Island of Peace

A bunch of large explosions occurred in my city today. The first at the Federal Investigation Agency's building and the other in an upscale residential area as an ad agency.

Lahore, being the cultural capital of the country, had till a few weeks ago remained free of such violence. It's a city full of life, art and history. Today the people here are in shock. But they are out there protesting in anger as opposed to being scared.

After the London Bombing, Tony Blair had said that even if you put a security guard at every corner of the city, you would still be unable to prevent such horrific acts. The problem is too deep rooted. Regardless, the intelligentsia is clearly failing to provide any insight. And I will spare you the psychoanalysis of those demented individuals that are engaged in this. I think the media is doing a good enough job doing this. I'll also spare the analysis of all the different theories about the people behind this and their motives.

All I'm going to say is that I am uncontrollably furious. There isn't a single thing in the world that can justify this. No religious or political cause.. no incentive.. no paradigm can POSSIBLY justify this. I am truly appalled. Carried a black flag against the tyranny of the government a few months ago.. Don't know what to do this time around..

Abyss and The Swamp

Two rather disturbing events being covered by the media really have me bugged.

Firstly, if any of you have been following up on recent India-Pakistan relations, you might know that things have been improving somewhat. In fact a bit over a week ago, an alleged spy who had been held captive for 30+ years in Pakistan on a death penalty was pardoned by Musharraf. Amidst a frenzy of media coverage in both countries, Kashmir Singh walked across the border celebrating and relieved, his family not believing their good fortunes. He then gave an interview talking about his service to the country and that he was, for all intents and purposes, in fact a spy.

The news that has been in the headlines today all over the country talks of a Pakistani prisoner coming back from India. Except the mood was slightly different owing to the fact that instead of walking across on his feet, he was in a casket. His family was mourning and crying and rest assured the cameras were there to cover every bit of it. Apparently, he died due to extensive torture inflicted on him in an Indian prison. According to his family, he had gone to watch a cricket match between India and Pakistan on a cricket visa as part of the peace-building measures between the embassies (The Irony!). He had lost his passport there and was arrested and detained and that was the last of him.

Now the man could have been a spy, who knows. I'm sure that once in a while there are similar stories that spark ill feeling for Pakistan on the other side, but this sort of thing really doesn't help. Exactly a decade ago, we were at each others throats and testing nukes to show our fighting ability. Since then, it has been 10 years of diplomacy, exchange of people, culture, arts and sports and increasing trade. Now, such incidents things do not help!

My closest school friend is an Indian. I've been to the country myself several times. I worked for an organization that was started as a result of an Indian peace initiative. I consider myself fairly well educated about issues around the two countries as well as a big fan of the people there. Yet, I know that most people are not that way.. Most have never met an Indian and their only interaction comes from a history of bitterness, and Bollywood! It kills me to see my grandmother, who was a migrant from Amritsar, talk about how nothing ever changes and how 'they' hate 'us'. None of this helps. (Adding to the irony, this news came in the same bulletin that was covering an AIESEC Pak conference!)

Anyway, the other piece of news is more 'local' in nature. So, we're still not sure who's going to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.. But most recent developments are not looking too great. A very respected leader of PPP, Amin Faheem, had been seen as the best candidate. The man has a clean and credible political record, he'd managed and held the party together while Benazir was in self-exile for the largest part of the last two decades. He was her right hand man and was even with her as she was taking her dying breaths.

Unfortunately, he is being undermined by Zardari (current co-chairman of PPP and Benny's husband, aka 'Mr 10 Percent' due to his massive corruption in the Benazir Era) since election results came out. Now it's looking like Zardari himself might be gearing up for top spot or at the very least finding a subservient PM that can let Zardari be the kingpin. To the surprise of none, his corruption cases have been withdrawn since his party won! Our resident moron, Mr Nawaz Sharif is also dreaming big imagining that Zardari as PM would result in goodbye Mushoo and he could be made President. Fool!

It's quite sad if things turn continue to tread this path. To be honest, I'm pretty sure PPP wouldn't have gotten even half the votes it did if people knew that Zardari was going to potentially be PM. Mannn, this sucks!

