To be a Shia in Pakistan

To be a Shia in Pakistan is to court death itself these days. There are literally countless stories out there like this one : http://dawn.com/2013/01/14/a-descent-into-darkness-the-plight-of-victims-families/ - of lives ended too soon; of sole bread-earners of countless households taken away from their families mercilessly; and for what? These atrocities are such widespread now that all of us know somebody who has been a victim of this - a victim of this insane and barbaric killing spree by dogs let loose by the State willingly.

Why is Malik Ishaq still allowed to hold rallies in Karachi and other parts of the country openly threatening action against the Shias? Why is that poison-spewing man even outside roaming our streets free? Why has he been let loose for "lack of evidence" by the supposedly rejuvenated justice system of Pakistan (even after openly confessing many Shia killings)? Why? why? why?!

Whose interests does that serve? Is the State afraid of going against these religious fundamentalists, because it fears for it's own safety when it needs them for Afghanistan and India? At what expense? Thousands are dead. No city in Pakistan is safe anymore for Shias. This is unprecedented and unbelievable for anyone wishing for a modicum of normalcy in their daily life. How can you live this?

You can't!

The recent outcry for justice following the barbaric double bombings in Quetta was heartening to see. For once, the country did wake up to the plight of the Shias. But has anything actually been done since then? Is there someone now magically willing to go after LeJ, SSP, and their friends in TTP? Meanwhile, the killings continue unabated. Two Shia doctors were killed in the space of a few hours two days ago.

One Shia doctor in #Peshawar, another Shia Doctor in #Karachi is gunned down in space of few hours. #ShiaGenocide continues in #Pakistan.
— Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) January 22, 2013

The killings go on, and like everything else in Pakistan, the news fades away. It is the silence that kills. So speak up!

Apologies

I've never ever been known to cuss like I did in that last blog post of mine. So please accept my apologies. I was just so freaking mad at the umpteenth depressing news coming out of my country. I am just so sick and tired of self-serving and incompetent people playing havoc with the lives of millions of my fellow countrymen, and I just HAD to vent. Hope that is understandable.

On the bright side, I hope this has brought me back to blogging.

The Pakistan of 2012

I could not think of any other title for this post. So much has gone on in that country, that it would take an eternity to address how seriously we have managed to fuck everything up that was once nice in Pakistan. I haven't written for a long time, and I do not want to do one of those lame political posts again advocating one political stance over another. Enough of that crap! All that is going in the country defies belief, where a President is basically running the country like a mafia gang, appointing his appeasers on all the important posts. First, that Gilani whose response to every question asked of him began with: "We have a constitution, assembly, and elected members". And now the infamous Mr. Raja Rental. A new low for the country considering the dude is accused and has been requested to be placed on the ECL by NAB!

This government has a lot of fucktards, but Rehman Malik has to take the cake for me. I mean who else can be absolutely inept at their job; have no credibility whatsoever; think and act as depicted in the video below, and still hold arguably one of the most important posts in the government? It defies belief, and it makes no fucking sense!

Where do I begin? What do I say? And all this time, terrorists roam free spreading religious hatred and spouting poison under the garb of following the Sahaba. Lashkar e Jhangvi continues to kill Shias and other minorities it deems as KAFIR with impunity. Our ever so nice Sunni brethren continue to not give a fuck until their local mosque is attacked. Where the fuck is the Chief Justice in all this? Just because there is no political gain to be had here, no one cares to speak about all this innocent killing? What good is a state then? What reason do you have to live in a state without a semblance of justice whatsoever?! Mr. Imran Khan continues to hire lotas to get seats, and his latest appeasement takes him ever so close to Jamaat e Islami. Surprised?

Why do things have to be so unbelievably fucked up?! Leaving the political douchebags aside, why can't the rest of us just do our fucking jobs to make the country at least livable?! Forget 100%, why can't we be 50% loyal to our professions and at least make the country function like a normal fucking country!! Even if Mr. Tabdeeli-Aa-Gayee-Hay wins, how do YOU expect to change the country in 90, 180, or 365 days?! Are you waiting for a messiah before you mend your ways? Will you start throwing trash in the trash cans once PPP is out? Will you stop bribing your way out of everything then? And if then, why not now?

