My Ordeal

I took this residential unit on rent last year in June as my first residence in Sydney, and I got reference of this land lord from a relative in Pakistan. He was giving this unit on rent and I needed a place. The only friend I had here by that time, suggested that I should take what comes first because it is very hard to get rental property in Sydney. I was by that time not aware of the procedures as I was renting for the first time and did not know any one except for this friend of mine with whom I stayed and unfortunately he did not give me right guidance, he was busy in his own struggle. So I relied on the land lord (I will call him G here onwards) as he said he knew everything and he will fulfill all the procedures.

When we inspected the premises, it was under use by G and his family, and we were told everything is fine, except for what I observed immediately that washroom had a broken shower area, and carpet was very old, kitchen was old too. G said he will arrange to repair everything and that he will paint the unit as well as kitchen will be cleaned. He did paint the unit but no action was taken regarding kitchen and wash room. After moving in, we discovered that Oven was not working and the fittings in kitchen were damaged, rotten and decayed. We really put lot of efforts to fine clean the wash room as it was kept unhygienic for a long time. That was the start of our ordeal and continuous humiliation; we later found that the wash room floor and ceiling (floor of the resident upstairs) were leaking, hence whenever we used the wash room three or four times, carpet was getting soaked and wet, and then stinking. My son locked the room by mistake, and we found there were no keys of that room with us, we asked G, he came and broken the door lock. There was no fire alarm (as I came to know this is a must requirement), and the worst blow came when cockroaches started to appear by October 2008. After our complaint G came with some powder to spread across the walls and kitchen cabinets, which I did not prefer.
The after effects of all this were apparent on our health, my son has developed allergies, he was getting ill whenever there was dampness in the carpet, cockroaches became impossible to control and we lived in fear, you can imagine how would it look to see them roaming around every where, we were washing every utensil before use, we were spraying around the bed room before going to sleep, we were putting bets here and there to kill the insects, my son developed worst reactions in his mind, he started to cry whenever watching the cockroach.
I had communicated repeatedly to G, complained to him, requested him for fumigation and calling Strata management for repairs, but he take half actions, every now and then some plumber was coming to check the fittings, but no repair work, we had problem in water lines as well, cold water was coming in hot line, and we used to complaint then a plumber was repairing it every once and then. At last I asked G if he will not take action I will leave and started looking for alternate, at this notice he replied that I can not leave or I will have to pay the rent of two months to him. However after a very bitter argument, he arranged the fumigation in May 2009, but it turned out to be a cheap way of doing things, and the guy who came did it not in a professional thorough way, and result was that cockroaches started to appear again hardly in two weeks, but situation was much better for us as we had gone through the worst. Strata were also arranged after that and we got the washroom repaired. Did I forget to mention the leaking of taps in kitchen and washroom and a broken leaking and as a result full of algae and dirty pantry? Well if so, yes it was a head ache as well and never really resolved, because every plumber who came said that the setup is not made in a professional way and it needs to be done from scratch again, and G was never willing to do so. I also forget to mention the mice who are coming through holes in kitchen walls and rotting our ration. We have taken all efforts to keep them away, but they appear again after a brief period of calm. As a result we seized to use kitchen cabinets with holes and kept them closed, instead we are using plastic boxes to store the items.
In addition to all this he increased our rent during a fixed term agreement, which now I came to know is illegal. His letters still come to our mailbox, and he comes to collect them or his son or daughter is coming. It seems they did not change their address to ATO, Centerlink and banks, and as a friend told me this probably is illegal too. I have been asking him repeatedly throughout the time to change his address, and he always say that he has done so, and that he doesn’t know why we get his family’s letters.
After this entire ordeal and after fulfilling some financial obligations, I decided to move, and after finding a unit I gave him the notice. He asked me to serve a 60 days notice, which the real state agent (whom I met during my search and who proved to be my first source of real guidance) said is illegal and that only a 21 days notice is sufficient. I talked with G and he changed his statement without any shame that he never meant 21 days notice is not possible. I am still worried as I did not sent him 21 days new notice in writing, I however have SMS saved which I sent to him.
Last blow came after this notice, he asked us to provide him three days as he is intended to repair the kitchen and that the contractor will not change the dates and he will suffer the loss as he has already paid and ordered. The contractor on direction from G, started work without informing us the precautions we should take and scope of work, and they created a mess, they completely broken everything, all fittings and then tiles from walls and floor which resulted in heavy amount of dust across the unit, and now we are facing a huge hygienic problem, there is dust in everything. We asked him to provide professional cleaning and he refused that as we own the premises we should take care of it. In addition the work is not finished in three days, and the contractor suddenly disappeared, I asked G to finish the work on Monday but he said the worker is not available. So here we are, sitting by this pile of garbage and dust. We have tried hard to clean the mess and as a result my wife got ill, she is having continuous head ache and flu. My son started to bleed from nose and he has cough, he can not sleep in night. I have asked G to schedule the work as we had to leave and we had to pack and do all necessary arrangements for our shifting. But there is no action from him so far.
I asked G if he can release our bond money, and he said he will send his agent to check the premises. I consider it to be a clue of his intention to tease us for one more time, as it is stated in our agreement that Agent is not applicable, moreover he did not prepare a checklist at the time of renting (I came to know about this from web site tenants.org.au and then I went to fair trading web site, after a friend advised me day before yesterday, I was sadly not aware of these sites and other details they have provided before).
I am writing all this, to record my ordeal and to share it with the society I and my family live in. I do not know what law says about it, and I do not want any compensation, as all I want is a safe way to get out of this ordeal; me and my family are still suffering and it seems no one can help us out of it. I still have a fear in my mind that G will not let me get out of it that easily. I want moral support, as this gives strength.

