Update On Musharraf: Still FAIL!

Moving Forward:

In the two recent articles by Dr. Ayesha Siddiqua ("Tackling the Future")and Ayaz Amir ("The Nation Deserves Better" -- links posted by commoner and Aneeza) the outlines of a way forward seem to be appearing, it is only a matter for Zardari and company of "getting a grip" as I think Zardari may have lost his nerve after seeing the seductive advantages of rule that the much diminished "Paki Raj" brings with it. Despite the fact that Musharraf doesn't have any cards left, he seems to be doing rather well on mere bluff against our unsure and jello-spined leadership.

The last parts in Dr. Ayesha Siddiqua's article are downright frightening (or should be for our "establishment" at least):

What the political parties and the civil and military bureaucracy, in fact, the entire Pakistani elite should realise is that institutional strength serves everyone’s purpose. The rule of law will not necessarily diminish the strength of the elite but will ensure that they enjoy the benefits for a longer-term. This is because justice, equality and fair play keeps the masses happy as well and ensures stability which is necessary for both the haves and have nots.

In Ayaz Amir's article, I agree with the sentiment below, and I brought this up here at pkpolitics at the august occasion of the coronation of Bilawal, and had my a## promptly ripped by no less than 5 otherwise sensible human beings:

Part of the problem is the makeup and temperament of our parties which still recoil from the thought of inner-party democracy. Decisions are taken by one man and the only consultation is with cronies or a cabal surrounding the leader. If Pakistan has a military leadership problem, it also has a civilian leadership problem and unless something is done about it our journey towards the light will continue to be strewn with pitfalls.

Also in Ayaz Amir's article, the statement about 111 brigade really angers me though its existence is a known fact. This badbaKht brigade should be disbanded and the fig leaf "responsibility" of "Protection of the Executive and Sensitive Institutions" Should come under Prime Ministerial guard and they should be under direct control of Prime Minister not the Army jurnails. Key people in this brigade should be punished as "accomplices" under article 6. Being a "small fish" in the chain of command is no excuse. Constitution takes precedence over orders, and if you don't know what the constitution means, well, READ THE FORKING CONSTITUTION!

Nawaz Sharif waxes eloquent about Pervez Musharraf a bit too much. He shouldn't. Actions should speak louder than words. Steps should be taken which make Musharraf an irrelevance. He can't be forced from office because Triple One Brigade, the ultimate interpreter of constitutional matters, answers to military not civilian command. Let parliament meet, let the judges be restored and Musharraf automatically is reduced to being a cipher. If he still wants to hang on, let it be up to him. If a man is bent on humiliating himself what can stop him?

In conclusion, Mr. Amir offers us a workable conclusion:

The solution to Pakistan's problems lies in no Charter of Democracy. Since when did parchments or pieces of paper, or tough clauses in the constitution, stop the army from seizing power? Civilian competence, civilian leaders proving themselves better at the task of governance, is the only guarantee against the resurgence of authoritarianism or Bonapartism.

To this sensible and pertinent list, I'd like to add one more thing explicitly which Dr. Siddiqua and Ayaz Amir have taken for granted, namely the education of our Army and Civilian elite (in lieu of an equitable education system for all in the interim) .

We need to change the education criteria and syllabus for our young officers, they should have a "Constitutional Matters" class in which it is drilled (no pun intended) into them that "Constitution IS Supreme". What to do in case of mutiny by a General against the civilian leadership, for example, how to arrest such a miscreant etc. Similarly, we need to have our elite somehow be plugged into the lives of the common people. I don't know how to accomplish this, severe beatings? water-boarding? anyone got any other ideas?

Originaly Posted at: pkPolitics.com

Nov 3rd Actions by Mush "High Treason"

I have been saying this all along. Illegally deposed Sindh High Court Judge, Anwar Zaheer Jamali has said:

All acts done and orders made by Gen Pervez Musharraf on Nov 3, 2007, were not only unconstitutional but also fell within the ambit of ‘high treason’ and were cognizable under Article 6 of the Constitution

Also,

Justice Jamali later said the promulgation of emergency, suspension of the Constitution and imposition of the PCO on Nov 3, 2007, were void ab initio and coram non judice (actions without authority). All the unlawful measures were taken to nullify the Supreme Court decision.

Dawn article here:

link credit at pkpolitics: "nota"

On Democracy

I have a pet definition for democracy:

Nations are Organisms, Democracy is like a nervous system and a negative feedback loop. If you don’t have pain receptors, or if they are compromised by a pathogen, you will die sooner or later. That is exactly what leprosy does. It only takes the feeling away from your body and extremities in general. As the disease (and therefore the insenstivity) progresses, you get little cuts, you never notice them because your nervous system is compromised, and you keep losing limbs. Eventually you die or become hideously disfigured.

