Fake degree: Jamshed Dasti handed 3-year jail term – The Express Tribune

Fake degree: Jamshed Dasti handed 3-year jail term – The Express Tribune
Mr Dasti this country does not deserve honest and hard working politician like yourself. You made your politics to serve and help people when everyone around you were busy making billions. I praise you for your work and dedication and leave you with this quote from Martin Luther King Jr, “One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law”. You broke an unjust law that disenfranchised hundreds of millions poor pakistanis and I salute for this. Today in Muzaffergarh poor and landless people are left in tears and feudal lords like Heena Khar are laughing.

Economic Revival is Survival

In the world of business and investment perception plays a vital role in the feasibility of an investment or a business initiative. It is so important a phenomenon that it can transform any given event or change in business environment into a threat or an opportunity. On micro level venture capitalists along with other key indicators also study over all perception of prospective investment market before making their final decision. On macro level multinational companies and governments rely heavily on perception index before making any investment venture in or partnership with another country. If overall perception indicators are good investment or partnership will be made and if indicators are negative project will be abandoned. And they cannot be blamed for abandoning the project because every investment project has to achieve either financial gains in case of private investment or political gains in case of governmental partnership.

This phenomenon has taken a more serious dimension because now we live in a uni-polar world where one country with immense political and economic clout dictates its agenda. Furthermore we happen to be living in the age of globalisation where multi-national companies have more financial muscles than individual governments to force their way into any national boundaries. An interesting aspect of current financial crisis that is sweeping through western economies across both sides of Atlantic is that governments here are feeling the brunt of recession while organisations are still making huge profits. Of course apart from those few related to finance who are responsible for bringing spectacular collapse of property and financial markets in Europe and North America. So in future countries like Pakistan have to curry favour these big multi-nations as well as big players in international politics.

Human history has told us that Capital has always been an undisputed king. Or to put is more simple way Economy is everything. Huge stock pile of arsenals and advanced delivery mechanism with weak economy cannot and will not save a country or a nation or an empire. For those people who say they will shut down their factories for the sake of nuclear bomb I can only ask them who they would protect with their ‘Dear Bomb’ when there would no one to be protected. Histories are full of examples from Sparta to USSR where their advanced and sophisticated weaponry was unable to stop their disintrigation because their economies collapsed. Therefore focus should be on economy because it is only thing that keeps us alive. When you are hungry you cannot eat bullets no matter you have hundreds of them. You have to eat bread and only good economy guarantees bread on the table.

Problem with a country like Pakistan is that for last six decades people have been taught twisted notions of false pride and distorted histories. Result of this kind of teaching is that your whole population becomes an ever ready army you only have to tinker with their emotions. Whatever they do they do under the influence of their emotions. In such a society there exists no place for sanity or rationality. No one spare a minute to think about the consequences of their actions. If it feels good then do it no matter what. In such an environment no one for the fear of his/her life and dignity, can suggests of having good cordial relationships with the USA for its economic and military assistance and we should be very careful about Mr Davis case.

Because of this knee jerk attitude of our society no one takes us seriously even when we have genuine concerns. For us everything becomes a battle between good and bad or anything can put Islam in danger and we start protesting on our streets and close down our own businesses. In order to show our rage against Danish government we destroy properties bearing the brand of Telenor. Because of our irrational behaviour as a society outside world have a very negative perception of Pakistan. That is one of the reasons big multinationals companies are reluctant invest their capital in Pakistan.

In nation building patience is of prime importance. It took country like China with huge resources, more than hundred years to displace Japan as second biggest economy in the world. They did not achieve this by spending their time protesting against Japan or the USA or the UK on their streets. Instead they spent all their time and energies in their factories to become ‘Factory of the world’. They learnt their history lesson that foreigners ruled them because they had no money. Now every economy around the world makes decision after getting a nod of approval from Beijing only because they are sitting on largest foreign reserves in the history of mankind.

