Intolerance behind Sufis!

Since the deadlock between the government and Barelvi extremists of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan came to an end on Monday, November 27, one thing was loud and clear, the Pakistan Army refused to take action against “its own people”, as the chief of army staff said.

The civilian government had been trying to handle the situation since November 6, when the sit-in commenced, but was forced to request for army assistance to tackle the jihadi sentiments on the orders of the Islamabad High Court. However, the anti-Ahmadi rhetoric played by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz against the sitting Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa came back to bite them during the Faizabad Interchange sit-in. The army, instead of coming in to take hold of the situation 1953-style, chose to coach civilians about amicably handling Punjabis overdosing on the blasphemy law.

This incident has not only paved the way for the COAS to clear his name in the eyes of the largest sectarian group, but it also falls in place with the establishment’s plan to mainstream Islamic extremists as a political alliance.

Earlier, when Nawaz was deposed as per court orders, and by-elections were called in NA-120, one of the contestants was Qari Yaqoob Sheikh of the unregistered Milli Muslim League, technically a candidate of the Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, political wing of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Qari Yaqoob bagged 4.59 percent or a total 5,822 votes in the by-election. The launching of the Milli Muslim League was opposed by the PML-N, but their protests went unheard.

The other religious person, who was ahead of Yaqoob was Shaikh Azhar Hussain Rizvi at 7,130 votes or 5.62 percent of the total. Azhar participated as an independent candidate against Begum Kulsoom Nawaz of the PML-N; however, he belongs to Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan - an Islamic political party founded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the architect of the Faizabad sit-in.

Since the time Shaikh Azhar bagged third position in the strategic Punjabi constituency in the heart of Lahore, the party had been aggressively campaigning for getting a strong foothold in mainstream politics ahead of the 2018 elections. Tehreek-e-Labbaik holds Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the convicted murderer of Punjab governor Salman Taseer, as innocent and his hanging unjustifiable. It has resorted to sloganeering and urged people to take to the streets to protest against the perceived persecution of Muslims in the Muslim majority country.

Originally, the demand of those sitting at Faizabad was to reverse the law pertaining to the finality of prophethood, which was accepted. To further gain momentum and support for the new party, Khadim Hussain had expanded the scope of demands during the protest and also called on the entire cabinet to hand in their resignations.

Faizabad Interchange, made in the 90s is the gateway between Islamabad and its twin city Rawalpindi, from where thousands of people commute to the federal capital on a daily basis. The blockade of the interchange by the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan was strategic as it paralysed the twin cities for close to three weeks.

Since a vast majority of Sunni Muslims in Pakistan belong to the Barelvi school of thought, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan founder Khadim Hussain is vouching on them to help him win a majority in Punjab. Especially under the 'namoos-e-risalat' banner. Under whose patronage is anyone's guess!
Milli Muslim League on the other hand, has slightly lesser supporters due to its Salafi leanings, often at odds with the shrine-going majority of the rural and urban population, and hence closer to the Deobandi school of thought. It is this similarity which has been helpful in raising the Taliban and now Daesh among the Deobandis of Pakistan and Afghanistan, largely funded by the Salafi Saudi regime.

The turf war between the Barelvis and the other major Sunni groups is old and both have been involved in target killings of mosque imams for taking hold of an area in different parts of the country. The recent fiasco in Islamabad seems to be an extension of the same. The stance of the security establishment in the matter and their refusal to confront the previously obscure, but majority Sunni group, is recognition of the need for perhaps a grand religio-political alliance.

The failure to make the Pak Sarzameen Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan work jointly in Karachi might have served as a precedent for the deep state in this matter. Bringing politicians to heel is a problem when it comes to following without question.

This grand alliance in Punjab will not only deal with the PML-N and divide the Punjabi vote bank, but also keep in check the volatility of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership, another right-leaning set of hooligans who brought the federal capital to halt in 2014. A poor precedent was set during the more than 120-day demonstrations staged by the PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) simultaneously in 2014 when Islamabad was locked down for more than three months. Prior to that, the PAT protest in Model Town, Lahore in June 2014 had ended in violence and multiple deaths. A re-enactment of the PAT demonstration is perhaps on the cards too, as Tahirul Qadri landed in Pakistan on November 28.

This time around, the Faizabad sit-in however ended 'amicably' as the COAS brokered a six-point deal between the miscreants and the government which includes the resignation of Law Minister Zahid Hamid, inquiries and investigations against those involved in changing the wordings of the oath related to the finality of prophethood, and freedom for all those arrested during the operation against the instigators.

Milli Muslim League lagged behind the Tehreek-e-Labbaik candidate, it was a major sign for those in the power corridors to realise their mistake of not recognising the bigger terror group hiding behind its tolerant Sufi-turbaned facade. How this will end, with Hafiz Muhammad Saeed walking as a free man now, only time will tell.

When will the bubble burst?

Recently, a friend asked, how does one define 'elite' in Pakistan. It is one of the most important questions in the current circumstances. Not to make us hate them more personally, but rather to fix the mess we live in. The credit of this social mess, political mess, micro economic failure, and flawed policies, all goes to our elite. Basic human rights like access to quality education, healthcare, etc, are all out of reach for 60 percent or more of the population because of their non-elite status.

So, the question was, who were the elite?

The elite is at the top of all that is existing in this country. They are the ones in military, who have been there for the past many generations, decorated by the British. They are the ones who were bestowed with swathes of land by the British and have their people in the military, in the power corridors, in the cabinet, assemblies, etc. They have also married their children to people who form the business classes and bureaucracy to keep their money and power in place. These intermarriages have also enabled them to reproduce offspring who can go to the best schools, colleges, foreign universities or even local top academic institutions.

Their offspring are visible holding guitars in universities singing to the likes of Habib Jalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz. They get to sing in Coke Studio, they get to become editors of newspapers and chancellors of universities. Which means they get to represent the 60 percent to the rest of the world in the language they speak, 'English'.

They can own and run hospitals. Their teenage kids get to blog on various news websites. So many of them, also get nominated for awards and run NGOs. It is the elite who are shaping the narrative of what this country is. They or their families have directly or indirectly created this mess that they sell in PowerPoint presentations to get the funding needed to make some cosmetic changes in between their foreign trips and shopping sprees in Dubai.

It is after them that we have the office working class, who serve all these people. They hardly reach the bottom of the merit list because their father did not have a personal library or a bank balance to send them to an elite school where they could have polished their English to the right accent or their understanding of international relations. They lag behind in almost every way compared to the elite. They lack the finesse to compete with the toppers. For them getting a 'Fullbright' after an education at a neighborhood school is close to impossible.

After them come the poor, those who were born to serve everyone. They are considered a test for everyone. If they get to eat, they provide us a perfect example to be content with whatever we have. "You should be happy if you are eating three meals a day, what if you have only one?"

