Blood and Tears

 So they came back. To take revenge they say. And this time they butchered innocent children. Can you believe that? Yes children. Innocent children. Deliberately massacred. Over a hundred of them. This was something greater and uglier than anyone had anticipated.

It was heart wrenching. I remember I was in the class and I heard it from a friend. It filled me with pain I cannot explain in words. I couldn’t bring myself to hear or see more. The images on my Twitter and Facebook newsfeed were too overwhelming.

 I couldn’t go near the TV that day where our media as usual was busy in its senseless sensationalism and their hunger for more ratings which never stops them to make a mockery of events as sensitive as this.

 It was like this for everyone who heard about it. Agonizing pain. Ah the cruelty! Come to think of it. It reminds one of the Nazis gassing the innocent children in the concentrations camps.

And then our overly emotional nation and its reactions. This is by no means an attempt to offend the emotions of the people. Of course the loss is too great for words, but the point here is that the very nation which mourns and cries with such intensity, goes all berserk protesting, but then forgets it completely within days. How easily we move on is one of the many tragedies of our nation.

And this will happen again. Whether we like it or not, this is bound to happen. We have short memories and time has proved this.

But right now the momentum is very high. It’s riding on a very strong current. There’s this galvanizing support for eradicating this menace once and for all. One reflection of it is the demand to publicly hang the terrorists which is getting popular and stronger.

But will it hold? Will it be different this time? Will we be able to hold it longer and just not let the moment pass? Only time can tell.

There have been demonstration and protests of all sort and they continue in full swing to this moment. From prayers to candle light vigils, form changing profile pictures on social media to black and holding rallies, there has been no dearth of protest and condemnation. Here one gets a flashback of same kind of anger and protest on the nation about 3 years back when a 14 year old girl was shot in broad day light. It was a similar energy. We saw the whole nation unite. There were protests and prayers and then within days it fizzled out.

But then we have another problem. Even if the people refuse to let go and the pressure sustains will it really lead to some real change? Will it make the establishment wake up now? It is not easy to see something productive coming out of it.

There seems to be not much hope. If it was about waking up and changing your priorities then it would have happened a long time ago. Wasn’t the massacre of Hazara community in Quetta enough, the mass killings of innocent civilians in the cities, the targeted killings of Shias in buses, the ruthless killing of minorities, the attacks on our bases and airports? There is a never ending list of countless men women and children who have died. The loss is just so great that no matter what is done it just cannot be compensated. But the truth is that it just has not been enough. The blood has been spilled, the cries and shrieks have even crossed the heavens and the tears have dried up but it just has not been enough. There have been resolves but none of them ever too convincing to wipe it out once and for all. There has been this habit of the establishment to make a distinction between good animals and bad animals. And of course why not make distinctions when you need the good animals for your adventures here and there; when you are a security state obsessed with your strategic goals; when the state is more important the very people who inhabit it.

So why complain when your monsters attack you? Why cry when you yourself have been the hand feeding them?

And this is it which brings us to the real problem of Pakistan. This is which needs to change. The priorities, the mindset, the agenda, and the objectives everything needs to be revamped. We cannot just afford to play at both sides of the field. We just cannot afford the outsourcing of militancy any more, we just cannot afford any more proxies. This is has been too much now. Just one shade of it can be seen in how a cleric sitting in the heart of the capital is openly refusing to condemn the attack and is getting airtime on prime time TV.

Without this vital and urgent shift in the policy, all the protest, all the demonstrations, the prayers, the blood the tears everything will be in vain again. It is from this power center in Pakistan that any real change can come and it is now or never for the masters to realize that can the dark monsters engulf the very existence of the state. It is time a firm resolve is made once and for all before it’s too late.

Without this there seems to be only more blood and tears and no hope for Pakistan. 

Losing our sanity………????

I have been witnessing this for quite a long time now ;how much happiness we as  nation derive from anything horrible happening to people who don’t share our beliefs or are different from us in one way or the other.

 It is really strange that how we at once assume the role of one united nation whenever it comes to something against those very people anywhere in the world on any scope, while it is extremely sad that apart from this we rarely ever are a nation!

 I’ve seen this feeling many times now and at several occasions. Take for instance the recent Sandy storm that hit the US. Many people I myself know were really happy about this. They claimed that it was God’s punishment on the infidels because they had made the blasphemous movie. And such disasters when it came upon us, they were Azmaish (test) and when they hit them they were Azaab.

 This is just one incident which serves the example of what I’ve tried to point out at the outset. And then there is our hatred for people different from us that we can’t see anything good happening to them. We can’t see them win, can’t see them prosper, can’t see them progress.

 But that’s not everything alone that disturbs one. What is worrying is that what do us really from this rancor and contempt? Do we as a nation progress by this useless activity? Do we get ahead by our hatred? Does this even have an iota of effect on their accomplishments or achievements???

 My point is that why are we so happy by finding faults in others and then spreading hatred??? What satisfaction do we get by hating the ones who we cannot compete; the one who have works harder and got ahead of us? Much ahead indeed.

 The problem with most of us is that we neither have the will nor the courage to see our own face in the mirror. (for we know that what a horrible and ugly face we are going to see.) We don’t want to pause and reflect at we have done? Where we ourselves stand? What are our faults and short comings? What crimes and immoralities we have committed?

