Eid.

Being a huge fan of Messi, I don’t hate Ronaldo. Both are aces. And we are lucky to watch these two live in our lives. But comparing two, Messi is centuries ahead of him. Ronaldo is a goal scorer only. Messi assists goals as many as he scores. He makes the game. he dribbles around half line and dribbles inside the box. Messi is an artist of his own kind and there is none who can be compared to him.

On head to head statistics – mostly in El Clasicos – Messi and Ronaldo has the following numbers:

Number of games: 35

Wins: Messi 16; Ronaldo 10

Goals: Messi 22; Ronaldo 19

Assists: Messi 12; Ronaldo 1

Anyway.

A lot of memorable games. 2-1 win against Manchester United in 20

10-11 in Champions League final.

4-0 win against Real Madrid in 2015.

6-1 historic comeback in 2nd leg against PSG.

5-1 against Real Madrid in 2018.

92nd minute goal by Messi against Real Madrid and that infamous “shirt celebration” so that Bernabeu may never forget him (picture of this post).

And they will not.

Messi has paid back Barcelona more than they invested on his health and insurance.

672 goals. 288 assists for Barcelona. 10 La Liga. 4 Champions League. 7 Copa Del Rey 3 Club World Cup. 6 Ballon d’Or. 6 European Golden Shoe. No one else has these numbers. No one.

And with that, adios to Spain with a disappointing season of 2020-21. With the humiliating defeat from Bayern, and poor management since Luis Enrique’s departure, it was bound to fall this hard.

Other than World Cup 2014’s final, this is heartbreaking. Barcelona and La Liga won’t be the same without him.

But a new beginning is here. In pursuit of art, I will follow the artist wherever he will move.

I hope it would be Manchester City as Pep Guardiola is there. And with that, there will be something new to look for. English commentary. English crowd. And Lionel Messi. Another Golden Boot? UEFA title? Ballon d’Or? Shirt celebration in Manchester? Who knows.

Ending this with a British blogger who was once driven to question whether Messi was better at football than anyone else had ever been at anything else. In this view, Messi’s true competitors are Mozart, Napoleon, and Da Vinci.

After Noor

She wanted to make her point with a placard in Aurat March. Then she was beheaded. Murdered. Buried. Making her point with a tombstone. Yet, the ‘Qamars’ and ‘Oryas’ are as ugly as they have ever been.

The other one stayed for 10 years with four children in a toxic marriage. Tortured for a decade and then murdered ultimately. What else was expected there? The only blessing in her life could have been a divorce.

Then another one was fatally shot by her husband. He shot his kids too.

Then another one.

And another one.

Some reported. Some un-reported. Some viral. Some ignored. Regardless of class or illiteracy. Or literacy.

A chain reaction of dead bodies. Of dead bodies we hush up. Of dead bodies we prefer over divorces.

Do you even know how beautiful divorce is? It is as beautiful as marriage. Both the concepts are divine and are from up above the sky.

But you – a staunch believer – prefer blood. Why do people of religion prefer blood? Blood here and there and all over the pages of history.

Men, in general, are animals. All the wars were waged because of their egos, greed and lust. Sometimes they battled in the name of religion and other times in the name of land.

All the current affairs are catastrophic because of men. Here and there. Be it a guy with a gun in New Zealand Or Dick in Iraq or Rumsfeld with his WMDs or a whole Military Junta looking for blood and blood money all the time. Men.

Besides, we have our own existential crises. We hush things. A kid is raped; hush. A woman is raped; hush. Raped and killed; hush hush.

So, we reject. We reject the domestic violence bill. Rulers have a whole nation to exploit. Military has unidentified people to exploit. What do common men have? Homes. Women and kids at home. So, rejected. No need to report or curb domestic violence.

Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), which is neither Islamic nor Ideological; has all the expired and irrelevant minds sitting to discuss the fate of women and kids. This council has no women but it decides their fate. Such a pity.

Ideally speaking, these expired old minds should be discarded. ASAP. The illiterates with no modern and developmental education should never be part of any council.

Anyhow. Here we are. In a domestic blood bath. Where women and kids are found in morgues. With the expectation that they will be safe in the Hereafter, (not in graves though) we say our goodbyes.

But you, not-my-friend, with Oryaniat in your mind, Qamaraniat in your words and Abbasiat in your intellect, you are the scum of this part of the world. That’s why we are poor and pathetic in comparison to the world.

Now let us come to the institutions.

