PKKH Exclusive | By Agha Umer

Background:

On 16th of April 2013, at 15:44 pm a Powerful Earthquake hit Pakistan, mostly in the areas of Balochistan Province .i.e. Quetta, Pishin Chaman, Harnai, Ziarat, Sibi, Bolan, Jaffarabad Noshki, Mastung, Kharan, Panjgur, Gwadar and Washuk District (Tehsil Mashakhel).
The geological survey measured the Earthquake at magnitude of 7.9 and the Point was 175 km depth near Pak Iran Border.

Location of Earthquake

Affected Area’s/District:

The following areas of Balochistan Province were badly affected;
District: Washuk
Tehsil: Mashakhel
Total Population: 80000
Villages/Areas: Kalnag, Requvo, Sothgan, Latgushth, Mashakhel City and Bazaar area
70 to 90 percent area is affected and hundreds of mud Houses are partially or totally collapsed.
According to sources (unconfirmed) many human bodies are still lying under the collapsed houses.
The area comprises of hills and valleys with a desert environment, which is much difficult for emergency services due to minimal telecommunication and Infrastructure.

Death and Injuries

All of the dead and injured so far were in the District Washuk town of Mashakhel, according to PRCS District Kharan Branch Secretary. Deaths of 15 people are confirmed and 150 to 200 have been injured in Mashakhel area according to reliable sources and through Tribal elders. There is one (01) RHC in Mashakhel but due to unavailability of Doctor’s and Medical resources it is not able to provide the services.

The details of deceased are as under;
Men 02
Women 04
Children 09 (between age of 07 to 12)

Collected Information From Different Sources

BBC: “…. and (According to local reporters(Correspondent) only 15 dead and 100 to 150 Injured and around 1000 houses were collapsed completely.”
NDMA: “Chairman National Disaster Management Authority mentioned in a Press Conference that 09 peoples dead and more than 20 are still lying under the damaged houses.”
Pak Army: “34 dead and 300 Injured and hundreds of houses collapsed.”
Home Secretary Balochistan: “09 Dead and 19 Injured and 200 Houses damaged.”

Response by Government and Organizations

Pak Army sent their rescue teams along with 09 tons of food and medicine along with tents, the Frontier Corps (FC) 62 Wing of Kharan Riffles platoon were also been deployed in area for rescue work.
Peoples Primary Health Care Initiatives (PPHI) sent Medical Teams along with medicine’s to the affected areas through Washuk side.
PDMA sent Medical items and Food and Non- Food Items.

Needs

Thing that are required in the earnest, for the survival of the victims
1-Drinking Water
2- Food
3- Shelter and Tents.

Aga Umer is the director of EDO, an NGO active in the area of Mashakhel, Baluchistan.

PKKH Exclusive|By Talha Ibraheem and A.A.Siddique

کل ایرانی شہر سراوان سے شروع ہونے والے ایک زبردست زلزلہ کے جھٹکے جنوب ایشیا اور مشرق وسطی تک پہنچے۔ شعبہء ارضیاتی تحقیقات برائے ولایات ہائے متحدہ امریکہ کی جانب سے ریکٹر سکیل پر 7،8 درج ہونے والا یہ زلزلہ سطح زمین سے 50 میل نیچے شروع ہوا تھا۔

پاکستانی بلوچستان کے مشاخیل علاقہ میں ہمارے نامہ نگاروں کے مطابق کم از کم 34 لوگ مارے گئے ہیں اور 80 سے زائد زخمی ہیں۔

ابتدائی اندازوں نے بہت ہی ہولناک تصویر پیش کی تھی، جب آزاد امدادی کارکنوں نے 74 ہزار افراد کے براہ راست یا بالواسطہ طور پر متاثر ہونے اور بے گھر اور بنیادی ضرورتوں کو محتاج ہو جانے کی باتیں کی تھیں۔ سرکاری ایرانی ذرائع نے اطلاعات دی تھیں کہ تقریبا درجنوں افراد زخمی ہو گئے تھے، لیکن  ان کے علم میں کسی جانی نقصان کی خبر نہیں آئی تھی۔

منگل کی شام تک جماعت الدعوۃ کی امدادی ٹیم فوجی ڈاکٹروں اور سرحدی نیم فوجی دستوں کے ساتھ بحران زدہ علاقہ تک پہنچ کر اپنے امدادی خیمے نصب کر کے امدادی کارروائیوں کا آغاز کر چکی تھی۔

ٹویٹر پر افواج پاکستان اور جماعت الدعوہ کی امدادی کارروائیوں کا خوب چرچا رہا

پاکستانی سرحدوں سے 26 میل کے فاصلے پر پیدا ہونے والے زلزلہ کا مرکز سیستان میں 51 میل زیر زمین تھا۔ جھٹکوں کے اثرات نئی دہلی، جدہ اور دبئی تک بھی محسوس کئے گئے تھے۔

ناہموار پہاڑی خطوں نے دونوں ممالک میں امدادی کارروائیوں کو مشکل بنا دیا ہے۔ جماعت الدعوہ کی امدادی ٹیم کے نائب رابطہ کار شاہد کے مطابق جانی نقصان میں اضافہ کی توقع ہے۔ مشکل ناہموار راستوں کا حوالہ دیتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا کہ “مکمل تصویر ایک یا دو دن تک ابھر کر سامنے آئے گی۔”

ایرانی سرکاری عہدیداروں نے ایران کی سرکاری خبر رساں ایجنسی ‘فارس’ کے ذریعہ نشر کی گئی 40 ہلاکتوں کی ابتدائی خبروں کی تردید کی۔ سیستان کے گورنر حاتم ناروی نے خبر رساں ذرائع سے آزادانہ طور پر نشر کی گئی خبروں کے بجائے دفتر برائے بحرانی امور کی رپورٹ پر انحصار کرنے کو کہا۔ دفتر برائے بحرانی امور کے ڈائرکٹر رضا اربابی نے ان خبروں کی تردید کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ “کوئی بھی ہلاک نہیں ہوا۔”

ایرانی عہدیداران کا خود کو یقین دہانی کروانے والا یہ رد عمل جوہری حفاظتی اقدامات پر بین الاقوامی رد عمل کے جواب میں سامنے آیا۔ 9 اپریل کو بوشہر جوہری توانائی کے مرکز میں آنے والے 6،3 ڈگری کی شدت والے زلزلہ نے تقریبا 40 افراد کو ہلاک اور 8 سو سے زائد کو زخمی کر دیا تھا۔

بین الاقوامی شعبہ برائے بحرانی امور کے ایرانی ماہر علی واعظ نے بیان دیا کہ، “۔۔۔ حالیہ جھٹکے ایک خوفناک یاد دہانی کرواتے ہوئے اس بات کی طرف اشارہ کرتے ہیں کہ ایرانی خطے حقیقتا کس قدر زلزلوں کا شکار ہیں اور ایرانی حکومت کے لئے کسی جوہری ہنگامی صورت حال کے لئے تیار رہنا کس قدر اہم اور ضروری ہے۔”

پاکستانی حکومت کا رد عمل

صدر آصف علی زرداری نے قیمتی جانوں کے ضائع ہونے اور تباہی پھیلنے پر گہرے صدمہ کا اظہار کیا۔ انہوں نے ایرانی حکومت کو امداد کی بھی پیش کش کی۔

صرد زرداری نے کہا کہ “پاکستانی عوام آزمائش کے اس وقت میں اپنے ایرانی بھائیوں کے ساتھ شانہ بہ شانہ کھڑے ہیں۔”

زلزلہ کے بعد ازاں جھٹکے

امدادی کارروائیوں کی نگرانی کرنے والے ایک مقامی صحافی کے مطابق زلزلہ کے بعد آنے والے ریکٹر سکیل پر 6،0 کی شدت والے جھٹکے بھی بدھ کی صبح کو آس پاس کے علاقوں میں محسوس کئے گئے۔

طلحہ ابراہیم پی کے کے ایچ میں شریک تحقیق کار ہیں۔ ان سے ahlatibr@hotmail.com

ڈاکٹر آمنہ صدیقی دواساز اور آزاد مصنف ہیں؛ ان کی دلچسپیاں مذہب اورانسانی نفسیات سے متعلق ہیں۔ وہ The Dead Poets Sanctuary میں اپنا بلاگ لکھتی ہیں۔

_ _

PKKH Editorial

The month of April has brought yet more eventful happenings to the speedily changing frame-work of perception; as events fall upon one another, comprehension becomes a test, more difficult to pass than ever.

Since April began, the Pak Army has engaged itself in close-encounter with terror outfits, rooted deep in the tribal structure, posing identical to the civilians they aim to kill. As spring blooms into colors, the Pak Army readies it’s Jawans for coloring the fences of the nation with their blood; this is how they feast, more than 25 armed personal have given away their lives for that of this nation. The Army had started their move since March, when they started evacuating civilians from the problem areas. Now that the terror-outfits had been singled out, in the Valley areas of Tut Sar, Aakakhel and Tirah, their whole chemistry started to break; S.A. Haqqani, a chief of TTP Grand Shoora, suddenly announced his resignation; but in doing so published a list of 20 different ways how TTP had been a disaster and ill-coordination all along, an outfit not in the driving seat, but certainly one being driven by shifting sources. However, the Army seems to have dispersed these horrible outfits, but their dispersal is yet another threat and another challenge for the Army.

TTP and LeI dispersal is not on account of the Army alone, so much as it was foreseen by the Army in the approach of the 2014 withdrawal; TTP and the like were to be beaten out the moment their supplies were to cease from across-borders funders, and that brings us to the bafflement in the obscure camps of the US/NATO/India alliance across the border. Seems like the Hawks of the West are down on their knees and air has been blown out of the eastern white elephant, as they cut their funds and supplies to those they had been training in terror for the last whole decade to keep their war alive. There are no rules in War, but perhaps the NATO side wasn’t thinking that this goes for the other side too; eventually Pakistan and Afghanistan have survived, and the bounty-hunters are retreating, in shame.

We all know India panics under pressure, whence it has shown in Kashmir. Being in a wretched state in Afghanistan, with all dreams of hegemony broken, it raged it’s smote on the peaceful civilians of Kashmir. Starting with Afzal Guru, they went on a kill and assault spree in the Valley of Kashmir, they have kept their foot on the chest of the Valley by continually harassing and imprisoning their Freedom Leader, Syed Ali Geelani, throughout the month of April.

Pakistan, in the meantime, has entered its phase towards Elections; the exhausted public of Pakistan is once again faced with the high bunkum slogans of false promises, from the same ones who have been looting them for decades and decades. Relentless corruption and torment has rendered the common Pakistani oblivious to the possibility of ‘change’, while the democratic despots are content with the status-co, empty of the weight of guilt.

Amidst prevailing darkness, PKKH does not concur to despair and believes in the possibility of change, progress and hope. We believe that the solution for mankind resides in the simple paradigm shift, where good and bad can be distinguished at the simplest standards, and where subjective good is given equal regards when compared to physical good, if not more. Although physical indicators mean a lot, but oppression, injustice, abuse, exhaustion and depression are all felt in the heart and mind, and it is in the heart and mind where their cases can be conducted. This brings us to 62/63:

A society, which can be so confused upon the simple recognition of good and bad, is destined to fall; the whole argument upon Sadiq and Ameen is mind-blowing; will we not have rulers that are at least not liars, frauds and racketeers? How is it that two common people in the market cannot conduct a minor business without truth and trust, and such big offices that govern the matters of the whole nation, should be vouchsafed in the hands of such who are baffled on the very question of honesty and truthfulness? Is it really impossible to determine truth from falsehood, or is this another racket by the secular minded media, to score upon the very basic human instinct of good and bad upon which all societies stand, rendering them oblivious to any right or wrong whatsoever.

While all this was going on, the 16^th and 17^th of April brought two more blows to humanity. First, the bombings in the Boston Marathon; though only 4 were killed and over a hundred injured, the world was terrified in apprehension. 9/11 was put back to memory, and around the world, a message was sent; who will be the next victims of US terror, as it goes on to make this a plea to strengthen its war on terror around the world? The world is terrified by the US repercussion in the form of modern 4^th generation terror, which the mainstream media preaches to be ‘peace-missions’.

The Earth tore itself again, this time deep below its surface in Sarwan, Iran; jolts of 7.8 magnitude were felt as far as Karachi. The far-flung areas deep in Baluchistan, where little of roads and other infrastructure are found, have been hit hard. Places like Mashakhel and others are such that even the news of causalities or destruction took more than a day to pass through. Those whose katcha houses may have been demolished or whose live-stock may have been killed, how will they survive? Who will come to their rescue, when our president has done no more than condolence for these neglected people of our own? There seems to be no state machine responsible for the rescue operation at such emergencies, we see no activity of the NMDA, but see only help from the Army and some private charity organizations, while the bulk of our political champions have not been able to give as much as a word for these disaster-struck brethren.

Related articles

• Report : Earthquake, Mashakhel, EQ Report

PKKH Exclusive|By Atiq Durrani

Two bombs exploded in the crowded streets near the finish-line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing at least three people including an 8 year old child and injuring more than 140. According to law enforcement sources, more bombs were set to explode but did not.

Immediately after the blasts, two questions were most important for the U.S., the rest of the world and especially for the Muslim world. Who was behind this and why?

“Why” was quite obvious, it was done to terrify the people of the US; but who did this is still not clear. The Muslim world is clearly apprehensive that the US will immediately associate bombing attacks on US citizens with Muslim extremists.
Although after every terrorist attack in the US or anywhere in the world, leaders of the Muslim world condemn it and express their sympathies with the effected country and its people, but the fear of “which country will be destroyed for these attacks?” is always looming upon them.

After 9/11, the US invaded Afghanistan; none of the terrorists involved in 9/11 attacks was Afghani, but still they invaded Afghanistan to wipe out Al-Qaeda and kill Usama bin Laden. After 10 years, they managed to kill Usama, invading the sovereignty of a Muslim country and front line ally – Pakistan. In this War on Terror, almost 50,000 civilians were killed in Afghanistan and 3300 civilians died in Pakistan because of US drone attacks.

Iraq was invaded in March 2003; Bush administration stated that this invasion was the “serious consequences” spoken of in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Resolution 1441, which had offered Iraq a final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations or face serious consequences (the Resolution had not authorize the use of force by member states).

Although the Iraqi government subsequently allowed the UN inspectors access to Iraqi sites, but that was not enough to make the US happy. In March 2003, the US invaded Iraq in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction that were never found, but this war killed 109,032 Iraqi’s including 66,081 civilian deaths, from March 2003 to Dec 2009. A peaceful country was turned into a living hell; Iraqi people are still facing the consequences of the US invasion in the form of bomb blasts and suicide attacks.

These wars made it clear for Muslim countries that they can be invaded without any reason. No one is there to ask the US about the WMD of Iraq for which they killed 66,000 Iraqi civilians. The problems of Palestine and Kashmir are still unresolved after decades and multiple resolutions but resolutions like 1441 can be passed within a few days and promptly implemented by the US.

Similarly, there is no action against a country like Israel, destroying the peace of the Middle East and possessing WMD, but if a Muslim country will be involved in any such case the actions are always very efficient. If it’s Iran or Iraq, Libya or Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan; at that time they don’t even segregate them as Shia or Sunni, they just know one thing – “it’s a Muslim country”.

After killing Usama Bin Laden in May 2011 and al-Awlaki in Sep 2011, Obama Administration announced to the nation that “Al-Qaeda is on the run and on its path of decline”. But still, whenever a terror attack or even a shooting by some retarded person happens in the US, Muslims pray that the involved should not be a Muslim.

There were reports that a Saudi national, student in Boston, was questioned in the hospital about the Boston blasts. According to a news report, “The man was tackled and held by a ¬bystander after he was seen running from near the scene of the explosion”. Later, the Saudi man told the FBI that he ran only because he was frightened.

Rush, a regular on Fox News, also blamed Islamic Extremists for the Boston blasts without having any reason. Not only that, he went a step forward and has called for all Muslims to be killed in a sarcastic tweet.

He is ready to kill all the Muslims for the act of a few people who killed 3 Americans – while those few people who planned or executed this are not even known yet – but the Muslims of Iraq and Afghanistan are still pondering, after the decade of war, ‘ whom they should kill for the thousands of Muslims killed in the war against terror by the US army’.

A Libyan Twitter user named Hend Army tweeted a message, “Please don’t be a Muslim”, after the Boston attacks. The same message was retweeted by Jenan Moussa, a journalist in Dubai, with an addition that the plea was “The thought of every Muslim right now.”

This and hundreds of other tweets, Facebook statuses and articles clearly indicated that there is negative apprehension in the Muslim world. This apprehension is not for the fear of death; this is an apprehension of being treated unfairly once again. This fear of injustice for Muslims, may sometimes compel them to wear a suicide jacket and attack the US Army and their installations in Afghanistan and Iraq, some of them think of taking a revenge and plan a terrorist attack again them in their countries (US, UK etc.), some of them raise their voices against their own leaders and condemn them for being friends of the US and the West, some of them start questioning the role of the UN and ask about its double standards. The reactions are different but it is quite obvious that the fear is there.

