Tag: Pakistan

Are you following #ShutUpClinton on Twitter?

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, at the end of her visit to India stressed that Pakistan should ‘do more’ with US to fight terrorism, just  a day after she hinted that Aiman Al Zawahiri might be hiding in Pakistan. Pakistan Social Media had already went outrageous on these irresponsible statements from her and the fact that US was working closely with India’s help to pressurise Pakistan on her insignificant role on War on Terror.

Twitter trend with hashtag #ShutupClinton started trending as soon as the news broke on the media, showing rage and anti-American sentiment with Pakistani and other tweeps joining in reminding Mrs Clinton about the terrorised world evolving every day because of American policies. Hillary Clinton was shown the real face of US government  policies and lies in various tweets. It is still the most popular twitter trend in Pakistan.

“Combating violent extremism is something we all agree on. We look to the government of Pakistan to do more…. There are several significant leaders still on the run. (Ayman al) Zawahiri who inherited the leadership from (Osama) bin Laden is somewhere, we believe, in Pakistan. So we are intent upon going after those who are trying to keep Al Qaeda operational and inspirational,” Ms Clinton said in the interview. “The US is cooperating closely with India regarding the threats that emanate against them.” ” Clinton said during a press conference in India.”

Top Tweets:

anjum kiani ‏ @AnjumKiani

What did this Mother & 2 Daugters do to the USA, that you killed them in their sleep with Your drones? #ShutUpClinton http://pic.twitter.com/YQx1rRQq Retweeted 201 times

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knowledge Is Power ‏ @Mari_NewYork

#American actions [military, rogue, covert & otherwise] are the #1 cause of global terrorism #ShutUpClinton

ranjith ramesh ‏ @TheRnjith

#ShutupClinton You have more problems to solve on your own soil!

Saad Khan ‏ @M_Saad_K

Why can’t Hillary see the state terrorism of USA in Afghanistan, Iraq and everywhere in thee world, #ShutUpClinton

Naveed ‏ @naveedpti

#ShutUpClinton Your game is exposed, pack your bags and take your mummy daddy army back with you #ShutUpClinton

Umer Sarwar ‏ @Revoluti0nist

#ShutupClinton “Your negotiations with Taliban are justified while it is wrong when Pakistan does so”

The Sufi Soul ‏ @TheSufiSoul

#ShutUpClinton | …you’ve done so much damage to the Afghan people that a thousand lifetimes of repent will not rid you of this burden.

Salman Javed ‏ @FortressMSJ

What about #TarekMehana why was he taken in the prison? speaking for #Muslims is a crime for you? #Doublestandards#Cowards #Shutupclinton

Salman Javed ‏ @FortressMSJ

Wht about #AfiaSiddique U think a girl can kill your soldiers? Shame on your #Marines and #Shameonyou and oh yes you bettr be#Shutupclinton

IrfanTariq Javed ‏ @irfantariq

Pakistan paid highest price of your war on terror & still you blame pakistan for your own failures #shutUpClinton

Maria Memon ‏ @Maria_Memon

The best way to #ShutupClinton is to make sure that Al-Zawahiri is NOT in Pakistan.

Ambreen Ejaz ‏ @ProudPakistanii

You martyred our soldiers, you bomb drones on our people every other day. You have no right to call anyone else terrorist.#ShutupClinton

Hamza Baloch ‏ @H_Balouch

#America to OK 1 billion $ for #Israeli missile projects  #ShutUpClinton!

Shahmeer Khan ‏ @DaDemagogue

Over 50,000 Pakistani Civilians & 5000 Armed Forces martyred in #USWar &Hillary wearing garlands to #INDIANS? #ShutupClinton#ShutupClinton

Sarah toxicos ‏ @unByanAble

Clinton are u not going to ask Singh about the 2000+ Mass graves of#Kashmiri Youth & their bullet riddled bodies? if not #ShutupClinton“

Ghazanfar Ali ‏ @ghzanfar

World is tired of lies now…. #ShutUpClinton

 

Pakistani youth thinks they have found a voice on social media which lets them show their ‘writings on the wall’ and make it visible to the world.

Ethical Marketing …..

Today while driving from my home to office in Karachi, I managed to take the route of NIPA to Hassan Square. On that track, there was a billboard to which my sight came across. I stopped my car on the side of the road and stood still in front of the billboard & kept looking at it for 5 minutes. The only thing my brain anticipated during these 5 minutes was “A BIT FOR CHANGE . . . “.

