Lifeless State of a State

Is that where we are heading to - darkness?



“11 year old Pakistani girl accused of blasphemy kept in prison for own safety”.

This had been making headlines in more or less the same way around the world, when a minor Pakistani Christian girl was taken into custody by the officials for allegedly burning a few pages of the Holy Quran. And to top it off, she was kept in remand for her own safety. How hapless could that be!

Over the years, some thing's terribly gone wrong in Pakistan. Or was it bound to go wrong given the way we've been leading our lives?

Every other day Pakistanis wake up to alerts and news that saddens the nation to bits.

The poor Rimsha Masih is only one of the cases that has upset the balance of Pakistan because news related to Pakistan keeps getting worse. The sectarian killings that the country is experiencing in the north-western parts of it, may not be new but the coverage it is getting, and demands to get, will only brew more hatred and widen unbridgeable gaps within a society already marred by divisions, sects and school of thoughts. Although we don't endorse any political party as such but he isn't far from truth when the Founder of MQM, Altaf Hussain said that the sectarian killing (more appropriate to call it genocide) will result in breaking the country.

And if one thought that this would suffice the misery for a country with a population of 180 million, then you'd be wrong – very wrong. In fact, there always seems to be some thing new in this country, though most of the times not good. There's always some thing to strengthen the views of sceptics and critics, deflate the hopes of the ones who dream and fantasise about Pakistan, while the rest of the world sits in their lounges with a cup (of whatever they drink) giggling and mocking at a country that came into existence on the basis of a religious ideology that spelt of its entirety, completeness and equality.

Most of our readers would agree none of this is to be found anywhere in the world now. But unfortunately more so in Pakistan when you read of a minor, probably suffering from Down syndrome, being jailed because of a law that is a mean to vent out personal vendetta given in the hands of those less-fortunate, less-educated and hence, less ability to think that what you sow so shall you reap. The law under which a minor is being tried is like giving a loaded gun to a baby, who knows nothing what to do with it until he gets angry. This is because it was later revealed, much to the shock and dismay for everyone, that evidences against Rimsha were planted by an Imam, namely Khalid Jadoon, generally considered as the care-takers of the religion. Even though it does come as a good news to all who've been following Rimsha's case that she had been granted bail, but what disturbs us is that charges still stand to date against her.

There are numerous killings around the country, even now when we are writing this. People in Karachi are being shot dead in broad daylight, while people of Balochistan have become targets of bullets on a daily basis making all the non-Balochis living in and outside Pakistan believe that the country is on the cusps of losing yet another part of its.

Then we have those extreme-minded, fanatics who are, god knows, hell bent on getting things done their way. So in order to achieve that, they consider blowing up themselves in a packed crowded market with hundreds and thousands of innocent people around them dead will some how pave the way for them to heaven. Illiteracy is initially a deprivation, and then it becomes a source of crime.

To counter these fanatic-minded lunatics, the Pakistan Army was coerced into a region where no army has succeeded, where no army has conquered the land to claim it as it their own. Armies in the past have lost battles, lost soldiers and some have even lost their mental balance. Yet, we decided to get into our tribal belt which has had for centuries its own laws and regulation to keep peace. It's hard to get this thing out of our minds that the Pakistan Army is fighting its own people at the behest of a foreign power for a few dimes that would run out tomorrow, but the people they'll kill today will not be brought back for the families who've lost them. And anyway, its a lose-lose situation for both of them, as the army has lost some of the best and valour soldiers in this war.

No doubt these are times of utter confusion and the presence of media and government makes it even more difficult to spot a black insect on a black stone in a dark-pitched night. We are getting sucked into this darker, and while you can soothe yourself by thinking that there is light on the other side of the tunnel, the trouble is we aren't in a tunnel but in a grave that we have dug for ourselves.

Shootings in USA

Police surround the shrouded body of the shooter

So we have another news flashing on worldwide news outlets of a US man indiscriminately shooting in the heart of New York City, near Empire State Building killing two people and wounding eight.

Police took control of the situation and opened fire on the shooter, killing him on the spot. However the twist in the incident makes it even more bizarre. The 53-year old shooter was said to be “disgruntled” after having been fired an year ago, killing his former co-worker and another person with .45 calibre handgun. Easy to say and put it on mental illness or personal grievances of a person to do this in US, and more so if he/she is a non-Muslim US national.

As the title suggest, this has been a tough summer for the US first to cope with domestic violence and second to cover it up every time to the world so as to not lose that, rather ridiculous badge of the “most civilised nation on earth”.

This NYC shooting isn't the first in the last month, but in fact the third of its kind.



