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.  

Football

Our school van driver (it was a private business) was a busy person, he had taken responsibility of more people than he could manage in one go, hence he used to make two or three rounds when picking up and dropping children, and as his confidents we were the last to be picked up and last to be dropped, it was a friendship agreement, our parents never got to know that. Well, so we had to wait for more than half an hour daily after school, and our favourite pass time was play as usually it should be, and one of the games we played was football, at least that is what we called it. Ground was a “chabootra” (closely like a footpath, but it is built by the house owner as it suits one, and not mandatory) around 12 feet long and six or seven feet wide, goal posts were marked by stones and remarkably the ‘ball’ usually has to be a stone as well as we never felt it necessary to have a ball, nevertheless the balls we tried were the ping pong ball, tennis ball and those small bouncy rubber balls which are mostly lost quickly. Most of time it was a stone as continuous availability of a ball was not possible, and we never felt it was necessary. But now, as I imagine myself playing with a stone along with a bunch of boys on a foot path, it feels crazy, but that is the beauty of that game as I discovered it later (anyone anyway, all you need is something which can be hit and move afterwards). That was my introduction to football, and of course we never cared about rules, it was only when I started to play with my classmates in a proper football field, I came to know about rules. And this is another great quality of the game; for sure you do not need to worry about ’offside’ very much and who hits his comrades by will? It was only accidental if somebody was hurt. So we were all set to enjoy and play, and that is what we did.

It was not only footpath; I have played football in the garage, in courtyard, on the road, in the garden, in the playground (not a football ground) and in proper football field as well. I should mention that I never was a good player, but who cares and no one cared, it was for fun we played, so as people do. And in a community where hatred and division was on rise (race, ethnicity, religion, you name it and we had it, yes those were the days when Afghan war was in full swing, Zia was in his prime, MQM was becoming powerful in Urban Sindh and we had started to witness the rise of trends now we debate daily ) it was a blessing for me, as I find something in common with Sindhis, and Punjabis, and Pathans, and Hindus and Christians, something where no one cared about being a Shia or a Sunni (not only football, but cricket and hockey as well which I enjoyed playing with my mates across all communities and classes). I am saying it was a blessing as I learned very early that end of the day we are humans despite all our differences (something which many grownups fail to realize till their end) and despite differences we can always find something common, I also learned that we all feel and react same way, or joys and sorrows, our physical and mental limitations, how we get motivated, how we get hurt, how we get injured, how we go into conflicts, why we need mediation, another person to provide us with the justice. Yes to the core of it, we are all one and same. I am thankful to football, it thought me a very important lesson in my life.

And that is what thousands of others across the globe do, they play and enjoy with whatever means they can have, this is a game for everyone, this is a game for anywhere. And that is the beauty of this game, the reason why it is so much popular across the globe, this game provides opportunities to everyone.

(I am reding on the history of the game, how it developed and became popular, social and other factor behind the game, it is interesting)

Introduction to Dr. Billa (prelude to interview on philosophy of 'langar banto langar') - Part 2

As I said Dr. Billa is a profound historian, one of his great achievements is discovery of ‘Ghazis’ from across the history’, Dr. Billa has created a tower of heroes, and he is sitting on top of this tower looking tall and mighty and people like me can only admire those wuthering heights which he has achieved in this moral life , the proof of the depth of his scholarship is that he has only testified the epics in which a hero is fighting against infidels, he says all else is mere crap, and no one can object because he is such a profound scholar, no one can deny him.

He wants every youth of his nation to be a ghazi, only problem is availability of that many infidels to fight with, but Dr. Billa and his associates are working hard to increase the number of infidels, that is why we hear ‘he is kaafir (infidel)’, ‘she is kaafir’ every now and then. This is yet another proof how much depth and demand Dr. Billa’s philosophy has. Hakeem Izafi, one of admirers of Dr. Billa took responsibility of the supply of ghazis from the youth of the nation, his is a immense success story, his ghazis have shown great courage and bravery (we can say brevity as well) on platforms like drawing rooms, clubs, talk shows, and internet forums, Hakeem Izafi has created a facility for them, where they learn to fight with infidels in their dreams. By continuous dreaming, these ghazis have become so much sleepy and lousy that no one turned around when Hakeem Izafi tried to call their first annual public meeting.