That billboard was delivering a very important message relating to a forgotten lesson which the religion Islam taught to the “MUSLIM” nation of the “ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF PAKISTAN”, a lesson relating to the respect of women. That billboard was saying “Stop Promoting Nudity for Selling Your Fabric”. Then I managed to take a picture of that billboard.

As the summer season has just arrived, the female lawn designers have placed the advertisement on the billboards promoting their products through female and that too without considering the Islamic limits of ethics. The question arises that why does the marketing is portraying a woman as an object? Is there no other way of promoting the fabric without a female model? Will their sales revenue decrease if they only promote the designs without a woman on the billboards?

Most of the people would appreciate this piece of work but some will be labeling it with the conservative mindset. It seems that we have not only snatched the HIJAB of the Muslim female of our society but has also placed them on the enormous billboards. I would like to mention the Quran versus, in which the Almighty Allah, the Creator of mankind and the universe says in Surah Al-Ahzaab, Verse #59:

‘O Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks (“Jalabib”) veils all over their bodies (screen themselves completely except the eyes or one eye to see the way that is most convenient that they should be known (as such) and not molested: and Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.”:

It is the time that we must do the assessment of our society that are we following the orders Allah Almighty. This is the time to examine that are we in the limits of the ethics assigned to us by Allah Almighty or we have crossed them all. Islam is the only religion which talks about the female respect and honor They are like the clove of the unopened flowers as they are not pricked by anyone unless they blossom there hidden beauty our of them. In Abu Dawood, Book 32, Hadith # 4091 Ummul Muminin Hazrat Ayesha (Radhiallaahu Anhu) narrated

“May Allah have mercy on the early immigrant women. When the verse “That they should draw their veils over their bosoms” was revealed, they tore their thick outer garments and made veils from them.

The time has arrived that we should move towards a complete Islam rather then following the only versus which are favorable to us. We have to stop this evil or else may be our own next coming generation will be on these billboards. According to the book “Kenz Al-Omal, v. 13, p. 91 & 93” The Prophet (s) said,

“A caller will call out on the Day of Judgment, ‘lower your gaze until Fatima (Radhiallaahu Anhu) has passed.”

Keeping in mind the Islamic teaching & taking the Prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaih Wasalam, his Ahl e Bayt & Sahabah Ikraam Rizwaanullahe Ajmaeen, we have to explore marketing techniques free from unethical means. Let us secure our Muslim society so that our females may breath again free from embarrassments. The time has come to represent the true image of Muslim not only by words but by conduct. Let us all join our hands to promote this Nobel cause and take another step to free our society from evil.

 

The divine way

It has been years since Pakistan has emerged on the map of the world. Muslims of India became Muslims of Pakistan after a great struggle and a big loss of human lives. The question arises that what made them struggle for the separate homeland and putting life at stake. Today, after accomplishing approximately 64 years of independence, we have got distributed into two different schools of thought. One of the schools of thought says that Pakistan is a Muslim state (as the Muslims are in the majority) but according to them, it doesn’t imply that the Islamic law should be followed as a mandatory requirement. The other group seems completely disagreeing with this perception and focuses on the approach of the people who struggled for the independence as the only thing in their mind was a land where they can practice their religion Islam without any restrictions.

Our homeland was named Islamic Republic of Pakistan by the founders. But unfortunately, the Islamic laws were not implemented for running this Islamic society. It can easily be interpreted that the people with power at that time, got distracted from the way they should have walked upon. The biggest flaw in our country’s system is that rather than implementing the Islamic laws, we have started thinking Islam is only a religion, and not a code of life.

After analysing the thoughts of the specific group whose thinking is to separate Islam as a religion from the governing of the state, when I open the Book of Allah, the Qur’an when I read Hadith, I feel completely confused that what has made that specific group of people think that way. May be it is due to the reason that we never implemented Islamic laws and now we are trying to satisfy ourselves by saying that Islam has nothing to do with the state governance. Islam is not as the way we have represented it as so-called Muslim. The remaining work of defaming this religion was done by the media, both (electronic and print) as it has played a key role is placing a misconception in the people minds.