Destroying a country and then rebuilding it with funds like the USAID cannot prove that you are the well-wishers of that country. What did a decade long war change in Afghanistan? For a decade, the US was fighting against Taliban, and today they are sitting around the same table with them, discussing their own peaceful exit and situation of Afghanistan with the same Taliban they attacked 12 years back. Same is the case with Iraq; a peaceful country with a great economy was destroyed in the name of WMD’s, and today it is the home of bomb blasts and suicide attacks.

The US and the UN will have to change their strategy towards the Muslim countries; they will have to remove apprehension from the hearts of the Muslims to make the US and the rest of the world peaceful. Bringing peace in the world with the help of wars did not help, they already tried the military solution in a few countries and the consequences are clear to all of us; after billions of dollars spent and millions of humans injured and killed and their livelihoods destroyed, the US and its allies were not able to secure their interests. The US must learn the lesson that the rest of the world will not sit with folded arms and not react as they do on destroying and plundering around the world; and if they meant any good, they should know that destroying a country is not always essential to build that country; it can be built without destroying.

This time, it would be better for them to try the peaceful way! If the US and the UN are really interested in bringing peace in the world, they should try to solve their issues with the Muslim world on equal standing, respecting their sovereignty; help them where they need your help, and don’t help them where they don’t need you! Try to take apprehensions out of their hearts, and if you want real friends around the world, make them on hope, trust and peace.

Atiq Durrani is an IT professional and student of Mass Communication. Can be reached at atiq.pkkh@gmail.comand tweets at @SunnyDurrani738

PKKH Exclusive

Translated by Ghareebah,Original article is here

اپریل کے مہینہ نے تخیل کے پل پل بدلتے پردے پر مزید پے در پے واقعات نقش کئے ہیںتک بھی نہ کہہ سکے۔
، ایک کے بعد ایک آنے والے واقعات کو سمجھ پانا بھی ایک امتحان ہے، اور اس امتحان میں کامیابی دن بہ دن مشکل ہوتی جا تی ہے۔
اپریل کے آغاز سے ہی پاکستانی افواج ان شر پسند عناصر کے خلاف براہِ راست تصادم میں مصروف ہو گئیں جو قبائلی ڈھانچے میں بہت گہری جڑیں رکھتے ہیں، اور بظاہر ان شہریوں جیسے ہی نظر آتے ہیں جن کے قتل کے درپے ہیں۔ موسمِ بہار کے رنگوں کے کھلنے کے ساتھ ہی، پاک فوج اپنے جوانوں کو وطن کی چاردیواری میں اپنے خون سے رنگ بھرنے کے لئے تیار کر رہی ہے؛ وہ اسی طرح جشنِ بہار مناتے ہیں، 25 سے زائد مسلح اہلکار اس وطن کی خاطر اپنی جانیں دے چکے ہیں۔ فوج نے اپنی کارروائیاں مارچ میں ہی شروع کر دی تھیں، جب انہوں نے مصیبت زدہ علاقوں سے شہریوں کے انخلاء کا انتظام کیا۔ اب جبکہ دہشت پسند گروہ وادی میں توت سر، اکؑا خیل اور تیراہ علاقوں میں محدود ہو گئے تھے، ان کی پوری بنیاد ٹوٹنے لگی۔ ایس اے حقانی، تحریک طالبان پاکستان کے شوریِ عظمی کے سربراہ نے اچانک استعفی کا اعلان کر دیا، اور اس کے ساتھ 20 نکات کی ایک فہرست شائع کر کے واضح کیا کہ تحریکِ طالبان پاکستان کس طرح مستقل بے انتظامی اور باہمی رابطہ اورنظم ونسق کی شدید کمی کی مثال رہی ہے، ایک ایسی تنظیم جو قائدانہ نشست خالی ہونے کی وجہ سے مستقل بدلتے ہوئے ذرائع کے رحم وکرم پر ہے۔ تاہم فوج ان خطرناک گروہوں کو منتشر کر دینے میں کامیاب معلوم ہوتی ہے، اگرچہ
ان کا منتشر ہونا بذات خود ایک خطرہ اور فوج کے لئے ایک اور چیلنج ہے۔

تحریکِ طالبان پاکستان اور لشکرِ اسلام کا منتشر ہونا محض فوج کی وجہ سے نہیں ہے، بلکہ 2014 کے امریکی انخلاء کے قریب آتے آتے فوج نے اس کی پیشین گوئی کر لی تھی، بیرونِ سرحد شر انگیز عناصر کی طرف سے امداد کی فراہمی میں رکاوٹ آتے ہی تحریکِ طالبان پاکستان اور اس جیسے گروہوں کے شکست کھا جانے کی امید تھی، اور یہیں سے ولایت ہائے متحدہ/ناٹو/ہندوستان اتحاد کے مشکوک سرحد پار کیمپوں کی بوکھلاہٹ بھی سمجھ میں آ جاتی ہے۔ معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ مغربی باز گھٹنے ٹیک چکے ہیں اور مشرقی سفید ہاتھی کی ہوا نکل چکی ہے، چنانچہ انہوں نے انہی کو امداد اور عطیات کی فراہمی بند کر دی جنہیں اپنی جنگ کو مشتعل رکھنے کی غرض سے وہ گزشتہ دہائی میں مستقل مزاجی سے شر انگیزی کی تربیت دیتے رہے ہیں۔ محبت اور جنگ میں کوئی قواعد نہیں ہوتے، لیکن شاید ناٹو اور اس کے اتحادیوں کو یہ توقع نہیں تھی کہ دوسرے فریق کا بھی یہی اصول ہو سکتا ہے۔ بالآخر پاکستان اور افغانستان تو بدستور اپنی جگہ پر قائم رہے، لیکن قسمت آزماؤں کو منہ چھپا کر پسپا ہونا پڑا۔

ہم سبھی جانتے ہیں کہ ہندوستان دباؤ کے تحت گھبرانے لگتا ہے، جیسا کہ وہ کشمیر میں ثابت بھی کر چکا ہے۔ افغانستان میں اپنی خستہ حالت اور اپنی قیادت کے تمام خوابوں کی شکستگی کا بدلہ اس نے کشمیر کی امن پسند عوام پر قہر برسا کر لیا۔ افضل گرو سے ابتداء کرتے ہوئے اس نے وادئ کشمیر میں قتل وغارت گری کا ایک سلسلہ شروع کر دیا، اور وادی کے رہنمائے آزادی سید علی گیلانی کو اپریل کے مہینہ میں لگاتار ہراساں اور گرفتار کر کے وادی کے سینے پر اپنا پاؤں مسلط رکھا۔

اس دوران پاکستان انتخابات کے مرحلہ میں داخل ہو گیا ہے۔ تھکی ہاری اور عاجز آ چکی پاکستانی عوام کو ایک مرتبہ پھر انہی حکمرانوں کی طرف سے بے بنیاد وعدوں کے بلند وبانگ نعروں کا سامنا ہے جو انہیں دسیوں سال سے لوٹتے آ رہے ہیں۔ ختم نہ ہونے والی بد عنوانی اور ظلم وجبر نے عام پاکستانی کو تبدیلی کے امکان سے ہی غافل کر دیا ہے، جبکہ جمہوری شہنشاہ موجودہ حالت پر مطمئن اور گناہ کے احساس اور ضمیر کی چبھن سے عاری ہیں۔

موجودہ تاریک حالات کے باوجود پی-کے-کے-ایچ مایوسی کے بجائے امید، تبدیلی اورترقی کے امکان پر یقین رکھتا ہے۔ ہم سمجھتے ہیں کہ انسان کے تمام مسائل کا حل معیار کی ایک سادہ سی تبدیلی میں مضمر ہے، جس کی بنیاد پر اچھے اور برے کو سادہ اور آسان ترین کسوٹی پر پرکھا جا سکے، اور جہاں معنوی خوبیوں کو بھی ظاہری خوبیوں سے زیادہ نہیں تو کم از کم برابر اہمیت ضرور دی جائے۔ ظاہری اشاروں کی اہمیت اپنی جگہ، لیکن ظلم وجبر، ناانصافی، زیادتی، تھکن اور مایوسی کو دل اور دماغ ہی محسوس کرتے ہیں، اور ان کے مقدمات دل ودماغ میں ہی منعقد ہو سکتے ہیں۔ یہی بات ہمیں دستور کے بند 62، 63 تک لے کے آتی ہے۔

ایک ایسا معاشرہ جس میں اچھے اور برے کا ایک عام تصور یا واضح پہچان بھی نہ ہو، یقینی تباہی کے ہی راستہ پر ہوتا ہے۔ صادق اور امین پر ہونے والی تمام بحث دماغ کو بھک سے اڑا دینے والی ہے۔ کیا ہمیں یہ بھی حق نہیں کہ ہمارے حکمران کم از کم جھوٹے، بد عنوان اور دھوکہ باز نہ ہوں؟ ایسا کیوں ہے کہ دو عام لوگ تو بازار میں ایک معمولی کاروبار بھی سچائی اور باہمی اعتماد کے بغیر نہیں کر سکتے، لیکن پوری قوم کے معاملوں میں فیصلے کرنے والے اتنے بڑے عہدے ایسے افراد کو سونپے جا سکتے ہیں جو محض سچائی اور ایمانداری کے سوال پر ہی ہکا بکا رہ جائیں؟ کیا واقعی حق اور باطل کی تمیز کرنا ناممکن ہے؟ یا یہ لامذہب ذہنیت رکھنے والے میڈیا کا انسانی ذہن کی بھلے برے سے متعلق اس بنیادی اور فطری سمجھ بوجھ پر ایک اور حملہ ہے جس کی بنیاد پر معاشرے تعمیر ہوتے اور کھڑے ہوتے ہیں، تاکہ وہ صحیح اور غلط کی ہر ممکن تمیز بھول جائے؟

یہ سب ہو ہی رہا تھا کہ 16 اور 17 اپریل نے انسانیت پر دو مزید ضربیں لگائیں۔ اس میں سے پہلا بوسٹن ماراتھن میں ہونے والا دھماکہ تھا، جس میں اگرچہ صرف 4 جانیں گئیں اور سو سے زائد زخمی ہوئے، تاہم دنیا کو خدشات نے خوف زدہ کر دیا تھا۔ یادداشتوں میں 11 ستمبر پھر سے تازہ ہو گیا، اور دنیا بھر میں ایک پیغام گردش کرنے لگا؛ جب امریکہ دنیا بھر میں دہشت گردی کے خلاف اپنی جنگ کو مزید مضبوط بنانے کے لئے اس واقعہ کو بھی ذریعہ بنائے گا تو، امریکی قہر کا اگلا نشانہ کون ہو گا؟ دنیا امریکہ کی جدید ترین صورت سے پھیلائی ہوئی فورتھ جنریشن حکمتِ عملی کی اس دہشت انگیزی کے اثرات سے خوف زدہ ہے جس کو عام ذرائعِ ابلاغ ‘امن مشن’ کا نام دیتے ہیں۔

زمین ایک مرتبہ پھر سے پھٹ گئی، اس مرتبہ اپنی سطح سے کہیں نیچے، ایران کے شہر سراوان میں۔ 7،8 کی شدت کے جھٹکے کراچی تک محسوس کئے گئے۔ بلوچستان کے اندرونی دور دراز علاقوں میں، جہاں سڑکیں اور بنیادی ڈھانچہ بھی کم ہی نظر آتا ہے، سخت تباہی آئی ہے۔ مشؑا خیل اور دیگر علاقے ایسے ہیں کہ جانی نقصان اور تباہی کی خبریں پہنچنے میں بھی ایک دن لگ گیا۔ جن کے کچے مکانات منہدم ہو گئے ہیں یا جانور مارے گئے ہیں، وہ زندگی کس طرح گزاریں گے؟ ان کی مدد کو کون آئے گا، جبکہ اپنے صدر صاحب نے زلزلہ زدگان سے محض ہمدردی کے اظہار پر اکتفا کیا ہے؟ بظاہر کوئی بھی سرکاری شعبہ اس قسم کے ہنگامی حالات میں امدادی کارروائیوں کے لئے ذمہ دار نظر نہیں آتا، ہم قومی شعبہ برائے بحرانی انتظامات کی کوئی سرگرمی نہیں دیکھتے؛ بلکہ محض فوج اور کچھ نجی خیراتی اداروں کی امدادی کوششیں نظر آتی ہیں، جبکہ ہمارے بیشتر سیاسی قائدین تو ان آفت زدہ بھائیوں کے لئے ایک لفظ تک بھی نہ کہہ سکے۔

Ghareebah is doing her MA in English, a passionate Indian Muslimah, searching for the higher truths

PKKH Exclusive

Transalation By Ghareebah

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دن غذا اور پانی کے بغیر گزارنا، کیا اتنا غیر اہم اور ناقابلِ توجہ واقعہ تھا، کہ ہمارے ذرائعِ ابلاغ اور دانشوران اس کو مکمل طور پر نظر انداز کر دیں؟ ہمارے ذراابلاغ ہمیں ولایت ہائے متحد امریکہ کے ساتھ اظہارِ یکجہتی کے لئے ہونے والے لندن ماراتھن کی تو تازہ ترین خبریں دیتے ہیں، ہمیں ملکہء انگلستان کی سالگرہ کی تقریبات کی بھی تفصیلات ملتی رہی ہیں، ہم سب جانتے ہیں کہ کیمبرج کی ڈچز کتنے ماہ کی حاملہ ہیں؛ لیکن یہ شخص جس کو اسرائیلی ڈاکٹروں نے بارہا “موت کے منہ” میں قرار دیا ہے، ایک مرتبہ ذکر کا بھی مستحق نہیں؟

کیا انسانیت کے دعویدار عالمی معاشرہ کے لئے یہ اس قدر عمومی اور روز مرہ کا معاملہ تھا کہ اسے نظر انداز کر دیا جائے؟ ہم اس حد درجہ نا امیدی کو بھی تو نظر انداز ہی کرتے ہیں جس میں ہم نے انسانیت کے ایک طبقہ کو دھکیل دیا ہے! ہم روزانہ تین مرتبہ ڈٹ کر کھانا کھانے والے لوگ ایک ایسےانسان سے لاتعلق ہو گئے جس نے ایک یا دو دن نہیں، بلکہ 278 دنوں تک کچھ بھی نہیں کھایا! اگر ایک مرتے ہوئے شخص کا المیہ، اور اس کا پختہ عزم، قوتِ فیصلہ اور اس کے لاغر جسم کو مضبوط رکھنے والی طاقت ہمیں نہیں ہلا سکتی، تو پھر ہمارے دل ودماغ اور احساس کو کون سی چیز زندہ کر سکے گی؟

بین الاقوامی ذرائعِ ابلاغ اور حقوقِ انسانی کی نگراں تنظیموں نے اس واقعہ پر جو کم سے کم تر توجہ دی ہے، وہ ناقابلِ یقین ہے۔ نہ تو ہیومن رائٹس واچ نے، نہ ہی ایمنسٹی انٹرنیشنل نے، اور نہ ہی اقوامِ متحدہ کی تابع کسی بھی تنظیم برائے فروغ حقوقِ انسانی نے اس معاملہ کو اس تناظر میں دیکھا جو ایسے کسی المیہ کے لئے مخصوص ہونا چاہئے تھا۔ بی بی سی جیسے بعض عالمی ذرائعِ ابلاغ نے تو اس معاملہ کی خبر دینے کی زحمت بھی تب ہی کی جب وہ حل ہو چکا تھا۔

یہ المیہ ضرور تھا، ایک جوان انسان کا المیہ جو کھانے کا ایک لقمہ یا پانی کا ایک گھونٹ پینے سے بھی انکار کرتا رہا! لیکن یہ مکمل تصویر نہیں۔ اس المیہ سے بھی بڑا سانحہ تو وہ ہے جو اس کا باعث بنا۔ ایک جوان شخص کو، جو عمر کی بہاروں میں ہو، جس کے والدین اور بھائی بہن اس کی طویل اور کامیاب زندگی کی دعائیں مانگتے ہوں، کون سی چیز ایسا کرنے پر اکسا سکتی ہے؟

فلسطینی عوام اس بھوک ہڑتال کے بعد سے ہی مہینوں تک لگاتار احتجاجات کرتی رہی ہے، لاکھوں ہم وطن دھرنوں اور مظاہروں کا انعقاد کرتے اور اس کی خاطر پولیس کے مظالم سہتے رہے ہیں۔ انہوں نے اس شخص کو اپنی مزاحمت کی علامت بنا لیا ہے، وہ ان کی آزمائشوں، مایوسیوں اور امیدوں کا مظہر ہے۔ کیا یہ کئی دہائیوں تک ایک ساتھ درد سہنے کی یہی طاقت نہیں ہے، جس نے اس شخص کو موت میں منہ میں جانے تک بھی کھانے اور پینے سے صاف انکار پر ثابت قدم رکھا؟ وہ کون سی طاقت تھی جس کے بل پر اس نے بنیادی انسانی ضرورتوں سے انکار کیا یہاں تک کہ وہ وہیل چئیر پر آ گیا، نہ صرف دیکھنے سننے اور بولنے بلکہ سیدھا کھڑا ہونے اور عام مؤثرات کو محسوس کرنے کی بھی صلاحیت کھو بیٹھا؟ کیا یہ موت سے بھی بد تر کسی سانحہ کے علاوہ کچھ اور ہو سکتا ہے؟ ایک ایسا سانحہ جو اس کے لئے رشتہ داروں اور دوستوں سے بھی بڑھ کر تھا، ایسا المیہ جس کی لپیٹ میں  تمام انسانیت تھی، بلکہ نہیں، اس کی لپیٹ میں صرف وہ لوگ ہیں جو کم از کم اس کو محسوس کرنے کے تو روادار ہوں!

