Case for MQM & an Urban Province

Case for MQM & an Urban Province

MQM champions itself as a progressive and pluralistic political force. In the sea of religious bigotry and sectarianism, MQM emerged in 80’ as a unifying force between shias and sunnis. They had the will and more importantly the muscle to ensure that troublemakers on both side of the divide were in check. Before MQM’ emergence to power, Karachi saw bloody sectarian clashes on routine basis. In muharam, chaos ran supreme, thanks primarily to petro dollars coming home to roost. MQM alone can be credited with a complete turn around in urban centres of sind. Animosity and tension amongst neighbors subsided because they were united under the umbrella of MQM.

PPP in general has been no friend of Karachiites in particular and urban sind in general. This is not my feeling or some reach by an MQM voter. This is a factual reality and if I cared enough I would share unopposed statistics routinely shared by independent newspapers and championed by men like faisal sabzwari and haider abbas rizvi, who are far more eloquent than me, so we first need to come to terms with facts.

PPP’ ‘love’ for urban sind should not be a surprise either for anyone. Urban population of sind has never ever voted for ppp, ever! MQM or no MQM, urdu speaking citizens of Hyderabad and Karachi always saw bhutto’ policies of quota system as murder or meritocracy. I am a fan of ZAB so I am not going to dwell a whole lot on ZAB’ policies. You can call it hypocritical but I think I am mostly fan of the idea of a man who stood up for masses against military junta.

Surely the likes of zardari, makhdoom amin fahim, peer mazharul huq and zlufiqar mirza cant be blamed for awam-dosti. They are as anti-awam as they come. This is not PPP of ZAB or even Bibi, it’s a trite cliché I know but seriously, its really not! All you have to do is look at how ppp governed sind in last 7 years that they have been in absolute power and it should become evident that this is not a progressive, left leaning party. I know I am digressing but my larger point IS that there has always been this tug of war for resources between rural and urban sind and by design there will always be this tension. Quota system was initially introduced by zab to bring the rural masses to baseline, kind of like affirmative action for African Americans. The question is that at what point would we go back and seriously analyze the fruits of quota system.

Should there not be an honest attempt to check whether the unprecedented and lopsided sanction of monies for rural areas have actually resulted in bringing the rural population closer to HDI levels of urban Sindh? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that PPP has failed the rural population of sind when it comes to human development, quite miserably and rather convincingly.

Again no need for a complex exercise, all you have to do is take a stroll in rural areas of sind. The easiest smell test would be the condition of schools, healthcare and food security. Another interesting tidbit would be to compare the lifestyle and access to basic amenities mentioned above between the MPA/MNA and the average constituent of rural sind. You can then do the same exercise in constituencies held by MQM. Proof of pudding is in the eating folks!

I as an MQM supporter can be blamed for being biased and fair enough I reckon BUT I am sure there are universities in Pakistan which offer phd’ on social sciences and I am certain there are independent journalists, sindhi speaking ones who are not really fans of MQM for multitude of reasons, maybe they can take up this task and do an honest exercise to see if 40 years of quota system has delivered the desired results.

The citizens of urban sind are convinced that their rightful share is snatched from them so rural citizens can be accommodated. it would hurt a little less if these resources which are being denied to us are at least being invested to make the lives of common villagers better. However what we have seen in THAR and almost all of rural sind, the verdict is that PPP stole those resources from urban sind and instead of investing them for the welfare of rural sind, they deposited it in Swiss banks.

If rural sind cant stand up at this injustice and robbery, we are done with letting go of our fair share so the coffers of Wadeyras and Jageerdaarz of ppp can be fattened even further. Bring on the new administrative units so Qaim Ali Shah can spend more time in khairpur and faryal didi can be present in nawabshah and khusrsheed shah can focus on thatta, rather than lounging around in Karachi, disconnected from their constituencies all year long. I say It’s a win win.

Shehr-e-Aaseb Me Aankhen Hi Nahi Hen Kafi 
Ulta Latko Ge To Seedha Dikhai De Ga

Multan Stampede & Our Elite

Multan Stampede & our Elite

The more things change, the more they stay the same. In words of evergreen late dilawar figar ‘halaat-e-haazra ko kai saal hogaye’. Imran Khan’ emergence as a force to be reckoned with on the political landscape of Pakistan was lauded and appreciated by most Pakistanis. It encouraged a huge disillusioned middle class chunk of our society to come in the fore of political arena because khan was looked at as the fresh face, an untested commodity if you will. So far so good right? Wrong!

And I say that because the proof of the pudding would always have to be in the eating and unfortunately whenever the moment has come for khan to put his actions where his mouth has been in the political arena, he has failed miserably.

