A wake up call

[resurrected]

Pakistan is a wonderland, we all agree. In this land of pure everything is possible; one can murder in front of hundreds of witnesses and yet go free without any fear of facing the consequences. One can rob in the daylight and law enforcing agencies don’t react or rather dare not react, they have other important duties to perform, like serving the elite of the country. It’s the land, where one can ransack the national treasuries and no one even blinks. In this Fairyland people can become billionaire overnight and yet no one even bother to ask how that miracle happened. One can be a traitor and yet can enjoy the respect and honor reserved for the Heroes. You can be a confirmed or alleged criminal and yet you can become the highest office bearer of the land. The other co-criminals sitting in the parliament can provide you the opportunity of doing so. The saga of Pakistan is so amazing that it will take your breath away.
People of this Utopia are perfect example of “Blind, Deaf and Dumb” mentioned in the Holy Scripture. They live and breathe like all the other beings and creatures in the world, but are more special than many other nations. These people are usually good natured and do indicate presence of spiritual light in their hearts, but this luminosity is remote, weak and ineffectual that it can’t be even named as a light. It’s more indicative of potentiality than of physical nature. People of this land are so blinded with the glamour of their times that they have lost all the touch with the realities around them. They weave the futile and vain dreams of material nature and yet feel pushed further and further down towards the bottomless pits of material hells. These unthinking beings are the citizens of darkness, where hope, decency and dignity have long ceased to exist and yet they sit idly and wait for some redeemer to come and deliver them from their miserable conditions. Have they learned the necessary lessons, we may ask ourselves. No, is the clear answer, as we can easily recognize the intensity of the material wishes burning in them, a glowing fire that consumes them all the time. Is it wrong to strive for better living, we may wonder. No, not at all, we are material beings with physical needs and therefore our hankering for comfortable living is fully justified, but we cross the line when we erase the differences between right and wrong and give in to our desires to such an extent that we start following our evil tendencies. The science tells us that in universe there’s nothing but Energy, even the grossest bodies are just energy when these are broken. So this universe is nothing but interplay of energy, where negatives and positives are ever actively changing the landscapes, creating and disintegrating myriads of bodies all the time. This particular part of the world, where we dwell, is dominated by certain negative energies at this point in history. It’s these forces that form and determine our conditions of living. The most interesting thing is that majority of our people remain unaware of these happenings. There are few that are conscious about these but are either powerless to resist, or are too lethargic even to speak of them. Fully aware that just by our fruitless efforts, we will not be able to turn the blind, deaf and dumb people to grasp the reality; we will not stop from pronouncing the truth. The caller is just supposed to sound the invitation, if the others heed it or not, is not his concern, so we will utter the truth, just as a duty given by the conscience. The present article series will not follow some chronological order or some other patterns; it will touch upon any subject that concerns our national life and thus will emphasize the need for an awakening. It’s time to leave the slumber behind and open the eyes and see what goes on around us, as that’s a must if we wish to change our bitter realities.

[Shimatoree]

Res

I just could not resist commenting after I read………………..quote " The most interesting thing is

that majority of our people remain unaware of these happenings. " end of quote.

A better way to put it would have been " Our people are UN AWARE of anything "

Ref: http://pkpolitics.com/discuss/topic/a-lost-opportunity.

To admit FACTS that go against our own whims, beliefs, traditions and interests requires a commodity which is in very short supply……………….COURAGE combined with Intellectual Honesty.

I was wrong in saying..SHORT SUPPLY…………what is accurate is NON EXISTENT. Me, you and others who write here or anywhere else do only one thing………….self psychotherapy……….and that is all we can do.
I am not saying we should not but let us face it………….nothing is going to happen if Nawaz Shareef or IK or anyone else starts reading Thepakpolitics.com………….why………well you have described it rather well.

Where a wife fights with her husband -( using pseudo-religious grounds)-when the husband wants to have a Dog as a pet………..and I use this rather silly example on purpose…………how can you expect them to think in terms of science or I consider that they might have an iota of intellectual honesty.
No, the reason as to why we are where we are is because of our belief system. When you assign the Almighty all responsibility and absolve yourself of anything and everything………shall I continue…………..!