An excerpt from The Shape of the Beast: Conversations with Arundhati Roy

If you want to read:
The Shape of the Beast

The God of Small Things

Unending despair: women's access versus control over finances

Globally, women are demanding for equal wages compared to men, but in Pakistan, even if a woman is earning an equal wage, her right to her own income is mostly not recognised. At the most she is gifted a gold or silver trinket, which too is either pawned or sold in the market if the man requires money at any stage.
But if she is the wife of a landless farmer, her situation is worse. Her existence is merely to assist her husband who works for a feudal on a farm where he is indentured along with his whole family, including women and children. These women and children merely add to the number of hands the head of the household has- their wages and power is zilch.
Though financial independence varies between rural and urban women as well as educated, less educated and illiterate women. Workforce participation is the highest among women with no education or those who have completed secondary school, whereas women with primary school education remain the least employed.
Perhaps this is one reason that participation of women in agriculture is higher compared to the other sectors. In Sindh, where the feudal system is still present on a larger scale, women have no bargaining power, whereas in Punjab, where landholdings have been diluted, mostly due to inheritance laws, there is a bit of room to bargain for women. Nevertheless, women do not get to have their fair share in the produce in any case; and on top of that, are held back by social obligations, including the burden of being the 'family honour'.
Hanging onto this delicate thread called ‘honour’, many women are continuously deprived of their right to refuse to work for a particular landlord, often at the risk of abuse and even rape. Worst is the situation of women who are part of the 1.7 million bonded labourers.
Many peasants are paid with a share in the crop produce, with a minimal monetary compensation, which can be as low as Rs5 per 40 kilogram of sugarcane, or Rs5 plus three kilogram of tomatoes for a day’s worth of picking tomatoes at a local landlord’s farm.
Experts have claimed countless of times that this situation can be mitigated via land reforms and distribution.
In March this year, Sindh government has reportedly distributed 55,439 acres of land among 6,000 people in 17 districts, which included 4,000 women and 1,200 men.
However, there are cases where the Sindh government allotted land to some women farmers, who later were stuck amid court cases brought against them by landlords who claim the allotted land as their property. This disparity, despite that women contribute close to 60 per cent in the rural agricultural economy, is one of the major reasons of rural to urban migration, which has its own downsides within the urban development sector. Nevertheless, urbanisation has its positives too.
With rapid urbanisation, participation of women in the workforce is increasing gradually; but again, many women, whether they work in a village or a city, do not necessarily have financial independence.
Many women, who have migrated to the cities, work as either home-based workers or domestic help, having no worker rights. Categorised under undocumented economy, their situation is dismal, with women getting Rs10 for a chickankari dress worth Rs3,000 at a flashy retail store; Rs17 a day for peeling 10 kilogram of garlic; or working eight hours a day as a maid at some NGO worker’s home for food (if lucky) and Rs1,200 a month.
But from there, it is downhill since the power over these resources is automatically taken over by the male members of a household, making a woman more vulnerable.
Though there is a difference between women working in menial jobs, and those in the white-collar sector, the access versus control matter remains.
One comes across countless stories of women domestic workers forcefully being relieved of their income by a male member; or stories of women working as teachers, doctors, engineers who have to give up their right to their own earnings due to the manoeuvrings of their partners.
Data of women’s workforce participation shows the most disproportionate numbers compared to men, especially in Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka. But what is missing in the statistics is the information regarding how many of these women actually have power over the resources they generate or have been bequeathed via inheritance or any other means.
Between 2010 and 2012 the World Bank (WB) recorded female workforce participation of the total number of women in Pakistan at 24 per cent, which increased to 25 per cent in 2013, whereas male participation remained stable at 83 per cent throughout the same periods. This means female workforce participation in Pakistan has only been above Afghanistan within the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
Among SAARC countries during the same period, women have made up the lowest percentage of workers in Afghanistan at 15 per cent in 2010 and 16 per cent between 2011 and 2013. India has been slightly ahead of Pakistan with 29 per cent in 2010, 28 per cent in 2011 and 27 per cent in both 2012-13, showing a downward trend. The highest and most stable number of women workers has been recorded in Nepal by the WB at 80 per cent during the same period, followed by Bhutan at 66 per cent between 2010 and 2012, and 67 per cent in 2013. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, during the same period have remained stable at 57 per cent and 35 per cent respectively. Maldives is at par with Bangladesh and has a little more than double the female participation rate compared to Pakistan with 55 per cent in 2010 and 56 per cent between 2011 and 2013.
Though political parties talk of women participation in politics, and NGOs focus on women’s health, education, violence against women, and economic empowerment, the fact remains that financial independence of most women is a distant dream.
Economic empowerment of women is a game-changer in a staunchly patriarchal society. One of the most fundamental attack on a woman is deprivation of her financial rights, which is followed by food security, burden of extra manual labour, lack of reproductive rights and, more often than not, psychological battery regarding lack of financial means.

Published in The News at: http://e.thenews.com.pk/newsmag/mag/detail_article.asp?id=10513&magId=10#sthash.2vk5s7RY.dpuf

Where life is not sacred

Pakistan has lost more than 80,000 people in the war against terror. The country’s top intelligence agencies and the security establishment along with the Saudi-CIA coalition are to be blamed for this. Their not so savvy strategic maneuvers have failed and rather resulted in creating the monsters that now kill left, right and centre. But killings do not have an effect on this region as much as the thought of glory does.

You can sell the idea of ‘glory in death’ to the people of this region very easily since they grow up on the Greek Hero cult. From teaching children how those who are killed in battle are never really dead to conditioning women into believing they will have a better life in hereafter if they forget they are alive human beings, we thrive on the death of humans, their dreams, aspirations, and thinking ability. Our politics too is played on dead bodies. A better political party has more ‘martyrs’ and not many good living politicians. We have replaced the Greek hero with the word ‘shaheed’ (martyr).

Death is the other name of our religion. If you are Muslim, you must decide which kind to get the permission to live and then die to get access to the royal suite. If you are not Muslim, forget your basic human right to live, let alone live with dignity. It all boils down to living as a Muslim and dying while trying to make sure others are Muslim too.

This is the reason why, even though thousands of people are dead in this country, and many continue to lose their lives on a daily basis, we are not bothered. Those who die are either the bad people like Shias, Ahmedis, Christians, or Hindus, or the good people like Deobandis, Salafis, and other Sunnis. The bad people are of course dispensable being sub-human and the good people are the exalted ones, the eternal ones, the immortal shaheeds.

Lack of respect for the existence of life on earth and desire for the never-seen, never-proven next life is responsible for chaos in most of the countries where the religion of peace is sacrosanct, and Pakistan is no exception. It is why millions of people flee from the regions where this religion is sponsored by the state. But it seems that the roundness of earth is catching up with this escape route as well.

