…and the sadness prevails

We live in a sad country. It’s sadder still that I am actually stating that fact on the record. Things have been all over the place for quite a while now but actually contemplating listing down everything which has/is falling apart just takes the sadness to a whole new degree. One only has to see the first two pages of the day’s paper and catch a glimpse of the news to realize the depths of depravity to which we have fallen.

The democratic government of Pakistan completed its 100 days today. That is a little over three months. The last three months has been the most upset time of the country as far as my memory holds true, or at least in our recent history. Fuel prices have sky rocketed, electricity is scarce, every commodity is almost unaffordable and if all that was not enough, rampant confusion engulfs the nation. The original PPP and PML-N coalition government split to a PPP only government just a few days into its formation. The now PPP-only government has little to show for the last 100 days. It has not been able to address even a portion of the agendas through which they won the seats to the assemblies.

The irony here is that, today, at the 100 days when they should be looking back and strategizing for the coming months, the Pakistan’s Peoples Party held a black day in the memory of Mr. Bhuttos government which was toppled in 1977. Fair is fair, they want to mourn the time when their charismatic leader was at the top, go ahead, but not at the cost of the nation. Far more important is today, when the country’s economy is failing. However, these symbolic activities is all Pakistan has seen in the last three months.

No Pakistani could have forgotten Lal Masjid; the mosque in the capital city which had maulvis acting as vigilante. A year ago after numerous warnings, an army operation was carried at the mosque (which was more of a fortress for the fundos). The imam (read, ring leader) was caught escaping the place in a burqa. Yes, a grown man, claiming to be a pious Muslim was secretly a cross dresser. At least that is what he became in the moment of panic. Before the extremely humorous cross dressing episode we had all seen very tough days. The Pakistan Army lost soldiers as they cleared the place of these fanatic beard bearers. Martyrs left behind little children and young widows. One would say they served the nation good and we are proud of their sacrifice, but alas our government tends to think differently.

Today was the first year anniversary of the entire Lal Masjid episode last year; the Lal Masjid which was cleared off fundos, extremists and militants a year back. Today was the day when we were supposed to honor our martyr sons of the soil, today was the day when we should have remembered their sacrifices. However, things work very differently in the land of the pure. Today was the day of remembrance for the Lal Masjid martyrs, but those martyrs were the criminals and militants who had wrecked havoc at Islamabad for nearly a year. The enemies of the state, who had shot bullets in the chests of our soldiers, were the martyrs who were remembered today by thousands of others like them. The government had an ice-cold attitude towards the families of the soldiers who lost their lives at the same site a year back and supported the mullah circus by sending in trucks of water and crates of mangoes for their entertainment purpose. The fun and fanfare came to an end when a bomb blast in the Lal Masjid vicinity killed 15 policemen and injured near 50.

In short, it was field trip for new fundamentalists to explore the property, reminisce the corrupt lives of similar fundamentalists and even have a sample bomb blast for their entertainment purposes. While the PPP observed a black day, not to reflect on their failure as a government but to reflect on a event which took place 30 years ago. It was a black day indeed but for totally different reasons.

The Joys of Democracy

It took them a month and a half to form the government. It’s been almost the same amount of time since then and they still have not workout the kinks. If these facts weren’t sad enough all the meetings, negotiations and press conferences are not being conducted in Pakistan. Hey! Its only the country whose political, legislative and future course is being supposedly debated on here, we do not actually need to be in the country to do that. Well who can blame them, the luxury and comfort which a foreign hotel can offer them can not really be found at the local places. Plus the quality of women there for the free hearted can not be met by the local sex traders. However, I digress, everyone wants good food and then a good lay, we are men, you can’t really blame us for gluttony and lust.

Point is that it’s been three months since free and fair elections were held in the country and a month and a half since we have had a democratic government. Democracy, the sacred word our country could only fantasize about for seven years of a dictator’s rule. Well ladies and gentlemen, congratulations, we have democracy. Now our country can finally grow economically and socially. Oh but wait, did the dollar not creep up to a figure near Rs. 70 a couple of days back? Indeed it did. Petrol prices, now they too saw quite a rise during the last couple of months, did the not? Hold your speech about the global oil prices, I know oil is $125 a barrel, but wasn’t the non-democratic, dictator’s puppet government taking the heat earlier.

Anyway, it started with the current government. Its May the 12^th today, budget is supposed to come out about two weeks. One would imagine the ministry of finance would be deep in paperwork right now. Totally not the case, we are faced with the political turmoil of the restoration of judiciary. Therefore, and I know this would sound a bit off, our Finance Minister is currently in either Dubai or London to make sure that the coalition sticks. Of course there is a cherry on top of this cake; who do you think is financing the trip? Yes! You got it right; it is us innocent tax payers whose money is being burned so that we can have democracy. Na! No one really cares about how good or bad it is, but to not have democracy in the 21^st century. Oh god the shame!

