Misguided victory sign

Noon League supporters are in their own league. They have been making victory signs✌️ for the past yr & a half.

April 2017, they made victory signs on formation of Panama JIT.

July 2017, they made victory signs each time Nawaz Sharif was disqualified & NAB was told to make references.

July 2018, Mr & Mrs Safdar Awan convicted then released in September & again the victory signs.

December 2018, Nawaz Sharif sentenced for 7 yrs in Al Azizia but acquitted in Flagship, hence victory signs.

October 2019 & yesterday's bail again prompted victory signs

During his 100 plus court hearings & jail visits by family & party members, there were victory signs.

What victory really? Against the system of the country he ruled over four decades? Against judicial & executive of the country who caught him for stealing & released him as well? Against people who made him PM thrice whose money was laundered ruthlessly & shamelessly?

Problem with these victory sign supporters is that their moral compass is made in China, which points towards the leadership instead of the truth & that is the plight of every political worker & an ongoing nightmare for the country.

Rabi ul Awal Mubarak

This Rabi ul Awal, let's cherish being Muslims. What is so great being a Muslim or why we continue to be Muslims? There are some really cool provisions in this religion e.g. we don't have to be perfect and as long as we are  playing our roles, that's all we are expected to do. It has no conflict with achieving excellence in everything we do. Its just that, since perfection is out of question, it saves us exhaustive pursuance of being perfect.
It is so logical to have placed an Ideal Man (Peace & Blessings be upon Him) to allow the rest space for being anything below perfect. Sometimes, you may use your imperfection 'Privilege Card' & be imperfect for the love of the life because we are the only creatures who has been taught how to seek forgiveness by The Teacher swt himself whenever & however we falter. The way out for conscious & inadvertent mistakes or failings is one sincere call of forgiveness and you are clean.
Perfection was not a simple bestowing. There were no preconditions for selection it had phases. The preparation for receiving Quran through open heart surgery in the desert at Haleema Sadia's. Then that defiance of time & space (beginning of which is still an unresolved mystery for science) when He (PBUH) sat on his space craft (Burraq) presumably traveled through a black hole where time froze & space became irrelevant. And then the moment of truth which thumped seal of perfection on His (PBUH) human self, that One on One meeting up there. He PBUH had to be perfect because He PBUH is the only human who saw perfection in person.
Here we must thank scientific advancements in the west which supplement our belief system through their continuous push for excellence. Our generation of late 20th Century was born in times of intellectual inquiries based on logic and sense perception. Science bolstered our beliefs further by explaining Quran to us much better than Ulema of tafseer for examole first three verses of Al Najm settle the issue of black holes.
So this model of Perfect Super Being (Allah swt) & Perfect Human Being (Prophet PBUH) as role model explained through a flawless Manual (Al Quran) makes much better sense & absorbs many 'isms' like theism, idealism and so on. It is so cool to be a Muslim in any age and time and our time is no different only if we endeavour to bring it up to the speed with modern times. Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal stands out to be the only reformer in religious thought in past five centuries. We need more of these.
Only Allah Knows the whole Truth. 

The Flip Side - Note 2

11 May 2013, General Elections NA-235 Sanghar II, a presiding officer called on my cell and reported massive rigging. As per constitution/ election rules, I asked him to requisition Army to move in as he had powers of Magistrate Grade I. He replied, 'Sir, you will leave after election duty and reporting this matter officially will endanger my family's lives'. Note that as per elections terms agreed by all political parties, Army had to stay outside the polling station and that was where the match was fixed. 
Cometh General Elections 2018, Army was given access to inside of polling stations after unanimous consent of all political parties. Naturally, it minimized chances of rigging inside polling stations. Consequently, unfavorable result for traditionally strong political entities who 'managed' election in past four decades because they were well entrenched in the system and their cariographers were anything but inept. Now, for face saving exit of grand opposition from Azadi March/ dharna, as an excuse of their political failings and loss in elections, these low lives are blaming Army for engineering last elections. Army doesn't do anything else wrong including floods, quakes, disaster relief, resettlement & rehab of displaced, development works in far-flung areas of GB, Kashmir, KPK & Blochistan except when its role conflicts with vested interets of political thugs. An anti Army narrative just continues to sell well among stented minds & parasites of status quo. Whereas, last general elections, PPP got more seats in Sindh & Noon nearly made govt in Punjab. For poor conduct of three dictatorships & shameful meddling of three odd intelligence heads in entire history, scapegoating Army for all their shenanigans by some politicians is despicable to say the least.
For Army, it shall continue its pursuit of excellence & that is the best answer to baseless propaganda. Already the difference & distance in terms of professionalism & institutional strength from the other state institutions is beyond comprehensible capacity of these pea sized brains. 

