Rage of Angels

I wanted to wait a while before I responded to the various ad-hominem attacks in the inter-acts section. At first I was taken aback by the (almost) universally negative and, at times, vicious responses that this article elicited. However, on reflection, it obviously struck a nerve so here`s my response.

Regarding calling poor people `poor` or `working class` (re:#4), what would Mr.Kulharee prefer? Something more PC like `lower middle class`, `economically disadvantaged` etc. To me *that* is a load of crap.

There is nothing wrong with being `working class` or `poor`. In fact, unless people who read Chowk and interact all live off their investments (i.e. on the labor of those who work to create value for them), we are all working class. It is only middle class, NRI/NRP, immigrant types who find these terms offensive. Get your priorities straight! The poor do the work that we don`t want to do or don`t have to. They work to feed themselves and their families just as we do. The man or woman sweeping your bathroom is working, same as someone writing computer code. There is no shame in it unless the computer programmer feels there is something unworthy about that job.

I have just re-read the article and find nothing `arrogant` about it. I wanted to describe the rage of those boys I saw who were, yes, poor and working class. I understand their rage, I sympathize with it, though I think it is completely misdirected. They should be marching down the Mall in Lahore to the Punjab assembly building demanding jobs, education and healthcare and I would be marching along with them (I have in the past).

Re: the issue of `misusing government property` or `using contacts` or sifarish to get things done, is that a joke?

If Mr.tahmed, Kulharee and all the other pompous, holier-than-thou interactors had ventured back to India or Pakistan in the last 10 years, rather than sitting in their comfortable living rooms in Queens or Fresno and passing judgement on others, they would know that (a) it is impossible (not difficult, impossible) to get certain things done in Pakistan without any sifarish or massive bribes or both. Among these are e.g. getting new telephone or electricity connections, land transfers, getting official documents or duplicates made and yes, getting stuff released from the Dry Port. Somebody implied that I should not even have hired a clearing agent! In which case I would still be waiting for my stuff to clear a year later. That is not a slur on Pakistan, it`s just the way things are, so get used to it.

Did I do the wrong thing by taking a government car? Maybe. I had my own car but find it difficult to drive in Lahore because of the traffic. There was also the issue of the riots that day and, as it turned out, I was right to be afraid. In the larger scheme of things, my taking a government car (which I didn`t insist on, it was offered, I accepted) was probably the wrong thing from the ethical standpoint but ranks way,way down. If we want to talk about corruption, misuse etc etc, let`s start with Mr.Musharraf and work our way down. I accept that argument though that two wrongs don`t make a right.

Re: what I should do for this `crime` to make reparations, I will assert,confidently, that I have given back to Pakistan way more than what I may have taken that day by using a quarter tank of gas. However, since service should be a discreet undertaking, I will say no more.

Re:#11, do I have anything `positive` to say about Pakistan, read the rest of my writings before making sweeping generalizations.

Re:#17, get a life! (and learn how to type and use capitals correctly!)

Re: # 4 - Nobody as such lissens to the Mullahs and the ranting speeches full of whining and wines.
Its the rented-tattuus who are paid enough to make a living for coming months to make a procession.Unemployment adds into it and there we go, we have a delighted Qazi Sahab in the midst of this crowd around the Minar e Pakistan, and amongst the crowd are half of the pimps getting ready to go their work nearby city adjacent to the fort and the Masjid.

Qazi Sahab feels ecstatic over this although nobody in the crowd confidently would know the Faraiz(the obligatory steps / procedures to make an act valid) of Ghusl but nonetheless it is a crowd there to find a respite from everyday problems.

The matchbox like the crowd and the flint lighted by the Media sends ripples all over the world painting Pakistan as a rogue state.
Poor Musharraf and Shaukat.

The Police should be disbanded and be reduced to historic asset as one of the most money rattling and earning organisation once existed and a parasite left by the Chittaaz.

Army should take control of the country. Law and Order can be restored under the heavy, metal toed boots of the Military.

I liked this story. The bulk of cannonfodder for religious extremism indeed comes from those who have no future to look forward to.

ali hashmi,


......... shame on you ! ........... i think it is pakistan`s loss that you have decided to run - in the us you would have ended up in jail for medicare fraud or tax evasion sooner or later ............. over there you will continue to steal, rape and pillage with impunity .......... good luck !

wasnt that unfair use of govt car? frankly, cars with green number plates only get scowls and hate remarks. they get away with breaaking traffic rules, their drivers are almost always discourteous and add nuisance to the roads. their attitude is simply that of outlaws. and the fact that the author had to borrow his friend`s car to get to his port hassle-free, also reinforces this. the corpses are beginning to stink already

Tahmed32 and Kulharee you guys are missing the point here. The author was suggesting the following

(a) bloody hell, we set up the system and yet I have to pay
(b) why cannot the great unwashed be happy and learn their position in society?
(c) why cannot the system we created keep these prols at bay let me get on with life?

