Lal Majid PR Activity

What is happening today in Pakistan is an extreemly sad and in my view an avoidable situation.  Muslims are being killed by Muslim, at the behest of non-muslims – this is nothing less than a civil war of sorts, and the backlash of this will be very serious.  So far 70 people (including childred) have been killed - and the operation which started at 4:30 in the morning still continues at noon today – obviously things are not going to the government’s plan.  I am still baffled as to why the government could not have waited things out further, and engaged in further dialogue to resolve the matter in a more civilized manner.  There seemed to be only one issue remaining on the table, that of arrests – which could have been addressed in a different manner. 

In my view the government in its eagerness to please it’s western masters started declaring what a tremendous job they were doing in fighting  ”extreemism” and that there were some “heavy weight and foreign” terrorists in the mosque – yet they did not disclose who.  Obviously this must have earned them brownie points with Bush and gang  After making such big claims to show what a good partner they were in the war on terror, i do not think the US left the government with any options but to use brutal force and as usual, our government complied without a squeak. It was nauseating to hear  Gordon Brown, who seems to have stepped up the sabre rattling based on a few questionable incidents in the UK e.g. attempted suicide bombing in Scotland – where now the suicide bomber needs someone to hold his hand, so he decided to bring a passenger on the mission (anyone notice the news where a suicide note was also found in the burning car?! these terrorists should change thier operational manual – these notes are found everywhere!), speaking to Musharaf to pat him on the back and throw him a bone for all the good work he was doing in killing his fellow Pakistanis.  Today the oppononets of Islam need not even get thier hands dirty.

The situation is really a culmination of lies and misinformation.  The story goes that Osama orchestrated the twin towers using his dial up connection in a cave in Afghanistan and that if the rest of the world does not wake up they will all also be under threat: “Today everyone knows what it is like to be an Israeli “- Benjamin Netanyahu, shortly after 911. Even those who perpetuate the story don’t believe it…there are too many loose ends and not a single shred of evidence has been presetented to date.  Some people may feel that these opinions are based on the fact that i am a muslim and therefore have to defend this stance – I would recommend anyone who buys the official story to have a look at  the following links (both of which are done by non-muslim Americans):

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=7866929448192753501&hl=en

and also read: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/lieofthecentury.html 

The point is that the official story is hardly conclusive – to put it mildly. So this drama set the stage for the war on terror and subsequent invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan.  Countries like ours became more committed to the cause than the “victims” and made it thier duty to carry the torch of “freedom / enlightened moderation”.  Today we see that this continues….and Lal Masjid is just a PR activity for us to show how committed we are to the objectives of our masters.  Good boys.

 The problem is not complex, yet it needs people who are willing to confront falsehood and speak the truth.  As George Orwell Said: “Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act” – something which is very applicable today.  We have to realise that Pakistan is not the US, UK or Europe…it is a muslim nation whose population believes in and holds the tenants and teachings of islam close to thier heart.  You cannot impose western thinking, standards and practices on this nation, and trying to take islam out of the equation is a futile activity – the people will not tolerate it.  Some might…but they don’t matter.  When the people feel that they are being threatened, that thier beliefs are under attack they will react to defend those views – especially if they see there is no political or judicial recourse for them.  The Lal masjid incident is a symptom of this backlash, and will just be one of the many examples if we are not careful.  Leaders of Muslim nations need to take strong steps to assuring the Muslims of the nations that they are not operating as foreign agents against thier own population and that they will address any situation based on facts rather than the potential reaction of the west.  Don’t get me wrong – i do not condone the methodolgy employed by those at the Lal Masjid, but i can understand where thier frustration stems from. I do not condone kidnappings or violence in any manner – whether is is state driven or otherwise – but the state has a duty to handle domestic matters in a manner which is most appropriate based on our own paradigms.  To me it appears that we have a trigger happy regieme in power, because it wants to stay in power and one way to do that is to obtain the blessings of the US.  

