Sunday, November 08, 2009
Start a war - The National Newspaper
An interesting read. Raises the continuing incompetence of the Pakistani state and its inability to provide for the needs of its people as the primary reason for the current crises.
Friday, November 06, 2009
ISNA Condemns Attacks on Fort Hood Soldiers & Expresses Condolences to the Victims & Their Families | ISNA
Pakistan at war.
For the past weeks, it is crystal clear to all of us that Pakistan is engaged in a war to define itself. For those of us who are abroad, we have been witness to a Pakistan that has been changing over the past many years, and not always for the better. We have struggled at various periods to convince those around us that the Pakistan we see on CNN and BBC, is not the Pakistan we belong to and love. Whether we choose to accept it or not, it is that Pakistan that this war against extremism is trying to find and protect.
I concur with many of the reports and opinion pieces which fill our newspapers and television screens that war and conquest are not the only way with which we restore the writ of the state, and some semblance of law and order to our largely ungoverned nation. Many of the changes needed will be structural, and will require us to work long and hard to create a nation state which protects and nurtures its population. Yet, those changes cannot occur in a state of fear and oppression from life itself. We have been held hostage as a nation to extremist ideology for long enough. While it is a mind set that has to change, it cannot occur as long as we have two, three or ten thousand hardened militants whose only purpose is to wreak havoc and destruction. Our military is fighting our true enemy. They are fighting those who seek to bring nothing but destruction to our nation. While we can contend and argue about what brought us to this point, can we not all concede that the destruction we have seen in Peshawar and Rawalpindi has to stop? There can be no more room in our national dialogue for those who see destruction as the only way.
Yet, why is it that it is only the military which is at war? Why is the rest of the nation still focused on essential inanities like the NRO? Why are the senior leaders in government planning trips to watch cricket in Dubai and Abu Dhabi? How can it seem that in a time when we are fighting to define what we will stand for, what we will believe in as nation, that its business as usual in the corridors of government? Why are we not seeing our leaders at the front, acknowledging the sacrifices of our soldiers and the sacrifices of those innocents who live in Waziristan? Why is every single death of one of our soldiers not shown for what it is: the ultimate sacrifice of a young life to protect not only our physical bodies, but our identity as a nation and as a people?
May Allah grant us all peace in this world.
I concur with many of the reports and opinion pieces which fill our newspapers and television screens that war and conquest are not the only way with which we restore the writ of the state, and some semblance of law and order to our largely ungoverned nation. Many of the changes needed will be structural, and will require us to work long and hard to create a nation state which protects and nurtures its population. Yet, those changes cannot occur in a state of fear and oppression from life itself. We have been held hostage as a nation to extremist ideology for long enough. While it is a mind set that has to change, it cannot occur as long as we have two, three or ten thousand hardened militants whose only purpose is to wreak havoc and destruction. Our military is fighting our true enemy. They are fighting those who seek to bring nothing but destruction to our nation. While we can contend and argue about what brought us to this point, can we not all concede that the destruction we have seen in Peshawar and Rawalpindi has to stop? There can be no more room in our national dialogue for those who see destruction as the only way.
Yet, why is it that it is only the military which is at war? Why is the rest of the nation still focused on essential inanities like the NRO? Why are the senior leaders in government planning trips to watch cricket in Dubai and Abu Dhabi? How can it seem that in a time when we are fighting to define what we will stand for, what we will believe in as nation, that its business as usual in the corridors of government? Why are we not seeing our leaders at the front, acknowledging the sacrifices of our soldiers and the sacrifices of those innocents who live in Waziristan? Why is every single death of one of our soldiers not shown for what it is: the ultimate sacrifice of a young life to protect not only our physical bodies, but our identity as a nation and as a people?
May Allah grant us all peace in this world.
They don't know who to blame??
What is up with this?? A bomb goes off, 114 die, atleast 20 children, and they don't know who to blame? If there is any failing of this government, and God knows there are many, the fact that "there is still a great reluctance to accept that Pakistanis or fellow Muslims are the ones doing the killing", three weeks into a Civil war for precisely this reason, is its most serious failing. Where is our call to arms, to a casus belli going to come? If Zardari is not man enough, or does not have it in him to do it, and if Gilani can only play Pir to his masses, then why will not someone, anyone step forward to make the case?
