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.

 

Sure Thing!

According to a leading newspaper of the country, when the concerned Superintendent of Police was contacted regarding the security lapse that led to the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, he said that since he had just recently been posted, he was not sure about providing VVIP security to the visiting players. He further clarified that Blue Book security (the highest level of security in Pakistan) was provided to individuals and not groups. Other sources confirmed that Blue Book security is normally reserved for the President, the Prime Minister, Governors and the Chief Justice and it can be provided to any other individual if the government desires.

First let’s get the facts clear here. The government of Pakistan promised the Sri Lankan management that the team would be provided maximum security and stressed that they did not have anything to fear on their tour. The government does have the capacity to provide Blue Book security. A few things really bother me here. First, why did the government not desire to provide the visiting team with the best possible security? This is especially alarming since most of the cricketing world had already refused to tour Pakistan citing security reasons and the Intelligence Agencies had forewarned the government about the possibility of such an attack. And second, what is the logic behind this principle of providing maximum security only to individuals and not groups? In the current scenario we should be extremely conscious of our reputation in the world and our prime concern should be to take every possible measure to make sure that nothing happens that could make it worse.

However, what’s done is done. The past has no importance except what you learn from it. This is true for individuals as well as nations. We must learn from this incident and not take decisions on security issues in such a laid back manner ever again.

But what bothers me much more about the news report above is not what kind of security was provided to the Sri Lankans. It is the statement of a senior Police officer saying that he was not sure about the kind of security to be provided to the team. Not sure! Unbelievable! But then again, maybe it is not that big a surprise. How many of us are sure about anything.

I think this is one of our most fundamental problems. We, Pakistanis, are never sure. I have rarely seen a housewife who is sure about what to cook for lunch, or a driver who is sure about whether to stop at a traffic signal or keep moving, or a customer who is sure if the price he is paying for something is too much or too less, or a voter who is sure about why he is voting for one person and not another, or a government that is sure about what policies it wants to implement and the list goes on and on.

We are a nation of cricket lovers. I wish we could learn something from the game at least. Ever seen a batsmen being run out? 99% of such dismissals occur when one or both the batsmen are not sure whether to take the run or not. If both decide to run and don’t become unsure in the process, you will rarely see one of them being run out. We, as a nation, are like our beloved Inzi, destroying all the hard work put into an innings simply because we were not sure.

What is the reason for this? Probably that we have a terrible habit of being satisfied with illogical and irrational explanations for things and sometimes with no explanations at all. We don’t want to know for sure. There is a popular song in Pakistan which goes Laal meri pat rakhyo bhala jhoolay lalan, sindhri da, sehwan da, sakhi Shahbaz Qalandar, Dama Dam Mast Qalandar …….. All of us must have heard this song hundreds of times since it is sung at every wedding by the sisters, cousins and friends of the bride and groom. A year or so ago, I asked a number of such young girls what they actually understood by these words. Surprisingly not a single one of them was sure about the meaning of what they had been singing on joyous occasions all their lives.

I do not intend to exaggerate the importance of this ignorance. After all, it’s just a song. But this attitude is not restricted to songs. We are not sure about anything from our choice of dress to our choice of religion. The only difference is that where we feel free to ask others about the trivial matters like what to cook for lunch or what to wear for a wedding, we are much more reluctant to ask others about our religion or what kind of security to provide to a visiting group of players.

This sort of behaviour is bound to lead us to disaster (if we are not already in one) and the worst thing is that we will probably not be sure if it actually is a disaster or not. Unfortunately, life does not come with three umpires who can at least raise a finger or press the red button to free us from the indecision about our ultimate fate. But then again, who knows? We are a nation stranded in the middle of the pitch indecisive about whether to run or not.

We have made huge blunders throughout our history. It is time to start learning from our mistakes. Being sure is not the path to success; it is not even the first step. It comes way before that. If we are not sure, we will never be able take the first step. Let’s start by admitting our faults. Let’s accept that we don’t know. Let’s start the search to find out the truth; the truth that we can be sure about.

And it is not that hard. I will lay down certain truths that I am sure about. One, that our country is in the most undesirable condition. Two, that I, being a citizen of this country, must shoulder a part of the responsibility for this state of affairs. Three, that I have to play my part in improving the conditions. Four, that I don’t have any idea how to go about it. Five, that I am determined to try my best to find out how I can contribute more and to do whatever I can.

