November 11, 2010

A response

InshaAllah. (Photo: Ivarfjeld.wordpress.com)
People have so many issues in life. People have so many issues in life with yours truly. There are those who call me a lying, bungling useless jock of a guy who has too much free time on his hands and has nothing better to do than type away aimlessly, and for good measure quite pathetically, on his keyboard spewing up hatred for XYZ people. Then there are those who proclaim that they are going to defend the “ideological borders” of Pakistan and turn it into a fortress of Islam from whose murky depths the Great Awakening shall raise. They also question my intentions and believe I am the new spokesperson of RAW, the Indian intelligence agency. Still there are those who are pissed at me for being pissed at everyone. It is quite impossible to keep everyone happy at the same considering you have a brain, two eyes and two hands to type away incessantly at your keyboard.

I am not here to defend my views. I believe everyone has the right and entitlement to form their own unique and diverse views. I realize I upset a lot of people with my thoughts and views but then, I do believe I am entitled to believe what I want to believe. So for instance, I severely doubt the incumbent proposition that Pakistan is Madina-e-Sani. Let me not hide behind a facade of mockery or ill-will here. Let me state that the term Madina-e-Sani has been coined by Mr Zaid Hamid and I strictly disagree with his concourse. I do believe that instead of preaching us war with India, it would be more prudent to adopt a line of dialogue and constructive trust building measures to thrash out our differences. After all, doesn’t Islam ask us to be good and kind to everyone? I wonder why we have to harp on about the decimation of “kaafirs” and “paleed Hindus” when Allah has expressly told us they’re going to rot in hell. I also wonder how a country can be Madina-e-Sani when its people are busy in selling and buying prostitution, indulge in rampant and leisurely corruption, and take God’s name to murder innocent people. Maybe if Mr Zaid Hamid had cared to follow up on his original premise of preaching God’s word to the ignorant rather than capitalise on the anti-India sentiment prevalent in Pakistan, I might’ve found something to admire in the man.

And then there is the question of my loyalties. No, I am not a RAW agent. Just because I dare to question the wrong policies, attitudes and beliefs that prevail in Pakistan does not mean I hate my country. And also, if I tell people to admit the mistakes that we as a nation have made, I don’t think that entitles me to hell in any way. After all, don’t we all teach our kids to own our mistakes regardless of what the opposing party has done or not done? People tell me Shariat and Islam is the only way forward for Pakistan. They quote Iqbal and tell me the things that they hear from Mr Zaid Hamid but when someone asks them what they have to say to the notion that Iqbal did not leave what Islam would constitute a “moral” life, they say that it doesn’t matter. Why? Why doesn’t it? Is Islam a toy that is to be used when it is wanted to be used, and discarded when it intrudes on personal space? Is this a joke? My only wish is for people to drop this pretentious, hypocritical air that maintain around them. It would be good for everyone to start facing and accepting reality as it is.

No one is absolving the US of any blame. Yes they have committed wrongs, but so what? Does our blaming them make everything right? Does it absolve us of our wrongs? The key to survival is to be smart, not whining donkey. So while it is great to look at history and see who went wrong where, who wronged whom, and who is responsible for the mess we find ourselves in, it is equally pertinent to note that it is we ourselves, who will have to roll out of this mess. Our enemies and foes will not do that no matter how much we whine. We need to learn to accept our mistakes without stating India has hundreds of consulates in Afghanistan. Fact is they only have 5. We need to stop blaming CIA, Mossad, RAW for all our ills because the evil that we commit against each other outweighs everything. Unless we can find a solution to our home grown menaces, there is no point of harping on about them. That is what I believe. You are of course, entitled to believe what you want to.