Yet as a Pakistani hopeful of the rise of a new Pakistan I remain eternally optimistic that Pakistan too can have its ‘Yes We Can’  moment. In this regard our musicians have taken the lead be it Laal during the long march and lawyers movement and above all Shehzad Roy with his music.

Shehzad Roy has produced an excellent music album that seeks to create awareness amongst ordinary Pakistanis that our fate is in our hands. That the daily pastime of too many Pakistanis of blaming politicians, the US, saazishes and the like is all a waste of energy for the real levers of power remain the 160m Pakistanis who for too long have left their fates to others.

One song of the album ‘ Qismat Apney Hath Mein’  is shown below and says it all. It should be a wake up call to all Pakistanis to raise their voices, to form a genuine peoples movement that will aim to serve ordinary Pakistanis

Qismat Apney Haath Mein

Arise Pakistan and Shape your Destiny

I had been planning for days now to write a post on how proud I was to be a Pakistani. In the post I planned to pay tribute to our heroes in this new Pakistan. Heroes including the lawyers movement, civil society, students, bloggers,  the media, political parties and of course the passionate Pakistani people. However as the great Munir Niazi said ‘hamaisha dair kar daita houn mein’ as Dr Farrukh Saleem has beaten me to it via his brilliant article in The News.

Dr Farrukh Saleem’s article charts the history of heroes and revolutions over centuries and last but not least pinpoints exactly why Pakistanis today are feeling so proud. I can truly say that his words are my words too and hence I have decided to post the article below:

Proud to be Pakistani by Dr Farrukh Saleem

Dateline: Karbala, Muharram 10, 61 AH — Hussain ibne Ali ibne Abi Talib (RA) refused to pledge allegiance to Dictator Yazid ibne Mu’awiyah ibne Abi Sufyan. Sayyid al-Shuhada (RA) “gave his head but not his hand of allegiance in the hand of Yazid (this according to Shah Moinuddin Chishty Ajmeri).” The Sayyid of the youth of Paradise was beheaded by Shimr Ibne Thil-Jawshan (a soldier in the Ummayad army that was led by Umar ibne Sa’ad).

Dateline: Kufa, 148 AH — Imam Al-azam Abu Hanifa refused to become Dictator Abu Ja’far al-Mansur’s Qazi Al-Qazat (chief judge). Al-Mansur imprisoned Abu Hanifa and tortured him to death (when al-Mansur invited Abu Hanifa to become his chief judge, Abu Hanifa sent a message back to the monarch that he did not consider himself capable for the post. Al-Mansur told Abu Hanifa that he was lying and Abu Hanifa shot back: “I rest my case. If I am a liar then how can I become the chief judge?” Al-Mansur was furious at Abu Hanifa’s reply).

Dateline: Islamabad, Safar 20, 1428 AH – Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry refused to resign on orders of Dictator President General Pervez Musharraf. The chief justice was suspended, his family imprisoned within the four walls of his house.

Dateline: Islamabad, Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1430 — Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the restoration of all the deposed judges including Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

There are 1.5 billion Muslims and 57 Muslim-majority nation-states. Imagine; in the past 1,430 years of Islamic history the first Muslim who refused to bow down to a dictator was Sayyid al-Shuhada Hussain ibne Ali ibne Abi Talib (RA). Eighty-seven years later, the second Muslim to bow down to a dictator was Imam Al-azam Abu Hanifa. One thousand two hundred and eighty years later came a Pakistani named Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

In 1986, peoples’ power — absolutely peaceful, non-violent and prayerful — brought down a stubbornly corrupt Filipino system of governance. In 1989, peoples’ power proved its muscle in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania (all peaceful except for in Romania where the military unexpectedly changed sides and allowed Nicolae Ceausescu’s summary execution). People’s power in Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Serbia and Ukraine used a colour or a flower as a symbol but never ever has a chief justice been used as the rallying cry.

On March 24, Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry shall sit in Court Room No 1 and begin dispensing justice. To be certain, on March 25, there aren’t going to be canals of milk and honey all over 778,720 square kilometres of land area we call Pakistan. Justice Chaudhry shall be dispensing justice; neither electricity nor atta or pani. And that is so because any tripodal government rests on the executive, parliament and the judiciary. The judiciary merely dispenses justice and keeps the executive and parliament within the bounds of the constitution. Bijli, atta and pani — plus law and order — are part of the social contract between the elected politicians and the 172 million Pakistanis.

For the chief justice, he would have to hold the executive and parliament accountable (both consider themselves above accountability). The Lord Chief Justice of Pakistan would have to protect fundamental rights plus steer clear of all purely political quarrels.

