The Karma of Electricity

 I have been a resident of Islamabad since 1986. That makes about twenty-five years to date. I remember some electricity load-shedding, while there used to be no gas load-shedding. And the electricity load-shedding would not exceed a limit that would cause our daily routines to disrupt. Rather, in the summers, that one hour load-shedding at night would give all of us a great opportunity to take a break and have a nice stroll in the street under the star-decked night-sky. With all the black out on ground, the stars took stage to shine piercingly. In the winters, the same hour would see the family huddle in front of the heater, eat peanuts and talk.

It was the winters of 2007. I sat huddled in a cold, dark room, holding my one-month old first-born. No, God forbid, I was not in any kind of detention center (After the mind-blowing abduction of Aafia Siddiqui along with her children, such descriptions bring detention centers to the mind). This cold, dark place was my very own home which had always been used to lights, warmth and laughter. This was the first winters I was experiencing with electricity and gas load-shedding happening together. We had resorted to candles for light. The rooms were so cold. And there was no warm water in the taps, for the geyser was not running. I was so scared my new born baby would fall ill and die.

Why this dreadful situation? I thought. And my mind rocketed back to the tragedy of three months ago…

Islamabad, Operation Silence, July 2007: Lal Masjid was attacked by the Musharraf regime for the so-called crime of demanding rule-of-Shariah-Law within the land, setting a deadline for it and attempting a couple of incursions to implement it. Prior to the attack and during the siege, the dwellers of Lal Masjid were subjected to food-supply cut-off, electricity, gas and water supply cut-off, harassment and terrorism.

Soon after, Pakistan was afflicted with the worst kind of wheat and sugar shortage, electricity and gas crisis, drone attacks by the US escalating from four to thirty-three per annum and the onset of suicide attacks. Indeed, The Islamic Republic of Pakistan had committed a suicide attack upon itself when it sought to crush an Islamic movement to appease its dollar-masters.

The pattern match was not lost to the observant eye and heart and very soon the print media was buzzing with the commentary of Nature’s recompense upon the Pakistani nation for staying mute upon the Lal Masjid Operation in the heart of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

Today, the whole nation; men, women, children and senior citizens, are turning out on the streets protesting the horrendous electricity and gas load-shedding which has wrecked the most basic routines of people. Despite the record-breaking inflation of sixteen percent this fiscal year, even if people are managing to buy some ration for their kitchens, their children are still going to schools without breakfast for there is no gas to cook food on.

However, these protests will lead to nothing. For Nature’s rule works upon ‘An eye for an eye…’, and Nature will not forgive and restore our facilities until we restore the facilities of those whom we rooted out unjustifiably. Jamya Hafsa, Lal Masjid’s girl’s madrassah was demolished to the ground post Operation Silence. A year later, in 2008, the Supreme Court of Pakistan gave the ruling for the reconstruction of Jamya Hafsa. Three years later, in 2011, the court order still remains unheard.

The civil protests on the roads today might not have been needed had these protests been made prior and during the days of Operation Silence when religious students and religious social workers were subjected to hunger, thirst, electricity, gas and water cut-off, harassment and terrorization. Today the whole nation is suffering exactly the same. Perhaps we can get out of this mess if instead of taking to the streets to get back our basic facilities, we go back a little way and seek the reconstruction of Jamya Hafsa and restore their basic facilities to them through donations. For the students of Jamya Hafsa are resilient students; when their roof was taken away, they did not choose to go home or to other fancy universities as President Musharraf had offered at that time, but continued to study in make-shift arrangements, eat meager meals and sleep at night in open, windy corridors during the piercing winters of Islamabad.

The Karma of Electricity

I have been a resident of Islamabad since 1986. That makes about twenty-five years to date. I remember some electricity load-shedding, while there used to be no gas load-shedding. And the electricity load-shedding would not exceed a limit that would cause our daily routines to disrupt. Rather, in the summers, that one hour load-shedding at night would give all of us a great opportunity to take a break and have a nice stroll in the street under the star-decked night-sky. With all the black out on ground, the stars took stage to shine piercingly. In the winters, the same hour would see the family huddle in front of the heater, eat peanuts and talk.

