Re: Hasan Nisar and nude beaches in Pakistan

This is in response to the Express Tribune blog article titled "Hasan Nisar and nude beaches in Pakistan".

The article initiated off in line with an avid observation however, there was no connection of the arguments provided later on in the article to the original point. It was as though the writer was blaming the social norms in the country for the lack of availability of nude beaches. At one end, there was the discussion of whether a woman should be allowed out of the house and at the other the hypocrisy of the Pakistani nation to resort to using proxies was cited. The article in totality was neither balanced nor did it succeed it connecting the dots starting with Hasan Nisar's original observation. 

Not doubting the intention of the writer nor the analytical baggage, however there should have been a clearer connection in the arguments and could have established a better connection between the original observation of Hasan Nisar's comment on nude beaches and the societal allowances prevalent today. The talk about frustration and survival instincts were particularly good in connecting with the societal barricades in place but there was little relevance to the final conclusion of using proxies instead of having nude beaches. Also, there were some flaws in the argument where "freedom for all genders" was brought into the discussion. It should be remembered that "freedom" and "equality" and "equity" are all separate things and that if one were to judge all things against the same rubric, then it would not be feasible for anyone to co-exist.

In the least the statement, "We need to make the world a better place to live in and freedom for all genders is necessary for that." failed to link the thought to the topic of nude beaches. Danish, you ought to do better next time!

The Spirit of Qurbani

''Why do Pakistani's throw up blood from their mouth?'' I was astonished as you are after hearing this question from a cousin of mine who had visited Pakistan for a vacation. He had returned after thirteen years and given that he was only six on his last visit, I decided to give his question a logical thought. It turned out that my cousin had been observing the market from his balcony and had seen several people spitting paan. Yes, he was not acquainted with that stuff and thus was confused when he saw people routinely spitting red liquids in a corner right underneath his observational view.

  

He went to ask a string of other questions like that making all efforts to register as a retard in my opinion. However, it turned out that his questions were not out of place or against common sense. After all, where in this entire world would he have had seen people slaying animals right in the middle of the road? To clarify, I would like to add that my cousin had lived in Canada throughout his life and so the very practices that Pakistani people cite as their culture and heritage turned out to be in conflict with his common sense. He failed to understand why people entered into a price race when they bought animals for Eid ul Azha? He is not one of the best Muslims I have met but growing up in a Muslim family he has learnt and practices well the basic tenets of Islam and hence I felt that some of his questions pointed to the stark truths that Pakistanis had grown accustomed to. His belief that qurbani is a sacrifice and that going by the Islamic way, there has to be equal proportions for distribution between self, relatives and the poor is scarcely observed in practice in Pakistan. Not that there aren't people who do it that way: there are however, these have been far outnumbered by the ones who buy animals costing a million rupees (and sometimes even more) and then freeze the meat in their deep freezers. My cousin’s invented a new slogan for them in place of “Eid Mubarak!”…it’s “Meat Mubarak!”

I decided to investigate by asking the same question in my neighbourhood. Very soon I felt too like a retard because the replies I got clearly indicated that qurbani for some people meant that they had to 'show' their wealth to their relatives in order to stay in the 'elite' circle and for that the higher the price of the animal, the better the bargain (albeit not the qurbani). A series of homogenous answers led me to the sad conclusion that Muslims or better said Pakistanis have lost the meaning of the word 'qurbani' in its true sense. Attending sermons and Eid prayers has not helped them change their ideology about qurbani, how it is to be done and the merits of distributing meat rather than bbqing it in bulk. I consider myself included in the list of people who need to rethink their stance and interpretation of qurbani and eesaar. I believe that if qurbani, as what is done in Pakistan, is what has been enjoined in Islam, then I would prefer to be labelled a retard and make peace with my cousin with whom I was at loggerheads because he could not understand why I drove past a red signal three times while dropping him home. I told him that it was Eid and traffic was low volume but he simply did not get it. Retard, me.

Kolaveri Di of Pakistan

Seems like we have our very own Pakistani "Why this Kolaveri Di?" with Waderai Ka Beta - Ali Gul Pir ... the video simply is viral and reflects in part the reality of our soceity - "Saeen toh saeen, saeen ka kutta bhi saeen". Interesting to see is the video in which Ali Gul Pir shares the road to the video. Even though it is a light-hearted jingle, Ali's live performance at Port Grand was a blast. Read about it here.

Pakistan and its image problem

Eric Schmidt's article with the same title is not just a summary of our problems but indeed highlights the many different areas in which Pakistan is lacking. That he could not come to terms with the load-shedding here does not mean that he was oblivious to its existence. He pointed out that "Estimates are that the country has enough generation capacity (hydro and oil based) to handle all the load, but corruption, power stealing, poor payment rates and the classic mistake of under-pricing power compared to its real generation cost means that industrial production is threatened."


With a powerful middle class and growing mobile penetration, his argument for change and development is valid and achievable. At times his observations were very saddening...the gone-in-30-second feat of our PM, the brutal treatment of women in the rural areas and the 43% illiteracy rate...not that the other educated ones behave as such (which creates the major problems like corruption and mishandling)


The article should be looked upon as the areas where we Pakistanis can work together and bring about some positive change. The potential in Pakistan's people and resources is barely tapped into and collective ventures in the right directions with support from the top is all what is required to change the fact of this nation in five years...

Much ado about nothing

Whilst reading the article (http://tribune.com.pk/story/374665/post-op-estimates-police-rack-up-rs16m-bill-but-barely-make-a-dent-in-lyari/), I could not help but think that for the police, it was all an affair of getting funds. At least the handsome figures of biryani supply costs insist so. The operation in Lyari has told the international media that we have terrorists within the backyard of our own commercial hub and that our police is incapable of thwarting them out even after ten days of "operations". It's high time for some kind of military operation because if the police cannot match the artillery in possession of the gangsters in Lyari, then there is no logic in continuing to keep the police operation on.

These things aside, a couple of weeks back, in a show on some local news channel, a reporter had surveyed the Lyari public on their issues, problems and concerns regarding the current security situation in the town viz-a-viz their political affiliations. It was surprising to see that the public's attitude was "This PPP minister (Gabol) is bad, but we will still vote for PP in future." The people had blind faith in PPP as a result of their generational loyalty and were not willing to look beyond it. I could not pity those people then because when the time would come to choose their fate, they would willingly select the thieves to rule over them. For them Steve Jobs summed it all well, albeit in a totally different context: "Stay hungry, stay foolish."