Tamjid Aijazi – My Bit for Change

Irreversible Damage

At least 10 more people were killed in Karachi on ethnic and sectarian grounds last week, amidst the heated debate of new provinces in the country. It seems that the waters of Karachi are being tested for another round of confrontation in 2012, as none of the actors involved are ready to step back.

The ethnic mix in Karachi has always been exploited by mainstream political parties. Likewise, the religious parties have also failed miserably to unite people from different origins on common grounds. They seem to be standing far away from the principles of unity and peace, propagated by the religion.

According to reports in international media, the deaths from targeted killings in Karachi have outnumbered the deaths due to suicide blasts in last few years. In 2010, Pakistan lost 1,028 lives due to 335 incidents of suicide bombings, whereas, in Karachi alone people assassinated by ethnically motivated target killers were 1,233. For 2011, the numbers are no different.

The top media outlets of Pakistan are equally responsible for the tense atmosphere of hatred and racism. Sometimes, it feels that the powerful ‘free’ media is playing party to fuel ethnic and sectarian violence in the city, by using inappropriate words, giving imbalanced coverage to either parties and setting agendas before and after incidents of violence and terrorism.

The ground realities have also gone far more bitter than what we perceive from media. Targeted irrational activities by unidentified people, from all ethnicities, in areas such as Abul Hasan Isphani Road, Gulberg, Gulistan-e-Johar and North Karachi are being continuously witnessed by residents.

The ‘actors’ involved in the game are exercising their restless efforts to fuel tensions in these areas by asking citizens to vacate their homes, killing long-settled residents and targeting them with extortion. Religious people with extremist mind-sets and citizens with ethnic backgrounds are falling prey to the game. Most of the ‘neutral’ lot has started associating them with one side of the conflict, which is resulting in more polarization.

This emerging culture of hatred and hostility has finally started causing irreversible damage to Pakistan. To add to this, the not so sane political parties are actively tabling around demands for new provinces, just not at the right time. The pro and against ‘debates’ for new provinces in National Assembly and in public meetings are setting agendas for people. The political parties are striking hard when the iron is hot, overlooking the cost people will have to pay.

The civil society, youth and silent majority of Pakistan, which has not been so silent over the last few months, are far more sensible than falling into the trap of dirty politicians. Social media and other forms of communication have given them more strength than ever. They are indulging actively into shaping the future course of action for politicians and sincere leadership of the country. It’s high time the civil society play a role in converging ethnic mix to strength, rather than a weakness.

If people know what they want, they get it!

We need tanks, yes, ‘think’ tanks!

There are 4,861 universities in the United States whereas Pakistan has produced only 6,478 PhDs since its birth. The number of living PhDs in Pakistan are far less than the total degree awarding institutions in the United States. Mr. Hussain Haqqani, who happens to be Pakistan Ambassador to the United States (or some say its vice versa) revealed this shocking fact while expressing his anger at a TV show host. He might have intended to ridicule Pakistan’s intellect through this statement, but it was too harsh a reality to deny. Without getting the records straight, we can never look at events in their correct perspective and can very easily fail to formulate a reasonable and accurate world view.

Looking at the ignorant and inhumane society around us, one vows to refresh their belief in (quality) education. Our hot-blooded public representatives, who get their claws into indecent verbal wars all the time remind us how education could have at least improved our public face. A culture of research and educational growth is the dire need for our nation today and it can act as oxygen for the intellectually disabled and dead leadership of Pakistan. We cannot expect initiatives in this direction from the mere 127 universities, who completely lack research activities and where students enrolled in PhDs are nothing but a public disgrace. According to Pervez Hoodbhoy, a professor of nuclear Physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, the PhD candidates in Pakistan find difficulty even in understanding college level elementary courses. Moreover, these universities are more interested in milking out money from wealthy parents rather than laying down the foundations of our nation.

Having said that, I believe, this gap can be filled by none other than independent think tanks. Think tanks or policy institutes are independent research organizations that advocate direction and provide a vision to the economic, financial and sociopolitical domains of a society. They act as a bridge between the leaders, circles of influence and the common man; they help in shaping opinions on national and strategic issues. When people in Pakistan and other third world countries are thriving for basic necessities like food, shelter and clothing, the budgets of think tanks across the world have crossed billions of US dollars. It might be quite difficult for people in this part of the world to digest that such a huge amount is being spent on research activities and policy making. But, since most of the think tanks are driven by ideological or corporate groups, they believe more in long term visions and influencing power players than fire fighting their day to day problems.

