Burn it, burn it not

Let us revisit the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. With rights, come responsibilities. The announcement by Pastor Terry Jones to burn Qurans on the ninth anniversary of 9/11 was seen as justified because it is a legal exercise of his right to free speech and protest. That this announcement came from a church named “Dove World Outreach Center”, a name that symbolizes peace and tolerance is amusing nonetheless. The Pastor has been blasted in the media for being an agitator, and reprimanded by the President himself for endangering the lives of American soldiers at service in Muslim countries.

All this could be judged and dismissed as a publicity stunt by a fringe religious group with less than 50 members, were it not a case involving Islam and it’s holiest text. Emotions already run high in the USA over what critics deem as the “Mosque at Ground Zero”. There’s an ominous feeling among Muslims that they’re being marginalized in the American society as the “other ones”, who should compromise their constitutional rights over what the majority finds undesirable.

There is a reason to discrimination against Muslims in America, and that reason is demonization of Islam as the perpetrator of 9/11 attacks.

While it might be true that the 9/11 attackers were Muslims, does that make the entire Muslim population of this planet responsible for what they did? The answer is an unequivocal no. Just as every Christian does not want to be held responsible if the said Pastor goes ahead with his plans. In a way, this announcement by Terry Jones is a good opportunity for Americans to introspect the spirit of The Golden Rule: “Don’t do unto others, what you don’t want others do unto you”. 

Lying is also an art

The recent abominable bombing of a Shiite rally in Quetta, left around sixty peaceful protesters dead.  The attacks on Shiites in Pakistan have historically been a work of some radical Sunni militant groups, and go back to decades of bitter sectarian rivalry between the two groups. But the apparently “mindless” retaliatory banning of Baloch freedom movement outfits by the govt. embodies its ulterior motives: that is, to blame religious violence by its own proxies-went-rogue on Baloch freedom fighters and use it as an excuse to renew its War against Balochs.

It is worth mentioning that the Pashtun Shiite community of Quetta is an ardent supporter of the Pakistani state. That the target killings of various Baloch human rights activists and nationalist politicians like Habib Jalib in recent months have been claimed by previously unknown groups like Al-Ansar Mujahideen and Sipah-e-Shohada-e-Balochistan, death squads with names that invoke religion and remind us of similarly named ISI backed “jihadists” in Indian held Kashmir.  That these proxies later went rogue, like Jaish e Muhammad which played a part in the killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and began to undermine state agenda is part of our history. That history may be repeating itself in Balochistan is not out of question.

For a very long time establishment of Pakistan has waged a propaganda war against Baloch nationalist outfits by banning newspapers, online blogs and websites, and abducting journalists for reporting State brutality. But the latest strategy of hijacking Baloch freedom movement by blaming it for sectarian violence is despicable and exposes State’s agenda of denying people of Balochistan their basic right to freedom – no matter if it comes at the cost of killing its own supporters.

Are Rental Power Plants (RPPs) a viable solution?

As if the current ongoing crises that the power sector is facing weren’t enough, the government, under the Ministry of Water & Power, decided to embark on yet another audacious adventure, that of installing Rental Power Plants.

If an optimistic reader were to accidentally think that these power plants would be really efficient, cost effective and state-of-the-art, let me be the first to bring you out of the bubble you are in by telling you that not only the critics in Pakistan have expressed their criticism and concern, but so has the Asian Development Bank (ADB), stating that the rental power plants are not suitable for Pakistan nor are they cost effective. The Auditor General of Pakistan at presented the audit report of the ministry of water and power and stated that there were five major irregularities with the Rental Power Plant deal. The report suggested that the irregularities had been committed from the invitation of the proposals right to the signing of the deal. Shouldn’t the wide spread power theft that is prevalent in the country be dealt with first rather than opting for an expensive and unreliable temporary solution? The Critics who suggest that the investment in RPPs is only a scheme by some venal politicians to get kickbacks, are they right?

