Is Altaf Hussein still relevant?

Short answer is yes! We will explore in this blog why.

Altaf Hussein was not relevant in the past because he was chanting Pakistan zindabad; therefore he will not become irrelevant overnight due to a slogan either. Altaf Hussein was relevant because he championed the cause of a community who was oppressed and treated unfairly. Has that changed? If the answer is yes then you don’t have to worry about altaf Hussein. If it hasn’t, and I respectfully submit that it hasn’t, then Altaf Hussein is still as relevant as ever before.

Powers to be should also realize that in politics and public opinion, its perception which sometimes is more important than reality. Take the example of Donald Trump phenomenon for instance. U.S.A in recent years has seen unprecedented progress on domestic front. Unemployment is at all-time low, job growth is on the uptick, gas prices are much lower than republican era, millions of people who couldn’t afford health insurance now have one; and so on and so forth. But why is still there is this restlessness in ‘white America’?

Quite frankly its absurd to draw a parallel between ‘white america’ and mohajir community and arrive on a conclusion. But the point I am trying to make is that when you are ruled by the ‘other’; even if the ‘other’ has been fair and has done a better job than republicans, STILL masses can be rallied for the cause by playing the race card.

Now in case of Karachi and mohajirs, contrary to USA, the ‘other’ has been coercive, unfair, brutal and biased. It’s an established principle that selective implementation of rule of law is actually unlawful. E.g you cannot ban Altaf for saying Pakistan Murdabad and let mehmood khan achakzai and Imran Khan carry on. Well you can, and you have because you carry a stick; BUT rest assured that MQM’ constituency is taking a silent notice. And its this selectiveness which keeps Altaf relevant.

We all know that the civilian leadership of the country, whether its PPP or Noon league are not the ones calling the shots in either Karachi or balochistan. I as an individual think that Nawaz shareef can heal balochistan and Karachi, if he is given the control that he deserves as PM. So although I don’t hold him responsible for extra judicial murders, kidnappings and for all practical purposes Martial Law in Karachi and balochistan; I do blame him for agreeing to play within the sandbox designed by the military establishment.

All of this is still fixable. Those who truly love Pakistan must have this rude awakening that Pakistan is not just real estate, Pakistan is people who live in that land. So anyone who loves ALL Pakistanis must realize that whether its bilal akbar or raheel shareef or rizwan Akhtar, they are extensions of hamid gul and zia ul haq and yahya khan and They cannot be allowed to do social engineering on a strategic level. If you do then like their predecessors, they will mess it up royally. PSP and Farooq sattar group will fail like haqiqi and sunni tehreek before them.What Mr. Nawaz Shareef has allowed to happen in balochistan and Karachi will have consequences and anyone who wishes well for Pakistanis like I do, must appeal to the PM to change course.

Karachi gave its mandate fair and square to Altaf Hussein over and over again in the last 3 years. My humble submission is that if you park the coercion and state brutality, Karachi is still insync with Altaf. You may not like it, but that’s the truth. So instead of further aggravating the situation and pushing that political entity towards fringes, like we have done with brahmdagh and herbyar, bring altaf back in the fold and respect the mandate of people of Karachi like you respect it for Lahore, laRkana and Peshawar. If you don’t then Pakistan will be worse off. Hope sanity prevails.

Are Karachi & Hyderabad RAW’ Stronghold?

Are Karachi & Hyderabad RAW’ Stronghold?

So for the 167^th time in last 25 years, establishment of Pakistan and Punjabi intelligentsia is convinced and trying to convince the rest of the country that MQM is RAW’ B team. This is troubling because during this same time frame, MQM has continued to enjoy mandate of Urban SIND. It is also interesting that Pakistan’ Army was at helm of affairs for all intent and purpose from 1999-2007 and during this tenure MQM enjoyed unprecedented relevance in the power corridor. So we are left with dichotomy of sorts and its high time some honesty is accorded to people of Pakistan.

There are five thousand and one problems with Pakistan, like any other country of 200 million. But a fundamental issue in my opinion is not that of terrorism or corruption. It is that of confusion. Confusion on who should be ultimately in-charge? Don’t take me wrong, I understand that there is ‘democracy’ in the country and that there is constitution of Pakistan. But seriously, let’s not Kidd ourselves, we know who is ultimately in-charge on important matters. And when we have one thing for the show, and another for all practical purposes, it creates confusion and brings a country to a debilitating halt like it has Pakistan for decades on.

So now, what is the solution? My solution is that we go back to the people of Pakistan and have them vote for a new social contract. What does that mean? It means that we put ourselves thru a referendum. Question should be; Who do you think should govern Pakistan moving forward? 3 options are:

1) Army thru hardcore martial law.

2) Civilians thru an all-powerful parliament, with final say on EVERYTHING (defense, economy, real estate, foreign policy..everything).

