Mohsin Hamid's latest op-ed is pretty good. Recommended reading for anyone who wants to know how things looked/look from the perspective of the every day life in Pakistan. You can read it here, on the Washington Post site.

I attended a talk by him at Stanford last year, and my first reaction was that what he was saying, the world view and experiences were the experiences of any Pakistani of our age and station, so to speak. (I think he's about a year older than me.) And he writes well. It's good to have him around, with his facility with English and "global" culture to bring that voice, that view of the world to the table. And given his visibility and position as a globally-best selling author, to have what he says read and noticed.

Of course, I am still very disappointed with him and others of our generation and/or background--and this even includes, to some extent, folks like Imran Khan, who made sympathetic noises--for initially supporting the military take-over in 1999. But more on that as and when I can write--or maybe some readers can comment and discuss that aspect.

---

Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, Wadiblog, ProgressiveIslam.org, and Pak Tea House blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Benazir - Pakistan - Mohsin Hamid

Labels: Benazir, CrisisPK, Dictators, Expatriates, Mohsin Hamid, Pakistan, South Asian Diaspora, South Asian Language and Culture, Subcontinent, Writers

The word going around about the Dubai/UAE government forcing the Geo Television Network (or parts thereof) off the air is "shocking"...

Miriam Webster defines "shocking" as " extremely startling, distressing, or offensive".

Offensive, yes. But startling? Unless you were--and most of us were--in denial, how is this startling? Distressing, well, if your world view was built on absolute monarchies doing the right thing more often than not, than yes, I can see how it would distress you to see them do othewise.

Startled I am not. My dear mother would have loved for me to live and work in the Gulf and I always said “Pinjra pinjra ho tha hai; chahay sonay ka ho.” [A cage is a cage, even if it is made of gold.] The places are absolute monarchies and they have always had very good relations with Pakistani governments, especially absolute Pakistani governments.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Emergency - CrisisPK - Geo TV

Labels: Censorship, CrisisPK, Dictators, Human Rights, Media, Pakistan, Subcontinent

There's an article going around by Greg Palast whose operative paragraph is:

You’ve seen all those creepy photos of George Bush rubbing up against Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf, the two of them grinning and giggling like they’re going to the senior prom. So it’s hard to remember that it was Hillary and Bill who brought Pervez to the dance in the first place.

To me, the point that article makes is that bad foreign policy that most often flies in the face of democratic ideals and the best interests and aspirations of the "natives"--not to mention the longer-term interests of America and its people--is a bi-partisan epidemic in the US, and we shouldn't forget that. Venting all our frustrations at placards of George W. Bush might feel good but is not going to help anybody in the medium-to-long term. What we need to do is to try and help the whole US establishment see the light...

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Emergency - CrisisPK - Hillary - Hillary on Pakistan - Hillary on Musharraf - 2008 Elections - 2008

Labels: 2008 Elections, CrisisPK, Dictators, Pakistan, Subcontinent, US Politics

... so said Faiz Ahmed Faiz, probably the most popular poet of revolution in the latter half of the 20th century in South Asia; Pakistan, India, and particularly on the Left.

South Asia has a very rich tradition of poetry, one which draws on both the spiritual tradition that gave the world Rumi and Khayyam, and the revolutionary spirit of the last century or two. And because of the Sufi tradition it is steeped in, allegory, depth of meaning, and multi-faceted verbiage is the norm, rather than the exception. The words "Aaj bazaar main pa-bajaolaan chalo..." are probably some of the most recognized word. The "jewels" being described are, for the uninitiated, the ball and chain of oppression. Here's the poet himself reciting the poem, with English sub-titles, followed by one of the best renditions of the poem with music, in this case with an overlay of dramatic video:


[You can read the piece by Dr. Adil Najam, where I first found this video, here.]

But wait, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists has sent out a poster that puts these words above a poster that just needs to be seen to be believed. You couldn't, as we say, make this stuff up:

Please check in regularly at WikiPakistan's Emergency 2007 pages:

http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007

for updates. And contribute what input you can, participate in whichever way you can.

[My previous post on the issue, introducing the Emergency 2007 wiki pages, by the way, is here.]

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Emergency - CrisisPK - Faiz Ahmad Faiz

Labels: Adil Najam, Censorship, CrisisPK, Dictators, Human Rights, Pakistan, Pakistaniat, Poetry, Subcontinent, Wikis

I have been away from blogging since September 19th or so, except of very short and situational pieces. I was back in Pakistan for family reasons this last week. When I left Pakistan Friday evening local time, Emergency was just a rumour. I had just attended an event the evening before with some journalists, bloggers, activits, and other members of Civil Society titled "Take Back Karachi". (Details at: http://www.t2f.biz/karachi/ -- they've added a graphic about the emergency.)

When I got off the plane at JFK, I saw a typically short report on CNN that Emergency had been imposed and immediately started Facebooking with a couple of journalists on the ground in Pakistan. Since then, it seems like Pakistanis are starting to step up to their moment of truth.