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
The War in Pakistan
I have spent most of my life watching protests. My first memories were of protests in Pakistan against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir. Then against Salman Rushdie. Then against the American invasion of Iraq in 1991. I have been part of protests against the slaughter of thousands in the Balkans. I have condemned the Israeli occupation and oppression of the lands of my Palestinian brothers. I have opposed the war in Iraq, and railed against every excess of the Americans in their unjust war. I have raged against the deaths of innocents in Afghanistan by drone attacks. Yet, I think the time has now come for me to refocus my protests. While I will not modify my moral and ethical compass, I think the time has now come to change whom I oppose the loudest.
Let me be clear about what I am about to say. My faith as a Muslim, and my conviction in Islam and commitment to seeking justice for humanity and my fellow muslims has not and cannot change. My faith is one which relies on the Beneficent and the Merciful. My faith finds inspiration and grounds itself in he who was sent as a Mercy to the entire Universe. Islam and the Prophet Muhammed (May Allah shower him with blessings) have given me a faith which inspires me to love the people around me, and to see justice for those who are near and far. It is through my faith that I am able to find inner peace and a purpose for this often purpose-less seeming life.
Our true enemies today, are no longer those who attack us from outside. They are no longer the easily categorized infidels. They can no longer be just called the West and the Americans. While our challenges and difficulties as a faith and as muslim political entities are legion, it is what is happening inside our faith which is rendering us weak and catatonic.
Our true enemies are those within, who claim to act in the name of Allah, and in the name of Islam. Our true enemies are those who bring nothing but a message of destruction. What began as a message of destruction of enemies, has now become a message of destroy first and ask later. How else does one explain the savage attacks on civilian populations? At various points there were justifications made for the attacks on civilians in non-Muslim countries. Where has that lead us? It has lead us to the suicide bombings in Peshawar and the streets of Iraq. It has lead us to the savage murders and assassinations of ordinary individuals and mid-level functionaries of the state. It has lead to the destruction of shrines in Iraq, markets in Peshawar and mosques. Imam Zaid Shakir in a recent article said "We are the followers of a merciful Prophet, peace upon him, and not the ideological and philosophical children of those who have introduced the idea that the slaughter of an opponent’s civilian population is an acceptable stratagem or consequence of warfare." Now, instead of slaughtering opponents, they are only slaughtering their own.
Of course, it becomes much easier to slaughter our own, when you label them as apostates. Despite the Amman Declaration, takfir continues as a tool to label fellow muslims as outside the fold and liable for death. Despite a long tradition of advocating for conservative change from within, Islam is being hijacked by those who seek not change but to tear down the world around them. They have no plan for the future, no manifesto, no desire to create structures which can provide for us as people and as members of society. Reza Aslan speaks of much of this in his last book, labelling all of this as a Cosmic War. And while I accept his point that the best way to win a Cosmir War is not to fight it, there are ways in which we can structure the way we respond to those who insist on framing our current conflicts as a Cosmic crisis, in which sides have to be picked.
I have picked my side. My side is one which values human life above all else. My side is one which seeks to bring peace to this world, in the here and now. If I can condemn the Israelis for their oppression of Palestinians, I can condemn those who have terrorized Pakistan even more loudly. If I can condemn the American invasion of Iraq as baseless, I can condemn even more vehemently the extremist assault on the homes and lives of the people of Swat and Waziristan. While I will agree with all of those who blame state actors like the Government of Pakistan for bringing the situation to a head, and also those who find the US complicit in creating a problem like the Mujahideen and the Taliban and even Saddam Hussein, I will not condemn them anymore. Enough are doing it, enough have. The bombings in the markets of Peshawar, and the attacks on the GHQ in Rawalpindi were not by Americans. The suicide bombings in Baghdad and the destruction of the Imam Askari shrine were not by Americans. They were by those who call themselves Muslim. They were by those who insist that their faith is more pure than the rest of us. They were by those for whom peace in this world means nothing. They were by those who do not believe that Islam is a faith of mercy and beneficence. They were by those who do not find solace in the fact that while the Prophet Muhammed (May Allah shower him with blessings), did fight with a sword, he did not come with one. While wars may have been fought, it was not destruction they sought, but peace. This may be a one-sided or idealistic view of history, but it is mine.