P.S. Sorry for all the french. That was absolutely necessary.

Why you should recycle

Something useful I spotted in one of my campus shuttles the other day:

Recycling aluminum requires 95% less energy then extracting it from the ore.

If 1 ton of aluminum is recycled, it would power an American home for 15 months!

I guess it could potentially power a Pakistani home for double that duration, seeing how much power is wasted here.

If only we could somehow build up a healthy energy conservation infrastructure, so that so much energy which is normally wasted would be saved and more importantly, it'd go towards catering for the exponential growth in demand that we face nowadays. There is a way out of every crisis. All it needs is a proper and sincere effort!

Mera Karachi

I know things haven't exactly been very rosy in Karachi of late, but I was out and about yesterday, and couldn't help but notice how drastically travel times across the city have been reduced. OK ok, it may have been a working day and I may not have been out at a rush hour (it was 4PMish), but kudos to the city government for doing a great job of planning and maintaining the infrastructure in the city. Also, it was nice to see almost NO rain water on the major roads, which is so unlike Karachi. And thanks to the signal-free corridors, I was able to get from North Karachi to Malir Cantt in a mere 25 minutes, imagine that! I'm sure travel times are much lesser for people who live in more central parts of the city. Anyhoo, just wanted to say it felt great. Kudos to the government, for once, and to Mustafa Kamal of course. Well done!

Home, no place like it

I realize I haven't updated the blog in almost 2 months. It's been that kind of a semester. Anyhoo, I arrived back home last week for spending the semester break here. Needless to say, it's been awesome as always. Despite the extremely long journey and a hefty ticket price you have to pay, in the end it is always worth it.

Some of the best things about coming back home to Pakistan for me are:

Meeting friends and family (of course!)
Those endless meetups, get-togethers with family members, school friends, college friends, online friends, co-workers, ex-coworkers, visiting your school and college, meeting your old teachers etc. etc. The list is endless.

The Food
Oh boy, there is no comparison when it comes to food. Absolutely awesome. Considering I'm
something of a forced vegetarian abroad, Pakistan is akin to heaven for the meat-lover in me.

The Premier League
I don't get to watch my favorite football (soccer) league in the US :(, and it's only when I'm back here that I get to see it. I miss the excitement of it, and even though the Toon are not in it this season, football is, well, the best sport in the world by far.

The Religious Spirit
Be it Ramadan, Muharram or Eid. There is a certain religious fervor that is associated with each occassion that one gets used to if you've grown up in Pakistan. And you get to miss that dearly abroad. Especially, the sweet voice of the AZAAN. It is surreal.

Having said that, things are not so rosy on the political and geopolitical front. I will write more on these topics soon, but for now all I can say is that the only way we can assure our salvation is by being strong, steadfast, and willing to stand up for what is right (especially in the wake of all the wrongs that have been done against us in the past) and not budge to threats by anyone. Nuff said.

Twitter goes green!

Twitter is fast going green with pakistani users changing their display pictures to a green background with a crescent and a star on it in a show of unity for the upcoming independence day. The credit for this inspiring campaign goes to Farhan Masood for coming up with the idea and voluntarily converting people's display pictures to a lovely shade of green. On last count, he had converted 876 singlehandedly! woah!

The stage is set and we are set to take over twitter on August 14th by making #Pakistan the top trending topic that day! Join us and help spread the word. If you're a twitter/facebook user and want your display pic "greened", contact me (razzman), taalz or farhanmasood.

Pakistan Zindabad!

Nawaz Sharif Acquitted (AGAIN)

Some time in the future, in a galaxy far far away

In a dramatic turn of events, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled today that Nawaz Sharif was born off immaculate conception rather than a normal one, like the rest of us.This latest ruling follows a series of acquittals in favor of the "Sher of Punjab" who helped play an important role in the restoration of Chief Justice Iftikhar Choudhry last year. So, is this a case of CJ paying back? But at what cost? Justice? Our common sense?

It would be interesting to see what Mr. Nawaz would be acquitted of next, and if the Supreme Court keeps this up, he might end up being declared an infallible! Watch this space.

Pakistan - T20 Champions!