3) Continue with the status quo of Hodge podge that we have right now.

I am convinced that option 3 is the worst. I am also convinced that we have never tried option 2. If we as a nation were either respectable amongst the fraternity of nations or at least we were on a course which would eventually get us there, I would say since we are familiar with 1 and 3, lets just persist with it. But since we are abysmal in every sense of the word, why can’t we throw a hail-merry and try something crazy like option 2? 

But listen, I am just one person. Let’s put this up to people of Pakistan and see what they say. I see no other way for us to move towards any semblance of progress. It will always be one step forward and 2 back until we settle this fundamental issue as a nation once and for all. Truth will set us free.

MQM will welcome the next Martial Law Administrator

and how can you blame them? Its deja vu all over again. This is a tried and tested formula. You push MQM in a corner, suffocate them and then after the military take over, give them an olive branch and garner the popular mandate of the only city that matters in pakistan...and run amok for decades like musharaf did.

Obviously when MQM is fighting for survival and pushed against the wall, principle of democracy takes a back seat and priority one is to stand on your own feet. I am not at all surprised at modus operandi of the establishment because we have all been here before but What i find absolutely amazing is the numbness and dumbness of all of these democratic champions who seem to think that they will walk away unscathed.

It is exhausting that after decades of Armed dictatorships, civilians havent learned a lick. The security establishment either because of lack of imagination and probably because of laziness dont even change the characters and still civilians walk right in to it.

I as a democrat protested the 99 coup even though i am no fan of Nawaz shareef or PPP. and thru out opposed musharf during his heyday and still consider him to be a usurper and overall a bad news. My opinions on musharaf and his armed dictatorship is a huge point of contention amongst my friends and family who are mqm supporters, and i consider myself as one as well. But as a die hard pakistani, i am convinced beyond a shadow  of a doubt that my motherland' fortunes will not change if the same tested and tried recipe of Martial Law is repeated. We have many problems and our civilians rulers are pathetic for less of a better word, but still we would do far worse in bigger scheme of things if this country was to encounter another 'mayray aziz hamwatano'. we as a nation should unequivocally agree on this basic principle that never again will we be ruled by an individual whose only prominence to power is that he commands the most number of guns. it might cut down corruption by 5-7% although i seriously doubt it , but more importantly it does unimaginable damage to the fabric of nation at its core.

I have said it before and its worth repeating that Altaf Hussein and MQM' leadership should be taken to gallows if they have committed acts which are considered crimes under tazerat-e-pakistan. But please make sure that the same rule is applied to Nawaz Shareef, Zardari, Imran Khan, Shah Mehmood QUreshi, Jehangir Tareen, Aleem Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Munnawar Hassan, Hamid Gul, Musharaf, Aslam Beg, Asad Durrani, Javed Ashraf Qazi, Ashfaq Pervaiz Kiyani, Shuja Pasha and on and on and on. Where will you stop? You couldnt! What you need is a truth and reconciliation commission where all the ones mentioned above and hundreds more come and sincerely weep and ask for forgiveness from the people of pakistan. If you dont, and just keep killing MQM workers extra judicially  in cold blood, like you did in 90' and like you have recently then rest assured that MQM will not whither away and the eventual casualty will be the democracy of pakistan. And that will be a sad sad day.

Army Or Civilians?

I am not going to try to be eloquent..because many others are and my purpose here is to genuinely figure out what is that we want as pakistanis, and how to get out of this perpetual morass as a nation. 

So instead i am going to raise some questions and then make some reccomendations. The confusion, facade and ambiguity is slowly pushing us over the brink towards disaster and we need to do something drastic. so here are my questions.

Who actually is in charge in this country?

Is Nawaz Shareef or anyone in his cabinet or any civilian really in charge of security policy?

Is Muslim League N or any civilian in charge of foreign policy?

Who is the best group to run Administrative, Municipal, Political, Financial affairs of Pakistan?

We need a new social contract. 

I propose that we organize one referendum in this country. The question should be extremely simple. 

What is your preference?

1)Army
2)Civilians

We should sincerely let Shahid Masood, Moeed Peerzada, Zaid Hamid, Mubasher Lucman, Faisal Raza Abidi, Zulfiqar Mirza, Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Dr. Danish, Hafiz Saeed, Shahid Lateef, Fawad and assortment of passive aggressive retired generals campaign for their cause and once and for all provide nation the clarity it desperately needs to move forward. 

If Army wins the referendum fair and square then they should be provided a legal framework to rule over the country. Specially because Army has never ever been tried with running ALL the affairs of the country and its high time we give these extremely brave, God-fearing, pious, intelligent, eloquent, competent in everything under the sun and visually stunning gentlemen the importance and relevance they have earned and have always been denied.