It was the winters of 2007. I sat huddled in a cold, dark room, holding my one-month old first-born. No, God forbid, I was not in any kind of detention center (After the mind-blowing abduction of Aafia Siddiqui along with her children, such descriptions bring detention centers to the mind). This cold, dark place was my very own home which had always been used to lights, warmth and laughter. This was the first winters I was experiencing with electricity and gas load-shedding happening together. We had resorted to candles for light. The rooms were so cold. And there was no warm water in the taps, for the geyser was not running. I was so scared my new born baby would fall ill and die.

Why this dreadful situation? I thought. And my mind rocketed back to the tragedy of three months ago…

Islamabad, Operation Silence, July 2007: Lal Masjid was attacked by the Musharraf regime for the so-called crime of demanding rule-of-Shariah-Law within the land, setting a deadline for it and attempting a couple of incursions to implement it. Prior to the attack and during the siege, the dwellers of Lal Masjid were subjected to food-supply cut-off, electricity, gas and water supply cut-off, harassment and terrorism.

Soon after, Pakistan was afflicted with the worst kind of wheat and sugar shortage, electricity and gas crisis, drone attacks by the US escalating from four to thirty-three per annum and the onset of suicide attacks. Indeed, The Islamic Republic of Pakistan had committed a suicide attack upon itself when it sought to crush an Islamic movement to appease its dollar-masters.

The pattern match was not lost to the observant eye and heart and very soon the print media was buzzing with the commentary of Nature’s recompense upon the Pakistani nation for staying mute upon the Lal Masjid Operation in the heart of Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

Today, the whole nation; men, women, children and senior citizens, are turning out on the streets protesting the horrendous electricity and gas load-shedding which has wrecked the most basic routines of people. Despite the record-breaking inflation of sixteen percent this fiscal year, even if people are managing to buy some ration for their kitchens, their children are still going to schools without breakfast for there is no gas to cook food on.

However, these protests will lead to nothing. For Nature’s rule works upon ‘An eye for an eye…’, and Nature will not forgive and restore our facilities until we restore the facilities of those whom we rooted out unjustifiably. Jamya Hafsa, Lal Masjid’s girl’s madrassah was demolished to the ground post Operation Silence. A year later, in 2008, the Supreme Court of Pakistan gave the ruling for the reconstruction of Jamya Hafsa. Three years later, in 2011, the court order still remains unheard.

The civil protests on the roads today might not have been needed had these protests been made prior and during the days of Operation Silence when religious students and religious social workers were subjected to hunger, thirst, electricity, gas and water cut-off, harassment and terrorization. Today the whole nation is suffering exactly the same. Perhaps we can get out of this mess if instead of taking to the streets to get back our basic facilities, we go back a little way and seek the reconstruction of Jamya Hafsa and restore their basic facilities to them through donations. For the students of Jamya Hafsa are resilient students; when their roof was taken away, they did not choose to go home or to other fancy universities as President Musharraf had offered at that time, but continued to study in make-shift arrangements, eat meager meals and sleep at night in open, windy corridors during the piercing winters of Islamabad.

Obama, Osama and the World of Harry Potter

It is possible to become invisible in the world of Harry Potter. That is why we must imagine ourselves in the world of Harry Potter to understand the dynamics of the world politics today.

Palestine still has in its lap headless infants thanks to Israeli bombardments. Perhaps there are still some Bosnian men alive who managed to escape the ethnic cleansing done by the Serbs. The Kashmiris must understand that perhaps they are forth grade citizens of the world since the mantra of democracy is trumpeted everywhere but not implemented in their case.

Newton says, every force has an equal and opposite reaction. So is depicted in human psychology and consequently the world politics.

