Stay in your limits, general

"Can't say anything to the military, that's treason; can't say anything to the judiciary, that's contempt of court; can't say anything to the Mullahs, that's blasphemy; but the Prime Minister, President and Parliament, let's lynch them because it is our democratic right."

Or so read the Facebook statuses of thousands of Pakistanis. And apparently also on Twitter. So why is everybody being so queasy about treason and contempt of court and blasphemy? Well that's because the lot of Pakistanis with some common sense and rationality are increasingly being cornered with no way.

PM Gilani in an interview to a Chinese daily hinted that the replies filed by the Chief of Army Staff General Kayani and the Director General ISI General Pasha were unconstitutional and held no legal merit. He of course forgot that they were both respondents who were served notices by the court directly and then had to reply to the court with or without Gilani's approval.

Now we know that Gilani is not a very clever man and doesn't think things through properly. But we have been led to believe like the little black sheep who only bleat and follow whatever comes in their way, that Kayani is super perfect and that he has Kim Jong Il type powers of awesomeness. In addition we have also been told rather repeatedly that because Kayani is so perfect, he can never do any wrong. Oh how sorry were we.

You see in response to Gilani's rather stupid hinting capabilities, Kayani hit back at the "civilian democracy" in the place where it hurts the most. Kayani via an army statement said that Gilani's statement could have "serious ramifications" for Pakistan. But hold your horses! He further goes onto threaten the civilian baddies with "potential grievous consequences for the country."

As a citizen of this poor, shunned, brow beaten shell of a country that this once was, I stand hurt and well mighty damn angry. How dare Kayani who is nothing more than a grade 22 officer threaten the democratic institutions of Pakistan? Who does he think he is? Does he think he is God (naaoozubillah)? Does he have a magic wand that he will wave and make the problems of Pakistan go away? Oh wait. That can't be it because he was asleep in his king size bed at home when Pakistan's sovereignty was raped for 2 whole goddamn hours on May the 2nd!

It pains me, disgusts me and shames me that even now there are people in this country who support a martial law imposition; who think Kayani coming to the helm of affairs will fix everything. Well let me just bust your bubble: It will not. The favourite argument of these self professed cleansers of Pakistan is that because Zardari is corrupt, he has done corruption. Because he has done corruption, his whole party has done corruption. Because PPP has done corruption, the army needs to come to fix everything. Wrong!

So Zardari is corrupt and Gilani is stupid and Firdaus Ashiq Awan is an affront to the intelligence of women, the fact of the matter is they are only criticised because there are no "ramifications". Because criticizing them will not land you in jail, or your deathbed. Let's talk about another type of corruption today shall we?

Rs 800 billion was allotted to the army last year. Rs 800 billion. Now let's recount what took place last year. First there were the drone attacks. But it turns out Kayani was hand in glove with the Americans on that one. Let's all laugh about how stupid we all were for thinking the army was defending the frontier while in fact they were the ones providing spot locations for drone attacks. And lest you forget I'm all for drone strikes to wipe out militants. I'm just amazed at the sheer hypocrisy of those (read: army) who proclaim that the Americans will not be allowed to toy with our sovereignty. What sovereignty do they talk about? But I digress. Then came May the 2nd. A day that will forever go down in history as being the day when Pakistan lost all morality in the comity of nations. Why didn't our army defend us? Why didn't our Air force defend us? Why didn't the army shoot down the raiding American helicopters while they fluttered about in Pakistani airspace for two hours? Why didn't the army take action when all the action could in fact have been live from the Pakistan Military Academy? Why? And when the civilian baddies tried to fix that (via the Memogate, wrong method but correct intentions) the army just got pissed. What about the navy base attack? When 4 "Star Trek" characters set a whole base on fire and laid siege to it for 16 hours. How incompetent is our army? Even with Rs 800 billion a year in its pockets. And they talk about defeating India in war when can't even defend their own shoddy selves. Why does no one talk about this corruption?