Fighters of the religion of martyrdom are now making life unsacred even in the bowels of secure zones. They are leaving no place to run. Their desire for glorious death is all consuming. From 80,000 Pakistanis, to 250,000 Syrians, their appetite for blood is insatiable. They want to kill, and will continue to kill unless those who follow the same death cult, do not start loving life on this planet.

For that, we need a rigorous rehabilitation process, since abandoning the drug of glory will not come easy.

As a starter, instead of cherry picking, they need to stop reading the parts in their book that sanction death to the infidels, maybe the need is to even eliminate such writings, or add them to the list of redundant verses. Their barbaric literalism needs to be caricatured perhaps a lot more than it is done now. Hopefully though not at the cost of a few more lives in places like the ******* ***** office.

Does the state sponsor takfiris?

I quote from my previous blog I wrote about Sabeen Mehmud.

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.

So, this time it is the killing of 47, nay 43 Ismailis. Since killings are merely a number for us now. Yesterday (May 13, 2015) six gunmen surrounded a bus carrying Ismaili Shias in the biggest city of Pakistan, Karachi. At least 43 people were shot dead including women and children. Their crime? They were Muslims of a different kind who do not believe in violent Jihad. They preach peace and tolerance and interpret Jihad as the spiritual striving to attain nearness to God (minus violence unless their imam calls for it and that too not for imperialism). Life is sad and getting sadder with time. Sorry for the rant. But I just saw a few pictures of the bus filled with blood.

Can we say none of this would have happened if there were no rogue elements in our security agencies and our society? Will we continue to remain blind to the problems within our system and blame everything on US, India, and Israel? Those three countries are not responsible for mosques that preach intolerance and violence, nor are they responsible for the public rallies and 'ijtemas' that banned militant organisations hold in cities or anywhere else. These are matters for the state to resolve, not for foreign countries to decide. Has the state banned websites spreading hatred against minorities? Did the state take any measures against religious seminaries that train militants and suicide bombers? Has the state decided to shut down mosques where extremists congregate, hide and hoard arms and ammunition? Or these are matters for RAW to resolve and take action on?

The fact of the matter is that our state is part of the problem. Otherwise the expenditure of more than 3.5 percent of the GDP on military would have shown some results. Unless, that money is spent on creating more monsters to target those 'unseen' hands of US, India, and Israel, or to give a helping hand to Sunni extremists funded by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and their likes. Here's a flyer found at the massacre site: 

Leaflet left at the crime scene

The flyers (in English and Urdu) found at the crime scene, declare the Ismailis as Rawafidhs (an Arabic word that means "rejecters", and is used by extremist Sunnis to refer to Shia Muslims for their denial of the first three Khulafa-e-Rashideen's right to the Caliphate). Despite these flyers, an alternate discourse is being spread by the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) along with the state sponsored, ISPR dominated media. This discourse is interesting and part of the huge puzzle called Pakistani politics.

AWSJ condemned the attack on Ismailis by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Yes, ASWJ, that thrives in propagating violence against minority groups, especially Shias, is condemning the violence against the peace loving Ismailis. On some level it might even sound ironic, as ASWJ is known to be associated with Sipah-e-Sahaba, a banned anti-Shia, terrorist organisation. But knowing how much the establishment recently tried to bring Taliban Khan in power and how they failed, it is not a wonder...

 

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

Highly educated unemployed survey

If you live in Pakistan, you are sure to have a few well qualified friends, who are unemployed because either they lack the right connections or they didn't get their degree in 'the right field'. I have a few too, and have been worried about the situation because it bodes ill for us as a whole.

Please go through the following form and help compile some data regarding the curse of unemployment and the abundance of over-qualification.

Interpreter offspring of the brown ‘goras’

Pakistan is a country for extremism. We welcome all sorts of extremes. Religious, liberal, educated, uneducated, privileged, under-privileged, the list can go on forever, but of all, we are best suited for the privileged. People who have money and belong to the upper class, the ones who can afford to live in a bubble which is hardly affected by inflation, bad public health, foreign policies, power failures, water shortages, etc. This bubble is well protected, having been reinforced by continuing with the colonial system, yes colonial and not post-colonial. The only difference is that the white supremacists have been replaced by their interpreter class. Whether that interpreter class comes from the Pakistani elite schools or consists of a bunch of foreign educated kids, who chose to return to the land of the pure, is irrelevant for the not-or-under-privileged.

They are the ones in whose hands the ‘goras’ left Pakistan in 1947. These brown descendants of the goras aspire to be ‘goras’. They are an alienated hybrid of this confused society which lacks an identity, or as it is said in Urdu; are suffering from “Dhobi ka kutta na ghar ka na ghat ka” syndrome. We have several words to identify them, including English medium, burger types, establishment, liberals, secular, etc, etc. It is our own hodgepodge of a feudal, capitalist, dash of Islamic socialist, colonial society.

"We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect," by Thomas Babington Macaulay (1800–1859) a Victorian historian, essayist, and parliamentarian. He served as a member of the supreme council of the East India Company from 1834 to 1838, where he oversaw major educational and legal reforms. These lines might be from early 19th century, but they still ring true for Pakistan. We hardly see any significant changes in our education, health policies. Simply because, it isn't beneficial for the interpreter class that, as mentioned earlier lives in a bubble.

The most beneficial for the interpreter class is to let the system stay as is. Or perhaps make it worse, as making it worse only affects the under-privileged who are already dispensable and ‘oh so corrupt’. Their only utility is their voting capability. The privileged decry all that is under-privileged. They occupy higher ground and perhaps intentionally or unintentionally without realizing their own role in maintaining the status quo, blame it on the have-nots. In a way it is understandable. It is not a matter of good or bad, wrong or right, rather it is about retaining privilege with which comes power, a vicious circle, where policies are not made by people who are not in power. And power is not owned by people who are not privileged.

We are conditioned from our cradle to be adapted within one of these categories of privileged or under-privileged, depending on what class we come from. Our opportunities and lack thereof depend on who our parents are or were. We can even classify it as the privileged and ones that do everything in their power to become privileged. The earlier has all that it takes to stay privileged, including ‘interpreter offspring’, while the other tries its best to break this circle of privilege by hook or by crook.

These interpreter offspring are often foreign qualified or local elite school graduates, who have more market value compared to the local public university graduates. Some will argue it is because of what these graduates have to offer, but the million dollar question is should access to education be determined by the amount of money ones family possessed? Probably at this stage many readers would be squirming to say, but nobody stopped the other people from getting the same level of education. That if ‘one wants’ nothing is impossible, and 10 children of a Pakhtun laborer working in Karachi can have access to education at the Karachi Grammar School. The laborer will only have to work ‘really hard’ to achieve this. And only ‘lazy’ people complain.

