OUR FATE

My laziness has been stopping me from writing on many subjects on which I wanted to write badly. One of these subjects was the past significance of day before yesterday for Pakistan, for the world.

9/11/2001. A day which changed the fate of the whole world. Half of the deaths which took place after 9/11 were due to the war ensued after the unfortunate incident when innocent people were slaughtered and blood was shed like water. Indeed, the past decade has been horrible for thousands of families who lost their family members because of no reason, either they were killed or were kept under custody for a crime they never committed.

But for us, the Pakistanis, 9/11 means more than the incident which took place ten years ago and for which we are still paying the price even though they've killed the culprit. This day truly changed the fate of Pakistan 63 years ago. The death anniversary of our founder shook the nation and I think we still havent recovered from the shock of losing, not only our founder, but our motivation, our self-respect, pride and honesty and love for our country. Even before 9/11/2001, I don't remember our media paying any tribute to Jinnah, I don't remember any special memorial ceremony being conducted in schools, community centres etc. And after 9/11, there was no way we could talk about anything else but the twin towers' destruction. I mean how can we forget our white lords? Jinnah is long gone, what is he in front of the towers which converted into dust and rubble miles away. I don't want or mean to be insensitive. I do feel for people who lost their lives, I do sympathise with the families of the deceased and I appreciate their compassion and will to fight the forces which killed their beloved. But for me my country and its triumphs and its loses are more important than any other country's misfortunes. And I don't think this is wrong. Don't the Americans feel the same way? For them the lives of the Americans come first, for them the lives of other humans are not of much importance and they don't mind wiping these lives away if it stands in the way of their justice.

This day is and should be important to us but for different and more relevant reasons. Instead of replaying the video footage of twin towers repeatedly, it should be about our martyrs and the death of our founder, how he sacrificed his career, health and everything for this country and its people. This is what we should be remembering instead of following the foreign media which calls us terrorist even though we are fighting their war. May be if we try to remember the fortunes and misfortunes of our nation for once, we might be able to escape their oppression, only partially if not completely. 

Disappointment

The past few days have been horrific for Karachiites. I don't remember being this scared and being a citizen of Karachi, that's saying something. Brutal murders and kidnapping cases dominated the city. It was like being in a state of war. And yet there was no action taken against the oppressors of life.Not until hundreds died and people started calling out for the army in desperation, did the government took any notice of the violence that was gripping the metropolitan city. Why the government chose to be this ignorant, I have no idea and I think no normal citizen does. Dozens of strikes were called out for by different political parties though, that apparently being the only thing they can do. But it did nothing except causing a dozen more deaths. Life in short was successfully paralysed in Karachi.

The fear of life has become part of the lives of Karachiites, so much so that they can't imagine living without it. And weird as it sounds, this fear has made us reckless. While such fearlessness has gripped the population of the city, they still don't take stand. They still answer the frequent call for strikes by sitting at home and wasting hours in front of the idiot box. They don't realise that the time is now ripe to take action and repel the violence that is being carried out in their city. Burning tyres and flags, shouting slogans on the streets??? Nah. They've become out-dated now, lost their appeal. Since we can't do anything constructive, why don't we try to get out on a strike day and try to spend our lives normally by going to school, to work and whatever it is that we do in our daily lives? Since we don't care about our 'leaders' any more, why not show it by spending our lives as normally as we can? Why not disappoint them by acting normally and against their expectations and agendas? Our lives our already in danger, innocent people die daily, without any reason. And it's very hard to come to terms with such unreasonable murders. May be if we get killed for angering them, the sensation will be gratifying and acceptable. But all this is easier said than done. People wouldn't and shouldn't endanger their lives on purpose, but those people who can go to school or work with least risk of getting killed should give it a try don't you think? May be this first step will lead to the normalisation of our beloved city.

DEEDS AND THOUGHTS

"Since our childhood, we've been told that fasting is a noble form of worship during which a person should not only control their hunger and thirst but also their anger, hatred and all negative emotions. Muslims, apart from praying and reciting the Holy Quran, are supposed to be especially tolerant and kind towards the others during this month."

The other day I was busy surfing the internet (read surfing my Facebook profile) when I heard gunshots. I first thought they were firecrackers and so didn't get up. I know this sounds stupid but in my defense, I didn't have any reason to believe that someone in my area would shoot anyone in broad daylight. Still, the sound made me uneasy so did the fact that it was frequent, so I finally got up to peep through the window in my mother's bedroom which provides a clear view of the street. As I approached the window, I looked at my mother questioningly who had only just moved away from the window.

'It's Humail Sahab's son-in-law.' She took the name of our neighbor who lived across the street. 'He shot a cat.'  I furrowed my eyebrow at this piece of information. 

'Why would he do that?' I asked and she shrugged in answer.

'I don't know. People are gathering up, the guard is there too.' She said and moved away as I peered through the window. A cat (white with grey spots), lay soaked in her blood which was splattered on the driveway of the house as well. It made me shudder. People were gathered there and I saw my own brother who had gone outside to see what had happened. The 'son-in-law' who fired came down with a shovel as well with which he started to lift the carcass of the cat. with some effort he lifted her and carried her away, came back, poured some mud over the splattered blood and went back in. My brother came back and told us that he'd killed her because she ate two of his chicks.

Nobody said a word to him.

All of this happened in the 'Holy month of RAMZAN'. The guilty was obviously fasting, as he is said to be very 'religious', and had a long beard as well. I describe his appearance because such people are supposed to be respectable in our society as they are very close to God because of their 'religious' appearance.

We keep yelling that our religion is the most peaceful of all and that it gives equal rights to everyone, human or not. And yet the world hates us and call our religion a corrupt and violent one. With such implementation of these rights, I can't blame them neither can I negate them. We focus more on appearance than our actions. In our arrogance of our assumption that we alone know all that Islam is all about, we ignore many obvious teachings of this esteemed religion. We forget that God has made us human and being so we have to be kind to our fellows. We forget that God has told us to respect every creature He has created. We forget that He's told us that He might forgive our lack of worship but He won't forgive us if we compromise on the rights of any of our fellows until the subject forgives us. Religion is about love and tolerance, not about deeming each other hell-worthy. Such is our level of tolerance that if someone dares to act against our wishes we'll punish them without thinking that the authority to punish does not lie with us.

I know a lot of people will say that I'm getting worked up on a small incident and such things happen all the time and that, it was only a cat that was killed and no human. But for me that's the whole point. All the cat did was act like a cat. Eating chicks is normal for cats, they don't care if they belong to someone, all they know is that they'll provide them some food to survive. They are animals. But we, the humans, are supposed to know better aren't we? If a person can kill a cat for having her lunch, then who can guarantee that he won't advance to killing his fellows for annoying him tomorrow? A person with no respect for another life can cross all boundaries of cruelty, no problem. And by staying quiet, we'll let them.

RAMZAN MUBARAK TO ALL!!!!!!!!! :D