To digest the current war-on-terror, we must consider the following people and episodes invisible. A twelve year-old Palestinian girl is climbing over the ruble that was once her house and she picks up a doll. Or is it a dead infant brother of hers? Consider the home, the girl and the baby invisible! Some Bosnian pregnant women are butchered at their tummies, their fetus ripped out and kittens sewn back inside. They are snickered at and told not to worry and to still feel their ‘babies’ moving inside them. Consider the pregnant women, their fetus and the kittens invisible! The Kashmiri girls think it is better to commit defensive suicide rather than face the torture and humiliation of the rape to be committed by approaching boots. Consider the Kashmiri girls, their suicide and the approaching boots invisible!

I shall put on my special glasses through which all of the above scenes go invisible. Ah yes, now the war-on-terror makes sense. I do not see any atrocities being aimed at the Muslim world. Any reaction, anywhere, by any Muslim government, group or individual can now be termed as ‘terrorism’.

After the so-declared location of Osama bin Laden on May 02, 2011, President Obama gave a speech in which he said that, ‘It is our duty to protect the American people and we shall do what we must to do so’.

Perhaps safety, security, the luxury of land and resources and the freedom of giving an opinion is solely the right of the West. Anyone else, particularly the Muslims, must learn to obediently give up their land, resources, ideology and self-respect at the wave of a wand.

Women and children, the old and the young are being killed and those surviving made homeless in the tribal areas of Pakistan as drones hit them every other day. This mass murder is being termed as collateral damage. However, if the Muslims react to such offenses, they become terrorists and the collateral damage happening due to their reaction is part of their intended terrorism.

O’b’ama and O’s’ama, have this small spelling difference; and the fact that Obama is continuing an offensive war while Osama had initiated a defensive war and the fact that Obama holds an office while Osama was a man of the streets. Does holding an office-room justify sanctioning oppression, persecution and covert operations?

The world is raging with a tug-of-war for power, money and resources. The chief competitors are Christians, Jews and the Hindus, while the Muslims are currently beating the brow. However, there is one thing common between all these groups, and that is Faith in the Hereafter and consequently Accountability. Do not they consider for one moment that God knows the true intent of their hearts and He will make them accountable for their cruel actions One Day? Or are we all fashionable atheists here?

The Raymond Arrogance

Agents of ISI or adventurous citizens, they dared to photograph Raymond Davis.

Who was this Raymond Davis? He was a foreigner, traveling with weapons showing on his person in broad daylight on the busy roads of Lahore, Pakistan. These times are dangerous for Pakistan, with terrorism on the loose and the media encouraging citizen journalism. Hence, it is very much possible that Fahim and Faizan were ordinary citizens who felt responsible to guard their state in whatever capacity they could and photographed this suspicious looking foreigner on their mobiles.

Whoever Fahim and Faizan were, photographing a foreigner carrying weapons on their land cost them three to seventeen bullets between them and their lives.

As Raymond Davis got caught by the media and some brave police officers of Lahore, America and some America-loyal Pakistani politicians cried diplomatic immunity’. One can understand the concept of this thing called diplomatic immunity on trivial matters of administrative law, but could it possibly mean a license to kill? On foreign land?

The next person to go down (or go up in public eye) was Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Foreign Minister of Pakistan, who declared that Raymond Davis did not have the kind of blanket diplomatic immunity which his protectors were claiming for him. You will not be surprised to know that soon after this declaration, Shah Mahmood Qureshi lost his office.

Meanwhile, the newly-wedded bride of Fahim committed suicide as she bereaved on efforts towards Raymond’s release. She died stating that they wanted Qisas; blood for blood and nothing less.

As the diplomatic immunity card did not play well, not with the law experts, neither with the media and nor with the public, one mysterious afternoon, the public of Pakistan got to know that Raymond Davis had been released as the families of the deceased had suddenly accepted Deeat, blood money, as compensation for the death of their sons. Deeat is one of the three options of settlement by Islam, between the murderer and the deceased’s family, if the situation is suitable for this option.