This is why the western countries fight to the death to protect their democracies and the first thing they do is destroy democracy (hit them over the head to cause unconsciousness) in countries which they want to control.

Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, countless South American and African countries are examples. I won’t even mention the fools in the Arab countries individually.

Everywhere, they start with subverting the nervous system of that nation and then destroy the second most important thing which can cause democracy to come back (gain consciousness ) and that is the Education system.

You have to wonder why Israel which has WAY more existential threats than Pakistan has always had democracy (more obnoxious than just slapping desks that fauji idiots in our country hate because it “doesn’t look good”) .. By a mere coincidence (being sarcastic here) all the sleeping giants around them DON’T.. they all have nice and tidy dictators.

Not only that, they have Khilaafah idiots running around saying Democracy is “UnIslamic” and these people just happen to be based out of UK. How co-incidental is _that_ ????

Our enemies don’t want us to ever gain consciousness while they are cutting and carting away our body parts. First thing you do is “anaesthecise’ the victim. And subverting democracy in a nation is akin exactly to that.

On the “Treachery” of Political Parties

On “Treachery” of Political Parties (especially Asif Zardari et. al)

I think the Lawyers/Judiciary movement needs to step back and recover from the post-election euphoria and set their own independent course. After all, most of the parties, at least officially, sat the whole 2007 democracy/justice fracas out while lawyers, students and housewives were getting laaThi-charged. Well, I think they’re fully charged now and should start electrocuting the pro-establishment forces.

We shouldn’t have held too many hight hopes from the mainstreams parties who we clearly saw cavorting with the establishment forces. If BB was alive, she would have made up some excuse to go with friggin Peja Tarmeemi , despite the popular sentiment to the contrary.

So, let us not waste too much time on crying about the parties deceiving us yet again and get ready for battles ahead. After all, most parties in Pakistan, including those claiming to be middle-class anti-feudal terrorist types, are stlll feudal (rural or urban) in their basic makeup and their interests and the interests of the Pakistani civil society at large are diametrically opposed.

Winds of change already?

Is Asif Zardari going to turn back on the PPP-PML-N accord reached a day or so ago?

Some indications are that he might be backtracking already. Mr. Zardari said in an interview that he is open to working with the President.

Zardari has already said PPP is considering making a govt. in Punjab. Nawaz and company are not going to be happy on this turn of events.

Is this just driving a hard bargain? or is it a real rift among the "apparently" pro-judiciary forces??

Only time will tell ...

Regarding the "purity" of Urdu

Some thoughts regarding Urdu and it's purity that were triggered by a user's comment re : the purity of Urdu and how to preserve it etc.

A user by the id "Saqib" made the following thought provoking comments:

I have one important request to you. The request is in fact to all Pakistanis, but the effect will be much higher if you [Asma Sherazi] start doing it. Please avoid speaking English in Urdu programs. By doing that many people don’t understand the whole meaning of a debate or a sentence and that’s a pity, because we should have maximum effect of your interviews especially because you are fighting a just cause. Another factor is that Urdu as a language is being degraded slowly and effectively. It is common fault committed in Pakistan that one “have” to speak English to show that one is a well educated person. I don’t think this is the case with you (not at this stage), but maybe it has been that in the past and now it has become a habit. Maybe you need to focus a little bit on this issue to enhance Urdu and thereby reach out to an even bigger audience. Please don’t see it as any suggestion not to learn and speak English. The request is only that we should focus on the audience we are trying to reach out to and to avoid “hurting” Urdu.

And my response:

I think Urdu is it’s own worst enemy in more ways than one. First, Urdu is a “framework” language from the start. Urdu is great for fitting other languages’ vocabulary in it.. this is how it became so popular because the grammatical structure is so malleable that you can fit any word and it feels natural be it Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit etc. Urdu takes whatever is spoken in “the lashkar” as it were, and lets people communicate. Perfect for Pakistan I’d say, but not in it’s current form.

Now, since the inception of Pakistan, there has been this most unfortunate trend of “purification” in which an artifical purity was created in urdu in which local vocabularies were discouraged from entering mainstream use while english and arabic had tacit support as nothing could be done against them (like accusing the users of Islam dushmani etc.).

Add to that the resentment felt by non-urdu majority and a conscious or sub-consicous attempt by them at shunning urdu as a reaction to what Urdu came to represent (the economic interests of a ‘certain class’ ??)