If we had implemented the Islamic laws, the present situation would have completely changed. It is not any NGO but Islam which talks about rights of minorities, rights of women, education, equal distribution of wealth, a society free from inflation and governing the overall state. This was the same Islam which was implemented by the Caliphs in their times after the the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) by following the Quran & Sunnah as the constitution.

We still have time in our hands to implement the real Islamic laws in our homeland Pakistan which was made an independent state in the name of Islam. It is high time we made practical implementation of the real good governance and a welfare state, and overcome the worst state of time we are in. Why not try the divine way with full faith and conviction for once?

A dream to climb

In my brain people divide not into men and women, villagers and urban, but into those who go to the mountains and those who don’t. The latter will never understand that urge.
(Freedom Climbers)

Several days ago all mountain lovers in Poland celebrated success of Adam Bielecki and Janusz Gołąb, Polish climbers who for the first time in history climbed Gasherbrum I (one of the eighthousanders located in Pakistan) in winters and without the oxygen gear.

Now the whole expedition is stuck in the base-camp because of bad weather and the only contact with them is via satellite phones. Another international group, an Austrian Gerfried Goeschl (leader), Swiss Cedric Hahlen and Pakistani Nisar Hussain attacked the summit also on March 9th. At the moment there is no contact with them and their fate remains unknown.

Why people choose such a fate? Why do they spend their last financial resources to go and sweat, struggle with wind, freezing cold, high altitude and oxygen deprivation? I hike myself and my dad used to climb when he was young. It is impossible to explain. In my brain people divide not into men and women, villagers and urban, but into those who go to the mountains and those who don’t. The latter will never understand that urge.

But if I try to explain to myself why I do that? Somehow in struggle and pain, when I know my limits, I know the Divine. When I look at the pure and simple beauty of harsh walls and peaks and I know I had to really work hard to see it, that I am chosen to watch it, I feel the Creator of the world much closer. Climbers and hikers may die one day because of what they do. But I am sure if they had a choice to go again, they would.

Winter Himalaism is Polish specialty by now. 9 of peaks above 8000 m of height were climbed for the first time in winter by Polish teams. Remaining 3 are Nanga Parbat, K2, and Broad Peak, all in Pakistan. I remember my Indian friend telling me his memoirs of the autumn trek to Goecha La – a 4950m pass over the Talung glacier in Sikkim facing the Eastern face of Kanchenjunga. During this considerably low trek he had taste of changing altitude and oxygen deprivation due to lower atmospheric pressure. When he described what Polish do in climbing he said: Its the kind of plans that most people would call insane but they push boundaries of human endurance. Nanga Parbat has a route called Polish line … and its probably the most difficult route to the top.

Bernadette MacDonald who wrote Freedom Climbers tried to analyze what is the secret behind this special trait that makes Polish do that among so many other nations. During the presentation of the book last Monday in Warsaw she said that it was the love of freedom that makes it, competitiveness, and this special thought that nothing is impossible. There is a goal, a plan, and action to achieve it. With no limitations of typical human brain that would tell them Man you will never succeed, nobody before you did.

****

Two brave Pakistani porters-climbers went to search for the lost international team.

Polish wait till the weather improves to get help.

They dream to come home.

And they probably dream of K2.

I hope they will have that chance.

 

 

 

What’s your priority?

How different this world would be if leaders, followers and individuals could prioritize on something other than ulterior motives. Somehow or the other I feel we are all to an extent being governed by the ‘what’s in it for me ideology?’. It has become so hard to live selflessly in this dog eat dog existence where long gone are the days of altruism. I don’t consider myself any different from everyone else but lately I have begun to envision things that impinge on my conscience.

This planet is host to 6.8 billion people out of which 925million people are malnourished, in other words 13.6% of the world population is living with hunger. The very notion that it sounds just like a number, and perhaps nothing more than mere statistic is disquieting. Most of us are too besotted with our lives to shed even a momentary thought on how the current state of affairs will affect and is affecting the sordid lives of the many who live under a dollar a day.

It is infuriating that the destitute have to bear the brunt of thriving economies who are actually flourishing at their expense. I don’t think anyone can challenge the fact that most Multi National Companies are akin to colonialists who use, abuse and exploit resources in the poor host countries. Fact is developed countries, the US of A a case in point, are only capable of displaying ‘realpolitik’ and there show of compassion is a downright farce. The past, present and future depicts their blatant human rights breach and yet they claim to idolize humanity and world peace.