Let’s stop the uncertainty. Someone who is certain that he does not know is still better than he who is uncertain. A batsman who does not take a single run may look stupid, but he has hope. One who has attempted an uncertain single and paid the price has none. But let’s not sound too pessimistic. We have many more innings to play and it is never too late to learn except when it is.

If nothing else comes to mind, start by learning the meaning of Dama Dam Mast Qalandar. If you already know that, you are already on your way.

Socrates based his assumption that he was the wisest man in Greece on just one piece of knowledge which he realized that none of the others wise men had. And that was oída ouk eidós meaning “I know that I don’t know”.

Indifference Kills, Absolute Indifference Kills Absolutely!

“There's nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can't clearly articulate why we're doing what we're doing.”

Yes, I am demoralized. Optimism is fast ceasing to be an option for Pakistan but I always try my best not to lose hope. And it is becoming harder everyday. I am not demoralized by the conditions in the country, all nations go through good and bad times and the great nations of the world were not the ones who never had troubles but the ones who rose up from the worst of them.

France before the revolution of 1789, England before 1688, the USA before Abraham Lincoln, Arab before Islam, all showed a glum picture and had troubles which might dwarf our own. My demoralization stems from our leaders. I am disgusted with their attitude, callousness and utter confusion about where we should be headed and what our strategy should be.

The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team is a shame but the statements of our government after the attack are nothing less than shameless. Our worthy governor (read ruler) stated that these were the same terrorists who were responsible for the Mumbai attacks. What kind of a statement is this? On one hand we claim that we have no clear idea who was behind the Mumbai attacks, and on the other, we are actually identifying other people to be the same as them. This could only mean one thing, that the government has no clue about these people either.

We were also treated to a memorable press conference yesterday where our ruler explained how the disqualified Chief Minister of Punjab was involved in huge frauds specially in the Sasti Roti program (the fact that a large number of people were actually getting cheap rotis and that this provision ended as soon as the Chief Minister went meaning little for him) and that the PPP was handling the Benazir Income Support Program  much better. In short, we were being convinced that his party is better, the other a bunch of criminals. Ask the Sharif brothers and you will hear the exact opposite.

Will someone tell our leaders that WE DON’T GIVE A SHIT. People are committing suicides due to poverty, we have a parallel system of justice in the North, Taliban and terrorists are breathing down our necks, we are internationally considered as worthless beggars who cannot be trusted, players from other countries are attacked with grenades if they dare to come here, the de jure Chief Justice is ridiculed by the lawyers themselves, the actual Chief Justice is left to roam the streets asking for justice, the whole nation is fast sinking into severe depression. We don’t care how good any party is!

Our Second Caliph Hazrat Umar (RA) said that even if a dog died in his rule, he felt responsible. When a trade caravan camped outside his city, he was so concerned for their safety that he spent the night on the outskirts of the city to ensure that their lives and assets were secure. Once, when Hazrat Usman (RA) was on his way to buy a piece of land, he passed some people who were crying for food. He distributed all his money among those poor and went home without making the deal.

I don’t ask our leaders to copy these people but at least they can show a bit of humanity. Today, when the people are screaming simply because a roti costs five rupees, our leaders are having the feasts of their lives. Five policemen were killed trying to protect the Sri Lankan team while our leaders are living amidst security provided by hundreds.

We have committed blunders time and again. It is us who bring these people into power. Us, the people of Pakistan, who have ashamed democracy with the way we cast our votes. All those who repeatedly vote for these people and then sit back watching till they are called to vote again should be concerned. And all those who do not even cast their votes and are satisfied simply criticizing and cribbing about what is going on should be ashamed.

We are in a far worse situation than ever before. Before 1947, we did not have a land to call our own, now we have a country that we are ashamed to call our own. The choice is clear. We have to either leave this country or love it. And if we love it, we must show it. There’s nothing to lose anymore. Fear the time when the ignorant fools that make up such a large part of our population will be the only ones to be seen here. The educated Pakistanis, the ones who still have their brains in order, who can think sensibly must act. We must start thinking, not only about our own petty selfish lives but about the country. We have to stop fearing the truth; we have to take our problems head on. We have to stop being indifferent. We have to unite.

