Shia processions in Lahore and Karachi – commemorating the martyrdom of Hazrat Ali (RA) – were attacked. In Karachi seven people were left injured. In Lahore 18 were killed, 190 injured. The suicide attack on the Lahore procession triggered panic, mayhem, and further clashes. Sectarian tensions, already high as a result of a series of orchestrated attacks against Shia targets, have been further flared by these inhuman and murderous attacks.
Once again, my hands are trembling as I type this post. With rage. With anger. With anguish. I have no words that can console the wounds of those who have fallen. No words to explain the horror that has, yet again, transpired. No words to express the angst that tears at my heart – wanting so badly, needing so desperately, for this madness to stop.
I was in Buenos Aires recently attending a conference. During the daily commute to the conference venue I couldn’t help but be taken by the city’s grandeur, beauty and its ‘first world’ feel. Inquiring on their struggle with democracy, international pressures and the fear of being overshadowed by neighboring Brazil, the country’s similarity to Pakistan struck me as comforting.
During conference discussions, my nationality – like everyone else’s – was a common first question. Upon my response, “I’m from Pakistan” my business suits would prompt questions about the niqab. “That’s a personal choice in Pakistan. The niqab never enjoyed legal prescription in Pakistan as it does so in other countries” would be my response.
My urban adventures ensued with but one aim in mind; to understand how they got here and conversely could we? This whimsical feeling quickly wore off one day when I asked the hotel reception to call a taxi and when it arrived. Not only was the driver drunk, spoke only Spanish but he also chose to interpret my entire conversation with him mid journey as a refusal to pay. However upon arriving at the conference venue, I inquired about the fare and found that he had doubled the bill for no apparent reason. I didn’t fight it because I don’t haggle as a policy. But later in the night as I returned to the hotel I passed on this terrible experience to the front desk and requested that I may be called a more professional cab driver next time.
The next morning as I rushed to the last day of the conference I had an envelope in my name, which I opened expecting a message from the embassy, but it was plain cash – A reimbursement from the cab company. “But”, I protested, “this is much more than what I paid”. I was told it is what the company sent when the complaint was lodged. As I put that money in my purse, I was moved.
(This article was first published in The News. The cartoon is by Feica and was published in Dawn.)
There is a lot of criticism of the Pakistani discourse that relates to ideology and identity.
If you question drone attacks, there are those that will immediately label you a Taliban-supporter. If you question Pakistan’s need to fight, kill and capture terrorists, there are those that will immediately label you an American stooge. If you spell Ramadan correctly, you’re an Arabist. If you enjoy classical music, you’re a covert Hindu. You want to make a fraaandships with India? RAW agent. You want to honour the dedication with which the Guardians of the Two Holy Mosques care for Makkah and Madinah? Wahabbist fundo.
(Watch video of the ‘fixer’ detailing the ‘fix’, below).
With England already in a commanding lead in the Third Test match, Pakistan seems set to lose the game as well as the series to hosts England. But at least some of the Pakistan team may already have lost their dignity and any respect their fans had for them given the explosive allegations from mass-selling British tabloid News of the World. Although still allegations, the facts and the circumstances are piling up to a nasty indictment of a number of Pakistan players, including Captain Salman Butt, and Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and Kamran Akmal.
Orchestrated by London-based fixed Mazhar Majeed, these players (and possibly others) seem to be embroiled in a match-fixing scandal, which will not only bring further heartbreak and shame to Pakistan cricket fans but also wreck whatever little dignity is left in a team that is in tatters in terms of performance and, if these allegations are true, in morals too.
(Editor’s Note: There is now a very welcome mushrooming of efforts and avenues through which we can give cash or kind assistance to the victims of the Pakistan floods. A lot of people, in Pakistan and abroad, have risen to organizes collection drives and also are choosing to provide relief goods directly by making ‘Survival Boxes’ with essential items needed by those in immediate relief goods. In this post, one reader has outlined some useful steps in going about organizing for relief collection and providing such relief boxes, especially for those outside Pakistan who wish to do so. We are also including a useful video made by Fakhr Alam for PIA on this subject. We hope this information will be useful to our readers. While both these are especially targeted at Pakistanis abroad, we would love to hear from those in Pakistan about what is working best there. We also request readers to please share with us their own experience and ideas about what are the things to do, or not do).
Based on our experience of trying to collect and prepare ‘Survival Boxes’ for flood victims in Pakistan, here are some practical lessons that may also be useful for others.