Nonetheless I do not consider the role and interference of any foreign element as the sole contributor of the social, economic and political upheaval of our country. The acute shortage of energy, inflation and high unemployment prevails because we as a people have no gumption to take to the streets and envision a revolution that liberated parts of the Middle East. It is unnerving that nobody cares if the taxpayers money is being spent on setting up ostentatious monuments or to bail out inefficient public sectors. It is unnerving that nobody spares a thought on the 32.6% of Pakistani people who are living with poverty day in and day out struggling to make enough for a few morsels of food.It is unnerving that we take pride in the beauty of the capital city of Islamabad and ignore the existence of 35+ slums home to thousands of people who believe it or not are also residents of the capital city. Since Zia’s regime in 1985 the CDA was given the sole responsibility of upgrading and rehabilitating the inhabitants of katchi abadis and how far have they come since 1985 in accomplishing this feat?  In these past 27 years they managed to legalize ten squatter settlements and provided them with electricity, water and gas connections. A survey would reveal how little their lives have change since 1985 because realistically speaking they are still inhabitants of SLUMS. For heaven’s sake Japan rose from ashes after being nuked in less than 27 years and the best we could do is provide basic civic amenities?

Development has never been Pakistan’s agenda. It is a country endowed with rich natural resources which unfortunately it cannot even excavate on its own. It has a coastal line of 1050km which if fully utilized by setting up wind mills can make a huge difference in the lives of people living in surrounding villages but the only thing standing in the way of such an investment is priority, good leadership and sheer will power. It is about time some kind of initiative is taken to make everyone’s life better and not just that of a specific segment of society. Like Mark Twain says:

‘ The secret of making progress is to get started. The secret to starting is to divide your complex, overwhelming task into small, manageable tasks, and then start the first.’

Nothing you do today to change things for a better tomorrow will have any kind of detrimental or drastic consequence on your life. What stands between the development of Pakistan is not just the inept leadership but also the complacent Pakistanis.

 

 

Women’s empowerment or cultural overhaul

Twinkle, twinkle little star how, I wonder what you are?

I remember reciting this nursery rhyme as a kid at school. Today, my astonishment lies with little and big ‘stars’ being stud in my country by fairly large number of mushroomed foreign funded NGOs. One of my bewilderment which makes me ponder repeatedly is most popular slogan of today i.e. women’s emancipation and empowerment. These NGOs have sprung up in our country since over a decade, driving an agenda to liberate our women. I ask, liberate from what or whom?

Pakistani women work shoulder to shoulder with the opposite gender in every walk of life, be it private or public sector, government offices, armed forces, judiciary, medical and nursing field, science and technology, media organisations, education and even as elected legislators of provincial and national assemblies, even the office of the Prime Minister at least twice. It wouldn’t be impertinent to wonder how come the United States of America, a country which is most advanced and highly developed, never had a female as head of the state.

If viewed in light of the above, there appears to be a fallacy that our women are not into decision making processes in the country and are oppressed and majority are still in the kitchen. And what is so unusual about women being in the kitchen? Same is the case in the west. Who do you suppose, takes care of the kitchen and domestic chores out in the western family? Here, at least due to labour being cheap most of the middle class upwards, women folks are blessed with domestic help, whether it is kitchen, laundry, house cleaning and even many with chauffeurs to drive them around. How many of those in the west can afford that luxury? The upbringing of children begins from home and none better than mother can do that in the best manner. The old adage truly states that “behind every successful man is a woman’’ is absolutely right from the childhood till becoming a spouse!

Thus the lingering question “Where is the empowerment and emancipation lacking?” which the foreign aid agency, are so generously funding to promote in Pakistan?

Wait, just a moment, on a second thought probably, they could be right, our women are oppressed! Let’s take a closer look and observe. Yes, they adhere to cultural norms, values and religious sentiments and belief. On top of that they are proudly and willingly wearing a Hijab (head scarf) or covering themselves from head to toe with a Burka to protect their modesty!

That definitely is a mark of ”oppression’ in  world’s eye. However, if they abandon the norms of culture and religion and dress immodestly and attended gatherings of dance and booze, they would surely become liberated, wouldn’t they?  I was just wondering why do the Nuns cover themselves from head to toe and abstain from ‘evil’?

