Mess!

You must have read stories of all those great guys living in these great “Runaway’s Sanctuary”-The Hostel.Some of them must’ve been really interesting and others not-so-interesting.Mine is neither of them,and beware it could be real pain in the ass. Well i don’t really think if i should wipe over the dust from the historical “hostel” pages of my daily diary that never exists! I shall not brag about my boarding house and if i do,believe me,i shall be called a real jackass. Its not that i hate the broken gate and stinking stairs,or the cracked mirrors and Invisible window panes, i can assure you that its not even because of the ultra-hygienic environment too.And i swear the rat-shit-smelling-corridors also don’t bother me that much,just like armies of insects in wash rooms don’t do any harm to you.I just happen to have this very slight objection against her highness-The Hostel Mess! Forgive me for taking the liberty of using this extra-constitutional and if and only if,disgusting name for the royal fiestas and meal of our princely hostel.Forgive me for this un-called name for this tag “Mess” was already in vogue,otherwise I cannot even think of calling it anything less then a “royal treat”. This assault on my taste-buds began a grand six months ago.You shouldn’t wait a second to call it a white lie if I tell you that I was totally unaware of these magically and majestically tasty dishes,because some of my elders had already told me that some of these servings will be pleasantly bearable while others,not-so-pleasantly-bearable.I feel real embarrassed of myself for not being able to find out the former and I accept my shameful defeat,i really do.They say its grand and all on your part to accept or confess! Red-ribbon ceremony of my “Mess” was somewhere around the mid of January.I really liked the discipline and the sitting arrangement,I really did.I grabbed that Godfather chair on this remotest continent of the dining table.I swear i pretended myself as real Mafia or something like that. i wouldn’t really complain about the pathetically old guys who serve you this food,although they are awfully unclean and you never feel like eating whatever they serve.But anyways.I took the virgin spoon full of this so-called ”Chicken Pulao”;and i should,without any doubt,tell you that it was good except for the excess salt they had mistakenly tossed in,and except for the totally roasted-to-death chicken that you’d coincidentally find in your plate and just a lil amount of black pepper that jumped in from somewhere;otherwise it was good,I accept. This tradition of small,rather very small “mistakes” carries on to this day.They serve you with vegetables cooked and presented in these thousand new ”delicious” ways you never had any idea of.Lady fingers are chopped into the size of finger,chicken into chickens’,and not to forget the torture they do to shashlik.They also serve you with the exotic chicken in more than one million royal forms.They are tasty,tasty as hell,tasty as a goddamn cheapest dish of this cheapest hotel of a cheapest town! You really fell pity for these chicken; hell you do! I shall not do the injustice of labeling “Mess” the one responsible for my pukings and acidity problems.Its no other than my stupid stomach,which,despite reading all that GIT crap in college doesn’t develop a taste for this Victorian lavish food. My greatest companions in these hours of i don’t know,felicity or need,have been Pizza Hut,KFC,Biryani Express and dozens of those experiments.They are spicy an all and no wonder they set my poor taste-buds on fire.I shall also extend my sincere thanks to my roommate Saadi and others not-so-roommates for their valuable fiscal contributions in ordering these,as compared to hostels’,humble food.I shall also make it very very clear that I am not insulting hostels’ food at all,its just my un-compromising acid bag which has failed to fight against the assault.

Mess!

You must have read stories of all the great guys living in these great “Runaway’s Sanctuary”-The Hostel.Some of them must’ve been really interesting and others not-so-intersting.Mine is neither of them,and beware it could be real pain in the ass.

Well I don’t really think if I should wipe over the dust from the historical “hostel” pages of my daily diary that never exists! I shall not brag about my boarding house and if I do,believe me,i shall be called a real jackass.

Its not that I hate the broken gate and stinking stairs,or the cracked mirrors and invisible window panes, I can assure you that its not even because of the ultra-hygienic environment too.And I swear the rat-shit-smelling-corridors also don’t bother me that much,just like armies of insects in wash rooms don’t do any harm to you.I just happen to have this very slight objection against her highness-The Hostel Mess! Forgive me for taking the liberty of using this extra-constitutional and if and only if,disgusting name for the royal fiests and meals of our princely hostel.Forgive me for this un-called name,for this tag “Mess” was already in vogue,otherwise I cannot even think of calling it anything less then a “royal treat”.