Fact is that He has surrounded himself with the same elite, he supposedly is on the mission to eradicate. In words of animated journalist sohail warraich ‘Kya yeahh khulla taayyzaad nahi hay?’.

This is why KHAN’ politics now have more contradictions than one has the patience for. Nowhere these dichotomies were screaming more than on the stage of PTI multan jalsa. I don’t blame Imran Khan or PTI exclusively for the accident but can Khan not see how absolutely callous (and I will venture to use the word barbaric,) it looks when dead bodies are being lifted like they are inane objects smack in front the eyes of the entire PTI leadership and they couldn’t care less. DJ butt to his credit begs them ‘please shut the hell up for a moment and give a damn about the severity of the situation’.

Qibla-0-Kaba LORD Hazrat MAKHDOOM Shah Mehmood Qureshi in all his pomp and glory brushes the lump bodies of kummi kameen aside and orders the concert to go on. I swear if these visuals were captured in an MQM or ANP event, the gheyrat brigade primarily comprising of aqle-kul anchors would have ranted and raved for days on at the catastrophe. Altaf Hussein and batcha khan would have been personally held responsible for the murders and call would be to hang them in public square, despite the fact that batcha khan is already resting in peace.

I know I sound a bit unhinged but the favoritism and double standards of mostly Punjabi intelligentsia is exhausting and then they innocently wonder why baloch’ are not so hot on the concept Pakistan anymore.

We as a people also deserve a lot of this blame for accidents of this nature. I don’t quite get what the rush is? You have spent 4 hours being part of an event, whats another 15 minutes?

You witness this same psychosis in air travel. Everyone is on best behavior until the vessel enters the boundaries of sarzameen-e-pak. All hell breaks loose and the same people who have been flying for 15 hrs, all of a sudden cant wait another 3 minutes so the damn thing can land and park itself. Where are we rushing to anyway? What is this anxiety and restlessness as a nation? I am not one of those people who blame the people of Pakistan for ills of the system.

I think its unfair to confuse illness with symptoms. The rulers and the elite hoarding 99% resources for the 1% and the 99% of goalaaz adding a bit of water in milk is not on par with each other. Former is the actual problem; latter is the logical manifestation of corruption and moral bankruptcy of elite, which stems from the top 1%.

But for your own sake people, play the odds. It’s not worth it to put your safety on stake to save 15-20 minutes. Believe me you guys have nothing better to do. Stay put!

Muslim league Nawaz, PPP and civil and military elite should also realize that this is not the Pakistan of 1990’. Because of media and to a certain degree the higher judiciary, the kummi kameen majority of the country will increasingly ask more and more uncomfortable questions. The more of the same cannot work for perpetuity and elite must share the golden eggs being laid by the golden goose that is Pakistan.

Don’t share all the eggs but for your own sake realize that you guys are the ones who have the most to loose, have-nots have nothing by definition..so please shape up!

Hold the local bodies elections already. Depoliticize the election commission. Bring parity between haves and not have-nots, not in an absolute manner but at least extend meaning full gestures by spending more on public welfare. When you hold the longest sessions of parliaments and not a single bill for public welfare and every single second is spent on hue and cry on how someone is after your cheese, then it looks royally bad..and I say that as a supporter of democracy and as someone who is against ouster of this government thru mob pressure.

I say this with pain that KHAN is another opportunity squandered. At least till now. He needs to go back to the basics. Surround himself with common folk and old party loyalist, not tareens and roedad khans of the world.

He has a canvas available in KPK. Draw a beautiful picture of Pakistan there. And as a karachiite, I want to say that don’t stand with those who are against fairness, just because you don’t like MQM. Smaller Administrative units are need of the hour for entire Pakistan and KHAN you agree, then why is Karachi special? We the karachiites are less interested in political gimmickry and more interested in who will raise voice for the rightful share of Karachi.

PPP and the rural elite of Sindh has lorded over sind and specifically Karachi now for more than 7 years. Don’t take my word for it, Take a stroll or talk to a genuine sindhi journalist and if they have shred of honesty in them, they will draw a fair parallel of Karachi under mqm in early to mid 2000 and Karachi in last 7 years.

Zaban-e-khalq ko naqar-e-khuda samjho.