James Eagan Holmes



On 20^th July, James Eagan Holmes opened fire when he entered the theatre on the screening of the The Dark Knight Rises killing as many as twelve and wounding fifty eight people, making it the deadliest shooting in American history. The shooter was apprehended by the police and there are already talks about Holmes being mentally ill to have carried out such an audacious act.

Wade Michael Page

But that wasn't it to be because a white supremacist, Wade Michael Page, shot several people at a Sikh Temple on 5^th August. As much as it was shocking for the Sikh community in US, it also terrified them, prompting to question security and tolerance level in the US. The gunman killed six people while wounding four others and later shot himself in the head after being shot in the stomach by a police officer. Page's shooting was more of a hate crime towards a particular segment of the society, and it is only now that it was, rather reluctantly, classified as an act of terrorism.

And this latest shooting in one of the most cosmopolitan cities clearly throws away all the notions of United States of America being the most civilised nation on earth for a country that has the highest per capita of prisoners in the world.

However, what has been even more disturbing is the height of hypocrisy of the world media to brush aside any act of violence in their own country as mere incidental while blame others for their own failures.

It would take less of an effort for the US to admit that there is a problem in their society in general, rather than run around to cover up stories. Or probably, it's a case of what goes round comes around.

Pakistan close to facing sanction

He even suggested the PCNS to review its decision for the "benefit"of the country

As we had finished writing our last blog, we caught sight of another news where this time our Pakistan's own Defence Minister, equivalent to US Defence Secretary, Chaudhary Ahmed Mukhtar on Sunday said in a quivering voice that Pakistan could face sanction if it doesn't reopen the NATO supply.

US to continue attacking Pakistan

These drones would continue to strike innocent Pakistani civilians

It is no rocket-science to fathom the truth that US has done least bit to prove itself as an ally, no matter whatever our Pakistani leaders have done from bowing down heads to killing their own people just so to please their Western masters, much to the displeasure of common Pakistanis.

India boasts of long-range missiles. So what?

So we have India a couple of days ago, flashing news everywhere in the media world about its successful testing of a long-range missile which is capable enough to hit anywhere inside China. We are sure they may have developed such a missile, named Agni V capable of carrying one-tonne of nuclear warhead with a range of 5000km. This got us thinking to research a bit to find out how much does it narrow the gap between India and China, as India claims to have done.

The Pakistan Army - Beyond Borders

  

The recent catastrophe that befell on 135 odd soldiers plus the civilians accompanying the soldiers on 7th April is an awakening as to how far the Pakistan Army goes in defending even an inch of our country. But there have been numerous instances where the Pakistan Army has been called for help by other states, mostly Muslim but there have been even non-Muslim nations that have had worked closely with the Pakistan Army over the years.

Kohli vs Chandimal vs Akmal

For cricket-lovers there is a delight to watch young and exciting talent dazzle in front of the world, heartwarming to experience such young prodigy translate their skills into performances. And so have these three young players from Asia – Umar Akmal, Dinesh Chandimal and Virat Kohli. But there is a crucial difference between these three that sets them apart, not only from other young players but from each other as well.

No Team With Clear Advantage

Expect him to play a bit more freely, with "50 kilos" off his back now

It is said to be the mother of all clashes, the match of the matches and don't know what hyperbole is associated with this match that associated the two of the bitterest rivals, on and off the fields. Let's us admit, these are no exaggeration because suddenly when these two teams meet on a cricket field, everything changes, offices are closed, shops are shut down, streets and markets are vacated, and if you want to find any one at that particular time, your best bet would be that that person would be in front of his television set.

Enough of ISI Bashing

ISI has many feathers in its cap to make it the most powerful, most professional and, yet the most attacked intelligence agency in the world.

It actually dawned on us the fact that constantly writing against our Military establishment and more importantly against our “powerful intelligence agency”, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) hasn't left much of a difference between us and the dubious Pakistani media, the corrupt politicians and the not-so-friendly foreign allies. Not for a moment, we want to emulate any of the three mentioned above because we don't want the power of the powerful to wane away one slight bit. We still want to see the apprehension in the eyes of the media who have more venom to spew against Pakistan than against our enemies. We like the fear in the hearts of the politicians who have ulterior motives when in Pakistan and much of their belonging outside Pakistan. And most of all, we love to see super-powers brought to their knees when they thought they could trample over a minnow in a jiffy.

Military Establishment: Is it becoming our enemy also?

They loathe you, but we don't. We love you. Do you?

For years now Pakistan has hung by its teeth and every time a generation that faces   it, says that “things will change for better” only to see the next generation going through the same thing and they also repeating, “things will change for better.” But we are of the opinion that things will never change.