Pontification via pornification

This is one of the articles that started it.

Why Is Everyone Getting Naked? Rashida Jones on the Pornification of Everything

For many, Rashida Jones has actually pontificated by raising the questions she did manage to raise, despite the whole idea that women’s emancipation lies in the act of rubbing their clits and baring their boobs in public. So here I am, wondering, how Rihanna's clit will get me emancipated? Or make men question how unjust society is towards women? How does Miley's butt swinging and tongue flicking at a crowd make people question taboos about women's sexuality? Oh for Pete’s sake, how do even FEMEN’s bare boobs make Muslim fanatics less fanatic?

These are the questions that keep nagging at me, just like Imran Khan’s constant demands to block NATO supply and to shoot down Drones does. I feel the polarity of our society is becoming too much to bear. Here’s another wink worthy, boob jiggly theory. ‘Trolley Problem’, which allows one to support drones that kill innocent people as collateral, but at the same time, gives them leeway to oppose a death sentence. Ah the contradictions and lovely alibis one can find theoretically in the archives of Wikipedia the great.

Or as my friend Aamer puts it, “It's the zombie apocalypse. No other explanation for so many people talking crazy shit, unaware that they're talking crazy shit.”

And if that were not crazy enough for you, try Jezebel. Where Erin Gloria Ryan claims that 'Smartphones Are Made For Giant Man-Hands'. Oblivious to I guess the countless smartphones available in the market that vary in size, specs and portability, as well as the varied physiques both men and women can possess.

Yes Aamer, either I need to be a zombie, or I need a spaceship.

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

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.

Time to announce anti-judiciary a-political movement?

The print and electronic media both have been wreaking havoc with the poor, uneducated or half educated people of this country. Opinions are shoved down peoples throat as facts, while facts are brushed aside as heresy or conspiracies. And this is not just any one political party or religious organisation’s norm, nor is it specific to the conservatives or the liberals, it is a viral infection present in almost everybody regardless of their political leanings or their orthodoxy and vise versa.

For me the three most untrustworthy professions were, and perhaps still are, politics, law and journalism. Nevertheless, I still managed to join journalism. My condition is like a sweeper, who holds his breath by grabbing his nose between his index finger and thumb, before he lowers himself in the manhole to go about his business. I still am holding my nose, and am not even sure when I will stop doing so. Because, I feel that all these three institutions thrive on the constantly degrading conditions of this country. We are actually nose-diving at the current rate because of the rampant corruption within these three, [supposedly sacred] professions.

This trio of the unholy-politicians, the corrupt lawyers and judges along with the yellow journalists is the incubator where the filth of this society is conceived, nurtured, in case of injury resuscitated and revitalised to be reintroduced in the already dilapidated system. Of course, someone would think I have lost my marbles for not including the armed forces, as it has become one of the most favourite habits amongst these three to put the blame there. But this is where I am free from looking through their provided myopic lens. Not because I hold the armed forces scot-free, but because I hold responsible the people who call themselves more responsible and enlightened against everybody else. Nobody can stop me from holding responsible the ones who call everybody else responsible for their failures, their short sightedness, their selfishness and their darkness combined with their dark deeds.

Perhaps it is time to announce an anti-judiciary a-political movement supported by an un-biased media.

Indoctrination a religious as well as political vice

While going through several forums on different social networks, a question raises its head every time some religious bigots are under fire by the dogmatic liberals. Is indoctrination only a religious vice? Is it not also a political vice? Why isn’t anybody asking questions about the political indoctrination going on amongst the youth? Especially amongst the good for nothing elite school crowds, who smoke hash and talk about the problems amongst the masses without an iota of being directly involved

Why not curb these drawing room and madaressah politicians? Comrades and Mullahs who do not find it a big deal to suck up to feudals or imperialists just to appease some big fish, so that even if their own party fails to come up to par with the rest they have a chance to fall back on the same old feudal politicians.

There is a similarity as well as contrast between the right and left in Pakistan, thanks to the maderassah as well as drawing room politicians. It seems the only tangible difference is the tactics; otherwise there are more similarities than differences.

Perhaps this is skeptical of me to be thinking on these lines, but this repellant reaction between the right and left I fear will be the undoing of Pakistan itself. What will than be left of it? The Islamic Republic of Pakistan or the Socialist People’s Republic of Pakistan, neither I fear.