Some words after the Lahore blast!!

What I am going to write here may deem to be insensitive to many or racist to some.So, the above lines are a warning to all of them to leave this post right here, right now.
A bomb blast has struck Lahore and the death toll has reached 22 already. But how much I think of this incident as brutal and barbaric, deep down, I have a feeling that is a mixture of content and satisfaction. To feel like this after such gruesome event is inhuman to say the least. I do not want to hide this feeling with a cosmetic condemnation. However, there is a reason behind this callousness.
Every time a blast hit a city, anywhere in Pakistan other than Punjab; unfortunately it happens more often. From certain sections, Punjab bashing starts. They say senseless stuff, which I do not want to copy here. May be it is not them but their emotions and grief talking but it hurts. So, every time any blast takes place somewhere in Punjab, I feel that we are no longer different, I feel that we are equally insecure and I feel that for them (the terrorists) we are no different. They hate us irrespective of our ethnic identity; there is no bias there.
However, the fact remains is, blood anywhere, of anyone innocent, shed is a crime against humanity. No reason can justify an act of terror.
So, if those morons do not see any difference, then why should we. Life of a Balochi, Sindhi, Pakhtoon or any other ethnic group is of equal importance and value. Discriminating it is like strengthening and abetting the extremist elements. These are hard times and only the realization of each other's pain and loss can give us the strength to bear all this and defeat our common enemy. May Allah protect and guide us all. Aa'meen

The imperfect and broken things

Why to perfect something that is innately imperfect? Why to say words that no one wants to listen? Why to finish a story whose characters do not deserve a closure? When the journeys is beautiful then why finish it? Why we all have to reach someplace? Hitler and Amelia never finished what they started. Stalin and Lincoln finished what they never started. A broken window still gives fresh air. An out of tune guitar still makes sound; a melody of its own. You still hold love for the girl who does not reply. NAFAK is still relevant and Madhubala is still beautiful. Perfection is not always alluring. Imperfection is not always ugly. People are people. Things are things. They are not meant to be perfect. They are not meant to be complete. To be or not to be, that is the question. That was, is and will be the question. 

To salute or not to salute

The Panama JIT is in town and it is making headlines for all the right and wrong reasons. By now almost all of the ruling Sharif clan has visited it. The latest and hopefully the last to make an appearance before the JIT is Mrs. Maryam Safdar, the daughter of the prime minister. Many call this as a launching of her political career. However, the news that subdued this news was of a salute, made to her by a lady police officer. The same lady police officer also accompanied her to the JIT meeting as all JIT members are male and seem to be unfit to question a woman alone but are fit to run an investigation of such national importance.

 The lady police officer saluted Mrs. Maryam Safdar when she came to appear before the JIT on Wednesday. The salute drew the ire of many. Like always what ensued was that the social media got divided into two groups; one condemning her and the other defending her for her action. My earlier reaction to the "salute" controversy was similar to that of many, with her being a CSP; I was expecting a much more dignified demeanor from her. However, since then I have done some thinking of my own and I think that she did the right thing. I have narrowed it down to five possible reasons. Before enumerating my reasons below to support my argument, I would like to clarify here that what you are going to read below is based on my personal rationalization of the incident. I believe that the lady officer must have her own reasons. So, below is more of a fly on the wall assessment of the episode in question here.

Firstly, my earlier reaction to the incident like many was based on my own dislike for Mrs. Maryam Safdar. Our irony here is that how much we long for power; we abhor the powerful if not equally than more. So, how much I detest Mrs. Safdar, it does not change the fact that she is the first daughter and heir apparent. Again, how much I call it to be rigged but Muslim League (N) enjoys public support and represents their mandate; good or bad, is a different debate altogether. In simpler words, like many my problem was not with the salute but was with the fact that to whom she saluted.

Secondly, keeping in mind how narcissist and egoistic our leaders are with no exceptions, unfortunately, a mere salute is good enough to soothe their enlarged egos and as the dialogue goes, “you do not salute to the person, you salute to the rank”. I remember a town Nazim from Faisalabad from Musharraf’s era, who use to move with his own private protocol and once when Governor Khalid Maqbool saw his protocol and was left amazed as his protocol was outnumbered by the protocol of the town Nazim. Our history is full of such instances.

Thirdly, in our culture getting saluted represents power more than respect and when a police officer salutes you; it has an even higher intrinsic value mainly because the police itself is a symbol of power. A salute from the police officer also reflects control and superiority.  

Fourthly, she is a witness to whatever happened in that room, between Mrs. Safdar and the JIT. Her saluting Mrs. Safdar, may be is her way of assuring her that she is worthy of being entrusted with such responsibility.