کیا ایسا سنگین المیہ بھی لا تعلق سی عالمی خاموشی کی گنجائش رہنے دیتا ہے؟ وہ مقصد جو ایک شخص سے 8 مہینوں تک کھانے پینے سے انکار کروا لے، کیا وہ اس قدر معمولی ہو سکتا ہے؟ وہ لوگ جو اس شخص کو ایک یقینی اور اچانک موت کو گلے لگاتے دیکھ کر بھی خاموش رہے، کیا وہ ابھی بھی انسانیت کے دعویدار ہو سکتے ہیں؟ اور کیا وہ دنیا رہائش کے قابل بھی ہے، جہاں اس قسم کے واقعات کا اکثر لوگوں کو علم بھی نہیں ہوتا، کیونکہ جن کو علم ہے وہ قصدا خاموش رہنے کو ترجیح دیتے ہیں، اور جنہیں علم نہیں وہ اس کی بہ نسبت کہیں دلچسپ خبریں سننے میں مصروف رہتے ہیں؟

نو مہینہ کے اس عرصہ میں، جس دوران سامر العیساوی انتہائی تکلیف دہ بھوک برداشت کرتا رہا، قابلِ رحم کون تھا؟ کیا وہ شخص جو اپنی قوم، اپنے رب اور اپنے ایمان کے لئے لڑنے کا حوصلہ رکھتا تھا؟ یا ‘ہم’، عام انسانیت، جو اس کے لئے ایک لقمہ کی بھی قربانی نہیں دے سکی؟ کیا سامر عیساوی مر رہا تھا؟ یا ہماری مرتی ہوئی انسانیت کو آخری ضربیں لگ رہی تھی؟

سامر العیساوی کی پکار پر کان دھرنے میں ناکام ہونے کے بعد بھی کیا اس دنیا کے باسی انسانیت یا حقوقِ انسانی کے فروغ کا دعوی کر سکتے ہیں؟ زمانہء جاہلیت میں تو یہ ممکن بھی ہوتا؛ لیکن آج، اکیسویں صدی عیسوی میں، جبکہ دنیا تہذیب اور شائستگی کا دعوی کرتی ہے، حقوقِ انسانی کے احترام اور فروغ کا دعوی کرتی ہے، اور ان حقوق کو ہر ایک چیز پر فوقیت دینے کی باتیں کرتی ہے، تمام انسانوں کے حقوق کے تحفظ کے لئے خدائی فوجداروں کو متعین کرتی ہے خواہ اس کے لئے خونی جنگوں اور ملک کے ملک تباہ کرنے کی نوبت ہی کیوں نہ آئے؛ کیا ابھی بھی اس قسم کے المیوں اور سانحوں کے باوجود ایسے دعوے کئے جا سکتے ہیں؟ کیا سامر العیساوی کے اس معاملہ نے ایسے ہر دعوی کو معتبریت سے بالکل عاری نہیں کر دیا ہے؟

اس پو مستزاد یہ کہ کسی بھی مثبت ردِ عمل کی تقریباً مکمل غیر موجودگی میں بھی منفی ردودِ عمل بہت سے ہیں جو کہ انتہائی سنگدلانہ ہیں۔ اسرائیلی فوج اور جیل کا عملہ ہڑتال کرنے والے اس شخص کی بے رحمانہ پٹائی اور جیل کے ہسپتال میں اس کی صحت کی طرف سے لا پروائی پر اتر آیا، اس کے خاندان کو لگاتار ہراساں کیا گیا اور ان کی رہائش گاہوں پر چھاپے مارے گئے، اس کے بھائیوں اور بہنوں کو گرفتار کیا گیا اور جسمانی اذیتیں دی گئیں، اور حکام نے اس ہڑتال کو منسوخ کرنے کے بدلہ میں اس کو کسی دوسرے ملک بھیج دینے کی کوشش کی۔

لیکن سب سے زیادہ بے رحمانہ ردِ عمل اسرائیلی دانشوروں کی علامتی پیزا کی پیشکش تھی، جب انہوں نے وعدہ کیا کہ اگر وہ کڑوڑوں فلسطینی پناہ گزینوں کے واپسی کے حق کے مطالبہ سے دستربردار ہو جائے، آباد کاروں کی ظالمانہ طور پر اور نا حق حاصل کردہ زمین انہیں بخش دے، اپنے وطن کی سر زمین پر ایک دوسری ریاست کے قیام، اور اپنے بھائی بہنوں کے اپنے ہی ملک میں دوسرے درجہ کے شہری ہونے کو قبول کر لے، تو ہی یہ معزز دانشوران دخل اندازی اور اپنی حکومت کو سامر العیساوی کے گلے کے طوق کو قدرے ڈھیلا کرنے کی درخواست کرنے کا احسان کریں گے۔

چنانچہ حقوقِ انسانی کا کوئی بھی علمبردار سامر العیساوی کی مدد کو نہیں آیا۔ مسلم امت بھی زیادہ تر اندھی بہری بنی رہی، گویا نہ تو العیساوی ان کا اپنا تھا نہ ہی وہ لوگ جن کے لئے وہ لڑ رہا تھا۔ اس نے سب کچھ تنہا کیا، وہ اور اس کے ہم وطن منگل کو تنہا فتح یاب ہونے تک ظلم وجبر اور اسرائیلی استبداد کے خلاف جنگ لڑتے رہے۔ العیساوی کے پختہ اٹوٹ عزم نے اسرائیلی کیمپ کے غرور کو توڑ دیا، اور بالآخر اسرائیلی حکومت نے سامر العیساوی کے ساتھ ایک معاہدہ پر دستخط کئے، جس کے بموجب اس کو امسال دسمبر کی 23 تاریخ کو رہا کرنے کا اور اپنے محبوب وطن القدس واپس جانے کی اجازت دینے کا وعدہ کیا گیا۔ اس کے بدلہ میں العیساوی نے اپنی 8 مہینہ پر محیط ہڑتال ختم کر کے سپلیمنٹ لینے پر رضامندی کا اظہار کیا۔

یہ حقیقت اطمینان بخش ہے کہ انسانیت ابھی بھی بہت سے لوگوں میں نہ صرف زندہ بلکہ بیدار بھی ہے: یہ جوان شخص جس نے اپنے ہم وطنوں کے حقوق کی خاطر ایک یقینی اور اچانک موت کا خطرہ مول لیا، اور وہ لوگ جو اس کے نام پر کھڑے ہوئے اور اس کی آزادی کی خاطر اپنی جانوں کو خطرہ میں ڈالا۔ ٹویٹر پر ڈھائی مہینوں تک ایک طوفان سا رہا۔ ڈاکٹر طارق شدید عرف ڈاک جاز کی قیادت میں سرگرم فلسطینیوں کی ایک جماعت ٹویٹر پر یہ طوفان #Twitterstorms لاتی رہی، جس کے تحت وہ سامر العیساوی کے ساتھ اظہارِ یکجہتی کے طور پر کوئی رجحان trend منتخب کرتے تھے اور اس کو ٹویٹ کرتے تھے یہاں تک کہ وہ عالمی رجحانات میں سر فہرست آ جاتا تھا۔

منگل کو وہ #IssawiDefeatsIsrael (العیساوی نے اسرائیل کو شکست دی) نامی رجحان پر ایک گھنٹہ سے زیادہ تک ٹویٹ کرتے رہے۔ ٹویٹر صارفین نے نہ صرف ظلم واستبداد کے خلاف لڑنے اور اپنے خالی معدہ کے سوا کسی بھی ہتھیار کے استعمال کے بغیر اسرائیل کو شکست دینے پر سامر العیساوی کی تعریفیں کیں، بلکہ اس فخر اور اعتماد کا بھی بھرپور اظہار کیا جو اس کی جنگ کے نتیجے میں ہر بامقصد جنگجو نے محسوس کیا، نیز اس یقین کی بھی تجدید کی کہ حق کو طاقت کے ذریعہ کچلا نہیں جا سکتا۔ ٹویٹر صارفین نے اس ہیرو پر فخر کا اظہار کیا جس نے القدس میں رہائش کا حق بھوک کے بدلے خرید لیا، اور بعض نے وضاحت کی کہ وہ القدس میں رہائش کی اجازت پر نہیں بلکہ اس کے ڈھانچہ پر بچ رہنے والے ذرا سے گوشت کی خوشی منا

رہے تھے، کیونکہ القدس میں رہائش کا حق تو اس سے کوئی بھی نہیں چھین سکتا تھا؛ وہ تو اس کو مل کر ہی رہنا تھا، خواہ زندگی میں یا موت کے بعد!

Ghareebah is doing her MA in English, a passionate Indian Muslimah, searching for the higher truths.

by Aneela Shahzad

When Pontius Pilate, the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea (Israel), AD 26–36, appears to have been reluctant to allow the crucifixion of Jesus, finding no fault with him, he decided to throw the decision over to the people. It was the custom of the Roman governor to release one prisoner at Passover. Accounts in the gospels say that Pilate brought out Barabbas, identified by Matthew as a “notorious prisoner” and by Mark as a murderer, and told the crowd to choose between releasing Barabbas or Jesus as per the custom, in the hopes of getting them to request the release of Jesus. However, the crowd demanded the release of Barabbas and said of Jesus, “Crucify him!” In Matthew, Pilate responds, “Why? What evil has he done?” The crowd continued shouting, “Crucify him!”, “Crucify him!”

If democracy means ‘throwing the question over to the people’, the lesson learnt here is never give the people one right choice and one wrong one; they will vote for the wrong one! Let alone what is actually happening in all modern so-called democratic states is; both or all the choices they are to choose from are essentially bad. That is the problem in democracy that Islam recognizes.

The custom of having taken the ‘bayat’, practiced by the Prophet and after him by the on-coming Khulaffa, was a democratic process, wherein the masses were expected to come to the announced or newly elect Khaliffa and take the bayat of submission on the hand of the new Amir ul Momeneen. The bayat was taken from women too and those who could not travel sent their approval through delegates. But the main election was made within the institution of Medina, wherein candidates of the highest character and wisdom had been cultured and wherein the electorate could be deemed as honest, wise, decisive and above all God-fearing. The populace faced a kind of a referendum, but not a vote between a right choice and a wrong one.

The ideal situation in today’s modern time would have been that when a people had democratically (using choice) made the choice of keeping Islam as their religion, at a stark time when history was going to ration its quotas for the next centuries, when millions had been stirred into the streets, chanting their choice, ‘Islam’, in their slogans; that this miraculous uprising of the people should have been taken as the final, most expressive vote of the people; a vote so precious that it needed only to be enhanced and safeguarded, not redrawn; for it is unnatural for human society to break the status quo and rise up to a revolution every 5 years.

What was required was that the elite/educated part of this people should have assured the investment of public money in the culturing of an institution wherein knowledge, wisdom, character and God-fearing would have been the traits to be practiced, tested and graduated. The institutionalization of Islamic character and foresight should have been our prime objective; an institution that would be able to choose its pupil with purely democratic equality and its faculty with pure merit. And when the right few, worthy of leadership had been found among them, the candidates should have been presented to the people for mass consensus.

One would say that we already have such institutions; in fact the country is teeming with Madrassas and Jammaats that declare to be the flag-bearers of the true Deen. But to our misdoings, we find that most of these institutions are focused on charity collection and its dispensation at the most and have failed to give the nation a culture wherein the people could find choices of excellence as per anything near the Medina model, wherein the people could put their trust and vote.

The democracy we do get is a vote for the status-co; the choice between one vice or another, the choice between putting our trust on this liar or that. It is said that democracy will give its fruit if you give it its due course of time; that successive elections will culture the sense of right and wrong in the masses and they will eventually vote the right man out. This is a lie, as any number of successive elections do not guarantee that the ‘right man’ will stand for election; when all this time has added to the tactical power, the buying power and the manipulation of outcomes of the status-co, that controls the power in the first place. This is also a lie because the choices that the people are going to get every time, is a dish-out between the people who are in the game of plundering the wealth of their people in the bulks and their foreign mentors who are essentially anti-Islam.

So does Islam go along with democracy; yes Islam showed humanity the right way to vote, when there was no good example of such a process anywhere in practice. But what Islam made sure was to cut the status-co of powerful, dynastic chieftains out of the list of the electable. Wars were fought for that, thought was revolutionized for that and character was institutionalized for that. But if you sever the Islamic body of democratic-choice from the head and place the vilest choices on the top of that body, Islam does not go along with that kind of voting; that is what Islam came to finish in the first place; the status quo.

The PKKH institution aims to awaken the nation to this colossal new-age challenge, which calls them to re-radicalize every 5 years, and to fight a multi-dimensional war, in which we float the powers in the open market of all black and white contenders and try to re-gain our rights from internal, self-imposed adversaries. Why is the fate of 200million people vouchsafed in the hands of bounty-hunters through such a flawed system based on an impractical ideal; is an enigma impending on our conscience for solution. But the good thing in it is that it has created an opportunity of constant battle, within the people of a state, a battle for resources and power, but one that will be played with paper and ink not sword and blood. Only the dilemma is that human nature is too naïve to inquire, scrutinize and battle in such short intervals and that also in an environment which persuades him more towards submission then battle; that tends more towards numbing him down than raising him up in alarm.

This numbing-down is precisely the reason why 200million will allow an assembly of less than 350, constantly exploit them, and the way to do it is ‘kill their conscience with their own vote’. In the end the winners will be the ones who are the most shrewd and cunning; who are most bold in blatantly presenting their false promises; who can maneuver the rigging-process; who can horse-trade; who are capable of the biggest treasons and nepotism and frauds. All this we will keep enduring for one sacred word ‘Democracy’, because this beautiful word has mesmerized us to the extent that we would not dare against this idol of our minds, instead we will sacrifice all that is ours to save this ‘holy cow’ from derailing.

Aneela Shahzad is an editor at PKKH.tv and can be contacted via info@pakistankakhudahafiz.com,  and you can also find her at Aneela Shahzad’s Blog.

by Abuzar Ilyas

The current security and political scenario of Pakistan is somewhat identical to the circumstances with which our Army was faced, in 1971 in East Pakistan, which resulted into the Fall of Dhaka, in terms of how our Army was maligned. According to some people with Anti-Pakistani Ideology and Anti-Pakistan-Armed-Forces thinking, all the rapes and killings in East Pakistan in 1971 were done by Pakistan Army! The same type of propaganda is on top these days against Pakistan Army and ISI in addition to the Sindh Rangers and Frontier Corps!

Those who have aimed to distort Pakistan’s history have been propagating false narrative on the event of East Pakistan’s separation, with the aim to disrespect the Two-Nation-Theory and the very existence of Pakistan. The dire allegations that paint a picture of a brutal, barbaric force are the killing of 3 million and in some accounts 2 million Muslims by the Pak Army.

It is a fact that 40,000 troops from one division and five brigades were deployed on all borders of East Pakistan against Indian Aggression at that time. According to simple math, if the tension lasted from March to December of 1971, it would roughly make 250 days in all. In these math’s, around 12,000 people would be needed to be killed in every single day in order to kill the alleged 3 million people; which was impossible because the Pak Army, which was also confronting an enemy force 10 times, and a 2 times bigger internal insurgency (the Mukti Bahini), simply cannot rape or kill 12000 human beings in a day. If that would have been the case, 3 million bullets were needed to kill 3 million people, in case of “one shot one kill”, which was impossible in East Pakistan Scenario when our troops fought with daggers and rods against enemy forces, which could not have been that effective. The fact is that the regular Pakistan Army troops and FF and East Pakistan Rifles Jawans fought against the enemy by using Guerrilla tactics just for defending their motherland against the enemy. Just like in East Pakistan, the politicians and the media – that had unfortunately connived with the enemy, – blamed the Army to have been fighting against “own people”; the same type of propaganda is going on today in Pakistan about the Pakistan Army, asserting that they are fighting against “own people” in North West Pakistan.