First they came for GEO

First they came for GEO…
I have a natural aversion to Martial Law. As a human being its my natural state to rebel against ‘submission by force’. Donkeys however respond to and are fan of ‘DANDA’. Donkeys also believe that just like them, everyone else must like humiliation as well, but I digress. What has transpired on our national landscape in last month and a half is crass and that is the lightest word I could muster up.
I am no fan of GEO, never been employed by them, don’t have family working there; in short I have no association with them whatsoever. The manner in which MSR has run amok for the last many years and the way they dealt with attacks on express news and raza rumi is pathetic to say the least, but it doesn’t warrant this lynching. None of my friends or relatives have ever been picked up and made ‘missing persons’ by GEO. No one I know at least had been extra judicially murdered by GEO and that alone will make me vote for GEO in this fiasco every day of the week, twice on Sundays.
Again all of this is hypothetical and GEO in my opinion is not the problem. It’s a punching bag at this point. GEO unfortunately is being used to make a proactive point by the deep state (thanks Kamran shafi) in the struggle for prominence between those who have guns and those who have the mandate of masses. And intellectuals who haven’t sold their soul to the devil yet must stop peddling this hogwash that a huge majority of masses would rather be in utopia ruled by Army. If that was the case Q league would again have won.
We can also rest this nonsense by Hameed Gul and zaid hamid teaming up and forming a political party and them and tahir from Canada and maybe even immii from banni gala can form a coalition and overwhelm us with their popularity by garnering 2/3rd majority and they can then amend the constitution and make COAS as Head-Abboo of the country. kind of like Iran’ Supreme Leader position, but till then kindly abide by the constitution.
200,000 likes on mushraf’ facebook page isn’t a testimony that he will be the next popular PM of Pakistan nor is 10000 potians screaming and cussing on twitter an actual revolution against democracy. A union council in Pakistan has more individuals so kindly invest in reality. The question is how is this minority so lopsidedly able to control the national narrative on airwaves? And that’s where the defense budget makes an entrance, more on that later.
We as a nation need to realize after this recent episode that we are quite ways from our armed forces doing JUST the job we pay them to do, which is safeguarding our borders and our internal security. They are immersed in politics and mazhar abbas a famous and one of the few genuine journalist around rightly pointed out that its quite naive to think that Army is not playing any part in politics anymore. It also should provide reality check to those romantics who had figured that after the Lawyers movement and emergence of media, we are finally emancipated as a nation and civilians like rest of the civilized world will now call the shots.
So first lets understand that our armed forces are very much involved and interested in the power structure of the state. The reason is not because of some lofty patriotic ideals but simply because its extremely financially beneficial for the higher echelon of armed forces to control the narrative by all means necessary. If you care for facts, kindly read a book by Ayesha Siddiqua “Military INC!”
What we have seen during this Geo-ISI fiasco is that Army is the best political party of Pakistan. It would have been fine but the fact that they have the most number of guns, makes this equation a little unfair. The manner in which the usual suspects and their uncles made a beeline and pounced on GEO is not just a lesson for GEO but for everyone who cares about freedom of expression, civilian supremacy and rule of law. Was GEO out of line, YES! Was the sin grave enough to jeopardize the lives of 7000 employees with an allegation like blasphemy? Ahhh , NO! But like I said its not about GEO, its about security establishment politely hinting to civvies that we will go to any length to ensure not just our relevance but also supremacy in power corridor because stakes are high. And stakes are primarily financial in nature. Again it will be worth it to actually know how lopsidedly and in an absolutely unprecedented manner from rest of the civilized world; our military is immersed in business. And its this open secret which will be outed if we didn’t transition from one chaos to another.
aik aur darya ka samna tha 'munir' mujh ko
jo aik darya kay paar utra to maiN nay daykha
Folks these are not just accidents of nature. Hamir Mir didn’t get hit by lightning from the heavens; he was shot at the behest of the same folks who killed journalist saleem shehzad. We have a section of the society who is convinced that these are necessary measures to keep Pakistan safe and thriving and unfortunately its an acceptable narrative in some of our living rooms BUT then they should pick up the courage and be honest and express this same sentiment on TV. I am sick and tired of hearing this trite ad hominum from the likes of lateef naam ka afsar (thanks nusrat javed) and mubashar luqman ‘Attack on hamid meer is deplorable!’ I am sorry but I call bullshit on that, you high-fived when you heard that news and you know it.
Once we agree on facts that scream at us in our faces, then we can either adopt the hamid meer model or Ayaz Ameer model. Both of them are genuine and smart individuals. Ayaz is saying that don’t listen to Iqbal and let mamoola live in peace and build its strength so its actually able to give shehbaz a good fight. Slow and steady is what ayaz is proposing. People like hamid meer are a little more brave and they are saying enough already, its 2014 and we have become a joke of the world thanks to policies of our security establishment and we must take the policy making form them and let civvies call the shot.
It is depressing to see how quickly the house of cards of independence of media came crashing down. We had always known that lifafa journalism was alive and kicking but the manner in which Arshad shareef, moeed, jasmeen have shamelessly done bidding for aabpara is another chapter in our sordid history. But at least cat is out of the bag.
Go zara si baat per barson ke yaarane gaye...
Lekin itna to hua kuch log pehchaane gaye

Please spare us the preciousness!

