Faizabad Episode

I remember wasting time on convincing people that you cannot let a weaponized group to contest in general elections. Like TLY. It was allowed to contest in NA-120.

ECP didn’t allow them. Interior Ministry didn’t allow them. ISI allowed them. That is why they are “apnay log” as COAS said.

Who are NOT “apnay log”?

People of Baluchistan.

People of Karachi.

People of Hazara.

Minorities

People who are abducted.

I can post numerous posts of public events where civilians are being violently treated by the military.

Why did COAS say that the two parties should resolve their matter peacefully?
Why were officials tweeting about it while they were not ready to follow the orders?

Why were they making political statements at all?

A minister had to resign today. Tomorrow more pressure groups will force more resignations.

Opposition members are saying big words today. Tomorrow they will be facing the exact same challenges.

The same happened in 1977 when Mullahs and Political Parties made an alliance against Bhutto, supported by the ISI.

In 1988, Islami Jamhoori Ittehad was formed against PPP. Nawaz Sharif was the key man launched and supported by ISI. Hamid Gul had a major role in forming the center-of-right political alliance.

Karma!

Reiterating again; this is not democracy. There never has been.

Such are the situations that reveal who is playing the game.

And why is the Government impotent?

Why doesn’t it take a stand?

Well, it can’t.

Why?

The top leadership of this government was born and nurtured under Zia. It didn’t form and wasn’t allowed to develop naturally or democratically.

No party in history of Pakistan was developed democratically. They were made all of a sudden to challenge the former ones. To make democracy uglier.

MQM was made.

PML-Q was made.

PPP was fully supported by Yahya against East Pakistan.

PTI got the final boost from outside the camp.

I can bet, you cannot make a national political party in Pakistan without the assistance from barracks. Ever.

That is why these parties behave like dictatorships.

This is why Nawaz is being dictator of his own party.

Pakistan is a hub of failed experiments. From sects to political parties to security state to anything, everything is a failed experiment. Yet we boast with songs that we are what we are not.

Faizabad interchange is an example of failure. Of not only the government, but the whole state and its security institutions.

We are still in 1977.

As ugly as we have ever been.

Mothers

Away from all these conspiracy theories reside our mothers.

The mothers who send their kids to schools even when they know they aren’t as safe as they were once.

Over a hundred mothers saw their little kids for the last time when they went to school on 16th December 2014.

There are mothers who are embracing the dead bodies of their young sons; in police uniform, military uniform, and also in no uniform; on a daily basis.

There are mothers who see their sons and daughters dying daily in the desperation of meeting the basics.

There are mothers who see their daughters suffering because of society, culture, misogyny, and patriarchy.

These mother get hurt daily.

Yet they never ceased the process of reproduction.

They cook hope in the breakfast and clean wounds at the dinner.

Perhaps they inherited this from our fearless mother Fatima Jinnah.

Why mothers in Palestine never stopped having kids? They are suffering since forever, yet they are populated as ever.

Because it is not about death.

It is about life.

A Man, A Woman, & A Daughter

He saw the sleeping woman along with her daughter.

12 noon. June. Ugly weather.

Like others, he moved ahead. But that voice, the inner voice, that echoes in his brain like shrieks, didn’t let him move.

He had to come back from a mile.

He stopped his car.

Embarrassed.

Who is looking at him?

He called the woman. Why is she here? Why not at home?

The typical questions people with homes ask people without homes.

She told a typical story. A story such people usually tell. Liars. Lazy.

He gave her money and requested her to go where she lives. Then more money. He requested her to not do that to her daughter. She asked for a lift to a nearby stop.

All this happened because of a three year old daughter of hers. Or his.

That little girl. Playing around her sleeping mother. Clenched his heart. His moves. His time. His whole day.

His whole life.

And during all this, he didn’t dare look at the young girl. He couldn’t. He tried to look in the rearview mirror, but he was not that brave. He was a coward after all.

He remembers the whole episode. The words. The scene. The area. The temperature. The embarrassment. The time.

He remembers the feeling of being well-off equalizing the feeling of a sinner.

He remembers when the two worlds collide.

But he doesn’t remember the face of the protagonist of this episode. He couldn’t.