I just wish things would start moving in the positive direction and that idiot that hit my stationary car from behind and fled from the scene while I watched helplessly will one day become a better person!

The Saga Continues

Been following the YouTube situation closely. According to the Federal Minister of IT and Telecom, they made the decision to take it off air on Feb 16 when they found blasphemous content on it. The fear was that in a country where things are already rather volatile, any such proliferation of sensitive material (in context of some Dutch movie) could create a security situation. In some ways, I feel like their heart was at the right place - after all, the case for prohibition is always a complex one.

Unfortunately, let's be honest.. Members of our cabinet aren't quite your average YouTube surfers! So I imagine the discussion went something like this:

Minister 1: 'There's some bad things on this website my son told me about yesterday'
Minister 2: 'Really? What sort of bad stuff? FUN bad stuff??'
(..Loud Laughter..)
Minister 1: 'No man, seriously.. Some bad stuff about the Prophet and all'
Minister 2: 'Dude that's messed up as hell.. What we do?'
Minister 1: 'Well, let's just block it. It's only 1 website. I've heard there are billions on the net. No one will even notice'
Minister 2: 'Sure.. Blocked, it is then! Next on the agenda.. Food Inflation Crisis.. Ohh.. that's a toughie! Wish we could just block that too!'

So block, they did. Unfortunately, the funny thing is that our guys are soo darn good, they ended up blocking it in a manner that the entire world lost access to YouTube for about 2 hours! My My! Google Must be pissed!

Anyway, so the minister, according to the interview last night said that they are the govt of Pakistan and aren't going to contact the owners of some random private website (=Google, Inc.!) to discuss it even if the objectionable material was removed at their request. Their way is to block it! And if the owners of the random private website (=Google, Inc.!!) were concerned, they could talk to us! Haha.

The funny thing is, I don't know what happened since, but YouTube is BACK as of this afternoon, babyyyyy!

So let's hope we've seen the back of that crisis! Thank you all for sharing all those 'anonymous surfing engines'. You can now return to using them for your own illegal purposes! hehe!

And really, what is up with the dirty tricks being pulled on Obama with that picture with the Somali Dress, btw? You have to be pretty low to play people's feelings on races in this manner!

Anyway, in other news, I am rather shattered about AIESEC Pakistan having lost the bid for IPM 2010. It was something extremely dear to many of us and while we expected it, with the political uncertainty making headlines all over the world.. Yet, I know that we're capable of having run a legendary conference and it would have been a great point to meet all those people that were part of creating the AIESEC Pakistan 2010 vision.. and those that are motivated by it to continue to work in this organization every day. I guess it's the knowledge of that capability that counts! But in the end, I am pretty bummed about it, still..

So, all my friends that were planning to visit Pakistan someday with me (read: all my friends), we'll just have to find a new date and venue, people! :)

Keep it good. Cheers.

YouTube Blocked!

I was trying to blog a vid and was surprised to notice that youtube wasn't accessible.

YouTube has been blocked in Pakistan!!! The reasons being given are ranging from culturally inappropriate content to blasphemous material. This could be permanent or temporary. A year ago, Blogger was also blocked..

Most people are speculating that in case the government has actually blocked it and it isn't some weird technical fault, the actual reasons are not the Dutch MP's comments on the cartoon issue, but the recently uploaded videos of MQM rigging the elections on polling day!

If that is the case, this is blatant abuse of our rights, you b******s! What you gonna block next.. Google?

A Tree Falls In A Forest and No One Is Around To Hear It..

Apologies for being a bit of a faineant as regards some recent events. To be honest, part of the reason for the delay can be blamed upon the fact that I was trying to find some manner of adding a form of feeling or emotion to the event, and not just make a newsreel style post. Unfortunately, that process was in vain and having interacted with many Pakistanis over the issue, it appears that I'm just an ordinary citizen in my stance towards this - or the lack thereof.

The blast in Lahore, the first of its kind to tarnish the cultural capital of the country occurred on the Mall Road, a boulevard of government buildings that stand witness to colonial legacy. It's all quite symbolic really. The Empire's main function was revenue extraction and undemocratic rule. 60 years down, while the people in these buildings have a darker skin, their actions remain as malicious.