The reason our anchors can’t go two sentences without reaching for english (bad one at that) is that they have no vocabulary in Urdu. There is no vocabulary in Urdu because there is hardly any literature being written in Urdu. Newspapers don’t count because they use a very limited and cliched form meant for the lowest common denominator. There is hardly any literature because the critics would not allow any “impure vocabulary” (read native pakistani words) in and therefore ended up turning Urdu into some clinically pure freak of linguistics which only a dwindling minorty of so called intellectuals speak. So, Urdu literature has become a casualty of the culture and language wars.

The rest of us have gone back to using what is best in Urdu, the framework which uses whatever words you throw at it. Instead of using Persian, Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi words, we are now using English in the “upper” classes, Arabic words in the “religious & nutcase” classes and native words and accents in the “working” classes.

I am of course with the working classes, and my problem isn’t that Urdu isn’t “pure” any more , rather that it isn’t “properly evolved” anymore. I think the artificiality imposed on Urdu and its main users (Pakistanis) has come back to bite Urdu in the a$$ with a vengeance…

My advice would be counter-intuitive. If you want Urdu (especially prose) to survive with it’s Muslim and eastern shades, then let the local languages in. Otherwise it will end up being a bad imitation of pidgin english with some remnant grammatical constructs thrown in. Kind of what Mr. Malik’s “Urdu” already sounds like.

Musharraf to Resign?

Credit: Failblog

taeraa ki'yaa hogaa kaali'yaa ??

Oy! Say it's true! sounds like Mush might be stepping down. You read it here first folks.

Pervez Musharraf is considering stepping down as president of Pakistan rather than waiting to be forced out by his victorious opponents, aides have told The Sunday Telegraph.

President Pervez Musharraf is considering stepping down as president of Pakistan
President Musharraf considered resigning
immediately after the election

One close confidante said that the president believed he had run out of options after three of the main parties who triumphed in last week's poll announced they would form a coalition government together, and also pledged to reinstate the country's chief justice and 60 other judges sacked by Mr Musharraf in November.

Faasla

A beautiful Sindhi poem by Shaguftah JabeeN

Tracing the footprints of time
Like always
Offering a scene
Of rainbow colours
The parting sun of December
Has become an illusion
But in that brief space of passing moments
Our affections, aversions, partings, meetings
And all references to our person
In the journey from familiar to unfamiliar
This year, too,
Scaled the distances alone
Scaled the distances alone…

This wonderful translations by: Latif Noonari

Via: ATP

Who da b!tch now?

Credit: Daily Express
Certain "alterations": Yours Truly.

Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy!

PPP, PML-N and ANP decide to form a coalition government despite all the conspiracies of the Musharrafites and his foreign masters, who still don't seem to have GOTTEN THE FUCKING MESSAGE.

Well done boys! don't be intimidated by these cowards! You are making history!

Via All Things Pakistan

Photo credit: BBC International

Pakistanis: 1 , Dictator: 0

baRhay chalo - Sabit Qadam raho!

I really wish I was a sculptor, so I could cast this scene in bronze. Common Pakistani's changing the fate of their nation, making history. This for me would be more sacred than the "Crossing of the Delaware". Salaam!

Credit: jmcannon2286

Election 2008: One small victory! One Giant Landslide

credit: BBC Urdu

NOTE: The struggle continues. Etc.

ham daekhaeN gay

See more videos on vidPK.com

Election 08 Update: Pappu Yaar taNgg nah kar!

Last one I saved:


7:47 pm EST:




4:34 pm EST:


Graphic Credits: SadQay theevaaN ATP day!

Election Update: The Piggies are Sweating!

Elections 2008: Whither Pakistan?

Khaak

Khaak har Aamir-o-GhaaSib kay QaSeedah KhvaaN par
Khaak har Aamir-o-Jaabir kay taraf-daar peh Khaak

baaGhbaaN daal rahaa hai gul-o-gulzaar peh Khaak
ab bhi chup hooN to mujh par, maeray aSh’aar peh Khaak

yeh to apnay hi javaanooN kay luhu say tar hai
maeray saalaar, taeray haath ki talvaar peh Khaak!

tu nay barbaad ki’yaa arz-e-vatan ko maeri
Khaak a’ay Aamir-e-dauraaN taeray kirdaar peh Khaak!

Khaak har Aamir-o-GhaaSib kay QaSeedah KhvaaN par
Khaak har Aamir-o-Jaabir kay tarafdaar peh Khaak!


-- (Gumnaam Shaa'ir Dr. Jamal Qadri)

This wonderful poem reproduced in chickenscratch. Maybe someone will mention who the poet is? The style sounds familiar.. could it be Habib Jaalib? I dunno.

