Pakistan is a country which was established in the name of Islam, where people from all religions and sects were envisaged to live with honor, dignity, peace and prosperity. But after 64 years of it establishment it has turned into a country with worst law and order, terrorism, racial discrimination, sectarian hatred and ethnic divide. There are many factors which contributed to take Quaid’s country to such a miserable condition. The country has not plunged into this catastrophe overnight; there are events in our history which put us to current situation. I have tried to sum up the most significant events from the history of Pakistan in shortest possible text.
Quaid’s Death (1948)
In the early days of Pakistan Death of Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was an unfortunate event. After Quaid’s death Pakistan Muslim League which had almost been hijacked by then landlords and feudalists failed to carry on the mission of our leader. Muslim league had no economic and social reforms policy therefore in a few years the founding party of Pakistan was a story of past. Inability of civilian leadership to run a country which had a lot of inherited problems lead to the civil-military conflict which afterwards paved the path for the breakup of the Quaid’s country.
Rawalpindi Conspiracy (1951)
Pakistani military planned its first coup on civil government when chief of general staff General Akber Khan was arrested along with many of his communist minded companions who were later tried and jailed. The most unfortunate aspect of the coup was the timing as in those testing times no one expected such an act from inside the military. The coup also showed that big powers would not let us live freely even after the independence and they did so.
Liaquat Ali khan Assassination (1951)
Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated at Company Bagh Rawalpindi (Liaquat Bagh), the same year he made a visit to USA which kick started our ties with an anti-communists country. The murderer Sad Akbar, an Afghani national was shot dead at the spot therefore no one could ever find out who killed him. The murder signified the fact the enemies were among our own people. We have always blamed India for our failure and turmoil but actually they are far less dangerous for us then our Afghan neighbors. Pushtoon rulers in Afghanistan were a part of a great conspiracy of creating a pushtoon country including Afghanistan, NWFP and Pushtoon majority Baloch areas. It would be surprising for many that when West Pakistan was made one unit Afghan government officially protested the decision and broke all diplomatic ties with Pakistan. What could be more unfortunate that the party which was the part of that conspiracy is a part of our government after 64 years?
Bengali Language Movement
Benagalis were 45 million out of the total population of 75 million at the establishment of free Pakistan. Most of the prominent Muslim League Leaders like Liaquat Ali Khan, A K Fazlul Haq, Khwaja Nazimuddin, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhasani were from Bengal. Bengalis should have been declared as the state language given the majority of Bengalis but it did not happened. In 1948 Quaid e Azam visited Bengal and declared Urdu as the national language, as a result the nationwide movement for Bengali as the national language started. The situation become worst when riot broke out on the issue, police opened fire at Bengali students killing many of them. The outcome was evident from the results of first election for East Bengal Provincial Assembly held between 8 March and 12 March 1954, The United Front (comprising of Awami League, Krishak-Sramik Party and Nezam-e-Islam) won 215 out of 237 Muslim seats in the election as compared to 9 seats won by ruling Muslim League. Most of the prominent leaders had left PML therefore it was completely wiped out in the election of 1954.
Khwaja Nazimuddin’s Dissmissal (1953)
Khawaja Nazimuddin became prime minister after the murder of Liaquat Ali Khan, and a western minded bureaucrat Ghulam Mohammad became governor general. Ghulam Mohammad was a puppet in the hands of foreign powers specially USA, it was a mistake by Nazimuddin to leave governor general seat for him. It is painful fact that on Octocber 17, 1951 when LAK was assassinated Ghulam Mohammad was at US Embassy to get assurance of his accession to top position. As expected after a shot term as PM, K Nazimuddin was dismissed by Malik Ghulam Mohammad on pretext of law n order situation and food crisis in Punjab. Bengalis had already been protesting for the declaration of Bengali as the National language, this act further enraged Bengalis. Khwaja’s tenure was full of trouble due to internal turmoil and movements. Anti Ahmdis movement was the most significant, which was lead by Mian Mumtaz Daultana, then chief minister of Punjab. Those events widened the gulf among Punjabis and Muhajirs (especially Bengalis), which played a significant role in the separation of East Pakistan.
