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.
interesting EDITORIAL from INDIANEXPRESS
http://www.indianexpress.com/story/236310.html
Bilal, excellent questions.
To Adil Najam, who I heard on NPR.
Sure, the US should support democracy in Pakistan (which means denounce Musharraf’s current moves). Will Pakistan support the US desire to capture Osama and rid the society of radical-minded Islamists? I suspect you cannot promise the latter. So why should the US promise the first?
Deewana,
What a picture, it does say a thousand words.
Go Musharraf Go.
Feimanallah
Wasim
Adil Bhai,
Thanks for reminding us all of our greatest asset – HOPE.
Pakistan will rise from this episode INSHALLAH with grace and dignity, it will be tough and it will require sacrifices but a stand has to be made for principles and that time has come for Pakistan. See my call to the nation in this regard at http://www.otherpakistan.org/archive.html
Feimanallah Pakistan
Wasim
I have received a lot of drafts of petitions and signed statements etc…..and I am trying to make sense of where does the Pakistani nation stand on the current crisis. And frankly – I can’t make head or tail of it. Maybe my own knowledge is limited so I am hoping some friends here can help me understand:
1. Do we want the emergency rule to go away, or Musharraf to step down from his military post?
2. Do we want Musharraf to leave his uniform, or altogether disappear from the scene?
3. Who or what are we proposing as alternatives? Politicians who spent time in self-imposed exiles or those who are sitting in the parliament now (and have been there for the past 10-15 years now)?
4. How do we make sure that the different branches of the government operate without (a) stepping over each others’ toes while maintaining checks and balances, and (b) without indulging in activism for the sake of it? What does the nation think of Musharraf’s indictment against the judiciary and the media?
5. How does the nation want to deal with the threat of extremism and terrorism? Do we even see it as a grave threat – or just another fact of life you just learn to live with?
Kiyya khial hai, does this depict Musharaf’s situation well?
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/site_imagery/f rontpicture_fullsize.jpg
from Gaurdian