Our women can be further be empowered and liberated if the parents would allow their young daughters to develop ‘relationships’ with boys and go hang out with them whenever they wish and wherever they desire. What’s wrong with having a boyfriend? What is the worst that could happen, apart from a rare possibility of being molested or raped or teenage pregnancies?

Wow! now that is called real liberation and empowerment. How silly of me not to have understood such simple difference between oppressed and liberated when such crystal clear examples were present right under my nose! Thanks to all funds arriving in Pakistan in the name of women empowerment and humanitarian grounds actually giving rise to an overhaul of our ‘ancient’ society’s culture, traditions and moral values. Finally, our women folks would be liberated, Yippee Yea!

Zofia and Władysław Turowicz – Pakistanis By Choice

I, the author of this memorial, am a 31 years old urban female who lives in a big developed capital city of the 18th wealthiest economy in the world and every single day I am fed with stories of blasts and bombings and picture of hostile Muslim world, especially Pakistan.

However I am an orientalist focused on East Asia and a traveller. So my mind embraces the core of the matter and not just the media image. Yet I humbly admit that I was always reluctant and afraid to go to Karachi or Islamabad having impression that I will be either abducted or killed in an ambush as a foreigner.

My surprise however was big when today on the radio I heard about the death and burial of Zofia Turowicz. Both she and her husband left Poland in 1939 to join the battlefield of the Second World War. The political changes on the map of Europe never allowed them to go back because Stalinist regime hunted down intellectuals and officers of pre-war independent Poland.  Mrs Turowicz or Turowiczowa how her last name is gendered in old-style Polish, was one of the first ever Pakistani gliding teachers who created gliding training programme, the basis for later military pilots, as early as in 1950. She stopped military career in 1957 and later worked at the American School and the University of Karachi where she taught applied mathematics and other core subjects.

Her husband Władysław Turowicz died in 1980 after long term career in Pakistani military aviation industry and forces. He came to Pakistan in 1948 and his wife joined soon after for the three-year contract with Pakistan Air Force which aimed to transform Pakistan Air Force into permanent and effective Air Force of the region. Turowicz set up technical institutes in Karachi. He taught and revitalized Pakistan Air Force Academy as its chief scientist. He initially led the technical training in the airbase and a part of the Polish specialists in the technical section in Karachi. However, they were transferred and accommodated in Peshawar.

In 1952, Turowicz, along with several Polish fighters, were promoted to the rank of Wing Commander. He was also promoted to the rank Lieutenant Commander when he became an Air Force Commander of Pakistan Air Force’s Chaklala Airbase. Promoted several times again along with other Polish Air Force general, became an Air Commodore and a Deputy Chief of Air Staff, in charge of Pakistan Air Force Training Department.

Turowicz was involved in building the face of what is called modern Pakistan. His service added to the pride of the new nation and likely added Polish sense of being statesman to the military and scientific personnel he trained over the years.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Turowicz along with other Polish pilots rose to prominence and fame as they helped in successfully defending Lahore and Pakistan. Turowicz, Squadron Leader Anotnii Zbigniew Jedryszek, and other Polish pilots were awarded the Sitara-e-Pakistan. Honorary Pakistani citizenship was also bestowed upon Turowicz, as well as, some other Polish pilots by the President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan.

Turowicz was actively and heavily involved in Pakistan’s space program. According to his close sources, Turowicz was passionate and fascinated with the Russian and American space program.  In 1966, the Government of Pakistan transferred him to SUPARCO, Pakistan’s national space agency, where he worked as a chief scientist and an aeronautical engineer. Together with noted Pakistani theoretical physicist, Dr. Abdus Salam, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 convinced president Khan to launch space program for peaceful purposes. He was sure that Pakistan will develop rocket technology and launch its first satelite due course of time. He insisted on sufficient funds for research and development of this sector. His prediction came true, when 10 years after the death of Air. Mar. Gen. Władysław Turowicz, Pakistan launched its first indigenously developed experimental digital communication satellite from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China aboard a Long March 2E. His vision did come true but unfortunately, he wasn’t there to see it.

He successfully convinced the United States Government to invest and train Pakistan’s scientists in the field of rocket technology. He is widely credited with setting up the rocket fuel factories and rocket technology laboratories and research institutes in Pakistan. He was one of the chief designers  of Sonmiani Satellite Launch Centre.