Proud to be a Pakistani because we produced the third Muslim in the history of Islam who said ‘no’ to a dictator. Proud to be a Pakistani because ours has been the very first absolutely non-violent mass movement within the world of Islam that successfully met its objective. Proud to be a Pakistani now that we can export our chattels of judicial independence to our brethren in other 57 Muslim-majority states. Proud that we can be the source of glitter to Muslims in other countries. Proud that our civil society has reinvented hope. Proud at the tenacity of our lawyers. Proud at the strength of our journalists. Proud at the resolve of our media.

The writer is the executive director of the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com

Published in The News

Proud of you President Asif Ali Zardari is a sentence missing from the article and are seven words I would love to write. Regular readers will notice the respect I have afforded the President given I have normally reduced him to a man of percentages alone. Today I put all that to one side as per my very deliberate and unilateral gesture of reconciliation as detailed in the previous post.

I am willing to let bygones be bygones so long as the President learns from his past mistakes and works to unite Pakistan on the basis of provincial autonomy, justice and constitutionalism, good governance and fair play. This is no lovefest or a story of not summer but spring love, and no I have not been bought by the PPP or worse been Farooq Naeked!

Moreover this  a plea from one Pakistani to another Pakistani to unite for the nation and I say this with all my heart that I do hope that President Zardari’s address to Parliament tomorrow brings to the nation more good news. Let me say it here that if the much maligned President decides in actions to empower Parliament, ensure real provincial autonomy in all provinces and begins to implement the Charter of Democracy, this foe will salute him.

507 days later martial law has ended as Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry has finally sat in court number one of the Supreme Court. To put it simply the Chief Justice himself has finally got justice.

Today is a day of great celebration for me personally as I have supported the Chief Justice before 9 March and have followed his judgements before the Chief Justice became a household name. I believe that the Chief Justice’s victory is my victory too and more importantly Pakistan’s victory.

For me this is a time to thank ALLAH for granting Pakistan victory, and as a gesture of thanks to ALLAH I have decided to begin reconciliation with one and all, even those foes not deserving such grace. So I say this to Justice Sardar Muhammed Raza Khan and Justice Tariq Pervez I resent your decisions of taking a fresh oath as judges and will always do so.  However I will  put it to one side and will from today begin the difficult process of forgetting  and maybe even forgiving your betrayal .

On a lighter note some might say that I have probably been too strict in determining that martial law ended on 23 March given Prime Minister Gillani’s executive order and Dog(gar)’s exit all occuring over the past few days. But I do not regret my stand for trusting Mr Zardari doesnt come easy!

It is hoped that by the time this post is published, the Chief Justice will be dispensing justice in court room number one. I am delighted to see that the Supreme Court website has been updated to show the Chief Justice as its supremo.

The end of martial law is a great victory for the people of Pakistan and the lawyers movement in particular whose sacrifices will be written in golden letters. This is a new Pakistan, one fashioned on the great ideals of our founding fathers in Allama Iqbal and the Quaid-e-Azam.

This is a defining moment in Pakistan’s history. Having laid the foundations of constitutionalism again, we must as a nation stand united as not only the heirs of the Quaid’s Pakistan but the torchbearers of a reborn Pakistan.

This is a time for optimism for we must never lose the hope of a better tomorrow and of a better Pakistan. As I wrote in my founding post  and I say it gain today ‘we must work towards building a better, more just Pakistan. The Quaid and his vision must guide us, so let us together create the Other Pakistan.

Pakistan Zindabad

A Candle in the Wind

Well-educated and visibly determined Munnaza Abdul Razzaq wants to do her best to change the lot of poor women and children. Contesting from NA-121 and PP-149, Munnaza is perhaps the only independent female candidate in Lahore District whose agenda is to struggle for the rights of the people.

She doesn’t belong to any political family or any ideology. Born to a middle-class family, she has keenly observed past elections. She wants a change in the system and end to exploitation of the have-nots on one pretext or the other.

Her constituency NA-121 has a large number of poor and unemployed voters who live under the most appalling conditions and have always been ignored by all political parties in the past. Deeply moved by plight these poor people, she has decided to contest elections.

In a brief talk, she said: “Victory or defeat does not matter to me. What matters is raising a voice for the poor and the helpless, especially women.” Munnaza says she is alive to the Pakistan’s electoral circus and believes that there is not even a single political party which is seriously working to end plight of the poor. “I want to deliver. I am also a victim of this system. Therefore, I have decided to jump into the fray. I want to contribute as an educated and concerned citizen of this country”.

Munnaza has her agenda that focuses on provision of education to all, elimination of narcotics and other criminal activities in the area, free medical services, provision of clean drinking water and a proper drainage system, assistance and support to destitute women. Holding MSc and MEd degrees, she leaves home at 7am for canvassing in an old and borrowed van. Accompanied by her campaign manager Naheed Khan, another promising young girl, she goes door-to-door, distributes leaflets and holds corner meetings and returns home.

