Again!!!

Once Mushtaq Yusufi wrote that "worst about bad rumours coming from Pakistan is that they turned out to be true", things never improved but further deteriorated, now it is not just rumours but almost every other news which comes from the country, it hurts.
Blasts at Mazar of Abdulla Shah Ghazi Karachi, after incident on Data Darbar in Lahore; Ah, one after another, all symbols of tolerance and peace for the masses are targeted. The message they want to give us is clear, we are to be driven towards extremism, the land of Sufis has to give way to hard core narrow minded intolerance. People specially masses from lower classes are still aloof from sectarian and religious hatred and most of extremist groups have their roots in middle class which has comparatively higher education rate and competition for economic resources and power, hence a good recruiting ground for hate mongers.
Moreover, these shrines, they are easy targets because it is hard to carry out security measures, most of the visitors are from lower classes and hard to be disciplined and controlled.
It is very sad to be a witness to this situation, too much to be lost within a life time, I can not believe this is the same land and same people where I was born and grew up.

On Chanakya

There were comments on a blog of mine which need some more arguments, I am writing it as a separate blog because it had nothing to do with the topic of Ayodhiya verdict of yesterday.

It is about Chanakya, and to share my opinion on him as I find it very often that people abuse that name and interpret him and his thoughts to be evil, and worst they call it a mentality and then try to impose it on Hindus as a nation or sect which is evil or cunning.

I think both approaches are wrong and mischievous and used as a tool by hate mongers who try to distort history by false claims and follow likes of Hitler and Goebbels (speak lie so regularly and with so patience and force that you yourself start to believe them) and people follow them without understanding and mostly without bothering to know more about that personality, his age and thoughts.

Chanakya was a worldly scholar, someone who was in a position of political command and manoeuvring and who did not told his thoughts from lips of a deity (as Hammurabi did), instead he presented them as of his own as teachings for those who are involved in worldly politics and power broking.

He was not the first, neither the last man to do so, Machiavelli is an example, Nizam ul Mulk Tusi wrote his Siyasatnama on same lines, Zia ud Din Barani has written Fatwa-i-Jahandari on same lines. So can we call all of them followers of Chanakya? were they all presenting a mean, cruel and cunning nation? And what about politicians and power brokers of today? do they all present their nations as a whole? is everyone in those people's nations is alike? Was every Muslim of Seljuk period was a Nizam ul Mulk? are those who live in that area can still be called Nizam ul Mulk? or all politicians of that part of world are Nizamis, following Nizamism? were all Sultans of India during time of Zia Ud Din were Ziai?

There had been Mir jafar and Mir Sadiq in Muslims, is every Muslim of India like them? if so, who was Tipu Sultan then? who was Bakht Khan? who was Sher Shah Suri?

I find it a very idiot argument to interpret whole nation or whole people on thoughts or actions of one personality. Most of the decisions made are based on the circumstances and interests of decision makers. of course decisions can be wrong and disastrous but we must not try to interpret everything as a conspiracy and preach hate and sectarianism.

Law and Justice

I was told by a judge "law not necessarily provides justice, it is not the function of law", I have been thinking over it since then, yes; law is to protect interests, factions, and people in society, and it has to keep the balance so that harmonics in society are not impacted, and we all can survive. Justice on the other hand is achieved by collective will of the people in a society or state, when people say nay to a practice, it has to be abolished by state and introduced as law to keep the balance.

I can not see collective will of people of Pakistan to produce what they think is just and right into laws effectively. Problem is that when you demand justice to be done, it has to be done blindly to all; then no Shia no Sunni, no Hindu, No Muslim;all must be equal in eyes of law, and it looks like that we are not going in that direction.

Until we realise, what is justice and how to make effective laws; what we see happening around us will continue.... I do not want to point to any specific event, as all events, every single one in which a life is lost, in which an innocent is brutalised, in which power is abused, they are all related, one and same........they show our inability to rightly demand and provide justice, we all are responsible for this...........if it continues the way it is going...if we won't learn, everything will be destroyed.