God and state are all just and fair when it comes to equal opportunities. And there are plenty of opportunities to be had if one is born in the right place, at the right time. Being born as an offspring to the ‘interpreter class’ means, having access to better schools, better education and at the end of it all, a better job, better working environment and a higher position that pays well.

It is part and parcel of almost everybody’s professional and practical life. Be it architects, doctors, journalists, teachers, etc. In the field of architecture the pay scale depends on the school one graduated from. A graduate of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture will be offered a higher salary after graduation compared to the one who graduated from NED University, Karachi University or Mehran University. It is very easy to guess at this stage that the one to be offered the lowest salary would be from Mehran University. Hence, the never ending cycle based on privilege continues. Forcing many people to resort to unfair means to break this cycle and become more privileged, powerful, resourceful and ‘equal’ within the unjust system.

Let’s take the example of the media that is owned by people from political, industrial, banking sector and where most of the positions of power are held by people from elite backgrounds. Someone’s father owns a hospital, another’s is a bureaucrat, yet another is the nephew of a serving MNA, or is related to an industrialist. They all probably went to the Karachi Grammar School, later attended Oxford or some other foreign university privately or on scholarship is a whole new topic of debate, but they have a silent covenant to follow. These people are city editors, senior editors, if without a foreign degree sub-editors at desks, concessions are also made when a local university graduate proves his/her metal against the ones who belong to the higher echelons, especially if this ugly duckling did his or her O levels from City School, Beaconhouse, etc. However, reporting is majorly dominated by the ‘chhota mota’ background people; graduates of Peshawar University, Jamshoro University, Baluchistan University, etc.

How many of us realize that the mere use of internet and capability to write proper English is a product of our class based post-colonial society? Should good education be a choice dependent on money? How many of us actually step back and let a public graduate take lead instead of us, because oh we are so much for the equality of opportunities? The reason nothing changed in 65 years is that the blame ball is being tossed around among the privileged class, who are not separate but a single entity.

Determining the right to be Kashmiri or Baloch

Spoke to the boisterous Lateef Johar, who said with his mischievous smile that his mother thinks he is ignorant for not drinking juice as per the doctor's advice. Lateef belongs to Baloch Students Organisation (BSO) Azad. He is on a hunger strike. Sitting along with his comrades, in front of the Karachi Press Club for the past 12 days, he has not eaten anything. They are hopeful that someone will hear their pleas for justice and BSO Azad Chairman Zahid Baloch will be released. Their aim is to see their leader free of the shackles that have allegedly been put on by the Pakistani security agencies.

Banuk Kareema Baloch, the Vice-Chairperson of BSO Azad said that none of the mainstream political parties have shown their support so far. A thick register meant to record the voices in writing is progressing very slowly. When asked if she knew how many have signed it so far, she said she doesn't know, but the register was started only yesterday. She is a fierce voice among those who demand justice and freedom from the Pakistani State's oppression. Torture, threats, and illegal detentions are a norm, she said. The vociferous woman belongs to Turbat, a city located in southern Balochistan, within the Pakistani 'disputed territory'. Banok Kareema was awarded a five-year sentence on March 16, 2010 for arranging a protest rally on August 14, Pakistan’s Independence Day.

The region of Balochistan mainly includes southwestern Pakistan, southeastern Iran and a very small section of southwestern Afghanistan. Administratively divided between three countries - Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan - Pakistan holds the largest 'share' of the disputed territory. However, nationalists have never accepted any of the countries as their conquerors. The website run by BSO Azad clearly states that Pakistan occupied Balochistan on March 27, 1948.

The rational side of my brain says that while being a separatist and actively working against a state, expecting good behaviour either stems from naivety or extreme political savvy-ness. However, my emotional side, that grew up on feeling for the Kashmiris suffering at the hands of the Indian 'enemy', makes me want to lash out at the treatment being meted out to the Baloch. How does one strike a balance? How can I support Kashmiris and Palestinians, but forget the Baloch? If Kashmiris are suffering from illegal detentions and custodial disappearances, their bodies being dumped in unmarked graves, while women and children continue to suffer, should I not show solidarity with them? And if I do that, is it honest and justified to not extend the same to the people of Balochistan?

They say that the Indian authorities are brutal and have in the past tortured many of those who want to be independent, to death. Sometimes, they even shoot loved ones to teach a lesson. They only demand for their right of self-determination; nothing more, nothing less. Should we not stand in solidarity with our brothers in Balochistan, who are facing the same situation, but at the hands of India's enemy Pakistan?

Here is another story. Published on a Pakistani tv channel's website:

Kin of missing people in Kashmir sit on indefinite hunger strike (October 21, 2013)

Srinagar.Residents in Indian held Kashmir launched an indefinite hunger strike on Monday (October 21) to protest against the mysterious disappearances of their relatives from the strife-torn province.
People in Kashmir’s Srinagar city, took to streets with empty utensils and photographs of their missing family members who had been allegedly subjected to custodial disappearances since the eruption of militancy over the region in 1989.
Protesters said that the provincial government had been neglecting the issue and didn’t initiate any probe into the missing cases of several youths.
The protesters demanded an intervention by the federal government to deliver justice to the families of the missing people.
“Some people have been kidnapped, and a few are missing and we are unable to figure out whether they are alive or dead. We are urging the provincial government to put pressure on the federal government to find out these missing people,” a protester, Zahoor Ahmed Mir, said.
Reportedly, nearly 50,000 people have been killed and countless have disappeared in Kashmir since insurgency started in the region, which India claims is sponsored by Pakistan.
The 1958 Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the country, which gives troops sweeping powers to kill suspected rebels and immunity from prosecution, applies only in Kashmir and insurgency-affected northeast India.
Human Rights groups say it has given the security forces a license to kill torture and rape with impunity in Kashmir.

Takfir, recipe for ‘Halal’ genocide

We live in a cauldron of sectarian strife. Where Deobandis consider Shias, Ahmedis and Barelvis dispensable, Salafis consider every one disposable, Shias and Sunnis feel Ahmedis should be put to the sword. All in all, most of the mainstream sects have a hint of Takfiri, a dash of fanatic and a sprinkling of Tableeghi in them. And yet, there has been no mention of the treatment meted out to the non-Muslim minorities yet. Those dishes, err! People are not allowed in the kitchen called Pakistan. Or we use the whole set of chefs’ knives we bought using CIA funding.

Apart from Jhang, Karachi and other pantries of Pakistan, our crooks have been trained in Kashmir, against the vegetarian chefs; and Afghanistan, against the radical chefs from Russia. Remember the 80s? We had a famous General Crook working with the CIA? He’s the one who bought the knives. In short, our cookhouse is more of a madhouse. And these were just the chefs, we haven’t even mentioned our in-house official butchers yet. It’s a dangerous business, cooking. We cannot be hypocrites and claim we ensure safety and security, and that too peacefully for anybody, let alone the rare dishes.