Maulvi Tameezuddin vs Justice Munir- the Doctrine of Necessity (1954)
After dismissing Khawaja Nazimuddin Ghulam Mohammad dissolved the legislative assembly which was almost given final touch to the constitutional draft. Justice Munir’s judgment on the legality of dismissal of constituent assembly by Ghulam Mohammad was a judicial coup which altered the path of our politics. Maulvi Tameezuddin then the president of the constituent assembly challenged the decision of dissolution of assembly, Sindh High court ruled in favor of Maulvi Tameezuddin. The Federation challenged the ruling in federal court where chief justice Munir invented the doctrine of necessity and gave the ruling in favor of Ghulam Mohammad. The impact of this decision is long lasting; it bowed the judiciary before executive indirectly paving the path for martial laws. It also ended the politics of Muslim League and threw the country into a long run constitutional crisis. There were also significant political repressions of the verdict, as it widened the gulf among the Punjabis and Non-Punjabis specially Muhajirs.
Accepting SEATO and CENTO (1954)
Given the fragile democratic government in early 50’s Pakistani Military and civil bureaucracy was at the helm of affairs to a greater extent. Ghulam Mohammad a Bureaucrat was himself a puppet in the hands of these powers, as his actions proved. An era when world was bi-polar, India was trying to form Non-Aligned forum, Pakistan decided to side with USA and signed the agreements like SEATO, CENTO and Baghdad Pact. This was the start of a long lasting slavery which was bought in return of dollars. These agreements not only made USSR our enemy but also provided an opportunity to India to side with USSR despite of being an active member of Non-Aligned Movement. The nation is still facing the repercussions of this one-sided love affair. There is no doubt that these agreements were made by our Military establishment as the civil leadership was totally inactive in those days.
Establishment of One Unit (1955):
National Assembly under Chaudhry Mohammad Ali passed the one unit resolution on September 30, 1955. One Unit resolution was claimed to be a move to eradicate the ethnic and racial differences among different provinces of West Pakistan. Bengalis felt this act as an attempt to undermine their numerical superiority by West Pakistan. Protest broke out in East Pakistan against the one unit formula, when situation got out of order Military Chief Ayyub Khan took this opportunity to seize the power in 1958. Bengalis who had already been very active and conscious about their rights, started a movement which turned into an armed struggle in 60’s and ultimately resulted into separation of East Pakistan in 1971. When General Yahya Khan found out that the purpose had been fulfilled, he dissolved the one unit on July 1, 1970. It was surprising that Dr Jabbar Khan (brother of Bacha Khan) was appointed first Chief Minister of one unit. Dr Khan was the leader who remained loyal to congress even after the establishment of Pakistan and he opposed Pakistan movement throughout his political career and it was widely speculated that his party was conspiring to include NWFP in greater Afghanistan.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Killing of Osama Bin Laden: Lessons for Pakistan
Osama Bin Laden the world’s most wanted man has been killed by US authorities in an attack in Abbotabad near Pakistan Military Academy Kakool. Since his killing, this NEWS is the centre of all debates running on Pakistani and international media. Although the operation for OBL killing is still under suspicion for most of the analysts but the follow-ups are proving that he has been killed in the operation. Osama was the man who waged the holy war against US and allies across the world. It is a disappointing fact that most of our Muslim brothers use name of Islam to fight against evil but they end up causing long lasting damages to Islam and Islamic countries. Osama a Saudi billionaire casued the worst ever destruction to an Islamic country Afghanistan, now his killing has brought Pakistan to the most dangerous era of existence. His killing has left us with more questions than answers.
The worst part of the OBL episode was a complete collapse of civil-military co-ordination in Pakistan. There was no official announcement from military days after the operation. A military that is known for its professional brilliance did not have a clue that OBL was residing at half KM distance from their training academy and less than 100 KM from their military headquarters in Rawalpindi. They were completely uninformed about what had happened there on Sunday night. Civil government was busy in oath taking of new ministers (whom once they termed as their worst enemies) in the name of national reconciliation. It seemed that Zardari government has no interest in the military matters, they put the ball in the court of military leadership. These signs are worrying for citizens of Pakistan.
In the follow-up, it is obvious that Pakistan would face the worst repercussions of OBL killing as we have already been facing from Taliban and Al-Qaeda for last many years. Time has come to decide who is our foe and who is the friend? We have to decide whether we want to live in a civilized world or a world ruled by Taliban and Al-Qaeda? We need to clarify our policy on Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan. The war against terror might not be ours but the situation has changed, we have lost thousands of soldiers and civilians in this war. We should not let the terrorist, who waged a war against innocent citizens of Pakistan rule the people. Now this is the war of the sovereignty, integrity and survival of our homeland. No one has the right to fight against others from our territory; those who want to take up Jahad against enemies of Islam should use their own bases.