The point to ponder upon is that if 2 million people were slaughtered in East Pakistan in 1971 from March to December, who actually did that? There are three plausible possibilities; the Indian backed Mukti Bahini; or Indian Army; or the fighting capable Tibetan Fighters who are still creating insurgency in the Tibet Province of Great China. The exposure of the ‘Agartala Conspiracy’ – which the Pakistani premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), unfolded in its report (Early 1968) –  gave proofs to the Government and SC of that time upon Sheikh Mujeeb’s secret deal with the Indians; but the Courts and the Politicians intentionally forgave Mujeeb just to achieve reconciliation, and resorted to political bargaining. While the same facts have been persistently used to create the Anti-Pakistan rhetoric.

Hail to Gen Niazi that his revolver saved the lives of the Bengali people. The Bengali genocide stopped by surrendering a pistol which was a clever move from Gen Niazi. The traitors or the idiots of that time blamed Gen Niazi for his defeat in East Pakistan, but no one appreciated his clever move which saved millions of more lives to be slaughtered. A baseless propaganda against Gen Niazi was launched just because he lost the war, which was a reality, but the false narrative of lies resulted into the collapse of the morale of Pakistan Army. The same type of Propaganda against the FC and the Rangers, the two next to Army paramilitary forces of Pakistan, is on the peak these days. Maj Gen Rizwan Akhter of Sindh Rangers, and IG FC Baluchistan Maj Gen Obaidullah Khattak, are intentionally being humiliated by the Supreme Court, Media and Politicians in different baseless cases and allegations. It was not a coincidence when two cases were opened against the FC, pressing upon them allegations of killing Central Asian Terrorists in Quetta, and against the Rangers for killing a dacoit in Karachi. Both the cases were uplifted by the Media as hot news and the whole Media, Politicians and Judiciary blamed the heads of the said institutions for the incidents.

It is also a historical fact that the Elections conducted under the worst case scenario in East Pakistan, which resulted in the victory of Sheikh Mujeeb as per the Agartala Agreement between Mujeeb and India, were anything but fair; the eye-witness accounts are available wherein people have testified upon the fact that the Indian terrorists themselves voted for Awami League of Mujeeb and the pro-Pakistan Bengalis were not allowed to vote. The same type of plans have been made by our enemies for Pakistan today, when they want to engage our Armed Forces in Karachi and North West Pakistan in addition to the Elections deployment of the Army. This will scatter Pakistan Army’s power inside Pakistan, and India will attack us under Cold Start and Limited War Doctrines just like they did in East Pakistan. This article is a warning for Pakistanis. People should open their eyes and see what is really going on around them.

Abuzar Ilyas is researcher and Geo-political analyst. He tweets @AbuzarIlyas

سکول کے زمانہ میں، علی ‘شیر’ تخلص کر کے شوقیہ شاعری کیا کرتا تھا۔ ایک مرتبہ اس نے ‘ایک دن شیر بھی وردی پہنے گا’ کے مرکزی خیال پر ایک نظم لکھی۔ بچپن سے ہی اس کو پاکستانی فوج میں شامل ہونے کا بیحد شوق تھا، اور یہ شوق نوجوانی تک اس کے ساتھ رہا۔ بارہ برس کی عمر میں ہی اس نے اپنے چچا سے فوجی وردی کی خصوصی فرمائش کی۔ انٹرمیڈیٹ کے امتحانات کے بعد اس کو یقین تھا کہ اس کے خوابوں کی تعبیر کا وقت آ گیا ہے، لیکن جب اس کو آئی ایس ایس بی کے امتحان میں مسترد کر دیا گیا تو اس کو سخت صدمہ ہوا۔ تبھی اس کے گھر والوں کو اس کی فوج کے لئے حیرت انگیز حد تک شدید محبت، اس میں شامل ہونے کے چٹانوں جیسے پختہ عزم، اور داخلہ کے آخری امکان اور موقع تک اس میں شمولیت کی امید سے عدم دستربرداری پر اصرار کا علم ہوا۔ اس نے اپنے جسم کو مضبوط اور دماغ کو ہوشیار بنانے کے مقصد سے ورزشیں شروع کر دیں، تاکہ وہ جنت کے چوکیداروں کو متاثر کر لے، کہ وہ اس کو پاکستانی فوج نامی جنت میں داخلہ کی اجازت دے دیں۔

دوسری کوشش میں منتخب ہو جانے پر اس نے سن 2005 – 07 سیشن کے لئے پی ایم اے میں شمولیت اختیار کر لی۔ پی ایم اے میں وہ سخت ترین جسمانی محنت اور ورزش کرتا رہا، دوڑیں اور باکسنگ کے مقابلے جیتتا رہا، اور اپنی اجتماعی روح اور ترغیبی مہارتوں میں اضافہ کیا۔ لیکن اس کے واقف کاروں میں کسی کو علم نہیں تھا کہ آغاز سے ہی، ایس ایس جی کا حصہ بننے

اور فعال جنگ میں شریک ہونے کی امنگ اس کے دل میں پنپتی رہی تھی، کہ وہ ہمیشہ ہی مادی چیزوں کے بجائے اعلی ترین خوبیوں اور خصوصیات کا متلاشی رہا تھا۔

علی کے متعلقین اس کو فوج کے کسی نسبتاً آرام کرنے والے دستہ کے انتخاب کا مشورہ دیتے رہے، لیکن وہ جنگ میں مصروف دستوں کی تلاش میں رہا، اور جنوبی وزیرستان میں تعینات 8 این ایل آئی میں شمولیت اختیار کر لی، جبکہ یہ فوجی دستہ پاک افغان سرحد پر مقیم شر پسندوں کے خلاف فعال  جنگ میں سرگرم تھا۔

جنگ کے لئے پر جوش یہ حوصلہ مند اور جری، شجاعت سے بھر پور 22 سالہ نوجوان کوہ شکن بٹالین کا پلاٹون کمانڈر بنا دیا گیا، جو مستقبلِ قریب میں المیزان نامی کارروائی کرنے والا تھا۔ علی نے اپنے جوانوں کو اس طرح تربیت اور حوصلہ افزائی کی کہ وہ اپنے کمانڈر کی قیادت میں ہر قسم کے حالات کا سامنا کرنے کے لئے تیار تھے۔ اس کارروائی میں علی اپنے دستہ کو تفویض کردہ خطرناک، اجاڑ پہاڑی علاقہ کو صاف کرنے میں آگے آگے رہا۔ اس نے اپنے ساتھیوں کے ساتھ ہیوی مشین گنوں کی فائرنگ کا سامنا کیا لیکن وہ کند کی چوٹی تک پہنچنے میں کامیاب ہو گئے، جہاں شر پسندوں کو پسپا کرنے سے پہلے انہیں دوبارہ ایک گھنٹہ تک بھاری فائرنگ کا تبادلہ کرنا پڑا۔ علی اپنے ساتھیوں کے ساتھ چار مہینوں تک پانی، خوراک اور پناہ کی قلت کے باوجود اس چوٹی پر رہا، یہاں تک کہ فوج اس علاقہ میں مستقل بیرکوں کے ساتھ مورچہ بند ہونے کے لئے تیار ہو گئی۔ علی گھڑ سواری کا بہت شوقین تھا، اور اس کو اس جنگل میں ایک جنگلی گھوڑا مل گیا جس میں اس کے دستہ کی چھاؤنی تھی۔ بس پھر کیا تھا، علی زین کے بغیر اس جنگلی گھوڑے پرکند کی چوٹی پر گشت کیا کرتا، حالانکہ زین کے بغیر گھوڑے کی ننگی پیٹھ پر سواری کرنا مہارت، توازن اور نظم کا متقاضی ہے، کیونکہ اس صورت میں  گھڑ سوار کے پاس توازن کی کمی کو پورا کرنے کے لئے کوئی دوسرا سہارا نہیں ہوتا۔ علی اپنے جوانوں اور اپنے دستے کے تحفظ کے خیال سے تنہا گشت کیا کرتا تھا، جبکہ بقیہ لوگ آرام کرتے تھے۔

جب آخر کار وہ لوگ نیچے آئے تو علی لیوٹینینٹ بننے کے لئے مکمل طور پر تیار تھا۔ اس کے لئے مزید عزت افزائی کا باعث یہ تھا کہ جنرل جاوید سلطان اور بریگیڈئر افضل چیمہ جیسے لوگ اس کے کندھے پر بلا سجانے کے لئے آئے۔ یہ دونوں عظیم سپاہی کچھ ہی عرصہ بعد ایک ہیلیکوپٹر حادثہ میں شہادت سے فیضیاب ہوئے، اور علی اپنے والد سے کہا کرتا تھا کہ، “ابو، میری دونوں جانب کھڑے لوگ اب شہید ہیں، شاید کسی دن میں بھی شہید ہوں گا۔”

میجر جاوید سلطان لیوٹینینٹ علی کے کندھے پر بلا سجاتے ہوئے

علی کو بہادری کا تمغہ دینے کے احکامات ہیڈ کوارٹر کو دے دئے گئے تھے۔ اس کے ساتھیوں نے اس کو ‘بہادر علی’ کہنا شروع کر دیا، اور 8 این ایل آئی سیالکوٹ منتقل ہو گئی۔ علی کو اپنے یونٹ کمانڈو دستہ کو ڈیویژن کی سطح پر مقابلوں کے لئے تربیت دینے کے تفصیلی احکامات دئے گئے جو کہ فوج کے مشکل ترین مقابلے ہیں۔ اس کے دستہ نے ٹرافی جیتی اور 8 پیادہ ڈیویژن میں اس کو بہترین عہدیدار قرار دیا گیا۔ لیکن علی کی قسمت میں آرام کے دن نہیں تھے۔ انہی دنوں ہندوستان میں ممبئی حملوں کی سازش رچی گئی اور اور دونوں ممالک کے درمیان کشیدگی میں اضافہ کے باعث سرحدوں پر فوجوں کی بھاری تعیناتی عمل میں آئی۔ میجر جنرل سعید علیم نے بوقتِ ضرورت ‘ریڈ’ نامی کارروائی کے لئے تیار کردہ دستہ کی قیادت کے لئے بذاتِ خود علی کا انتخاب کیا، لیکن اللہ نے ہمیں ایسی صورتِ حال سے بچا لیا۔

سیالکوٹ میں ان دو واقعوں کے درمیان علی نے اپنے جوانوں کے لئے دعوت کا انتظام کیا تھا اور اپنے خاندان کے افراد کو بھی مدعو کیا تھا۔ لاؤنج کی گزرگاہ میں سے گزرتے ہوئے علی نے دونوں دیواروں پر آویزاں شہیدوں کی تصویریں فخر سے اپنے والد کو دکھاتے ہوئے ان کے کندھے پر ہاتھ رکھا اور کہا، “ابو، شاید ایک دن آپ کے بیٹے کی تصویر بھی یہاں لٹکی ہوئی ہو گی۔”

جب علی وائے او بی آئی کورس کے لئے کوئٹہ گیا، تو اس کو ساتھیوں نے این ایل آئی کا اے ایل آئی کہنا شروع کر دیا۔ علی مضبوط جسم کا مالک، جری، اور حوصلہ افزائی کا عادی تھا۔ وہ جہاں بھی جاتا تھا اس کو وفادار دوست مل جاتے تھے۔ کوئٹہ سے اس نے سیاچن گلیشیر میں اعلی ترین مقام، ‘مقامِ شیر’ میں قیام کے لئے خود کو رضاکارانہ طور پر پیش کیا۔ وہاں اس نے  پچاس تحت الصفر سے بھی کم درجہء حرارت میں چھ ماہ تک برف باریوں اور برفانی زلزلوں کے درمیان گزارا کیا، جب وہ واپسی آیا، تو وہ ہمیں بتایا کرتا تھا کہ سفید چادر کی تنہائی اور خاموشی بذاتِ خود اداس کن اور آسیب زدہ سی ہوتی ہے، اور “وہاں ہم صرف بقا کا کھیل کھیلا کرتے تھے”۔ اس نے بتایا کہ ایک مرتبہ وہ اور اس کے ماتحت ایک برف زدہ ساتھی کو لینے کے لئے ڈھلوان، پھسلن زدہ برفیلی پہاڑی سے نیچے گئے تھے، اور آخر میں پتہ چلا کہ وہ بقا کی جنگ ہار چکا ہے؛ ایک ساتھی کی موت، جو آپ کے ساتھ چند دن پہلے تک ہنستا اور کھاتا رہا ہو، بذاتِ خود ایک نا قابلِ برداشت جھٹکا ہوتا ہے! ‘مقامِ شیر’ پر طویل قیام کے بعد علی جسمانی طور ہر اتنا کمزور ہو گیا تھا کہ وزن کی کمی اور پٹھوں کی کمزوری کے باعث اپنے پیروں پر کھڑا بھی نہیں ہو سکتا تھا۔ سیاچن سے واپسی پر اس کا وزن صرف 44 کیلوگرام تھا۔

سیاچن سے واپسی پر علی کی زندگی کا خوبصورت ترین خواب تعبیر پانے والا تھا، ایس ایس جی کمانڈو کورس کے لئے انتخاب۔ سیاچن کی مشکلات نے اس کے ایس ایس جی کے جوش کو ٹھنڈا نہیں کیا تھا۔ کم حوصلہ لوگوں کے لئے ایس ایس جی باعثِ دہشت ہو سکتا ہے، لیکن ایک مبارک کوکھ میں پیدا ہونے والے علی جیسے شیر دل کے لئے ایس ایس جی چہیتی دلہن کو گلے لگانے کے مترادف تھا۔ ریگستانوں اور جنگلات میں پڑاؤ ڈالنا، میلوں وسیع ندیوں میں لہروں کی مخالف سمت میں تیرنا، چار سو میل کا فاصلہ پیدل طے کرنا، شکار کر کے کھانا، آگ جلانا، رسیاں پھلانگنا؛ یہ تو ان ناقابلِ برداشت سختیوں اور مشکلات میں سے صرف چند گنے چنے نام ہیں جن کا یہ کمانڈو شکار ہوتے ہیں۔ وہ بھوک کا بھی شکار ہوتے رہے، زخمی ہونے والے ساتھیوں کی زندگی بچانے کی ہنگامی تدبیریں، اور بالآخر ایس ایس جی میں کامیاب ہونے والے 20 یا 30 ناموں میں سرِ فہرست رہنے کے لئے سخت مقابلہ کرتے رہے۔ لیکن انہوں نے زخمیوں کو بچانے اور پیچھے نہ چھوڑنے کا عہد کیا، دشمن کو تلاش کر کے قتل کرنے کا عزم کیا، اور سر زمین کو اپنی زندگی پر فوقیت دینے کا حلف اٹھا کر حقیقتاً کاغذ پر دستخط کئے۔

جس دن علی ایس ایس جی مکمل کر کے گھر واپس آیا، وہ اس کے بھائی کی شادی کا دن تھا۔ لگاتار آٹھ مہینوں تک جسمانی اور ذہنی مشقتوں سے گزرتے رہنے کے بعد اچانک آرام ملنے کی وجہ سے اس کا مکمل جسم اینٹھ گیا تھا۔ دس دنوں کے وقفہ کے بعد، علی نے باجور فاٹا میں سرگرم 5 کمانڈو بٹالین میں حاضری درج کروائی۔ ان دنوں باجور میں صورتِ حال مشکل تھی، فوج شہری آبادیوں کے اندر گھسے ہوئے دہشت پسند عناصر کے خلاف جنگ میں مصروف تھی۔ ہر بستی اور ہر گاؤں پر نئے سرے سے قبضہ کرنا، ان عناصر سے پاک کرنا اور مستقل نگرانی کے تحت عوام کو لوٹانا تھا، ہر دن ایک نئے علاقہ میں ایک نیا مشن اور ایک نئی کارروائی ہوتی تھی۔

مرد جنگوں میں شرکت اور لڑائی محض تفریح کے لئے نہیں کرتے، یہ تو سراسر بربریت ہو گی؛ مرد اپنی جانوں کے بدلے میں صرف دولت کا سودا نہیں کرتے، یہ تو سراسر شیطانی لالچ ہو گا؛ وہ مرد جو اپنی جانوں کا حلف اٹھاتے ہیں کسی اور ہی رخ کو دیکھتے ہیں، وہ زندگی کو مادیت سے آگے پھیلا ہوا دیکھتے ہیں، ان کو ایسے جہانوں کا علم ہوتا ہے جو عام سطحی نظر رکھنے والے مردوں سے اوجھل ہوتے ہیں۔ یہ ‘مومن’ ہوتے ہیں، جو اپنا انتظار کرنے والے ایک عظیم ترین خدا پر یقین رکھتے ہیں، اور وہ اس تک صرف عزت کے ساتھ پہنچنا چاہتے ہیں۔ وہ اس کے وعدہ پر یقین رکھتے ہیں، اور اپنے وعدے پورے کرنے میں کوتاہی نہیں کرتے۔ وہ زندگی میں بھی اس کی گواہی (شہادت) دیتے ہیں، اور اس کے لئے مر کر بھی گواہی (شہادت) قبول کرتے ہیں۔ ایمان، ایمانی بھائیوں کے ساتھ باندھنے والا تعلق، اور ایمان والوں کی سرزمین کے چپہ چپہ کی حفاظت، یہی وہ اجزائے ترکیبی ہیں جو ان کے لہو کو گرم اور ان کے اجسام اوراعصاب کو مضبوط رکھتے ہیں اور خوف کو بے خوفی سے تبدیل کر دیتے ہیں۔

