Why I logged off Twitter for good: A personal reckoning with its descent into hate

Shout into the void, get zero likes, and still somehow feel attacked. But maybe zero likes is better than drowning in hate.

I haven’t posted on Twitter for a couple of years now; the majority of people that I knew on that platform have either abandoned it, or jumped ship. Including myself. I’m here, posting this here, instead of over there. And I’ve finally figured out why — Twitter seems like a dystopian hellscape. It’s a collection of the worst people, anonymous by design, shouting into their infernal echo chambers. It’s racist, xenophobic, and despairing. There’s too much hate being platformed on it in the name of free speech. It was always going to end up like this, but there was always this hope that maybe — just maybe — Twitter will survive the X-ification that Elon Musk unleashed upon it. How naive, we all were.

Every time I open it nowadays, it’s the same version of talking points over and over again — Muslims are terrorists, Islam is a cancer, brown folks are replacing European descendants. There are giant mega threads dedicated to utterly insane and xenophobic discourse about how “immigrants” have made areas “no-go”. It sounds unhinged and insane, but the collective echo chamber effect reinforces these beliefs over and over again, until they become part of your infernal and rabid psyche. And honestly, it’s a chicken and egg situation. Like Mehdi Hasan says, there was always a racism problem in the West, but it was hidden because it's common courtesy to not be a fucking race baiter. Well guess what? In the neofascist age that we’re living through, it’s become quite fashionable (and lucrative) to be an open racist and bigot. And it’s not just anon accounts fanning these flames, it’s congressmen too.

Of course this whole discourse is a pivot to distract away from their shortcomings, and how pathetic they really are. Charlie Kirk, Ted Cruz, Randy Fine to name but a few, are now so severely spewing Islamophobia, that it’s become their whole personality. They’re doing it because they don’t want people talking about their moral failings and shortcomings. They keep getting reamed in, but they double down. Because as I said earlier, it is now advantageous to be racist and xenophobic. The world is making that pivot, and these bigots want to get in on the ground floor.

The world is scary, but logging onto Twitter makes it feel 50 times worse, because all you’re subjected to repeatedly is how much you’re hated because you’re not a European descendant with the correct “genes”. The skin of your color is the defining characteristic of whether you’re worthy of any consideration, or if your value is relegated to the “subhuman” category. The whole setup is so broken. Instead of being hopeful and optimistic, we’re entering a doom spiral where everything feels hopeless and pessimistic. I don’t know how and where this cycle will end. In the meantime, log off Twitter. The xenophobia won’t magically go away, but at least you won’t have to worry about living with an existential crisis everyday.

The moral depravity of the civilized world

A vast swathe of Pakistan has been submerged under water due to the recent floods. Credit photo: AP Photo/Zahid Hussain

33 million. It is about the same number of people who call Canada their home. It is 10% of the population of the United States. 

33 million people. Humans. Old and young. Men and women. Children. 

33 million lives.

33 million stories.

Sounds so random doesn’t it? 33 million. But it isn’t. That is the number of men, women and children who are starving, afflicted, sleeping on the side of roads that haven’t been washed away. It is the number of men, women, children who had a house, a home, family, friends, pets, relationships who now don’t even have access to clean drinking water. It is the number of men, women and children who are frying under the open skies in the bright unrelenting sun, whilst malaria, dengue, dysentery, fungal infections have a field day. 

33 million.

It is the number of men, women and children who have been abandoned, to fend for themselves, to fight for morsels at the feet of the ever self aggrandizing and self declared magnanimous governments and nonprofits of the world. It is the number of people who have become invisible to any and all. Maybe they should have been one of the Notre Dames, burning high into the sky. Maybe then the world would wake up and take stock. But no. Malnourished brown folk from the global south, often accused of being uncivilized, often hated and reviled for their faith, are invisible. Their pain is invisible. Their suffering is invisible.

I’ve seen this fact quoted out and about often. Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of global warming emissions, and yet it is in the top 10 countries most at risk due to global warming. But it isn’t at risk anymore. The catastrophe has arrived. It is here. It is now. When the floods stop one day, we will suffer droughts. Our plains will turn to deserts, our water will evaporate, our livestock which has been washed away will become famished and die. Our food chains will perish. And as invisible as we are, what will we do then?

The West has set out on a path of irreversible destruction to our planet. In their quest for putting money and profits above all else, they have deliberately ensured that the “collective and greater good” becomes a pejorative term. Because it is now an “us” vs “them”, instead of “all and everyone.” The flood waters will recede, but ruins are just beginning to form.

Pakistan, a poor country, drowning under increasingly furious flood waters, has been abandoned.

Fox News thinks Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 landed in Pakistan

Fox News thinks that MH370 landed in Pakistan. Somebody needs to tell Fox News to hire a brain.

Yesterday there were reports in the media (later refuted by MAS) that engine data received from flight MH370 meant that it had continued to fly on for almost 4 hours after contact was lost with ground control. This meant that the plane could have flown to any location within the circle in the picture above. For some at Fox News however, it meant that flight MH370 was taken hostage and taken to Pakistan. Of course Fox News thinks that's the only logical outcome since Pakistan is a word associated with very negative connotations in the Fox News thesaurus.

The truth is Fox News, MH370 did not land in Pakistan. I mean, the idiocy and sheer lunacy of your proposition defies conventional logic. But of course in order to be Fox News I believe you have to transverse the boundaries of common sense and logic that set humans apart from, I don't know, baboons. Or buffoons if you're into that kind of thing.

Grow up Fox News. It's about fucking time.

