Swat

City of the dead at the end of another lost highway
- Green Day

Pakistan is a country that has various ethnic groups who have been living in harmony together for decades till today. Being a multicultural country Pakistan is a place where people with different beliefs, cultures and philosophies live together. When did it become right to tell an ethnic group that their beliefs are wrong? When did it become right to impose the beliefs of one ethnic group onto another ethnic group? When did it become right to suppress and even eliminate one ethnic group based on their beliefs? Whatever is happening in Swat is called “ethnic cleansing” by every definition and in every dictionary of the world. Masking the issue of ethnicity and beliefs with the label of terrorism is resulting in the deaths of innocent men, women and children. It is hard to understand why today any ethnic issue that has Islamic roots is tied to terrorism. I don’t know why is the struggle of one ethnic group to protect it’s culture and to live freely and survive with their own beliefs is considered wrong.

Pakistan as a country has lost its way, its ideology and (hopefully not) its future. We are going down a lost highway with misleading signs that will take us to disaster. Today one ethnic group calling itself “moderate” is taking over the entire country, tomorrow the other will strike back and it has already started happening. The show of moderation by the group in power can be seen in the blood of innocence at Swat. It is like the history repeating itself again and again and we are determined not to learn from it. We can look back and see what happened in Bosnia, we can recall and think over why Algeria never saw peace, and we can learn something from the Shah of Iran. The philosophy of “to live and let live” is straight out the window of our leaders who by living most of their lives in barracks learnt nothing but the philosophy of war and violence. How come these people know what human rights are when all they learnt is war tactics, “yes sir”, “left-right” and to follow orders. Power belongs to the people of Pakistan and not to these puppets pulled by strings in the hands of their foreign masters.

Swat, a paradise on earth now looks like a town of Bosnia, which is too much of a price to pay for ones beliefs. I hope the blood of the people of Swat breathes life in every Pakistani living in every part of Pakistan. I hope all Pakistanis rise up against this aggression and struggle for justice and their right to be free. It is a big ask that requires perseverance and constant struggle and this is the time to do it. We need to refresh our minds with the ideology of Pakistan; we need to recall once again the freedom that Quaid-i-Azam stood for. It gives me strength to see the people of Swat who despite of oppression still stand for their beliefs and I wish and I pray that they succeed and bring Pakistan back on track. And I wish we all make Pakistan the country that was once dreamt by Allama Iqbal.

Freedom doesn't come easy

dream the same thing every night
see a freedom in my sight.
- Metallica

I wake up at seven, have some breakfast go to work at nine, come home at seven, have some dinner and sleep at ten. Then I dream, I dream and do what I wanted in life and then wake up at seven again. To me my life is like a dream and my dreams bring me whatever I wanted to have in life. To me my dreams are real, my dreams are the reality and I dream of freedom every night. I wish it could be the other way round but when I wake up I push myself into neverland, a world that has no concept of freedom, and I offer myself to be controlled. I wish I could wake up and feel and smell the freedom in the air. Someone said that on average a man sleeps for twenty years in life and the average life of a man is sixty years. It makes me think that I am only free for the twenty years I sleep and live in imprisonment for forty. Why can't I control my own destiny, who takes away my freedom when I wake up? Life is more then waking up at seven and going to work at nine.

It is not divine intervention that grips me in chains and turns me into a zombie everyday. It is a manly force with manly shackles and the promises of freedom that carry chains with them. I think I can break these shakles but I can't break them alone. How many are there like me, how many like me lives freely for the twenty years they sleep. If we all join hands I don't see any reason not to taste the freedom we dream of every night. It is only the realization of the fact that we are in chains and the longing for the freedom in life.

So what is the right way to have that freedom? How many times have we tried? How many decades have passed and how many lives are lost? Now after all the struggles do we still think that the freedom comes easy? The answer is no. We should never allow anyone to rob us of our right to freedom and we should all go to every length to be free because we only live for sixty years and sleep for twenty.

Helen and the Trojan horse

The mockery in the name of elections is nearing; the stage is set for the crowning of the queen. The battle is on between the right and the wrong; the swords are out, thirsty and waiting behind the shinning armors. And we all know how just this battle will be; but then all is fair in love and war. The Trojan horse has done the damage; Helen is being rescued for the crowning. Maulana Fazal the modern Trojan horse has been used a lot of times by his master and he has stabbed in the back many times when the time was right. Maulana has proved to be one the most unreliable persons in today’s politics although he must himself think that he is a clever politician for some self satisfaction.

The way Maulana infiltrated the democratic alliance as a “friend” and stabbed everyone in the back, not even the Trojan horse of Troy could’ve done better. May be the whiff of power and the sweet smell of “halwa” the master is cooking is enough for the horse to be expecting a lot more to come in return for his services. The way Maulana has helped the cause of Benazir to be the next prime minister is just like the way the Trojan horse of Troy helped in the rescue of Helen. No matter how openly both parties point fingers at each other, both are meant to be together.

Although this union of selfish, opportunists and back stabbers is very dangerous for Pakistan but I am an optimist and the good thing that has come out of this is that one can now clearly see who stands with the people and who stands for vested interests. Now that we are days away from the crowning ceremony, Imran, APDM and others must feel betrayed but their principles must not change and resolve is now what is required from the true leaders of the future.