As I always say, the curse of this country is the establishment; both military and civil. The CSPs of Islamabad always make a mockery of themselves as soon as there is a crisis. The lady from PSP went to the crime scene. Had a photo session. Said some loud words. No gloves or forensic gear. That’s it. Job done. Well done.

Twitter and Instagram have made these dumb people crazy. They just want to stay relevant all the time with lectures and photos and photographers. The result: see their actual postings. What are they delivering to the public? How good is their reputation? Or how bad?

Islamabad has the finest CSPs in Twitter Town. One after another. Noting and putting up. Taking charge. And delivering shit by rotating the fan at its fullest.

Well, well. Mesmerizing. With innocent dead bodies, with character certifications in high demand, with sensational murder stories, drugs and weapons; we are living in a dark world of errors.

Errors. Where religion is in law, judiciary, lectures, PM’s words, military morale, and everywhere; yet there is no justice.

Errors. When CII is trusted with domestic violence bill when no member of CII is a representative of women.

Errors. When irrelevant and dumb bureaucracy is more active on Twitter than at their desk.

Errors. When victim blaming comes before anything else. When character is demanded from a mutilated dead body. When empathy is dependent on religion and character of the deceased.

Errors.

We did this. We made it this way. Fake blasphemy charges can lead you to jail for a decade. 23 strikes on a woman with a knife can get you released in 3.5 years. But hush. Rapists are hushed with their rapes. Kids are buried. Women are buried. Tombstones are erected.

Funeral and Fateha should be for the ones living here in the dark world of errors.

There must be hangings. Capital punishments. For all the men who killed women. For all the men who raped kids and women. That’s it. A country should get rid of such monsters without wasting money on their survival in jails and prisons.

Just hang them after a speedy and transparent trial. Get rid of them. Courts must provide verdicts within a span of 3 months.

But laws. We have different laws for different classes. You can kill and get away with it OR you can kill and be punished. There are laws for both. The debate on it may lead to blasphemy.

I don’t have anything else to say but to beat the old drum again and again. It’s hard to be a woman anywhere in the world but it’s hardest to be one in South Asia. And Pakistan is a living hell. Sometimes, I feel, those girls who are aborted before they are born, are lucky. Yes, you can beat my words and my sick mind.

But you are sick.

Your society is sick.

Your homes are sick.

Your culture is sick.

Your schools are sick.

Your religious halls and madrassahs are sick.

Your past is sick. Your present is sick.

You are existing in an existential crisis and your whole existence is sick.

Not all men but all men are sick. Because one way or the other, we are part of the problem.

P.S. All the ladies out there, please do not trust men in such vulnerable times in a sick society. If you are afraid and alone, join other ladies. Talk to them. Don’t put your trust and weakness in a random chat or a rendezvous or a soon-to-be-asshole. Have your own club where men are not allowed. Keep us away for your own good.

Letter for M.

I have been writing a letter for the last few days, so was away. A letter for M. After failing – inside and outside the court – I tried again to make a way for M but obviously, there are hurdles. There are villains. It’s a family. Pretending to be Corleons but not. One is a law-man (a DSP), yet not a law abiding citizen at all. He once used his position against the court orders. I could make it hard for him but I didn’t. Because this is personal. Strictly personal and hence strictly fair. There cannot be a foul play from my side. There never was. Not before, not during, and not after. But I am at the explaining-end because I am the alienated-parent. I started writing and it went on. 11 pages. Single spacing. 11 font size. I could still go on and on and on to make my point but the point is you cannot make a point at all. When everyone on the other side has their eyes closed and their ears shut, you cannot make a point. So, I was threatened. Again. With death threats. With people following me and stuff. Pretty bogus. It’s been 8 years and no one has laid a hand on me and it is very very disappointing. Anyway, I have completed the letter. It’s harsh at places and polite at other times. M is my daughter. But it’s not like that. She has created me in fact. She was born and I was reborn. She has made me, me. She has given me words. She has given me blood to bleed. She has given me pain to nurture. And she has told me how to wait and how to embrace. While I was writing the letter and avoiding the state; women were bleeding. Women were being shot. Being beheaded. Being killed. Being raped. Being humiliated to the extent one cannot even imagine. At one point is an urge to see my daughter. I remember the meetup in court in 2014 after 16 months of pleading – inside and outside the court. Finally, I was able to meet M and she was unable to recognize me. Imagine this. The person who means the most to you, doesn’t recognize you. Anyway. The letter is written. For the purpose of making a point. Points. And for a purpose to be on the record. For her. For them. For everyone.