Just look at the political spectrum……….Nawaz Shareef , TUQ, Zardari and his idiot kid, Mullah Diesel, Hafiz Saeed and so son.

I am sure you read about the Cardiac Surgeon who was killed just because he was an Ahmadi….the fact that he used his own money to built a Cardia Surgery Hospital to help the people is MOOT.

When you consider Science….the first thing is DOUBT everything, check it out, experiment, evaluate the evidence and then accept the results.
In Pakistan, everyone has legitimacy derived from THEIR religious beliefs………..and they have the right to murder anyone.

The very first thing that needs to be done is acceptance of other belief systems including Science. If that does not take place-( and it is not)- accept that we are DEAD and Finished.

[resurrected]

Shim, You are absolutely right about self-psychotherapy. With the passage of time, I become more and more convinced that we live in a very interesting world, where people have their own fixed ideas and patterns of life and that there is no room for any reforms. We close our eyes to all that doesn’t confirm to our perception, we close our ears to all that we don’t want to hear and shout down any argument that may touch our hearts. Sadly, we have stopped listening to the tiny voice of reason and believe in our self-righteousness instead. You correctly understand that truth by confessing that we all are powerless to bring about any change by our ideas. Thanks God hat we can still let out our frustrations through words and meanings that none is keen to read. It saves us from further obstructions through an illusion of conveying our thoughts to others, while in truth all we do is to talk to ourselves. The outside worlds remain non-receptive. Wisdom, is not a commodity in demand at this particular point in history. Those with access to great resources are considered successful and those lacking such are deemed zero. How one succeeds is not important. Ends justify the means, is truer in our times than it ever had been.
Coming back to the current political situation in Pakistan, strangely our thoughts are closer to each other than I could have anticipated. I have always been following my own heart and convictions and therefore have no particular hero. My Hero is going to be the one that can deliver without a fail, no ifs, buts or other excuses. He should be pure, brave, but also competent enough to face the challenges and understand the needs and timings. You see, the successes and failures depend on recognizing the offered opportunities, acting in accordance and in being resolute. A too early or a too late action may turn even the most probable victory into an utter disaster. The good general, leader or a reformer needs to build the momentum and should know when to strike, it’s like a blacksmith who knows about his objects and their molds while he strikes with exact force. Does IK knows that his all agitations will prove futile, if he fails to motivate the crowds? Does he really believe that he can win a legal battle against NS through corrupt and impotent courts? Our Judiciary, is despicable and will remain so till we educate our people and prepare them to execute justice and follow truth in all eventualities. IK has to come out of his confusion and should determine his goal,he simply can’t shout “ foul” and yet remain part of the system. He should demand midterm elections if he is convinced that there has been a rigging in the last year’s election and that his mandate has been stolen. There’s no excuse for his determination to sustain the PML - N government. Imran seems to have missed he public mood and is too cautious in his actions. He is optimistic about getting there, but knows not that he can be robbed once again by some cunning person like TUQ who knows how to ride the sentiments of the multitudes. I’ll not elaborate more, perfectly aware that you understand and can easily enlarge further. The question of religion is more difficult than it appears at first glance. One can grasp it at all possible levels ad thus the need for different paths of approaching the subject. We may discuss it some other time and see if there is any real conflict between science and religion following. In my humble pinion even this aspect has to do with the kind of education we get. I sincerely believe that there aren’t any absolute truths in regard to our spiritual journey and therefore we must caution ourselves in judging our fellow beings for their beliefs. It’s between the Creator and his creation, so we should never persecute others for their true or false doctrines. If I’m astray, then I’m even the loser, isn’t it the case? Unfortunately, we need few million years to learn and develop, before we can understand even the microcosm that is a man, not to speak of the greatest mysteries of all, the Creator and his mind or message.

[stingingnettle]

Well, that certainly woke me up; what a wonderful exchange of ideas has been going on here.

Res; every morning people are 'woken up' by 'azaans' emanating form every street and people trundle along to the nearest mosque. My question is that does the call to prayer really wake them up? Living does not entail being alive. Life somehow has become a string of habits to numb the sense of time; we are in essence robots killing time.

