Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Dost ki nani and other ideas...
1) Not even half of the men attending the funeral wore their caps. That's strange and new for me.
2) Most of the closest relatives of Nani wore trousers and shirts rather than the traditional shalwar kameez. Many wore T-shirts and it gave an impression that many were there to show people that they were there and not for any religious purpose, whatsoever.
3) During funeral, many people were just either talking with each other or attending to their mobile phones. No one cared for the rites and no one really asked them to shut off the mobile. Such are the Muslims of our times!
4) When finally, after much hankering, time came to lower the body into the grave not even one person knew exactly how to do it. No one really was sure where should the cloth be placed below the dead body. I was appalled at my own lack of knowledge.
5) Atleast Atif bhai, cousin of Uzair, knew that one should not wear any sandals or shoes while inside the grave.
6) Every second person was either standing on someone else's grave or jumping over them, citing lack of space available. I have always found this in bad taste. For instance, how would you feel about the person standing on your mother's grave? Ask this question and wait for a tight slap.
7) No one really bothered to give any azan after the rites and the prayers have been said.
8) No one, save one person, knew that while reciting the first Sura of Al-Bakra, one must point his finger towards the head of the deceased.
And then we say we are good Muslims!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Bloggers' conference and our worthy Government
It is not at all surprising that Govt. of Sindh is holding a Blogger's conference at a local hotel this weekend. Not surprising in a sense that government, any government that is, knows well that Blogging is perhaps not accountable nor stoppable. It runs across computers, across borders, and without much hassle. And blogging has, since its birth, embarrassed quite a few famous men and women.
But my question is (as a politically inclined blogger) that, 'can we expect any semblance of support from a government which continues to hunt down honest men and women, and which considers freedom loving journalists as enemy combatants'?
I personally think that this conference has been arranged to see the real number of bloggers present in
I also imagine myself - and other bloggers - sitting next to ISI and MI agents during the conference.
Good Lord!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Murdering Baluchistan
For one, the strange reasons about not building any number of small dams in Baluchistan are too well unknown. So is the habit of federal government of not promoting any sort of tourism inside the province. And when it comes to share distribution, once again Punjab takes the major cake. The cake which should preferably go to Baluchistan considering its vast mineral and petroleum wealth.
Such grievances gets an air when leaders of this province are kidnapped and murdered in cold blood. I don't know the names of the Baloch leaders murdered nor do I know their importance to the province except that one of them was following the case of missing persons belonging to Baluchistan. He was due to appear in the court soon, I am told. If that is the case, then one must point fingers at our own Military Intelligence, IB and ISI rather than go for Indian RAW or Afghani agencies. After all, kidnapping and reselling of primarily Baloch and Pathan men have been the work of our agencies and not someone else. This killing could have been the work of someone else, just to malign our agencies, but the possibilities are dim. CJ is already looking into the matter hard.
I will, meanwhile, keep my fingers crossed until I know the hard facts. But if the killers are not found, Baluchistan will burn badly. It is already burning and I am really not sure where are my Pathan and Baloch friends at the moment.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Zardari M'athar Ch'od
By the way, the red marker on top says, 'Zardari mother fucker'. And the bottom line says, 'Benazir's killer is Zardari'.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Public Flogging and Private State of Pakistan
Too bad, once again Pakistan's International image has gotten into serious trouble.