Amnah Mohasin – My Bit for Change

The Clash of Spirit of Sacrifice and Lavishness

Depression and psychological complex amongst sacrificial animals would be highest during Zilhaj if they could comprehend the criteria of ‘khoobsurat janwar’ which Pakistanis have created. Similar to how the advertisements make us believe that we need products to look good and for example, men and women who use fairness creams excel both in professional and personal life because of their fair skin tone, even the animals have to undergo a strict regime in order to become beautiful.

They are given the best diet which includes butter, milk, etc. As a result of which they grow up to be superior and bulkier than the rest and also are really heavy on the pockets of those purchasing them. However, it is surprising how the demand for these ‘khoobsurat janwars’ has increased even with the high inflation, escalating poverty and low employment and growth rates in Pakistan. Not only is poverty increasing, but so is social inequality. The phrase ‘the rich get richer and poor poorer’ fits our situation completely. If one were to look at the lavish lifestyle and expenditures of the elite Pakistanis, they might think that Pakistan has a really small fraction of people living in poverty. Because of the fact that it is an ‘Islamic Republic’ after all and if the rich are rolling in money then obviously their taxes and charities must easily be able to help the underprivileged section of the population. But unfortunately due to the lack of a proper system and trust in the government these funds are not efficiently allocated and spent. If people could trust the state they would pay taxes and in return the State would provide basic facilities to the population, like it happens elsewhere in the world where countries are governed with the idea of justice and honesty.

Interestingly, our tax authorities endorse the slogan of, ‘See no evil’, and there is nobody to question how people who go at lengths to make sure that they find a way to hide their true incomes and declare their incomes to be as low as possible can afford such expensive animals and various other commodities for that matter.

Amidst the huge tents, posing for pictures with the animals, flashy lights and various other pompous activities, we fail to realize how miserable we make those who are less fortunate than us feel. What goes through the mind of the chowkidaar or the man who takes care of the animal which cost almost about seven to eight years of his earnings is something we cannot fathom, that is if we ever bother. The increasing disparity is one of the root causes of crimes in a society. Plato warned of this evil “There should exist among the citizens neither extreme poverty nor, again, excessive wealth, for both are productive of great evil . . . Now the legislator should determine what is to be the limit of poverty or of wealth.” One of the main reasons behind social chaos which leads to the weakening of the state is imbalance of wealth.

While there is nothing wrong in spending a million or more on the purchase of sacrificial animals, what I fail to understand is why one cannot buy ten cows for a million instead of buying one? This way, there would be more meat to consume and distribute amongst relatives, neighbours, friends and the needy. Is it because sacrificial animals have become a status symbol? If yes, then the purpose of sacrifice is lost because it is not just the sacrifice of the animal but what the example of Hazrat Ibrahim and Hazrat Ismail (A.S.) in its true essence teaches us is that we should defeat our ‘Nafs’ and be ready to sacrifice all our desires for Allah. Then is not the desire to show off dominating us? Is it not ignoring the purpose of sacrifice? Allah says in the Holy Quran:

‘It is not their meat nor their blood, that reaches Allah: it is your piety that reaches Him’.

So if the blood and meat do not reach Allah but piety, then we really need to contemplate if we really are pious and if not, then nothing at all is reaching Allah.

Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) has taught us that actions are judged by intentions. There is no use of following rites and customs blindly if we do not completely embrace the true meaning of Islam. Islam is not just limited to rituals and the five pillars. It places utmost importance on the principles of social justice, welfare, fairness and protection of human rights. Eid is to be celebrated with the entire Muslim Ummah and therefore it is incumbent upon us to make sure everyone enjoys this occasion.

I leave you with the words of Dr. Israr Ahmed who has put this social problem eloquently that we have lost the spirit of sacrifice when it comes to following the ‘Deen’ of Allah. We are not ready to sacrifice our time, our comfort and our desires in the way of Allah. We do slaughter animals but we are completely devoid of the spirit of Ibrahim (AS) and the lesson his life teaches us.