It is worth a mention here that there are a total of 5,465 think tanks across the globe, according to a study done in 2009. Out of that, 32.5 % are based in the United States alone; most of which were established after the second world war. Multiple sources indicate that there are 1,777 policy institutes in the United States, 1,198 in Western Europe, 683 in Eastern Europe, 601 in Asia, 408 in Latin America, 274 in Africa and 192 in the Middle East. However, during the past 8 years, the rate of growth of think tanks has decreased, probably due to the fact that humanity is witnessing one of the worst wars of mankind.

Like all others, think tanks also have an ideological breakdown. They can be grouped as conservative, centrist and liberals. Though conservative and centrist have been working on their own agendas, the liberal think tanks have caused quite some damage to Pakistan and the Muslim world as a whole. Be it the ever emerging maps of Pakistan and the Asian region, change in the academic syllabus of Muslim countries, immense propaganda in Western media or advocating aid-cut to Pakistan, most of them have roots in the liberal and neocon think tanks of different ideological groups. These think tanks have not only managed to influence the power players of the world, but have efficiently been used as tools to further ulterior motives of closed groups and secret societies of the world.

Despite lack of research culture and public policy institutes in Pakistan, a couple of think tanks also operate in Pakistan. Most of them focus on internal policies, strategic issues and regional politics, however, they seem to exercise very little influence on the leadership. The mere fact that most of them have been founded by retired military officers reflect the intellectual dominance of armed forces over civilian society. Some notable think tanks in Pakistan are Institute of Policy Studies, Corporate Advisory Council and the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs. Zaid Hamid’s BrassTacks can also be qualified as a think tank, but the controversies surrounding Zaid Hamid have overshadowed his academic work.

To get out of the mess Pakistan currently is in and to prove ourselves as one of the intellectually developed nations of the world, we need a very strong culture of research and collective intelligence. With a Pandora box of problems, it might not be practical to expect our fellow citizens to adopt to this trend immediately, however, Pakistanis who are settled abroad and have made their career and wealth are perfect candidates for such ventures. Reputable and financially independent think tanks should be established with long term visions based on sound ideologies; the ones that are able to exercise influence on the power circles of Pakistan. Unless and until we get the army, the civilian leadership and the society on the same page, we cannot expect Pakistan to emerge as a symbol of strength on the map of the world.

Pathological Liars

“I am at liberty to tell you today that its customary in an incident like this for our government to conduct a criminal investigation, that’s our law, and I can give you the full assurance of our government today that it will take place!”

The assertion on Raymond Davis’ trial by US Senator John Kerry at a press conference in Lahore on February 14, 2011 proved to be nothing but another attempt of the United States to flout the rule of law outside its borders. The US left yet another evidence of sheer dishonesty and reneging on promises with her friends. The Raymond Davis mystery is one from hundreds of such incidents that occur on the soil outside United States every year.

As a refresher, some undeniable facts needs to be reestablished, since Pakistanis have a very short memory. Raymond Davis, or George Fernandez was a proven CIA contractor, outsourced through Eric Prince’s Blackwater (Xe) in Pakistan. Other than the clear cut murders of two Pakistani citizens Faizan and Faheem in pure daylight, he was guilty of spying on Pakistan’s sensitive locations. Photographs of defense installations were recovered from Davis’ camera, including snaps of Pakistan Army’s bunkers on the Eastern border with India and the headquarters of Frontier Corps in Peshawar.

The loyal servants of United States did not charge Davis with espionage, despite the fact that his spy activities were targeting Pakistan’s nuclear facilities and sensitive sites across Pakistan. At the time of his arrest, Raymond Davis was based at a house in Lahore with five other CIA contractors. It was the same era when our beloved Interior Minister Rehman Malik was repeatedly challenging anyone to prove the presence of Blackwater in Pakistan. Mr. Malik went to the extent of offering his resignation if Xe’s presence was proved anywhere in the country. However, he changed his tone when Raymond Davis was officially ‘discovered’ by the Punjab government as an undercover operative.

The two other ‘guys’ who came to rescue Raymond Davis on a Prado with fake number plate and killed another Pakistani Ibad ur Rehman are equally worth of mention here. Reportedly, both of these ‘contractors’ were flown away with Senator John Kerry, the very next day of the ‘apologetic’ Press Conference in Lahore.

