Suck one PML(N)

I never thought I would enjoy watching Pakistani news channels so much. The person that I loathe the most happens to be a journalist. See the irony? But over the past 1 week, its been utter pleasure and entertainment. PPP jiyalas will not agree with me but they are not setting the rules for discussion anymore, are they? On the contrary, the talk shows are focusing on what Altaf Bhai, the man of the hour, thinks of corruption, feudalism and martial law.

These talk shows have reinforced my belief that the nation suffers from short term memories and selective recall especially the Punjabis. The allegations that they have leveled against MQM are preposterous to say the least and could be suicidal for them if someone like Abbas Haider Rizvi retaliated. Khawaja Asif knows this too well now and he was smart enough to avoid the fiery rhetoric of Raza Haroon. Some of the common allegations leveled by PML(N) and PTI are

They are inviting dictatorship and that’s not good:

Of course they are inviting dictatorship and agreed its not good. But convince me how corruption and feudalism is. They are not inviting dictatorship to get rid of democracy. The real enemy lies in corruption and feudalism and that needs to be taken care of.

They are military’s puppet:

I don’t think so. That bald bastard tried everything to dismantle this party and went so far as initiating a military operation. The party survived. If it really was a military’s pet, they could have put an end to this party without killing anyone.

Speaking of military pets, lets discuss the credentials of Mard-e-Momin

• Sports minister during Zia’s regime
• Finance Minister of Punjab during Zia’s regime
• Called Zia “abba jan”

And as if that was not enough

• Initiated military operation against MQM.
• Used the state machinery and murdered 5000 activists, and
• Fabricated at least 2500 cases against activists who survived through Rana Maqbool.

They have been in coalition for the last 19 years:

Democracy is a slow beast. Everybody deserves a chance and when you realize that things are not headed in the right direction, you reconsider your stance. Instead of walking away from your partners, the right thing to do is stay in coalition and start talking about change. Pretty much the same thing that Bhai did.

Besides we were in coalition because this is what that bald bastard had to say about MQM.

They never did anything good:

Yeah right. I wonder what Mustafa Kamal did to make it into the list of the best mayors?

They are terrorists:

Lick my stick. What do we call you? Saints? We are terrorists because that’s how you, your operation and Rana Maqbool labeled us. But who is responsible for the extra judicial killing of 5000 activists and having a soft corner for the Taliban/militants? Speaking of which, you guys are paying a price for all that now, aren’t you?

Jeay Jeay Jeay Mohajir

I have been looking forward to this day for a while. It was only a matter of time that these unholy alliances had to break. One only has to read the writings on the wall.
Altaf Hussain has already threatened the coalition partners of dire consequences should they refuse to mend their ways. In a related story, Nawaz Shrif wetted his shalwar and ran to the Chief Justice to save his ass. Speaking to reporters on his way, he incessantly chastised dictatorship and military rule until some one pointed out that he too was a progeny of a dictator. That lousy chau-paya hypocrite. Get out of this country and take your fake-degree lot with you. I am sure Saudi Arabia needs some chauffeurs to drive their children around and carry their bags to school. And Tehmina Daultana will make an awesome maasi scrubbing off floors, doing dishes, farting, stealing food etc.
The PPP leadership is in the country and can't seem to cope with the imminent threat of failed coalition. They have decided that they will do what they have been doing for the last 3 years. Nothing.
I don't understand how someone can still ask for democracy. As an old saying goes "zaban-e-khalq Naqqara-e-Khuda". I don't remember aytime when the nation unanimously rejected democracy as a form of government. But this time they have.

Aha!

So Lucky Cement, as predicted, struck the upper lock today at PKR 84.26. But now is not the time to sell. Hold on to it. This scrip has to hit PKR 90. A P/E multiple of over 6 is more appropriate for this one.
And then it was this news Dawn that caught my attention. Yet another prediction comes true. US had this coming.
I feel like a sage today.

A Theological Perspective

Its difficult to have a debate now a days on theological issues unless someone wants to risk being labeled a Taliban by some "enlightened" moderate. Its about time the open minded people stopped acting like Taliban in their reckless rejection of their ideas and started acting as real open minded people, listening to opposing views, with out calling names. Open mindedness means being open to other views. Duh.
So there was this debate about whether to "question" the doctrines of God. Now ten years of school education were not wasted on me and whatever I learned from my Islamiat teacher was this: the word "Islam" means unconditional, unwavering and unquestioning subservience to the will of Allah (SWT). A very Taliban thing to say. But in my defense I have some examples that I would like to share. Nothing new really. Just something for people to ponder upon.