You need to get your perspective right here! Please change those glasses you all are wearing!

#6 agreed sir. hope you will second the suggestion to the writer in #13.

Fully agreed, Kulharee jee on #9. I hope Mr. Hashmi realizes this as well, and tries to compensates the Pakistani public - not by filling up the gas tank though (since that will be misused again by his government-official friend), but by re-paying the Pakistani public directly for this theft.

I would suggest paying school fees for some poor kids. I think the gas costs of his one trip, plus misuse of police officer time and car driver time, plus lost revenue on import duty, should add up to costs of running an entire school in Pakistan for a significant period of time - around 2-3 months.

Urstruly #10 You forgot to add that these are demonstrations taking place in mumbai. Not Pakistan. Within Pakistan, only terrorists accuse Musharaff of terrorism every time he goes after them in the tribal areas. Many Pakistanis, and the western world, merely see him as being too soft on terrorists.

I provided this clarification to keep the record straight, given that you forgot to describe the context of the picture.

mr hashmi
you don`t seem to have anything positive to say about pakistan, i wonder what made you return there , was it the prospect of having child servants for a pittance.
i`ve not seen any elite that has so much contempt for the poor as in pakistan

urstruly
revolution is not the answer, more later

Re: # 5

T Sahib, Policeman had NO right whatsoever to tell anyone to abide the law when he himself was involved in breaking it. Hashmi Sahibs of this world give up their right to criticize anyone when they themselves are accomplice to the mass mismanagement of our collective resources. That’s a grand scale larceny. At a minimum, his bureaucrat friend should be disciplined for providing public vehicle to his buddy for his private personal business. Hashmi Sahib is like a bank robber who complains about lack of airconditioning in the bank he is going to rob, or a shoplifter who sues the merchant for videoing him as that is violating his right to privacy. I hope that some Public Prosecutor is reading this article and taking appropriate action under the Pakistani laws.

Having said that, I sincerely hope that Hashmi Sahib had the decency to fill the tank up, or at least half of it.

#7 the system - which you call flawed - was created by the elite themselves to tkeep the great unwashed in check

What insisted you to find a `clearing agent` for a modest fee to get some legal work done?
Patience lacks in every class of our society. Blessed ones can pay clearing agents for their frustration over flawed system, but alienanted youth from poor localities craft other free of cost ways to express themselves.

well said tahmed

the day ought not be too far when the common man of this country realizes that the elite of this country spend more on 1 meal than the common man earns in a month (probably 3-4 months). when that gap in income is realized and properly understood, maybe some people will stand up againt this unjustice....till then.....``driver, ac tez karo``

The policeman had guts. No question. I doubt if very many chowk warriors would have shown the same cool.

As for the author - with all due respect, you were misusing government cars, appropriating a government employees time to get your stuff out of dry port. This is Pakistan Where those ``unemployed youth`` can use some stupid cartoon as a pretext to curse an elected President (Bush), destroy property and thus put off potential investors who could employ them.

But the same ``unemployed youth`` are clueless when a repsresentive of those really screwing them - namely those who misuse their authority in Pakistan for personal welfare or gain- was right there standing before them!! The author himself.

This piece is a biggest load of arrogant crap. “Poor” youth, “disenfranchised” “working class” “day laborer” “unemployed” blah blah blah. Perhaps the problem is not those disenfranchised youth, but jokers running the country, and Mullahs brainwashing the youth, and who is to say that the so-called educated classes of Lahore are any less schumker. Really sad to read such a silly piece. Unless I missed something.

`` They kept insisting we leave the car, he kept telling them what they were doing was wrong and they needed to go home and let us go about our business. Finally, one of the boys got tired of the argument and said “Theek hai, bolo Bush kutta hai hai (fine, say Bush is a dog)”, the constable looked at me, smiled ruefully and did as he was told upon which the boys cheered loudly and let us go. ``

Okay !!! Bush is a dog. Problems of all pakistanis are resolved. Hooray !!!
Is Urstruly happy now ?

I have no doubt in my mind that the protest was one of the practice run for the inevitable Bastille Day. That day of reckonning and gloutines are inevitable.

You just ran into some of that Jinnah progeny! Count your blessings that you survived.