Under the yoke of the British as we were, we had to be smitten by all things English. Imperial traditions and courtly manners swept the Brown Saheb off his feet. The legacy of the legal system still holds supreme. The Royal family continues to be a abyss of envy. Even the accent inspired awe - whether it's Hugh Grant wooing Bridget or some cockney doggerel. But worst of all I find the devotion to our erstwhile masters literary achievements. Fair enough, Mother England had it's fair share of geniuses in the fields of poetry and prose, but it doesn't mean we neglect the corpus of literature belonging to other regions. Indeed, Dickens, Hardy and company should be held in good steed, but the fascination with Elizabethean novels is sometimes sickening. Shakespeare might not have a peer but Marlowe wasn't a queer. But let's step off the Island.
The romanticism of the French, the efficacy of the Germans, the wisdom of the Greeks, the courage of the Nordic, the Spanish armadas and the ambition of the Portuguese are oft forgotten as the miniature Island of the English becomes the barometer for all things European.
All these nations are rich in culture and traditions; literary and otherwise. Flaubert and Diderot are important figures in the evolution of the novel. Stendhal's wisdom shines through in each passage. Balzac and Maupaussant were masters of the art of the short-story. The prolific Zola was as much commercial as he was suave. And these are only just a few Frenchmen.
While German thought was less expressed in novels and more in the form of Critique (of Pure Reason etc..), it too has literary heavyweights who had far reaching impacts on literary techniques. The Divine Comedy is a timeless classic, so is Goethe's work. Thomas Mann, Gunter Grass, Bertolt Brecht and more that I need to discover.
And then there is the master of it all, Franz Kafka, whom I considered a Slav, but I've been told he wrote in German.
Which brings me to the whole body of Russian Literature, a victim of unfortunate neglect as the Czars' incompetence made Russian forays into the Caucus a failure, or else we might have had troikas and drozhnys, instead of royal carriages. It's another matter if the Russian forces would have been able to overcome the Afghans, who repelled the British when colonial expansion blanketed the entire subcontinent; and even the Russians but that was thanks to the US-Israel-SaudiArabia nexus faciliated by our very own General Zia sahab, although a conspiracy is brewed in Hollywood to have it credited to Senator Charlie Wilson. But us intelligent ones can sift fact from fiction.
The Pakistani exposure to Russian Literature seems to be limited to two authors and three books; Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' and 'War and Peace', and Dostoyevskey's 'Crime and Punishment'.
Impressive pieces of literature as they are, the mere size of the novel is enough to scare the novice - while the digressions, that the authors take liberties to, can make things slower than (our) Little Master's vigil against the West Indies. (A pint-sized Hanif scoring a triple hundred against the gigantic quickies from the Carribean.)
Merited as they are a place in the highest echelons of Literature, the above mentioned books are surely not the most apt choice for the representation of such a vast array of literary talent.
Even I, with my Golgothan like appetite for the written word, the legendary veracity that even devoured Gone with the Wind, not to speak of other atrocities, was left askance by Tolstoy's musings on the Russian serf and agrarian techniques. I have since been told that the man was a visionary and even came up with Non-Violence before Gandhi. Interesting snippets, but I still prefer his short stories.
Tell me, you shareef mussalmans, or even the hindoos, for your allegiance should lie with the subcontinent first than any other morsels of land, would you feel safer approaching Anna Karenina, or Haji Murad? Especially when Ms Karenina appears a blown up version of Anna Nicole, while the Haji is extremely nimble on his feet. Think, decide & act.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
"Addicted to Martyrdom"
-- Excerpts from Junkie-Journal
Round 1: Yoda vs. Guilt
The moments when you let guilt get the better of you, those moment of conscientiousness, when you feel as pure as a newborn leprechaun, can sometimes have interstingly bizzare consequences, but in my case, it turns out, more often than not, to be rather taxing. And once again, that was the conclusion, inspite of my immense good fortune of being present at a performance by Kamal Sabri, the masterful Sarangi player visiting from India, primarily for his performance at the All Pakistan Music Conference - Karachi Chapter.
The term 'Sarangi', according to him, is derived from 'Sau Rangi', which translates into "100 colours", which I guess I blinked through as he performed the Ragas....and invoked tender sensations with each bandish. The sound of the Sarangi is said to be the most similar to humans, and I would be in communication with a never-known-before self everytime he strummed the instrument....with a mastery that that leaves one spell-bound. He just didn't perform, he lead us towards higher truths that lies beyond the realm of mundane comprehension. It made a smile dance on my lips, and there was agony and ecstasy. It was music that entered the body, and organs aligned to the beat, and a sense of elevation overtook, and I flew upstream. The thoughts were jumbled up, but I knew it all made sense. What did not make sense was that the use of Sarangi, as an accompanist or for solo performance, is on the decline, and Kamal Sabri is one of the very few practitioners. A worthy memory.
But otherwise, it was only the gandugiri of guilt that ruined supreme. The day started off at 8:15 as I woke up after a heavy night of love-talk with my dove, and after another night of only 3 hours and eyes swollen worse than being bloodshot, being the nice man on the surface I am, I risked being late to give a ride to a cheeky bastard from college who's becoming a pain rather than just an ordinary itch. But with my robust skills on the wheel, and the effeciency of the two-wheeler in the face of roadside conundrums, I managed. To not only make it in time, but to smoke outside, too.
It was presentation day, and I was all dressed up. The usual glances came the way, with a few chickies commenting on the tie, followed by small talk based on the assumption that dressing up is due to good mood. Maybe they are not that dumb, but they ought to prove otherwise. However, it was pure necessity. After the first two groups fucked up beautifully, conquering all and sundry was set on a plate....with a little conniving. I managed to get our group's turn down from last to third, to save us a lot of unnecessary khwari, but it turned into a spectacle, which would make a hilarious story if I ever were to pen it down. Nonetheless, we managed to present and the rest fought over the spoils. This was 9 to 12. Followed by a tedious 2 and a half hour long break for Jumma. Which was supposed to be followed by a return to presentation routine in Business Ethics, and two other extra classes, scheduled impromptu, leaving me in a tri-lemma. Found out that one teacher was AWOL and irate students had filed a complaint against him even. Such nitpicking nincompoops doobie-less chooths et al. I decided to give Calculus a shot for half an hour, then Ethics, lying to both and get out. But such was the tiredness that I fell asleep as the rest of the world creaked and by the time I woke up it was already 4. A peaceful hour long sleep while 2 groups presented. Sometimes I marvel at my ability to pass out in the most bizzare of circumstances. However, I woke up, lied to the teacher, and walked out, only to rush to work, seeing miss calls from bossie boss. She's not bossy, though. She's the most understanding, loving, caring, generous boss, whether its about work-hours, money, domestic issues or general slacking. And she loves me, too, which one can always play to his advantage, only if it were not for the gandugiri of guilt. Love is such a dilemma, too.
The smartalecs at work made jokes, in their own tones, about my formal attire. First up was the lead-role of Khurram's magnum opus, "The UnFuckables", who asked me about where my job interview had been. I said Al Jazeera. Her laugh concealed malice, but I generally see-through facades and try to when there's black-bra under a see-through. But she's the lead from the UnFuckables, and I resisted.
Even the big boss gave me a look, while boss made jokes about my joke interview, too, only to clarify soon enough that it was a presentation. What if your boss is one of those who are easily flustered and ask the dumbest of questions; all the time expecting people to answer with a straight face and solemn gait. I'd just show my ass and laugh it off. But what if you get caught.
And then I was given the news of our new hirings tete-a-tete with the head of the business desk. It wasn't the most pleasant of exchanges but she's our terrier and we can't let her teeth go blunt. It's a fierce world out there and we require as much tenacity as we can obtain.
All this got my spirits high. I even had subway - a treat considering the humble state of my finances. Then there was Sherbano and Jay. She said she was feverish, and also exasperated. The roof is always a nice place. And we climbed clinky stairs to have our little rain-dance. It was a triangle and my favorite floozie piled up lies. Thank divinity I never cared. My irate self is quite a mess.
And then I came down and returned to the computer. The pseudo-albino cameraguy asked me to come close. My guard was high, but it was an innocent query regarding MSN. He wanted to knwo the e-mail address of this one female on his list, who, in his own words, had randomly added him. Because he's such a hottie and a pseudo-albino (I don't know the disease but his face is half white like those funny kids in school that no one wanted to talk to but everyone's mom did), and he's got a beer belly and a namazi topi, along with the penguin walk and all the works. I explained. He asked me further questions. My tone became agitated and he politely thanked. I should be more polite. But that was just my premonitionary senses getting to work.
Off I went, to haggle for tapes. Then to eat Saffo appa's cake and have it too. That's Kamal Sabri in esoteric language and nothing to do with Ayn Rand. Ever.
But what followed Mr. Sabri was pure disaster. A show that was scheduled to start at 8:00. A launching of wristwatch, Titan, if you please, and other than presentations and introductions and usual ass-kissing, it also had a fashion segment as sashaying beauties were to showcase the watches on their dainty wrists.
We got there by 9:45....and still had to wait another half an hour. It was ugly. So were the models. Only 4 chicks who kept coming back, dressed as per the theme of the segment. Some of them actually looked pretty dragging their limbs during the Semi-traditional segment, having the desi look..Rajasthani, pigeonhole if we must. But what horrors were to follow, when I sneaked backstage and asked those involved to share a few thoughts. Dolled up as they must be, they lacked all natural charm. And a lack of garrulity only added to the goryness. The designer of the clothes was also a psychotic creature who kept stealing glances as if followed by some kinky feds who molest him at frequent intervals.
The food was good, though. But so depressing were the 3 hours that I was forced to sit through, tired as fuck, that it put an end to all my hopes of every making out of this job alive. Sometimes I exaggerate. Sometimes I excessively hate. Someone needs to cure me. You can. I know. But sometimes I hate saviours, too.
But I wouldn't have been in this situation, if I had finished my degree on time. Or not chosen to take up a full-time job. The routine is a year-old now but I fail to adjust. And the restlessness won't subside.
I won't give in to guilt again. You, obviously, are an exception, not perchance.
Round 1: Yoda vs. Guilt
The moments when you let guilt get the better of you, those moment of conscientiousness, when you feel as pure as a newborn leprechaun, can sometimes have interstingly bizzare consequences, but in my case, it turns out, more often than not, to be rather taxing. And once again, that was the conclusion, inspite of my immense good fortune of being present at a performance by Kamal Sabri, the masterful Sarangi player visiting from India, primarily for his performance at the All Pakistan Music Conference - Karachi Chapter.
The term 'Sarangi', according to him, is derived from 'Sau Rangi', which translates into "100 colours", which I guess I blinked through as he performed the Ragas....and invoked tender sensations with each bandish. The sound of the Sarangi is said to be the most similar to humans, and I would be in communication with a never-known-before self everytime he strummed the instrument....with a mastery that that leaves one spell-bound. He just didn't perform, he lead us towards higher truths that lies beyond the realm of mundane comprehension. It made a smile dance on my lips, and there was agony and ecstasy. It was music that entered the body, and organs aligned to the beat, and a sense of elevation overtook, and I flew upstream. The thoughts were jumbled up, but I knew it all made sense. What did not make sense was that the use of Sarangi, as an accompanist or for solo performance, is on the decline, and Kamal Sabri is one of the very few practitioners. A worthy memory.
But otherwise, it was only the gandugiri of guilt that ruined supreme. The day started off at 8:15 as I woke up after a heavy night of love-talk with my dove, and after another night of only 3 hours and eyes swollen worse than being bloodshot, being the nice man on the surface I am, I risked being late to give a ride to a cheeky bastard from college who's becoming a pain rather than just an ordinary itch. But with my robust skills on the wheel, and the effeciency of the two-wheeler in the face of roadside conundrums, I managed. To not only make it in time, but to smoke outside, too.
It was presentation day, and I was all dressed up. The usual glances came the way, with a few chickies commenting on the tie, followed by small talk based on the assumption that dressing up is due to good mood. Maybe they are not that dumb, but they ought to prove otherwise. However, it was pure necessity. After the first two groups fucked up beautifully, conquering all and sundry was set on a plate....with a little conniving. I managed to get our group's turn down from last to third, to save us a lot of unnecessary khwari, but it turned into a spectacle, which would make a hilarious story if I ever were to pen it down. Nonetheless, we managed to present and the rest fought over the spoils. This was 9 to 12. Followed by a tedious 2 and a half hour long break for Jumma. Which was supposed to be followed by a return to presentation routine in Business Ethics, and two other extra classes, scheduled impromptu, leaving me in a tri-lemma. Found out that one teacher was AWOL and irate students had filed a complaint against him even. Such nitpicking nincompoops doobie-less chooths et al. I decided to give Calculus a shot for half an hour, then Ethics, lying to both and get out. But such was the tiredness that I fell asleep as the rest of the world creaked and by the time I woke up it was already 4. A peaceful hour long sleep while 2 groups presented. Sometimes I marvel at my ability to pass out in the most bizzare of circumstances. However, I woke up, lied to the teacher, and walked out, only to rush to work, seeing miss calls from bossie boss. She's not bossy, though. She's the most understanding, loving, caring, generous boss, whether its about work-hours, money, domestic issues or general slacking. And she loves me, too, which one can always play to his advantage, only if it were not for the gandugiri of guilt. Love is such a dilemma, too.
The smartalecs at work made jokes, in their own tones, about my formal attire. First up was the lead-role of Khurram's magnum opus, "The UnFuckables", who asked me about where my job interview had been. I said Al Jazeera. Her laugh concealed malice, but I generally see-through facades and try to when there's black-bra under a see-through. But she's the lead from the UnFuckables, and I resisted.
Even the big boss gave me a look, while boss made jokes about my joke interview, too, only to clarify soon enough that it was a presentation. What if your boss is one of those who are easily flustered and ask the dumbest of questions; all the time expecting people to answer with a straight face and solemn gait. I'd just show my ass and laugh it off. But what if you get caught.
And then I was given the news of our new hirings tete-a-tete with the head of the business desk. It wasn't the most pleasant of exchanges but she's our terrier and we can't let her teeth go blunt. It's a fierce world out there and we require as much tenacity as we can obtain.
All this got my spirits high. I even had subway - a treat considering the humble state of my finances. Then there was Sherbano and Jay. She said she was feverish, and also exasperated. The roof is always a nice place. And we climbed clinky stairs to have our little rain-dance. It was a triangle and my favorite floozie piled up lies. Thank divinity I never cared. My irate self is quite a mess.
And then I came down and returned to the computer. The pseudo-albino cameraguy asked me to come close. My guard was high, but it was an innocent query regarding MSN. He wanted to knwo the e-mail address of this one female on his list, who, in his own words, had randomly added him. Because he's such a hottie and a pseudo-albino (I don't know the disease but his face is half white like those funny kids in school that no one wanted to talk to but everyone's mom did), and he's got a beer belly and a namazi topi, along with the penguin walk and all the works. I explained. He asked me further questions. My tone became agitated and he politely thanked. I should be more polite. But that was just my premonitionary senses getting to work.
Off I went, to haggle for tapes. Then to eat Saffo appa's cake and have it too. That's Kamal Sabri in esoteric language and nothing to do with Ayn Rand. Ever.
But what followed Mr. Sabri was pure disaster. A show that was scheduled to start at 8:00. A launching of wristwatch, Titan, if you please, and other than presentations and introductions and usual ass-kissing, it also had a fashion segment as sashaying beauties were to showcase the watches on their dainty wrists.
We got there by 9:45....and still had to wait another half an hour. It was ugly. So were the models. Only 4 chicks who kept coming back, dressed as per the theme of the segment. Some of them actually looked pretty dragging their limbs during the Semi-traditional segment, having the desi look..Rajasthani, pigeonhole if we must. But what horrors were to follow, when I sneaked backstage and asked those involved to share a few thoughts. Dolled up as they must be, they lacked all natural charm. And a lack of garrulity only added to the goryness. The designer of the clothes was also a psychotic creature who kept stealing glances as if followed by some kinky feds who molest him at frequent intervals.
The food was good, though. But so depressing were the 3 hours that I was forced to sit through, tired as fuck, that it put an end to all my hopes of every making out of this job alive. Sometimes I exaggerate. Sometimes I excessively hate. Someone needs to cure me. You can. I know. But sometimes I hate saviours, too.
But I wouldn't have been in this situation, if I had finished my degree on time. Or not chosen to take up a full-time job. The routine is a year-old now but I fail to adjust. And the restlessness won't subside.
