Simple Plan!

What can we do to improve the conditions in Pakistan? Can we do anything? Can we make any difference at all? Frankly, I don’t know. But here is something to think about.

One of the most common and trusted ways to gauge the development of a country is the Human Development Index. Below, I have compared a country’s HDI and the voter turnout in its last elections.

Country HDI Voters Turnout
Australia 0.965 95%
Iceland 0.968 89%
Norway 0.968 81%
Ireland 0.960 74%
Japan 0.956 71%
Thailand 0.786 74%
India 0.609 58%
Pakistan 0.562 45%
Niger 0.370 45%
Chad 0.389 52%

I am not saying that this relationship between HDI and Voter turnout is constant throughout the world. In fact a few countries like Rwanda have extremely high turnout and still score dismally low on the HDI. However, in most of such cases, the turnout statistics are highly dubious.

My point is simple. Think all you want. Try to do something unique to improve the country, sure. But first things first. At least go out and vote. At least express your opinion. Or do you want people like Zardari in the President House forever? Don’t act like the Momin who ignores prayers but keeps looking for a miraculous rise in spirituality, who doesn’t give a damn about his neighbour but wants a non-stop ticket to heaven. Let’s wake up.

Thora Soch Lays!

We, Muslims, and especially Pakistani Muslims, are a cute bunch of people. We have the capability to ignore such serious sins as fornication, murder and drinking, taking them to be a part of life. We even indulge in hypocrisy, lying, greed, lethargy and what not without giving it a second thought. But on certain other (arguably less important issues) we raise an alarm that is, mildly put, extremely exaggerated.

Before coming to the issue that prompted me to write this, here is a little example of this sort of behaviour. Some time ago, I (for a change) went to visit a relative. When leaving his house, I, as is the custom, said “Khuda Hafiz”. At this, I was unexpectedly snubbed by a respected elder and told that that was not the proper Islamic way to say goodbye. Naturally confused, I asked her to elaborate. She explained that we should always say “Allah Hafiz” since Khuda means God and many different people have many different Gods, so we must be clear about whose protection we want to put the recipient of the prayer in. I just couldn’t help laughing. I tried to explain to her as briefly as possible that no matter how many different gods various people of the world believed in, we only believed in one and that was Allah. Since everyone present knew this, Khuda should not mean anything but Allah. To further elaborate, I told her that with her logic, she should call her dad by his name since various people had various dads and she should be clear about the person she was referring to.

Coming back to the point, I have received various text messages and heard from a number of friends that Lay’s chips are suddenly haraam and should be avoided at all costs since it is now a sin to have them. Some people have elaborated that the said snack contains something called E631 which is made from pork and thus makes it haraam.

I have no objection to my Muslim brothers avoiding the snack to protect their faith, but for anyone who has a curious bone like me, here is some information that might help decide the matter.

1.             E631 is used to enhance the flavour of food.

2.             Though E631 can be extracted from pig fat, it is not the only source. It can also be obtained from sardines, yeast extract and a plant extract called Tapioca. All these sources except pig fat are not Haraam under any Islamic law.

3.             E631 is mainly used in the Masala flavour of Lay’s (imported from Thailand). This E631 is extracted from Tapioca and has been certified by the Central Islamic Committee of Thailand to be Halal.

4.             A number of researchers have spent a lot of time studying all kinds of different foods including snacks and have decided on which products are halal and Haraam. The only Lay’s flavour that I found to be Haraam in these lists was Baked Lay’s Brand KC Masterpiece BBQ Flavour.

5.             One ounce of regular lays contains 130 calories, 380 mg of salt and ten grams of fat (three grams of saturated fat). It has next to no minerals or vitamins. So there are other, more realistic reasons for staying away from too much intake of the snack.

So, if you want to extremely careful and do not trust the Thai Islamic Society, avoid BBQ and Masala flavours, the rest are fine. Although if someone wants to quit eating Lay’s totally just to be on the safe side, I respect their opinion.

Coming to the earlier point, I still wonder what our society would look like if we spent so much time and energy thinking about things where there is no doubt. Lying, cheating, harming others for one’s own benefit, making money through forbidden means, corruption, nepotism, bribery, misuse of authority, cruelty to humans and animals, all these things are forbidden. There is no confusion in these. Forget Lay’s; remember these and we’ll be fine.

Hold Your Fire!

It is extremely surprising, scary and more than a little disconcerting to listen to some of the self-proclaimed revolutionaries of Pakistan sitting in their drawing rooms and offices and blurting out their own suggestions on how all the maladies of this country can be remedied. The most popular way out, in the opinions of these intellectuals, is a bloody revolution similar to the ones that, in their view, brought the people of France, Russia and more recently Iran, out of their tragic lives and put them on the path towards a new and promising future. According to these thinkers (and there are a large number of them), the only way to improve the conditions in our country and transform it into one of the great nations of the world, is to line up just a few of the top brass, including some power hungry politicians, a few of the corrupt beaurucrats and some of these bloody soldiers and simply shoot them. That simple. Kill them and Weill be rid of all our worries.

It is surprising that well-educated people think on these lines. It is scary that if some psychopathic individual or group actually tried to do this, he would get more than a few supporters. And it is very disconcerting that all these Pakistanis feel that this is a distinct possibility.

This is not a new thought. It has been moving around intellectual circles for a long long time now. A number of people, who were against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto must have had the same notion, and as for those who hated Gen. Zia, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif, Gen. Musharraf and now Mr. Zardari, I have personally heard them expressing their desire to kill and live happily after.

I have a large number of problems with this way of thinking. My greatest concern is that we, as a nation, have historically acted in haste. We are always too eager to get rid of a certain individual or group but have absolutely no clue about who we intend to replace the said person or group with. Come to think of it. Had such a revolution come in the time of ZAB, would a certain General Zia ul Haq been among the ones lined up and shot? If a revolutionary army had toppled Gen. Zia, would they have killed a young and cheerful Benazir Bhutto with him? If the people had risen up against BB in the late 80s, would Nawaz Sharif have been one of the victims of their violent wrath? If Mian Sahib had become target of some collective murder, would one General Pervez Musharraf have joined him? And finally, if the lawyers movement had turned into the bloody revolution so eagerly awaited by us, would they have killed the harmless and irrelevant Asif Ali Zardari? The answer to all these questions, as far as I know, is No.
We do not need to strain our brains too much trying to figure out how to get rid of any of our leaders. Fate, or Allah, takes care of it. ZAB was hanged, Zia blown up, Mian and BB dismissed by their trusted colleagues and Musharraf resigned out of sheer exhaustion. Agreed, the people did play some part in the resignation of Gen. Musharraf, though one can only wonder how long he would have lasted even without the rise of the black coats. However, as for the other rulers, there can be no two opinions on the point that the revolutionaries had very little, if anything, to do with their removal. Why worry about a bloody revolution to oust someone who can be ousted by his own bloody fate? Removal by revolution would also have brought a new face with the same old characteristics to power.

Our problem is not how to get rid of a certain President, PM or General. Our concern should be how to ensure that someone worthy of the seat sits on it. Do we have any standards or guidelines to judge who our ruler(s) should be? Is there any clarity on the subject in any of our minds? Don’t we just carry a vague, uncertain picture of a leader in our minds and then simply keep deciding that anyone who rises to the top position in the state simply does not fit the bill? How long can we go on like this?

We are still not even clear if we want a parliamentary or a presidential system. Hell, were not even sure what we personally expect from a government. It is always much easier and infinitely more logical to rise up for something than to rise simply against something or someone.