This assault on my taste-buds began a grand six months ago.You shouldn’t wait a second to call it a white lie if I tell you that I was totally unaware of these magically and majestically tasty dishes,because some of my elders had already told ( …warned or whatever you may call it!) me that some of these servings will be pleasantly bearable while others,not-so-pleasantly-bearable.I feel real embarrassed of myself for not being able to find out the former and I accept my shameful defeat,I really do.They say its grand and all on your part to accept or confess!

Red-ribbon ceremony of my “Mess” was somewhere around the mid of January.I really liked the discipline and the sitting arrangement,I really did.I grabbed that Godfather chair on this remotest continent of the dining table.I swear I pretended myself as a real Mafia or something like that,or at least I tried to. I wouldn’t really complain about the pathetically old guys who serve you this food,although they are awfully unclean and you never feel like eating no matter what they serve.But anyways.I took the virgin spoon full of this so-called ”Chicken Pulao”;and I should,without any doubt,tell you that it was good except for the excess salt they had mistakenly tossed in,and except for that totally roasted-to-death chicken that you’d coincidentally find in your plate and just a lil amount of black pepper that jumped in from somewhere;otherwise it was good,I accept. This tradition of small,rather very small “mistakes” carries on to this day.

They serve you with vegetables cooked and presented in these thousand new ”delicious” ways you never had any idea of.Lady fingers are chopped into the size of finger,chicken into chickens’,and not to forget the torture they do to shashlik.They also serve you with the exotic chicken in more than one million royal forms.They are tasty,tasty as hell,tasty as a goddamn cheapest dish of this cheapest hotel of a cheapest town! You really feel pity for those chicken; hell you do!

I shall not do the injustice of labelling “Mess” the one responsible for my puking and acidity problems.Its no other than my stupid stomach,which,despite reading all that GIT crap in college doesn’t develop a taste for this Victorian lavish food. My greatest companions in these hours of I don’t know what to call it,felicity or need,have been PH,KFC,Biryani Express and dozens of those experiments you’d never want to experience.They are spicy and all and no wonder they set my poor taste-buds on fire.I shall also extend my sincere thanks to my roommate Saadi and the guys next door for their valuable fiscal contributions in ordering these,as compared to hostels’,humble food.I shall also make it very very clear that I am not insulting hostels’ food at all,its just my un-compromising acid bag which has failed to fight against the assault and I’m sorry for that!

In The Name Of God-Khuda Ke Liyay!

After watching this splendid movie,I can assure you that director Shoaib Mansoor lives his name.This unique movie without any kick boxing games,and as intended,has generated ripples which would soon develop in constructive waves.Many common issues of society like Music,Marriage,US reaction towards Muslims,Jihad and Physical appearance,are debated in the picture.
Mansur and Sarmad are brothers and successful musicians of Pakistan.But after brainwashing by a radical cleric Maulana Tahiri,Sarmad gives up music.
Music is a special gift blessed upon someone by none other than God Himself.He bestowed this special quality on Hazrat Dawood(David)-one of the four Book-Bearers.Hazrat Muhammad(P.B.U.H) ,at several occasions,quoted Hazrat Dawood’s beautiful voice as mystic and stunning.Lyrics could be termed as immoral but how come a beautiful voice is tagged as unislamic.Its God-gifted and no one can deny it!
Another issue discussed in the movie was forced marriages,which was conditionally and illogically stated as Islamic by Maulana Tahiri.Mary(Eman Ali) lives in UK with her parents and loves Dave.But her father forcefully married her to Sarmad,her musician come Jihadi cousin in Pakistan.Later in the movie all the misconceptions and confusions were dealt with by another Maulana(Naseer-ud-Shah),shown as a moderate and very logical man.He quotes several occasions where Hazrat Muhammad(P.B.U.H) refuted the forced marriages.
The movie also successfully defends the wearing of western dresses.How can Islam being a universal religion force all its follower to wear same Qameez Shalwar or Jubba?.How can a person in Alaska wear this so-called Islamic .The main purpose is to guard modesty.If this purpose is achieved with jeans,thats good enough.Islam doesn’t restrict anyone from wearing what they want to as far as it covers them well.Its the Maulanas who have fabricated and confused the religion and culture.Beard is the depiction of extreme love for Holy Prophet(P.B.U.H),its the last step not the first.Priorities shall never be confused.Last step of a staircase shall never be put first.A person cannot not be forced to support a beard until his inner self is pure.Maulanas should improve the inner self of people first and then lay stress on physical appearance.Otherwise you might hear,the dacoits,smugglers,criminals and terrorists supporting beard as real Islam enthusiasts while clean shaved people who never lie,never hurt anyone,never kill anyone,who don’t commit crimes and follow the religion with full zeal,but still labeled Liberal and unislamic for not supporting the beard.
The movie also airs the controversy of Jihad while rightly ruling out killing of Muslims by Muslims as totally unislamic instead of jihad.
The matter of inhumane treatment of even moderate and peace-loving Muslims by the US sadistic officials was successfully portrayed.The double standard of labeling Muslims as terrorist while supporting all those Serbs,Israelites,Indians and Americans killing the Muslims in Chechnya,Palestine,Kashmir and Afghanistan and hailing them for their moves cannot be justified in any case.
In a nutshell I would say that this movie rocks big big time with its amazing direction,thought-provoking script and extremely pleasant music.Two Thumbs Up and hats off for Shaib Mansoor,Shan and Eman for their extraordinary performance.

