PTI vs MQM - Futile Fight

Another unwise political move by immature leadership of PTI. On issue of Baldia Town, war of words with MQM is a futile activity. Disadvantages are numerous, like :-
1. MQM can now play her favourite mud-slinging sport. Now they have some political entity to blame for their woes. Before PTI's verbal attacks, nervous anxiety of MQM was visible.
2. PTI's un-necessary plunge in to this mess will not yeild any tangible results rather a cheap old political point scoring effort. But the amount of filth MQM is throwing back at them is detrimental to the stature of PTI leadership which is already living on a false popularity boom.
3. Govt has finally got a breather after a long long time. Just look at the happy faces of govt mouthpieces. PTI has also done govt a huge favour.
4. PPP govt in Sindh is also chilling now. They had locked horns with MQM but then Theory of Necessity necessitated an immediate reconciliation with MQM on Senate elections. PPP was looking for a face saving and PTI came for her rescue.
5. Since PTI had decided to resort to conventional politics by opting to contest Senate election. Issue of MQM needed to be approached the same way.MQM is a deep seated cancer, simple war of words means acknowleding they are a  political entity / force and inadvertantly strengthening their right of existence. They can be weeded out systematically not through boisterous press conferences. 
6. MQM has become more than a Bitter Sweet Pill now. It has recruited boys of above average intelligence from slums of Karachi and is looking after their progression in personal & professional lives. Some have already made it to the sensitive appointments. Just critically monitor their gimmicks and you will be amazed after connecting the dots. For this kind of organized criminality, amatuer politics of PTI is a child's play.
7. PTI's reaction has prompted assumptions that of Third Umpire is pulling the strings casting aspersion on her political credibility. Scribe does not subscribe to such assumptions but PTI has to blame her leadership for weak decisions.   
8. MQM is part of the problem and not the root cause of all problems. Being a national party, PTI should focus on national issues. Such regional issues will be addressed in natural course of things once election reforms are affected. This was the story line of PTI few months ago and now again they are singing to the tunes of unwise.
9. Finally, for exuberant followers of the Captain, who think they must take MQM to task. You cannot browbeat MQM with in this game. In words of  George Bernard Shaw, "I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it."

PTI walo...please think before you speak and act. Many people still pin their hopes with you as saviours. Lack of political acumen and desired maturity in important decisions has been a grey area and a serious point of concern. This habit can prove costly towards achieving political goals and PTI may fall short in meeting people's aspirations. Your politics should be better than MQM and likes.

Senate Elections- Fresh Oath, New Resolve

House of Cards in West and Raj Neeti in East are synonymous to Dirty Politics. If you are interested in superlative form i.e Dirtiest Politics, have a look at the political landscape of Pakistan. Since Senate elections are around the corner, political gutters have started oozing the filth.

Exact half of upper house i.e. 52 out 104 senators complete their tenure of six years. . Election of fresh lot is due in first week of March 2015. Lobbying for the senate tickets is in full swing. Political parties are short listing the faithful applicants. Unlike general elections of National Assembly, senators are elected by existing members of legislators with equal representation of all provinces. This puts party leaders (the dictators) in driving seat.

On the sidelines of senate elections, ugly face of our politics and politicians is coming to fore.

As if existing energy crisis, corruption, nepotism, terrorism etc were not enough, govt opponents have put govt on the spot. Governor Punjab, who was obviously a misfit, is back in pavilion. Everyday scams of govt are surfacing like presence of Mian Mansha and Saif ur Rehman in every singing of business/ energy deal. Construction of 150 million bomb proof wall at Jati Umra. Leasing of precious land to police lines inside Raiwind Estate. Legislation of mutation on land sales in Jati Umra. Reefer of Chotay badshah. List of the recent scams is very long for a short blog.

Federal govt felt the heat and began pressing hard on PPP and MQM. Baldia Town incident popped up with clear involvement of MQM. MQM's customary but nervous backtracking did not come as a surprise.  Police and Rangers officials dispatched to UAE to apprehend Uzair Baloch to shake up PPP. Guess what, PPP and MQM have joined hands in Sindh for Senate elections just last night.