But first here's a flashback for those who missed it; it's a former head of Pakistan's much-mentioned ISI saying, the day before "Da Proclamation", that if Martial Law is proclaimed--and he points out that a constitutionally-mandated "Emergency" is not an option--civil society should step up and push back:



I attended just such a meeting of civil society via Skype Saturday night (Pacific Time)/Saturday afternoon (Pakistan Time) and by morning, had been pulled in to talk about the Emergency on WNYC, New York Public Radio:



And, well, what else can I say.? Here's a comment from Dr. Adil Najam, dipped in revolutionary verse:

http://pakistaniat.com/2007/11/06/pakistan-emergency-musharraf-faiz/

As Adil says, people see a picture and all they feel is shame for the 5 policemen beating up a lawyer; I feel nothing but pride, for I see one Pakistani putting his self on the line for his principle. People see a media blackout; I see journalists that a dictator has no choice but to ban.

As with the earthquake in 2005, we have started information collection at:

http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007

this includes trying to monitor and check up on the status of detainees:

http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007_Detainees

and a bulletin board of sorts for events:

http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Emergency_2007_Events

(By way of background, WikiPakistan is an Information Database about Pakistan, Pakistanis and the diaspora hosted by Wikia, a community destination supporting the creation and development of wiki communities and run by a lot of the same people who run the Wikipedia. The site is at http://pakistan.wikia.com/ and background information can be seen at http://pakistan.wikia.com/wiki/Pakistan:About . It is an open database that anyone can edit and is developed under a Free Document License. [Contributors should be aware that if they choose to post material there directly, they are agreeing to release it under the GNU Free Documentation License. Please see www.wikia.com and WikiPakistan for further details.] Contributors are encouraged to click on the “Create an account or log in” link in the top righthand corner of every page and create an account. You do not need to provide any personal information.)

You can read more, and find links to more, on the pages referred to above. More later.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Emergency - CrisisPK

Labels: Adil Najam, Consitutional Muslims, CrisisPK, Dictators, Karachi, Muslim Civilization, Pakistan, Pakistaniat, Subcontinent

As a blogger, you don't often to write to a specific audience and to the tight requirements of an editor. But when the current crisis (or are there now two, no, three of them?) in Pakistan started about the Chief Justice being dismissed, I had done a post about the situation. And then I was invited by the SAJA Forum, the South Asian Journalists' Association's Blog to write a piece summarising things for their audience. This gave me a chance to step back and think about how the crisis--or crises--around my home country is being covered, and what the fundamentals are of the issue. SAJA Forum carried my piece on the 20th of March. The actual news might be a bit dated now, but since the piece was targeted to an audience of journalists, it gives you a good round-up of where to go for updates on the crisis.

Since then, there's been a lot of coverage of the lawyer's protests and what's going on in Pakistan--including Ahmed Rashid appearing on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air". He actually talks quite a bit about what he says is Musharraf's increasingly precarious position. But I will talk about that more later--there are aspects of that appearance and issues related to it that I want to discuss. But especially for people not familiar with the ground situation in Pakistan today--whether you are non-Pakistani, or a Pakistani or Pakistani-American who's not lived in the country in a while--that is a must-listen. His point about the people who are usually the last to come out in a revolution now being on the streets actually, I feel makes the point I was making in my original post on the crisis, about the fact that Pakistanis not usually doing the street thing--we've gone straight to that last stage of the process, without the earlier stages of the protest cycle.

On the other issue I covered on my SAJA Forum post, ArR has done a good job of collecting links related to Musharraf's situation.

There's more to talk about this this situation. Like expats getting involved, as I pointed out in my last post. That was the positive side of expats. But then, Athar Osama, an analyst that, paradoxically, has the Rand Graduate School as his doctoral alma mater asked a very relevant question; one that I have asked in relation to Internet Censorship and and the like:

PAKPAC:

Ref to your condemnation of the mistreatment of Amna Butter, I'd like to know which constitutional right are you talking about? The same constitution that was mercilessly butchered for the last 7 years to support the ambition of power of one individual and PAKPAC and others supported that treatment? Shouldn't we all forget about that constitution and the rights that it grants us? I think it is high time that we either support that constitution in full or not even mention the rights it gives us...

By the way, even today that constitution prohibits General Musharraf to hold the office of the President....

Best,
Athar

Something to think about--especially for expats...

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Media

Labels: Dictators, Expatriates, Pakistan

One of the short pieces I wrote right after returning from vacation in mid-January:

I just got back from 3 weeks in the Muslim world (2 in Pakistan, 1 in India), and which coincided with a certain execution. The points made in the Tarek Fatah's article about Saddam Hussain's execution:

"The fact is that far from fostering democracy in Iraq, the execution of the Iraqi dictator has turned a murdering monster into a martyr of mythical proportions for the Arab people.

...

His death will be a relief to those in America who feared being exposed for having aided Saddam as he murdered so many of his countrymen.

To the teeming millions in the Muslim world who saw Saddam being led to his death by slogan-chanting masked men, his hanging was an act of revenge, not justice, a lynching, not the carrying out of a death sentence."
http://www.thestar.com/article/167219 for full article.

is not accurate--it is a huge understatement. Especially from the point of view of the reputation of the US in the Muslim world. What one heard all week long that week in Pakistan--and I am talking about people with absolutely no fundamentalist leanings or sympathy for Saddam--was "They shouldn't have done that on Eid [on the day of the Festival]." And the thing to note specifically was that the "they" in that sentence was always meant to be the "The Americans". (People in Third World countries do not, when looking at the big picture, really pay attention to the thin facade of witless stooges, however brutal or self-agarandizing they might be.)

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Iraq - Saddam - Dictators - Pakistan

Labels: Dictators, Iraq, Pakistan, Saddam, Vacation