Update 1:

Source: The Wall Street Journal

So this is the map that Fox News (and other news outlets) used to "predict" that flight MH370 might have reached Pakistan. As you can clearly see, it doesn't "reach" Pakistan. At all. Another map on The Guardian's website also shows that flight MH370 could only have reached somewhere in India at the maximum.

Once again then, grow up Fox News.

Update 2:

The Malaysian Prime Minister went on TV and said the plane continued flying for 7 hours after the last communication with ground control.

Let's assume the plane had enough fuel to go anywhere it wanted. In order to get to Pakistan, it would have to cross India. That is extremely sensitive and restricted airspace.

Even will all electronic equipment shut down, if the plane had entered Indian/Pakistani airspace, both countries' military/federal aviation radars would have picked it up. This is a plane. A big one. Not a penny with wings.

And then you would have to land the plane. Does everyone seriously believe that anyone could land that plane in Pakistan without anyone knowing? Without anyone seeing? You've got American military with all their fancy gadgetry right next door in Afghanistan. You've got the Indians on the other side. Does anyone honestly believe that a commercial airliner duped everyone and just landed itself in Pakistan without anyone knowing?

The Pakistani government for its part has denied that the plane is inside the country's borders.

The Malaysian model: A possible solution to the sectarian menace?

An article by Zaib Liaqat.

Army personnel guard the Murree Road in Rawalpindi after sectarian clashes erupted

Recently, authorities imposed a curfew in parts of Rawalpindi after sectarian clashes erupted on Ashura day near Fawara Chowk, which left at least nine people dead and over 45 injured. The outbreak was just another example of religious intolerance in the country; the intolerance which has not been affecting a specific sect but everyone.

With this incident, Pakistan has experienced another renaissance in the sectarian violence. The violence mostly involves conflicts between members of two main sects of Islam i.e. the Sunnis and Shias - but not to forget the sub-sects of Sunnis - Barelvi and Deoband. Also, not to forget, Pakistan is the second-largest Shia population and it has good bilateral relations with Iran, the first-largest Shia population in the world. It’s regional power dynamic also vis-à-vis Saudi Arabian influences. 

These emerging sectarian tensions in Pakistan were exacerbated by geopolitical trends. The Iranian Revolution in 1979 empowered Shia Muslims in Iran, which also promoted the actualization of the sect in Pakistan. At the same time, Pakistan-based Sunni Muslim - especially Deoband organizations and madrassas - began to receive funding from Saudi Arabia and the U.S. in order to provide support and training to the Afghan fighters in the context of the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan.

One can always blame regional and international powers in fueling the fire of this menace, but the question is why our nation has been so vulnerable to such schemes? We never seriously felt the dire need of comprehensive national unity in the country. Our efforts ended by banning either hate speech or the group which ignites the sectarian propaganda.

We are in desperate need to drive a strategy and government policy to create, and to promote national unity. The motive of the strategy should be to sow the seeds of goodwill and understanding in every corner of this land, only by this, will we be able to harvest the fruits of progress and prosperity. Recently I attended an International Youth Leadership Conference (IYLC) in Malaysia and got to know about an insightful work of their department for this specific purpose. The made a department to overcome this issue. Below are the five basic objectives of this department.

• Promoting a culture of peace and prosperity
• Instilling goodwill and understanding
• Building upon our shared realities
• Engaging one another to address disputes
• Resolving conflict in constructive ways

In order to achieve these objectives they promote interactions at each stage of individual life cycle by establishing a team for neighborhood watch, voluntary patrolling scheme, community mediator, creation of national unity clubs at schools and universities. It is mandatory for every Malaysian student to study subjects of ethnic relations and Asian civilizations. These steps help to promote cross cultural understanding in the country. The department also conducts community wellness programs which include youth at certain levels.

At the community level this department also encourages young and older citizens to arrange activities to empower women and to hold volunteer economic programs in order to improve the societal relationship. They are working on religious harmony programs, which involve religious leaders and community for intra and inter religious cooperation and the partnership of public religious bodies. Malaysia is culturally and ethnically a diverse country with a population of 28.6 million and this department of national unity and integration has strengthened her with each passing day, not just socially but also economically. Malaysians believe that prosperity comes with harmony and because of these efforts, Malaysia ranks 20th in the world according to the Global Peace Index whereas Pakistan ranks149th.

Agreed that challenges faced by Pakistan are not only grave but also numerous and are of a different nature than Malaysia. But, as you have heard, “united we stand divided we fall,” I believe most of our problems will be solved, when, we as nation, would act as single body. I find no harm in investing our energies and attention towards this very grave issue for the greater good.

In lieu of the above, the Islamic Ideology Council should also focus on legislating and formulating policies for cross cultural understanding. Instead of just being a nominal body, they should find common grounds, so that ethnic, sectarian, and cultural diversity should be viewed as a unique asset with significant competitive value, otherwise we are destined to fall into an abyss.

The current resurgence of sectarian violence can be traced to the rise of the Pakistani Taliban in the mid-2000s and this organization’s growing ties with militant sectarian organizations such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. As such, sectarian violence is arguably the most dangerous fallout for Pakistan in the US led war against terror in neighboring Afghanistan. Pakistan till date has experienced more than 1839 incidences of sectarian violence and has lost thousands of lives in these attacks.

Zaib is the minister for IT and Telecommunication at Youth Parliament Pakistan (PILDAT) who works with PAK-US Advance Youth Council and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Drone strikes kill terrorists

US drone

Yesterday a drone strike killed Wali ur Rehman Mehsud, the 2nd in command of the Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). News reports say he was killed with his close aide Fakhr-e-Islam and 5 other Uzbek militants.