Our forefathers rose against the British and the Hindus, succeeded and then got lost. We did not want the Hindus and the British, fair enough. But what did we want instead? After more than sixty years, we are the Islamic Republic of Pakistani and keep reading articles in the papers and listening to experts stating that Jinnah’s dream was a secular country and we should follow it. What utter confusion! We have Taliban pouring in from the Western borders and threatening to turn our women into Burqa clad mimes and Bollywood, Star Plus and Boogie Woogie marching in through our Eastern borders and trying to turn them into half-dressed, made-up, dancing decorations. And us. We condemn both. We hate both. We consider both an attack on our national identity. What that national identity actually is, who knows? And who the hell cares?

Revolutions in France and Iran were against monarchies that refused to listen to the plight of the people and did not have any plans to go anywhere. We don’t have any such problem. We live in a democracy. We are a nation that gained unprecedented freedom of expression even under a dictatorship. We have all the options in the world to grow, learn, groom and either choose or create alternative leaders. And if all else fails, we have more chances than people in most other countries, to try our hand at actually becoming that alternative.

The revolution in Russia was based on a new and hitherto untried philosophy, namely, communism. We have no such philosophy. The only thing we have is Islam and we don’t agree on anything in the religion. So a united uprising to implement the principles of Islam does not seem likely.

We need clarity. We need to know what we want, who we want and why we want it. Merely knowing what we don’t want is not enough. A revolution in our way of thinking is what we need. And that revolution starts with me, with every individual. Inquilaab Zindabad.

Whats in a Name!

What the hell is wrong with Pakistan? No, I have not been forced to ask this because of any specific event or group of events, this is a question that has dominated the mind of every thinking Pakistani for a long time. Even before we were hurled into the throes of terrorism, long before we became the reluctant partners in a never ending war against an invisible enemy and before we became a state always on the threshold of failure, one could always see that there was something seriously wrong with this state.

I don’t believe that we have been the victims of any extraordinary catastrophe perpetrated by foreign elements that has caused our continuous downfall into this abyss. We have the unusual distinction of being a state that never recovered from its creation. Yes, I know that the creation of Pakistan was not some tragedy that we had to recover from, but we made sure that it appeared to be more and more of a tragedy as years passed.

The people of Pakistan, especially those of Punjab, have historically been wonderful slaves, but never masters, not even of our own destiny. We have acquired the habits of following without questioning, stabbing our brothers in the back to gain the approval of our Lords, going to unheard of extremes to prove our loyalties to whoever rules us and linking our success and failure to the extent to which we can please or (God forbid) annoy our masters. 

The exodus of gora saabs from India left a gaping vacuum above us slaves, which we were supposed to rise and fill. Unfortunately, we never proved up to the task. Instead, we began our so-called independent existence appearing confused and scared and soon began looking for new masters to fill in this vacuum. America eventually obliged and now we are a nation that has lost its identity, is fighting wars against its own people, has strained relations with all its neighbours (including the Muslim brothers) and where the President and the top military brass has gone (for the umpteenth time) to USA to discuss sensitive security issues (read get fresh orders).

It is about time that we took a keener look at our history and developed the courage to face the demons in our closets. We have to admit our mistakes, accept our weaknesses and then attempt to rise above these petty attitudes and start on our way to becoming a nation.

Our common educated man (of which there are pathetically few, but enough) must be aware of the problems our nation faces and the history of how we ourselves created them. Even a basic knowledge could provide food for thought and I am sure we will eventually come up with better and workable ideas to get out of this mess.

The North Western Frontier Province and the threat of Talibanization and terrorism are all too obvious. I want to point to another issue that is far less threatening and far simpler. I am no expert on the subject but I don’t understand all the fuss about changing the name of the province. I mean, what’s wrong with it? Why not change it to Pakhtoonistan or whatever the residents of the area want? Seriously, N.W.F.P. is not even a name. As far as I know Punjab means the land of the five rivers, Balochistan means the land of the Balochs and Sind probably (though I am not sure) is named after the river Indus. What does N.W.F.P. mean? It means the province that is in the North-West of the country and on its border. In Urdu, it is called Sarhad which simply means boundary. I want all readers to think seriously, is that even a name? It is at best an address. How would anyone of you want to be named ‘the second child of Mr. so-and-so who lives in F-10?’ I think the government must accept their demand, which is not for a change of name but more for a name instead of an address.

We are not four provinces. We are one country. National integration demands some empathy for each other’s issues. And this name game is as good a place to start as any. It does not threaten our national security or survival and as far as I can tell, changing the name would not even be a burden on our economy. So why the fuss? We have no competitor when it comes to bugging our provinces to unbelievable extents. We’ve lost half the country with this sort of behaviour. It has to stop. We have to stop looking at NWFP or Balochistan as a threat to this country and start considering them a part of this country.

Blunt Axes!

There was a time when the most frustrating aspect regarding Pakistani society was our indifference and apathy to the tragic circumstances that prevailed in the country. Believe it or not, this attitude is a thing of the past now. The credit may go to the freedom of the media, the limit of our tolerance or sheer chance, but we, as a nation, have emerged from the depths of ignorance and inaction and are now at least prepared to take an interest in what is going on around us and react.

However, this is a slow process. We are in a transition from indifference to proper action and our biggest concern should be to make sure that, unlike a number of other transitions, this one does not become a permanent feature of our national life. We have a habit of hanging in the middle for too long, far too long. We delay the final push towards our destination so much that the transitional phase becomes a permanent one and if and when we do take the final steps, it is mostly too late and our destination no longer serves the purpose. Hence, we continue to move from one transition to another.

Times change too quickly now. We can’t spare too much time to congratulate ourselves, we must move on. New attitudes bring new challenges that need to be faced and tackled in order to get maximum advantage from the current situation. New things have to be learnt, and more importantly, a number of old things have to be unlearnt.

We have acquired a very bad habit of jumping to conclusions without first gaining clarity on a subject and taking on irrelevant burdens on our shoulders, consequently leading to frustrations. 

Some phrases that I have grown to hate over the years are ‘Drawing room Politics’, ‘Drawing room Discussions’ etc. Every other day, I hear things like ‘That is theoretically correct but ground realities are different’ or ‘We must stop discussing and act now’ and I feel a little perturbed by such thoughts. 

I feel the need to explain my views of some of these concepts once and for all.

The term ‘silent majority denotes the group of people who do not express their opinions publicly. However, this group may contain two kinds of people. Those who appear to have no desire to say anything on anything, who appear indifferent and have no realization of the fact that they can, in their own way, contribute towards improving the situation, are the real problem. The other group contains those who have opinions on things which they express amongst their close friends and enter into positive discussions and debates with each other in an effort to decide the best solution to a certain problem and the most useful way in which they can contribute. Such people are a very important asset. They should not be bombarded with insensitive criticism and asked repeatedly to stop talking and start acting. It is the minds, the debates and the drawing rooms of these people that are the potential breeding grounds for ideas, plans and courses that can become the fuel for our national development.

Everyone is not a revolutionary by nature. Yes, we need leaders and followers, we need activists. But much more than that, we need people who generate ideas; ideas about where we need to go, which path can become our salvation. Without a clear direction, the leader and the followers will be mere wanderers. And these ideas can develop in the drawing rooms. 

We, and a number of other nations and individuals, have committed the mistake of jumping without preparation and facing the consequences. We need to gain clarity on a number of things before we can be sure of how to act. So let the active people act, the thinking people think and the drawing room politicians discuss. Let everyone do their own job and hope to utilize the best product of every effort.

One example of our lack of clarity; the operation on Lal Masjid was universally condemned and became one of the major causes of Gen. Musharraf’s downfall. Our ‘civil society’ and ‘intelligentsia’ not only condemned the operation but openly expressed their opinions against it, in the newspapers, in public gatherings and on the streets. The same intelligentsia, though, does not seem to mind the current military operation in N.W.F.P. and some members of this elite group have gone to the extent of appreciating and welcoming the step. 