Whats in a name?

If you would have asked me this question long time back, I probably would have said “nothing” very naively but no, it is not the case any more, in fact, now I think there is everything in a name. My name means ‘a good news’, I must have been for my parents and family as I was the first child arrived in that home after a long time. Still I had no say in deciding a name for myself, and in that age it was not possible as well, still I am thankful to my parents that they selected a reasonably good name for myself, otherwise it could have been Sardar or Dildar or Baidar, who could have stopped my elders naming me Barkhuddar? In fact no can stop parents and other family elders doing what they want with the new born. Do they think what they have brought in this world is their private property? I knew a friend of mine who has named his new born “Nasrulla Fakhar Omar Noman”. Don’t get frustrated it was just one baby boy born to him, he was not the first child and my friend had three children before, but this new arrival might be presumed the last, and hence all elders insisted that their respective and respected choice shall not be refused and hence it is Fakhar from father, Nasrulla  from paternal grandfather, Omar from maternal grandfather and Noman from maternal grandmother. Of course my friend thought it is the best option to name the boy that way instead of hard and passionate attempts to bring three more ‘boys’ so that the elders can fulfil their wishes and fantasies. I always feel confused whenever I try to call the baby by his name, and I am sure he too will be equally confused when he will grow up, especially as none of his siblings is honoured that way and they all have simple and single names. Real problem will arrive when they will try to attach the father’s name with this wish list.
It was embarrassing for me when I realised that my name actually is feminine and there are many from opposite sex who have equal pride in having the same name I have been honoured with. I tried to find the feminine characteristics in myself very seriously as I thought the name should have its impact but then I thought about Bahadur Khan who was always afraid of everything, and a Farmanbardar who was always angry with his parents, and then my friend Bilal Baig who was called “Laal baig (cockroach) Bilal Baig” and Shumael who was the only boy in eight siblings and we use to call him Hoor Shumael. And I started to thank God; but I still think that if someone find a feminine characteristics in myself which is a possibility, it should be attributed to my name, really!
People say name is not important; after all Laloo and Rabdi are one and same, but we can see name does makes a difference, especially if it is a surname, if this would not have been the case, Bilawal would have remained Zardari and Bhuttos would be a peaceful and thankful lot, but alas, name does play important role when it comes to image creation and public affection, or I should say it is not name but surname which is really important, otherwise Reema would not have been a Khan, but then why Yousuf became Dilip and what was the real name of MadhuBala? And statements by ManMohan while he was in United States really show how powerful the effect of name is. Useless to mention Zardari, as the name says it all; but Sharif is really confusing, in fact, amongst all the rich and famous Sharifs we know, none is a true image of the title.

And of course, you cannot call the temple a mosque and cannot say that mosque is a temple, it was tried with a Mosque once and we are still facing the consequences. Over nightly surname of a woman is changed from her father’s to her husband’s. This creates a doubt in mind if race and caste is really important? And why we cannot accommodate a temple and a mosque side by side? Why, what’s there in a name?