For starters we have to spread truth as much as we can. We are afraid of the truth, afraid of looking in the mirror, afraid of consequences, afraid of power, afraid of wealth. Ang San Suu Kyi said “Fear is not the natural state of civilized people”. We have to stop being afraid and act like a civilized nation. We have to realize that we are in trouble and each one of us is responsible for it. Truth never hurts; it’s the lies that kill us.

If you don’t get a leader who is good enough, find a better one, or become a better one. Be yourself. A life of fear is much worse than death.

“Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive -- the risk to be alive and express what we really are.”

 

Death comes as the End (Or Does it)!

“Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in children is increased with tales, so is the other.” Francis Bacon

Nothing is certain in life, except death. And we, as a race, have acquired a strange habit of avoiding discussion on or even a mention of this topic. We consider death to be a terrible phenomenon and are extremely uncomfortable with it. As a result, it has become a taboo and even educated people are prone to ignore it as an inevitable reality. We close our eyes in an attempt to wish it away and do our best to pretend that it does not exist.

Recent research has shown that after a patient is diagnosed with a terminal illness and his or her death becomes imminent, there is a marked decrease in visits from relatives as well as the interaction that doctors and nurses have with him or her.  

Such an attitude towards death results in two major problems. One, we do not think about death as much as we should and consequently lose the chance to find out that it is not something nearly as bad as we imagined. And two, we do not have a clue about how to deal with our own death or that of a dear one. We have become a people who are so scared of death that even mentioning it causes feelings of anxiety and uneasiness. If we don’t learn about death, we can never understand life.

Keeping in mind the concept of God and life after death propagated by all religions as well as the elaborate ways in which death was dealt with in ancient societies, it is surprising how the modern world can so easily shut it out of its system.

The main reason for this, in my opinion, is the widening gulf between religion and science. Science was always ridiculed by the religious classes. Priests, Mullahs, Yogis etc. always considered science as a tool of the devil and gave mankind a choice. They could either follow religion and gain eternal salvation or follow science and be led astray from the right path. That the ignorant classes listened to this ridiculous argument and left science is less surprising than the incomprehensible fact that the educated people believed in this crap and pushed religion to the background.

Innumerable scientists have admitted that there are certain phenomena which science can neither deny nor explain. These are the areas where religion comes to our rescue. However, unfortunately we either are proud to believe in science and dismiss anything which science cannot explain as dogmatic or are strict adherents of a particular religious sect and discard anything against its beliefs as blasphemous. This sort of ignorance leaves the world divided between two equally arrogant and stubborn groups always fighting for supremacy.

As Albert Einstein said “science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” We have to realize that the apparent choice between being lame or blind is an illusion. The only path to truth is by combining both science and religion.

Coming back to the main topic, it is interesting to note, as St. Augustine pointed out, that we do not remember anything about our infancy and yet are so certain about the way we lived and our general attitude at the time, for example that we cried when we needed to be fed. The basis of this knowledge is merely observation; we form opinions about ourselves in that age by watching how other babies of the same age behave. But what about life after death? How can we know about that without observation? Thanks to the useless bickering between science and religion, most of the people today either do not believe in the concept or have an unbelievably irrational and imaginary picture of it.

Isaac Asimov said “Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.” For anyone with a scientific bent of mind who is interested in making an effort to know the truth of this transition, I will strongly recommend three books as the starting point. The first, of course is the Quran which must be consulted in any quest for knowledge regardless of one’s personal beliefs. The other two are “Life after Life” by Dr. Raymond Moody and “Closer to the Light” by Dr. Melvin Morse. These two, along with their colleagues, have conducted a scientific study of Near Death Experiences in an attempt to ascertain what happens after death. Whoever has had the chance to come across the famous book “Maut ka Manzar; Marney ke baad kya hoga” and felt put off by the fantastic and terrifying tales, must read these books to regain a little perspective on the subject. The conclusions one draws from these researches might vary from person to person, but a study of these books along with the Quran is sure to alleviate some huge misconceptions on the subject and might force the reader to stop avoiding the topic and realize that it is one of the most interesting and important subjects to study for everyone who believes that he will die … eventually.