I fail to understand the difference between the two operations. If anything, the attack on Lal Masjid was better planned since it was a preemptive strike to prevent the possibility of something like what happened in Swat. 

We direly need some people to take on the task of showing us direction. And anyone of us can play that role, provided he has put in all his intellectual resources and come up with a plan. If we need to do something for the country, we must spend most of our time figuring out the best thing to do. Once the plan is in place and there is a will, implementation is the easiest part.

Russian revolution without Marx or the French revolution without Rosseau could not have been possible.

Silent majority is a phrase coined by Richard Nixon, one of the most controversial of American Presidents. Maybe we would be better off learning a thing or two from one of the greatest American Presidents. Abraham Lincoln said “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax”.

Taliban vs. Jaahilan!

The world is a funny place. As they say, truth is stranger than fiction. Life never ceases to amaze you, always coming up with surprises, phenomena that you least expected occur and things that were beyond your wildest imagination suddenly become a part of your life.

Who could have imagined that our dear country, formed in the name of Islam and then abused in the name of the same religion for more than sixty years, would one day be under attack by fundamentalists with their own version of the same religion. 

Then again, maybe it is not that surprising after all. Maybe we asked for it. Yes, the Taliban are a threat, but to what? They cannot be a threat to our freedom, our peace of mind, our ideology, our religion, our unity or our march towards better times. It can’t be an attack on any of these things simply because none of these things exist here. We’re still slaves to centuries old fallacies in the name of traditions, culture and religion, we have no intention of striving to develop and instead spend all our energies fighting against ourselves, we have never agreed on our definition of better times, we are still to develop the tolerance and sense to coexist despite the differences in our thinking and culture. In short we are an idle, indifferent and sleeping nation.

I feel that this purposeless existence, which most of us have become used to and do not want to change, is the very thing under attack. We fear the Taliban, not just because they have a fundamentalist, illogical and violent outlook on Islam, but more so because they are a force that would make us gets off our butts. Whether we support them, oppose them, follow them or block them, we just cannot stay asleep. And that is what scares the living hell out of us.

I am not a supporter of the Taliban but I am an even bigger opponent of the Jaahilan. In the possibility of the approaching battle between the Taliban and the Jaahilan, victory will probably not grace the one who is right or even the one who is more powerful but the one who is readier to move his ass. The Taliban might stop short of Islamabad, but our own lethargy is the enemy that has already entered our gates.

Historically, we have never required an external enemy to defeat us; we are pretty self-sufficient in that. It is about time we put an end to this. Open our eyes and see the life we lead, the things we believe and the shame we put our religion and ideology to.

One cannot succeed if he does not know what he wants to achieve, can’t grow if he doesn’t have an idea of what growth is and can’t fight unless he knows what he is fighting for.

Unlearn!

The ability to learn is one of the greatest assets we have. But the apparent inability to unlearn, or more appropriately the unwillingness to unlearn whatever we have learnt by whatever means is one of our biggest weaknesses. 

Starting from our early childhood when we are always trying to satisfy our curiosity by learning from our environment, our family and our teachers, we become the target of an unconscious campaign by these very people to kill the said curiosity. A lot of the questions remain unanswered and we acquire the habit of ignoring these questions that our minds generate so frequently during our early years. As soon as our egos become large enough to play their part, we start getting convinced that any question that is still unanswered does not matter, that it is unimportant. These unanswered questions further put a stop to the birth of other questions in our minds and gradually, we only ask trivial questions, the answers to which do not affect anything which has any real significance in the time-space curves of the universe. We are only interested in learning things that affect our immediate surroundings in time and space. We are not bothered about the actual questions of time and space. We have to re-awaken the curiosity. We have to accept the fact that nobody knows everything and that there may be hundreds of truths that nobody knows at all. And somebody will be the first to uncover them and that that somebody could be us. 

In this age of technological revolution, information is more accessible than it ever was before. Thus, satisfaction of most kinds of intellectual curiosities is just a click away. What stops us from pursuing this path then? More than anything else, it is our belief that it is a useless exercise. Amusingly, by believing that learning varied things is a waste of time, we do not actually stop learning. We continue the process and learn new things everyday from people, from our experiences, from books, from the media. The only difference such an attitude makes that we learn whatever is thrown at us, whether we want to know it or not. In other words, our learning process escapes the boundaries of our free will. And when even our intellectual growth is in the hands of forces beyond our control, what else can we expect to hold on to?

The first thing we have to unlearn is this attitude. We must know the truth and if it is not readily available, we must find it. We must discover the truth about what we are doing at any given time and then decide whether it is worth doing or not. There should be only two reasons for doing anything. One that you want to do it and two that you have to do it. If nothing else we should at least be interested in learning and ensure that what we are doing is either what we actually want or it is something that we definitely have to do. We must unlearn to ignore unanswered questions. We must learn to ask and then to seek.

Even more harmful than the unanswered questions are the unquestioned answers; things that we learn starting from our childhood to the end of our lives; things that we learn not to question. We believe a lot of things merely because we hear them from someone, and are more prone to believe them without question if we read them in print or hear them from someone on media. Such unquestioned answers play a huge role in turning us away from the truth and making us believe a lot of falsehoods as if they were the absolute truths. Unfortunately we start living our lives on the basis of these facts and gradually the chances of our stumbling on the truth diminish. Then a time comes when even if we do stumble upon it, we try to ignore it since it does not fit in with our life and concepts, mostly based on false notions. When falsehood is believed to be the truth, the actual truth becomes a lie.

All progress in humanity occurred when a few people, scattered throughout history, questioned the hitherto unquestioned answers. Almost every time, they found them to be wrong and went on to ask, to seek and to learn, and a number of them ended up changing the world forever. We must unlearn the things we have been taught against our desires. It is not necessary that all of them would turn out to be wrong, but even if most of them were true, this questioning, learning and unlearning would give us an infinitely stronger basis to believe in them. Such a line of thought would omit the fiction from our belief and would strengthen the facts that already exist along with starting us off on the path to learning the truth that we do not know as yet.

Once we have uncovered the truth of all the forces that control us, we will realize that the strength of these powers is merely in our minds, a mere illusion. Only when we realize that we can be free of the powers these factors exercise on us. And only then would we be able to breathe the fresh air of freedom and take our own decisions based on our own choice. Freedom is something that just cannot be appreciated unless it is experienced.

In-Charge!

It must be realized that we are probably one of the few (if not the only) creatures with ego. There is this unfathomable desire in all humans to justify whatever they think, say or do. Where we should be analyzing the causes of our thoughts and actions and then beginning our efforts to liberate these from influences which are regressive, we waste our time in convincing ourselves and all around us that we already are free and that we are not controlled by these influences against our will. We want to believe that we have chosen to be controlled by them. The simple reason for such an attitude is that any other explanation casts doubts in our own minds about the veracity of our status as God’s great (if not greatest) creation and deals a tremendous blow to our self-esteem, both individually and as a race. Hence, you see all around you people explaining that they are not free and the reasoning is that they have to follow whatever customs, traditions, laws and rules that they are following. Paradoxically, we justify that we are not free because we have freely chosen not to be free. I wonder if anything could sound more absurd. Unfortunately though, since almost the whole race believes in this absurdity, it does not seem that odd to the untrained eye.

Setting our egos aside for a moment, we would instantly become much better equipped to understand our position vis-à-vis all the internal and external forces that are controlling our lives and because of which we are spending our lives and not living them. Though these forces and their relative influence may vary from person to person, for the sake of clarity, some of the more common ones are listed below.