The Morning Show Circus

A while back, I was watching a morning-show when one of the guests on the show compared two very famous morning show hosts to Oprah Winfrey and called them the Oprah Winfreys of Pakistan. The next minute, I was cleaning the tea I had spilled on the table. As much as I wish with all my heart that, that statement was true but unfortunately those two morning show hosts are not even an iota of what Oprah Winfrey is all about.

For starters, Oprah Winfrey show does not have ‘Wedding Weeks’. Yes, weddings are an integral part of our culture, we are a nation which loves festivals and celebrations and marriage is a beautiful bond but that being said it does not mean that being unmarried is a disease or a taboo. Morning shows have an anti-dote for this ‘disease’ too, just by the way. The ‘matchmaking aunties’ are frequent guests on these shows to conduct ‘workshops’ on how a girl should carry herself and the tray when the potential in laws come to scrutinize her

Pakistani morning shows are on a mission to get the entire nation married before the world ends. It is about time they start to do shows on contraceptives as well before the population of Pakistan has doubled due to the weddings arranged by these shows. Or wait, they cannot really dare to do a show on contraceptives because that would upset us and PEMRA. But why don’t we ever raise a voice against the extravagance showcased on these shows and why does not PEMRA ever object to the crime shows which air forced confessions of alleged criminals? For how long will we continue to pick and choose to condemn or disregard the evils?

The shows portray their tactics of generating maximum revenue as a service to humanity. I have never been able to understand what joy does the couple from an under-privileged household get from watching people from the entertainment industry dance around in expensive couture. By doing all this, the morning shows are just demarcating the line between the rich and poor and making it more obvious than before. Showing the majority of Pakistanis who belong to middle, lower-middle and low classes, almost about everything they cannot afford just creates resentment.

An all-time favorite segment of these shows is about supernatural creatures and spirits and black magic. The morning show hosts ooh and aah every time a different ‘Aalim‘ tries to exorcise someone by sprinkling water on them, cutting lemons, lighting candles etc. It is actually painful to watch this and frustrating at the same time to witness different ‘Babas‘ torture people when in fact all they usually need is a good psychiatrist and therapy!

These shows have also really abused the concept of ‘Oprahfication’, that is, if that is what they try to imitate. While Oprah coined this term to describe public confession as a therapy and talked about various issues in her life, in our morning shows it is the other way around. The morning show hosts never talk about their failures, shortcomings, mistakes and life experiences but they invite people and cash on their misery by shedding a tear or two at their heart-breaking stories. While it has its advantages, we are still not ready for it. Inviting people to confess their secrets and discuss their personal and intimate issues on live television without a psychologist or psychiatrist being present is not only harmful but can have long term effects on the lives of these people as we are a part of an extremely judgmental society .

The morning show hosts are usually very active about speaking against domestic violence and gender-issues. But those issues set aside, what do they have to say about how they let themselves and other females on the morning shows be used as eye-candy? It’s not really hard to get why majority of the morning show hosts are females. A single female host carries the weight of dozen of labels and sponsors. Clothes, shows, make up, accessories and the list goes on. The more, the merrier.

These hosts constantly endorse the view that it is of utmost importance to fit in the society and for that you have to look a certain way. Whereas Oprah showed the world how a black woman with a voluptuous body can look so elegant, beautiful and charismatic only if she believes in herself. Almost every day at least one morning show has a make-up competition, which is fine but what is not okay is when the beauticians apply a foundation ten shades lighter to the model’s skin tone in order to make her look fair. This is very rare though, because most of the models chosen are fair-skinned anyway. What message are they conveying by this?

The most disappointing thing about these shows is the guests who are invited. There are few guests, couples to be specific who are permanent guests. They come, they dance, and they laugh out loud, go on and on about their recent vacation in Dubai or Thailand, gossip about other celebrities, display a lot of public affection and leave. From the guests lists of these shows it almost looks like as if half of the Pakistani nation is a part of the show business and the other half is trying desperately to be a part of it.