Our Military fought everywhere in the world, we fought for Arabs against Israel, we fought for Jordan against PLO and we fought for Saudis. We were the largest franchise of US war against soviets, now we are fighting against the same people whom once we trained for the sake of Dollars. We should not suspect the intent of our military fighting against the terrorists throughout country but it is a fact that we are not fighting them for our own sake instead we have been paid to do that. We never fought purely for the national interest of Pakistan whenever it was required whether it was 1965, 1971 or 1999. Now it is time to fight for our own safety, integrity and sovereignty. The elements in our military and civil bureaucracy who supported these militants in past should realize that the world has completely changed after 9/11; we can not afford to support the people who have no respect for humanity, Islam and Pakistan.
Government should immediately call a grand meeting of all political parties, civil society activists, Pakistan military leadership and other prominent civilian leaders. The meeting should workout a complete policy framework for safeguarding the national interest. Moreover they should come out with an official statement regarding the operation to clarify the suspicion and fears.
Long Live Pakistan.
The worst part of the OBL episode was a complete collapse of civil-military co-ordination in Pakistan. There was no official announcement from military days after the operation. A military that is known for its professional brilliance did not have a clue that OBL was residing at half KM distance from their training academy and less than 100 KM from their military headquarters in Rawalpindi. They were completely uninformed about what had happened there on Sunday night. Civil government was busy in oath taking of new ministers (whom once they termed as their worst enemies) in the name of national reconciliation. It seemed that Zardari government has no interest in the military matters, they put the ball in the court of military leadership. These signs are worrying for citizens of Pakistan.
In the follow-up, it is obvious that Pakistan would face the worst repercussions of OBL killing as we have already been facing from Taliban and Al-Qaeda for last many years. Time has come to decide who is our foe and who is the friend? We have to decide whether we want to live in a civilized world or a world ruled by Taliban and Al-Qaeda? We need to clarify our policy on Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Pakistan. The war against terror might not be ours but the situation has changed, we have lost thousands of soldiers and civilians in this war. We should not let the terrorist, who waged a war against innocent citizens of Pakistan rule the people. Now this is the war of the sovereignty, integrity and survival of our homeland. No one has the right to fight against others from our territory; those who want to take up Jahad against enemies of Islam should use their own bases.
Our Military fought everywhere in the world, we fought for Arabs against Israel, we fought for Jordan against PLO and we fought for Saudis. We were the largest franchise of US war against soviets, now we are fighting against the same people whom once we trained for the sake of Dollars. We should not suspect the intent of our military fighting against the terrorists throughout country but it is a fact that we are not fighting them for our own sake instead we have been paid to do that. We never fought purely for the national interest of Pakistan whenever it was required whether it was 1965, 1971 or 1999. Now it is time to fight for our own safety, integrity and sovereignty. The elements in our military and civil bureaucracy who supported these militants in past should realize that the world has completely changed after 9/11; we can not afford to support the people who have no respect for humanity, Islam and Pakistan.
Government should immediately call a grand meeting of all political parties, civil society activists, Pakistan military leadership and other prominent civilian leaders. The meeting should workout a complete policy framework for safeguarding the national interest. Moreover they should come out with an official statement regarding the operation to clarify the suspicion and fears.
Long Live Pakistan.
Friday, April 29, 2011
The story of my mother - Last Part
After getting paralyzed, mother was compelled to spend all the time on bed without any activity, but she never missed her prayers and wazaif. In the meantime she gave me the permission to go to Karachi to carry on my education and to help my family. She is such a courageous woman that She did not showed any sign of worry, grief when I left instead She smilingly said me good bye with a lot of advices. That day I was more than happy to have an opportunity to transform the challenges into success and find the solution of the problems facing my family and my mother. Life passed amid disasters and problems, I found a better way of life in the beautiful city of Karachi. The only worry was my father, who was very ill when I met him after so long. I took him back with me when I visited my village. He was ill, tired, feeling guilt and looked like a defeated person when we reached home. I have no words to write about the feelings I had when my family met my father after so long. Here I must say that He was welcomed with complains and questions, unasked questions which he never managed to answer. The situation got better within days and our family was happy at least to have him back. My sister's marriage was arranged later which was held without much fuss. I came back Karachi and afterwards father also came back with the promise to fight and not to submit to the circumstances.
It was one of the hazy days in the Holy Ramazan , when I came back from my work and saw my father vomiting blood. I was shocked to see that because He had never told me about this (although I knew he was not well). Later I checked his briefcase and found some reports from doctor to find out that he was having a lungs cancer. Mother was not in a position to bear this tragic news therefore I had no courage to tell any of my family members. But unfortunately in a few days my father's disease had left him on bed, so I decided to send him back home where at least some treatment and care was possible. Mother found out about his disease the very first day but she did not get panicked. Every possible effort was made to save him, but unfortunately, he did not survived instead of a lot of recovery from illness. Most of my siblings were too young to bear this tragedy, it was my mother who stood up for us and gave us the much needed courage and strength to fight. I still remember that I had just arrived back to Karachi when I was informed, I telephoned my mother from Karachi, She said " Son, you are a brave boy, you can do whatever we expect from you, all of us are looking for you so don't come back, stay there as you beloved father has been buried. Stay there to make your family survive this difficult phase".