In The Name Of God

That was Shoaib Mansoor.You may not agree with him right now on this stance but you have to agree that the guy who gave you Supreme Ishq,Alpha Bravo Charlie cannot give you anything less than a marvelous piece of art and entertainment.
Bottom Line is:I cannot wait to see “In The Name Of God”,I swear!

Truth will out

Could it be that the government did not want Ghazi to remain alive and at some point talk to the media? The operation was codenamed “Silence”. It makes sense to dub it such if there is an urgent need to “silence” someone

The government has closed the file on Lal Masjid. Time now to answer some questions.

As argued in this space, states use force or threaten its use and that is considered legitimate (the issue of legitimacy is of course linked to either a large majority of people approving the use of force in a situation or the state’s ability to do so without fear of being effectively challenged). Philosophers since Plato have noted that “politics involves managing coercive force because human condition involves conflicts of interests”.

But there is a caveat: force cannot be used gratuitously; it is a means towards an end and not an end in itself. This is true both of a state’s use of force against internal challenges and external threats.

The question then is, what is the truth behind the “last” draft which had been worked out between Abdul Rashid Ghazi and the government — through the ulema — and which was changed by the presidency?

This question is vital because if it is correct that Ghazi was prepared to lay down arms, the entire rationale for the use of force disappears. At the risk of overemphasis, let me reiterate that while it is a mistake to shy from using force in situations where appeasement can lead to encouraging a group (or state) to continue with its unacceptable conduct, it’s even more unacceptable that force be used when it can be proved that a situation could be resolved through other means.

Killing people is no joke. Which is why force must never be used unless it becomes absolutely clear that the benefit of using it far outweighs the cost. The government constantly said that it gave the Lal Masjid a long rope because it wanted to resolve the issue peacefully. That is correct. True also is the fact that the two brothers kept pushing the envelope. But precisely on the basis of the government’s own argument that it was reluctant to use force can one now ask why force was used when (or is it if?) Ghazi had agreed to surrender. Was there a hidden agenda?

On the authority of various sources, and in the absence of transparent facts, it seems that the final parleys with Ghazi were an eyewash and a decision had been taken to kill him. If this is correct, and unless the government can prove to the contrary, it is unacceptable and the government must explain why such a decision was taken, at whose behest, and to what end. It must prove, beyond any doubt, that all deaths — on both sides — from the moment the deal was scuttled can be justified.

The religion minister Ijaz-ul Haq has been saying that Ghazi inquired about the fate of the “foreigners”. Haq’s statement is in line with the government’s claim that the mosque was hiding Al Qaeda (foreigners) and Jaish-e Mohammad (local) terrorists. There is absolutely no doubt that all communications were being recorded. Could we have the transcript of this conversation? It would also be good to see the bodies of the foreigners who, according to the government, were holding Ghazi hostage. What did Ghazi mean when he spoke to a channel, his last communication with the outside world, and said that those who had deceived him would be answerable to God on the day of judgement? What was the deception? What “political ulema” was he talking about?