(i) Our physical and physiological requirements that account for the desire for food, clothing, sex and dwelling; 

(ii) Our emotional make up generates the desire to love and be loved in return;

(iii) Religion, or more importantly, what we have been taught or have learnt in the name of religion continuously pricks our conscience in the name of good and bad, right and wrong;

(iv) Society with its own peculiar sets of customs and traditions, dos and don’ts is a constant irritant as we perform a large number of acts against our wish, and sometimes, against our better sense, only to gain social approval and sometimes refrain from great deeds only to avoid social isolation;

(v) Law of the land we live in forces us to abide by it, not for any particular gain, but more so to avoid punishment, and more often than not, social degradation as a consequence;

(vi) Peer pressure exerts a greater influence than the society as a whole and exploits our inherent desire to stay a part of the group. Interestingly, this group is also mostly not of our own choice but imposed upon us by circumstances;

(i) Family is the most powerful part of the society, especially in the eastern culture. We feel obliged to continue the sort of life our families approve of, without giving much thought to whether it makes much sense;

The list could go on and on but the above examples give a fair idea of the point. It must be remembered here that these factors are not evil in themselves. Not only are they necessary for our survival individually as well as collectively, they are also great fillips to our struggle for a quality existence. Hence, they do not constitute a problem in themselves. Like all other entities that humans interact with the problem does not lie in them but in the way we deal with them. These factors are necessary and useful but only as long as we are ones using them. The moment we start becoming used by them, we falter, since none of these forces have the capability of free will. Only someone or something that has this capacity has the ability to use others, we however, have surrendered our wills to these factors without as much as a complaining whimper. So rather than controlling all these influences with our intellect, we have chosen to let our intellects be controlled by them. We are convinced that these factors are in fact the indisputable truth in this world and have thus created our very own golems1. 

It is essential that we take some time out for introspection and analyze which of these factors are controlling our decisions and acts, and to what extent. There must be a fairly accurate assessment of these issues and the only way to do that is simply, to want to do that. Egos must be left behind; we cannot fully be free unless we believe two things; one, that we are not great and two, that we can achieve greatness.

Spend it away!

The first step towards the solution of any problem is the admission that a problem exists. Under the given environment in which we are spending our lives, we do not have the capacity to exercise free will. 

Note the word ‘spending’ above. This is the way in which we normally refer to the passing of days from our arrival in this world to our departure for the next. We spend our lives, but do we live them? It is a matter of common knowledge, not requiring any level of study in finance or economics, that when you spend something, you must get something else in return, something better or at least as good as that spent. Another matter of common sense is that when you spend something, you part with it. It is gone from your possession. Whereas our spending of life fulfills the second criteria, i.e. we don’t possess the spent moments anymore, the first condition is hardly ever present. What makes the whole transaction even more serious is that the spent moments, unlike spent money, can never be recovered. When spent, they are gone forever. But what do we get in return. Do we get anything beyond life in return? We cant prolong our life, we can only improve its quality, and that too according to the definition of improvement that we have received from the world, a definition that has been infinitely influenced by our genes, our environment, our education, our society etc. all of which, as explained above, are not under our control. When your life does not give you anything beyond itself, you have spent it. When you gain things that are not within the domain of the life itself in return, you have lived. Thus, if it is accepted that the possibility of spending your life in return for gains that are not a part of this mundane and uncertain existence exists, and when it is also admitted that we are not making such gains to any mentionable degree, the logical conclusion is that there is something wrong.

We have the gift of free will but we have not achieved the freedom required to exercise it. Therein lies the problem and in the realization of this lies the first step towards the solution, the first step towards becoming human.

I Don’t Have Time!

We don’t have time. In fact, a number of readers might even not read this to the end for the reason that they don’t have time.

We keep hearing things like time is short, time is money, we must not waste time, always be on time, there is a time for everything, the time is not right, and so on throughout our lives. As we move on in years, we hear ourselves uttering tragic remarks like, time went by too quickly, I didn’t notice how swiftly time passed, I have wasted too much time and the like. This, for all practical purposes, is an illusion.

To understand the illusory nature of this belief of not having enough time, we have to see how we measure time. The passing of day and night, coming and going of seasons, the physical and other changes brought upon us and those around us show us that time is passing. Even more so, with the invention of the clock in the Middle Ages and then its spread to all corners of the globe to the extent that life without it is inconceivable in the modern world, has divided time into even smaller portions. Where time was normally divided into dawn, noon, evening, sunset and night, i.e. five parts, we now are capable of dividing it into seconds, which means one day has 86,400 parts. Hence, even if nothing much changes, we still feel the passage of time and consequently also believe that we are wasting it.

To find a way to get out of this dilemma we have to stop concentrating on the temporary aspects of life and the universe. Our predominant concentration on the years, days, hours and minutes traps us in a circle where everything keeps changing so speedily that we sometimes fall under the extreme illusion that the speed of time is actually increasing. Here, religious and spiritual people can be of much help. Take a look at the lives of priests, yogis, Sufis and the like. You will never see them in a hurry, or gloomy for the reason that time is flying by and being wasted. The reason is that these people are predominantly concerned with things which are not bound by time, or in other words, are eternal. They concentrate on the existence and characteristics of God, the creation, cause and end of the world, the moral and ethical principles which define right and wrong on the criteria of absolute truth, on the messengers of God and their message, on the heavens and so on. All these things are either eternal or relate to such huge expanses of time compared to our own mundane existence that they seem eternal. They don’t change with time. An eye on these eternal realities from time to time takes the mind off all the speedily changing stuff and we realize that though time does pass, it does so only for a very limited, to the extent of being infinitesimal, proportion of things. Most realities do not change with time as much. And if the truly important things don’t change, time does not seem to go by that quickly at all.

Meditation and prayer routines are a great help in this realization. Even taking a little time out of the daily routine to concentrate on eternity completely changes the perspective with which we look at life. Just closing your mind to the daily businesses and sitting calmly does the trick. I can almost hear some readers thinking that they don’t have time to indulge in such activities. This response is another absurdity since all it means is that ‘we do not have the time to realize that we actually do have time’. Amusing if you just read it but tragic if you actually believe it.

Name-Masoom, Profession-Suicide Bomber!

Here I am with another appeal to all the experts who know much more than I do about how things work in this world. A report in today’s papers states that the intelligence agencies have forewarned the law enforcement authorities that 18 terrorists have entered Lahore in the past few days. The agencies have further warned that the said terrorists are likely to target important personalities, sensitive installations and public places and have suggested that security in these places be beefed up. It has also been stated by the said agencies that the terrorists will use an ambulance and two double cabin vehicles for these attacks.

This was also a part of news bulletins on certain channels yesterday and I have come across a number of such reports on TV and in newspapers over the past couple of years. With my limited (or none at all) knowledge, I don’t know whether to cry my eyes out or laugh my head off at these.

First, the funny part (though I admit that finding anything funny about the possibility of terrorist attacks is a little sick). After all, how intelligent can these agencies be! Imagine, telling you that certain terrorists are planning to strike a major city of Pakistan and explaining that their target will be either an important personality, a sensitive installation or a public place. Phew! Thank God that rules out a suicide attack on my kitchen. Talk about stating the obvious. It has also been suggested that security at these places be beefed up. So, basically they are suggesting that security at all places be beefed up, since I have not heard of much security at any place that does not fall into one of the above categories.

Now, the serious question; I request anyone with any knowledge on the subject to please tell me what in the world do these reports mean?

How do the intelligence agencies know the exact number of terrorists entering a certain province or city? How do they know the exact number and type of vehicles that they intend to use for their heinous designs? How do they know the probable targets of these attacks? And if they know all this, why the hell don’t they know the location of these people and why don’t they catch them and remove the threat once and for all? I mean a report that “certain” terrorists might have entered a city and might attack a certain place makes sense. But the exact number and their exact methods? That seems like a load of bullshit.