 And then we very easily blame and criticize others and find solace in this. For we have cleared our conscience. We find so much satisfaction in hating and rebuking them as it is the easiest way out.

 But this is not just related to achievements and faults; rather it questions our very sanity. That how much humanity do we have in ourselves? Or is there any left at all or not?

 What is the point of being happy if something bad happens in any part of the world inhabited by a people who don’t share our beliefs? Have we forgotten that those people too are human beings; like us. Humans, who eat, love and pray as we do. And have mothers and fathers; sons and daughters. Expect the fact that they live in a different part of the world, believe in a different faith and have different values.

 I’ve no idea that what kind of thinking are we actually nurturing and evolving? Again doesn’t it link to our extremist tendencies which can be easily aroused by this rhetoric of the reactionary forces so widely present in the society?

 This is an extremely dangerous trend which is vividly visible the way we treat our minorities; both religious and ethnic. We have crossed every limit in our fanaticism in the past few years in this regard.

Point of the matter is that how much zealously religious we may become, how much die-hard we may become, how much we take this an obligation to adopt bigotry and hatred; one thing is for sure. We have totally forgotten the essence and spirit of our great religion. We have mutilated its face and disregarded the principles of tolerance and humanity with utter contempt.

Malala Yousufzai and the Nobel Peace Prize

On 10^th 0ct 2014 Malala Yousufzai became the youngest person to receive the Nobel peace prize. She shared the prize with Indian children right's campaigner Kailash Satyarthi. Although the world is busy singing her praises Malala is not that well appreciated at home. Since the very beginning when she was shot by the Taliban on Pakistani society has been polarized when it comes to see Malala. On one side there are those who won’t just buy any of the education and women rights narrative and discard her as a foreign agent planted by our enemies as a conspiracy. Then there are those who would go to every length to defend her. They justify her as a symbol of education and resistance against extremism and terrorism. She is seen as the face of the women rights. The camp is divided between these two opposing school of thoughts. And now when she was awarded the Nobel peace prize the conflict sparked again and the debate started once more. It is no doubt that those against the girl getting the prize are in a majority here. And of course they rule the Malala narrative here.

The decision to award her with the peace prize was widely criticized. What has she done to deserve it people ask. Just been shot in the head? There are people far more deserving than she is. Edhi should have got it. The man deserves it. What has she done to promote peace in the world? And the ranting never ends.

Then the minority defending her comes out to her rescue. She has helped improve Pakistan’s image in the world. Our ugly image has been given a little boost. Has Pakistan anything good to show to the world? Malala’s winning the prize has come as a gust of fresh air for Pakistan’s image in the international community. Whether she deserved it or not doesn’t really matter and it is an overall different debate.

To be fair all the sides here are not totally right nor are they wrong. The arguments of all the sides can be debated upon. The Nobel Peace Prize since 1901 has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” This is the official parameter for becoming a recipient of the prize. But the reality is quite different. The prize has always been politically motivated. And for most of its history it has been a subject of controversies. A person like Hitler was nominated for it. Barack Obama received the award in 2009 and he himself was surprised as to why he had been chosen?

To be honest Malala hasn't actually done much to promote peace in the world. She is a young girl who wrote about the plight of the girls her age when the Taliban took over the Swat Valley and banned girls from going to school. And in doing so she rightly did become the face of resistance against extremism and a symbol of education. There is no denying that. But when it comes to her actually deserving the prize it becomes hard to justify it. But then again as mentioned before that the prize has always been politically motivated it doesn't remain difficult to comprehend the decision. And what the people in Pakistan need to understand is this. That it’s not the question of whether she deserved it or not but rather what good has it done for the country. The focus should not be her deserving but rather the values she stands for. Malala stands for peace, she stands for education, women rights, equality between men and women. She stands against terrorism and extremism, against fundamentalism and bigotry, against hate and intolerance. These are the values which the people in Pakistan need to realize instead of accusing of her of being a foreign agent and part of a Yahoodi Saazish. (Jewish conspiracy)

Many people also point out that Malala is contributing to the already negative image of Pakistan. Through her the world gets to know what a war torn, impoverished, backward, conservative and illiterate place Pakistan is. They are not very wrong in their approach. But the question is that aren't these things the bitter truth and harsh realities? Aren't we an impoverished and illiterate nation of 180 million? Why do we become so scared to look at ourselves in the mirror and accept the reality that these problems do exist and we have nothing to solve them? But yes one thing we do can and that is criticizing and disowning the very people who bring us honor and respect .We love to label them as agents and traitors. Not for once do we have the courage to look at ourselves and critically analyze what have we done? Malala today should become an inspiration, to fight terrorism and intolerance, to fight illiteracy and poverty, to fight fundamentalism and extremism. Not a subject of the debate that whether she deserved it or not.

As we look at this from a neutral perspective and critically evaluate the whole episode it becomes easier to say that although Malala did not deserve the prize but it becomes insignificant because of the fact that the prize has been politically motivated. Plus it has been for the greater good of Pakistan. It’s time that we should move on and reflect on the greater and darker issues which continue to haunt us.