ہمارے ممدوح ڈاکٹر بلا بڑے پائے کے دانشور ہیں اور جو کہتے اور لکھتے ہیں ایسا ہوتا ہے کہ دل جھومنے لگتا ہے اور روح کانپنے لگتی ہے، وہ اس لیے کہ دل تو بچہ ہے جی مگر روح کو تو روز محشر نزدیک نظر آتا ہے. ان کے دل میں قوم کا جو درد ہے وہ اکثر ابل پڑتا ہے ویسے ہی جیسے ہمارے آپ کے گھروں میں کچھ اور ابل پڑتا ہے، جب یہ درد ابلتا ہے تو دانش اور فکر کے ایسے ایسے موتی بکھر جاتے ہیں کہ ہم ایسے کم عقل تو عش عش کرتے اپنی انگلیاں چبا ڈالتے ہیں، ہم نے تو اب یہ طریقہ نکالا ہے کہ ڈاکٹر بلا کا تازہ کالم پڑھنے سے پہلے ہی انگلیوں پر پٹیاں چڑھا لیتے ہیں تاکہ بے خودی اور جوش میں چبا ڈالیں تو زخم نہ پڑیں، ڈاکٹر صاحب تو ہر ہفتے کالم لکھ دیتے ہیں، اتنی جلدی زخم تھوڑی صحیح ہو جاتے ہیں، اب ڈاکٹر صاحب سے درخواست تو کی نہیں جا سکتی کہ

زخم کے بھرنے تلک کالم نہ چھپوائیں گے کیا

ویسے کہتے یہ ہیں کہ زوال کی ایک نشانی یہ بھی ہے کہ مفکر علم و فکر سے دور اور خوش فہمی سے نزدیک ہو جاتے ہیں، یعنی نام کے مفکر رہ جاتے ہیں، اب دیکھیں ڈاکٹر بلا کل ہی کیا دور کی کوڑی لائے ہیں یعنی روحانی جمہوریت، کہتے ہیں کہ وطن عزیز کے تمام مصائب کا حل روحانی جمہوریت کے نفاز میں ہے اور یہی وہ جمہوریت ہے کہ جس کا خواب علامہ اقبال مرحوم و مغفور نے دیکھا تھا. یہ تو خیر ایک فیشن ہو گیا ہے کہ تمام کٹھ ملا اور بناسپتی دانشور حضرت اقبال کو اپنی فکری خوش فہمیوں کے اندراج کے لئے استعمال کرتے ہیں، شاعر کی خوش قسمتی اور شعر کی بد قسمتی ہوتی ہے کہ اسے جو جیسا سمجھے ویسے بیان کرتا ہے. یہاں تک کہ سہل ممتنع میں کہے گئے شعر کی بھی مٹی پلید کی جا سکتی ہے، مثلآ

جگر کی چوٹ اوپر سے کہیں معلوم ہوتی ہے
جگر کی چوٹ اوپر سے نہیں معلوم ہوتی ہے

ہمارے پیارے دوست مجید اس کی تشریح یوں کرتے ہیں کہ جگر کے سروسس کا علاج پیٹ چاک کے بغیر یعنی آپریشن کے بغیر ممکن نہیں. خدا جانے ڈاکٹر حضرات کی کیا راءے ہوگی اس سلسلے میں, اس سے مجید کو کوئی غرض نہیں. اسی طرح لگتا ہے کہ ڈاکٹر بلا کو بھی کوئی غرض نہیں کہ ان کے فرمودات کو شگوفہ سمجھ کر قہقہے لگیں ، ہمارے ہاں کسی بھی اوبڑ کھابڑ اور در حقیقت مضحکہ خیز بات کو قبولیت اور سند دلوانے کا طریقہ یہ ہے کہ ایسے خیال کو تقدیس کا جامہ پہنا دیا جائے اور احترام کے لفافے میں ملفوف کر دیا جائے. اس کے بعد کچھ کرنے کی ضرورت ہی نہیں، ہمارے جذباتی اور حسّاس لوگ خود ہی قاضی بن جاتے ہیں اور فیصلہ  بھی دے ڈالتے ہیں، پھر کس میں ہمت ہے کہ کچھ کہہ سکے،  ڈاکٹر بلا جیسے لوگ اس ذہنیت سے فایدہ اٹھانا خوب اچھی طرح جانتے ہیں اور رہے وہ جو منطق اور مقصد کے پھیر میں پڑتے ہیں ان کے لئے زیادہ ضروری ہے کہ جان بچانے کا بندوبست کریں