Life passed on after demise of my father mother stopped taking any medicines for joints pain, she attached herself wholeheartedly with Allah (the merciful). Anybody in her role would have given up but she never did that, she gave us light in the darkest days of our life. Allah helped her getting some control over her disease. He opened new paths for our family, blessed us with better life, a life with more joys than sorrows. Mother got operated for knee replacement and was able to walk again after a long break of 8 years. It was an important day in our lives when she resumed some activities of life. Doctors were astonished as they had the opinion that the disuse of feet for last 8 years might not let her walk, but she made it possible with her passion for life.
Everything was right back on track when a quake jolted the whole area and in a few seconds millionaires had become beggars. My mother was in her room when the earthquake of 2005 stuck, thanks God one of my brothers was at home who saved her from getting buried under the debris of the demolished house. It was raining heavily; people were staying in open fields under temporary shelters when I arrived the village after earthquake on 10th October at around 10 PM. Our house along with all households was totally demolished in the earthquake; mother also was in a tent house. That was the first time in life when I wanted to shout, to cry loudly, and to weep like children. Mother again gave us hope and helped us to regain what we had lost. She is such a great manager that in a small income with the help of construction aid given by government she inspired us to build our house back.
Worst days are over, earthquake has passed, mother is now able to walk. She has a new life with grand children, in-laws and new relatives. But her eyes still remain wet; I still find her crying with pain and grief whenever I wake up in night. At the end I must say that she is not only great because she fought the tragedies of life bravely but she is great because she has the highest degree of love, passion and enthusiasm for life and happiness. She considers life as the most beautiful and precious gift of God for human being. God bless her with life longer than ours as we may not be able to fight the tragedies of life without her.
It was one of the hazy days in the Holy Ramazan , when I came back from my work and saw my father vomiting blood. I was shocked to see that because He had never told me about this (although I knew he was not well). Later I checked his briefcase and found some reports from doctor to find out that he was having a lungs cancer. Mother was not in a position to bear this tragic news therefore I had no courage to tell any of my family members. But unfortunately in a few days my father's disease had left him on bed, so I decided to send him back home where at least some treatment and care was possible. Mother found out about his disease the very first day but she did not get panicked. Every possible effort was made to save him, but unfortunately, he did not survived instead of a lot of recovery from illness. Most of my siblings were too young to bear this tragedy, it was my mother who stood up for us and gave us the much needed courage and strength to fight. I still remember that I had just arrived back to Karachi when I was informed, I telephoned my mother from Karachi, She said " Son, you are a brave boy, you can do whatever we expect from you, all of us are looking for you so don't come back, stay there as you beloved father has been buried. Stay there to make your family survive this difficult phase".
Life passed on after demise of my father mother stopped taking any medicines for joints pain, she attached herself wholeheartedly with Allah (the merciful). Anybody in her role would have given up but she never did that, she gave us light in the darkest days of our life. Allah helped her getting some control over her disease. He opened new paths for our family, blessed us with better life, a life with more joys than sorrows. Mother got operated for knee replacement and was able to walk again after a long break of 8 years. It was an important day in our lives when she resumed some activities of life. Doctors were astonished as they had the opinion that the disuse of feet for last 8 years might not let her walk, but she made it possible with her passion for life.
Everything was right back on track when a quake jolted the whole area and in a few seconds millionaires had become beggars. My mother was in her room when the earthquake of 2005 stuck, thanks God one of my brothers was at home who saved her from getting buried under the debris of the demolished house. It was raining heavily; people were staying in open fields under temporary shelters when I arrived the village after earthquake on 10th October at around 10 PM. Our house along with all households was totally demolished in the earthquake; mother also was in a tent house. That was the first time in life when I wanted to shout, to cry loudly, and to weep like children. Mother again gave us hope and helped us to regain what we had lost. She is such a great manager that in a small income with the help of construction aid given by government she inspired us to build our house back.
Worst days are over, earthquake has passed, mother is now able to walk. She has a new life with grand children, in-laws and new relatives. But her eyes still remain wet; I still find her crying with pain and grief whenever I wake up in night. At the end I must say that she is not only great because she fought the tragedies of life bravely but she is great because she has the highest degree of love, passion and enthusiasm for life and happiness. She considers life as the most beautiful and precious gift of God for human being. God bless her with life longer than ours as we may not be able to fight the tragedies of life without her.