Fifthly, It is difficult to swim against the tide but then so is swimming with the sharks. I have great respect for what Nekokara and many like him did before but were they able to change the system? The answer is a big “no”. Our political elite, more or less is similar. They like the same things and share the same tantrums. Serving with or under them is not an easy task. But if you want to change the system, it is important that you become a part of it because from outside, this system cannot be changed, whenever it will change, it will change from within. Here by no mean I am favoring the status quo or trying to discourage the “few good men”. I put the example of the officers of the JIT here; they are doing their job honestly and diligently but all this is due to the free space provided to them by the Supreme Court, not every officer is that lucky. So, in such times it is easier to pull-off a Nekokara than staying, surviving and doing your bit to better the system. So, if a salute helps you to do it, then it is a meager price for a cause that is much bigger and greater.

Our system lacks accountability especially of the powerful. So, until we make our powerful accountable and that accountability should be across the board, we have to bear with such trivial things.
( A version of this piece has been published by Express Tribune in their blog section on 7th of July 2107 on 6:06 PM) 

The last PTV generation

We are the last of the PTV generation; the last ones from the days when even the news bulletins were all merry & tranquil. Our TV was all universal nothing PG about it. 8 to 9 really meant something. There was a ghost who use to wear a pair of spectacles and the best game show on TV was Neelaam Ghar. PTV was PTV because it never cared for what people wanted to see, it only produced the content that was fit for the people to see. Advertisements use to sell products not a certain lifestyle. Our identity was distinct not confused and fused like today. Like today even then there was a Pakistan that existed only in some drawing rooms or in some posh farm houses or on a private beach in Karachi but it was not imitated by the others like it is imitated today by the university going, middle class boys and girls. You and I can be anything. You and I can be everything. A plate full of fries shared by many but still it was enough to satisfy. Long before all the Mamas and Papas lived Um’aans & Babas. There was no thing called laid-back or tech parenting. They just never seized to be parents. It was a world, of humans, by humans and for humans. Real humans interacted real humans nothing virtual about it. One can touch and smell words and they meant something. Like any age it had its downsides, its dark corners but whatever good existed was valued and cheered. Junaid and Alamgir use to sing and Edhi was alive. Women were beautiful and real. They still have not discovered that the women empowerment is cannot be achieved through education and changing the perception of the society towards women but through baring midriff or by shunning dupata. Burqa cladded women and beard wearing men were not profiled. Happiness existed in its truest and rawest form- original not cosmetic. It was easier to be a kid; knowing less and wanting lesser. Those were simpler days and the lives were simpler too. Today when PTV is surviving on those Rupees 50 that it gets from the electricity bill and is dying a gradual and miserable death, we the last of its generation are like that helpless kid who has just lost his favorite toy, his best friend but he cannot do nothing about it as deep in his heart he knows that he is the one who broke it. I say my sorry and I accept it is I who has failed you, my dear PTV. It is I who wanted more and more, it is I who was not true to what he was taught, it is I who got selfish. It is I who killed everything that was good about my generation and my dear PTV you are the first casualty.     

All the Prime Minister’s men

The Panama Case’s verdict is out and starts with an extract from the Mario Puzo creation, “the Godfather”. This reference diverted my attention towards another book, which was just like The Godfather was turned into a brilliant and equally famous movie. The Book’s name is “All the President’s men”, the movie based on the book had the same name and upon its release in 1976, not only won critical appraise but it also managed to win 4 Academy awards.

“All the President’s men” is about the infamous Watergate scandal. It tells the story of two Washington Post journalists, who through thorough investigation turned a scoop into the breaking news of the century, at least for the Americans. The part of the book that astonishes the most is about the role of American civil machinery in attempting to sweep the scandal under the carpet, had it not been for the pursuance of the two journalists, they might have even succeeded in doing that. This is startling for some lay man, who thinks highly of the American system which is loaded with mechanisms of check and balance and accountability.

This brings us back to the Panama Case verdict, which asks for the formation of a joint investigation team (JIT). The JIT will comprise of representatives of several public institutions such as SECP, State bank, ISI, FIA and MI. I am writing these lines with a heavy heart, that even after 70 years of independence, we have failed to build even a single institution other than the armed forces, which enjoy some kind of credibility in the eyes of the general public. With the American precedent in my mind, I fear that there is a fair chance that the said JIT will be crippled by the heads of the institutions mentioned above especially by those who are directly appointed by the Prime Minister as they all are Prime minister’s men. Irony is that the Supreme Court has ordered the same institutions to be part of the said JIT, which according to their own verdict are crippled and inefficient. However, the point in which one can take respite is that the Supreme Court is monitoring all this and that the JIT will report to the Supreme Court. Otherwise there is a fair possibility that we might miss this golden opportunity to make the all-powerful, answerable, for once and also establish rule of law.