The chefs, at least the ones trying to maintain a certain taste, want the Arab cuisine to be the favorite, not just the favorite; it should actually be considered the most supreme among all, compared to which any rare or medium rare dish should not be given any importance. However, there is a major problem, we are not sticking to Arab food and the chefs that be don’t like it. The reason is that everyone has opened a TV channel to promote their own recipe and hence it gives them an edge. Chefs from the Tigris and Euphrates valley are being given more airtime, and the Persian chef is increasingly poisoning the cooking trends. Hence, we have decided to purge his minions using our master chefs’ LeJ (lovingly known as the Jhangvi) & SSP (fondly remembered as the Sipah-e-Sahaba).

Here are a few recipes from the online archives of the Haq Char Yaar website, a favorite with SSP and LeJ, yes yes these are some famous chefs known for their unsavory methods for purifying our cookhouse. Their craving for purity is the driving factor, even if it means burning and slaughtering the dishes. They compete with butchers, but that is a separate story. Let’s not botch it up for now.






Avoid them at all costs, on the roads and wherever else you go. And don’t be offended if they shoot you down, especially if you are a Persian chef and a Shia; bear in mind that even if you have tasted Persian food you might not be spared, totally your fault for not sticking to Arab food. If possible, keep your greasy kitchens locked, as nobody is willing to take a guarantee against them. The supporters of the Arab food don’t even consider the Persian cooks worthy rivals. Useless and dispensable the food as well as the ones who make it, is what the clear message is. So read it carefully.

Not to be left behind in technology, many of these dangerous chefs are tweeples now. They know only good recipes are not enough to take down the foreign imposters, so they now use social media for voicing their frustration. They have quite a following too, more than 2000 followers and some blood curdling tweets, giving a step by step methodology to flush out the unwanted. They might even put our butchers to shame. Follow them for some good cleaving and beheading techniques if you are a butcher.






Our cookhouse, the madhouse, brewing war to spread all over the world to appease the oil giants and their consumers is in a sad shape. Be it Gilgit, Quetta, Parachinar, Lahore, Karachi, Hyderabad, the poison is spreading with no end in sight. For how long till it boils over and burns each and everything is anybody’s guess. One thing is sure though, none of our safety gear is in place and the inspectors aren’t interested in even checking the fire extinguishers. Till then, butchers roam freely in this land of pure!

In the name of politics: Dashing the Hague Convention

The commoners’ idea that politics is a dirty business would not be too far-fetched when talking about Pakistan; instead, it is as extreme as those wearing sharia beards. An Urdu saying, ‘pait mein daarhi’ (literally: having or growing a beard in the stomach; figuratively: having a hidden beard), was written for those running so-called liberal parties. It’s a fight out here, and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has used the covert way to subvert Taliban, by targeting heritage at Sindh Cultural Festival. The planned fest is an unconventional example of how during armed conflicts, heritage sites might end up needing protection from overambitious politicians.

In a recent interview with Daily Times, Sharmila Farooqi credited PPP Patron-in-Chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (BBZ) for his idea to host Sindh Cultural Festival. Contrary to PPP’s inability to hold local government elections in a short time, arranging Sindh Festival was not much of a big deal. Using government funds, of course, not only was the PPP able to publish all sorts of advertisements accompanied by their cute little Superman logo in newspapers, they even pulled off an electronic advertisement targeting the mango people subconsciously via a well-tailored Baby Zardari as future prime minister.

Not stopping there, the PPP launched on to the big idea of bringing on centre stage the Mound of the Dead or Mohenjo Daro. However, the controversial woman leader had said that though the festival would be inaugurated at Mohenjo Daro, the ceremony had been planned at a safe distance, keeping in mind international bylaws.

Mohenjo Daro is an archaeological site in Sindh which was built around 2600 BC to house one of the largest settlements of Indus Valley Civilisation. Being among the four river valley civilisations, it is a record of not just Pakistan and India’s history and ancient heritage but the entire world. One might even argue in favour of political parties using such locations as a trump card to gain say in the pluralistic Sindh, but only if such a stage was not being set right atop the historically neglected but important UNESCO site.

What currently has been planned “on” Mohenjo Daro is nothing short of a way to eradicate the material evidence of the rich and diverse culture of this land. When we think of war and its awful consequences, the deaths of soldiers and civilians as well as alleged terrorists are a reminder of destroyed futures. But in case of attacking historical sites, it becomes about wiping out history, its memory and our collective past. Exactly what the Taliban are accused of! In these circumstances, how can one support such callous neglect and destruction of our past, present and future?

In their book ‘The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq’, Peter G Stone and Joanne Farchakh Bajjaly ask why, after millennia of human conflict, have we not become better at protecting cultural heritage and if we can get better? They attribute it to three aspects: targeted destruction to gain political advantage; ‘collateral damage’ where it is destroyed as an ‘innocent bystander’ as fighting takes place; and destruction caused by the trade in illicit antiquities. Perhaps the part about “political gain” is well suited to the current scenario, albeit there’s a difference in weapons.

Mohenjo Daro at the moment is not under threat from an armed conflict, but from the political aspirations of one of the mainstream parties, the PPP. However, the rhetoric being used by the party that ruled the country for five years during the previous democratic regime reads “heritage is under threat, and the festival will protect it from destruction”. In BBZ’s words that we have to experience as part of our daily commercial dose: “Sindh Festival will make us aware of our existence.” And what better way but to replace weapons with stakes nailing the wooden stage and tapping heels in stupor atop 5,000 years worth of history.

The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (commonly known as the Hague Convention) is for protecting cultural property during an armed conflict. Perhaps they should come up with one called ‘Protection of Cultural Property Against Political Aspirations of Fledglings’.

One might remind BBZ that even the internationally acclaimed English rock band ‘Pink Floyd’ performed to an empty, ancient, Amphitheatre of Pompeii in Italy, respecting heritage by keeping the maddening frenzy of concert attendees at bay.

Where clerks like generals, intellectuals prefer paternal elite

Here I go again, talking about the interpreter class that forms the academic elite in this country. The ‘intellectuals’ for whom nearly all that is local, traditional or let’s say ‘desi’ is worth rubbishing merely because it does not fit in those defined Western boundaries of ‘civilized’, unless, mind it, the matter is about the exoticized version tailored for the sahib. Just like those perfect ‘gourmet samosas’ and ‘connoisseur jalebis’, all enjoyed wearing ‘dholki haute couture’. Tea party culture hidden behind Marxist theory and dialectics of how to buy vodka from the local bootlegger. Disjointed nuanced semantics of urban and rural divide that are not as feudal as they used to be just because the lord put some money in a couple of sugar mills and sent his children to study at Eton, Berkeley or Oxford.

