Dinner with Rapists

All flavors of political parties of Pakistan, ranging from PTI to PML-N to MQM have pronounced Aafia Siddiqui, Daughter of the Nation. That makes our current Prime Minister, Mian Nawaz Shareef, her father today.

Geneva Convention, Article 12: Prisoners of war are in the hands of the Enemy Power, but not of the individuals or military units who have captured them. Irrespective of the individual responsibilities that may exist, the Detaining Power is responsible for the treatment given to them.

November 2011: Fouzia Siddiqui, sister of Aafia Siddiqui, desperately wrote the following lines to various social media forums, ‘The Federal Medical Center prison warden has called me and reported that Aafia Siddiqui has just undergone a forced abortion after a rape. She is bleeding profusely, as I write, and it is not known whether she will survive it or not…’

Aafia Siddiqui is one among the thousands of victims of the so-called war-on-terror by America. However, the case of Aafia Siddiqui stands out because of the extraordinary level of torture surrounding her case, such that, even her children were not condescended any reprieve from detention and torture.

Barack Obama and his comrades are the elected representatives of America since 2007. They were the ones in power of America.

Judging by the script of the Geneva Convention, Barack Obama and his comrades are responsible for the treatment meted out to all the prisoners of America’s war-of-terror.

In a world speaking profoundly for human rights and particularly women’s rights, rape is the first and surest treatment given to female captives. Aafia Siddiqui was no exception. Her rape ordeal began in Afghanistan all the way to New York through till Texas even today.

Call me dumb but it is beyond my utmost understanding how Pervaiz Musharraf and his comrades could have the heart and mind to handover a female along with her children to an interrogation power. But then, Pervaiz Musharraf is a criminal criminal…

What about Mian Nawaz Shareef?

How can he receive social calls from his daughter’s rapists and talk to them cordially? How can he smile at his daughter’s rapists? How can he shake hands with his daughter’s rapists? How can he accept hospitality from his daughter’s rapists? How can he enjoy walking the red carpet in the land of the rapists? How can he enjoy teas and dinners with his daughter’s rapists? How can he invite them to daal and qeema?

No doubt that the All Saints Church bombing on 22 September, 2013 in Pakistan was a massive tragedy, but is it logical to set the Pakistani flag at half mast for three days in its reaction? If it is logical, then the Pakistani flag should continuously be at half mast, because we have been ravaged with big and small explosions across Pakistan since the last thirteen years amounting to a death toll of fifty thousand so far.

In my eyes, if anything today calls for the Pakistani flag to be at half mast, it is the imprisonment of the daughter of the nation in America. Her father, Mian Nawaz Shareef, should confront them in all seriousness for an immediate release, instead of wooing the rapists of his daughter, Aafia Siddiqui.

Aafia & Malala

Nobel Peace Prize 2013: My heart skipped a beat in a turbulence of emotions as I saw Malala Yousafzai standup among important, worldly figures and walk up to the stage amidst a thunderous clapping and face the international world at one of the highest profiles. Malala Yousufzai, after receiving numerous international awards, had now been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2013. Later, although she did not win the prize but her nomination from the Muslim world at the age of sixteen was itself a great honor. The Pakistani media showed and replayed her video of walking up to the stage for the nomination again and again. The image of her young physique walking to glory reminded me of another such a petite girl.

This time, the year was 1997. The girl was a smiley face of a very fragile physique, but brilliant brains. She had won numerous academic and social awards. In that video, she was walking up to receive her PhD degree from the USA. Her name was Aafia Siddiqui.

Aafia Siddiqui had done her PhD in Education and hoped to return to Pakistan to indoctrinate education into the social fabric of Pakistan. Currently, Pakistan not only suffers from a very low literacy rate, but also from a dual education system of which one end is an education system which is religious but disconnected from the practicality of the modern world and the other is an education system that is secular but disconnected from our ideological identity, Islam. Aafia had devised such an education system for Pakistan that was seamless between the East and West horizons of our education system. Her sister Ms. Fouzia Siddiqui narrates that when she reviewed the educational curriculum devised by Aafia, she did not find the subject ‘Islamiat’ in there, so she questioned. Aafia replied, ‘Islam is not a separate subject. It is an ideology that shall manifest itself in every subject itself…’ She had even bought a huge piece of land in Karachi to build an academic institute for this purpose. She believed that education could change minds and hearts and the fate of a nation.

All this sounds very similar to the ambitions and aspirations of Malala Yousafzai... 

Aafia Siddiqui was truly an educationist at heart. She was truly a Muslim at heart too.

