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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New to Cricket? Interested to learn about the teams who are participating in the biggest tournament of this game? Here is my one line description of the cricket teams in ICC World Cup 2011:

South Africa: Once upon a time we were Chokers, now sometimes we lose games in ordinary series as well (im.provement)

Ireland: Murphy Law states; “If anything can go wrong it will go wrong”. Ireland is exactly the danger Chacha Murphy is warning about.

Canada: Product of friendly immigration policy

India: Smugs who can sell fans, cars, hair oil, fairness creams, ointment and Cricket to its audience

Sri Lanka: Better version of team India with an inferior PR

Pakistan: The Usual Suspects… who play for the mafia

England: The new Pakistan of world Cricket

Australia: HOFOA (HALL OF FAMER OVER ACHIEVER), yea I just made up that term

West Indies: Just the cool part of what used to be the mighty West Indies

New Zealand: Decent folks with a license to wear black

Bangladesh: World Champion of minnows (not really)

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“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State… We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State… I think we should keep that in front of us as our ideal and you will find that in due course Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the State.” - August 11, 1947 address of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Zia ul Haq was the worst thing that could happen to Pakistan. No corrupt elected ruler or unelected marshal law administrator can top the level of damage Zia has caused since his military coup in 1977. He polluted the very ideology of Pakistan by injecting his version of Islam in the roots of this country. Even after 21 years of his death the country continues to burn in the fire of sectarian and communal violence. Where a rumor of desecration of the Holy Quran can make self appointed army of Islam murder and tear down the property of a minority community. I wonder which divine revenge in the Islamic Shariya allows a Muslim to burn alive innocent women and children.

The incident which is not the first of its nature does not surprise me at all. The silence of the religious parties and Islamic clerics on this incident continues to amuse me. How can you expect from the mullahs to speak against this atrocity, when they kept their jaws sealed whilst Muslims were blown on numerous occasions in the major parts of the country. I am sure a foreign hand will be indicated by these mullahs in this situation and no practical solidarity will be shown by the followers of Islam who teaches solidarity and religious coexistence.

While growing up my late grandmother often used to narrate the following quotation of Imam Ali:

“One can live under infidelity, but one can’t endure brutality”

But we will find no shame by sticking with those golden words which helps us promote our version of Islam. How convenient?

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