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.
My translation of this inspirational poem by Faiz:
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!
This is in response to Israr.
Petition is a good idea for a man who can read the writ of common man.
But Emergency would be gone by Nov.15.
Flowers is a good idea. But if we hold a march for the Justices…..have large signs with each name and a flower in our hands and march around Harvard Square (and invite the media) , our message of love will reach the Judges.
Announce the time and day.
A wise man says:
1. Musharraf lifting emergency and restoring constitution by Nov. 15.
2.Justice Dogar issuing verdict before Nov. 15 that election is “regular”.
3.Musharraf taking off uniform on Nov 14.
4. Bush saying that he took off uniform.
5.International opinion saying the Chief Justice internal matter.
6.And Justice Dogar will be writing new poetry.
“Doog, doogi baja ke,
Insaf ka bazaar laga key
Baitha aey Dogar dagmaga key
Aa Bibi Bibi Aa aur daan deeti ja
Main tera purana puristar.”
I faqeer thank you for the wikia Pakistan link
Here is what i have done and would invite everyone to do some thing or join me in this effort
position statement has been posted as an online petition you can now find the link at the http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007
or go directly to the petition
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/legalcourts/
If you sign the petition and leave an email , we will come up with concrete thing s to do and reach you.
The other idea i had was watching Geo If some one in Pakistan can arrange or thru online delivery can we order flowers to be delivered to a place for the Honorable Justices of the courts and Lawyers that are standing up to it,
Create a symbolic place in a park or a house and have flowers delivered there.
Pakistan had never had a mature democracy, in one shape or form army
has been ruling the country. For brief period Pakistan did have Nawazz Shareef and Benazir to jump start democracy but what these people looted the country.
Pakistani constitution states that no one can become Prime Minister 3rd time, so why are we trying to amend the constitution for Benazir.
these idolators who have carved so many idols like Faiz, Iqbal and others cant take any steps on their own, they always need someone to look up to, for some faiz is a god for others Iqbal is a supereme deity, when will they start to follow their own Idealogies, they are intellectually stagnant and just happy to live in that state, they are infact ememies of light and enlightenment.
there’s no Abraham amongst them who could smash all those idols with his AXE.
Enjoyed the poetry/song. Demonstrations within Pakistan and by Pakistanis in the West… even rallying support via Facebook… is proof of our collective consciousness. Its there. The spirit is there.
Shahid Masood and Ansar Abbasi were talking about the importance of this consciousness earlier on Geo. Most Pakistanis feel wronged, cheated, and the anger is likely to ferment overtime and create some real stir. At least I hope that it does and that Pakistanis, who’re used to such political kabuki, don’t become passive.
The best written essay that we need to read today is the Supreme Court Verdict in Asma Jilani case declaring Yahya Khan a usurper. Can anyone put this on some website or provide a link.
Everyone has to earn his living. Justice Dogar decided to sit under a desecrated flag and earn his wages. We are working hard to earn degrees from Harvard, MIT and other schools to ultimately be gainfully employed.
In the Viet Nam War era there was a chaplain at Yale University(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sl oane_Coffin). He was a light for us students(in USA) just as Faiz Saheb was a light for the 60’s generation of Pakistan.
We need to have an open discussion (Bol, magar piyar say) and take our paths.
There is always a fork in the road and we choose.
Chaplain Coffin, in one of his essays, he explained the meaning of getting a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University. In brief, he said that this study is to make us live a better human life.
I feel my flag was desecrated. Imagine the tanks of another country at the gates of the Supreme Court? Would I be sitting still? What is the difference that he was “one of us”? In such a case the punishment should be even quicker.
The question is simple. Was the Constitution ripped? And do we have the guts, fear of failure should not decide a path, to cut this hand.
Faiz Saheb says:”chalo hemen qatal ho ayeen”. (loose translation would be: let us be martyred).
I disagree. With the fire of our intellect we should produce such a laser beam that it should reach far, far away and be able to cut a hand that rips the Constitution of our country!