باجور میں اپنی زندگی کی آخری کارروائی میں شرکت سے پہلے علی 3 کامیاب کارروائیوں کا حصہ رہا۔ جب بھی کسی نئے مشن یا کارروائی کی خبریں گردش کرتیں، علی اپنے آپ کو رضاکار کے طور پر پیش کرنے کے لئے اپنے افسروں کے پاس جاتا، اور اگر وہ اس کو انکار کرنے کی کوشش کرتے، تو وہ اپنی طرف سے اعلی عہدیداروں سے بات کرنے کی رخواست کرتا۔ اس کے افسر اس کے حوصلہ کی بہت قدر کرنے کے باعث اور اپنے سب سے توانا اور قابلِ اعتماد ہتھیار کی حیثیت سے اس کو نسبتاً کم فائدہ مند کاموں سے پیچھے رکھنے کی کوشش کرتے تھے، جبکہ علی ہر مشن کو اصل مقصد ہی سمجھتا تھا۔

بیکھنا 2 نامی کارروائی کا آغاز چھ مئی 2011 کو ہوا، وقار فورس نے شیخ بابا سے لے کر چیتانہ تک کی بلندیاں خالی کر دی تھیں، اور اس کے آگے دشمن کے قلعہ بند مورچے تھے۔ سخت مزاحمت اور بلندیوں سے ہونے والی شدید فائرنگ وقار فورس کے زلزالیوں کی پیش قدمی کو خطرے میں ڈال چکی تھی۔ کیپٹن علی خفیہ شب خون کے لئے رضاکار بن گئے۔ علی اور اس کے چند ساتھیوں نے شر پسندوں کو بظاہر ادنی پوزیشن سے لیکن در حقیقت رازداری اور عزم کی بلندی سے چار ہلاکتوں کا نقصان پہنچایا، اور شر پسندوں کو گولونو کی وادی میں دھکیل دیا جس سے افغانستان کے راستے بند ہو گئے جو ان کے داخلہ اور نکاس کا اصل راستہ تھا۔ آٹھ اور نو تاریخ کی درمیانی رات کو علی نے ایک اور بظاہر ناممکن کام کے لئے رضاکارانہ طور پر اپنے آپ کو پیش کیا، وہ پوائنٹ 1771 سے شہید اور اس کے سامان کی وصولی چاہتا تھا، اور اس نے کر دکھایا؛ وہ ایک ایسے بھائی کے باقیات واپس لایا جو ایک مختلف سمت میں کامیاب ہو چکا تھا، جس کے باقیات اس کے سوگواروں کے لئے تسلی کا باعث ہوتے، لیکن یہ سب اپنی زندگی کو خطرے میں ڈالے بغیر ممکن نہیں تھا۔

بائیس اور تئیس کی درمیانی رات کو ان کا مشن والیدید کی چوٹی پر قبضہ کرنا تھا۔ وہ چھپ کر حرکت کر رہے تھے، علی سب سے آگے تھا، افسر کی حیثیت سے اس نے اندھیرے میں دیکھنے میں معاون سامان پہن رکھا تھا، جو اس کے قریب والے جوان کے پاس نہیں تھا۔ وہ لوگ جیسے ہی چھلانگ لگانے والے مقام پر پہنچے، علی کو ایک گھر کی چھت پر دہشت گردوں کی موجودگی کا احساس ہوا، اس نے فوراً ہی اپنے قریبی جوان کو نیچے دھکیلا، اپنے ساتھیوں کو روکا، اور مجوزہ ترتیب کی تصدیق کے لئے دستہ کے ہیڈ کوارٹر کو اشارہ دیا۔ علی اپنا بے خوف سینہ دشمن کے سامنے تان کر سب سے آگے کھڑا تھا اور اپنے جوانوں اور اپنے وطن کی حفاظت کر رہا تھا۔ اس شخص کے حوصلہ کا تصور کیجئے جو خاندان اور آسائشوں کو پیچھے چھوڑ کر، اپنے ہم وطنوں کی جان اور آرام کی خاطر اپنی زندگی اور آرام کی قربانی ک عہد کر کے میدانِ جنگ میں کھڑا ہوتا ہے۔ اس سے پہلے کہ اس کے اشارہ کی تصدیق ہوتی، لمحہ کے ایک حصہ میں، دہشت گردوں نے گولیاں چلانی شروع کر دیں۔ جب علی نے اپنے جوان کو دھکیلا، رکنے کا اشارہ کیا اور تصدیق کے لئے پیغام بھیجا، لمحہ کے اسی حصہ میں وہ چھپی ہوئی مہلک گولی اس کی گردن کو پار کر کے، اس کو نیچے گرا کر اس کی فوری شہادت کا باعث بن گئی۔

علی کا جسدِ خاکی ہمارے پاس پہنچا، تو اس کے چہرے پر ایک واضح مسکراہٹ ثبت تھی، اور وہ ایک دولہا لگ رہا تھا، جس کے جنتی بھائی شاید اس کا خوش کن استقبال کر رہے تھے۔ ایک ایسی مسکراہٹ گویا وہ دوسرے جہان کو بچشمِ خود دیکھ رہا ہو اور وہ دوسرا جہان اس کی آمد پر قبولیت اور خوش خبریوں کی مہر ثبت کر رہا ہو۔ علی کا جنازہ ویسا ہی ہوا جس کی اس نے خواہش کی تھی، اپنے ساتھیوں کے درمیان، پاک پرچم تلے، عزت اور تکریم کے ساتھ۔ علی کو ‘تمغہء بسالت’ سے نوازا گیا۔

علی کے بعد ہمیں اس کے ساتھیوں اور دیگر ذرائع سے آئے دن نوجوان ہلاکتوں کی خبریں ملنے لگیں۔ اس کا صفحہء فیس بک، کیپٹن علی محمود شہید، اس قسم کے تمام سانحوں اور المناک واقعات کی تازہ خبریں دیتا ہے۔ ہم خوبصورت نوجوانوں کو روزانہ اپنے محبوب رب کے نام پر وطن کے لئے جانیں قربان کرتے ہوئے دیکھتے ہیں۔ اگر یہ ایمان کا اعلی ترین درجہ نہیں ہے تو کیا ہے؟ کیا یہی اللہ کے وہ بندے نہیں جو منتخب اور مقبول ہیں؟ کیا انہوں نے وطن کی مٹی کے لئے اپنی جانیں نہیں دیں؟ کیا یہی اصلی ہیرو نہیں؟

مندرجہ بالا تفصیلات سے یہ بآسانی واضح ہے کہ علی نے شہادت کو اتفاقاً گلے نہیں لگایا، بلکہ وہ اس کا متلاشی تھا، اس کا پیاسا تھا، اور اس نے اس کے حصول کی راہ میں کوئی بھی ایسا موقعہ نہیں گنوایا، جس میں اس کو موت کے خوف کو دور پیچھے چھوڑ کر اپنے مقصد کی تکمیل کا موقعہ ملتا۔ ہر مشن اس کے لئے آخری موقعہ تھا اور ہر مرتبہ جب وہ کامیاب لوٹ آتا تھا، تو وہ اللہ کا شکر ادا کرتا تھا کہ اس نے اس کو اپنے رشتہ داروں سے دوبارہ ملنے کا موقعہ دیا۔ لیکن اس کا اصل مقام میدانِ جنگ تھا، جہاں وہ دولہا ہوتا تھا اور شہادت اس کی مطلوبہ دولہن ہوتی تھی۔

سلام ان ماؤں کو جو اپنی کوکھ سے ایسے مردوں کو جنم دیتی ہیں، سلام ان والدوں کو جو جدائی کا غم سہتے ہیں، سلام ان بھائیوں اور بہنوں کو جو اپنے درمیان میں سے ایک کو اعلی مقاصد کے لئے قربان کر دیتے ہیں، اور سلام اس سرزمین کو جس کو ایسے عاشق اور محافظ دستیاب ہیں۔

Written by Aneela Shahzad and translated by Ghareebah

Youm-e-Shuhada

by Aneela Shahzad

In school days, Ali used to do amateur poetry by the pen name ‘Sher’,  he wrote a poem once with the theme ‘aik din sher bhi wardi pehney ga’ (one day the Lion, too, will wear a uniform). Right from his childhood, he was very fond of joining the Pakistan Army, and this love followed him to his teen ages. He specially requested his uncle to prepare an army uniform for him, when he was only 12 years old. After his Intermediate exams, he knew that it was time for his dream to come true; but to his dreary, he was rejected in the ISSB test he gave, and this was the time when his family came to know of his strange and strong love for the Army and his stone-hard resolve that he would not forsake his dream of being in the Army till the last possible chance of admission. He resorted to exercise, to make his body stronger and his brains smarter, in order to impress the gate-keepers of the heavens – that the Army was for him, so that they would let him in.

Upon his selection in his second chance, he joined PMA for the 2005-07 session. There, in PMA, he craved for the toughest physical exercise, won races and boxing titles, built upon team-spirit and motivational skills. But none of his acquaintances knew that from his beginnings, he was harboring the love of becoming a part of SSG and active battle in his heart; harboring the love of subliminal virtues in place of the love of matter.

While his family advised him to choose a resting arm of the army, he opted for the fighting one, and joined the 8-NLI, stationed in South Waziristan, at a time when the Army was actively engaged in combat with miscreants embedded along and around the Pak-Afghan border.

The young chap of 22, all mustered up with the courage and fervor for battle, was made Platoon Commander of Koh-Shikan Battalion that was to conduct Operation Al Mezan in the near future. Ali trained and motivated his Jawans to such a level that they were ready to face all situations under their Commander. In the operation, Ali was in the forefront in clearing the area assigned to them in a most dangerous, barren and hilly terrain. Ali and his men faced open fires of heavy-machine-guns, but managed to reach the Kund peak, where again they exchanged heavy fire for an hour, before repelling the miscreants. Ali and his men stayed on that peak for 4 months with scarce water, food or shelter, until the Army was ready to entrench in the position with permanent barracks. Ali was very fond of horse riding, and he found a wild horse in the forest where they were camped. He used to patrol the Kund peak on this wild horse without a saddle; and riding a horse bareback requires skill, balance, and coordination, as the rider does not have any equipment to compensate for errors of balance. Ali used to patrol alone to protect his Jawans and platoon, while they would be resting.

When finally the men came down, Ali was ready to become a full lieutenant, and to his honor, the two men who came to put the badge on his shoulder were General Javed Sultan and Brig. Afzal Cheema; both these men embraced Shahadah in an helicopter crash shortly after, and Ali used to say to his father, “Abbu, both men on my both sides are Shaheed now, maybe someday I will be too.”

Maj Gen Javed Sultan putting badge on Lieutenant Ali’s shoulder.

A citation was forwarded to the Headquarters for Ali to be given the ‘Gallantry Award’. Ali’s mates started calling him ‘Brave Ali’, and 8-NLI moved to Sialkot. Here Ali was detailed to train his Unit Commando Platoon for division level competition, the toughest one in the Army; his platoon won the trophy and he was declared the best officer in 8 Infantry Division. But days of rest were not written for Ali; in the same days the Mumbai Attacks were orchestrated in India, tension escalated and both armies deployed heavily at the borders. Major General Saeed Aleem handpicked Ali to command the unit being readied for ‘Raid’ operation, if need be, but Allah saved us from such a situation.

Between these two events in Sialkot, Ali had arranged for a lunch-party for his Jawans and had invited his family. Passing through the hallway of the lounge, Ali put his hand on his father’s shoulder, showing him with pride all the portraits of the Shaheeds on both the walls, and he said, “Abbu, maybe one day a portrait of your son will be hanging here too.”

When Ali left for Quetta, for YOBI Course, he was called A.L.I. from N.L.I., by mates. Ali was strong-bodied, robust, courageous and motivating, he gained friends and loyals wherever he went. From Quetta he joined his unit in the Siachen Glacier, where he had volunteered to stay in the highest post, the ‘Sher Post’. He stayed for 6 months in below -50 degrees Celsius, amidst avalanches, blizzards and snowfall. When he was back, he used to tell us that the solitude and stillness of the white blanket, is depressive and haunting, and bare survival “was the game we used to play there”. He told us how he and his men came down to bring a mate who had suffered snow-bite, down the steep, slippery track downhill, only to find him unable to survive in the end; the loss of a fellow mate, who had been laughing and eating with you a few days back, is an unbelievable shock! Due to his extended stay at ‘Sher Post’, Ali was so weak that he was hardly able to stand on his own feet due to loss of weight and weakness of his muscles. He weighed only 44 KGs when he came back from Siachen.

On his descent from Siachen, Ali was to embrace his lifelong dream – being selected for the SSG Commando Course; the hardships of Siachen had not weakened his fervor for SSG. For the weak-hearted, SSG would be a dread; but for a lion-heart like Ali, the likes of whom are only carried in blessed wombs, SSG was like embracing the beloved bride. Camping in deserts and forests, swimming against the tides in miles-wide channels, walking a journey 400 miles long on foot, eating the hunt, making the fire, rope-traversing; these were only names he could count out of unbearable endurance these commandos are inflicted with. They also suffered hunger, emergency life-savers for mates who would get injured, tough competition to remain in the top 20 or 30 that would eventually pass the SSG; but they vowed to save and not leave the injured behind, they vowed to find and kill the enemy, in fact they signed on paper the vow to put the soil above their lives.

The day Ali returned to family upon completion of SSG was the wedding day of his brother, his whole body was cramped because of relaxation after 8 months of endurance upon body and soul. After a 10 days break, Ali reported to 5 Commando Battalion, operating in Bajour, FATA. The situation was tough in Bajour in those days; the Army was engaged in brush battle with terror outfits embedded deep inside civilian settlements. Every township, every village, had to be regained, cleared and resorted to the people, with sustained surveillance; every day was a new area, a mission, an operation.

Men do not fight and pursue battle for the mere fun of it, that would be sheer barbarity; men do not trade their lives for mere currency, that would be vicious avarice; men who vow with their lives are men living in a different dimension, they see life stretching beyond matter, they know of worlds not known to men of ordinary material sight. These are the ‘Believers’, who believe in a most Honorable God awaiting them, and they want to reach Him only with honor; they believe in His promise, and will not cease fulfilling theirs. They bear witness (Shahadah) living, and they bear witness (Shahadah) with dying for Him. Faith, the binding with faith-brothers, and the protection of every inch of the soil belonging to the faithful; these are the ingredients that boil their blood, stiffen their muscles and replace fear with fearlessness.

In Bajour Ali had been a part of 3 successful operations before he engaged in this last operation of his life. Whenever news of a new task or operation would be floated, Ali would go to his officers volunteering, and if they would try to refuse him, he would request them to talk to the seniors on his behalf; his officers having developed deep regard for his morale, and upon considering him their most energetic and trusted weapon, tried to pull him back from tasks they considered less fruitful, whereas Ali considered all of them as a prime goal.

Operation Brekhna-II was initiated on 6^th May, 2011; the Waqar Force had cleared the heights from Shaikh Baba to Chaitana, and ahead were fortified enemy positions. Strong resistance and heavy fire from high-points had jeopardized the advancement of the ‘Zalzaalians’ of the Waqar Force. Captain Ali volunteered for a stealth night-raid. Ali and his numbered men inflicted 4 casualties upon the miscreants from a seemingly lower position, but in reality, from a higher ground of stealth and resolve, and forced the evil-doers into the Gulono Valley, cutting their route to Afghanistan, their way out and in. On the night between the 8^th and 9^th, Ali had volunteered for another impossibility – he wanted to recover the body of the Shaheed and his belongings from Point 1771, and he did that; he brought back the remains of a brother who had succeeded into another dimension, and whose remains were to be a vital console for his bereaved, but all this not without putting his own life at risk.

On the night of 22^nd-23^rd, their mission was to capture Waleded Top. They were moving in stealth, Ali at the forefront; being an officer he had night-vision gadget on, while the Jawan next to him was without it. As they approached the jump-off point, Ali sensed the presence of terrorists on the top of a house, he immediately pushed the Jawan besides him, down to the ground, halted his men and signaled the Battalion HQ for confirmation of layout. Ali has stood in the front with his bold chest open towards the enemy; Ali was protecting his men and his homeland; imagine the valor of a man who stands in battle, putting back family and comforts, pledging to give away his life and luxuries for those of his countrymen. Before confirmation could be sent back, in the split of time, the terrorists opened fire; in the split of time when Ali had pushed his Jawan, signaled to halt and messaged for confirmation, the deadly bullet from the sniper passed his neck, grounding him, to instant martyrdoom.

Ali’s body arrived to us, and there was this very obvious smile on his face, and he seemed to be a groom, perhaps facing a joyous welcome from his heavenly friends; a smile as if he is witnessing the other world right in front of us and the other world is attesting his arrival with acceptance and good tidings. Ali received the funeral he desired, between his comrades, under the Pak Flag, with honor and grace. Ali was awarded ‘Tamgha e Bassalat’.