Won’t Let That Pass

Still. Victim blaming. Not someone ordinary, but the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

You know how much we have progressed in the last two decades? Let me elaborate.

4 regimes back, the President (direct military dictator) said that women get raped in Pakistan to settle abroad. He’s settled abroad though. No pun.

4 regimes later, the Prime Minister (indirect military stooge) says that men get tempted because of women and their clothes.

So, here we are. Sick. Frustrated. Desperate. Absolutely unconscious.

Look at the recent events. A boy was was blackmailed and raped by a 70-year old molvi. Then there is another case of gang-rape of a delivery boy in Islamic University. No female is involved, yet it’s the clothes.

Maybe it’s the beards? Who knows?

Yes, we cannot generalize. Rape has no specific demographics. But madrassahs and their molvis are the hub of rapists. On one hand, they chant slogans in the streets regarding religion. On the other hand, they are the ugliest blasphemers who rape kids in sacred halls. In mosques. In homes. On prayer mats. Using the same hands with which they hold the Verses.

Yet, they roam free. A rare event takes them to the police station and then they are free again. To rape. Again and again. Without mercy and without any fear of the Hereafter which they sell to us all the time.

Sometimes, I feel like they know there is no Hereafter. There is only here. Them and their lifestyle and their filthy existence.

Do you know why and how rape happens?

It’s not what Imran Khan has said at all. Imran Khan is a misogynist and an apologist with zero sense on a lot of topics. I wish he should have let that question pass. Better to shut up then to vomit.

Rape happens when you have unquestioned and undue power. It happens in dictatorial environment.

It happens when a molvi knows he can keep the kid past evening. It happens when a teacher far off knows that he can beat the hell out of a kid and no one will complain. It happens when a man knows that he can rip a woman apart and no one will care. It happens when a man knows that he/she will bear it secretly. It happens when a man knows he/she has nowhere to go. It happens anywhere when the situation is not democratic but dictatorial. In a democratic environment, rape will have lesser chances.

The ugliest cases of rape and child molestations have been found inside sacred halls. Be it any religion. Yogis and temples have their own stories. Monks have their own. Priests and churches have their own. Molvis and Madrassahs have their own. All examples where one man (or men) have absolute power over others.

I am not targeting religion. But the religiosity is too weak to be defended at times. And when the spokespersons of the religion are men like Mufti Aziz and Imran Khan; you are in deep hell. The guts they have are dangerous.

He had a girlfriend. He had a daughter from said girlfriend. The girlfriend went to court to prove his fatherhood. The fatherhood was proved, but the father eloped. Today, that father, tells the whole nation that a man is tempted by a woman’s dressing.

Someday, he will say that men are tempted by kids. As young as newborn. And animals. Cats. Hens. And women. Dead or alive. On bed or in grave. Men are tempted.

The other day, people were saying that I was defending prostitution. No, I wasn’t. But I do believe that prostitution is a buffer. It is because there is a demand in the market. It is what it is and it has been since ages. Perhaps the oldest profession in the world. You do whatever, this profession is going to stay beyond you. So, the developed nations have taken it as it is, and have made laws accordingly.

The countries where prostitution is legal, have lesser rape, sex trafficking and sex crimes.

The countries where drugs are legal, have lesser drug abuse, trafficking, and bootlegging.

Google this and read some research-based articles. But I know, we are too behind to even comprehend these things.

But who can shut our Prime Minister on this? This is not the way a PM should utter nonsense. This is not the way to talk about half of the population. This is no excuse to rape. Victim blaming should end. At least from the men in charge of the town.

We are yet to be born. We have yet to become conscious. We are still centuries behind in basic human development. Roaming around the lamp for centuries, like moths, and dying. Over and over.

Post Script Notes:

I didn’t mention democracy and dictatorship at state level but in instant environment. Madrassahs and village schools have more of dictatorial environment. Particularly madrassas where molvis have so much power and authority over kids.
Democratic country has nothing to do with it. I clearly stated that you cannot generalize and I also mentioned churches, temples, monasteries (by monks) categorically.
I didn’t say rule of law can eliminate this problem. I mentioned rape has no demographics clearly. Plus, this is exactly the argument that capital punishments won’t resolve this issue (though I believe every convicted rapist must be hanged. Simple.).
Lastly, child rape cases are exceptionally high in Pakistan. Sahil’s report averaged 8 child abuse cases per day last year.
You all have your ifs and buts. And that exactly is the problem.