When I rejoiced at the thought of this snake being killed in a drone strike on Twitter, a very dear friend of mine pointed out that this is unacceptable and should not be tolerated under any circumstances. Normally I'd be prone to agree with him. After all, which country would tolerate another country's weapon of mass destruction firing missiles into its territory?

But these are not normal circumstances. Why does the US feel it has to fire missiles into Pakistan to kill terrorists? Because a) our army does not/dare not go into North Waziristan Agency which has known hideouts of terrorists and b) the Pakistan army has given its blessing to the American drone strike program. And for good measure. Many terrorists have been killed by these very drones that the Pakistani public loves to hate. The government maintains plausible deniability (or used to; recently the US has gone solo on the program so now the government actually has no advance knowledge of a drone strike according to the NYT) and builds up anti US rhetoric which keeps the masses united in their hatred against anything to do with the West and also keeps the terrorists from sparing them (or so they hope!).

Drone strikes have taken out legions of terrorists. According to the Bureau of Investigative journalism, there have 366 drone strikes in Pakistan up to now. Between 2,537 - 3,581 people have been killed in these strikes. Of these people killed between 579 - 1,081 are civilians and children. Whatever way you cut it, that means there's between 1000 - 1500 terrorists who have been killed in these drone strikes. In war there is collateral. And this collateral, between 1000 - 1500, is very limited considering the kind of dangerous animals have been killed.

But of course collateral damage of any kind is unacceptable. And then there's the issue of Pakistan's sovereignty. Ah. The fabled sovereignty. Countries with honest leaders, and honest people have sovereignty. Countries who are willing to fight to the death to defend their honor have sovereignty. Countries who are ready to face long periods of hardship have sovereignty. Iran has sovereignty. Venezuela has sovereignty. Cuba has sovereignty. We only have tatters of indecency which are sold for peanuts. So the myth of Pakistan's sovereignty is just a smokescreen designed to fool the gullible. But let's get back to the drone strikes, and how they violate Pakistan's sovereignty. Fair enough. Why doesn't the Pakistan military shoot down some drones? If we have sovereignty, why doesn't the Pakistan Air Force take down a couple of drones? Show the world we've got some muscle, no matter how puny, and we aren't afraid to use it to defend our honor?

And when the Pakistani people talk about "sovereignty" will they please explain to me where that sovereignty goes when Uzbeks, Tajiks, Afghans and Arabs decide to recreate scenes from Call of Duty on our streets? Uzbeks, Tajiks, Afghans and Arabs are not "Pakistani" people. Will the Pakistani people explain to me how these are "our" people and yet they found it so easy to slaughter 50,000 civilians? Innocent people who had nothing to do with this heinous war? Will the Pakistani people please explain to me what "sovereignty" they talk about when motherless bastards such as Hakeemullah Mehsud order the slaughtering of 130 innocent people in the 10 days before elections just because those people "support" a certain political viewpoint? What sovereignty is there when Pakistani land is allowed to be used to devise and plan terrorism acts WITHIN Pakistan, let alone the rest of the world?

The drones have killed 3500 people. A majority of them terrorists. Terrorists have killed 50,000 people. 46,000 of whom were innocent bystanders, or first responders. 4,000 of whom were military personnel. These are FACTS.

Another point that's objectively raised is will the US allow such drone strikes to occur on its own soil? Of course it won't. It's the world's most powerful country. Other countries dare not touch it. Besides, terrorists are not known to live and train in the US. Terrorists are not known to have safe havens in the US.

Let's get something else clear as well. The love Afghanistan and Afghan Taliban narrative that's eschewed in Pakistan has bitten us on our ass many, many times now. The Afghans have so much hatred for Pakistan, it's unbelievable. Instead we've taken 3.5 million Afghans and given them homes and jobs. The Afghan Taliban, vicious beasts that they are, were the ideology that led to the birth of the Pakistani Taliban. Declan Walsh is right when he says the Pakistani Taliban are a nihilistic organization. Snakes.

Also when you read and research about the objectives of the Pakistani Taliban, it is not to wage a war against the conquering forces. It is establishment of THEIR version of Sharia which as we've clearly seen is bordering on the insane - a far cry from Islam, or any other religion for that matter. So if the Pakistani people think once the US leaves the region things will get back to normal, they are highly mistaken.

Are drone strikes in a moral grey area? Sure. But they've been helpful. They've been helpful in killing the snakes who desecrate the Pakistani people's homes, maim their children, violate their women. And for that, I am thankful for the drone strikes.

And if you still want more certainty, here's a list of the world's most wanted terrorists killed by drone strikes:

1. Nek Muhammad Wazir
2. Haitham al-Yemeni
3. Abu Hamza Rabia (3rd in command of Al Qaeda)
4. Abu Laith al-Libi
5. Abu Sulayman al-Jaziri
6. Midhat Mursi
7. Abu Ubaidah al Tunisi
8. Khalid Habib
9. Abu Jihad al-Masri
10. Rashid Rauf
11. Usama al-Kini
12. Baitullah Mehsud
13. Tohir Yoldosh (leader of Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan - what the hell was he doing in Pakistan?)
14. Ilyas Kashmiri (was supposed to be a successor to Osama bin Laden)
15. Sayeed al-Misri
16. Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim
17. Bahadur Mansoor (responsible for the FIA HQ bombing in Lahore)
18. Hussain al-Yemeni
19. Hamza al-Jufi
20. Sheikh Fateh al-Misri
21. Wali ur Rehman Mehsud

I've obviously missed out on a lot of other terrorists killed in these strikes but this ought to prove to you their effectiveness. These terrorists are responsible for killing millions of people around the world. Also, most of these terrorists aren't even Pakistani yet were killed in Pakistan. Proves the ineptness of our security apparatus. And yet we still want to blame the US for sending in drones?