Message to those who think Pakistan is doomed

Ashamed or not, fact remains that you are Pakistani (please do not use the word Paki). Now that everyone is condemning the incident, how much time will we take to go back to normal? I need to say what are the real actions taken? what is ana...lysis, why such incidents occur in our society? what are actions required to curb such incidents?
let me know:
What is education rate in Pakistan? more specifically in the rural areas?
What health facilities are provided en mass by state or private sector and at what cost comparing average income of a Pakistani?
What is situation of democracy? what say people have in the direction of their government? let me know how many of us know what is democracy?
What recreational facilities people are provided? what statistics say about such facilities per capita? What is status of our media and entertainment industry?
What are we teaching people? what are our primary and secondary education syllabus? has any one tried to compare them with other countries?
Last but not least, few of us are modest, tolerate and educative? how much time are we willing to invest to serve our people? can we talk about a mass contact movement to start dialogue with common Pakistanis which do not enjoy such facilities as electricity, telephone or internet. If we can talk, how many will be willing to get involved?
How many of us go to vote? how many of us dare to challenge the establishment? how many of dare to challenge our leaders? how many of us dare to challenge our civil servants? how many of us say no to bribes and corruption? how many of us stand with those who dare to say no?
when an accident occurs? have you ever tried to come forward to help injured?
You people are the power, realize that and come forward, get united, do not complain. There are many subjective arguments and conflicts, they can get resolved. Do not complain about system and people, complaint about yourself first, its our inabilities which become inability of the system, it is us whose mirror are our leaders, do not be ashamed of yourself, that is what you are.
I am very optimistic that if we really start to think what role we can play, and start playing it as soon as possible, we can change the situation.

Paid for Resignation

CEO which causes shame and harm to reputation of company will be paid so that he can go, along with losses in the market. Who will pay? Employees and Shareholders. This industry practice needs to be reviewed immediately.

"Hewlett-Packard fell $4.31 to $41.99 in extended trading. The shares, down 10 percent this year, dropped 5 cents to $46.30 earlier today on the New York Stock Exchange."

"Hurd will get a severance payment of $12.2 million, plus other benefits that include a prorated vesting settlement of 330,177 restricted HP shares. He received $30.3 million in compensation in 2009 and $42.4 million the year before."

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-08-06/hp-s-mark-hurd-resigns-after-sexual-harassment-probe.html

My Poetry

May not fit on the standard of poetry, but this is a try, not sure how well I have done.

ہاے کیا گل کھلایا جا رہا ہے
ہمیں الو بنایا جا رہا ہے

کبھی شرفا کو ملتی ہے حکومت

...کبھی زردار لایا جا رہا ہے

میری قسمت میں گننے چوپنا ہے

انھیں حلوہ کھلایا جا رہا ہے

ابھی سرکار اٹھے تھے یہاں سے

اٹھا کر پھر بٹھایا جا رہا ہے

درختوں سے اتر کے آے تھے نا

وہیں پے پھر چڑھایا جا رہا ہے

اسی پانی پے جھگڑا تھا ہمارا

اسی میں اب سمایا جا رہا ہے

عقل کے ناخنوں سے تھی عداوت

انہی سے سر کھجایا جا رہا ہے

Tribute

She never wanted to come back from Quetta, and she was never happy in Karachi. But both her sons were working in Karachi and most of relatives moved from Quetta as well after city started to become hostile for settlers (a term in use for people residing in Quetta which are not Pushtoons or Balochs. May be useful to mention this city was chosen by British as the garrison head quarters for the troops responsible to secure borders with Afghanistan and Iran, it was a strategic location and suited for British interest.  It was due to British interest and the garrison that the city prospers and attracted people from across India to start or extend their businesses to fulfil the growing demands and keep up with the supplies required. This was the origin of a large non native population of Quetta, and contributed with skilled man power necessary to maintain an urban centre.  A good example is famous Marker family of Quetta. These people (settlers) brought education and prosperity with them; they supported the local population and contributed in emergence of an educated middle class in Balochistan, most importantly they made Balochistan their home and never looked back.  This contribution is now largely ignored by the nationalists for whatever reasons they have; history here is a victim) and continues abuse and killings made people migrate from this dear city of theirs. It is sad to see people migrating twice or thrice in a life time, there is a huge human cost in all the events in history, which is always paid by those who are never mentioned any where and forgotten.

So she was forced to move from Quetta after she retired on the reason that there was nothing left for her there. What was forgotten was that the city was not separated from her; it was where she grew up and which gave her refuge and support always whenever she needed. They were inseparable, and it was apparent from her condition when she stayed in Karachi for a while. She was as independent and self sufficient as her city was; she did not need and knew no bounds. It was natural for her to be sad while away from where she belonged. It happens when people spent all their life in one place, when the place, its weather, its atmosphere, its places, its people, its markets, its roads are the only familiarity they have, when they come into peace with the place and become one self, inseparable. It is like you can not grow a cactus in a rainy forest, mushrooms only grow where there is rain.

