Politics, Society and Cricket

Should they not tell us to strive for Mercy and Compassion?

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:59:00 +0000

For the last few days, there has been much sorrow in my heart. There have been the senseless deaths in Pakistan. The earthquake in Haiti. Yet, when I read something like this, my heart breaks a little bit more.

Many could say, how could you ask for anything more from Pat Robertson, who is an evangelist, and a fundamentalist Christian. Yet, it is these agents of intolerance, who in many ways represent our religions. And when, in these moments of human misery, instead of searching out God's grace and encouraging all of us to reach within ourselves for compassion, mercy and charity towards God's creation, these people condemn those who are suffering, how can one not feel heart broken.

This reminds me of when after the earthquakes in Pakistan in 2007, Farhat Hashmi, a Pat Robertson equivalent in Pakistan, made a statement that the people of Northern Pakistan were paying for their sins. When she should have been extolling all of us to reach within our hearts and show mercy and compassion towards those who were suffering, the only comment of hers which reached everyone, was that somehow those who had suffered, had brought it upon themselves. The human condition can be so heart breaking.

آسمان خاموش تھا اس دن

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:54:00 +0000

دن
آسمان نے روز کے ہی ترہان چڑھتے سورج کو خوش آمدید کہا
روز کی ہی ترہان ماؤں نے اپنے بچوں کو صبح نیند سی جگایا
ایک نے دن کی لئے
لیکن آج بھی آسمان خاموش تھا
اس محرم کے دسویں دن کی ترہان
جو گزرا ہے اور ہم بھولے نہیں ہیں
اس باپ کو، جو اپنے بچے کو سینے سے لگایے
حق مانگ رہا تھا
اپنا اور اپنی اولاد کا نہیں
لیکن وہ حق مانگ رہا تھا
جو ہر انسان کا، خدا سے بخشا ہوا حق ہے
اپنے حکمران سے آنکھیں ملا کے ملنے کا
اپنے حکمران سے انصاف کا حق
اپنی زندگی خدا کی راستے پے، اپنے دل کے راستے پی چلنے کا حق
اور وہ باپ. وہ بیتا. وہ نواسہ.
اپنا حق تو نہ پا سکا، لیکن ہم سب کو شہادت کا راستہ دکھا گیا.
بزدلوں کا راستہ نہیں، جو بھیس میں آ کے، معصوموں کی جان لیتے ہیں
شیطانون کا نہیں، جو وسوسے سے دلوں کو بھکیرتے ہیں
اور آج
ووہی، جو اس کی پیروی کرتے ہیں
اسی باپ، بیٹے اور نواسے کو اپنا قطب مانتے ہیں
انہی نے، نہ جانے کتنو کے دل طور ڈالے
انہی نی، نہ جانے کتنو کی گھر جلا ڈالے
انہی نے ہی، اپنے رنج کے بدلے، کتنو کی دل جلا دے
کتنی ماؤں کے دل توڑ ڈالے
اور آسمان آج بھی خاموش تھا
اور شام ڈھلتے، سورج خاموشی سے آسمان کو اور ہمیں خاموشی میں چھوڑ گیا

What about the Pakistani dead?

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:40:00 +0000

So, while we witness further war in Pakistan, Manan Ahmed makes interesting, but slightly sarcastic remarks about the shattering sameness of this approach. My favourite line:

They say more Afghans are needed to fight for the future of Afghanistan. I’d say find more Afghans who are done fighting.

He said, “Since 9/11, al Qaeda’s safe havens have been the source of attacks against London and Amman and Bali.” See, again. There is no Islamabad. No Peshawar. No Lahore. No Lahore. No Lahore. Nor, even Mumbai (though, the Indian PM did get that nice dinner). No matter how much thoughtful and thorough review happens, some things are never questioned, nor changed.

Switzerland's odd decision

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 23:13:00 +0000

Interesting perspective on the increasingly odd decision of the Swiss. I never really considered this issue from a perspective of state sponsored deprivation of fundamental rights of worship. Juan Cole raises some interesting issues about how Muslims states do grant fundamental rights of worship and representation to religious minorities, while there are significant issues of discrimination in day to day life. While that can highlight a disconnect between reality and ideals, atleast ideals exist which can be striven for. In the Swiss decision, if it is upheld, even those ideals are under question. Please read.

Maulana Azad’s interview given to Shorish Kashmiri, 1946 | Jahane Rumi

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:40:00 +0000

What an amazingly prescient article from Maulana Azad, a muslim leader we hear precious little about in Pakistan.