جس کو ہو جان و دل عزیز بلا کی گلی میں جائے کیوں

ویسے ہم کو روحانی جمہوریت کے خیال نے خود اپنے رخش خیال کو آزاد چھوڑ دینے پر اکسایا ہے اور محشر خیال میں کیا کیا نقشہ کھینچ لیا ہے ، یہ تو سمجھ نہیں آتا کہ روحانی جمہوریت میں حاکم کیسے منتخب ہونگے اور کیا طریقہ ہوگا مگر فرض کریں کہ ایسے روشن ضمیر اور بے مثال افراد مل گئے اور ان پر اس ملت کا اجماع بھی ہو گیا جو سر پٹھول کا کوئی موقع نہیں کھوتی، تو جو حکومت بنے گی اس کو کسی اسمبلی کی ضرورت نہیں ہوگی، کیوں کہ جملہ ذمّہ داران روحانی روابط رکھیں گے اور عوام کو کوئی غرض ہی نہیں ہوگی کہ  کاروائی سے اگاہ ہوں، خدا بھلا کرے منجملہ صحافی حضرات جو آج اسمبلیوں کی کروائی اور دیگر حکومتی اقدامات پر کام کرتے ہیں، سب کے سب سبکدوش ہو کر خانقاہوں اور مزاروں پر جاروب کش بن جائیں گے، آج ہماری عقلوں پر جھاڑو پھرتے ہیں کل سچ مچ جھاڑو ہاتھ میں ہوگی. اسی طرح ایوان صدر، ایوان وزیراعظم اور دیگر رہائشی سہولیات کی ضرورت نہیں رہے گی کہ سب اپنی اپنی خانقاہوں میں رہیں گے وہیں سے راج پاٹ کی ذمّہ داری سنبھالیں گے اور قوم کا پیسا بچے گا ساتھ ہی ساتھ کئی فکر مند اس فکر سے نجات پائیں گے کہ کہاں کتنا خرچ ہو رہا ہے. آج جو وی آئ پی آمدورفت پر حفاظت اور دیگر اقدامات کے جاتے ہیں ان کی ضرورت نہیں رہے گی کیونکہ جملہ صاحبان اقدار ٹیلی پیتھی سے کام لے کر بیٹھے بیٹھے دنیا گھومیں گے، چلیں جی بڑے بڑے ٹریفک جیم سے عوام کی جان چھوٹے گی. اور تو اور کوئی میمو سکینڈل بھی نہیں بن سکے گا کیونکہ یہ خطرہ ہی نہیں رہے گا کہ کوئی خود غرض دھوکے باز حالات سے فایدہ اٹھائے، جو صاحب چاہیں گے امریکی صدر کی بارگاہ میں بیٹھے بیٹھے جا پنہچیں گے اور اپنی غرض کو عرض کر کے واپس آ جائیں گے، بلیک بیری سے ڈیٹا نکالنے کی کوشش فضول ثابت ہوگی. عامل اور سنیاسی جیسے ہمارے محبوب بنگالی باوا مشیروں کا درجہ پائیں گے. اگر کوئی افسر باوردی یا بغیر وردی حکومت کو الٹنے کی کوشش کرے گا تو خود سر کے بل لٹکا دیا جائے گا. ہاں اگر افسر صاحب خود روحانیات کے ماہر نکلے تو پھر کچھ نہیں کہا جا سکتا، ہو سکتا ہے کمیشن کے کورس میں روحانیت کا اضافہ کر دیا جائے

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غرض یہ کہ ہماری سمجھ میں تو روحانی جمہوریت نہیں آتی جس طرح ڈاکٹر بلا کی سمجھ میں سیدھی سادھی جمہوریت نہیں آتی. ہمارے ہاں جس قدر تیزی سے اقدار اور حالات زوال پذیر ہیں اسی تیزی سے نت نئی اصطلاحات کا استعمال ہو رہا ہے، یعنی در حقیقت کچھ بھی نہیں ہو رہا ہے. جیسا کہ لفظ شفاف، بھائی جہاں شفاف استعمال نہیں ہوتا وہاں بھی انتخابات شفاف ہو سکتے ہیں اور ہوتے ہیں تو آپ اپنے طریقے صحیح کریں بجائے اس کے کہ نئے نئے لفظوں کے پھیر میں پڑ کر لوگوں کو الو بناتے رہیں. جس جمہوریت سے ڈاکٹر بلا جیسے لوگ نالاں ہیں وہ تو کبھی اس ملک کے لوگوں نے دیکھی ہی نہیں، جمہوریت عوام کی حاکمیت ہے، ہمارے ہاں کب عوام کو یہ درجہ ملا جو آپ جمہوریت سے اس قدر ناراض ہیں ؟ دنیا میں جہاں بھی جمہوریت ہے آپ اس سے جس قدر متنفر ہوں حقیقت یہ ہے کہ وہاں عوام کو جو تحفظ حاصل ہے اس کا خواب بھی ہماری آنکھوں سے نہیں گزر سکتا. بات یہ ہے کہ ہم ہمیشہ صرف ایک جہت میں سوچنے پر مجبور کیے جاتے ہیں حالانکہ دنیا میں ترقی  یا تبدیلی یک جہتی نہیں ہو سکتی، اور جمہوریت محض ایک جہت ہے، تعلیم اور صحت کی سہولتوں کی فراہمی، جاگیر داری کا خاتمہ، ملایت اور پیری فقیری سے نجات، برادری اور ذات پات پر مبنی تعصبات کا خاتمہ، قبائلی نظام کی بالا دستی کا خاتمہ، دیہی پاکستان کی ترقی، صنعتوں میں اضافہ، زرعی ترقی، انسانی حقوق کا تحفظ ، عورتوں اور دیگر پسماندہ طبقات کی بحالی،   اور بہت کچھ ہے جو کہ ترقی کے لئے ضروری ہے، آدھے سے زیادہ پاکستان تو ڈنڈے کے زور پر چل رہا ہے اور ہم جمہوریت سے نالاں ہیں، ابھی سورج طلوع نہیں ہوا اور آپ سویرے سے خوف زدہ ہیں، کیا منطق ہے

جو چاہے آپ کا ذہن کرشمہ ساز کرے

بات یہ ہے کہ آج کی دنیا جتنی ترّقی یافتہ ہے اور دنیا کی آبادی کی اکثریت کو جو سہولتیں آج حاصل ہیں وہ پہلے کبھی نہیں تھیں، عام آدمی کی اوسط عمر میں اضافہ ہو رہا ہے کمی نہیں، تعلیم پھیل رہی ہے ختم نہیں ہو رہی، سہولتیں بڑھ رہی ہیں، آمدورفت کے ذریعے بہتر ہو رہے ہیں، صحت سے متعلق سہولتیں بھی بہتر ہو رہی ہیں، مگر اس کا مطلب یہ بھی نہیں کہ سب کچھ اچھا ہے، جی نہیں انسانی معاشرے کی پیچیدگی میں بھی اضافہ ہوا ہے، آبادی پھیلی ہے تو  ذرایع کے حصول میں مشکلات بڑھ رہی ہیں اور ساتھ ہی ساتھ کشمکش بھی، انسان انسان کے استحصال سے آج بھی فایدہ اٹھا رہا ہے، یہ سب انسانی جدوجہد کا حصّہ ہے مگر اس کا یہ مطلب ہرگز نہیں کہ ہم جو حاصل کر چکے ہیں اس سے دست بردار ہو جائیں، ہم کو آگے بڑھنا ہے واپس نہیں جانا. بے معنی خیالات اور نظریات در اصل ان طبقات کا ہتھیار ہیں جو ترقی کی جنگ میں اپنی قوّت اور اقتدار سے محروم ہو رہے ہیں اسی لئے سب سے زیادہ شور مچاتے ہیں اور چاہتے ہیں کہ لوگ منتشر رہیں، عام آدمی ایک دوسرے کے پیچھے لگا رہے اور ترقی پسند خیال اس کی سوچ کا حصّہ نہ بن سکیں. یہ لوگ تقلید پر زور دیتے ہیں اور تنقید سے خوف کھاتے ہیں، اس لئے روحانیت اور تقدس کا جامہ ان کو خوب زیب دیتا ہے.

Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari at Flood Relief Camp while distributing aid to the victims of flood

Mother Teresa once said, “The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity”. Many people come and go but only those are remembered who dedicate their lives for serving humanity. The meaning of serving humanity in these materialistic days can only be understood by those who are helpless and needy. All religions of the world teach not to harm others and to share problems with each other and to try to solve them collectively. Basically all religions teach their followers to do good deeds. Human difficulties, problems, natural disasters, accidents, diseases have been striking from the beginning of the human race. Despite great many advancements and inventions in the fields of science and technology, human is still at the mercy of natural forces. He is always in need to solve his problems.

As we know Pakistan is facing worst kind of flood disaster in history. Rains have devastated large parts of Southern Pakistan. About eight million people have been affected losing their homes, households, grains, crops and livestock. Worst affected districts are Badin, Umer Kot, Benazirabad, Khairpur, Jamshuru and Tharparker. Badin’s more than 90% area is underwater. About 4.5 million acres of crops have destroyed, more than 60,000 livestock have missing or died, 1200 houses are damaged and 60,000 houses have been completely destroyed. Hundreds of mothers have lost their children and great many have lost source of income for the whole family. We also witnessed similar kind of destruction in 2010.

Having seen this terrible condition of flood affected people, many kind hearted people came forward to help. The name of Bakhtawar Bhutto is one of them. Who is Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari and what does she want? The answer is very simple. She is the elder daughter of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who always raised her voice for the poor and the helpless people. She gave her energies for the rights of the masses, and even scarified her life in this mission. Bakhtawar Bhutto has inherited the passion of serving the people from her mother. Following the footsteps of her mother, Bakhtawar Bhutto started with social services even during her educational period. She’s a very active social worker involved in humanitarian and relief activities at both national and international levels.

Last year when Pakistan was suffering with worst floods disaster was like no other in living memory and Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari’s response was remarkable. The floods have affected 20 million people an 1/5 of the country. Like everyone, she also worried and decided to help her countrymen during the critical juncture. She launched an NGO with the name “Save the Flood and Disaster Victims Organization” (SFDVO). Given the efforts and difficulties of running an NGO in our country, it was a great step. Only people with sincere commitment and passion to serve people can carry such mission and Bakhtawar Bhutto is one of them. Inheriting the passion, she is following the great tradition of her brave mother, grandfather and father.

Save the Flood and Disaster Victims Organization’s (SFDVO) basic purpose is to assertively network to ensure fundraising for flood victims. It aims to pull the affected people out of disastrous situation and to make their lives better so they can live on their own. SFDVO has taken many steps to provide help to flood victims. Until now, the collected funds are distributed over 50,000 families across the country. About 200 houses were built in Shahadkot in September 2011. In August, 200 sewing machines were distributed among widows. In December 2010, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari visited camps in Karachi, Larkana and Nauderu and announced 10,000 blankets to affected people as well as 3 water filter pumps. Each pump will be able to deliver 50,000 gallons on a daily basis to the affected area. Besides that, food which included milk, rice, flour etc., readymade clothes for women, men and children, medicines, and clean water have been distributed among flood affected areas in all provinces. 12 trucks of food items were distributed among Larkana’s affected people. Special relief packages for women have also been prepared by SFDVO. These packages are specially arranged for pregnant women to cater to their special needs. This organization has also prepared special relief packages for children, which mainly consist of ready-to-eat snacks, milk and vitamins enriched edibles. And the efforts are still on.

“Save the Flood Victims Fund” was launched on 10th August 2010 and managed to collect over Rs. 100 million at start. This NGO also has the credit that Bakhtawar managed to collect Rs 112.2 million in just four days. To ensure the transparent distribution of funds, its website enlists detailed measures for transparency. It will ensure that money from donors is used in the right way, at the right time and in a totally transparent manner.

It was just a short summary of Save the Flood and Disaster Victims Organization’s aims and activities. It’s highly remarkable that in short time SFDVO has achieved so much with hard work and honesty. We believe that Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari will complete her mission of serving people. Soon she will be known at home and abroad to take a leading role on social services and will create a positive image of Pakistan around the world.

Funds for Save the Flood and Disaster Victims Organization can be deposited on Account Number 168901003437. Zip Code, UNILPKKA UBL SEA VIEW BRANCH KARACHI.

The writer is an advocate and can be reached at shaizicheema@hotmail.com. She tweets at http://twitter.com/#!/ShaiziCheema

List of Ahmedi muslim students recently expelled

Dedicated to the students
Those who arrived at the gates of the officials
Petitioning with open arms for pen and paper.
But never came back.
Those innocents who, in their idealism,
took the fire of dedicated learning in their young hearts
and reached where
Were being promiscuously distributed the shadows of endless nights. (Faiz translated by Raza Rumi)

“No they are Kafirs” was my Islamiat teacher’s abrupt response to my classmate’s inquiry about Ahmadis. Until that moment, I was 14 and Pakistani, no different than the rest of them. My teacher continued to fulfill her God-given duty and shared her deep misunderstandings of Ahmadiyya beliefs; “Ahmadis dishonor the Quran, blaspheme the Prophet Muhammad (as), and worship their Khalifas.” All this was graphically explained. These lies made my cheeks burn, and a shiver ran down my spine. I felt helpless and vulnerable as the lecture hall buzzed with sounds of astonishment from my closest friends. My mind oscillated between declaring my faith and being hated or staying silent and letting them be brainwashed with falsehood.

