R O N I Nammar yasir’s personal blog

There is an Urdu metaphor ‘Navishta e deewaar’, that roughly states that wise men should make out the present and expected future by reading the graffiti on the walls. The graffiti that’s usually found on the streets and roads of Karachi is either a public service message that forbids you to use these streets like a public toilet or mass marketing campaigns from “wizards” (last name usually ends with Bengali) who guarantee to solve our problems, especially if they have anything to do with our love life, in 6 days. Why six? My wild guess says, they don’t work on Sundays.

Few months ago the two major parties of Sindh were going through a rough breakup, again (no, they don’t remind me of Ross and Rachel from Friends). It was the same time that target killing was at its peak and the walls of Karachi revealed that the Urdu speaking community aka ‘Mohajirs’ wants their own province all of a sudden. That was funny because, I belong to the same community but I wasn’t informed of any such arrangement. Not a single memo, urgent email or a petition for formality sake was forwarded my way to have my consensus on a demand of such significant nature. After all I am the member of the same community and I pay more tax than Nawaz Sharif. Anyways, I decided to let go when Ross and Rachel, oops MQM and PPP decided to put their differences and death of hundreds of Karachiites aside.

In the whole process I learned an important lesson; you can tell a great deal about a society by just looking at the billboards hanging at their streets. So whether it be Dr. Shaista Wahidi (sister of SRK-P) selling lawns or Dr. Ghulam Mujtaba advertising his Facebook fan page we can declare that Pakistan, a nation where retired railway workers take their lives because they don’t get the pension money of Rs. 4000 on time. Rich aunties won’t think twice about it while buying lawn suits worth twice the mentioned (pension) amount. Also the same billboard phenomenon tells us that people like Dr. Mujtaba find it easier to buy their way into popularity instead of constructing a medical college or a hospital in Thatta or Pishin.

This brings me to the talk of the week: Nabeel Khokar. The man, inspired from cheap Hollywood chick flicks came up with a new trend (at least the first in Pakistan). We have come a long way from romantic graffiti’s or wall chalking on school walls with initials like “A + R”. Will it win the heart of the mentioned lady? Or bring a revolution to roadside advertisement? These mysteries of life will take their time to solve. Maybe this bold and costly stunt won’t bring Ms. Princess back, but it tells us another important lesson:

“Money might fill the empty space on a billboard but not the emptiness in your skull.”

I wonder how the mullahs are reacting to Nabeel Khokar’s message on the wall. Maybe the use of ‘soon to be husband’ bit makes the message Shariah compliant. After all nothing wrong in apologizing for being dirty, sneaky, immoral, poorly-endowed slimeball? Not like he killed someone in cold blood or is responsible for spreading religious hatred and extremism, right? But then who ever apologizes for that kind of a thing in Pakistan. We hardly consider it a problem, so what if more people died in Pakistan because of religious extremism than dengue or drone attacks? Problems that are only considered real today are those that will help politicians multiply their votes in the coming elections.

So what if we allowed the man responsible for the attacks on the Sri Lankan team back on the streets? So what if Sunni Tehrik can place billboards all over Karachi in favor of a cold blood murderer? Not like anyone on these roads have any problem with it or the liberal\secular coalition Govt. of PPP, MQM and ANP is doing anything to remove the billboard. So why should I or 2 out of 10 people out there should give a crap. There are important issues out there we should be worrying about. After all haven’t we heard that both extremism and terrorism from Pakistan will automatically evaporate once USA and its allies leave this region? I am sure you don’t believe me, despite the fact that I pay more tax than Nawaz Sharif but you will believe Imran Khan don’t you and he will tell you the same.

No USA (in the region) = No suicide attacks + no hate crimes against minorities + No hate speeches in the Friday prayers + No targeted sectarian killings

Yes, it’s that simple.