Faiz Ki Yaad Mein

Its Economy Stupid

I once heard someone quoting someone from the past to explain revolution as a society pregnant with new one. It is pretty impressive quotation and I must admit its damn right. According to Cambridge Dictionary revolution is” a change in the way a country is governed, usually to a different political system and often using violence or war.” Before we move any further as far as Tunisia is concerned it could be a kind of revolution as we are in for a new wave of political freedom and political participation with association that were missing since Ben Ali imposed himself upon Tunisia. It is ‘a kind of revolution’ as no one questioned the legitimacy of capitalist economy in Tunisia. In Egypt it is a change in which Army is going to control the government, moving from direct control to indirect control through an elected parliament. So in Egypt Army will continue to play central role by granting some unprecedented changes in electoral process.
Now as far as Pakistan is concerned it is a society of impatient souls. Pregnancy needs time to get mature and then deliver. In Pakistan people do not have a habit to allow time to allow situation to fully develop into full fledge change. Every now and then they become impatient and start crying for change. In other words we normally have abortions in every ten years or so. And as we know abortion is both hurtful and undesirable in every case.
And for those hinging on events in Middle East to become a catalyst of change in Pakistan, they have to keep on waiting, especially those with right wing religious agendas. Watching their poor acting skills on various TV channels one can only feel sorry for them. They try their upmost to relate these events with situation in Pakistan with their twisted logics devoid of facts on ground in Tunisia and Egypt. They struggle to convince themselves, let alone their audience about how these events have any truck with their right wing religious agenda. No matter what they say or imply they were unable to deny two basic facts about upraising in Tunisia and Egypt. First is the composition of participants in protests. It is mixed gather with women chanting slogans with their men folks and more importantly not wearing hijab from head to toe but wearing jeans and holding smart phones in their hands. Men we see are mostly clean shaven and whenever asked to comment they do not invoke any divine text to back their actions. So these set of people do not fit into their profile of agents of change.
Secondly no matter how hard they tried our right wing pseudo scholars could not find a single instance where protestors were using anti-USA or anti-Isreal slogans or banners during their marches. I have seen their faces hanging in shame for unable to find anti America feelings. For their tiny twisted mind it is ‘un-natural’, hence sooner or later they would term this genuine uprising for political and economic change as artificially manufactured by CIA.
This is of course not a revolution but people desperately agitating against corrupt regimes for their political and economic needs. In Pakistan though there are large scale problems but still people have various channels to vent their anger. The moment Pakistan will be able to over-come its debt to GDP ratio imbalance it has resources and potential to become an economic power house of South Asia. We in Pakistan have to turn our attention towards our economy as it is the key element where future of Pakistan hinges on. Analysing events unfolding around us is not a bad thing, but objectivity should be our guiding principle in every scenario. Wishing something to happen the way we want it to happen is not going to achieve anything but despair and confusion. That is what we are suffering from thanks to our arm-chair right wing scholars.
Coming out every now and then, shutting down businesses and scaring foreign investors away are not going to help Pakistan. It would further damage our heavily haemorrhaging economy. It is time to channel all our efforts in the direction of economic recovery. Both in Tunisia and Egypt people are up against growing chasm between have and have-nots. They are furious about joblessness and rising cost of living. Let us try to stem the flow of economic down-turn by doing our part responsibly. Let us try to avoid revolution because it demands blood and destruction. Let us create economic opportunities for our people as we all know that people can live without ideologies and faiths but people cannot survive without bread.

From Failed State to Failed Society

Which comes before which? I mean to say whether our state failed us first and then society as a whole degenerated or vice versa. But then I think we are at such brink where this distinction does not make any difference. People say that Pakistani society has split in the middle into two mutually exclusive groups after the cold blooded murder of Mr Taseer, but I refute this argument no sirs there is no division an over whelming majority of ‘ordinary’ Pakistanis are supporting Mr Qadri’s violent act and they either consider Mr Taseer as ‘Wajbul qatl’ or blame Mr Taseer for his own murder. So allow me to say there is no split in the society only few ‘miss fits’ are trying to raise their genuine concerns and by and large everyone has endorse this violent act. What I see in tomorrow’s Pakistan, Mr Taseer’s murderer will become a hero and most likely he will walk free with his ‘head held high’.

