2009 in broad strokes

It is tricky to judge whether this tumultuous year was a step toward redemption or a shift toward further turmoil. — File

By Qurat ul ain Siddiqui

If pressed, Pakistanis would probably give 2009 mixed reviews. Throughout the year, political problems – clashes between the government and opposition; a failure of the civilian and military establishments to see eye to eye; wrangling between the centre and the provinces – and the slow march of extremism, in the form of militant posturing and suicide attacks, have vied for headlines.

Democracy is the Greatest Revenge

By Asif Ali Zardari (writing in the Wall Street Journal)

Two years ago the world stopped for me and for my children. Pakistan was shaken to its core and all but came apart. Women everywhere lost one of their greatest symbols of equality. And Islam, our great religion, lost its modern face.

On Dec. 27, 2007, my wife, Benazir Bhutto, was assassinated. She was the bravest person I have ever known, and the second anniversary of her death is an appropriate occasion to reflect upon what she achieved for our country, and how her legacy must be preserved against those who would return Pakistan to darkness. Twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, Benazir had an immense impact. She stood up and defeated the forces of military dictatorship. She freed all political prisoners. She ended press censorship. She legalized trade and student unions, built 46,000 primary and secondary schools and appointed the first female judges in our history. And she showed the women of Pakistan and the world that they must accept no limits on their ability and opportunity to learn, to grow and to lead in modern society.

The return of Yazid

By Nadeem F. Paracha

After enjoying a little more than two years of relative peace, Karachi was rudely dragged back on the mutilated map of terror today [yesterday]. A single suicide bomber managed to slip his dynamite strapped body inside a large procession of Shia mourners on Karachi’s M A Jinnah Road and blow himself up, killing and injuring dozens of innocent people, including some security men who were patrolling the fringes of the procession.

The attack has come as a rude shock to the citizens of Karachi and the Sindh province who had been witnessing horrific scenes of similar carnage perpetrated by extremists in the mosques and markets of Punjab and NWFP, and had, for the last couple of years, been somewhat spared from the madness that the terrorists have been displaying in the country, especially ever since 2003. Although the Taliban have yet to claim responsibility for the attack – and given Karachi’s history, the attacker may well hail from one of the banned sectarian outfits that have long been established in the city – many believe that there is no longer any point in making distinctions between different extremist groups. Citizens, meanwhile, are concerned that this attack marks the beginning of a wave of violence as witnessed in other parts of the country.

Pakistan ; A Failure of Intellectuals

By azhar aslam & shermeen bano

Every Identity has a history and so does that of Pakistan. It is short but tumultuous, although some say it was born with the conversion or settlement of the first Muslim in India. In truly modern sense though India was only itself born, when British firmly established their rule from Afghanistan to Burma, by 1890s. In the process of doing this however, they sowed the seed of national consciousness in the minds of Indians. British influence moulded Indian nationalism by omissions and commissions. However it inevitably also laid the seed of communalism, as different regions and nationalities in the sub continental melting pot, woke up to the British rule and demanded their rights.

Without going into the details, Muslim consciousness evolved from being Pathans, Mughals, Punjabis, Sheikhs, Bengalis etc ( term quam was used for all these), to a Muslim nation living in Hindustan. The two main definitions that competed for the attention and eventual adoption by Muslims were those of Azad and Deobandis on one hand and Sir Syed and Iqbal on the other. Azad and Deobandis believed that Muslims were not a minority in India and should stop seeing themselves as one. Muslims they argued were rather a part of a universal ummah, so where they lived did not matter much. Iqbal, like Sir Syed took a more practical line and they both wanted to firm up the place of Indian Muslims in the political setup of India while it was still within British Empire and after British had left.

HUSSAINIIYAAT OR YAZIIDIYAAT…. Ashura. A day of reflection for Muslims.

Villiany has many faces. None more dangerous than of virtue.

