Software updated

This is me after software update. Last two posts written in 2015 and 2018 received mixed yet expected reaction. Emotionally hurt PTI supporters were rightly gutted because they thought chips were down and I was taking advantage of it. Anti PTI were content with a thumbs up and IK haters simply loved it. The best and the most accurate reaction was ‘software updated’. 

Oh yes sir, my software is updated from 2015 and 2018. Not only mine rather a great number of Pakistanis. 

Firstly, the purpose of sharing  those old posts was to indicate that IK is only human who can err. He did err. It cost him. I had single point of difference before he came to power that he should have not fallen for the trap of electables and should have trusted young honest leadership of this country. Electables betrayed him last April at ‘vote of confidence’ and others followed suit in last two weeks. Some under immense pressure and others were planted for this day.

When IK assumed power, I remained his staunch critic. He should have shaken hands with opposition. He should have avoided ‘power trap’ used against his opponents. Should have spoken less (absolutely not), blamed less (US & Army) and pointed fingers less (past and current COAS). Before going global, he should have first brought his house in order. Could have taken tuition from Erdogan who tamed much stronger ‘opponents’ than him. But IK was not a politician, at least not someone with political acumen like Erdogan which in a funny way made him the best seller in Pakistani politics.

For those bemused on my previous two posts and above charge sheet on IK’s fallibility should maintain the same objectivity while reading remaining content of this blog because I’m the same person rather eight years older (may be wiser).

Now after my software update, I realise that if IK had not fallen for the trap of electables or had he not committed any of above mistakes even then it wouldn’t have worked. Because it’s not about IK’s mistakes. In fact, I believe all politicians are ok. They are more or less as dishonest as rest of us. Lie and deceive the same way as we all do. Nearly as corrupt as the nation. As patriotic as Pakistanis are unless it clashes with their personal interests. In fact, politicians are used in different situations against each other to meet the same end. I find it hard to admit but I guess even Nawaz Sharif and Zardari are more bedevilled than they are. It has never been about politicians. They don’t matter. They are kept below clear (two-third) majority and when they start to show some economic progress, the Govt is toppled. East India Company of UK took full charge of Subcontinent on 2 August 1858. A century later, on 27 October 1958, West India Company of US took charge of Pakistan and it continues to date. US ‘interest’ in its colony grew ever so more after nuclear tests in 1998. Since then, they never lost sight of the colony and kept the leash real tight. In fact, we function under New Masonic World Order.

We owe this software update to events of past couple of years. Growth rate slid from 6.5 (FY 21-22) to 0.26% (FY 22-23). IK is history and we see posters of company elders on the roads. It was heartbreaking to see those statues and Mazars of Shuhada go down and heart wrenching to imagine what would be happening to those women in custody. Protest was a right but violence instigated by few and retrograde style withdrawal of security from symbolic places and then ruthless counter punch is equally unacceptable. There is no institution. No human rights. Faiz lied that ‘Speak your lips are free’. 

Slim chance of IK returning to power in his lifetime is that a Muslim Pakistani mistakenly passes through the company filter and reaches the top slot. However, it is highly unlikely. But destiny deputes specific roles to certain individuals. For IK, it was to update software of a nation kept in the dark, deceived by patriotic slogans and never allowed to break free from the shackles. How he achieved this? Simply by not cutting a deal with the company.

It all changes with the change in thought process. Thought process has already been triggered. Its fruition may take at least one generation but it will come to pass Insha Allah.

It took me a while shake off the grief of not being free. But as the reality sinks in, we all need to identify our roles in given circumstances and act accordingly. Like for today, I’ve made my contribution and I hope you do your bit as well.

Next blog, I shall try and picture upcoming general elections.

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

Reality Dawns - Part 1

As the new reality dawns, I wonder how earlier generations coped up with the Pakistan they handed over to us? Was it deep rootedness of slavery scars? Were they cowards? Were they dumb? Or smart enough that didn’t try biting more than they couldn’t chew? Or conscious enough not to punch above their weight. They were kept in the dark or they they remained ignorant. I guess a bit of all above. 

Post 9 May software update of PTI, the loudest Pakistanis are expats Vloggers, however, their business will also take a hit because their target audience is going to shrink. 