Honestly speaking I never thought there would such a day in my life where I would see people would refuse to condemn a cold blooded criminal. If a society refuses to honour sanctity of human life, fair play and helping the weak amongst itself for the sake whatever, it does not deserve to exist. Those who are showering flowers on Mr Qadri will soon be at the receiving end of another Qadri’s bullets.

Today I feel ashamed to be associated with such a society and lost all hopes that there could be improvement. With such heavy heart I salute the courage shown by Mr Taseer Shaheed as he was a ray of hope in total and pitch darkness. I also advice all other ‘miss fits’ to be very careful if you have to live in this land of extremism because forces you are voicing against are cannibals. When they will have no one else to kill they will start killing one another. They kill their own children and siblings and call it ‘honour’. So they would stop at nothing because they do not believe in dialogue or mutual co-existence on the basis of self respect and freedom. This is a hypocritical gathering that hates and hurls abuses on the USA and early in the every morning form queues at the US Embassy Islamabad to leave Pakistan for good.

A word of extreme care for ‘miss fits’, you should refrain from pinning any hopes on glitz and glitter of media that feed only few urban centres of right wing middle class in Pakistan. This mushrooming growth of irresponsible TV anchorpersons provide majority of their air time to right wing hate mongers with highly retrogressive and crude views. That is why when you ‘miss fit’ lot came out of your homes disregarding all threats to your lives and livings in solidarity with Mr Taseer in Karachi they completely blacked you out.

Today with exception of very minute few ‘miss fits’, Pakistan is a failed society because there is no sanctity of human life. People have been taught on distorted histories and false pride with absolutely no sense of fair play. A society that has failed criminally to protect its weaks in fact it allows them to be cleansed ‘legally’. A hypocritical society where Mr Taseer’s murder is termed as an act of God and his murderer has a right of fair trial.

I am hoping against hope that this time around Mr Taseer Shaheed’s murder might start a social evolution in Pakistan and left this society from sub-human level to human society.

No Country for Sane Men

One by one, extremists are silencing every sane voice in Pakistani society. The cold blooded murder of Salman Taseer is another warning for people who are harbingers of sanity and tolerance and crude reminders for them that they are not welcome in this land of fundamentalists and extremists. I was astonished at the hypocrisy of people when after witnessing harrowing violence at the hands extremists to their fellow countrymen, women and children they still have galls to say that it is not Islam. When a lady anchor person on Geo TV asked a religious leader whether he would condemn Mr Taseer’s murder he blatantly said “No”. And this religious leader happens to be the leader of movement for the protection of current blasphemy laws in Pakistan. He further commented that murder of Mr Taseer was an act of God but fate of his murderer should be decided by courts. I am sure he was a true representative of Islam yet lady anchor person finished her programme by saying Islam is religion of peace nothing else. I do not know who she was trying to fool herself or people listening to her hypocritical remarks. Anything that discourages sense of fair play and helping the weak should be vigorously discouraged.

Watching various Pakistan TV channels one cannot help feeling that everyone was trying to be apologetic for Mr Taseer’s murderer by giving qualifying statements about what Mr Taseer said on blasphemy laws and motives behind such a violent act. As if Mr Taseer was himself to blame for his murder. When extremists killed innocent people of Pakistan in mosques, in market places or even in hospitals everyone proclaimed they were not Muslims and foreign hands were involved because a Muslim could not kill a fellow Muslim. I am still waiting for what would they say about Malik Mumtaz Qadiri. He is surely an ordinary Muslim. I am sure now everyone in unison would proclaim that Malik Mumtaz Qadiri is not true representative of ordinary Muslims. Ordinary Muslim is tolerant and peace loving.