Two Articles from today's newspapers

Two good articles:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/columnists/kuldip-nayar-wheres-the-idea-of-india-019

Message is simple: Control Shiv Sena, its alike and ideology or risk India. Nevertheless policy should be constructive because violence and hatred can not being anything but more violence and more hatred. This article also sheds light on Nehru's vision of Indian unity and communal issues in India. He was of opinion that formation of states on the basis of language will create problems, as majority and minorities will be created and this formation of communities will start a war for economic means between them.

http://www.jang-group.com/jang/nov2009-daily/20-11-2009/col14.htm

I laughed while reading it, but issue highlighted here is certainly not meant for laughing. When you can not cry, you start laughing. Certainly this issue of the naive, unrealistic and non progressive believes in the Muslims of Pakistan is not highlighted here for the first time, but question remains same that how many of us can understand and react positively?

Back from Vacation

I was away on holidays for more than a month. It was both intentional and due to situation that I kept away from internet; and I enjoyed my time out very much. I will be back to posting new blogs in few days' time. Now a days trying to get adjusted back to normal :)

On Independence Day after reading some comments on facebook

So why it is important for us to learn history and to look at the past critically? That question is always important, must be asked and replied again and again so that no one forgets what is there in past for us, and how can we make progress by learning from the past. I was looking on comments by a friend on facebook, on occasions of 62nd independence day of the subcontinent; he has talked about Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and his thoughts on creation of Pakistan. Several people have commented on his thoughts and I was just reviewing them, there is much to observe in those comments, it tells a lot about how we pakistanis react when we face challenges to our commonly accepted beliefs.

Fact is that there are very few controversies in history like the partition of India, it is surrounded by so much conflicts, confusion, hatred and blood that it is not easy for any one to look at the events transparently. The states who came into being after the partition, continued the tradition of hatred and controversy which added into the complexity and truth became the last priority in saving the interests of states, parties, faiths and sects.

Question is that why shall we seek to clear the blur picture of partition of India? why is it important for us to understand the factors behind the drama of partition? and why it is important for Pakistan and Pakistanis? Those who have argument against my friend, insist the same that it is useless to raise questions, that past is past and Pakistan is a reality, that we must not cast a doubt on the history we read about Pakistan. Another common sentimental reaction is to ask how much sacrifices we have made for Pakistan? If we talk about Pakistan with caution, if we want to debate about its history, we are not worthy Pakistanis. Another dangerous trend is to divide the scholars and leaders based on their association to that of Congress or Muslim League etc.

Partition of India set the base of a rivalry between India and Pakistan, which can only be addressed if we analyze what happened in history; which events, situations, sentiments, motives and interests lead to rising communalism in India and ended up on partition. If we figure out those root causes of the conflict, we can better address them on a common ground and hence we can lie the foundation of a peaceful future and we can look out to solve our conflicts. It is not necessary that history repeats itself and we continue the mentality of war and hatred.

So it should be clear that it is necessary for us to ask what happened in past and try to understand it, so that we can improve. We at present are raised up with believes that all hindus are our enemies, we justify our wars with India based on same theory, we always feel insecure because of same theory of communalism, we think only we have right to live, we think all those who live on the other side of border are not humans, we think of them as enemies, not like fathers, brother, mothers, sisters, sons and daughters they are, we never think of them like us. We forget that there is a muslim population almost equal to 138 million in India. We have been told to hate Indians, so that we can keep quite on ridiculous expenses on defense, so that we do not object on the status quo in Pakistan, so that things can remain in same way they are. Think about your problems, and if you are willing to solve them, you will have to ask questions, you will have to cast doubt. Things can never be isolated, events are related to each other, so without past we can not trace our present problems, hence we can not solve them.

And those who talk about sacrifices, I think, to ask question, to raise doubt and voice against accepted beliefs is the biggest sacrifice. It is not easy to stand away from the crowd. And it needs courage to say no, one has to pay the price and face isolation, rejection, and sometimes hatred and brutality as well. We must welcome those who can ask why........

Now I come to the third dangerous trend, as Pakistanis where shall we classify Gandhi, Nehru, Jinnah or Azad? Was Gandhi can be simply confined to the status of just simply a congressman? or Nehru or Azad? Was Jinnah just a communalist? an advocate of muslim separation from India? I am sure history is not that simple, and these personalities can not be simply confined into their political association only. These people were much more than simple politicians. Azad was a Islamic scholar of repute, a linguist, a writer, a philosopher, then he was a congressman. Gandhi was an inspiration for the world, he lead a mass movement in an India which was largely divided, uneducated, undisciplined; he gave India a hope, a hope to rise again, he was not just a politician. So was Jinnah, a secular moderate who was inspired by Renade, Gokhle and Feroz Shah Mehta, a Lawyer of unprecedented reputation, a leader of hindus and muslims, who later chose a path which was never ideal for him but he was forced to opt for it, he was never happy for the 'moth eaten Pakistan' he got. he was too a leader of India, not just muslims or Pakistan. All those leaders were leaders of India, a far bigger and united India than we can imagine.

