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tribute From
extra-judicial to target killings A writer of utter
truth property Crushing lush green valleys By Arbab Daud Pakistan is a mix of ethnicities, cultures and languages. There had always been an effort to make a federal unit that should have control over all the resources and make a one strong Pakistani nation. Practically, however, the big-brother played the role of a pugilist while getting its share of benefits. He connived to place agriculture as a provincial issue while electricity, gas and other major resources were given under the umbrella of federation. The result was a rise of nationalist movements all throughout Pakistan, demanding the rights of its ethnic groups and natural resources that belonged to their areas.
The raconteur Professor of modern economics, playwright, actor, musicologist, authority on US Civil War and a banter-loving host, Shoaib Hashmi celebrates his 72nd birthday today with satisfaction, perhaps pride too By I.A Rehman When Shoaib Hashmi celebrates his 72nd birthday today (11 July), he will have good reason to look back at his 71 years on our small planet (because I think he began being Shoaib Hashmi in his childhood) with satisfaction, perhaps pride too. Early this year Shoaib, known as a professor of modern
economics, playwright, actor, musicologist, authority on US Civil War and a
banter-loving host, added another feather to his much decorated cap with an
English translation of selected verse by Faiz Ahmed Faiz and stood the test
well. (Of this some other time.) What made Shoaib ignore Faiz's warning that good poetry is almost untranslatable? For one thing the creative urge needs no justification. For another, Shoaib was not alone in believing that while a couple of Faiz's translators were genuine poets, in case of some others their enthusiasm exceeded their capacity as poets/translators and therefore the race was still open to new challengers. Further, there could have been a wholly legitimate desire to find a place in the sun away from the shade of a large banyan tree. This because Shoaib is a typical Lahori boy of the Mozang sub-clan -- who loves eating kebabs and flying kites, enjoys extricating the unusual from the usual, who has an iconoclast's penchant for exposing the pretentious, and who is given to rebuking his friends in the manner of the classical South Asian woman who always told her beloved what a bad man he was. While he generally does not withhold praise for a good play or a good line or a bit of splendid acting or for anyone simply looking artlessly pretty, Shoaib has rarely been in awe of anyone. He looked up to Faiz with love and respect but he also enjoyed sparring with him. And with 'uncle' Mazhar Ali Khan too, especially when they were together in a room at Kot Lakhpat Jail where Shoaib had been kept for the offence of belonging to a tea party. Once I saw him contesting Faiz's view on Iqbal's status as
a poet and fighting for Ghalib's entitlement to superiority. Shoaib's emphasis on the artistic requirements of the medium has sometimes landed him into arguments with playwrights and stage/film producers who profess to uphold purposeful art. He does not deny purposefulness, but he cannot stand hectoring without a trace of art. And when he defends his decision to adapt a Moliere play, he argues that helping a people to overcome their sorrows and tribulations, temporarily though, is also a valuable purpose for it could help them regain the strength to fight for whatever purpose in life they might have. Shoaib might have tested this theory on himself when he decided to study drama at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London. Perhaps, he wanted to fortify himself for teaching economics at the GC, Lahore. The people reaped a rich crop of delightful comedy sown and cultivated by Shoaib Hashmi and his talented associates -- Salima, Naveed, Samina, Salman and Arshad. First there was Akkar Bakkar, then came Such Gup and Tal Matol. A flood of hilarity all in good taste. These series also helped Shoaib to refine his appreciation
of the subcontinent's music and contribute to Arshad Mahmud's progress
