Ahmad Faraz, RIP; Haq Maghfirath Karay...

If there was every a time to to invoke the old line "Haq maghfirath karay, ajab azaad mard th-haa", it is today, as we mourn the passing of a titan.

From The News:

Legendary poet Ahmed Faraz passes away
Updated at: 1720 PST, Thursday, July 17, 2008

CHICAGO: Renowned poet and literary figure of Pakistan Ahmed Faraz died of kidneys failure here at a local hospital on Thursday.

He was under treatment at a hospital in Chicago.

Update: News reports and his family attest that he is still alive but struggling. Please keep him in your prayers. [09:34 Pacific Time.]
http://pakistaniat.com/2008/07/17/ahmed-ahmad-faraz/

On Zimbabwe, Mubgabe and the International Community

Just had the following to say about Zimbabwe to a friend who was despondent about the recent Security Council disaster on Zimbabwe:

"The Zimbabwe situation is not just a symptom of UN dysfunction. There's a couple of other layers to it: including Africans themselves not being able to bring themselves to go after a person who was once one off their most respected freedom fighters. The loud and aggressive posture Britain, for one, has taken about Mugabe--and for a very long time--grates even on my sensibilities as a person born in West Africa and who still remembers when Zimbabwe became independent. In fact, the British--and even the BBC's--attitude to Zimbabwe plays the same role George Bush's posturing on democracy does: driving people further into the arms of radicals, or at least making it difficult for people to stand what seems like the same side as them."

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If you're going to read one Op-Ed on Karachi...

Karachi at dusk

We've had a lot of angst, and whatnot about the events in Karachi. Please do read the piece below. Kamal is a friend, too, but he's evolved into one of the most objective observers I know in the business--anywhere. [Yes, more so than I.]

Much as it is tempting to get angry at this or that party, the events of 1973--or Palestine in 2007/8--should force us to take a step back and think. And think not even the cycnical 'Who benefits from this turmoil?' that we've all come to do every time something happens in our country, but think 'Who loses from, as Kamal calls it, the "crippling [of Pakistan's] commercial capital?" no matter how justified one's personal outrage. Wasn't it the same people now crying out about the events of April 9 also the ones that expressed outrage and being boggled by the outrage and unrest at Benazir's assasination?

Often nations like ours cry out for a Mandela. But is it too much to ask for each of us to try and reach for Madiba's way of trying to heal a society that is fractured and at war with itself?

The Empire strikes back — again
[The writer is editor reporting, The News]

Once again Karachi is in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The manner in which unidentified persons created havoc on April 9 within hours of a scuffle at the City Courts speaks of a conspiracy to undermine the writ of the state. As usual, the state was caught napping.

The events of April 9 need to be examined further, not swept under the carpet. Men in civilian clothes appeared on the streets and directed the burning of cars and initiating random incidents of firing. Nearly ten people have died so far as a result of the incidents that took place that day.

The police and Rangers, charged with law and order, were nowhere to be seen. This has become the routine in Karachi. Equally routine is the fact that no one is taken to task. Once the trouble dies down, it’s business as usual. And as present indications show, the new government is following the same strategy.

This is true not just of Karachi or Sindh. In the past couple of days, several incidents have taken place all over Pakistan, which indicate that the foundations of the Gilani government are being shaken. The attack on Arbab Ghulam Rahim may have been the work of a disgruntled PPP worker, but the attack on Dr Sher Afgan was most probably the work of a “higher” body. The violence in Karachi and the incidents that surrounded this were also the work of an organised network intent on crippling the country’s commercial capital for reasons best known to it.

More at: http://thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=106641

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Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, ProgressiveIslam.org, Pak Tea House, Doodpatti, by Tohfay blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Karachi - Pakistan - Muslim World

Pakistani Censorship Downs YouTube--Globally!

In my last post, I mentioned the then breaking story that the Pakistan Telecomm Authority was in the process of blocking YouTube from the country. The "reason" given a video that was disrespectful to "An Hazrat, Maulana Mohammad, Rasul Allah", as we are wont to say in Pakistan, or "The Gentleman, Our Lord, Mohammad, Prophet of God". Of course, amongst our wonderful, patriotic Pakistanis, there were the immediate questions about whether that in itself was a rumour or documented. Well, please do take a look at one of the documents that went out from the Pakistan Telecomm Authority to the ISP's on Siliconstani's blog.

The suspicions on the part of the grapevine is that this blocking/censorship happened when it happened because of videos that were ending up on YouTube of vote rigging--both in Karachi and Lahore and elsewhere. Though the brunt of the suspicion is about videos of rigging in Karachi, and pro- the MQM.

But, wait! There's more!!! Breaking news right now is that the way the regulatory organizations for the Internet in Pakistan went about blocking YouTube has caused an outage/inaccessibility of the site globally! Check out the BBC report here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7262071.stm

The first thing that went through my head when I saw that story was that people like me often hear from fellow Pakistani expats that we should not discuss our home country's dirty laundry in public--you know, like raising Internet censorship at meetings where Pakistan's technology industry is being discussed. I wonder what they think of sweeping our issue under the rug till a SNAFU like this happens does for the much-maligned Image of Pakistan that our PUPPIES (Pakistani Yuppies) keep talking about.

Interesting thing is, as I was saying earlier to someone, this case illustrates beautifully the issues related to censorship. If you accept that censorship is okay in some circumstances (the one that the British set the precedent for in South Asia just happens to be hurting the sensibilities of major communities--today's Shining India also continues to ban stuff on that basis, from Rushdie to blogs), then governments will inevitably use the power either ineptly, or maliciously.

Now, I am not one to buy into American exceptionalism, and am often the one in a discussion amongst immigrants to challenge the "Milk and Honey" view of our lives in this country, but the First Amendment to the US Constitution is written the way it is for a reason: "Congress shall make NO law restricting the freedom of speech". No if's, and's and but's; it's something even the US Supreme Court has never really lived up to. There is no such thing, as someone once said, as "being a little bit pregnant". Either you're okay with censorship, or you aren't.

The right way to control harmful speech, or offensive speech is NOT governmental control. It is in society; if you're offended, use the avenues reserved for that offense. If you harmed, use the methods for restitution of that harm. In some societies, it is law suits and other legal action (used to be that was what Muslims believed in, too); in others it is duels with a choice of weapon at dawn.

I am sorry, but I have paid a personal price in my life because I refused to live in the Gulf. Both my dear mother and my father-in-law would have loved it for me to take a job there and be nearer to them. And as for Pakistan, I cannot with a straight face keep on complaining about a "Show Cause Notice" from the Zia Regime for a small, very small Christmas message I put on the Contents page of a youth magazine in 1987 and yet say it is okay to block YouTube or Facebook. My conscience won't let me. If I am okay with the latter, then I should be okay with the former.

Censorship is censorship. If you're okay with censorship, please say so. I am not.

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Cross-posted on the iFaqeer, Wadiblog, ProgressiveIslam.org, Pak Tea House, blogs.
Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Internet Censorship - YouTube Outage