Apologists argue that Raymond Davis was released only after the relatives of slain Faizan and Faheem were paid blood money in lieu of the murder, which strictly adheres to Islamic law.Hence, no one has the right to try Davis in the courts anymore. However, after the confession of DG ISI Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha at the in-camera session that Raymond Davis was released on the orders of the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan, this argument goes invalid. The source from where the blood money was paid is also doubtful, as US Secretary of State has denied payment of any blood money to the families of victims. Even the lawyer of the victims has alleged the government of kidnapping his clients and forcing them to sign a deal.

Having said that, the question is that should the people believe in anything that comes out of any Pakistani or US government official? Aren’t these pathological liars taking the entire nation, or to be honest, the entire humanity for a ride since many decades now. The evolution of so-called ‘free’ media has only added value and ease to the designs of ‘Western civilization’ and it has gotten close to impossible to dig out facts from the flux of disinformation. The sadder part of this tragedy is that the intellectuals of the society have given up against the might of institutionalized lies and deception and have failed to realize the difference between two civilizations at conflict. Some short-sighted people confine the term ‘Western civilization’ to geographical boundaries, whereas in philosophical terms, it is an entirely different way of life on the basis on metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy and logic.

The United States can rightly be called the guardian of this imperialistic culture that has built an empire on the delicate footing of deceit. Those who hoped that it might get any better under President Barrack Hussain Obama, have finally faced reality. It has not and it will not get any better, since its not a person but an entire definition of political philosophy that the ‘West’ is following. The episode of Raymond Davis might have been a black swan for the United States, but it will not change anything. The protectors of this civilization will continue to lie, deceive and contradict facts for their evil designs, humanity is what will suffer the most! You never know, Raymond Davis might again be on Pakistani soil in the next few months, or probably he already is!

Freedom and (ir)responsibility

Newspapers that maintain a left-of-centre policy in Pakistan claim to be unbiased and independent on facts and reporting. However, they are often subjected to ruthless criticism by the rightist journalists and bloggers for misleading the facts and total biased reporting of events.

Maintaining a left-of-centre or rightist policy is the legal choice of the institution and its investors and news institutions have been doing so since past many decades. There have always been debates between the rightists and the leftists on academic issues and both the sides have published their arguments, leaving it to the readers to decide.

However, in the past couple of years and with the birth of several private media institutions in Pakistan, the standard and quality of journalism has dropped drastically. With shortage of professional and seasoned journalists in Pakistan, several media organizations have hired fresh graduates and MBAs for their editorial teams and without proper ethical training and guidance, they have been granted freedom to operate in the online editions of these newspapers and TV channels.

To add credibility to my argument, recently an English newspaper published a amateur blog, NOT an article from a seasoned journalist, on their website, which was well in accordance with their editorial policy. There is no point in arguing whether such amateur criticism should be published or not, but what happened next is more disturbing and reflects the state of our media industry professionals. The Tweet below, by the web-editor of the newspaper says it all!

Yes, thats what I am talking about. A journalist, who is assumed to be a responsible person (probably) is writing the wonderful remarks “Cmon, say it w me now… Fuck the JI,” as well as inviting his followers on Twitter to do the same. This comment is neither “centre-of-left” nor “rightist”, its just an unethical, immoral comment from a person, whose public tweets to promote the traffic on website are going unchecked.

There is no doubt that even the basic dynamics of journalism are changing and the story now initiates from tweeting and citizen journalism as argued by Paul Bradshaw, however, I couldn’t find any latest research on the fact that improper and unethical language can be used to propagate an ideology and attract visitors to the website, or in legacy terms increase circulation. Perhaps, its an old idea rejected by the educationists, so they don’t publish it on the internet anymore! I find no difference between the “Urdu Eveningers”, who publish Masala stories, sell sex and end up in increased circulation, and the more sophisticated “English Eveningers” who use almost the same techniques to increase their ranking on Alexa and increase the no. of tweets and shares on Facebook!

Having said that, let me re-iterate what I have been promoting since the past many years in the journalist community, that there is a dire need for a body that monitors the online editions of newspapers and TV channels for unethical and derogatory content. There is nothing as absolute freedom of speech. Because, with absolute freedom, comes mere irresponsibility! Thats what has been proven so far.