After Ali, we started getting news of young deaths every day from his colleagues and other sources; his Facebook page, Captain Ali Mehmood Shaheed, keeps updates of all such tragic events and we see handsome young men, giving their lives for the country, in the name of their beloved Allah, every other day. If this is not the highest level of Faith, then what is? Are they not the men of Allah, chosen and embraced? Have they not given their lives for the soil, are they not the real Heroes?

One can sense from all the above account that Ali did not embrace Shahadah by any matter of chance; he looked for it, ran after it and did not give away any chance that came in his way, to fulfill a mission putting the fear of death behind him every time. Every mission was a last chance for him and every time he would return successfully, he would think that Allah has given him one more chance to see his family again, but his real place was in the battle, where he was always the bridegroom and Shahadah the bride he seeked for.

Salute to the mothers who bear such in their wombs, salute to the fathers who suffer in bereavement; salute to the brothers, who have given one from them to the higher purpose; and salute to the soil, who has lovers and guardians like such.

Aneela Shahzad is an editor at PKKH.tv and can be contacted via info@pakistankakhudahafiz.com,  and you can also find her at Aneela Shahzad’s Blog.

by Ambreen Ejaz

“Do you know what day it is today?”

Someone remembers, I smiled and thought to myself.

“Yes, today is your favourite actor’s birthday.”

The smile vanished from my face. I sighed. The two girls have gone away chatting and jogging. I’m sitting on the bench after my morning walk and listening to all the teenagers passing by. Their talks were pretty much the same and none of them remembers, or maybe none of them knows that it’s Youm-e-Shuhada today. Disappointed, I stand up and start walking towards the exit.

When I came here this morning, I was young but now going back, I feel like I have become old in just 10 minutes of listening to the daily chit chat of our youth. Sadness has engulfed me. A nation that doesn’t remember its heroes, doesn’t honour them; doesn’t deserve them. How can we not be grateful to those who didn’t think twice before leaving their families for us, who gave their lives so happily that even death was astonished? How will we face them on the Day of Judgment, if we are not honouring their memories in this life?

“Excuse me?”
Someone breaks my train of thought. In front of me is a beautiful kid of 9-10 years on a cycle and I’m standing in his way. He’s wearing a Pakistani flag’s badge. I smile at him and ask him why he’s wearing it today. He answers excitedly, “Don’t you know? It’s Youm-e-Shuhada today.” Saying this he leaves and I keep standing there. I suddenly remember the words of the 1965 war’s hero that I read somewhere long ago. “Pakistan is our nation, we shall fight for it not once but a hundred times if need be, and we will not be doing anyone a favour. One, who protects the life of his own Mother, does not do his mother a favour, but only himself.” And these words had answered every question of mine. I knew what I had to do.

I drove towards Yadgaar-e-Shuhada. I had bought flowers on my way. By the time I reached there, the weather had turned very pleasant. I had realized that our heroes, although they deserve it all, don’t want our praises and love. They are above it all. But just like they did it for honour, loving them is an honour for us, not a compulsion or duty. Today, if someone like that kid is remembering them; they are honouring themselves with the love of such pure chosen people who make the heavens and the earth proud of them. It starts raining as if the clouds are crying with tears of joy and pride for these sons. Unintentionally, my hand rises to my temple and I salute them, “Salam Shuhada, thank you for your sacrifices. It’s an honour and privilege to love you.”

by Mariam Shah

Youm-e-Shuhada – A Tribute

“Life’s no life when honor’s left;

Man’s a man when honor’s kept.

Nation’s honor and nation’s fame,

On life they have a prior claim.

With thoughts of these I do remain;

With cares of loss or gain.”

Lost in the whirls of our own spheres, fighting our own little battles, completely enmeshed in the plenteous luxuries of our lives, we often utterly fail to recognize those who silently vanish for the sake of this land. We never realize their precious existence nor do we ever think that they have gone far from this place, for our well-being, in order to shelter us.

30^th April is marked as “Youm-e-Shuhada”, a day to pay tribute to all those defenders, Ghazis and Martyrs of this land, who scarified their lives for the honor of this green flag. It’s a day to honor all the Ghazis for their innumerable sacrifices, to honor the families of the martyrs and to express our gratitude to all the defenders whether in khaki, up in the wild skies or deep down in the unfathomable oceans. They never make us aware of their presence; they just keep themselves steadfast on their mission because of their motto “Iman, Taqwa and Jihad-e-fisabilillah”.

Youm-e-Shuhada was primarily introduced to honor the Martyrs and Ghazis of Pakistan Armed Forces, particularly those who served and embraced martyrdom in the war on terror. Pakistan is fighting this war on terror for almost a decade now, and it has changed the overall scenario of the country including the military, the political, the geostrategic and the economical. In doing so, there is a great loss of military personals and civilian lives, and destruction of the national infrastructure and the internal peace of the country. Pakistan is the main victim of this war on terror, as it has affected the ideology, nation’s unity, along with heavy damages to the national assets and the loss of precious human lives. The role of the army in this war is major and appreciable. According to Inter Services Public Relations, around 3620 soldiers have died and around 11640 were wounded from 2001 to 2012.

I had a chance to meet a few Ghazis, who selflessly and bravely fought in different operations in Swat, Bajour, Waziristan and Timargarha. When asked about this war, they replied that this war is more hard and difficult than a conventional one. There are no defined frontiers, war is everywhere, there is no local/national support, enemy is neither clear nor identified, and there is uncertainty everywhere. It was stressed by the soldiers that the enemy is taking advantage of the lack in our unity, and it’s an effort by the enemy to create conflicts among our sects and society. During our conversation, I very easily saw the hidden tears in their eyes; I heard them crying for this Pakistan while being silent, I saw them broken while being so composed. The entire present situation in the country has made stronger our armed forces, but on the other hand it has revealed to them very harsh truths, the insensitivity towards them, the neglect, and the blindness of the nation towards their sacrifices.

When I asked them their perception of the enemy, it was again a common observation of the combatants that the enemy is heavily foreign sponsored, multinational and that they have absolutely no understanding of Islam, rather they are misusing Islam for their own purposes. To harm Pakistan and the ideology is one of the aims of the enemy. I noticed a lot of determination and vigor when they all talked about rooting out the enemy from Pakistan. I saw them broken yet stronger, sad yet proud, when they talked about their comrades who lost their lives in operations. They felt proud of their tenures; they felt as chosen ones to fight for their country, they felt that it’s the duty of a soldier to fight; they felt lucky to be a part of this war as they were not left out when needed. Almost all of the soldiers felt that the lack of unity and the insensitivity of the nation towards the sacrifices made by them is discouraging and depressing for the soldiers.

When asked about the future, they responded that most of the operations were a success, but there is a need for a political mode to solve this problem completely. In the end of my discussions with them, I was convinced that whatever we say or do, it’s for sure that we can never pay back the sacrifices of our soldiers, of our armed forces. Sometimes for the sake of this land, they go beyond their duties and obligations.

مٹی کی محبت میں ہم آشفتہ سروں نے

وہ قرض اٹھائے ہیں جو واجب بھی نہیں تھے

~ Matti ki mohabbat me hum aashufta srro’n ne,

Wo qarz utaray hain jo wajib bhi nahi thay

In this month, our army had a major operation in Tirah Valley in which more than 30 soldiers were martyred, but our media very efficiently and deliberately undermined this whole effort; as a result most of the nation remained unaware about this whole episode and the sacrifices offered. We, as a nation, don’t actually know how to honor our heroes, and our media has played an extensive role in making us insensitive towards the sacrifices made by our armed forces.

I sometimes really fear the increasing detachment and coldness of our people towards every single life laid for them. Most of the critics are poisoned and inclined towards counting the pensions, plots and houses being given as compensation to the bereaved families. Did they ever think that thousands of mothers have received wrapped coffins of their young sons? Did they ever think that many wives are left to wait for their partners for the whole of their lives? Did they ever give it a thought that many children will now feel the presence of their beloved fathers just through their uniforms? Did they ever? Martyrs have paid the price with their blood, and there is no match to it. Can anyone imagine the pain through which the martyr’s families go when they witness the nation’s insensitivity and impassiveness towards the sacrifices made by their dear ones?

To demean, to criticize, to defame, and to insult is painless; but to be hit by bullets, to become handicapped by losing limbs, to see your father, son, husband, or brother suffering in endless pain is not simple. It takes a heart to bear all this, but we can at least recognize their sacrifices, give their status back to them and count them among our heroes. Those lonely brave souls, guarding the borders in the chilling temperature far from the life, die unmarked, unknown, without voicing a word. Whether we accept it or not, we hardly know what many patriots are doing for this land, and sometimes we are such misers who are not even ready to pat their backs for the tasks they are doing. With the passage of time, we have created a world of our own, where we deliberately refuse to accept what others are doing for us.  I wish we can realize the importance, the value of this freedom and the price being paid for this freedom, every single second. Thousands are soaking their khaki uniforms with their blood for this country. I wish we can honor our soldiers, 365 days a year, and not just one single day. We owe nothing less than our lives, our own peace to these Martyrs, Ghazis and their families.

This land is guarded by the brave sons; it cannot be ever harmed by the evil eyes. Innumerable sacrifices have been made by the nation for the up-keeping of the national pride, sovereignty and integrity; and countless more are ready to spill their blood. This proud green flag Insha’Allah will be fluttering high and we will never let it fall.

I ask nothing more

Than to die in my country;

To dissolve and merge with the grass,

To give life to a flower

That a child of my country will pick.

All I ask

Is to remain in the bosom of my country,

As soil,

Grass,

A flower.

(Fadwa Tuqan)

by Gareebah

It was April 30th yesterday, officially celebrated in Pakistan as Youm-e-Shuhada, meaning Day of the Martyrs, in memory of the brave souls who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of the nation. As expected, the day was celebrated all over Pakistan and abroad; the Pakistani community abroad did not fail their brethren back home, and made sure they join them in celebration of an annual event of national importance. The nation paid its warmest tribute to the sons who gave up their today for our tomorrow, with the deepest love and affection for their loyalty and valour, and the greatest pride and appreciation for their bravery and sacrifice. It was yet another occasion to revive the heartfelt love and loyalty for the nation and its people, to relive the encouraging memories with a novel hope, and to renew the promise to give up all for this land and its soil.

But there was another class of patriots as well, the modern living room warriors, some of whom reminded each other not to forget to wear a green ribbon in honour of those who gave up their lives, and others beautifully and creatively blended the green shade into the dashing dressing and makeup styles, all alongside the most expressive messages and pictures being exchanged.

It reminded me of an online show I had attended last year, on this very event, on the request of a friend who was an RJ. The RJ started the show with a reminder about the event, paid a tribute to the martyrs and followed it with patriotic tracks. The young men and women, the assets of the nation, kept requesting for Justin Bieber and Hallelujah, and went on boy-friending and girl-friending and LOLing and RoFLing in the chat window; while I, a born Indian, was left gaping!

My attempts at following the wonderful lyrics failed, and mentally, I was transported back to India. I remembered how even the craziest Indians suddenly stopped laughing at stupid jokes and ceased making cheap gestures the moment a patriotic song was played, or the Indian flag was hoisted, or a mention was made of the Indian army or its achievements. In India or Indian schools abroad, August 15^th or January 26^th are not mere opportunities to try out makeup or hair accessories in a green-saffron theme; even the most rebellious youth could be easily reined on these days.

The voice of the RJ, laughing loudly at a hilarious joke cracked by someone in the chat window, had brought me back to the present. The contrast had pierced through my heart. I couldn’t help thinking that had Indian youth been so insensitive, it would perhaps be affordable. Belonging to a powerful country, having strong friends to pat their backs and reach out for their help, to the extent of betraying their own historical allies just to please Bhaarat Mahaan, Indians have not much to fear. If they close their eyes, forget the reality and drown themselves in Bollywood, they could afford it, for some time at least.

But is it so with Pakistan? Neighbouring a powerful enemy, which is always ready for aggression and tyranny, with the long-time allies always ready for betrayal and standing up for the enemy; and moreover, the whole world looking in their direction with contempt and hostility, all unitedly hell-bent upon destroying the country for good, even if it requires orchestrating conspiracies and sacrificing their own people just to create unrest and tension; can the youth of such a nation remain asleep?! Can they afford a year-long insensitivity, unbreakable even in the face of such events and patriotic songs hailing the sacrifices of the martyrs?!

It reminded me of a short story by Umera Ahmed, where she describes a section of Pakistani youth attending an event in commemoration of the sacrifices and achievements of the martyrs. The brave soldiers, some of whom have lost their limbs or sight or hearing, are invited to the stage to inspire the future assets of the nation; the Assets that are bored with the broken statements of a man who lived and outlived an actual tragedy; the Future that does not care for the Past, nor for those who bought them this Future and paid for it with their lives; the energetic youth that is getting impatient to see the heartthrob pop singer, in place of the man attempting to describe how he ensured that these children of the nation could organise music shows, by facing and repelling the enemy on the borders; how he secured them these music concerts and risked his life for it, how he endured avalanches and snow bites so that the pop singer could entertain the nation and sing them to sleep, while he stayed awake for days on end.

Back then, I had not been able to contain myself, and had ruined the musical show by turning it into a patriotic lecture and walked out. But I had finally managed to forget the mortifying experience after a whole year, and decided to engage in trending #SalamShuhada on Twitter. Reminders about not forgetting to wear the green ribbon were tweeted and retweeted, which seemed to be enough tribute to the souls of the martyrs according to some, who went on to lament how somebody called Justin Bieber could trend more than something called Sunlay by someone called Asim Azhar!

Not to say that there are not serious people around, of course many are discussing the election manifestos of different political parties and attacking all but one, others are performing the duty of purifying any particular political personality of all his past crimes and presenting him as the saviour of Pakistan, some are feeling sure that if the election manifestos of the parties really mean something, Pakistan will turn into Singapore by the end of the year, irrespective of who wins in the elections; and of course, the myth busters who are clarifying and reminding the population that the election symbol allotted to a particular party is the Tiger and not the Lion! How can they let you ruin the future of the nation by making the wrong choice between lions and tigers, after all?

And the real lions mostly remained forgotten, those who rose above these worldly debates of victories and losses, who did not make huge promises with their tongues nor signed baseless statements with their hands; but chose to let their valour speak for them and their blood sign their vows on the soil of the beloved land. These were the actual builders of the nation, who did not ask for a salary raise as a price for patriotism, but paid their tribute to the nation in terms of the currency of life. They sold their Past and Present to buy us our Future. They stayed awake so we could sleep, fought and endured so we could rest, exchanged heavy bullets so we could exchange gifts, ran in the most dangerous terrains so we could attend marathons, played with the guns and rifles so we could play cricket, and listened to the music of the fires and bombs so we could hail our pop singers and sing their tracks.
Did they remember us and fight for us so we could forget them and indulge in the luxuries of our lives?! If one of these martyrs ever had a chance to come back and speak to the nation, what would he say? He would not ask for green ribbons to be worn or flowers to be placed on his grave, he would only request his people to harbour in their own hearts a portion of that love, loyalty and gratefulness for the nation, that he paid tribute to with his life and soul. He would perhaps request us to please take it a step further and educate our masses and wake them up if they indeed can be so insensitive. Let us all ask ourselves, do we really dare face these Heroes that have given us the right to be proud and raise our heads high?!

by Dr. Aaminah Siddique

Children are smiles and laughter and games; an image full of sunshine on a gloomy winter morning, a rainbow after the rain; children are the little angels that fill our world with the happiness it needs to survive.

Unfortunately, at dire times like the present, when war stands upon our heads like a vulture above a dying rabbit, that innocence of a child once born is now forcefully transformed into a strength that he needs to survive.

Today, about 6% of all Asian children are orphan, which is a major drawback on accounts of development of a country and its people. Especially in countries such as Pakistan, besides the fact that we are still a developing country, struggling to rescue ourselves from the thorns of terrorism, the lack of proper orphanages does not come as a welcoming gesture to the ever increasing number of orphans every day.

With no other man to prevent the economic condition of a household from collapsing, these young kids are forced to leave their homes and work for the family, for the sole purpose of survival. It is true that they could find shelter at an orphanage or a foster care, but they choose to stay at home with their mothers and younger siblings. At this point, a job is the only ray of hope to survival that they have.

But incidences of child abuse at work have been reported since a long time, and are the reason why since then, Child Labor has been thoroughly discouraged, making it hard for poor children to find work to earn their bread.

So, where do they go, if not beg on the streets, playing handicap, or stealing, or getting involved in hideous crimes like drug dealing? Because, according to the Pakistan, Employment of Children Act, 1991, any form of employment of a child below age 14 is strictly prohibited.  In spite of this Act, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimated in the 1990s that 11 million children were working in the country, half of those under the age of ten.

Now, abuse at work should be condemned at all forms; and on accounts of Child Labor, I would downright agree, as I am not immoral to second child abuse, whatsoever. But Child Labor is widely misunderstood today, so I would rid it of this discourteous term and address it as Child Employment.

