State of Pakistan: What Can Pakistanis Do

Everyone is wondering why the Urdu-speaking Mohajirs of Karachi and Hyderabad are not actively taking part in this circus.

Although most of us despise arrogant, bloody, and irrational military dictators, we have to acknowledge that Mushy put an end to the carnage, slaughter, looting, and repression of Mohajirs. While the Pisser-e-Zameen, the students of PU, the Pathans and Sindhis were applauding "Operation Cleanup" of Nawaz Besharif and the wanton killing of "Choohas" by Bezamir Bhutni and her Ghaleezoola BuRbuR and giving each other jubilant high fives for Rangers killing "muttarwas," the citizens of Karachi bravely fought off their well-armed countrymen in total isolation.

Is it any wonder that Hypo Chacha Al Batteesi refers to me as "rodent man?" He is reminding us that Bezamir and Ghaleezoola referred to all Mohajirs as "choohas." Now you want us to form an alliance with the pussy (cat) and her "sher de puttar."

Re: # 37

"There is tremendous power in that "sorry", that is the antidote for the jihadi mindset which beleives in teh superiority of islam."

A very profound statement Jay.
Kshama is one of the greatest virtues. Asking for forgiveness is indeed one of the greatest deeds to cleanse a heart full of hatred.
Islam and Pakis can only be transformed if they learn how to say sorry and accept their own sin ful and hate ful lives.

Definitely the Pakistanis can do something to change the situation. To begin with they can use the words " Sorry, I am a pakistani" when ever they have to identify them selves.

This simple act can create a chain of of introspection which could lead to some solution.

There is tremendous power in that "sorry", that is the antidote for the jihadi mindset which beleives in teh superiority of islam.

@ all

The easiest thing to do is bring out negativity isn't it. And then linger on and on and on on it. Just use that brilliance towards a constructive debate. Maybe something positive and worthwhile can come out of it.

@ tahmed32

Sir, I never referred to having a better intellect then someone working in the fields. For all I know their might be brighter minds then myself, you or the next chowk.com writer(time waster). I merely pointed out to the capacity. And like I said, survival is the first thing that Humans have to get out of their thought process. Once that's done, then you can use your God Given Intellect at higher levels.

sammywiseguy #28 No doubt some people have to worry about their daily bread while others have time to waste (on chowk e.g.). However, please dont mislead yourself into thinking that you are any smarter than, e.g., the peasant working in the fields. You may have learnt many things that he has not, but you can never "learn" common sense and that is where education is no guarantee that you have learnt common sense.

Indeed, the kind of education many Pakistanis have gone through is geared to destroy their common sense and to rely instead on ideas and "ideologies" cooked up by others and spoonfed to them.

Mateen sahib: Thanks for the reassurance that you are using your God-given faculties to see for yourself and to think for yourself.

पाकिस्तान बनेगा इस्लामिस्तान

Nobody can stop the Islamists -

All munafiqoons get ready to embrace the purity of sunnat- those who would wear angrezi dress would be flogged.

salaam janeman,

Pakistan deserves to be under the rule of mullahs.

It has been preparing it's citizens for this day since 1947.

It has been pining for khalifas and Shariah since ages.

Let them have their Taliban and Hasbas.

Only then can we call it a "PAK-istan" !!!

Don’t worry folks! Pakistan will survive this one too as it has survived the previous regimes. Like Mr. Shiraz Mahmood has put it, we are still a young country and we have to go through our trials and tribulations our own way. Some take a shorter path; others prefer to take longer paths with some circles too. Looks like we, the Pakistanis seem to prefer the latter. As far as the question, what we Pakistanis can do? Educate ourselves and especially our young ones is the only answer. Education, that builds character, sense of value, and most important of all, aspire to become a good human being. Education, that teaches us to ‘Think’. Then can we expect, that we desire from our leadership. On the contrary, we will continue to spiral towards moral bankruptcy. No amount of such lamenting and bemoaning will suffice the need of the time.

We have to remember one thing. Leaders of a nation rise from within the nation and are not imported. If we find fault with our leaders, it is us who are to be blamed. Such are the times when we can truly gauge our merits.

No.27 tahmed32: I AM using my God-gifted faculties! Please see/read my article, 'Religiosity, National Ethos.....' in which you have also commented [6th November 2007]. Thank you.

Salaam to everyone.

Thank you for first of all, commenting on my effort. I am still new at writing, so therefore I take all criticism positively, even if it wasn't given in that same light by some.

I am not going to start replying to everyone who has been consistently interacting on this article.

I would however like to make one thing clear. This article is not an 'attack' on overseas settled Pakistanis. Not by a long shot. If that's the feeling people get, then I apologize. The point I tried to make was simply towards one step or solution to benefit the country.