The debate in Pakistan should not be about secularism or an islamic state.  It should be focused on the type of islamic state we want.  For those who say that under such rule women would not get thier rights and there would be opression and lack of education – they need to stop getting thier information from Fox News.  Islam has a very sophisticated and fair social, political, judical, economic  and personal system that we need to take pains to understand and then implement.  There is no use saying that this is an unworkable system because those who are trying to implement it are doing it inappropriately or without a more rounded understanding.  The fault does not lie in Islam, but in the Muslims.  The muslim world, even today has a wealth of very knoweldgeable , well rounded and forward thinking scholars and we should be working with such people to resolve our national problems – not trying to sideline anyone who talks about islam and then wagging our tail for instructions from the west.

I can only hope that what is happening today will not be repeated and that we will find a route for our nation that is appropriate based on our own philisophy rather than trying to shoe horn someone else’s ideology.  I hope people will wake up and understand that we do not have a threat from terrorism – unless we now marginalize and attack these people so much that it becomes so.  It is like me saying that you are voilent, and as a result i am going to hit you (doctrine of pre-emptive strike as per the neo cons), and when i hit you and you retaliate i then turn around and say ” see I told you he was voilent”.  It is a self fulfilling prophecy.  Don’t be fooled by this “war on terror”. Lal Masjid is just a continuation of the deception started on September 11th and is a game being played with us all.

The Silent Majority

The new voter lists are out, and I implore anyone who is in Pakistan (or able to vote overseas) to go and check if they are on the electoral register to ensure that they can participate in the up coming elections.  If you look at the voting statistics – only 30% of our population votes! That means that political parties are all trying to serenade a handful of voters (many of whom have to vote under duress due to the feudal system and other anomolies).  If people take thier voting responsibility seriously – there is an opportunity to mobilize the silent majority and make a difference.  We need to reclaim our country, and the first step to doing that is making your voice heard on election day. 

Please go to www.ecp.gov.pk to find out where and how to check if you are on the list – if not – you just need to submit a form and you will be registered.  You only have till July 3rd 2007, so go today and take your friends and family!

The Rushdie Bait….

All I want to say is that Muslims have to stop taking the bait – we get controversial issues dangled in our face, with the sole intention of obtaining video “gems” of the proverbial angry Muslims behaving illogically and in an intolerant manner.  The whole situation is choreographed to demonstrate this point to the rest of the world.  I mean really – salman Rushdie is hardly a literary giant – can anyone name any other book he has written apart from the Satanic verses? i am sure he has -but i don’t even remember him getting a Pulitzer or anything worthy of notice - yet he leapfrogs to a knighthood! Is this to show that freedom of speech and expression are so highly regarded in the west? yeah, as long as the speech is acceptable by the prevailing government position (ask David Irving!).  Rushdie is an idiot – a puppet – a wanna be whiteman, ….who thinks that by offending Muslims he will be given sanctuary – which on the face of it he has…but i am sure they still call him a paki!!

It is a total farce…but worse than that – I wish we did not take the bait.  We must focus on energies on regaining our own nations and then we can protest against such issues in a more effective and dignified manner – but as long as our governments are in the pockets of the western powers – a few people chanting and burning effigies only plays into the hands of the puppet masters.  I mean it achieves nothing from our perspective and everything from those who want to show Muslims as irrational thugs.  Don’t bite!  

Catch up

yes..it’s been long… a bit too long since i wrote an entry – but that doesn’t mean that nothing has been going on.  Quite the opposite really, the political landscape of Pakistan has been taking unpredictable twists and turns, with people still glued to their seats for the eventual outcome.  The General has allegedly squeezed the Chief Justice into considering resignation – with the assistance of the top brass (including “the real heavies”), based on charges of alleged misuse of office – yeah..like standing in his way! Apart from the alleged misappropriation of government privileges (a norm), coincidentally the judge was a thorn in the Steel Mill Privatization issue – can’t imagine Shaukat Aziz took much of a fancy to him.  Additionally, he was making uncomfortable noises about various missing persons cases (linked to the so called “war on terror”).  Would he also have stood in the way of a change in the constitution should the General demand so ? - most likely. 

It could have all been tidied up nicely had the Chief Justice (CJ) not stood his ground and caved into the good ole carrot and stick routine.  Luckily – at least for the integrity of the Justice system – the CJ didn’t.  He stood his ground, and encountered various tactics to make him comply, including house arrest (for all intents and purposes) and having his communication barred.  The media then came into play…highlighting the events made people take notice and all of a sudden this was a serious issue.  A scenario that probably transpires many times within a day – with mutual cooperation. 

