Thoughts on Religious frenzy in Pakistan

Talbanization was an issue, is an issue and till it is rooted out will remain an issue.These punishments, mode and method as understood or portrayed is entirely not in line with practices of Islamic culture and history.This present extremism is not new to Muslim culture , such extremists have been there and they have been crushed with reason and power. But this time American presence and an advanced media presence and legacy of dictatorship is making it more difficult to develop consensus. This is also exaggerated by foreign score settling in this hour of crisis. To equate this with true teachings of Islam is wrong morally, historically and factually. Extremism is enemy o humanity and especially religious extremism is most dangerous. We should fight it with all means.

If we do,nt understand history of a process then we fail to control its present and ultimately its future. And Mian brethren, they are most important characters in the past and present of this issue. Do you remember when Anti-Terrorism courts were made and by whom and for what purpose? By NS in 1997 ,to curb and control menace of religious and sectarian violence. It was first practical and conscious attempt to curb this menace.

Why they get bad press I fail to understand. NS had a deal with Clinton to train Pakistani Commandoes and they will catch OBL form Afghanistan and hand over him*( Se Bob Woodward). SS got killed many terrorists in police muqabelas. The same solution now adopted was adopted for implementation in late 1990.s ... but coup stopped this process.

Stereotyping always results in narrow targets, in times of crisis, emergency, and open rebellion demand more justice and deeper understanding of the facts to chart a healthy future.In Islam even war has principles, these butchers of human beings have no relation and reason of Islam. If the terms and symbols of Islam are not used they turn the debate as Western propaganda and confuse masses and all related. We need to single out them from within islamic debate , otherwise their influence will increase. There is local old saying iron cuts iron! Mere opposing is not solution.

Diverting the debate and taking superficial view of things happening in pakistan related to violence can not help us understand the reality of rise in extremism in Pakistan. Karachi is different story and in mid 1990's I was offered to join terrorist organization SSP and was asked to join and get money and weapons on hatred of Shias and all other non sense.

Religion's political and vested interest use is the issue , it is not as simple fighting between USA and Taleban. religion when ever in human history has been used to protect power or improve morals of society is bad bad and will remain worst crime.

But this giant has been unleashed in Pakistan and ethnic strife should be separated from religious one. My point is that in hands and minds of Taleban the fang is use of religion and it s poisonous use for personal agenda. Not all people choose them due to poverty, money or other issues. The silent majority of our writers in Urdu press , mosques and many many anchorpersons supports them or helps to support them through garb of religion.

Till this garb of religion is taken away from them, they can not be defeated. Me and you can know them in our safe havens , the people and forces who face them have strong strong adherence to popular religion. It is issue of leadership of minds and it is unfortunate due to state and out of state elite's apathy they have created their base in society.

As k those who do,nt want to kill their Muslim brethren , although they are ready to kill no-Muslims. It is an issue of Asbiyah, solidarity . they are using false interpretation of Islam as their bases of cohesion. Are their opponents coherent? They are not ... and this confusion and half hearted debate has shown them more powerful and enduring. Mere killing people is not solution.

Peaceful solutions are longer and one defeat can lead to another war. Treaty of Versailles sowed seeds of Second Greta european war of 1940's. The solutions should be enduring, not fragile and breakable.

No one is angel here and we all have our personal issues and yes length of hair should not be determined by a decree!

If they did it was nom sense and it is not a good idea to repeat even .

But if some one has done something to curb this menace we should have perspective at least. Although politicians never do things of public concern till they have pressure from public.

Cultural ideas keep on changing and nothing is permanent in this regard. even if they have qualms that they will also determine fashion hair and design, then they certainly live in fool's paradise!

Self cantered interests are not always suitable for society. Every one has freedom , but it stops when one's nose starts!

Issue is terrorism on the religious ideas... this is a menace and we should fight it at all forums. If this flood is not stopped it will have implications of our choices even to wear what one likes or dislikes.

They (Taliban)have narrowest possible approach to life... and unfortunately they have bullets and bombs and use them to kill innocent people. This is inhuman and it grows from false and narrow interpretation of religion, this is fundamental issue. USA, Afghan War , poverty, all other issues come later.

Thoughts on Religious frenzy in Pakistan

They were here we never noticed it. and let them grow and they have become monsters. I still remember 1995 in Lahore we were buying corn from a rehri and there was my female class fellow with me and it was summer she was wearing dupatta in her neck a mullah passed near her and made some stupid remarks which I did,nt listen I asked her what happened she said kuch nhin huwa . I insisted and then she tried to avoid it and said it happens. I asked her correct words then it was why you are not wearing dupatta on your head . I wanted to rush and ask that guy who the hell you are to tell her this? BUt my class fellow stopped me but I was really angry although it was my first year in lahore . This non sense was there.

And we let it grow by our own complacency, we never spoke against this abuse on name of religion and this has become fashion now to do all non sense things on name of religion and stifle debate and healthy way of life. We are afraid now to speak truth, mullah has taken over terms and definitions of Islam as per his narrow interpretation.