towards scaling new heights as a composer with a style of his own. Shoaib Hashmi's extended studies in literature came in handy when the institution he adopted after retirement from the GC asked him to put into the heads of students of economics and business administration some knowledge of their literary and cultural heritage. Without this humanising and culturally essential input, they were robots without hearts. It seems Shoaib Hashmi adopted a combative mode of address quite early in life. This might have been due partly to the fact that for the first six years of his life he heard nothing except for war stories or references to Churchill's verbal aggression (if not the rhetoric itself) and partly to Mozang boys' aggressive kite-flying. But this combativeness is only a posture, perhaps a shield adopted in a moment of vulnerability with which he has fallen in love. Beneath the crust is a robust heart full of life and love and laughter. As the readers of his columns contributed to this newspaper might have noticed he has a way of bringing to life whatever was enjoyable in the past and goading the people to learn to laugh at themselves, and persuading them to find happiness by living the way they want to. The world has survived many cataclysms and will survive many more. Essentially, he enjoys playing a raconteur. Shoaib has a tremendous sense of history. He was born in
the year the Second World War started, he completed his studies around the
time of Mirza-Ayub putsch, he went to study at RADA in the year Ayub enforced
his constitution, he married Salima in the year of the first regular war with
India, he retired from the GC in the year Musharraf overthrew his benefactor
and he suffered a temporary disruption of his normal activities in the year
Musharraf surrendered. Of course, Shoaib Hashmi might like to put his contribution to history differently – when he was born Hitler decided to take on the whole world, when he started his teaching career Ayub Khan took over, when he went to RADA Ayub slipped in his 'constitution', when he decided to get married India and Pakistan hit the warpath, when he retired from government service Musharraf ousted Nawaz Sharif and when he temporarily stopped writing his weekly column Musharraf had to abdicate. But what is the importance of being Shoaib Hashmi? He has not set the Ravi on fire and has not taught goats to climb trees. But at the time of the Reckoning his success in enabling a few thousand young women and men to discover the highways and pitfalls of economics and bringing laughter to both palatial drawing rooms and jhuggies in slums and in uplifting the spirits of a people despaired of salvation will surely carry greater weight than the exploits of potentates of various colours and hues who have abused mother earth and humankind's legacy both. But far more important than anticipating the day of Reckoning is the urgency of Shoaib's sizing up of the sparring partners who have been waiting out there for quite some time. No Tal Matol, dear ole man.
From extra-judicial to target killings Lack of political will and good governance gives way to criminal gangs, ethnic groups and sectarian outfits to shatter Karachi peace By Moonis Ahmar Once again, Karachi is under the grip of unabated target killings. The 'killing fields' of Karachi is not only impeding normal business and commercial activities of Pakistan's mega city, but also shattering the country's image abroad. As a major port of Pakistan, Karachi has a population of
18 million and is the country's major financial and industrial centre. Yet,
peace in Karachi is fragile because around 400 people have been killed this
year, causing widespread protest demonstrations and breakdown of law and
order. Exposed to periodic acts of violence and terrorism in the form of suicide attacks, kidnappings, abductions and bomb blasts, Karachi is now experiencing large-scale target killings in which not only ordinary people are being killed, but the workers of different political parties and professionals, particularly doctors, have also lost their lives. Federal Interior Minister, chairing a high-level meeting in Islamabad the other day, had announced a Rs 1 million reward to anyone who would provide a video clip or a photograph of an incident of target killing or an act of terrorism that could lead to arrest or identification of culprits. Still, nothing has been done to take those people to task who are responsible for causing enormous pain and sufferings to the people of Karachi. Mostly, those who fell prey to target killing were the workers of Muhajir Qaumi Movement, also know as MQM (Haqiqi), Muttahida Qaumi Movement led by Altaf Hussain, Pakistan People's Party, Awami National Party and Jamaat-i-Islami. Although the federal and provincial governments have taken several measures like ban on pillion-riding and the holding of public rallies for one month, there is no respite in killing. The deployment of more than 25,000 paramilitary forces (Rangers) has failed to control the situation. The menace of target killing in Karachi is because of three major reasons. Firstly, the existence of underworld and mafias who have got a lot of space because of the absence of the writ of the state. The Lyari town, which has remained a bastion of Pakistan People's Party since 1970, is ruled by armed gangs having links with the drug and criminal mafias. Furthermore, there are 'no-go areas' in different parts of the city where dominant political or criminal groups have their own