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I have been meaning to update this blog for a few days now but just have not had the chance. My last week or so has been spent in lyari helping organize and then attending a large “public meeting” or protest against the current dictatorial regime and for democratic rule in Pakistan. Rather than dwelling on the event itself I would like to focus on my experiences over the last week or so.

Basically Lyari can be considered as the first town within Karachi. Along with this claim to fame, it is also probably amongst the most notorious areas of Karachi rife with gangs and underworld dealings. In a nutshell, it is the pre-Gulliani harlem of Karachi – only worse. The stories of Lyari were many but I tried not to let them influence my experience of the locality. Going into Lyari, on the first night of many, at about midnight, to meet the locals and start the organization for the public meeting (to be held later the following week) I was quite taken aback by the hustle and bustle on the broken streets. At every corner there were tea shops, with youths playing carom board, sipping tea, smoking cigarettes and hanging about….the reason for this vibrant gathering at this time of night was pretty obvious….no one had any work to get up for. It seemed a waste…a whole generation wailing away their time over tea and Caram…but I suspected this was nothing new. Generations in Lyari had bought the promises of “Paris” only to be repaid by worsening conditions by each successive year. Lyari was where the common man was – atleast from a political perspective – everyone wanted a piece of it – until elections were over at least…..it was a critical marketing gambit.

Behind the vibrant streets was a whole other ecosphere….based on hashish, prostitution, smuggled gasoline and many other financially lucrative engagements. This was all done under the watchful and involved eye of the local police who for all intents and purposes directed and managed the local underworld affairs. This lucrative black economy had also escalated in a gang turf war and blood was being spilt as a result on regular basis….things that the locals were pretty immune to.

All of this sounded rather intimidating, but in reality was not quite like that. Yes, all these activities existed and there was a lot of crime but this was the result of other problems. This was not out of choice…people had to earn a living somehow….it had become a dog eat dog scenario because no alternatives were present. There was no employment, there were no schools, I was hard pressed to find any medical related building and there certainly was no proper hygiene and sanitation. If people were to survive they had to do so on their own instinct and capabilities. Such a scenario dictates that even those who do not want to engage in illegal activities are left with a choice of indulgence or extinction….

Speaking to the people was again an eye opener. Whom ever I met and wherever I went not once did I feel threatened, or uncomfortable – despite being obviously an outsider – the first evening I happened to be wearing a pair of baggy Jeans and a t-shirt – appropriate dress for the ghetto ..no? It was just by chance this had happened…I was out somewhere and had to go directly to lyari…and therefore was not able to change into a more discreet kurta shalwar. Regardless even despite this fashion faux pas, I felt no discomfort in walking the streets at well after midnight. Granted I was also there with other people who were known in the neighborhood…but at times I did venture away from the group….the point being that the people were just people…they were no different than those you would meet on the streets of new york or London or Karachi…they wanted what people want…the only difference was their circumstances happened to be considerable worse than in which most of us find ourselves…apart from that…no difference.

I sat with the group till late in the night eating fresh, hot kebabs with nan and sipping tea….none of which the locals would let any of us pay for. Despite the fact that they had so little, this did not seem to impact their hospitality in any manner…I have spent time with much wealthier people who have had much less hospitality to offer.

I sat there reflecting that these are the real people of Pakistan - the vibrancy i often mention - the masses - the engine of our nation. I am sure just like Lyari there numerous such communities who are deprived of basic amenities and opportunities. We talk about the economic improvement of Pakistan, based on some financial gymnastics by government accountants – all of which is meaningless unless the people of the streets reinforce this opinion. The marginal population sitting in drawing rooms of defence and other affluent areas can pass as many opinions and comments about how great things are – they probably are for them – infact I don’t think they have every been that bad for them…I think we would be hard pressed to find anyone in these localities who have had to give the increased price of onions or oil have caused any sleepless nights. Poor education – so what ? London is only 8 hours away… Telling people that things are better when their daily experiences are testament to the opposite is an exercise in delusion.