For me, irrespective of the election results Munnaza and her campaign manager Naheed have already achieved victory with distinction because they have chosen to stand tall, they have decided not to say silent instead they have chose to make a stand and I salute them both from the bottom of my heart for it.

Munnaza’s candidature represents an oasis of hope in a desert of pessimism. She is as The News coins a candle in the wind and I beg Lahore voters to support her for NA-121 and PP-129. If they do, they will return someone who is from them, someone who has no lust for power or office but only a wish to serve her people. Such selfless people are one in a billion and thus the legendary people of Lahore must make their views count in her favour.

At Other Pakistan we are not only supporting Munnaza openly and with fervour but moreover we are working towards support for her across the blogosphere. With regards to this I have made contacts with leading bloggers with a view to a joint campaign to support her candidature online and on the ground. I believe Munnaza Razaq could serve as a test case of the power of the blogosphere if all blogs decided to support her online and worked for her on the ground to ensure she wins in NA121 and PP129.

Just imagine the precedent it would set if she was elected thanks to the support from the Pakistani online community who could help to mobilise LUMS students and their respective action committees via their blogs and the Emergency List as well as motivate Lahore’s joe public to campaign and vote for her. I believe if we all join together we could elect Munnaza and thus I urge all blogger friends to support her on their blogs and urge OP visitors to support her too through your friends in Lahore, who knows she could win!

Postscript: Urgent Help Needed- I have made no contact with Munnaza to date as I only have her address information which is 286/B, Qazafi Park, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Lahore. However I need to make contact with her so if you reside in Lahore in Gulshan-e-Ravi could you please ask Munnaza or Naheed to make contact with me via wasim@otherpakistan.org as I hope to contact them both with a view to an online interview for OP readers which will form a major chunk of our online campaign of support for her across the blogosphere.

- Originally posted on 7th February 2008, 00:26 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW

The Supreme Court’s verdict will be pivotal but I believe it’s the court of the people who will eventually decide the fate of our next President. GHQ and others who peddle the view that General Musharraf’s re-election from the present assemblies beware for this court is 160 million strong. It doesn’t need to be argued that General Musharraf cannot be re-elect himself from the present assemblies, for him to do so would be tantamount to a blatant disregard of our constitution and the rule of law. The most pressing question is on what grounds moral or any other can an elected assembly with a life of five years elect someone for ten years?  Does Pakistan deserve a zombie president from a zombie parliament resulting only in a dead man walking of a president or can we do better?

A dangerous precedent will be set if General Musharraf succeeds in his endeavour for it’s the same as me paying only five rupees for a good costing ten rupees, imagine the impact of such an event if it was accepted as the norm in the bazaars of Pakistan thanks to the lead given to us by our revered General Musharraf. Pakistan deserves better so I urge my hamwatan folk to make a stand today or remain silent forever. Our slogans must be ‘Pakistan First’ and ‘Go Musharraf Go’ and we must resist his re-election and confine army rule to the dustbin of history forever. However we must do so peacefully by going to the streets in our millions and register our protest against this war crime against the Pakistani people. Just take a look at the collective will of the people of Burma and how they are standing against a vile military dictatorship, we don’t need a better example of how we can do the same albeit Pakistan-style.

The verdict of the Supreme Court may have come but the verdict of the people is yet to make its judgement. This land of the pure has a historic opportunity to wash itself of its recent dirty history, we can purify ourselves in holy water or remain aloof and in deep sleep and hence as a collective sleepwalk the nation onto a path of destruction and ignominy.

The Quaid’s vision must guide us in creating that ‘other’ Pakistan; a Pakistan governed in the interests of the many not the few, a Pakistan that solves the issue of bread for the poor as envisaged by our Poet of the East Allama Iqbal. So I make a heartfelt plea to you all that a stand has to be made for principle and that time has come for Pakistan. We will succeed inshallah if we come out in our millions peacefully to save Pakistan, if we choose not to then we are all complicit in the evil committed in our name. Pakistan as a nation will then deserve the worst and we can and will deserve to rot in hell. An ‘other’ Pakistan is in the making, this moment will not come again, let’s reclaim Pakistan for Pakistan’s sake.

- Originally posted on 4 October 2007, 10.17 PK Time

Chili Davis once said of birthdays that ‘growing old is mandatory but growing up is optional’. For too long Pakistan has grown only older, with green and white adorning every bazaar and basti cometh each August, the net effect resulting in only a date being celebrated and the cause for the celebration forgotten. As a nation we have many questions and crimes to answer for. Have we forgotten the blood and toil of our forefathers who made this land pure through their sacrifices, and worse why have we allowed the Quaid to be reduced to an ornament in name with his portraits decorating our homes and offices but not our hearts? Have we forgotten the vision of Allama Iqbal and that Pakistan was created to be the second Madina or do we not care anymore?