While the media was still raging with this hard-to-digest breaking news, Ms. Hilary Clinton’s statement came that America had paid no money to the deceased’s family. This piece of news somehow seemed irrelevant. Just about when many of us were dismissing this piece of news from our minds, another piece of news floated on the media that Saudi Arabia had paid the Deeat instead, confirming that Deeat had indeed been paid, but not by America. This news rocked the Pakistani public once again. The stench of arrogance of not bending to any level of compensation to a third-world country was sickening.

Why was it sickening? We should have gotten used to it by now. When we are ready to lick boots, we should be ready for the arrogance of its master. An American police officer once said to a Pakistani, ‘Your people may not like to go to Jannah but they will certainly like to come to America’. For many Pakistanis, this used to be true. As Emal Kansi was handed over to America for doing exactly what Raymond Davis has done today, and money taken as well for his hand-over, he left a statement, ‘This nation will sell their mother for ten dollars’. And as America was seeking to invade Iraq back in 2003, and as the world and United Nations was pressurizing it not to do so, President Bush smirked in one of his presidential speeches and said, ‘…however, we are a nation who do not need anyone’s permission to do what we believe we must do’. And his comrades standing in the side view nodded and smiled and clapped in response.

Ah, but as they themselves say, ‘Pride comes to a fall’. And similar to it is said in the Urdu literature, ‘Har urooj ko zawal hae…’, meaning that nothing is here to stay supreme forever. No person, country or ideology…or is there someone who shall? The Holy Qur~an replies to this curiosity very well,

“All that exists on the earth will perish, but the Face of your Rabb will remain, full of Majesty and Glory.” [Surah Ar-Rahman, Verses 26, 27]

So,
“Wait if you will! Surely, we too shall wait." [The Holy Quran, Surah Hud, Verse 122]

Minority Minority

Have you ever seen or experienced parents who love other’s children more than their own? We are just like those parents as far as religion is concerned.

We make fun of the beard and the veil, absolute symbols of mainstream Islam, but we do not consider making fun of them anything at all; neither a violation of religious honor nor a violation of personal beliefs.

We are bent upon proving Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan to be a secular state; a violation of the masses’ point-of-view and a violation of history. Conduct statistics. Ask the simple question ‘Why was Pakistan created?’ The majority will reply, ‘Islam’. It is what we have logically learnt from our schools and what has been narrated to us by our ancestors who were part of the freedom movement. To this the reply will be that our textbooks have been contorted and our masses are illiterate and do not know anything. Well, literate or illiterate, what happened to the spirit of democracy that ‘Majority is authority’? Not that I agree with the blindfolded concept of ‘majority is authority’, but I said it because it is generally understood this way and hence to drive a point home. And who would decide and declare since when our textbooks have started to be tampered with under foreign agenda? I also fail to understand the need of separation from India if we had a secular state in mind. We could easily have lead secular lives in India.

The Afghans struggled a long war against the Soviets and beat them out. They then formed their own government, in accordance with their religious beliefs. These religious beliefs, core Islam, are a minority in the world today. The majority did not like this minority’s choice and form of governance. They moved in for the kill.

What happened to the rights of minority in this global village? How many presidents spoke out? How many NGO’s spoke out? How many individual’s spoke out? Hardly any. And how could they? Only three countries of the world chose to recognize the newly formed government of Afghanistan of Talibans in 1996. Nearly all were pleased deep inside when the Talibans were ousted because they were very uncomfortable about giving space to this minority. What happened to minority’s rights here?

It seems like every minority of the world has rights and has the right to survive, including gays and lesbians, except the Muslims.

Even Muslims themselves are very eager to protect the rights non-Muslims, but are not interested in protecting the rights of Muslims themselves. Interesting terminologies, e.g. ‘hate-speech’ have been introduced and then attacked, to root out intellectual, educational, emotional, convincing and most importantly hard-truth discussions upon sensitive issues.