Words cannot describe the happiness and joy all of us Pakistanis felt as Afridi scrambled to make the final run to beat Srilanka and, in turn, crown Pakistan T20 Champions! A thoroughly un-Afridi like and un-Pakistan like performance that saw us through in the end despite the SriLankans posting a half-a-decent total with some hitting at the death. It is a day that we will cherish long into the future, a day when everything went right for Pakistan. From an amazing start (SriLanka were 2-2 and 70-6 at one stage) to a thoroughly professional batting performance by Afridi n co. that culminated in this awe-inspiring victory. It was also a truly team effort, Mohammed Aamer, Umar Gul, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and of course Shahid Afridi. Every one did their bit and contributed to this massive win.

It is more than a win, it is a morale booster, a sign of hope and that all is not lost. More importantly, it is a slap to the face of all those who seek to destroy us. Try as you may, but you can only keep us down for so long; for we shall rise a stronger and a unified nation. Youtube is filled with videos of people reveling in celebration on the streets of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. And rightly so, the country hasn't had anything to feel good about in eternity. It took 17 years coming, but Pakistani cricketers finally delivered some silverware to a nation starved of any sporting success for the longest time.

Younis Khan mentioned in the presentation ceremony that the win is a gift to the nation, and what a fitting gift it is indeed. How else would you collectively raise the spirits of a nation as down as Pakistan has been recently and how else would you bring a smile to the face of every Pakistani, whether they are in the refugee camps in Charsadda or as far away as Melbourne? That is power of Sport, and one which unites a country like nothing else. Not to mention Bob Woolmer, to whom this victory was aptly dedicated to also.

I mentioned in my previous post about an e-rally that sought to make Pakistan and Pakistan cricket as the most talked about topic on Twitter. Although, there were less than 1000 people tweeting about this topic, but it was great to see our hashtag (#PakCricket) made as high as number 5 on trending topics on Sunday! So, kudos to everyone who made this happen. No doubt hundreds of people only got to know about the game (or even twenty20!) by seeing our hashtag in trending topics.

Here's hoping this victory goes a long way towards turning Pakistan's fortunes. Finally, dedicated to Team Pakistan is the song Stand Up For the Champions:

Pakistan downs South Africa to reach Twenty20 final

Pakistan steamrolled their way into the finals of the ICC World Twenty20 by defeating favorites South Africa at Trentbridge today! I cannot help but think of a similar post I did about two years ago, in the last installment of this tournament, when we beat New Zealand to enter the final. Although that particular final proved to be something of a heartbreak for us, but the tournament cemented Pakistan's place as a major force in the twenty20 arena. I have to admit one thing though, I was initially very skeptical of this format of cricket, but two years later it seems I have been proved wrong. The format has literally taken off, thanks in part to the Indian domestic leagues of ICL and IPL. The IPL doosra especially generated a mammoth interest among cricket lovers all over the world.

Much was made of this mouth-watering tie beforehand. Cricinfo called it a clash of cultures - 'Science vs. Art', a clash of arguably the most consistently performing team against the most inconsistent lot of players ever assembled. Don't get me wrong, the men in green can be superb at times, but they've choked far too many times in the past (1999 world cup, 2007 T20 final etc.) to ever let their fans rest assured. If anything, it is Pakistan who deserve this label more than South Africa if you ask me. South Africa have just been plain unlucky as far as them not winning many tournaments is concerned. Their loss to Australia in the 1999 world cup was especially heartbreaking and I genuinely felt sad for them that day. But I digress; let me come back to the topic in question. The truth is South Africa knew that a side as mercurial as Pakistan had the potential to undo their dogged determination and organization and a spark of brilliance is all that would be required in this shortened version of the game to triumph over their all-round better side.

Pakistan came into the game full of confidence having finally found their feet in the tournament with the awesome defeat of New Zealand that left Vettori crying foul at Umar Gul's outstanding bowling, and the subsequent beating of Ireland. South Africans, meanwhile, maintained a one hundred percent winning rate in the tournament having won all their seven games leading up to the semi-final. Typical of them. The game started at a frantic pace with Kamran Akmal smashing South African bowlers all over the park in the first few overs. But Pakistan lost Shahzaib and Akmal early on and had to rely on Afridi (yes, Afridi) to build their innings. And what a fantastic job he did, playing the anchoring role for the side. For once, he played sensibly not going after every ball in an attempt to hit it out of the park. He kept his head, and a nation heaved a sigh of relief as his innings proved to be vital. It was only some excellent South African bowling at the death that restricted Pakistan to a total of 149, which was a good 15-20 runs of what it could've been at one stage.