Any idea what the billboards of Nabeel Khokar, Mumtaz Qadri, Dr. Gholam Mujataba and summer lawns have in common?  If you look into it carefully, it has the same relation that we find with the Jewish conspiracy in our daily life routines. Think about it.

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Ever heard of Murphy law of terrorism? It says; “If a suicide attack can take place, it will”. Especially if the province is Punjab and the interior minister is Rana Sanaullah, probability of a terror attack maximizes. But it would be unfair to other law enforcers (intelligence agencies in particular) if the entire credit of incompetence, criminal negligence and corruption goes to the PML-N minister. After all he’s not the only one who allowed sectarian violence to prosper and flourish under the protected umbrella of law enforcement. Pakistani courts, military agencies, police and rangers for the past many years made sure not to catch any terrorist who is linked to sectarianism and if someone ever gets caught, they are back on the streets on the basis of lack of evidence, political influence or for reasons that we don’t like to discuss in public.

Prime example is the escape of four Jundullah militants from police custody in June, who were being tried for the deadly Ashoura attack earlier in Karachi. The government later on blamed the police for the security lapse (how convenient). After the Ashoura incident, series of sectarian attacks took place in including the attack on a bus full of women and children who were on their way to attend moharram procession. Sectarianism in Karachi didn’t stop there, there hasn’t been a month when sectarian killing didn’t take place leaving many innocent civilians shot dead. Brothers Shahzad Raza and Asif Raza belong to one of the many families who lost their loved ones in sectarian violence.

Now I am aware that this country is going through the toughest times in its 60 years of history, everyday there is a new story which leaves us shocked, distressed and dispirited. We opt to detach ourselves from every incident unless it’s personal. We indulge in discussions that revolve around on how these terror attacks are CIA funded or a reaction of Muslims that are disgruntled by the US presence in Iraq, Aghanistan and Pakistan. Religious clerics who can actually talk some sense into the trigging hands and stop them from killing fellow Pakistanis, conveniently shy away by taking no responsibility at all. But then religious clerics who went out of the way to condemn terrorism (Dr. Sarfaraz Naeemi) paid the price for their patriotism.

So the question arises where we go from here? We can blame Black Water and call it a reaction of drone attacks because we don’t want to take any responsibility for our religious intolerance that has been there before USA was discovered. Or we can adopt the easy way and ban the religious processions because ideologically speaking we don’t have anything to do with it and every blast brings strong graphics on the screens which kind of spoils our mood. Or we can condemn these attacks and ask the victims to stay calm because that’s what they do best after every attack.

With ongoing terrorism it’s kind of hard to keep track of who died for what reason but with every innocent death, Pakistan dies a little. With every lost life, the flame of what remains to be called hope diminishes. And this will continue to happen, unless we decide enough is enough!

In the end I would like to share the TED talk of Pakistani documentarian Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy whose allowing us to look inside a school of suicide bombers:

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If you are a regular follower of the Pakistani blogosphere and main stream media, chances are that you might have come across these three stories (fake degree scandal, fox calling Pakistan pornistan and a heartbreaking rape incident of a nursing student). It’s amazing how the three stories that appear completely different to each other are one way or the other correlated.

Starting off with the fox news story, which claims that Pakistan tops the google chart when it comes to ‘Sexy Searches’ (Though personally speaking I find nothing sexy about horse sex). Frankly speaking the standard of journalism Fox News is infamous for, its special love for Pakistan and the Muslim world over the years and Google’s disassociation with the fox story takes away our special internet achievement. But I am sure folks around the world might have a good laugh on the story and our sexy (pervert is the correct word) nature. But does it take away the fact; that some of us actually make these searches or watch porn of similar genre (scary thought)? I think not, it actually signifies another attribute of our hypocritical nature. Like banning facebook, youtube and even Wikipedia but no such order against porn sites, I wonder why?