UPDATE: Just by pure good fortune, I found the full poem while looking at Faraz poems on Youtube. Here it is, for your pleasure (only one couplet is by ~Faraz~ , the rest is in that 'zameen' by Dr. Jamal Qadri.

Enjoy!

Rosa Parks

A testament to the power of the individual against a system of tyranny and injustice. Let this be a reminder to those in Pakistan who think, over and over again, that access to brute force, violence and being lickspittles of foreigners can save their sorry asses.

The individual can still make a difference. And always will! Your days are numbered!

Via 3QD

Kal, Aaj aur Kal

Interesting how Urdu doesn't make a distinction between yesterday and tomorrow. Here is a treat for you (for me actually so I can find it easily later on), Aitezaz Ahsan b'zabaan-e Ahsan.

Part I.


Part II.

Never Forget

A wonderful article on the Mehr Garh civilization at Chowk.com by Mahmood Ahmad. It fills me with pride that I am from a country which was literally the cradle of civilization. We were here, before anyone else. etcetera. etceter.

Nachch Nee !!!

The Ta-Sin of Understanding

1. The comprehensions of created natures are not attached to reality, and reality is not attached to created natures. Thoughts (which come) are adherences, and the adherences of created natures do not attach themselves to realities. The perception of reality is difficult to acquire, so how much more difficult is the perception of the reality of the Reality. Furthermore, Allah is beyond reality, and reality does not in itself imply Allah.
   


2. The moth flies about the flame until morning, then he returns to his fellows and tells them of his spiritual state with the most eloquent expressions. The he mixes with the coquetry of the flame in his desire to reach perfect union.
   


3. The light of the flame is the knowledge of reality, its heat is the reality of reality, and Union with it is the Truth of the reality.
   


4. He was not satisfied with its light nor with its heat, so he leapt into it completely. Meanwhile, his fellows were awaiting his coming so that he could tell them of his actual vision since he had not been satisfied with hearsay. But at that moment, he was being utterly consumed, reduced and dispersed into fragments, and he remained without form or body or distinguishing mark. Then in what sense can he return to his fellows? And in what state now that he has obtained? He who had arrived at the vision became able to dispense with reports. He who arrives at the object of his vision is no longer concerned with the vision.
   


5. These meanings do not concern the negligent man, nor the transitory man, nor the man of wrong action, nor the man who follows his whims.
   


6. Oh you who are uncertain, do not identify ‘I am’ with the Divine ‘I’ - not now, nor in the future, nor in the past. Even if the ‘I am’ was a consummated gnostic, and if this was my state, it was not the perfection. Even though I am His I am not He.
   


7. If you have understood this, then understand that these meanings were not true from anyone except Muhammad, and ‘Muhammed is not the father of any one of your men,’ but the Messenger of Allah and the seal of the prophets. He absented himself from men and jinn, and he closed his eyes to ‘where’ until there no longer remained any veil on the heart nor any falsehood.
   


8. There was a ‘length of two bows’ lengths or nearer,’ when he reached the desert of the ‘knowledge of reality,’ he reported from the outward heart. When he arrived to the truth of the reality he left his desire there and gave himself up to the Bountiful. When he reached the Truth he returned and said: ‘the inward heart has prostrated to You, and the outward heart has believed in You.’ When he reached the Furthermost Limit he said: ‘I cannot praise You as You should be praised.’ When he reached the reality of the reality he said: ‘You are the only One who can praise Yourself.’
   
   He renounced his desire and followed his vocation, ‘the heart did not lie about what it saw’ at this station near the Lote-Tree of the Boundary. He did not turn to the right to the reality of things, nor to the left to the reality of reality. ‘His eyes swerved not, nor swept away.’

Tawasin of Mansur Hallaj

Dil naa umeed to naheeN, naakaam hi to hai!

I don't know this guy, but he is my hero. Hum gumnaam baba-ji ki azmat ko salaam paeSh kartay haiN!

My response to Revivalist.

I wrote this comment in response to one "Revivalist's" incessant posts about Khilafah being the end-all be-all of all that ails the "Ummah" Whatever that is.

It was a stream of consciousness post written in one sitting and I haven't made an effort to fix errors to keep that "rantish" flavor.

@revivalist: (this is long and rambling — you’ve been warned)

Nahmadu hoo wa….

LAB PEH AATI HAI DUAA BAN KAY TAMMANNA MERI
ZINDIGI SHAMMA KI SOORAT HO KHUDAYA MERI (etcetera etcetera)

Amma ba’ad!

Dude, I’d like to have an empire just as much as the next guy, and I commend you for lusting after an empire. I want europe to be my bitch rather than me and YOU being their bitches.

