Wayward MindWayward MindReflections on the world and happenings around me. Articles
Kashmir: A forgotten tragedy
2008-02-05 18:11:00 ?Kashmir calls back, its pull stronger than ever, its whispers its fairy magic to the ear and its memory disturbs the mind.? -Jawaharlal Nehru During Maharaja Ranjit Singh reign, three brothers, Gulab Singh, Suchet Singh and Dhian Singh acquired powerful influence at his court and Dhian Singh became his principal advisor and Sikh Durbar in ... More About: News , India , South Asia , History , Tragedy
Web of Censorship
2008-01-18 16:46:00 Dissent has been the most cherished human ideal throughout the course of human history and all the revolutions, religions and invention trace their roots to the same ideal. Like the prophetic dictum of Rousseau that ?Man is born free, but in chains everywhere,? however, the tyranny has always been on the march to hush the ... More About: News , South Asia , Media , Internet , Censorship
?No space for further burials?
2008-01-06 16:40:00 Within forty years of the setting up of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 1967 at Lahore, the Ghari Khuda Bux cemetery has received four members of Bhutto family in succession or one Bhutto in a decade, all killed in mysterious circumstances. The dynasty has a tinge of tragedy, curse and trouble like the Kennedeys in ... More About: Society , Terrorism , South Asia , Space , History
Neo-Bourgeoisie and the flour crisis
2007-12-16 15:16:00 People could be seen queuing up in the in front on fair price shops and utility stores for a bag of flour are the reminiscent of the days before the French Revolution and eye opener for our society and particularly the rulers. On Friday, I waited before a shop selling subsidized flour for nearly an hour ... More About: Society , News , Pakistan , Random , Thoughts
History, rulers and the Pakistani Way
2007-12-02 16:22:00 ?Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.? George Santayana The Pakistan ?s political history is littered with blood and shameful departures of rulers. Our rulers thrive on violence; orchestrate political farces to hoodwink the masses and end up to the same shameful end. Pakistan first premier Liaqut Ali Khan was gunned down in a Rawalpindi ... More About: Politics , South Asia , History , Thoughts
Jihad on the radio waves
2007-11-25 15:31:00 The militancy, which now plagues most of the NWFP, its proliferation would not have been possible without the manipulation of the radio waves by the hardliner clerics.The FM radio stations installed at the many of Madrassahs across the province and tribal areas have played a crucial role in the proliferation of militant doctrines. These illegal FM ... More About: News , Radio , Politics , Terrorism , Religion
?A mortal is God in all his might, This I will not write.?
2007-11-21 15:17:00 “We had no funds, no files, no office, no dictaphone. And yet, with nothing in hand but a pencil, we wrote the most glorious chapter in the cultural renaissance of our people.” -Kirshen Chander (1966) Media has a strong tradition of resistance in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. From the refusal of the father of Indian journalism James ... More About: News , South Asia , History , Pakistan
I know not who I am
2007-08-30 17:49:00 Bulleh Shah, the greatest mystic poet of Punjab, had lived the most tumultuous period of the Sub-continent history during which Mughal dynasty jolted after Aurangezb?s death and his successors first fought each other for the Delhi?s throne and later the attack of Nadir Shah broke the back of Mughal?s rule in India. The subsequent events ... More About: Religion , South Asia , Culture , Random , Arts
On the alter of political expediency
2007-08-03 17:38:00 The marriage of connivance knot which the PPP leader Benazir and Musharraf have tied recently with the auspices of ruler of Abu Dhabi is a grim reminder of the intricacies and uncertainties of Pakistani politics. Benazir forgetting her commitments about democracy put her weight in the sinking ship of a general, which was otherwise bound to sink. The ... More About: News , Politics , South Asia , History , Political