I won't give in to guilt again. You, obviously, are an exception, not perchance.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
"Addicted to Martyrdom"
-- 'Anonymous tidbits from a self-deluded romantic'
Chapter: Vile as Bile
.............Theatre is not only an opportunity for strugglers to showcase their star potential, but also a medium of social commentary as well as handing out educative morsels of morality and societal ethics, especially given our quasi-literate society. A prosaic corollary could be that blogs not only provide an opportunity for wannabe literati to showcase their gift of the gab, but also a medium of espousing jumbled up personal philosophies and a conduit for channeling thoughts and opinion that are lost in the din of reality that is percieved as abnormality by those who tend to resort to blogs - like myself over here. Prone to articulating emotions inadequately, incoherently and with great difficulty, I must also use this medium to compensate for all those times when the tongue fails to roll off the thoughts formulating in the head...and the heart. When bottled up emotions can no longer be stuffed in the lamp as the genie demands some space. When all I want is to drill a hole and go into permanent hibernation, will this provide solace? As likely as Disneyland at Guantanamo but Walt had a vision, Luther dreamed and we dared, too. But being a pathological failure, I had to come across the glitches within the Matrix. And things fall apart. Not least because she had run out of patience. She has more of it than Sahara has dunes. But because I am vile. As vile as bile. And she the pristine virgin. With a capacity to love greater than sun's to shine. And I, the greedy urchin stealing plumes and figs. Too stark a difference it is. And so, the days which were filled with loving confessions will now become a sallow vaccuum, with as much colour as contained in Ford's earliest slogan. And gone with all the colour is the sense of completion. Of being a whole. How odd the yin would be without the yang. And so I feel; like a broken talisman; a loose chain, a lever without its mechanism; a piece of barren land. Clawing my hair and scratching my bare legs until they bleed. Alas, only if were due to the foreboding feeling that overcomes as I fear her departure. But its the drug that makes me itch and scratch. And as I write this, in the middle of snorts, a sense of tranquility returns. I feel lighter and calmer, but also aware of the hollowness of this calm and its dependency upon the drug, which meanwhile, feeds upon my intestines and makes my stomach contract. This takes care of food and concerns of indigestion. I don't want any intake. I only want to puke. Out all the indignation brewing inside. Which is over the self. And a lump forms in my throat and I go mute at important times when a word of affection can give me another chance. But the lump stops all, and then phlegm is spitted out and then another lump and more phlegm. That's all there is inside. Phlegm and lies. And all I want to do is crawl back all over the phlegm and grovel at her feet. What she says not only pinches, but mutilates. But who cares of wounded vanity and squashed ego when greater things are on the line. While the kids from Lord of the Flies had little time to contemplate upon their accidental abandoning, all I can do is conceive myself as Tom Hanks, but not the bristling Charlie Wilson but the mute in Cast Away. And so I have been cast. Away. I hate being abandoned. But she has reasons and although I [have to] believe selfless love supercedes all logic and reason, I cannot demand her to abide by conveniently held beliefs. Especially if my inconsistent streaks are to be considered which make me more culpable than Kissinger...although I wouldn't mind if I get her as my noble prize. I am sitting here, looking at the cellular. For it is the chain that kept us together inspite of the miles. And then in a fit of rage I smashed it against the wall, laughed at the inadeuacy of my responses and consumed some more heroine. How depraved am I. Letting it all go to the dogs, as now I have the abandoning to blame. Always seeking reasons. Just smoke and snort and find myself a drain pipe to make my abonimable abode in. That will be it. I will blame her. And become a martyr for love. Maybe cut a few veins, too. Or maybe just spike them.
But then she called......
Chapter: Vile as Bile
.............Theatre is not only an opportunity for strugglers to showcase their star potential, but also a medium of social commentary as well as handing out educative morsels of morality and societal ethics, especially given our quasi-literate society. A prosaic corollary could be that blogs not only provide an opportunity for wannabe literati to showcase their gift of the gab, but also a medium of espousing jumbled up personal philosophies and a conduit for channeling thoughts and opinion that are lost in the din of reality that is percieved as abnormality by those who tend to resort to blogs - like myself over here. Prone to articulating emotions inadequately, incoherently and with great difficulty, I must also use this medium to compensate for all those times when the tongue fails to roll off the thoughts formulating in the head...and the heart. When bottled up emotions can no longer be stuffed in the lamp as the genie demands some space. When all I want is to drill a hole and go into permanent hibernation, will this provide solace? As likely as Disneyland at Guantanamo but Walt had a vision, Luther dreamed and we dared, too. But being a pathological failure, I had to come across the glitches within the Matrix. And things fall apart. Not least because she had run out of patience. She has more of it than Sahara has dunes. But because I am vile. As vile as bile. And she the pristine virgin. With a capacity to love greater than sun's to shine. And I, the greedy urchin stealing plumes and figs. Too stark a difference it is. And so, the days which were filled with loving confessions will now become a sallow vaccuum, with as much colour as contained in Ford's earliest slogan. And gone with all the colour is the sense of completion. Of being a whole. How odd the yin would be without the yang. And so I feel; like a broken talisman; a loose chain, a lever without its mechanism; a piece of barren land. Clawing my hair and scratching my bare legs until they bleed. Alas, only if were due to the foreboding feeling that overcomes as I fear her departure. But its the drug that makes me itch and scratch. And as I write this, in the middle of snorts, a sense of tranquility returns. I feel lighter and calmer, but also aware of the hollowness of this calm and its dependency upon the drug, which meanwhile, feeds upon my intestines and makes my stomach contract. This takes care of food and concerns of indigestion. I don't want any intake. I only want to puke. Out all the indignation brewing inside. Which is over the self. And a lump forms in my throat and I go mute at important times when a word of affection can give me another chance. But the lump stops all, and then phlegm is spitted out and then another lump and more phlegm. That's all there is inside. Phlegm and lies. And all I want to do is crawl back all over the phlegm and grovel at her feet. What she says not only pinches, but mutilates. But who cares of wounded vanity and squashed ego when greater things are on the line. While the kids from Lord of the Flies had little time to contemplate upon their accidental abandoning, all I can do is conceive myself as Tom Hanks, but not the bristling Charlie Wilson but the mute in Cast Away. And so I have been cast. Away. I hate being abandoned. But she has reasons and although I [have to] believe selfless love supercedes all logic and reason, I cannot demand her to abide by conveniently held beliefs. Especially if my inconsistent streaks are to be considered which make me more culpable than Kissinger...although I wouldn't mind if I get her as my noble prize. I am sitting here, looking at the cellular. For it is the chain that kept us together inspite of the miles. And then in a fit of rage I smashed it against the wall, laughed at the inadeuacy of my responses and consumed some more heroine. How depraved am I. Letting it all go to the dogs, as now I have the abandoning to blame. Always seeking reasons. Just smoke and snort and find myself a drain pipe to make my abonimable abode in. That will be it. I will blame her. And become a martyr for love. Maybe cut a few veins, too. Or maybe just spike them.
But then she called......
Monday, February 04, 2008
Slaughter of the Intellectuals - Fisk
Its an almia. With all the theorising, pakistan is very much following the trajectory, which is generally attributed to failed nations....or those with dictatorial regimes. sometimes it even appears that tis scripted to boot. but mostly, in repressive regimes, the (hopefully) flourishing arts are crushed...as the artist is averse to clipping of his wings. and then decadents and the bohemians revolt. In societies where religious fundamentalism is stoked, the result is tragic. Pakistan has its share of minority shia doctors who were murdered during a wave.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950216/ai_n13966276
And now I think, whether I should be glad that our society has not deteriorated to such a level...or sad that there are no real movie-makers...and intelelctuals that the fundoos would want to kill. karachi's flagship film festival, kara, has been postponed....no because terrorism is a threat to the event....but because it is the threat to the already meagre attendance.
And a paper on Iranian cinema. Which I will read.Soon.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Stephen_Nottingham/cintxtIran.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19950216/ai_n13966276
And now I think, whether I should be glad that our society has not deteriorated to such a level...or sad that there are no real movie-makers...and intelelctuals that the fundoos would want to kill. karachi's flagship film festival, kara, has been postponed....no because terrorism is a threat to the event....but because it is the threat to the already meagre attendance.
And a paper on Iranian cinema. Which I will read.Soon.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Stephen_Nottingham/cintxtIran.htm
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Return of the Native
When a swarm of black engulfs, I am reminded of Hardy. His writing also had a dark pallor. Everything was depressing. From start to finish. Unlike Chekhov, who mastered the art of short-storytelling. His adjectives were bleak. They were desolate. Hardy is plain negative. He would be for the entire breadth of the novel. And the blackness has returned. It's Ashura time and where my humble abode lies, the blackness hits the skies.
Old Numaish, or the former epicentre of Karachi, the round-about which-is-no-more, adjacent the Quaid's mazaar, is where the Shias have one of their major Mosques, or Imam Bargah, if you must. The entire artery, M.A. Jinnah road that stretches from Bundar Road till Prison round-about, was sealed. Crossing to the other side is a hassle. I had to take a long detour. Travel an extra 15 kilometeres to circumvent the route of the procession.
The shias, however, cannot be blamed as the rest make an equally appalling mess come the time of Eid ul-Azha, when sacrifces are mandatory. Although no detours are required.
However, this Moharram, with the threat of suicide bombing large.....the entry exit points are heavily secured and whether convenient or otherwise, oncomers are forced to take detours.
But the news is that attendance at the Majlis and the Procession is expected to not be as high as of earlier years. The threat of suicide bombing at a public congregation has deflated religious fervour even. It was not always like this. The Karachi of the 90s, with its no-go areas, never scared us of public gathering. Safety in numbers was what we aimed for. That is no longer the case. I wonder whether this change in thinking is post-Benazir assassination or that is when it hit home. After having more blasts in the country than most war-zones, with an increasing number of suicide bombings, 2007 was always going to be the bloodiest year of our collective living memory.
The side-show of the lawyers movement, which would time and again bring life to an abdupt halt, the Lal Masjid spectacle, the musical chairs that the Chief Justice played, the returning-departing-returning political exiles, the bruwahah over the elections, the imposition of emergency rule, media related chicanery, the assassination of the Baluch separatist leader, the still ongoing battles in Waziristan and tribal areas, the never-ending War on Terror and destabilized Afghanistan and Iraq, the rhetoric based in Iran........all this took place in 2007. And for all those who gloat over the upheavels in Pakistan, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was the crowning glory. The same day, fellow exile-return and less of a darling of the West, Nawaz Sharif was also attacked. There were only four casualties at his rally, and one victim adorned the screen - thanks to the profusing media - having promotional party paraphernalia as coffin. Nawaz, to his credit, hurried to the hospital where Benazir had already breathed her last, and announced boycott of elections.
Its funny how often politicians boycott. Then they enter under protest. Sometimes under duress. My hunch was Zardari wanted participation to ride on the sympathy wave. Atleast thats less cynical than the conspiracy theory doing the rounds in coke-laced get-togethers in drawing rooms of not only the elite, but also some sensible people, that Zardari is responsible for Benazir's assassination.
My boss has a theory that its the knee-jerk Pakistani response to any unnatural death. If it's the husband, thant he wife must have done it, and vice verse. And incase both our dead, you blame the son, as was in the Ismail Gulgee's case.
Whatever be the case, the truth remains that Pakistan is still the clutches of medieval aristocrats and the noble blood is enough to lead the race. And Bilawal was crowned the heir, with a halloween face. It is another scary beginning. His mother, two maternal uncles, and grandfather have met tragic ends. His grandfather and one uncle were sacrificial lambs towards political ends. His mother, a victim of the most gruesome form of political targetting. One can only guess how he will fare. Apparently, he's a martial art expert. Only if he had popped the pill and entered the Matrix would I bet on him. To survive.
Like I would bet on my relationship to survive. The uncanny similarities are there. Like in every facet there are certain parallel developments which are scary. For instance, processions of pro-government politicians never have any suicide bombers knocking on the doors. It's only anti government politicians. The militants allegedly responsible for killing anti-government politicians are busy taking out government soldiers and official militiamen in the tribal areas. It raises the question why don't they target pro-government political rallies. Other than former interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, none of the government allied leaders have come under attack inspite of their huge congregations. The lawyers have been attacked, politicians have been attacked, and a leading political figure has even been assassinated. Inside job, they murmur. "Liaquat Ali Khan's assassin was functioning alone and so is the ISI," says the conspiracy theory floozie at work.
The young Fatima Bhutto has also been ranting in rant-able quarters about things inconsequential. She even ended up in Lyari for three hours. And writing articles that are labelled ghostwritten by editors of competing publications.
2008 has arrived and along with it more blasts. The first one...targetting public places in Urban centres was in Lahore...killing more than 23 policeman and a few civilians. After that, there have been two more in Karachi, one in Peshawar, and more expected over the next 2 days. Already more than 100 people have died and more than 500 injured.
Further casualties are on the way. Emergency time again. But in hospitals. All is the same in Pakistan.
Old Numaish, or the former epicentre of Karachi, the round-about which-is-no-more, adjacent the Quaid's mazaar, is where the Shias have one of their major Mosques, or Imam Bargah, if you must. The entire artery, M.A. Jinnah road that stretches from Bundar Road till Prison round-about, was sealed. Crossing to the other side is a hassle. I had to take a long detour. Travel an extra 15 kilometeres to circumvent the route of the procession.
The shias, however, cannot be blamed as the rest make an equally appalling mess come the time of Eid ul-Azha, when sacrifces are mandatory. Although no detours are required.
However, this Moharram, with the threat of suicide bombing large.....the entry exit points are heavily secured and whether convenient or otherwise, oncomers are forced to take detours.
But the news is that attendance at the Majlis and the Procession is expected to not be as high as of earlier years. The threat of suicide bombing at a public congregation has deflated religious fervour even. It was not always like this. The Karachi of the 90s, with its no-go areas, never scared us of public gathering. Safety in numbers was what we aimed for. That is no longer the case. I wonder whether this change in thinking is post-Benazir assassination or that is when it hit home. After having more blasts in the country than most war-zones, with an increasing number of suicide bombings, 2007 was always going to be the bloodiest year of our collective living memory.
The side-show of the lawyers movement, which would time and again bring life to an abdupt halt, the Lal Masjid spectacle, the musical chairs that the Chief Justice played, the returning-departing-returning political exiles, the bruwahah over the elections, the imposition of emergency rule, media related chicanery, the assassination of the Baluch separatist leader, the still ongoing battles in Waziristan and tribal areas, the never-ending War on Terror and destabilized Afghanistan and Iraq, the rhetoric based in Iran........all this took place in 2007. And for all those who gloat over the upheavels in Pakistan, the assassination of Benazir Bhutto was the crowning glory. The same day, fellow exile-return and less of a darling of the West, Nawaz Sharif was also attacked. There were only four casualties at his rally, and one victim adorned the screen - thanks to the profusing media - having promotional party paraphernalia as coffin. Nawaz, to his credit, hurried to the hospital where Benazir had already breathed her last, and announced boycott of elections.
Its funny how often politicians boycott. Then they enter under protest. Sometimes under duress. My hunch was Zardari wanted participation to ride on the sympathy wave. Atleast thats less cynical than the conspiracy theory doing the rounds in coke-laced get-togethers in drawing rooms of not only the elite, but also some sensible people, that Zardari is responsible for Benazir's assassination.
My boss has a theory that its the knee-jerk Pakistani response to any unnatural death. If it's the husband, thant he wife must have done it, and vice verse. And incase both our dead, you blame the son, as was in the Ismail Gulgee's case.
Whatever be the case, the truth remains that Pakistan is still the clutches of medieval aristocrats and the noble blood is enough to lead the race. And Bilawal was crowned the heir, with a halloween face. It is another scary beginning. His mother, two maternal uncles, and grandfather have met tragic ends. His grandfather and one uncle were sacrificial lambs towards political ends. His mother, a victim of the most gruesome form of political targetting. One can only guess how he will fare. Apparently, he's a martial art expert. Only if he had popped the pill and entered the Matrix would I bet on him. To survive.
Like I would bet on my relationship to survive. The uncanny similarities are there. Like in every facet there are certain parallel developments which are scary. For instance, processions of pro-government politicians never have any suicide bombers knocking on the doors. It's only anti government politicians. The militants allegedly responsible for killing anti-government politicians are busy taking out government soldiers and official militiamen in the tribal areas. It raises the question why don't they target pro-government political rallies. Other than former interior minister, Aftab Sherpao, none of the government allied leaders have come under attack inspite of their huge congregations. The lawyers have been attacked, politicians have been attacked, and a leading political figure has even been assassinated. Inside job, they murmur. "Liaquat Ali Khan's assassin was functioning alone and so is the ISI," says the conspiracy theory floozie at work.
The young Fatima Bhutto has also been ranting in rant-able quarters about things inconsequential. She even ended up in Lyari for three hours. And writing articles that are labelled ghostwritten by editors of competing publications.
2008 has arrived and along with it more blasts. The first one...targetting public places in Urban centres was in Lahore...killing more than 23 policeman and a few civilians. After that, there have been two more in Karachi, one in Peshawar, and more expected over the next 2 days. Already more than 100 people have died and more than 500 injured.
Further casualties are on the way. Emergency time again. But in hospitals. All is the same in Pakistan.
Monday, November 26, 2007
For better or worse
It has been more than three weeks now since the emergency was imposed. Television channels have come back on air - barring one, for which, rather conveniently, I work and, hence, have time to prattle - and the same tripe has returned to TV screens, minus gory scenes of torso-less heads attributed to suicide bombers of immatur age.
Politicians are singing the same songs, so are the members of the administration. The ballads and slogans are pro-poor....and promises abound. Civil society is also returning to its previous role of silent apathy, barring a few miscreants who defy commonsense and hold vigils outside press club praying for a return to democracy. (Seven people in all.....)
And the incumbents are out in full force, addressing mass rallies, influencing opinion, promising reforms and transperancy, and other things that no one really believes but listens to happily.
Even Nawaz Sharif has returned, for better or worse. After his aborted attempt around a month back, this time he came with the blessings of the Saudi monarch....and in his special plane. The sacred approval enabled him to land in Lahore.....and march back to his Model Town home, which had been given over to the social welfare department and had become a shelter for the homeless. Now those poor souls are back on the street.....as the government has taken reconciliatory measures and occupying abandoned homes isn't easy as laser transplants on the scalp and growing hair in marsh land. Let's see if the media follows their trail, or they are forgotten as quickly as our outstanding cases against politicians in power.
Though, Benazir says Nawaz Sharif's safe return highlights the effectiveness of "National Reconciliation Order".......hoping that cases against her will also be written-off.
It's like giving a woman married for nine months and happy with her care-free life full of fun, frolic and party two options: Either get babies or rabies.
Which is the course Britney Spears plans to follow. She is planning to adopt a pair of Chinese twins. To make up for the loss of parental custody of her two kids...and also losing visitation rights after endangering their lives after a cocaine binge. Cynics (me?) say the plan is to get good press afer Madonna and Angelina's success.
And that's why Altaf Hussain is also expected to return. After Benazir and Nawaz's successful return, although like Madonna, who got into trouble with Malawian authorities for trespassing certain laws, Nawaz, too, got into hot-waters with the Saudi king for sneaking out incognito. But this time, he didn't circumvent authority and will soon be sprinkling General Mushy with Aab-e-ZamZam and verses from the Holy Quran.
But will the return of the ex-persona no grata result in a political short-circuit? The equation stands changed now.
Benazir continues to loose chunks of her voter-base with every statemet she makes. She has already promised Pakistan to the Americans. She has also promised to wipe out extremists elements. She has also promised to purge the Army of extremist elements and send them packing back to the barracks, like a mule with the tail tied between the legs and bleeding from the ass. She also says that she will empower the poor, get women her rights, safeguard the minorities, provide provincial autonomy and everything other 'positive claim' that will make it into the news.