writ. Secondly, different ethnic and lingual groups are pitted against each other. The battle to control Karachi is being fought in its streets with Altaf Hussain's Muttahida Qaumi Movement, representing the dominant Urdu-speaking community of Karachi, also called as Mohajirs, unwilling to allow any room to Pashtuns led by the Awami National Party (ANP). Drug and land mafias along with other criminal groups, having their patronage from various political parties, are also involved in such incidents. Thirdly, target killings have also attained a sectarian dimension. Recently, sectarian-based parties and their outfits were held responsible for jeopardising peace in Karachi. What is most alarming is the killing of professionals, particularly doctors. Banned sectarian groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Mohammed are believed to be behind these incidents. The failure of state authorities to track down the culprits has further encouraged those who want to destabilise Pakistan for their ulterior motives. The measures require utilisation of proper resources along with political will. Unfortunately, instead of pursuing a responsible approach to deal with the menace, different political parties and groups are involved in the senseless 'blame game.' In the mid-1990s, when Karachi was caught in the state-versus-MQM (Altaf Hussain group) conflict, extra-judicial killings were very common. When the government of late Benazir Bhutto was dismissed by the then President Farooq Leghari on November 6, 1996, the charge sheet issued against her also included extra-judicial killings by her government in Karachi. The shift from extra-judicial killings to target killings (in Karachi) is an interesting phenomenon as in both cases thousands of people lost their lives, no proper investigation took place and no one was punished. It means, the state is either indifferent to such acts or is itself involved. The stakeholders in the city need to act now before it is too late. The most dangerous scenario is that target killing is not only limited to Karachi but also spreading to other parts of Pakistan. By mere rhetoric and press statements, the people of Karachi cannot be rescued from the 'killing fields'. The writer is Professor, Department of International Relations, University of Karachi, and Director Programme on Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution amoonis@hotmail.com
Before his death on July 9, 1987, Prof Waris Mir had prophesied the present-day Pakistan By Sana Mir "The toll of danger is indeed ringing out loud for
the Pakistani society which is, today, enveloped by a specific kind of
Islamisation that rejects and ridicules progressive thought," wrote
Prof. Waris Mir over twenty years ago in one of his immensely popular
column for the Daily Jang, titled Naveed-e-Fikr. An echo from the past,
one has to remind oneself while reading Waris Mir even today that he had
prophesied the present-day Pakistan and had a dekko into the religio-political
crisis that extremists thought provoke. The most intriguing factor of his writings is his advocacy of progressive thought as opposed to the extremist thought that ruled the roost during the martial law regime of General Ziaul Haq. The usurper had made Waris Mir his direct adversary for writing against his military dictatorship, for advocating democracy, the rights of the common man, fundamental and human rights, for saying Islam did not make a man repress himself into a hermit as the extremists suggested. Waris Mir wrote endlessly exposing those people who used religion to benefit their own needs… the clerics who used religion for social status and Zia who abused his faith to stay in power. "It's not just Islam," he wrote, "when we take a look at the West, even there the intellectual elite had once been enchained by the Church during the age of monarchy but in any part of the world, it is impossible to stifle such a voice that is raised for the sake of the common people." "Extreme thought in our society has taken over the minds of many religious scholars and such extremism has made them and their followers listless and indifferent. Such people have even developed hatred for education, progressive thinking, liberalism and they have decided to tag anyone with an educated opinion as a Communist. Freedom of thought, freedom of expression and research are becoming endangered arenas in our near-to orthodox society. Worse is, if progressive thinking is labelled as infidelity and instead of enlightenment it is theocratic conformist paradigms that hold the reigns of the society, then such a society would in fact go rot," Waris Mir had prophesised. Waris Mir was a common man coming from a middle class family. Besides being a writer and journalist, he was also the Chairman of the Journalism Department in the University of Punjab, Lahore. Yet, all