The Prophet of Islam (Peace be upon him) may be slandered, cartooned and joked upon within the Islamic Republic of Pakistan but it is very, very important to protect the life of a non-Muslim within Pakistan. Well, it just so happens that the life of non-Muslim living on the Muslim land was sanctified by the Prophet of Islam (Peace be upon him) himself in the following words,

Religion, like any other constitution, is a combination of compassion and retribution. Likewise is Nature; summers and winters, seas and mountains, flowers and thorns, and so on coexist. This is the balance and equilibrium which is vital for the universe to exist and by analogy, for societies to exist. Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him) was a mercy for the whole world, and hence very compassionate towards all mankind. However, if anyone messed with the Muslims or Islam, he and his disciples protected the Islamic ideological boundaries well, just like a soldier standing at the borders.

Unacceptable Versions of Islam

So-called liberals are often found quoting the phrase ‘…version of Islam…’. What they mean by this phrase is that a certain group of people is promoting a certain interpretation of Islam which is not acceptable universally, by the mainstream or by they themselves.

The question stands, ‘Which version is acceptable to them?’

Many social issues have cropped up during the recent past in which the scholars of Islam have given out a unanimous juristic law, to which the so-called liberals remain tight-lipped and refuse eye contact. That is because in fact majority of the so-called liberals are atheists at heart but do not declare so publicly. It is certainly not of value to them what religion says regarding a certain matter. If the religious verdict matches their opinion, they would graciously quote religion to satisfy the masses. However, if the religious verdict does not match their desire, the fault is burdened upon wrong interpretation of Islam.

Take the recent example of the Mumtaz Qadri case; the security guard who shot dead Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab, Pakistan, for attempting to meddle with the Blasphemy Law. All scholars had unanimously given the opinion that any person, Muslim or non-Muslim, who insults the Prophet of Islam is correctly liable to death penalty. However, this ruling did not hold back Salman Taseer, Sherry Rahman and others of their league to revise or hold back their opinion. On the other hand, when Mumtaz Qadri assassinated Salman Taseer, people of the same league were seen quoting selective incidents from the Islamic history of Prophet Muhammed SAW pardoning those who used to insult, tease or harm him, and preaching the merits of mercy, forgiveness and amnesty.

The so-called liberals would do a great mercy to the masses if they would simply become honest in their public statements. It would clear out a lot of confusion and ideological chaos. People would then know where their ideological mentors are coming from and make an informed opinion rather than a bluffed one.

Is honesty too difficult a virtue for the glamorously opinioned so-called liberals?

Unacceptable version of Islam theory should be replaced with Islam is unacceptable to me admittance. This small but daring honesty would race the society towards a decisive settlement instead of tossing to and fro on indecisive sea waves.

The concepts of Islam have become alien to us Muslims over the years of so-called liberalism frenzy. Consequently, the Islamic scholars are often cornered, hotly questioned and subtly harassed into taking an apologetic position on controversial religious issues. The media anchors question them with truth-extracting narrowed eyes and grim expressions, shooting questions from every angle and leaving no room for an ambiguous reply. Al’Hamd’o li’Allah, most of the genuine scholars make it to a genuine reply.

How about the same interrogation standard towards the so-called liberals and conveying honest dimensions to the masses?

Political Dens

It is very difficult for the common man to understand the psychology of the folks of Heera Mandi. Heera Mandi is the legendary prostitution center of Lahore, Pakistan. Ironically, it is located right next to Badshahi Masjid, the legendary biggest and oldest mosque of Lahore, Pakistan.

The psychology of a human being is ruled by his/her basic instincts, culture, education, foreign influence and religion. A person’s basic instincts refrains him from feeding upon a minor, a female and the weak. The Pakistani culture at least sniffs its nose for the earnings of a female. Education, because it has been infiltrated by foreign and so-called modern ideology, is somewhat confused on the matter. In it, the concept of equality has wrongly burdened the woman to herself earn her livelihood while our religion dictated that she earned her livelihood inherently by the presence of male members in her family.