The blast occurred in the middle of a large platoon of policemen that were awaiting the lawyers' weekly march down the road. Most likely motive: A subliminal warning to the lawyers to desist from continuing their protests. Most low-cost target: Bunch of cops. Now why is it that I find myself surrounded by a lack of sympathy towards those targetted? As friend of mine says, 'The answer's quite simple: While the vast majority of them were mere pawns in the dirty war, its one in which the protagonists are often indistinguishable. '

Police is the most direct physical form of state repression in this country. It's also the easiest one to target. Their own attitude hasn't helped much. Today, most of us see the police, not as guardians of our safety, but those on 'the other side'. Much like their counterparts in the military - the 'defenders of the country'.

Protesters attach placards and stickers against the establishment on a police vehicle.

The funny rebuttal that the state is using nowadays is a lame attempt to hide their incompetency as regards security lapses: 'It was a suicide bomber. You know.. We can't do much about such things..'. (Initial reports from site were that the bomb had been planted under a police van!) Most of us have seized to have even an iota of confidence in what the government tells us now.

And what's with those reports about 'X number of suicide bombers have entered city X'. Umm.. Hello? Who's giving you this info? Why didn't you catch them when you'd been tracking their entrance into the city! And what does 'the security forces in the country have been put on high alert after the blast' even mean? Were they on low alert since things have been all so peaceful lately? Surely they mustn't be too motivated after the way they're being targeted. Alert, probably not! Afraid, I would suppose so!

It appears that mass movement on the street is not in the making. Perhaps prompt elections are the only (albeit suboptimal) way forward. Our choice pool constitutes a college freshman, his corrupt father that's made it to the top-5 richest people in the country at our expense, an indecisive moron with a history of U-turns, and a criminal that thinks the province is his personal property.. and his son famous only for the fights over gals that he settled outside his college using daddy's guards! But it's still our choice to make, eh!

This too shall pass.

Wearing A Pair of Bifocals

How do the views of two foreigners compare?

One, a political analyst for the The Economist, able to command the audience of hundreds of thousands, through a sensational cover story. The Other, a young Australian, exploring the country on foot.


He writes...

"Nothing else has worked. it is time for the world's most dangerous place to try democracy.."

He writes (Pics he's uploaded paint a slightly different picture from the one above a bit)..

"...seeing this country described as a "failed state" and a "pre-9/11 Afghanistan". All the while, my head is screaming from the negativity I see. I have tried to write how the Pakistan seen in the media is not accurate..."

What IS accurate? What are we dealing with here?

Situation at Midnight

Train and Air travel domestically been suspended or delayed. Public transport is at a standstill.

Benazir's body is being transported to Chaklala Air Base to be flown to her ancestral home in Larkhana. Scores of people mourn outside the hospital.

Elections are most likely going to be delayed since PML of Nawaz Sharif has also announced a boycott since the situation is not conducive to any form of campaigning.

Bush and other major heads of states send their messages and Condoleeza calls PPP leadership.

Streets are empty except for the few people that are taking their grievances out on public property.

Musharraf's Reaction

Musharraf announces three (3) days of official mourning. Educational institutions would also remain closed and the national flag will fly at half mast for this period. Calls on the people to support him in eradicating the terrorists that have committed this heinous act. Also appeals for the public to remain calm and exercise patience and restrain.

Major Cities in Turmoil

All AIESECers - members and interns - are safe and indoors.

Latest reports:

• Lahore: People on the streets tearing down the posters of the ruling party (PML-Q) which are all over the streets
• Karachi: Violence erupting and traffic jams on major roads as people are trying to make their way back home
• Hyderabad: Supporters break cars and burn tires. State of curfew
• Rawalpindi and Islamabad: High security all around. Cell phone networks down.

Top level government meeting happening to assess the situation.

Benazir's kids and husband en route to the country.

More Updates

Violence is breaking out in major cities over the country. People are angry, upset and confused. Advice everyone to remain indoors.

Government's control is clearly waining. Elections will probably be postponed, but the political situation is spiraling out of control.

Blast in Islamabad

In what looks like a suicide attack immediately after the PPP rally in Islamabad, sources are saying that Benazir Bhutto has been killed.

15 - 25 people additionally lost their lives.