the opulent offers a military dictator could have spelled out were not potent enough to shove him an inch from his rationale and promise to life – People's Rights. Mir was a man of yester decades. He believed in speaking the truth against all odds. He believed in the supremacy of principles. He believed in being a voice for those who knew not what their rights were. While most of the writers today use the principle of taking a 'stance', Mir believed in writing the utter truth. "We believed once Pakistan would come into being, the Muslims of this country could get an environment where they could rid themselves of orthodoxy and backwardness for good and look ahead towards a future laden with intellectual communication, enlightened discussions and freethinking," Prof Waris Mir once wrote dejectedly. "Tragically, as soon as this country came into being, the political and administrative setup fell into chaos due to internal fissures in the system and resultantly, fundamentalist forces paved their way up to the throne of the state. The Muslim history is replete with examples of such environs from which great thinkers emerged, who challenged the totalitarian rulers of those times with their intellect. Even in those days, people who thought progressively bore the brunt of authoritarianism not just on their ponderings but also on the commitment to their cause," Waris Mir wrote. Waris Mir used to say, "A writer's pen belongs to the people." Column writing for today's breed of op-ed writers is comparatively convenient to what it used to be for Mir. A collection of his write ups, spanned over decades of toil, research, dedication and commitment, in a three volume book form titled Waris Mir ka Fikri Asasa (Intellectual asset of Waris Mir) can give today's youth encyclopaedic revelations about the 'story of Pakistani politics'. He was going through a terrible heart trauma just a day before his death but he kept his troubling heart a secret from his family just because he had to shoot back with an answer to General Zia who had labelled progressive thinkers 'water logging and salinity' for the Pakistani society during a speech on July 8, 1987, just a day before Mir breathed his last. He dictated his last column to his younger son and titled it "Is Progressive Thinking water logging and salinity? Excerpts read as: "When General Zia talks about the enemies of Pakistan, he actually refers to those intellectuals who plead progression and whose desire is to see Pakistan emerge on the global horizons as a country of enlightened people. These thinkers want their people to grow intellectually and potentially so that they can themselves fight off poverty, illiteracy and orthodoxy." Prof Waris Mir gave a hard-hitting rebuttal to General Zia but his words are very much applicable to every military dictator Pakistan has had since independence; his bitter truth can bring any extremist minded person to think again. This was his last task, as he passed away 24 hours later on July 9, 1987. Prof Waris Mir's death anniversary falls on July 9, 2010.
For sale! The Punjab government's drive to sell precious lands is yet to clear bureaucratic hurdles By Waqar Gillani A newly-appointed judge of the Lahore High Court, related to a senior judge of the Supreme Court hailing from Toba Tek Singh, has stayed the sale of land in district Toba Tek Singh by the Punjab government. This is the kind of response the Punjab government's campaign to sell its "redundant" and "underutilised" assets in various districts is getting. The Punjab government decided to sell its
"redundant" and "barren" properties and pieces of land in
the fiscal year 2009-2010. The government tasked the Punjab Privatisation
Board (PPB) to sell some of 1,000 properties across Punjab to generate five
billion rupees. The list includes old rest houses, urbanised agricultural
lands and commercially lucrative plots in urban areas. For this purpose, the
government had a law Punjab Privatisation Board Act, 2010, passed by the
Punjab Assembly to facilitate auctions in February, 2010. According to rules,
the amount obtained from these assets would be spent only on the district