He did not stop with Space Programme though. Turowicz initiated himself Nuclear weapons programme in 1970 and laid foundation of research and production that led to Pakistani independent source of Nuclear military potential.

His entire family lived in Pakistan ever since they have entered the country in 1948. His three daughters live in Pakistan and two of them married Pakistanis.

Zofia and Władysław Turowicz were partners both on the ground and in the air where she often joined him as a navigator during his flights. They both had independent military aviation careers before arrival to Pakistan and had been multiawarded and internationally recognised gliders and para shooters.

They are both buried at the catholic cemetery in Karachi in Pakistan and both had been awarded Pakistani citizenship.

Their story reminded me to watch the world with my own eyes and be even more curious and even more brave and less cuffed in the ready stereotypes I am being fed everyday by media and society.

Let’s make it possible

In the world of advanced technologies, where inventions get obsolete everyday due to rapid innovations, where the modernization is the change which is constantly revolutionizing our lives, we the Pakistanis still spend only 2.21% of GDP on the education. I feel this is like the condition of a human half paralyzed, despite of knowing the cure he does not struggle to obtain it. It has been 64 years to our independence but still half of the nation is unable to read & write even in their local languages. Whereas the remaining nation categorized as literate is the majority who hardly meet the definition of educated. That implies that they actually can read and write but are not aware of their basic rights, duties & responsibilities towards their families, neighbourhoods & especially towards the nation. 

In April 2010, Article 25A, “Right to Education” was inserted into the constitution of Pakistan as a part of 18thamendment. The article says that the state shall provide free & compulsory education to all children of the age of five to sixteen years in such manner as may be determined by the law. But if we look at our government funded primary, secondary, and some of the higher educational institutions, we can’t even find “state” & “education” anywhere and if we move towards private education providers, we find it so much expensive that it goes beyond the reach of a common person.

According to a survey, 10 million of children are engaged in child labour. They are not even provided basic education. This is a double figure for the rural areas where children are forced to work in fields. This part of our nation will become a burden for the country in some years causing an increase in the illiteracy rate and also become useless due to a technological change as they would not be competent enough for the future jobs. If we presume that they will adapt the same thinking in future as their fore fathers did in the past then they would most probably do the same with their next generation by constraining them from education. If this happens, then definitely the percentage of illiteracy will be multiplied by two.

Half of our nation is deprived of a very basic need which is the education, solution of the majority of our country’s problem. It looks like now it has become impossible to resolve this issue of illiteracy unless we join our hands and take practical steps for educating the masses.

It is high time we stood for the cause of education. We have to fight the war against the illiteracy before fighting any other war. We have to make it possible, as it is the need of the day. To change the current scenario and to amend the future, we need to give special importance to this task and for that we have to realize that it is our responsibility.

While delivering a speech to the constituent assembly of Pakistan on August 11, 1947 Mr. Jinnah said,

“I am sure that with your support and co-operation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest nations of the world”.

Let us own his dream and make it our goal.

Change, do we really want it?

A friend of mine tasked me to list all the problems facing Pakistan or Pakistanis. I thought it would be a piece of cake, albeit, an exhaustive list of never ending predicaments we are facing. The ‘z’s came prior to the ‘a’s in my mind as I brainstormed (rather, as a multitude of issues stormed my brain). I thought of prioritizing these issues and that is where the trouble started.

What is our biggest or foremost problem??

I turned to my wife and to her, our biggest issue was lack of security. My son’s list topper was injustice and my 8 year old daughter thought that our greatest problem is that we never stop arguing and quarreling leaving no energy for action. Well, I guess these are real issues, but then, everybody has his own gauge. I came across the ayat from the Qur’an, and then it struck me that our greatest problem is that we don’t really want change.

ALLAH does not change a people´s condition unless they change what is in their hearts…. [13:11]

Every one of us is really waiting for a “somebody” to descend from the heavens and solve all our issues with a magic wand. Some of us even have this supreme revolutionary leader of the Pakistani nation figured out. Nowadays, mostly for our youth, it seems that it’s Imran that Khan while we ourselves ‘khant’. Yet others have different personalities in mind who’ll deliver us from our problems. And then there are those who firmly believe that Mahdi (AS) himself will arrive to end the plight of all Muslims in general and us Pakistanis in particular. Others are blasé enough to leave it to God Almighty Himself to do something while we wait. Of course till such time, there isn’t much to do, or is there?