Art and the poor

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 22:09:00 +0000

An absolute must-read article about the way the so-called illiterate masses display their aesthetic sense.

Its our Monster

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:37:00 +0000

So, if you continue ot think that this is America's war that Pakistan is fighting, read this. This is a monster that the Pakistani military establishment has created, and it is one that the entire nation is paying a price for. Frankenstein anyone?

Simple Cancer Prevention is not Vitamins

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Yes its true. Vitamins don't help. Don't smoke, don't get fat, and if you are at risk, take the medicines that make a difference.

How long will we justify madness?

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:10:00 +0000

Well written piece about our propensity in Pakistan to try to justify the madness which is afflicting our nation. Nadeem Paracha makes a good point:

Every time the barbarians set themselves off taking innocent men, women, and children with them, these apologists suddenly emerge to write letters to newspapers and try to dominate internet forums explaining the intricate ‘socio-economic problems’ that are turning men into terrorists. Or worse – as is expected from reactionary news reporters like Ansar Abbasi – they will start giving details about the infidel targets that the terrorists were really after at the place of the attack.

Zaka told me that he got letters suggesting that the Taliban attacked the canteen of the Islamic University because ‘women students were not behaving and dressing according to Islam.’ The state under Ziaul Haq had the Hudood Ordinance for such ‘loose women,’ but now the Taliban have bombs for them. And mind you, those who were trying to justify the bombing in this respect at the University were ‘educated’ young men and even women.

Start a war - The National Newspaper

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:39:00 +0000

An interesting read. Raises the continuing incompetence of the Pakistani state and its inability to provide for the needs of its people as the primary reason for the current crises.

ISNA Condemns Attacks on Fort Hood Soldiers & Expresses Condolences to the Victims & Their Families | ISNA

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:37:00 +0000

ISNA Condemns Attacks on Fort Hood Soldiers & Expresses Condolences to the Victims & Their Families | ISNA

Pakistan at war.

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:30:00 +0000

For the past weeks, it is crystal clear to all of us that Pakistan is engaged in a war to define itself. For those of us who are abroad, we have been witness to a Pakistan that has been changing over the past many years, and not always for the better. We have struggled at various periods to convince those around us that the Pakistan we see on CNN and BBC, is not the Pakistan we belong to and love. Whether we choose to accept it or not, it is that Pakistan that this war against extremism is trying to find and protect.

I concur with many of the reports and opinion pieces which fill our newspapers and television screens that war and conquest are not the only way with which we restore the writ of the state, and some semblance of law and order to our largely ungoverned nation. Many of the changes needed will be structural, and will require us to work long and hard to create a nation state which protects and nurtures its population. Yet, those changes cannot occur in a state of fear and oppression from life itself. We have been held hostage as a nation to extremist ideology for long enough. While it is a mind set that has to change, it cannot occur as long as we have two, three or ten thousand hardened militants whose only purpose is to wreak havoc and destruction. Our military is fighting our true enemy. They are fighting those who seek to bring nothing but destruction to our nation. While we can contend and argue about what brought us to this point, can we not all concede that the destruction we have seen in Peshawar and Rawalpindi has to stop? There can be no more room in our national dialogue for those who see destruction as the only way.

Yet, why is it that it is only the military which is at war? Why is the rest of the nation still focused on essential inanities like the NRO? Why are the senior leaders in government planning trips to watch cricket in Dubai and Abu Dhabi? How can it seem that in a time when we are fighting to define what we will stand for, what we will believe in as nation, that its business as usual in the corridors of government? Why are we not seeing our leaders at the front, acknowledging the sacrifices of our soldiers and the sacrifices of those innocents who live in Waziristan? Why is every single death of one of our soldiers not shown for what it is: the ultimate sacrifice of a young life to protect not only our physical bodies, but our identity as a nation and as a people?

May Allah grant us all peace in this world.

Pictures from Waziristan

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:26:00 +0000

May Allah have mercy on us all.

They don't know who to blame??

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:20:00 +0000

What is up with this?? A bomb goes off, 114 die, atleast 20 children, and they don't know who to blame? If there is any failing of this government, and God knows there are many, the fact that "there is still a great reluctance to accept that Pakistanis or fellow Muslims are the ones doing the killing", three weeks into a Civil war for precisely this reason, is its most serious failing. Where is our call to arms, to a casus belli going to come? If Zardari is not man enough, or does not have it in him to do it, and if Gilani can only play Pir to his masses, then why will not someone, anyone step forward to make the case?