So I ask you my fellow country men and women. Why this obsession with a democracy which is actually worse off than a General? Of course the General is supposed to defend to borders but was there not (ironic is it might be) more of a political stability when it was one guy who was calling the shots? Right now we are a ship without a captain; at the mercy of the ocean winds – of course the cruise will end at Dubai.

Happy fucking New Year

Another year gone by. 2007 was good to me, seems my resolution was good after all. Don’t have one for this year yet, at the moment last year’s looks like the best option. However, its not about me. 2007 was bad for the country. It ended with Benazir Bhutto being assassinated; a violent conclusion to a violent story. 2007 was a year marked with think-headed leadership (though calling it leadership is me being thick headed to begin with), political turmoil and terrorism galore. We pushed our society and our classes into a greater divide. I for one find more and more Pakistanis saying, “That’s it for me, I get a ticket and I am out of here.” Little do any of them realize that only country they are moving to is Bangladesh but then again it’s their choice. Point being that with each passing month our youth feels more and more alienated.

So the year ends and we celebrate. Honestly, I didn’t hear that many guns being fired in the days I used to play “Counter Strike”, seemed as if every other house as an AK-47. It was war out there; and one would think that in the wake of BBs death riots somebody would keep a check on the arms in the streets.

So what exactly were we celebrating this year round? I say the entire notion of celebrating the coming of the new year is flawed. We should be celebrating or mourning the previous year depending upon how good or bad it went. But for the sake of argument let us continue with “what were we celebrating?” with the pretext that we are celebrating the coming year. Do we have a brilliant plan to get ourselves out of the dump in 2008? Will 2008 see the coming of some divine messiah? Do all of us who are rattling guns on the streets have a charismatic leader hidden among their ranks who will make himself public in 2008? I mean seriously, what the fuck are we so bloody jubilant about?

Yes I know, none of us really care about what we are celebrating. It’s a bloody party and we are all out having fun. The coming of the new year is basically an excuse to get drunk and maybe get laid. The reason for all the fun and frolic becomes all the more obvious for the citizens of Karachi who had been boxed in for five days thanks to all of our brothers out there setting things on fire. Somehow, this explanation seems a lot better than the fact that we were celebrating new year’s eve.  

Either ways, we continue contributing to the class divide. Oh yes! Marching proudly towards a future where no one understand the other. A happy fucking new year everybody, I sincerely hope 2008 fares well for all of us.

 

P.S. Indeed a thoroughly pessimistic point of view on the coming of the new year but it’s not the new year I am pessimistic about, just the way things are right now.

P.P.S Thank you Mobzilla for the title.

State of Emergency Imposed in Pakistan

At about quarter past 5 this evening the local news channels went offline. There had been on going discussions about the likelyhood of a state of emergency being enforced in the country and that is what everyones first intution was. Internet (as always) turned out to be the most speedy news source. Emergency has been declared in the country and through different news sources it has been known that the Chief Justice has been deposed.

Local online forums were swarmmed with questions as to what is happening and till now that is my primary source of information. The websites of various local news channels are also being updated with the latest information.

I was out on the road while all of this was happening and the overall situation of Karachi seemed calm, but I am sure most of the people on the road either didnt know what is happening and all of this (till then) was just too premature for any reaction.

How does it effect us? What does the state of emergency actually mean? How would it change our day to day routine lives? What will be the consequences? These are some of the questions in my mind right now.

Will update as the story unfolds.

Live stream can be found here:

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/video_streaming.php

Updates:
-Benazir lands at Jinnah International Airport, Karachi
-New Chief Justice (Abdul Hameed Dogar) took oath.
-Musharaff addresses the nation at 2300hrs PST.

So long and thanks for all the funnies

So the Lal Masjid saga comes to an end. Needless to say it was pretty humorous end to a very tragic story. Maulana Abdul Aziz who wouldn’t show himself on the TV on what I am guessing were religious grounds was caught trying to escape in a burqa (a head to toe covering used by a few Muslim women.) The man who used to call for Jihad, issue fatwas, threatened the government, kidnapped innocent civilians and setup a parallel judiciary of sorts escaping in women’s garb. Utterly hilarious and well to tell you the truth, at the end of the day pretty sad. Not for me, I couldn’t stop laughing but in all totality of things it is sad.

Was having a debate about the righteousness of the Lal Masjid freaks with this guy on a forums last night. Was really looking forward to seeing him around today, thought he would blame it on the government and have different conspiracy theories. Unfortunately he is yet to say a word. Guess he is dejected that his mentors let him down; prancing around in a bloody burka, I swear to god!

More on this later or at least I hope so.

P.S. Just for the heck of it, imagine unveiling a woman and finding a man – with gray beard till his chest – looking at you!

Lal Masjid

The Lal Masjid brigade has been raging havoc as and when the please around the capital. Yesterday this is what our government did to actually stop them from creating a parallel police force. Raiding movie shops, internet cafes and mini-cinemas before the Lal Masjid brigade could. 