Monday, April 25, 2011
The story of my mother - Part II
The 90's decade was a decade to forget for most of my family members. In 1991 we were very young when I visited Karachi in the winter vacations with my family, which was one of the most memorable visits. My father was doing business in the city so we were quite rich in those days, city was peaceful, life was good and we were very happy. Mother was passing through an age which is probably the most enjoyable part of life for most of the women. She had no financial worries, her children were getting young, her husband was supporting her and she was probably very happy despite of her aching and swollen joints. It was during that visit when she was first time informed that she might not be able to walk or live normal life in the coming days as the disease was spreading day by day. We were too young to know or understand such situation, but I found my mother a bit unhappy even in those happy days.
The days passed, we returned back to our village. Soon the time changed, a dreadful operation was started in Karachi, and soon city of lights had turned into a city of fear. That operation had badly affected the business in the city, so our father's business was in serious loss amid the daily killings, unrest and violence. We were not much informed about the situation in Karachi as the only source of news was PTV, so we were dependent on the information from our people there or father's letters. Father's business was shut down but he never informed us, instead he cut off from family. We were worried about the safety and health of our beloved father; mother was in serious trouble as most of us were studying either in college or school. The life was getting tougher and tougher day by day. Mother never expressed her grief to us. Once in the night when I was awaken to listen to the commentary on a cricket match being played in West Indies I noticed her weeping and crying with pain. Then I realized how much pain was she passing through. I may never be able to forget that single event which completely changed my perception about life and its colors. Due to uninformed disappearance of father and bad financial conditions most of our relatives had left us. In the meanwhile father had returned to village with all the bad news of his business troubles and looting. During those days we had no means of earning other than mother's salary.
I and my elder sisters had passed the SSC, so we had to go to college but there was no college within the limits of 20 KMs, which meant we had to get admission in colleges located far away in Rawlakot city. In a city like Karachi it may not be considered as a distance but in a village it was long enough to scare us. It was a risk sending young children specially daughters to a city far away with no proper means of transport amid the financial crisis we were passing through in those days. Our mother was courageous enough to send us to college even when most of the close family members were not in a favor of this decision. In the meanwhile Mother was having a treatment from PIMS Islamabad; therefore she had to visit the doctor at least once in a month. This was a near impossible work to do in those days with such miserable financial conditions, but she never lost the courage. Those were the days, when disease had almost defeated our mother, father had returned to Karachi to find some alternative means of earning. As a young boy I had a lot of dreams to help my family and do whatever my mother wished for her family. I was very frustrated with the prevailing situation. I was no more interested in my studies, so I decided to leave the college and earn money to help my mother and siblings. But I did not manage to run away from studies as it would have ended any chance of my sisters completing their education.
My mother was in great stress and pain but she did not show any signs of frustration or depression instead she always encouraged us to do well at college. We used to leave for college very early in the morning and return very late sometimes in the evening. Despite of her ailing joint she was always there with freshly cooked food for us. She used to ask us about the day’s events and happenings, and always advised us to stay focused on education. Our financial crisis went to such extent that one by one all of the precious household items were sold to meet the daily needs. Father was passing through a horrible period of time; he again went missing as probably he was not able to face us because of his inability to help us. This time the disappearance was longer than the previous one. We were under a burden of huge debts; none of us was young enough to earn the money to return those loans.
It is the irony that in good days every one helps and support you but in bad days even own shadow does not accompany you and you are left alone. Same was the case with us mother was almost paralyzed as she was not able to walk freely or do work on her own and most of the family members had turned strangers for us. Thanks God my grandmother and Khala were always there to help us through those days and always strengthened us. My mother got another blow from the fate when she was forced to take an early retirement from her teaching job because of disease. It was in 97 when she last time went to the school on her feet, afterwards she had completely lost to the disease and had never been able to stand on her own. It was the time when all of us were in the middle of our education career amid father in disappearance and family in worst ever financial turmoil. I often think what would have happened if mother had lost the courage in those testing times?
The days passed, we returned back to our village. Soon the time changed, a dreadful operation was started in Karachi, and soon city of lights had turned into a city of fear. That operation had badly affected the business in the city, so our father's business was in serious loss amid the daily killings, unrest and violence. We were not much informed about the situation in Karachi as the only source of news was PTV, so we were dependent on the information from our people there or father's letters. Father's business was shut down but he never informed us, instead he cut off from family. We were worried about the safety and health of our beloved father; mother was in serious trouble as most of us were studying either in college or school. The life was getting tougher and tougher day by day. Mother never expressed her grief to us. Once in the night when I was awaken to listen to the commentary on a cricket match being played in West Indies I noticed her weeping and crying with pain. Then I realized how much pain was she passing through. I may never be able to forget that single event which completely changed my perception about life and its colors. Due to uninformed disappearance of father and bad financial conditions most of our relatives had left us. In the meanwhile father had returned to village with all the bad news of his business troubles and looting. During those days we had no means of earning other than mother's salary.