So We gave him tidings of a gentle son. (101) And when (his son) was old enough to walk with him, (Abraham) said: O my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice thee. So look, what thinkest thou? He said: O my father! Do that which thou art commanded. Allah willing, thou shalt find me of the steadfast. (102) Then, when they had both surrendered (to Allah), and he had flung him down upon his face, (103) We called unto him: O Abraham! (104) Thou hast already fulfilled the vision. Lo! thus do We reward the good. (105) (Al-Ahzab)

Unconditional surrender to the will of Allah (SWT). Subhan Allah. Then here is another example.

And when Moses said unto his people: Lo! Allah commandeth you that ye sacrifice a cow, they said: Dost thou make game of us? He answered: Allah forbid that I should be among the foolish! (67) They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us what (cow) she is. (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith, Verily she is a cow neither with calf nor immature; (she is) between the two conditions; so do that which ye are commanded. (68) They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us of what colour she is. (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith: Verily she is a yellow cow. Bright is her colour, gladdening beholders. (69) They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us what (cow) she is. Lo! cows are much alike to us; and Lo! if Allah wills, we may be led aright. (70) (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith: Verily she is a cow unyoked; she plougheth not the soil nor watereth the tilth; whole and without mark. They said: Now thou bringest the truth. So they sacrificed her, though almost they did not. (71) (Al-Baqara)

There are several other examples that are pertinent in this matter. But this is definitely something to ponder upon, even for the "enlightened" moderates.

The argument in favor of questioning were verses that were taken out of context. I will list some examples below:

In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for people with intelligence: those who remember God, standing, sitting and lying on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth: Our Lord, You have not created this for nothing. Glory be to You! So safeguard us from the punishment of the Fire. (Surat Al ‘Imran: 190-191)

In the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and day, and the ships which sail the seas to people's benefit, and the water which God sends down from the sky – by which He brings the earth to life when it was dead and scatters about in it creatures of every kind – and the varying direction of the winds, and the clouds subservient between heaven and earth, there are Signs for people who use their intellect. ( Surat al-Baqara: 164)

Indeed, there are signs all around us that would strengthen our belief in the existence of one supreme being. And thats it. I have yet to see a verse where Allah has allowed the believers to question his authority.
As a Muslim I strongly believe that the boundaries of understanding are too limited. Allah (SWT), being all forgiving, wishes the best for me and for his followers. His commands are for our own good.

The Lost Symbol by Zaid Hamid

Another typical Dan Brown (a.k.a Zaid Hamid) book. Like Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci code, the story begins in the evening and has to be over by next morning within which people would lose their loved ones or become permanently incapacitated and in the end make love to some hot middle aged chick. Gripping it is no doubt, but there was no need to stretch it beyond 500 hundred pages. His accounts of human emotions in death and near death experiences are bizarre.
This book, like The Da Vinci code, has made explicit reference to the notion that religious books like Quran, Torah and Bible have hidden, encrypted messages and they are the mysteries that are closely guarded by the Free Masons. Exactly the kind of stuff that would make Zaid Hamid drool in ecstacy.
The concept is not new, however. A lot of people have similar views in Islam. The ones who are interested in misinterpreting the vague and ambiguous details rather than submitting to what is obvious. I have had the pleasure of meeting such a gentleman myself. According to him the day of resurrection is more of a metaphor i.e. the day when the world will caese to exist the way we know it to. I wonder if that gentleman ever read Surah Al-Qaria or Surah Inshiqaq. I wonder what Allah meant when he says

The Calamity! (1) What is the Calamity? (2) Ah, what will convey unto thee what the Calamity is! (3) A day wherein mankind will be as thickly-scattered moths (4) And the mountains will become as carded wool. (5) Then, as for him whose scales are heavy (with good works), (6) He will live a pleasant life. (7) But as for him whose scales are light, (8) The bereft and Hungry One will be his mother, (9) Ah, what will convey unto thee what she is! - (10) Raging Fire. (11)

I wonder what Dan Brown would make of this. Calamity could be a metaphor for ............ party?

Menace that is media

I have completely lost touch with the media. My only two sources of information remain Dawn and Business Recorder. That too only as long as they are reporting the facts. I don't read the editorial section any more. The journalists are not as unbiased as they their profession requires them to be. I get particularly pissed off when journalists venture into the realms of economics and finance.
TV has been worse. You flip through countless channels and yet all you are left with is Hamid Mir or Javed Chaudhry. One wonders what happened to those prodigies like Anwar Maqsood and Haseena Moin. I distinctly remember my days in the third grade when my family was in Dubai. Sharjah TV would show Pakistani dramas like Waaris, Aangan Terha, Ankahee, Dhoop Kinaray, etc. and Indians and Pakistanis alike would rush home. Those serials had some distinct characteristics; they focused on the middle and were picturised in Pakistan instead of Dubai, they were not as complicated as they are today and they were not inspired by "Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki" or Tara. Those were the good old days when media was strictly regulated. Now that it is not, I wonder how many people are watching the soaps on Geo or ARY.
As if this was not enough. We get to see our perverted politicians talking crap.