The painstaking truth is that things are better…but only for those who were in good shape to begin with…the division of wealth (measured by the Gini index) is increasing in Paksitan, not decreasing. Income in real terms has declined not increased, inflation is on the rise, there is no hope for the masses to rise above any position their father every enjoyed by utilizing the public education system….break out of the ghetto…that is a fantasy in Pakistan. Let’s not even talk about medical treatment…life is cheap here…death is common place and the resources available to save lives are limited…and therefore concentrated amongst the few….take a walk thru Jinnah Hospital and see if you don’t come out with more ailments than with you went in with….

Anyway, Lyari was a good experience. It showed me that perceptions are just that…perceptions. In reality the people of pakistan are frustrated, people are disillusioned, people are fast running out of hope…..the masses are turning to any means for survival…and they cannot be blamed for these decisions. The government and media is too busy patting itself on the back about the superficial balance sheet improvements as a result of a few loan restructuring exercercises….if we have learnt one thing….accounting is not always (usually) representative of value of wealth…look no further than enron….. My only hope is that the people of Lyari and the like become the litmus test for progress rather than some meaningless accounting practices which have no consideration for the engine of Pakistan – the common man.

As a footnote: the Public Meeting (Jalsa) was well attended and the message well received….the bottom line….things have to change and each of us has to do what we can to be a part of that…whether in defence, Lyari or London…..

Today was quite an interesting and thought provoking day, and I hope to encounter more days like this…days with activity. I had already been introduced to the key members of the Karachi chapter of the Party in Lahore but since my return we had not been able to have a meaningful reunion.

As some of you may know Tareek-i-insaaf today started their street campaign, encouraged by the public, against the undemocratic rule of Pakistan. The agenda is simple and clear….free and fair elections need to be held in Pakistan. The current government has no legitimate right to stay in power, it is a military dictatorship which is only stifling the common man and international interest of our nation. It needs to be replaced with a democratic voice. I don’t mean democracy like the Iraqi democracy. We mean elections…not selections.

That is the agenda, and the street campaign started out today in Sahiwal – a small city (or perhaps a town) in Punjab. The good news is that it was strongly opposed by the government, and banners and posters were torn down and party workers jailed. Good news?....yes…because it only goes to prove that freedom and dissent – however peaceful is not to be tolerated against the government….and that the government is concerned. A law or clause 144 was imposed on Sahiwal. What is clause 144? Basically it states that a public gathering of more than 5 people is illegal, and this clause can be imposed on an area for a given period, if the government so wishes. Unbelievable. Sounds like a police state to me. Anyway…..the fact that there was resistance by the government to quell the activites of the Party in a small town like Sahiwal I personally think should be taken as an encouraging sign.

So given this backdrop of activity, a press conference was held today in Karachi which I was also able to attend. The objective was to denounce the government action against the peaceful campaign in Sahiwal and to inform that such actions would not disrupt the agenda and time line for the continued campaign. Additionally it would be in the benefit of all, if the opposition parties also joined in this one point agenda, but in the absence of such a coalition Terek-e-insaaf would go it alone…the public sentiment demands it.

If the government felt the heat from such a small spark of public sentiment, it should be interesting to see what happens when the campaign is taken to larger cities. I have to say though, that this campaign and associated government obstacles were given due media coverage, without which a lot of these issues would not have come to the attention of many people. My only hope is that our media is not also manhandled into compliance, as is the case in the US. With an unbiased and fair media, and coverage….the field is somewhat leveled.

Anyway, that was the jist of the activities and the messages. Personally I do agree with this one point agenda approach. It is a pre-requisite to any further progress. In the absence of free and fair elections, we are all held at the mercy of the General and his foreign commanders. We must reclaim our country, and once we have the opportunity to do that can the discussion and discourse progress onto what each party will do with that opportunity….therefore it is in everyone’s interest to support this essential pre-requisite…all other points and differences till then are irrelevant.