So, as always, I will seek to glorify Allah in all I do, and to follow the path of the rightly guided. And that path, like that of Ali (May Allah brighten his countenance) shows that sometimes one has to fight those within. There can be no quarter or space in which such ideologies, which justify senseless murder and oppression, can find a home. And so, I will now protest all such senseless killings, all such senseless murders. Those who perpetrate such crimes are evil. They are not my brothers in faith. Those who do not condemn these crimes like they have condemned the Israelis, the American and the Russians, are not my friends and brothers.
This is not ambiguous for me. It is as real as the tears in the eyes of the women who mourned their daughters lost in Peshawar. It is as real as the prayers and fears of mothers of soliders who wait for their sons to return from the battles in Waziristan. I will no longer hear or tolerate explanations and apologetics regarding this. I will no longer listen to justifications and condemnation of the West as being at fault. If you think that somehow, in any way, the murder of thousands of innocents is defensible, don't talk to me.
Let me be clear about what I am about to say. My faith as a Muslim, and my conviction in Islam and commitment to seeking justice for humanity and my fellow muslims has not and cannot change. My faith is one which relies on the Beneficent and the Merciful. My faith finds inspiration and grounds itself in he who was sent as a Mercy to the entire Universe. Islam and the Prophet Muhammed (May Allah shower him with blessings) have given me a faith which inspires me to love the people around me, and to see justice for those who are near and far. It is through my faith that I am able to find inner peace and a purpose for this often purpose-less seeming life.
Our true enemies today, are no longer those who attack us from outside. They are no longer the easily categorized infidels. They can no longer be just called the West and the Americans. While our challenges and difficulties as a faith and as muslim political entities are legion, it is what is happening inside our faith which is rendering us weak and catatonic.
Our true enemies are those within, who claim to act in the name of Allah, and in the name of Islam. Our true enemies are those who bring nothing but a message of destruction. What began as a message of destruction of enemies, has now become a message of destroy first and ask later. How else does one explain the savage attacks on civilian populations? At various points there were justifications made for the attacks on civilians in non-Muslim countries. Where has that lead us? It has lead us to the suicide bombings in Peshawar and the streets of Iraq. It has lead us to the savage murders and assassinations of ordinary individuals and mid-level functionaries of the state. It has lead to the destruction of shrines in Iraq, markets in Peshawar and mosques. Imam Zaid Shakir in a recent article said "We are the followers of a merciful Prophet, peace upon him, and not the ideological and philosophical children of those who have introduced the idea that the slaughter of an opponent’s civilian population is an acceptable stratagem or consequence of warfare." Now, instead of slaughtering opponents, they are only slaughtering their own.
Of course, it becomes much easier to slaughter our own, when you label them as apostates. Despite the Amman Declaration, takfir continues as a tool to label fellow muslims as outside the fold and liable for death. Despite a long tradition of advocating for conservative change from within, Islam is being hijacked by those who seek not change but to tear down the world around them. They have no plan for the future, no manifesto, no desire to create structures which can provide for us as people and as members of society. Reza Aslan speaks of much of this in his last book, labelling all of this as a Cosmic War. And while I accept his point that the best way to win a Cosmir War is not to fight it, there are ways in which we can structure the way we respond to those who insist on framing our current conflicts as a Cosmic crisis, in which sides have to be picked.
