توہین ! وہ کیا ہوتی ہے؟

توہین ! وہ کیا ہوتی ہے؟

Why I Want It to Be Kaptaan - By Mr. Zain Umar

Why I Want It to Be Kaptaan - By Mr. Zain Umar

Why I Want It to Be Kaptaan By Mr. Zain Umar Pakistan is in a desperate need of a stout and sterling leadership that believes in self-flagellation; a leadership that does not consist of cronies, puppets and rubber stamps of the foreign masters who have always used Pakistan for their own pound of flesh.  It should not be a leadership that is driven by clannish, tribal, regional, or racial persuasions. It should be imbued with an undying spirit of sacrifice and dedication to serve the people. From the dawn of independence, two indispensable features have all along been lacking in the political landscape of Pakistan. One is selfless, motivated and patriotic leadership. The other is the institution building but unfortunately the country had fallen prey to the vandals of worst pedigree. It has been wantonly and relentlessly pillaged financially and crippled institutionally, by self-perpetuating people and rapacious groups that had scant concern or interest in its welfare, stability and its evolution as a modern nation state. It has remained lorded-over by monarchical bureaucrats, ravenous feudal classes, insidious dwarf politicians, hypocritical religionists and murderous mafias that kept exacting their pound of flesh throughout.  There has always been severe and acute famine of leaders with nobility of character and sublimity of spirit to serve this county for its greatness and glory. A common, prevailing perception is that the incumbent dispensation at the helm in Pakistan is not only manifestly incompetent but also a conglomeration of incorrigibly and defiantly corrupts individuals. There is trenchant belief that these ruling charlatans rob not under the cover of darkness but in broad day light with audacity and then boast of committing such loathsome bravadoes. The country is in a shambles, the national honor is in tatters, the morale, and hopes of the people are at their lowest ebb and are completely depleted. There is no real democracy in Pakistan it is a sham democracy sans accountability. It is the plutocracy that was there all the time with brief interregnums. The system of any government is measured and judged by its performance. Democracy can function for the benefit of the people only if not hijacked by feudal lords, elitists or aristocratic classes, and influential pressure groups. It must remain exposed to the strict accountability than is sine- qua- non for the veritable democracy to function in the best interests of the masses and the country but a bunch of hardened self-seekers, convicts of money laundered are ruthlessly debilitating Pakistan economically, politically and socially. Pakistan has never been under the tutelage of a coterie of rulers who were totally alienated from the people or unmindful of the million miseries that their masses are suffering from. The deviousness, the falsification, the duplicity, the inaction, and the criminal complacency to address the monumental problems both internal and external are the guidelines of the incumbent government. People are enormously dismayed. Let us content ourselves by paralleling it with the euphemism of the scriptural “Doomsday” when the whole humanity would be running helter and skelter in a complete state of frenzy and in a climate that would be unbearably hot because the Sun, according to dogma, “would be as close to the earth as the length of a lance.” So the panicked, frantic, devil stricken people of Pakistan are raking, agitating, rallying, clamoring, blockading, protesting and finally finding nowhere to go. These crazy segments of humanity are outraged against damning spells of power shut downs, technically termed as load shedding, as if the electric power is in excess and its overload is being off-loaded. The callous indifference shown by the hypocritical, liars, thieves, inside traders, money grabbers, sitting in high offices at public expense, of the miseries of the grief stricken Pakistanis, is devastating and mind boggling. One is reminded of the storming of the Bastille prison a symbol of royal tyranny, on 14th July 1789. This momentous event turned out to be the flashpoint for the French Revolution, and it subsequently became an icon of the French Republic. Thereafter, fired with the spirit of liberty and change the ordinary citizens of Paris attacked the elitist classes, the wealthy landlords and members of aristocracy paving way for the blissful French Revolution. We all know Pakistan is in deep quagmire. Yet I believe Pakistan will come out of its daunting challenges with flying colors. Since its inception, Pakistan has witnessed and gone through several conceivable trials and tribulations because of both internal and external factors. Barring the cataclysm of the cessation of East Pakistan in 1971 that truncated Pakistan into two parts, the rest of the problems were of similar import as encountered by nascent nations. Pakistan’s strength lies in the patriotism of its people, its untapped natural resources, its hardworking manpower, its fertile and vast land, its strong armed forces, resilience of its people to overcome one crisis after another and undying will to survive against odds. I cannot side with the skeptics and dooms day despondents who claim Pakistan was moving towards disintegration and collapse. Such people are either enemies of Pakistan or paranoid. Or else they do not have the intention to wish well for Pakistan. Only in situation like these there’s one man who made us BELIEVE that there lies Hope beyond our miseries. His name is Imran Khan for he is who we desperately need as the country plummets into chaos churned by a fractured economy & sectarian strife et al. There is no dearth of pious platitudes and rosary plans formulated and doled out by the best and the most fertile minds that if implemented would make the earth a much better place to live. But what matters is that there must be someone who can actually show these plans and projections the light of the day. With the kind of impediments with which the political landscape of Pakistan is strewn, despite the ugliest of intentions status quo has had, Imran khan promises to bring about the change that we all have ever aimed at and perhaps that’s WHY I WANT IT TO BE KAPTAAN.