Abuse in Sacred Halls

Didn’t write on molvi riding a molvi. Behave, he’s a Mufti. He can oust you with a fatwa.

It’s a sensitive topic. It isn’t a Christian couple you can kill at will for blasphemy. It’s Maulana and his usual business of arse. They tell you about graves and jinns and hell and volcanoes and snakes and spiders.

Yet they ride. A high ride. Followed by free fall. Inside the sacred territories. Where non-Muslims cannot drink water but molvis can…

Religion. The biggest industry of the country. Bigger than Bahria and at par with patriotism.

Brothels and whores are better than these scums. Well, they always are. Manto always said that they do their business, never hurt others and – above all – are not hypocrites.

Even pimps don’t sell religion. They sell bodies and they don’t hide under any banner. They know they are in the sin business and they accept what they are doing.

Sin. It’s an art actually. Its a no-no. No no. Defined and undefined. Accepted and ridiculed. A spark in the mind. A circuit. And it trips.

Anyway.

This is perhaps the ugliest reality we are facing in this country. Of kids being raped and murdered. As commonly as anything.

There was a movie – Spotlight – based on true incidents where a small team of investigative journalists go deep into a child abuse scandal of a priest of a Catholic Church. By the end, the abuse was found everywhere. In every state of America and beyond. Till Rome itself.

As we cannot make movies, we live in denial. We cannot expose problems. We cannot make dramas. Topics of blasphemy, actual history, failures in wars, the dissection of events, maulanas, military stuff, religion, etc. are banned topics.

You can stop movies. But you cannot stop tapes.

This is the child-abuse-capital of the world. This is heaven for all the pedophiles. Ugliest country to be born and raised in. Don’t doubt that.

Realize and accept the problem without ifs and buts. That’s the first step towards recovery.

Heaven and hell are both here. Denial and hell here won’t lead to heaven there. Evolve!

Budget 2021-22 – Behind the Scenes

Do you know what is happening with the upcoming budget (particularly the development – taraqqiati – budget)?

Do you know what the plan is and how all the MNAs and MPAs (particularly in Punjab and KPK) are being cooled down with the new methodology adopted under “District Development Packages”?

Have you noticed that all the whispers of fights within the ruling elite are gone? No more talks of forward block in town, at least for now, and at least till the budget revelations.

Let’s get into it.

The resources are the same. Say we had Rs.100 for 20 projects in FY 2020-21. Out of those 20, 10 were fully funded and completed.

Now, with the same Rs.100, we are planning for 90 projects in FY 2021-22. Almost 70 of them are non-feasible.

Do you know how this system of development (ADPs) is going to crumble?

Thousands of “new” projects are going to be part of ADP in the coming financial year, without thousands in pipelines as “ongoing” already.

On the directions of Chief Ministers of the two provinces, the bureaucracy is all ready to succumb to orders. As they have neither spine nor future insight of what they are going to leave for the people.

At the moment, P&D Boards and Finance Departments are on way to one of the biggest robbery of the country. All under blue collars. In air conditioned halls. With the nodding ‘cream’ of the country.

With more projects in the pipeline, doesn’t the number of potential projects to be completed go down?

There are still projects across Pakistan, which were initiated more than a decade back, and are yet to be completed. Most of them were too expensive and too big to be handled by the ‘democratic’ regimes that followed.

So, this time, we are going to have a budget which is going to look elegant to everyone. With so many development projects. New roads. New schools. New dispensaries. New hospitals. Most of them non-feasible. Most of them adjacent to the already under-utilized ones.

This is for the MNAs and MPAs, particularly of Punjab. To make them happy that their projects will be part of the ADP portfolio and they will be able to cut ribbons right before the next general elections.

But NO.

With not enough financial resources, most of these projects will remain incomplete. They have no ground to stand. But, just for the sake of parliamentarians to be happy, to be with the government; the government is going to rob not only this generation, but upcoming generations as well.

The cost to complete current projects in future years (aka MTDF) – is going to be in trillions of Rupees, which the provinces of Punjab and KPK cannot even cover in the next 2 decades. This burden will be on the public. The public which is yet to gain consciousness of their futures being robbed.

Relax! You can’t do anything.

The bureaucracy, which has the mouth and all the words to talk when it comes down to them, is not going to take a stand. They are going to go against their own junk of policies and laws. Because they follow orders. Just like they want the orders to be followed. Without question. Without sense. Without any strategic foresight.

