Introspection
“Enough is enough…” Tzipi Livni’s (Israeli foreign minister) words today echoed in my mind in the context of Pakistan. The so called ‘land of the pure’ is on the verge of imploding even before any US drone or Indian missiles are fired. It seems years of neglect in the public, economic, social and political fronts have led to a complete lock down of intellect in society.
At one level, I can appreciate millions in the country don’t have the skills to differentiate right from wrong as they have never really had any creative education and have only been fed lies from the system. But I do expect some more sense from the urban elite and tech savvy young minds who have the means to seek the knowledge to arrive at more balanced views on all issues concerning their country.
To take a medical analogy, one of the primary signs of a patient suffering from terminal mental illness is that they never admit that anything is wrong with them. This only prolongs the suffering. Much like this, I am seeing continued denial on our part to accept that Pakistan indeed has become a ‘migraine’ for the world and will either need to change itself or be changed forcibly by the world whether or not we like it.
Over the last months on this forum, I have witnessed endless debates between the so called Kaami camp and the rest. I think Kaami makes a whole lot of sense and is one of the few amongst us who accepts that we are a sick nation that needs a cure. We will not become apologists to the west if we accept today that yes most of the terrorist incidents around the world have a Pakistan connection as for years we sold our souls to the extremist Saudi, Iranian and American agencies.
Leaving aside the recent Mumbai attacks, most terrorist attacks against the west are committed by people with strong connections to Pakistan especially in my adopted country of United Kingdom. Now if the west were to adopt an equally rigid stance of ‘pound for pound’ then we would’ve been annhilated by now….think of all our big cities resembling the rubble that are Kabul, Herat, Baghdad, Basra etc. We will only invite their force by baring our chests and shouting war chants.
Whether it is the US, India or Israel, we have set our eyes on the wrong enemy. As endlessly claimed by Kaami, the enemy is within our borders. The enemy which continues to rob us of progress, equality, justice and above all, peace. Let’s vow to root out this terror from our streets by denouncing these extremists as non-muslims and non-Pakistani who have no place in our society unless they change. This includes sympathisers of the present Saudi and Iranian regimes that continue to pump billions of petro dollars to indoctrinate young Sunni and Shia youth in our country towards a future of hate and destruction.
Having experienced both Saudi and Iran, I have witnessed first hand the barbarity with which humanity is treated. And if that is the ideal we seek to follow, then sadly our descent into the abyss has only just begun.
Again recognizing just one thing and blaming it for all the ills is too simplistic an approach. I fr one thing never supported talibanization after 9/11 because i have an extra reason of avoiding them and that is my womanhood. God forbid if they grow any powerful first thing they will do is to eliminate women from all walks of life, completely banning education for them and denying access to all health and career facilities to them. so taliban is a definite no no for me.
But what we (the anti-kami group) want you to realize is that now that pakistan is knees deep into fighting talibanization it is simply insane of india to start bickering and blaming us for supporting taliban. And even if we are supporting taliban it does not give india a right to use it as a an excuse for attack. India had been supporting dalai lama in tibet for 40+ years now but I wonder why china did’nt take it into its head to teach indian talibans a lesson by attacking india.
If you think we lack vision or common sense to see the real situation of pakistan. than my friend i must beg your forgiveness that my views are very prejudiced as far as pakistan is concerned. I m as prejudiced towards pakistan as i am for my parent.
Wow..great comparison between Dalai Lama and Taliban. Really eye opening.
Now if the west were to adopt an equally rigid stance of ‘pound for pound’ then we would’ve been annhilated by now
WHAT!!! pound for a pound … wake up my friend and open your eyes to weigh the pounds your adopted "West" has already taken from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan directly or indirectly.
Mozang bijjli’s concern for education is really touching more so when the fact that Taliban’s aversion to women education, if they were ever to come into power,does seem real. However, I do feel her aprehensions are misplaced as I do not see how the Taliban could possibly degrade (or is it improve?) the education Ms. Bijjli has so far received that allows her to view support for Tibetan cause and Dalai Lama as another "talibanesque" aspect.
So, I say to Ms.Bijjli, have no guilt when you support the Taliban. Your vote can actually make the difference and maybe, in the not too distant future, Baithulla Mehsud or Mullah Omar can be contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize.
@honestabdul
honestly its an eye opener, this is what we call democratic norms. So very unlike taliban.
Finally, an Author from the Pakistan Metlogs (Lahore, Isb and khi) has come forward with a post which is unlike any. It’s a revealing insight on the predicament we find ourselves as a nation. Indeed if we have to move forward then we will have to come out of this mentality of self pity, self righteousness and face our daemons head on. We need to stop “Chasing the Mirage” of an Islamic State (as so powerfully described by Tareq Fateh in his book of the similar title: http://www.chasingamirage.com)
However, this should not take away from the contributions by other authors in these forums like Hasan Mubarak, Priacha, A for PineApple, Talha, Shoiab and MB from Karachi. All of them, despite their political inclinations have not hesitated on posting controversial topics and to their credit have not only tolerated divergent views but also managed to keep an open mind about off topic discussions / emotional outbursts. This has encouraged me and others to keep coming back to this cyber abode.