Jinnah’s Pakistan: Is it imploding? by Brig. Samson Sharaf

Jinnah’s Pakistan: Is it imploding? by Brig. Samson Sharaf

Like most Pakistanis, I was stunned in disbelief to see the breaking news of the late Salman Taseer’s assassination; Not that I am a fan but rather, the direction in which Pakistan is headed. Like every citizen of this country who believes in Jinnah’s vision, I was disturbed and saddened by events that followed.

None could have articulated our feelings and the direction that Pakistan is headed, better than Imran Khan. In his interview to CNN he related this unfortunate event into a causative equation, “In fact Pakistan is imploding. This country is going down.” Rather than his usual dynamic and imposing demeanor, he appeared tense, grim and somber. His face reminiscent of  the first loosing matches of 1992 world cup reflected the concerns of every Pakistani; Betrayal of Jinnah’s vision of a plural, progressive and communitarian society.

This article is not an obituary of an assassinated Pakistani politician, but instead assess what lies ahead for Pakistan It critically appraises the future course of Pakistan’s politic body. Hours after the assassination, I formulated a hypothesis and posted it on Facebook and Twitter. As Events have unfolded, my worst fears are coming true.

“Salman's assassination is beyond symbolic. This is the start point of a struggle between the forces that bank on the establishment and mullahs for power and the true democratic forces within Pakistan. Does it bring an end to the era of the Punjab Progressives like Faiz, Mian Ifthikhar and Dr. Taseer, or will the pyre burn?

Aisha Sarwari articulates my fears when she wites, “He had come to be the only man who defined the fight that is the only fight worth fighting – between the mullahs and the progressives. Before him, no one had dared vocalise the fact that there remains an ideological divide in Pakistan.”

Notwithstanding that the event is a criminal act I am more concerned at the trends that this assassination is leading to.

The religious right spearheaded by political parties has taken a position on the incident declaring the assassin a hero and the dead governor an infidel who deserved no funeral.

During the entire run up to the assassination, all political parties distanced themselves from the slain governor and left him isolated with few civil activists, minority leaders and opinion makers to face the wrath of the right. Even the ruling PPP hierarchy distanced itself from the slain governor and stalwarts like Babar Awan and the Prime Minister publically distanced themselves from the infidel politician.

A large segment of the Rawalpindi Bar Association has put its weight behind the assassin, garlanded, kissed and hugged him.

The governments in power at provincial and federal levels have failed to take action against those who are justifying the assassination on religious grounds or offering head money on those condemned under PPC 295C. There are no measures in sight to contain this fervor.

The internet media is flooded with admiration of the assassin. Facebook has numerous profiles and communities portraying him a knight.

Elements of the government in power are screaming helplessly that Police investigations are being interfered with.

The security apparatus in Pakistan has shown its low motivational state, lack of training, commitment and non seriousness in security of VVIPs.

But all this has not happened overnight.

The story began with Jinnah’s plural Pakistan which was systematically replaced with political manipulations of religion to sustain the emerging political elites and the establishment. It began with Jinnah abandoned on the roads of Karachi grasping for fresh air followed by insertion of the religious identity in the constitution. A time has now come when even educated Pakistan term Jinnah’s address of 11 August a figment of fiction.

Religious forces that supported the Khilafat Movement under Gandhi and opposed the creation of Pakistan slowly began to overawe the Muslim League that created Pakistan and had opposed the Khilafat. As time passed, numerous Muslim Leagues that were created to suit the establishments dishonored Jinnah’s Pakistan. They proceeded into short term expediencies that have now resulted in intolerance, violence and lawlessness; all in the name of religion.

As this trend spread, many members of the minority communities who worked in cahoots with Qaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah elected to either move back to India or to other countries. Even many war heroes who served Pakistan in its two wars emigrated. As Raymond Durrani puts it:

“When it comes to win a game, whether that game is in a sports match, in politics and or in democracy, the winner requires only one extra point over its opponent. In the game of creation of Pakistan, that one point (actually 4 points) came from the Christian MPs and the Speaker of the House of the Punjab Assembly who happened to be a Christian to make Pakistan a reality. Do the masses of Pakistan Muslims know who and where those members of the Christian Pakistani Nation are? “

Similarly, the uprisings in Kashmir had the intellectual, material and political directions from men like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mian Iftikharuudin of Progressive Papers Lahore and Dr. Taseer and those who spent long hours with Jinnah and Iqbal. Pathetically, these heroes of the Kashmir struggle were thrown into cages by the dictators for conspiring against Kashmir and we in schools were forbidden from reading Faiz’ poetry.

In yet another Shakespearean irony, a man who earned and paid honest taxes to Pakistan in its worst times, and one who turned anything he touched in business to gold and whose father acclaimed and buried Alim ud Din Ghazi in Lahore, himself fell to bullets as a purported infidel.

Ever since, this trend has grown.

Pakistan was chosen as an Islamic Containment Bulwark against a so called godless Russia during the Cold War.  USA called Pakistan to an international Jihad against the infidel Soviets during the occupation of Afghanistan. The West and many Arab states created the sectarian outfits to fail Iran’s Revolution. Tragically, at each occasions military dictators seeking legitimacy obliged and plunged Pakistan deeper into the militant syndrome. The present WOT serves to air and ignite these violent trends with the conclusion that any moderate who speaks up for Jinnah’s Vision is called an enemy agent, infidel and traitor.

Jinnah’s Pakistanis are fast loosing space and relevance. Is there one to challenge these forces of regression?

I agree with Imran Khan when he says, “Pakistan is imploding. This country is going down”