Could it be that the government did not want Ghazi to remain alive and at some point talk to the media? The Lal Masjid connections with jihadi (and sectarian) groups are known and they go back to the Afghan jihad. The state was involved in that policy and it empowered them. When the government says the Lal Masjid people had stockpiled weapons and ammunition, would someone like to tell us how and over what period of time? Was there an intelligence failure; more likely, was it done in collaboration with intelligence agencies? (Please note that the government stands in violation of resolution 1373 of the Security Council if it allowed the mosque to stockpile weapons and give sanctuary to “terrorists”.)

The operation was codenamed “Silence”. It makes sense to dub it such if there is an urgent need to “silence” someone. Ghazi was of course straining at the leash to cross the red line. Was he put up to it by some elements who then decided that he was expendable? Why did Ghazi fall for their machinations?

Why are the media being kept away from hospitals; why were reporters/cameramen not allowed to go inside the mosque when Ghazi invited them to come in and see for themselves what the situation was like (the argument that they could be made hostages is flimsy because there are effective ways through which this could have been avoided). There have been reports of security forces personnel intimidating the media (reporters/cameramen) and not allowing them to function smoothly. The government can say that it only tried to keep the media away from harm’s way but that too does not wash. If a reporter or cameraman is prepared to risk his life, so be it. And if he comes back alive, three cheers for him. He can wear the result of that adventure like a badge of honour.

Was it concern for the media’s security or the fear that media snooping could lead to some embarrassing facts? Some answers would again be welcome.

It is important for the government to realise that hiding facts will not do for a simple reason: facts have an annoying way of surfacing at odd moments; also, their absence gives rise to rumours and speculation. It’s best to be transparent, even when mistakes have been made.

The ulema have asked for a judicial inquiry into the whole episode; such an inquiry, in any case, should be standard procedure. If the government is clean, it should have no objection to this demand; indeed, it should have taken the initiative and announced one itself. The exercise should go beyond just a fact-finding mission and should include representatives from political and civil-society representatives.

The file will remain open until the truth is out.

(Ejaz Haider-Daily Times)

Lal Masjid Fiasco

The controversial death of Abdul Rasheed Ghazi marked the end of “Operation Silence”.A 7-day military operation against seminary students ended,leaving more than 250 dead and even more injured.Every Pakistani believes that demands of Ghazi brothers were just and their mission of implementing Islamic values and code of life was not unconstitutional.But their method was incorrect and was condemned by all and sundry.And this method was wrong enough to invite the wrath of a man who danced in Islamabad while precious lives were being lost in ex-capital and didn’t even feel like interrogating,the self-acclaimed”The Only” enlightened and moderate man of Pakistan.The Lal Masjid fiasco is a real mystery.It leaves many vital questions unanswered.No one in the elite fleet has been able to explain why this situation was encountered at the first place.The same area houses Headquarters of ISI,Ambassadors Enclave,Prime Minister Secretariat and Ministry of Environment.Why and how did one of the best secret agencies in the world failed to keep an eye on a suspected place.Even then,Was the military action the only option left? If Zia-ul-Haq can release (even escort) more than 100 most wanted terrorists just to save the lives of Pakistani citizens in an hijacked plane.If India can let go some of her most critical criminals for the release of Indians held captives in an hijacked plane,then what in hell was so heinous in this case that the Government denied a safe passage to Ghazai Abdul Rasheed? Government,rather Musharraf insisted like a child for the “Unconditional Surrender” but did not give a damn about the innocent people inside the mosque.Why was the final draft vetoed by Musharraf after being accepted by the highest officials of the country and negotiators.The method of Ghazis is vehemently opposed and so is military action.The drama of “Operation Silence” has ended with loud bangs.The sense of vengeance and sworn revenges are all time high.Lets hope that the matter will be investigated and such actions will never be repeated.

Tale of Many Cities!

After a boring 1 month of vacations,we dragged our lazy asses to go for something or somewhere.Haasin,Faateh,Ibraheem Polu,Kashif and me decided to enjoy a tour of northern areas of Pakistan.We packed our stuff and loaded the Land cruiser with Camps and our traveling bags before starting our journey at odd 2 a.m. on 5th of July.