Prostitution is a concept whereby a woman not only earns for herself but is considered the chief bread winner of the family. That too, by a method, which is a shame to basic instincts, almost all cultures and all religions. Since she takes the chief role of bread winning, the birth of a girl is more celebrated in the prostitution clans than in the regular society. A fact about which they are proud of, for it sets them apart from the cultural stigma of male chauvinism. Ironically, it also exposes the fact that it is not about having a boy or a girl but about the glitter of money then.

Brokers, generally male, are key players in the prostitution profession. They are the ‘caretakers’ of the prostitutes, handle the financial deals and also fish customers for them, thereby ‘earning’ their share and/or heading the business in case they own the den.

While much is said about the Quranic verse,

“Men shall take full care of women with the bounties which God has bestowed more abundantly on the former than on the latter…” [The Holy Quran, Surah Al-Nisaa, Verse 34]

The Holy Prophet SAW further detailed the idea of headship in Islam by the Hadith,

“Your heads are your servants”.

Thereby completing the circle of balance, equity and organizational behavior as shaped by Islam, and unquestionably giving the reasons of chain of command, roles and organizational structure for a society.

The headship mentioned in this Hadith applies equally to heads of families and heads of nations.

Now let us reflect upon what the servants of our nation, our heads, have been doing. They have been earning their living and security by selling their family members, including women and children, as proclaimed in the book ‘In the Line of Fire’. They trade off the natural resources of the nation for petty prices in lieu of fast cash into their personal pockets. They cut-off life supplies to neighboring family clans in order to earn luxury lifestyles for themselves and security of their prolonged headship. And all this happens in Islamic Republics of the World.

Yet Pervaiz Musharraf, you are no more. Yet Hosni Mubarak, you are no more. Yet Mr. So-and-So, you shall be no more. But you will not learn and you will not change. History awakens you again and again about the miserable end of Mir Jaffars and Mir Sadiqs. Yet you are blinded by greed and gluttony. You continue to run your den, knowing that it is a characterless stigma in this world and a painful remorse in the Hereafter.

The Promise of Stone Ages

According to Pervaiz Musharraf, he protected us from being bombed back to the stone ages when he conceded to participate in the so-called war-on-terror. This participation included taking a u-turn upon our Afghan comrades, as BBC put it, and facilitating war against them. This decision was taken instantly and without the consultation of the parliament, the people or the Ulema.

Many of us, including myself, at that time thought that we had no choice but the choice Pervaiz Musharraf had taken. This ignorant thought was despite the fact that Turkey, which has a secular approach in governance, took a vote in its parliament upon the affair and consequently decided not to participate in the venture. It was also despite the fact that Iran, which is not a nuclear strength, has the strength to stand up for its agenda and not succumb to destruction threats. It was also despite the fact that it is miserable ethics to turn a traitor to save your own skin. However, we did what we did to save our skin and a sure hope to escape the wrath of a super power, forgetting the wrath of the Supreme Being.

Ten years down the line, we are hopelessly cooking our dinners on wood sticks, as they used to in the stone ages.

We are without electricity, gas and basic commodities of life. Life is bearable for those who have the luxury of UPS, but even they are wondering how long this arrangement will last. Those without UPS are forced to sit in the dark or move around with candles, torches and emergency lights. We are huddling in front of choking coal heaps to get some warmth in these deep winters. It was otherwise difficult to get up for Fajr prayers, but now we beat it to get fuel in our cars after two days off at gas stations. The hiking prices of basic commodities of life are forcing the common man to revise his monthly budget almost every three months. If ever the authorities have had the mercy of rolling back the hike of petroleum commodities, those who call themselves our friends have shown displeasure over it.

I wonder what we gained after all these years of merciless participation in the war-of-terror?

Wellbeing?
No.

Security?
No.

Honor?
Are you joking?

It is my observation that we have turned out to be a loser at both ends; in this world and the Hereafter. The wellbeing and security that we sought like worms has been slapped back on our faces by Nature. Can you guess what the Nature has in store for us in the Hereafter?