A recent attempt to stop the way of student unions in Pakistan

Governor NWFP Pakistan, Owais Ghani has written to Prime Minister Pakistan Gillani a letter emphasizing that student unions shall not be started again in educational institutes(http://www.jang-group.com/jang/jul2009-daily/25-07-2009/main4.htm), if I remember it correctly, it was one of the first and most welcomed announcements of Gillani when he took oath as Prime Minister Pakistan.I am not sure what are the credentials of Mr. Ghanni (besides he is Governor, well lets not talk about it :)) and how much developed is his historical awareness and political background.

History tells us that students have played a central role in most of the political movements around the globe, not only this, but the leaders have been produced from the student unions themselves, who knows it better than Gillani himself. I wonder how easily anyone can defy the very basic human rights in Pakistan on any pretext. Lets not forget that the unions were banned by Zia because he was very well aware of their power and potential threat to his government. When students become unite and come forward along with other political forces of country, there are a force which can not be easily defeated, youth is the power of any nation, and with proper guidance they can be the front force of any movement, they have those qualities of believe, motivation, consistency, willingness and courage which can change the outlook of any movement all together; being educated they are more disciplined and can easily be managed. In Pakistan students were the front force in all political uprisings for example against Ayub Khan, in East-Pakistan against Army, against Bhutto and then in movement against Zia as well. And they were organized because of the tradition of student unions, in which they had to participate democratically and unions were providing them a platform to learn organizational and political skills. Moreover, in Unions only those were able to retain themselves who were getting elected, in other words their leaders and the parties have to be aligned with the students of the institute they belonged to. They have to work and show progress to get elected again or be in the mainstream, they were answerable to the common student. And it was by no mean necessary that a union or its representatives or elected organization would belong to a political party.

Everything however was changed in Zia era, and as elections or union were banned, every Tom, Dick and Harry was able to form a party and do whatever they want, they were not answerable to any one inside the institutes, because they were self acclaimed and they were looking outside for the support, hence the role of political parties inside student politics was increased, and corruption set deep inside student politics. And this unguided, uncontrollable, undemocratic and unjustified tradition is primarily responsible for every evil Mr. Ghanni tried to link with the student unions.

I remember in my university, there was a student party whose members can be counted on finger tips, but they set on equal footings with other much larger student parties, because they belonged to a mainstream party of the country, they had all resources, links and connections to make their presence felt. They had connections in the university administration, and they had influence over teachers as well. I am sure this would not have been the situation if union will be there, a party of 12 people was not able to win any election and they would have been vanished if there would have been a democratic process and union system in place.

I also have seen the student organizations and educational institutes in very city of Mr. Ghanni Peshawar along with other cities, and I know how system works there, I can say very confidently that the cause of trouble is presence of Law enforcement agencies in the educational institutes, direct involvement of mainstream mother political parties, no involvement of the students at large in creation of the student parties and no answerability of the student parties’ leadership in their own ranks.

As far as the will of parents to send their children to educational institutes of repute and all other rhetoric of Mr. Ghanni is concerned, may I ask if institutes like Islamia College, Peshawar University, Punjab University, Dow medical college, Karachi University and many others had bad reputation in 50s or 60s? I think all parents of today if they are graduate or more, must have had belong to one or other of these institutes, and they must not be ashamed of the fact that there were student unions in their own days, and that they too belonged to them. I am also sure they all know that there was no law and order situation in education institutes like it was during and after Zia.

Besides student unions by definition and laws are not actually required to be a political platform, they are independent bodies elected by eligible student of an institute. The fact that they take political outlook comes from their elective bodies. But if they are elected, it means the students who elect them have no objection on their representatives belonging to a political idea or party. If they have no objection, why Mr. Ghanni has? Whose interest is he trying to save, his masters and companions, the undemocratic forces in Pakistan or the students and parents? Besides as I said there is no reason for a union to be a political outfit.