Our first destination was Muree,a beautiful hill station also known as “Mulka-e-Kohsar”.It welcomed us with dense,black clouds and a heavy downpour.The dwindling road escorted us to Murees’ busiest place-The Mall Road.The standard “Unnda-Paratha Nashta” served us quite well and we,then,left for our search of ”Meera House”.Rediculously an old man told us that he “Cannot” tell us where it was.The Meera house was Polu’s uncles’ Villa in Muree.The answer of that old man added to our suspicions about the already suspected named-Meera House.Nevertheless the Villa was found after a careful search of more than half an hour but it was worth it.It was a nice comfortable place at the mountain top and had enough rooms to house 6 of us! The screams of Polu and me were audible to quite a distance when we bathed (separately of course!) in freezing cold water.

Our next stop was Patriata.A good place for sight-seeing from a certain hight.Patriata is home to high mountains,Chair Lift,Cabin Car and a Safari Park.The aerial trip between the three highest mountains of the area on Cabin Car and exchange of hilarious remarks with other people was a wonderful experience.After an hour-long impatient wait,a little quarrel with some stupid but strong tourists and a funny lap-top bargain with a pathan (5000 for a p3 wasn’t a bad choice Haasin! ),we left for Nathiagalli.

The refreshing air and “Hot’n'Spicy Taj Mahal Chicken” of Polu’s choice was a real treat.We left for the Mansehra via Abbotabad the very next morning.

Abbotabad stop was marked by meeting with WAX’ias Saadi,Salaria,Subhani and Khan.After waving them good-bye( they might call it “Thudding “) and without wasting any time,we headed further north.We gave our bodies some rest in Mansehra at a motel by the side of River Kunhar,continued our photo sessions,played some card games and the visited an area dotted with camps for earth-quake hit people.The road to Naran was very thrilling,dotted with exceptional sceneries,freezing cold waterfalls and odd glaciers.By the time we reached Naran sun had set and the valley lit with few bulbs presented an image of candles in a dark night.The view was majestic and so was Naran valley itself.The stay at Naran was the best part of the trip.The air was so cold and pure that it ripped the body apart and refreshed the soul within.Card games for hours,late night in the bazar and the bizarre Texas’Coy Boy Styled guide was a memorable addition to the pleasant weather.

We hired a jeep for the Lake Saif-ul-Malook which drove us through freakingly dangerous road studded with haphazard glaciers and narrow paths.A single inch miscalculation by the driver could have cost us but his expertise were well beyond our imaginations.An hour long perilous journey on Jeep brought us to the most beautiful lake of Pakistan-Lake Saif-ul-Malook.Cutting the freezing greenish water of Lake with my hands gave me a pure mystical experience.The images of snow-covered top of mammoths surrounding the mythical lake were more than a treat.Kashif and me tested our mountaineering skills on the Glacier close by and slid on our way down awarded by glacier with freezing butts and frost bites! But it was one hell of an experience.I took a horse ride around the lake.Saif-ul-Maluk captivated us for the next 3 hours.The boating experience in this heavenly lake was extremely joyful.The cold water of the lake was tempting and every inch of my body wanted to dive into it.The myths lesson from an old man hightened our fascinations about the lake and valley.

Fascinating enough to push us to hike our way back to Naran.Idea was floated and we decided to set out for this extremely dangerous 9-Km hike studded with steep slopes,ice-cold rivers,giant glaciers and breath-taking scenaries.Heavy weight champs did face some trouble early on but adapted well enough to continue the zealous attempt.The feelings were undoubtedly sensational and risk definately gripped us with every passing second.I felt like part of an adventurous mission to take The Ring ( Lord Of The Ring) to some safe place.The hike also fulfilled my wish to see the stone-made houses and the life style of people living within.This 3-hour weary walk from Saif-ul-Malook to Naran left us exhausted but it also feeded us with a life-time adventure.

Shogran and Sirri Paye is a breath-taking hill station and stay at the hill-top-hotel was a great experience.” After a week long trip we all felt home-sick and decided to leave th very evening.The journey from Shogran to Lahore was no less fun with never ending ” Heavilay Populay ” slogan of Polu,Bluff calls in card games,Fatty’s wet pants drama ( I successfully convinces him that it was his own act,although i had poured some water on his zippers while he was taking a nap… ).We touched down at 5:30 am the next morning on 10th of July,leaving behind the great images of heaven look-alike…

Freedom of Expression

I have spent the last few weeks reflecting on the notion of freedom. Freedom of thought, of expression, and most importantly freedom of choice. A frequently asked question has been, said in the manner one interrogates child rapists about their predilections, ‘are you a secularist’?