The Second story that continues to receive maximum media coverage is the fake degree scandal. The scandal reaffirms the value of education in our society and (lack of intellect) in our ruling class. Despite they invest millions in their election campaigns; the only investment they ever made in education department was acquiring a fake degree. Those who follow the budget speech every summer are aware of Governments annual spending on education (conveniently 3% or less of the total). It pretty much explains the literacy rate of this country. Not only that our rulers want us to remain illiterate, majority of us have hardly made any sincere efforts in getting quality or any education for that matter. Fact!

Last and the most heart breaking story is the tragic rape incident of a trainee nurse. I sadly witnessed the news when it first aired on a local channel. It was an exclusive video clip where the poor rape victim (rape survivor hopefully) was being brought to the hospital ward for treatment. In a 30 second video clip the cameraman found his professional obligation in zooming into rape victim’s wounded face and other injuries apparent on her body. It was the most painful sight ever; I wonder why the media squad present on the scene didn’t feel the same? The appalling coverage didn’t end here, every day onwards there is a video clip of the injured rape victim on every Pakistani channel. By now every Pakistani recognizes her face. The only object that sometime protects her from the embarrassment is her oxygen mask. Allegedly there are doctors who raped her and the hospital administration that ignored her genuine harassment complaints, now the same administration fails to protect her from unwanted visitors and media coverage.

The society where we live in, its A-Ok if the name or face of a rape victim is made public. Everyone knows that Mukhtara Mai or Dr. Shazia was raped but nobody can recall the faces or even names of the offenders who carried out this inhuman act. Deep down the perversion that we all embrace, negates the severity of a crime like rape. The lack of education that we all are so proud of, disregards the inhumanity in broadcasting rape victims while getting medical treatment. But God forbid if it happens to a member of your family, will you still allow it to broadcast?

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2007 was a revolutionary year in the history of Pakistan. The power dynamics of the country shifted from three A’s (Allah, America and Army) to three J’s (Judiciary, Journalism and Jeneral). Oops! Did I write JENERAL? (Aaah.. the Sana Ullah Mastikhel syndrome!). Anyways, we all know what happened. The progressive General became a dictator overnight; black cameras aired and glorified every move the men in black (lawyers and judges) made. The entertainment shows lost their ratings and TV anchors became national celebrities. Politicians also claimed their cut in the transaction by declaring their long lost love for democracy. Three years later; Pakistan has democracy (translation: a President without uniform). Judiciary is free (the power to ban internet but not terrorism) and a media that doesn’t pay taxes (read).

In the first half of its tenure the democratic Govt. of PPP turned out to be exactly like their previous Governments (corrupt, incompetent and vision less) but only worse. The Govt. that failed to deliver started losing its credibility, as a result media took the moral and commercial liberty of showing how bad the politicians are when it comes to ruling this country. In the mean while Iftikhar Choudary’s Judiciary who already had a bone to pick with Zardari (on his hindrance for restoring judges) also developed a taste for popular decisions and what else can make people happy than watching their failed leaders penalized. Benefiting from Zaradari Inc. failures, PML-N emerged as Pakistan’s last hope. Things were going honky dory until a conflict of interest started to affect the tag team.

The way things are going it’s very possible that the no. of fake graduates in the assemblies are going to outnumber the real graduates. But a point of view could be; why over hype a situation when we have issues like terrorism, corruption, inflation and power to solve. Fake degree cases were queued to the same courts in the last Govt. but these judges chose not to take any action, so why now? Similarly, media fails to acknowledge any criticism that comes their way. Even two times Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif despite his past record with Army General’s is ready to bend down for a change and kick out his party members just to mend ways with media.

The Right thing to do:

• Political parties with MNA’s and MPA’s holding fake degrees should immediately dismiss them from their party membership and set an example for forgery crimes
• Judiciary should show equal enthusiasm while solving paid cases
• Media should understand the difference between criticism and ridicule

Politics, Judiciary and Media are the three pillars of any democratic and modern society. If these entities actually aim to see REAL democracy in the country, they should learn to coexist.

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