This also prompted police lead attacks on Geo’s tv station, and the government tired to distance itself by just blaming the proverbial lone gunman – the clichés are eerie. The general hastily addresses the nation on the same show that was previously attacked..to promise investigations and once again chanted the mantra of “enlightened moderation” – and blamed the boogie man. 

Obviously all of this has implications for the political movement.  It gives the us (pro democracy movement) an appropriate opportunity to highlight the a core issues with this country by way of an identifiable and public incident – lack of  institutionalization and therefore independence.  Dictators (or anyone) should not be able to throw their weight around without institutional checks and balances – in fact the issue of the dictator is probably most problematic! 

Now, as we all know the politics of Pakistan is not about issues – it is about positioning for power and emotions.  The government coalition parties automatically took a negative stance against the CJ, lawyers and opposition parties – they never seemed to examine the merits of the situation.  This set the mood for the tragic event that transpired on May 12th where over 40 people died and numerous others hurt – without any subsequent investigation.  Like i have said before…life is cheap here.  Just to shed a bit of light on what actually happened that day – the CJ announced his trip to Karachi (he was making appearances at the invitation of various bar councils around the country) – this was followed by a statement by MQM – one of the key coalition partners of the current government - that they would not allow this to happen, and staged a rally of their own on the same day at the same place.  Despite the large numbers of rangers and police presence, they were impotent – told to stand down for all intents and purposes.  There was a predictably confrontation, instigated by MQM gunmen between the government stooges and opposition parties resulting in the mayhem.  During these unfortunate incidents, a number of our party members were also injured – which prompted a strong stance against the MQM’s tactics of violence aimed at subduing the public into compliance.  Our position is that terrorism is terrorism – in whatever form is comes – state sponsored or not.  This is the same game played by the west in their definition of terrorism – Israeli war planes killing innocent civilians is not termed terrorism, nor is carpet bombing of Afghanis, but fiery sermons by Shiekh Hamza are sufficient to land him behind bars.  Now the double standard is becoming even more obvious when the UK government is giving shelter to Altaf Hussain, who has a number of outstanding cases for murder and terrorism against him, and is regularly enticing the people of his party by telephonic broadcasts from the comfort of his UK offices.  The stance taken by PTI was one based on principle – a person should not be subjected to violence regardless of their political (or other) views.  The filing of the case against Altaf Hussain has already commenced in the UK, and should no doubt raise a number of uncomfortable questions for the government of both UK and Pakistan. It is high time that the politics of Pakistan were de-weaponized so the mothers, daughters and wives of the nation do not loose sleep over the safety of their family member due to views that do not sit well with the establishment.

There were other fiascos as well, that followed the events of May 12.  Journalists were sent bullets in envelopes as a warning from MQM - to again persuade them from reporting in an unbiased manner….a move that again backfired on the government.Now it seems that elections are imminent.  The government is running from pillar to post to safeguard their positions of power – at whatever cost.  They have started the predictable saber rattling of “the threat of terrorism”…no doubt trying to tell us that only they (with the help of the west ofcourse) can save Pakistan from this impending tragedy.   They want us to think that the real problem of our country is what the west wants it to be – or rather what the west wants us to think – religious extremism.  This is not the case.  Our country’s problems are more basic: people are only concerned about food (slowly becoming unattainable due to rising inflation), shelter, medical services, education, water, electricity – and of course safety. Meanwhile the government is too busy selling off national assets (steel mill, Pakistan State Oil, Banks etc) to fill up their coffers enabling them to manipulate statistics and say that the country is experiencing economic growth – something the common man would vehemently dispute.  The government is busy building new islands, while they cannot manage the existing (lack of ) infrastructure – no reliable water or electricity supply and they talk about prosperity.  Dispute this, and they will tell you how mobile phone penetration as grown – i mean what kind of indicator is that?! someone needs to tell these statsiticans that you can’t eat a phone. 

Times are interesting in Pakistan today.  We are at a critical juncture – how the people react will set the scene for the future of our land.  We are quick running out of chances, and I only hope that Pakistan is able to navigate these turbulent times for the betterment of our nation – and we must remember our nation is not the elite (as they would like to believe)- it is the masses – the poor, and unless they tell us that things are better – no amount of statistical gymnastics can convince me otherwise.