And lest we forget, yes Kayani is the rat bastard who is responsible for putting this country under the water and making it sink. Now he trespasses the halls of morality but let me jog your memory. In 2007 Musharraf wanted an NRO with Benazir Bhutto. He sent his DG ISI to draft an agreement and get it signed. That agreement was called NRO. And who was that DG ISI, the architect of that agreement? Why yes it was Kayani. Who rules this country behind the facade of Gilani and Zardari? Why it's Kayani. And who has burnt this country down and sold it to the dogs? Why yes, it is indeed Kayani.

I don't have a problem with the army, or the soldiers who stand day and night watching these insolent generals who have nothing better to do than to fart all over the destiny of Pakistan. I have a problem with the generals. Making Kayani the chief executive will be the final nail in the Pakistan's coffin. Let's make that clear.

So how do we go about sorting through this mess? By letting the PPP complete its 5 years in power. You see we have now seen how inept the PPP has been in power. In the next elections people like me who have never voted before, are going to vote it out of power and vote somebody better in its place and so on and so forth. But instead if Kayani comes to the helm, well then bye bye Pakistan. You were truly loved and you will sorely be missed.

By linking the performance of the governments to the voting process and by empowering the common people, in only 20 years' time this country will be a much, much better place than it is today. People themselves will see how democracy is a million times better than the army mounting coups. Kayani should not sully the good name of all those nameless soldiers who have died, who stand upright during the night to protect his highness, and who when the time comes become brothers to those Pakistanis who need them. Kayani would be well advised to keep his fantasies to his self. Kayani should stay within his limits.

The Pakistan Memo

By Shahida Mazhar

Leadership is indispensable to Pakistan’s future progress and survival.

In the current Pakistani scenario, we must always have a third option to survive the dirty politics of the two major political parties.

Anyone who can redirect Pakistan to its destined path, as envisioned by, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Allama Iqbal and Quaid--e-Azam -- is the third option today.

If Pakistan has to survive as a rational nation, then it must really become Jinnah’s Pakistan and not a Pakistan for ignorant mullahs of Jamaat-e-Islami, who follow the Maududi Doctrine for a theocratic Pakistan. Jinnah fought against the organized mullahs, who preached/practiced 'Theocracy' as the Islamic doctrine.

Jinnah did not want Pakistan to become a theocracy and vociferously debated with the Muslim clerics in United India against it. 

 As citizens of Pakistan our mission today should be to evolve social justice, for deliverance of good governance.

Every Pakistani must speak up, against inequality, corruption, insufficient security, deficient education system, social malaise and healthcare, in order to usher in reforms needed desperately by Pakistan.

The time is over for 'fence sitting' and remaining silent for silence today will mean concurring with the status-quo, which is not an option any longer.

The world is going through epic history making events in the peoples' movements' like the 'Arab Spring' and now the 'Occupy Wall Street' as global citizens. We must get involved, and must play our part in it.

The American people have stood up against its tyrannical establishment, via the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement. Similarly Pakistan must play its correct role, and define its direction today also. As citizens of Pakistan, we have a responsibility to the world, and we need to indentify our mistakes, and then resolve to change our direction. We need to put our mark on history. We may or may not have the same demands yet we have a common front composed of many diversified interests.

Unified we have to confront and solve the most pressing problem of our time. It will not be an exaggeration to say that our survival as individuals, as a society, even as a species depends on it.

I request all Pakistanis, to cross party lines and support the correct person in the next Elections in 2013.

Let us remember that: "Allah will never change the condition of a people unless they first change what is wrong in their hearts" – Al - Quran

About the author: Shahida is an overseas Pakistani deeply devastated by Pakistan's state of affairs. Creating awareness and differentiating between fact and fiction is her passion. She is apolitical and freelances for different blogs from Facebook.

Dhaka's fall 1971 - The forgotten stranded Pakistanis

By Sahar Farrukh

They say nations which do not learn from their history are condemned to repeat their mistakes. The 40th anniversary of separation of Pakistan just passed away, the Quaid’s Pakistan divided into two on 16th December 1971. The heart of a true Pakistani still breaks at the thought of it.  Regardless of what the reasons were, behind the unfortunate event, it is now an indispensable reality. After four decades we do accept our mistakes verbally but the need of time is to learn from these mistakes. As the result of this war the Bengalis got a separate country; West Pakistan changed into the Islamic republic of Pakistan, and among all these frenzied developments we ignored the third group, the most affected one. Those identity less, homeless people who were looking around on the hopes to be accepted — talking about more than 250,000 Biharis or stranded Pakistanis trapped in camps in Bangladesh, which are still hanging in the balance.

