Self Imposed War

Published in Pak Observer on 14-11-2010
Published in Frontier Post on 14-11-2010

Pakistan has been the subject of intense scrutiny among the international powers for its role in the so-called war on terror. While Balochistan is burning under the flag of liberation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is under the fiercest war ever fought in this area. The collateral damage, as said by our Government, has also expanded to the other two provinces as was experienced in the Thursday’s blast on CID’s office in Karachi and many other attacks both in Karachi and Lahore.

It all changed after the Lal Masjid (Red Mosque) debacle, when Pakistani troops ran over their own brothers on the behest of the then dictator Pervez Musharraf, Musharraf declared Lal Masjid people as defiant of writ of the state and rebellions but the irony is that after all the bloodshed of innocent kids and youngsters including girls (these girls were not ordinary ones, they had the Quran memorized in their hearts), Pakistani government released the Imam of the Masjid who started all this and even renovated the mosque. Only the name of mosque was changed but people still call it as Lal Masjid. One wonders why all this bloodshed was done when everything could have been settled so easily. Now it is the same Imam, once a rebellion and stockpiling weapons in his mosque and now delivers khutba (sermon) to a grand audience every Friday.

After this bloodshed, phenomenon of suicide blast on public places and general masses came on the horizon and wreaked havoc. Before that, these kinds of attacks were minimal and only targeted VVIP places or personalities. This provided a stimulus to the militants, fighting against Pakistan army on different fronts, and our enemies including our neighbors, with whom we have a hope for peace, took it as an advantage and took the insurgency to another level. We experienced attacks on almost every important place in this country from Marriott Hotel to ISI office in Peshawar, from Data Darbar and other Shrines to Cinema Houses.

Pakistani army is one of the best army in the world. There aren’t many armies who can control this king of insurgency, even the Russians, Americans and its allied forces are unable to control what is happening in Afghanistan, but when Pakistan Army put their foot on the gas, we secured Swat in a couple of weeks. Now Swat valley is open for general public and tourists but sadly the flood has closed the doors to Swat. The question is not about the strength of an army’s resolve to fight or to test its arsenal; it is about going to the war with a reason and having the whole country behind the armed forces. Our forces did secure Swat but the militants from Waziristan and other places have crept up and started to unfold their disappointment on the government in the form of suicide attacks.

One wonders, what was the reason we went to war? We never had any problem with tribal leaders. There was no issue of establishing the writ of the state in this area because we never had any writ in these areas since independence. They always had their own laws with a symbol of Pakistani Government in the form of political agents. Then what was the issue which made them hostile against their own state.

During the cold war, we bred them and taught them how to fight and armed them with all sorts of ammunition. We supported them for long enough and then we turned our backs on them and I can say that will full guarantee that if anyone would have been in their place would have done the same. Our alienation with them gave our arch rival a golden opportunity to disintegrate us and is still doing whatever she can.

Of course, our financial and ideological master United States compelled us to go to war against these people and how can we not adhere them. They have the supposed tendency to take us back to stone-age. Sometimes I feel that if we are so vulnerable that a state which is entangled with so many crises, stuck in two wars, can bomb us to stone-age then of what use is our military spending and budget? Why do we every year shine our tanks and missiles on 23rd March? Why do we broaden our chest when we say we are a nuclear state?

When we say that we had no other way to follow what US wanted us to then why do we call it our own war? Certainly this is not our war. What have we got in this war? A petty amount of cash from United States coupled with drone attacks? We are hired contractors who are fighting their own people and are highly underpaid and we don’t even have the audacity to ask them to increase our remuneration. The position, in which Pakistan is, if there was any other country with strong institutions and ideology, would have benefited a lot from this situation. Only the leverage of NATO supply trucks can easily end our disastrous economic run.

The old cliché of United States of winning the hearts and minds has proved to be counter-productive and it is their policies which are forcing the people to take up arms against their own countries. Even the students of Britain have started demonstrations against their own inhumane fee structure. The public disapproval of G-20 summit has said it all.

War on terror has spread so much terror around the world and will continue to spread if we don’t open our eyes. Our leaders and foreign policy makers have huge amounts of wealth and gigantic bungalows but there is no one to tell them that they are of no use if the state in which they live in is under insurgency. In this war OF terror, we have forgotten our brothers in Kashmir and have absolutely abandoned them. Pakistani army, which was born and bred to fight against India, has deviated from its objective. We have to realize the heavy price we are paying for this war. How much more casualties do we have to suffer for someone else’ war? We have to get rid of this self-imposed war and streamline our direction.

We have taken many u-turns but this u-turn of getting rid of this war could prove to be decisive for this country and the larger Muslim world.

(Writer is a student of international relations and a Government employee at Planning Commission)

Night is the Darkest Before Dawn

Published in pridenews.co.uk
Published in Frontier Post on 28-12-2009

Milan Kundera, a French and Czech novelist once said that “Optimism is the opium of the people”. Optimism is the only thing that has kept this nation on its feet. If it wasn’t optimism, we would have figured in the League of Nations, which are booked in the text books of history for the students to read and comment. Such is the effect of this opium that the people who are deprived of their basic needs like food, security and shelter are still hoping that someone will pull a rabbit out of the hat someday.

We are infected with many countless problems. We have a nuclear bomb but there is always an acute crisis of food commodities like rice, sugar and wheat which are considered as basic human necessities. Today everyone can make a phonecall from his cellular but can’t get gas to fire his stove. People have a fan to get rid of the stiff summer but have no electricity to make it running. These internal problems apart, we live in a country where our government demands huge amounts of taxes from us but is not able to protect us from the terrorists.