As my teacher continued her propaganda, I heard myself speak in a trembling yet confident voice, “Ma’am, I am an Ahmadi and we do not commit such things.”  The session ended after a heated discussion on different sects in Islam, and I became different in everyone’s eyes. While I felt terrible at the time, today I feel grateful for not being kicked out of my college. Thank you Mrs. Rabia Shah, you were much too kind to not expel me, instead only agitating my friends against me. In today’s Pakistan, Mrs. Shah’s act is arguably moderate. Not moderate when compared to a civilized society, but moderate compared to the expulsion of 13 Ahmadi children from 2 schools of Hafizabad a few days ago.

For example, during the ghastly summer of 1974, a number of Ahmadi students and teachers faced severe torture and persecution. In Multan, five Ahmadi students were ruthlessly beaten. A few days later, Professor Abbas bin Abdul Qadir was killed in Hyderabad. On September 7th 1974, the day when Ahmadi Muslims were declared Non-Muslim, five Ahmadi students were expelled from a Faisalabad university. Two students were forced to ride a donkey through city streets with their faces painted black. Later that month, Master Ziauddin Arshad, a teacher in Sargodha, was murdered for the crime of being an Ahmadi.

On October 1, 2011 a Judge of Pakistan anti-terrorism court sentenced Mumtaz Qadri to death over the murder of former Punjab Governer, Salman Taseer. As soon as the news came out, it has stirred up the debate regarding blasphemy again as this is an issue that is a cause of high polarization in our society.

I started learning about blasphemy and its punishment in Islam in 2006, when a Danish newspaper  published offensive cartoons regarding Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and as a result fierce protests broke out in Pakistan. First question that I asked which apparently others didn’t bother to was that why are these protestors destroying our own country by burning cars and markets when we had nothing to do with it? Anyways, as far as I did my research regarding this topic, I came to the conclusion that there is no point in having a punishment for blasphemy.

First of all, let’s start with the logical argument which apparently people in our country don’t like.  Not everybody thinks the same about everything; people are brought up in different circumstances, with different sources of information around them and in different countries. Now if somebody is brainwashed or is prejudiced against our Holy Prophet (PBUH), don’t we need to talk to that person and erase any misconceptions? If we start killing everyone who we think is a blasphemer according to our definitions and criteria of judgement, we close any prospect of dialogue before it even starts and can’t bring him to “the right path” as we see it. Moreover, when we as Muslims start going crazy over any incidence of Blasphemy e.g. by issuing death fatwas on people like Salman Rushdie, it gives them a lot more importance than those stupid people deserve. The sales of his book sky rocketed after the whole controversy because people wanted to know what it was that he said. In addition, when people saw the images of violence from the Muslim world, they thought him to be the victim and sympathized with him. It was so sad to see that at a time when the whole world was criticizing Islam for being intolerant, Muslims were on the forefront to prove it. The question that we have to ask ourselves is that is our love for our Prophet or our faith so weak that we have to take somebody else’s life to keep it strong?

For those of you who didn’t like the first argument, let’s go to the religious one. First question that all of us need to ask is that that how many of us know Classical Arabic i-e the language of the Quran. The truth of the matter is that even those people who live in the Middle East cannot interpret Quran just by reading it, much like not every person who knows Urdu can interpret Ghalib or Mir. The Holy Quran, much like the Old and the New Testament can be interpreted in different ways. Then there is a proper way to study Hadith, anybody who is a student of Hadith knows that they contradict each other at several points and there is a proper way to figure out which ones are stronger, which ones are weaker and which ones are totally not valid. Even in the Hadith, there are always disagreements as some Hadith that might be considered strong by some scholars would be considered weak or non-valid by others. When even after 1400 years of Islamic scholarship, there is such confusion regarding sensitive religious matters, shouldn’t we spend more time in understanding our religion instead of being God and passing judgements in this world? In Surah Al-Baqarah, talking about unbelievers, God says that “God has set a seal on their hearts and on their hearing, and on their eyes is a covering” (2:5). Honestly, take a look at our society and see how perfectly it applies.  Our ears are sealed as we have no tolerance to listen any other point of view and our eyes are covered when we shamelessly turn them blind to severe injustices happening in our society in the name of religion.

Furthermore, anybody who studies the history of Islamic empire should know that Islamic law has never been fixed or absolute.  From the time of the 4 Caliphs to the Ummayads to Abbasids and finally up to Ottomans, laws have always been interpreted and changed depending on the time and place. More recently take the example of Saudi government; the same Shura council that didn’t give women the right to vote for so long has now concluded that it’s ok to let them have a vote in municipal elections. Hopefully sooner they will get a right to drive as well. Now can someone please explain that something that was considered to be un-Islamic till yesterday became suddenly Islamic today? Religion has always evolved as situation, time and place changes. In fact that’s what the concept of ijtihad is all about it. On the other hand, if we want to remain stagnant in a medieval mindset, well we can clearly see how well that’s going for us!

Even after these arguments if any of you believe that punishment of blasphemy is death in Islam, you should also know that one of the basic principles of Islamic law requires having a Qazi (judge), credible witnesses, proper procedure and then awarding of any punishment based on circumstances as Qazi can always mitigate or aggravate the punishment depending on the situation. No individual has the right to take laws into his or her own hands as it undermines the authority of Islamic courts.