It seems as if the intelligence agencies have their teams stationed at the gates of all cities and these teams give out forms so that all people entering the gates fill out their details. The teams also seem to have a way of making sure everyone tells the truth so a terrorist always writes down “Terrorist” in the profession column.

I will not comment further on this practice. I will wait for an explanation that enlightens me.

We're not Making Any Sense!

Below, I have mentioned some aspects of our everyday life. I request anyone with more knowledge and wisdom to please explain how these patterns of behaviour make any sense, because I surely cannot understand them.

1. We routinely criticize our society and claim that the majority (if not everyone except ourselves) is uncivilized, selfish and stupid. At the same time we refrain from doing a number of things we want to do, and also stop others from following their hearts’ desires by simply saying “What will the people say?” Viewed together, the two concepts mean that we do not act according to our will because we are afraid of disapproval from a bunch of uncivilized, selfish and stupid people.

2. We ignore the finer things in life, spending our time wholly on the pursuit of more. More money, better office, higher status, more power and argue that we are doing it for our children, so they do not have to worry about these things in their life. At the same time, we insist that our children work hard in their life and as an incentive, show them that they will achieve the exact same things. Any child who refuses to comply and instead enjoys the riches accumulated by his parents is considered to be a spoilt and worthless individual. In turn, the children spend their lives in much the same manner and claim to be doing so for their children. I fail to understand where the generation that might be the actual beneficiary of this meaningless hard work is.

3. We take no interest in natural beauty and even such simple leisurely pursuits as walking and instead bury ourselves in our efforts to become more successful and richer. And then, we spend a part of that money buying televisions and treadmills so that we can walk on a machine and watch a fake picture of natural beauty while doing it.

4. Anyone who has a habit of visiting certain areas to watch young beauties dance to melodious music is considered the worst kind of individual. However, it is acceptable to watch much worse dances and related acts on the television screens. In fact anyone objecting to such shows is labeled a fundamentalist and narrow minded person.

5. We hate people who are habitual liars and hence cannot be trusted, but we feel no pangs of conscience lying about our whereabouts on the telephone or even asking someone to tell the caller that we are not around.

6. We consider anyone who knows less than us on a subject a fool and anyone who exhibits knowledge greater than us, pretentious.

7. Anyone going faster than us on the road is a maniac and anyone going slower is a moron.

The list can go on for ages. I feel these examples show the paradoxical and senseless way in which we perceive and spend our lives. We don’t have double standards; sometimes I feel that we don’t have any standards at all. I would welcome anyone who disagrees with me and convinces me otherwise. In fact he/she would be making my life much more comfortable.

Accuse Me Please!

Are we a failed state? I do not know the technical meaning of this phrase but I have had just about enough of hearing discussions on the question. I do not know whether we are a failed state but we do suffer from a dearth of good governance and are fast becoming a failed government and a failed nation.

Forget about the condition our economy is in, the threat of terrorism, the state of our judiciary or the general law and order situation. These problems have been here for a long time and there doesn’t seem to be much of a chance of their leaving us soon. Government officials have a long list of reasons for their failure to tackle these issues. Maybe they are right. Who knows? Maybe there really are such huge hurdles in their path that they cannot possibly do anything about these pressing problems.

But what about the simpler matters. Ignoring what our government cannot do, why not focus on what it can do. Here are some news items from just the last few days. Before reading on, remember that I am restricting myself to only a few of the incidents that took place in the past couple of days. The actual number of such occurrences in the whole of the country should best be left to the imagination.

• A 12-year old boy died after falling into an open manhole in Gulberg.
• A 26-year old man died after falling into a ditch in Gulistan-e-Johar.
• A 21-year old woman, who had been married less than a month ago, died of drowning in a sewerage drain.

The last incident needs a little elaboration. The said drain has also claimed at least two other lives (both children) and neither theirs nor the woman’s body has yet been recovered. Now, what kind of hurdles does the government face in its effort to cover manholes or prevent innocent people from drowning in sewerage drains? What could be more important than a human life? And to lose it in such a manner! There just cannot be any excuse.

One would imagine that after such incidents, the administration would be rattled and immediately take steps to prevent a repeat of such avoidable loss of life. Sadly, this never happens. When asked to comment on the tragedy involving the newly married woman, the town Nazim simply said that it was an accident (as if the people were wondering if it was a conscious act by the drain). He further explained that encroachment by the people over the area of the drain made it difficult for the government to clean it. What a load of bullshit! The worthy Nazim should be reminded that getting rid of such encroachments is also the responsibility of the government and explaining that the government messed up one part of its job (cleaning the drain) because it had messed up another one earlier (removing encroachments) might just be one of the most stubborn, insensitive and silly explanations ever.

Think about it. A drain that is so dirty that anyone falling into it cannot come up because of the fauna growth (the local people tried to help the woman by cutting the grass on the drain but could not succeed), so filthy that at least three drowned bodies have still not been recovered. Still, the Nazim has an explanation which helps him sleep at night.

And it’s not just the fault of the government either. We are as much a part of the government as anyone else. The government is elected by the people; the Nazims are symbol of the power of the electorate. They are answerable to us. In case you are wondering how the people reacted to the death of the woman, read on.

The people of the area were naturally angered by the death and blamed it totally on the ignorance of the authorities. They did not file any protest or complaint. They did not notify the higher authorities. They did nothing to find out the right persons to contact in order to redress the problem. What they did was block the busiest thoroughfares of the area, pelt stones on passing vehicles and burn tyres on the road.

What have we come to? As a protest against the needless death of an innocent individual we caused huge inconvenience to hundreds of other innocent people.

Another part of this frustrating saga was the reaction of the authorities to this protest. Forgetting all the causes of their failure in protecting the life and property of the public, they jumped to unhindered action to stop the violent protests. Did they have a plan to do that? Of course not. They resorted to the old and time-tested strategy of baton charge and tear gas, a decision that further antagonized the already wild people.

Maybe this uncivilized way of protest could have been excused as a reflex reaction had the protestors resorted to more sensible methods after their initial anger subsided. But the end of the issue was again the same old one. The higher authorities (the news report does not mention who exactly) came to the scene and ensured the people of their full cooperation after which the protest died down. The people did nothing to make the authorities elaborate on the kind of cooperation they meant, the specific steps they would take or the timelines. In short, just like we do at election time, promises were heard, believed and the matter went down as quickly as boiling milk goes down once the stove is switched off.

This might not be too significant an event amid all the long marches, suicide bombings and governor rules in this country, but it reminds us of the kind of people we have become. Our government is not capable enough to cover manholes, clean sewerage drains or peacefully take care of angry mobs. And we, the people, have no clue how to react to such incidences, we cannot differentiate between wild and violent ways of registering our protest and the peaceful and effective ones and all it takes to deflate our anger are a few meaningless words by someone in a position of authority.

And then there is the silent majority, the Pakistanis who might have been in one of the cars passing on the said road. A stone or two might have been thrown on them. What do we do? We criticize the ineffective government, the uneducated masses and the overall deterioration of the society. We forget that we are educated and civilized, it is more our responsibility than anyone else’s to do our part to improve the situation.

We must stand up and take the blame for whatever is going on. We must stop giving or tolerating excuses. Only then can we begin to realize the extent of our responsibility. We might fail (in the short run, we most probably will) but that is better than not making the effort. I don’t exactly know what any single person might do about such issues, but I know that everyone should try and find out some way. As for me, I am starting with bringing this issue to the notice of all the readers who didn’t know of it, and reminding all those who have forgotten the gravity of the situation.