Not to forget the sugar coated, tech-savvy babus who went to local IBAs and LUMs to get their humble degree; either because they were too mummy daddy to bear the routine of doing their own laundry, or because no international elite school found their credentials worth getting besmirched by the humble presence on campus. Do not count the odd ones out, for they are so few, you can count them on just one hand. [Also, to trample their self esteem, they are lathered in shariat terms like Qarz-e-Hasna]

It wouldn’t be a long shot if one said that it was summarised in the 19th century by Macaulay for the rest of the hullabaloos who were busy being ‘clerks’ [and continue to do so] since British Raj gave them the ‘authority’.

"We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to refine the vernacular dialects of the country, to enrich those dialects with terms of science borrowed from the Western nomenclature, and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population," Macaulay declared.

Apparently the enrichment never seized and continues to befuddle those who must be guided by the intellectuals as a shepherd guides ‘sheep’.

The intellectuals are stuck in the rut about generals, because supporting paternal elites in their opinion is better than supporting the status quo. Oh the fuzzy frenzy of semantics, prey the clerks cannot fathom the difference, if there is one, as they were never trained to distinguish the nuances of mere words.

But lest the clerks demand to send a general to a foreign hospital instead of the gallows, rest assured that the Berbers in them were never thoroughly put to rest. Though it is all right for my lord to inaugurate a humble school for the clerk, where never would he ever send his own son or daughter. The general must pay. Both for the hospital, as well as the school made for the clerk’s descendants. For who else would my lord not elite rule if there were no more clerks? Not those peasants, for the fiefdoms have them as serfs, and missing out the peasant lot comes natural to clerks and intellectuals alike, for those poor dudgeons exist merely as ballot papers.

Disenfranchising the power of temptation

I never understood this idea of 'temptation', it's so full of crap and one sided. It simply translates to a woman being a living temptation in the society. A society which wants to regulate everything when it concerns women, from the way we dress, to the way we talk, live, walk, sit, etc, etc. It begins with 'good girls' do not speak too much, give their opinions too much, wear short clothes, make their own decisions or worse of all demand to be treated equal to men and have sex.

In case you do not agree with this conditioning, you will be told that living as you please is a temptation for men. If you speak too much, a man might be tempted to shut you up by force. If you are too opinionated and wear short clothes, men might be tempted to think of you as an open minded whore, and end up raping you. And if you demand justice, remember it was you who tempted, and your value is half that of a male witness [Not just in Islam. Conviction rate of rapists in USA is a mere 6%], so the man will get away with a pat on the shoulder, because after all, it was your fault.

In short, your choices are, being a good girl and getting married, or, being the bad girl who is treated like a whore. If you are a 'good girl', people have authority over you to treat you like cattle, cover you up in layers of clothes and present you in a marriage market, where the highest bidder will get rights to plunder your body as he pleases. By the way, in more than 35 countries, marital rape is not considered a criminal offence. There are verses in the Quran that tell a man he can sow his seed in a woman as he pleases. [2:223 security reasons]

Point here being, "As the Man pleases". It begins and ends with pleasing men and is never about a woman's own choice. While we all live in a world full of temptations, and temptations could be of many kinds, when it comes to religion, it seems that the only temptation are us women. Even the way we breath can be termed a temptation by men. Christians have a little bit better in their Bible in the form of conjugal sexual rights. As long as your rapist is your spouse, its legal honey, bear with it:

Religion talks about us women along with cattle, land and possessions [3:14]:

It seems that while the 'good girl' has the chances of getting raped by her spouse, the 'bad girl' is not safe either. The only difference is that the 'good girls' chances of getting raped are limited to one guy only, while the 'bad girls' can get it from anybody around them. Co-workers, random dudes roaming the street, boyfriends, even fathers. Actually, in my opinion this whole good and bad girl conundrum is just humbug. It is about men; when they want to be appeased, sated sexually is when they can decide about whether you are a good girl, or a bad one. Either way, we are temptress since Eve's time, who dared to pick the forbidden apple, and man has yet not forgiven us.

Here's what a sermon website has to say about temptation:

1. Temptation is a process.
2. Temptation comes from the enemy.
3. Temptation comes in beautiful packages.
4. Temptation hits us where we are weak.
5. Temptation blinds us from reality.
6. Temptation builds us up before knocking us down.
7. Temptation plays on our emotions.
8. Temptation, when given into, separates us from God.
9. Temptation, when given into, makes us its slave.
10.Temptation has a way of escape.

[Source: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/the-power-of-temptation-mark-roper-sermon-on-temptation-resisting-114513.asp]

Rabid Misogynist Syndrome in 'rational' men?

The world is filled with men suffering from rabid misogyny. Their view about women works in a binary. "The woman I approached and spoke to me easily is a slut, and the one who shunned me is a bitch." Either way, they love indulging in slut shaming. The height of misogyny being mainstream can be gauged from the fact that even men, who want to be identified as feminists end up showing symptoms of advanced "Rabid Misogyny Syndrome".

They repeatedly call a woman, who 'dares' to counter their bullshit a bitch. Oh, and if the bitch dares to point that they are being stereotypical, she deserves some more 'bitching'. So, one might think, wow that is so original and this guy is a lovely feminist I would never want to trust in handling "women's issues". Unless, of course one was a doormat or suffering from "mother hen syndrome". Thinking that talking 'nice' to an angry young man would not only help appease my 'motherly instincts', but also keep me as their leader.

Here's an example from the perpetual Rabid Misogynists (profile 1, 2 and 3) from a group called Rationalist Society of Pakistan (ironic, I know) who my friend Mariam loves to call a rabid dog.

In case you did not have enough of the intellectualism of this brilliant man, try reading the remaining thread filled with more rationalism, interspersed with 'bitch' as the best epithet another 'enlightened man' could come up with.

More fun here:

Oh, and not to forget he runs a page and magazine too called Rationalist Society of Pakistan. I wonder why all these narcissist men, wanting to be leaders of some sort want to identify themselves as some liberal, feminists, leftist brilliants who the 'women of Pakistan' had the good fortune to interact with. Worse are the admins and people associated with this RSOP group, who do not take a stand against such behavior. No disciplinary action is taken against these men, and the best thing they do is, send private apologies. Here's the last apology sent by RSOP founder Haider Shah on June 18, 2013, after a shitstorm created by the same misogynist man Waqas Goraya.

PS A later update, where the intelligent man decided to gift, all the women who countered his bullshit, some pads. Apparently, women who had the guts to counter this pseudo-intelligent excuse of a man, are PMSing. More misogynist bull crap by Rationalist Society of Pakistan admin.

The mushrooming of these countless rationalist, humanist, secularist societies on the Pakistani interwebs is nothing more than a gimmick to gain international attention. They use feminism as a mere 'selling point'.