Malala Yousufzai is also truly an educationist at heart, but we have some very disturbing bits of news pieces about her which report her making statements such as, ‘Veiling reminds me of the stone-ages’, ‘Beard reminds me of the Pharoah’ and likewise criticizing Islamic symbols and concepts. Perhaps, one can give her an excuse margin, given her age and circumstances which were prone to a rebellious behavior.

However, regarding the international community, is this slight but pivotal difference between Aafia Siddiqui and Malala Yousufzai exactly the point that has earned both of these brilliant girls a different fate each?

Amongst the Muslim world, there is a common understanding that anybody whom America and the West dislikes is bound to be a valuable person to Islam, and anybody whom they like...automatically loses credibility in the Muslim world!

Such is the case with Malala Yousafzai. There is no doubt that Malala is a very beautiful, extremely intelligent and extraordinarily brave girl. So was Aafia Siddiqui, when she spoke for the Bosnian refugees to a mosque full of men in the USA, such that even the Imam of the mosque took off his shoes and donated them. However, her vocal zest for Muslims and Islam earned her an enforced disappearance, torture and rape. The so-called vocalists of human rights let die her six-month old baby on the roadside. The so-called vocalists of human rights chained her innocent seven-year-old son for the next five years resulting in his feet bones becoming deformed. Why do not you visit Fouzia Siddiqui in Karachi, Pakistan, and see for yourself? And then the so-called vocalists of human rights rush to rescue, educate and promote a fourteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai from the same Pakistan ? Am I stupid or what ?

Aman ka Ghazwa

“And when Luqman said to his son, giving him words of wisdom, ‘O my son, never ascribe partners with Allah, indeed, ascribing partners with Allah is the worst form of tyranny…’ ”

[The Holy Quran, (31) Surah-e-Luqman, Verse 13]

He then went on to give him some more words of wisdom, which included rights of our fellow beings, especially the mother, rights of the society, civilized behavior, humbleness and so on.

I do not hate Indians at all. Only I feel a trifle annoyance when I see them worshipping God through idols, animals and plants. I feel the same kind of annoyance as a person feels when he sees his siblings annoying his mother and continuing with it. That is all, no personal grudge. Who am I to judge God’s annoyance? Well, yes, okay. It is just all about faith and the correctness of anyone’s faith cannot be judged by any scientific formula. I wish it could.

Neither do I belong to the land mafia, which dreams of hoarding land upon land. If Kashmir annexes with Pakistan, my one kanal home will not turn into a two kanal home. Neither will my city expand in its space, luxury and beauty. My daily route will remain what it is. And nor is the purpose to tour Kashmir. If I want to make a trip to the occupied-Kashmir, I can do so even today with a visit-visa to India. India welcomes friendly tourists.

Then what is the issue about Kashmir? Why is Pakistan hooked on to the Kashmir issue?

Is it the water-issue? If it was merely the water-issue, then Pakistan would be speaking about the Indian Punjab too. For Pakistan, being an agricultural country, is heavily dependent upon natural water irrigation. Pakistan has six main rivers coming into it, three coming from Jammu and Kashmir and three coming from Indian Punjab. And it is not as if India has never done any oppression regarding water. Water dispute between Pakistan and India first erupted on April 1, 1948, when India cut-off the water flow of the rivers coming from Indian Punjab into Pakistani Punjab. This cut-off was in violation of an understanding made in good faith prior to partition to not meddle with natural water flows into Pakistan. This dispute was finally resolved by the ‘Indus Basin Water Treaty’ concluded in 1960 between President Ayub Khan and Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. However, there are serious critics of this treaty here in Pakistan, saying President Ayub Khan sold-off three of its rivers to India. So if it was really about the water-dispute only, Pakistan would be creating some kind of fuss about the Indian Punjab as well. Have you ever heard about it? 

Independence from the British Rule and partition of India between the Muslims and Hindus was completed by the accession of independent princely states to either Pakistan or India or remaining independent. There were about 562 such states, all of whom had announced their accession choice by August 15^th, 1947, except Junagarh, Kashmir and Hyderabad. The subcontinent was reverted to independence by the British under the indigenous rule that Muslim-majority population states would form Pakistan and Hindu-majority population states would form India. And this was the accession guideline given by the British to the rulers of the independent princely states, that if they chose to accede, the accession to either Pakistan or India should be based on the wishes and desires of their people and their religious trends. However, the ultimate decision remained with the ruler of the state.