Nawaz has made similar claims....he has returned to the nation to save us...to save democracy...and save the poor from being short-changed by the leaders-elect or select.
Altaf Hussain has been making teh same claims from his cave in England...
Even Imran Khan has joined in the chorus, but he has a cancer hospital to his credit and a past that is free from acts of duplicity that was second nature to the three leaders mentioned before him.
President General Musharraf will soon become President Musharraf once he takes oath and takes off his uniform. While there will be no strip-tease, there might be a stripping of dignity as the politicians will attempt to reconcile differences and become part of an alliance....with the sworn in President.
The myth of unity of political parties will remain, however, as a distant reality. And each-other will be blamed.
Politicians are singing the same songs, so are the members of the administration. The ballads and slogans are pro-poor....and promises abound. Civil society is also returning to its previous role of silent apathy, barring a few miscreants who defy commonsense and hold vigils outside press club praying for a return to democracy. (Seven people in all.....)
And the incumbents are out in full force, addressing mass rallies, influencing opinion, promising reforms and transperancy, and other things that no one really believes but listens to happily.
Even Nawaz Sharif has returned, for better or worse. After his aborted attempt around a month back, this time he came with the blessings of the Saudi monarch....and in his special plane. The sacred approval enabled him to land in Lahore.....and march back to his Model Town home, which had been given over to the social welfare department and had become a shelter for the homeless. Now those poor souls are back on the street.....as the government has taken reconciliatory measures and occupying abandoned homes isn't easy as laser transplants on the scalp and growing hair in marsh land. Let's see if the media follows their trail, or they are forgotten as quickly as our outstanding cases against politicians in power.
Though, Benazir says Nawaz Sharif's safe return highlights the effectiveness of "National Reconciliation Order".......hoping that cases against her will also be written-off.
It's like giving a woman married for nine months and happy with her care-free life full of fun, frolic and party two options: Either get babies or rabies.
Which is the course Britney Spears plans to follow. She is planning to adopt a pair of Chinese twins. To make up for the loss of parental custody of her two kids...and also losing visitation rights after endangering their lives after a cocaine binge. Cynics (me?) say the plan is to get good press afer Madonna and Angelina's success.
And that's why Altaf Hussain is also expected to return. After Benazir and Nawaz's successful return, although like Madonna, who got into trouble with Malawian authorities for trespassing certain laws, Nawaz, too, got into hot-waters with the Saudi king for sneaking out incognito. But this time, he didn't circumvent authority and will soon be sprinkling General Mushy with Aab-e-ZamZam and verses from the Holy Quran.
But will the return of the ex-persona no grata result in a political short-circuit? The equation stands changed now.
Benazir continues to loose chunks of her voter-base with every statemet she makes. She has already promised Pakistan to the Americans. She has also promised to wipe out extremists elements. She has also promised to purge the Army of extremist elements and send them packing back to the barracks, like a mule with the tail tied between the legs and bleeding from the ass. She also says that she will empower the poor, get women her rights, safeguard the minorities, provide provincial autonomy and everything other 'positive claim' that will make it into the news.
Nawaz has made similar claims....he has returned to the nation to save us...to save democracy...and save the poor from being short-changed by the leaders-elect or select.
Altaf Hussain has been making teh same claims from his cave in England...
Even Imran Khan has joined in the chorus, but he has a cancer hospital to his credit and a past that is free from acts of duplicity that was second nature to the three leaders mentioned before him.
President General Musharraf will soon become President Musharraf once he takes oath and takes off his uniform. While there will be no strip-tease, there might be a stripping of dignity as the politicians will attempt to reconcile differences and become part of an alliance....with the sworn in President.
The myth of unity of political parties will remain, however, as a distant reality. And each-other will be blamed.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Govt derails PPP's rally attempt
Rawalpindi has more army men then stones. And also eight suicide bombers. This was the reason why Benazir was placed under house arrest...for her own security, said the ISPR chief, or someone else from the quasi-militant agency that reigns atop the government hierarchy.
Police was stationed at the roads leading to the house of the BB and party-members were refused to enter the avenue and BB was denied the liberty to leave. There were scuffles and arrests ofcourse.
The government had already refused permission to hold the rally and with the emergency in place, I don't know what the ruckus is about. Either there is an emergency or there is none. If you can't weild the baton for good measure, than you should be baking bread at home, as the dominant chauvinist local maxim goes.
However, the baton was weilded to good measure and quite a few heads opened up. Open heads (or minds?) are also part of Enlightened moderation, don't you think?
The inspector general of Punjab had said that the law would run its course and it did; but isn't it part of the law that tear-gas shells are shot in the air and not aimed at protesting head? But thats how protestors are generally dispelled and we are only learning to master habits and this one needs to evolve further. Tear-gas snipping is next on the agenda but only if America pulls off another Iraq style invasion in Afghanistan and have busty GI babes train our lads.
Official quotes put the number of arrested PPP workers at 800 but that was by the morning of the day of teh rally. Once it was found out that the leader was under house arrest, the protestors intensity increased and there was further crackdown. The joining of hands of lawyers and students made things more difficult. Students at LUMS and BNU in Lahore and Quaid-e-Azam university in Islamabad were instrumental in holding flash protests to show their dissent.
But PPPs show of strength was spoiled as inspite of international pressure and Uncle Bush's phone call, the restraint order was not repealed until evening, and by then the winds had been taken out of the sails.
Cynics, though, claim that the aforementioned sail is in tatters and uncle sam is trying to provide the purple patch by bringing a reconciliation between BB and Mush.
Which is my fear. If, after all the protesting, most of which is yet to come, BB gives in to Machivalliaen deal, the blow that will be delivered to our spirits will be obscene.
The only option, then, will be to have Iqbal Hussain paint the nations portrait in his image.
Police was stationed at the roads leading to the house of the BB and party-members were refused to enter the avenue and BB was denied the liberty to leave. There were scuffles and arrests ofcourse.
The government had already refused permission to hold the rally and with the emergency in place, I don't know what the ruckus is about. Either there is an emergency or there is none. If you can't weild the baton for good measure, than you should be baking bread at home, as the dominant chauvinist local maxim goes.
However, the baton was weilded to good measure and quite a few heads opened up. Open heads (or minds?) are also part of Enlightened moderation, don't you think?
The inspector general of Punjab had said that the law would run its course and it did; but isn't it part of the law that tear-gas shells are shot in the air and not aimed at protesting head? But thats how protestors are generally dispelled and we are only learning to master habits and this one needs to evolve further. Tear-gas snipping is next on the agenda but only if America pulls off another Iraq style invasion in Afghanistan and have busty GI babes train our lads.
Official quotes put the number of arrested PPP workers at 800 but that was by the morning of the day of teh rally. Once it was found out that the leader was under house arrest, the protestors intensity increased and there was further crackdown. The joining of hands of lawyers and students made things more difficult. Students at LUMS and BNU in Lahore and Quaid-e-Azam university in Islamabad were instrumental in holding flash protests to show their dissent.
But PPPs show of strength was spoiled as inspite of international pressure and Uncle Bush's phone call, the restraint order was not repealed until evening, and by then the winds had been taken out of the sails.
Cynics, though, claim that the aforementioned sail is in tatters and uncle sam is trying to provide the purple patch by bringing a reconciliation between BB and Mush.
Which is my fear. If, after all the protesting, most of which is yet to come, BB gives in to Machivalliaen deal, the blow that will be delivered to our spirits will be obscene.
The only option, then, will be to have Iqbal Hussain paint the nations portrait in his image.
Street Fighting Man
Sang Mick Jaggers...allegedly after hearing Tariq Ali address an anti-war rally in London. Tariq Ali is Pakistan's preeminent student leader......back in the 60s when there was still life in nations.
Whether you like French fries or otherwise, you gotta admire their courage, although they dumped Vietnam on the Yanks and committed other fouls in the battle-ground of realpolitiks. But the people - with or without their fixation of cheese and wine....having been pioneers in movements of the mind...and hearts, too. 1968 is celebrated in campus history as the Year of the Barricades. The anarchist zeal of French students nearly brought down the government of France's most famous post-world-war-2 president: Charles de Gaulle. Anti-Vietnam protests in teh US followed.....and while in France intellect bloomed, in Yankee-land, too, it showed dissent. And thanks to that, we had the hippie revolution and hopes of sex, drug and rock n roll.
Even in Pakistan, there were protests against Ayub Khan.....whether masterminded by the executed Zulfi Bhutto is another debate.....but the student uprising alongside civil society was the major factor in Ayub giving up power. Tariq Ali's book, Street Fighting Years: Revolution in the 60s is a rather interesting read and makes one nostalgic for that age...when honest revolt reigned.
But lets snap and return to the present and the conundrum that our society is. Master Mush has made another promise....that general elections will be held by Feburuary 15, 2008 as promised. He has made quite a few promises in the past, too, to the people of Pakistan...and in particular to fellow stakeholders or political allies and failed to deliver. General Zia, the senior most dictator with 11 years to his credit, also pulled off similar deeds. Musharraf has pulled level with Ayub, who both have 8 years of service as head of all affairs under their belts.
Anyhow, the announcement, it is believed rather cynically and by me, has been made to appease international detractors. Condemnation of imposition of emergency was swift, as is generally the case...and Master Mush got a call from Uncle Sam's honcho and even PastMaster Bush said to reporters he was expecting return to normality in Pakistan. Britain, Germany, Norway and the UN were other nations that condemned the imposition of emergency and the black-out fo the media. Human rights groups were up in arms.
As it is, Pakistan is notorious for suicide bombings, honour killings, military coups, mass poverty, target killings, terrorism and increasing itnernational debt...and now images are flashing on screens of news-channels across the world of memebrs of civil society engaged in pitched battles with law-enforcement agencies. While civil war is unlikely to break out anytime soon, as Pakistan is more of a police-state than it is made out to be, and the population more pathetic than it is generalyl believed to be, there are still fears that this showdown can only get worse with time.
The lawyers have already been protesting for a while....ever since the CJ got sacked. They celebrated for a while when he was re-instated but now he is back under-house arrest and once again back to politicizing the entire campaign. So the lawyers are back protesting on the streets.
With the imminent elections, political campaigns are also underway....and with Benazir's arrival, things have heated up. The suicide bombing attempt at Benazir that killed nearly 150 people has only reaffirmed the victim mentality of the footsoldiers....and after Benazir was placed under house arrest yesterday to keep her from holding a scheduled rally and address in the army dominated city of Rawalpindi, the Jiyalas - as the die-hards call themselves - are all set for a showdown.
But the most alarming development, though some say the most lofty, is the gathering momentum of student protests. While governemnt universities have long been hotbed of political violence, the private campuses were rather sterile. But now it's students from these private universities only - that cream of middle class that aspires to work hard - has taken on themselves to emulate the Street Figthers of the 60s..
And while the politicians and lawyers are old hand - no judgements on the sincerity or nobility of their protests - and can submit to authority when facing the literal axe, the students are unlikely to show similar discretion. The student protests of '68 turned into an uprising when a student was shot-dead by the police. But then, the value of street-life wasn't rendered useless. However, now, it's a different story....and I fear martyrs, as much for them as for the legacy left behind.
Everyday, protestors are rounded up. Lawyers are already going missing. More than a 1000 PPP party-members were arrested in Rawalpindi....an attempt to puncture BBs hot air balloon. Public congregations are disbanded under the provisional constitution - section 144 being imposed, which entails that four persons cannot discuss anything in public. Civilians can be arrested and detained without a warrant....and the Army Act has been amended, which means civilians can be tried in military courts if the authorities feel the act was deterimental for the Pakistan Army. And as Master Mush is teh Chief of Army Staff, all protests against him are detrimental for the Army....meaning, I can be court martialled, too. Even you, if you read this and they trace your IP. I must go take a leak. I hope the the flush isn't bugged.
Anyhow, the confrontations are taking place. Everyday. Police is always beating up lawyers...though sometimes they show some balls, too...especially when students come to their aid. But if you are protesting, you are bound to be picked up. If you talk to the media, even than you are picked up. By people in plainclothes. Suddenly, from nowhere, 15-20 men will emerge in white kurta-shalwar, hold you by the scruff of your neck, and drag you off.
If you are in the middle of a protest, they will come running and surround you, pushing and shoving, lead you towards a police van. If you resist, they will beat you up. Even if you are a woman.
Though, today, it was made clear that even teh women force had been instructed to use brute force. Quite a few ladies had their heels broken, and one probably has a swolled jaw after a forecful slap that was captured on tape and will probably make headlines in international media once they catch on.
Otherwise, vocal protestors are isolated from the group and thrashed - whether the media looks on or not. Even foreign journalists have faced the heat. A canadian reporter got caught up in a baton-charge....but the agencies retreated as the white-skin intimidates. Which is rather sad....Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawyer of unquestionable talent and integrity, who also represented the Chief Justice and is a Senator of the PPP, is now in solitary confinement....and when he was leading a lawyers' protest against the sacking of the Chief Justice, the highhandedness of the plainclothes policeman was seen by the entire world. They picked him up and ran....to be out of reach of the following lawyers....The man is above 50 and highly respected. They treated him like a schoolboy playing truant.
Cricketers shouldn't blame. You never get due respect in Pakistan. Unless, ofcourse, your father is in the forces.
Whether you like French fries or otherwise, you gotta admire their courage, although they dumped Vietnam on the Yanks and committed other fouls in the battle-ground of realpolitiks. But the people - with or without their fixation of cheese and wine....having been pioneers in movements of the mind...and hearts, too. 1968 is celebrated in campus history as the Year of the Barricades. The anarchist zeal of French students nearly brought down the government of France's most famous post-world-war-2 president: Charles de Gaulle. Anti-Vietnam protests in teh US followed.....and while in France intellect bloomed, in Yankee-land, too, it showed dissent. And thanks to that, we had the hippie revolution and hopes of sex, drug and rock n roll.
Even in Pakistan, there were protests against Ayub Khan.....whether masterminded by the executed Zulfi Bhutto is another debate.....but the student uprising alongside civil society was the major factor in Ayub giving up power. Tariq Ali's book, Street Fighting Years: Revolution in the 60s is a rather interesting read and makes one nostalgic for that age...when honest revolt reigned.
But lets snap and return to the present and the conundrum that our society is. Master Mush has made another promise....that general elections will be held by Feburuary 15, 2008 as promised. He has made quite a few promises in the past, too, to the people of Pakistan...and in particular to fellow stakeholders or political allies and failed to deliver. General Zia, the senior most dictator with 11 years to his credit, also pulled off similar deeds. Musharraf has pulled level with Ayub, who both have 8 years of service as head of all affairs under their belts.
Anyhow, the announcement, it is believed rather cynically and by me, has been made to appease international detractors. Condemnation of imposition of emergency was swift, as is generally the case...and Master Mush got a call from Uncle Sam's honcho and even PastMaster Bush said to reporters he was expecting return to normality in Pakistan. Britain, Germany, Norway and the UN were other nations that condemned the imposition of emergency and the black-out fo the media. Human rights groups were up in arms.
As it is, Pakistan is notorious for suicide bombings, honour killings, military coups, mass poverty, target killings, terrorism and increasing itnernational debt...and now images are flashing on screens of news-channels across the world of memebrs of civil society engaged in pitched battles with law-enforcement agencies. While civil war is unlikely to break out anytime soon, as Pakistan is more of a police-state than it is made out to be, and the population more pathetic than it is generalyl believed to be, there are still fears that this showdown can only get worse with time.
The lawyers have already been protesting for a while....ever since the CJ got sacked. They celebrated for a while when he was re-instated but now he is back under-house arrest and once again back to politicizing the entire campaign. So the lawyers are back protesting on the streets.
With the imminent elections, political campaigns are also underway....and with Benazir's arrival, things have heated up. The suicide bombing attempt at Benazir that killed nearly 150 people has only reaffirmed the victim mentality of the footsoldiers....and after Benazir was placed under house arrest yesterday to keep her from holding a scheduled rally and address in the army dominated city of Rawalpindi, the Jiyalas - as the die-hards call themselves - are all set for a showdown.
But the most alarming development, though some say the most lofty, is the gathering momentum of student protests. While governemnt universities have long been hotbed of political violence, the private campuses were rather sterile. But now it's students from these private universities only - that cream of middle class that aspires to work hard - has taken on themselves to emulate the Street Figthers of the 60s..
And while the politicians and lawyers are old hand - no judgements on the sincerity or nobility of their protests - and can submit to authority when facing the literal axe, the students are unlikely to show similar discretion. The student protests of '68 turned into an uprising when a student was shot-dead by the police. But then, the value of street-life wasn't rendered useless. However, now, it's a different story....and I fear martyrs, as much for them as for the legacy left behind.
Everyday, protestors are rounded up. Lawyers are already going missing. More than a 1000 PPP party-members were arrested in Rawalpindi....an attempt to puncture BBs hot air balloon. Public congregations are disbanded under the provisional constitution - section 144 being imposed, which entails that four persons cannot discuss anything in public. Civilians can be arrested and detained without a warrant....and the Army Act has been amended, which means civilians can be tried in military courts if the authorities feel the act was deterimental for the Pakistan Army. And as Master Mush is teh Chief of Army Staff, all protests against him are detrimental for the Army....meaning, I can be court martialled, too. Even you, if you read this and they trace your IP. I must go take a leak. I hope the the flush isn't bugged.
Anyhow, the confrontations are taking place. Everyday. Police is always beating up lawyers...though sometimes they show some balls, too...especially when students come to their aid. But if you are protesting, you are bound to be picked up. If you talk to the media, even than you are picked up. By people in plainclothes. Suddenly, from nowhere, 15-20 men will emerge in white kurta-shalwar, hold you by the scruff of your neck, and drag you off.
If you are in the middle of a protest, they will come running and surround you, pushing and shoving, lead you towards a police van. If you resist, they will beat you up. Even if you are a woman.
Though, today, it was made clear that even teh women force had been instructed to use brute force. Quite a few ladies had their heels broken, and one probably has a swolled jaw after a forecful slap that was captured on tape and will probably make headlines in international media once they catch on.
