Free Palestine But Don't Forget the Kashmiris

The launching of operation protective edge by the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) aimed at stamping out rockets being launched in to Israel by Hamas from the Gaza strip. World has witnessed the worst human rights violations in the mean time and the violation of article 51 of the UN charter and the UNCLOS 1982 by Israel as they have used disproportionate force while dealing with the Palestinians. There have been anti-Israel protests world wide, both in Asia and Europe. Social media is being bombarded with #FreePalestine in support of people of Gaza. Social media in Pakistan has followed suit and thousands of posts relating to Gaza are springing up on facebook and twitter on a daily basis. Our social media Mujahideens are launching cyber jihad against Israel. It seems that the world has centered its attention on the Israel-Palestine conflict. And rightly so because to date 200 Palestinians have been killed and over 1300 injured.






However, i would like to point out that Pakistan has a similar illegal occupation issue of its own, Kashmir. Never have I ever seen Pakistanis be so focused and committed in highlighting the plight of Kashmiris or denouncing India for committing numerous human rights violations against Kahmiris.  Our founding father Quaid e Azam M. A. Jinnah declared Kashmir as the Juglar Vein of Pakistan.  We as Pakistanis are bound to the people of Kashmir through religion as well as through a nationhood. Yet we choose to ignore their plight and refrain from highlighting it. It is hard to digest that our people will be so emotional and leave no stone unturned to highjlight the plight of a muslim nation (who most of us can't even locate on a map), yet totally ignore the suppression of our brethren in Kashmir. Protesting Israel's atrocities isn't bad, it is just shameful to ignore the plights of Kashmiris while advocating the cause of Palestinians.

Say No to Racism

Racism is virus that badly affects the very roots of a nation and brings about its downfall....Perhaps a very drastic statement, some of you would think and not too long ago I would have tended to side with the majority on this one. While in Freshman Year of College in US I came across this phenomenon. I was moved by how much emphasis US puts on curbing down on racism. I felt they over did it sometimes; still racism exists in most parts of the United States. For me, as  a naive young man, investing so much on curbing racism seemed like a wasted effort. I am an ethnic punjabi and having spent most of my time in Islamabad till then had left me totally alien to the concept of racism. I could see pathans, punjabis, sindhis, baluchs and urdu speakers living together in harmony and getting along just fine in Islamabad. The only logic I could come up with was that US was a very diverse nation with people form all over the world and they really must have issue regarding racism (keeping in mind the slavery issue).

Nowadays, I am living in Karachi, Pakistan, having completed my college education from US and having moved back. Living in Karachi is a real eye opener, or perhaps I have matured with passing years. Karachi is the hub of Pakistan in every sense, financially, business wise, politically and culturally. I came on head on with racism in Karachi for the first time, I was shocked at the racist graffiti that was embossed on all streets of Karachi. Muhajirs, Punjabis, Baluchs, Sindhis, Pathans all ethnicities were equally indulged in demeaning one another. I could see how people from one religious sect were declaring others as 'Kafirs' and heretics. Within a few weeks, I realized that racism was an extremely important issue in Pakistan as well. We were advised by our employers not to go to certain areas (mostly urdu speaking areas), which seemed odd as I could see people from every ethnic background in Karachi engaged in violent racism....therefore, it seemed a little odd to label the urdu speaking areas as unsafe, and collectively the urdu speaking population engaged in violent racist activities.

There is nothing new in the preceding Paragraphs for most of my Pakistani friends, some would even argue why i choose to write about it now all of a sudden.  However, recently this issue come to the foray of my thoughts as I was reading a book about creation of Bangladesh or should I say fall of Dhaka called "Dead Reckoning" by Sarmilla Bose.  This book turned out to be a real eye opener for me, it highlighted how Bengali and non-Bengali committed atrocities against each other. It was a blood bath and no one was spared, women were raped, children stabbed to death and many souls burnt alive. The color of rivers of Bangladesh became red. Contrary to popular belief, majority of the killing was not done by Pakistan Army (although it did play its part in unjust deaths of civilians), in fact the most audacious of the atrocities were committed by common people like me and you whether they were Bengali or Non-Bengali, they were at the receiving and giving end of these atrocities and killings. There was so much hate among various ethnic groups that no one even felt the guilt of torturing young children and women to their untimely deaths.