Dear God, please don't let this be a Muslim

Security officers on site leapt to the aid of those injured

Dear America,

You're smarting from a great tragedy. A terrible, terrible event happened in Boston. A joyous occasion was brutally crucified to make way for pain, blood and agony. Innocents were hurt. Innocents perished. The cowards who did this did not have the guts to own up to it. They deserve to rot in an open square with people ogling at them, taking cognizance of the abomination that these barbarians are.

As news reeled in off those who were killed, and those who were injured one prayer leapt to my lips:

Please dear God, don't let this be a Muslim. Don't let this be a Pakistani. Please dear God. Don't let this be.

But I see I was late in my prayer. You see a Fox News employee had already sent out a tweet condemning me to death. He also condemned the 1.6 billion other followers of Islam to death by saying "let's kill them all".

When I read that tweet I realized something. I realized how broken we all were. How disoriented, how unattached from one another. We're all humans yet we've demonized each other beyond reproach. To some all brown people appear as worthy of death. To some all white appear as worthy of death. We can't stop ripping each other a new one all the time. In all this madness people like me, those trying to keep sane amidst the insanity are crushed brutally.

Today I thought back to Pakistan. I thought about the 20 or so people who die there everyday. Then i came across this Facebook status from a friend:

Watching all the media about the Boston bombings, can't help but wonder if this is how the people of Pakistan feel all the time

So I wondered do we feel this way all the time? When a drone fires a Hellfire and kills innocent school children. When the terrorists bomb a market. When sectarian groups engage in systematically wiping out those who are opposed to them. Doesn't our heart weep when we hear about how another bystander was lost? About how a kid lost his parents? About how that poor woman lost her legs? What do we feel if not but pain? What do we do if not cry tears of blood day in and day out, over and over again?

My thoughts went out to the 50,000 innocent Pakistani lives lost in this craze. And then I realized how emotionally detached I was from my own people's suffering. The Boston Marathon explosions had left me shaking, but the 20 people who die in Pakistan everyday simply does not affect me at all. I was ashamed of myself. I was so very ashamed of my insensitivity. Did I think an American life was worth more than the life of my fallen Pakistani fellow? Did the Pakistani life just equal a nameless statistic forever confined to the annals of history to be used in pie charts, or bar charts to explain the year on year increase in casualties?

And then I realized, my desensitization was a defense mechanism.

If we Pakistanis started to give a shit about all those we lose every single day, we would go insane

I feel the same pain, but I refuse to acknowledge its existence. Because acknowledging its existence would mean I have to deal with it, and I can't. None of us can. It's easier to ignore and carry on than to deal with the great tragedy that takes place day in and day out.

Dear America the pain you feel today, I have felt for 11 years now. Every single day like a searing white hot pin piercing my heart. Dear America, when you accuse us of being responsible for all the ills plaguing the world we look at each other, we look at the 50,000 graves we have dug and we weep for the men, women and children we buried who can find no peace even in death. Dear America we die everyday only to find a thankless world tell us we're rogue terrorists who deserve to be locked up and wiped off the face of the earth. Our children's cries do not equal the cries of your children; the weight of our dead bodies does not equal the weight of your dead bodies. Our sacrifices do not exist, because you never see them. Our efforts go in vain because we've been demonized so much.

Dear America we've been so traumatized that now we are scared of saying we're Muslims, we're ashamed of our brownness and we feel deeply uncomfortable and guilty for belonging to the countries which you largely equate with the devil's personal backyard.

Dear America what you feel today is what millions of people living in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have felt for many years now. I do not even for an instant suggest that you forgive those who have threatened you. I just request that when you send out a prayer for the victims of the Boston Marathon explosions that you remember the 37 Iraqis who were killed yesterday. I request you send out a quiet prayer for the 30 guests at a wedding which was "accidentally" bombed by a US bomber in Afghanistan. I request that you send out a quiet prayer for the 50,000 innocent men, women and children who have paid the ultimate price for a war that they were thrust in for no fault of their own except for having been born in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Dear America you see what it has come to now? You see how terrorized, demonized and scared we feel?

Dear God, please, don't let this be a Muslim.

This is Pakistan, dummy

When I first came to the USA, I expected certain stereotypes to be associated to me. I wasn't wrong. The only problem however was all the stereotypes being associated to me were factually incorrect! This then is an introductory lesson to Pakistan. Pakistan 101, if you will.

The biggest anomaly that a lot of Americans know as fact about Pakistan is that we're Arabs and Pakistan is located in the Middle East. Below is a map of the Middle East. See if you can spot Pakistan.

The Middle East

What's that? You couldn't find Pakistan in the Middle East? Oh no! But wait, oh yes. Pakistan is NOT in the Middle East. It never was, it never will be.

Once upon a time Pakistan and India were the same country. Then one fine morning in August 1947, the people of subcontinent decided we should have TWO countries in the same place where one existed. Guess what? Pakistan was born.