Pity the Nation
2007-07-20 19:08:00 Pakistan ? anything can happen here anytime. Heroes are reduced to zero in an instant; rulers are forced to pack up; suicide attackers can play havoc with people?s lives; judges are rendered non-functional; intelligence agencies could harass top judges; government servants could embezzle millions of rupees; mosques could challenge the writ of state; state kidnaps ... More About: South Asia , Pakistan , Random , Thoughts , Nation
Divine Justice
2007-07-09 18:28:00 Strange are the ways of men, And strange the ways of God!- R.L Stevenson Like the proverbial sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind, the Lal Masjid Brigade?s commander who want to made everyone wear a veil at last wrapped the same thing to escape, but was nabbed by the women. This commander forced a woman Auntie Shamim to ... More About: Religion , South Asia , Justice , Pakistan , Thoughts
Troublesome Tribal
2007-03-03 23:12:07 North-Western Frontier province?s tribal belt is a shadowy and mysterious land for the world, run by a blend of more than a century old colonial laws and primitive tribal traditions. Bordering south-eastern Afghanistan this area over the past few years emerged as the hotbed of Taliban militancy and has been restive since the US invasion of country. Federally Administrated Tribal Areas or FATA consist seven semi-autonomous agencies: South Waziristan, North Waziristan. Khyber, Bajaur, Kurram, Mohmand, and Orakzai agencies and five Frontier Regions(F.Rs ) F.R Peshawar, F.R Kohat, F.R Tank, F.R Banuu and F.R D.I. Khan. FATA is spread over an area of 27,220 square kilometers and it shares 600-km. long border with Afghanistan and has population of 3.17 million Pashtuns residing on the Pakistani side of Durand Line which was drawn by Sir. Mortimer Durand the foreign secretary of British Indian government in 1893. It was meant to create a buffer zone between British India and Afghanistan b... More About: Some
New age of Jahiliya
2007-02-28 11:10:16 In Pakistan many parallel states operate within the state; every citizen in Pakistan resembles state. He can take the law in his own hands at any moment to administer justice, to obey the commands of Almighty and to uproot the evil from the earth. For most of the Pakistanis the rule of law is a hazy dream and therefore, citizen?s rights like protection of life, property and honor are nowhere in sight; and in every respect we are the most intolerant nation of the world. Set aside our view and responses towards other nations and faiths, the ill-treatments and injustices done to women in our society are a sorry tale of shame. From Mukhtaran Mai, Shazia Khalid to the sad murder of a Punjab minister by a fanatic and rape of girl in Ubaro Sindh are all links to the same chain. It is not known that how many unfortunate women have suffered personally to avoid the humiliation and disgrace in an insane society but the reported stories that seem sufficient to shake the nation are proverbial ti... More About: New Age , Hili
The history of Basant
2007-02-27 11:09:12 Basant is a centuries old cultural tradition of Punjab. Over the years, it gained an element of controversy as the fundamentalism wiped the norms of tolerance and co-existence in our society. Disregard of law and for the lives of fellow citizens turned it into a bloody sport. Recently I came across a book ?URS AUR MELAY? by Aman Ullah Khan Arman, published by Kitab Manzil Lahore in 1959. I am reproducing the chapter on Basant (p.276-277) here: ?Basant (a Sanskrit word for spring) is a seasonal festival of Indo-Pak sub-continent and it has no religious bearings. Basant is the herald of the spring and celebrated in winter (Magh) on the fourth or fifth day of lunar month. This is the reason why it is called Basant Panchami. Basant season starts on this day, therefore, Basant is regarded the herald of spring, wheat grows, and mustard blossoms in this season. (Old Aryan tradition divides a year into six seasons each having two months. Mustard blossom that is yellow in color is consider... More About: History , Story , Stor , Hist , Sant