PTI's decision to compete for senate seats reflects her willingness to become part of the status quo. Then what was the whole fuss of dharna about.
Amid this political cocktail, mainstream media is playing its usual criminal role. They continue to show us the falsehood. No one is ready to take on MQM. No one is ready to speak the truth. No one seems to have the moral courage to spot the blemishes in our political system. Most of columnist are on payroll of the mainstream political parties and their job is keep people confused and guessing about the real issues. They keep circling around the real issues but never hit the core. Their deal with devil is way too strong.

Question may arise why these parties are sweating for seats in senate?

Why Senate elections are so important?

In simplest terms, it gives political parties a constant share in booty of Pakistan. No legislation except money bill can be passed unless senate upholds it. Faithful servants of parties after years of boot polishing find a chair in senate and they are used as tools by the party leaders. Senate is the most useless institution in our current political set up. The amount of filth circulating before senate elections shall give you a measure of importance political parties associate with them. An institution useless for country and nation but extremely useful to the benefit of political goons.

Ironically, the oath a senator takes before his commissioning to the august house consists of quite noble vows. However, those words have never been respected by any of them. Just to refresh

"I, -------REHMAN MALIK-------------------------------------* do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Pakistan:That, as a member of the Senate, I will perform my functions honestly, to the best of my ability, faithfully, in accordance with the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the law, and the rules of the Senate, and always in the interest of the sovereignty, integrity, solidarity, well-being and prosperity of Pakistan:

That I will strive to preserve the Islamic Ideology which is the basis for the creation of Pakistan:

And that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the Islamic Republic"

10 Things I Hate About Daily SMS

Daily SMS to all contacts on the list :
1. Can make it very obvious that you have an SMS bundle & someone has to be at the receiving end of those free SMS for entire month/ year.     
2. Can lead to assertion that you are desperate to maintain contact.
3. Can be an inexpensive tool for PR but cheap tools yield useless PR.
4. Can be annoying bcoz recepients might not be interested in those daily quotes of the day which mobile company sent you free of cost. Bcoz they know you have a passion for sending SMS & you will be tempted to forward those irrelevant pearls of wisdom to all your contacts, thereby, increasing their daily SMS circulation.
5. Can conflict with state of mind of recepient like a happy message at a sad moment & vice versa.
6. Can interfere with private time of the recepient. They might sleep late on weekend but your customary early morning SMS might disturb their sleep.
7. Can be boring bcoz those SMS lack personal touch. Those are not your thoughts for your friend/ colleague or relatives on the contact list. Those are someone else's thoughts & you are trying to impose on everyone on your list.
8. Can remain unread for ever. Just bcoz sending SMS is a cheaper method, it should not be frequented so much that the whole practice loses its real spirit.
9. Can raise your expectation level that recepient may reciprocate in kind. Whereas, recepient chooses inaction &  begins to place you among low esteem cases.
10. Can happen that finally you send an important SMS & the person deletes it without reading like your daily junk message. Just like the Shepherd Boy & the Wolf story. 
                      
SMSing is here to stay. It has already become a permanent feature of our lives. Yet, a dignified use of SMS will retain value of maintaining contact with our loved ones in a more intimate & personal way.   
                                                                              

Charlie Hebdo-Favourite Magazine of Spin Doctors

Im not writing these lines out of anger but out of pity for few Westerners who are being manipulated without realizing the idiocy of their claims. In the game of power, economy dictates everything and religion is the best tool to exploit it.
In past, Charlie Hebdo inflicted insult on every single Muslim in the planet by showing disrespect to our beloved Prophet ( Peace & blessings of Allah be upon Him). In turn, lost the very cartoonist, who were better of alive, if they drew cartoons for common good of humanity. But they took an extreme step in the garb of the most ridiculous slogan of our age 'Freedom of Expression'.
Entire West rallied behind Charlie Hebdo and they got carried away. They hurled another insult, drew again & pain will come their way again. This is not just a gut feeling but a logical conclusion.
Charlie Hebdo is responsible for bloodshed bcoz they initiated this row. For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction. Ironically, ppl at the magazine believe they hail from 'civilized' (part of the) world yet they continue to insult 1.6 Billion Muslims across the globe.
Here is a little lesson of civility from a less civilized ppl, an insult does not take away respect & honour of anyone let alone Muhammad (Peace & Blessings of Allah be upon Him), it only reflects your insecurity & poor state of mind. 24/7, His name echoes with reverence in every corner of the world if you keep in mind the prayer calls in shifting time zones.
This practice shall continue till the end of times & this is just one example.  
We dare you for an intellectual engagement bcoz violence was not the way of our Beloved Prophet PBUH. The slogan 'freedom of expression' is a sham, a favourite phrase of spin doctors these days.