For anyone else who seriously wants to do something, I suggest a start by changing your perception of Pakistan from “this country” to “our country” and of Pakistanis from “them” to “us”. These are our problems not “Pakistan’s”, as if it were an alien land. And it is us who are failing as a nation not “Pakistanis”.

And remember the famous saying “He who excuses himself, accuses himself.”

O Brother, What Art Thou!!

“How do people make it through life without a sister?” asked Sara Corpening.

One could easily replace ‘sister’ with ‘brother’ in the above sentence and it would sound equally true. The relationship between siblings provides a unique face of love. For sisters, brothers are friends, companions, guardians, protectors, guides and the most reliable support. Brothers are also normally extremely sensitive on the subject of their female siblings. Any harsh comment about one’s sister is bound to raise tempers and turn the mildest of men into angry defenders of their pride.

I once read a story by Stephen King titled “The Last Rung on the Ladder” which dealt with this relationship beautifully. It tells the story of a brother and a sister who had this game where they would take turns to climb an old ladder in their barn and leap off into a pile of hay. On one such occasion, the ladder breaks and the sister is left hanging by the last rung. The brother quickly gathers a lot of hay under her and then asks her to jump, which she does and gets away without getting hurt. Later, the brother is amazed to find out that she wasn’t even looking at what he was doing and had no idea that he had collected all the hay. She just jumped when he asked her to, believing that as long as her brother was there, he would never let her get hurt.

The feelings brothers have for sisters are more or less the same all over the world, the only exception being the most barbaric of cultures or individuals. Keeping this mind, I don’t have words to explain my reaction to news such as one that appeared in today’s paper. A man in Lahore killed his 30-year-old sister (mother of three children) for that most common of reasons; he suspected that she was having an affair with another man.

Incidences where a husband kills his wife on such a pretext are extremely common in our country. At least one such occurrence can be found in the papers everyday and it always hurts me to see this sort of attitude towards women. But whenever news about such an act by a brother comes along (unfortunately there is no dearth of such brothers in Pakistan either), it is beyond being hurtful or depressing. It is impossible to imagine how a brother could do such a thing.

We are all (supposedly) Muslims and I would not go into the details of what status Islam gives to women; I believe we are all more or less aware of it. But forget Islam for a moment. Let’s accept that we are not even close to good Muslims. What about simple morals? Or common sense? Or a heart? Such news forces me to wonder whether the men who are ready to draw battle lines whenever the honour of their sisters is threatened, do so to protect the poor women or just their own twisted concepts of ghairat (probably one of the most misused concepts in our society).

Maybe we are still barbarians. We still consider women our property. Their supposed honour is nothing; what matters is our own silly idea of what raises or lowers our prestige. We are ready to kill anyone who raises a finger towards them because it is us who are indirectly being dishonoured and we are ready to kill our own sisters on the mere assumption of some immorality, for exactly the same reason.

I know all of us are not the same. But the fact that most of us take such incidents and the concept of kari as a part of our culture which cannot be eliminated whether we like it or not, says a lot about us too. The incidence quoted above occurred in Lahore, not in some far off tribal area. Lahore, the heart of Pakistan, the second most developed city of the country, home to the University of Punjab, Government College, the Alhamra Arts Centre; the centre of cultural activity in Pakistan. And what worries me even more is that the peers of the said honourable(?) man would probably justify his action claiming that it was the only course available to a ghairat mand brother.

I hope we forget our petty complexes someday and begin to understand our responsibilities in all the roles of our life. A brother who cannot protect his sister can be forgiven, but one who becomes a fatal threat to her himself should not be spared. Unfortunately a large number of such psychopaths go scot-free in the end and in a number of areas of Pakistan such a killing is not only not a crime but is considered a courageous and honourable deed.

We should stop believing that we are honourable or ghairat mand  people until we have the sense to comprehend the meaning of these words. Until then, may Allah protect sisters from their brothers.

A more pertinent question for us would be.

“How do sisters make it through life with a brother?”

Vasant Panchami!

Despite the limits placed on the celebration of Basant this year, the festival has managed to claim more than ten lives according to news reports while almost a hundred people, including many children, have been injured. The populace of Punjab, where the festival is primarily celebrated, seems divided over whether kite flying should be permanently banned or not. I do not want to get into that debate. My wish is simply to spread a little information about the event that a number of my fellow Punjabis may not have.

Whereas it is common knowledge that Basant is predominantly a Hindu festival, its actual basis is not that commonly known. Basant has been traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of Shukla Paksha (fortnight of the waxing moon). The festival was originally called Vasant Panchami, vasant meaning spring and Panchami the fifth day, which was believed to be the first day of the season of spring.

According to the Hindu Vedas, this day is dedicated to the worship of the goddess Sarasvati. Schools normally remained closed in Hindu areas on this day and children busied themselves in decoration of areas where the goddess was to be worshipped. Kite flying was a small portion of the festivities and gained popularity only in certain areas of the Punjab.

Ask Punjabis, especially Lahoris, and they would vehemently defend Basant claiming that kite flying was a passion and that they just wanted to have fun. They would probably claim that they had no clue about who Sarasvati was and that attaching this cultural occasion with Hinduism was the work of fundamentalist narrow minds.

There is nothing wrong with having fun; but when this fun threatens the life of other members of the society, some rethinking needs to be done. Every year a large number of young boys lose their lives or limbs falling off roofs or being hit by vehicles because their eyes were fixed on where the kite was flying instead of where they were going. A number of others are killed or injured by electrocution. Much more tragic than any of these are the lives, mostly of young children, lost due to injury by the dor. That is no way to die. We just cannot keep threatening the lives of innocent children who are the future of this country, this way. This cannot be our culture. I don’t recommend a complete ban on the practice, but I do think that if this practice is to continue, concrete steps have to be taken to make it a safe one. As long as we cannot come up with a completely safe solution, we must swallow the bitter pill and restrain from having this kind of fun.

Pakistan is not the only country where kite flying is pursued with passion. In fact the sport which originated in Ancient China, is extremely popular in a number of other countries of the world. Somehow, in Pakistan it holds the undesirable distinction of being one of the most fatal sports.

Coming back to Sarasvati, the fact that almost all of our passionate kite flyers know nothing about her is not something to boast about. Ignorance is a curse. I feel that basant nowadays has so little to do with Vasant Panchami that awareness about the origins of the latter can hardly affect the celebration of the former. Nevertheless, knowledge always helps.

Saraswati is the Hindu goddess of knowledge. If we can’t realize the gravity of the fact that innocent people lose their lives due to a simple pastime, maybe we should learn a little from Sarasvati’s prayer, which ends with these words

“Oh Mother Sarasvati remove the ignorance of my mind and bless me with the eternal knowledge.”

 

 

 

The Battle is Won, the War has Begun!

Today is a big day. After a long time, we have cause for celebration. So, forget all the negativity for one day and enjoy the moment. The people of Pakistan, led by the lawyers and ably supported by the media have won. The reinstatement of the judges should once and for all remove any doubts we had about the power of the masses.

The movement owes its ultimate success to the determination of the lawyers, the freedom of the media and the courage of the people. Some analysts have gone to the extent of comparing this triumph with the creation of Pakistan and I agree with them to an extent. Like 1947, the people rallied together for a cause they believed in and forced the powerful classes to buckle under the pressure of mass upheaval.

But after the rejoicing is over, we should remember some other aspects of independence. The creation of Pakistan resulted in the coming to power of a privileged class that soon forgot the common man in its pursuit to gain maximum advantage for themselves out of the success. Such a fate should not descend upon this victory as well.