It scares me to no end that the current situation between different ethnic groups in Pakistan is no different. People from different ethnic groups can hardly stand each other. And it is not just the activists who are involved in ethnic based political parties, even the common man on the street who is struggling to stay alive is filled with this hatred. Whatever the reasons may be it is a worrisome situation, some will blame it on the politicians but I think the fault lies elsewhere, it lies at the very core of the fabric of our society. We lack any other motivation other than the religious and ethnic drive. Ideally the religious drive should serve as the uniting strand, however it serves to further divide the Pakistani society.

We have to act now or its going to be too late and we will be left repenting that we failed to pay heed to this monster called racism. It is here to stay and refuses to go away. What we can do is to contain it and slowly start the process of eradicating it. But for that we must kill the racist within, and the duty falls on the shoulders of the very few educated people of Pakistan. We are the ones who must lead the process and it is us who will have to identify some sort of ideology which can motivate people to stay united and replace the religious and ethnic drive as the only motivating factor.

Doing One's Bit - Say No to Apathy

Pakistan is a nation of socially aware people (for most part), who are aware of and are actively engaged in current happenings at national and global level. Be it the bourgeois cafe's or lounges of Karachi or chai wala hotels in the rural ares, everyone is engaged in talks about current affairs. Thanks to numerous media outlets (operating since 2007) that have sprung up in the country, nothing goes unreported. Whether the media is a positive or a negative influence is another story, but it definitely has challenged the common masses to actively think about their rights as well as engage in grass root level politics. Moreover, the average common man in Pakistan is more aware than he was during the era when only PTV (Government run national television) was the sole source of information for masses.

One would seem to think that such a transformation in mindset of common people will bring about some sort of change in their attitudes. It can be argued that a well informed individual is prone to making the right choices or at least telling the difference between right and wrong. However, one look at the Pakistani society is enough proof that this hypothesis may not entirely be true. What we see in our day to day lives is increase in crime, corruption and a general sadistic features perforating our society. If  I start naming the vices populating our society I would probably never finish this article. However, one vice that I particularly underline as a major flaw in our society is apathy.

Everyday we hear on the news, read on the print media about various killings across the country ranging from terrorism to pure crime and often politically motivated killings. Every day I see my colleagues just nod their heads and go on with their day to day work. Kya karein aaj kal tou her taraf dhamakay hain..apni fiker kero bhai..apni fikar (What can we do? There are blasts everywhere today...just watch out for yourself). Some people even argue that this apathetic attitude is inherent in ultra violent societies, like ours. The proponents of this idea even rid the blame from such apathetic people and declare the increasing violence as the stimulating factor of this apathy.  

The cause of this apathetic attitude is not in black and white and one has to tread on many thin lines to reach a final conclusion. However, the undisputed view that whoever or whatever may be causing it, apathy is a vice and it needs to be uprooted. Amar BilMaroof Wa Nahi Anilmunkir (Doing the right thing and stopping evil) is not such a bad concept after all. I am by no means a religious enthusiast, and my religiousness is normally limited to a few Jummah prayers and Eid prayers every year; yet this golden principle forms the basis of any sane society. It essentially is guiding light for rule of law, who shall enforce this law differs from place to place, somewhere it is the Homeland Security's job while Mutawwas undertake it in other countries. However, being a proponent of  Amar bil Maroof doesn't mean that you grab a stick and start enforcing the rule of law. Such acts would be termed as unlawful, vandalism and in some instance challenging the writ of state (Laal Masjid is case in point). But one must at least realize the wrongs and recognize them with their heart and soul. Realization, as they say is the first step towards inception of a dream. In short,  doing our least bit is to realize and point out what is wrong. Sometimes, we need to stop and spare a thought for all those suffering around us. Sometimes we need to share and feel the pain of people around us. Please say NO to apathy and do your bit by keeping humanity alive in our society.