Map of Pakistan when it was part of India (left); map of Pakistan when it
was part of... well Pakistan. (Source: BBC)

But that's not all. You see not only are we NOT Arabs, we're also not from the Middle Ages. As one friend of mine so casually pointed out the fact that we shit in holes, and 9/10ths of our country is rural and overrun by the Taliban. If it wasn't for his ginger hair (being a rarity as it is), I might have actually taken affront to this blatant stereotyping of 200 million people.

As it turns out though, we do not shit in holes in the ground. Animals do that. Even in the USA. Now how about that? Also, please. We're much more dignified when it comes to wiping our bottoms. While the western world TP their asses raw (uncivilized. You're from the Middle Ages!), we have the luxury of using a Muslim shower which squirts soothing cold water onto our bottom.

Illustration of a Muslim shower

Then there's the problem of 90% of Pakistan being overrun by the Taliban. Uhh, no. You never believe what the TV tells you. Because the TV lies. This is Pakistan. The real Pakistan. See if you can spot a Taliban in the pictures below.

Islamabad

Old Lahore. That's the Badshahi Mosque in the background. Built in the 16th century.
In French, it is magnifique!

Port Grand Karachi

That's the highest elevation bridge in Asia located on the motorway
in the Pakistani salt range

Karachi again

The Harbor front building in Karachi

National University of Science and Technology - by the way, Pakistan's education system is in
English. Don't act all surprised when you find out we can converse in English.

Sher Shah Suri's tomb

Katas Raj temple near Chakwal. And right next to my village

Head Marala, Sialkot

Bridge connecting Rohri with Quetta in Balochistan

Sand dunes meet ocean on the Balochistan coast

Reko Diq. The land of gold and copper and hungry international vultures.

Basharat, Pakistan

Looks Photoshopped doesn't it? It's not. The Hindu Kush mountain
range in Pakistan

Lansdowne bridge, Rohri Pakistan

The Biafo glacier

The snow desert of Skardu

The Dudipatsar Lake 

Pakistan

This is Pakistan. A beautiful land with kind hospitable people. We're not overrun by Taliban. That's something you're fed so that pressure can be enforced on our government. We're not without faults. We're not without sins. But the faults of those in power should not associated with the people who live in that land. We're not what you make us out to be. We're awesome. You're surprised by us because you judge us too soon. You don't give us a chance. You stereotype us and for that shame on you.

The way Americans see Asia

The way Americans see Asia. Hilarious! (Click on picture to expand)

Just had to share this with you all!

When will you stop shaming me Pakistan?

Look at him and weep because such idiots are leaders in Pakistan (Ghulam Ahmed Bilour)

I woke up early to try and study. Instead I get this thrown in my face:

Pakistani minister announces $100,000 bounty on anti-Islam film maker

I mean seriously, what the fuck? Certain choice words come to my mind but I'd rather not say because they will just make me boil over. I knew this piece of shit known as Ghulam Ahmed Bilour was a strictly speaking fucked up loser with daddy issues but this, this is preposterous. It is because of sons of bitches like him that Pakistan and Pakistanis have lost all moral value in front of the entire world. No that's not true. The events on Friday that left 23 dead are a appropriate yardstick to judge us by.

You wanna know why people want to leave and run away from Pakistan? Well just read, see and hear what he said!

The Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said that he was aware that it was a crime to instigate the people for murder, but he was ready to commit the crime. He added that there was no way to instill fear among blasphemers other than taking this step. He also called on members of the Taliban and al Qaeda for their support, saying that if members of the banned militant organisations kill the maker of the blasphemous movie, they will also be rewarded.

So ladies and gentlemen the moment we've all been waiting for, the radicalization of society, the mental un-wellness of the Pakistani jackasses in power, the moral turpitude, the black stigma, has arrived. Live it. Breathe it. Feel it. And tomorrow, when somebody from the government gets up and says "we shall wage a war against Al-Qaeda or the Taliban" smack him/her (why be sexist right? They're all equally incompetent and incapable) in the face with the heel of your shoe and tell him/her to sit the fuck back down. YOU want to understand why the world paints us with such a dreaded color? Look no further than what Ghulam Ahmed Bilour said on national TV.

The really sad bit is because of these pieces of utter buffoonery the entire world goes up in arms against every single, normal, clear thinking Pakistani.

And that's when I ask myself this question: When will you stop shaming me Pakistan? When?

Are you seriously kidding me?

Protesters burn US flags and effigies in response to
the blasphemous movie Innocence of Muslims
which was released in the USA

I had an inkling this might happen. When you move away from your home country, you tend to lose track of things happening back home. Of course there is the internet to make sure that you never are really separated from home. I mean, all I had to do to find out what was happening in Pakistan was to visit Dawn.com or Tribune.com.pk and boom, I knew all that I had to know. And then some.

The Islamic parties in Pakistan are what you would normally call a bunch of irrational, ultra right wing hooligans. You won't be wrong. They ended up killing a man today. They also threatened the US government that they would not allow the US consulates in Pakistan to function. They are also under the impression that the US establishment sponsored the creation of the terrible Islamophobic movie that has got the Muslim world up in arms. BUT, the problem is the US establishment does not have as much free time as the Pakistani establishment, neither does it care about the kinds of movies that are made in the country. Also, the US government is much more focused on what's going to happen within the next 50 days when Barack Obama and Mitt Romney come face to face in the race to the White House.

My point is that more than 75% of all Americans don't even know that an Islamophobic movie was made. They do not care that it was made. This (as I've come to realize) is a very liberal and free country. Here freedom of expression extends beyond personal or religious feelings. People say what they like to say without having to face repercussions and that's not necessarily a bad thing. This approach allows people to ask questions without being intimated or feeling inadequate and by asking questions and having a real debate a lot of misconceptions are removed.