An experiment mentioned in the book by Dr. Melvin Morse shows that when the lateral sulcus (a structure above the right temporal lobe of the brain and commonly known as the Sylvian Fissure) was stimulated by electrical impulses during brain surgery, all patients claimed having out of body experiences, traveling at great speeds through a tunnel and observing a Being of Light who gave them feelings of extreme peace, calm and pleasure. Some patients even saw a review of their lives from a third person’s angle. Does this strengthen our belief in the soul, God and the Hereafter? I leave it for you to decide.

It is unfortunate that the Muslims have stopped taking any interest in scientific research. This sort of research is also normally ignored by the scientific community; probably because they cannot explain it in terms of the existing scientific data and such failure makes them uncomfortable (scientists are humans too, after all).

I dream of a time when we would stop blindly following religion or science and try to actually get to the truth. As always, the best time to start is ….. now.

Go Ignorance Go!

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” Lewis Carrol (Alice in Wonderland).

That is our dilemma. Spending all our energies in removing obstacles, we cannot seem to take time out to decide what we want to use the obstacle free path for. During the first half of the twentieth century, the Muslims of India showed unbelievable courage in standing up against the Hindus and the British (or at least that is what we were taught) to get a separate homeland for themselves. They wanted to remove the British and the Hindus from their path. Once that was achieved, we had no clue where to go on the path we had cleared. Hence, after more than sixty years of independence, we are still not clear about whether we want democracy or not, and if we do, should we have a parliamentary or a presidential system, are we an Islamic or a secular state, and so on.

We are always charged up, ready to move, without any idea of our destination. Just look at our behaviour on the roads. If some poor soul takes two seconds to move his car after the light has turned green, he is bombarded with all kinds of terrifying honking sounds from all sides. In fact, have you ever experienced the pain of having to stop at a red light on a road with no traffic except a car right behind you? It feels like you are the dumbest, most laid back person in the world, and that nothing could waste more time than obeying the law. You get an extremely irritating barrage of continuous honking until you move and give the person behind you a clear path to ………. well, probably to a place where he would be even more useless than on the traffic signal.

Moving to the larger picture, all of us were and still are witnesses to (and some of us are a part of) the country-wide movement initiated by lawyers and joined by a large part of the civil society and political parties. The movement, at its peak, swept all other issues aside and was the only news worth discussing in the country. Slogans of “Go Musharraf Go!” echoed from all corners of Pakistan. A huge majority of us joined in the chorus, believing that Gen. Musharraf was the cause of all trouble and once he went and democracy returned, all our problems would be solved (the exact nature of those problems was always unclear, the only thing that mattered was that there were problems and they had to be solved).

And Musharraf did go eventually, handing over the government to democratically elected representatives of the people led by Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, the new President of Pakistan. And today news report in the leading dailies of the country tell us that emotionally charged lawyers chanted slogans of “Go Zardari Go!” during a rally in Karachi. I have little doubt that this slogan will soon spread all over the country and will probably continue till the President actually goes. Then we just have to wait for the new President so that the slogan can be changed accordingly. I do not want to criticize the lawyers at all. They are doing a tremendous job and have proved to be the only professional community that has the strength and the numbers to start and maintain such a movement for such a long period, as well as the courage and the will to actually put their numbers to use. I just want to do my bit in helping us realize that we have to be absolutely clear about our objectives and the place we want to get to before we can even hope to succeed.

I have often wondered why we show such urgency in removing things that delay us, so that we can get to our destination instantly, only to show the same urgency there to get to the next place. I am no psychologist or sociologist but I think this may be due to a vicious circle of ignorance. We don’t know what we want from our lives, as a result of which we are uncomfortable with our lives and ourselves, as a result of which we want to get out of any and every situation we are in and get to the next place hoping that it might be better, as a result of which we are always in a hurry, as a result of which we have no time to think, as a result of which we don’t know what we want from our lives, as a result of which we are uncomfortable and so on. The most logical way of breaking this cycle of silliness is to stop and think. What do we want? Only after we have the answer to this question, will we be able to differentiate between assets and obstacles. Only then will we be able to decide what should be removed. Only then can we concentrate our efforts on the right job. And only then will we have a clear concept of our next step once the obstacle is removed.

As long as all this is ignored, we will continue to be engulfed in the most time consuming and most worthless of pursuits and the world will continue to look at us with a mixture of amusement and mistrust.

