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.
I am an American and I am deeply concerned to hear this news. I can’t help but think how responsible for this my government is. Bush has not publicly called for a return to civilian rule, only through Secretary Rice and his Press Person.
Americans are behind this uprising and we wish you all the strength to stand up to this “state of emergency”.
Can we please stop calling it an emergency and refer to it as a martial law instead. In reality it’s a martial law but the govt doesn’t want to use that word. Qaum kay liay yeh martial law hee hai; emergency musharraf ko hai kursi bachanay kay liay :)
Bilal,
I think Mush should leave both post. I will not say overnight but before election.
I will like to keep “security coucil” and 58b should keep in place with subject to SC approval.
I used to like Mush but I think he will no longer be tolerated by masses in Pakistan.
As for SC, they should avoid activism and dont try to be heros.
As for media, they are too sympathetic to terroist point of view. They give more time to mad man like Hamid gul or Imran then to liberal thinkers.
The problem with Mush is that he is now become symbol of millatry dicatorship. Neverthless, I will say that we also need to make sure that SC dont interfere in executive branch. Media should be free and I dont support any curb on media.
Yaar Wasim Arif Sahab, bus kar do. Go fix your site first. Get wordpress or some other professional software installed. It’ll take time, people will visit. But first! please post something solid and meaningful to discuss about. Musharraf isn’t going anywhere with “Go” chant.
This is really wrong to promote your website like this.
Today, I was witness to the worst of the State brutality. With every passing day, it is getting clearer what the present regime is about