‘Whoever from amongst you sees an evil, he should change it by his hand, if he is unable to do so then he should change it by his tongue (by speaking against it), and if he is unable to do so then he should reject it in his heart – and this is the weakest of Iman’ (Muslim).

Gauge yourself with the standard laid down in the above referred Hadith. Are we causing physical or verbal change? Do we even stand at the lowest level? Do any of our current or future plans start with change? We just want things to improve overnight and want that when we wake up, everything has turned utopic. Look around and you’ll see that all those who are making moving speeches, none has any change on the agenda, and even if someone does, it’s only a façade and has hardly anything to do with real measures. We appear desperate for change from the outside but are afraid to accept the reality that this implies that we have to change our own selves. For any change to be meaningful it has to come from within, not without. So if we find grandiloquence of the patriotic, spiritual, political, social or even glamorous genres, we line up for the shot and come back relieved. However, the only revolutions such methods can achieve are superficial. Every so called leader that we have has a different cloak, a different line to sell, but in the end its just tactics to win a following. Throwing in Irene Peter’s quote:

“Just because everything is different doesn’t mean anything has changed”.

So what am I talking about here? Let me elaborate. Ever heard that, “if you’re not part of the solution then you’re part of the problem”? In essence, each and every one of us, are indeed part of the problem. If, for instance, corruption is our greatest mire, aren’t we all responsible for it in some way. We are all contributors to the situation we are in. It’s my own self that I have any real power over and I can really influence, so, naturally, any change that I really desire ought to start from my own self. I cannot sit idle and wait for any harbinger of change to end my woes. An individual is the basic component of society. Victor Frankl has said,

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves”.

If we are really heading towards doom, we don’t have time to sit down and ponder over the root causes, the factors and solutions. We need not wait for the right leaders, multitudes of like minded people, favorable circumstances or conducive environments. If our predicament is as dire as we consider it to be, then we have not a moment to lose.

“It is not necessary to change, survival is not mandatory” (W. Edwards Deming).

Each and every one of us has to be the first domino. In this game, there is no jump to higher levels without going through the first one. However, I am forced to conclude that we love this quagmire, we really do. Otherwise, we would have acted long ago.

“Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof” (John Kenneth Galbraith).

There you have it, that’s our real dilemma, we are stagnant from the inside, and we don’t want to change, not really. There was this “Smiles a Lot” character in the movie “Dances with Wolves”, and if we had a similar name, ours would be “Talk a Lot”. We talk much without actually ending up anywhere.

For better or for worse, change is inevitable, whether we form part of it or not. Let us not lament over it tomorrow that had we acted, we could’ve been at a different place. The verdict from the Quran is quoted above. That’s the ab initio for any real change we want and that’s where we start from.

 

Whatever is the goal of your endeavors, “When you are through changing, you are through” (Bruce Barton).

Leaving you with W.H. Auden to ponder over…

We would rather be ruined than changed;

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.

 

Of cycles of hate and feet on the pedals..

A life packed away in a few cardboard boxes. The bare room started back coldly. It looked alien already.

“Mom”

A small voice called. She turned to the silhouette in the doorway and wiped the tears, trying to make the motion as inconspicuous as possible but it was too late. The tender 6 year old frame ran in to her arms.

“It’s going to be alright mom”

Her comment lingered on, magnified as the conviction behind them filled the emptiness of the room. Rebecca responded by tightening her arms around the small frame that didn’t seem as dainty as she did a while ago.

“Yes Honey. It will be. Sure it will be”

She stood up and wiped the tears. This time there was no effort to hide them. A car honked outside and she stooped down to pick up Angela, who clasped her hands behind her neck almost as a reflex. Over the next few hours they loaded the cardboards that their worldly possessions seem to have disappeared in to in an old Hyundai that had obviously seen better days. Its owner wrestled one last box in to the trunk and managed to wrestle it closed.

“There now. I’m not that old after all … am I?”

She said trying to stoop down as much as her octogenarian frame would allow as Angela smiled back. For a moment Rebecca focused on Becky’s radiant smile and wondered about its genuineness. She had lost her only son in Afghanistan 3 months ago. The funeral had been a fortnight later. The IED had exploded right under the armoured vehicle almost ripping it in to two. The military repatriated whatever remains they could find. The entire town seemed to have shown at the funeral. Becky had cried in private but refused to mourn her son in public. He had died bringing freedom, democracy and liberation. She had recorded the speech delivered by President Bush on September 20th 2001 and played it many a times:

“Americans are asking “Why do they hate us? ….