@ tahmed32. True, I should practice what I preach. And true, God gave everyone eyes, ears and brains. But unfortunately, not everyone, given their circumstances or situations is in a position to use the gray matter to it's full capacity or potential or towards a direction more than 'making ends meet'. Survival is the first instinct. If you are comfortable on that, then you think beyond. I firmly believe in that.

#25 Why dont you practice what you preach and talk about the cause?

and dont look around to "what jinnah would say" and what hoodbhoy and co. would say - God gave you a brain and eyes and ears like it gave jinnah and hoodbhoy and every other individual who walked the earth. And God made your brain and eyes and ears of the same grade as he made for everyone else. So use them!!

Pakistanis should ask for more Islamic identity by strict implementation of Shariat so that they can become purer.

They must show to the world that they are the light of the ummah. They are going to become the next muslim world power and lead the war against the kafirs and idolators!!

There are no variations of the basic gripe or grouse or cribbing or diatribe or balderdash or humbug or ........!!
Can someone talk the cause and walk the remedy?
From what I can discern in the multitude of cursing or polemic in the many write-ups on this forum [chowk.com], there seems to be a total lack of clarity on WHAT is wrong and WHAT needs to be done: how about starting from the premise that we require a total re-evaluation of the concept that 'parliamentary democracy' is what the doctor ordered for Pakistan? How about giving a shot at understanding what Jinnah wanted for Pakistan?
Can we suggest Chowk Editors to invite comments / views from: Janab Sharif al Mujahid , Dr. Parvez Hoodbhoy, Janab Qazi Faez al Issa, Prof Anwar Syed [his write-up, "Dealing with an emergency", DAWN, 11th November 2007, is a sort of sequel to a long list of revealing/suggestive political frame-work for Pakistan], and many other apolitical commentators

Ahmedmadani sahib,

(Do not please may crude remarks about YLH.)

When did I say that YLH was a "Hindu racist, casteist, fascist, misogynist, bigoted freak"???

(Can you do that criticism on BBC aginst indian govt being against poor, hungry, backward, dalits, tamils, opporeesed women and ppor student and low or no caste)

Dunno whether BBC would want a ugly looking kala Bangali guy like me on TV.

(I am sure Indians will be more than happy if YLH is arrested.)

Not me. He is a good friend of mine.

(Mean kamine indians not all but some kamine )

Actually all are.

Regards

Musharraf is a sonofabitch.

I think this explains it much better than all this self-flagellation on shortcomings in the national character.

Re: # 19 Do not please may crude remarks about YLH. IF you care out democracy you should pay your respects. He gave straigh criticism of army rule. Can you do that criticism on BBC aginst indian govt being against poor, hungry, backward, dalits, tamils, opporeesed women and ppor student and low or no caste( muslims+christian+ buddha+ Sikh etc all others). Thanks.I am sure Indians will be more than happy if YLH is arrested. Mean kamine indians not all but some kamine

Re: # 18

I can see why you would construe my comments as unfair but here are a few questions?

Why is it that Pakistanis blame all their ills on India?

Why is it during democratic rule of Nawaz Sharif that we almost started a war with India...remember Kargil? And why is it that during President Musharraf's reign, our relations with India have never been better?

Did not Pakistani regimes support terrorists or as we like to call them "Mujahideen" in Indian occupied Kashmir?

Did not Pakistanis recieve support from the Saudis to build thousands of Madrassas to spread their vile fundamentalist version of Islam.

Is it India's fault that we have unfair laws such as the Hudood Ordinance?

Is it India's fault that Pakistan has been hijacked by the religious right who did not even want Pakistan to be created, and now turned it into a painfully disfigured caricature of Jinnah's vision?

When will we Pakistanis wake up and take responsibility for our status in the world today?

Re: # 17 I second your thinking. Insanity is doing thing same way and expecting different results. May be intelluctuals should other different mode than democracy or army rule. Also if army rule not worked democrasy did not work this mule of democracy+ army will not work. Time has come to give also chance to RELIGIOUS minded regime, where things are stark, simple , narrow and straight forward based on more higher principles.