Otherwise, vocal protestors are isolated from the group and thrashed - whether the media looks on or not. Even foreign journalists have faced the heat. A canadian reporter got caught up in a baton-charge....but the agencies retreated as the white-skin intimidates. Which is rather sad....Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawyer of unquestionable talent and integrity, who also represented the Chief Justice and is a Senator of the PPP, is now in solitary confinement....and when he was leading a lawyers' protest against the sacking of the Chief Justice, the highhandedness of the plainclothes policeman was seen by the entire world. They picked him up and ran....to be out of reach of the following lawyers....The man is above 50 and highly respected. They treated him like a schoolboy playing truant.
Cricketers shouldn't blame. You never get due respect in Pakistan. Unless, ofcourse, your father is in the forces.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Musharraf is the new Shah; Pakistan is Iran in the 70s
It's official now.......even right-minded American politicians think that Musharraf is behaving like a sulking King. Well, it's not official, because it's not Bush who made the statement. But a White House hopeful did....and the world is fast-catching on. Democrat Joe Biden was to make the statement while giving his address at some college. He wants US focus to shift from Musharraf and be directed at the people of Pakistan....as they have a strong democratic tradition. Someone needs to explain to Senator Biden that Pakistan has spent a greater part of its history under a military dictator - and will continue to do so as long as his great nation allows political expediency to supersede democratic or popular will.
However, his comparison surely is interesting....and make me hopeful. Can a popular student uprising hold American diplomats hostage at the American consulate? Who will be our firebrand clerical leader? Not Qazi or Fazl for sure. We need someone not tainted by petty politics. The two Islamist leaders have switched sides and flipped loyalties too often and too fast for anyone to believe in them for too long. (Long in Pakistan is realitively short.) In my head, there's only one solution: O-S-A-M-A! He's more popular in Pakistan than Musharraf...so why not?
And the senator's argument also makes sense. The moderate element, the same one with a strong tradition of democracy, will get fed up soon and join forces with the extremist and then we will have a scripted Islamic Revolution. Only we are already a nuclear power and Israel will be wiped off like Dresden and maybe some obscure jew will write his Slaughterhouse-Five or a day in the Kibbutz or something similar. There will be no nitpicking with IAEA inspectors and total destruction expedited.
However, his comparison surely is interesting....and make me hopeful. Can a popular student uprising hold American diplomats hostage at the American consulate? Who will be our firebrand clerical leader? Not Qazi or Fazl for sure. We need someone not tainted by petty politics. The two Islamist leaders have switched sides and flipped loyalties too often and too fast for anyone to believe in them for too long. (Long in Pakistan is realitively short.) In my head, there's only one solution: O-S-A-M-A! He's more popular in Pakistan than Musharraf...so why not?
And the senator's argument also makes sense. The moderate element, the same one with a strong tradition of democracy, will get fed up soon and join forces with the extremist and then we will have a scripted Islamic Revolution. Only we are already a nuclear power and Israel will be wiped off like Dresden and maybe some obscure jew will write his Slaughterhouse-Five or a day in the Kibbutz or something similar. There will be no nitpicking with IAEA inspectors and total destruction expedited.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Our cricketing hero..es.
"O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;.."
Are the lines from a Walt Whitman poem....but I remember them chiefly because of 'Dead Poets Society", an academy-award winning movie. The poem was written to pay homage to the assassinated American president, Abraham Lincoln....and was also translated into Hebrew by an Israeli poet to be sung at Yatzak Rabin's memorial. But that's mere referencing from popular culture.
I also want to pay homage....to our cricketing heroes. To my captain, who has to be Imran Khan - also because it was his leadership that brought Pakistan it's most glorious sporting moment, and also because he is a class act with a personality that shines through even when quelching mud. Okay, that's a misplaced metaphor but I am in the mood of waxing poetic, and there's something called poetic license, too.
I am euphoric because Pakistan just pulled off its greatest run chase - and the glacier on the cake is that it was against our arch-rivals; our perennial-foes; the nation we have been raised to hate: India.
We had lost the first match like a circus lion doing the rounds......atleast I felt worse than the sprawling on the floor boxer knocked out by Tyson without having a chance to throw a punch even. We had put up a decent total in the 1st ODI....atleast by the standards of Gwalior....but the Indian batting line-up showed its superiority...and our bowling attack its mediocrity when fighting for a lost cause.
But today......chasing a mamooth 322......we showed class. Which was shown earlier by the Indian batsmen. Tendulkar was in blazing form. The way he accelerated the scoring rate remins one of the cliche 'form is temporary; class is permanent', although the man of every moment was rather unlucky to get out on 99 - for a third time. That's another unique record for the master blaster.
Umar Gul bowled with a lot of heart and was instrumental in putting the breaks on the Indian scoring rate by taking the key wicket of Tendulkar. All our bowlers chipped in and although Harbhajan blasted a quick-fire 35 at the end, we were able to keep the Indian total to a lot less than what appeared when Tendulkar held sway.
Our reply started off in jitters as usual, as we haven't had a stable opening partnership since the times of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail. Salman Butt played some stylish shots but perished to a concentration lapse. But there was Younus Khan....who scored a majestic hundred, and though Youhana failed for once, 20-20 man Misbah finally put in a worthwhile ODI innings...but they both perished before completing the job. And in came the man who reflects the Pakistani temparent most honetly - the evergreen Shahid Khan Afridi...and for the first time in his life, he was able to hit the winning runs. A memorable win.......especially in context of the overall gloomy scenario that engulfs Pakistan, a state of emergency being imposed, and rumours rife that the Army Act can be amended. Which essentially means, dear unsuspecting chootyas(or civilians), that civilans can be court martialled. Our very own Guntanamo bay.
But returning to paying homage....to certain cricketers who are a mere haze in the head. I remember dozing off between deliveries as Pakistan battled England in the '92 world cup final. It was Ramazan. It was the most glorious moment of my life...too bad I was very young then.
But one year down the line......November 5, 1993: It was the Australasia Cup final, and Pakistan was playing the mighty West Indies...with its intimidating pace-attack. But out-stepped the indomitable Basit Ali ....relatively unknown but hailed in Pakistan as the next Javed Miandad...as much for his unorthodox playing style and the fact that he, too, hails from Karachi. He smashed a century of only 67 balls.....the second fastest at that time. But Basit Ali was destined to be a flash in the pan.....as his knock of a lifetime was un-done by Brian Charles Lara - who scored a magnificent 152....laced with a record 21 boundaries, emulating the great Viv Richards, which was later bettered by Saeed Anwar in his record breaking 194 against India.
But back to Basit...he was dropped for Shadab Kabir....a prolific batsman on the domestic circuit...but his first three innings fetched him three ducks and I don't think he ever got another call from the selectors. But that was the end of Basit, too, who was also mired in controversy after blaming certain team-mates of match-fixing. So Basit Ali vanished off the screen...but I still retain the memory of him bludgeoning the West Indian pace quartet.
While there are numerous stories regarding his sudden dumping by the Pakistan Cricket Board.....and the ethnic and sectarian preferences within the team, all I want to remember is him hooking and driving Ambrose all over the park. That is the memory in my head....all the rest is claptrap.
O Captain! My Captain! You should have been.
The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won;.."
Are the lines from a Walt Whitman poem....but I remember them chiefly because of 'Dead Poets Society", an academy-award winning movie. The poem was written to pay homage to the assassinated American president, Abraham Lincoln....and was also translated into Hebrew by an Israeli poet to be sung at Yatzak Rabin's memorial. But that's mere referencing from popular culture.
I also want to pay homage....to our cricketing heroes. To my captain, who has to be Imran Khan - also because it was his leadership that brought Pakistan it's most glorious sporting moment, and also because he is a class act with a personality that shines through even when quelching mud. Okay, that's a misplaced metaphor but I am in the mood of waxing poetic, and there's something called poetic license, too.
I am euphoric because Pakistan just pulled off its greatest run chase - and the glacier on the cake is that it was against our arch-rivals; our perennial-foes; the nation we have been raised to hate: India.
We had lost the first match like a circus lion doing the rounds......atleast I felt worse than the sprawling on the floor boxer knocked out by Tyson without having a chance to throw a punch even. We had put up a decent total in the 1st ODI....atleast by the standards of Gwalior....but the Indian batting line-up showed its superiority...and our bowling attack its mediocrity when fighting for a lost cause.
But today......chasing a mamooth 322......we showed class. Which was shown earlier by the Indian batsmen. Tendulkar was in blazing form. The way he accelerated the scoring rate remins one of the cliche 'form is temporary; class is permanent', although the man of every moment was rather unlucky to get out on 99 - for a third time. That's another unique record for the master blaster.
Umar Gul bowled with a lot of heart and was instrumental in putting the breaks on the Indian scoring rate by taking the key wicket of Tendulkar. All our bowlers chipped in and although Harbhajan blasted a quick-fire 35 at the end, we were able to keep the Indian total to a lot less than what appeared when Tendulkar held sway.
Our reply started off in jitters as usual, as we haven't had a stable opening partnership since the times of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail. Salman Butt played some stylish shots but perished to a concentration lapse. But there was Younus Khan....who scored a majestic hundred, and though Youhana failed for once, 20-20 man Misbah finally put in a worthwhile ODI innings...but they both perished before completing the job. And in came the man who reflects the Pakistani temparent most honetly - the evergreen Shahid Khan Afridi...and for the first time in his life, he was able to hit the winning runs. A memorable win.......especially in context of the overall gloomy scenario that engulfs Pakistan, a state of emergency being imposed, and rumours rife that the Army Act can be amended. Which essentially means, dear unsuspecting chootyas(or civilians), that civilans can be court martialled. Our very own Guntanamo bay.
But returning to paying homage....to certain cricketers who are a mere haze in the head. I remember dozing off between deliveries as Pakistan battled England in the '92 world cup final. It was Ramazan. It was the most glorious moment of my life...too bad I was very young then.
But one year down the line......November 5, 1993: It was the Australasia Cup final, and Pakistan was playing the mighty West Indies...with its intimidating pace-attack. But out-stepped the indomitable Basit Ali ....relatively unknown but hailed in Pakistan as the next Javed Miandad...as much for his unorthodox playing style and the fact that he, too, hails from Karachi. He smashed a century of only 67 balls.....the second fastest at that time. But Basit Ali was destined to be a flash in the pan.....as his knock of a lifetime was un-done by Brian Charles Lara - who scored a magnificent 152....laced with a record 21 boundaries, emulating the great Viv Richards, which was later bettered by Saeed Anwar in his record breaking 194 against India.
But back to Basit...he was dropped for Shadab Kabir....a prolific batsman on the domestic circuit...but his first three innings fetched him three ducks and I don't think he ever got another call from the selectors. But that was the end of Basit, too, who was also mired in controversy after blaming certain team-mates of match-fixing. So Basit Ali vanished off the screen...but I still retain the memory of him bludgeoning the West Indian pace quartet.
While there are numerous stories regarding his sudden dumping by the Pakistan Cricket Board.....and the ethnic and sectarian preferences within the team, all I want to remember is him hooking and driving Ambrose all over the park. That is the memory in my head....all the rest is claptrap.
O Captain! My Captain! You should have been.
Monday, November 05, 2007
So it goes
It's bedlam in cuckoo-land once again. The army is the inherited clock that grandpa handed down as a reminder of better times, when shit had to be taken in a hole, and if water wasn't at hand, green-leaves did the job what tissues do till now for the white-rascals.
Actually, that's not how it is. What really has happened is a 'State of Emergency' has been imposed in Pakistan. President General Master Musharraf believes that the only way to save the country is by imposing emergency and so it goes, as was Vonnegut's catch-phrase. But more about the true master later. Let's first have a bird-eye view of political developments at home.
While Pakistan had been simmering with political apathy for too long, when the Chief Justice of Pakistan was brought in the firing line, the lawyers went bonkers. That resulted in a prolonged confrontation, and the CJ was reinstated....and while trying to get re-instated, he too carried out a full-fledge paraded campaign which resulted in a lot of collateral damage. But we don't talk about collateral damage and I will continue the tradition due to inherited dogmatism.....or carnal sloth, as you consider fit.
So, the CJ was hearing cases agaisnt Mush's regime and had a fair idea of cutting him down to size. High-ranking generals and police officials from Islamabad were summonded to the courts and made answerable for their actions and consequently censured. The case of missing persons, more than 200 documented cases, were also opened and slowly, but surely, the details of their whereabouts were coming to light. Newton's third law of motion, every action having an equal and opposite reaction, was holding true and Mushie might not be getting back as good as he gave, but surely his honchos were.
However, its Mushie who weilds the axe and the rest are barren trees with auburn hair and orange leaves.....or So It Goes.
While all this was happening, bomb blasts were taking place regularly over the scattered land mass of Pakistan. Swat, once a tourist haven, has now become a terrorist hide-out. Taliban style banning of barber shops and bombing of video-stores have become more frequent in the regions of the North West Frontier Province. Clashes between armed forces and terrorists also increased in frequency. While a stand-off had been achieved between lawyers and generals and civilians and forces (though civilians can only be credited with sitting down....their general stance on all issues of note); and the need of the hour became toe-ing a tough-line against militant insurgents, which some claim, is the creation of the Pak Army & ISI and has now turned into a twelve-head hydra or the sapola of fables.....
Anyhow, Master Mush got really upset with all the developments and decided to impose a 'state of emergency'.......the Chief Justice was once again fired, the constitution was abrogated, fundamental rights usurped and a dictatorship in place.
The ire of Master Mush was directed wholeheartedly at the Judiciary, who were blamed for creating such a scenario that had brought the nation on the brink of disaster. All cable operators were asked to shut-down all news channel and the only channel in operation is the state-run PTV.......
The media-folks were also blamed for not being co-operative with the government and giving rise to dissent. The terrorist issue was already a thorn in teh butt. Basically, most of the things were going wrong, and if he allowed it to continue, that would mean, the 'nation would be committing suicide', and being a pious muslim and a responsible Pakistani, he couldn't see that happen.....and so it goes.
As expected, there were scattered protests. The Lawyers came out in full force and were met wtih full force and ended up with bloody heads and broken toes. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan members were rounded up. Political leaders were rounded up. Political activists were rounded up. The government claims 500 people are in temporary confinment but even eternal optimists can't refuse a number of 5000...while cynics claim that unmarked graves are already being dug.
As I mentioned earlier, with all channels off-air, PTV had a field day. The national channel has received a lot of slack for never measuring up to it's competition and being a failure ever since it's monopoly was removed and other channels were introduced. It was PTV's opportunity...to have a few laughs of it's own....however, tehy failed to put the ball into the empty net, so to speak. It's bland transmission continued and updates about the coutry's situation were given through tickers...that eternal line at the bottom of your tv screen that sometimes provides momentary respite.
But PTV had it's coup d'etat. An exclusive interview of Master Mush addressing the masses...that would be shown live the world over. PTV had the opportunity to make up for its failures. But Victor Hugo said, history repeats itself....sometimes as a farce, and that's what the speech and PTV coverage more seemed like.
My personal observation was that the initial frame included Master Mush, Master Jinnah's hanging portrait (homage to founding father is must) and the national flag. While Musharraf ambled, Master Jinnah was slowly zoomed out, and then the flag, leaving the focus only on Musharraf and showing some nervousness and sweat. But his nearly 40-minute monologue lived up to expectations and lacked anything of substance. And we all returned to watching football matches as sports channels weren't taken off-air.
But back to the political scenario, Master Mush also introduced a temporary constitution,
or PCO (provisional constitutional order) which sounds more like a martial law.
Out fo the 17 judges of the supreme court, 7 called it legal. All were put under house arrest. 4 of them took oath under the PCO and one of them was appointed as the new CJ and the rest assured of privileges beyond expectations....or so the envious man is led to believe. For finding favor with clinging dictators has its perks, too.
America has taken up a rather soft-tone....with Condi Rice being most vocal, but she's caught up with the Mid-East process and can be spared. (Which reminds me: Apparently, the latest meeting of Olmert and Abbas in Annapolis is going to come up with a definite plan of compromise, says Condi. Chuckles or skittles, anyone?)
However, unofficially, Master Mush's honchos have claimed, rather smugly, in American newspapers, that whatever the American's think of the act, they will always opt for stability instead of democracy, as that meets the needs of political expediency.
However, there has been some murmurs that American aid to Pakistan might be come off...which was quickly discredited, though one mission that was set to visit Pakistan has been suspended. But we Pakistanis don't like Americans interfering and they can go to hell, says the Mullah on the street. And death to Israel, too. Unfortunately, our clergy is unlike that raised in Buddhist temples and will never know the meaning of peaceful dissent. And Jemima Khan said that Benazir isn't Aun Sung Suu Kyi - which is equally valid.
I would like to add my bit, too. Our people are unlike any other, too. We lack political consciousness and personal will. In an attempt to gauge the dissenting pulse...which sometimes I feel within me, too...I made my way to the Karachi press club. Media-men from all around were gathered...discussing ways of making themselves heard. Some of them had just gotten beaten up for raising anti-Mush slogans.....and a few arrested as well.
When I reached, the first rights of passage had been administered...and people were cautious. They were trying to devise a plan...but getting to the point where plans startedd being devised took sometime, too. Finally, squatting on the grass, numerous voices were heard. The young girls were vocal, the aunties were scheming, while the boys made jokes and the old men passed cynical judgements on the state of affairs.
There was no agreement on the form of protest, with the eventuality being that the protesters who a few minutes back were willing to court arrest, trickled out like milk from syrupy leaves...neither nourishing nor ....anything else, unless you're a banana planter celebrating 100 years of solitude.
But it was decided that there will be another protest tomorrow...and we promised to show our faces. Maybe we will come in the line of fire, too, Master Mush style, get baton-charged and have some scars to compete against martyrs.
While emergency rule continues, so do breaking news. Everything is suddenly of ten-times the importance. Shaukat Aziz says elections might be delayed. Mushahid Hussain, another one of Master Mushs honchos, says that he advised against the imposition of emergency and it could only end in a catastrophe. Benazir is saying a lot of things but as teh channels are off air, it doesn't really matter how she tries to tap on the emotional aspects of those listening agape.