He is a coward.

He was afraid of seeing “her” instead of “her”.

Her. Who?

Cheat

His plan was simple. To cheat and get caught. And to be dumped by his wife. Simple as that.

She caught him. He confessed. She left. That was very easy for him.

To end the relationship, he chose the easiest path. He gave his wife the commonly-accepted-reason to end a relationship. And she did leave.

But what if she hadn’t?

Well that would have been double the fun. The crime would be “accepted”.

Yes you got the message right. But don’t get the messenger wrong.

Majority cheat because they cannot control themselves. And the rest cheat because they want to “control”.

You are Expected to be Present but…

No. you shouldn’t be doing this. Then what? Hmm. What is expected of you? Do that.

What your parents expect? What your friends expect? What your wife expects? What your kids expect?

Just do that.

You are expected to come home after your job. Directly. Do that.

You are expected to spend most of the weekend at home. Be it lying idle on the bed. Just do that.

You are expected to smile even when you don’t want to. Behave. Smile.

You are expected to laugh when you are the butt of the joke. Ha-ha. That’s it.

Get up early in the morning. Breakfast. Office. The ugly bosses. Yes. Do that. And don’t take lunch break today.

Come home on time. If there is work, inform. Don’t miss it. After the spanking from office, it’s time for home.

You are expected to pretend that you are waiting for the weekend. Excited for the weekend? Yeah.

Weekdays pass quicker. Monday is like the best day. But don’t you dare tell anyone, you abnormal human being. Friday is the non-nicest day of the week. See, my grammar!

Wake up. Sleep. Alarm. Snooze. You are late. You bloody…

You are expected to enjoy. Movies. Cricket. Football. And you actually enjoy these shits.

You are expected to yawn at long philosophical boring articles and books. But you don’t. Your six senses are only active at that time.

You are expected to date. You date. Then you are expected to marry. You marry. Then you are not expected to date. You don’t date. You are expected to carry on. You carry on. You cannot carry on all alone. You are dependent. You hate group tasks. There is a reason. But we don’t accept that.

You are expected to close your eyes when you kiss. You must moan while having sex. A little at least. Shiver. Orgasm. Have you had an orgasm? That is not an MCQ. The only answer to happiness is yes. What amazing sex you had. But you were thinking what the hell is that?

You are expected to love. But what is love? Is there a universal definition? Is the paradigm of love the same for all? Is there any metric to measure and rate it? No! Then what the hell is that? Is respect love? Is care love? Is empathy love? You are a loving person I guess. Yes you are. But if love is to get clingy, to look in the eyes, and to kiss regularly, then you are not in love.

You are not in love.

You are not present.

You are not in the moment.

You are not here.

Where the hell are you?

True Lies & The Real Jihad

He: I demand justice for the minorities in Pakistan.

We: You didn’t speak when that Muslim was killed.

He: I did.

We: You paid Indian agent!

 

He: I stand with the people of Balochistan. We should give them their basic rights.

We: You never spoke for Pakistanis.

He: They are Pakistani too.

We: They are agents like you. They have sold themselves. You are all traitors! I wish you were all dead.

 

He: I will stand till Hazara victims get justice.

We: You didn’t stand for Muslims ever.

He: They are also Muslims.

We: You liberal fasadi agent!

 

He: We all should stand for missing people.

We: I knew you would say that Mr. Liberal in the limelight.

He: Today they are abducted. Tomorrow it will be us. We need to stand for justice and fair trial.

We: Not us. Only you. You should be abducted too, Ghaddar!

 

He: I will go to court to get justice for the molested child.

We: Yeah right! You just want to be an opportunist in fashion.

He: No I don’t.

We: You anti-state liberal, trying to defame Pakistan!

 

He: Islam teaches us differently. We need to stand for those who are wrongly accused in blasphemy cases.

We: You always speak against Islam.

He: No. I speak against injustice as Allah and Prophet Muhammad SAW has taught us.

We: We will kill you. You are a Kafir! Murtad!

 

He:

We: Where the hell are you now?

He:

We: I hope you are dead.

 

And “we” all shined on.

For another thousand years.

For another hundred wars.