In Muslim world Hussain and Yaaziid are more than two persons and two historical figures. They have come to symbolise two world views, two opposing poles. Literally they represent Virtue ( Hussain) and Villian ( Yaziid). However like many facts of Muslim History this one too has fallen victim to controversies and disputes and has been used to serve multitude of personal and vested interests throughout the history.

A dispassionate view of the narratives that have been developed by various passionate individuals over several centuries show, layers upon layers of exaggeration and distorted facts. The consequences of these have been tragic and profound. I shall list what I consider to be the most important ones.

1. The division of Muslims between Sunnis and Shias have led to innumerable personal tragedies and traumas.

2. The division of Muslim world into Sunnis and Shias is one of the major factors that contributed to the decline of Muslim power and occupation of Muslim lands by Imperialism.

3. The Golden era of first forty years of Muslim rule has been made controversial. Rather than celebrating the republican spirit of the times, which could inspire not only the Muslim world but the whole world to methods of governance not yet seen even in the so called democratic world, the era has been reduced to description of mere personalities and narratives with no historical basis.

4. The real consequence of Karbala has been lost. Because,  it is unsexy, and does not provide fodder for those who sit on mimbars and imamabargahs, spitting lies and hatred. That consequence was not just the death of Hussain and his family. It was but how the republican community of believers had been turned into hereditary kingdom.

It was how the moral rule of God as established by the authority of the prophet had been turned into a temporal empire ruled by Worldly kingship. How Muslim democracy’s growing plant was trampled under the boot of Yaziidiyaat.

History tell us that along with Husayn ibn Ali, Abdru Rehman ibn Abu Bkr, Abdullah Ibn Zubayr and Abdulah Ibn Omar also left medina when Muyawiyaa had come to ask for their acceptance of Yaziid. Let us also not forget that after kerbala Abdullah ibn Zubayr openly led the defiance against the rule of Yaziid. Let us not also forget that Yaziid’s armies, including Syrian Christians slaughtered the companions of the prophet and their sons and defiled both Medina and Mecca, in the process fracturing Hijr e Aswaad into three pieces. This defilement of the holy cities and murder of thousands of Muslims is no less a tragedy and was a direct consequence of kerbala.

5. Most importantly how two of the greatest companions of the Prophet Muhammad, both of whom he loved dearly, Ayesha and Ali, have been made into controversial personalities. How we have lost and damaged the knowledge and great forces of their persons, who could have provided Muslim Women and Muslim Men with role models, the likes of which no other civilization could provide or match. Alas. While Shias and Sunnis may have won, Muslims and Humanity at large lost out.

Muslim world is at kerbala again. But this time we face Yaziidiyat, posing as of Hussainiyaat. The Yazidiyaat of sectarianism and tribalism. The Yazidiyaat of Mullahs , Imams and Sufis. The Yazidiyaat of worldly kings. What are Muslims going to do to wrest back the heriship of the Prophet?

I quote my favourite passage from Barnby Rogersons’ book ‘The heirs of the Prophet’.

If one looks to find the true heir to the Prophet Muhammad, look not for thrones or though the dynastic list of the kings, look not to the triumphant progress of a great conqueror or at the beaming smiles and promises of a popular politician.

Look out for one who journeys towards God.

Henry Kissinger’s 1974 Plan for Food Control Genocide

By AHSAN NAWAB

// On Dec. 10, 1974, the U.S. National Security Council under Henry Kissinger completed a classified 200-page study, “National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests.” The study falsely claimed that population growth in the so-called Lesser Developed Countries (LDCs) was a grave threat to U.S. national security. Adopted as official policy in November 1975 by President Gerald Ford, NSSM 200 outlined a covert plan to reduce population growth in those countries through birth control, and also, implicitly, war and famine. Brent Scowcroft, who had by then replaced Kissinger as national security adviser (the same post Scowcroft was to hold in the Bush administration), was put in charge of implementing the plan. CIA Director George Bush was ordered to assist Scowcroft, as were the secretaries of state, treasury, defense, and agriculture.