concerned, PPB authorities tell TNS. The Punjab government's privatisation drive got a discouraging response, compelling the authorities to revise the strategy for target selling of the provincial assets. Many parties, including some lawyers' associations, have gone into litigation claiming that these 'barren' pieces of land were promised by certain governments and marked for lawyers' residential colonies. Courts have granted stay against such auctions in Multan and Vehari. A written proposal was presented to the chief minister asking for selling Governor's House and GOR-1, but it got no response as bureaucracy disliked this plan. The PPP also opposed the auction plan. Punjab Revenue Minister Muhammad Ishaq says he is against the privatisation policy in Punjab. Bureaucracy resisted the proposal to sell the vast lawns of Governor's House and the most privileged residential areas of the top bureaucracy situated in the heart of the city -- Government Officers' Residences-1, better known as GOR-1. Both the properties, worth billions of rupees, are located on prime land. According to a media report, the US Consulate in Lahore has also conveyed its intentions to the Punjab government to purchase the Governor's House. The idea of selling prime land of the Governor's House and GOR-I had been floating since long, but no previous government dared to sell these properties because 'the mighty lords' reside in them. Bureaucracy still likes to live in the colonial style of the past and adheres to British legacy, which carved out GOR bungalows for the ruling class. The PPB had so far secured net deals of Rs3.3 billion by auctioning 127 properties (now totalling 128), excluding a few deals which had to be cancelled due to buyers' inability to pay the bid amount. The PPB authorities consider the turnout encouraging, keeping in view the downslide in real estate. As many as 585 properties (latest figure) are still awaiting potential buyers. The statistics, available with TNS, show that 80 properties, referred by the Board of Revenue under whose jurisdiction the PPB functions, were auctioned at PPB Headquarters in Lahore after evaluation by Provincial Price Assessment Committee (PPAC) and two private evaluators. The properties were put to open auction in three rounds, out of which it clinched 13 deals for Rs1242.165 million. In case of remaining 66 properties, either no bid was received or the bid received was lower than the assessed price. Another 633 properties were put to open auction in various districts after their price was determined by District Price Assessment Committees (DPACs), and only 114 properties were sold. The sale proceeds of Rs2059.649 million are in the pipeline. Around 1,000 properties, forwarded for auction, include 906 agriculture lands in urban vicinities and 75 British era rest houses, mostly belonging to the Irrigation Department. The value of 346 properties was determined to be less than 50 million rupees. A senior official in the PPB, requesting anonymity, informs TNS about a house of a district and sessions judge in Pakpattan that produces up to 300 maunds of wheat (12,000kg) on average in a year. "The Irrigation Department officials, who have 20 to 30 acres of land attached to their offices in many districts, have also been harvesting crops and pocketing income," the BOR officials have disclosed. The government has planned to auction Rescue-15 office land, which was attacked in May, 2008. The PPB had also advertised in newspapers to auction huge and redundant Food Department warehouse (go-down) worth over Rs 1 billion on June 28. The Food Department has planned to build modern silos in the outskirts of Lahore with money fetched by the sale of warehouse. Punjab Chief Minister had ordered live coverage of the auction on TV channels and was himself in touch with PPB officials. "Exposure to media embarrasses moneyed people and they feel scared because various agencies would later ask them about sources of their huge income", says the PPB official. Another huge warehouse spreading over 80 kanals in the posh locality of Gulberg (Guru Manghat) has not yet been okayed for auction. "We have got a good response in rural area auctions, and earned around Rs3.3 billion in a short period," the official says, adding, "We are reviewing our strategy to sell urban properties where the response is dismal." The Punjab government has given the PPB a target of Rs12 billion for the year 2010-11 through privatisation of properties. "Serious efforts are being made to achieve the target," PPB Chairman Nazar Chohan says, adding, "expatriates are quite interested in various rural properties and at least two large properties have been bought by the Pakistani settlers in Middle East and the US." The properties being sold in various districts of the Punjab include one in Attock, 50 in Bahawalnagar, 22 in Bahawalpur, three in Chakwal, 14 in Chiniot, three in Dera Ghazi Khan, six in Faisalabad, 12 in Gujranwala, five in Gujrat, four in Hafizabad, 14 in Jhang, 116 in Kasur, 16 in Khanewal, three in Khushab, six each in Lahore, Layyah, and Mandi Bahauddin, 13 in Mianwali, 12 each in Multan and Muzaffargarh, 40 in Nankana Sahib, 35 in Okara, 10 in Pakpattan, 15 in Rahim Yar Khan, nine in Rajanpur, four in Rawalpindi, 34 in Sahiwal, 16 in Sargodha, 24 in Sheikhupura, 13 in Sialkot, 17 in Toba Tak Singh, and 33 in Vehari. "We need a good selling plan and marketing. We need to organise road shows like in Middle East etc, for the target selling and identification of property buyers," Chohan says.