Who will they incite now?

While stuck on Expressway Islamabad, on 9 May, my question to PTI rep (Vlog with Ali Awan)on spot was that what was his/ their plan? There was loads of raw energy at their disposal, they must have had a plan to channelise it. Execution failed because there wasn’t any plan to start with and their skilful opponents adroitly exploited the situation to their advantage. 

Since, most of us have to live in this country, so let’s have a quick reality check. It’s not about what we want rather how it’s going to be. Henceforth, Pakistan is going to ‘progress’ without Imran Khan and his party.

Local bred ‘intellectuals’ are all satisfied that ‘normalcy’ is restored. They are the classics specimen of previous generation. Nation’s romance with the ‘change’ is almost over. West bred intellectual shall draw parallels with military regimes of Burma and Thailand or they would throw every fact under the sky to make it look like Mohatir and Morsi model. Some would tell you that like PRC, we have one party rule (unofficially) where ruling party is permanent, however, it’s political face i.e leadership, flags and election symbols may change but ruling party remains. Reality is that it’s unique Pakistan model-foreign in its origins and local in it’s manifestation. 

What? Silver bullet. Well, it’s already shared above and in case you missed it then you might die wondering. 

Next part: IK was never a matchup (to the Ruling Party)

Surah Al Kahf -Ayah 50-74

Assalam o Alaikum. Shab-e-Juma Mubarak. Al Kahf time. A reminder to recite part or whole of Al Kahf. This week, third story of Al Kahf (Musa and Khizar AS) is briefly discussed in next cluster of Ayahs from 50-74. Reason that we’ve broken down story of Musa and Khizar AS in two parts (at Ayah 74) is because Juz 15 ends here. Allah swt rhetorically questions the rationale of following someone who would lead one to Hell. The Qur’an is clearly promising success and bliss in this life and the next, and Allah swt is clearly the One who created the heavens and the earth. Accordingly, how could one ignore the signs and reject the possibility of the Day of Judgment after all the examples, historic references, and reasoning that are elaborated in the Qur’an? 

Even though most people reject Allah swt, He still shows humanity an overwhelming amount of mercy by not immediately punishing them for their rebellion. Rather, He constantly protects them from most of the harm of their own actions, tolerates their infractions, and regularly sends them guidance. 

A great example of this can be found in the story of Musa and Khizar AS. In this story, Allah swt teaches us numerous lessons on how His decree protects the interests of the righteous from the violations of the disbelievers, while simultaneously withholding the torment from the disbelievers and giving them respite. 

The details of this will be presented to us in the next Juz from Ayah 75 onwards.

May Allah swt guide us. Ameen

Random thoughts

A dear friend would always blame everything wrong in our lives on ‘the distance from the religion’

 “دین سے دوری” Probably, it is because we have Faith (ایمان) but not Trust (یقین). Muslims by birth and million times lesser Muslims than Tate, Alfie etc.

Did politicians make the puddle muddy? Or they were restricted to this puddle? Often hear, they were not allowed to grow. But did they want to grow (except financially by hook or by crook)? Is it not easy to fix the blame on 'invisible forces’ (though quite visible in post PTV era) but they want to believe they are invisible and who can dare claim to see them anyway. Politicians don’t matter, they get importance for a short-while as long as they remain below two-third majority. However, appreciate the sacrificial gesture of apparently invisibles, ‘they’ inadvertently take all the blame and yet they are apolitical, non-aligned, neutral, impartial, uninvolved and non-penetrative. 

Mango people want the most precious thing on God’s earth i.e ‘freedom’ without breaking sweat or getting out of their niches. 

Lahoriaites didn’t watch as powerful movie as Maula Jutt in decades. The violence jettisoned at the wrong place at the wrong time and the same violence is seeking them out. 

Well, there is no law. No constitution. No institution. Law makers are the best law breakers. Law enforcement agencies are greatest exponents of lawless enforcement. It’s the stick that rules. Height of ruthlessness is that they don’t even show the carrot, it’s all stick, all the way.

The day ‘they’ shake the conscience of diaspora causing them to quit out of favour political party, we might begin to believe ‘them’. 