Of course a lot of the news websites in the US itself are in a furor over the content of the movie. The New York Times in an article published today lambasted Newsweek for inviting a debate on the Muslim reaction to the movie with the Twitter hastag #MuslimRage. But then Muslims are raging all over the internet aren't they? No wait. They're not because Rehman Malik and Raja Rental in their infinite wisdom have asked PTA to block many websites including Youtube in the country. And if that wasn't enough, Rehman Malik threatened Google Inc. with suspending the visas of its employees. Are you kidding me Rehman Malik? How on earth do you expect Pakistan to even progress just a tiny bit if that is the level you are willing to sink to appease the religious hard liners in Pakistan? I mean, dude seriously. What the fuck is the matter with you?

On Facebook people have expressed their resentment in an awesome way. This is the Facebook status of thousands of Muslims on Facebook:

I know a MAN who lost his parents but refused to be called an orphan. Man enough to love a strong woman years older than him, worked for her and made her stronger, opened his heart to her, shared his fears to no human but her, cleaned after himself and sewed his clothes, and was faithful to her till her last breath. He was courageous and fearless. He never judged anyone on their pasts or looks, and was moderate, open minded and tolerant. His neighbor was Jewish and his cousin-in-law was a Christian priest. Was beaten and exiled when he was helpless. Was merciful when he became stronger. Intelligent, wise and a hard worker, built a long lasting nation out of nothing in the last 20 years of his life. He had no parents, but loved his daughters and grandchildren. His last will was "Be good to women". This MAN is my PROPHET MUHAMMAD (S.A.W.W) a man worth looking up to - peace be upon him - Don't just read, read and think who you are, and who you want to be for the people and the women you love.

Why do we as a society feel the need to literally indulge in self destruction to hammer home a point that for all intents and purposes nobody but the Pakistanis will end up hearing? If these religious parties (or Rehman Malik for that matter) think that by banning Youtube, threatening Google, or giving an ultimatum to the US they can make a point they are so badly mistaken. Nobody in the US gives a damn. 

Blogging from the United States of America

Oregon State Capitol

I blog today from a place that is as far from my home as is humanly possible. Right now I am quite literally at the edge of the world. Of course by edge I mean the western edge of the USA which as you can quite clearly see is the farthest place on a 2D map. For those of you who still don't understand, open your atlas and see what's the leftest place on the world map. For the tech savvy, open Google maps.

I am so far away from home in fact that there is a 12 hour time difference between where I live and Pakistan. So right now at home its 9.15 am. In Oregon USA its 9.15 pm of the previous day. Yeah. Far away from home.

I imagined the USA to be a place of awesome structures and amazing places. I imagined to be so different from home, with a million opportunities waiting for me. I thought it would be the epicenter of the world's marvel. While that may all be true, it turns out a lot of my visions were quite clearly missing the point. Even though the USA is an amazing place (clean and organized and the people are awesome! - so far), it reminds me of Pakistan.

A lot of the stuff that happens here is reminiscent of Pakistan. The social security office for example, behaves like NADRA. A much more streamlined form of NADRA, but like NADRA nonetheless. The post service here has a tendency of losing mail like the post service in Pakistan. Although again I must confess that the service is much more streamlined, is automated and the people are just so nice! Like I hadn't been getting my mail ever since I got here and when I tracked the online status of my shipments they were labeled as "undeliverable as addressed". Pakistani likenesses much? So I rang up the post office at their closing time and the supervisor promised me he would look for my stuff and have it delivered to me the next day. And bang, right on time at 9.30 am the next day he called me up and said all my mail would be delivered today. I hadn't been expecting that and it was a nice surprise.

Getting back to the point though, yes it is a good place. There are opportunities, if you know where to look for them. The education system is awesome in that its teaching me to find those opportunities. In Pakistan its normally more of a trial and error approach to find a job. Here's its scientific. But as far as the standard of education goes? They're pretty much the same. The only difference is you get to use your knowledge on practical stuff here. Back home it was pretty much theoretical learning.

Cut to the chase? OK. Let's do that. Am I in love with the USA? No. I'm not. Do I miss home and want to go back? Yes I do. But I also realize that the experience I've managed to gain here in 3 weeks, I would never have gotten in my entire life if I'd stayed put in Pakistan. So yeah, I thank the Lord for bringing me to the land famous for its status as the melting pot of the world. But at the same time I wish I was at home eating my mom's super delicious chicken handi. 

Pakistan, why you be so sad?

Do you remember the nursery rhymes you learned when you were in kindergarten? Well if you don't, the person in this video (he goes by the name of Edward Reid, and he's awesome. True story!) will not only remind you of them, but positively make you wish that he had sung all those rhymes. But, and this is a big but, what has this got to do with Pakistan you might wonder? The honest answer is nothing. This has nothing to do with Pakistan. And that is exactly why it is so terrible. You see developed countries where education has helped salvage some common sense, creativity such as the one in the video, flourishes. In Pakistan on the other hand, well let's just say Edward Reid would have been beaten to death and his art form would have been decried and pissed upon. We are not a happy people. And because we're not happy, we can never get to enjoy such surreal feats of creativity such as people in the UK or the US or any other developed country for that matter can and do enjoy. All we in Pakistan can do at best is be envious and curse our liege lords for ruining our lives and depriving the masses of education, who if they could understand it, would never sacrifice their tomorrow for today and anoint mad, selfish, hooligans to rule over us. Sad indeed.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't

I've just finished reading Irfan Hussain's article in today's Dawn. Normally I hold great respect for the man, but on certain fundamental points (like Pakistan's sovereignty for instance) I disagree with him to the extent of no reconciliation. His musings in today's newspaper fall in the latter category for me.