Maulana has arrived - what next?

Maulana has become an enigma. In fact, I never in my wildest dreams imagined writing and deciphering Maulana but he takes full credit for attracting such attention. What is he up to? What next? Is govt going to wait & watch, negotiate & reconcile, budge & bend, exasperate & affront? So many unanswered questions have really spiced up otherwise a politically dull environment due to toothless opposition mired deep into corruption hole. There are serious issues of governance, teetering economy (particularly alarming areas are inflation and unemployment) but there is no political force to up the ante against the govt failings.

Islamabad drawing rooms are very complacently dubbing Azadi March and Peshawar Mor sit-in as Alien Invasion. Insafians obviously (and ironically) abhor the whole activity which they did not so long ago. Geo is showing what ARY used to show not long ago. Govt big mouth bullies are showing uncharacteristic restrain after hurling volleys of nonsense at Maulana and his March. ISPR in an unnecessary engagement issued clarification on Army’s role in elections and reaffirmed its ‘support’ to the democratically elected govt, thereby, adding to Maulana’s already growing weight (both political and physical).

However dislike people may hold for Maulana, he is not a political amateur. Through a brilliant political maneuver, Maulana brought himself into the political spotlight, casting serious shadows on slapdash Bilawal and politically impotent Shahbaz Sharif. In fact, both mainstream opposition parties have been badly exposed for their inability to mobilize people as if termite of Zardari System and wisdom of father and daughter was not enough for their demise notwithstanding the fact that they were never interested to mobilize people for Maulana to steal the credit at this point in time.

I spent last few days on decoding Maulana’s politics. His political career is laden with ‘result oriented’ political posturing without breaking sweat. Willy-nilly, one has to accept that the guy is very intelligent in his own right, eloquent and logical in order to achieve his political goals and adaptive in nature i.e. he supported Taliban until they became redundant and at one point requested US Ambassador to Pakistan Ann Patterson to support for his premiership. He takes religious route to his voters’ hearts but his objectives like every other political leader are unambiguously political in nature. Though he did lose some political ground in last elections but he knows how to stay relevant. No matter how much disdain and insult is brought to his name at the social media, most of his supporters and voters don’t even use internet neither does he bother to clear the air nor does he need to. Since death of his father, he maintained and grew in political signature. He is a political reality. And in current political vacuum, he sees his chance to come to fore. He just saw an opportunity to achieve some relevance towards twilight of his life and political career and there seems no real harm in the attempt.

Such expensive march across the length and breadth of the country and current dharna is not Maulana’s political style. He has not only executed a near perfect Azadi March with unprecedented discipline and clinical precision but is also giving govt ultimatums. He has not crossed any lines yet. If he or his allies do cross the lines, they will be dealt with very severely. Although, Noon and PPP would dearly want a showdown between Maualna’s baton Army with nation’s LEAs but this wish will also not see fruition. The moment Maulana felt being offered favourable terms and conditions for a face saving exit from current situation, he will take it. But for that govt has to play very smart which could turn out be an unrealistic expectation. Finally, will he succeed in forcing IK to resign is not happening. So relax everyone, enjoy your weekend because nothing significant is coming to pass except temporary disruption in lives of Isloo dwellers.

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

Saintly Coke Studio-Wohi Khuda Hai

Kudos to Coke Studio for raising the level of music from devilish to divine and nothing more qualifies this than Hamd (حمد) Wohi Khuda Hai by Atif Aslam.
No wonder, music appealed locals of Hindu tradition. Saints were intelligent preachers than their successor Mullahs, they took path of music to people's hearts. They were on a mission and they were sincere missionaries. Mullah just loves to take post on his pulpit. And to stay relevant, he pulls every emotion on human inventory like hate, anger, love (if they needed).
Then it happened like this that we forgot the ways of the saints. Instead of spreading their mission, we began dancing on their graves on music & lyrics they used to change people's hearts. We hit another low when we began to dance on demonic tunes. If musical abyss had any bottom, it would be Indian love songs. Imagine how bad our music taste had become, rock bottom would be an understatement.
What Coke Studio is doing is that its reconnecting us with tradition of Sufi Saints. Overall, quality, impact & message of contemporary music had become so mundane that such high quality themed video Hamd was bound to stand out. Good standard of music & animating vocals are essential to convey powerful message crafted by the master craftsman Muzaffar Warsi. Wrapped in this package, propelled by Coke Studio platform, words of this Hamd has all the ingredients to touch hearts with its powerful message. Here, it must be mentioned that just becauae of the quality of lyrics, all those who sang this Hamd in past including the poet & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan made similar impact in the past as well.