Making a good cardiac surgeon is a hell lot harder than murdering one; this is a point lost on a sizeable number of our population. Ignorance breeds like rabbits and if you do not believe me watch some day time TV. You get to hear some of the most outrageous statements of ignorance been sold as knowledge. People claiming that research has shown this or that but unable to give any references for their research. The other day a lady was claiming that scientific research has shown that eating porks causes a person to be become vulgar. She did not say which university had produced this research and the anchor of the programme dutifully listened and endorsed this. Another 'herbalist' was claiming that he had found the root cause of cancer but again was unable to say where he published his findings. There is so much ignorance in our schools and in our media that the whole country has nearly become genetically predisposed to consuming ignorance.

The point I am struggling to make is that we are fed such crap from an early age that by the time we reach adulthood we stand no chance of producing an original or objective thought. Honour and blasphemy killings is the clearest indication that we lack the ability to ask rational and objective questions. The so called leaders we have feed us the same orgiastic lies and then rule us like emperors.

As Hasan Nisar aptly says; you can keep running pork through a mincing machine; you will only get pork from the other end.

Shimatoree Sahib might be right; "The very first thing that needs to be done is acceptance of other belief systems including Science. If that does not take place-( and it is not)- accept that we are DEAD and Finished."

[Shimatoree]

Sting

1. On the issue of Azaan.
If we are to accept a legal system that was put into words 1400 years ago-( and it was)- then I find it very hard that the Mullah biradry wants to use the modern loud speakers to call the Muslims to prayer.
If the message is good( and it is) and convincing to those that have to hear it………well that may be OK but anyone and everyone that I have spoken to………want to go back to the days when loud speakers were NOT in use.
If you live in a Shia neighborhood in Islamabad-( and I have spent quite a bit of time there during Moharram)-…………and I am not SHIA .you are provided a LOUD Speaker Barrage that just leaves 4 hours in 24 when there is some semblance of quiet.
One does not fail to notice that the number of mosques are increasing and the number of those that are supposed to pray are decreasing.

I keep falling back again and again on my HARA KIRI dagger of Intellectual Honesty……….but ain't nobody listening.

Honor and blasphemy killing are no different than killing for political aims or mass killings carried out by the West in Iraq and Afghanistan or killing in the name of Nation or some such.
If anyone is thinking about stopping this………..then they must think of every human being as their own self……………a sort of…..THERE BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOD GO ….I.

WE HAVE TO GIVE UP ALL PRETENTIONS OF BEING GODS CHOSEN PEOPLE.
Being a Muslim should NOT give me any more privilege than any non Muslim.
In my own life I have tried to teach this one thing to my children and in spite of fierce resistance from the other quarters.
The matter of killing is an expression of Holier than Thou.
What is the need of the hour is to stop all this stuff about I am better than you . Until and unless we do that………….well if we do not do that we are DEAD.

The big question is who is capable of doing it?
The answer is not those who are followers of the new God JUM HOOR YUT..

Cancer surgery is needed and that means blood and radiation and chemotherapy…..and all those things are BITTER Pills to swallow.

Anyone for QUINNINE ?

[resurrected]