In the scheme of things, I am certainly a small fish. I’m no grand prize to bait. All over the world people are paying the price for expressing themselves freely and for, heaven forbid, exercising their right to act and think contrary to the direction of the herd. Allow me to present three examples.

Exhibit A: This past weekend, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared an emergency government, dissolving the democratically elected Hamas government on the grounds that its gunmen had been running amok on the streets of Gaza. Pardon me for pointing out the obvious, but if these are the grounds for removing Hamas from government, then Fatah and its leader Mr Abbas should also be chucked. They had some rather scary looking gunmen out on the roads too. But that’s not the main reason of course.

Out of all the invented incentives dangled in front of us, the one regarding democracy has to be the biggest sham. It goes like this: be democratic and we (the ubiquitous ‘we’, the powers that be) will accept you. One has to look no further than Pakistan to see how flexible this invented incentive is.

In the parliamentary elections held in January 2006 Hamas swept the polls with a clear majority, bagging 76 seats out of 132. The voter turnout was an impressive 77 percent. The people of Palestine had spoken, but the powers that be did not like what they had to say. The bulk of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) budget comes from foreign donors and before you could say ‘breach of democracy’, over one billion dollars in outside aid was cut.

The EU, the largest donor to the Palestinians, swiftly withdrew $600 million dollars in aid and America rescinded its contribution of $400 million. “No money will go to that government” Condoleezza Rice told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while the House of Representatives, the foundation of democracy in America, punished the Palestinian people for its democratically elected choice of government by passing a resolution 481 votes to 1 supporting the shutting down of aid to the PA.

Israel, the instigator of Hamas’ economic strangulation, explained its policy through Dov Weisglass, advisor to Ehud Olmert, like this “The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger”. Well, more than a few did die of hunger. Gaza’s population of 1.3 million people was placed under a complete lockdown — humanitarian aid became paltry, salaries were not delivered, and food shortages were rife. Hamas, who refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, was not acceptable. Democracy be damned.

As soon as Mr Abbas removed Hamas and its elected representatives from government the EU announced that they would resume direct aid to the Palestinian Authority to “support President Abbas’s new cabinet”. America also clapped its hands with joy and assured the new Palestinian Prime Minister, Salam Fayyad — who conveniently worked with the World Bank in Washington from 1987 to 1995 and was later the IMF representative to Palestine until 2001 — that there would be no problem regarding the reengagement of American funds to the PA. Oh, by the way, Prime Minister Fayyad is also to rule without parliamentary approval as per a decree signed by President Abbas. Democracy in action, no?

Exhibit B: Norman Finkelstein, an American political science professor, was recently denied tenure at DePaul University. Mr Finkelstein said he clearly “met the publishing standards and the teaching standards required for tenure” and that DePaul’s decision was based on “transparently political grounds” and an “egregious violation” of academic freedom. Mr Finkelstein’s crime? Speaking out against the politics and practices of the state of Israel. It is worth mentioning that Mr Finkelstein is a Jew who lost family members to Nazi concentration camps.

In his landmark book ‘The Holocaust Industry’ Finkelstein argues that there cannot be a hierarchy of suffering. The pain endured by the Jews is no greater than the pain endured by masses of other people who have also been victims of genocide, racism, and systematic political abuse. Finkelstein writes that invoking the holocaust has increasingly become a means of delegitimizing all criticisms of Jews and the state of Israel and calls this a form of “intellectual terrorism”. “We are all holocaust victims” he says. Alan Dershowitz, fascist and professor at Harvard (is that redundant?) could barely contain his glee at Mr Finkelstein’s tenure rejection. Having engaged in a lengthy and venomous smear campaign against Finkelstein and many other academics who dare to question Israel, Dershowitz applauded DePaul’s verdict saying “It was plainly the right decision”.

Exhibit C: On the occasion of the Queen of England’s birthday, Salman Rushdie, Muslim authors of the controversial ‘Satanic Verses’ was awarded a knighthood. He, along with 950 other recipients, will now be known as Sir. The Pakistan National Assembly passed a unanimous resolution condemning the move, insisting that it had offended Muslim sentiments.