South African innings started in familiar fashion with Abdul Razzaq getting the spanking treatment early on. Graeme Smith was the first to fall to Mohammed Aamer as he tried to pull a short delivery. On came Afridi and delivered the decisive blow for Pakistan by taking out Gibbs and de Villiers in 3 balls! No one could deny him his glory as this was his day, and his magnificent effort saw Pakistan through to the end. Jacques Kallis fought on for his side, but ultimately fell to Saeed Ajmal. Some more awesome bowling by Umar Gul ensured that the South Africans never got back in the game and even though the final margin of victory was just 7 runs, by the end of the day the Proteas had well and truly been outplayed by a side that is peaking at the righ time!

Shot of the day belonged to Kamran Akmal for that awesome drive off Abi Morkel straight down the ground. Man, that was beautifully picked up or what. Awesome shot. It was also funny watching the duel between Afridi and Kallis especially when the former blew a kiss to the latter :). There was definitely no love lost there!

On another note, it was Wasim Akram who had said at the start of the tournament that Pakistan were one of the favorites to win this crown. I must admit, I too, enjoyed a laugh or two at his expense when I heard that, but how wrong all of us have been proven to be! Wasim, you were right, no one is laughing at you now. Pakistan are odds-on to win the final now no matter who they face. And for a nation that has been down in the doldrums for the best part of half-a-decade, this couldn't be a better time. Nothing unites Pakistan like cricket, and winning this world cup would be absolutely fantastic for the country at this point. So Team Pakistan, do us proud ... let's win it for Bob Woolmer, let's win it for the 160 million cricket-loving people of Pakistan!

Highlights of the game are available here:
Pak Innings | SA Innings

Help Counts!

Lest we forget, our brothers and sisters in the once peaceful valley of Swat need our help in what is being termed as a migration of epic proportions. While many of the displaced people have started returning to their homes following recent victories by the Pakistan Army, but there are still a large number of people who are still out in the open and is depserate need of help.

If you are worried that your donations will not reach the affected people and want greater transparency in the relief effort, fret no more. HelpCounts.org is one such site which provides the transparency you've been looking along with live updates of the ongoing relief effort on their website. Ideally, all relief organizations and NGOs should be utilizing this method as it is an excellent way to keep track of its progress and at the same time earn people's trust. Hats off to the people over at HelpCounts for this great effort!

Please donate generously!

The Scourge of Taliban

Much has been said and written about this relatively newly coined term 'Talibanization', in the context of Pakistan and Karachi itself. The 'Talibans' from Afghanistan have poured in across the border in their hundreds following the US invasion, something which US secretary of state accepted last week in her address along with general attitude towards Pakistan. I think there should be no ways about it, the Taliban have been operating inside Pakistani territory with impunity for far too long and something needs to be done about it.

The Taliban ideology is in many ways similar to the Kharjites - La Hukma Illa Lillah (No Ruler ship except by Allah alone) ideology and represents an extremist view of the religion that defies logic and common sense.

Meanwhile, the government, in its eternal incompetence, knew that there was no semblance of its writ left in certain northern areas of Pakistan but continued to delay when an operation seemed inevitable. And the poor populace (hundreds of thousands!) were the sufferers as they were caught in the crossfire and left with no option but to flee their homes. Can you imagine leaving your homes and everything else behind like that? It is a sacrifice of great magnitude and it is our duty as fellow citizens to help these people in their hour of need.

There are also stories of great personal heroics of Pakistan Army officers. Examples like the one of Major Abid Shaheed and Captain Bilal Shaheed reaffirm our faith in the exceptional ability of our armed forces to get the job done. The public opinion is in their favor and with each terrorist attack that is carried out by the Taliban, the more alienated they become and the sooner, god willing, they will be flushed out. Attacks in Lahore and Peshawar this past week are proof that the Taliban are desperate and retaliating in their own cowardly way.