True, pornography is illegal in our country but to actually raid stores so that the Lal Masjid clerics (I don’t believe we are calling them clerics) can’t do so is simply put sad. Last week the Lal Masjidians in all their wisdom kidnapped workers of an acupuncture clinic on the pretext that they are running a brothel. We reply to that by seizing porn. 

I fail to see why we continue to let the Lal Masjid fundamentalist continue with their defiance against the law of the state? I know people would be giving me a bunch load of political reasons for that but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter. Bottom line is you don’t negotiate with criminals.

Karachi Burns!

Karachi burns, someone fired a gun; my city bleeds. Day two and the financial hub of the country remains a battle ground. Ironically, on Friday night when I read the news item on BBC titled “Karachi braced for judge protest.” I said to myself , “they are making it sound like we are preparing for an attack. The irony just continues to amuse me. 

35 lives lost yesterday to the violent clashes, another shot dead today. The injured, damn I don’t even remember the count but it’s huge. 

I don’t care anymore about who is doing what. All I know is that it’s not us Karachietes; not in the true sense of the word at least. We sit at our homes, watching the events unfold on the televisions as different groups/parties continue their rampage. We are not a part of this; we are the bloody victims ourselves. A strike in Karachi means no fuel for the cars, no transport for the public, worse of all no ambulances for the sick and the injured. These bastards didn’t even leave the ambulances alone. 

Leave us alone god damn it. Take your fucking politics and your spite somewhere else!

These pictures tell a very sad story. Damn! Karachi looks like a war zone.

Hung!

Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq was hanged today at 0300GMT. He was found guilty of “crimes against humanity” by the Iraqi court and sentenced to death by hanging on November 5^th, 2006. I am not going to argue about the validity of the verdict but his execution was untimely.

For one it is going to add to the sense of being wronged a lot of Muslims around the world are feeling already. That holds all the more true for Saddam’s supporters or at the least admires. This execution will also add more fuel to fire as far as peace in Iraq is concerned since it will definitely infuriate the militants. For someone who wants peace in the region and stop all the bloodshed this is definitely a stupid move. Though as some people are saying, Saddam had to be silenced for good before he starts saying names.

Other than all of the political implications of the execution I don’t see how this it affects anyone. Statements like “end of a dark era”, “an important milestone” make no sense at all. Does the execution of Saddam make life less difficult for the Iraqis? Fact of the matter is a bomb killed 30 people just hours after the execution. I for one can’t stop noticing the ironic humor in these statements.

So does this entire saga liberate the Iraqis; the mission with which US entered Iraq to begin with? Does the execution of one tyrant make this world a better place to live in? Saddam was executed on charges of crimes against humanity; what about the civilian death toll in Iraq, the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon this summer and all those victims of war in Afghanistan?

Darkness be my Friend

Lately anyone who is a regular newspaper reader would have read news about “such and such area of Karachi without electricity”, “power breakdown continue for hours” etc etc. Today’s newspaper however, took the cake. The entire country – well atleast most of it – without electricity for almost half a day.

Sunday, September 25th witnessed a major power breakdown throughout the country. Due to some technical fault at Terbela and Mangla, power went down which started a chain reaction and made other generators trip due to increase in load, resulting in well what we saw yesterday. What exactly caused the failure at the central grid station isnt known as yet – atleast not to me – but from the news sources its an entierly techinical fault and has no sabotage attempt associated to it. Thanks God for that, last thing a country without power needs is a bomb as the cause of the breakdown.

Not to say that any of this was normal but guess it just didnt work for us. We needed more fuel to the fire and more gossip while we couldnt watch some senseless Indian or Indian inspired Pakistani soap. Hence the country wide rumors about the change in government. Since the President was in America and also went for a heart checkup yesterday everyone thought that it would be a good idea to have a new President.

All of the above is so depressing and absurd. Depressing since we had the entire country without power for a day. Good thing it was a Sunday and the factories and offices were off else things could have been worse. If nothing else we would have lost a day of production. Absurd since the nation on the whole is so bored and farigh. We need some conspiracy theory or the other to keep us going. These theories (and the pointless soaps) are the only source of entertainment for us all.

I will finish this off with a question. Why do we need so much drama?

The Spirit Carries On!

“DAWN, Sept 1: A shroud of mystery enveloped the manner in which the Dera Bugti administration on Friday allowed only a small number of mourners to quickly bury a wooden, padlocked coffin said to contain the body of Nawab Akbar Bugti in the ancestral town of the slain tribal chief once known as the ‘Tiger of Balochistan’. “

Why? Why this mystery? As I have written before I was with the “use of force” approach but no matter how corrupt the man was, everyone deserves a proper burial. However, this burial was far from proper. With all of the controversy going around about his death (killing or otherwise) the govt. should have handed over the body to the family. The way the body has been buried raises serious questions about the way Nawab Bugti died. This will and is creating another uprise in the oppostion and other Baluch nationlist groups. The govt. is as stupid as the rickshaw walla on the road. We (Pakistan) is on a one way train to disaster!