Look at the double standards in this picture.  

Respect is much greater virtue and having complete command over good and bad language, I choose to follow the path of my Prophet PBUH, ie respect and restraint. If this does not appeal you then just listen to the Pope Benedict on what he had to say on Paris incident.

Little food for thought can be drawn from the the laws of defamation in every constitution of the world. Every single person on the planet has a right to protect his good name irrespective of his status & lineage. How can the most respectable name in world be mocked  by few western bigots. But if bigotry is what we are faced with then we (who have the advantage of being less civilized :)) have loads of it. Finally, for nervous little french at Hebdo, you are being used for the wrong reasons but if you choose to continue with the nonsense, then brace yourself for nonsense but you may not be able to tell your story once it comes your way. Same will be the story of the proponents of Je Suis Charlie movement. For as long as West will chant Je Suis Charlie, there will be stronger chants of Je Suis Kouachi.


Incidents like these put Muslims living in West in a real quandary. Particularly, those expats who had migrated for better opportunities and better ways of life, don't really know how to react? Whether its action of magazine administration or reaction of extremists, whoever they condemn or support, has ramifications. Obviously, winning bread is their core issue because of which they exiled themselves & continue to soak the daily abuse in foreign lands. Their loyalties are neither with the western way of life nor religion. They worship the economic God who feeds them. However, dispassionate view will reveal that Charlie Hebdo and religious zealots, both are extremists. The freedom of expression that fails to respect religious sensitivities of 1.6 billion living individuals is nothing but extremism. Likewise, those who lack faith in the strength of their Emaan & method of their Prophet (May peace & blessings of Allah be upon Him) resort to violence are extremists. Both extremist mindsets are required to rethink their approach to the issue. Problem with any kind of extremism is that it is born of hatred & ignorance. It is only capable of breeding more hatred.
 

Imran Khan's Politics - A Tale of Missed Opportunities

Imran Khan had the first taste of public disapproval by parents of Shadeed APS children. His story is a classic of 'Missed Opportunities'. To get the next term in the center, all he had to do was to "work with and for" the ppl of KPK who trusted him with a mandate to rule over them. But part leadership remained busy with toppling the govt rather than delivering themselves. During visit to Swat few months back, I interacted with commoners of Murad Saeed's constituency, once inquired on how good or bad representative was he? They sarcastically replied that like everyone else in the country, they also see him on television otherwise he was not seen in his constituency since elections. IK too, was pre-occupied with realizing his dream to rule this country in a hurry. His personal life, about which he often reminded us that he was doing us a favour by putting behind his kids, personal life and procrastinated his second marriage etc, was at best not so true. Have a close look at his first interview with his now wife at AAJ TV, you will find that she literally battered him with her intelligence, IQ & physical presence in that interview. As the cliché goes, she came, she saw and she conquered. For IQ, btw even Meera Jee can overwhelm him. Anyway, again marriage is a personal affair but it was untimely as far as the overall situation in the country is concerned and not a wise choice for a long run. Time will tell. Among all the hustle, what must have been his primary mission ie serving the ppl of KPK, went out of the window rather it went AWOL. Now, same ppl of KPK most of whom were the aggrieved parents of Shaheed Children voiced 'Go Imran Go'. Same narrative of hatred which he championed in the country for the last six months was echoing right in his face. IK's long absence from KPK and sudden appearance with his bride offended ppl. Sensitivities of ppl of KPK must be respected, if not, then before PTI leadership knows, it will lose their confidence. KPK ppl have a history of rejecting the govt incumbent if they fail to deliver. PTI was too busy in other things and have taken KPK mandate for granted. The motorcade in which he went to APS Peshawar was a serious contradiction of his claims to eliminate VIP Culture. His overall decision making has been flawed and his incompetent advisors, like their conduct in their previous parties, did not give IK the correct advice. There is also a strange sense of euphoria about his personality, wherein, he seems convinced that he is likeable despite all his fallibilities stated above. 