To be honest, they don’t have the sense to go that far in thinking. They don’t have any idea of the future. They will do meetings, long meetings, longer ones, with engaging gibberish and zero output.

Establishment – civil and not-civil – is the curse of this country.

They won’t resign. They won’t apologize. They will get this mess done with all the aristocratic manners. And you cannot make impactful noise.

So, calm down. Snooze all the alarms. Let your dreams take you to Naya Pakistan, all along the watchtower, where the joker is having a talk with the thief.

Hello from His Highness

There are always disagreements on religion, politics, culture and every other thing. That’s fine. Agree to disagree. But there are things which are oddly amusing.

Some of the comments on the posts are, “are you seeing the hidden agenda?” Another one is, “do you know who is behind this page?” Some comment with the knowledge of the unknown like, “he is sitting abroad”. Sometimes, the vagueness is like, “this page is being foreign funded”. “Thank you, I am unfollowing your page”. And my personal favorite, “this writer has some serious mental issues”.

First of all, you’re welcome. The pleasure is all mine.

No, I don’t have an agenda. At least not hidden. If I did have one, I would have opted to write in Urdu to reach the masses. I don’t. I don’t want to and I don’t intend to.

No one is paying me. There is no AdSense (or whatever those clicks-based-stuffs are) on my website. It’s a simple website with my words on it (not all of which are posted on the Facebook page). There is no funding and I don’t desire any. I want to write as freely as you are free to unfollow this page.

No, I am not sitting abroad. I however, quite enjoy this idea of people guessing my locality, stupidly. Although, why is there a problem if someone is sitting abroad? People go abroad. It’s normal. Some for education, some for work, some for safety, some to party, and some to run away from their local responsibilities. People have reasons.

Anyway. I am not abroad. Not my taste. Was there once – for education – but am back.

I know the taste of being a second-class citizen abroad. Being a Muslim and that too from Pakistan is a thing not liked by the West. In buses. In trams. At airports. In stares. In looks. In avoidance. So, it isn’t my way to live like that in a land where I cannot have cheap cigarettes with the freedom to throw buds at will.

You don’t know the pleasure of throwing the bud out in the air like Tyler Durden; while smoke is still in your lungs – heaven inside. If you do know it, you are as free as His Highness.

Nevertheless, I can relate to how people here feel when they are treated as second-class citizens; based on religion, caste, creed, and ethnicity. We don’t like Africans and Chinese here. We don’t treat Christians, Hindus and any of the non-Muslims at par with us. Even our government hiring is ugly when the post of janitor is specifically mentioned with a particular religion.

Deviation.

Then there are those who think I have some mental issues and some personal problems with Pakistan and Islam. Well, I may have mental issues. Never got checked. Maybe someday. You and me. Me and you. Unhappy together with a shrink.

Having personal problems with Pakistan and Islam is somewhat a true allegation. I am a Muslim and I am a Pakistani. So, yes I am personal about Islam and about Pakistan. And I have problems with wrong interpretation of the religion and the doctored history of Pakistan. So, yes. There are problems and they are personal.

And the person behind this page!

Lo and behold! His Highness. The one and only. And not yours truly.

This page is just a page, without any will in particular. Maybe to inform. Maybe to share knowledge. Some literature. Some personal views. And some personally owned and created stories. Nothing more.

Imagine! If this page is deactivated, what will exist? Maybe some ideas, some information, some knowledge. Not a person or a brand. That’s the ultimate dream. That’s a V for Vendetta kinda thing without Natalie Portman.

Give Tyler Durden a Guy Fawkes mask and that will be His Highness. Please, be seated.

I do receive lovely and beautiful messages. Thank you. I try my best to reply to every single message I receive / read; even when people abuse and accuse.

I know there are people who disagree and don’t like my views. It’s completely fine. Even when you disagree harshly. That is one of the purposes of life: to co-exist with all the disagreements. Agree to disagree.

But those amazing ones – mentioned earlier in the post – are the ones who give His Highness a chance to enjoy some good smirks. You are an asset. A national liability though, but an asset for me. I learn from you; to not become you.

Before leaving: there are actually people who challenge the things I have learned. So, I unlearn, unfreeze, and re-learn. People come up with strong counter-arguments and sometimes with strong objective information. So, yes. You people help me as much.

Thank you for all the guesses and the love and the hate and the accusations and the appreciation and everything.

Stop rolling your eyes. No one finds a brain that way.