Taliban are the bogeyman!

Blaming everything on the Taliban is very easy, but I don't agree with this discourse. You cannot blame the thuggery of MQM or the 200 percent food inflation during PPP rule on the Taliban. If you can question the dumbfuckery of PTI burgers, who are at least struggling to make sense of the hotchpotch we live in, I too, can blame you for being a jiyala or saathi.

I can point fingers at you for wanting to maintain the status quo by voting for a predominantly feudal party that fooled the masses in the 70s with the ‘Roti, Kapra, Makan’ slogan. It was the political party responsible for kick-starting Islamism in the name of Islamic Socialism, initiating the nuclear program and declaring the Ahmedis as Non-Muslim.

I am glad that Karachiwalas are standing up against the thuggery of MQM. So what if it is the burger PTI walas? You may want to criticize this while sitting in your Dad's air-conditioned house in Lahore or Islamabad, but it only sounds like the cowardice and treachery of a person who has no guts to stand up for any principles, not even one’self.

Free ‘for all to rig’ elections

KARACHI: Despite that the offices of DRO (central) and his subordinates were established at the Government Comprehensive Girls High School in North Nazimabad, Block M, one of Daily Times staffers was manhandled by a lady polling officer when she refused to let the officer cast vote to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on her behalf. The polling station is a part of NA-245 and PS-101 constituencies comprising Buffer Zone, Shadman, North Karachi and parts of Nazimabad, which falls in District Central and is a (MQM) stronghold. In 2008 General Elections, MQM's Farhat Muhammad Khan won the constituency by a huge majority of 149,157 votes against PPP's Qazi Muhammad Bashir with a mere 15,392 votes, PML-N's M Aslam Khan Khattak 3,275 and Jumma Khan Babar of ANP with 301 votes respectively. It is worth mentioning that in 2002 another MQM contestant Kanwer Khalid Younus had won the constituency with 51,696 votes compared to 41,947 votes bagged by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal's Syed Munawwar Hassan. Several voters at the Government Comprehensive Girls High School polling station complained that the staff stamped on 'kite' for them. On complaint, nobody was around to help or rectify the problem. Polling staff aka MQM workers were busy stamping ballot papers one after another for people, some of whom were present on the occasion, while others had only sent their CNIC cards issued by NADRA. The biometric system, which had earlier been promised by the Election Commission of Pakistan, was missing. When one of the voters (Andaleeb Rizvi) protested against the stamping of ballot papers, she was asked, "Was she not Urdu speaking? Why would she want to vote somebody else?" by a man sitting with a government cap. The voter than took away the paper and went outside to get help, however one of the lady staffers followed her and a struggle ensued in which she snatched the ballot paper back screaming, "You are not allowed to take ballot papers outside." On being asked to guide to someone with more authority, the RO asked to cast vote again. Even the police guard just turned his eyes away from the whole scene, while many bystanders just kept looking and smiling. Some other women voters also started to complain about the 'stamping mafia' by that time, and in order to defuse the situation, all the polling staff in the booth started facilitating the voter who complained to re-cast her vote. On re-casting the vote, the lady at the ballot box opened the ballot paper to check who was voted. At this point the voter again protesting and asked the lady to not violate her rights, however the lady only responded by stating, 'get lost' (chal chal in Urdu). Meanwhile, one of the guys ordered the ladies to start winding up, as the desired number had been achieved. He also asked the said voter in a threatening manner if she had cast the vote to the desired party.

Published in Daily Times on May 12, 2013: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\05\12\story_12-5-2013_pg12_7

Capitalist Democracy: From weapons to Barbie Dolls

I have been asked the umpteenth time who will I vote for. Here's my answer for you, and now read it carefully, before annoying me again with your silly impertinent questions. I will not vote, because I do not dote on people who are 'relatively' less corrupt, less religious, less autocratic, less liberal and more secular.

Here I'll jot it down in bullet points, so it is more convenient for your perusal.

RELATIVELY: less corrupt

RELATIVELY: less religious

RELATIVELY: less autocratic

RELATIVELY: more secular

I will not vote some moron who can afford to campaign for the election because s/he has the money, his/her father earned being a corrupt government officer. Or who is a feudal. Or, who is friends with some pharma company owner, or some other businessman that cannot afford to run for election due to other engagements, but is willing to 'finance' someone for securing future legislation.

I do not find this scam of a 'democracy' you talk of worthy to vote. It has yet not convinced me. For the biggest 'democracy' I know, has so far funded militants across the globe, toppled elected governments to put in place dictators, and made life generally hell for anybody who had less money to buy what is being sold.

From weapons to Barbie Dolls, capitalist democracy that you term as an 'evolutionary process' for change, is nothing but a blueprint for disaster. In this system your human rights end where the capitalist profits are getting affected.

Using the Godfather way

People often question why the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) has so much support in Karachi and not other parties. (And I'm not a supporter of any party - a disclaimer was necessary here) MQM was not always there, rather it was the mullah party and the feudal party who had Karachi in their clutches after the capital was shifted to Islamabad. The city was divided between the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) with some smaller parties until 1987 when MQM swept Karachi and Hyderabad in the local body elections. However, it did not happen overnight or because the Urdu speaking suddenly wanted to support MQM for its linguistic and ethnic origins.

There is a documentary about the Medici made by PBS. It describes how from being mere bankers the Medici gained support from the people. By doing favors. Or I guess it can even be called the Godfather way. They did favors for people regardless of their social standing and in return gained their loyalty.

This is what the MQM does in Karachi. They do things like getting the electricity bill fixed for Muhammad Liaquat, which was screwed by the KESC; or one of the sector boys takes care of the weekly grocery shopping of a few women in the 'mohalla'; and some goon beats up the guy who teased Farrukh's sister on the street. These things enabled the MQM to get more and more support from the public. Another reason they get more support is that they do not have feudal lords in the upper echelons of the party. Rather they have doctors, engineers etc.

To increase their support, finances and vote bank, the ANP desperately needs more land in Karachi. Why the ANP needs land? That is the only way they will be able to generate more funds and more votes for themselves to stay around, following the MQM lead on getting to the public directly. I remember my Pakhtun taxi driver who always said that although he is not in ANP directly, if anybody in his 'abadi' has a problem, they go to the local sector to get it fixed. Hence the land mafia of any particular party is a goodwill and recruiting office. Less land for any party means, less funds and less voters. The tragedy for ANP is, it came to Karachi at a point when most land is already occupied or built.

PPP on the other hand screwed up its vote bank, which was mostly in Lyari and the suburbs of Karachi. They failed the people by not doing enough and are now fighting tooth and nail to get it back. In all this mayhem, the only people silently going about their business, and getting more support, are the bloody mullahs. One gets to see an increasing number of zombies in black abayas and more and more men with pants above their ankles in Karachi.

If only the sparring parties would take this as a hint and stop indulging in the urban warfare, Karachi may still have hope.