If they loose god forbid , can we let civilians run affairs in totality? like what i mean is that if civilians want to give india the mfn, then we let them without any coercive repercussions.

If civilians want to bring general musharaf in the court to face the music then we don't hold the government hostage thru dharnas and assorted other shenanigans.

If civilians want to discuss nth level of details of defense budget because public has given them that mandate then we let them, like other civilized democracies. And if after that scrutiny , its discovered that a good portion of this budget is spent on things which has little to do with actually defense of the country and more to do to run PR for the Army, then we let civilians curb that illegality. 

If civilians have agreed on a constitution then we let them govern pakistan under that constitution ..letter and spirit.

the real problem in this country is that of confusion and lies. We all know who is in charge but then we have this facade..and i am saying what is the need for the facade? Its tiring and a waste of time and resources. The least this poor country deserves is brutal honesty. lets be real for God’ sake, give us a break and let us hear the sweet words ‘mayray aziz hamwatanoo’ already.

Why are Karachiites so Annoying

Why are Karachiites so annoying?

Waqar younis was extremely upset and walked off from the press conference. I think he was offended at the insinuations which were made by the karachi journalist there. How dare they?

One of the constant themes which i have experienced from our friends from central punjab is that I in particular and karachi walay in general, bring out the mohajir card at the drop of a hat. And that somehow makes us less of a pakistani. 

Not that i am looking for certificate of patriotism from anyone but its a bit perplexing when our friends from central punjab don't understand that what has happened here to sarfarz or fawad..is not a one off...just in last 30 yrs just in cricket there are examples of basit ali, asif mujtaba, rizwanuz zaman, qasim omer..just to name a few. These men would have illustrious careers if it weren't for their unfortunate domiciles. Do you know that Javed Miandad was not selected for the 92 world cup originally, at the behest of the epitome of everything which is holy and pure one Mr. Imran Khan? We let bygones be bygones.

Prejudice is not a figment of my imagination..its a reality in pakistan. We lost bengal because of it and on the verge of loosing balochistan and until we own it as a real sickness in the heads of these kurta dharta ..we will continue to see this absolute slaughter of merit, whether its cricket or education department of sind at the hands of peer mazharaul haq first and now nisar khoRRoo. But i digress.

A comment which made me giggle was by a friend this morning k 'yaar tum karachi waloon k saath masla kya hay bhai..tumharay saath koi alag burtao nahii horaha...vaysa hi hay unees bees jaysa baloch, siraiki, pakhtoon or sindhiyoon k saath hum kartay hein..you guys are probably still a bit better off than these other lesser mortals! Whats with the hue and cry?'. 

And that was the epiphany for the week....their point isn't that there isn't wholesale injustice based on caste and creed, gripe is why u complainin' son?....Walk it off!!

hum aah bhi kartay hein tau hojatay hein budnaam
voh qatl bhi kartay hein tau churcha nahi hotta

Open letter to PCB from punkhayz (fans)

Open letter to PCB from punkhayz (fans)

Dear (kehnay mein kya hurj hay?) PCB,

sirjee let bygones be bygones , we said things that we didn't mean, you did things only you and meera could fathom. BUT you are all we got and we cant stop loving OUR cricket (baqaul shair..ishq hojaey kissii say koi chaara tau nahi) just because its being run by einsteins like tota-farosh saythii sahab . 

besides in this mumlikat-e-khudad of ours, what else is being run by common sense so why to expect sanity from you..hein bhai…koi batlao k hum batlaein kya? i mean we are a people who have accepted luqman as an honest journalist, aamir liaquat as an islamic scholar, meera as a hottie, sheikh rasheed as a democrat, abdur rasheed ghazi as someone who doesn't wish harm to anyone, sarfaraz nawaz as someone who is not unhinged, tau bhai if najam sethi is defacto chairman PCB tau guzara karein!

anywho so i was saying k sir, forgive our sins and since now there is a whimper of an opportunity and this nation can again hope for a miracle, at least put the right playing eleven in the ground. Biggest gripe isn't that we are loosing and loosing like we are minnows, frustration is that we really don't have to be this bad..provided that karachi is also considered as part of pakistan and maybe a laRka or 2 out of eleven can be selected from this city.

In what kind of a twilight zone you select Nasir Jamshed over fawad Alam? bhai punjabi hi khilana hay then play nasir jamshed’ parody account on twitter, i am sure he is more in form. 

I am not suggesting that PCB has ignored players of AB de Villiers quality, but when other teams are so good then not playing sarfaraz and fawad is a cardinal sin. Besides why be so petty in 2015? Who cares if these 2 (fawad and sarfaraz) didn't know any better and insisted on being born in karachi, butchey hein maaf kardein yaar! 