An unending siege of the press
2007-02-20 11:04:01 Perhaps our crafty custodians of thinking, morality and virtue sensing the hollowness of their Orwellian rhetoric lifted the senseless blanket ban on the popular blogging site Blogger. This arbitrary action was a futile exercise and did nothing except frustrating the users. More the people can?t be stopped from thinking in the age of participatory and personal media. Censorship in Pakistan has a long history and its first victim being the founder of the nation Mohammad Ali Jinnah. On 11 August 1947 when he delivered his first speech ?You are free, you are free to go to your temples?..? before the Constituent Assembly; within hours some shadowy figures became active and ?tried to have some secularist passages of the speech blacked out in the press? (Press In Chains P. 35-39) But luckily the then editor Dawn Altaf Hussain came in their way and threatened to go to Qauid. So the attempt to muzzle Qauid?s voice failed. The second major attack was the closure of illustrious Civil & ... More About: Ending , The Press
The ways of Pashtuns
2007-02-20 11:04:01 Throughout the history tribes, groups and peoples have fought each other for political, economic and ideological reasons. So does they also developed institutions to resolve these disputes. Panchayat in India, Mediation Committees in China and Jirga in Afghanistan, NWFP and tribal areas of Pakistan are the informal ways to resolve conflict but differ from each other in nature. Jirga is Pashto word which refers to the gathering of people. Jirga is a conciliatory body, ?where people gather and sit ? in order to resolve disputes and make collective decisions about important social issues.? Jirga is an important aspect of the Pushtunwali (the code of Pashtun) is an unwritten code and is a collection of traditional and customary laws that determine the form and character of the Pashtun life. It entails the elements of melmastia (hospitality and protection to the guests and even it can?t denied to the enemy), nanawati (going in or entering in the house of someone), and after one enters i... More About: The Way
Do you know the Pakistani National Mind?
2007-02-20 11:04:01 A nation is a living entity and has a collective psyche, mind or character. Different nations and cultures behave differently according to their compositions under identical conditions. Sometimes back I came across an op-ed piece in one of our dailies where the columnist complained the lack of awareness about the national character or mind in Pakistan . Yesterday I came across a very interesting formula which the author calls ?A Pseudo Scientific Formula? to know the character of a nation and here I am sharing the formula with you. Borrowing the author words, ?Let ?R? stand for a sense of reality (or realism), ?D? for dreams (or idealism), ?H? for a sense of humor and ? ?S? for sensitivity. As we can?t invent words like ?humoride? or ?humorate? after the fashion of Chemistry, we may put it thus: 3 grains of Realism, 2 grains of idealism, 2 grains of humor and 1 grains of sensitivity makes an Englishman.? R3 D2 H2 S1 = the English R2 D3 H3 S3 = the French R3 D3 H2 S2 = the America... More About: National , Nation , Mind , Pakistani
For Singing Tomorrows
2007-02-20 11:04:01 2006 is about to be a part of a vast wilderness called past. What is in the fleeting days and nights, except a creeping sensation of passing through the limits of space and time? What are the joys, tears and sorrows attached to the sandcastle called life? Every sorrow has its happiness and happiness its tears. In a nutshell happiness is all about tomorrow, whatever we do is all for the singing tomorrows. As the yesterday/past in nothing but a long trail on the desert of time we left behind while heading towards the oasis we call tomorrow or future. Every tomorrow has a message, radiance and hope about it. It calls us to let bygones be bygones and fix our gaze at the future or on the singing tomorrows. More About: Sing , Tomorrow , Singing , Morrow , Tomo
?Written in the Season of fear?
