A new Dawn

We live in strange times. Truth is a rare commodity. At times, plain truth sounds too good to be true. I'm working in real estate industry thesedays, where ten out of ten people prefer to be deceived by beautiful lies than paying heed to simple less attractive truths. Eventually they all get back & repent their temptations. For as long as last greedy is alive, swindlers are in the business. Problem with greed is that it will always remain unsatiated. Like day to day routine matters, greed has begun to dictate our outlook on issues as well. Ideology, patriotism, loyalty, integrity; all weighty values are being dominated by material pursuits. So much that it seems we are surrounded by a magnetic field of infinite greed & sweet lies. Election season has brought a fresh torrent of white lies, absolute lies, total lies, half truths, twisted perspective, spin doctored issues, blatant dis-information & greed based leanings. Media is responsible for this non-stop frenzy which has become the tool of politicians, international establishment & paid lobbyists. Journalistic integrity is the rarest jewel in media industry today. Resultantly,  media credibility is going down the drain & journalism being de-valued. But still they manage to cast their spell over majority uncritical simpletons who look up to media wizards  as wise men of true opinions. This process keeps these jokers relevant & price-worthy to their patrons.
Let us discuss Dawn as case study which was once a bastion of journalism in Pakistan. Its journey since inception in October 1941 by Muhammad Ali Jinnah as mouthpiece of All India Muslim League to planted stories of Cyril Almeida & Hameed Haroon's bashing at Hard Talk can best be described as fall from the grace. While growing up as keen reader of editorials, Dawn was always a sought after daily.
After a concious deal with the devil (anti-Pakistan forces), Dawn is fast losing its 70+ years of journalistic credibility. One can only assume that Dawn traded its integrity & good name for booty big enough to justify the deal. Hope its worth it or can it be worth it at all?
Dawn built a Media Empire on the ashes of a struggling nation. In past, no one pointed Dawn out because it scrupulously fulfilled its journalistic duty. But it doesn't look like that anymore. Sensitivity of current situation demanded responsible posturing by Dawn as old media group. It was time to show some solidarity when Pro Pakistan forces, for which some politicians & media groups have invented fancy words like establishment. An establishment which is quite isolated internationally & vulnerable internally. At the moment, all Pakistan needed is a smooth transition of power when every paid dog is barking at it & those extremist swines are playing mayhem with its innocent blood. But Dawn chose to stand among the former. One can't blame Anti Pakistan forces because they are doing what they do best but its politicians & media houses who have been a serious let down. But then again, we have a history, lions like Tipu Sultan were brought down by 'insiders' with 'outside' patronage. But their names are no more than figurative curse in the history & Dawn will also join them.
You can replace Dawn with Jang Group in above paras & it will fittingly fit their dubious role of past decade or so.
Just go out and vote. Don't buy their nonsense. Just two complete terms & political forces are being purged. Those who have something in them will pass the test of time & others will wither away. Institutions are getting strong & transparent. Musharraf was the first dictator who walked out of power on his feet & feel the symbolism in that. Establishment had a bad role as long as it was tool of dictators but now it has learnt its lessons. Its staying out of power matrix. Was it any difficult for a popular COAS like Raheel Sharif or General Bajwa to take over. Not iterested. Army is sick & tired of political circus. And couple of more terms with relatively cleaner political leadership in office, the term establishment will die its own death. Hope for a better  stronger Pakistan was never so alive as it feels at this point in time & the barometer for this is the desperation of international establishment to destablise this country through its media & political tools. The more gloomy picture they paint about Pakistan, the more you should be assured that we are heading in the right direction, a direction that hurts their cause & guarantees the gradeur which Pakistan is actually destined for.
May Allah protect Pakistan. May we see peaceful transition of power. May we see the change & sow the seeds of strong institutional independence for our future generations to make Pakistan a formidable force. May Allah protect us against lies.
Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