Columns and Columnists- - - - In Urdu Newspapers

I usually spent an hour or two daily reading online newspapers of Pakistan, mostly Urdu like Jang (www.jang-group.com), Nawa-e-Waqt (http://www.nawaiwaqt.com.pk), Khabrain (http://www.khabrain.com) and Ummat (http://www.ummatpublication.com), the only English newspaper for which I am a subscriber and frequent visitor, is Dawn (www.dawn.com). I go to Urdu newspapers, because of my thirst for reading in Urdu, and because I want to know what news and views ordinary Pakistanis are provided with. It is not unreasonable, because newspapers also provide a picture of society, as well as their readership, for argument’s sake there is a stark difference between Dawn and any other Urdu newspaper. Here I want to write in brief about the scholarly level of the columns of Urdu papers and the opinion they are creating and how this opinion contributes to make over of our already miserable and improgressive society.

Those who write for these papers are journalists, and they are supposed to have a certain level of scholarship along with specialization in the field they write about, for example history, public relations or politics. I usually refer online dictionaries for searching the meaning of words, here I have consulted www.dictionary.net:

Meaning of the word ‘journalist’:

Journalist \Jour"nal*ist\, n. [Cf. F. journaliste.]

1. One who keeps a journal or diary. [Obs.]

--Mickle.

2. The conductor of a public journal, or one whose business it to write for a public journal; an editorial or other professional writer for a periodical. --Addison.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/journalist)

Meaning of word ‘scholar’:

Scholar \Schol"ar\, n. [OE. scoler, AS. sc[=o]lere, fr. L. scholaris belonging to a school, fr. schola a school. SeeSchool.]

1. One who attends a school; one who learns of a teacher; one under the tuition of a preceptor; a pupil; a disciple; a learner; a student.

I am no breeching scholar in the schools. --Shak.

2. One engaged in the pursuits of learning; a learned person; one versed in any branch, or in many branches, of knowledge; a person of high literary or scientific attainments; a savant. --Shak. Locke.

3. A man of books. --Bacon.

4. In English universities, an undergraduate who belongs to the foundation of a college, and receives support in part from its revenues.

Syn: Pupil; learner; disciple.

Usage: Scholar, Pupil. Scholar refers to the instruction, and pupil to the care and government, of a teacher. A scholar is one who is under instruction; a pupil is one who is under the immediate and personal care of an instructor; hence we speak of a bright scholar, and an obedient pupil.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/scholar)

Meaning of word ‘specialist’:

Specialist \Spe"cial*ist\, n. One who devotes himself to some specialty; as, a medical specialist, one who devotes himself to diseases of particular parts of the body, as the eye, the ear, the nerves, etc.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/specialist)

Here I got another word ‘devotion’, we must look at its meaning as well:

Devotion \De*vo"tion\, n. [F. d['e]votion, L. devotio.]

1. The act of devoting; consecration.

2. The state of being devoted; addiction; eager inclination; strong attachment love or affection; zeal; especially, feelings toward God appropriately expressed by acts of worship; devoutness.

Genius animated by a fervent spirit of devotion. --Macaulay.

3. Act of devotedness or devoutness; manifestation of strong attachment; act of worship; prayer. ``The love of public devotion.'' --Hooker.

4. Disposal; power of disposal. [Obs.]

They are entirely at our devotion, and may be turned backward and forward, as we please. --Godwin.

5. A thing consecrated; an object of devotion. [R.]

Churches and altars, priests and all devotions, Tumbled together into rude chaos. --Beau. & Fl.

Syn: Consecration; devoutness; religiousness; piety; attachment; devotedness; ardor; earnestness.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/devotion)

There are other words we must look at when we want to verify attributes of a writer specially a journalist, for example career, education, school of thought, affiliations etc. All these attributes will help us understand the credibility of a writer. Yes, another important word for us is credibility, actually this is the real word I want to emphasise being looked upon before any one start to believe a writer of mass media.

Credibility \Cred`i*bil"i*ty\ (kr[e^]d`[i^]*b[i^]l"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [Cf. F. cr['e]dibilit['e].]

The quality of being credible; credibleness; as, the credibility of facts; the credibility of witnesses.

(source: http://www.dictionary.net/credibility)

I think this is enough for us to look for before we start to get our brain affected by what we are reading. We must understand that the credentials of a writer are very important, specially when writer is writing for the public.

Without any prejudice and without being agreed with their thoughts and opinions, I am sure one can be easily satisfied on credibility of Ibrahim Jalees, Majeed Lahori, Raees Amrohavi, Ibn-e-Insha, Faiz, Nadeem Ahmed Qasmi, and in contemporaries Jameel Aali, Farooq Qaiser, Hassan Nisar and few others. My list is too short as I do not want to emphasize on names, but my motive is to emphasize on character and credibility.

