Some Lessons...

The beauty and irony of time and life is that it keeps on moving, it never stops. Future becomes present and then past, it makes you realize that you are a small part of the bigger picture. Life is all about hope and no hope, belief and disbelief, trust and doubt. It makes people necessary for your survival and then takes you to a point where no one is indispensable. We are born to forever strive and make our best efforts, results are decided elsewhere. Life make us all powerful at one moment and totally powerless the next. So as long as it lasts, in everything that we do we should give our best, so when the end comes we are not left with much regret. May Allah bless you and give you ease and peace in life and hereafter Ameen!

A day of love...for the un loved

With the onset of February, the cold winter starts to give way to the mild and colorful spring and for ages nature has unlocked its treasure of creation in this season and blessed it with beauty. Like the moon controls the rise and fall of tides, the onset of spring is always accompanied by a rising tide of feelings, emotions and creativity. It seems as if every man, animal and plant is engulfed by this rise of emotions and devotes itself to creativity. One of the most intense feelings that nature has created finds a way to cover everything like the mist that covers the ocean. This amazing feeling has been a cause for human creativity since times immemorial, this amazing feeling and emotion is none other than love. All of nature’s creations seem to be engorged in this emotion like a sacred duty in this season of beauty and creation.

During the course of human history each civilization and country has found their own way to symbolize love in one way or another and dedicate a season or day to celebrate this amazing feeling that is associated with creativity, beauty and creation. But with the passage of time and the world becoming more and more mechanized and feelings have taken a back seat to commercialism. Yet the symbolism of love has lasted and in one way or another a day has been dedicated to relive its memory. Though this region of ours has had a long history of folk tales of love that are captivating, yet today our generation uses a day and event dedicated to love, which was started elsewhere.

But in this celebration of love, have we forgotten the true essence of this feeling. Is love all about pink heart shaped balloons, chocolates and teddy bears or is it about dedication, devotion, respect and self sacrifice? Does your loved one really require overpriced gifts or a true show of love that would make him/her feel special? Will a candle lit dinner in a high end restaurant score more than a simple candle lit dinner cooked by both of you under an open starlit sky?

Love is all about understanding, balance and most importantly care. If it a day for love, why cant you and your loved one who have been blessed with love everyday of your life, join hands and spread love to those who are not so blessed, who are the unloved! We humans have a hunger for food as well as an emotional hunger, malnutrition in either case result in catastrophe. If we are blessed, it is time we share! This Valentines Day get together with your loved one and together do something for the unloved; this will make your love more meaningful, now the ultimate question arises what should we do? Hold each others hands and spend a few hours with the orphans who crave love just like us but are not blessed with it everyday, if you would share a few chocolates, balloons and gifts with them, may be what you will get in return would be the true feel and meaning of love.

Visit and old home and have a lunch with those who nurtured people like you only to be left behind to spend counting down days waiting for love and care.

Do you remember that in this land there was a Sohni who drowned in the Chenab for love, many years later floods in the Chenab and Indus drowned many Sohnis , now they need love and care, you and your loved one can join hands and help them restart their lives. This will give you a new meaning a new realization of what your love can achieve. It will make you complete lovers, complete humans because without the respect and love for humanity all love is incomplete. This Valentines Day share your chocolates, balloons and gifts with those whose craving for love has been left unsatisfied for so long, just share and then you will get in return something that would make your love worth much more and would make you complete. Try this new trick this time and then see how tasty your candle lit dinner would become and how meaningful your love and relationship would become.

A Tale Of Two Murders...

Death is a reality that is as old as mankind, and before anything or anyone else could kill any man it was one from his own kind that resorted to such an action. The course of human history has been diverted and defined many times by death and murder, wars, revolutions and rise of fall of nations could be traced back to such events. This statement though it holds true for almost all countries has a special significance for us, for we have experienced both the mercurial power & the deep grief and sorrow that death can bring. Right from the very beginning, the untimely death of our founding father left us with confusion about our identity, our way forward and our policy that till this day haunts us and hurts us and still the dilemma remains.

Our political and national history is regularly punctuated by death and after these deaths each time we have been left wondering as a nation and slowly we have turned into a confused mob, each with their own judgment and perception about each of those events of the past. And though our history and path as a nation has been hugely impacted by these deaths and murders, yet we again stand at a point where our leaders and people ponder upon two murders. Our story is again at a point where it will take a twist, a turn and may be another drop scene. The intersection of our story as a nation with the story of two murders leaves us once again confused and the answers don’t seem to be appearing on the horizon soon.

In both cases the people who killed, have stated that their actions were caused by motives which to them were true, justified and correct. In both cases the fault of the people who were killed and their exact actions which infuriated the killers to such an extent that they took the ultimate step, is yet to be ascertained. In both these instances the killers have a strong backing with an influence and swagger. In both cases families of the deceased were struck down by grief and sorrow. Yet this is where the similarities end! Both the actions were followed by uprising by the common people in one case to evict the killer in the other to hang him till death. In one to hear all the voices and gather all the evidence necessary so that the killer has no future but death and in the other to look beyond all evidence and silence all the voices so that the killer finds a safe passage. One action is considered right while the other wrong. On one hand we see the murder of rule of law and our sovereignty, while on the other hand we don’t even bother to look at the fact that anyone unless proven guilty in a court is innocent. On one hand we use rational and reason as a basis for conviction of the killer and on the other hand we leave all the reason and rational to provide a basis of pardon. On one hand we use the motive to justify the action while on the other hand we use the action to justify punishment.