Quaid’s Islam; Quaid’s Pakistan

Today is 25^th December, the birth anniversary of the founder of the nation Quaid e Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Such days are always meant for reflection. 63 years after the creation of Pakistan where do we stand. Crisis upon crisis engulfs us, to the extent that people are questioning the very viability of the state. The core of the problem is failure to achieve and define the Identity of Pakistan.

Like it or not ‘Islam’ is the crux of the matter. The word in context of Pakistan ignites fiery passions and debates. There are two main groups. People who claim that Islam makes the basis of the creation of the Pakistan and therefore they want to impose their version of Islam/ Sharia upon us. The opposing group is led by progressive Muslims who claim that Pakistan was never meant to be a theocracy. Both groups can quote enough examples of speeches by Quaid to support their stance.

So what is the truth?

Rethinking Islam

By Professor Ziauddin Sardar

Serious rethinking within Islam is long overdue. Muslims have been comfortably relying, or rather falling back, on age-old interpretations for much too long.

This is why we feel so painful in the contemporary world, so uncomfortable with modernity. Scholars and thinkers have been suggesting for well over a century that we need to make a serious attempt at Ijtihad, at reasoned struggle and rethinking, to reform Islam. At the beginning of the last century, Jamaluddin Afghani and Mohammad Abduh led the call for a new Ijtihad; and along the way many notable intellectuals, academics and sages have added to this plea – not least Mohammad Iqbal, Malik bin Nabbi and Abdul Qadir Audah. Yet, ijtihad is one thing Muslim societies have singularly failed to undertake. Why?

Obama’s Af-Pak War is Not Just Deadly and Counterproductive: It’s Illegal

By Marjorie Cohn

Some 30 percent of all U.S. deaths in Afghanistan have occurred during Obama’s presidency. His escalation of that war is not what the Nobel committee envisioned.

President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize nine days after he announced he would send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. His escalation of that war is not what the Nobel committee envisioned when it sought to encourage him to make peace, not war.

In 1945, in the wake of two wars that claimed millions of lives, the nations of the world created the United Nations system to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” The UN Charter is based on the principles of international peace and security as well as the protection of human rights. But the United States, one of the founding members of the UN, has often flouted the commands of the charter, which is part of U.S. law under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

The Path to Redmption

Sana Saleem

The military offensive in South Waziristan has been deemed successful: speaking to the press, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the completion of the South Waziristan offensive, and stated that the army will now focus on the Orakzai area. However, continued attacks on major cities and high security zones suggest that many fighters have fled the war zone and are being sheltered in cities across the country. The absence of a sound strategy to combat the infiltration of militants in otherwise peaceful areas is adding fuel to the fire.

As the army forges on, the chances of more fighters fleeing to cities becomes higher. It appears to be a vicious circle of collateral damage: every time the military vows success, it is met with deadlier and more well planned attacks in urban areas beyond the tribal belt that result in heavy civilian casualties. Meanwhile, the recruiting of militants continues everyday and more people are being won over with the ‘this is not our war’ line of reasoning.

The Lost Generations of Pakistan

By afat

Pakistan is the only country which loves to loose its generations whenever they start to mature .

When Pakistan was made, the generation which was inspired was Aligarh Movement was spear heading it. M A Jinnah asked a Hindu Jagnathan Azad to compose the Pakistan’s first national anthem, which later after a competition went to the credit of Mr Hafiz Jallendri . ..Pakistan’s First Law Minister was also a Hindu. There were a lot of women participation , Begum Rana Liaqat Ali, Begum Salma Tasaduq , Mehnaz Rafi and the lot .

This generation was able to drag Pakistan to unprecedented heights.

Pakistani comedians fight Taliban with humour

If the Taliban produced a soap opera, Pakistani comedy writer Younis Butt pondered one day, what would it be like?

The love triangles would be impossible to understand, he thought, because all the women would be hidden behind burkas and no one would know which character was engaged in a heated tiff with another.

An Islamic variety show would be equally absurd, he decided. With singing and dancing frowned upon, women covered from head-to-toe could only sit in a spotlight with their backs turned to the camera.