Stone-crushing units are playing havoc with picturesque valleys around Ghora Gali By Moeed-ur-Rehman Abbasi The ever rising stone-crushing activities on green belts
at Ghora Gali, Abbottabad Road, are posing a serious threat to human health
and the serene environment of the picturesque valley. Once lush green belt
lined with pine trees is now becoming dry and turning into a debris dumping
ground. Dozens of stone-crushing machines are operating day and night
creating industrial like hazards in the area. Quarrying in the hills has not
only caused natural streams to dry up as a consequence of deposits of stones
but has also damaged numerous aqueducts, culverts and water tunnels, causing
water wastage and contamination. The activity is also denuding the area of
its green cover, besides accelerating soil erosion. The government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has enacted a law under the Ministry of Environment which provides basic rules for stone-crushing operators, but these rules are being ignored by the mafia. Environment and legal experts are of the view that if such industrial activities are not stopped immediately, the green belt would be destroyed which would cause dangerous environmental changes. "There are proper rules and guidelines under which stone-crushing units can be installed," says advocate Jawad Hussein who deals with environment laws. However, the rapid growth of stone-crushing units in the area shows that the owners of these units are above the law. They are playing with the lives of villagers of the area with the connivance of the concerned authorities. "The NWFP Environment Protection Agency Act 1997 provides basic guidelines, and without completing the check list provided under the act no stone-crushing unit can operate in any area of the province," the lawyer says. Soon after the Supreme Court banned stone crushing at Margalla Hills, the stone crushers started business in the picturesque, lush green valley at Ghora Gali in Khyber Pakhtunkha province. The area is located about one and half hours drive from Islamabad. Dozens of stone-crushing units in the valley have been destroying the landscape, the natural geographical formations, archaeological features and native plants. An industrial atmosphere with noise of motors and machinery, dynamite-blasting, heavy truck traffic has been created in an otherwise pristine environment. The spring water, commonly known as Aab-e-shifa, has been polluted, causing water-borne diseases among the inhabitants of the area. Serious diseases like hepatitis, TB and skin infections are spreading rapidly due to cutting of jungles and water pollution, doctors of the area complain. "We can't sleep in the night due to the noise of machines and regular blasting by workers," Samundar Khan of the area complained. "Our drinking water sources have been either destroyed or polluted by the unchecked industrial activities," he added. Workers at these units stop the public traffic for hours to carry out dynamite blasting. "We cannot do our planned daily work as they continue blasting without any announced schedule," Arshad Ali of village Malot complained. "Giant trees are being cut and earth cutters have been placed there to do the devil's work. The labourers are illiterate, but their bosses and people in the provincial government do know that these trees took about 10 years to grow to a level where they start providing oxygen to the atmosphere," Jawadullaha Khan Abbasi, a social worker who lives in nearby village Nagri Totial, tells TNS. The area is also known to be a safe haven for native birds such as doves, parrots, pigeons and magpies. "For centuries, these birds had been nesting and using trees as a food source. However, cutting of trees and industrial activities in the area are forcing these birds to migrate. Such cruel actions are also contributing to the decrease in the number of native birds," says environmental expert Abid Swati. Asif Shuja, Director General Environment Protection Islamabad, told TNS the federal government will approach the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa authorities to look into the matter. "After a ban on illegal stone-crushing activities at Taxila and Margalla Hills, this mafia has shifted to Murree Hills. We are sending a team of experts to inspect the area and will take actions in accordance with the policy and rules under the Environment Act," Shuja added. "We know if such trends are not checked, we will not see green hills any more, but only concrete blocks in all green valleys, including the federal capital," he feared.
Nothing is constant but change, and change is inevitable for a prosperous and strong nation By Arbab Daud Pakistan is a mix of ethnicities, cultures and languages.
There had always been an effort to make a federal unit that should have
control over all the resources and make a one strong Pakistani nation.