How often do we see Pakistanis who have excelled in other fields as guests on these shows? The shows endorse lawn brands but never speak up against the low wages the factory workers are paid. We are told about who wore who at the red carpet but we are never told who won the Booker or the Pulitzer prizes. Dramas and movies are reviewed and recommended but books are never talked about. Fashion designers, models, actors and singers are treated as if they are gods and goddesses with magical powers but scientists, economists, thinkers, social and human rights activists are never mentioned. Achievements of Dr. Abdu’s Salam, Prof. Atta-or-Raman, Mahbub-ul-Haq, etc. are never recognized and appreciated. They portray the Pakistani woman as a materialistic human being who has no business other than wearing designer clothes, expensive make up and brewing up facial masks in order to look at least ten years younger than her age. Why cannot the average Pakistani woman be portrayed as somebody who wants to fly a plane, be an astronaut, mountain climber or a F1 racer?

The media tries to get away with all this by using the excuse that it is broadcasting what people like to watch. But that is not a legitimate excuse. Yes, people have grown accustomed to watching trash because it’s the only thing that is aired these days. However that does not mean that we Pakistanis love to watch Turkish couples somersault around on our television screens. We are a nation who loved and appreciated 50-50, Angan Terha, Dhoop Kinaray, Loose Talk. We have been shown great things, so I do not know why the media thinks that all we deserve are dubbed foreign dramas and cheesy morning shows.

Being Human

Every day, the news channels give an estimated figure of deaths due to target killing, bomb-blasts, sectarian barbarism etc. But those figures are inaccurate. There are more deaths than we can fathom. Each day, we all die as a society, nation and as human beings. We turned off our humanity a long time ago. We all have just been cold, semi-alive bodies lost in our own lives and with each day we get a step closer to death.

Incidents such as the Abbas Town and Ziarat Mansion bomb blast, Hazara genocide, Badami Bagh arson attack, etc do bring us back to life in a state of shock. We wake up, we sympathize, we protest, we help and then we go back to feeling indifferent. One may argue that there is nothing wrong in moving on with our lives. We all have duties and responsibilities to fulfil and chores to run. A calamity occurs, we wake up and we leave our houses to help the victims and then slumber again as a dead nation.

And then there are those under-privileged people who we ignore and fail to help every day? Have we ever spared a moment to think how the people who work for us, for example, our maids and drivers manage to feed and support their families on the low wages we pay them?

We have become indifferent towards suffering unless it hits us. We do not care if a child works for us for low wages, instead of attending school but we make it a point that our children should be enrolled in English medium schools and expensive only. We do not worry about how our maid feeds her children for the entire month, but we do worry when we fail to get a reservation at a new restaurant and when we do go, we never feel guilty when our bill comes down to almost being equal to our maid’s monthly salary. We never notice the ragged clothes of the beggars on the roads but we try our best to be the first ones to reach the ‘Exclusive Lawn Exhibitions’. We do not care if our driver needs his salary in advance to buy medicines for one of his family members and we insult him for always asking for money as long as our cabinets are stuffed with the best multivitamins and health supplements and we can afford the best medical facilities.

We are morally degenerating as a society. The gap between the rich and the poor is at its widest now. It’s about time we realize that we cannot overcome this gap by feeding a poor person once a month, giving a hundred rupees note to a beggar, handing down our old clothes to our maids, etc. If we do that, that is good but there are better things we need to do and much bigger steps we need to take in order to bridge this gap.

‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime’.

Your maid complains about her husband’s unemployment? Pull some strings and get him employed and if all fails set him up a thela, (a cart where he can sell little things). You provide grocery to various households? Instead of that, pay the school fees of your driver’s child so that one day he can grow up to be someone who can feed his family on his own. These are just two examples. Look around and you will find plenty of opportunities and ways to help them live on their own and not just survive on your mercy.

We HAVE to cut down on our luxuries so that others can get their basic necessities. Please wake up, feel the pain and responsibility, empathize, support and be human(e).

Out of Leaden Sleep, Out of Slumber Deep. Arise!

Out of leaden sleep, Out of slumber deep. Arise! –Iqbal

Our elections are no different than our cricket matches. ‘The boys played well’ but the match was fixed. While PML-N takes the trophy home, MQM becomes the party of the series by Mr. Abdul Waseem and Mr. Nabil Gabol getting approximately 370 votes/minute and 314 votes/minute respectively, PTI was that new team which walked onto the playing arena and everyone booed because nobody ever thought PTI would last a single inning but they just did not last but emerged as the second largest party of Pakistan. Khan Sahab is no doubt our Man of the Match.

