Now why would you want to ban a BlackberryTM?

A lot has changed after the attack on the twin towers on the 11^th of September 2001. Governments have become more wary and are looking to be proactive rather than reactive in their approach to countering any form of terrorism. First there was news that India planned on halting Blackberry services and just recently the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have also declared that they wish to do the same. 

Data is encrypted and routed to overseas servers. The countries cite security concerns primarily over the email service and the messenger chat service. These emails and messages cannot be cracked and therefore may act as a shield to terrorist and money launderers who can roam around undetected. The people at the Blackberry Company, Research in motion (RIM) have refused to hand over the codes to these governments since they believe that it is the aim is to provide the most secure cellphone communication. The authorities however refuse to buy this as they demand a way to intercept and access information that may prove to be vital in guarding the country and its people against terrorist activities etc.

This is not unusual as many countries do actually monitor communications and messages, internet searches, emails etc can be accessed by government authorities when deemed necessary. On one side the argument that security concerns needs to be addressed and are a priority is a valid one but Blackberry also stands its ground on the need to uphold customer privacy. Countries such as the U.S feel that the ban infringes upon the right of free flow of information. However for other states that feel that inaccessible data is a threat , one can just not rule that argument out as irrational. 

Match fixing … Again?

In a country where passion for cricket surpasses every other fervor, you can imagine how appalling the latest allegations of spot fixing, which accused several Pakistani players for rigging the match, could be.
According to the report by The News of The world, Mazhar Majeed, the crooked middle - man, guaranteed the disguised reporter no-balls at particular moments in the match against England accepting $150,000 pounds. And in no doubt, the guaranteed deliveries were made. Apparently, there is sufficient evidence to believe in the allegations posed like the clippings showing Mazhar Majeed accepting money and handling the jacket with cash to Wahab Riaz and Umair Amin. The main players to be involved in the disgraceful spot fixing scandal are Salman Butt (captain), Kamran Akmal (wicket keeper and vice-captain), Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir (fast bowlers).
It is not the first time that fixing allegations have been made on Pakistani team, though the evidences often times haven't been as compelling as this time around. It was in the year 1999 when Pakistani captain Salim Malik along with several other players like Ataur Rehman, Mushtaq Ahmed, Waqar Younis, Inzamamul Haq and Wasim Akram were involved. While Salim Malik and Ata ur Rehman were banned, all the other players involved were fined. And since then, there have always been allegations and suspicions on Pakistani players of being involved in rigging the match. So, the latest allegations come less of a shock and more of utter disappointment and embarrassment.  And the fact that these allegations are made at a time when Pakistan has been facing the challenges caused by devastating floods, and has been struggling to collect donations from the rest of the world, which till now has been hesitant in contributing largely owing to Pakistan's already tarnished image, the betting scandal has brought exceptional disgrace, and disappointment to the people. 

Will Maoism bleed India?

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Maoist political party in India which aims to overthrow the government of India. It was founded on 21 September 2004. Maoism is a variation of the Marxist-Leninist Communism in China with the crux being an armed revolt by the farmers against the ruling class. The Maoists claim to be fighting for the rights of the tribes in the forest belt around central India. That region contains deposits of minerals which are of interest to multinational mining companies like Tata and Essar.

The funding for the Maoists come from abductions, looting, extortion and by setting up unofficial administrations to collect taxes in rural areas where official government appears absent or negligent.

Maoists have claimed the lives of many in their quest to accomplish their goal of overthrowing the government. Whether their actions are justified or not is a debate for another day. But there is no doubting the fact that they have caused innumerable deaths and irrevocable damage. Since 2004 there have been 7000 incidents that involved Maoists in India and over 5000 people have been killed. In 2009 alone Maoists claimed a life every eight hours. Over 1700 schools have also been destroyed.

The Government of India has banned the CPI claiming it to be a terrorist outfit. Numerous Maoist offensives have been launched by the Indian government to silence the uprising but it has to be said the efforts have proved to be rather futile as the Maoists just keep coming back stronger than ever.

Turning to the army all of a sudden

MQM Chief Altaf Husain’s notorious statement has created additional uproar and confusion in an already devastated country where all the politicians have surprisingly put their differences aside and taken a similar stance regarding the next military coup. The idea of army intervention to clean out the mess created by the corrupt politicians, as suggested by Altaf, has been criticized and mocked by all the politicians who think that it is a disgrace for the country to appeal to the army.

The reason why politicians have condemned this idea is controversial. They either have faith in what they call democracy and actually believe that another military coup is suicidal or are too afraid to lose their power. Whatever the case maybe, at the end of the day it all comes down to people and what they want, after all, we are a “democratic” nation where demands of people supposedly matter. People who support democracy need to be reminded what democracy actually is. It is basically the rule of law where all citizens are given equal treatment and justice with transparency and freedom of expression is guaranteed. This is clearly not the case in Pakistan which means what we have here is not democracy but a corrupt system or the rule of elite which is lethal for the country. Altaf Husain’s statement should partly be welcomed at least for the short run because it’s either the power of the angry mob or the power of the army that can overthrow this corrupt system. A united angry mob and its ability to bring about a revolution in the country is unlikely because of all the differences that exist amongst the people. Thus, the army needs to intervene, clear out the mess, install a patriotic, faithful leader and then leave. Army intervention cannot be a permanent solution because it does not promise absolute perfection and regimes of Ayub, Zia, Musharraf provide classic examples. Moreover, as far as majority Pakistanis are concerned, all they need is someone who can take care of their basic necessities at a lower cost be it a dictator or a democratic leader. 