And why is this so important? How the credibility of writer is important and how it affects the mass opinion? Well writers do reflect the society they belong to, and as such they are mirrors, they are part of the society and can not be separated from it, still they play an important role in opinion building and changing the mood of society, they are the recruiters for the school of thought or interest they belong to, and in this capacity they are responsible and their credibility is important. If we have writers who are corrupt, a commodity in the market, or so much biased and prejudiced that they do not want to listen to others and can not bear disagreement; then we shall be cautious.

I will give one example from the current affairs and columns appearing in newspapers these days without giving a specific name or example. It is a common thread among most of writers and it is written repeatedly that Taliban are supported by India and USA. Well, it can be true but this is not the whole truth, remaining truth which shall be equally emphasized and it is being emphasized by very few, is that Taliban are a product of Pakistan’s establishment, and for sure they represent a faction of our society as well and as such they are still supported from amongst us, we can not blame others for our mistakes, others will come to take advantage but it is us who are responsible to clean the mess and undo the mistakes. My question, how many of our writers, scholars and journalists are conveying this message? And forming public opinion to be critical of our own regime and establishment?

And as such, where shall we classify them?

Not you ! Your VISA .............

"In a poor zoo in Pakistan, a lion was frustrated as he was offered not More than 1 kg of meat a day.

The lion thought its prayers were answered, when one day; a UAE Zoo Manager visited the zoo and requested the zoo management to shift the lion to Dubai Zoo.

The lion was so happy and started thinking of a central A/C environment, a goat or two every day.

On its first day after arrival, the lion was offered a big bag, sealed very nicely for breakfast. The lion opened it quickly but was shocked to see that it contained few bananas. The lion thought, may be, they cared too much for him as they were worried about his stomach as he had recently been shifted from Pakistan.

The next day the same thing happened. On the third day, again the same food bag of bananas was delivered.

The lion was so furious; it stopped the delivery boy and blasted at him, 'don't you know I am the lion...king of the Jungle..., what's wrong with your management? What nonsense is this? Why are you delivering bananas to me?

The delivery boy politely said, 'Sir, I know you are the king of the jungle ... but... you have been brought here on a monkey's visa!!!"

It is a joke, a joke which is very very much connected with the reality. In background of how human resources and employment works in Middle East, it is how the system works. And it happens when an organization really need a person with specific skills but they do not have visa allocated for that profession due to any reason, they hire that person, and allocate him visa from the available slots, hence a doctor can be working on a mason's visa.

On Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson died...........well not a news any more, his funeral is the current news, and that is how it will go on and get settled. Most interesting was the debate in few circles that he was a Muslim, and if he will be buried in Islamic manner.

I think there must be a limit on our affiliation with any person, I am not interested in Michael Jackson's private life very much, though there are many interesting aspects of complexity of human nature and relations in his life. Still I am not very interested in Michael as a son, or husband or father. I, like many millions, am a fan of Michael Jackson the singer and musician, and I know that musician will live forever, he has not died and he will not die. His music is so full of patience, rhythm, versatility and appeal that I am sure he will be liked by future generations as well.

I will never forget "heal the world" and "we are the world", neither I will forget "thriller", "black or white", "bad" or "girl is mine", "liberian girl", "smooth criminal", "history". He was one of the few musicians who influenced cultures and people globally.

Not only this, but we shall remember his charities, and his thoughts on inequality and poverty in the world as well.

Mockery of words

Have you ever felt ‘chill’ running through your spine? I do; specially when I see people making mockery of history, and distorting truth by using beautiful words. But why any such incident is so dreadful? Well, because those people are considered to be very reliable, honest and influential. People believe in them and follow them. I would write about three most recent experiences.

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan a well known and controversial figure, admired rather worshiped by Pakistanis wrote in an article published in daily Jang (http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jun2009-daily/03-06-2009/col1.htm, viewed on 04 June 2009), the largest circulated newspaper in Pakistan :” Tamils belong to Hindu religion which is a fundamentalist religion”. He further says that “ Sri Lankan (Sinhalese) are soft spoken, calm, and non violent people, which is also the education of Buddhist religion”. What is the problem in these statements? Both of these statements distorts the truth, are unrealistic and cause false hatred or sympathy. He wants to mould the opinion of masses against Hindus and Tamils, and he wants to create sympathy towards Sinhalese by projecting a false impression of both.