But Look, your methods are weak, and the basis you think is “intellectual” is not. All the articles you post follow the same pattern.

1. long tiresome descriptions of what is wrong, and god knows a lot is wrong.
   
2. Choice Ayaat from Qur’aan, to supposedly support the “intellectual article” at hand.. I mean really, how many Muslims will _actually_ bother going through a translation? And even if they do, you can very easily call them “gum-raah” (the criteria of “gum-raahi” being that they don’t agree with YOU)
   
3. In the last paragraph you inject the completely illogical and unrelated “conclusion” which always is 1 & 2, therefore 3 (and 3 always is , “Khilafah! is the answer!”)
   
4. If someone asks you to describe this “Khilaafah” you refer them to at least four long jibberish articles which basically follow 1,2 & 3 above..
   

So, yeah, this “Khilaafah” that you speak of, is basically a neo-islamic empire which would be very hard to achieve without revolutionary means. Your masters have figured this out already (thanks for coming out, but empires have been distributed already!) But what you are proposing to get there is to rewind the clock to some ambiguous time where YOUR clique gets to define what ISLAM is.. That is Tyranny my friend. You are advocating tyranny of your group over everyone who is naive enough to believe you, as you show them these dreams of an Islamic empire.

Well, education is education. Did Jibreel say “Recite!” or did he say “Recite that which is Islamic and non-secular!” ???

Didnt Muhammad say “Educate yourself even if you have to go to China”.. Pray tell my wel-informed friend.. do you consider your prophet to be so naive to think that there would be “Islamic education” in China? What do you think he was talking about?

The truth is that Muhammad and his initial followers were true revolutionaries and they followed the revelation and COMMON SENSE! They were ahead of their times.. and they looked FORWARD. They were in an existential fight… and when you are in an existential fight, you don’t do stupid shit like oh, let’s fall on our own knives.. that’ll show em! and while it is true the today’s Muslim is in an existential fight, due to their (your) jaahiliyyet, they cannot come up with solutions they should come up with. Which would be to have an education (secular or non secular) which gives people the power to do some thinking and see.

You, on the other hand, follow DOGMA & NONSENSE. You look a thousand years BACKWARD… You cargo cult (look it up) You think that by building straw planes, real planes will descend from the skies filled with chocolate and goodies.. Well you would be wrong! NO ABAABEEL FOR YOU!!

The best today’s “revivalists” (present company excluded of course) can come up with is to turn more inward, blame the loss on not following Islam insanely enough and therefore they grow their beards longer, wear weirder and weirder clothes and stick “Islamic” lable on everything .. It’s not a song, its a “Nasheed” so it’s okay for our fashionable hijab clad nubile young ladies to go into an Islamic Nasheed concert and lust modestly after the young bucks with their comely “islamic” beards. Well, just by calling something “islamic” it doesn’t become islamic. And you don’t have to call everything islamic. Just follow the basic principles and don’t treat God like an idiot.

Islam is not ritual. And a contiguous landmass with one IDIOT at the helm is no good if you as a population are too stupid to keep it. And believe me, the majority is too stupid. And your “educational attempts” are not helping because they are illogical, they don’t build a case, but use the Tire and Convince methodology I mentioned above.

This is why I say if Umar (your supposed hero and role model) saw this ridiculous shit, he would really take you weenies to task. Everything that is hard is un-islamic in your eyes. Fighting the 50 year slow fight is hard, creating educational and democratic institutions is hard, but talking about Khilafah is easy, so you want to sit around get erections over how TOTALLY AWESOME the “Golden Era” was and how muslims invented “Manjaneek”.. well get over it folks, the Romans invented Manjaneek and all the Muslim inventions were because of furthering this so-called secular knowledge that they discovered from the conquered areas.. (aka Greek knowledge)

You know the BEST Muslim inventions were in Philosophy and Mathematics? The same philosophy and rational thought that the IDIOTS in the last days of Andalus worked hard to ban, and the same philosophy that rebooted the European renaissance? As europeans took cartloads of books out of Toledo as your intellectual ancestors were busy burning the shit out of the best libraries that Spanish Islam had put together?

I know people like you like to get hard-ons over Andalus, but what made Andalus Andalus was the very same things you despise and work against even to this day! And what gave europe the light and eventually the power to hunt you down like stray dogs from a thousand miles away was the very same rational and logical thought. That you would ban NOW, after ALL THIS!!!.

