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.
Mr Niazi, you can find ‘our’ Supreme Court order at NY Times of Sunday which is a scanned image.
Maybe Adil can do it.
Understand this: ‘We are in transition state from army rule to complete democracy and the transition project manager is Musharaf. ‘
He ran the country by himself , then he worked with a democratically selected governement to run the country and now he was just few weeks away from leaving uniform and few months away from ellections which would have restored complete democracy and then he would have had to get vote of confidence from new parliment.
Those who say Leave Musharaff are Idiots with capital ‘I’. Can you appoint someone CEO of an Insurance company who has no expereince at all, NO!, he will bring it to ruins without knowing business logistics, how the finances are managed and having years of experience working in insurance business. In similar fashion, Musharaff is the ideal person who knows where are army stands on various issues (terrorism, border security, neuclear issue) ,where Pakistan stands in external affairs, where our governance stands and where our economy is heading. You cannot replace him overnight with someone else and expect things will be fine there after, IMPOSSIBLE!.
PLEASE LET HIM DO THE JOB!, PLEASE!
Besides, media deservers the crack down and all those who protest or cross any limits against the gov orders should be punished which ever way they deserve. All over the world including india, if police marks a crime scene or puts security around an area (gov buildings) no one crosses it!, but in Pakistan, People do not respect any boundries, what happened to media in islamabad few months back and what is happening to lawyers in lahore is well deserved.
They talk about justice, they actually sit in their office eat haram and never help poor people or fight for justice!
I do not want musharaff to stay as president, but for God’s Sake let this transition happen
Thanks MQ.
I have sent daily times a couple of e-mails and urge others to do the same to protest their complicity.
If Musharaff stepped down then who will lead us. I don’t see any leader capable of running the country right now. Let
What is the point of such cliched posts? This is a time for action – not feeling good about ourselves. A lot of people visit ATP and so, ATP should be organizing protests and bringing people out in the US and Canada instead of quoting Faiz yet again. There is only one side in the right here and the ATP editors need to take a firm and official stance on that instead of hiding behind Faiz.