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.
Khurram, I agree that Mush lead us forward from 9/11 disaster. He build economy and media in Pakistan. But after 8 years, why he can not leave and established a system behind him which can take care of national interest.
Now he is saying that will do it it he is given 5 more years as civilian president. He is even hugging most leader of current Pakistan BB.
How people can trust him. And what about courts. they mau have over acted in some cases but now we just have monkeys in supreme court.
If he had gave up his uniform in 2004, things were be different now.
Steve,
I do not speak for Adil and he is far more eloquent than I but the answer to your question is yes. I and the majority of Pakistan’s 160m people want Osama dead, we want Al-Qaeda defeated and the like. However such achievements require the US and Pakistan to have a relationship based on the national interest, it should be as your very own Senator Joe Biden has said recently be ‘ a Pakistan policy not a Musharraf policy’ .
I wish Americans and Pakistanis could sit together and chart a way forward and not the powers that be who ultimately serve their own agendas. Indeed the problems Al-Qaeda has created in Pakistan stem from this very problem as Pakistanis view Pakistan as a client state and the White House’s proclamations of ‘ do more’ have taken their toll. The result is the chaos we know suffer. I hope this helps but if you want to discuss this further, please feel free to visit my website at http://www.otherpakistan.org/archive.html or email me at wasim@otherpakistan.org
God Bless
Wasim
@Bilal,
We are a nation with no answers. Only bad choices. I think most of the people now screaming for Musharraf to go welcomed him with open arms when he first came to power. While that is true of how we treated almost every leader who has come to power – savior at first, pariah later – what I think is different this time is that Musharraf did steer us through very difficult times in the wake of September 11. I cannot think of any of our past leaders who could have done so. I cannot think of any of our future leaders who would be able to lead us successfully in current times.
Before everyone goes “suo moto” on my ass, this is not meant to be a defence of Musharraf. This is just to say that unless we are clear in our thinking about exactly what we want as a nation (extremism or moderation, secularism or sharia, pro-West or anti-West, for peace with India or for war) we will continue to jump from one leader to another. The failure of our leaders is a reflection of our own failures as a people. We have to think more critically about our leaders: They are not all good, or all bad. We have to separate their actions from their intentions. Only then can we decide which of our leaders are worth our support.
If Mush had resigned from both post before, he would have made a name in history for nation building and for democracy but that time seems over now.
I think 8 years are enough and we all are worried that if Pakistan is becoming another Egypt or Burma. Why we can not find leaders in nation of 160 millions.
I am appalled by the declaration of Emergency Rule and the mistreatment of its own citizens, many of whom work the hardest to promote and uphold human rights in Pakistan. I am sad and sorry – and distressed to see this happening – and I worry about a very dear friend of mine, Salima Hashmi – I have heard reports that she has been arrested, and wonder if anyone has any news of her please?
Many thanks
Teresa