This is a murder most foul. It brought forward the nakedness and emptiness of Pakistani society. A society bent on killing every sane element amongst itself. A totally deranged and dysfunctional society where only those people holding guns in their hands have monopoly over everything from political discourse to basic human rights. I hope Mr Taseer’s murder would not go in vain and the debate he started should be brought into its rightful conclusion. But I have a very little hope and I am also concerned about the safety of all those people who are trying their best to break the status quo in whichever field they work because it seems Pakistan is a country where there is no place for sane people.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! (2011)

The Only Way forward

Image via Wikipedia As someone who has somehow modest experience in management, I can say without an iota of doubt that the survival of Pakistan lies in unbiased and frank assessment of current state of affairs and then taking a rational course of action. In management whenever we come across any challenge we confront it by taking account of strengths and weaknesses within our organisation. As managers our efforts are almost entirely based upon understanding our immediate and remote environments in which we operate. If we have strengths then we take all important measures to turn this new situation into an opportunity and maximise profits. If we do not have necessary attributes to confront new situation, then we try to either neutralise threat or to make necessary changes to minimise its negative impacts on our business. But an important thing to remember is as managers we have to evaluate our environment without any bias or prejudice. As we know it very well that tempering with evaluation by replacing facts with fictions or personal whims and prejudices render it inaccurate and biased. If implemented it would be a disaster for any business.
Pakistan as a society has failed to assess its environment realistically and result of which it has been repeating same mistake over and over again. And they are bent on making same mistake on the issue of Wikileaks revelations. Irrespective of its contents majority of Pakistanis think it is west’s conspiracy against Pakistan in particular and Muslim world in general. Because their assessment is biased therefore either they dismiss it altogether or make a wrong decision to tackle it. Decision would be wrong because it is A- based upon personal biases and prejudice and B- has failed to incorporate operational or inherent strengths and weaknesses. And this is not limited to Wikileaks unfortunately this unrealistic approach can be seen in every other situation such as terrorism, blasphemy, sectarianism, violence, women rights issues, natural disasters so far and so forth.
The best way forward is to take a break from old ways of assessing situation and make a fresh start. Some basic rethinking is involved in making fresh start. These include:
1- Pakistan is not centre of this world.
2- World is not against us.
3- We are part of this world and do not and cannot live in isolation.
4- Every Pakistani is equal irrespective of class, creed, sex or religion.
5- We have to work along other countries to achieve our national goals.
6- We should recognise our size and power before making any decision.
7- Fully aware of our strengths and weaknesses.
8- Anyone having different point of view cannot necessarily be an Israeli, Indian, American or foreign agent. He/she is as patriotic as anyone else.
9- Do away with anything that stops or hinders progress either by making it private or reject it altogether.
10- Sanctity of human life should be given prime importance.
I certainly believe that if Pakistanis start taking unbiased and realistic approach towards any political or social issue they will start making good decisions which in turns leads to the path of bright and successful future.

Let Us Join Human race

Image via Wikipedia If there is anything positive that has come out of current public debate on death penalty of Aasia Bibi on blasphemy charges, it ruptured the ostensibly thick and immutable veneer of rightist argument that there was unanimity among all sections of religious elements on death penalty of blasphemy. Now a very sizeable and serious section of religious elements has come forward with challenging views on present state of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Interestingly, all those who are opposed to any change or repealing of this inhuman and obnoxious act from the statue book belong to politico-religious parties. And those in favour of changes or repealing of this act have no vested interests or have little or no political stakes.
Apart from that Pakistani media especially electronic media with exceptions of few have been dominated by rightist views. People with orthodox, out-dated and oft-repeated views have been given more air time and have never been taken to task by asking strong probing questions. It seems it is an exercise to strengthen the status quo and stifle any voice which prompts someone to think out of the box. If you want to win an argument it has been the most effective and common practice to quote some Hadith or Quaranic verse in favour of your argument and nobody would dare to oppose you. It would normally not because he/she does not want to oppose you but only because of fear of his/her life. It is because rationality and religion are mutually exclusive. Or should I say sanity and religion do not mix very well.
I have always been of the view that if you bring something in public you must accept the public scrutiny. If you want to protect or preserve something then keep it safely away from public domain. Therefore if you bring your religion in to political or public sphere then you must have strong defence. Religion should be subject to same parameters that we normally use to dissect any other social phenomenon. Anywhere in the world when societies tried to stop the clock of evolution on religion after making it political it morphed into a source of great destruction.
Religion is a human experience and let it be this way. It was a great event in common history of human beings but clock did not stop there. It has moved on, we are evolutionary beings our economics, our science, our industry, our culture, our language in fact every facet of our life is evolutionary. There is nothing constant in this world and religion is no exception. Therefore let us embrace big wide world and become the part of human race that is our true identity. Let us preserve human race by preserving human life.