These bigots pasted wrong translations of Qur'an in public transport and distributed pamphlets on all non sense issues. they have hijacked the space of thinking and by propaganda taken all the authority of dictating norms of society in their own hands. and we merely say it is reaction to USA, no these are inner complexes and are inhuman and against spirit of humanity and Islam.

Random Thoughts on Human rights

The human rights are universal and they are not exclusive to any specific religion, difference in intyerpretation and implementation is always there.Does Shari'ah and Muslim law acknowledge the human right to exist regardless of religion, race, etc...?This question has an answer, that in Islam there is no distinction of human beings on the bases of religion or idea to be reason for denying fundamental human rights.All human life is sacred irespective of race,co.,or, ideas and any thing else....

Human life can not be taken away except as prescribed by Law... in Islamic culture equivalent of this term is Shariah ( used in Cairo Declaration)Dear Paula , as to Jewish legal tradition , it has many many points which are not compatible with modern realities of life as interpretation of many Islamic laws is not in line with present realities of social and culturla level.

The point being referred usually in debate on the issue of killing infidels is about the situation when it is WAR, active war and in the battlefield not outside that specific context. Because Islam 's legal ideas even are applicable in war, Wars were humanized by Islamic ideas of humanity.IN no circumstances , a life can be taken only due to reason that he or she differs from one's... Read more rel;igious or other ideas. Human life is sacrosanct in all the circumstances except when one;s life in dnager then eevry one has rigth for self defence but it does not approve pre-emptive strikes. A blatrant cruelity of our modern state craft.As to legal comparison of different traditions of Law, it is amazing field where new ideas are explored. If you have any questions please let em know.thx.

Thoughts on Terrorism!

It is same as in West teens spray bullets on school students. All violence is conceived by seniors and perpetuated through innocent teen agers.Youth is always choice for frantic ideas.It is also another world view which has neevr been accepted by our elite whther in power or from civil soceity. They have,nt taken up arms in a day.t has long past history behind it. Mere economy and brainwashing are not its bases. It has deep roots within in structure and make up of society and not all madresas are indulging in violence. We need to see the people and human beings from a perspective which is free from any biases. The use of stereotypes is good for popular media but not a truth.
If we keep the same thought process going , then how can we think that those guys in their 20,s from slums of NY , who fight in Afghanistan are not brainwashed?It is not war Mullah vs State, it is basic exploitation of human beings on the name of religion, democracy, peace , war against terrorism by vested interest.Killing innocent human beings is bad whether by suicide bombings or drone attacks.Maulvi is a facade, facts and reality is different, we have never tried to look into truth.I worked as a Magistrate, I also thought economy is the prime reason but when I asked one activist of these outfits he replied no I left my job of per month 10000 Rs. in Sui Gas and joined Kashmir Jihad and they paid me 10000 Rs. after three months.Yes it has one factor of economy, but also a factor , perhaps more stronger than economy of betterment in life after death.

The mind of those persons who come for suicide bombings is inspired by ideas and , it is a fact , they are desperate . for justice, and these semi-literate Mullahs allure them that Islamic system will establish justice. And due to lack of knowledge they think that these power hunger Mullahs will establish peace, they have a choice and they do it in majority cases by their own consent.It is a fact that these brainwashed youth are ready to sacrifice even their lives for a cause. How many are so committed? Their commitment is wrong and is result of ignorance and injustice of society, but it is the only option available to them so they get it and perform it.In this process the state of our sleuths is most horrible and permanent and we are not still able to bring those hidden powers under ambit of law to work as people want not as some dark , narrow minded sleuths think. The real struggle is spanned over generations, mere searching causes in poverty, and free education is not its crux.

poverty makes them vulnerable, it is one factor and is OBL poor? Is Baitullah Mehsud poor? Are the foreign guys living in FATA poor... they take Betasoles in their breakfast... and have three to four wives local and may be foreigners also.Remember Yvone Ridley? The UK journalist who embraced Islam, was captured by Taliban and is placed 25th on the list of influential women in UK now.In Pakistan we repeat the mantra that terrorism is result of Afghan War and in recent times poverty factor has been brought in. But West understands this far better than us , that it is an ideological war and they need to win this at every cost, as it is developing into alternative mode of thinking ( despite all its limitations and drawbacks) .Pause for a moment and take violence out of this debate and think if they resort human beings or their fellow religious brethren to resist peacefull onslaught of West and modernity ... I am sure many more followers will be there.

Although not all people will follow them. But they have point for left outs and desperate people and they sell it and every suicide bomber is an advertisement for them and nothing sells more than sense of injustice and victimhood and it is a selling point in South Asia.As to point of view that we can not talk to them and can not relate to them...........it is half truth, we have never tried to reach them , to know their working of mind and how they are able to inflict so much pain on humanity and especially Pakistan.I come again to poverty point , from whom they get their finances? It is major chunk is drugs now... but how did they begin?Foreign funds... right, for certain time but who were the real financiers. The common people not poor but rich people among commoners, I know the anxiety of many well to do fathers who supported Jehad in Kashmir and Afghanistan and regularly paid donations but were worried when their own sons went for Jihad in Afghanistan and kashmir.