This great example of hypocrisy by the whole nation explains why every death and murder pushes us deeper into a quagmire. We have to realize that nations are not made by hypocrisy, lawlessness and dishonesty, but in this tale of two murders we as a people have exhibited all three qualities to the best of our abilities, and yet we search for resolution to our problems. We are not ready to accept that we have become unreasonable and intolerant but we still wait for a miracle to end our demise as a nation. We choose to be the judge, jury and executioner yet we search for justice and peace. In this tale of two murders none of the deceased are martyrs or robbers, none of the killers are heroes or villains, it is our perception, our respect for the facts and justice that will make the ultimate decision and will set our course for the future.

If we decide to shun hypocrisy, adopt reason and rational, decide to be just and seek guidance from the divine rules that have been laid down 1400 years ago we will find a way otherwise these two murders will not be mere murders of humans bur they would forever be murders of sovereignty, justice and truth. Justice is about balance and it is about time we left hypocrisy and struck our balance, otherwise we have reached the tipping point and a slight push would land us in the depths of darkness. May the Almighty help us to be truthful and just.

Revolution...

Impoverished people, a growing divide between the rich and poor, rising inflation and a government that seems to be non sympathetic to the misery of the masses or just unable to steer this ship through choppy waters due to aristocratic and authoritarian leaders, these are the factors common to most Muslim countries today.  The story of a poor vegetable vendor awakened Tunisia and the revolution started, feelings of deprivation that had been simmering till then suddenly came to boil and the leadership couldn’t handle the heat and found escape as the only feasible option.  And as is the case with revolution the chain reaction began which knows no geographical, lingual or religious boundary and just unites people facing similar oppression and they draw strength from one another to overthrow the dark forces.  Algerians followed suit and soon Yemenis & Jordanians  were on the same track but the greatest show down that is still underway came in Egypt, where slowly but surely the people are winning back what was theirs.

There is talk of this revolution spreading and many have indicated that Pakistan is probably the next name on the list. The situation of Government and plight of the common man have stark resemblances to the factors that led to massive uprising in afore mentioned countries, yet the situation as similar as it may seem is different from all those countries.  So what factors make Pakistan different and why a different method to improve the plight of the common man needs to be adopted? Firstly in all those countries the head of the government had been in power for decades, secondly none of them were fighting a war inside their own territory to quell a rebellion. 

If a revolution of such sort was to take place in Pakistan it would have completely different implications as compared to Egypt or Tunisia for a number of reasons. People in Pakistan though they are faced with the same issues are not united as one, the lingual, ideological and political divide that is actually one of the reasons our society has decayed will always stand in the way of a common cause and each group would try to turn the tide in their own favor to ensure that they benefit from any revolution.

Another very important factor is that in Pakistan there is an elected government which was brought into power by people and even with the current issues facing the country there will a major group who for their own reasons would form a pro government group which will only lead to a rift in the society in the wake of any uprising by the people. Yet another important factor which differentiates Pakistan from almost all those countries under the influence of this revolution is the fact that there is a very serious threat from the many terrorist groups that are present and also have sympathizers in society and they can take advantage of any vacuum created by the fall of a government and this will only lead to chaos and people would have struggled for nothing. And the whole exercise would lead us from one grave situation to another.

Yet another factor that we may overlook is that in all those countries army didn’t step into mainstream politics, however in Pakistan we can rest assured that if any such situation unfolds the army would step in and take control of power using the hatred the people have for the current political setup.

Unless civil society organizes itself and provides a better alternative than the current rulers by selecting people from their own ranks who can handle the role of leadership, the whole effort of any revolution if any would just be in vain. It is a time for the politicians to mend their ways and for civil society to organize itself and provide an alternative to fill the vacuum a revolution is sure to create otherwise, what would start as a revolution would turn into a bloody civil war that would tear the very fabric of society beyond repair and all the people would be left with a bloody mess. So before we embark on any revolution we will have to address these issues and look beyond the obvious. We would need to organize ourselves in a manner that we as a nation, as a people are one. Unless are goals are clear we would only be starting a vicious circle which would engulf us all. It is high time the government took people in confidence and all political forces set aside their greed and differences and deliberate before it’s too late.

 A heap of ammunition in the form of growing despair of the people is stock pilled and it only awaits one final trigger charge and then the events that follow will not be dictated or controlled by any reason or justification. We all need a revolution but the means to it have to be decided very carefully, we all are stake holders, we all have to take responsibility, we all have to play our part otherwise we will all have to suffer yet again.

John F. Kennedy said,” those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable”. If today government and people of Pakistan do not come to grips with this important time in our present, the decision of our future may well rest with mobs on the street. It is a time to think, it is a time to act but most importantly it is a time to think before we act. The decision is up to all of us otherwise we would be left to ponder on these lines of Charles Dickens,

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”