EmergencyPlus - Protest at LUMS

Scheduled at a short notice, the protest at LUMS was heavily attended by students and faculty.

Among others, one of the things that were highlighted was that this 'EmergencyPlus' as it's been nicknamed is a mere euphemism for a state of marshal law - A member of the LUMS management board has been arrested and the numbers are increasing. A couple of students protesting at the High Court in Lahore were also threatened with arrest but then left to walk. Some of the faculty members were not even protesting when arrested.

One of the professors arrested, the Head of the Economics Department, Dr Ali Cheema is actually quite close to me and supervised my bachelors thesis for which we had a number of field research trips in rural areas of Pakistan. He's a well respected, cheerful, and soft spoken academic, a Rhodes scholar and has been working with the government (Ironically) on research projects in the area of Economics. He even led a team including me to deliver a lecture at the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA) - a civil bureaucrats academy.

Surely a man such as him 'is highly dangerous with a vast knowledge of explosive devices' and such and cannot be transported in anything but prison van.

Appears that the way it's going 'LUMS students will be getting lectures online only via blackberries from prison cells!'

Apparently under this state of the constitution, any individual may be detained for 30 days or beyond without even being charged. This is not on! We might not have civil rights, but there's a thing called basic Human Rights and among others, the state is directly abusing its power to take away our right to knowledge.

When Musharraf spoke to the US in his speech his words and apologies for Pakistan and Pakistani 'not being ready' for democracy was a slap on the face of our civilization, or according to him, the lack thereof. Amidst other things, there were rumors that subordinates within the military had staged a counter-coup and that Musharraf was being held captive. The General was quick to shun them as a "Joke of the Highest Order". Joke indeed. And a very (sic!) funny one.

I love the spin that was put on it, "For students and faculty and media and judiciary, for every Pakistani - This is our War on Terrorism - A war on State Terrorism!". Next protest scheduled for Thursday with an aim is to mobilize students across the city. In the mean time, life remains normal and the pockets of protesters on the street remain limited to outside the courts and the Press Clubs. Almost too normal actually and as written in this article describing where different stakeholders stand: "Most Pakistanis showed little reaction to the state of emergency, with no mass street protests or big displays of support for Gen Musharraf's move. There is widespread disenchantment with the failures of democracy in the country and the failures of successive military rulers to do any better."

Thank you all from across the world, all my close friends for your wishes and thoughts. I'll keep you updated. Don't fall prey to the spin doctors that you hear and see on TV. Be safe.

Download, Read and Forward to Media Contacts: LUMS Press Release on the faculty arrests.

Emergency in Pakistan

Last night, while watching the speech made by Musharraf on National TV, for the first time since he's been in power (The Coup of 1999, inclusive), I felt like I was watching a dictator address an insignificant nation. This 'state of emergency' that has been imposed, while justified through the deteriorating security situation and the 'confusion' of roles between the three branches of government, is clearly a mere cloak of protection for a ruler that is seeing growing threat to his role.

From those that have been following my blog, it might come as a surprise that while my words have earlier echoed some extent of approval of the incumbent government, largely out of appreciation for the 'economic bottom line' they have exhibited, I am now obliged to see this situation as nothing more than a gross attack on civil rights that have taken many many decades for Pakistani to get to. To be perfectly honest, I didn't think that the General would sink to this level even with the tough corner that he was in.

Earlier today, I was discussing with a group of friends, how even though we're in a state of emergency, it's still all a high level game and surely jokes about it such as 'Emergency Dinner Plans' and 'Emergency Discounts at Retail Outlets' was the only effect of this on our lives. Of course, that and the fact that the absence of TV news channels, foreign and privately owned local ones is quite an inconvenience as we're having to learn the hard way how much the state-owned Pakistan Television (PTV) really sucks and the 'unbiased opinions on TV', we've learned to take for granted (courtesy the govt) are surely a great privilege.

It appears though, that unlike the insurgencies in Swat, the recent suicide bombs, this situation is not going to be so far from the everyday life for the larger population. By suspending the constitution of Pakistan, including articles that cover basic civil rights and liberties, Musharraf has now officially become more unpopular than even the man he ousted, Nawaz Sharif, was at the time of the coup.