I and my elder sisters had passed the SSC, so we had to go to college but there was no college within the limits of 20 KMs, which meant we had to get admission in colleges located far away in Rawlakot city. In a city like Karachi it may not be considered as a distance but in a village it was long enough to scare us. It was a risk sending young children specially daughters to a city far away with no proper means of transport amid the financial crisis we were passing through in those days. Our mother was courageous enough to send us to college even when most of the close family members were not in a favor of this decision. In the meanwhile Mother was having a treatment from PIMS Islamabad; therefore she had to visit the doctor at least once in a month. This was a near impossible work to do in those days with such miserable financial conditions, but she never lost the courage. Those were the days, when disease had almost defeated our mother, father had returned to Karachi to find some alternative means of earning. As a young boy I had a lot of dreams to help my family and do whatever my mother wished for her family. I was very frustrated with the prevailing situation. I was no more interested in my studies, so I decided to leave the college and earn money to help my mother and siblings. But I did not manage to run away from studies as it would have ended any chance of my sisters completing their education.
My mother was in great stress and pain but she did not show any signs of frustration or depression instead she always encouraged us to do well at college. We used to leave for college very early in the morning and return very late sometimes in the evening. Despite of her ailing joint she was always there with freshly cooked food for us. She used to ask us about the day’s events and happenings, and always advised us to stay focused on education. Our financial crisis went to such extent that one by one all of the precious household items were sold to meet the daily needs. Father was passing through a horrible period of time; he again went missing as probably he was not able to face us because of his inability to help us. This time the disappearance was longer than the previous one. We were under a burden of huge debts; none of us was young enough to earn the money to return those loans.
It is the irony that in good days every one helps and support you but in bad days even own shadow does not accompany you and you are left alone. Same was the case with us mother was almost paralyzed as she was not able to walk freely or do work on her own and most of the family members had turned strangers for us. Thanks God my grandmother and Khala were always there to help us through those days and always strengthened us. My mother got another blow from the fate when she was forced to take an early retirement from her teaching job because of disease. It was in 97 when she last time went to the school on her feet, afterwards she had completely lost to the disease and had never been able to stand on her own. It was the time when all of us were in the middle of our education career amid father in disappearance and family in worst ever financial turmoil. I often think what would have happened if mother had lost the courage in those testing times?
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The story of my mother - Part I
It is a well known quote “Behind every successful man there is a woman”, I strongly believe in this fact as my ideal is a woman, my mother who is behind the success of hundreds of people. Today I was doing an interview of her for a community magazine coming soon. I would like to share a summary of her interview as I think it may be interesting for most of us.
My mother, Miss Manzoor Fatima, belongs to a very educated and religious family of a remote village of District Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir (Pakistani administered Kashmir). My nana was a well known religious scholar who completed his education from India; my Nani was also a great spiritual personality. Both of them are like saints for the people in our town as they taught people how to live and die as a Muslim. I have very little memories of my Nana, only thing I still remember is that he had a large pocket sewn at the inner side of the sherwani where he used to keep sweets for children, whenever any children met him he would have asked “what is your father’s name?” and would ask him/her to recite the first kalama or bismillah. After that he would distribute some sweats or biscuits to the child and kiss him on forehead. The only thing he believed in was love, the love for humanity.
My mother’s family was from Deobandi sect, but none of them was fundamentalist or rigid like most of the religious people these days are. My mother completed religious education at very early. She had a dream to get formal education. My nana allowed my Khalas and my mother to study at boy’s school till 5th grade as there was no girl’s school at that time. It means, she had to say good bye to the education after 5th grade. But she did not loose heart and continued to study privately with the help of family members and teachers of boy’s school most of who were from other areas and used to stay at my nana’s grand house until the week end. After early education she started teaching girls and boys at my Nana’s house as she always dreamt to. That was the start; soon with the help of my grandfather she was able to persuade the government that there was a dire need for a girl’s school. The school was established and a new era for the girls of our village was started. It was a great achievement for woman of an area where the only purpose of women was thought to be looking after animals and giving proper meal to men. Soon women started giving response and slowly and gradually they showed more interest in education, it was a start of a new era.