His IQ, decision making, advisors, the way PTI governed over KPK, party organizational hierarchy, untimely launch of dharna/ march are all under serious scrutiny.
There was an immediate press appearance by Govt's soft spoken info miniter, Pervez Rasheed who in fact does not even deserve a mention but he too touched a serious limit when he derived some sadistic pleasure out of this situation. Animals may be ashamed of the kind of politics being played on the blood of innocent children.

IK's press conference in defense of the happenings that morning at APS Psr, was also a flop. He brought the expectation bar of ppl too high, so high that it would not be possible to live up to these expectations. When entire youth comes out to support a fair cause and their aspirations are not met, they can easily turn against you. And Pakistan is really tough country to rule. Although, I strongly believe that some one should not be failed before a test. And PTI is yet to be tested with rule over Pakistan, but the preliminary round in KPK was wasted like so many other opportunities to make a sound impression.Likewise, those five and a half points on which govt agreed at the peak of Dharna and Azadi March, will go down as a lost opportunity. Because soon after the momentum of Dharna was lost, Govt backed out on those points already agreed upon.
Like it was stated in the start, his is a classic tale of missed opportunities. Besides other frailties, political immaturity is really the Achilles's heel of Imran Khan and it is hurting the cause of PTI. Finally, even if PTI succeeds in forming govt in center during next elections (which seems unlikely as this point in time), it will fall short of expection levels of ppl. All those hopes ppl have been pinning on them may turn into bitterness reflection of which was witnessed during his reception in Peshawar APS.

Political Ripples

Third month running, neither the optimistic scenario nor the pessimistic one has come to pass, however, current political power struggle in the country is anything but a stalemate. Government is following a simple policy line rather word “inaction”. Hawks in the Government ranks, in their sporadic outbursts, never miss an opportunity to antagonize the opponents. The obvious lack of imagination and haughtiness of the government ministers has already done enough to politically discredit PML (N). In a pigeon like approach, government is hoping that current wave of political

gatherings around the country will wither like Azadi March and Inqalabi Dharna. As lack of imagination may have it, this assertion lacks substance. It is the direct fall out of March/ Dharna that people have starting coming out. As a well thought out move, the leadership of PTI decided to cash in on the sentiments of people and began these mammoth Jalsas. If dots are connected, we are heading for an agitation movement in the country. Prime Minister is being stalked by GNG slogan. VIPs are already in discomfort because their undue perks and privileges are being questioned. In another big shift, previously indifferent educated lower middle class has also started taking interest in politics. Youth is already weary of stereotype politics which hurled this country in to wastelands of corruption, hereditary politics and incompetence. Social media has also offered a platform to youth to vent their feelings without a cut. These factors are snowballing the change in the country. Despite certain grey areas in decision making, credit must go to PTI and PAT for spearheading the drive for change.

PPP has made wise choice to flex their political muscle by sizeable gathering at Karachi. It served multiple purposes. Bilawal has been incarnate. PPP’s strength in Sindh has been reasserted through relatively weaker ground of Karachi. Probably this gathering was extremely necessary for PPP to stay politically relevant in political landscape. How much ground PPP has gained from this show of power, needs to be seen. The timing of this Jalsa was also important as PTI has already announced

the bid to hold their political pageants in Sindh in following month.  It was well planned and executed political move to reinvigorate their support in areas of strength. Something PML (N) failed to do in Punjab. Except Karachi, PTI has very weak presence in Sindh. PTI’s Larkana Jalsa next month will have far-reaching effects on the political balance in Sindh in particular and country in general.