SN,
You have pinpointed something very existent and your question is genuine. I’m impressed with the input of Shim who looks at the whole issue in a cool, logical manner and tried to address it as politely and nicely as it is possible for any of us.
Azaan, is nothing but an invitation call, a pronouncement that it’s time to pray. If we heed this call or not is up to us, the caller just does his duty. So the answer is that Azaan is meant to touch only those who are interested to respond to it. The others can remain untouched and can keep sleeping as their subconscious will quickly learn to adjust to the sound and ignore it. As far as use of loudspeakers is concerned, I have been deadly against such use/misuse and believe that we easily can remove this nuisance without any danger of annoying God. This should be just allowed in large mosques, where hundreds of thousands people pray together and even there just during the limited time and use. I have been to other Muslim countries and to my surprise no loudspeakers were allowed there in mosques, especially not in such tiny mosques as is done in our country. As a witness and sufferer of this constant affliction, I don’t see any purpose of this modern instrument, which is counterproductive. Even Quran prohibits the vulgarity of being loud in ones prayers, as God is capable of knowing the secrets of hearts.
There are so many faiths in the world, so many different paths to tread and so many approaches to deity and yet fools in all faiths insist to be the bearers of the true doctrine. These so called chosen ones are deluded and ignorant, ever ready to persecute others with dissident ideas. You are right that killing in the name of religion is horrible, but I agree with Shim that killing in any name is horrendous act and should be condemned. As far as claims are concerned, we should learn to counter these lies, wherever possible. Such liars aren’t doing any favor to their beliefs or to their creator, but are here to serve their own false egos. These people aren’t confined to religious groups alone, we can find such imposters in all corners of the world and present in all kinds of professions. Yes, you are right that ignorance can’t breed anything but falsehood and our society has grown tall in this arena. The question is what we can do to counter this darkness. Honestly speaking there is little one can do to change it, as the evil flows in our veins like a poison and no antidote is available. I’ll stop myself here, if I don’t wish to be falling in the category of blasphemy. Tolerance, my friend, is the answer of our many ills, but who will teach it to ignorant people? Our preachers are all busy spreading hatred and collecting riches and gaining power. Our great friends and brothers like KSA and Iran are fully occupied providing money for sectarianism and dissension for agenda of their own.
To sum up,
We need a renwal, a revival and for that purpose we need some great personality who can accomplish this great task of teaching old truths to the brainless masses. Do you believe such a thing is possible in our decadent times?

[Mirza Ghalib]

So sorry, missed out completely on these fervent exchanges on the part of my fellow bloggers. And now that i've caught up with the ongoing discussion at long last, I still don't know how the matter should be tackled. Pessimism is all very well, but I have a question for you all. In my really pessimistic moods, I don't just give up on Pakistan, I give up on the entire world, the entire human race. So my question goes: is it only Pakistan that arouses your ire and leads you to painful introspection or is the geographical location which houses each one of you also part of your sense of futility when it comes to meaningful changes for humanity.

I'm not going to catalogue the various things that have upset you all of late. You are absolutely right to condemn the barbarism of much which is being practised in Pakistan. But what about the glimmers of hope? Or are they too faint to be perceived? Anyway, in my really optimistic moods, I most definitely believe Pakistan has a brilliant future ahead of it. It is a country rich in myriad ways. Now it is simply a question of finally realising its immense potential. Will it be able to do so after all? I think it will. My reasons to think so can be summed up in two letters: IK, a man whose integrity I trust even more than I do my own. I don't doubt you'll not agree with me. But from my point of view, the man has not let us down so far. And I doubt he intends doing so in days ahead.

So, Friends, temper pessimism with a dash of hope and see whether it makes you feel at all better. If not, there's still the future ahead of us which will indicate whether the diehard pessimists or the diehard optimists judged the situation with greater clarity.

[Mirza Ghalib]

Shim, with a beating heart I approached your extract from PKP. The past is a painful country best left unexplored, is how I often feel. But this time I was wrong. Reading what you wrote in 2010 and the various responses you garnered, I'm so glad we're still together. You still haven't lost any of the fighting spirit you showed then, thank God. A less than truculent Shimatoree when it comes to a question of intellectual honesty (and intellectual generosity, but more of that elsewhere), and we would have lost an essential part of what makes life still bearable for us in spite of daily setbacks. Thank you, Shim. And goes without saying, I wholly agree with your analysis of how Muslim countries deliberately outlawed scientific knowledge down the centuries. But that era has passed. We are very backward. But we will catch up with the rest of the world someday.

[Shimatoree]

Mg

I shall send you an e-mail as to where I am as I am not where I usually am.

But getting back to the life of Samurai…( committing HARA KIRI)………here we go with some mindless Meandrings

Your quote…….

" So my question goes: is it only Pakistan that arouses your ire and leads you to painful introspection or is the geographical location which houses each one of you also part of your sense of futility when it comes to meaningful changes for humanity." end of quote.