In the United States, children even below the age of 12 are allowed to work on agricultural jobs, and this comes as no less than a help for their parents. Child employment here produces vast grounds of production and development for the people, and provides them a better financial structure for their household than with one man, working to feed, say 10 people at a time.

The Human Rights Organizations are too busy in condemning the very act of employment of children, failing to comprehend the fact that by taking away the opportunity to work, they would leave the child with no other option than to acquire an incorrect mode of earning the money he needs to survive.

Instead, my point here is to highlight the solution to the problem, and that is a suggestion to renew the Child Employment Act from the year 1991.

On accounts of the drastic change in the country’s economic condition, children should be allowed to work, on the grounds that their security is in safe hands. For this, the Act must consider including conditions that would provide them all the rightful benefits as employees. These working children must be provided with books as well as all the other prospects of learning through rights to education. At the same time, it must be the employer’s liability to provide increment, health benefits and even housing facilities and vacations to the child employees. And any abuse at work, through beating or extra working hours, should be met with strict litigation against the employer.

It is not hard for us to get rid of the menace of child abuse this way, if child employment is accepted as a part of the society, and attempts are made to make it easier for the working children. It is always better to think outside the box and find ways that allow us to defy misconceptions and stereotypical perceptions when survival is the goal.

Dr. Aaminah Siddique, pharmacist/ freelance writer; interests: religion/human psychology; blogs atwww.deadpoetsanctuary.wordpress.com/

by Dr. Aaminah Siddique

In the circuit of the recent turn-over, the change that is visible is only one that has left us divided rather than united, which later was actually required. Ironically, as a nation, we understand that the only gaping hole within us is the fact that we aren’t unified against one enemy, and still we try to prove our points by insisting upon the worst of them all. To each, the enemies are the same; but to each, they hold a different threat-level. There are the terrorists; there are the Islamists, the liberalists, the Army, the Government; and to some extent, the media; and in some dark alley of a dark mind, the different sects.

Sadly, while several of us wait for a change to arise, we all fail to comprehend the usual pattern in the change of events. We need to understand that as the saying goes, ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’,’ our enemies are friends among one another, and united against us. We’re the ones to be enslaved by perception once the time comes.

Now let me elaborate, or in something like a case, illustrate this. Let’s start with a breaking news that hits our channels, while we were watching a harmless family drama on a poor woman being mistreated by her in-laws; so wait-. Let’s move ahead later, just note the current theme of most dramas and movies coming up. Women are being mistreated by their husbands, fathers, brothers, etc., the typical system of a Muslim household, is it? Note the way the role of a man in running the family circle is now transferred to the woman. Not being sexist here; but it’s what men are sent here for; to lead the family, provide the wife and kids with their needs, and be able to make decisions that actually include several matters other than just divorce.

Anyhow, since the mother-in-law decided to play boss while the husband was away, we see what’s on the NEWS. Some Pakistani actress (apparently) posed for a magazine in a very ‘revealing’ manner. This is just one NEWS that brings us a series of different responses. Some liberalists laugh at it; they’re too cool to take it seriously. The Islamists take it seriously. The media takes it even more seriously and decides to exclusively submit the next day’s transmission to it. Some feminists take it offensively in a rather different perspective. Some say that the whole hype is ridiculous, what is of more importance is the number of women who die of burns everyday(?!). Meanwhile, the ISI, the government and the terrorists, all shrug and get back to their work. Thank you, media, for taking our minds off more important issues!

The only change that comes after, if we care to halt for a moment and breathe it in, is a change in our perception. We suddenly realize how we are so different from our very friends, how our minds are totally apart and we feel disgusted. Any step ahead to unity? I think not.

Hate against the system is natural; when we experience power breakdowns, adulterated food, counterfeit medications, irresponsible authorities in every organization, it just develops within. And it increases when we suffer a sense of betrayal, when our people lose their value over white-skinned gentlemen with blue-colored booklets in their pockets. It’s natural; but it fails to make the desired impact. Why so?

Because our media does not allow us to make the impact! Time and again, it brings up spicy dramas, talk shows, contradictory issues, and NEWS that make no sense but do make a better impact than that of a person starved to death. We sit in our homes and at our computers and take in everything that is fed to us, and we do not absorb the real intention behind it, but just how delicious it tastes and how great we feel! We call ourselves the anarchists when it is us who are drowned in anarchy, losing our ability to think, and analyze; an ability that makes us different from other higher animal, makes us different from even rotten apples.

We know the media lies to us. We know it, by its reputation, as the entertainer in the neighborhood no one likes, but still listens to for enjoyment. The foul-mouthed, but pretty-faced man who tells stories for money, but we still trust his stories, not grasping the motto behind the story-telling. It is to divide us from amongst ourselves; through domestic violence to civil violence, whatever it takes. So our enemies can do what they’re doing, blatantly, yet without any interruption.

And after all that, when the call for prayer penetrates the walls of our cozy homes and reaches us, we do not get up and bow down to Allah and ask for forgiveness. We wait for the Adhan to end so we can turn on the volume and listen to this heated discussion between Daffodil Manzoor and a few important guests. And then we can enjoy the evening tea with our group of ‘intellectual friends’ and discuss this there. To us, this is more important and, “please, let’s not bring religion into this?”

Where change was a self-aspiring process, it so turns out that the change we have so far achieved is the one we want, the one that changes itself from time to time as our wants change, and not the one that we actually need, to move a step forward.

Dr. Aaminah Siddique, pharmacist/ freelance writer; interests: religion/human psychology; blogs at www.deadpoetsanctuary.wordpress.com/

Editorial - Indo-Pak: Conflict heightens as Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah is attacked as a reaction to Sarabjit Singh

As a response to Sarabjit Singh’s unexpected death, Pakistani prisoner Sanaullah, serving a life term in India, was attacked inside the high-security Kot Balwal jail here by a fellow inmate this morning; and his condition is stated to be serious, as reports suggest from India.

It is apparently clear that the attack on the 52-year-old convict with a sharp weapon, was a backlash against the death of Indian terrorist Sarabjit Singh in a hospital in Pakistan yesterday, after being in critical condition for nearly a week, following a brutal assault by fellow inmates in a high-security Lahore jail.

Official sources said that the Kot Balwal jail superintendent Rajni Sehgal has been suspended by the Jammu and Kashmir government, which also ordered a probe.

The sources said that Sanaullah, a resident of Pakistan, was admitted in Government Medical College hospital in an unconscious condition, with serious injuries on his head after being hit by a fellow inmate in the morning.

A case of assault was registered against Vinod Kumar, an ex-serviceman who is also serving a life term in the jail in the outskirts of Jammu. Kumar hails from Uttrakhand.

The sources said that the health condition of Sanaullah was stated to be very critical, as he was hit with a very sharp weapon. Some reports claim that he has been attacked by a pick-axe. India needs to answer, how such a weapon reached within the premises of the jail, even after India claimed to have heightened the security of Pakistani prisoners following Sarabjit’s death. Shinde, the Union Home Minister of India, had issued advisories to all the states, for maintaining high vigil in jails and ensuring there was no attack on any Pakistani prisoner lodged there.

Sanaullah may be shifted to Chandigarh’s PGI for treatment, as his Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) was pretty low. GCS is a scale for measuring the level of consciousness, especially after a head injury, in which the scoring is determined by three factors: amount of eye opening, verbal responsiveness, and motor responsiveness. Sanaullah was arrested on April 1999 in connection with five cases related to Jihadi activities in Kashmir. The attack occurred ahead of Sarabjit’s funeral at his native village in Punjab.

Many apologists in Pakistan made a hue and cry over Sarabjit Singh, having no idea of India’s reputation of treating Kashmiri and Pakistani prisoners. There is no room for doubt, as many humanitarian organizations’ activists have unearthed facts about abductions, mass graves, tortures leading to amputations and rapes in Indian prisons. Yasin Malik, the leader of Jammu & Kashmir Liberation front, Asiya Andarabi, her husband Qasim Fatoo, and Musarrat Alam, being leaders of the Kashmir struggle, have seen the worst themselves let alone common Kashmiris. But let’s remember some Pakistani bodies that were tortured by Indian jail officials and returned to Pakistan during the past decade, with no reaction from the spineless governments in Pakistan, who were even more reluctant for the sake of CBM’s (Confidence Building Measures) with a state that is known for the worst violations of human rights.

The tortured bodies of Abdul Aleem, 20, and Rashida, were handed over to Pakistan in June, 2008 - Abdul Aleem had strayed into the Indian territory in 2001, while Rashida was taken into custody in 2006 by the Indian Narcotics Department officials at Attari. Officials claimed that she was trying to smuggle drugs on Samjhota Express. Qateel, 27, was killed in Pune Jail on 8th June 2012, and hardly a very few of these prisoners are known to Pakistanis today. The irony here is that these were not killed by inmates, but by officials responsible for their fair trials and safe imprisonment.

Inmate violence in prisons is a global phenomenon and quite understandably; a place where the worst of humans are to face rendition for the most vulnerable to crimes similar to those that led to the fate of these unfortunate people, who end up there for certain durations depending upon their crime.

Even the world’s most heavily guarded prison at Guantanamo Bay has tested the US security guards, who are still trying to contain hunger strikes by prisoners (still awaiting fair trial since 12 years), and 0% violence within the prisons can never be guaranteed.

Excluding fishermen, there are about 220 Pakistani prisoners in Indian jails. Many of them have completed their terms and still await any effort by Pakistan to negotiate their return, even after they have completed their sentences. We at PKKH will soon provide facts and figures on those Pakistanis.

India needs to play very cautious, as emotions have been extremely high in kashmir after Afzal Guru and the Indian denial to return his body, whereas Pakistan shamed India when it returned Sarabjit’s body, even when there was a logic to demand for Guru’s; but values and morality were given precedence as it is shameful to play politics on corpses, something which India is mastering as a disgusting art.

If India is unable to ensure security to Pakistani prisoners, it is in other words signing death warrants of its own hundreds of prisoners languishing in Pakistani jails. South- Asia has always been on the brink of war, and these incidents only increase the chances of major conflict. Pakistani Media and the apologists in the civil society, as well as the government need to come out of their tunnel view and talk straight facts before things spiral out.

List of Pakistani National Prisoners who have completed there terms in various Indian Jails Download Here

by Talha Ibraheem

Sarabjit Singh, an Indian death row prisoner, died of heart attack in the early hours of Thursday morning in Fatima Jinnah hospital, Lahore. Attacked badly by another inmate on a death row, Singh suffered serious head injuries, which eventually landed him in a comatose state.

Convicted as a terrorist by Pakistan’s Court in 1991, Sarabjit Singh was involved in the killing of 14 civilians in the spate of bombings in Punjab. Depicted as a boozed up farmer who strayed across the border by the Indian media, Sarabjit Singh was an Indian agent, caught by security officials as he was trying to cross over to India from Kasur side. Initial investigations led to the revelation that Singh was assigned to execute blasts in Lahore and Faisalabad, which were masterminded across the Eastern border. The Pakistani authorities also discovered that his real name was Manjit Singh, and Sarabjit was the nom de guerre which he used to cover his identity.

The Indian media has played an active role since long in shaping up the public sentiments. With its bellicose aggrandizement of crisis situations and creation of warring scenarios, it has already augmented the border disputes earlier this year. No clarification whatsoever is sought from the government, instead, broad statements are journalized and ticker-ed in TV channels. Some of the headlines of major reporting outlets go like,

Sarabjit’s body reaches Amritsar; India erupts in anger

Sarabjit Singh dead, India-Pakistan ties take another hit

Social media circles are rife with speculations related to the attacks carried out on Sarabjit in lockup. Blames are being hurled at prison authorities, caretaker government, etcetera. Some commentators went as far as suggesting that the Pakistani intelligence is involved in these killings.

A former Indian Spy, Mehboob Elahi, in an interview with the Press Trust of India, said, “I don’t have any doubt that the attack on Sarabjit was pre-planned, and was the handiwork of ISI and jail officials though other people attacked him.”

Yesterday, the Indian Parliament adopted a resolution condemning Sarabjit’s death. The right wing BJP and Akali Dal, lambasted the Congress Government for its failure in developing an effective foreign policy. The idea of scaling down the diplomatic relations with Pakistan was also floated.

“The Indian high commissioner in Pakistan should be called back, and diplomatic relations should be scaled down, till Pakistan gives full assurance that there will be no provocation or protection to any terror activities against India, and full protection will be given to Indian prisoners in Pakistani jails,” the BJP President said.

Sources suggest that Sarabjit was advised to deliberately create ruckus in jail, so that his release efforts could be bolstered citing security concerns. An urgent petition was also lodged at the same time in the High Court seeking his release. According to an official who was authorized to look after the legal matters of this case, the Track 2 diplomatic efforts were also on the verge of success, and the convict was all set to be released before the formation of the new government. Nevertheless, the fight spiraled out of control and Sarabjit got badly injured.

In spite of him being on a death row, whatever transpired in jail is highly condemnable and cannot be justified by any moral or legal code. The jail administration is clearly responsible for the violation of Prisoners’ rights, and it should be held accountable. The government has already slapped killing charges on the convicts involved in Sarabjit’s death. As a prisoner involved in acts of terrorism, Sarabjit got extra-judicial punishment. Instead, the law should have taken its course.

The Indian nation needs to introspect upon the accusations they have lined up against Pakistan following Sarabjit’s death. Criticizing the Pakistani authorities on human rights grounds, wouldn’t change the fact that most of the Pakistani prisoners released by the Indians turns out to be mentally decapitated due to torture and cruelty of the jailers. The barbarity inflicted upon Sepoy Maqbool Hussain, the Prisoner of War for 40 years returned without a tongue, is one of many such examples.

Following Sarabjit Singh’s death, a 65 years old Pakistani prisoner has reportedly been attacked and critically injured in Kot Bhalwal jail by an Indian soldier. Battling with death, Rana Sanaullah is comatose since yesterday.

India, a self-professing champion of human rights, whose institutional edifice is based on secular values, clearly failed to check the humanitarian abuses within its boundaries.

The “collective conscience” of the Indian nation also needs to account for Pakistan’s impeccable record in treatment of Indian prisoners, including convicted terrorists. Former prisoners Kashmir Singh and Surjeet Singh, convicted for spying on sensitive installments, were released eventually, which unfortunately, the “collective conscience” of the Indians doesn’t acknowledge.

If no self-restraint is exercised by India, issues like these would mar peace prospects in South Asia.

by Ghareebah

The ‘Collective Indian Conscience’ was satisfied on February 9th, 2013, after a long time. Afzal Guru, the supposed mastermind behind the attacks on the Indian Parliament, was hanged. But since the Collective Indian Conscience sought revenge for an attack on a symbol of its sovereignty and the loss of 9 lives, most of them security personnel, the judicial murder of a single suspect – the charges against whom were mostly fallacious – might not have been enough to satisfy it. Therefore, care was taken to make the murder as brutal as possible; his family was never informed or allowed to meet him for the last time, speed posts started getting late and stopped reaching their destination for the first time, the suspect was not allowed any last wish, he was hanged secretly and buried in the Tihar jail, his remains were never handed over to his family, and to top it all, curfew was imposed in Jammu & Kashmir.

Now this was finally enough to satisfy the Collective Indian Conscience even! The ruling party managed to get away with this great patriotic achievement, which proved to be a shut up call for the opposition, which had been planning to boycott the budget sessions of the Parliament and attack the government for its shortcomings. It also stripped the opposition off its best card in the face of the government and for the next elections – delay in the hanging of Afzal Guru. Many birds were hit with a single stone, and the collective as well as individual consciences were fully satisfied all over India.

But this conscience could only rest for a few months before it received a fatal blow. The Indian spy-cum-terrorist Sarabjit Singh, imprisoned in a Pakistani jail, was attacked by a few Pakistani jail inmates. This Indian hero-cum-martyr has been a burden on the said collective conscience for long. Pakistani police arrested him decades ago, within the Pakistani border, for carrying out a few blasts that took 14 innocent lives. And though the death sentence kept getting delayed, all attempts at declaring it a case of mistaken identities failed, even the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence, all pleas for mercy were rejected by successive Pakistani Presidents, and all the collective campaigns by big Indian names as well as a few Pakistani ones proved fruitless.

And then, a few days back, some Pakistani jail inmates attacked him fatally, causing him to be transferred to the ICU in Jinnah Hospital in a critical condition. And though the Pakistani government did not make Sarabjit pay for Afzal Guru – his family was issued Pakistani visas in record time and they were allowed to visit him in the hospital – it did not agree to free him on ‘humanitarian grounds’ and let him be treated in India. The Pakistani authorities went on to suspend 7 jail officers, who were on duty in the prison where the attack took place, but the said Indian conscience was greatly troubled; it finally started remembering the ideals of Humanity and Charity, not only forgotten but outrightly rejected in the case of Afzal Guru or other Pakistani prisoners.