Well, you ban common sense and you end up where you are, talking about khilafah and empire without any hope of achieving either, because you refuse to take the first step (and no it is not posting about Khilafah on news forums) It is education and common sense (ever wonder why they used to teach Fiqh AND Mantiq in the old era schools? because people, without logic cannot apply Fiqh… and this is the revelation that you Brainiacs still haven’t figured out)

So Europe didn’t throw away all that knowledge like you would have us do. Because when you follow nonsense like describing abstract concepts like natural truths to be “Islamic or Non-Islamic” you end up being humiliated by ruffians who flush the Quran down the toilet just for fun. And all you can do is stupid impotent protests and talk about “Khilafah” as if that’s the magic pill that will fix your humiliation. Your humiliation is NOT because you don’t have a contiguous landmass ruled by one Khalifah, it is because you have a bunch of idiots running around not knowing what is going on. You have centuries of degeneragion NOT because you didn’t follow the ritual enough but precisely becaouse YOU ONLY followed the ritual and forgot about the common sense principles.

So, I got news for you, the cows in the slaughterhouse can “protest” all they want, but eventually they end up on someone’s plate as delicious steak.

This is the relationship that you have with YOUR masters. You talk about expanding and consolidating the pasture.. yet you miss the point by a hundred miles. You don’t think like the predator and the shepherd that herds you to your doom. They put you in different pens, they take you from one and shift you to another.. and all one hears is… baaaa baaaaa baaaa khilaaafaaaah!! baaaa

This was posted on pkpolitics.com Feb 6th, 2008 (4:14am). As of this writing, I have not recieved a direct response from Revivalist, though s/he has been posting quite a bit in the Discuss section. This, despite vociferous urging by other readers who seemed to like my rant, but wanted to see "Revivalist"'s rebuttal.

Ready for Elections 2008?

Credit: abro

Noam Chomsky & Michel Foucault

An interesting dialogue between these two giants! (English with Eng. subtitles)

60 Years of Independence - One Picture

This picture reminded me of the famous Orwell quote:

"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever."
- George Orwell

Shamelessley Stolen from a picasa album maintained by "The Emergency Times"

نثار ميں تيري گليوں پے، اے وطن، کہ جهاں

نثار ميں تيري گليوں پے، اے وطن، کہ جهاں
چلي هے رسم کہ کوئي نہ سر اٹھا کے چلے
جو کوئي چاهنے والا طواف کو نکلے
نظر چُرا کے چلے، جسم و جاں بچا کے چلے

ہے اهل ِ دل کے ليے اب يہ نظم ِ بست و کشاد
کہ سنگ و خشت مقيد هيں اور سگ آزاد

بهت هيں ظلم کے دست ِ بهانه جو کے ليے
جو چند اهل ِ جنوں تيرے نام ليوا هيں
بنےهيں اهل ِ هوس مدعي بھي، منصف بھي
کسے وکيل کريں، کس سے منصفي چاهيں

مگر گزارنے والوں کے دن گزرتے هيں
تيرے فراق ميں يوں صبح و شام کرتے هيں

بُجها جو روزن ِ زنداں تو دل يہ سمجھا هے
کہ تيري مانگ ستاروں سے بھر گئي هو گي
چمک اٹھے ہيں ِسلاسل تو هم نے جانا هے
کہ اب سحر تيرے رخ پر بکھر گئي هو گي

غرض تصور ِ شام و سحر ميں جيتے ہيں
گرفت ِ سايہ ِ ديوار و در ميں جيتے ہيں

يونهي هميشه الجھتي رهي هے ظلم سے خلق
نہ ان کي رسم نئي هے، نہ اپني ريت نئي
يونهي هميشه کھلائے هيں هم نے آگ ميں پھول
نہ ان کي هار نئي هے، نہ اپني جيت نئي

اسي سبب سے فلک کا گلہ نهيں کرتے
تيرے فراق ميں هم دل برا نهيں کرتے

گر آج تجھ سے جدا هيں تو کل بهم هوں گے
يہ رات بھر کي جدائي تو کوئي بات نهيں
گر آج اوج پہ هيں طالع ِ رقيب تو کيا؟
يہ چار دن کي خدائي تو کوئي بات نهيں

جو تجھ سے عهد ِ وفا استوار رکھتے هيں
علاج ِ گردش ِ ليل و نهار رکھتے هيں

فيض احمد فيض، ۱۹۵۳، دستِ صبا

via Chapati Mystery

Why we have NO RIGHT to be called a 'Nation'

Read this and weep!


Thanks to a comment by a reader (Shakeel sahab) I found out more about the painting hanging in the main hall of Lahore Museum, and it seems it has been literally destroyed because of the incompetence of the authorities!
From the link above:

But the inheritors of the artist’s majestic work have not been protective of Sadequain’s exceptional legacy. Rainwater seepage, heat and humidity are rapidly destroying the mural. Termite colonies have infested the wooden frames and canvases. A close inspection reveals that the edges of the paintings, which are folded over the wooden frames, have been most directly affected. Termites have eaten away at the canvases, leaving the paint layer hanging almost without support, and liable to break away at any moment. Large tears are also noticeable in many places.