I have picked my side. My side is one which values human life above all else. My side is one which seeks to bring peace to this world, in the here and now. If I can condemn the Israelis for their oppression of Palestinians, I can condemn those who have terrorized Pakistan even more loudly. If I can condemn the American invasion of Iraq as baseless, I can condemn even more vehemently the extremist assault on the homes and lives of the people of Swat and Waziristan. While I will agree with all of those who blame state actors like the Government of Pakistan for bringing the situation to a head, and also those who find the US complicit in creating a problem like the Mujahideen and the Taliban and even Saddam Hussein, I will not condemn them anymore. Enough are doing it, enough have. The bombings in the markets of Peshawar, and the attacks on the GHQ in Rawalpindi were not by Americans. The suicide bombings in Baghdad and the destruction of the Imam Askari shrine were not by Americans. They were by those who call themselves Muslim. They were by those who insist that their faith is more pure than the rest of us. They were by those for whom peace in this world means nothing. They were by those who do not believe that Islam is a faith of mercy and beneficence. They were by those who do not find solace in the fact that while the Prophet Muhammed (May Allah shower him with blessings), did fight with a sword, he did not come with one. While wars may have been fought, it was not destruction they sought, but peace. This may be a one-sided or idealistic view of history, but it is mine.
So, as always, I will seek to glorify Allah in all I do, and to follow the path of the rightly guided. And that path, like that of Ali (May Allah brighten his countenance) shows that sometimes one has to fight those within. There can be no quarter or space in which such ideologies, which justify senseless murder and oppression, can find a home. And so, I will now protest all such senseless killings, all such senseless murders. Those who perpetrate such crimes are evil. They are not my brothers in faith. Those who do not condemn these crimes like they have condemned the Israelis, the American and the Russians, are not my friends and brothers.
This is not ambiguous for me. It is as real as the tears in the eyes of the women who mourned their daughters lost in Peshawar. It is as real as the prayers and fears of mothers of soliders who wait for their sons to return from the battles in Waziristan. I will no longer hear or tolerate explanations and apologetics regarding this. I will no longer listen to justifications and condemnation of the West as being at fault. If you think that somehow, in any way, the murder of thousands of innocents is defensible, don't talk to me.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
Fawad Alam in preliminary test squad
Well, it is good to hear that Fawad Alam is being included in the test squad. I hope this translates into a selection. Fawad has played well domestically for the past few years with limited international opportunities. He has also shown a penchant for batting higher up in the order, and with the absence of Mohammad Yousuf, that is an area where help could be needed. It may be worthwhile giving him a try at the 2 or 3 down positions. one wonders if he has been unable to reach his potential as we have been consistently batting him at #7 to 9. Good luck Fawad.
Hear, Hear Afridi
While we are always quick to criticize, some praise is in order for Shahid Afridi. On a quick sojourn to London, he helped raise about $200,000 US for Gaza. Well done Shahid. Thank you.
More Miandad Analysis
A reflective essay on Miandad's resignation and what it could mean to Pakistani cricket.
Miandad: In or Out?
While it is always hard to trust Indian News sources when it comes to Pakistani cricket, nothing can surprise me when it comes to the PCB! It appears that now Javed Miandad may be coming back into the fold, despite the announcement and the press conference. Somehow, Ijaz Butt likes Javed, but no one else does, so Javed said plague on all your houses and ran away, but may be willing to be cajoled back in.
"Miandad is expected to get a call from the PCB headquarters within the next couple of days and a possible meeting is on the cards between the chairman and the batsman."
Is it really too much to ask for a modicum of stability, whether its in resignations or hirings? This cannot be good for cricket.
"Miandad is expected to get a call from the PCB headquarters within the next couple of days and a possible meeting is on the cards between the chairman and the batsman."
Is it really too much to ask for a modicum of stability, whether its in resignations or hirings? This cannot be good for cricket.
UN HCR Head in Pakistan Kidnapped?
This is a new story. I wonder why I haven't heard this over the last week. If the issues in FATA were not enough, a burgeoning Baluchi independence/insurgence movement is not going to help Pakistan. I'll post more when I find it.
Its not just FATA anymore
For the past few years, we just keep saying its a FATA problem. For the rest of the country, its not a big deal, we have our own issues. Lots of people have been on the record as saying that if we left the "crazies" in FATA alone, then all of this would go away. Let them have their Shariat and their Talibanization up there. And of course the inevitable comments that it is America's problem, not ours. Well, it can be anyone's problem, but it is OURS! The Taliban or the TNSM or the tribals or whatever you want to call them, have now attacked a police station in Mianwali, a real city in Punjab. If this doesn't tell us that we can't ignore the problem, or brush it aside as someone else's, God help us, I don't know what will!
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