NOTE: To read the screenshots, please click on the image.

Islamabad Political guy intellect-chawal at his best!

Apparently male journalists are threatened so much by women journalists calling out their bullshit online, that they cannot help but send threatening messages on Facebook. Here's an example of a threat received from Moazzam Raza Tabassam for calling him out on my friend Zeeba's post about the treatment meted out to women in IDP camps. This guy is supposedly an editor of Islamabad Political as per his Facebook page. 

The reason Zeeba and I deserve this attention is because we refused to be 'diplomatic women' who live in the Pakistani 'intellectual society', and we dare to ask some 'male chauvinists' what they mean when they are being 'intellect-chawals' (A brilliant term coined by another friend of mine Mariam).

Here's the brilliance of our 'dear experienced journalist Moazzam' again:

Just in case this screen-capture was not enough for the delight of your mental-senses. Do read the rest of the thread for some more brilliant chawalness here. Unfortunately, Zeeba deleted his attack on my Shia background to protect me from feeling hurt and offended. But I managed to get that information too.

I suppose men just cannot tolerate women having brains, because they are conditioned into accepting women only as showpieces. The moment women break that stereotype of being only good to look at, their male privilege is under threat and they have to prove their maleness by hook or by crook. 

Empowering all is less power for privileged

Do you feel annoyed with this poster children, men, women trend? Creating cults around personalities? I think its a manifestation of consumerist culture, where everything is to be commodified to sell.

Someone at work asked me if Malala made her speech in English. I said yes... and they said, "Phir to pakki agent hai (It means she's definitely a foreign agent)." Followed by, "Khud salay kitnay maartay hein, isko kyon charha rahai hein? (The assholes murder so many every day, why are they turning her into a star)"

*Sigh*

Why are things so complicated? I don't see right in most of the things, and the whole idea of being 'used' is fucked. But does Malala send drones? Does she kill or threaten innocent children or adults? Is she blowing up girls or boys schools? The answer to all of these questions is... NO, she did not do any of those, the Taliban did. Was she attacked? Yes. Would she have survived if not taken outside Pakistan? No, at least probably not.

You can have a problem with the politics of the situation. The involvement of Pakistan Army, that is responsible for a lot of problems we currently face due to their farce of 'strategic depth'. But saying that a minor, aged 16 is part of some huge global conspiracy, plot and is an agent is doing it a bit too brown sire.

On the other hand, the basic premise that these Brits or Americans or NATO give two hoots about all this except creating more drama in our lives is what gets to me too. We already have enough shit to deal with. I dislike, actually hate the postcolonial sense of selective tribal morality. None of which is a comment on the kid herself. But people who use her, who have dismissed deaths of non-whites, those who actually fostered extremism for their bloody imperialist agendas. And idiots who bought, buy and will continue to buy these bullshit cries of Western humanitarianism conducted in the name of a Mafioso like agency, United Nations.
Which is perhaps what makes me crazy. I cannot find it in me to be loyal to a lesser evil. And neither can I find it in me to not condemn people who condone this loyalty to the lesser evil. If you want to support lesser evils, better to cherry pick the 'goods' from 'everyone'. Difficult, but less twisted morally. And 'non-tribal' as well.

The same happened during Mukhtaran Mai's case. In the absence of important statistics, and the biggest human rights organisational scam in Pakistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), there is no authentic data to give us an idea of what actually happens on the ground. HRCP makes stats using news clippings, and being associated with the media, I know how much of the news is censored and/or unreported/under-reported even. In reality, we do not know what creating poster personalities actually does on the ground. Except that some rich 'aunty' in some DHA is able to generate a lot of funds for her NGO. Oh, and one must remember, there are above 30,000 registered NGOs in Sindh. Remember terms like 'agenda', 'aid', 'donors'. It is all linked, and agendas keep changing, depending what the political requirements are of those who change the geography of the world every few decades.

Grassroots are not empowered, and it is systemic, since we have a hierarchical system, where empowerment for any segment of the society means less power for the privileged. 

Rich civilians replace Army for better or worse?

Idiots for whom just a change of regime and shuffle between 'rich civilians' and 'army' means the country is becoming a better place. The 'left leadership' in Pakistan is so liberal, that if their daddy was not a rich industrialist or bureaucrat living in DHA, they'd be sitting in one of the local offices, run by someone who is a part of the 'civilian' government, waiting to be paid on time.

Definitions from within the Pakistani context:

Liberal is someone who can take criticism against Islam and find it cool to be called an Indian agent. Their existence is defined by being equated to an Indian. The only criticism they cannot take is against PPP and ANP. If you criticize either, you are nothing but a PTI troll, apologist, rightist and Mushy fan. Pointing out the condition in PPP constituency will be countered by, the army is responsible for that. Oh and mostly they think drones are the only and best solution to all Muslim problems.

Rightist, Patriot, Apologist is someone who cannot stomach criticism against Islam, Pakistan and s/he rants against Ahmedis and India. Might be living in a Salafi bubble created by his 'Puppa' working his ass off on some oil rig owned by a Sheikh. He might even insist there is no such thing as Shia Genocide and that it is Muslim Genocide. A person with slightly better nuance will claim it is 'merely' a crime against humanity.

Leftists are still in the making. But they are mostly children of some businessmen, industrialists or coconuts (brown on top, white within). Many have either gone to some European institute or been under influence of some local self-declared Marxist. They are hurt by the plight of the workers and labor, so they make a small party, read Faiz and Jalib and sometimes make deals with capitalists to launch a label to sing for a revolution they know their dada and mama are making sure never comes.

Remaining are the common people, who work hard to make ends meet. They have no time to waste on twitter and facebook. They do not read English newspapers because most are Rs 20 a copy. They cannot even afford one on a Sunday. These poor chaps don't know what democracy is, except that the local goon party would empty their home if they didn't vote for them. It is beyond the rural and urban divide. 

Lynch mob mentality can get anybody killed

The three men marked in red are the main aggressors

A regular day on the streets of Karachi…

An unfortunate man was beaten by a mob of 100 people in front of North Nazimabad Board Office Park. The man was accused of trying to snatch a mobile and money from a man at gunpoint. The incident sheds light on not only the ‘lynch mob culture’ prevalent in Pakistan – Sialkot incident – but also the utter failure of law enforcers.

While the situation kept escalating and the victim started bleeding, two Rangers who were busy snap checking motorcyclists disappeared. Later two policemen on a motorcycle arrived at the scene, only to leave within a few minutes, without even attempting to disperse the violent crowd.

There were at least 4 or 5 rickshaws present around the crowd and several motorcycles. I was shoved around by the crowd and told to go away, as it is not a place for women. It seemed it was a free for all, since whoever stopped, gave the man a few slaps and kicks. The victim kept yelling he had done nothing wrong and can be checked there is not phone or gun on him.