The end with Darood Sharif underlines place of Aqa Muhammad PBUH in the whole equation. Whoever, will listen and enjoy the quality of music & vocals must be compelled to look into the meaning of lyrics & ending with respects to The Prophet PBUH. This work will touch hearts. It may change hearts. It is a saintly work of Coke Studio.

Despite being a commercial venture, certain Coke Studio songs seem to reenact the works of saints and Wohi Khuda Hai stands right up there

Team Misbah versus Team PTI

Except diplomatic victory that an international series took place in Pakistan, on performance front, poor team selection & a whitewash is the outcome.There are unccanny resemblances between Misbah's first series incharge & Team PTI's first year in office. He tried to build the team around his winning formula of Islamabad United pitching Faheem along with Shadab. Pretty much the same selection process seems to have gone in PTI' Team selection. Bacteria of Ahmed Shahzad, Umer Akmal & Faheem Ashraf took two games to be removed but along went the series, too little too late. Let's see how soon PTI takes an antibacterial drug or procrastinate till the series is lost. Misbah is calm & longterm for which he did well in longer version of the game whereas, shorter version is quite the opposite, T20 is fast, fluid & aggressive. You blip & you flip. Plus its good to be overrated in younger age, one can learn but being overrated at middle age is not only end of the road as far as learning & improving is concerned, it is seriously detrimental to people & organizational output. Or do we have to wait for Misbah to complete his on job training like Team PTI. And captain on the field talks too much like our minnisters & deliver too little.
There is a dissimilarity between Misbah's 1st series incharge & PTI's 1st yr in office that  people still have some genuinely measured hope assocciated with Captain PTI than great Sir Misbah ul Haq who does seem to have felt some heat of the hot seat. Its hard for him to get results in shorter format & if he has to stay like Bhai Jan Buzdar then we may have to get used to be on the losing side more often than not.
Similarities between Team Misbah & Team PTI outweigh the dissimilarities. But dissimilarity of Team Leaders alone outwieghs all similarities.

PM's General Assembly Speech and beyond

General Assembly speeches make headlines and Imran Khan's made some real good headlines today (the following day). Despite making headlines, these UNGA annual heads of state speeches fizzle out before creating any effect in tangible terms but does IK's speech break that barrier, remains to be seen. However, whatever has transpired so far, is unprecedented. A speech well articulated in diction, manner & message having all ingredients for considerable impact in short and long term. PM set the tone of Kashmir issue by taking the bull by the horns. 
Was he posturing well? Hell yes and why not, he is a leader who likes to stay a move ahead of his enemy. Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the greatest exponent of it. He would unfold Hindu's next move before execution. He saw through them. He was at the top of his game. Its no comparison, just a leaf out of Jinnah Sahab's repertoire.
Back to the speech.
Was it brankmanship? Big fat yes and why not, if there is remote possibility of being pushed against the wall, preempt. There are no other rational alternarives in the face of an enemy who is going berserk with newly found Hindu fanaticism. Hindu Extremism is on the rise. Hindu nationalists are xenophobic and love war-mongering. It serves Modi's political model really well. Is India resilient enough to withstand current tide of extremism? Doesn't look like that and time shall tell. 
People in general don't seem to understand or don't want to understand that that current Kashmir situation may have serious consequences. There are two possible scenarios:
One that 370 is revoked by Indian Supreme Court but under RSS mentorship, extremist Hindus have developed a taste for mob lynching. As if this nation needed more extremist traits. Was it not enough that they carve stones & wood and worship them. In this time and age athiest have a better line of argument then Hindus admitting that they can't disprove God's existence either.  Under the circumstances, no judge would risk being lynched. In fact, no one in India can withstand current typhoon of Hindu hooliganism.
Why are they so insecure? Hindus experienced freedom after a very long time. Barely 72 years of freedom after over thousand years of slavery, mostly ruled over by Muslims before British. It seems there are deep, deforming scars on Hindu soul, hence the monster of extremism is running wild.
Two that sooner or later, Kashmir explodes. May sound like a doomsday scenario but nothing short of it meets the situational criteria. If state of India doesn't budge from its stance which it won't in any case, then what choice is left with Kashmiris? We can't control their reactions. Things will escalate, even if Kashmiris don't escalate, India can repeat Pulwama type episode. In every scenario things are more likely to escalate than not. And if that be the case, we need to go all out to prepare for it. Wherein, speech was just one little step in the right direction. I would have liked PM to have directly addressed Indian nation for once not to play with fire. This might just have been an attempt to segregate fanatic RSS ideology from few normal people in India.
Way forward is obvious, remain one step ahead of the enemy, expose his plan before he executes it. However, unlike, situation before partition when all stakeholders had political solution in sight, current scenario may go beyond political domain. We should brace ourselves for that.
Only Allah knows the whole Truth.