Virus alert

On August 15th 2010, two brothers Mughees Butt and Munib Butt were publicly tortured and beaten to death by a mob in a village near Sialkot, not by the Taliban, Al-Qaeda or any other extremist organization, but by the general public. They were not only murdered, but beaten brutally and mercilessly for two hours, their bodies and clothes dripping with blood. And that’s not the end of it. The entire incident was recorded on camera, to be an ‘example for the entire country’.

Everyone knows the story – the how and the why. What surprises me is the utter apathy that the crowd showed as this was going on. Not one person, from the dozens watching the incident, look even slightly perturbed by the bloody justice enforced by a few people and endorsed by the police. Yes, the police. Police who was looking on as hundreds of people participated in the mass lynching of the two brothers.

The ideology here is not a problem. After all, it shouldn’t be since we are all doing this in the name of ‘Justice’. Ask yourselves, would you have had the same reaction to it had you been informed by the media that the two brothers were actually guilty of theft and murder? No. Many of us would have been glad that these brothers were mercilessly beaten.

The problem, therefore, does not reside in the police or in the people watching on as the two boys were killed; the problem lies in an average Pakistani. What do the people brutally killing the two brothers represent? Pakistan is diseased. Pakistan is affected with a virus, which causes people to lose all forms of rationality and humanity. What should we do if an area is affected with a virus? Quarantine it. Thus the solution only would be to do humanity a favour and put giant fence around all Pakistanis. All we can do is hope and pray that rest of the world does not get affected with this virus.

ON SPIES AND SUBTERFUGE

Recently, a story on Pakistan’s spymaster agency, the ISI, has been making waves in the blogosphere. It has been rated World’s best intelligence agency by a renowned website , leaving CIA, MOSSAD and MI-6 scrambling.

But rather than discussing the credentials of the website, let’s take the claim on face-value: that the ISI has to its credit crumbling the former superpower Soviet Union into pieces and no on camera defectors. Although these claims alone could be harshly scrutinized, let’s just weigh them against its admitted failures.

On the external front, ISI has been blamed for the botched military operations against India; namely Operation Gibraltar of 1965 War and the Kargil War of 1999. ISI also planned and led the failed 1989 Battle of Jalalabad, with intent of installing a pro Pakistan radical militant group in Afghanistan. And the fifteen year long attempt to stir armed uprising in Indian held Kashmir, with no fruits.

On the internal front, ISI is one of the few agencies in the world to have carried out killings of its own people. The failure to outdo rebel Mukti Bahani sabotage and the reprisal killings of Bengali civilians in the 1971 Civil War, extra judicial killings of ethnic Balochs in 20 years of armed conflict (intermittent) in Balochistan, 5 years of military operations against ethnic Mohajirs in Karachi, and last but not the least, the failure to contain the rise of religious terrorism, failure to provide security in public life against the ominous threat of suicide bombing, and the classic case of the Lal Masjid uprising right under ISI’s nose.

Among the agencies rated by the website, ISI is the only one retaining a “political cell” with an official intent of keeping an eye on anti federation elements (read politicians). Far from debating the merits of a security agency meddling into politics, the potential of such cell being misused by those in power is massive.

With such credentials, one can’t help but think of alternate explanations: “a ‘failed’ publicity stint by a ‘failed agency,’” makes sense.

MOSQUE “NEAR” GROUND ZERO

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”

First Amendment to The United States Constitution, Bill of Rights 1791.

The curious case of the Park 51 Islamic Center or the Ground Zero Mosque as it is called by its detractors, has recently received more than its fair share of attention in the press.  I am not going to discuss the merits of building a mosque on the ashes of World Trade Center, or the intention of doing so.  The mosque may as well belong to people who think killing non Muslims as ‘infidels’, or stoning adulterers is a good thing.  But the fact that right wing groups are demanding government/judicial intervention into stopping this Islamic Center from being built is in itself abhorring. Because the basic idea of First Amendment is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable.

What is especially appalling is that the opposition comes from sections which pride themselves in being Conservatives. The problem with rightwing cries for minimum government interference into our private lives is that the whole argument collapses once the focal point shifts from economic to social. Putting up with ideas and beliefs contrary to one’s own is exactly the cost of living in a pluralistic society, but more importantly, granting others the right to practice whatever belief they want to guarantees that our rights will never be infringed upon if people with a different belief rule us.

Constitutional democracy does not mean that the legislative can make whatever laws and prohibitions the majority desires. On the contrary, the underlying principle is to protect rights of the individual against the tyranny of the majority. And this is what America symbolizes. Let not reverse the tradition of freedom into a tradition of restriction.