Last part is related to the idea of whether having a punishment for blasphemy works or not. First of all, the point of any Islamic law is to prevent fitna or disorder in the land. But we can clearly see that this law has been a cause of fitna, instead of preventing it. Minorities are discriminated against without any proper evidence, religious right uses it for political power and leverage, and worst part is that it increases blasphemy outside Pakistan, especially in the West. I would like to start with a personal example of how in our religious studies class, the professor showed the news clipping when lawyers were showering rose petals over a person who had just taken somebody’s life.  The discussion in that class made me realize how serious is it for us as Muslims to reclaim our religion from wrong understandings as it is increasing the hatred against our Prophet instead of stopping it, which is a point of any punishment, to stop the crime. The blasphemy was not limited to my class, Western newspapers, Tv-Channals and Media pundits got a point to slander Islam and Prophet Muhammad in the worst possible way. They called him a warrior, man who brought sword and started and encouraged violence in the name of religion. If punishment of blasphemy is death, should I now start killing these people too? Why apply this law only to Pakistan? This is what our religion has reduced too, an example of pure violence. How can we convince people that Islam is the religion of peace when there is nothing peaceful that we are doing in its name?

As far as the case of Mumtaz Qadri is concerned, one thing that I don’t understand is that as Qadri and his supporters were shouting on the top of their lungs that “Namoos-e-risalat par jaan kurbaan,” then why is he appealing his sentence? Shouldn’t he be happy that he has finally achieved his dream of being a martyr? On the other hand, for the statement of Salman Taseer, I would like to quote Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri who also said that “as far as I listened to (Salman Taseer’s) statement in news and media, technically if I see it as a student of Islam, it doesn’t fall into the category of what we call gushtaki-e-rasool.”

Conclusion: We need more Salman Taseers and less Mumtaz Qadris or else chaos is waiting (if it has not already taken over).

The details of the incident are as follows:

RAWALPINDI: In a first for the garrison city, sixty masked men carrying iron rods barged into a girls’ school in Rawalpindi and thrashed students and female teachers on Friday.

The gang of miscreants also warned the inmates at the MC Model Girls High School in Satellite Town to “dress modestly and wear hijabs” or face the music, eyewitnesses said.

Fear gripped the area following the attack and only 25 of the 400 students studying in the college were present on Saturday. The school employs 30 female teachers.

Attendance in other educational institutions also remained low. After hearing about the attack, all schools in the city shut down, an official of the Rawalpindi District Administration (RDA) told The Express Tribune.

A student of the girls’ school managed to inform the administration of the nearby boys’ high school of the attack. “[However,] the armed gang was so powerful that we could not rescue our teachers and colleagues over there,” Noail Javed, a grade 10 student, said.

In-charge of MC High Schools in Rawalpindi issued a notification to the heads of all girls’ schools to take pre-emptive measures to avoid such incidents in future. According to the notification, a gang comprising 60 to 70 miscreants entered into the school from a gate that was “strangely open”.

All the MC school heads were assigned the responsibility of protecting the students by the notification. A school headmistress wishing not to be named said, “How is it possible for us to protect the students from such elements. The city administration should review its security plan.”

The notification also suggested that the heads should not inform the students about the situation, so that they are not alarmed into skipping school. “Police is investigating the matter,” the notification said. Following the notification, the heads of the schools also shared the numbers of relevant police stations with the teachers in case of any untoward situation in future.

Asjad Ali, a student of class 9 at the nearby boys’ high school, said that his younger brother Awais, a student of grade 5, was also among those who were brutally beaten by the miscreants with iron rods. “The police did not come,” he said.

A police official of the New Town Police Station, asking for anonymity, told The Express Tribune, “We were under strict instructions to do nothing.”

District Education Officer Qazi Zahoor and Rawalpindi Commissioner Zahid Saeed were not immediately available for comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2011.

The incident of harassment of women is neither one-off nor isolated, more and more women and minorities are suffering under the PML-N rule and the incident comes one day after 10 Ahmedi students and a teacher were expelled from a government school for being an Ahmedi. Needless to say the news found no takers:

10 students, teacher forced out of schools because of their faith.

“It is extremely unfortunate that my daughters are being deprived of the most basic and fundamental human right such as education … all because of religious intolerance,” Khalil Ahmad, whose three daughters were expelled, told The Express Tribune. “I have no alternative to ensure that their education continues,” he added.

What about the constitutional provisions which ensure equal rights for all? What about the rule of law that says no discrimination can be made on the basis of faith, race, cast and creed, he questions.

“I’ve never seen Christians and students belonging to other religions ever having to deal with such restrictions,” the distraught father says.

“I personally opposed the expulsion on the basis of faith,” Muslim Public School Principal Yasir Abbas responds when contacted by The Express Tribune.

“This is not my decision … the entire village unanimously pressed me to expel all Ahmadis from the school, or else they would forcibly shut the school down,” he added.

A public meeting held in Dharanwali recently was spreading hatred against Ahmadis, Jamaat Ahmadiyya Pakistan spokesperson Saleemuddin says, adding that expulsion came in the aftermath of the intolerance that some religious preachers were bent on evoking amongst locals in the area.

“They went so far as to say that they would never allow for an Ahmadi to be buried in their graveyard, let alone allow an Ahmadi to study in a school with their children,” Saleemuddin alleges.

Soon after the hate speech, ten Ahmadi students and a teacher were expelled from local schools.

The Punjab government’s initiative allowing people to register for schools online makes it mandatory for one to disclose their religion – whether they are Muslim or Non-Muslim. “This was never the case previously. It’s very simply a calculated move to subject the Ahmadiyya community to discrimination and deprive them of their right to education,” Saleemuddin says.

Ahmadis never refer to themselves as “Non-Muslim”, but that doesn’t keep them from being kept away from educational institutions. Similarly, for the first time ever, they’ve introduced this system where religion is displayed on the Roll Number slips. “It’s like they’re making a conscious effort to mentally torture us,” he says.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 8^th, 2011.