Please spare us the preciousness!

As someone who was beaten brutally by the jawans of our Army in front of my crying mother when I was 16 for no other reason but because I stared at them while they were patrolling my muftooha neighborhood, and I as a urdu speaking teenager in a lower middle class neighborhood had obviously no right to do that, there is a certain sense of poetic justice when Musharaf the ex COA is humbled in courts as a criminal in front of ‘dirty civilians’. Those of us who were teenagers in late 80s in karachi witnessed first hand the torture and humiliation which is now prevalent in balochistan and ironically some of us weave ourselves in to a pretzel defending ‘hamari fauj ka sipayh salar’ at his crimes against humanity and I am just baffled!

I am a MQM supporter and voter and I don’t make any qualms about that but I am truly stumped, why is that they go so out of the way to defend Musharaf? Wasn’t it a quid pro quo? Because he gave money for the development of Karachi? Was it charity from his own hard earned money? Do we not earn that money as the biggest contributor in the national money-pool? So I am expected to say ‘thank you’ when pennies are thrown my way from the loot of my own house? I am supposed to be indebted to the symbol of my oppression because he rapes me a little less?

I apologize but this makes little sense to me as a proud, free human being. But this is not about me hating on the Army, who I believe is a necessary institution and can do good if it sticks to the role it has been given in the constitution; rather this is about making a point about rule of law and supremacy of constitution, preferably without blood and gore. We have enough of that already in our country and we need to find ways to move on.

We are a dichotomy galore as a nation and neither saad rafique (who I am a fan of), or least of all Nawaz bin ziaul huq shareef can afford to get too cute. All of us have had illicit relationship with the devil and we will be well advised to make a point and move on. And lets make sure that its not just musharaf either. I am all for picking the lowest hanging fruit but even then he is not the only fruit that needs pickin’.

Just in recent past, we have had NLC scandal, royal palms, not to mention asghar khan and hudiabya paper mills scandals. Justice is nowhere on the horizon in these and many other cases. If we stop with musharaf then nay Sayers would be proven right that this was never about rule of law and was always about petty revenge. Prove them wrong Mr. prime minister and be remembered in history as the man who changed the course for Pakistan. For some reason I cant afford to hold my breath.

As a nation we can only have rule of law IF its across the board. That means that you cannot free taleban prisoners without due course of law. That means that you cannot have poor bakery salesman beat up by your thugs and then face no repercussions because you are a shareef (ah irony). It means that bank defaulters and tax evaders have to be duly prosecuted no matter how influential or inqualabi they are (immi bhai you listenin? tareen airways aint kosher and you know it). It means dons have to answer hows that they used housing building loans on marriage ceremonies.

We have a long way to go and I know cliché’ are so 90’ but abhi nahi tau kabhi nahi. This is it, we are all what we got and in words of hazrat Hussein Obama ‘we are the one’ we have been waiting for. For my money, prosecution of musharaf is a good thing but its what we do next and not this alone, which will emancipate us.

Ye Daag Daag Ujala, ye Shab Gazeeda Seher


Wu Intizar tha Jiska, Yeh wu Seher tu Nahin


Ye Wo Seher tu Nahin Jiski Arzoo lay Kar

Chale` Tey Yaar Kay mil Jaigi Kahin Na kahin


Falak Kay Dasht Men Taron Ki Akhri Manzil


Kahin to Hoga Shabe` Sust Mowj ka Sahil


Kahin To Jake Rukega Safinae Ghume Dil


Jawan Lahoo ki Pur Israr Shahrahon Say


Chale Jo Yar Tho Daman Pe Kithnay Haath Pade`


Dayare Husn ki Bay Sabr Qwab gaaahon say



Pukarti rahi Bahen Badan Bulate` Rahay


Buhat haseen thi laykin Rukhe` Sahar Ki  Lagan


Buhat Qarren tha Haseenane Noor ka Daman


Subuk Subuk Thi Tamanna, Dabi Dabi Thi Thakan.


Suna Hai Ho Bhi Chuka Hai Firaqe` zulmat o'Noor


Suna Hai Ho Bhi Chuka Hai Wisale` Manzil o'gaam


Badal Chuka Hai Buhat Ahle'Dard Ka Dastoor


Nishate` Wasl Halal wo Azabe Hijr Haram.