These people are paying the price for the love they had for their country. They supported the Pakistani army but were not given enough importance to think about their evacuation. They were deprived of their properties and are third grade people because they were the supporters of their enemies. Very little attention has been paid up till now over such people. In 1972 when Bangladesh announced nationality for the Biharis more than 60,000 voted in favour of Pakistan. General Zia ul Haq deprived all such people of their nationality and identity in an ordinance in 1978. Later on a few pacts were signed and were tried for implementation too by other governments, but following the tradition it also fell prey to our politics. The fear of racial, cultural, linguistic, ethnic issues and problems that would have risen from accepting the Biharis as Pakistanis was the major propaganda by political parties. In 1993 even these efforts stopped and in 1998 the commission dissolved in mid air too. UNHCR and other organizations refused to consider them as displaced people and from then on these identity-less people had very little attention paid towards them.

After more than four decades and three generations later these camps give a surreal sight of humans living in conditions worse than animal shelters. The later generations though bestowed with the generosity of being called Bangladesh nationals in 2008 are confused, on a crossroad having no past and a dead end to their future. Without any education (illiteracy rate for this group of people is 94%) and healthy environment they are considered a burden on the earth. 70 to 80 percent of Urdu speaking have registered themselves as Bangladeshis but it DOES NOT include those who still want to come back to Pakistan. These true patriots who deserve a high status are living in unexplainable miserable conditions trapped between the conflicting histories and selfishness of governments. These stranded Pakistanis will remain Pakistani till death whether anybody acknowledges them or not. The land mafia vultures are eyeing these camps after the 2008 Supreme Court decision of Bangladesh, stripping them off with their only so called shelters. Will the time ever come that government will realize its responsibility towards them? The life moved on for us and for the Bengalis too but not for them who are living a stagnant life for four decades.

Since that time, no efforts have been made and neither the people nor the media tried to catch up on facts or the presumed efforts form the government which were only directed towards further lies, including the inquiry report --- the Hamood ur Rehman commission report. Further facts were hidden and an altered history was presented to the new generation. The distorted facts were included in Pakistan studies syllabus.

Every year this day comes and passes away, and documentaries about this day are played by a few television channels (always ignoring the plight of Biharis); columns by writers seldom throw light on this issue, and the government at the height of its tepidness, is always silent as if it has simply given up. Sadly the new generation knows nothing about it. If they did or tried to, they would have never forgiven their elders. We have to bear what they sowed for us. We have to pay for their mistakes. They made our past but now we are responsible for the future. As the future of Pakistan, lets join hands and spread it towards our less fortunate, stranded brothers who are hoping against hope that they will be rescued by their dear homeland for which they have rendered relentless sacrifices.

About the author: Sahar is a graduate of MBA from Islamabad.

2011 in perspective

2011 is gone. The year heralded undefined and unheard hardships for Pakistan and its people. There were suicide bomb blasts, electricity outages, corruption allegations, electoral discrepancies, massive shenanigans from our dearly elected and well the usual, heat and dust and anger management issues.

Imran Khan also rose from the ashes as a phenomenon that could herald Pakistan in a new direction towards the end of the year. How true that is we'll simply have to wait and see. With the army recuperating some of its lost pride in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death and the Karachi naval base attack, it tried to meddle in the affairs of the civilian government again by getting Hussain Haqqani sacked.

All in all it wasn't a happy year for Pakistan and certainly not a good one. We find ourselves internationally abandoned and the world appears to be extremely frustrated with us. It is true that they haven't been very straight with us but to their credit neither have we. We continue to try and push through the delusional mudslides that keep falling over us every other day and perhaps that's the biggest take away of the year. We showed the world how resilient we are and how well we hold our own.

As 2012 arrives, some metaphorical bombs have already exploded on us. Petrol price has increased, CNG prices have increased in addition to their load shedding, and electricity prices have also increased. A bad start but here's to hoping that as the year progresses, we are able to salvage some sense from all the mess we find ourselves in.

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