2007-02-20 11:04:01 Daily Times reports that family of an Afghan writer believes he has been picked up by the Pakistani agencies over writing memories of his three years imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay prison. Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost went missing on September 29 after his book ?The Broken Shackles of Guantánamo? hits the market on 3rd September 2006. Accordingly the shadowy guys earlier approached him to restraint from publishing his book. During the war Pakistani and Afghan bounty hunters sold scores of people to the CIA for US$ 5000 per head. Earlier this year an Amnesty International report said that ?The road to Guantánamo starts in Pakistan?. Ironically 300 people have been released from the Gulag of our Times without any charge or indictment which is brimming with inmates thanks to the Mush all out support to the war on terror. 85percent detainees were not directly arrested by the Americans but by the Afghan Militias and Pakistani government who later handed over them to the US. More About: Season , Fear , Seas , Written
Neo-Cons on the Run
2007-02-20 11:04:01 A BBC report narrates the waning influence of the neo-conservatives in US after Iraq debacles. In the words of the report, ?The Project for the New American Century” has been reduced to a voice-mail box and a ghostly website. A single employee has been left to wrap things up.? Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was established in 1997 to spearhead the goal of US global leadership. Its main exponents include Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Armitag Francis Fukuyama, Jeb Bush, Zalmay Khalilzad, Lewis Libby, and Paul Wolfowitz etc who were the main force behind the US attack of Iraq. BBC?s Paul Reynolds writes that, ?They saw the war in Iraq as their big chance of showing how the “New American Century” might work.? But the Iraq failures doomed them; in a recent issue of Vanity Fair the brains behind the plan even assailed the president Bush for the failures in the Iraq. More About: Cons
Creative Impulse
2007-02-20 11:04:01 Subjectivity is the essence of art and like the ripples on a pond it spreads outwards and reaches to the shores of eternity. And in the process affects everything which came into contact. It is the inner self of the artist that shines in the light of spontaneous artistic activity and this come from a personal energy, creative impulse or inspiration whatever we name it. It is the process in which the artist explores that part of himself which is hidden in the dark cellars of personality. More About: Creative , Puls , Pulse , Impulse
Youth
2007-02-20 11:04:01 By Czeslaw Milosz Your unhappy and silly youth. Your arrival from the provinces in the city. Misted-over windowpanes of streetcars, Restless misery of the crowd. Your dread when you entered a place too expensive. But everything was too expensive. Too high. Those people must have noticed your crude manners, Your outmoded clothes, and your awkwardness. There were none who would stand by you and say, You are a handsome boy, You are strong and healthy, Your misfortunes are imaginary. You would not have envied a tenor in an overcoat of camel hair Had you guessed his fear and known how he would die. She, the red-haired, because of whom you suffer tortures, So beautiful she seems to you, is a doll in fire. You don’t understand what she screams with her lips of a clown. The shapes of hats, the cut of robes, faces in the mirrors, You will remember all that unclearly, as something from long ago, Or as what remains from a dream. The house you approach trembling, The apartment that dazzle... More About: Youth
A Noble Son of Pakistan
2007-02-20 11:04:01 21st November is the death anniversary of the Dr. Abdus Salam (1926-96) the only Noble Laureate of Pakistan who brought home this prestigious award for his work in theoretical physics in 1979. Every year this day comes and goes by but no one bothers to remember the man who brought international recognition to Pakistan. If our ruling elites have ostracized him because they didn?t want to offend the fundamentalists in the country by remembering him for he belonged to Ahmadi community. What about our media which also considered it to be of no worth to dedicate some space to the only Noble laureate of Pakistan. Quoting an editorial of Daily Times on the day ?after the great scientist was buried in Chenab Nagar, his tombstone said ?Abdus Salam the First Muslim Nobel Laureate?. Needless to say, the police arrived with a magistrate and rubbed off the ?Muslim? part of the katba. Now the tombstone says: Abdus Salam the First Nobel Laureate.? Bulleh Shah perhaps said for such occasions: Crow...
Organized love called Valentine
2007-02-20 11:04:01 Now a days love reigns supreme; it?s everywhere, on the idiot box, on radio shows, trashy songs and exploitative marketing and urbania is drifting away in an oscular hysteria. It appears that Cupid has shaken hands with the prophets of neo-liberalism. It is portrayed as one may fall into or come across by a matter of chance or better a commodity that could be purchased or exchanged in market. Ironically at the same time lovers are murdered in cold-blood and stoned for honor across the country. Recent scientific studies reveal that love is a transitory phenomenon triggered by the surge of the dopamine in the mind and usually ends. (National Geographic Mag. Feb. 2006) As the euphoria dies the concord also loses its charm. Erich Fromm calls the love ?an answer to the problem of human existence?, and ?an active concern for the life and growth of which we love?. Core to the phenomenon of love is ?giving? not material but giving of yourself?your expressions and what is alive in you wit... More About: Organize , Love , Valentine , Call , Valenti |
|
 |
|
 |