Again, I agree with Anas when he says that this would have been expected of them and security agencies should have been better prepared and equipped to prevent such attempts. As I said the other day, I have serious doubts whether we will ever be able to rid ourselves from these blasts given the inefficiency with which our police force operates. As Kulsoom pointed out in her post following the Lahore blast, it was third time in three months that Lahore was hit which goes to show that terrorists continue to operate freely inside Pakistan and no major attacks have been averted of late. Can you think of any?

Some time back, I posted about the heinous sectarian violence being committed by the very same Taliban in Kurram Agency, Parachinar in particular. It is high time that this operation is extended towards the areas bordering Afghanistan and all such miscreants are driven out of Parachinar, again, something which should have been dealt with much much earlier. But the menace is here and is spreading out of control and needs to be curtailed right now. There are no 'good' or 'bad' Taliban anymore. Anyone who has the audacity of taking up arms against the state and refuses to come to the negotiation table needs to be dealt with in the most strictest way possible.

Also worth reading is Karachi Khatmal's excellent post on the Taliban.

Help the Displaced of Swat

Echoing the appeal for the displaced people of Swat valley, I would like to urge everyone to donate generously to this cause. The number of displaced people has overwhelmed the authorities and it is up to us to help our fellow countrymen in their hour of need. SARelief.com have compiled a list of organizations that you can donate to.

You can also join with Dr. Awab Alvi aka Teeth Maestro, who's himself on a personal fund-raising drive. It only costs 37 bucks to get a hamper of relief goods to one family, so do chip in.

If you're in the US, you can text "SWAT" (without the quotes) to 20222 and donate $5 to UNHCR that will go towards the Swat Valley relief efforts. Thanks to Kulsoom for this info.

P.S. I've also added a widget on the right-hand side of this page that can be used to place online donations. The donations go to Paksef. More about them here. You can customize the widget and put it on your blog too! Click here to do so.

Long Live Pakistan

Flying home

As the semester culminates in the form of Exams next week, I'm already looking forward to it since I'm set to board a Karachi-bound flight the very next day! Yayy! As much as transatlantic travel can be mentally and physically exhausting, the sight of halal fast foods of Doha (my transit city) and the joy of being reunited with friends and family makes it all the more bearable.

Living alone has its advantages and disadvantages. You get to do stuff you like - whatever, whenever. You also tend to become a bit more responsible (supposedly) since you're more independent .... mostly because there's no one to help you out with your chores (laundry, cooking et al.) Still, I've seen people become lazier and ever so more carefree with no one around nagging them to clean up and stuff. Hey, I don't care how people live their lives or how they take care of their personal hygiene ... but it annoys me sometimes. Anyway, coming back to the topic of the post in question ... I'm really looking forward to landing back in Karachi, the chaotic, polluted streets, the kachray kay dhairs (as much as I despise them), normal left-hand driving, faster internet etc. etc. One thing I'm certainly not looking forward to is the dreaded load-shedding :(. Oh boy, that is one thing I have not missed about Karachi at all!

Life in USA so far has been pretty interesting. As soon as people find out I'm from Pakistan, they want to discuss the current situation with me and get my views on it. I have made no secret of my animosity towards the past American government, its continued support for Israel n all. But surprisingly, more people agree with me than I thought. I don't know if the fact that I encounter "enlightened" people in and around my campus is whats responsible for this sentiment or whether its a general sentiment among the public. I should write more on this on a separate post perhaps. For now, I'm excited to be going home. Karachi rocks in its own way. There's no place like it. Period.

Speechless

Literally speechless about what happened in Lahore today. Mortified at the fact that they were guaranteed security yet this still took place. So much for our guarantees now. I just don't know what else to say. I'm glad no one from their team got hurt and I salute the brave policeman who died protecting them, not to mention the driver who drove them away from the scene.

Things just seem to be going from bad to worse for us. For once, I hope the investigation reveals the perpetrators of this heinous act. Those animals should be caught asap and brought before the courts, and their masterminds should be exposed no matter who they are!

Related Links:

Sangakkara's account of events

Younis - Kill cricket, create terrorists

Scenes from Pakistan

I came across bilishy's post about a Boston.com story entitled Scenes from Pakistan which is aimed at depicting the current situation prevalent in Pakistan, .