Ramazan Mubarak

Everyone greeted Ramazan on moon siting. I was wondering how do I greet everyone back with some Ramazan dosage. Something's not right about how we approach ibadat in Ramazan. Everyone is in a hurry to finish Quran  by or on 27th Ramazan. There is great urge to finish something that cannot be finished nor did Prophet PBUH finish it. For the sake of continuation, He PBUH would recite few verses from Al Baqarah.
We live in the age of reason. We need to reason with Quran. This mental rigour is quintessential to finding our own identity. But mosques, every mosque should be a magnet for people of all ages. But over there, there is attraction only for retired old citizens who have been well familiar with the ways of the world & masjid will always be a place for elderly. There is too much ritual. Even Traveeh is observed as ritual. Speed reading & behind which one can only go on a mental journey from trivials to vitals. No doubt, listening to Qirat has its countless advantages. But we need to understand the Book. At few place, speed is less & people try and understand the part recited in Salat. This method is laborious because sessions stretch over till Sehri. Surely, people with more desire than others can take on this method.
In short, Ramazan is not here to starve us. Its here to nourish our dried up souls & give us a physical benefit which we can cherish for the rest of the year. All win-win.

Election mayhem

Siraj Raisani was truly shaheed-e-Pakistan. There was symbolism in the way he lived with Indian flag wrapped around his boot & there is symbolism in his death. Sad that anti Pakistan are eulogised & pro pakistan meet early death. But those fools don't know that there is no dearth of loin-hearts like Raisani in this country.
In bigger picture, things in held Kashmir are picking up as 2nd death anniversary of Wani was observed last week. Just today Pakistan hosted intelligence heads of China, Russia & Iran to join hands against terrorism. Whereas, two important regional players (India & Afganistan) were missing along with omnipresent non regional but honrary member Uncle Sam. This should give sufficient reason to any thinking mind that Indians were not enjoying current situation. As if progress on CPEC was not enough pain for them, armed TTP, BLA & likes and political pawns like PTMs, Altafs, NS, Achakzais were also being cornered. A smooth transfer of power to not so favoured new political entity could be detrimental to their cause. So they needed to do something.
I was quite perplexed why NS had decided to come to Pakistan & was ready to give in to the law. With him things are never as they appear. One does everything in hope. & hope for NS was always in wealth, power & satisfying false ego i.e. revenge. His hope this time is revenge from Pakistan. Probably, he received a nod to return to Pakistan on tacit understanding that "Mayhem' in Pakistan will be ensured to stop or compmetely discredit elections. Knowing his foul nature, its obvious, since NS has no political future here, he would love to see a blood-bath in a country he could not loot anymore. A measure of his selfishness is that despite disqualification & visible political irrelevance, what to think of country, people or his party workers, he would not even let his younger brother take control of the party nor does he care about old comrades like Ch Nisar.
Somes flashes of mayhem were visible in the past week where pro Pakistan political leaders were being targeted. And today they delivered the sukur punch & left us with severe heartche. But we have learnt to negotiate pain whether from enemies or from our own on behest of our enemies.
Now the game plan of anti Pakistan forces & their tools like NS is clear i.e. sabotaging upcoming general elections or making them unviable. Change after elections does not fit their cause. Institutiins are getting independent & will continue to grow strong. In this kind of environment, their pawns will naturally be weeded out one after the other. And with this relative independence & stockpiles of nuclear arsenal in their backyard, if this nation gets some economic relief, it may stare many in the eye. Though their economic hitman Ishaq Dar did his very best to push this nation deeper in to the quagmire of debt before milingering a disease in London leaving its economy on ventilator.
Those who have some academic qualification and still insist on supporting NS, they have to be intellectually challenged.
In the end, like past, anti Pakistan forces have failed to second guess the grit of this nation which is ready for the worst & never loses hope for the best. This nation will weather the storm, making sure that elections come to pass & political transfer of power takes effect sooner than later.
Alertness levels have to be raised at individual & collective domains. On individual levels, don't be insensitive to your surroundings. We are at war that too a bloody one, we can't leave anything to chance. On collective level, political parties should go on with their political activities but they have to raise the level of caution. Party volunteers be appointed for security duties. Vigilence level be enhanced using walk throughs, scanners & any other measure to ensure security.
We can & we will see through this phase. This sacrifice shall get us that illusive better tomorrow that our future generations deserve.
Only Allah knows the whole Truth.