Let Us Make a Difference

Yet another Aasia Bibi convicted of blasphemy and condemned to death by hanging. While reading this news piece I was looking for a surprise. Something unusual, extraordinary and thought provoking debate followed by concerted efforts from all sections of Pakistani society to make a difference. To stand up and say good bye to old ways, shun the past bigotries and march in a new and refreshing direction. But as usual there is not a single voice of change. Not even a feeble one. Pakistani media particularly television anchors who claim ad nauseum to be the harbinger of change could not muster courage to ask right probing questions. Some days back when ‘true Muslims’- according to Minister of Tourism- Taliban butchered Ahmadi Muslims in Lahore in the middle of their Friday prayer in their mosque no one bothered to question the validity and usefulness of the concept of an Islamic state. You will not be able to get to any where if you are keep on asking wrong questions. It does not matter how many times or in how much louder tone. It would only generate more confusion and chaos.
You want to develop a society based on the concept of equality then how on earth you can achieve such a lofty goal if your underlying principle discriminates people in ‘us’ and ‘them’. This is as simple as I said. For the last sixty odd years we have been treading on beaten path. Repeating mistake after another mistake and finding ourselves foolishly surprised to have same dreadful outcomes. How many more years do we need to know that in order to develop a peaceful society we need to have a concept that is inclusive not exclusive. A concept that can bring people together. A principle that does not divide people in ‘us’ and ‘them’ but says ‘we the people’. This can only be achieved if we decide to change our direction. If we make a resolve that we are not going to repeat that same foolish mistakes. We are committed to select a different path. Let us say once and for all that survival of Pakistan is in secularism as it is the only concept that is inclusive. It treats everyone equally and without any discrimination. Everyone is equal in the eyes of law and honour is for those who contribute towards the economic well being of his/her fellow citizens. If we managed to do this we can get our rightful place among humanity and that decision will make all the difference.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
(The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost, 1915)