This opportunity is a blessing for the institutions too as they can break free from the reputation they enjoy and for once establish some credibility in the eyes of the general public and fulfill the purpose of their formation.

Justice does not mean to punish the powerful. Justice is to punish anyone who is responsible for the violation of law irrespective of his social and political standing. If a nation fails to establish justice amongst its ranks then nature establishes justice for them in its own ways. Nature maintains balance and it does not let anything go beyond a certain point whether it is injustice or power or even knowledge. Nature has set saturation point for everything. There is rule of law in natural justice and it is both blunt and straightforward in its manifestation. Hopefully, we will not reach such a point where we will be holding no cards. I hope that we will be able to establish rule of law before that and this JIT might turn out to be the beginning of it.    

Nipping the good in the bud

Something happened in Gujranwala some days ago that was not as impactful as the killing of Russian ambassador to Turkey and was not as delightful as Saif and Kareena having a baby boy. In Gujranwala, some sixth grade student attempted suicide in his school after facing repeated insult at the hands of his parents and teacher for his bad academic performance.

I can personally relate with this incident (not the suicide part) as I was also a weak student while growing up and especially in my matriculation and intermediate years. This is the time when a student needs his teacher the most as he is down on self-motivation and belief and there is no other person other than a teacher, who can revive this belief in the student. However, it is commonly observed that, that particular student becomes butt of all the jokes and humiliation. He is rebuked every time for a wrong answer and he ends-up hating himself and eventually isolating himself. I was lucky that I had a good bunch of friends, caring parents and few good teachers who were helpful and supportive but not everyone is that lucky. Had it not been for them I must have broken down or might have committed the same mistake that the boy in Gujranwala did.

Irony is that this unfortunate event took place at a private school. Usually the perception is that the public schools are chocked-up and the private schools are a better facility. However, the stats suggest that of all the children enrolled in primary school in Pakistan, 69% are retained until class 5 and only 28% until class 10[1]. Although usually it is perceived that the students drop out due to financial constraints however this reason is one of the many reasons. Nonetheless this calls for a change at multiple levels especially at the school and home level. Priority should be given to teacher training because they are not only there to give a simple lecture on a topic related to their subject. Their job is multi-dimensional; they have to look after their students and have to fill in the void where ever they find one. The student-teacher interaction plays a great role in shaping-up of the personality of the student. The parents too have to understand the capability of their child and should not burden him with the undue pressure of their expectations. It is for them to understand that each child is different from the other and has a different set of talent. If a student/child is not performing well academically or has been repeatedly careless and aggressive then he should not be sidelined as some retard but it is the joint responsibility of the parents and the teachers to identify the root cause of the turbulent behavior. To be a teacher or a parent is a big responsibility and demands a lot of attention and care. This job is so important because the parents and the teachers are nurturing their own future as it is these children who will replace them. Another fact that has to be given due consideration is that more 53% of Pakistan’s population is below the age of 24[2]. So, if we will continue to block the natural growth of our children and will continue to mold and burden them with the weight of our undue expectations, it is feared that we will raise a generation of emotionally inaccessible zombies that are dead from inside. As Hazrat Ali (R.A) once said, “Do not raise your children the way (your) parents raised you, they were born for a different time”.    

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[1] http://www.dawn.com/news/1241630

[2] http://www.indexmundi.com/pakistan/age_structure.html

Ignorance is bliss

The last king of the Mughal Empire died in exile, in obscurity. He who was once the king of an empire, famously remembered as the “golden bird” by the British, ended up in the garage of an English captain, when exiled to Yangon. I guess, it is kind of a bliss that we humans do not know that what is in store for us in the future. Had Bahadur Shah Zafar, knew about his fate earlier, he would have not even ascended the throne. Although many of us desire to know our future but if we really know what is going to happen, this world might come to a halt. Nobody will come out of their home, if they know that they are going to fail today. Nobody will travel by the train or a bus or an airplane that is meant to crash. Nobody will even taste those “naan cho’laas” that are to give dysentery. The little charms of life will be lost, most importantly the flavor of failure will be lost. What is life without failure in it as it are the failures that make us to appreciate success. Nobody will try. However those who are meant to succeed will still succeed without any competition, resultantly taking the charm of the success away as what is success without competition. Mind you the real life is in these little things that we collectively called “uncertainties”. Enjoy the life as it comes to you. Be thankful for what you have and do not worry for what you do not have. We know nothing, if some that is still very little. So, we should make our peace with it as the saying goes, ignorance is bliss.