After the press conference I went to the Karachi office of the party. Here I was able to meet even more people and newer faces, from a variety of backgrounds…again something that is appealing to me personally. Variety is the spice of life…as corny as that sounds…I personally do enjoy varied interactions. It was interesting to hear the opinions and thoughts of “hardened” party supporter and “workers”. Workers is a term I use loosely…we are all workers…workers for the party …but more accurately for the people….but there is a section of the party membership which is more directly involved in the day to day activities of organization and management….and has experience/scars of elections and the like….they are the ones I am categorizing as “workers”….I agree, a better term needs to be found.

The discussions seemed to primarily revolve around the activities in Sahiwal and also the Passing of the Women’s right bill and subsequent threats of resignation from Parlimement by some opposition ministers.

Regarding the women’s rights bill…like many of you I too am new to all of this, so let me explain what I understand so far. Hudood Ordinance was set up by General Zia under the guise of Islamic shariah. The Ordinance covered a number of points, including prohibition, theft and the like and their associated punishments. There was one aspect of the Ordinance related to zina (sex between two unmarried people), which also for some reason included rape. Therefore in order for a rape case to be proved the same burden of proof was required i.e. specified number of witnesses. Regardless, the case of rape is different (and should have been treated differently) …here when the victim would demand justice against her perpetrators, if no witnesses could be found…….the case of rape would be dropped and she would be charged with zina! (since she already admitted to the sexual “encounter”). Obviously this was totally wrong and had to be changed. I must point out that I do not disagree with the Islamic laws….what I do disagree with is their abuse, and this was a clear case of abuse or misuse. Obviously in almost all zina cases no witnesses can be provided, and in Islamic history any punishment related to zina that have been carried out have been as a result of willful confessions.

So….a revision of the clause was understandably proposed. There were some disagreements with respect to the phrasing of the new clause. As a result some members of parliament said that they would give their resignation if the new clause was passed and was proved to be against the Quran and Sunnah. Now so far so good…but what I do not understand is this…the clause has passed, and the threat of those resignations has not materialized…but the whole debate continues on if and when these resignations will occur. Not once have I seen any evaluation of the clause itself and if it is in fact against the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah…I mean if there is to be a debate, should that not be the first point…subsequent to which the issue of resignations becomes important? I would think so. The point being that so many debates are raging in the media today with respect to these resignations, but they seem to be totally based on emotions and pre-determined alliances….the debate on the clause itself is silent….i still do not know if it is against the Quran and sunnah…..

Why not resign over the issue of American occupation by proxy? ….now that is an issue that doesn’t even require debate!

Carrying on with my day….i had a number of discussions with the various people and was assigned the duty to organize the party for the Defence Area (where I live). A challenge that seems quite enticing. I agreed….like I said…whatever I can do… I managed to get a list of the key party members in my area and decided to call them when I got home.

The list was not long and I managed to get through to almost all of them, I have a couple of meetings set up for day after tomorrow. I was able to meet one key member of the party this evening. He was a gentleman who had previously ran in elections on behalf of the party from Defence, let’s call him Mr.exD(efense) - as I said in the beginning, I do not want to disclose any names – those who can/want….deduce what you like like. He was now not that involved due to his personal commitments, but still felt strongly about the party and their objectives. Meeting him was quite interesting. His conversation was full of realistic and practical advice and information and as a result could have been taken to be discouraging at times by someone with less optimism than me! Regardless, it was invaluable. I prefer to be uncomfortable in reality than blissful in delusion. It wasn’t all discouraging by any means anyway….but obviously there are obstacles to what needs to be done to change the state of affairs in Pakistan. We all know that, we cannot ignore that…only if we are fully aware of the rude reality can we deal with it. The support of Mr.exD was also open ended…he said he would help introduce me to his contact base in Defense and offered to help in anyway he could. I thanked him and hope to meet him later this week…….

You know what…. I still hear a lot of negative (albeit realistic) points of views generally, but it only makes this all the more exciting to be honest. I mean ….anti (current) establishmentarian ….shake the status quo….this sounds like fun!