The Holocaust Museum in Washington DC words capture best our predicament namely that ‘thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, and above all thou shalt not be a bystander’. However for far too long Pakistanis have been a bystander and sat on the fence as every evil was committed in our name by military and civilian regimes alike.  This is our national war crime and we cannot absolve ourselves from our acts of omission and commission and of let it be any longer. It is true that Pakistan has grown older but not wiser and seen payback through turmoil after turmoil but after the 9th of March 2007 all has changed, Pakistan said with one voice that enough is enough.

A new dawn has broken and a new Pakistan is in its embryonic stages thanks to the lawyers and awaami movement that has reclaimed Pakistan for all of Pakistan. For me the Pakistan of 2007 is a reincarnation of sorts of the Pakistan of 1947 for this new Pakistan is being sculpted by lawyers and the awaam alike as was the case in 1947. It is true we have do not have the Quaid to lead us through this crucial time but we do have his ideals and vision as our guide. This moment will not come again, someone said ALLAH has taken suo moto notice to save Pakistan, please do not waste it.  

At Other Pakistan we see this as the perfect opportunity to articulate how we can all work together to build a better and more just Pakistan and we invite all Pakistanis to play their part in the spirit of nation building noting the words of Agatha Christie who once said ‘good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it’ so pass on your advice by emailing me at wasim@otherpakistan.org

Let us create an alternative Pakistan, that other Pakistan of which we can all be proud of.

-  Originally posted on 12th August 2007, 15.36 PK Time

Blood, sweat and tears were needed to create this land of the pure. Our great forefathers were slain and sacrificed during partition and died for a just cause. From those very charred and maimed corpses, Pakistan rose in all her glory. Yet such glory has escaped us thanks to our very own desi equivalent of an axis of evil comprising of rule by spineless and corrupt politicians, endless military rule, and a pliant judiciary. Sadly each has played the role of a mistress to the other and the resulting stench from their unholy alliance has bedevilled Pakistan since its birth.

Some have called it divine intervention and even our final chance to redeem ourselves, but few can doubt that since the 9th of March Pakistan is a different country having woken from her comatose state after a deep sleep with the Pakistani masses standing tall to say that enough is enough. The number nine is particularly significant in this respect and it seems like 9/11 that preceded it 9/3 will forever alter Pakistan too but we hope for the better this time. The masses are out to reclaim the land of the pure, they are saying with one voice loud and clear – good riddance to ‘Faujistan’. Like the revolution that took away the Shah of Iran with great aplomb, Pakistan is busy today in fashioning its new future albeit a few decades later revolution-style. In doing so the collective will of the nation is engaged in a principled struggle to break down a Berlin wall built by our military generals to stifle Pakistan and her progress. Having set ourselves free sixty years ago from the chains of Indian hegemony, Pakistan’s progress has been stifled since its inception at the hands of a strong military leadership intent on replacing one master with another. The army is not the target, on the contrary they are lauded by one and all, but the eminent commentator Ayaz Amir is only too right in stating that this struggle is ‘about the nation’s future, what is our destiny, is it the worshipping of false gods or a republic based upon law as our founding fathers intended?

Aitzaz Ahsan or ‘Aitraaz’ as my father fondly calls him owing to his capacity to raise an argument within seconds is right in saying that the people of Pakistan have crossed the rubicon thanks to an awaami movement of the masses ably led by the lawyers movement to reclaim the Pakistan envisaged by our legal founders. His esteemed colleague Muneer A. Malik is also correct in saying that ‘our struggle is about the independence of the judiciary and the preservation of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. These are not arcane legal issues to be dryly debated in close courtrooms. They are issues that affect the lives of every single Pakistani. Every citizen has the right to expect that he will live his life in a system based on the rule of law and the arbitrary whims of a military dictator’.

To conclude do remember that the new Pakistan movement is fighting for a noble cause and there is light at the end of the tunnel (please don’t tell WAPDA otherwise off it goes!) should we remain steadfast and loyal to the vision of the Quaid. Far more eloquent and experienced commentators than I have cautioned against raising our hopes unduly but I disagree for I echo the Quaid’s optimism who said of his people ‘I have full faith in my people that they will rise to every occasion worthy of our past Islamic history, glory and tradition’. So my advice is simple; move forward Pakistan and build the Quaid’s Pakistan keeping in mind always the Quaid’s message on our first anniversary that ‘ nature has given you everything; you have got unlimited resources. the foundations of your state have been laid, and it is for you now to build, and build as quickly and as well as you can, so go ahead and I wish you God Speed’. So let us build the Quaid’s Pakistan and fast for we have sixty years to make up.

-  Originally posted on 24 June 2007, 19.25 PK Time