Not only that but by saying this that ‘Hindu religion is a fundamentalist religion” he is alienating whole Hindu population of Indian Sub Continent from the rest of people. Moreover declaring Islam a fundamentalist religion is same mistake, others made and try to alienate Muslims from rest of world. Where this behaviour is leading us? Of course War and Blood Shed is the only objective of all such people who try to destroy the truth and realities. Matter of fact is that religion whichever it is; is always promoting peace and tolerance, religious teachings always advocate harmony; an essential for existence of humans. One of prime objectives of any religion is to save us from ourselves; how come any religion can be violent? It is us, the people who are after other people for what so ever be the reasons. Yes, there can be bad and good anywhere, in any cadre and any society, in any community or group of people. But not all can be attributed as bad, if some of them are bad. That way we destroy the good, we discourage those who believe in peace and harmony. I am not sure if Dr. Qadeer can not understand the basics of human behaviour.

Second one is a column from Mr. Hamid Meer in Daily Jang (http://www.jang.com.pk/jang/jun2009-daily/04-06-2009/col4.htm, viewed 4^th June 2009); in this column he writes about black mailers working against Pakistan under the disguise of a secular and liberal agenda. The way he has written it, it seems that ‘Secular’ and ‘Liberal’ are some very negative terms, like they are a poison for Pakistani society. Again I am not sure if he understands what does it mean by secularism or liberalism? He does not know that the very newspaper and media he is writing for is ‘secular’, the masses he is addressing are also secular, here I am not trying to advocate any of these ideas, but I just want to emphasise on creating awareness about the right concept, having a clear understanding of the idea, before one can start writing. By wrong interpretations, we create misunderstanding which results in more misdoings.

The third example is from a mail I got from a friend ( It can be posted if required, it is however saved with me and can be presented anytime), this mail is a forwarded mail containing an article. Title of article is ‘Asal Sikandar-e-Azam kon hai?’ (Who is the real Sikandar-e-Azam?). It is a comparison between two personalities in history, Alexander the great and Umar Bin Khattab the second Caliph. Writer is asking again and again who is real Sikandar-e-Azam, and he never seems to realize or understand what does this title means? ‘Sikandar-e-Azam’ is urdu translation of ‘Alexander the great’. Sikandar in Urdu or perhaps Arabic is substitute of Alexander; similarly ‘Azam’ means ‘The Great’, just like Akbar the great (Akbar-e-Azam), or Ashoka the great (Ashok-e-Azam). The writer might not know that but I have read the same title for Umar i.e. Farooq-e-Azam, as he is also known as Umar Al Farooq. This linguistic mistake makes the whole article he wrote a joke. And I feel pity about people who are forwarding that article after thinking very admirably about the arguments put forward by the so-called writer to make Umar a Sikandar-e-Azam.

Perhaps now it is understandable why I feel a chill running through my body? This mockery of words, this distortion of minds and this abuse of history will only bring more hatred, more short-sightedness, more aloofness and more destruction for us.

Swat--- A Perspective

I was watching a documentary on situation in North West Pakistan, it includes mention of Swat, in news and in a war since last few months. Reportedly a strong centre of Taliban, inhabited by people who want nothing but Sharia rule.

Few days back a friend was telling me that in areas like Swat and Mardan, the support for Taliban is local population; locals, as per his information, did not resist the Talibs, and welcomed them. His opinion is that the Local people are aligned with Taliban. More drastically, he said that Taliban faced resistance only by Shias and Ismailis, on contrary Sunnis welcomed them.

I think these two points, that Swat is a stronghold of Taliban and that the Sunni population is supporting them, are the key points to understand the situation. The least I can say is that both shows a deliberate fabrication to distort the truth. Here I will concentrate on the first point first.

I have been to Swat twice, it was the place where we went for our honey moon, I still remember the white palace, old palace of the former rulers of Swat. I remember the people, and no one ever can make me believe that those people supports Taliban. They were the most progressive and secular people I met in North West Pakistan. We entered into Swat via Malakand, and there was a noticeable difference in the outlook of people, Swatis were more sophisticated, educated and entrepreneurial. I still remember and very dearly remember the first image of Swat I got, and that was of young children going to schools, a university on our way to Mingora, and groups of girls clad in school uniforms. I can not believe that this image can be changed within four years, it is unbelievable.

I can not believe those people were so weak that they gave way to extremist just like that. There must be other factors, factors which are important to be considered.

Here my first objective is to correct the image of Swat we have been forced to perceive, to correct the image of those beautiful places, Mingora, Saidu Sharif, Manglour, KalaKot, KhuazaKhela, Malam Jabba, Bahrain, Kalaam, Ushu, Utror; and to correct the image of people who live here.