I could probably continue to write about this for hours, so in the interest of all the readers that are looking for a nutshell view/have been watching enough TV all day, I'm going to summarize quite drastically.

Why?

Stated Reason: Security Situation, Threat to 'Democracy', 'Confusion' among branches of government leading to the govt being ineffective in operation, demoralized law enforcement authorities, lowering investor confidence.. (Read Proclamation of Emergency)

Actual Reason: Threat to Musharraf's presidency, continued judicial independence and large number of ruling against the executive and legislative branches of government, media driving a revolution.

What?

Suspension of Constitution replaced by Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO), removal of a large majority of judges - Supreme Court and High Court - upon refusal to take a renewed oath of loyalty, no ruling of any cases against any official in the govt including President and Prime Minister, the Order to be only amended by the President alone, All private media and foreign media TV channels (and some radio channels) taken off air and will only be replaced once a new 'Code of Conduct' for them has been accepted, no public protests, arrests of politicians, lawyers, academics and other activists, National Elections to be delayed.

What will Happen from Here?

Scenario 1: A critical mass of people have already been put on fire by the events of the last few months, well proliferated by the media, they will take to the streets and make it impossible for the government to rule. This will then convert into an official Marshal Law which will be short lived and the Commanders of the Pakistan Armed Forces will pull their support from Musharraf and will return to the Barracks.

Scenario 2: We have yet to reached that critical mass. No 'leaders' will be able to unite and mobilize people. Small pockets of protesters will get cracked upon and we will continue like this for a few more years.

Till When?

Apparently out of our 60 year history, Pakistan has been under 'emergency rule' for about half of them. So no timeline looks to be given.

In a few closing thoughts, I'm going to want to reach out to Mr President that when you spoke to the U.S. in your speech yesterday, you quoted Abraham Lincoln and his extra-constitutional actions 150 years ago. Mr President, you're not Abraham Lincoln, we're not the U.S., and we're certainly not 150 years back in time and don't want you to send us there again.

And from the reactions in the American media, mostly on the CNN coverage (only been accessing that through the internet), it's shocking that while the move is 'condemned', the issues to do with foreign aid are labeled complicated and requiring time consuming deliberation, and it almost appears that they're empathetic for Musharraf 'having to do this' as the judiciary was becoming a hindrance in the ability to fight 'Terrorism'.

Guess it's now up to the Pakistanis, that across the world (and hopefully in the country too) are organizing their voices. This time around, there is hope.

Professor from LUMS (my uni) were arrested all over the country. The picture above Aasim Sajjad Akhtar in Islamabad. Click to see the horrific video of the arrests. Reports say that others also include Bilal Mintoo (Law Faculty) and Dr Ali Cheema (Head of Economics Department). Imran Khan was also arrested from LUMS yesterday.

"Dear all. As I write to you many members of society are actively protesting against the travesty that has plunged us once again into the dark ages. The hrcp building has been surrounded by police and peaceful protesters including some of our faculty members are about to be arrested. In islamabad and elsewhere the top judiciary of the country remains under house arrest and similar arrests are being made. The press has been completely muffled. This is the time to peacefully but unequivocally express our very strong dismay and protest against yet another martial law. Howvever as we unite in this please ensure that nothing happens that in any way undermines our institutional norms. Please introspect and gauge whether continuing silence makes sense any more. Please speak up, stand together and be counted. And be careful. Regards. Osama Siddique *** This Message Has Been Sent Using BlackBerry Internet Service from Mobilink ***" (Professor of Law at LUMS)

"The vicious cycle of charisma, corruption and coup has been broken. Earlier the roles were distributed. Now we have just one person to blame."

The Truth Unfolds.. Marginally..

Interesting pieces of news on the media today. Surely, all that invoke a deep sense of disturbance, yet keep me guessing on the camp I should be rooting for or even believing..

Gujrat Riots - Report Shows Confessions from Government Officials

The famous website Tehelka.com that unmasked internal corruption in the government's ranks a few years ago, has now published a report claiming that the 2002 Gujrat riots that killed hoards of people, was in fact a coordinated genocide, within which elements of the then ruling party BJP were accomplice to.