Rest is fine. But we are ignoring what's happening on the world front, but I will hopefully return tonight with a comprehensive analysis of the Italian mafia chief who has been arrested and the Leftists fighting for their rights in isolated positions in far-off Indian provinces and American defense secretary visiting China...or teh reacting from Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran.
All things are worth the money....so it goes, said Vonnegut. I want to write his obituary, you know. And Master Mushs....and Benazirs, too.....so it goes.
Actually, that's not how it is. What really has happened is a 'State of Emergency' has been imposed in Pakistan. President General Master Musharraf believes that the only way to save the country is by imposing emergency and so it goes, as was Vonnegut's catch-phrase. But more about the true master later. Let's first have a bird-eye view of political developments at home.
While Pakistan had been simmering with political apathy for too long, when the Chief Justice of Pakistan was brought in the firing line, the lawyers went bonkers. That resulted in a prolonged confrontation, and the CJ was reinstated....and while trying to get re-instated, he too carried out a full-fledge paraded campaign which resulted in a lot of collateral damage. But we don't talk about collateral damage and I will continue the tradition due to inherited dogmatism.....or carnal sloth, as you consider fit.
So, the CJ was hearing cases agaisnt Mush's regime and had a fair idea of cutting him down to size. High-ranking generals and police officials from Islamabad were summonded to the courts and made answerable for their actions and consequently censured. The case of missing persons, more than 200 documented cases, were also opened and slowly, but surely, the details of their whereabouts were coming to light. Newton's third law of motion, every action having an equal and opposite reaction, was holding true and Mushie might not be getting back as good as he gave, but surely his honchos were.
However, its Mushie who weilds the axe and the rest are barren trees with auburn hair and orange leaves.....or So It Goes.
While all this was happening, bomb blasts were taking place regularly over the scattered land mass of Pakistan. Swat, once a tourist haven, has now become a terrorist hide-out. Taliban style banning of barber shops and bombing of video-stores have become more frequent in the regions of the North West Frontier Province. Clashes between armed forces and terrorists also increased in frequency. While a stand-off had been achieved between lawyers and generals and civilians and forces (though civilians can only be credited with sitting down....their general stance on all issues of note); and the need of the hour became toe-ing a tough-line against militant insurgents, which some claim, is the creation of the Pak Army & ISI and has now turned into a twelve-head hydra or the sapola of fables.....
Anyhow, Master Mush got really upset with all the developments and decided to impose a 'state of emergency'.......the Chief Justice was once again fired, the constitution was abrogated, fundamental rights usurped and a dictatorship in place.
The ire of Master Mush was directed wholeheartedly at the Judiciary, who were blamed for creating such a scenario that had brought the nation on the brink of disaster. All cable operators were asked to shut-down all news channel and the only channel in operation is the state-run PTV.......
The media-folks were also blamed for not being co-operative with the government and giving rise to dissent. The terrorist issue was already a thorn in teh butt. Basically, most of the things were going wrong, and if he allowed it to continue, that would mean, the 'nation would be committing suicide', and being a pious muslim and a responsible Pakistani, he couldn't see that happen.....and so it goes.
As expected, there were scattered protests. The Lawyers came out in full force and were met wtih full force and ended up with bloody heads and broken toes. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan members were rounded up. Political leaders were rounded up. Political activists were rounded up. The government claims 500 people are in temporary confinment but even eternal optimists can't refuse a number of 5000...while cynics claim that unmarked graves are already being dug.
As I mentioned earlier, with all channels off-air, PTV had a field day. The national channel has received a lot of slack for never measuring up to it's competition and being a failure ever since it's monopoly was removed and other channels were introduced. It was PTV's opportunity...to have a few laughs of it's own....however, tehy failed to put the ball into the empty net, so to speak. It's bland transmission continued and updates about the coutry's situation were given through tickers...that eternal line at the bottom of your tv screen that sometimes provides momentary respite.
But PTV had it's coup d'etat. An exclusive interview of Master Mush addressing the masses...that would be shown live the world over. PTV had the opportunity to make up for its failures. But Victor Hugo said, history repeats itself....sometimes as a farce, and that's what the speech and PTV coverage more seemed like.
My personal observation was that the initial frame included Master Mush, Master Jinnah's hanging portrait (homage to founding father is must) and the national flag. While Musharraf ambled, Master Jinnah was slowly zoomed out, and then the flag, leaving the focus only on Musharraf and showing some nervousness and sweat. But his nearly 40-minute monologue lived up to expectations and lacked anything of substance. And we all returned to watching football matches as sports channels weren't taken off-air.
But back to the political scenario, Master Mush also introduced a temporary constitution,
or PCO (provisional constitutional order) which sounds more like a martial law.
Out fo the 17 judges of the supreme court, 7 called it legal. All were put under house arrest. 4 of them took oath under the PCO and one of them was appointed as the new CJ and the rest assured of privileges beyond expectations....or so the envious man is led to believe. For finding favor with clinging dictators has its perks, too.
America has taken up a rather soft-tone....with Condi Rice being most vocal, but she's caught up with the Mid-East process and can be spared. (Which reminds me: Apparently, the latest meeting of Olmert and Abbas in Annapolis is going to come up with a definite plan of compromise, says Condi. Chuckles or skittles, anyone?)
However, unofficially, Master Mush's honchos have claimed, rather smugly, in American newspapers, that whatever the American's think of the act, they will always opt for stability instead of democracy, as that meets the needs of political expediency.
However, there has been some murmurs that American aid to Pakistan might be come off...which was quickly discredited, though one mission that was set to visit Pakistan has been suspended. But we Pakistanis don't like Americans interfering and they can go to hell, says the Mullah on the street. And death to Israel, too. Unfortunately, our clergy is unlike that raised in Buddhist temples and will never know the meaning of peaceful dissent. And Jemima Khan said that Benazir isn't Aun Sung Suu Kyi - which is equally valid.
I would like to add my bit, too. Our people are unlike any other, too. We lack political consciousness and personal will. In an attempt to gauge the dissenting pulse...which sometimes I feel within me, too...I made my way to the Karachi press club. Media-men from all around were gathered...discussing ways of making themselves heard. Some of them had just gotten beaten up for raising anti-Mush slogans.....and a few arrested as well.
When I reached, the first rights of passage had been administered...and people were cautious. They were trying to devise a plan...but getting to the point where plans startedd being devised took sometime, too. Finally, squatting on the grass, numerous voices were heard. The young girls were vocal, the aunties were scheming, while the boys made jokes and the old men passed cynical judgements on the state of affairs.
There was no agreement on the form of protest, with the eventuality being that the protesters who a few minutes back were willing to court arrest, trickled out like milk from syrupy leaves...neither nourishing nor ....anything else, unless you're a banana planter celebrating 100 years of solitude.
But it was decided that there will be another protest tomorrow...and we promised to show our faces. Maybe we will come in the line of fire, too, Master Mush style, get baton-charged and have some scars to compete against martyrs.
While emergency rule continues, so do breaking news. Everything is suddenly of ten-times the importance. Shaukat Aziz says elections might be delayed. Mushahid Hussain, another one of Master Mushs honchos, says that he advised against the imposition of emergency and it could only end in a catastrophe. Benazir is saying a lot of things but as teh channels are off air, it doesn't really matter how she tries to tap on the emotional aspects of those listening agape.
Rest is fine. But we are ignoring what's happening on the world front, but I will hopefully return tonight with a comprehensive analysis of the Italian mafia chief who has been arrested and the Leftists fighting for their rights in isolated positions in far-off Indian provinces and American defense secretary visiting China...or teh reacting from Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran.
All things are worth the money....so it goes, said Vonnegut. I want to write his obituary, you know. And Master Mushs....and Benazirs, too.....so it goes.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Rest in Pieces...
I thought I would write an elegy for those unfortunate ones who lost their lives.......on October 18th, the day the Bibi of the East returned from her exile....but I couldn't decide to whom it should be addressed. The majority of the dead were supporters of the PPP....but surely, a lot of them had been paid to attend the rally. People who were just trying to earn their bread through creative endeavor. Splintered people with divided loyalties....and now bodies, too. Then there were the party members holding various posts.....senior members now that they are dead. Some curious onlookers even. Now distorted beyond recoginition.
It was the biggest rally that the city has seen for sometime. There have been 'million marchs' before, but they never made it to a hundred thousand. BB probably had half a million show up on the roads to greet her - mostly paid maybe - but still it was a great show of strength for a party that has managed to thoroughly discredit itself at every opportunity.
Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses. Milan Kundera thinks its hope.....atleast in 'The Joke'. From the look of things, in my country, both are true...and maybe a few others, too. Not hinting towards the pitiable evolutionary track that the mashra treads upon, just on how things stand.
Why else would people put so much stock in out-dated slogans. 'Roti, Kapra aur Makan' - (Food, Shelter and Clothing) still is the desired end for most of the country's population. As it was in the 70's when Bhutto ascended to the throne and played Caesar without a tiara and sometimes exuding Mao's aura.
Now his daughter is back...once again. And her return hsa already seen nearly 150 people dead and scores injured in two horrific bomb blasts that targeted her procession. The toll could have been much worse. In a blink shorter than a butterfly flapping wings, bloood flew all over. Bodies and bones and a lot more. They were dying. Benazir was rushed to her destination. Cars trampled over bodies. And for those brave ones who were still trying to savor their last breaths...take with them whatevery they could of life and freedom and free will.....it must have been a back-breaking sight...if there was a back...and if it had not been broken. For it was the leader who was to be preserved. They were foot-soldiers and they could lie in pools of drying blood....but when you're breathing your last, you see no difference between the pauper and king...as long as both are breathing. And in those last fleeting glances, they would have known. What they were trying to stand up for - if at all - was nothing but a charade. An attempt at political mileage. Not that BB has not had her own personal heartbreaks. She lost her father and two brothers in a manner that would breakdown even Margaret Thatcher. But she has stood on...but she has also enjoyed the perks of martyrdom. Bhutto continues to have a dominating legacy. Murtaza Bhutto still evokes nostalgic sigh....his death continues to be a mystery. And the forgotten Shahnawaz.....the dandy......is coffee-table for conspiracy hatchers. Yes, she has lost...but she has gained, too. In dollars and pounds and swiss bank accounts. But the special reconciliation ordinance has pardoned her.
But what about those poverty-stricken loyalists who believe in hollow promises of the prophets of politics. They come from urban slums, mostly. And now they are dead. Mere names. And numbers, too. Sadly, this isn't the last. Forutnately, the backlash has not been as severe as it was when it was MQM who were attacked. Or the Islamists. Then all hell would break lose and kids with sticks and guns would maraud the areas where the mob mentality could be prevailed.
So far, PPP has been circumspect. Will the anger abate? Some fear retaliatory attacks. BB apparently isn't as strongly entrenched to consider one or maybe it's teh absence of Zardari, her beau, Mr. 30 percent. He has already implicated the inteligence agencies. And that's mannah for television channels.
The coverage that the entire episode was disturbing. It might not look out-of-place in a Fox News re-run, but the media the world over lapped it up.
Geo News - Pakistan's leading news channel - was being cut live by Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Sky News and probably Fox News, too. And the Geo anchor even got aired on all the foreign channels due to sharp switching. In his rather handsome clothes.
The day started with Pakistan's most highly paid political pundit, Dr Shahid Masood, Ph.D, giving minute-to-minute update of the going-ons inside the plane. First it was people swapping seats to get closer to the political nexus that was perched in teh first class compartment. Some party-members took up seats in teh first-class section. The captain refused to fly and the people had to be made to go back to their seats. Still, the plane had more people in the front half, and as the luggage had been kept out for security purposes, the plane wasn't balanced, and it caused further delay. And Dr. Masood droned on in his usual manner...but his voice did betray some excitement, as if he was witness to a nuclear conflict unravelling in a crystal maze.
Benazir's plan touched base after much delay and finally there was something to shout about. Her solitary tear made ticker-worthy news and channels clamored to claim that she was crying like a harlot confessing her sins...
Once out, she took position atop her bullet-proof compartment - a sign of courage or maybe foolhardiness in retrospect - but a decision that probably emanated envious grunts from GHQ even. The women has no fear....or shame, they would probably say.
It was all very slow. Four hours and only five kilometers travelled. The most exciting day for the political paparazzis was turning into a test-match. The topical joke, ofcourse, was that only a blast could give the whole occassion a Twenty20 twist. And it came....after much waiting ofcourse. And the news channels had a field day. Even a martyr. An unfortunate camera-man who was scheduled to be posted to London...which means opening up of horizons and dream come true for the struggling middle-class denizens. He wasn't as lucky as the news-channel.
There was a race on the death count. It spiralled from 23 to 36 to 58 to 85 and quickly crossed 100. Channel logo's became black and white.....Geo set the trend after the May 12 carnage and all teh rest had to follow.
There was also a death & injured counter. And the race was as stiff here as it was before. Every 2 minutes, there would be a decrease in the number of injured and increase in death.
There was even a burning fire....just like they had it on fox during yesterday's fire in California. Media was basking in the glory of public misery. Reporters were dissecting teh crime scene. Experts (read: Windbags) postulated theories. Beauracrats issued condemnations. Politicians said nothing......substantial.
The pieces had been picked. But the deaths remain. A number on the screen.
Jim Morrison sang about the end. And it rained napalm in Vietnam. But we are immune to such lessons.
Until the next blast, adieu!
It was the biggest rally that the city has seen for sometime. There have been 'million marchs' before, but they never made it to a hundred thousand. BB probably had half a million show up on the roads to greet her - mostly paid maybe - but still it was a great show of strength for a party that has managed to thoroughly discredit itself at every opportunity.
Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses. Milan Kundera thinks its hope.....atleast in 'The Joke'. From the look of things, in my country, both are true...and maybe a few others, too. Not hinting towards the pitiable evolutionary track that the mashra treads upon, just on how things stand.
Why else would people put so much stock in out-dated slogans. 'Roti, Kapra aur Makan' - (Food, Shelter and Clothing) still is the desired end for most of the country's population. As it was in the 70's when Bhutto ascended to the throne and played Caesar without a tiara and sometimes exuding Mao's aura.
Now his daughter is back...once again. And her return hsa already seen nearly 150 people dead and scores injured in two horrific bomb blasts that targeted her procession. The toll could have been much worse. In a blink shorter than a butterfly flapping wings, bloood flew all over. Bodies and bones and a lot more. They were dying. Benazir was rushed to her destination. Cars trampled over bodies. And for those brave ones who were still trying to savor their last breaths...take with them whatevery they could of life and freedom and free will.....it must have been a back-breaking sight...if there was a back...and if it had not been broken. For it was the leader who was to be preserved. They were foot-soldiers and they could lie in pools of drying blood....but when you're breathing your last, you see no difference between the pauper and king...as long as both are breathing. And in those last fleeting glances, they would have known. What they were trying to stand up for - if at all - was nothing but a charade. An attempt at political mileage. Not that BB has not had her own personal heartbreaks. She lost her father and two brothers in a manner that would breakdown even Margaret Thatcher. But she has stood on...but she has also enjoyed the perks of martyrdom. Bhutto continues to have a dominating legacy. Murtaza Bhutto still evokes nostalgic sigh....his death continues to be a mystery. And the forgotten Shahnawaz.....the dandy......is coffee-table for conspiracy hatchers. Yes, she has lost...but she has gained, too. In dollars and pounds and swiss bank accounts. But the special reconciliation ordinance has pardoned her.
But what about those poverty-stricken loyalists who believe in hollow promises of the prophets of politics. They come from urban slums, mostly. And now they are dead. Mere names. And numbers, too. Sadly, this isn't the last. Forutnately, the backlash has not been as severe as it was when it was MQM who were attacked. Or the Islamists. Then all hell would break lose and kids with sticks and guns would maraud the areas where the mob mentality could be prevailed.
So far, PPP has been circumspect. Will the anger abate? Some fear retaliatory attacks. BB apparently isn't as strongly entrenched to consider one or maybe it's teh absence of Zardari, her beau, Mr. 30 percent. He has already implicated the inteligence agencies. And that's mannah for television channels.
The coverage that the entire episode was disturbing. It might not look out-of-place in a Fox News re-run, but the media the world over lapped it up.
Geo News - Pakistan's leading news channel - was being cut live by Al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, Sky News and probably Fox News, too. And the Geo anchor even got aired on all the foreign channels due to sharp switching. In his rather handsome clothes.
The day started with Pakistan's most highly paid political pundit, Dr Shahid Masood, Ph.D, giving minute-to-minute update of the going-ons inside the plane. First it was people swapping seats to get closer to the political nexus that was perched in teh first class compartment. Some party-members took up seats in teh first-class section. The captain refused to fly and the people had to be made to go back to their seats. Still, the plane had more people in the front half, and as the luggage had been kept out for security purposes, the plane wasn't balanced, and it caused further delay. And Dr. Masood droned on in his usual manner...but his voice did betray some excitement, as if he was witness to a nuclear conflict unravelling in a crystal maze.
Benazir's plan touched base after much delay and finally there was something to shout about. Her solitary tear made ticker-worthy news and channels clamored to claim that she was crying like a harlot confessing her sins...
Once out, she took position atop her bullet-proof compartment - a sign of courage or maybe foolhardiness in retrospect - but a decision that probably emanated envious grunts from GHQ even. The women has no fear....or shame, they would probably say.
It was all very slow. Four hours and only five kilometers travelled. The most exciting day for the political paparazzis was turning into a test-match. The topical joke, ofcourse, was that only a blast could give the whole occassion a Twenty20 twist. And it came....after much waiting ofcourse. And the news channels had a field day. Even a martyr. An unfortunate camera-man who was scheduled to be posted to London...which means opening up of horizons and dream come true for the struggling middle-class denizens. He wasn't as lucky as the news-channel.
There was a race on the death count. It spiralled from 23 to 36 to 58 to 85 and quickly crossed 100. Channel logo's became black and white.....Geo set the trend after the May 12 carnage and all teh rest had to follow.
There was also a death & injured counter. And the race was as stiff here as it was before. Every 2 minutes, there would be a decrease in the number of injured and increase in death.