To set this finally awakened – or rather newly discovered – conscience on fire, Sarabjit Singh breathed his last in the Jinnah Hospital. Again, Humanity was honoured even in the case of a confirmed terrorist; and though the Indian government still refuses to hand the remains of Afzal Guru over to his family, to the extent that Yasin Malik has declared a hunger strike for such an obvious and basic human right, the Pakistani authorities handed Sarabjit Singh’s remains over to his family with respect. The said remains have already arrived in Amritsar on a Pakistani plane. The ‘Indian Hero’ will be given the honour due to all Indian soldiers, perhaps to erase any doubt that might still linger in the minds regarding his identity as an Indian agent, officially sent to Pakistan under a mission, with the specific goal of spying and carrying out terrorist attacks. His remains will be cremated with full state honours, and the government has announced Rs 1 crore compensation for his family and a three-day state mourning.

The Collective Indian Conscience, along with Charity, Humanity, Love for Fellow Beings, Compassion; all were on fire. Sarabjit Singh was declared a Hero and a Martyr, leaders of all the political parties condemned the attack and offered condolences to his family, public vigils were held in many places, the saffronic militant organisations threatened to attack Pakistanis staying in Mumbai with Indian visas, and the victim’s family appealed to the government to cancel all Pakistani visas, and even went on to suggest war against Pakistan. And for whose sake? For the sake of an Indian terrorist, who not only crossed the borders, but also carried out several blasts and took many lives! The hostility against Pakistan made a Hero and a Martyr out of a terrorist, in a country where many innocents die extremely painful deaths, sometimes at the hands of their own Army and Police, without a single crocodile tear being shed!

But then again, Indian Conscience managed to prove its unshakability. Sarabjit was avenged on Sanaullah, a Pakistani prisoner in the Jammu & Kashmir jail. Unsurprisingly, the Superintendent of the said jail already has a history of torturing Kashmiri prisoners, and in spite of 7 FIRs, still remains in office. Moreover, the said wounded conscience could not even wait till a few of the saffron-minded jail inmates could be trained for the attack; instead, it satisfied itself through a former soldier in the Indian Army!
And finally, today, the Collective Indian Conscience is satisfied again. It ‘Rests In Peace’ now!

by AneelaShahzad

Roti, kapra aur makaan

Ilm, sehat, sab ko kaam

Dehshat sai mehfooz awam

Ooncha ho jamhur ka naam

Though the manifestos of all the different parties, presented in the last few weeks, are filled with highfalutin lies about what they have achieved in the last five years, and with high colored facades of promises for their next aspired term in the government, nevertheless, these manifestos have to be taken as a source for understanding the least about how these parties essentially think. Though we would not be expecting their promises to be coming true, in the next, or any next term they get elected, but we can at least endeavor to extract what their definitions of progress are, and the ideology they stand upon. This is necessary for the nation to know, as it may enable us to decide a vote, upon the basis of ‘which vices we are ready to bear upon our present and future and/but which vices are not acceptable to us at all’.

For this reason, it would suffice that in this essay, we focus mainly upon the indicators that announce ideology rather than promises. And it would be equally valuable to compare these manifestos with the previous ones of the same party, to also be able to understand the evolution in their thinking, if any.

Starting from the ‘Charter of Democracy’, signed between Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, before contesting the previous election and before entering the country, in 2007, in London; a document uniting the two parties not only upon the ousting of P. Musharraf, but also upon an essentially Liberal diction, that safeguards Western Secularism and Liberalism above those of Islam. The document  shies away from using any terminologies like Allah, Quran, the Prophet or an Islamic State; rather it is found to be composed of terms like ‘socially progressive’, ‘politically democratic’ and ‘pluralist’, ‘ideologically tolerant’, and always specially emphasizing the uplift of ‘women and the minorities’.

The stamp upon the atheistic nature of the ideology of the two parties, or at least the ideology they both signed upon, to win the grace of the foreign mentors, they were sitting in the laps of, was stamped in the following words:

‘…to decide once for all that only the people and no one else has the sovereign right to govern through their elected representatives, as conceived by the democrat par excellence, Father of the Nation Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah…’

This, by the way, removes sovereignty from the Word of Allah and delivers it to the vote of the people, which can easily be rigged later on. And above all this, they also agreed to establish a special Constitutional Court, which would be at ease to change the constitution as per this new order of thinkin ; only, thanks to Allah, they were too sluggish to have done so.

Coming from the CoD to the 2007 Manifesto of PPP, the party again demeans Islam by restricting it only to the idea of ‘teaching brotherhood, love and peace’, which means that we should be tolerant to other religions and sects… jumping thereof directly to the Sufis, who in their eyes, are a symbol of ‘preaching without force’. The only commitment to religion PPP is ready to make is of ‘religious tolerance’. The PPP does not hesitate in its manifesto to say that ‘…religious beliefs of individual citizens have little to do with the business of the state…’

According to this manifesto, ‘Democracy is our Politics’, and ‘Social Democracy is our Economics’ and for Democracy alone have they suffered imprisonments and martyrdom; thus comfortably replacing Islam with Democracy as their system of belief.

The 2013 Manifesto is yet another extension of the same ideology. It again looks like a copy/paste of some Liberal manifesto; this time barely even mentioning the name of Islam in its preamble. The preamble is based solely upon the martyrdom of the Muhtarma and has nothing to do with Islam or Allah; and it talks of a ‘new social contract for Pakistan’.

The 2013 manifesto talks on the Benazir Income Support Program based on the ideal of empowering the women,  in fact PPP is so confident over their BISP that they plan to extend this idea of ‘dependence’ with their romanticized ‘Mother and Child Support Program’, and their ‘Waseela-e-Sehat’, ‘ Waseela-e-Rozgar’ and ‘Waseela-e-Taleem’ programs. PPP plans to channelize Labour with its BESOS program and also wants to develop low-budget housing schemes through a program in which the government will mandate 20-year mortgage lending of land (scheme or scam?). The manifesto also says, ‘role models will also feminize leadership at the top and bring more women at all levels into decision-making roles’, though it is fully unclear how the word feminize fits into this sentence, or maybe they put it in just for the love of it….

Although the reason for all the martyrdoms, exiles and jails PPP has always suffered, has been the sheer want to liberate the people from the shackles of military dictatorship, and in doing that they have vowed to bring economic prosperity to the people by giving them total employment, free and mandatory education, sound and reliable energy, clean water and environment, freedom from terrorism and militancy, but Alas! They have failed. They have proven to the people of Pakistan that a mere 5 year term is not enough to even set the papers straight for any fundamental step towards real progress and peace; that the first term of 5 years was barely enough to keep the sacred-cow of ‘Democracy’ alive and not derailed.

In fact just the opposites of what they promised have been achieved; the country has faced prolonged energy unavailability that has crippled the daily routines and workplace environment, jobs have been lost and industries have been abandoned. Terror and bloodshed have been so much on the rampant that fear has become the second-nature of the populace. Inflation has sky-rocketed to the extent that major public spending has been squeezed to necessities only. Needless to say, the BISP has failed to reach its targeted masses, but neither has the education system been rescued from its tottering nor has clean water reached the masses. Corruption and extortion, yes, these have been the insignia of this mandate, the scandals associated with this regime have been numerous and humongous, but the brave leaders of PPP have the courage to dismiss them all with the strokes of their natural whims.

This also proves to the people of Pakistan that they are a people of such vibrancy, bustling with activity that in spite of massive rackets and appropriation of funds at the ruling level, the economy goes on! It proves that being essentially an agrarian economy, we are self-sustainable and self-progressive, and can show growth indicators, in spite of massive IMF demands upon imposing exceeding tariffs on all our power consumptions. Perhaps ‘Democracy’ is the biggest trial, a people could be put to, and perhaps we are passing this trial, in spite of all the load-shedding of gas, CNG and electricity and in spite of the fact that ‘Roti, Kapra aur Makan’ have been moved much farther away from the common man than ever.

But let us say that we are ready to give away all this, just to tell the world that we are united with them in the worshiping of the sacred-cow of Democracy, even though the cow is only grazing upon our ripe fields and not giving any milk. We would have decided to sit back and let this system take its toll, until, at last, the promised fruits of ‘democracy’ finally arrive at us, perhaps after a hundred elections, ; but we can’t! why?

Because the vice we may be ready to bear is much easier than the one ‘unacceptable’ to us. Because this manifesto is not only filled with false promises but also with a true promise; a promise that it will definitely uproot us from our Islamic Faith, Culture and Values; that it will systematically replace the sovereignty from Allah and will place it in the shifting, un-decisive hands of man; that it will endow unnatural powers to the people, and because they will be unaware of its use, they, the champions of democracy, will use them for bigger and bigger rip-offs.

Monetary rip-offs will be followed by identity rip-offs and the cycle of fraudulence will go on, until the order of things has been completely reversed. PPP manifesto promises the upholding of the ‘Jamhur’ (a democratic entity) above the nation, above the people and above the belief they stand for.

PPP manifesto says that they will ensure ‘cultural space for constructive expression of plural identities’, has this not extensively been going on for the last 5 years? Has the media not been flooded with Indian culture and Turkish diversity; has the Star World English channel not induced tolerance for homosexuality and free-sex through each one of its shows, round the clock; has society not been groomed for acceptance of the vile; is our youth not finding itself addicted to all that was considered shameful just 15 to 20 years back and have the last 5 years not brought us to the limits. ?

So before we decide to vote this time, we must look through, to find the essential truth behind the many curtains of falsehood and confusion. Let us not vote for the mere names of Bhutto or Democracy, these are not sustainable truths, their meanings are ever-changing and flexible; the only reliable system is the one laid by the Creator, it is sustainable through time, inflexible in law, only flexible in application.

By definition, the ‘Vote’ should be a means to secure your will over the body that will govern you, and if being ‘Muslims’ is your will, do not allow your vote to confirm the opposite of that. By giving our vote, we empower the rulers in the hope that they would put us in the way of progress, and we give them the same vote again, only to be disappointed again, but that is all right, perhaps we can afford that; but we cannot afford to give away what we did not achieve with the mere comfort of a vote, but achieved with the sufferings and martyrdom of millions and by a revolution that stirred up the whole Muslim community of the sub-continent into one stir, a revolution that may have taken a century in its making.

Give up anything for your favorite personalities but don’t give up your real, eternal love, the love to be identified with the Greatest Emperor of all universes and of all times.

Aneela Shahzad is an editor at PKKH.tv and can be contacted via info@pakistankakhudahafiz.com,  and you can also find her at Aneela Shahzad’s Blog.

by Atiq Durrani

Discusses the FP of PPP. What they have achieved in last five years and what they are going to present for people of Pakistan for next five years.

After independence in 1947, Pakistan inherited the legacy of the Foreign Policy from British India, with some adjustments in accordance with its ideology and objectives of the Pakistan movement. Pakistan’s foreign policy consists of three factors; (1) Security, (2) Development and (3) Ideology.

Because of Pakistan’s geographical location and historical background, security has remained the corner stone of Pakistan’s foreign policy. National security is always on top in the foreign policy of Pakistan. Because of the Kashmir conflict, Pakistan’s security is always threatened by India at the eastern borders. In the aftermaths of 9/11, Pakistan’s western borders are also targeted from the Afghanistan side, the reasons for which have been the weak government and strong terrorist groups in the border areas of Afghanistan. As Pakistan is the front-line ally of the USA in its war against terror, therefore, Pakistan has also been targeted by the terrorists in the last decade, and Pakistan’s internal and external security has remained the main concern throughout the last decade and will play a major role in shifting voter’s priority in the upcoming elections.

Since the public manifestos are often vague and mercurial and full of lies, we can say that manifestos are imperfect predictors of future policies. Differences are apparent among the foreign policy agendas and statements of the main political parties. Although the major foreign priorities of all the major parties are the same, particularly relations with the United States, India and the Kashmir dispute; they diverge significantly in their policy prescriptions.

Pakistan’s relationship with the superpowers has been fluctuating according to the International and regional political weather. Pakistan People’s Party relations with regional power like China, Russia and Iran are the central and strongest proponents of its foreign policy. In the 1970s, Pakistan built closer ties with the Soviet Union, China and Iran under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto; but under Benazir Bhutto, the foreign policy was revised after taking shifts to center-right policies.

In the last 5 years, Pakistan People’s Party went through different lows and highs in its Foreign Policy. Just after the elections in 2008, and after only a few weeks into President Asif Ali Zardari’s term, Zardari made remarks on a nuclear no-first-use policy on Indian television; his remarks were not only disliked by the general public, and the new Government was also slammed by the Chief of Army Staff, Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, over these remarks. Mumbai attacks were the first test for Pakistan People’s Party, but they were not able to handle the situation as required. Since 2008, there were a series of serious incidents like Raymond Davis’ release, Abbottabad Operation, Drone attacks, Indian involvement in Balochistan, Karachi, FATA, etc., and Pakistan People’s Party disappointed the people of Pakistan in terms of foreign policy in most of these casae.

After Sallala attack, a major shift in People’s Party’s Foreign Policy was observed. Under the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, the People’s Party pushed its foreign policy toward Russia, as the relationship with the US went cold after the Abbottabad Operation and Sallala Post Attack. Though its Analysts says that Pakistani military was operating behind the scenes, and because of the pressure from Army over the Government of Pakistan People’s Party, these steps were taken to strengthen the national security.

Like other major political parties, Pakistan People’s Party also agrees to have a strong relationship with China. PPP, in its manifesto, stresses on deepening and strengthening of Pakistan’s time-tested and abiding friendship with China.
The main concern for every party is the relations with the US; all opposition parties, religious parties as well as the people of Pakistan always condemned the weak foreign policy of Pakistan People’s Party’s last government, implying that it has allowed Washington to threaten and coerce Pakistan. Because of Drone attacks, Abbottabad Operation, the presence of Black Water and other secret agencies of the U.S, involvement of the U.S in Balochistan, sponsoring of sectarian terrorism and many other issues, all the religious parties, including Defence of Pakistan Council (Difa-e-Pakistan), have always pressured the last government to distance itself from the United States.

On many occasions, the former interior minister, Rehman Malik mentioned that foreign hands are involved in Balochistan, Karachi and Kohistan; but it was more because of the weak foreign policy of the government that allowed these non-state actors and foreign agencies to roam freely. PPP Government never gave them a strong message, neither diplomatically nor with the help of military, although they had a chance to do that, without hurting international diplomacy after the arrest of Raymond Davis.

According to the PPP manifesto, the PPP credits itself with “reframing a more enduring, balanced and a clearly defined partnership with the US, rooted in mutuality of interest and respect, while securing the largest-ever economic assistance package for Pakistan,” the manifesto is also hinting that mutual respect was missing in the past.
In the case of drone attacks, although the PPP manifesto says that “PPP will continue to impress upon allies that drone strikes carried out by the US are counterproductive, a clear violation of international law and Pakistan’s sovereignty, and that they undermine the writ of the state,” the PPP government has hardly ever condemned drone attacks and never took any serious steps during their government to stop these drone attacks.

Relations with India and the Kashmir issue is another priority in the Foreign Policy. Even though all the major parties identify Kashmir as the main reason of conflict between India and Pakistan, there is a difference in the solutions for this problem among the major parties.

In the past, most of the parties linked trade and other relations with the resolution of the Kashmir issue, but in the last decade this policy has changed. PPP has also mentioned the same thing in its manifesto that it wants to have an honest and sincere dialogue for the resolution of all the outstanding issues with India, including the core issue of Kashmir; but the PPP also wants the normalization of trade relations and the easing of travel restrictions. For the same reason, the PPP government also granted MFN (Most Favorite Nation) status to India, but that has not yet implemented because of the opposition of trade unions, businessmen and the general public of Pakistan.

In the case of Afghanistan, although the PPP condemns U.S policies toward Kabul and denounces the consequences upon Pakistan; but like the Kashmir issue, different parties have their own specific approach to Afghanistan. In its manifesto, the PPP mentions “Pakistan’s outreach to the Afghan government, as well as the opposition parties, and its support for a comprehensive reconciliation process led and owned by the Afghans.”

Similarly, Pakistan’s relations with the Muslim world in the Middle East, especially with Saudi Arabia, were also dented in the last government of PPP. 1970’s Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto strengthened Pakistan’s relations with the Middle East and Saudi Arabia, and because of that, Saudi Arabia became Pakistan’s all-seasons friend. But due to Zardari Government’s close relations with Iran, there emerged some differences between the two close allies and friends. Saudi Arabia’s handing over of Abujandal to India was a major setback for the foreign policy of the PPP government.

Although the foreign policy rarely decides elections anywhere in the world, still it is possible that the upcoming elections will reflect the disappointment of the people of Pakistan in the PPP’s last government’s Foreign Policy. PPP disappointed the masses most of the time in terms of weak foreign policy, but still they should be credited for making some bold decisions, like handing over of Gawadar Port to China, blockage of NATO supply after Salala attacks, and the most recent Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, where the government made some hard decisions in the national interest of Pakistan, in spite of strong international pressure.

Atiq Durrani is an IT professional and student of Mass Communication. Can be reached at atiq.pkkh@gmail.comand tweets at @SunnyDurrani738