Jigr ki Aag, Nazr ki Umang, Dil ki Jalan


Kisi pey Charae`-Giryan ka kuch Asr hi Nahin


Kahan Say Aii Nigare` Saba, Kidhar ko Gaii


Abhi Chiraghe` Sare` Rah Ko kuch khabar Hi Nahin.


Abhi Giraniay Shab Men kumi Nahin Aii


Najate` Deeda wu Dil ki Ghadi Nahim Aii


Chalay Chalo-ke` Wu Manzil Abhi Nahin Aii.


Great poets always remain relevant and like faiz so is martin niemeller:

“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a communist;


Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a socialist;


Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a trade unionist;


Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
because I was not a Jew;


Then they came for me—
and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

― Martin Niemöller

Lets not wait till they come back for us again and lets make this a Pakistan, where ‘they’ are subservient to the constitution of Pakistan.

Rural Blues, inhumanity on a different level!

Bilawal talks the talk and in environment like ours and the context in which he physically exists, its no small feat. He has to do better than just wax poetic here however. Heads must roll and not at a district level either. He must take on the likes of qayim ali shah and agha siraj durrani’, if bilawal is to champion the cause of a true socialistic reform. What has transpired in THAR is not a surprise. At least not for folks who are familiar with provincial PPP leadership cadre in sind. They mostly hail from rural areas and comprise of have’ and quite frankly have no stake or even pressure to change the subhuman conditions of rural SIND. Fahd Hussein of Tribune have recently written an extremely powerful piece and a nobody like me would not want to top up on what he has already eloquently laid out.

What I would like to focus on here is the disparity of human condition in rural areas of our country compared to urban centers of Pakistan. Now given that urban centers are no Norway either but there is a stark difference on the quality of life for those who don’t belong to the landlord class. I am not necessarily arguing here that more resources need to be invested in rural areas. Although more money would obviously help but my larger point is that resources which are already allocated are criminally absconded by the elite of the area in a manner which seems untouchable, beyond the reach of law.

And this absolute rape of masses in every sense of the word of the majority citizenry is consistent thru out the country, across party lines. Have’ seems to have built the consensus that ‘raiyut’ (masses) are sub-humans and its not a big deal if their lives and miseries and that of cattle seems on parallel. A simple drive around (if you are allowed by the armed thugs of the wadeyra) in any of these villages will highlight the disparity of conditions of have’ and have not’. What strikes me as a loud-mouth karachiite is that the 99% have not’ somehow refuse to put 2 and 2 together that their misfortunes are directly related to the well-being of the sardar of their area and not necessarily on the bridge built in lallokhayt karachi.

MQM unit in-charge and sector in-charge are titles of fear thanks to the Punjabi dominated and to some extent biased media, but I can assure you that no matter how scary MQM gets, there is no way on God’ green earth that there will be famine like situation in my neighborhood of sharifabad and nadeem bhai our unit in charge would be living it up in his mansion. If MQM leadership in 90 or the one in London don’t address transgressions from those who we entrust with a position of authority, you can rest assured the mob will take care of it.

And this is my fascination that at what point will the parents of those 200 dead children in THAR will be able to organize themselves and set someone on fire whose well being is subsidized by them?

Jis Khait Se Dehqan Ko Mayassar Na ho Rozi

Uss Khait Ke Har Khausha-e- Gandum Ko Jala Do

I don’t mean to sound extreme and I realize that vigilantism creates chaos but 200 dead children and shazia marri was irked on twitter that we are blowing this out of proportion? Her surprise and this attitude ‘chill yo! What is the big deal?’ Got under my skin.

These rural elites whether its ayla malik, isar zehri (does anyone even remember that he buried 5 women alive?), shahrukh jatoi really do believe that at a very basic, innate level, at a genetic level they are superior than the rest of us and therefore their lives should mean more and we should try to keep the hues and cries of our young un’ dying to a level which isn’t too grating on their ears. It is this sort of preciousness that should offend the collective psyche of the nation and something drastic should be done to send a message.

And when I say nation, I mean those who have the ways and means to do something about it. Primarily the onus will fall on intellectuals and the media to shift their focus on rural injustices and bring the conditions to some level of parity. I assure you that veena malik and meera will still be here and as controversial as ever when you guys return and TUQ and sheikh rasheed will still be lackeys of pindi and we can carry on with usual stuff once the 70% of our citizenry is truly worthy of being called human beings.

Tu Qadir-o-Aadil hai magar Teray JahaaN mei

HaiN talkh bohat banda-e-mazdooR k auqaat!