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 agree if all the arguments were not heard then they had the full rights to delay the verdict. My only arguments is that, it was an important decision, by just delivering it, this situation could have been defused or avoided.
The 10 day leave for wedding ceremony (daughter of one judge), would have put the date beyond the official date when he was suppose to shed the uniform. This was critical in all parties views
Arslan Haider sahab:
Without relying on rhetoric to get my point through, I will say that I am not the first one to have argued such. The first time it was argued was during the last Presidential elections in none other than USA. There were articles in I think Time, Newsweek and Economist. And it was argued then that since the US elections affect the whole world, the whole world should be allowed to vote in them. I am just extending the argument. You may or may not agree with that.
Ahmad
Very interesting!!!! I agree globalization is inevitable.
Why not ask US and India or any other country let us vote on their internal matter. I doubt you will get favorable answer, yet you want other countries to vote on our matters. Are we really that incapable that we can not decide on our own matters?
US is not willing to give voting rights to even those people who reside in this country unless they are citizen.
Also Arslan Haider sahab, Justice Iftikhar was not even part of the bench hearing the case.
Also when we accuse of judiciary playing politics, which in my view it was not, we simply forget about the Generals doing all the dirty politics.
Arslan Haider sahab:
I think the reason the verdict had not been given so far was that certain lawyers still wanted to argue. The court can’t give a verdict without listening to all the views, can it or should it?