Government’s inaction is being dubbed as a shrewd political posturing. How much political genius is dictating government’s political moves will unfold in due course.  The human side of the Prime Minister must be kept in mind. The sum total of his ego suggests that he might be infuriated by the GNG movement and might be cooking up a serious revenge on his own countrymen for not letting him ‘peacefully’ enjoy his third term. The sum total of his political acumen suggests that he might not budge from his stance of sticking to power ‘no matter what’. Combine the disastrous couplet of his ego and political wisdom, the emerging scenario is at best detrimental. Politics is synonymous to pragmatism. He could have traded some space for high moral ground. Would that, we someday have leadership at the helm which is capable of politics.    

It takes generations to shake the political settings. We are witnessing that golden transition in our age. Change is in the air. Status quo is in peril due to gaining inertia. PTI may be credited for flag-bearing the drive but it has to carry out some regrouping. It has to forego her addiction for fielding time tested flops of the yesteryears. If they have learnt anything from Javed Hashmi episode, they must avoid recruiting failed political ‘noteables’ when they march on Sindh next month. This habit has already cost PTI a great deal. Besides other relatively lesser chinks in their armour, they must protect their vulnerable Achilles Heel and weed out the wild undergrowth eating up on their party’s success. We have waited long and hard for change. And we must see a lasting change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wave of Change and Uneasy Intelligentsia

Those who wrote editorials in newspapers have always been held in high esteem by every thinking mind. They are in different league. They are a notch above the rest. They have an opinion and they articulately share it. Growing up in a country where culture of reading was diminishing because the culture of writing had already deteriorated. These columnists were really the icons. Unfortunately, like all other noble vocations in this country, journalism has seen a decline. Plummeting quality of thought and questionable integrity of editorials due to 'inclinations' has taken away their true strength. Most of the columnists have blatantly chosen sides with political forces in the country.  

For the last couple of months, newspapers have been bombarded with editorials which focus mainly on two aspects. Firstly, the biased media coverage of two dharnas which is mainly a media wrangling issue. Secondly, they speculate on the script writers of dharnas and do not stop short of blaming the hidden hand of establishment for articulation of current situation. The scribes of the articles rightly bash biased TV/ media/ anchors for shaping public opinion. Likewise, they try to prove that there is only one villain in this country i.e. establishment and to be more precise military establishment. Well decency warrants that we must admit, everyone has an opinion which should be respected. Yet, we must run the issue  through furnace of intellectual rigor.

Pakistan has reached where we brought it as a nation. Each one of us and every single institution has to accept the share of blame. In editorials, our respected columnists take on only aforesaid issues, whereas, corruption in all institutions, poor governance, absence of political acumen, foreign involvement in our policy decisions, unconditional surrender to foreign powers’ demands and the list goes on, does appear to them to sit at the roots of our troubles which is not different from how media dupes this nation. It is biased and meant to serve some vested interest, as is the custom these days. Journalistic integrity is under scrutiny for right reasons.  

Current wave of political awareness among the commoners has broken inertia of status quo. Stereotyping in politics and in other fields is a thing of past now. Like all harbingers of status quo, it has perturbed our stereotype intelligentsia as well. It seems that intelligentsia is singing to the same tune as our nervous conventional political entities and other champions of status quo. They also seem too concerned about the changing canvas of the nation’s outlook. Select few read in this country and very few read editorials. It has been an easy medium to share or shape the opinions of those who could read English because they are the ones who really mattered. Things have changed. Now, every evening, most of the writers of editorials come on air and share their opinions with public. People can clearly see the bias, inclination, changing tone and tenure and vulnerabilities of these opinion makers. Typical status of Holy Cow to concerti of cognoscenti is no more.  Duping public is not that easy anymore and our intelligentsia is visibly upset about that. Consequently, the hatred and condescendence for the forerunners of change like Imran Khan and Tahir Ul Qadri is obvious in words and opinions of our intelligentsia.

Well, intelligentsia has a larger role than just shunning off the wave of change that also threatens the niche of status quo where they have been basking for over half a century. They must step ahead and put in their share to steer the ship of this country out of dire straits. They must correct

those dharna parties and render valuable advice to govt and establishment to mend their ways and apply corrections to their adopted strategies. Whether someone pays heed to it or not, journalistic responsibility warrants that thinking minds of opinion makers must continue the good work. They must not choose sides. It should not appear from their writings that they are on payroll of any stakeholder in the power matrix of this country. The nobility of this profession must not be tarnished.