Adil Najam

Many of us living in North America (though not all it seems) celebrated Eid yesterday (Wednesday). Some others in Europe and elsewhere are celebrating today, while others celebrated yesterday. Most in Pakistan (but, again, not all) will celebrate tomorrow (Friday). Hajis are finishing off Hajj as I write. To all of them we at ATP wish a very happy Eid and Haj felicitations. Whether you choose to spell it Eid, or Id, or Eed or anything else, we wish you well and we wish you the best.

Adil Najam

Today was a bad news day. Not because there was no news, but because the news that was there was particularly bad; even by Pakistani standards.

With all the political shenanigans of late one thought that one had gotten used to bad news. But the hurt today was particularly deep. It hit exactly where it hurts the most. In the heart.

First, there was the tragedy of the ‘Karachi Express’ full of pre-Eid traffic to Lahore which left over 50 people dead. Then there was a stunning news the renowned artist Ismail Gulgee was found dead in mysterious circumstances along with his wife and their maid.

For some of us it was Eid today. But not much of an Eid. All day I have met Pakistanis stunned by these tragedies and the mix of these with Pakistan’s staple political instability left deep scars of depression on all. I should have written about these earlier today but could not, partly because I was not near a computer much of the day, but even when I was (in the last many hours) because I was – am – too stunned by the medley of tragedies and events.

I also feel bad because Gulgee was on my (now very long) list of ‘Posts To Do’ and I had been thinking of writing about him for a while. It would have no difference to him or to what happened to him had I, in fact, written about him earlier. But I do wish I were writing this under less despressing circumstances. As Munir Niazi (who I also wrote about too late) said: “hamaisha dair kar daita houN meiN.”

Owais Mughal

A few days ago I highlighted this wrong, but today after after seeing photos of policemen mercilessly beating an unarmed lady, I am again left speechless at this shameful violence.

We at ATP have long worried about the senselessness of the violence (physical, psychological, verbal, social) that seems to keep growing in our society. All violence is bad, violence by the state is especially disturbing.

We strongly condemn this police brutality. Whoever is ordering such treatment of protesters is definitely taking people away from the ideals of Pakistan. How do you expect this poor lady (or her family or anyone seeing this) to trust the state after getting such a thrashing at the hands of the states law-enforcers? Those who are responsible to safeguard our dignity.