Here is a case of two sides expressing themselves freely, but let me interject for a moment. The problem is not that Rushdie was awarded such an honor, but that he accepted it. Rushdie, like him or not, is a world renowned post-colonial writer and now he is an emissary of the Queen and a knight of the British Empire. Surely that’s bad form.

Ejaz ul Haq, progeny of the repulsive Hudood ordinances, brashly warned the UK that Pakistan felt it should cut diplomatic ties over this incident. Come on, how threatening can the bestowal of knighthood be? Elton John and David Beckham were knighted, it isn’t that serious an honor. We didn’t cut ties over colonialism, but we’re willing to do it over the Queen’s birthday honors list. Haq went on to say, powerfully demonstrating the difference between free speech and hate speech, that Rushdie should be killed and praise be to the ‘justified’ suicide bomber who could do it. And this is the minister for religious affairs speaking.

Another interjection — while our assembly has a right to pass the resolution it did, I wonder why they never saw the illegal invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq as offending Muslim sentiments, or why they have yet to muster up the gusto with which to pass a unanimous resolution against the power cuts across Pakistan, the denial of potable water, the lack of provincial autonomy, or the treatment of slum dwellers in our many katchi abadis.

At school during the many hours of history lessons Voltaire’s famous maxim was pummeled into our heads as teenagers, “I may not agree with your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to express it”. Amen to that(Fatima Bhutto).

Life!

Thousands and thousands of men,women and children flooded the terribly hot roads of Multan in scorching heat.Nothing deterred them from giving a warm welcome to Chief Justice Of Pakistan.I witnessed the roads carpeted red with over 1500 kg of rose petals.I saw people writing loyalty slogans with pen soaked in their own blood.Just two days before this historical reception,dozens of innocent citizens were slaughtered when the Allied Forces bombed the area of NWFP bordering Afghanistan.
Lives of these people failed to ring any bells for tyrannical administration.
But this wasn’t surprising for it has become norm in Pakistan.But I was really amazed at the unmoved public.They marched hundreds of kilometers just to catch a glimpse of their “Saviour” waving to them but they couldn’t stage even a protest to show their disapproval at the barbaric act of Forces and they were unable to show their solidarity with those whose lives and places were ruined by ugly power-intoxicated Allied Forces.Death of these thirty plus men leave even more number of orphans,widows and mothers without their “Saviour”….Nothing is more precious than Life…..then Why this cold-hearted Behavior?

Visible Yet Invisible!

For some reason,emotional outbursts are rare;at least in these days;and at least for a rationale person.A rationale person is usually immune to feelings, he is not bothered by inflictions on others soul.Rationality sometimes,rather most of the time,demands selfishness,for helping other troubled and disturbed doesn’t make any sense because its “They” not “Me”.
Hundreds of thousands of African children stick to guns( yes! I’m talking about real guns!) even before they know it themselves.I can’t just imagine a child of 13 blowing someone’s head off way before he learns how to hit a football!
We see thousands and thousands of famishing kids,we see kids with vanishing bellies and ribs so striking that we fear if they will,just any moment,pierce the skin and pop out of the hollow wreck! we see children with legs so thin that we mistake them with dried sticks…

Yet we are unmoved,for we don’t know of any reason to be moved,for we are some “rationale”.We never even “try” to generate a ripple in this troubled water.Its just because this turmoil doesn’t concerns us..We do nothing but wish to stop the ongoing monstrous civil wars fanned by the god-ish impearialists just to keep “Their” wheels running!
They say divide and rule policy is no more in practice,but i have been,time and again,quite unsuccessful in distinguishing between civil war and Divide&Rule..

I’ve always looked for a challenges.While I was in secondary-school,I had to work real hard to get into some reputed high school.Later I had to put extra muscles to gain entry into a high-standard Med School.But after that it seemed quite boring and unchallengeable when I found myself working just to “Pass”..I had no motives to push harder till an hour ago,but I’ve one now!

Now I realize,I can work to become something,something powerful enough to hamper, if not stop, the rapid fire of the dragons( and I swear I’ll works my souls out to prove my metal!).
..Plus with the Messiah’s skills I can grab my gears to save millions of poor souls from dying an undeserved and ill-timed death!!