Fourteen rental power plants are in the process of being set up to generate around 1500 MW to partially offset the current power generation deficit and the RPPs will commence power generation shortly. However, some of these are second hand power plants, some with manufacturing dates as old as 1992.  Their effectiveness and efficiency, in conclusion, is debatable, as is the current affairs of the current government.

Where is the power for the people?!?

A system of democracy stands as a fundamental means to empower people. “Power to the people, by the people, for the People” is the slogan that democracy chants. The democracy that we live in knows only one out of the above mentioned three parts of the slogan, that being “power by the people”. With a population as vast as the one we have, a power generation capacity of 19,505 Megawatts, as per 2007 authenticated figures, just doesn’t cut it. The end result is widespread load shedding that affects households and industries alike.

To further worsen situations, the government has a very consistent habit of privatizing key public sector institutions. Before I comment any further, let me just state that the basic function of public sector enterprise is to provide services to people without singularly focusing on profit maximization, instead, providing relief and welfare to the masses. And this is why, the sectors of energy, health and education are responsibilities of the state, because if these institutions were to function with the sole and primary purpose of making profits, the essence behind their functioning, that being providing welfare, is lost. Profit maximization and welfare are seldom anything but mutually exclusive. After the privatization of the KESC (Karachi Electric Supply Company), the problem has gone a step further. The problem took another turn for the worst when irregularities were found by the Auditor General of Pakistan in the above mentioned privatization of KESC. Continuous intermittent increases in power tariffs and rampant voltage fluctuations continue to add misery to the citizens of the Metropolis that used to be called The City of Lights.

As if the current ongoing crises that the power sector is facing weren’t enough, the government, under the Ministry of Water & Power, decided to embark on yet another audacious adventure, that of installing Rental Power Plants. If an optimistic reader were to accidentally think that these power plants would be really efficient, cost effective and state-of-the-art, let me be the first to bring you out of the bubble you are in by telling you that not only the critics in Pakistan have said so, but so has the Asian Development Bank that rental power plants are not suitable for Pakistan nor are they cost effective. 14 rental power plants are in the process of being set up and will commence power generation shortly. However, some of these are second hand power plants, some with manufacturing dates as old as 1992.  Their effectiveness and efficiency, in conclusion, is debatable, as is the current affairs of the current government.

Baluchistan in Pain

How would you feel if your life was uncertain? If you did not know whether you would be alive or dead the next minute? If you did not know what fate awaited your loved ones or your whole city? Would you like to live such a life? I am sure that the normal answer to the last question is ‘no’.

                 But that is exactly the life that the people living in Baluchistan and particularly Waziristan are faced with. Thousands of civilians have probably been killed in the drone attacks which are aimed to kill the “terrorists” whose existence is somewhat questionable.

                 The instability is Baluchistan is not only caused due to the drone attacks but in fact also due to poor governance that has existed in the country. The issue of the Sui gas is the oldest dispute. Sui gas was discovered in 1952 and its commercial exploitation began in 1955. Despite of the fact that Sui gas is extracted from Baluchistan, the province is the one which has the least access to it. The reason is that the government has not put proper pipelines to provide the gas to the people of that province.

                The other major dispute arose in August 2005 when Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the then president of Pakistan, ordered the arrest of Akbar Khan Bugti, one of the tribal leaders in Baluchistan. He was allegedly killed when he caused an explosion in the cave he was hiding when cornered by the officials. His only crime perhaps was that he demanded rights for the people of Baluchistan.

                Then another setback to the relations with Baluchistan came when Gen. Musharraf allowed the Bush administration to carry out drone attacks to kill the so called terrorists. These attacks have caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians and rendered many more homeless, childless or orphan.

Youm-e-Ali Procession Attacked

The people of Pakistan are facing a wave of devastation that they cannot get out of. The deadly airplane crash killing all the 152 people, the massive floods affecting over 20 million people in the country and now the triple bomb blasts in Lahore on September 1 in a Youm-e-Ali procession.