So was natural for her to be happy when she got a chance to go back to the city, to her independence, to herself. She was really very happy, and this time she was going there for the last time, looks like she knew that for she met every one she knew since her childhood, all her friends and well wishers, all acquaintances and everyone to whom she had to ask for forgiveness. She arranged that the mosque in her neighbourhood in carpeted, she managed her bank accounts and moved the balance in to a single one.  She visited every place in Quetta and breathed to the fullest.

Quetta was once held by Khans of Kalat, and Kalat is considered gateway to Queta and a road is constructed which joins Karachi to Quetta via Lasbela, Khuzdar, Kalat and Mastung. It is near Kalat where the accident occurred and she breathed her last. She was fast asleep when a truck overtaking hit the vehicle on her side. It is not strange that no other passenger amongst the five (including the driver  of the Toyota 2D )was hurt; she was the only one amongst the five.  She was the only one who did not want to go away from Queta.

 What is a tragedy for some, can be fun for others; some people stolen the valuables while those with whom she was travelling were busy in managing the incident, taking care of the dead body and moving her to a safe place. But what she was taking for her loved ones was safe, cloths she sewed for her grand children, shopping she did for her family, documents she collected for her daughter; everything was safe, not touched by the greedy, may be they were not able to find it.

I will remember her for her simplicity, sincerity and dedication. Life for her was not a bed of roses, not at all, but what she managed to do for others despite all the hardships and difficulties is amazing. For her, unification of family was the biggest objective, and she went out of ordinary to do everything for her family, her children, her siblings, her nephews and nieces, their children and other relatives and friends. Most valuable asset of her personality was forgiveness, which demands a person who has vision and understanding beyond ordinary, who can understand the threads in society and social implications of decisions which destroy the very fabric of relations. Patience was her virtue, which enabled her to stand against all the odds. An extra ordinary life of a very ordinary person, and that is the reason why I am writing these lines, to bring forward some good virtues of her in light.

I feel sorry that she did not give me time. And I am left without serving her, but I have with me what is the dearest and best part of her, her daughter and grand children and I endeavour to take good care of them and preserve and transfer the good deeds and habits of their grand mother to my children; God Willing!

Accidents happen but Mistakes are not to be repeated

Accidents do happen, and we can not predict when and where, what will happen, but we do try to take preventive measures to avoid disasters.
May be right time to remind Pakistanis what they need to know is if all precautions were taken, if all standards were met, if right procedures were followed at all stages before sending that unfortunate plane to air------ till connection was broken.....
Can we ask for independent experts to investigate the case? To know what really happened, and to know what should be done to minimise possibilities so it will not happen again.

how history is taught

I was reading a book on NSW extension history course by Ken Webb. Amazing the youngsters here read Herodotus, Gibbon, Macualay, Hill, Marxist histiography, Annalists, Postmodernism, Relativism, and Deconstructionism. Most important first thing they are thought is analytics, what is history? analyse historian before history; lucky people these fellows must be.....


forgot to mention, it is an HSC course. More details here:

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/history-extension.htm l

I wish in developing countries, we can review our education standards. May be very few people here in Australia take interest to study courses such as history extension, but point is how young brains are prepared to understand the world. In contrast to this what we are taught is miserable. Also worth noting is the fact that it is government approved syllabus which is followed. One can check the list of recommended text here:

http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/syllabus_hsc/pdf_doc/history_ext_r eadings.pdf

Noticeable will be the names from across different schools of thought recommended without any prejudice as it is felt that without them any study of history is meaningless and it will not help develop the right scholarship attitude and mind which can explore, asses and continue the process of research and learning to help develop the society. In contrast all we see is rhetoric, negative attitude, denial, abuse, and annihilation of facts on our side of world.

Clearly objectives of both systems are different, one is progressive, democratic and respectful which needs leadership, scholarship, vision and virtue to continue progress of its citizens and society; while the other is on defensive, ruled by powerful few who want to secure their interests, totalitarian and weak.

Habib Jalib Baloch, Obituary

Not sure why, but it was a sad moment when I read about demise of Habib Jalib Baloch. I am sad but I feel it is useless, utterly useless to express my feelings, for no one cares, and it does not matter anymore in Pakistan where people targeted and killed are numbered daily  in two digits. It is like a jungle, and who cares in a jungle about the prey; those who are hunting or those who are getting hunt, all they need is to care about themselves. That is what I am doing, and that is what all remaining Habib Jalibs should do as well, who knows who is next. So this is what I was thinking, what if I am sad? nothing.

His dismissal however will be felt one day, because he was a modest and moderate, urban middle class person. He was someone with whom you can indulge in dialog, someone who was respected from people across different interests and his absence is in favor of both separatists and the establishment. That is why he fall prey, it was required to bring close the decline, because sanity is not a virtue in reign of barbarians.