When the world burns……………..the world BURNS…………….but when my own HOUSE burns then it arouses my Ire and it certainly should.

One super- religious Pakistani asked me yesterday as to why I liked and admire Jinnah so much as it almost amounted to some form of worship which is Haram.

As you may imagine…………..that got steam coming out of my ears , smoke coming out of my nostrils and of course where there is smoke….fire out of eyes……………if LOOKS could kill…………...

I informed the man that Jinnah was a self made man with intellectual honesty and integrity.
When I was little and poor-( economic undulations)- I worried as to how I would ever get educated and where the money for my education would come from…………..at that time it was Jinnah whose one old photograph inspired me every moment of every day of every month and every year.
Yes Jinnah for me is and has always been the BEACON of every hope there is and every yearning that I have had. In my life he has functioned as an eternal spring which has supplied me with the strength to do the right thing even though when it certainly meant that in material terms I would lose…………..and even after losing I have never felt that I did the wrong thing.

So why the IRE about Pakistan………….why the HELL not.

What else is there……………if one loves and one cares only then one gets mad and I am certainly mad as HELL and will continue to be as long as things are not done right.
We deserve and it is our right to have things done right…..it is a matter of Justice.
Nawaz Shareef and his cronies, Zaradri and his henchmen, the Bogus religious politicos, GEO, the former CJ etc etc are and have been Un JUST to us.

Why should we not get mad ?

And why should it have anything to do where we might be.

[resurrected]

MG,
It’s not our pessimism we exhibit when we discuss the prevailing hopeless situation in Pakistan. On the contrary we try to show our despair and strong wish for the betterment. As to your question, my answer is as follow. Even though I agree with you that not only Pakistan but the entire world suffers from all kinds of ills and stand at the verge of complete meltdown, a huge difference remains between our motherland and the rest of the world. Pakistan is part and parcel of the present civilization and yet stands at the bottom and makes us feel ashamed. We have surpassed all other nations in all kind of negativities. Indeed, the world will face the consequences of its actions, but none can descend down to our levels of existence and lack of morality. Even in my pessimism I believe that things can change if we get the right kind of leader, but unfortunately don’t share your optimism about your idol IK. I’ll not expand, as you know perfectly well about my point of view. Nevertheless, I’ll be more than happy to be proven wrong by history. I’m really happy to know that you see a vision of a bright Pakistan. Let no one take away your sanguinity, as it’s a blessing to remain positive in such conditions. To sum up, Pakistan is our home, where the law and order has broken down and where the chaos prevails, where people are consumed in fires of greed, envy and all other iniquities we can think of. How one can concentrate on the issues of others around, when one’s own home is set ablaze? As to your advice, yes I agree that we should try to cling to hope even there is only a flickering sparkle.

[Mirza Ghalib]

Res, Sorry if you took exception to my talking about pessimists and optimists. The first was not meant in a pejoritive sense, nor was the second meant to be a mark of right thinking. They were simply two terms to qualify a difference in approach. No moral judgement involved.

Let me clarify here that whatever the horrors occurring on a daily basis in many things connected with Pakistan, my personal optimism stems from the fact that we've managed to survive a war in which we were slated, according to my reading of the situation, to come out on the side of the losers. Another component for hope, obviously, is my firm belief that Imran Khan will lead us to prosperity someday. With the best will in the world, I don't really see what everyone finds to reproach him with. His greatest quality in my eyes is he's unique in this world and, in spite of all the pressure applied on him, he refuses to turn into the world's vision of what a politician should be like. No one else can hold a candle to him for moral qualities.

Anyway, right or wrong, only the future will provide an answer, Res. But I'll reiterate my sense of overwhelming relief that we've survived the Afghan War without complete damage. And as I write these lines, I'm unendingly glad my hometown Karachi may also be at the start of its renewal, and Zulfiqar Mirza's prophetic words regarding the British-Karachi nexus have finally been proved to be right.

[Mirza Ghalib]

Res, you gave this to us at a time we were all in utter despair. I give it back to you now that hope starts to revive once again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLykT_IZtX4