Whoever stopped and got a chance to get near, beat him

On questioning the aggressor, I was informed that the man stole a mobile phone at gunpoint, however, when he was asked to produce the mobile and pistol the victim carried, the aggressor had nothing to say. On being told they had no right to beat the man the aggressors started screaming, refusing to call police and said that law enforcers are useless in curbing crime, “we have no choice but to take law in our own hands”. Police does nothing but let culprits roam around free. They also intimidated the Daily Times driver and asked him to go away.

The aggressor kept changing his statement; first he said that the man was stealing mobiles in the bus. Another guy intervened at that moment and said that they were both travelling in the rickshaw, not the bus. So the aggressor changed his statement and said he was in the rickshaw with his wife and brother. A call was made to 15 to ask for police assistance, who did not arrive for the next 15 minutes, during which time some other men took the victim across the road, while the original aggressors stayed around me intimidating me with screaming and loud explanations. Told the guy wearing blue shalwar kameez to stop shouting, and they still had no right to beat the man so brutally.

Asked the aggressor to show his ID card, but he refused and sat in the rickshaw, while a guy in khaki t-shirt asked us to leave, as the man has been allowed to 'go'. Someone had even threatened to immolate him. DT driver was shoved around again to leave the scene.

The crowd by that time had thinned and dispersed. Later, SSP Amir Farooqi was called for details in this regard, who gave a totally different version of the incident. According to the SSP, “The victim was beaten up because of eve-teasing.” On a question he said that a police mobile reached the spot after some time, however the crowd had already dispersed. He confirmed that the man is safe and was not burnt alive by the mob.

I have been told by several people that putting myself in danger was not a good idea. That the man might have been a thief and perhaps this is the only way to get rid of the menace of mobile snatchers. Here is why I disagree, let us revisit August 15, 2010, when Mughees, 15, and Muneeb Butt, 17, alleged mobile snatchers, were beaten to death in front of a crowd which included members of the district police. They were proved innocent in the court, posthumously.

In another case, an angry mob burnt two robbers alive in Karachi, on May 15, 2008. Yet another case is of a man burnt alive in Dadu for desecrating the Quran on December 23, 2012. Youtube has many videos of Shia men being dragged behind motorcycles and immolated by extremists in certain parts of Punjab.

The problem in vigilante 'justice' is, often it is too late to prove the truth of the matter. Here are a few reasons that could have been used, or are often used to incite a mob in Pakistan:

• The victim is a relative and the men beating him up owed him money.
• A sister or any woman family member was in love with the guy.
• He was a thief but had 'somehow' manage to get rid of the evidence.
• It was only frustrated public taking out their anger at a poor man.

Date and time of incident: June 3, 2013, between 5:30pm and 5:45pm

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

Voting fever rising by the day

Since the voting fever is reaching its crescendo in Pakistan, and twitter, facebook are abuzz with many wannabe social scientists and analysts or even prophets, informing of the 'awesomeness' of voting, 'voting rights' and the possible bright future. I will write down a few of the conversations I had with random people on the road.

Sohail Khan is a taxi driver. Originally from Charsadda and now a resident of Banaras in Karachi. Former Jiyala, who calls Zardari a dog (like a lot of other people) and considers him the murderer of Bibi - supports Jamaat-i-Islami now. Who in his own words are lousy politicians, with nothing to offer as a political party except 'chutyapa', his words, not mine.

Q: Aap kisko vote dengay is dafa? (Who will you vote for this time?)
Sohail: Ye awam chutya hai, phir unhi logon ko vote day kar lay aayegi, jinhon nay mulk ko kha kha kar iska ye haal bana diya hai. (The public is stupid, and will again vote for the same people who have brought the country to this stage with their corruption). Mein kisi ko vote nahi donga. (I will not vote for anybody). Ghar ko tala lagaonga andar se, or araam karoonga. (I will lock my home and relax).

Q: Leken aap to JI ko support kartay hein ab, unko vote nahi dalengay? (But you support JI now, you will not vote for them?)
Sohail: Nahi, bekar log hein. Jub tak Bhutto zinda tha, Benazir tha, hum vote dalta tha, ab to koye nahi bacha. (No. Everyone is useless. Till Bhutto was alive, his daughter was alive, I used to vote, now there is nobody worthy enough).

We laugh together and enjoy the rest of the ride while talking about different topics, especially the law and order situation - speculating about bomb blasts and target killings. Sohail is a Pakhtun and faces racism in this city every other day. Being a Pakhtun can automatically at times translate to being a supporter of the Taliban and their likes. Another taxi driver cum marble cutter, Zahir Khan said that he has to at times allow police to 'random check' him. Zahir is from a village in Shangla. He lives in Nusrat Bhutto Colony, Karachi, that is famous for being a Taliban infested area and therefore, has to go through police and Rangers' operations every other day.

In Zahir's opinion the only solution to all this trouble is dictatorship. Although, he swings between supporting the Awami National Party and Army rule, he considers Ziaul Haq's era as something that was better for his class.

Q: Aap vote kisko dengay? (Who will you vote for?)
Zahir: Mushkil hai vote karna. Halaat bohat kharab hein. (It's difficult to vote. City situation is very bad).

The conversation goes into a discussion about how the military operation in KPK made some differences for his relatives. How the feuds died down a little, because Army regulated the ownership of weapons. The most enthusiastic about voting thus far, judging from different discussions, seem to be the youngsters who will be voting for the first time.

A student at Karachi University said that he will vote, since it is his right, and without participating in the election he cannot pin the blame on anybody. However, he was honest enough to admit that all he knows about democracy 'working out in the long run' is theoretical. So for him, as long as the country gets on a track for betterment, he does not care whether it is a democracy or a dictatorship.

In all this rhetoric, a resident of Thatta had a very simple statement to make.

"I will vote who my landlord asks me to vote for."

This perhaps is the culmination of the 'democratic process' in Pakistan. Where rural areas comprise a majority. Pakistan has a total population of 180 million, out of which around 60 percent live in rural areas as per a World Bank report. The voter from Thatta is not the only one to be saying this, a majority of the rural population vote either the landlord they work for, or for someone the local feudal seeks to gain from.

This leaves one to ponder the differences between a democracy of choice, and a democracy per say. One might even feel better if it ended here. But it does not. If weening votes from helpless peasants was not enough, the number of portfolios and ministries that our 'democratic' regimes boast add insult to injury.

To accommodate the left over senior leaders and ex-legislators, several posts are created to appease their hurt sentiments and egos. Following is a very basic breakup of the number of seats we have, despite being a smaller country compared to United States and India.

Oh and lest we forget. The interim setup that we have numbly accepted is not much different either. The power (to maintain the status quo) is now being shared between the feudal families, and their homies. Be them the Sethis, the Mandviwalas or the Shahs.