The War in Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:19:00 +0000

I have spent most of my life watching protests. My first memories were of protests in Pakistan against the Indian atrocities in Kashmir. Then against Salman Rushdie. Then against the American invasion of Iraq in 1991. I have been part of protests against the slaughter of thousands in the Balkans. I have condemned the Israeli occupation and oppression of the lands of my Palestinian brothers. I have opposed the war in Iraq, and railed against every excess of the Americans in their unjust war. I have raged against the deaths of innocents in Afghanistan by drone attacks. Yet, I think the time has now come for me to refocus my protests. While I will not modify my moral and ethical compass, I think the time has now come to change whom I oppose the loudest.

Let me be clear about what I am about to say. My faith as a Muslim, and my conviction in Islam and commitment to seeking justice for humanity and my fellow muslims has not and cannot change. My faith is one which relies on the Beneficent and the Merciful. My faith finds inspiration and grounds itself in he who was sent as a Mercy to the entire Universe. Islam and the Prophet Muhammed (May Allah shower him with blessings) have given me a faith which inspires me to love the people around me, and to see justice for those who are near and far. It is through my faith that I am able to find inner peace and a purpose for this often purpose-less seeming life.

Our true enemies today, are no longer those who attack us from outside. They are no longer the easily categorized infidels. They can no longer be just called the West and the Americans. While our challenges and difficulties as a faith and as muslim political entities are legion, it is what is happening inside our faith which is rendering us weak and catatonic.

Our true enemies are those within, who claim to act in the name of Allah, and in the name of Islam. Our true enemies are those who bring nothing but a message of destruction. What began as a message of destruction of enemies, has now become a message of destroy first and ask later. How else does one explain the savage attacks on civilian populations? At various points there were justifications made for the attacks on civilians in non-Muslim countries. Where has that lead us? It has lead us to the suicide bombings in Peshawar and the streets of Iraq. It has lead us to the savage murders and assassinations of ordinary individuals and mid-level functionaries of the state. It has lead to the destruction of shrines in Iraq, markets in Peshawar and mosques. Imam Zaid Shakir in a recent article said "We are the followers of a merciful Prophet, peace upon him, and not the ideological and philosophical children of those who have introduced the idea that the slaughter of an opponent’s civilian population is an acceptable stratagem or consequence of warfare." Now, instead of slaughtering opponents, they are only slaughtering their own.

Of course, it becomes much easier to slaughter our own, when you label them as apostates. Despite the Amman Declaration, takfir continues as a tool to label fellow muslims as outside the fold and liable for death. Despite a long tradition of advocating for conservative change from within, Islam is being hijacked by those who seek not change but to tear down the world around them. They have no plan for the future, no manifesto, no desire to create structures which can provide for us as people and as members of society. Reza Aslan speaks of much of this in his last book, labelling all of this as a Cosmic War. And while I accept his point that the best way to win a Cosmir War is not to fight it, there are ways in which we can structure the way we respond to those who insist on framing our current conflicts as a Cosmic crisis, in which sides have to be picked.

I have picked my side. My side is one which values human life above all else. My side is one which seeks to bring peace to this world, in the here and now. If I can condemn the Israelis for their oppression of Palestinians, I can condemn those who have terrorized Pakistan even more loudly. If I can condemn the American invasion of Iraq as baseless, I can condemn even more vehemently the extremist assault on the homes and lives of the people of Swat and Waziristan. While I will agree with all of those who blame state actors like the Government of Pakistan for bringing the situation to a head, and also those who find the US complicit in creating a problem like the Mujahideen and the Taliban and even Saddam Hussein, I will not condemn them anymore. Enough are doing it, enough have. The bombings in the markets of Peshawar, and the attacks on the GHQ in Rawalpindi were not by Americans. The suicide bombings in Baghdad and the destruction of the Imam Askari shrine were not by Americans. They were by those who call themselves Muslim. They were by those who insist that their faith is more pure than the rest of us. They were by those for whom peace in this world means nothing. They were by those who do not believe that Islam is a faith of mercy and beneficence. They were by those who do not find solace in the fact that while the Prophet Muhammed (May Allah shower him with blessings), did fight with a sword, he did not come with one. While wars may have been fought, it was not destruction they sought, but peace. This may be a one-sided or idealistic view of history, but it is mine.