This is a time to brace ourselves and make sure that this struggle does not go waste. The creation of Pakistan was not the ultimate goal; it was only the means to an end. The reinstatement of judges is exactly the same. We have not achieved an independent judiciary or a just society yet, but a major breakthrough has been made.

Let’s hope we don’t follow the old path again. 

Teein Dhuz!

Oh my god what a turn of events. I guess I shouldn’t have slept so early, for better or for worse it seems the long awaited long march is over. Isloites have lost out on all the action, Imran Khan never got the chance to show his moves, the worst reality show of all time ended without a spectacular ending. As a nation we seem to like each other now & quickly trying to forget the past to go into the future. 

Only time will tell that what will change & what will remain the same. I will as always would shy away from commenting on rights and wrongs of it. But would hope that this kind of protests never happen again and we become a nation who can convey our opinions/thoughts through our votes and are able to control our leaders in the comfort of our homes as opposed to be blown away by tear gas in the streets.

That can only happen if ever we can actually understand the whys and whats of all this. At this point I am not sure if we do.    

Only If!

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell

I am free and am going to exercise this right today since the best kind of freedom is not granted from without but rises from within.

The Long March is upon us. At this crucial time when the whole nation holds its breath, when every man, woman and child looks at the unfolding of an adventurous saga with a mixture of awe, hope and fear, I have decided to step forward and burst a few bubbles.

But first, let me accept the fact that I am delighted at the way the people of this country have rallied together for a common cause (that more than half of them don’t understand the cause is immaterial at this point). I have always felt frustrated at the indifference and apathy of us Pakistanis. We seemed to be a lethargic nation that did not bother to utter a syllable of protest no matter how gross an injustice was being perpetrated on us. Not anymore. We have changed and changed for the better.

Also, let’s give the devil his due. I feel that, for this awakening, we should be grateful to President Musharraf’s decision to grant freedom to the media. That the General himself became a victim of the events that ensued from this freedom is testimony to its usefulness.

Now, back to bursting the bubble. Sometimes I feel that we, as a nation, are like innocent children. We fight over trivial matters, show extreme laziness in certain areas and unfathomable urgency in others and, as seen in the case of this movement for the restoration of judiciary, sometimes we start congratulating ourselves too soon. As I have admitted earlier, it is delightful to watch our countrymen uniting for a cause, but it is the beginning of an awakening, not the end. We have a long way to go before we can make sense of things and reach rational conclusions.

We must not forget that we celebrated with great zeal the coming to power of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, we danced with joy when Benazir became our Prime Minister, we ecstatically hugged each other when Mian Nawaz Sharif replaced her and distributed sweets when Musharraf overthrew the Mian. We, like children, take every change as a sign of better times. This may be because we are always waiting for messiahs and hope that every new face in the government is exactly that.

Starting from Khawaja Nazimuddin, Pakistan has a not-so-proud history of leaders becoming unpopular soon after coming into power. Protest rallies were not uncommon against the supposed democrat Z.A. Bhutto. Protests continuously simmered against General Zia though they could never let out steam due to the dictatorial nature of the regime. Opposition parties continued to engage in marches and rallies against the PPP and PML-N whichever was in power at the time. Finally, PML-Q faced mellow criticism in the first few years of its reign and some of the worst protest in the history of Pakistan, in its last year.

So, protests are nothing new. Also, it is about time we forgot the fantastic notion that the elections of 2008 were some sort of a revolution. Democracy in Pakistan has never witnessed a political party retaining majority in the legislatures for two consecutive terms. The government has always lost and this is exactly what happened to the PML-Q government. We did not bring any revolution, we just did what we habitually do every election, that is, vote for the opposition.

Furthermore, let’s do away with all the high and mighty ideas we have about this movement for the restoration of judges too. Each and every opposition in our history has tried to rally the support of the masses to overthrow the government. The fact that this time, the masses have come out in huge numbers should not negate the truth of this.

The lawyers and civil society, charged up by the constant bombardment of emotional jargon from their TV screens and fiery speeches by their leaders, have given this movement a more interesting face, but this should be taken as it is, without adding too much spice (which is almost a cultural necessity for us).

The fact is simply this. PPP and PML-N combined forces against the rule of Gen. Musharraf, forgetting all their differences because that was the way they could return to the corridors of power. PPP ended up more successful in this pursuit whereas PML-N was left at its mercy. As long as PML-N believed that it had something to gain from this marriage of convenience, it continued its support for the PPP government, first as a coalition partner and then as an enlightened opposition. However, when the leaders of PML-N were disqualified and barred from contesting elections, the party faced the prospect of losing not only this government but also any chance of forming one in the future. This was when they decided to come out firing (or marching) on all cylinders and take Islamabad by storm.

Now we have a situation where the PML-N has nothing to lose and appears to be prepared to go all the way to regain power whereas the PPP has everything to lose and is making preparations to take every possible step (and a few impossible ones) to stop this maneuver. That is what this is. As always, a struggle for power, and that is what it should be viewed as. Unless ………

Unless, we the people of this poor old land, realize that we are the power behind these people. The common man is out on the streets in huge numbers. That is what can make this protest any different. Only if the common man can keep a clear head. Only if the common man does not forget that he is not fighting to get his hands on the reins of power. Only if the common man realizes that it is he who decides the future of this country. Only if the common man puts his foot down and raises his voice, not against an individual or a party, neither for any individual or party, but for justice and against injustice, regardless of the face behind it.

I am not in favour of this Long March. I am not against it either. I am all for the fundamental rights of the people of Pakistan. And I am against all tyranny, injustice and selfish, brutal lust for power. I am just waiting to find out which one of the two this Long March turns out to be.

We are the crossroads. The battle is not between PPP and PML-N, nor is it between the deposed judiciary and the forces of oligarchy. The battle is between the common man fighting for his actual right to freedom and the usual classes fighting for their perceived right to rule. Unfortunately, the battle lines are not that clearly drawn. Only if we keep our eyes open and fight the enemy within as bravely as that in front can we make this movement any different from the others. Only then can we take pride in the struggle. And only then can we take the liberty of actually congratulating ourselves on a job well done.

Allah bless us with wisdom, courage and success.

It Wasn't Me!

“Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.” Lily Tomlin – US Actress

Life is not nearly as complicated as we perceive it to be. All around us we see people complaining of life being too hard or too unfair. We might have become used to this sort of attitude and might believe that such feelings are an inevitable part of everyday living but simply becoming used to something does not make it the truth.

The importance of such a perception of life must not be underestimated. A continuous belief that life or the world or fate, whatever name one gives it, has been unfair is extremely dangerous. It can lead to unimaginable vice since people who believe that the world is not fair do not feel any obligation to be fair to the world and this is what leads to all kinds of trouble. I have heard a number of analysts explaining the acts of terrorism and barbarism rampant all over the world by saying that this is the way anyone would act if he was subjected to the kind of injustice faced by these oppressed people. Though this may sound logical, it is not.

I believe that rationalizing these perceptions is essential if we want to move towards a comfortable life. For anyone interested in looking in the mirror and admitting his / her faults, the following is a humble effort to show the way.

The most common blunder we make when confronted with our faults is to start by feeling so guilty that no reasonable step can follow. That is not the way to start. The first step should always be an attempt to rationalize our perceptions and emotions with an open mind and then try to figure out if they make sense or not.

Why do humans always have such a huge urge to complain? Regardless of whether our complaints are justified or not, it remains a fact that we take a strange pleasure in shifting the burden of our woes on something or someone else.

First the disclaimer; I am not a scientist or a sociologist or a psychologist or any other gist. I am just your normal person, who is trying to figure things out for himself. I believe that this habit of complaining stems from three simple factors. First, that we want to achieve something, most commonly this something means a certain way of life. Second, that we believe that we have not and / or cannot and / or will not be able to achieve it. Third, that we think this failure is not because of any fault of our own but that certain other factors that are beyond our control are responsible for it.