It is interesting to note of politics of Pakistan, and probably the overriding factor in the Pakistani gene as a whole …emotions. That seems to be one aspect of our people that rules over all others, broadly speaking. Little or no thought into what they think and why is usually given. If you ask someone why they support a given party the answer is usually nothing to do with the policies or the aims of that party – most wouldn’t even know – but everything to do with the perceived leadership (or in some cases the leadership of their deceased founders!) or their traditional alliances with that party – even if that party for all intents and purposes is totally new. New Labour….we learnt that trick a long time ago!

Speak of the devil....Phony Tony arrived in Paksitan this evening...

The purpose of this blog is not to engage in yet more pseudo-literary diarrhea, and I realize this is a bit early in the game to start with a critique of what I have already written, but I thought it important to clarify some points that i raised in my inital entry titled "Rationalization" (probably best to read that entry first, although not essential) – sort of set the agenda and explain things in a bit more detail…..be warned, though, it is possible you have not read the last of my musings…..

I guess my previous entries; at least the first one gave a bit of an insight into the logical progression of events. I do realize that it may be a case of looking at things through “rose tinted glasses”. I understand that I have taken an optimistic stance on our potential and our people. This is not a deliberate attitude, but a genuine one, and the proof of the pudding is in the eating….am I wrong ?is my faith in our nation and people misplaced? Basically that is my working hypothesis…we have the potential to be a formidable nation… Ok…anyway, enough of the utopia. ..

I do realize that there are a lot of ground realities to be dealt with. I do not expect that people will easily accept change. It has been said – I will have to dig up the exact reference to allocate the kudos – that any change is vehemently resisted by the people who will loose as a result of change, but only mildly supported by those who will gain - Machiavelli I think….anyway I think the point, whomever made it, is a good one to keep in mind.

We have a system established since the inception of Pakistan and a mindset inherited probably from times of British Rule. The system favors the few and the mindset is one of apathy. Those who loose out to the current system are kept on such a fine line between subsistence and fear that nothing changes. Basically if the masses were dying of starvation and were even poorer than they are today – we would have a better chance of a revolutionary change – because these people would have no choice but to demand it – to survive. That fortunately (I guess) is not the case…most of the people in Pakistan are surviving – barely, but are surviving. Therefore they are faced with a choice…..try and get a better deal by challenging the system, and risk what little they have now, or just accept their fate. It is little surprise that most opt for the second option. Necessity dictates it. We must be under no illusion though….if the trends continue, we may have no choice but to deal with a justified revolt of the people or more accurately the poor….why not resolve the situation before necessity also dictates such action…..

Central to the issue for progress of Pakistan, apart from national sovereignty (obviously!) is that of social welfare. The state is obligated, under Islamic principles to provide food, shelter, clothing, health and education to its citizens….why is that ignored? That is a far more important Islamic issue for us to be addressing than any other I can think of…

The way to provide or serve the people is through institutions….basically to do anything you need money..its not that we are short of money…it is just in the wrong hands (our parallel economy far exceeds our white economy), and what is in the
”right” hands is mismanaged or misspent. This is not to say no one is spending money in the right manner…I am talking about the general state of affairs – no pun intended.

As such we need to be in a position to collect tax revenues…everyone should be paying taxes! Today in Pakistan the bulk of the tax revenues is from indirect taxation…(taxes on consumer products e.g. oil, sugar, etc). Indirect taxation is paid by all…at the same rate…regardless of income…so the poor assume a greater tax burden than the rich…insane! If direct taxation is a concern of yours, then you just aren’t earning enough to avoid it! Only the foolish pay.

So we all agree…without money we cannot do much. A government’s revenues come from taxes…as far as I am aware…so if we are not collecting taxes properly…why are we wondering why we are broke? What other revenue stream is going to cover the tax shortfall of so many people? Loans from the World Bank ,IMF, USA et al.? Interest rate – low….deal….p.s. your soul included.