Then she move to the adjacent village and gathered the girls and started teaching them instead of sticking to a government job at home village. People back home were very critical of her for going and teaching in other village (where people from other cast lived) but she did not paid heed because she had the full support of my grandfather. After a hard work of almost 8 years, she was able to establish a government funded school there with the help of the people who helped her very much. Later she moved back to native village where she started teaching as a government teacher. Two of the schools established due to her efforts are now high schools and one of them an intermediate college where hundred of girls are getting education.
Most of her children in those days her were infants, so she had to take care of us too. She used to take us school with her, therefore at the same time she had to work as housewife, a mother and a teacher. People who know the village life may find it impossible as how she managed to go to another village daily and teaching the children without any compensation, while three of her infants were also with her but she made it possible. She had to perform her duty in heavy rains of July, thunderstorms of April and heavy snowfall of January and February. The only thing which kept her stuck to the mission was her passion and dream to educate the poor women of village.
At home she had to look after her house as she had got a separate house after 5 years of marriage. She had to get us ready, prepare a meal for us, and take care of my beloved cow. She was so much passionate about her mission that she never took care of herself even in very critical days of her life; the result was the Rheumatoid Arthritis (a disease of joints which paralyze the patient). Infected with this disease in late 80’s she was down to knees in early 90’s.
My mother, Miss Manzoor Fatima, belongs to a very educated and religious family of a remote village of District Rawalakot, Azad Kashmir (Pakistani administered Kashmir). My nana was a well known religious scholar who completed his education from India; my Nani was also a great spiritual personality. Both of them are like saints for the people in our town as they taught people how to live and die as a Muslim. I have very little memories of my Nana, only thing I still remember is that he had a large pocket sewn at the inner side of the sherwani where he used to keep sweets for children, whenever any children met him he would have asked “what is your father’s name?” and would ask him/her to recite the first kalama or bismillah. After that he would distribute some sweats or biscuits to the child and kiss him on forehead. The only thing he believed in was love, the love for humanity.
My mother’s family was from Deobandi sect, but none of them was fundamentalist or rigid like most of the religious people these days are. My mother completed religious education at very early. She had a dream to get formal education. My nana allowed my Khalas and my mother to study at boy’s school till 5th grade as there was no girl’s school at that time. It means, she had to say good bye to the education after 5th grade. But she did not loose heart and continued to study privately with the help of family members and teachers of boy’s school most of who were from other areas and used to stay at my nana’s grand house until the week end. After early education she started teaching girls and boys at my Nana’s house as she always dreamt to. That was the start; soon with the help of my grandfather she was able to persuade the government that there was a dire need for a girl’s school. The school was established and a new era for the girls of our village was started. It was a great achievement for woman of an area where the only purpose of women was thought to be looking after animals and giving proper meal to men. Soon women started giving response and slowly and gradually they showed more interest in education, it was a start of a new era.
Then she move to the adjacent village and gathered the girls and started teaching them instead of sticking to a government job at home village. People back home were very critical of her for going and teaching in other village (where people from other cast lived) but she did not paid heed because she had the full support of my grandfather. After a hard work of almost 8 years, she was able to establish a government funded school there with the help of the people who helped her very much. Later she moved back to native village where she started teaching as a government teacher. Two of the schools established due to her efforts are now high schools and one of them an intermediate college where hundred of girls are getting education.
Most of her children in those days her were infants, so she had to take care of us too. She used to take us school with her, therefore at the same time she had to work as housewife, a mother and a teacher. People who know the village life may find it impossible as how she managed to go to another village daily and teaching the children without any compensation, while three of her infants were also with her but she made it possible. She had to perform her duty in heavy rains of July, thunderstorms of April and heavy snowfall of January and February. The only thing which kept her stuck to the mission was her passion and dream to educate the poor women of village.
At home she had to look after her house as she had got a separate house after 5 years of marriage. She had to get us ready, prepare a meal for us, and take care of my beloved cow. She was so much passionate about her mission that she never took care of herself even in very critical days of her life; the result was the Rheumatoid Arthritis (a disease of joints which paralyze the patient). Infected with this disease in late 80’s she was down to knees in early 90’s.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Democracy is the greatest revenge
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| Public flogging in Zia's era |
“We set as our focus reconciliation not retribution some claimed to fear revenge, revenge against the murderers and the torturers revenge against those who subverted constitution but ladies and gentlemen there was no revenge for them and the dictators across the world "the democracy is the greatest revenge".