Irfan Hussain has benignly accused the government of being incapable of growing a pair when its required. Instead he accuses the government of hiding behind a facade, a mummer's farce if you will, so that it doesn't have to deal with the ugly realities of life. But on what points one may ask? Well on the point of the USA and its demonic stance of droning over Pakistan. Now I am all for these drone attacks because as we've seen they were an excellent way of killing Behtullah Mehsud and several others of his ilk. Unfortunately after this point is where I begin to differ significantly with Irfan Hussain. While he believes the government shouldn't have put the matter of the NATO supply routes before the parliament, I believe that's one of the democratic things this government has done.

Let me explain. Irfan Hussain says that because the government has decided to take this matter to the Parliament, it will be unable to maneuver around and show flexibility when the need arises to take some drastic measures as the people, and everybody in the Parliament will cause an uproar about how the will of the people wasn't taken into account. Essentially, Irfan Hussain is advocating that the government behave in a totally autocratic manner and take unilateral decisions which in essence amounts to licking the US of A's ass. Now I don't know from where he's getting these notions because if I remember correctly, he used to take very strong objection when this government or the previous government used to by pass Parliament in taking foreign policy level decision. Isn't this why he was always on Musharraf's case all the time? Well to really hit the nail on the head, isn't this extremely hypocritical?

While the thought of Pakistan licking USA's ass might get Irfan Hussain off, other self respecting Pakistani citizens such as myself realize that while it may be next to impossible to break the shackles of slavery vis-a-vis the USA, there needs to be a starting point.  The government's decision to involve the Parliament in the decision making process is 100% correct. The Parliament symbolizes the will of the people. Unfortunately for Irfan Hussain that will currently states that the USA can go to hell (but he needn't worry; our government isn't yet strong enough to say that to the USA, and probably never will be). In addition, by involving the Parliament the government is doing the legitimate and right thing. It is standing by its institutions. This also sets a precedent where all future significant foreign policy designs and ventures will be executed by the majority of the elected representatives leading up to across the board accountability.

Now Irfan Hussain can shimmy up to the USA all that he wants but let's get one thing clear. In a democracy, the majority needs to agree and be on board so that if God forbid things start to unravel, they can be patched up quickly. If the government does take a unilateral action, it will simply lose all credibility with the masses and then we would be forced to ask the question, why did we ever kick Musharraf out of the picture anyway because as I recall, he was really good at this doing-things-my-own-damn-way thing?

You've got it all wrong!

Zero Dark Thirty released in Dec 2012

Over the past couple of months I've watched several western TV shows. Three of them stuck to mind. The first is Sherlock, a British thriller TV series that reincarnates Sherlock in the 21st century. Modern, elegant, crisp and beautifully shot, this TV show has been a particular hit in the UK. The second show that stuck to my mind is Homeland, a US TV series based around the premise (spoiler alert) that two US marines taken captive in northern Iraq have turned on their country, become Muslim and are now sleeper assassins ready to bring down the mighty USA. And finally the third TV show is another US based series called Shameless which is about a dysfunctional family and their various problems. But why am I talking about western television shows you might be wondering? Well I'll tell you why. They've got something very wrong. And that something is the image of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

Now we as citizens of Pakistan know how cool and exciting Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad are. Unfortunately these westerners have absolutely no iota of an idea about their awesomeness and they have depicted them as terror havens with burqa clad women, turbaned mullahs, and terrorists roaming around as if they are on vacation. In Sherlock for example, Sherlock Holmes actually saves someone from getting beheaded in Karachi. In Homeland, Lahore is depicted as being a breeding ground for terrorists, and Islamabad is depicted as having safe houses of terrorists. And in Shameless, well they pretty much bulldoze the entire country in to the ground.

The problem is because the majority of the western population has no idea about Pakistan and its cities, they will more likely than not form negative, unjust and cruel opinions about these Pakistanis cities. They will never get to know about the calmness, serendipity and relaxing charm of Islamabad. They will never get to know about the unique Lahori hospitality, the colorful life, the amazing food (some say its the best food in the world and I agree wholeheartedly) that Lahore offers. And these same people will never get to know that Karachi never sleeps, has malls, parks and recreational places that rival Madrid's, has a diversified and multi ethnic community that happens to be the most educated amongst all of Pakistan's cities.

Homeland is instrumental in depicting Muslims in
bad light

And this is what alarms me most. An average Westerner who watches TV, goes to work, comes back, goes to his regular hang out place with his regular friends will grow old thinking Pakistan is the country where terrorists are born and bred. The whole image of Pakistan stands broken and shattered. It doesn't help our cause that the law and order situation in our cities isn't top notch, but Pakistan simply isn't the country that its made out to be. For example Karachi's problems are no different than Mumbai's so to speak, but while the Indians show the world how fun and classy Mumbai is, we are left with defending Karachi as not being the place where terrorists go to shop.

And this leads me on to my second point. It's all about the image perception. Even though India has some dramatic domestic problems, the world does not get to hear about them. What they do get to see and hear instead are the "Incredible India" ads that show what a classy, true to its roots eastern, modern, vibrant, happy and colorful country it is. Which makes me want to ask this question: Why can't we do the same? Where are our image managers? Oh that's right, we don't have any because nobody cares. What we do have however is a President who is tainted with corruption charges and who refuses to acknowledge those blemishes, we have a Prime Minister who goes to the Supreme Court for disobeying its orders, we have an army that is constantly berated for harboring ties with the militants, we have an administration that is repeatedly told to do more because inadvertently the majority of terrorists are found to have visited Pakistan and most importantly we are the country where Osama bin Laden was found.