Practically, however, the big-brother played the role of a pugilist while
getting its share of benefits. He connived to place agriculture as a
provincial issue while electricity, gas and other major resources were given
under the umbrella of federation. The result was a rise of nationalist
movements all throughout Pakistan, demanding the rights of its ethnic groups
and natural resources that belonged to their areas. The nationalist movements were always tagged as 'anti-state' and were tried to be subdued in the name of religion or attempted to be chocked under the belligerent shoes of the guardians of national frontiers. Lately, a group of "paradise seekers" got such a strong footing in the country that now the nationalists, guardians and big brother are all challenged simultaneously and resultantly Pakistan has become a warfare state. The paradise seekers feel forsaken by the guardians and the big brother seemingly on the direction of the Big Boss named "Do-more". In short, the guardians and big brother are apparently old friends with a great ability to flip back to the original stance, the moment Mr. Do-more could turn his back. The nationalists, nonetheless, are an old enemy as they remind the paradise seekers their traditional role in the society. The religious zealots equal the issue of nationalism with infidelity. The pride one can have about history, ethnicity, race, creed or languages are regarded as prohibited by the religion and rightly so. These paradise seekers claim that they are "proud to be a Muslim" and all Musalmans shall not be proud of anything else. The question is that would Allah like this kind of pride as well? The nationalists are also justly criticised for their theory of "purity of a race" and with the strong statement that "all humans are equal", the theory is mauled to pieces. The paradise seekers deem themselves to be the special people of Allah and front-runners in the fight against pagans. The third side of the issue is that nationalism is based on the hatred for other nations. Any movement based on hatred would always be short-lived. Now, let us come to the basic problems of our country. Nowadays media in Pakistan could easily help us find an exhaustive list of issues of common people. Tune in a TV channel, open up a newspaper and you will get news of corruption, theft, killing, blasts and what not. There is desperation engraved on every nook and corner of this country. No one knows what to do. We are facing a serious stalemate. Development on all the fronts, due to plethora of reasons, is on halt or moving at a snail's pace. The situation is worth a deep thought as, according to many pundits, Pakistan is heading towards a dead end. The situation reminds me of a saying "nothing is constant but CHANGE." Change is inevitable for us. Indeed it seems to be the only way out. Change is the process that can bring the revolution through evolution. Revolution without evolution has, historically, caused a lot of bloodshed and there is no need to repeat the errors of the past. We have to change through a process and it shouldn't be a slow process. The process could be expedited with active involvement of as many members of the society as possible. The question still is that what to change? There is a need to change our concepts, to change the mentality of our people. We can only grow if we become strong. We have to serve our people, help our people to become strong. The movement could be named as Neo-Nationalism or Neo-Nats. Though conservatives of United States got a free hand to interfere into matters of other states through their changing to "Neo-Cons", the movement of "Neo-Nats" would focus on solving the problem inwards rather than thinking of others. It is time for us to think of our problems individually. We need to plan for ourselves and we need to pull ourselves out of the perpetual downward slip. The Neo-Nats should serve out of love for their own people rather than for the hatred for others. We have to win the negatives with a positive. There is no time left for hatred of others. The only need is to love our own people, or even we don't have time to think of others right now at all. The Neo-Nats shouldn't focus to make their people proud of their past, but should work hard to make a prosperous future for them. Our history is full of lessons for us; it should be source of inspiration rather than a source of pride. And lastly, the Neo-Nats should try to educate their people. Education is the key that would take us to a level where we would accept other people heartily and we would be able to negotiate a win-win model to pave a way for a prosperous and strong nation. |
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As Faiz's arguments acquired a degree of vehemence, Shoaib's tone also became
assertive. The exchange remained inconclusive and neither side was in a mood
to yield ground. There was no way out of the deadlock as Faiz, always a great
admirer of Ghalib though, was talking of the difference between a poet of the
past and a poet of the future while Shoaib was concerned less with the
content of poetry than with Iqbal's political views and the requirements of
poetic expression.