While Pakistan’s youth is demoralized and depressed over the rigged elections, they fail to realize what just happened to them. We have finally woken up from our deep slumber. We shrugged off our indifference. This is Imran Khan’s biggest achievement that he actually preached what he firmly believed in – Iqbal’s philosophy. He made us remember what Iqbal had said about us:

“Tu shaheen hai, parwaz hai kaam tera‘

You are a shaheen, your work is to fly.

Also,

‘Naheen tera nashayman Qasr-e-Sultani ke gumbad par

Tu shaheen hai, basayra kar paharon ki chattanoon main‘

Your abode is not on the dome of the palace of kings

You are a shaheen, live on the mountain-cliffs

Imran Khan made us realize our potential and urged us to use it to its fullest. His tsunami made this stagnant nation strive. For once, our lives completely revolved around the fate of our country and we could and would not think or talk about anything else.

Harper Lee’s character, Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mocking Bird says:

“Courage is not a man with a gun in his hand (In our case, the na-malum afraad). It’s knowing you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

I feel this quote perfectly fits our situation. The fact that PML-N won should not be surprising. It was very much predictable. PML-N spent money like water and it seeped through many organisations and officials who scripted these elections. There was no possible way that PTI could have had clean swept the elections. Those who believed that it would were being blindly optimistic. Yes, Imran Khan claimed to sweep the elections but it was not the politician inside him talking, it was that sportsman and captain who told his team that they will take the cup home in the 1992 World cup when everyone thought that Pakistan does not stand a single chance. He did not make claims as a politician; he gave pep-talks as a sportsman. While it raised our hopes, but somewhere along the line it gave us too many hopes to handle. We actually started to visualise a ‘Naya Pakistan’, without realising that it took years and many sacrifices to build Pakistan in the first place so a ‘Naya Pakistan’ cannot be created overnight and after just one successful election campaign.

As the saying goes that every thousand mile journey begins with a single step, we should be proud and grateful that we finally took the first step and laid the first brick.

We need to understand that Pakistan is still a malnourished child because soon after its creation, it was denied the right to grow and prosper. Feudalism, corruption, nepotism, hunger for power and various other factors act as shackles to deter Pakistan from flourishing. These factors cannot be eliminated overnight.

There is a reason why the literacy rate in Pakistan is so low. The people high above do not want the average Pakistani villager to be educated. The day he gets educated, he will stop to bow down in front of ‘Baba Saien’ and vote for the candidate his village’s Wadera orders him to vote for. That day the young men belonging to various militant wings will sit down and contemplate over what they really get out of the dirty work they do for those above them, e.g., sending text messages to shopkeepers to close down their shops, assassinating people, rigging the elections, etc. The na-malum afrad will question the malum authorities that how are their lives getting any better by doing all this while their bosses lead comfortable lives in countries abroad. That day the average Pakistani will stop to fall for loans and laptops and will realise that first of all he/she deserves basic human rights and amenities.

The only way to fight them is education, awareness and constant struggle. Also, most importantly, during these elections, I feel the leaders did a lot of damage to nationalism. The election results are a proof of that. It’s about time we get out of these racial and ethnic biases. Stop blaming the Punjabis for voting for PML-N. It is not their fault. They voted for the development in their province, however I fail to grasp how they could ignore the Badami Bagh and LDA building incidents, but we cannot blame them if they failed to realise how important their vote is for Pakistan on the whole because we ourselves sowed the seeds of racial and ethnic enmities.

Tabdeeli agayi hai, but it needs time to completely manifest. I do not need to remind anyone how amazing all Pakistanis proved to be on election day when they went out to vote despite the na-malum forces making that difficult. This is change. When 60% of the population voted because for once they had a party and not a mafia or a family trust to vote for. When people who did not want to vote for anyone but at least went out and used their vote and left it blank so that it does not get used. When we had independent candidates like Mr. Jibran Nasir who educated us and gave us food for thought instead of begging for votes.

So let’s keep calm and try to renovate the purana Pakistan. And remember:

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”