In Gujranwala and Sialkot region Lashker had big rallies, processions and they collected literally hundreds of kilograms of gold in donations by extolling virtues of Jehad and this money had no record and it multiplied every year and how can poor finance them? They never gave them money, they gave their sons and rich gave them money.

This money was to save kashmir, Liberate kashmir and serve in afghan Jehad . This is a mass phenomenon and broad based not restricted to a select strata of society and we failed to see it coming as we usually fail to see things and simplify and then enjoy our own lives. This has been going since decades and 9/11, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine has brought it in forefront , it is old simmering struggle and alas this has been taken over by ignorant, and obscurantist Mullahs and power drunk liberal state actors.The reasons are deeper and we need to look for truth. We have to own truth and then face it. Truth is not so simple.

My Younger sister has died...

Obituary of my beloved sister Naseem Akhtar……..who has died so early in spring of her age and in spring season! ( May Allah rest her in peace)

My Younger sister has died...

Death is reality of life, but sometimes it has devastating affects not for the near and dear ones of departed; but even for the ideas which prop and sustain our lives. May be this is one of the moments in my life, I am thousands of miles away from my homeland and my younger sister has departed from this world leaving two kids in this mortal world.

Naseem was my sister, and till yesterday she was alive I talked to her days ago on phone she was admitted in hospital may be a month ago , but she was suffering silently and was victim of neglect of whom? I know, but I also don’t know. The life has painful realities and at the moment my reality is fluid and I am finding it very hard to accept my life’s decision as living away from my family. It is painful and I cannot hold my tears and I want to be stoic and there is no issue in denying that process of death is the transformation which liberates us from evils and sins of this world. Naseem is no more, now she cannot face more neglect and she died in silence as she was in her real life ………. Silent and I remember years ago , when she was sent away from our home to one of my Nanni (grand mother) as she was born very weak. For years we did not know of her and after many years she returned to our house ……. Her mother’s home or she was always homeless. She was homeless not in practical sense but in a spiritual and psychological sense and was married and she was still homeless. She has reached to her eternal abode; perhaps she was lost after death of Nanni…her mother… and searched her in the years she spent alone. My mother told me often she was silent and did not mix with others in our family, with other 10 siblings. Yes she lived in her own world and I will never be able to know secrets of that world………….we die in ignorance and live in ignorance.

My heart weeps, I weep as I try to write these lines, I cannot fathom this fact that she died so early, perhaps she endured enough. She was barely in her twenties. Daughter have to suffer, women have to suffer and this suffering wrenches my heart and it will keep on wrenching our hearts, the death is a fact and we can never run from it and no one can run from death…………but searching for love and belonging and then dying in process is a death which has pain painted over again and again with all the landscape colors of heart and soul.

Pain, pain and grief has overtaken me and also anger at human indifference and blaming cannot remove the signs of blood. Blood at invisible hands and blood spewed out of lungs, she died from lung disease and still I don’t know the real cause. Tuberculosis or what else? Perhaps there is no need to know as passed away souls cannot come back and let her rest in peace! May be her search has entered into another phase.

Life, death and pain… the eternal symphony sung in the march of human beings from cradle to grave. But these rhythms of life take a heavy toll willingly or unwillingly we have to suffer their brunt. She has left a daughter in cradle barely some months old and herself gone to sleep in the lap of earth…the ultimate cradle of human souls!

I remember her son Junaid, may Allah bestow Junaid with wisdom and courage of Junaid Baghdadi (RA), her mother is no more to look after him, to take care of him. The pictures ;when Naseem lost her path while going away from home to meet her Mausi (aunt) is in front of my eyes and I can relive the anxiety which I faced , that my sister is lost and how frantically was my mind racing to determine where she has gone. Now she is lost till the final day! Her silence had an ocean of ideas in herself. Memories have remained and they have become eternal by her untimely departure.

Spring of her age has been taken by autumn so early so suddenly and there is winter… a long long winter……when will spring come again? We mortals don't know……… we can never know depths of human heart and human limits.

She longed for company and her pleasures of company with her children have been cut short by delicate balance of life and death. She yearned and thought of her kids on her death bed, her body was frail and she could no more cope with loneliness and mountain of pain surrounding her.

Vivid memories are casting shadows of reminiscence over my heart; perhaps they were so few and so personal. Many memories; will never lose their factual contours and anguish ingrained in them. May Allah rest her soul in peace, eternal peace!

She longed for company and her pleasures of company with her children have been cut short by delicate balance of life and death. She yearned and thought of her kids on her death bed, her body was frail and she could no more cope with loneliness and mountain of pain surrounding her.

24^th March 2009

LIfe

Colours of life are ever changing!

Revenge and madness!

Revenge and madness flow in my soul!

My land is drenched with blood!


Power rules supreme and

Ravan's spirit has not vanished