This event is close to me, not as much on ideological grounds, but because some close friends were deeply affected. I love my Indian friends more than most, and it sickens me to even consider the possibility of any government doing such a thing.

Compelling Question 1: Could it, in fact, have been this way, or is it the current government's stunt to kill competition?
Compelling Question 2: How is it that BBCnews.com failed to make front page space on this today?
Hope: It doesn't lead to further religious fragmentation in India. The country has more muslims in absolute numbers, there there are in Pakistan!

The Karachi Blasts - Playing the Game

There appears to be a pretty big blame game going on in Pakistan as regards the blasts. It appears that political forces are using this horrific event, that has killed more people in an instant - almost 200 - than any single such incident in Pakistan's history, to leverage their own interests. Benazir is blaming three individuals in the government - Chief Minister of Punjab, Head of Intelligence Bureau and the Man that probed the corruption cases against her, as likely suspects. The G-men believe that not only is that a ridiculous accusation, but that Benazir coordinated the events to gain public sympathy and destabilize the government. At a time when Musharraf 'appears' to be trying to consolidate the two parties in an effort to form a coalition government, this brings a major twist to an already complex situation.

Compelling Question 1: Why don't we have a Tehelka.com of our own in Pakistan?
Compelling Question 2: What is the top level game here?
Hope: That neither of these allegations is true. It's inexcusable if either of these parties have shed so much blood of their own people in a fucking political stunt! (Excuse my french..)

Wheeler's view on their 'Sport of Passion'

In lieu of the recent crackdown on these fellows, there was a report on TV today on wheeler's, those kids on their motorbikes speeding around busy roads on one wheel (Wheelies). They talked about how these guys felt it was a sport, that they got a kick out of it, that even two cop cars and 10 cop bikes couldn't catch them, that most lives were lost when cops chased them, so they should (!), and that if they are to be taken off the roads they should legalize and 'coordinate' the sport and let people compete on national and international level.

I had long forgotten the story when en route to college one day three years ago, I witnessed a wheeler slip, hit the car behind him, and flew to the wrong side of the road only to be crushed by a vehicle on the other side.. This reminder was unnecessary.

Compelling Question: Sport or Madness?
Hope: for our roads to be safer.

Sodium in Water

I feel at a loss of words trying to describe the events that have just taken place in Karachi a couple of hours ago. Thankfully, everyone I know is safe and taking all precautions.

Over 150 people confirmed dead in a series of blasts that took place to target Benazir Bhutto as she was close to concluding her procession. Eye witness mention a vehicular explosion that was meant to create a state of chaos while a suicide bomber dashed to the armored vehicle containing the leadership of the Pakistan Peoples Party, luckily for them being stopped midway by security personnel who lost their lives as the man detonated live on TV. Gruesome images of 9/11 were all that one could think about watching something like that happen, helplessly.

Benazir and Karachi have had a long and dark history. During her tenure as prime minister, in the early 90s, Karachi was declared as one the most unsafe cities in the world with bomb blasts and shootouts were so frequent they didn't even feature on front pages of local news papers anymore. Ironically, she was then supporting the Taliban, who are probably in some way behind the events of today, although one cannot be sure since her enemies are quite a bunch.

Sadly, with her hardhitting remarks about the provincial disparities, allowing the US to operate troops within the boundaries of sovereign Pakistan, her stance on Dr A Q Khan and so on, she hasn't created a very hospitable condition for her to be strolling around the city like that.

I have lived for over a year in Karachi, without as much as even seeing someone carry a firearm besides security personnel. It isn't the Karachi it was 13 years ago. I am very proud to have witnessed the fact that security concerns were a thing of a past, existing only for those who had the images of the 90s haunting their minds still. In many ways I have grown to love that city and cherish the people there.

At a time like this, please excuse my blissful ignorance, but I really am compelled to say that I really don't give two hoots about what her presence does to strengthen democracy in Pakistan, but I would really rather sacrifice that by removing her, for the sake of peace, order, safety, and a Karachi that would remain free from a state of constant fear.

On a final note, I continue to be extremely disappointed with Geo TV's coverage of the gruesome images after the blast. A free media should respect it's viewers. No one considers your 'exclusive' coverage important or even appropriate. Please stop.

To a better tomorrow..