There was even a burning fire....just like they had it on fox during yesterday's fire in California. Media was basking in the glory of public misery. Reporters were dissecting teh crime scene. Experts (read: Windbags) postulated theories. Beauracrats issued condemnations. Politicians said nothing......substantial.
The pieces had been picked. But the deaths remain. A number on the screen.
Jim Morrison sang about the end. And it rained napalm in Vietnam. But we are immune to such lessons.
Until the next blast, adieu!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The only woman who can make Musharraf take off his clothes
The world is an evil place and you have to adopt evil ways. Hence the title. You have to decieve in order to lead - or atleast that seems to be the mantra of our leaders.
To ensure continuity of the status quo, our leaders time and again embroil themselves in certain national conflicts that absorb all energy and leaving the feeling in the air that the rest of the work needs to be left for another time.
That's how we have been led....by the noose. Just to flashback, not even in the distant far, a mere 5 years, even, and soo much has happen that our brains are over-taxed by conflicting information of conflicts.
Right now it's Benazir's return. Before that it was the crackdown against lawyers and the countrywide breakdown. Before that it was May 12th when Karachi easily reflected what life would be like in war-torn Beirut at the height of the crisis. Before that was the continuing saga of Lal Masjid and the Chief Justice. Somewhere in the middle was Nawaz Sharif's aborted attempts of return and Shoaib Akhtar's shenanigans.
Before that was continuous detention of political prisoners. Before that was the political assassination of a politcal figure and a tribal leader of great standing even if cruel ways - Nawab Akbar Bukti...Before that and continuing todate is the ongoing saga of militants in FATA region, especially Waziristan..
And God unleashed some divine wrath in the middle, too. The October Eight earthquake in the already war-torn Kashmir region destabilized lives even further. Safe estimates suggest that it killed a million and made another 3 million homeless.
And the rest have now become more dependent on official aid, political concessions and moments of army benevolence. Cynics suggest it will expedite the process of recruiting foot-soldiers.
But that's how it's been. The political climate has been simmering for a while now. Benazir's imminent return means that Karachi will be a cauldron of activity. 80,000 members are expected to welcome BB
From the alliance of political parties supporting PPP, only one party has stepped forward to join the ranks of PPP foot-soldiers in welcoming home their patron saint. Funnily enough, I had never expected such a party to exist. It's the 'All Pakistan's Minority Alliance' and is led by one Prince Rashid. So this party is an alliance of minorities, who number around 5% of the total population in generous official estimates that probably want to cover up a healthcare genocide of Aremenian-Turkish levels. This means that the alliance of minorities is the only party with the cajonies to welcome BB...or an urgence for a voice in the political apparatus, to expose themselves so much in such a volatile environment. It could generally be said that 'they have nothing to lose', but in Pakistan you always have your life...
While the party members are expected to descend in full force in Karachi by tonight, the city already is painted in PPP colours. Cross-roads are brimming with billboards with shots of Benazir with an inviting smile and Zulfi bathed in rhetorical exuberance.
And streets and avenues are lined up with hoardings and boardings. Ethnic supporters have set up camps at different junctions....setting up free-style dance fun to the tune of traditional PPP songs....they are catchy, too, if you have listened to them since childhood.
Though they are expected to become a nuisance. Cause blockades and jams....attempting merry-making on important roads holding up traffic...Just to incite conflict and then press home the numbers advantage. That's the prevalent psyche of collective groups in my society. Like a bunch of swaggering adolescent newbies emerging out of the pub to confront fans of a rival football club.
Surprisingly, MQM, the street-thugs of Karachi and also the ruling party, have stayed quiet over the developments. A few complaints have been heard about the using of excessive hoardings as illegal...but otherwise, they say that will welcome the return of Benazir.
Musharraf, though in an interview to a private channel, suggested that BB should delay her return until the Supreme Court ruling on his uniform issue. But everyone has to look after his goat and so BB insists on returning as per schedule.
And with the permeance of media, and talk-shows and opinion-makers and opium-takers, a lot of politicians appeared on a lot of channels and said a lot of things. Sheikh Rasheed, minister emeritus of the political appartus, gets the vote for making the most attempts to not sound hackneyed.
Sher Afghan gets the nod for the most obtrusive.
Wasi Zaffar for being the most stupid.
Well, they are windbags, generally. They are asked one question.....and they meander on generalities until they come to the point where they hail their party leader - whether BB, Nawaz, or Mush - as the sole honest guardians worthy of executing the people's will and the preferred choice of the people.
So I was watching this tv show, and there was this windbag, Nafis Saddik or Siddiqi, from the PPP...who when asked various tricky questions about Benazir's volte-face decision to mend fendces with the army government and a direct comparison of her return and Nawaz's aborted attempt, the said minister, mr Nafis Sadik droned on upon length over the various methods through which the people of the country expressed its un-said desire of being governed by Benazir....but I will try to reproduce the beginning and the end of his defense of benazir.
Mr Minister on TV Channel: "Benazir is the only woman in the world today who can make Musharraf take off his uniform...........[and somewhere before the end where I zone out]....she is the only woman in Pakistan today who can sell the image of Pakistan to the West.."
I know we have to be candid and we don't have to trashy but sometimes on tv it just sounds wrong.
As wrong as the caller on the same show, a man of the army. He rebuked claims of the PPP minister that PPP members were victims of flogging when Zia imposed martial law after taking over power from Zulfi Bhutto in the 1977 coup. He claimed that he was the supervisor of Jails and there were only three reported cases of flogging and that were on the charges of 'Sodomy'.
Yes, 's-o-d-o-m-y.' The minister intially couldn't scuffle his giggle and the cheap producer of the show did manage to get some image but it was less than 2 second and appeared as a jump. [Jump refers to where video comes-and-goes off the screen real quick without allowing you the time to absorb the details of the image]
However, the panel of political experts discussed sodomy for a while and then they moved on to something irrelevant and I flipped the channel.
Apparently they have found a new dinosaur in Brazil. And it's also dead. But the fascination with the ugly creature continues with millions spent on research and billions on hollywood movies. Also, some money on reordering young people's prejudices against these monsters by presenting them as lovable pets in silly cartoons.
Also, not very far away from the birth-place of Ronaldo, or from the jungles of the Amazon, an aspiring writer murdered and ate his girlfriend. The man from Colombia was into animal-porn, sadomasochism and apparently obsessed with de Sade's '120 Years of Sodom'....but not in a similar way as the Army-man-caller-on-stupid-political-show.
Mr Juan also made one his ex-girlfriends sell copies of his porn novel on streets for pittance. A true conservative. He had stored his cut-up girlfriend's thigh in his fridge and was planning to send it to her family as a thanksgiving present.
The things that these freaks cook up. No better than the lot we have in Pakistan...where feudal lords, the local aristocracy as left behind the Britishers, wield absolute power in courts of laws that are of their own making. And the cases generally discussed in these courts are about honour and the general punishment is the public stripping and rape of the sister of the offending party or the obligatory murder of the man (and woman) who has dishonoured the family....with dishonour meaning everything from infidelity to the chance glance at a passerby which was construed as 'exuding desire or lust' ....all these provide enough reason to murder(or rape or strip or all three together or any two in a preferable combination) a woman(mostly).
The latest crime against woman in Pakistan is the murder of a lady teacher in a village in the NWFP - the stronghold of the religious parties and much-touted breeding ground of militant Islam.
Among other interesting stories, Fidel Castro has been out of power for over a year. Che Guevara has been dead for 39 years.....it was his anniversary a few days back.
Conflict and persecution of protestors continue in Myanmar. Iran maintains its beligerent stance in the face of global pressure. North Korea is finally getting things done the way it wanted and it is showing that America has learnt it's lesson in dealing with the Oriental race.
Maybe it's left to the Arabs and the Asian-Aryans to provide the sucker-punch to Uncle Sam that will start a new period of cultural imperialism...shifting the focus of North America to EuroAsia.....with production dominance emanating from China and the Korea's and Japan leading in technological effeciency. Australasia and the Pacific rim can also emerge as power brokers. And Papu New Guinea will become the next super-power.....in pinball.
Dream on.
To ensure continuity of the status quo, our leaders time and again embroil themselves in certain national conflicts that absorb all energy and leaving the feeling in the air that the rest of the work needs to be left for another time.
That's how we have been led....by the noose. Just to flashback, not even in the distant far, a mere 5 years, even, and soo much has happen that our brains are over-taxed by conflicting information of conflicts.
Right now it's Benazir's return. Before that it was the crackdown against lawyers and the countrywide breakdown. Before that it was May 12th when Karachi easily reflected what life would be like in war-torn Beirut at the height of the crisis. Before that was the continuing saga of Lal Masjid and the Chief Justice. Somewhere in the middle was Nawaz Sharif's aborted attempts of return and Shoaib Akhtar's shenanigans.
Before that was continuous detention of political prisoners. Before that was the political assassination of a politcal figure and a tribal leader of great standing even if cruel ways - Nawab Akbar Bukti...Before that and continuing todate is the ongoing saga of militants in FATA region, especially Waziristan..
And God unleashed some divine wrath in the middle, too. The October Eight earthquake in the already war-torn Kashmir region destabilized lives even further. Safe estimates suggest that it killed a million and made another 3 million homeless.
And the rest have now become more dependent on official aid, political concessions and moments of army benevolence. Cynics suggest it will expedite the process of recruiting foot-soldiers.
But that's how it's been. The political climate has been simmering for a while now. Benazir's imminent return means that Karachi will be a cauldron of activity. 80,000 members are expected to welcome BB
From the alliance of political parties supporting PPP, only one party has stepped forward to join the ranks of PPP foot-soldiers in welcoming home their patron saint. Funnily enough, I had never expected such a party to exist. It's the 'All Pakistan's Minority Alliance' and is led by one Prince Rashid. So this party is an alliance of minorities, who number around 5% of the total population in generous official estimates that probably want to cover up a healthcare genocide of Aremenian-Turkish levels. This means that the alliance of minorities is the only party with the cajonies to welcome BB...or an urgence for a voice in the political apparatus, to expose themselves so much in such a volatile environment. It could generally be said that 'they have nothing to lose', but in Pakistan you always have your life...
While the party members are expected to descend in full force in Karachi by tonight, the city already is painted in PPP colours. Cross-roads are brimming with billboards with shots of Benazir with an inviting smile and Zulfi bathed in rhetorical exuberance.
And streets and avenues are lined up with hoardings and boardings. Ethnic supporters have set up camps at different junctions....setting up free-style dance fun to the tune of traditional PPP songs....they are catchy, too, if you have listened to them since childhood.
Though they are expected to become a nuisance. Cause blockades and jams....attempting merry-making on important roads holding up traffic...Just to incite conflict and then press home the numbers advantage. That's the prevalent psyche of collective groups in my society. Like a bunch of swaggering adolescent newbies emerging out of the pub to confront fans of a rival football club.
Surprisingly, MQM, the street-thugs of Karachi and also the ruling party, have stayed quiet over the developments. A few complaints have been heard about the using of excessive hoardings as illegal...but otherwise, they say that will welcome the return of Benazir.
Musharraf, though in an interview to a private channel, suggested that BB should delay her return until the Supreme Court ruling on his uniform issue. But everyone has to look after his goat and so BB insists on returning as per schedule.
And with the permeance of media, and talk-shows and opinion-makers and opium-takers, a lot of politicians appeared on a lot of channels and said a lot of things. Sheikh Rasheed, minister emeritus of the political appartus, gets the vote for making the most attempts to not sound hackneyed.
Sher Afghan gets the nod for the most obtrusive.
Wasi Zaffar for being the most stupid.
Well, they are windbags, generally. They are asked one question.....and they meander on generalities until they come to the point where they hail their party leader - whether BB, Nawaz, or Mush - as the sole honest guardians worthy of executing the people's will and the preferred choice of the people.
So I was watching this tv show, and there was this windbag, Nafis Saddik or Siddiqi, from the PPP...who when asked various tricky questions about Benazir's volte-face decision to mend fendces with the army government and a direct comparison of her return and Nawaz's aborted attempt, the said minister, mr Nafis Sadik droned on upon length over the various methods through which the people of the country expressed its un-said desire of being governed by Benazir....but I will try to reproduce the beginning and the end of his defense of benazir.
Mr Minister on TV Channel: "Benazir is the only woman in the world today who can make Musharraf take off his uniform...........[and somewhere before the end where I zone out]....she is the only woman in Pakistan today who can sell the image of Pakistan to the West.."
I know we have to be candid and we don't have to trashy but sometimes on tv it just sounds wrong.
As wrong as the caller on the same show, a man of the army. He rebuked claims of the PPP minister that PPP members were victims of flogging when Zia imposed martial law after taking over power from Zulfi Bhutto in the 1977 coup. He claimed that he was the supervisor of Jails and there were only three reported cases of flogging and that were on the charges of 'Sodomy'.
Yes, 's-o-d-o-m-y.' The minister intially couldn't scuffle his giggle and the cheap producer of the show did manage to get some image but it was less than 2 second and appeared as a jump. [Jump refers to where video comes-and-goes off the screen real quick without allowing you the time to absorb the details of the image]
However, the panel of political experts discussed sodomy for a while and then they moved on to something irrelevant and I flipped the channel.
Apparently they have found a new dinosaur in Brazil. And it's also dead. But the fascination with the ugly creature continues with millions spent on research and billions on hollywood movies. Also, some money on reordering young people's prejudices against these monsters by presenting them as lovable pets in silly cartoons.
Also, not very far away from the birth-place of Ronaldo, or from the jungles of the Amazon, an aspiring writer murdered and ate his girlfriend. The man from Colombia was into animal-porn, sadomasochism and apparently obsessed with de Sade's '120 Years of Sodom'....but not in a similar way as the Army-man-caller-on-stupid-political-show.
Mr Juan also made one his ex-girlfriends sell copies of his porn novel on streets for pittance. A true conservative. He had stored his cut-up girlfriend's thigh in his fridge and was planning to send it to her family as a thanksgiving present.
The things that these freaks cook up. No better than the lot we have in Pakistan...where feudal lords, the local aristocracy as left behind the Britishers, wield absolute power in courts of laws that are of their own making. And the cases generally discussed in these courts are about honour and the general punishment is the public stripping and rape of the sister of the offending party or the obligatory murder of the man (and woman) who has dishonoured the family....with dishonour meaning everything from infidelity to the chance glance at a passerby which was construed as 'exuding desire or lust' ....all these provide enough reason to murder(or rape or strip or all three together or any two in a preferable combination) a woman(mostly).
The latest crime against woman in Pakistan is the murder of a lady teacher in a village in the NWFP - the stronghold of the religious parties and much-touted breeding ground of militant Islam.
Among other interesting stories, Fidel Castro has been out of power for over a year. Che Guevara has been dead for 39 years.....it was his anniversary a few days back.
Conflict and persecution of protestors continue in Myanmar. Iran maintains its beligerent stance in the face of global pressure. North Korea is finally getting things done the way it wanted and it is showing that America has learnt it's lesson in dealing with the Oriental race.
Maybe it's left to the Arabs and the Asian-Aryans to provide the sucker-punch to Uncle Sam that will start a new period of cultural imperialism...shifting the focus of North America to EuroAsia.....with production dominance emanating from China and the Korea's and Japan leading in technological effeciency. Australasia and the Pacific rim can also emerge as power brokers. And Papu New Guinea will become the next super-power.....in pinball.
Dream on.
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Unofficial victory - Official celebrations
All the king's men got together at the PML-Q house in Islamabad to celebrate Mush's snowballing off his opponents in the presidential election. The PPP candidate didn't get a single vote...as the political party's representatives in the assemblies boycotted the election. Why humble your candidate then, is the question, which won't be asked. The retired judge, Wajihuddin, got around 8 votes. Mush got more than 650.
He got congratulated by Altaf Hussain of MQM fame even...who pledged - yet again - his support to the General in fighting all the evils that he is as much responsible as your father for your birth.
But it's a funny old thing - our politics. On the eve of the elections, a special Reconciliation Ordinance was promulgated that provided Amnesty to all parlimentarians for all the looting they did between 1988 and 1999 - those intermittent spurts of democracy in which Benazir and Nawaz took turns in playing hustler for the country's cherry-pie.
So now, once the time for general elections come, a level playing field will be provided to the politicians in exile - Benazir and Nawaz and maybe as a Eid gift they will let Altaf return too but he wouldn't want it - so that a truly democratic setup comes into existance.
I am all good with executive powers but who gives the ruler to grant amnesty to politicians en masse. I have nothing against clemency either that american presidents exercise in sappy movies and dramatic shows, but what the fuck? You can't clean the slate without raising the question for debate.
Political expediency is the principle that turns the wheel. That's why Salman Rushdie wrote Shame.
He got congratulated by Altaf Hussain of MQM fame even...who pledged - yet again - his support to the General in fighting all the evils that he is as much responsible as your father for your birth.
But it's a funny old thing - our politics. On the eve of the elections, a special Reconciliation Ordinance was promulgated that provided Amnesty to all parlimentarians for all the looting they did between 1988 and 1999 - those intermittent spurts of democracy in which Benazir and Nawaz took turns in playing hustler for the country's cherry-pie.
So now, once the time for general elections come, a level playing field will be provided to the politicians in exile - Benazir and Nawaz and maybe as a Eid gift they will let Altaf return too but he wouldn't want it - so that a truly democratic setup comes into existance.
I am all good with executive powers but who gives the ruler to grant amnesty to politicians en masse. I have nothing against clemency either that american presidents exercise in sappy movies and dramatic shows, but what the fuck? You can't clean the slate without raising the question for debate.
Political expediency is the principle that turns the wheel. That's why Salman Rushdie wrote Shame.
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Tid bits continue.
Tomorrow, or rather Today, is the Presidential Election....President General Pervez Musharraf seeks another mandate of five years.
The ruckus is about whether Mush can ask the 'outgoing' assembly to provide him the mandate for the next five years. That's what half the legal battle is about and the other half is about whether he can demand the outgoing assembly to give him the mandate 'with' the uniform. Whatever happens, it will be out in the open by the end of tomorrow, when the peoples' representatives go to the ballot box and cast their votes, the result of which - many commentators claim - is a foregone conclusion.