Junagarh and Hyderabad were Hindu-majority states with a Muslim ruler each, while Kashmir was a Muslim-majority state with a Hindu ruler. Three guesses to what became the fate of these three states…You got it! How did you guess the first time? You must be very, very intelligent or it is simply that you watch the news regularly and have a clear understanding of the gimmicks of India and its allies.

All three were forced to accede to India; Junagarh and Hyderabad on the pretext of being Hindu-majority states and Kashmir on the pretext of the choice of its ruler. Pakistan filed a case in the UN regarding all three states but of course the cases remain sitting to date. After seeing the political attitude of India regarding Pakistan, amidst Aman ki Asha, at the UN General Assembly 2013, and now at Modi’s election victory, I think they shall remain sitting on the UN table, until Ghazwa-e-Hind resolves the matter once and for all, all and out.

When this Aman ki Asha started singing, I was quite skeptical, because I really do not expect any political fairness from India. Its people are alright. Just like us, they also want to have peace, security and a prosperous life. In fact, we are quite the same kind of people, warm-hearted, fun-loving and a helping-hand in the hour of need. Why shouldn’t we be? For we belong to the same land. Geographical boundaries are man-made and cannot change biology. An inch on either side of the Wahgah Border does not create ‘different’ human beings.

Then what is all the fuss about? In fact, as they say, for what reason was Mother India ever divided? The fuss is that as human beings we do not hate each other at all, but we differ due to an ideology and this difference can sometimes really bring us to the cross of a mathematical right angle of 90°. It is like a mother who bears two sons, one grows up to be a Mother Teresa and the other chooses to become Robinhood. Both are doing charity, but one has chosen the right path to welfare and the other has chosen the wrong path to welfare. We all worship, but could any of us possibly be fuming God instead of pleasing Him? I am extremely sorry if I am sound self-righteous but I am just trying to explain a point. You are most welcome to put me in the stream of Robinhood and take the stream of Mother Teresa for yourself. But when I present our case, I shall do it in our light.

As Muslims, we abhor the concept of idolatry and do not wish our children, our plantings, to grow amidst it. Whether we accept it or not, but religion brings with itself an entire culture. Not just culture, but education, politics, economics and everything else. Religion reflects itself in every sphere of life. No, secularism is not an option, for secularism is itself a ‘religion’ and reflects its unwanted colors in every sphere of life too. Thereby, it is the right of the Kashmiri people to live as a Muslim state. As I said before, I am not an encroacher. If it pricks India that Kashmir should annex to Pakistan, fine, let Kashmir be an independent state then, but Kashmir must be given its more than half-a-century-old right of self-determination.

No? Oh well, let it be then. I guess we will just have to wait for Ghazwa-e-Hind. For it is the prophecy of our Prophet Muhammed Pbuh that Ghazwa-e-Hind (Battle of Hindustan) shall take place near the end of times and the Muslims shall sweep the land with victory.

Given the weak situation of the Muslims today, you must be finding my statement extremely funny. So did some people when Prophet Muhammed Pbuh was calling for finances and resources for the Expedition of Tabuk. Many Muslims came up with huge donations, but the overall situation of the Muslims was still very weak because the target was enormous, so much so, that when the expedition finally set out, the ratio of camels to soldiers was one to eighteen! In such a situation, one very poor but very hardworking Muslim worked all night for a Jew and donated his entire nights’ earnings which amounted to only half a kilogram of dates. So the critics of Muslims of those times laughed and mocked and bickered to the joy of their heart, saying, ‘You are planning to confront the mighty Byzantines with half a kilo of dates?’ It so happened that the sincerity and all-that-they-could effort of the Muslims reaped its result. Allah Almighty sufficed them and news about the thirty-thousand march instilled awe and fear in the hearts of the enemies of Islam, and instead of confronting them, they dispersed throughout the land. The Muslim army, thus returned victorious without a fight or bloodshed. This was the second victory of its kind after the Conquest of Makkah.

And Prophet Muhammed’s prophecies do come true. During the invasion of Al-Ahzab upon the Muslims themselves, he predicted the conquests of Syria, Persia and Yemen, all of whom were great powers at that time while the Muslims had only Madinah, a city. Islam ultimately did spread to all these regions and much beyond.

Prophet Muhammed Pbuh even gave the prophecy of Muslims being ceremoniously attacked by all others near the end of times, that is, what is happening today by the name of war-on-Islam, oops, I mean war-on-terror.    

So you be unfair and hold Kashmir tightly to your bosoms. Eventually, we shall get back the entire land.

However, there is no need for the Indians and their allies to feel any apprehension or fear by the above statements. For you do not believe in Prophet Muhammed Pbuh and his statements. While for the Muslims, let it be a solace to their grieving hearts.