It was interesting going through the comments in that post. Apart from the inane and moronic views of some trolls, it was nice to see some positive comments from others that really put the situation into perspective. As for my opinion, I think the pictures paint a very bleak and gory picture of Pakistan (NWFP in particular), not that it isn't half-true or anything. The recent truce with the Taliban in the Swat valley is something to be concerned about. While it will bring much-needed peace to the region, what remains to be seen is the concessions the Taliban are willing to make (if any) in imposing their Shariah law in the region. I would be gutted to see if girls' schools continue to remain closed under the new truce. That would undoubtedly signal a defeat for us hopeful of making Swat the wonderful tourist destination it once was.

But Swat is not our only problem at the moment. The Taliban element that seems to have grown more and more on our side of the border in the wake of the US invasion has also resulted in an increase in sectarian violence, particular in Kurram Agency and Parachinar. I'm surprised no leader of ours hasn't said that in public especially when the Americans have the audacity to question our intentions in fighting this war on terror.

The collection of pictures, overall, was very moving. Just goes to show the dire straits our beautiful country finds itself in. If there was any time we needed some really sincere leadership, it is NOW but sadly look who we have for a leader!. Recent events like this don't exactly fill you with confidence either.

Vintage Pakistan

You may or may not know this, but Google Image Search has recently expanded to include photos from the LIFE photo archive. To those who do not know what this means and/or have never heard of LIFE photo archive, check this out: LIFE represents hundreds of thousands of works of photo journalists dating back to the 18th century, and perhaps more importantly, we now have access to hundreds of unpublished images back form the old days. I just ran a simple query for 'pakistan' and it brought back some astonishing images, including the one on the right of the great Quaid. Just add the word 'source:life' to your google image searches to search the LIFE photo archive.

More from the Google blog post:

Only a very small percentage of these images have ever been published. The rest have been sitting in dusty archives in the form of negatives, slides, glass plates, etchings, and prints. We're digitizing them so that everyone can easily experience these fascinating moments in time. Today about 20 percent of the collection is online; during the next few months, we will be adding the entire LIFE archive — about 10 million photos.

So please take a look for yourself and experience these great photos. Your exploration will be limited only by your imagination and your desire to keep on clicking. Be sure to check back often as more photos from the LIFE archive will be added regularly to Google Image Search. We hope that you enjoy them as much as we do!

Pretty awesome eh?

Go Pa(c)k!

It feels so great to be winning cricket matches again .... doesn't it? The last two games could be described as close but today's victory was the icing on an already sweet cake. Long may this streak continue. Amen.

P.S. `Go Pack` is a term used to cheer teams of NC State since they're popularly known as the `Wolfpack`.

On the eve of the US Election

The clock is about to strike midnight here on the east coast, and polling is set to begin in the morning in an election that's being billed as pretty historic. Speaking strictly from an American point-of-view, I think there's no doubt Obama's the better candidate. He represents a kind of change that is needed here after 8 years of idiotic rule that has resulted in mindless invasions and shit leadership culminating in an economic meltdown the likes of which they haven't seen since the Great Depression of the 20s.

But speaking from a point-of-view of a Pakistani and a Muslim, there's little distinction to be made among the two candidates. They're both ridiculously pro-Israel, and they both want to continue bombing border areas of Pakistan in an attempt to kill militants. There's one thing about Obama that has pissed off more than anything, his incessant drivel and posturing about Pakistan "not doing enough" in the war on terror. I've said many a times now on god knows how many blog comment sections: would you just look at the current condition of Pakistan for a freaking second? We're reeling with suicide bombings for the last couple of years the likes of which we haven't seen before. Our army is fighting anti-establishment forces in Baluchistan and FATA with no end to that in sight. And lastly and perhaps most worryingly, there's an ever-growing influence of Taliban in the country. The once peaceful and stunningly beautiful region of Swat now lies in ruins, with its tourism all but finished. Need I say more? There have been several other instances where Obama has made such reckless comments about Pakistan and how it is still not doing enough, when we've been dealing with the effects of their invasion into Afghanistan all along. Joe Biden, on the other hand, seems to have a much better and sensible head on his shoulders when it comes to Pakistan and the War on Terror. I'd rather have him as the President to be honest. But anyway, we'll have to wait and see who the American people choose as their President tomorrow. Here's hoping they don't end up regretting it once again.