Ahmedmadani sahib,

(This country is not democracy for so many reasons but real culprit is indian attitude)

More specifically it is the influence of the "Hindu racist, casteist, fascist, misogynist, bigoted freak"

Regards

Re: # 14 Very unfair commentry. This country is not democracy for so many reasons but real culprit is indian attitude and last war situation for 60 years. Can you name any country in world which is fighting big nabour for 60 years? nil
We had major wars and always firing bombs on border. And India and A'stan providing military training and money for terroridt specialy in B.Stan specializing in blowing up of rail and electric lines and specially strategic assets of gas pipe lines nearly 2 to 3 attacks per day. This is going by foreign interests. There is no country which is attacked from both sides and war leads to army rule loss democracy.
All our money is wasted on protecting against brutal and shameless enemy so not much left for industry and education etc. Also we have to go through trauma of east pakistan. loss of Nizam state and Junagarh and kashmie valley. Do you know any country which has democracy which has suffered so much. No country.
Why all people go on blaming each other most politicians are ok but situation is not normal due to indian hegemony and constant putting tension and country has to be on war footing. Which country on war footing is democracy. None.
Please blame our neighbour for making democracy impossible. I do not think democracy is any thing better than army rule. Indian democracy has more poverty than Pakistan army state. Hope international community understands this, but pakistanis need to put forward ythis point. Till kashmir probem is solved aggreable to pakaistan democracy is not possible. good day.

and Hamidm is right!

Why should Pakistanis get anything different when they keep doing the same things and expecting different results?

Did not the stellar reigns of Bibi and Shariff teach them a lesson? that Pakistanis are equally divided in their support for these two illustrious leaders!

Hamidm has a point! Think about it!

When Pakistani judiciary cant even do something so basic as repealing the hudood ordinance, then what makes you think that they should even ask for having the rule of the law...

Didnt Pakistanis repeal the eight amendment?

We insist on taking one step forward and 9 steps backwards..

a shame!

I think masadi again banned ? YLH also banned or in jail as he gave harsh comments on BBC ?

Re: # 10 Mr.H Why can you not let young man to be little romantic ? What he feels is not Lufangebazi but real pain.
Have good day.

Whats with the expatriate bashing?

You think we came abroad and starts picking dollars or pounds right off the money tree.

Its shameful that you belittle the sacrifices of expatriates living all over the world...

Just an example, why do you think Israel is so strong today? because of its large expatriate community in the US!

Dont the expatriates remit hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign exchange to Pakistan?

What kind of stupid idea is this that the cream of Pakistan has left Pakistan? Its like insulting the people who live there!

India has a huge expatriate community but why is India progressing in leaps and bounds? Why is India a democracy?
Why did India institute land reforms?

Dear Shiraz, do not be dissuaded by the negative talk from the Hamidm2, the talk that is most likely caused by the simple fact that you express yourself honestly in this piece and your idealism comes through loud and clear - which upsets him immensely as he gets to remember his own (long ago) days of youth!

Absolutely on the dot, Shiraz! I would subscribe to the idea that the 'expats' sitting pretty in their 'downtown' work spaces in various watering-holes of the 'civilised' urban areas of the 'yanqui' and 'cockney' lands, should stand and be counted in the homeland!
Are you listening, hamidm2? And do you utter the same stinking diatribe where you are currently holed-up in the 'gora'-land hole?!!

Keep thinking along these lines Shiraz.

A worthy effort.


Ras

shiraz mian,

"I ask, if the people of this country want the future to be different then they drop their hypocrisy and take on responsibility"

....... i have a better idea : why don't the people of this country drop their pants, bend over and take whatever comes like a man ....... stop whining and, as musharraf told mukhtaran bibi, "if rape is inevitable, relax and enjoy it"

....... pakis are like whores - they keep on hoping that with the next john they will find true love .......

"ISLAMABAD: The government is considering promulgating an ordinance to reduce the Supreme Court’s (SC) strength, Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Malik Qayyum said on Monday, adding that there was no ordinance on the cards to declare President General Pervez Musharraf as a qualified presidential candidate for the second term.

He told reporters outside the Supreme Court that the government wanted an "on-merit" decision on petitions challenging Gen Musharraf’s eligibility to run for a second presidential term."(AP)

What Musharraf sahib should do is to issue a PCO to castrate Aie Gee Quyum sahib of both his Lawyerhood and Judgehood -- because the judicio-legal Hoodlum is increasing becoming an unworthy embarrassment to both his Legal and Judicial parents.

Dear Shiraz, I have become a member of Chowk.com only a few days back and I have just submitted an article myself. I intend to submit another article tomorrow,if the editors publish it, then I think you may receive a real-life answer to the question you have raised - about the people who leave the country and seem to perhaps only criticize from a distance without having put in their bit as such. Exactly, what I had complained to a Pakistani/American investment banker based in NY years ago when I was trying to raise finances for a large project in Pakistan. He instead invested in India - and it took me years to understand why...
In any case, after India's success, the sixty years excuse is not quite palatable anymore. This happens to be a leap-frog era. And I think when one insists on putting in place foundations that are contrary to all principles of architecture then one cannot expect a high rise to stand... The problem are the people who would not allow institutions to develop...institutions which in turn keep personal adventurism under check... and keeping any hopes on Musharraf is wrong - nothing will come out of it, except losing another eight years when one would have to start afresh anyway...it is either now or another eight years later - but it will have to be done one day in any case...
Cheers... Amer Nazir

Very strange article.....