Lest we forget, not long ago a number of Ahmedi students were expelled from a medical college in Punjab only to be reinstated on international pressure. The persecution of minorities or assaulting women is increasingly becoming an underlying policy of PML-N. The terrorist Ludhianvi released by a court that shares the ideology in question is doing round all over Punjab declaring a war against Shias under official patronage.

Over past three years from Gojra to Raiwand and onwards a number of churches have been demolished while more recently a Gurduwara was appropriated and converted into a mosque.  This was only supplemented by a barbaric implementation of Ehtraam e Ramzan Ordinance this Ramzan, with dozens of arrests made on a daily basis.  The curator assaulted for wearing sleeveless and spreading fahashi was indeed the cherry on top!

Hinglaj Mata is a Hindu temple in Hinglaj, on the Makran coast in the Lyari district of Balochistan in Pakistan. Legend has it that when goddess Sati, the consort of god Shiva burnt herself in response to her father's anger at her for not inviting Shiva to a ceremony, Shiva became furious and started to create disasters, problems, violence, and sufferings in the world. In order to calm his anger, god Vishnu took the body of Sati and began to cut it into 51 pieces where they all fell at different parts of the Earth. Hindus believe that the head of Sati fell in the area of Hinglaj Mata in Baluchistan. Thus, this area is a very significant region in the Hindu religion and a revered pilgrimage site.

Editor’s note: LUBP stands with its fellow Pakistani Hindus in these troubling times.   While more is being written about Balochistan, most urban writers wilfully obfuscate the role of the primary agency that is calling the shots in Balochistan. Hint, its NOT the elected Government.  After dumping the dead bodies of Baloch activist youth to crush the nationalist spirit, even Balochistan’s Hindus are not being spared.  The Hindus of Sindh and Balochistan are an essential part of this area’s fabric which extends back to several millenia.  Now they are being forcibly converted by the proxies of the Deep State while another Deep State proxy, the Judiciary, is entertaining the Right-wing Islamofascists and banning Facebook while freeing mass murderers and rapists.  Token support for Pakistan’s Hindu communities is NOT enough, especially when those groups and organizations like Sipah-e-Sahaba  which are  part of those who re oppressing, persecuting and killing Pakistan’s Hindus, Christains, Sikhs, Shias, Ahmedis and Brehlvis are not named.  Similarly, when the role of the Judiciary and the military establishment in perpetuating such oppression is not highlighted, it is a deliberate obstruction of the truth as they are the ones who are currently responsible for the tragic state of affairs in Balochistan.

Minorities in Balochistan, particularly Hindus, are increasingly being abducted for ransom and forced to convert to Islam, the Balochistan chapter of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said.

Addressing a news conference, the HRCP’s Tahir Hussain and Zahoor Shahwani said that as many as 50 people belonging to the Hindu community were abducted over the past three years and were freed after paying large sums of money in ransom, The Express Tribune reports.

The HRCP’s report expressed serious concerns over other human rights matters in the province, such as missing persons turning up as bullet-riddled bodies and incidences of target killing.

It also said that political activities to mobilise public opinion in Balochistan have come to a standstill, as no major political parties hold gatherings and rallies because of the current law and order situation.
Many Hindus have now stopped sending their children to school because of a lack of security. Traders, doctors and retailers are being kidnapped or threatened, said the chairman of the HRCP’s Balochistan chapter. He added that the son of a well-known Hindu doctor was recently kidnapped and a Hindu surgeon was kidnapped a month ago. He also said that most victims do not file a criminal case against their abductors out of fear.

Discovery of mutilated bodies of missing persons is on the increase. As many as 188 decomposed bodies have so far been dumped in Balochistan since June 4 last year.
Most of the victims were political leaders and activists and students. There have also been incidences of lawyers working on the cases of missing persons being killed.

Shahwani, a council member of the HRCP, said they had set up a special cell for collecting evidence and documents about missing persons. About 12 families submitted documents in connection with such cases. Those who ‘resurfaced’ were reluctant to record their statements and appear before the courts, he added.
According to the interior ministry, only 44 people are missing in Balochistan, while the relatives of missing persons in the province insist they have information about 1,300 missing persons.

The HRCP urged the government to refrain from brute force and instead concentrate on political solutions for Balochistan problems.

According to the HRCP, 83 people, including teachers, political activists and police officials, have been killed in 50 incidents of targeted killing this year, while 58 people had lost their lives and 74 were injured in 58 bomb blasts.

“The hoardings displayed in Hindu dominated areas of the province demanding security for members of the community reflect the state of lawlessness and the prevailing sense of fear,” the Daily Times quoted them, as saying.

Many Hindus have now stopped sending their children to school due to the lack of security, said the chairman of the HRCP’s Balochistan chapter, adding that traders, doctors and retailers are being kidnapped or threatened.

Hussain pointed out that the son of a well-known Hindu doctor was recently kidnapped and a Hindu surgeon was abducted a month ago.

He also noted that most victims do not file a criminal case against their abductors because of fear.

The HRCP also expressed serious concern over the increasing number of decomposed bodies of missing persons being recovered from different parts of the Pakistani province.

According to the Interior Ministry, only 44 people are missing in Balochistan, however, the relatives of missing persons in the province insist they have information about 1,300 missing persons.

Unicode version

Happy Birthday, Pakistan

How should one celebrate the birthday of a 64-year old, which suffers from multiple serious failures of vital organs and is on its death bed according to some western doctors? A well-wisher would still throw a party to cheer up the patient, for this may actually help improve its condition. A sensible well-wisher would probably also request a doctor to review the patient’s ailment history/causes, present condition and future prognosis. As a well-wisher, the LUBP has requested me to undertake this diagnosis, while it arranges the party to celebrate Pakistan’s 64^th birthday.