Que Cera Cera: Haan Magar Tere Siwa Tere Siwa Tere Siwa

Que Cera Cera: Haan Magar Tere Siwa Tere Siwa Tere Siwa

Haan Magar Tere Siwa Tere Siwa Tere Siwa

Let us be honest with one another. We are a nation who has been taught distorted histories. We have been inculcated with absurd notions of religious pride. For us the source of honour and pride is not based upon once contribution towards humanity but how religious one can be. Everything we see around the world we see it with religious angle and more often we see a plot and conspiracy against our religion. In our social values we attribute great value to so called family pride. In our social values we hardly debate why there is complete lack of sanctity of human life in our society? We kill our daughters and sons in order to save our family pride. We destroy public and private business to protect our religious pride. We protest vehemently against foreign invasion and killing at the hands of foreign solidiers but keep a criminal silence when we kill our own people. Whole country protested angrily at the killing at Data Darbar but there was deafening silence at brutal murder of 95 Ahmedis at Ahmedi Mosque in Lahore.
Let us be honest there is ‘something’ within us which robbed sense of fair play and honesty in us. That ‘something’ has reduced us to mere hypocrites. This ‘something’ has deformed our thinking faculties and we strive and act only to protect this foreign ‘something’ in us. Over the years this ‘something’ has grown bigger and bigger and its appetite for human blood is now insatiable. Unless we recognise this evil within us this madness and bloodshed will never ever be stopped. This evil is religious extremism. This extremism so pervasive, it crept into our ordinary life. It forced us to change how we value our fellow citizens, how to greet them, how to share our sorrows and happiness with them. We forgot to help the fallen one in the time of their needs all because those fallen ones happened to be Ahmedi Muslims. We fail to register our anger when Christian villages were being torched and people were being burnt alive. We turned away when Imam Barghas were being bombed and mourners of Hazrat Imam Hussain were being slaughtered in broad day light. Now this extremism turned Data Nagri in to valley of death and still we are unable to locate the problem. We point fingers towards outsiders sometimes calling them ‘Pakistan ke dushmin’ and sometime labelling them ‘Islam dushmin’.
Let us be honest for our own survival and accept categorically that this problem exist inside ourselves. We are the problem and only we can solve it. Unless we change ourselves we cannot change anything. First and foremost thing that we have to do is accept the notion that all Pakistanis are equal. Honour is only for those who contribute towards the scientific, economical or social well being of fellow Pakistanis. From now on sanctity of human life will be given prime importance in our society. We will never entertain any kind of violence legal or illegal in our society. Pakistan as country is for Pakistanis not only for Muslims. State of Pakistan should be renamed into Democratic Republic of Pakistan and religion must be a personal matter.
If we could do this then I can see a ray of light at the end of tunnel. On the other hand I dread the day when we will be telling this story . First they came for secular and rationalists I did not object because I was not a secular or rationalist. Then they came for Hindu it did not bother me as I was not a Hindu. Then they came for Christians I kept my quiet because I was not a Christian but an ordinary Pakistani. After sometime they came for Shias. I did not stop them as I was an ordinary Pakistani not a shia. Recently they came for Brelivis. I did not do anything because I was not a Brelivi. Then they came for ordinary Pakistanis and when I looked around there was no one to defend me.
Tere Azar ka chara nahin nishtar ke siwa
Aur ye suffaaq maseeha mere qabze mein nahin
Is jahan ke kisi ze roh ke qabze mein nahin
Haan magar tere siwa tere siwa tere siwa

Hum Jo Tareek RahooN pay Ma-ray Gaiy

Hypocritical Mourners

If you have seen Taliban apologists like right-wing media outlets and Islamic parties in Pakistan, you must have seen them justifying Taliban atrocities by claiming them as justified reactions to drone attacks in tribal areas of Pakistan. Therefore according to their flawed arguments if Ahmedis decided to take up arms against Sunni fundamentalists Ahmedis would justified to do so.

Recognition of a problem is first step towards solution

It is universally accepted reality not restricted to any particular domain of human knowledge and humans over the centuries have overcome many seemingly impossible tasks by putting this dictum into practise. Like for example political tensions in Ireland. British government tried and failed in their every effort to bring situation in Northern Ireland under control until they realised that they had a problem. After this recognition they set back and devised a peaceful way out of this crisis before it could turn from bad to worse.
As things stand now in Pakistan we do not have this luxury because every other commentator you listen to instead of making situation understandable they on the other hand make it more complex and confusing. Like for example the issue of Taliban of Pakistan. For last two and half years Taliban have killed more than 1000 Pakistanis both civilian and security personals yet Pakistanis are yet to come up with any clear cut and unified position on Talibans. It boggles mind that whenever Taliban kill innocent people in Pakistan their barbaric actions have always been condemned with qualifications like drone attacks, the US war on Afghanistan as if Talibans were bunch of peaceful people. As if they had a civilised administration in Kabul where civil liberties are well protected and women had freedom like any civilised society in the world. As if they morphed into present state of ruthless, barbaric and inhuman beings only after the invasion of the US led coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Nobody in his sane mind would argue the fact that Pakistan is facing an existential threat and present administration in Pakistan is in a state of denial. And things are getting more and more confusing because almost every important organ of state has been infiltrated by Taliban apologists who were nurtured over the years by successive military regimes since late seventies. Media particularly electronic have been dominated by rightists and they give more space to views of people like born again Muslim Imran Khan, General Hameed Gul and Ansar Abbasi and Shareen Mazari etc. These people try insanely to provide rationale to Taliban brutalities. This is a recipe of disaster for the state of Pakistan. Today the state of Pakistan is trying to re-establish its writ in North West Frontier Province and Balochistan but if things did not change it may neither have land nor power to exist beyond few miles radius of Islamabad.
Therefore it is important for every Pakistani not to underestimate the destructive powers of Taliban and they need to show political maturity to stand up for protecting their civil rights enshrined in the constitution of Pakistan. No matter how much appeasing we do we cannot guarantee any protection for our civil liberties. These extremists are a cancer we cannot make peace with cancer, we fight it and try everything to expel it out of our body if we want to have a health living. And it is the only way we can actually defeat extremist onslaught and save the future of our children.

