Iqbal Bano Passed Away!

Daghe Dil Hum ko Yaad Aaanay Lage

The legendary singer of Pakistan or to put it correctly, of Sub-Continent Iqbal Bano has passed away. This closes the chapter of classical ghazal singing to an end. Bano was not a big fan of contemporary Ghazal singing and she was the old school who stressed on the raag itself more than the ghazal’s rhyming compulsions.

She was a big name in Ghazal singing. Her enchanting voice eulogized millions of ghazal fans for decades and will continue to do so as long as Urdu-Hindi language is there and there are people who like this slow rhythming form of performing arts known as ghazal singing. God may bless her.

As a tribute I am putting two of her melody beauties on my blog

Peace in Swat or Sweeping under the Carpet

At this most critical moment I should have been quiet or danced to the tunes of Nizam-e-Adle regulation passed by the National Assembly of Pakistan. For the sake of saying, it is a fancy way of putting the lives, honour, respect, future and destiny of more than two million population of Malakand Division under the ruthless clutches of Taliban, a modern form of Azab-e-Elahi.

Yes, it will bring peace, but the one like we have in graveyards. It is always so serene there. The minor stir in the air feels like a boom. People of Swat and adjoining areas would be happy that the way they used to live, is now history. Of course, that was a bad way, the infidel way, anyways. Now people endowed with the strength of Eeman and the authority to bring justice will prevail. They would bring justice without creating a just society and condition. Islam would see its renaissance and under the banner of this great movemnet the torch bearers of Islam would bring the sweet revolution everywhere. Why to keep the goodies confined to Swat?

I am dismayed by the ANP-PPP duo, especially ANP where opportunism dominated. Instead of keeping the long term interests of its people it succumbed to power of Klashinkov bearers. I have nothing against Shariat or Adl but against the way and circumstances it is adopted. I don’t think that an illiterate person, who is fed with charity, has no formal schooling can transform into a religous scholar, out of nothing and on top of it claims to have understood the Shariat-e-Muhammadi to its fundamentals! As once Winston Churchill said, war is too delicate a matter to be handed over to the generals. The same applies here. Shariat is too delicate a matter to be handed over to Mullas leave aside the ruthless Talibans.

This is all, I know. I may be wrong, please correct me, if you think so.

Published in Daily THE NEWS April 16, 2009

On ‘Fake’ Video and ‘Conspiracy’ Against Islam

“This is Drama”, “This Video, is fake”, “No it was not even made in Swat”, “This was shot to sabotage the peace process between Taliban and Govt”. “You see ,that girl was a prostitute and hence punished by Taliban”. “NGOs want to bring bad name to Islam”, “This video is a conspiracy against Islam”. “US is trying to justify its future attack on Pakistan”. “The video is fake because if the girl was beaten so much then how she could walk afterwards”.

This is the kind of crap I have been listening since the video of that poor Sawati girl released to the media. No one, except few and coward voices, talks plainly. It was brutality against humanity. It wasn’t about how hard the girl was beaten, it was about the desecration of women and humiliation in the middle of the road. Have we gone blind as a society? Where for heaven’s sake Islam permits this kind of treatment? What kind of society we want? Islamic, right! Does anybody among the vanguards of this savage movement understands an iota of Islam? Does Islam only means Islamic punishments or we also have Islamic social justice system? How many smugglers have been killed by Taliban so far? None. Because they are powerful and beating an orphan girl is easy. It is this simple.

For God sake, the champions of Islamic renaissance, Islam is not about getting you back to the stone age, it is about progress and growth and this kind of Islam is only going to tick the clock backwards. I am appalled by the support these groups draw from general public. So any Lawrence of Arabia who recite a few verses can still blackmail muslims even today. What do want to see in Pakistan, a cricket stadium where a cricket match or beheading after Friday prayers? We want teen age boys to be suicide bombers or school going-prize winning students?

The way media has been captured by the Taliban-sympathisers, I think the above mentioned question should not have been asked in the first place. Guys like Ansar Abbasi, Hamid Mir and Mushtaq Minhas are showing their worth and are ample proof of how good Jamaat Islami is at training and placing their aces in the pivotal positions in the system. The saplings planted by Zia-ul-Haq are now bearing fruits. It is harvesting season, reap it!

Now for those, like Ansaar Abbasi, who think it was Islamic. Why these guys only quote the ayaat that justifies their purpose. Let take the whole context:

Surah Al-Nore Verse 02:

The woman and the man guilty of adultery or fornication,- flog each of them with a hundred stripes: Let not compassion move you in their case, in a matter prescribed by Allah, if ye believe in Allah and the Last Day: and let a party of the Believers witness their punishment) (An-Nur 24: 2).

Alright, and this is the one quoted by almost every Taliban supporter on Pakistani media. But they were dishonest when they didn’t quote this verse in the same Surah.

Surah Al-Nore Verse 05:
Except those who repent after this and act aright, for surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful

This is just an example as how half truth is presented. This also essentially means we want to create a society where we are not ready to provide an mercy to anybody. Just imagine, if in the future some member of Taliban Politburo wants to defame anybody’s sister/mother/wife, how easy it would be for him. Remember what goes around, comes around.

We also need to see as what are the necessary conditions for establishing Zina? There should be four witnesses who must have seen the intercourse explicitly. Just for heaven’s sake how that could be established until somebody wasn’t doing that act in the middle of a road like that poor girl was beaten there. This penalty was awarded by circumstantial evidence. A Talib saw somebody in Chaand’s ( The victim girl ) home and he reported it to the top Taliban leadership. Circumstantial evidence can not be admitted in this case. Cannot we see, Allah wants us to hide the sins of people around us. Of course, there are categorizations and limitations.

During Rasul-e-Khuda’s times a woman came to him and confessed that she had committed Zina. Rasul ( PBUH) turned his face to the other side. She repeated it and again he turned his face away. This happened three ( some say seven ) times, then it was promulgated that Hudd should be implemented. Some companions asked Rasul ( PBUH ) as why you didn’t announced the punishment right after she confessed the first time. He ( PBUH ) said, I wanted to give her a chance that she might go back and repent. But she made enough witnesses for her and I was left with no choice but to announce Allah’s prescribed punishment for this act.

Now imagine, the creator and His Messenger ( PBUH ) are trying to show compassion and mercy but Taliban and their supporters are not ready to do this. Because purpose is different. Now a days purpose is to scare people, the typical fascist techniques.

If we let these thing go, tomorrow we might have to tolerate bombing of our own people, destroying hotels, airlines and everything. We should be clear headed as what we want. Do we want Taliban who can always blackmail you by any crime against humanity in the name of Islam or we want a peaceful society with moderate values, as we used to be. Do we think that among the 6 billion human beings in the world only Taliban and Pakistanis are the only one on the right track? Why cannot we think, may be we are wrong on some counts ( not all, of course ). The biggest religion is the humanity which also has written some golden principles and I am willing to sacrifice my even my life for those. Why I can’t think this cannot happen to my own sister/wife/mother…? Difficult to think..huh..it is very much possible. Also we need to understand that rest of the world is not as bad as we have been told.

Even in their wildest dreams Jinnah and Iqbal would never have imagined this kind of Pakistan. Unfortunately, I can see very troubled times lie ahead for Pakistan. But fair and sqaure blame goes to Pakistani Army, politicians and gentry, essentially the people who ruled Pakistan in the last 60 years. ( This is a lengthy subject that I will cover sometime later ).