How did Pakistan get to its present sorry state? Two popular schools of thought exist to explain this phenomenon. The first links the current mess to bad leadership. If only we had better leaders we would be another South Korea, this school laments. “It’s the leadership, stupid,” its sages pontificate. And their diagnosis is actually quite accurate at a certain level, for poor leadership over the decades, under both dictatorship and democracy, has inarguably been Pakistan’s constant, incurable headache.

My main quarrel with this diagnosis is that it correctly identifies the symptoms and not the deeper root causes. Merely lamenting about bad leadership is not helpful—one must understand and explain its occurrence and treatment. People complain as if the consistently bad leadership is just pure misfortunate—something that has descended from the skies by bad luck on an otherwise sterling society. However, leadership emerges from within society. If a country experiences one or two bad leaders, it makes sense to blame bad luck. However, bad luck cannot explain a never-ending series of bad leaders. There have to be deeper, underlying causes, rooted in the nature of the Pakistani society, for this long sequence of events.

This last sentence unfortunately also provides fodder for the second school of thought. It claims that Pakistan’s current condition (including the bad leadership) is due to, and in fact is deserving punishment for, the widespread deterioration of morality among common people throughout society. If only we had better morals we would be another South Korea, this school laments. “It’s the morality, stupid,” its sages pontificate. Undoubtedly, Pakistan would be a much better place without the widespread corruption, crime and deceit that plague it presently. However, again, these problems are mere symptoms of deeper problems, in my opinion. Moreover, this school is also simplistically prescriptive in its claim that the path to individual salvation in the hereafter and collective national development in the herein lies in each one of us improving our individual morals.

While the first part of the claim is undoubtedly true, the second is dubious, for there is no documented case of a country trailblazing the path of national development based primarily on mass-scale, miraculously simultaneous, individual guilt trips and redemption efforts. History reveals a more complex relationship between morality and national development. Countries manage to develop despite less than sterling morals, as the forces that unleash development (technology, knowledge etc.) are strong enough to override the undoubted drag that moral imperfections create in the path of national development. Societal morals ultimately improve as state capacity increase sufficiently to ensure the rule of law.

The root cause of both poor governance and moral imperfections reside in certain congenital dimensions of the structures of Pakistani society. These dimensions include enormous identity-based (ethnic, caste etc) fissures; overconcentration of economic and political power in the hands of a tiny elite consisting of landlords, generals and traditional businessmen; an absence of long history as an independent state; low educational attainment and low incomes. The combined wisdom of the social sciences suggests that countries which start with these characteristics suffer from strife, poor governance and lack of development for long.  Thus, analysts are predicting the same fate for South Sudan—the latest “kid” on the block. These dimensions constituted Pakistan’s birth conditions. As such, heretical though it may sound to suggest such a dim initial fate for a supposedly divinely mandated country, these conditions meant that Pakistan, like dozens of post-colonial, developing countries, was destined to struggle for long right from the start.  External factors combined with these internal factors to make things even worse. Most important of these was the Cold War which strengthened the US-Pak military nexus and ultimately led to the Soviet Union’s fateful invasion of Afghanistan, whose after-effects blight Pakistan even today. In other words, what has happened in Pakistan over the last 60+ years is not surprising but very much in line with its conditions of origin. The two schools of thought mentioned earlier, focusing perhaps on some of its congenital assets (such as natural resources and small but educated and industrious middle class), will disagree ferociously and may even point to Pakistan’s good early performance. However, the initial liabilities were always much greater than the assets. They just kicked in a little later than the assets.

However, fortunately, there is a brighter side to things. Since 2007, numerous western scholars have been constantly declaring Pakistan a failed state and writing its epitaph. There was perhaps some justification for these dire predictions back in 2007-08 when the extremists, just “60 miles away”, were breathing down Islamabad’s swan-like neck and the economy was starting to tailspin. However, extremists are no longer advancing now but are barely clinging on to their past gains. While they are far from finished as a serious threat, clearly they no longer threaten to capture power in Pakistan. Even suicide attacks are on the decrease. Economically, last year was Pakistan’s worst in a long time. However, even here, Pakistan’s economy exhibited remarkable resilience by still churning out a modest positive overall and per capita growth rate (and in the process becoming a middle-income country) despite facing more complex and serious challenges than almost any other country in the world. Weaker countries have experienced double digit negative growth rates even in the face of fewer, less serious problems. Some of the challenges that beset Pakistan’ economy last year, such as the massive floods, will likely not be around to the same extent in the coming years. Thus, the worst is probably behind us both economically and with respect to extremism, although serious challenges still remain to be tackled. However, the chances of an imminent state collapse in Pakistan are almost zero now, in my analysis.

The structural factors mentioned earlier are also showing gradual signs of change, heralding better times in the long-run. Educational and income levels have increased significantly since 1947. Ethnic fissures remain but a sense of Pakistani nationhood is also taking hold. Finally and most importantly, newer forces are starting to emerge from the middle class to challenge the status-quo forces. In fact, much of the strife and uncertainty in Pakistan today is due to this struggle between newer forces and the old guard. There is no guarantee that the newer forces will prevail. However, if history is one’s guide, then one can take comfort in the fact that these status-quo forces have ultimately capitulated in numerous places globally. Thus, there is no guarantee but still a fairly good chance that the same will happen in Pakistan.

But enough of the diagnosis as it now time for the fun and the party to start. Happy birthday Pakistan and many, happier, returns of the day!

The writer works as a Research Associate on political economy issues at the University of California, Berkeley. murtazaniaz@yahoo.com.