Al Ain Castle, UAE

DSC00188
Originally uploaded by imranbhatt

The Listeners

'Is there anybody there?' said the traveller,

Knocking on the moon lit door,

And his horse in the silence champed the grasses

Of the forest's frony floor.

A bird flew up out of the turret,

Above the traveller's head;

And he smote upon the door again a second time:

'Is there anybody there?' he said.

But no one descended to the traveller.

No head from the leaf fringed sill

Leaned over and looked into his gray eye

Where he stood perplexed and still.

But only a host of phantom listeners

That dwelt in the lone house then

Stood listening in the quiet of the moonlight

To that voice from the world of men;

Stood thronging the faint moon beams on the dark stair,

That goes down to the empty hall.

Hearkening in an air stirred and shaken

By the lonely traveller's call.

And he felt in his heart their strangeness.

Their stillness answering his cry,

While his horse moved, cropping the dark turf,

'Neath the starred and leafy sky;

For he suddenly smote on the door, even

Louder, and lifted his head:

'Tell them I came, and no one answered,

That I kept my word,' he said.

Never the least stir made the listeners,

Though every word he spake

Fell echoing through the shadowines of the still house

From the one man left awake:

Ay, they heard his foot upon the stirrup,

And the sound of iron on stone,

And how the silence surged softly backward,

When the plunging hoofs were gone.

(Walter De la Mare)

http://imranbhatt.com/

On Kenyan Path

Economically speaking Kenya was one of the few success stories in Africa. It was galloping in fast forward gear towards becoming a developed country leaving behind a stigma of named as third world economy. Then on 27 December, 2007 elections were held to choose between incumbent president Mowai Kabaki and opposition leader Roala Odenga. Large scale rigging were reported but Kenyan election commission under the influence of President Kabaki declared Mr Kabaki as a winner. However opposition refused to accept the results and started agitation against incumbent Kabaki. Agitation soon engulfed Kenya and Mr Kabaki banned television networks, radio stations and newspapers and ordered law enforcing personnels to fire at demonstrators with live ammunition. Up until now 1500 Kenyans have lost their lives and 250,000 rendered homeless. Violence has not shown any signs of abetting and economy has taken a nose dive. There have been no trading in stock exchange, massive devaluation of national currency and factories and other business centres are closing down. Kenya is facing a severe crisis of its survival as a country and people are fearing a break up of Kenya into two entities. Economic pundits are warning against Kenya becoming bankrupt if no further measures were taken to bail out its economy. It all started with one man's desire to rig elections in his favour.
Kenyans who are forced to see their prosperous country disintegrating in front of their own eyes do not deserve this. They are suffering for a crime they did not commit. This calamity has befallen upon them because one person thinks he is indispensable and his hunger of power is insatiable.
If we compare Pakistan with Kenya, the similarities are alarming. Today Pakistan is facing same political crisis. There are three major players in our politics PPPP, PMLQ and PMLN. All national and international think tanks have been warning incumbents that survival and sovereignty of Pakistan hinges upon free and fair elections. But it seems incumbents are wittingly downplaying reports of pre-pool rigging and not heeding to consequences of their complacency. All parties except PMLQ warned against the possibility of large scale rigging in forth coming elections. Even MQM have now started complaining about rigging indirectly.
If authorities failed to ensure free and fair elections the post election scenario does not carry a good picture for Pakistan. When I envision this scenario I could only see hate, violence and destruction. If we were unable to stop Gen (retd) Musharraf interfering with election results then it will be impossible to stop Pakistan from marching onto Kenyan path and we will find ourselves in a black hole of destruction and lawlessness.