PCB sweetie we urge you to be bigger than this and find it in your heart to make slightest of changes and we still might edge in to quarters. and then if we loose, we can hang moin joaari khan and Mr and Mrs Selfie instead. 

There is still an opportunity to do the right thing PCB mayri jaan ki tukRi. we beg you as fans to send Nasir Jamshed back on account of him being umeeed say and not only get fawad as part of squad but get him in the playing eleven , and shut the mouths of hidustoRaaz like me all over, once and for all.

nobody is expecting Pakistan to win the world cup, least of all me. I am however convinced that we are good enough to be in quarter finals…but it will only happen when we play the right XI. 

As a fan, there is no tax on dreaming and even if you do an analysis in an emotionally detached manner, you are telling me that on our day we are not good enough to beat even new zeawland ? people, people, people, we did it not once but twice merely couple of months ago and i don't doubt that we can still do it on our day. But at the sake of being repetitive, we must take care of ducks which we have absolute control over and line them up properly..selecting the right eleven is a bare minimum. Here is the right eleven in my opinion based on performances.

1. Sarfaraz Ahmed WK
2. Haris 
3. Misbah C
4. Umer Akmal
5. Sohaib
6. Fawad
7. Afridi
8. Wahab
9. Yasir Shah
10. Sohail Khan
11. Irfan

Tundi-e-baad-e-mukhalif say na ghabra aey uqqaab

yeah tau chalti hay tujhay ooncha uRanay k liyay

Pakistan Zindabad!!

Hang Altaf Hussein & MQM

Hang Altaf Hussein & MQM

For baldia town and many other crimes for which they haven’t been convicted by court of law but since this is in fashion now, lets play along.

But before you pull the lever, indulge me some innocent quandaries. Why should altaf Hussein and mqm be punished for crimes? Ahh its in constitution of Pakistan, you say ehh? All right. Lets begin!

Before you hang MQM and AH, how about declaring Ayub Khan a criminal because he was a dictator and killed people who supported Mother of Nation Fatima Jinnah?

How about officially thru court declare Gen. Yahya & Zulfikhar Ali Bhutto criminals who broke the country in half. Surely a bigger crime than anything MQM is accused of.

How about sentencing Gen Zia ul Haq “shaheed” for killing Zulfikhar Ali bhuttoo in cold blood. Its been on record that courts were coerced, so how about making it formal?

How about sentencing hundreds of leaders of PPP including shaheed bibi, asif zardari etc. for money laundering, loan write-offs, naked corruption, embezzlement, coercion, incompetence which have resulted in death and agony of thousands of citizens of Pakistan?

How about sentencing hundreds of leaders of Muslim league N including Nawaz Shareef, shehbaz shareef etc. for money laundering, loan write-offs, naked corruption, coercion, incompetence, embezzlement which have resulted in death and agony of thousands of citizens of Pakistan?

How about trying general musharaf, gen. zia, gen yahya, gen aslam beg, gen asad durrani, Gen. hamid gul for openly admitting in supreme court of all places that yes they have subverted the constitution? How about terrorists of al-badr and al-shams? How about convicting rangers for killing a citizen of Pakistan in plain sight, caught on camera? How about rapist of dr. shazia in balochistan? How about killers of thousands of baloch youth and thousands of citizens of Karachi in 90’? how about the architects of jihad policy, the geniuses in our security establishment because of whom, more than 50,000 citizens of Pakistan have been murdered?  Can we implement the same constitution on these scions of purity?

How about bringing killers of Benazir bhuttoo and Journalist saleem shehzad to justice? We all know who they are, just like we know who set baldia town factory ablze, don’t we?

And now my dear Imran Khan and PTI, you must realize that we can only hang MQM and altaf Hussein on these accusations because they are considered crimes under constitution of Pakistan, right? Do you know what else is considered a crime under penal code of constitution of Pakistan? Drinking, drug-use, fornication outside of marriage, betting, tax evasion, loan write-offs, money laundering, corruption, embezzlement, aiding and abetting a martial law dictator. Does any of this ring a bell dear sir? You see you pillar of everything which is decent and holy, the smallest of any of these crimes, if true, will bar you from politics, like yousuf raza gilani. Bye bye PM house!

See the issue I have is not that you want to take MQM to the gallows. My pet peeve is why ONLY MQM? Ohh I get it, because they are not from the halal side of pakistan, not the right kind of Pakistani right?

Well guess what folks, it aint happening because whats kosher in boonies of sind and balochistan, aint halal in metropolis of Karachi. We object to this selective morality from sons of soil. You have tried this before and failed. No implementation of rule of law on MQM alone. Either bring all of the above to justice together, or let the evolution take its course.

Itni na baRha paki-e-daman ki hikayaat,

Daman ko zara daykh, zara bund-e-quba daykh.