I can safely assume that every Pakistani feels that there is something fundamentally wrong with our country, that we are not moving forward, that the situation is getting worst every day. So, the next the important questions are: How do we turn around? How can we break this fall?
One way of doing it, is wait for others to take action e.g. wait for India to declare war on us and then we will unite and fight it out. OR wait for U.S to stop drone attacks or wait for IMF to bail us out…Keep our fingers cross and wait and wait……On the other hand how about this: We do a critical analysis of ourselves, discover the truth despite the mullah, media and the noble politicians. Discover our true (religio/politico) history, find out what is fundamentally wrong and try to fix it. The best thing about it: we can do it ourselves; we don’t need any external powers to diagnose what’s wrong with us.
Time and again I have emphasised that it’s the middle classes that bring about change in any modern society. For any country to progress the middle class needs to be given space to work and utilize its talents. For that to happen we need stability and a strong government, able to establish its writ. Having high democratic and judicial ideals is commendable, but the way to achieve them is not through violent revolutions or destabilizing movements. If we shun our martial tendencies, make peace within and let our merchants, engineers, doctors, accountants, IT professionals, craftsmen, artists and entrepreneurs utilize their talents, we will overtime develop a culture were values like merit, justice and honesty are cherished. All that is needed is stability and 10 years of hard work.
(There is also a short cut: Enforce land reforms but I don’t see it coming)
In the present circumstance all we need to do is put pressure on our government / military to clean up the mess. If the jawans have to put their lives at stake to catch some crazy ideolog then the whole nation better be behind them. Of course, the people indoctrinated into the hordes of extremist groups are also Pakistani, are also no less patriotic then any one of us but, the if the rest of the nation openly expresses its disgust over sense less terrorist acts and there is a unified “loud” voice against any kind of barbarism and, nobody is attempting to justify the unjustifiable. If we keep at it then, overtime, those of us who have digressed will realize that the tactics adopted by them are not working; they will have to mend their ways.
Now since we have Bush, Cheney and Rumsfield out of the picture its absolutely essential that crack pots like Osama, Zawahiri, Mahsood, Fazlullah, Masood Azher and Lakhvi need to be hunted down (with or without US help) , so that for once, we get rid of all those who have fed the fire of hate for over a decade.
Am I sounding like a utopian? Believe me its doable, it’s just a question of opening up your minds, getting out of the ummah mentality and discovering yourself.
In the end I am thankful to azface for specifically mentioning me, yet I know that there are quite a few in these forums who have powerfully advocated the cause of “common sense” encouraging me to keep on hammering the message. I am thankful to them and hope that they will continue to push on.
Excellent Column AZ. Very well said. I could not have said it any better myself. I try though just about every day ever since the Marriott and Mumbai bombings.
Please visit my blog at:
http://www.PakistanisforPeace.Wordpress.com
Also join us on Facebook Groups under: Pakistanis For Peace
And Finally look for our website http://www.PakistanisforPeace.com
Launching by Mid January of 2009!
Thanks and I plan on being on Lahore Metro blog more often as I am from Saanda and Islampora area of Lahore way back in the day and still most family is there, Allama Iqbal Town and Islamabad~
Remember, Salaam and Shalom= Peace
Thanks and God Bless us all~
Manzer
First of all, I must thank the author for touching this rather sensitive subject with the utmost objectivity and pragmatism it requires. Absolutely, we need introspection more than anything else. Time has gone by when we could get away with blaming external factors for our own shortcomings. We must correct and rectify what is in our power to do so, rather than shrugging it all off to “outsiders”.
We must change the mindset of our nation so that we can all focus improving our lives economically and socially here in Pakistan. It is an open secrete what is ailing us. It is time that we muster the courage to pin the blame at the right place – religion based/motivated violence and intolerance – for the current state of affairs in otherwise talented nation.
I am not surprised at the confusion prevailing in some minds that are not ready to accept what does not fit into their narrow preconceived idea box. Unless they break free of this box that shackles their thinking, we will keep on seeing the far-fetched and unrealistic comparisons between the Pakistani support for the Taliban with that of the Indian for the Tibetans (this comparison is any ruse to cover-up our inner cancer by justifying the unjustifiable). While one movement is based on imposing ignorance, backwardness and violence on a society at gun-point, the other is a movement for autonomy based on nationhood. While the Taleban look to their religion to acquire self-righteousness to kill and pillage; the Tibetans look to their religion to maintain their restraint and spread peace. I would prefer to live under the rule of Dalai Lama any day; raise your hands if anyone at this forum is interested in living under the benevolent rule of Amir Momineen Mulla Omar.