Just like the Supreme court verdict for the President Mush. Apparently, of the nine judges, six were Mush honchos. Hence, the six-three verdict. Which basically means, if you are corrupt, you're with Musharraf. Now I don't agree with such claims, but it has been gaining currency of late.
Benazir and her antics continue to defy the head. One moment she cries foul and claims talks between government and her party have completely stalled and the next there are rumour doing the round that she is all set to replace Shaukat Aziz as Musharraf's next PM.
The APDM - All Parties Democratic Conference - promises to put up a bold front but apparently, Mush has done enough tweaking and horse-trading to ensure that the assemblies will give him the mandate.
The MMA - the coalition of the Islamist parties - have taken everyone for a ride with their incessant promises....about resigning from the assemblies...but somehow or the other, they have made sure that they give in their resignation without letting it effect the presidential election - which incidentally was the 'generally accepted' purpose of the resignation. Funny things continue to happen.
Just like MQM filed a suit against Imran Khan for standing in elections because of his 'immoral relationship' with Sita White. A paternity suit was filed against Imran long time back, when he was first making forays into politics. It was disposed off. But MQM insisted but thankgod the election commission has more sense than Altaf and his henchmen.
The suit was filed in response to Imran Khan filing a suit against Altaf Hussain in England. And there's an online petition, too, if anyone is willing to risk it..
But back to the hackneyed. Pakistan lost the first test to South Africa after another inept display with the bat. God knows when will our administration and players learn. 20-20 joys are short-lived....and the nation is known for its amnesia. Thank god five-day tests are too much for their attention span or else Shoaib Malik's effigies would be in the street, turning into cinders next to George Bush.
So yes, we prepare for elections. And all else takes back-seat. The corruption cases, honour killings, abduction of innocents, incidents of security-agency highhandedness, contempt of court, murder on the street, teenagers raped and feudal flings has been forgotten as all the minds in the country are taxing themselves over the legal wranglings that everyone is apparently getting into it.
The Politicians are trying to get the best deal. The Army is ensuring that all the other forces are enforcing tight security and that their positions of power are not compromised - with or without Mush. The other security agencies are enforcing tight security. The Moulvis are making sure they deliver the sermon and tell the faithfuls about the virtues of voting for Moulvis. But the General elections have another month to go, or so the date says, and the Mouvis have enough time.
There was this Great debate on Geo - where there ar two sides 'Geo Musharraf' (literally 'LIVE MUSHARRAF' or otherwise 'WELL-BOWL MUSHY' - if you remember Moin khan..) and 'JEENAY DO MUSHARRAF' (Let Live Musharraf..) and the two sides were represented by the Government and Opposition ministers. Sheikh Rasheed was the funniest. Dr Salman Shah was a sloppy and tried to play the numbers game but Shaukat Tareen and company had done their job and ripped them apart.
I am going to sleep now. All this is pointless anyway. Need to get down to the basics. Stories that don't have faces. That's what we should concentrate upon. And not just faces. What a media!
The ruckus is about whether Mush can ask the 'outgoing' assembly to provide him the mandate for the next five years. That's what half the legal battle is about and the other half is about whether he can demand the outgoing assembly to give him the mandate 'with' the uniform. Whatever happens, it will be out in the open by the end of tomorrow, when the peoples' representatives go to the ballot box and cast their votes, the result of which - many commentators claim - is a foregone conclusion.
Just like the Supreme court verdict for the President Mush. Apparently, of the nine judges, six were Mush honchos. Hence, the six-three verdict. Which basically means, if you are corrupt, you're with Musharraf. Now I don't agree with such claims, but it has been gaining currency of late.
Benazir and her antics continue to defy the head. One moment she cries foul and claims talks between government and her party have completely stalled and the next there are rumour doing the round that she is all set to replace Shaukat Aziz as Musharraf's next PM.
The APDM - All Parties Democratic Conference - promises to put up a bold front but apparently, Mush has done enough tweaking and horse-trading to ensure that the assemblies will give him the mandate.
The MMA - the coalition of the Islamist parties - have taken everyone for a ride with their incessant promises....about resigning from the assemblies...but somehow or the other, they have made sure that they give in their resignation without letting it effect the presidential election - which incidentally was the 'generally accepted' purpose of the resignation. Funny things continue to happen.
Just like MQM filed a suit against Imran Khan for standing in elections because of his 'immoral relationship' with Sita White. A paternity suit was filed against Imran long time back, when he was first making forays into politics. It was disposed off. But MQM insisted but thankgod the election commission has more sense than Altaf and his henchmen.
The suit was filed in response to Imran Khan filing a suit against Altaf Hussain in England. And there's an online petition, too, if anyone is willing to risk it..
But back to the hackneyed. Pakistan lost the first test to South Africa after another inept display with the bat. God knows when will our administration and players learn. 20-20 joys are short-lived....and the nation is known for its amnesia. Thank god five-day tests are too much for their attention span or else Shoaib Malik's effigies would be in the street, turning into cinders next to George Bush.
So yes, we prepare for elections. And all else takes back-seat. The corruption cases, honour killings, abduction of innocents, incidents of security-agency highhandedness, contempt of court, murder on the street, teenagers raped and feudal flings has been forgotten as all the minds in the country are taxing themselves over the legal wranglings that everyone is apparently getting into it.
The Politicians are trying to get the best deal. The Army is ensuring that all the other forces are enforcing tight security and that their positions of power are not compromised - with or without Mush. The other security agencies are enforcing tight security. The Moulvis are making sure they deliver the sermon and tell the faithfuls about the virtues of voting for Moulvis. But the General elections have another month to go, or so the date says, and the Mouvis have enough time.
There was this Great debate on Geo - where there ar two sides 'Geo Musharraf' (literally 'LIVE MUSHARRAF' or otherwise 'WELL-BOWL MUSHY' - if you remember Moin khan..) and 'JEENAY DO MUSHARRAF' (Let Live Musharraf..) and the two sides were represented by the Government and Opposition ministers. Sheikh Rasheed was the funniest. Dr Salman Shah was a sloppy and tried to play the numbers game but Shaukat Tareen and company had done their job and ripped them apart.
I am going to sleep now. All this is pointless anyway. Need to get down to the basics. Stories that don't have faces. That's what we should concentrate upon. And not just faces. What a media!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Face-lift is out; flesh-lift is up.
Slowly, like the giant turtle on whose back the fantastical discworld is precariously balanced, I attune myself to the circle. Unlike the sweeper, Lu Tze, however, I am yet to out-shine others in my task. The city sometimes reminds me of Ankh Morporkh, in those vague passages where streams of consciousness shines, but otherwise, it's more mundane even for the liking of the slow-moving turtle balancing the world. The wraths of the Gods is sometimes unleashed. But the wisdom in discworld was that the Gods believed in Gods. It doesn't manifest so....in my city's case.
Unlike a city created in a blitzkreig of insights, reality offers a plethora of worries. Infrastructure is truly a bitch....on heat....with the poor dog's penis in a twist. But that's just a colonial corollarly, without the knickers and with the dick. And when we considering all the social taboos prevalent in our society, it's no wonder obscenities are couched in analogies.
There's not a single chauvinist in the land of the half-bred (or the pure..depending upon your ancestral preferences) who doesn't look up to the President Mush with great respect. Not because he has torpedoed women's right or legalize prostitution, like his predecessor General Zia who was married to the Quran. (Although Zia gave it pseudo-legality - only for two hours from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm...a special concession for the whores of Heera Mandi.)
What Musharraf has done, and what makes most chauvinists go all smug is the authoritarianism that he upholds. And the epithet that international commentators use, with rather wantonness, to describe him: DICtator. For the chauvs, it's the superiority of the organ - as much in deeds as in the word. It is being in tune with the superficial that is mandatory and the chauvs excel at it too..
What Musharraf has done for the infrastructure we cannot really know until the next man or BB (Begum Nawazish Ali made me doubt her feminity) comes to power and the Pandora's box is opened and criticism and blaming spirals out of all semblance of proportionality. This has been the case always. It wasn't until Bhutto was lost to the gallows that the commoners realized the institutional crippling brought about by the sudden Nationalization of (especially) the financial sector.
Zia's Islamic revolution was expected to restore the precepts that were followed by the rightly-guided Caliphs and enable Pakistan to shine as the magnum opus of everything contained within the Quran and the Sunnah.
It wasn't until a while later that the commoners realized that the Klashinkov and cannabis culture from across the border had permeated the confines of the middle-class - after having become the safe haven of the hopelessly deluded strata of the lower-class, and an indulgence of the elite.
Mian Sahab, the eagle that could never land, froze foreign assets, and begged the penniless of the land to lend him money. The 'Karz Utaro Mulk Sawaro' scheme (or scam) is probably one of the most glaring instance of a soverign nation's attempt at hoodwinking the citizens.
Ofcourse, the revelation of all these glaring instances of robbing the generally penniless Pakistani (of their social security) were only revealed after the death or exile of the leader. Funnily enough, everytime it was the leader who was considered corrupt. The party or the institution (when considering the Army) continued to enjoy popular support.
To paraphrase, we are idiots who will be led by the noose to the mirage that we see at the bottom of the well where convention wisdom sees obliteration and hell.
In one of the most succinct movie rants of all time, a Scot expostulates in mundane yet fiery language why the natives of the land constitute fecal matter that even fails the test to be used as manure. Or to borrow the language, 'We are not even whankers, we are colonized by a nation of Whankers' - referring to the almighty British ofcourse. Where does that leave us, with the tendency to be led to the mirage....I leave the question for deduction in the future.
Coming back to my not so succinct rant, the state of Pakistani politics continues to be as puzzling as ever before. Even with a job in the media, albeit on the entertainment desk dovetailing the shenanigans of Jolie, Shetty and the ilk, I am as mesmerized by the political nitpicking as any of the commoners - who I, in my obsession, often refer to and identify with. (I might be mistaken, ofcourse...)
The current ruckus is about whether Mushy is entitled to have the best of both the worlds. In the times of the (last) Prophet, both the world entailed life and after-life. For Shakespeare, the two worlds were heaven and earth, and his advice to Horatio was that there was more to it than just his philosophy.
Coming to Mushy's time, the two worlds entail Army and Politics - and the prevalent philosophy of our Horatio is clinging to power like a filigree growing around Jack's beanstalk until you can get the hen that lay's golden egg.
But making it simpler for my understanding, and the rest, too, there's an article in our constitution (which too has contentious beginnings), which bars a government servant to hold two offices simultaneously. That, in the case of the President, would be of President and Chief of Army Staff.
Mush says that he's willing to give up one once he's assured that he has the other for sometime to come....or for the sake of convenience, until he's blown up to smithereens like brother Zia married to the Quran.
And as Musharraf is already past the mandatory army-retirement age, the post that he can have without pissing any of the right people (from the Army, that is) off is that of the President. (The civilians don't count. The politicians don't know how to count. Even if they learn, they can be [man]handled).
The opposition says that Mush's re-election has a direct relationship with his continuance as Army chief. As soon as he takes his uniform off (nothing imprudent in that if you're engaged in Pakistani politics), the whole face of the Presidential election will change. For them, it's the fluid that keep's the engine running. The lubricant that keep's the penis erect.
So, after a lot of bruhaha, a case was filed against Mush when his papers were filed for nomination with the Election Commission of Pakistan. (Which is often in the clutches of corrupt politicians or mafioso style army dictators itself and is always claimed to be independent of such impacts....and as I rant on, the roads leading to the Election Commission building in Islamabad are being sealed....for what, we will find out once one of Mush's hunchmen decides to spill the beans...and the development has uncanny similarity to another incident which I will dwell upon later...if there is one.)
The Supreme Court's decision on the petition filed against the President's holding of dual office (as President and Army Chief) and the court, in a ruling that surprised many, gave the President the green signal to hold the dual office until his re-election by the Upper House...
Which means Mush can use all the force and source that being the Army chief entails and get the PR machine into rotation to churn out a campaign that will ensure his re-election. Obviously, there will be some rigging, some horse-trading of parliamentarians (much similar to gerrymandering in localities but with a human face - albeit that of a callous politician.)
But fuck it all, please. Because eventually it's irrelevant whatever happens in the Grand Scheme of Things because the Gods are Crazy.
No matter how much 'touch up' is exercised, the eventuality as well as the process is equally irrelevant. Yes, it's the petite boys and starchy babes - anchor-ing ships? Or our attention?
Maybe they need to bare. Then the attention will be as rapt as eulogized by religious historians during the times of sanctimonious teachers. Or otherwise.
Bye bye.
Unlike a city created in a blitzkreig of insights, reality offers a plethora of worries. Infrastructure is truly a bitch....on heat....with the poor dog's penis in a twist. But that's just a colonial corollarly, without the knickers and with the dick. And when we considering all the social taboos prevalent in our society, it's no wonder obscenities are couched in analogies.
There's not a single chauvinist in the land of the half-bred (or the pure..depending upon your ancestral preferences) who doesn't look up to the President Mush with great respect. Not because he has torpedoed women's right or legalize prostitution, like his predecessor General Zia who was married to the Quran. (Although Zia gave it pseudo-legality - only for two hours from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm...a special concession for the whores of Heera Mandi.)
What Musharraf has done, and what makes most chauvinists go all smug is the authoritarianism that he upholds. And the epithet that international commentators use, with rather wantonness, to describe him: DICtator. For the chauvs, it's the superiority of the organ - as much in deeds as in the word. It is being in tune with the superficial that is mandatory and the chauvs excel at it too..
What Musharraf has done for the infrastructure we cannot really know until the next man or BB (Begum Nawazish Ali made me doubt her feminity) comes to power and the Pandora's box is opened and criticism and blaming spirals out of all semblance of proportionality. This has been the case always. It wasn't until Bhutto was lost to the gallows that the commoners realized the institutional crippling brought about by the sudden Nationalization of (especially) the financial sector.
Zia's Islamic revolution was expected to restore the precepts that were followed by the rightly-guided Caliphs and enable Pakistan to shine as the magnum opus of everything contained within the Quran and the Sunnah.
It wasn't until a while later that the commoners realized that the Klashinkov and cannabis culture from across the border had permeated the confines of the middle-class - after having become the safe haven of the hopelessly deluded strata of the lower-class, and an indulgence of the elite.
Mian Sahab, the eagle that could never land, froze foreign assets, and begged the penniless of the land to lend him money. The 'Karz Utaro Mulk Sawaro' scheme (or scam) is probably one of the most glaring instance of a soverign nation's attempt at hoodwinking the citizens.
Ofcourse, the revelation of all these glaring instances of robbing the generally penniless Pakistani (of their social security) were only revealed after the death or exile of the leader. Funnily enough, everytime it was the leader who was considered corrupt. The party or the institution (when considering the Army) continued to enjoy popular support.
To paraphrase, we are idiots who will be led by the noose to the mirage that we see at the bottom of the well where convention wisdom sees obliteration and hell.
In one of the most succinct movie rants of all time, a Scot expostulates in mundane yet fiery language why the natives of the land constitute fecal matter that even fails the test to be used as manure. Or to borrow the language, 'We are not even whankers, we are colonized by a nation of Whankers' - referring to the almighty British ofcourse. Where does that leave us, with the tendency to be led to the mirage....I leave the question for deduction in the future.
Coming back to my not so succinct rant, the state of Pakistani politics continues to be as puzzling as ever before. Even with a job in the media, albeit on the entertainment desk dovetailing the shenanigans of Jolie, Shetty and the ilk, I am as mesmerized by the political nitpicking as any of the commoners - who I, in my obsession, often refer to and identify with. (I might be mistaken, ofcourse...)
The current ruckus is about whether Mushy is entitled to have the best of both the worlds. In the times of the (last) Prophet, both the world entailed life and after-life. For Shakespeare, the two worlds were heaven and earth, and his advice to Horatio was that there was more to it than just his philosophy.
Coming to Mushy's time, the two worlds entail Army and Politics - and the prevalent philosophy of our Horatio is clinging to power like a filigree growing around Jack's beanstalk until you can get the hen that lay's golden egg.
But making it simpler for my understanding, and the rest, too, there's an article in our constitution (which too has contentious beginnings), which bars a government servant to hold two offices simultaneously. That, in the case of the President, would be of President and Chief of Army Staff.
Mush says that he's willing to give up one once he's assured that he has the other for sometime to come....or for the sake of convenience, until he's blown up to smithereens like brother Zia married to the Quran.
And as Musharraf is already past the mandatory army-retirement age, the post that he can have without pissing any of the right people (from the Army, that is) off is that of the President. (The civilians don't count. The politicians don't know how to count. Even if they learn, they can be [man]handled).
The opposition says that Mush's re-election has a direct relationship with his continuance as Army chief. As soon as he takes his uniform off (nothing imprudent in that if you're engaged in Pakistani politics), the whole face of the Presidential election will change. For them, it's the fluid that keep's the engine running. The lubricant that keep's the penis erect.
So, after a lot of bruhaha, a case was filed against Mush when his papers were filed for nomination with the Election Commission of Pakistan. (Which is often in the clutches of corrupt politicians or mafioso style army dictators itself and is always claimed to be independent of such impacts....and as I rant on, the roads leading to the Election Commission building in Islamabad are being sealed....for what, we will find out once one of Mush's hunchmen decides to spill the beans...and the development has uncanny similarity to another incident which I will dwell upon later...if there is one.)
The Supreme Court's decision on the petition filed against the President's holding of dual office (as President and Army Chief) and the court, in a ruling that surprised many, gave the President the green signal to hold the dual office until his re-election by the Upper House...
Which means Mush can use all the force and source that being the Army chief entails and get the PR machine into rotation to churn out a campaign that will ensure his re-election. Obviously, there will be some rigging, some horse-trading of parliamentarians (much similar to gerrymandering in localities but with a human face - albeit that of a callous politician.)
But fuck it all, please. Because eventually it's irrelevant whatever happens in the Grand Scheme of Things because the Gods are Crazy.
No matter how much 'touch up' is exercised, the eventuality as well as the process is equally irrelevant. Yes, it's the petite boys and starchy babes - anchor-ing ships? Or our attention?