I have a friend who is continuously complaining that life has not dealt him a fair hand. He always has a big problem on his mind, which, he believes, is the cause of all the tension in his life. I have often heard him say that if only this particular problem is solved, he will have no further problems. And those problems do get solved, only to be replaced by others of equal significance and he repeats the same belief about them. His salvation also lies in understanding what he wants rather than concentrating only on why he can’t get it.

Let’s see who learns first. My friend or my nation.

Thou Shalt Shave!

Just when you think you’ve seen the worst, something comes up to make you re-think. It is reported that PIA administration has banned its employees from growing beards. As a ridiculous proviso to this incomprehensible ban, the employees have been told that they can, however, grow goatees. At the risk of sounding clichéd, I just wonder . . . when will we ever learn?

Beards have been a part of the male face since as far back as history goes. In Ancient Egypt, even queens supported a metal beard, which was seen as a sign of royalty. In Ancient India, the beard was seen as a sign of wisdom, while the Ancient Greeks regarded it as a sign of virility. In almost all ancient societies, the beard was a permanent feature of a man’s face denoting various different virtues. Faces without beards were seen as a disgrace and in certain civilizations, cutting off someone’s beard was one of the most severe punishments. In some areas such as Ancient India, people even pledged their beards for payment of a debt.

Almost all religions of the world also have great veneration for beards. The Sikhs consider it an integral part of a male body and Guru Gobind Singh ordained that it was to be kept as an identity of Sikhs. According to Levictus 19:27 “Thou shall not mar the corners of your beard.” So beards are also kept by orthodox Jews as a symbol of their faith and their ancestral traditions. Christians in various parts of the world grow beards either as a sign of their vocation as members of the clergy or their adherence to the Old Testament etc.

Most importantly, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said that Muslim men should grow their beards and trim their moustaches. A number of Muslim scholars are of the view that growing a beard is obligatory on all Muslims. Certain other scholars and jurists, however, claim that there is no obligation on Muslims to grow beards, though if anyone does so, it is better since he is following the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). Although photographic depiction of the Prophets is forbidden in Islam, a number of Non-Muslims have shown different Prophets in sketches and pictures. Interestingly, all the Prophets, Saints, Sahaba whenever shown in pictures are always shown with beards, thus signifying that beard has always been associated with a belief in God and adherence to a certain religious belief.

The first historical mention of shaving off beards is found in the time of Alexander the Great. He ordered all the men in his army to shave off their beards for the reason that it could weaken them in the battlefield by giving something to the enemy to hold and pull. Hence, the whole army shaved their beards off. In fact philosophers were the only Macedonians who kept their beards and the beard became symbol of a philosopher. Hence, even in Ancient Macedonia, beard eventually symbolized wisdom.

I will not go into the discussion on the actual importance of growing or shaving a beard. I don’t even want to comment on the authenticity of the saying of the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned above. Let’s stick to mere logic.

A number of beliefs about beards might have been wrong and the modern world does not believe in dogma (the fact that it labels as dogmatic anything that cannot be scientifically proven is a debate for another time). What is universally admitted is that the modern world believes in liberty and freedom. We have seen and continue to see preposterous wars in the name of spreading democracy and religion. We are tired of hearing leaders of the Western world going on and on about how we have to free ourselves from traditional and irrational beliefs and move on with the freedom that only democracy provides. We have had more than our share of leaders who echo these words to show how strongly they agree with the West.

And then. . . .  we come across a ban like the one imposed by the PIA administration. Whereas forcing someone to grow a beard or fashion his face in a certain manner is intolerable, is forcing someone to shave or limit his beard to a goatee any more bearable? Do we intend to grow out of narrow minded dogmatic religious belief into an enlightened state of mind or are we on our way to passing out of one such ridiculous belief into another even more ridiculous one.

The PIA administration is no Alexander either. It does not have any rationale even close to the extremely logical reason given by Alexander for asking his men to get rid of their beards. The most irritating part of the ban is the permission to grow goatees. What is the message here? We are not against beards, but we are dead against Sunnah and freedom to look the way you like.

The only limit on freedom in democracy is denoted by the famous saying “your freedom to swing your arms freely ends where my nose begins.” PIA’s motto seems like “your freedom to grow your hair freely ends where our office begins.” Whereas the first sentence is an understandable principle, the second is an unbelievable stupidity.

