Adil Najam
These are distressing times. But this is not a time to be depressed.
This is a time, as Owais reminds us in his last post, to reaffirm our hopes for the future. True defeat would be to give up on those hopes. I have put up the splash image (on the front page) that I have to reassert and to remind ourselves that ultimately Pakistan will be what we make of it. Emergency or no emergency, no one can snatch our Pakistaniat from us. Not until we ourselves surrender it!
Back in May, at a moment of similar desperation, I had written a post where I had sought “solace in the one place where I always find it. In poetry. Especially in Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry.” The video clip I had used there is worth repeating here.
I had written then - and it seems even more pertinent today to repeat it:
Here is Faiz - in his own words, in his own voice. The second half has the same poem masterfully sung by Nayarra Noor. Enjoy this rare find of kalam i Faiz, ba zaban i Faiz. But more than that, think about what he is saying and how it relates to what is happening today.
What I had to say (including about US role) I said at length in an NPR Radio show today (or here). But what Faiz has to say is far more profound.
The words of Faiz certainly cut deeper than anything I can say. They are an invitation to action. But they are also an invitation to thought. An invitation to responsibility. An invitation to continuing the struggle no matter what. An invitation to keep moving onwards despite the odds. An invitation to celebrate the spirit of defiance of those who will not give up.
I had ended that post by reaffirming ATP’s committment “to celebrating all the diverse trials and tribulations of being Pakistan … the mundane as well as the profound; the sad as well as the gleeful; the immediate as well as the long-term.” It is time, today, to repeat that commitment.
This is our commitment to Pakistaniat. We love Pakistan not because everything is right in it. But despite that which is clearly not right. And with a commitment to make right that which has gone astray. Ameen.
emergences from emergency:
The Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah Said,
“never look the people but principle”… unfortunately our rulers do not know any principle the only principle they know is “sab se pehle pakistan” a phrase which they can not justify for themselves.. and we all know that how brutally the defamed our judges who are most respective and honourable.. who are already very few in number in our country.. socrates said 2500 years ago “we have to study the state of mind of a man because man is very important”. this principle is considered as the fundamental of the principle of “rule of law” but unfortunately we have lost the importance of man in our eyes so judges is a thing of far.. if an agreived person does not get justice in our country we consider it as not a big issue but the tragedy is that the controversial suicidal attacks, artificial unstability of law & order, suspension of constitution are also no more “a big issue” for us.. we have to stand but everybody knows and wants to be stood up against this non-sense of government but we are waiting for others to take first step and same is what everbody else waiting for… come on people this is our land this is our country this is our pakistan…. ” sab se pehle pakistan hai toh ab sab se pehle main kiun nahin”…
our country need us. our country need us to come forward. please come forward and restore the importance of “a man” in pakistan.
Yes we can’t fight though we are ready to fight, but we need some sincere leadership which i m afraid is not available, that’s the reality.
“Today in the market place, chained and fettered walk ” lolz , ok, i will, a whole crowd will join with flags of PPP, PML (N), MMA, shouting “go musharaf go”, baton-charge, tear gas, media, agitation increases, musharaf have to leave, fair elections held, PPP or PML wins (forget about ppl of larkana choosing other then benazir or someone beating chaudary in gujrat or sheikh rashid being challenged in his union etc), Benazir, Nawaz, etc for prime minister, bla bla bla.
Welll i better not waste my time in this “chained and fettered walk” , Sorry :(
Today In the market place, though chained and fettered walk!
The misty eye, the fiery spirit , not enough
The allegations of intense love, not enough
Today in the market place, chained and fettered walk !
Walk waving your arms– dance in ecstasy, walk!
Walk to protest in sorrow, walk with blood splattered clothes, walk!
Destiny awaits you, walk!
The masters too, the masses too.
The arrow of accusations too, the stones of abuse too,
The unhappy daybreak too, the failed day too.
Who else is their companion other then us?
In the city of the beloved who is defiant?
Who is worthy of the executioner’s hand?
Take courage, wounded ones, walk!
Let us once again go to be murdered–friends, walk!
Aaj Baazar Mein pa bajaulan chalo
Chasme naam jane shorida kafi nahin
Tuhmat e ishq e poshida kafi nahin
Aaj bazaar mein pa bajaulan chalo
Dast afashan chalo mast or raqsan chalo
Khak bar sar chalo khun ba daman chalo
Rah takta hai sab shahr e janan chalo
Hakim e shahr bhi majma e am bhi
Tir e ilzam bhi sange dushnam bhi
Sobho nashad bhi roz e nakam bhi
Inka dam saz apne siwa kaun hai
Shahr e janan mein ab ba safa kaun hai
Dast e qatil ke shayan raha kaun hai.
Rakht e dil bandh lo, dil fagaro chalo
Phir hamin qatl hoaen yaro chalo.
Translated by Narjis and Maniza Naqvi
Adil,
I have seen many videos, political, motivational, all sorts, but your choice of this video and Faiz, is just amazing. At times, we need reminders of what we have been through.
Keep up the good work.
Farhan Syed
London
Fully agree with you Abid sahab.
Ahmad sahab: There is no disagreement on the point that the “fight needs to be fought on all the fronts”. My point of contention is not about which method we use to strive for a change for the better, but about the defenders of the status quo who believe that things can’t change because you can’t fight the SYSTEM, i.e. waderas/jagirdars/chaudries/generals, and therefore, their argument is that we should work within it. I don’t buy that.
It would only work if Asfhaq Kiani realizes that and asks Musharraf to leave. But then we might be in for another Marshal Law, another “seven point agenda”, another “Meray Aziz Ham Watanou” and what not.
In response to Ahsan’s following comment:
>A Pakistani soldier is a very well disciplined soldier. He will not >hesitate to shoot his own father if his commander asks him to do.
No he won’t, and in his place would you? What’s more, his commanding officers might not want to issue such orders. Read up on the brigade commanders and other officers who resigned rather than issue orders to open fire on the citizens of Lahore in 1977.
The only peaceful way for this country to be rid of the parasite of Musharraf is for the army to realize that at this time he has become an unacceptably large liability for them.