Yes, those are termite nests hanging from this masterpiece! FOR FUCKS SAKE! And that COCKSUCKER is buying another fucking Gulfstream jet worth 60 million bucks???

Do we really have the right to call ourselves a nation when we can't even safeguard these immense treasures? In my eyes this man is an equal of Picasso or Rembrandt and look how we honor his love for the arts and his memory and his gift to use ungrateful fu*ktards!

I must apologize to the memory of Sadequain saheb. Indeed, we were not worthy!

Overheard in a music podcast song intro

"Love between two people is a beautiful thing, but between seven, it is AMAAAZING!!!"

Yeh Watan Tumhaara Hai (ORLY?)

Jis khaet say dehQaaN ko muyyassar nah ho rozi
us khaet kay har KhoSha'ay gaNdum ko jalaa do!

Every DOG has his day!

And so does this one! Finally, me singing "maiN choTaa saa ik laRkaa hooN par kaam karooNgaa baRaay baRaay" to the point of driving my parents insane can finally be justified!

Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, yours truly has finally made it to the pages of The Pakistani Spectator. Nevermind that I am in the blogger interview section, suffice it to say that I am content with the knowledge that my interview html files sit with the interview html files of Ardsher Cowasjee and Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa Agha!

What else can this nacheez ask for? maybe a Plot in sector F of Islamabad? Sabar Paiee Sabbar!

Keh Aati hai urdu zubaaN Aatay Aatay!

But seriously, many thanks to TPS for giving yours truly the time of day!

Interview with Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa

World famous Pakistani intellectual, scholar and author of "Military Inc. Inside Pakistan's Military Economy" in an interview from 2005 I found. I think this is a good omen, that we have voices like that of Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa in our midst. Another thing which I found out to be a pleasant surprise was that her favorite book is also Maxim Gorky's autobiography.. We both read it around the same age in different parts of Pakistan .. yay for Moscow University (Urdu) Press !! :)

Her full interview at TPS is an excellent read. Thanks to The Pakistan Spectator for a wonderful interview with her. She truly is one of the Heroes/Heroines of the Second Tehreek-e Aazaadi-e Pakistan.

DISCLAIMER: I was recently interviewed by TPS as part of their efforts to highlight the Pakistani Blogosphere.

An even more in depth interview is from DesPardes, but I'm linking to the one posted by The Glasshouse as he has emphasized certain parts.. (Like for example the fact that a full jurnail in our beloved army is worth about 500 million rupees in terms of networth!)

BaRhay chalo keh voh manzil abhi naheeN Aa'iee

The Economist throws a Hissy Fit! Oy!

The cover story against Iran in the latest issue of the Economist sounds more like a desperate attempt at war mongering than an honest attempt at objective analysis of the situation. Something that one would expect, given one didn't know any better.

First they take America's "duff" spies to task for fucking up a golden opportunity to bomb the shit out of these camel fuckers.

WHO would have thought that a friendless theocracy with a Holocaust-denying president, which hangs teenagers in public and stones women to death, could run diplomatic circles around America and its European allies? But Iran is doing just that. And it is doing so largely because of an extraordinary own goal by America's spies, the team behind the duff intelligence that brought you the Iraq war.

Then they raise doubts about the loyalties of one MOE-HA-MUDD AL-BARRA-DDEY (Did you notice something? specifically that there is a Mohammad in there? Alarm belles ringing yet? Goddammend those writers at 24.. they're not doing their jobs anymore!) who obviously is a douchebag too incompetent to build a case at will against any country WE (try to figure out who that is) want to bomb the shit out of.

At the same time, Iran is finding an ally in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Its director-general, Mohamed ElBaradei, is a Nobel peace-prize winner who is crusading to confound those he calls “the crazies” in Washington by helping Iran to set its nuclear house in order, receive a clean bill of health and so avert the possibility of another disastrous war.

Good news is that they think Iran can still be encircled... oh goodie! another 2 million dead! As long as the existential threats are neutralized, all's well in the genocide blinders department!

P.S. BTW -- on a subconscious mind tweaking note -- did you notice the shape of the "fuse" in the above graphic? yes, it deliberately looks vaguely like a letter of the big bad oriental script that [hush] Them Barbarians [hush] use! sssshhhhh....!

Human Rights Watch Mumbles Something... US Ignores them.. Mush takes a big dump on the Judges!