Let’s not have any doubts about the fact that we are mentally still slaves. Sixty years of freedom have not liberated us. But let’s not be more loyal than the king. Our forefathers stood up against the tyranny of their rulers, showing courage in the face of hugely unfavourable odds. And we are lying on our faces against the wealth of the West, displaying cowardice even when we have a sovereign state of our own.

We have to start taking notice of such monstrosities and not leave it to the religious parties to raise a voice against it (Jamaat-e-Islami has already raised serious objections to the ban and the PIA administration has promised to give it a second thought). We have to wake up before it is too late. If we are not free to grow a beard in our own country, then it might already be too late. We should be thinking of speaking up against steps such as the ban on scarves in western countries like France and Turkey, being a responsible Muslim nation. We should be preparing ourselves to show the world the real face of Islam, to clear all the misconceptions about our faith.

Instead, we keeping sinking to new lows.

I Will Do Yours!

According to a news report, the SHO of Harrapa and his staff were snubbed by a local judge for insulting, torturing and publicly denuding the innocent girls and other family members of an alleged drug peddler.

Such news report normally make the inner pages of a newspaper and are rarely noticed by readers who concentrate more on the political scene and sometimes on sports and showbiz scandals. Regardless of our preferences such news is very serious affair and must make us stop and think.

Such events are extremely discomforting in many ways. They wake us to the bitter reality of what our society has transformed into. We completely ignore our religious moral and legal obligations while seeming to follow some rules that are incomprehensible to anyone watching and probably equally incomprehensible to ourselves.

I think one of the main causes of this sort of behaviour is our mindset, our habit of forgetting our own duties and taking it upon ourselves to perform the obligations of others. The police force is only responsible to the extent of arresting an alleged criminal and conducting investigations. It is the duty of the Courts to judge him and if found guilty, punish him. However, the members of the police force regularly act as judge, jury and executors, all combined in one uniform. They catch the accused, judge them to be criminals and quite often punish them with torture, insult and sometimes even death (in fake encounters). If you privately ask a police official, he will justify his actions by blaming the corruption and inadequate judicial system for all these actions, an argument which is irrational, absurd and cruel.

And let’s not single out the police force. We are all guilty of the same sort of behaviour. All of us must ask ourselves, are we performing our duties perfectly? If the environment is not conducive for this, it should make us try harder. It does not, under any circumstances, give us the right to take it upon ourselves to do what we are not allowed to, by religion or law and thus harm the delicate balance of rights and obligations on which any society stands.

Whereas we have the right to judge people to the extent to which they directly affect us or others around us, this right is limited to helping us decide how to act in relation to those people. We do not have the right to pass judgement on other people. Unfortunately, we are extremely fond of doing just that.

Consequently, we have become a nation where everyone is interested in doing everything except his own job. The police judges people and gives punishments, the judiciary plays politics, the military is more interested in civilian departments, the religious people conduct bombings, students indulge in crimes, sportsmen are unfit and on drugs, lawyers spend more time on the street than in the courts, judges are more interested in hanging on to their seats than in providing justice, doctors run businesses, quacks prescribe medicine, intelligentsia just discuss stuff in their drawing rooms, journalists blackmail people, the list could just go on and on.

We must realize that the stature of a person depends on his own actions and thoughts. Proving the others to be worse than us and trying to show that we can do someone else’s job better, only degrades us. As long as we, as a society or as the human race, do not start respecting ourselves and each other and minding our own business, we just cannot criticize the police or any other small group of individuals for not doing the same.

Once we acquire the habit of respect for all, the law enforcing forces would have to mend their ways too. I dream of the day when events like that in Harrapa will become a rarity and when they do happen, they will make the front pages of the newspapers, and the judges won’t be satisfied with just snubbing the culprits.

Mind Your Language!

Naqsh Faryadi hai kis ki shokhi e tehreer ka

Kaghazi hai pairahan har paikar e tasveer ka

Honestly, how many of the educated Pakistanis know what this means, or even have any idea what this is. These are the first two lines of Deewan e Ghalib, the only collection of poems by a poet considered by many to be the greatest in Urdu language. An understanding of the deeper meaning of what Ghalib tried to convey here is probably best left to Urdu scholars, but an ignorance of the literal meaning of the words should be a little embarrassing since it shows our lack of interest in our language. As for the educated people who don’t even know where these lines come from, there is cause for alarm.

