Jamaat-ud-Dawa loves Pakistan army

This year in January, I wrote about Charlie Hebdo and then I stopped. I stopped because I felt unsafe. I thought of removing my writings from my personal blog because this country, where I chose to live, has no respect for me as a human, let alone as a free-thinking, outspoken, working woman. I did not blog for a long time. Not because there was nothing to write, but because I felt exhausted with dissent.

Is there any good left in Pakistan, I often ask myself, and before I find an answer, something bad happens ---again. In Pakistan, bad is on loop. You get done with the death anniversary of someone or some incident every month, and a new tragedy is added to the mourning list.

Last week on April 24, 2015, we lost T2F founder-director Sabeen Mahmud, who was allegedly shot by 'unidentified' assailants. Her crime, they say, is her involvement or show of solidarity with the Baloch, especially Mama Qadeer, who spoke about the missing persons of Balochistan at the T2F. It has been four days since Sabeen's murder. She has been buried and will probably be forgotten by the time the next tragedy hits us, but do we remember what we were doing in April last year after Hamid Mir was also allegedly shot by the ISI on April 19, 2014?

MQM-H protesting against Geo in front of 
the Jang Press at I.I. Chundrigar Road.

We were, as usual, divided in two groups. One who refused to accept that Hamid was shot by the intelligence agencies, and the other, who alleged that the only people to attack the journalist were the farishtas. Last year, on April 28, 2014, there were countrywide protests by Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), Anjuman Naujawanan-e-Islam, Pakistan Forces Lovers Forum, Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT), and countless other groups, some even from Kashmir, against Geo TV and Hamid Mir. Their clout? One cannot accuse a Pakistani intelligence agency of shooting someone.

The protesters refused to accept that the security agencies of Pakistan could be rogue or even have any rogue elements operating covertly. Their slogan? "We love Pakistan Army: Jamaat-ud-Dawa". We can guess the rest. A humble letter accompanying a metal pellet.

Last year's tags: Christianity, feminism, Islam, men, Pakistan, patriarchy, religion, temptation, women, academics, Army, colonialism, elitism, feudalism, generals, imperialism, India, military, archaeology, architecture, bye-laws, culture, heritage, Moenjodaro, Pink Floyd, Pink Floyd in Pompeii, PPP, Sindh, Sindh Festival, UNESCO, injustice, leftists, liberals, rights, secular, workers, Karachi, Parachinar, Quetta, Shia, Sunni, takfiri, Deobandi, Balochistan, British, Kashmir, nationalism, separatists, colonizers, English speaking, sub-continent, academia, employ-ability, employment, higher education, jobs

Well played (na)Pak army!

The National Reconciliation Ordinance finally bore fruit for the Pakistani establishment, as the 'democratically' elected government imposed emergency in Baluchistan. Trust on people to demand for the army in Pakistan when the napak army's and CIA's illegitimate children, read Lashkar-e-Jhangvi kill innocent people in hundreds. Since killing a few here and a few there wasn't working for them, they had to come up with plan B. Kill so many at the same time, that people themselves ask for the father to interfere. And what best place to do so then Baluchistan. And who to target but the Shia, who have never been a laid back minority.

In Urdu this is 'aik teer se do shikaar'.

The cards were played well. This time the Pakistan People's Party government did not make the same mistake their pioneer made in 1970s when the Provincial Government in Baluchistan was toppled down and Governor's rule was imposed against the will of the people. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto made the mistake of declaring emergency without the consent of any group residing in Baluchistan, Asif Ali Zardari did so with consent from an ethnic minority, namely the Hazara community. The Shia Genocide issue has played well in favour of the central government and very much against the ethnic Baluch population, who will be further marginalized.

To hell with missing people, to hell with ethnic cleansing of Baluch. As usual, instead of punishing the real culprits who have been targeting the Shia community all over Pakistan, we have literally handed over the whole province to the perpetrators (directly or indirectly) of all these crimes, namely the Frontier Corps, loathsomely remembered as the FC brutes responsible for thousands of missing persons in Baluchistan.

The FC has got policing powers for at least the next two months. Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi is still Governor Baluchistan, FC has been in Baluchistan for ages now, only difference is, there will be no Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani. So what has changed? How does the FC propose to change the situation for the Shia Hazara community? We can only wait to see whether they kill the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Jundullah militants or the Baluch nationalists.

Oh and lets not forget that Akhtar Mengal called top Hazara leaders in solidarity, while Baluchistan National Party (BNP) leaders participated in Quetta sit-in as per local media reports.

An excerpt from the Baluch Hal dated September 9, 2010, that incidentally cannot be viewed in Pakistan without proxy:

Senior Vice-President of the National Party(NP) Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo has said that the proposed Frontier Corps (FC) action against Baloch people was meant to impose an emergency rule in Balochistan or impose the direct central rule of the federal government through a governor on the oil and gas rich Balochistan province. (http://thebalochhal.com/?p=8931)

Disintegration continues

The supporters of the Nationalist/Separatist parties give only one impression and that is they want Pakistan to be disintegrated. If that was not the case, instead of being blind to the true cause of the poor going for such ideals, these people would be actively involved in getting the poor educated, and not merely politically motivated.

Interestingly, this is not the first instance of their support in the wrong quarters. The breaking of India, although a lot of the credit has been given to Nehru’s stubbornness, should also be given to the progressives, who were able to achieve the disintegration of India - first into India and Pakistan, and later Bangladesh. And now, once again they are giving their support to the people who want to further break Pakistan into tiny pieces.

Whether it is the Sindhi Nationalists or the Baloch Nationalists, the movements are being run by the same Landlords, who have been the actual cause of discontent for the poor of all these provinces. People who live in the shadow of these landlords are not free. How can they be free living under such people, who can and do, at any moment kidnap their daughters, enslave their sons and wives? People, who are not free to even get educated or get married or move to another place be actually free to vote?

They are just pawns, not for their rulers, but also for these so-called enlightened activists, who support the rulers of these poor people.