They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.

They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa.”

She had outgrown the fondness of it over the last few years. She also could not reconcile Bush’s words about Egypt with the Arab spring. The people of Egypt had thrown out their government. The week Hosni Mubarak’s government finally caved in, Beck drove down to the nearest Walmart to finally get a world map. She remembered being struck by how far Egypt and Afghanistan had seemed. She wondered: “How many mad men are running out there to leave the world so vulnerable? Why didn’t the Iraqis do the same with Saddam?

The following week she wrote the last letter to Andy telling him how proud she was of him. He never got to read it. For now the three occupants in the old Hyundai pulled up in front of a small house. The need for repairs was obvious.

“Sorry about the mess. I was hoping Andy would …..”

She stopped midsentence. Rebecca rubbed her hands on her back as she recomposed herself. Over the next hours the three generation of ladies moved pulled, dragged and carried things of immediate need. There used to be an abundance of well natured young men willing to help out in this town of 2000 or so. 90% had signed up for the military in recent years and many were deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Many had been motivated by patriotism and the willingness to spread the good that they enjoyed within the borders of this great country of theirs. Yet more saw it as a means of a better future. The promise of a college education eclipsed the danger in the odds.

Meanwhile in Karachi,

Zaman woke up with a start. It took him a while to figure out that he was no longer in North Waziristan. The rain pouring fast and heavy on the tin roof of the cramped one bedroom home sounded like the explosion that awful day. He shuffled through the thin sheet in a frenzy to reassure himself. 6 year old Amina was still there, curled up in a ball. The rain had left the floor colder. He lent her his bedsheet and doubled it on her. He was shivering but not all from the cold. His heart was beating so fast, he worried about waking her up. He tried to block it out but couldn’t.

He was shaking uncontrollably now. He slipped outside the room where a clay pot lay in the corner and poured him a glass of water, struggling to keep his hands steady. The drone attack that day had wiped out his son and wife along with 45 other people from the village. Their remains were never found. A few hours later 20 more people perished in an attack on those trying to rescue any survivors, Zaman had spent the next four months recovering in a hospital in Peshawar. He lost his left eye, walked with a limp and had irretrievable shrapnel to blame for constant agonizing pain that he had no money to buy pain medications for. His doctors had told him he was lucky.

Amina on the other hand had not been that lucky. She had lost both her legs in below the knee amputations. A local NGO had found some ill-fitting prosthesis for her.

Zaman remembered as his wife had proudly beckoned him in to the house to show how Amina had started walking at only 8 months of age. It would take her exactly 8 months since the drone attack to take her first strides with crutches. Zaman was grateful to have her. He went back to the door and peaked inside. She seemed more comfortable now. It had stopped raining.

“Alhamdulillah …”

She was his strength. His uncle, Waleed Khan, who had been by his side in Peshawar throughout their recovery, was an old man now. A labourer in Karachi, he was by no means a man with many resources. Mostly, he would spend the day on a footpath near a busy shopping centre in Karachi, praying that one of the many millions of rupee worth cars would stop and ask him to come by for repairs in their house or a contractor would offer a project. He frequented the nearby mosque and prayed for Amina often. He did not quite understand why his once peaceful village had seen so much bloodshed recently or what technology was pitted against those very modest homes of his loved ones. He just knew that his dreams and the lives of his loved ones were bartered away by a handful of people so shameless and greedy that he paused recently when Amina asked him if we can see Satan. He could have sworn he had. Later, that night he watched in disbelief as former President Musharraf between some nervous laughs admitted that he had written in his book that he handed over a 6 month old baby as a terrorist.

He fought back tears and just looked upwards towards the sky. Later that night he made Wudu (Ablution) and began to read:

“And indeed We have created man, and We know what his ownself whispers to him. And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein” Sura #50, Verse 16

Around the same alignment of the stars, moons, planets and everything else in this universe Becky found herself getting sad watching Angela run around the house. It reminded her of the time Andy had been young. He had practically spent all his childhood in the same house. She opened the bible and began to read:

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” – Psalms 34:18

In the background she could vaguely make out someone on TV talking about a clash of civilizations..