These were the words of one of the most influential women of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto; those who know her can never deny her contribution towards the restoration of democracy and civil rights in country after a long and terrible period of dictatorship.. She fought a long battle after her father's hanging by fascist elements of our society, lost her brother, faced bitter imprisonment during dictatorship, was forced to leave the country but all these could not stop her from fulfilling her promise to the people of Pakistan. She became the first ever women prime minister of Pakistan at an age of 35, she faced opposition from all corner of our country. Our military did not like to salute her as she was a woman, our politicians hatched shameful conspiracies against her, she was mistreated by bureaucracy but she denied bowing against the evil forces.
I loved her, liked her for not being the prime minister but for her courage and the struggle she did for the betterment of Pakistani society. But she failed miserably, so strong women, a graduate of Harvard, who single handedly defeated the strongest dictator of Pakistan, could not defy the forces of evil? What a shame for democracy and what a joy for the dictators across the world? Her failure became the failure of democracy in our country. Today her husband once a cinema owner addressed the third annual session of national assembly; TV channels are analyzing his failures, failures and failures. He looks miserable as a party leader, as a president, as a husband of the most influential woman of our country but is he so bad? He would be as, he is alleged to be the main reason behind the failure of Benazir Bhutto.
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| Aerial view of destroyed Jamia Hafsa |
Can anyone tell if the democratic forces have ever done with our country what the military rulers did? God forbid they are again getting ready for another coup to serve our homeland, let us say no to them and strengthen the hands of democratic forces as I personally believe in the idea that “worst democracy is better than best dictatorship”.
Ab mere dosray bazoo pe wo shamsheer hai jo
Is se pehle bhi mera nisf badan kaat chuki
Usi bandook ki goli hai meri samt ke jo
Is se pehle bhi meri shahrag ka lahu chaat chuki
Phir wohi aag dhar aye hai meri galyuun mein
Phir mere shehr mein barood ki boo pheli hai
Phir se tu kaun hai mein kaun hoon aapas mein sawal
Phir wo takraar mayan e man o tu pheli hai
Is se pehle bhi to aisi hee garhi aye thee
Subh e wehshat ki tarah shaam e gharibaa’n ki tarah
Is se pehle bhi to paimaan e wafa tootay thay
Sheesha dil ki tarah aina e jaa’n ki tarah
Ab magar aisa nahee aisa nahee honay dena
Aye mere sokhta jaano mere dard ke maray logo
Kisi zaalim, kisi jaabir kisi hakim ke liye
Khud ko taqseem na karna mere saray logo
Ahmed Faraz
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Davis Saga: An Inevitable End
In a country where hundreds of people are daily killed just to show the power to rivals, hundreds commit suicide due to inflations and unemployment and thousands get deprived of their valuables daily what is the value of two dead people. People would argue we have lost self pride, respect, honor and dignity as a nation by handing Davis over to US but ask them what could have been done? Should we stand against the country which has blood stains of millions of people on its hands? Can a country where hundreds of people have been killed in drone attacks without any opposition or resistance risk its alliance with the only super power for just two killings? Are we gone mad? The answer of these entire questions is no, we can not stand against the super power as we have ourselves strengthened their hand at many occasions in history. In fact we should be proud of the role we played to make US the only king in the world. Our media has created a story out of nothing; our political parties have been using the issue to strengthen their own positions. This is just one of the events taking place in our cities daily.
Media is playing repeatedly the statement of one victim’s wife (before committing suicide) asking for justice, if she needed justice why did she commit suicide, did she not believe in God. And what does our media wants from us by running this statement regularly. Do we have no other issue left in Pakistan to get bothered with? No one in Pakistan has any concern over killing of innocent people. I guess only in Karachi hundreds of people have been brutally killing in between 27th January and March 16th for no reason, most of them would have been innocent citizens who had nothing to do with politics etc. Have the media the courage to uncover the killers of these innocent people. Our so-called religious parties are playing their usual part in the drama, protesting against the government over the issue. Did the people who are protesting against the Davis release not help USA in setting hegemony in world?
It is a painful reality that we are no more a nation thus we can not demand for any pride or dignity as a nation. We are the groups of power hungry people who do not respect any law, relation or ethics. We do not tolerate people of other races, ethnicities and sects. We want to rule, rule with full power and control, no matter how much it costs our country. Davis was a criminal who killed innocent people but the heirs of the victims have pardoned him in return of Diyyat purely according to Islamic Shariah. USA paid 20 crore rupees to the heirs in return which can at least heal their wounds to some extent. Let’s not burn our blood over useless debates whether it was right or wrong. I fear for the safety of the victims heirs as the people may hurt them for showing their true love with Pakistan. Stay safe and happy for being still alive. God bless all of us with safety and justice.
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