We really need to pull our act together and fix our faults. Because even though all of the aforementioned things are true, we know what a great culture and a beautiful country we have. We can't let the world's idea of us ruin our heritage and our pride like this. This propaganda needs to be countered because these festering notions about Pakistan will lead to a greater scrutinization of Pakistan which considering how many problems we already have with the world, will hurt us even more. It's time to show the world what Pakistan really is. It's time to take this cause into our own hands because our elected leaders are incapable of projecting our image the right way.

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.

Did Imran Khan just own Lahore?

Imran Khan

I know a lot has been said, is being said, and will be said about Imran Khan's insanely large rally in Lahore yesterday. Did he woo the masses of their feet? Yes. Did he prove that a lot of people support him? Yes. Did he own Lahore? I think he might just have.

Imran Khan set out to prove a point, and he nailed it into every nailable thing out there. He ripped through the Sharifs' fortress and came out the other side victorious. He didn't say anything new, he didn't surprise anyone with new promises, but he delivered a powerful speech, one that might have sent shivers down his opponents spines. He also managed to shut his detractors (yours truly included) up and proved that his followers are not only from the educated urban middle class. They come from all strata of society.

But while all that is good and rosy, there are other points that need to be discussed. There are questions that need to be asked and answers that need to be heard. Imran Khan once again continued to lick the shiny armour of the army. He recounted an anecdote involving Hussain Haqqani, Pakistan's ambassador to the US, and Zardari in which both of them beg the Americans to save them from the Pakistani generals. Perhaps Imran Khan thinks licking the army's shiny suit would earn him the required number of points to qualify as the next prime minister of Pakistan?

He also talked about corruption and how Rs 3000 billion is lost every year in tax corruption. But once again, he failed to mention how he would eradicate this colossal negative enigma from Pakistan. He also talked about telling the Americans to talk to Pakistan on an equal footing. While these are noble sentiments, in the real world they hold no water. The US acts as our benefactor, hence we dare not say anything offensive to it. Unless the shackles of benefaction can be broken, I'm afraid Imran Khan was simply indulging in yesterday's rhetoric.

Imran Khan also spoke of ending the military operations in the tribal belts. I really want to ask him whether he's become insane? OK so he says the military fights the local Pakistani population in the tribal belt. My question is what of the many thousands of Uzbek, Chechen and Arab militants residing in those places? Who is going to fight them? Or are they "our people" too? Or does Imran Khan believe they do not exist and they are simply a figment of the imagination of a few people?

Imran Khan said the tribal elders have assured him that if the army stops taking action in the tribal belt, the terrorism will automatically go away. Of  course it will. By not fighting the cancer spurting out of the tribal belts, the Pakistan army will become complicit in letting it spread.

Is Imran Khan a very charismatic man with a lot of fan following? Yes he is. But he talks nonsense at times particularly with regards to the foreign and interior policy. While his solutions to the energy crisis are admirable and in fact extremely workable, his solutions to steering the country out of the mess it finds itself in are based on populist whims and rhetoric.

I want to like Imran Khan. But he never gives me any reason to even bother. Rather, he takes all of the reasons that might make me like him and shoots them in the head. And that makes me wonder, who am I going to vote for in 2013 when I've ruled Imran Khan out?

Trying desperately to save face

Last night all the top politicians of Pakistan got together to chalk out a united strategy in the face of extreme pressure from the United States. Much as I would like to tell these same politicians what's really on my mind, I do believe they deserve tremendous applause for being man enough to tell the world that there is still some semblance of sanity that exists within Pakistan and its political ranks.

The joint resolution that was presented at the end of the 9 hour meeting says what we've always been hearing: that Pakistan is a peace loving country and that it will always keep its interests supreme. We already know from the last 60 odd years that that's not true. We also know that we're absolutely unsure about what Pakistan's interests are and who decides them. Supposedly, supporting the Haqqani network of the Taliban in Afghanistan is one of the interests of Pakistan. Like I questioned in my blog yesterday, to what end?

The resolution also failed to distance Pakistan from its image of always helping the wrong side and of double dealing. You see while the Pakistani government may feed us all lies about how our establishment is so sweet and nobody loves it, the world has become quite sick of our shenanigans. The Pakistani nation is identified in vile terms and its image is scorned upon. Did the resolution address any of these critical exclamation marks? Afraid not.

So what did the joint resolution of the APC achieve then? Well the answer to that will be nothing really. General Pasha and General Kayani simply denied all allegations of wrong doing. Even with Nawaz Sharif's rather testy remark that wherever there is smoke there is fire, the military men refused to concede that they are responsible for maintaining links with the Haqqani network. Ironically the resolution fails to say that Pakistan does not, will not and has not maintained any links with the Haqqani network. Does that amount to admission of guilt? You're free to draw your own conclusions.

While the world continues to move on berating Pakistan for its duplicity we vehemently and strictly refuse to acknowledge our shortcomings. We refuse to accept our mistakes and we refuse to correct them. We live in denial. We like it. Unfortunately the world doesn't like it and hence it has run out of patience with Pakistan. Mike Mullen was just one man who made one allegation. Very soon (if we keep our charades) a whole corps will be out there doing the same.