The day expat Vloggers spoke half the truth on returning to the soil they claim to love, we shall call them real soldiers. Till then soldier may speak but, schadenfreude - make money (from social media) on misfortune suffered by your countrymen.

We are worst than incest infested Lanisters, at least Jamie slayed  The Mad King. 

Corporate interest is above patriotism, the money involved is beyond mango people’s imagination, hence, ruthless vindication.

Beholden is the only reason for apparent fury of the powerful against the powerless.

For martyred and Ghazis with injuries were sincere, may God bless them but empires are built on carcasses. Extremely adroit emotional encashment is the game. Few men less than hundred have become Rockefeller and Rothschild of tiny US colony.

Recently, discovered Jinnah House is sacred. Damage done to it condemned already. In all honesty, protest was brewing up and was organic, however perpetrators of violence need to be identified and brought to justice. Jinnah’s Pakistan should also be taken into consideration. Those who dared to damage it should be damned.

Those who have doffed uniform are equal soldiers rather more because when they wore uniform the sacred profession of arms was not as ill-famed as it is now. Their women are as respectful as anybody else’s. You are because they were.

Warning ❗️Warning ❗️ Warning ❗️ 

This is not a political commentary, nor politically biased opinion. There is less than one year to sort out the shit.

Hunch of humiliation, psychological trauma and physical torture appears lesser than the losses that can occur to one place I call home. Feel obligated to share these thoughts. 

Current model is not sustainable.

Not easy to run the show by twisting the facts. Not possible that opinion will sway by managing media or stage managing ‘civil society or clergy’ or by seeing roadside signages by touts. In fact, sold out intelligentsia, compromised analysts and pseudo intellectuals less useful more counterproductive. It ain’t working. Not anymore.

Gateway to info is held in every palm and IQ in this part of the world is the best by some measure. 

Can fool them in love, not in despise. 

People are frustrated, furious, hungry, bemused, awestruck rather shell-shocked. Feeling of betrayal is bitterest when it comes from the most trustworthy. Riposte has to be even shocking and bitter. 

Ubiquitous power is a fact but highly divisive in its manifestation. There ain’t any unifying force in the country except that foolhardy political figure. If he, his leading associates, his party even ideology is dead and buried, there will always be possibility of resurrection from the ashes. Next time lava eruption will create divide. Not only opinionated divide. Not only emotional divide. Not only ideological divide. But physical divide.

It was easy to wipe out ZAB from short term (should we say short circuit) memory only because of PTV era. 

So, ‘sorting’ the current political protagonist will minus an individual. Pacifying his members (actually they were never his associates) will only satisfy those who were already anti-antagonist for example Sersei Lanister (albeit without Jamie). But those whose opinions are primed, may be hushed for a while but no power on earth can change their views. They will be back with venom & vengeance sooner than later; max a year’s time unless the economic fortunes change which is highly unlikely when there is no emergency seen on economic front and all the energies go in settling the matter at home front while protectors overcome the protected. 

Respect the times which have changed. 

Or give up this hypocritical hybrid hotchpotch and adopt North Korean model. So like Kim - The Rocket Man we might proudly present to the world; Him - The Pocket Man. No kidding it’s workable if approved by Sam - The Man.

Desire to be associated with Ali Ibn Abi Talib or Umer Ibn Khatab (May Allah be pleased with them) but the irony is that actions only point towards Hujjaj Ibn Yousaf. Some wise man said, if you wish to be associated with The Companions, give up all you’ve got. Quite impossible, isn’t it? How could we give up anything we earned at the cost both the worlds? Irony is that we come and go naked except that when we come, we don’t remember how helpless we were but when we grow, we outgrow everything specially ego forgetting that even pocket man shall wear unstitched pocketless robe in the end.

I guess, my dear friend was right, we misunderstood or didn’t want to understand it, hence all this misery because of the distance from the religion.

 

Surah Al Kahf - Ayah 27-49

 

Assalam o Alaikum. Shab-e-Juma Mubarak. Mubarak because Juma is a blessed day. Friday was the first day and shall be the last day of the earth. In between, it shall be a blessed day every week. One way to make the best of this day is to connect with amazing Al Kahf. Let’s quickly go through next story of Al Kahf covered in Ayah 27-49. The story of the two men and the garden demonstrates how the actions of believers lead to heavenly bliss, while the actions of those who are disbelieving and ungrateful to Allah only lead to disappointment and failure. 