There is no doubt that these theories of Dr. Billa are highly appreciated and regarded in scholastic circles. It is said that every great thinker is voice of his age as he answers to the needs and demands of that age. Theories of Dr. Billa portray in which age we are living and what kind of needs and demands are highly in demand. I am thinking to invite Eric Hobsbawm to write a detailed contemporary account of this age, and title should be ‘age of Langar’. Many a people will think that I am exaggerating, but we do not understand that Dr. Billa is voicing a phenomenon which is greatly shaping the societies of many countries in the region. Concept of ‘langar banto langar’ is highly appreciated by rich and powerful across this region, this helps them keep high moral to do everything they can do in accumulating from people to serve people.

Most important characteristic of Dr. Billa’s character is his humbleness; he raises his voice on every important issue and conflict, and goes into deep details and research and writes into daily Bhang on it, same time he demands that no one should start arguing with him, if by chance he is surrounded, he get out of it by saying he is a mere student not a professional politician or historian. To be on safe side he has created a list of traitors with proper categorization, some of them are agents of the powers conspiring against us, some are those whose children are studying in neighboring country, some are the thankless who have got everything from this country but they do not want to return anything, he believes only thankless can be so mean to criticize their leaders which are natural born innocents.


(Next will be the interview with this infamous personality)

Note:-
--What is written above is fictitious; any resemblance with real life characters, organizations or events will be coincidental

Introduction to Dr. Billa (prelude to interview on philosophy of 'langar banto langar')

I have been very curious to interview some of my country’s intellectual especially from the journalist class who write in newspapers, as they are a very impressive lot, looks like they have solution to all our problems but no one listens to them, though some of the newspapers in which they write are circulated in millions daily. But sadly I was not able to get hold of them, reason is that I live thousands of miles away and I can only write to these eminent personalities and of course they receive posts in thousands daily, admiring their thoughts and efforts they do to solve problems of this nation, most of them spend time meeting ministers, generals, lords and businessmen; attending official dinners and events, hence it is surely difficult for them to check their mails and reply specially answering those which stops them from doing what they do the best and ask them to think (a habit which they have lost in process of evolution). Even if I would be at home, it will be difficult for a common person like me to reach the drawing rooms of these eminent personalities, surely if they spend their time meeting jerks like me then who will be working and writing on solving our problems?

Fortunately my dear friend Majeed introduced me to Dr. Billa, a very prominent scholar living overseas and working hard in the struggle to solve the problems of his fellow countrymen. He writes regularly in daily Bhang, which is widely circulated newspaper of my country, long before 3-idiots was released or even its story was conceived, our daily Bhang was reciting ‘all is well’ and it has a big contribution in keeping our masses silent, as silence brings peace and peace is the pathway for prosperity ( if you don’t ask whose prosperity it is? Then ‘all is well’). Nevertheless he is very much respected across all walks of life especially by politicians, land lords, army generals, bureaucrats and religious scholars.

Why Dr. Billa is called Dr. Billa? it is a very interesting story as well. During his student years when he was doing his Masters and eventually PHD( in sociology and history related subjects like Islamiat, Pakistan Studies, and Urdu literature), he was famous for his laziness, he was sleeping all the time everywhere. He was only waking up when nature calls, i.e. when someone was offering him food, or when it was required to get attention of opposite sex, or if someone was stepping on his tail (offending him) or you know when it can’t be helped waking up and going to respond call of nature. Only then he was waking up and acting accordingly. Hence his friends started calling him Billa (cat), he continues to carry this name and associated characteristics.

Majeed my friend is considered mentally retarded and so no one takes any notice of what he says or does, for same reason he is considered harmless and hence he succeeds in reaching where I cannot, otherwise I am sure I was not able to conduct this highly important interview in which Dr. Billa explained his philosophy of ‘Langar banto Langar’ necessary to keep masses happy where they are, and other beliefs important for stability of the country like ‘don’t ask question you traitor’ ---- you are a traitor if you question any established and accepted narrative surrounding inception of the motherland or events happened afterwards, because it will destabilize the masses and harm the peaceful situation where ‘all is well’, or calling every passed away leader of ours ‘Rehmat –Ulla-Alleh’ ----so that they will become saints and we spent all our lives reciting qawwalis on their shrines, and hang those who say anything not worthy of those personalities.

(To be Continued)

Note:-

--What is written above is fictitious; any resemblance with real life characters, organizations or events will be coincidental

--'Langar banto langar' means give alms and alms and alms.