I am still not sure what the author is trying to say.....

You called it a rant, oh its definitely one!

Is there a thesis statement?

A main idea perhaps?

This article is seriously quite ADD...

#5 - Queen's adopting Mushy?

Re. the article, quite a simplistic take on a very complex problem. How can someone in his/her right mind justify emergency rule and curb on media? Hello? are you for real. What’s a “code of conduct for media” nonsense all about? Did anyone try to re-print Danish cartoons again? The Media (Pakistani, and Islamic media in general) has been spewing hatred of Jews and whatnot, and now some stupid dictator has found a reason to ask media to sign a “code of conduct”? Son of a real bitch.

Is Musharraf West's 'sonofabitch'?

Can Pakistanis call Musharraf "sonofabitch" -- if they want to migrate to 'England'?

WASHINGTON: The offending word is "sonofabitch."
Pakistan has expelled three British reporters after a UK daily twice referred the country's military dictator Pervez Musharraf as a "sonofabitch," sparking off a yet another fervent debate about language, stylebook and the limits of editorial expression.

The comment, deemed offensive by the Pakistani government, appeared in a November 9 editorial in the Daily Telegraph innocuously headlined "Bankrupt Relationship."

"In the old parlance, General Pervez Musharraf is "our sonofabitch," the paper wrote. "He has failed to stamp out extremist groups and close the madrassas that inspire them. He has allowed the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan to fall into the hands of assorted jihadis."

It then went on to add: "An alternative... seems neither imminent nor especially enticing. But that should not blind Britain and America to the fact that their "sonofabitch" in Pakistan is a spent force."

The "old parlance" the paper referred to appears to be an oft quoted remark attributed to various American leaders about their preference for some dictators -- "He's a bastard, but he's our bastard."

That quote has also been used by some columnists and bloggers to refer to the US' kidglove treatment of Musharraf compared to its hardline stand on leaders of Venezuela and Iran.

The quote is variously attributed to Presidents FDR, Truman, Nixon, and even strategic guru Henry Kissinger, and is believed to have originated in the context of US support to Nicaragua's Somoza line of dictatorship.

Some media stylebooks and manuals allow words such as bastard, but "sonofabitch" falls in the grey zone, partly because it is composite of words and does not even make the cut in some dictionaries.

The online Urban Dictionary lists four definitions for "sonofabitch" including one that reads: George W Bush, President of the USA.

In recent months, the media has struggled with words such as "F**K" and "S..T." Some American newspapers broke new ground by using the F-word when vice-president Cheney was heard telling a lawmaker to "go f*** yourself."

Pakistan though was in no doubt that "sonofabitch" breached the military regime's stylebook. "The language used for the President of Pakistan in your leading article ("Bankrupt relationship," November 9) is offensive and flouts the norms of decent journalism," Imran Gardezi, Minister Press, Pakistan High Commission, wrote to the paper. "For a newspaper of The Daily Telegraph's reputation to resort to such derogatory language is highly regrettable. This deserves an apology."

None was forthcoming."(AP)

Nawaz Sharif says in his book -- Musharraf called him a
"bastard" saying: -- "I have to sort out that (NS) bastard".

Useless article and deviod of all intellect, I'm afraid (Chowk is seriously lowering its editorial stadandards).

let see..
You say : "I believe that most of our problems root from within us. "

None of us our saints , neither the westerner nor the pakistani, so there is no problem "rooted within us".

And if this were so, we would not have such a successful expat poulation. the problem is that we do not have a postivist environemnt of accountability in our country (especially after Musharraf's coup against the judiciary) . If we had insitution instilling accountability and consumer rights , we would be in a prosperous country and there would be no brain drain, as talent will match captial and all will be held accoutnable.

There are also many other flaws in your article but I do not know if I should dignify this piece by writing a detailed criticism.

Speaking of common man, there is no one more common than Hypo Chacha Al Butteesi.

{"Where the common man is day by day becoming more hypocritical and bitter."}

Mahmood Sahib,
Painful but true - good article.

What do you expect when there are racist and bigoted Pakis like Hypo Chacha Al Butteesi wrapping themselves up in the Sitara-e-Halal?

There is a website by Pakistani Students to register protest online. It is a new concept but has been working very successfully in Europe, US and some other countries for the last few years.

So this is also something we can do, Please register your protest at (www.BoltaPakistan.com) and spread the word. If they can get some healthy number, it would also be another step in our struggle.