Here we are introduced to two people. One of them is a believer who is grateful for whatever Allah has given him, while the other has been given abundant wealth but developed arrogance and a sense of entitlement over those people lacking such wealth. He confused wealth in this life for the favours promised to us by Allah in the Hereafter. Hence, Allah taught the ungrateful man a lesson on humility by destroying his wealth with a simple change of the weather, while the grateful believer sought the favour of Allah through humility and gratitude. 

All of this points to the fact that Allah has reserved true success and blessings for those who submit to Him and serve Him. In contrast, those who ignore the authority of Allah over them will be deluded by the traps of this world and become obsessed with them. However, they will discover that such pleasures will only last a short while after which they will be taken away from them and replaced with torment in the Hereafter. 

And strike for them the parable of two men. We gave to one of them two gardens of grapevines (18:32). 

May Allah swt make us grateful for what we’ve got and protect us false sense of entitlement. Ameen 

Political divide & its solution

Came across my post of 19 May 2021 at Facebook today and it got me thinking why it has become so difficult to be an unbiased Pakistani. 

Probably because political divide and polarisation is at its peak. Most difficult thing is engaging in a rational dialogue with anyone. Whereas, dialogue is our only option. It will settle an inhouse problem, not violence or use of power. Two types of approaches are fueling opinionated wildfire. One is preconceived mindset that 'this person is tuned to a particular frequency' so he/ she is biased or compromised. Two, the moment you engage in a conversation to build any argument, you are labeled pro XYZ, due to cherry picked lines, words and rationale from the discourse. Hence, dialogue turns into heated debate affecting relations, at times causing permanent damage. Such is the power of access to information particularly disinfornation. Never seen so much hatred among people on opinions as prevalent in society right now. 

It has come to a point where one has to give proofs of his unbiasesness and Pakistaniat. Unless we start from the point that all of us are responsible for where Pakistan stands today, we cannot move forward. For starters, I'm resposible in my individual capacity for not contributing or paying back enough to the society to make significant difference. Likewise, every person and institution has to take stock of its past mistakes. Stereotype politics has failed us under patronage of establishment or at least last 15 months have proven so. If there is hope, it is establishment and PTI joining hands by establishing common grounds. Funny enough, for my forces' background, whenever I'm critical of PTI, I'm tagged agencies' mole. For my frank opinion of establishments' mistakes, I'm labelled pro PTI. Now take a look at the post (shared below) at the peak of IK rule. I've shared its screenshot and it's available on Facebook along with numerous other posts. Was it not IK's mistake to fall for the trap of electables? Did he not compromise on certain value system for his parachute entry into PM House. Did it not come back to haunt him. Pakistaniat demands pointing out what is wrong at the right time irrespective of affiliations and personal interests. For example, violence of 9 May is higy condemnable. What I witnessed on ground was that protest was organic but violence was not, hence, without proper investigation and justification, indiscriminate violence against people may create temporary ‘fright’ but its byproduct will be deep rooted hatred. Hatred breeds divide. There are two instigators; PDM & US and two parties to this dispute; establishment & PTI. No one is lesser or better than the other. Everyone is a patriot. People are suffering. Please engage in talks everyone. In order to be heard, you will have to listen. 

For people in general, stop forwarding hateful posts. Stop mocking those you think are opponents. Your posts will not help change people's minds. But holding these posts to your handset may prevent further damage to Pakistan.

May Allah protect Pakistan. Ameen. 

Chat GPT’s take on Pakistan’s current crisis

 آخرکار تنگ آکر بے بسی کے عالم میں، میں نے چیٹ جی پی ٹی سے پاکستان کے دگرگوں سیاسی، آئینی اور معاشی حالات میں اداروں کا کردار اور ان مسائل کا حل دریافت کر لیا۔اس پر بھی ایم پی او لگائیں اس کمبخت نےبھی ع اداروں کا نام لیا ہے اور تمام سٹیک ہولڈرز کو آن بورڈ لینے کا بولا حتی کہ عام پبلک تک کو اہمیت دے رہی ہے۔ ملاحظہ فرمائیں۔