A common man is living in a rule which is unable to provide him basic necessities. The internal security situation of Pakistan has gone from bad to worse in the last couple of years. People are uncertain when they leave home that whether they will be able to come back or not. Imagine what happens to a father who does hard work all day long, fights with transporter over nominal fares, gets hammered by his employer every now and then on petty issues and when he comes back to home at night and discovers that he has lost his kid in a terrorist attack for whom he did all he can to make him to good person, to give him a good life ahead.

It is such a misery that our rulers just don’t understand all this. They don’t have any affiliation with a common man living from hand to mouth. These rulers, who have their children studying in the elite universities abroad, running large enterprises in the foreign don’t know the agony of its elector.

It is ironic that politicians who are elected and bureaucrats who are paid to "serve" the people often end up as civil masters instead of being civil servants. They place their own administrative convenience above citizens' needs.

The system which is implemented on us totally contradicts the ideology of a common man. Democracy, which was ploughed in the field of capitalism, has ruled over majority of the world but none of them was able to bring any harmony between its people. Capitalist system, as its name suggest, only runs upon the desire of the one who has the capital in its hand.

All these problems look scary and dreadful, but people are still living in a hope. People of Pakistan believe that one stroke of luck can turn their fortunes around. Judicial crisis showed us that this nation can stand for anything which they consider as something based on truth and justice. As a citizen of Pakistan, which is the fifth largest army having modern ammunition in its arsenal, one of the best agricultural state, having the best intellectuals serving in the biggest corporations of this globe, we believe that one day our misery will end and we will one day stand as the best and prosperous nation. We still believe that, if needed, we can counter any challenge only if our leadership is sincere and the system which is produced from our ideology i.e. the Islamic ideology.

Pakistan has a lost a lot in this war on terror. This war has brought all the problems to Pakistan. We are in a complete dark situation but NIGHT IS THE DARKEST BEFORE DAWN. One day we will triumph.

Identity Crisis

Published in Frontier Post on 13-10-2010

Last week I was able to attend a concert organized by US consulate in Pakistan. The concert was in memory of the famous Wall Street Journal Journalist Daniel Pearl, who was killed in Karachi in 2002. Being a student of International Relations in a university having a campus in Islamabad, I was able to attend the mesmerizing event with the help of my university administration but I had to give in my mobile before entering the premises because of the security of US diplomats.

The concert was full of Rock & Sufi music and held the audience to their feet. I, while enjoying the stampede of sounds in the gigantic auditorium of Pakistan National Council of the Arts, was hit with a jolt. My mind was struck to a standstill when I saw the portrait of smiling Daniel Pearl on the stage. I immediately understood what it means to be an American or a citizen of First World Country. Even after your death you are remembered as much as they can.

On my right side, I had a friend whose wife and kids both were US nationals. I was plunged into an identity crisis. Till then I was a 22 year old student of International Relations and a Government Employee who was a staunch critique of US’ policies and ideologies. Now there I am, sitting among the audience having US diplomats, senior Pakistani Govt. officials and the children of our so-called elite class celebrating life and music as the slogan on the stage was reflecting. I was unable to differentiate myself and the question for me was WHO REALLY I AM?

I was a great example of paradox at that time. Recalling the book ‘The Way of the World’ written by Ron Suskind in which he narrates the story of an Afghan Student, who through a student exchange program goes to US and lives with an American family. That student, Ibrahim Frotan faces the dilemma of his own identity and gets himself entangled into the clash of civilizations. My condition was almost the same like that of Ibrahim. I was strongly in opposition to these values and that night I was a part of it. Paradox!

While moving with the tunes and rhythm of the music, I was wondering who am I? A Muslim who like every other Muslim is angry over the US’ policies and oppression or the one who is helping them to achieve their agenda by setting up the stalls at the main entrance promoting brain-drain and cultural exchange.

Clouded by the identity crisis, I just came to know about the value of human life and suddenly another question rang into my mind. If Dani Pearl is still remembered even after 8 years of his murder then why can’t the senior US diplomats sitting in the audience glance on the case of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui? Isn’t she a human? Doesn’t she have a family like Daniel Pearl? I learned the rule of quid pro quo in international relations but I wasn’t experiencing the same here.

Sitting shell-shocked in the auditorium while my other university fellows were dancing and singing along, I could easily have been spotted out due to my vague expressions. I remember during the introductory remarks from the guests, the Chief Guest Additional Secretary Ministry of Culture, Pakistan responded to the fact pointed out by the Wall Street Journalist that Pakistan is the most deadly country for journalists by saying that Pakistan is a place full of love and harmony, there was a strong meaningful roar from the crowd.

The evening of celebration of life and music was nearing its end and I was still quizzed in the auditorium when I heard Meesha Shafi singing a very popular Sufi track ‘Alif Allah’ and the response of the audience gave me all the answers to my fuzziness.

We are people, who for all our problems are still strongly attached to our ideology. The standing ovation from US diplomats said it all. It was a night, organized to pay tribute to Daniel Pearl in a country where he was murdered and in the same country which has been labeled as terrorist a lot of times, was rocked by performers who were Muslims. Muslims, whose ancestors rocked the world and lead this whole world to peace and humanity. I got my answer.

No matter whatever crisis we are in, the bond of Islam keeps us united which was further elaborated when they sand ‘Bijli aaye ya na aaye, Dhol Bajay ga’ meaning whether electricity comes or not, the drum will be banged and later the slogans from the audience for the country which was created in the name of Islam ended my identity crisis. I was a Muslim and still am who really thinks that we will stand up again lead this world with our own ideology.