This kind of stuff often leaves one wondering whether he is the only one observing some standards of decency.

The story of Me: The Beginning

Inspired by Krishan Chander"s book titled "Meri Yaadon Kay Chanaar"

Like any other life, mine too has been full of ups and downs, triumphs and defeat, pride and humility, guilt and repentance, happiness and misery. People are not born good or bad. They are what the events and their companions shape them. But if one were to view his life in retrospect, he would know what he gained and what he couldn't, what he learned and where he burned.
I was born in 1981 in the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital in Karachi to a middle class, moderate family. A year after my birth came my second brother who I would, for the sake of anonymity, call Fred. The same year, my dad, who is a professional accountant, got a job in Dubai.
Now I don't remember much of what it was like until I was 4 years old. My parents were all by themselves in a country that was alien and strange in every sense of the word. Unlike a lot of my maternal and paternal cousins we were not pampered by our grand parents and aunts and uncles. Now that I think about it, I am thankful to Allah (SWT) for the parents he gave me. Driving license is not easy to get in Dubai. And my dad did not get one for 3 years. My mother was not a driving kind at all and she is still not.
When I turned 4, i started making friends in the neighborhood. The earliest ones that I made were both Indian Muslims. One of them was Cameron and the other Ryan. That was the year when me and Ryan started school. My first day at school was an interesting one. No one went to drop me off. I was made to wear some strange clothes, called uniform, and handed over to Adnan bhai, another neighbor who was much older than me, and made to board the bus. Adnan bhai showed us (Ryan and me) to my class and introduced me to my first teacher Mrs. Madhu. Thus began my journey of enlightenment.
Unlike schools in Pakistan, this was a true English Medium school and being in Dubai, the ethnic and cultural diversity was phenomenal. There were Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis, Bengalis, Brits and Yanks. 2 years later Fred was admitted in the same school. Now I started a year ahead of my age whereas fred started at the right time.
Those years of blithe I will always miss. We would come home in the afternoon and my mom would make lunch and stuff us. And after that would put us to bed for an hour's nap. My dad use to come home for lunch too. Back in those days, Dubai use to close down for 2 hours for lunch and it was pointless to sit in the office. In the evening, my dad would head back to work whereas me and Fred would go out and play with our friends. Our entertainment came from picking on our lungi-clad watchman.
I still got a very vivid memory of when me and Fred went out to play and found our other friends in the front yard of a deserted house. They were plucking the fruit from the tree. We, obviously too young to understand what the fruit was, joined our friends and thought it would be a good idea if we could take home some and see what becomes of it. So we started stuffing them into our pockets. Out of nowhere comes the lungi-guy and chased us out of there. Little did he know that he was a moving target. We took cover in another yard and pelted him with the same fruit for which he had chased us.
Summers were wicked in Dubai. Most of the families would go to India or Pakistan in Summer Vacations. We did too, to endure long hours of load shedding, noise and air pollution. Carefree that we were at that age, we would hardly mind the landmark characteristics of Pakistan. We would play with our cousins, hang out with mamoo (my mom's only brother) and be pampered by our aunts and uncles.
It was one of these summers that I got to know my my paternal grand dad. He retired from SBP the same year I was born as a deputy director and went about teaching maths and biology to the less privileged kids in a mosque near his house. He stuck to this groove until 2002 when he met an accident which I will elaborate upon in some other post. All in all, he was a modest old gentleman who didn't speak much.
It was the summer of 1985 that we came to Pakistan and this time the intentions were to settle here for good. My mom got us admission into same lame ass school behind the old exhibition road. My father went back to Dubai to wind up[ things there. In November of the same year came my third brother who I would call Nash. And immediately after that my parents had a change of plans and they thought the time was not yet right to move into Pakistan. Really, grown-ups are weird most of the times.
Once back in Dubai, we went about our usual business. The same year we got a Bengali Molvi Sahib. This was another character we loved to pick on. Everytime he showed up at our place, he would break a branch of tree from outside our house to discipline us and before leaving, would hide the same under the sofa for the next day. It took us a couple of days to figure this out and then things started getting funnier. We would behave well when our parents were around and would make him sweat and run (literally that guy would chase us around the house) when our parents were not home. We tried everything on this guy like water guns, locking him in the toilet.............. I miss those days. I miss that Molvi Sahib.