Adil Najam
This post is dedicated to twins Abdullah Khan (L) and Muhammad Bilal (R), born to Bushra Humayoun at a college converted to a camp for flood survivors by the army on the outskirts of Nowshera on August 12, 2010. May you prosper, dear Abdullah and Bilal. May you live long and fruitful lives. May you never see again a tumultuous calamity like the one you were born in the midst of.
This post is dedicated to little Shahabuddin of village Pore – fondly known as Zalzala Khan – who will turn five later this year on that day that will mark the fifth anniversary of the 2005 earthquake (read here).
This post is dedicated to all the children who spent last year’s Independence Day in Internally Displaced Pakistanis (IDP) camps across Pakistan.
All of you are survivors. Born into and in times of adversity, and rising above it. Your story is the story of Pakistan. You are the symbols of our strength. The carriers of our hopes.
This post is dedicated to all the children of Pakistan. Azadi Mubarak to all of you. May your generation make more of it than our generation – or that of our parents – did.
On this day – August 14, Youm-i-Azadi – let us continue the theme that we had started last year on this day. Then, in the midst of the IDP crisis, we had written that Azadi, freedom, is a journey, not a destination. Today, as we are caught in a spiral of unprecedented devastation brought by monsoon floods, we write to remind ourselves that Azadi is a responsibility, not a privilege.
Our azadi may not be perfect, but it is a gift we must cherish nonetheless. And it is part of that responsibility to make the quality of that azadi better for each successive generation. We have not done a good job of meeting this responsibility, but the journey must continue. This year we face the additional responsibility to rise in support of those who have been displaced by the recent floods. That responsibility is just one part of the greater responsibility that we must all remember on this day. The responsibility to make the experience of Azadi for each subsequent generation more complete and more profound that it has been for us.
Let us end with the song that has played on the pages of All Things Pakistan each year on this day as we celebrate Pakistan and our Pakistaniat. Indeed, yeh watan hamara hai.
Azadi Mubarak, Pakistan.
Beautiful words. Very very inspiring. Seeroun khoun barH gaya
DAWN: Saturday, 14 Aug, 2010
Gunmen attack bus, kill 10 near Quetta
QUETTA: Gunmen attacked a passenger bus and shot dead at least 10 people in insurgency-hit southwest Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.
The incident took place in Aab-e-Gum area, 75 kilometres southeast of Quetta, the capital of oil and gas rich Balochistan province, on Friday night.
“A group of 30-35 gunmen stopped the bus in Aab-e-Gum area, off-loaded passengers at gunpoint and shot dead 10 of them,” top provincial home department official Akbar Hussain Durrani told AFP.
He said the bus was travelling to Quetta from the eastern city of Lahore and all those killed in the attack were Punjabi-speaking people.
A senior local official in Aab-e-Gum area, Ismail Kurd, also confirmed the incident and casualties.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. – AFP
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DAWN: Saturday, 14 Aug, 2010
Six killed in ‘ethnic attack’ in Quetta
QUETTA: Police say gunmen have killed six workers in southwestern Pakistan in the second apparent ethnic-based attack of the day.
Senior police official Hamid Shakeel says gunmen stormed a home in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and killed six workers who were painting it. Three others were wounded. All the victims were from Punjab province in Pakistan’s east.
Earlier Saturday, gunmen singled out non-ethnic Baloch passengers traveling on a bus in Aab-e-Ghum, a town about 50 kilometers away, killing 10 and wounding five.
The attack is sure to add to ethnic tensions in Balochistan, where a nationalist movement led by armed ethnic Baluch groups has long sought greater provincial autonomy from the central government. – AP
Salaams and Mubarak to all Pakistanis around the world. 14th August to me means azaadi from the British government and our country’s birth. To my parents and grand parents, it certainly means a lot more. They were part of the struggle and actively involved in the building and success of Pakistan.
As Pakistan stands today, in my humble opinion, we are nervous to mention that we are Pakistanis. There may be several reasons for that and without dwelving into those details, I would like to see our politicians and leaders make us feel proud by leading us and protecting the country vs. their self interests first. God Bless Pakistan and its innocent people, unfortunately from its own leaders.
“All of you are survivors. Born into and in times of adversity, and rising above it. Your story is the story of Pakistan. You are the symbols of our strength. The carriers of our hopes.”
Thankyou Adil you have said it perfectly.Time for Pakistan to rise again,Pakistan Zindabad.
While I fully acknowledge the fact that Pakistan’s azadi is obviously incomplete and imperfect but sometimes Pakistanis impose a standard that is too high on ourselves. Yes there are huge problems, corruption, official and unofficial callousness and unreligious bigotry. But a nation is built on its myths and its self-image. A sense of being better than one in fact is. Lets not stay stuck in this trap of thinking that somehow Pakistan is worse than it actually is. Read history and and remind yourself that nations have been tested in far worse ways, this is the time for Pakistan’s test.