So, as always, I will seek to glorify Allah in all I do, and to follow the path of the rightly guided. And that path, like that of Ali (May Allah brighten his countenance) shows that sometimes one has to fight those within. There can be no quarter or space in which such ideologies, which justify senseless murder and oppression, can find a home. And so, I will now protest all such senseless killings, all such senseless murders. Those who perpetrate such crimes are evil. They are not my brothers in faith. Those who do not condemn these crimes like they have condemned the Israelis, the American and the Russians, are not my friends and brothers.

This is not ambiguous for me. It is as real as the tears in the eyes of the women who mourned their daughters lost in Peshawar. It is as real as the prayers and fears of mothers of soliders who wait for their sons to return from the battles in Waziristan. I will no longer hear or tolerate explanations and apologetics regarding this. I will no longer listen to justifications and condemnation of the West as being at fault. If you think that somehow, in any way, the murder of thousands of innocents, or anyone for that matter, is defensible, don't talk to me.

Fawad Alam in preliminary test squad

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:37:00 +0000

Well, it is good to hear that Fawad Alam is being included in the test squad. I hope this translates into a selection. Fawad has played well domestically for the past few years with limited international opportunities. He has also shown a penchant for batting higher up in the order, and with the absence of Mohammad Yousuf, that is an area where help could be needed. It may be worthwhile giving him a try at the 2 or 3 down positions. one wonders if he has been unable to reach his potential as we have been consistently batting him at #7 to 9. Good luck Fawad.

Hear, Hear Afridi

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:31:00 +0000

While we are always quick to criticize, some praise is in order for Shahid Afridi. On a quick sojourn to London, he helped raise about $200,000 US for Gaza. Well done Shahid. Thank you.

More Miandad Analysis

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:29:00 +0000

A reflective essay on Miandad's resignation and what it could mean to Pakistani cricket.

Miandad: In or Out?

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:26:00 +0000

While it is always hard to trust Indian News sources when it comes to Pakistani cricket, nothing can surprise me when it comes to the PCB! It appears that now Javed Miandad may be coming back into the fold, despite the announcement and the press conference. Somehow, Ijaz Butt likes Javed, but no one else does, so Javed said plague on all your houses and ran away, but may be willing to be cajoled back in.

"Miandad is expected to get a call from the PCB headquarters within the next couple of days and a possible meeting is on the cards between the chairman and the batsman."

Is it really too much to ask for a modicum of stability, whether its in resignations or hirings? This cannot be good for cricket.

More on the kidnapping

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:35:00 +0000

I must have been sleeping when these reports came out.

UN HCR Head in Pakistan Kidnapped?

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:34:00 +0000

This is a new story. I wonder why I haven't heard this over the last week. If the issues in FATA were not enough, a burgeoning Baluchi independence/insurgence movement is not going to help Pakistan. I'll post more when I find it.

Its not just FATA anymore

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 07:32:00 +0000

For the past few years, we just keep saying its a FATA problem. For the rest of the country, its not a big deal, we have our own issues. Lots of people have been on the record as saying that if we left the "crazies" in FATA alone, then all of this would go away. Let them have their Shariat and their Talibanization up there. And of course the inevitable comments that it is America's problem, not ours. Well, it can be anyone's problem, but it is OURS! The Taliban or the TNSM or the tribals or whatever you want to call them, have now attacked a police station in Mianwali, a real city in Punjab. If this doesn't tell us that we can't ignore the problem, or brush it aside as someone else's, God help us, I don't know what will!

Zakaria: The Canadian Solution | Newsweek Voices - Fareed Zakaria | Newsweek.com

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 04:43:00 +0000

I can't believe it. Fareed Zakaria in praise of Canada and the Canadian approach to the world! Maybe Canadian's shouldn't criticise as much?

Iran and the World

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:59:00 +0000

Interesting Reading.
Quote: Tehran shares many American interests, including a democratic Iraq, because that will be a Shiite-governed Iraq, and a unified Iraq stable enough to ensure access to holy cities like Najaf.

It opposes Taliban redux in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda’s Sunni fanaticism. Its democracy is flawed but by Middle East standards vibrant. Both words in its self-description — Islamic Republic — count

Fareed Zakaria & Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Ahmer Azhar Karimuddin) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 04:37:00 +0000

Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek on a new strategy to the Afghan war. Refer to page 3 for comments about Pakistan. Obama reads Zakaria. We should pay heed to his words. The next issue of Newsweek makes a lot of interesting comments about Pakistan and the effects that changes in American foreign and military policy will have on Pakistan. Difficult times lie ahead.