Maybe they need to bare. Then the attention will be as rapt as eulogized by religious historians during the times of sanctimonious teachers. Or otherwise.
Bye bye.
Monday, September 24, 2007
I have returned. There are hiccups but the frequency must now be reaching the point of alarm, considering that output is mere reproduction. Something which could be done much better by simply pasting links (or doing it the tech-savvy way) of relevant events and pasting a tad or two of linking information, or should the whole task be left to BBC? Or Al-Jazeera maybe...
But no, there has to be an Atlas and it cannot shrug or muck, surely not not fuck, or whatever capitalism's Mary Magdalene desired. The act requires slavish devotion, which only the true believer reflects. The ideology and/or creed and/or morality has been a contentious one since the time of apples and naked women, and that's how it shall remain. While stripping might be all good with Anthony Eden, it doesn't go down to well with the educated girls in Ottomand land - and that too of the head. An army of Turkish babes will carried a huge headscarf (or veil which just covers the hair and bares the face) to the university. While an Islamist party is in power in Turkey, and has been for a while, the public institutions have a strong secular character. The Army, as the necesasry evil, dominates the political environment - sometimes through discrete arm-bending and sometimes with wanton abandon - and ensures that the secular legacy of Ataturk stays in vogue. But recently, it has been the democratic institutions that have established themselves and in control. Events, though, necessitate, that the democratic institutions should take a leaf out of the Army book (or manual? or the anarchist cook book?) and take some serious action. Either throw the students out of the university or throw the law out of the constitution. If Muslims are going helter-skelter over not being allowed to wear head-scarves in French and English schools, why can't they wear it at a University. In no Muslim country do we have separate universities for the two sexes - inspite of the penchant for piety. A few tried and failed spectacularly. Some manage but you know the condition. Basically, a 'source of knowledge dissemination' should not be subjected to laws made over the whims of Gods..even.
The scenario in Pakistani Universities is ofcourse deplorable. A hospital in Karachi, a city damningly deficient in healthcare, has witnessed violent clashes between student's of two of its college on the premise, resulting in those colleges closed indefinitely. Two students have been murdered, scores injured and the whole batch left in the lurch. The hospital is a major provider of services to the down-trodden of which Karachi has too many. It is one place where one expects compassion. But employment of students for political nitpicking takes precedence.
If this is not enough, the Karachi University, a sprawling and for most patches barren expanse of land, is the largest in the province. Clashes of political nature are common. Bystanders even have favorite viewing spots, as the gladiators have marked the arenas. The last death that I remember was of a Marxist. It's the one I remember, otherwise someone is killed every now and then. But recently, it is said, the chopped and sliced body of an activist of the student wing of the MQM (exiled leader Altaf Bhai in England drum rolls please), who are generally in a fued with the IJT, student wing of the country's main Islamist party, and/or PSF, which has an ethnic base. Just like the three states in Orwell's '1984'. Perpetual war and peace. Very much unlike Tolstoy and his stories where he preached only peace. And at other times, no violence. And quite a bit. Coming back to the story, the chopping and slicing was carried by another attack. This time, a public bus, which had just passed the university bus-stop and had in it four members of the IJT, with obvious travelling patterns. A further down the road from the university, the public bus was assailed with bullets by four gun-men with partners on motorbikes. The ambush and firing lasted for atleast 15 mins after which a bomb was hurled in the bus. Of the 7 reported dead, 4 were students the political body, and the rest collateral - as they say in Texas. A further down the road is a check-post of the Para-military forces deployed in and outside the University to ensure that dirty student politics doesn't cloud the academic environment. While the baking in sunlight and bathing in dust leaves little appetite for munching on academic delights, the least that the para-military force can do is not be caught napping. While the law-enforcing institutions have never been too competent in bringing about general order - now that finally Army oriented disillusions are also being dispelled - what causes concern and can be fatal for the faint-hearted is the incredulity depicted by mobs of young men (and mostly men) in engaging in acts of petty vengeance, but always under the guise of a great vision. 'Monkey killing monkey killing monkey'....springs to the head. Adult violence is generally excused because of lack of education. Student politics doesn't even have that sort of leverage. We are un-organized and chaotic in every aspect. There are no protests which do not turn ugly. Calculated political hits are not the way systems evolve. The generation next is all set to unleash barbarism - whenever they ascend to power.
While, we fail to protest in any manner, the largest public gathering in Burma has taken place in twenty years. The initial spark were the monks.
Okay, this has less of facts and more of pontification. I have turned into a useless rambling git. Must condense.
But no, there has to be an Atlas and it cannot shrug or muck, surely not not fuck, or whatever capitalism's Mary Magdalene desired. The act requires slavish devotion, which only the true believer reflects. The ideology and/or creed and/or morality has been a contentious one since the time of apples and naked women, and that's how it shall remain. While stripping might be all good with Anthony Eden, it doesn't go down to well with the educated girls in Ottomand land - and that too of the head. An army of Turkish babes will carried a huge headscarf (or veil which just covers the hair and bares the face) to the university. While an Islamist party is in power in Turkey, and has been for a while, the public institutions have a strong secular character. The Army, as the necesasry evil, dominates the political environment - sometimes through discrete arm-bending and sometimes with wanton abandon - and ensures that the secular legacy of Ataturk stays in vogue. But recently, it has been the democratic institutions that have established themselves and in control. Events, though, necessitate, that the democratic institutions should take a leaf out of the Army book (or manual? or the anarchist cook book?) and take some serious action. Either throw the students out of the university or throw the law out of the constitution. If Muslims are going helter-skelter over not being allowed to wear head-scarves in French and English schools, why can't they wear it at a University. In no Muslim country do we have separate universities for the two sexes - inspite of the penchant for piety. A few tried and failed spectacularly. Some manage but you know the condition. Basically, a 'source of knowledge dissemination' should not be subjected to laws made over the whims of Gods..even.
The scenario in Pakistani Universities is ofcourse deplorable. A hospital in Karachi, a city damningly deficient in healthcare, has witnessed violent clashes between student's of two of its college on the premise, resulting in those colleges closed indefinitely. Two students have been murdered, scores injured and the whole batch left in the lurch. The hospital is a major provider of services to the down-trodden of which Karachi has too many. It is one place where one expects compassion. But employment of students for political nitpicking takes precedence.
If this is not enough, the Karachi University, a sprawling and for most patches barren expanse of land, is the largest in the province. Clashes of political nature are common. Bystanders even have favorite viewing spots, as the gladiators have marked the arenas. The last death that I remember was of a Marxist. It's the one I remember, otherwise someone is killed every now and then. But recently, it is said, the chopped and sliced body of an activist of the student wing of the MQM (exiled leader Altaf Bhai in England drum rolls please), who are generally in a fued with the IJT, student wing of the country's main Islamist party, and/or PSF, which has an ethnic base. Just like the three states in Orwell's '1984'. Perpetual war and peace. Very much unlike Tolstoy and his stories where he preached only peace. And at other times, no violence. And quite a bit. Coming back to the story, the chopping and slicing was carried by another attack. This time, a public bus, which had just passed the university bus-stop and had in it four members of the IJT, with obvious travelling patterns. A further down the road from the university, the public bus was assailed with bullets by four gun-men with partners on motorbikes. The ambush and firing lasted for atleast 15 mins after which a bomb was hurled in the bus. Of the 7 reported dead, 4 were students the political body, and the rest collateral - as they say in Texas. A further down the road is a check-post of the Para-military forces deployed in and outside the University to ensure that dirty student politics doesn't cloud the academic environment. While the baking in sunlight and bathing in dust leaves little appetite for munching on academic delights, the least that the para-military force can do is not be caught napping. While the law-enforcing institutions have never been too competent in bringing about general order - now that finally Army oriented disillusions are also being dispelled - what causes concern and can be fatal for the faint-hearted is the incredulity depicted by mobs of young men (and mostly men) in engaging in acts of petty vengeance, but always under the guise of a great vision. 'Monkey killing monkey killing monkey'....springs to the head. Adult violence is generally excused because of lack of education. Student politics doesn't even have that sort of leverage. We are un-organized and chaotic in every aspect. There are no protests which do not turn ugly. Calculated political hits are not the way systems evolve. The generation next is all set to unleash barbarism - whenever they ascend to power.
While, we fail to protest in any manner, the largest public gathering in Burma has taken place in twenty years. The initial spark were the monks.
Okay, this has less of facts and more of pontification. I have turned into a useless rambling git. Must condense.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Productivity ala carte
Finally started to work. Without dampness in the head. After working for the business desk of a news channel, now I am working for the Entertainment desk for another news channel, that is yet to be launched but its in the pipeline and will soon come out with a bang - or a whimper. Or maybe something in the middle. But what does it concern me? I am a mere cog and expected to deliver. Whatever the requirement. And while flip-flopping between jobs, I have formulated (yet another) theory. In media, it doesn't matter how much sweat you have to wipe off your head, or how much strained your nerves and muscles are. The job is to be done. The main objective is to fill air-time. Generally, it doesn't matter if the work is mediocre, good or briliant, as long as it isn't abject and appalling and deserving of unequivocal thrashing. That's what I have decided I shall do. Put in my two-paisas, conserving effort and energy, and becoming part of the assembly line of Henry Ford fame.
As for Mr Ford, may his soul always maintain its spiritual functionality, and the organization that he spawned, his successors have decided that the competition in the automobile industry has restricted growth (and profits, ofcourse) and the brainwave for re-capturing market share is to produce the 'Model T' yet again. What remains to be seen whether it will be available in any colour as long as it's black.
Returning to productivity, and the consequences it entail, I finally made a package. Thank god it wasn't upon flustered aunties because of recurring bans on Indian channels. The womenfolk, deprived of Tulsi, feel a sense of isolation that only Camus can elaborate upon. I have somehow managed to stay away from the package, but the sense of impending doom prevails, and I might end up hearing my drab monotone accompanying clips of Jassi and Kukum and the nefarious lot.
Otherwise, the package that I made today was on the anti-war movies premiering in the numerous international Film Festivals taking place. The Toronto Film Festival and the San Sebastian Film Festival (Spain) , although varying in length and the number of movies to be shown, have a list of movies that focus on the Iraq war.
'Battle for Haditha' plays out the carnage that took place after a six-man US Marine sniper unit was attacked and ruthlessly murdered by Islamist insurgents on the outskirts of the town of Haditha on August 1, 2005. Not surprising, considering the country is a raging battle zone. However, the US forces, not used to acts of such wanton ruthlessness, unleashed a fury of their own. The most notable victims were 14 non-combatant Iraqis, including women and children.
The docu-drama has two former US Marines playing the roles of Marines, while the rest of the cast is dominated by people of Iraqi origin. There are also interviews of those who have suffered due to the Iraq war.
Another anti-Iraq diatribe is 'Body of War'. Directorial debut of former-Oprah-like-host Phil Donahue, the movie gives a humanist spin to the whole sorry episode of Iraq's occupation.
The movie is focuses around the real-life 'tragedy' of a US soldier who had to return home just after a week in the battle zone, as he paralyzed by the gun-shot wound. The point that the director is trying to make is that war ruins lives and the 'tragedy' is an illustration of the same, as the soldier is restricted to his wheel-chair for the rest of his time, and has to cope with a divorce as well. The miseries continue to pile and the man finally realizes that it's no fun going to strange lands to kill people.
I have to continue this.
As for Mr Ford, may his soul always maintain its spiritual functionality, and the organization that he spawned, his successors have decided that the competition in the automobile industry has restricted growth (and profits, ofcourse) and the brainwave for re-capturing market share is to produce the 'Model T' yet again. What remains to be seen whether it will be available in any colour as long as it's black.
Returning to productivity, and the consequences it entail, I finally made a package. Thank god it wasn't upon flustered aunties because of recurring bans on Indian channels. The womenfolk, deprived of Tulsi, feel a sense of isolation that only Camus can elaborate upon. I have somehow managed to stay away from the package, but the sense of impending doom prevails, and I might end up hearing my drab monotone accompanying clips of Jassi and Kukum and the nefarious lot.
Otherwise, the package that I made today was on the anti-war movies premiering in the numerous international Film Festivals taking place. The Toronto Film Festival and the San Sebastian Film Festival (Spain) , although varying in length and the number of movies to be shown, have a list of movies that focus on the Iraq war.
'Battle for Haditha' plays out the carnage that took place after a six-man US Marine sniper unit was attacked and ruthlessly murdered by Islamist insurgents on the outskirts of the town of Haditha on August 1, 2005. Not surprising, considering the country is a raging battle zone. However, the US forces, not used to acts of such wanton ruthlessness, unleashed a fury of their own. The most notable victims were 14 non-combatant Iraqis, including women and children.
The docu-drama has two former US Marines playing the roles of Marines, while the rest of the cast is dominated by people of Iraqi origin. There are also interviews of those who have suffered due to the Iraq war.
Another anti-Iraq diatribe is 'Body of War'. Directorial debut of former-Oprah-like-host Phil Donahue, the movie gives a humanist spin to the whole sorry episode of Iraq's occupation.
The movie is focuses around the real-life 'tragedy' of a US soldier who had to return home just after a week in the battle zone, as he paralyzed by the gun-shot wound. The point that the director is trying to make is that war ruins lives and the 'tragedy' is an illustration of the same, as the soldier is restricted to his wheel-chair for the rest of his time, and has to cope with a divorce as well. The miseries continue to pile and the man finally realizes that it's no fun going to strange lands to kill people.
I have to continue this.
The Eagle Has Landed
Unfortunately, the much trumpeted headline did make it to the front-page, but with a twist. Erstwhile Prime Minister and hopeful yet again, Mian Nawaz Sharif was scuttled off back to Saudia Arabia on his return to Pakistan. Benazir Bhutto, the flip side of the coin of corruption - our currency of choice, has also announced plans to return to Pakistan on October 18, 2007. Interesting times lie ahead, as the country becomes a petri-dish of activity. The Islamists (sometimes the Fundamentalists, but not always as the mainstream Western media suggests) are agitating, with the hardliners still furious over the Lal Masjid (or Red Mosque issue - but nothing to do with the Commies, Senor McMarthy) escapade. Political demonstrations have become an everyday issue, with the date of elections to be announced within the next 60 days or a similar figure being floated in the papers. The legal fraternity, too, is up-in-arms. The reinstatement of the Chief Justice by the Supreme Court, after his sacking by All-Powerful-President-Musharraf has strengthened the divided and derided Opposition hope that all is not in the dual for power. And Shoaib Akhtar, the tear-away fast-bowler from the National Cricket Team is also in-and-out of the news, as usual for all the wrong reasons. The last of his notorious acts was to hit fellow attack bowler Asif with a bat. While Shoaib has aged and gained quite a-bit like Ronaldo, Asif is our latest class act. And the national team 'has performed according to form, rather surprisingly' (now this is from the cheeky pundit from Super - I can never be this smart...or daft; if you're missing the point) defeating the Aussies and the SriLankans.
All said and done, there is a lot going on. Never before in the country's history have so many diverse factors fallen together and seen ebb and flow with such frequency.
Keeping in line with the prevalent mood, I too have decided to return to frenzied activity. Return to producing prosaic thoughts, crafted with diligence, ensure digestibility, and then sell it to the highest bidder. Yeah, I am kidding, just fill column space on newspapers.
For the wheel to rotate, the potter must bury his hands in clay.
And here I come. With my hands all prepared. Like a man re-born. And remembering Rushdie, 'to be born again, you have to die first.' But his work falls mostly in the domain of magic realism and I can sacrifice a goat or a lamb, or maybe a chicken, and move towards my karmaic destiny with symbolic conviction.
Yes, not making sense, but it all will fall into place.
I promise.
All said and done, there is a lot going on. Never before in the country's history have so many diverse factors fallen together and seen ebb and flow with such frequency.
Keeping in line with the prevalent mood, I too have decided to return to frenzied activity. Return to producing prosaic thoughts, crafted with diligence, ensure digestibility, and then sell it to the highest bidder. Yeah, I am kidding, just fill column space on newspapers.
For the wheel to rotate, the potter must bury his hands in clay.
And here I come. With my hands all prepared. Like a man re-born. And remembering Rushdie, 'to be born again, you have to die first.' But his work falls mostly in the domain of magic realism and I can sacrifice a goat or a lamb, or maybe a chicken, and move towards my karmaic destiny with symbolic conviction.
Yes, not making sense, but it all will fall into place.
I promise.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Reincarnation
I am a troubled man. All the signs are there. I am not eating well. I am not sleeping well. My eyelids seemed to be sieged by niggers. Maybe not that bad, but the point being, I am in bad shape. One doctor said I had lost my appetite. The patient next in line threw in 'for life' and the idea took root in the abyss that is the mind. I spent half of the weekend thinking over it, and the other half smoking pot. I was confused as to why my fortune had declined. I tried to steer myself out of the lull that had engulfed me. I even took a long walk, albeit down memory lane, to identify the point where it all had started to go wrong. The specifics eluded me, like a distant tune that attracts wandering shepherds onto perilous trails. This was the not the beginning of my travails, though. I had been shitting water for sometime. And was caught twice in one week for talking on a cell-phone while driving; it being worse than being mugged twice in the alleyways that I frequent. Seeing all that was happening around me, I decided that the time was ripe to take some drastic change. To bring about a radical turn-around. Spending hours in debates weighing the pros and cons of various changes, with my alter-ego ofcourse, that I considered only added to my exasperation. I even thought of taking up Buddhism to introduce discipline in my life. But that didn't get farther than putting 'Reincarnation' in the title-space. The anonymous mesage said that I should give up pot. The alter-ego considered it a long shot. I, too, was a slave to Tyler. And the thought crossed my mind that I wasn't sleeping at night and putting life-size penises in front of innocent eyes. The distant tune came back. I knew something was wrong. And it was at this point that I decided to use this portal again. Use it as my memory that is fixed. From now onwards, it is my duty to use this portal as the chronicle where incidents from my insignificant life and snippets regarding everyday lies will be recorded.
Yes, reincarnation. I am a bug.
Yes, reincarnation. I am a bug.
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