Human Rights Watch specifically mentioned Pakistan, where President Pervez Musharraf, one of President Bush’s crucial regional allies, dismissed members of the independent judiciary and put them under house arrest and installed his own allies on the Supreme Court to make sure that he remained president. While the Bush administration has called on Mr. Musharraf to hold elections, it has been noticeably less vocal in calling for Mr. Musharraf to reinstate the independent judiciary.

Via NYTimes

khol AaNkh zameeN daekh, falak daekh, fazaa daekh!

I have wanted to see this mural done by SaadeQain for sooo long.. there are so many flickr groups in Pakistan and in Lahore now, but it took a group of Indian tourists/visitors to look at something that has become routine for Lahoria's.. oh well... thanks anyway stranger tourists , :)

Blast from the Past

Pervez and Ehud "Chance" meeting, An interesting Perspective:

Some interesting observations by M.K. Bhdrakumar, a 29 year career diplomat with Indian Foreign Service, regarding the recent "chance" meeting between Prez (i) Mushie and Ehud Barak in France.

Both Pakistan and Israel have reason to upgrade the level of their interaction. A good clue is available from Lieberman's itinerary in Islamabad, which included two unusual appointments for a visiting US senator. Lieberman had separate meetings with Pakistani army chief General Parvez Kiani and the director general of the Strategic Planning Division (SPD) , Lieutenant General (retired) Khalid Ahmad Kidwai.

Following these meetings on January 9, Lieberman paid handsome compliment to the SPD's professional capability in managing the command and control system for the security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. "I am deeply impressed by the professionalism of the team headed by the general [Kidwai] to secure the nuclear assets of Pakistan," he said. The SPD went out of the way to give a detailed briefing to Lieberman.

The Pakistani intention was clear - Lieberman would transmit the impressions of his visit to Israel. Islamabad has been visibly edgy about the orchestrated media campaign in recent weeks that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal might fall into the hands of jihadi elements. Anyone could tell from a mile that the campaign stank. Pakistan was being threatened that it was about to be stripped of its crown jewels. It was hardly justified and was manifestly an attempt at blackmail.

And in conclusion:

As India gives formal shape to its contacts with NATO and openly participates in the US's missile defense program, the trajectory of US-India strategic cooperation will begin to impact on Russian interests, unless, of course, Delhi takes corrective measures, for which, however, political will becomes necessary. Washington is, in any case, resolute in steering its strategic cooperation with India precisely in such a direction that it leads to an all-round rollback of Russian influence in South Asia.

All this adds up to mean that the US-India strategic partnership need not be the end of the world for Pakistan. An altogether new strategic equation may develop in the region between Russia, China and Pakistan. With the regional security environment in such a flux, Musharraf's message to Barak would have been direct: Pakistan is in no way threatening Israel's security directly or in league with a third country, and Pakistan expects Israel to reciprocate. Coming from one soldier-turned-politician to another, that is not too much to ask. Barak would have understood.

Full Article here at Asia Times And definitely worth a read (and it is plastered all over the intarwebs by now anyways)

The Worst Addiction of Them All

By Kurt Vonnegut (Need I say more?)

If Western Civilization were a person--

If Western Civilization, which blankets the world now, as far as I can tell, were a person--

If Western Civilizations, which surely now includes the Soviet Union and China and India and Pakistan and on and on, were a person--

If Western Civilization were a person, we would be directing it to the nearest meeting of War-Preparers Anonymous. We would be telling it to stand up before the meeting and say, "My name is Western Civilization. I am a compulsive war- preparer. I have lost everything I ever cared about. I should have come here long ago. I first hit bottom in World War I." Western Civilization cannot be represented by a single person, of course, but a single explanation for the catastrophic course it has followed during this bloody century is possible. We the people, because of our ignorance of the disease, have again and again entrusted power to people we did not know were sickies.

Ki jaaNRaaN maiN kaun?

And a beautiful translation by Kartar Singh Duggal




I know not who I am

I am neither a believer going to the mosque
Nor given to non-believing ways
Neither clean, nor unclean
Neither Moses not Pharoah
I know not who I am

I am neither among sinners nor among saints
Neither happy, nor unhappy
I belong neither to water not to earth
I am neither fire, not air
I know not who I am

Neither do I know the secret of religion
Nor am I born of Adam and Eve
I have given myself no name
I belong neither to those who squat and pray
Nor to those who have gone astray
I know not who I am

I was in the beginning, I’d be there in the end
I know not any one other than the One
Who could be wiser than Bulleh Shah
Whose Master is ever there to tend?
I know not who I am.

All courtesy of that GEM of a Pakistani Blog Pakistaniat