The first blast occurred in the middle of the procession at Karbala Gaame Shah, followed within 25 minutes by a high intensity suicide blast at Bhaati Chowk. The third blast took place at Anarkali Bazar after 10 minutes targeting a procession by about 35,000 Shiites. At least 29 people have been killed and 200 critically injured. The blasts were followed by an angry mob attacking the police stations and their vehicles for not having enough security when the procession was coming to an end and for not helping the injured. The police personnel had to fire canisters of tear gas to control the angry crowd. A banned organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Almi claimed responsibility of the deadly blasts.

Photographs by Nadeem Hussain

This leads us to question the government once again. Why are these banned outfits still operating in Pakistan? Is our intelligence not competent enough to scout them out? Was this carried out for a political motive? How many more attacks are we going to witness? Should we expect every individual to stop going to mosques, churches, Imaam Bargaahs?  Whether it’s the attack on the Ahmedi sect or the Shiite sect, a Muslim or a Hindu , a Jew or a Christian , it is clear that the sanctity of a religious obligation will not be spared by these outfits. They keep on growing stronger and the government sadly seems to lack a strategy to counter and thereafter eradicate these insurgents.

Behind every killing, there is always a beneficiary

One of the founding fathers of MQM, Imran Farooq was born on 1960. This scintillating, charismatic and visionary man was graduated from Sindh Medical College (SMC) in 1985. It should be noted that he was elected as first parliamentarian from MQM in 1988 and then again as an elected parliamentarian in 1992. Yet, fate took a political turn, Dr Imran Farooq couldn’t stay on, due to the operation clean up which commenced on 19th June 1992 in Karachi against the party. Because of continuous menace and convulsion his liberty and life was at stake. Hence, he went underground and run the party while remaining so for years. It was rather a sweet brain teaser for the people who had put a price of his head, to dredge his strata. However, he resurfaced in 1999 in London and applied for political asylum. It was then he was made convener of the party. And he continued his duties, though apparently he was dormant for the last two years before he was stabbed to death near his apartment on 16 September 2010 in London. And there comes the influx of Sherlock Holmes (IoSH).

As per IoSH speculations since Dr Imran Farooq was sidelined by the party, it is most likely that MQM is behind the murder. Make sense. Until, we actually cognize know a simple but fundamental rule of a killing.

Behind every killing, there is always a beneficiary.

Anyone who has an iota of idea about the dynamics of MQM, would very well know that after Mr Altaf Hussain, it was Imran Farooq who was well trusted and respected by the party workers. In fact, it was an implicit understanding that Imran Farooq would take over after Mr Altaf Hussain. And this can be gauged from the party chairman, Altaf Hussain speeches, poetry and talks. Dr Imran Farooq was deliberately kept aside as the party leader understandably didn’t want him in the limelight for security purposes.

It, IF I may take a liberty to say, reflects how grey matter deficient one can be to actually think that MQM would be stupid enough to kill its most influential men and that too in London. It would be like bringing a revolt within the party itself.

Speaking of which, anyone who is without a bias mind and not born yesterday would know about the recent chants to revolt against this atrocious system by Mr Altaf Hussain. There was not even a single day when media didn’t speak out over it. People in drawing rooms and street talked about it. The echoes of revolution stirred up things so much that even rival political parties joined the waves for change.

The demand to change the system was a threat to the people who wanted to play in this system a game of musical chair. To be on odds with the existing system is a risky business. MQM took a risk and they had to pay for it too.

The loss of Dr Imran Farooq is irreplaceable. His invincible contributions in MQM and unfathomable brilliance are inexplicable. The damaged his death has done to MQM can not be easily fixed. MQM has gone two steps backwards. It is now very crucial for MQM to find someone as brilliant and capable as Dr Imran Farooq and that too in a very short time.