Anyone, who has experienced or continues to experience these bouts of complaining, must ask himself or herself a few questions. Most importantly, we must re-visit our aims in life and try to figure out if they make any sense or not. What we often forget (or maybe never realize in the first place) is that any aim that is not primarily in our own control is a bad aim. Whether we eventually achieve it or not is secondary.

For instance, if our aim is to make money, it is beyond our control, our aim should be to make the best possible effort to make money. Aiming to win a game, though looks justified, is actually flawed. Aiming to make the best effort to win a game is what we should be looking for.

So, if we continue to keep making the best effort, we can never fail due to any external causes. Our only failure could be a failure to do our best and that will lead to learning from our mistakes and improving ourselves.

In my personal experience, I have always seen two distinct groups of people. One, who are always working hard and continuously learning from failures and getting better, and others who are complaining of how something that they couldn’t help avoid intervened to stop them from achieving what they wanted. I have never met someone, at least not yet, who did both. So, I am forced by my experience to believe that people who complain do not give their best. Not to say that they don’t work hard, but the moment they shift the responsibility of their failure to external causes, their efforts immediately fall short of the mark.

We must never judge people. But what is infinitely more important is that we do not let other people’s judgement about us, affect us in any way. If we believe in God, we must also believe that He is the only one whose judgement matters. If we must look for other judges, then let’s not look any further than ourselves. Only God and we know what resources and hurdles we have in our life. So, only God and we can judge whether we did our best or not.

So, here is the way to go. First, decide on an aim which falls within your control. Second, judge your success or failure by the effort you made, not by the results. Results are based on so many other factors that you can do little about, that thinking too much about them would only waste your time. Give results importance only to the extent of using them to analyze how you could do better in the future. This sort of an attitude will ensure that you never have anything to blame for a failure except yourself since you will face no failure except an inability to do your best. And, believe me, when the only possible complaining is complaining about your own actions, few will feel comfortable wasting their time in this fruitless activity.

Third, and most important of all, don’t let others, who don’t have any right to judge you, or any clue about how to accurately judge you, have any kind of effect on how you judge yourself. Following this line of thinking should give two results. One, you will never feel hard done by the world when you fail and two, you will be able to look at things independently and form much better opinions than those formed under the influence of what others say.

Most significantly, it should help you stop complaining. Life is a continuous learning curve. The only real success is to learn more and develop further as a person. We have no obligation to explain to the world the reasons for our perceived failures. And we will always be in a position to improve and avoid actual failures.

Long Long March!

Here we go again. Another long march is upon us. This time, we are marching for the independence of judiciary. There are a number of people in this country who are extremely gladdened by this turn of events. We are overjoyed to see that we have finally risen against the tyranny of the ruling classes and have, at last, shown the courage to take a principled stance in front of, first a military dictator, and now a civilian one. The entry of the Sharif brothers, along with their party into the movement has reassured us. The lions are with us and now we will not stop until we get what we want. And with this kind of resolve, we are sure that we’ll succeed. Nara-e-Takbeer Allah o Akbar (Or is Chief Tere Jaan Nisaar, Beshumaar Beshumaar more popular now?). 

Let’s get one thing clear here. I have nothing against independence of judiciary or the right of the people to protest or march to wherever they want. It’s just that I fear this movement, like everything else in this country, is under a severe threat. This threat does not come from its detractors in the government or its enemies within. It comes from the capacity of human beings to be so swayed by emotions that they lose the actual plot. This movement too is in danger of completely losing its plot.

I fully support all the people who take part in this march as well as those who support it. I just want to make a few things clear. Call it a reminder to the Pakistanis. We have this very bad habit of putting people on high pedestals overnight and also of pushing them off in a moment. We perceive everyone as either an angel or the Devil. Hence, we have lost the capacity to evaluate humans and interact with them. In truth the human being is an extremely complex creature and always falls between the Angel and the Devil. We must realize this so that we can judge the good and bad qualities of everyone and then decide what benefit or harm he can do to us. Most of you (if not all) know the facts I am going to state here, but I guess, we suffer from severe bouts of amnesia. So let’s refresh our memory.

• Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry (then at the Balochistan High Court) was one of the first judges to take oath under the Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) in January 2000.
• In May 2000, Justice Chaudhry was one of the 12 judges who ruled that the removal of the Prime Minister, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif was legal on the basis of the doctrine of necessity and hence validated the rule of Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
• In 2005, Justice Chaudhry was one of the five judges who dismissed all petitions against the 17^th Amendment, Musharraf’s retention of uniform and the Legal Framework Order (LFO).
• In 1981, Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, was handpicked by Gen. Zia ul Haq and made the Finance Minister of Punjab. This was the start of his political career.
• In 1985, Nawaz Sharif became the Chief Minister of Punjab with Gen. Zia’s consent.
• Nawaz Sharif while Prime Minister was charged with contempt of court and a mob of his supporters attacked the Supreme Court while hearing of the case was in progress. Instead of rendering an apology on behalf of his supporters, Mr. Sharif removed the then Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah from his post.

I don’t intend to say that these people are evil. I just want to remind our people that they are humans, not angels or devils. We must keep a clear head and stick to facts. I have never seen a man change overnight but somehow we are adamant at believing and convincing others that these two supreme leaders as well as a number of their partners have transformed themselves into the messiahs that we had always been waiting for. We have to wake up.

We will never be saved by any Judge or political leader. We are our own saviors. We should follow any leader as long as he is on the right path, regardless of who he is. Similarly we must stay away from anyone who does not seem to be going where he should, regardless of who he is. There is nothing wrong with struggling for liberty, freedom, independence of judiciary, democracy and so on. But please, let’s not put undue burden on individuals.

We want an independent judiciary, good. We think that Mr. Iftikhar Chaudhry symbolizes an independent and impartial judiciary and is the only one who can get us there, unfair. We want democracy, good. We think that Nawaz Sharif and his party is the surest path towards it, unfair. Why should these individuals be burdened with such huge and unreasonable expectations?

Just a little bit about our lion’s speech in Faisalabad the other day. He screamed to a huge slogan chanting crowd a list of all the sacrifices he made for democracy. I’ll mention just three of them here. Firstly, that he fled his country and spent seven years abroad. He asked the overzealous crowd whether they could spend even a single day outside their beloved country and there was a loud NO heard in response (I wonder what would have happened if someone had thrown a foreign visa amid the crowd at that time). Secondly, that he forced his party members to take their ministerial oaths from President Musharraf (Wow! Becoming Ministers! That is some sacrifice!). And third that now (when they have been barred from assemblies) he and his brother are protesting in the streets against the tyranny of the PPP government. Interestingly, in all his speeches, the Mian rarely mentions Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and concentrates mainly on the decision against himself and his brother and how that has harmed the future of his country (read family).

Rather than expecting a person to take us to our destination, let’s move towards it together. We are with any leader as long as he’s leading us towards better days. The road is important, not the leader. We should be more bothered about where we are going rather than who we are following. 

Most of the people in democratic countries take centuries to learn this. We must learn this now. In a democracy, every one of us is the ruler. Our opinion is important. It matters. We matter. Make sure you put your mark on the history of your nation.

People who believe in something just because their leader says so walk a tight line. Enlightened people follow a leader because he says what they believe in. Go ahead and follow these men but don’t forget that they are our leaders because we made them so, and they should serve as our leaders only if they stick to their word and their promises. We are their strength, rather than vice versa. We come first but only if we believe in ourselves. Until we keep following blindly, we’ll keep marching, and it will be a long long march.