By: Malik Siraj Akbar

Editor The Balochhal

Publishers: Xlibris

Subject: Balochistan, Politics, Nationalism

Book Reviewed by Arif Jamal

Author of Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir

Most Pakistanis, particularly in Punjab and urban Sindh, know little about Balochistan, which makes around 43 percent of the Pakistani territory. For most of them, Balochistan is a land of sand deserts where nomads roam around. The Balochi Society is divided into tribes which are headed by ruthless tribal chieftains. These tribal sardars carry names of their exotic tribes as their surnames. These Baloch sardars are the biggest obstacle in the way of development in Balochistan. Pakistani government has tried hard to open schools in Balochistan but these barbaric sardars do not let them build any schools because education would pose a direct threat to the sardari system. Pakistani government has also tried to build roads and other infrastructure in Balochistan but failed because of the resistance put up by these sardars. The people in Punjab and urban Sindh accept it without questioning these myths.

Most Pakistanis outside Balochistan consider Balochistan as the national backyard. Like they grow organic produce in their personal backyards, the national backyard produces natural resources such as natural gas and gasoline. Pakistanis outside Balochistan want to exploit Balochistan’s natural resources as of their God-given right. What do the people of Balochistan get in return? The commonly accepted truth is that the federal government has to “bribe” the greedy Baloch sardars to produce gas and gasoline. Nobody has answered me why the federal government commits the crime of bribing the greedy sardars. Few are interested in questions like this. The ongoing discourse on the natural resources in Reko reflects similar mindset of the urban elite and middle classes.

In this backdrop, the publication of an important book on Balochistan by Malik Siraj Akbar, “The Redefined Dimensions of Baloch Nationalist Movement,” is a welcome event. Malik Siraj Akbar is one of the best journalists from the Pakistani Balochistan who, at a very young age, has been acclaimed internationally. Akbar has worked for various Pakistani publications and has been editing a web-based magazine, Balochhal, for more than a year. Balochhal is an independent and credible source of news and analysis on and from Pakistani Balochistan.

“The Redefined Dimensions of Baloch Nationalist Movement” is a selection of articles and interviews by the author over the last five years. These articles and interviews were published in different publications over the last five years. If read together, as they should be, they make an excellent expose of current history of Balochistan. The book is divided into two parts. The first part contains 62 articles and the second part 16 interviews with key players such as Ataullah Mengal, Hasil Bizenjo, Bramdagh Bugti.

Several of these articles deal with the human rights situation in Balochistan. Malik Siraj Akbar was one of the first to point out that Pakistan’s security forces are kidnapping Baloch people who struggle for their civil rights. In the last one decade or so, Balochistan has emerged as the graveyard of civil and human rights. The security forces kidnap, torture, kill and dump the dead bodies of whoever they suspect of being a part of the civil rights movement. Many of these dead bodies are discovered on the deserted roadsides. The evidence of Pakistani security forces involvement in these extrajudicial tortures and murders is undeniable and overwhelming. Many articles in the book deal with the human rights situation in Balochistan. The families of these missing people have been demonstrating all over the country without making any differences. Even a conservative estimate would put the number of the disappeared between 1,000 and 2,000. Many of these missing people were tortured and their bodies dumped. The latest report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, “Balochistan – Blinkered Slide into Chaos,” puts the number of those who were tortured and killed in this manner at 140. (The number is rising with each passing day. Former chief Minister Akhtar Mengal has recently put the number at 160.)  The report also partly documents the role of the Pakistan Army in these heinous crimes. The book under review gives a lot of evidence of Pakistan Army’s role in the enforced disappearances and murders.

The public opinion in Balochistan is largely shaped by the human rights situation. One good example is that of the popularity of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary for whom the people of Pakistani Balochistan have little love. As the lawyers’ movement reached its peak, Akbar wrote in May 2007, “While Chief Justice-turned-crowed-puller Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry has overnight emerged as an icon of resistance against dictatorship across the country, his popularity among the Baloch population in the country’s largest province remains as high as that of General Pervez Musharraf.” After his restoration as the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary has used all his powers to declare a section of the politicians corrupt and given hardly any attention to the national issues such as the enforced disappearance of innocent people in Balochistan. Interestingly, Balochistan is the home province of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary. The indifference of the Baloch people to the lawyers’ movement is based on the perception that settlers hold 90 percent of the positions of the judges and lawyers in the province although they make a very tiny proportion of the population. According to the then Baloch Bar Association president Sadiq Raisani, the Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary could not accept the induction of 10 Baloch sessions and additional sessions judges. “Even when 10 Baloch sessions and additional sessions judges were recently inducted, Justice Chaudhry billed it intolerable and demanded an inquiry into the matter by Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Raja Fayyaz,” the same article quotes Sadiq Raisani, the Baloch Bar Association president.

Several articles in the book deal with the radicalization of the province and Pakistan’s security forces role in that. Balochistan is fast becoming radicalized. Pakistan’s national security establishment believes that the Islamo-nationalism is the answer to the rising popularity of the nationalist forces. Consequently, they have made every effort to strengthen the religious forces in Balochistan. One of the articles introduces the little known Baloch Taliban group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Balochistan (TTB). The group seems to be pro-Pakistan army. The article quotes TTB spokesman “Engineer” Asad as saying that the TTB is “against non-Muslims and western forces that had attacked and occupied Islamic countries . . . the TTB was committed to fighting the enemies of Islam”. The group is not associated with Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and considers suicide bombing as un-Islamic. It also has no enmity with the Sherani faction of the JUI. The book is the first step to understand the rise of radical Islam in Balochistan.

After the construction of the Gwadar port, Balochistan is attracting international attention as Pakistan plans to invite the Chinese to take over the port. Pakistan’s intentions seem to have been to bolster China as a regional power against India. Chinese response is not as yet known. Pakistan may not succeed in its plans as Balochistan is emerging the next theatre of jihad in Pakistan. The plan of the Pakistani national security establishment to strengthen Islamist and jihadist forces to counter nationalist forces has backfired. The Islamist and jihadist forces have turned out to be an uncontrollable genie. At the same time, the nationalist forces have also become stronger and more assertive than ever since current phase of Baloch struggle for their rights started in 1990s. It is yet to be seen who wins in this war.