Try another one

Sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai firaq-e-zulmat-e-nuur
sunaa hai ho bhii chukaa hai wisaal-e-manzil-o-gaam
badal chukaa hai bahut ahl-e-dard kaa dastuur
nishaat-e-wasl halaal-o-azaab-e-hijr-e-haraam

This is Faiz Ahmed Faiz. For anyone who is wondering, let me clarify that I don’t know what this exactly means either, and yes I am embarrassed. We might explain our ignorance of these gems of Urdu language by saying that we studied in institutions where the predominant mode of education was English. To that, I have two questions. One, does studying a foreign language give one the right to ignore your own? And two, are you be in a better position to explain the meaning of a piece of writing by Shakespeare or Wordsworth?

The truth is that language is one of the greatest gifts given to mankind. According to the Quran, when the Angels questioned Allah about bowing in front of Adam, Allah simply taught Adam names of things and when Adam named everything Allah had asked him to and the Angels could not do the same, Allah did not need any further arguments. Language is one of the main factors that make us superior to other beings. A nation that ignores its language ignores everything about its culture.

We don’t become experts on the English language just by making English our medium of education. Our culture and our language is our identity, and it is surprising how we can live comfortably while totally ignoring it. People who don’t respect their own language cannot respect any other either.

Now, a little about out religion, which we feel so strongly about; we are so touchy about the subject, so sensitive about the Holy Quran, making sure we don’t touch it until we have fulfilled certain criteria of cleanliness, reprimanding anyone who turns his back or worse, his feet towards it, kissing it day and night. But there is one important thing we must remember. The Holy Quran is in Arabic. As I said, since we have no respect for our own language, how can we give due importance to any other. We just do not realize the importance of such an obvious fact that if you want to read a book, you must understand the language it is written in. We are more concerned about interpreting the book, fighting against people who have different interpretations, judging people and condemning some to the eternal fires of hell just because we think we know about Islam, and in all this hustle bustle we forget that we don’t even know the language.

If you want to have an idea of how much importance we give to understanding the Quran, here’s something that might interest you. Yesterday, in the Punjab Assembly, Ms. Nighat Nasir Sheikh demanded an increase in salaries of Quran teachers in Madrassahs from Rs.250 per month (no, it is not a typing error) to Rs.1000 per month. After a long debate, the House passed a resolution to increase the salaries to Rs.500 per month. Law minister Rana Sana Ullah opposed the resolution saying that such a step would incur a burden of Rs. 9 million on the exchequer. By the way, a minister of the Provincial Assembly draws a monthly salary of Rs.41,000/- and this is excluding all the various allowances and a hefty daily sum for attending the session of the Assembly (I wonder, if they get an additional sum for attending the session, what is their salary for).

My father always told me that I would fail in life if I did not get my priorities right. I wish our nation had a father too. 

What The #%@(!!

What a conundrum! I am totally confused. I am not even in a position to write a coherent piece on what is going on in this country of ours. Let me just get some facts straight.

• The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan starts with the words “Whereas sovereignty over the entire Universe belongs to Almighty Allah alone”

• The Objectives Resolution (a part of the constitution) mentions that Pakistan shall be a state where “the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam shall be fully observed”

• Article 203D (1) of the Constitution says that the Federal Shariat Court “[either of its own motion or] on the petition of a citizen of Pakistan or the Federal Government or a Provincial Government, examine and decide the question whether or not any law or provision of law is repugnant to the injunctions of Islam, as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet.”

• Article 203D (3) goes on to say that if any such provision is held by the Court to be repugnant to the injunctions of Islam “such law or provision shall, to the extent to which it is held to be so repugnant, cease to have effect on the day on which the decision of the Court takes effect.”

• Article 227(1) says “All existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah, and no law shall be enacted which is repugnant to such Injunctions.”

The words within inverted commas are directly taken from the constitution. With all these and numerous other provisions present in the Constitution as well as various other laws in force in Pakistan, I wonder what is going on in Malakand. According to news reports in all the leading newspapers of the country,

• The NWFP government abolished all un-Islamic laws in Malakand division.