Swat has a history which goes back to ancient times, Swat has been mentioned in Rig Veda, it was once a centre of Buddhist education, it was traversed by Alexander the Great, it was an important part of Mauryan empire, then of Kushans. Can we believe that once Sanskirit was the major language of Swat? That it is thought to be the origin of Vajrayana Budhism. The region came into contact with Islam in around 11th Century, and went under influence of Afghans most of the times. History tells us that people of Swat fought bravely against Mughals. State of Swat was found around mid nineteen century, and it existed till1969.

The people are mostly Pushtoons or Kohistanis ( also called Kaafirs), well two totally different blends to say the least, but this distinction (or difference as Pushtoons and Kohistanis speak different languages, they have different customs and traditions, even different believes) creates a more tolerating and open society which you can not imagine for example in Dir or MaalaKand, which are purely Pashtoon. Another distinction Swat has, is its history as an state. Because it was a state, the population was starkly poor, less tribal and more open towards external influence, though most of Pushtoon population belongs to YousufZai clan, still as people of the Wali of Swat, their outlook was less tribal. We can see similarities with the state of Kabul, as compared to the so called tribal areas of today’s Pakistan. As Swat became a tourist attraction, this distinction became more and more remarkable, because of external influence people of Swat were exposed to.

I do not have statistics in hand, but I believe that education standard in Swat was much better than any tribal area. Communication facilities were better, as Swat is a tourist attraction, hence more transport, more trade and more links with rest of country, even links with the rest of world. Malam Jabba is the only Ski Resort in Pakistan, people in thousands were supposed to visit Swat annually. Due to trade and tourism, people from other areas of Pakistan were doing jobs in Swat. All together it means a continuous influx of ideas from rest of world. And this is what makes Swat different than for arguments sake Waziristan or Bajod, and that is what makes more difficult for me to understand what went wrong here? And the doubt I have on the theory that people of Swat actually supported Taliban.

"I have saved this answer to a foreign friend in answer to her question 'where we see Pakistan stand in future?' it was immediately after release of some brutal videos in which people were seen get slaughtered and then that incident in Sawat when a girl was beaten in public."

Well from my own understanding of the history and politics of this region, Pakistan do not stand aloof from rest of sub-continent, i.e. Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, you may also count in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka (Nevertheless we have got a new name 'AfPak' which is a hint in itself). The point I am trying to present is simple, this area as a whole is always part of the 'great game' played by empires since last few centuries, secondly Muslims of the area form an entity which is different in terms of culture, tradition and languages from rest of Muslim world, but for sure it is influenced by and it has influenced the Muslim thought since a long time. Some of the examples are Jamal-ud-din Afghani, Iqbal, Moudodi, Maulana Ilyas, Ghulam Ahmed Pervaiz, and Dr. Hameed-Ullah.

Deoband the origin of famous school of thought 'Deobandi' from which the Taliban belongs, is in India, so as Bareli the origin of most practised one 'Barelvi' amongst the Muslims of this region. History has been distorted in a way that it has become very difficult for someone living today to understand that Muslims of Indian Sub Continent had their own identity, and they still do. This truth however is not in interest of any of the parties involved in current game, most importantly India, Pakistan and US. Governments of India and Pakistan throughout the time have played a major role in destroying history to suit their motives and interests. Another important factor is movement of 'Hindutva' in India, which has influenced and changed the total behaviour and thought of new generations in the region.

When generation are cut off from their past in that way, they go into darkness, and look here and there in search of their identity. Pan-Islamism is just one of solutions of this identity crisis for most of us; an easy solution may be, as it is in line with our belief as Muslims. What we tend to overlook

However is that culture and religion are two separate forms of recognition and belonging. In our daily lives, we try to be within our cultural circle, we(when I say we, it means Muslims) tend to marry within our own type, we cannot communicate with each other if we do not know some of global languages, we cannot like to eat some of the foods(halal) of other regions. Pathan cannot eat rice regularly :), and Bengali cannot live without it. Still we are Muslims, and we observe Islamic customs and laws. So where is the problem? Muslims of this region started to look outside for their cultural identity or they were forced to do so, it is where the doubt is, and it is where the peace is. Cultural unity and a common history (even if it is full of conflicts or interpreted as full of conflicts) is the biggest threat to anyone who does not want peace in this region. Why? Because when we look at common culture, not only Muslims but the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis; everyone who

lives in this region, becomes closer to each other, I am sure if any one who is longing after power in this region, can tolerate such unity, or any traces of such unity amongst the masses.

You should have asked where we want Pakistan to stand in future instead of where it will stand. At present, we do not want anything but chaos!