Killing our own sons.

Killing our own generations.

Yet we remained victorious.

At least in our books.

جواب حضرت نصیح کو ہم بھی کچھ دیتے
جو گفتگو کے طریقے سے گفتگو کرتے

Forgotten Lessons – Our Ignorance is Our Pride

Hussain RA went against the ruler of His time.
He stood against injustice.
He stood for what He believed was right.
He embraced martyrdom on that path.

We cry every year on Muharram for the pain faced by Hussain RA.

Yet we are all like people of Koofa. Silent. Not doing anything. Not even realizing ‘wrong as wrong’ in our hearts.

And above all, we are proud of it.

Our ignorance is our pride.

The lesson from Prophets is to stand against oppressors.
To stand against unjust powers.
Moosa AS against Pharaoh.
So as others.

But today, I guess, paths of Prophets are too tough to follow. To even realize right thing at heart is tough. We think it’s bad to think ‘wrong as wrong’ today.

Ignorance. Circling us from all sides.

And after ignoring all our Islamic traditions, we think we are the right ones while those who actually take the Islamic path are wrong ones.

These silent blind followers are the most cowards ones.
Afraid to think.
Happy to accept.
Following whatever is accepted widely.

Yeh 10 crore hain
Jehal ka nachor hain
Inki fikr so gai

Rest in Peace Junaid Jamshed

He was forced to apologize because of his sermons.
He was forced to apologize because of his selfies.

Liberals were after him on why he left music, jeans, and the glamour world.
Conservatives were after him on why he shook hands with a model and why he took pictures with them.

This is typical of us Pakistanis. We don’t leave a moment of criticism on anyone even in their personal lives which has nothing to do with us.
(I wish we would have been that critical and cynical about our history, which we are always ready to brush under the carpet.)

We all ignored him when he was alive. We made fun of him. We ignored when he was attacked by Mullahs at an airport. We laughed with him and at him, but we didn’t cry with him.

Maybe it was better that Allah took him away from us filthy Pakistanis. And we were even denied of his last smile and funeral.

Junaid Jamshed was the biggest transformation of our times. He never failed except when we Pakistanis forced him to fail.

He was not a prophet. He was a man just like us, yet we wanted him to act sinless because of his beard. Or we wanted him to shave his beard and come back to music. Or we wanted him to shut his business and expensive brands. Or we were jealous of his success in every field. Or we don’t know what we wanted from him. Or maybe we should have minded our own business.

No sect and no social class in Pakistan allowed him to live in peace.

Surely now;
Rest in peace #JunaidJamshed
Rest in peace #PK661

Revolution vs. Evolution (PTI’s November 2 Dharna)

Expectations:
Khoon bhi na niklay or inqilaab bhi aa jaye.

Reality:
Khoon bhi nikla or inqilaab bhi nahi aaya.

Some facts about revolutions:

1. A revolution is never bloodless. Evolution is bloodless.

2. If both the leaders of pro-revolution and anti-revolution ride the same vehicle, that isn’t revolution. (Helicopters in our case)

3. If team of the revolutionist is as shady as the team of ruler, that isn’t a revolution either.

4. If it is expected that police wouldn’t beat revolutionists, then it isn’t a revolution but a way to combat boredom perhaps.

5. If the army is expected to help the revolutionists instead of the government, perhaps another revolution is needed before this revolution.

No revolution in history sustained itself in the long run. The most famous one was “French Revolution” by Robespierre. Success followed by instant failure.

Another one, widely famous and copied, was by guerilla leader Che Guevara. It succeeded for a couple of years only.

Pakistan was made on evolution, with efforts of over half a century. Revolution was not adopted. Islam was spread through evolution, over 23 years.

When Jinnah lost the elections of 1935-36 by Nehru, he didn’t make a fuss. No dharna. He recollected himself. Took charge and made a national difference. He made new waves of ideology through consistent awareness methodologies. In the elections of 1945, he won decisively.

We put pictures of Jinnah almost everywhere. Most commonly, his picture is placed at the back of the sitting leader. So as to not follow him, and we don’t.

I am for evolution.
Not for blood. Not for corpses. Not for violence.
And not for revolution.