The only way is by having proper institutions – especially the judiciary – which ensures that the law is applied equally and fairly to all! Tax laws which are based on strong principles of distribution of wealth…and appropriate application of tax policies for the benefit of the majority at the expense of the few – who can afford it. This needs to be coupled with proper compliance and procurement procedures and transparency to ensure funds collected are not funds that end up in Swiss accounts or multiple foreign properties. A minimum wage needs to be introduced – what do you think the waiter, thinks when he sees you and few of your friends blow his monthly salary on an average meal? Ok… let’s start with government institutions at least. I mean…try living on Rs.10,000 a month…try it with a couple of dependants…let’s see how far you get.

Only certainty….death and taxes….i wish!

What is happening in Pakistan today is probably unprecedented in recent history, except in the case of Iraq and Afghanistan, where puppet regimes rule over a sovereign people through force. Such is the case today in Pakistan, without the messy requirement of an invasion, we just surrendered and gave up our country without as much as a verbal protest.

The actions undertaken by the Army, under the direction of General Pervaiz Musharaf, or rather more accurately under Bush, against the people of Bajur under the false banner of terrorism is an human rights atrocity. The same kind of atrocity that Saddam Hussain has been given the death sentence for allegedly committing – he denies it, but Gereral Musharaf proudly brandishes his actions. The fact that military action was taken directly by the Americans, but the blame gladly assumed by our own General makes the state of affairs even sadder. Although I understand the rise of false flag operations in the political landscape of today, the usual approach to such an operation is that the party being blamed for conducting an action, which it hasn’t, does not then go into public and accept the false charge. This is especially so, when nothing is to be gained politically, economically or otherwise. In this case there is everything to lose, yet our General has no qualms about dancing to the American beat to the extent of total disregard for even basic logic.

What we are seeing in Pakistan today are the seeds of civil war – which needs to be contained. “Divide and conquer” The Army is turning against their own population e.g. Waziristan, under the guise of terrorism. I am still baffled how our “leaders” can be duped by an ideology and approach that has found defeat in it’s own nation of origin, as proved in the recent elections of the United States. The people of the United States have woken up, despite the biased media and constant saber rattling of “terrorism”. Having suffered 911, which still has too many unanswered questions to allow anyone to conclude with any certainty as to the perpetrators, the American people and politicians are becoming aware of the self-fulfilling strategy being applied globally in this “ongoing war on terrorism”. It is nothing more than a war for petrodollars and the security of Israel, it has nothing to do with WMD’s, or freedom, liberty or democracy. Anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. Knowing that the whole campaign is based on ulterior motives, and that there is no such threat of terrorism, unless it is self-created, why is “our” commander in chief so eager to wage war on his own people? Perhaps a pat on the back from Bush is sufficient reward.

The actions at Bajur have resulted in a retaliatory action by the people against the Army – a first in Pakistan’s history. A suicide bomber entered the Army Barracks and blew himself up in a attempt to settle the score for the deaths of numerous civilians, many of whom were children. This prompted a prayer in the senate for those whose lives were lost in this attack – but any attempts to lead a similar prayer for the lives lost in Bajur was met with resistance in the form of microphones in the Senate being disabled. In essence any dissention against the General, even within the legal rights of the constitution are not to be tolerated. It may offend our American masters.

Any leader must realize that he is in power because of the people, rather than inspite of the people – as is the case in Pakistan. The public was going along with the government since its inception due to promises of free and fair elections, economic prosperity and a leadership driven by national interest and principled decision making. The promise of such things, with some superficial economic improvements (for the rich), maintained some sort of status quo. People are now waking up to the fact that the promises were a mirage used to delude us, and we are now being ruled by someone who’s only driving principle is American commandments.

Today Bajur, tomorrow somewhere closer. Would we have this same approach if this action had been carried out in our own neighborhoods or cities? There is nothing stopping these actions coming to our own doorsteps unless we take a strong stance against such actions against any of our countrymen. We should be under no illusions – we are today at the mercy of the Americans and should not require any further proof our occupation than what we have seen leading up to recent activities. The occupation may not be a physical one, but is an even more potent intellectual and political one. A people can only begin to fight for their freedom once they realize they are occupied. My only hope is that we all begin to awake to this fact and regain control of our own domestic affairs. Enlightened moderation…this action was neither enlightened, nor moderate.