• According to the NWFP Information Minister “In this judicial system, Shariah Muhammadi, the details of which are available in books of Islamic Fiqah and based on the Holy Quraían, Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), Ijma and Qias will be in force and no decision against it will be acceptable.”

• The Chief Minister of NWFP explained to the media that this system “meant to provide speedy and cheap justice.”

What bothers me is, firstly, that the government has admitted that un-Islamic laws existed in the district of Malakand, and consequently, virtually admitted that such laws also exist in the rest of the country. Secondly, that the constitution of Pakistan and the other laws and courts of the country are not capable of mending the situation and a whole new law is required to enforce Islamic laws. Then why do we have such provisions in the first place?

I am not an expert on the subject, hence the confusion, but I feel that this step is a mockery of the supreme law of the land. It has been our dilemma since the creation of Pakistan that we have not taken our laws seriously. We are a sovereign state, nobody can force us to legislate in a particular manner. Our legislative assemblies are free to make and amend laws as they please, and yet, we continue to make laws that either cannot be implemented or that we have no intention of implementing.

I don’t know where the fundamental fault is, not because I can’t see a fault but because I see too many of them. Our legislators are more interested in mud slinging and ministries and perquisites than their actual job of legislation. We can pass laws to right a number of wrongs but for some reason we do not (take the case of the reinstatement of the Chief Justice, for example). When we do make laws they are mostly ill-drafted and unclear resulting in making little difference to the situation since they just cannot be implemented. And when, once in a while, we do pass a legislation that is clear and according to our wishes, we do not implement it anyway.

In short, I feel that we, as a nation, are unclear about three things. What we want, why we want it and how we can get it. Blame it on our centuries-long legacy of being ruled by others, or on our dismal education system or whatever you feel like. The fact is that we, as individuals also suffer from the same indecision. We plan things, make rules and then break them ourselves.

Bad laws, bad implementation, bad execution, I can take all these, mistakes are a part of life. But a constitution that is not enough or is forgotten. That speaks volumes of us as a nation. And, for the record, I am still confused.

Unquestioned Answers!

Enlightened people (and nations) spend their lives pursuing unanswered questions. They search and research, form theories, conduct experiments and leave their findings for future generations. However, doomed people (and nations) spend their lives following unquestioned answers. They are told something by their elders, or the media, or they read something, and start blindly following these things without questioning them.

Look at our lives. Questioning religion, questioning our parents, questioning our habits are all forbidden, to the extent of being labeled sins. We have become so accustomed to avoiding questions that we just cannot bring ourselves to question anything without feeling extremely scared and uncomfortable. We have lost the ability to rationalize things or to try and make some sense out of what is going on.

For instance, how many of the love birds who celebrated Valentine’s day with great fervour, have any clue about what this day is about? I am not against the occasion. It is good that people, at least for one day, concentrate on spreading love and exchanging gifts instead of the usual depressing stuff. But I do feel that if we follow something with the enthusiasm seen on this day, at least we should know what we are celebrating.

One of the legends I came across while trying to find out about the day has this explanation for its origins. “the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to 'christianize' celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival. In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The boys then sliced the goat's hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goathide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D.” (Source : www.history.com/content/valentine/history-of-valentine-s-day)

By the way, an internet site, while explaining the history of Valentine’s Day, has this to say about its celebration in the eastern world “Thanks to a concentrated marketing effort, Valentine's Day is celebrated in some Asian countries”

Today is the Urs of Hazrat Ali Hajvery (popularly known as Data Ganj Bukhsh). He was undoubtedly one of the greatest saints of this area. Very few people are aware of this occasion, (hardly anyone outside Lahore and its adjoining areas knows about it).

I see people celebrating the death anniversary of St. Valentine with a fanatic zeal and I see the same people not even noticing Data Sahib’s Urs and I wonder. Who are we? Pakistanis, Muslims, nobodys? Who? I also wonder how we can ever judge our direction, our goals or the standards of good and bad, when we just follow, without thinking. Adam and Eve were tricked by the Devil who used all his guile. We, on the other hand don’t need any elaborate scheme, all someone requires to do in order to destroy us is to simply tell us to plan our own destruction, and, at the most, combine it with a good marketing strategy. We will just follow, and not question.