The Northern War & Nawaz’s Rant

There are certain sections of our society which are oblivious to the fact that there is a war going on in the northern parts of Pakistan. That there is absolute chaos and disarray for the residents of the Swat Valley and others. That this is not just a ‘phase’ of militant and terrorist insurgency that we are experiencing. It is a cancer which is gripping our nation and we need to battle hard to fight it. That the pattern which the world saw almost 2 decades ago involving the Taliban is being repeated in the same form of brokering peace deals by giving in to the demands of the extreme militants. It happened in Afghanistan as well. The Taliban came and then there was ‘”peace” from all the fighting.

We need to wake up to the reality that this is actually happening. The Taliban are actually winning in their purpose of escaping the writ of the Government and getting their own control and way in those areas. The situation might be so dire that it requires such measures, in order to stop the bloodshed. But what about the long term? What are we going to do to eliminate this cancer? We inherited this cancer from our policies of yesteryears and the war with the Soviets, but now how do we deal with it? Containing it is not an option because it doesn’t work and only turns out to be worse. We are the victims of trying to contain it. And let’s be clear. It is Pakistan on the front line of this war. Not anyone else. We are not carrying out any other country’s agenda when we talk about dealing with this situation. It is a threat to our existence and our survival as a sovereign nation, not anyone else’s.

However like I said earlier, some parts of our society are acting completely oblivious to the fact that we are in fact at war right now. Which is why they are hell bent on carrying out marches and launching attacks on the center of Pakistan. While I am not a fan of the government and the way things are being ‘handled’ in running this country smoothly, I do believe this is not the time to further any divides and further weaken the position of this country in the face of threats that currently exist and are practically knocking on our doors. Hell they are even some way past the door.

The lawyers are continuously leading me to believe that their agendas are highly questionable and that they are doing nothing other than playing out political card tricks. Nawaz’s declaration of supporting them in their march and sit in and then immediately after also launching an attack on the government and our president is somewhat proof of my opinion. Like I said, I am not a fan of the government either. But anyone who has the nation’s better interests in mind wouldn’t at this current point in time start up with political wars, the kind we saw in the 90s. And I am sure we all remember the 90s very well. The era of short lived governments. The era of consistent instability.

We don’t need this. Nawaz’s rant should have perhaps come when Zardari was being elected. Or should have come before that even. But not right now. Not when the situation in the NWFP gets more and more worse and dire. This rant was not instigated by any blind love for the nation. Rather it is because his ‘political’ career was seemingly being pushed down the drain and cut off.

This nation is consistently being made a mockery of by those we call our ‘leaders’ and still we haven’t wised up to them or their card tricks. We still haven’t realized on a whole that these so called leaders are akin to poker faced card players who live by the hand they have. It is the people who are paying for these ‘hands’. They are paying for it with their lives and their freedom. The Swat Valley was once the most beautiful place in Pakistan. Now, at least for the people living their, it is hell.

 

And what do we do? We condemn the acts of the Israelis in Gaza, we take out long march processions to get judges restored and we launch attacks on the federal government of Pakistan. 

‘Wake up and smell the coffee’. That’s what we need to do. If we don’t wake up even now and don’t realize the situation and boiler that we are in, then there is little chance for any bright future any time soon, or later either.

Those Annoying Sales Calls

Ten ways to stop those credit card sales, mobile companies, insurance calls from irritating you:

1 After the telemarketer finishes speaking, ask him/her to marry you.

2 Tell the telemarketer you are busy at the moment, and ask him/her, if he/she will give you his/her home phone number so you can call him/her back.

3 Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times.

4 Tell them it is dinnertime, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation.

5 Tell them that all business goes through your agent, and hand the phone to your five year old child.

6 Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up…. Louder… Louder… Louder!

7 If they start out with, “How are you today?”, say “I’m so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems………….”

8 Tell them to speak very slowly because you want to write every word down.

9 Cry out in surprise, “Helen, is that you? I’ve been hoping you’d call! How is the family?” When they insist they are not Helen, tell them to stop joking. This works especially well if the telemarketer is really MALE.

10 Tell the ICICI call centre guy to call on your office number – and give him the HSBC call centre number.

Vindictively Alone….

Man is born alone. Man dies alone. It’s not like he takes another soul with him on his death journey. In fact everyone you come to know in your life will be lost forever on you once you die. You will never recognize anyone again after this life. Not even people you love with your whole.

As if that’s not bad enough….. people end up being alone in this life as well. Circumstances lead to such that they drift through life, without really holding on to anything or without being held on by someone else.

People don’t always turn out to be what they initially seemed. Feelings can change in an instance. Some painful scars can linger on for seasons beyond seasons. Everything that you have envisioned inside your head could turn out to be nothing more than a fable, a fantasy ….. a fairy tale story. All in the process leaving you alone with your thoughts…. with yourself.

You don’t feel like reacting to stuff that you’ve only just started to realize… like stuff that you’ve been left out of. Or how the presence of you is like a tiny blot on a windscreen in other’s life. Like … you’ve lost complete confidence in feelings that you have. In feelings that others might have for you. On that whole idea altogether. Its like … what’s the point. ‘My destiny is alone’ …..which might not be true unless you want to be melodramatic about it. But still… that’s how it tends to be at times. That’s how rigid your self loathing and ample feeling of patheticness can get.

It is human instinct to think of oneself as alone on certain levels. Don’t our minds often wander towards outlets of emotions in a remote destination without any contact with the real world ? Don’t we at times imagine ourselves sitting ‘alone’ on some roof or some height staring into the dark night and the bright stars ….. thinking whatever thoughts there might be….. but sitting and thinking alone… ? We all do. You’d be lying …. to yourself if you thought or said you don’t or haven’t ever.

The Spartans …. outcast their young warriors of age 10 or so … into the wild .. to survive on their own. To grow on their own. To become men on their own. All alone.

So to prove human nature …that’s an example of it from history. It’s in us to be alone at some point in time.

But it hurts when we are alone by external forces and not by choice. When we are alone by choice ….we are looking for solitude. And when we are alone by external forces………….we are isolated, abandoned…… forgotten even. It really hurts then. When it’s sort of in between ….. you have mixed feelings and doubt over everything else even if it hasn’t quite reached that stage yet where this entire debate would be applicable to it.

When we are not alone by choice ..and rather circumstances beyond our control……we turn violent on ourselves. Maybe not physically… but emotionally. Our souls remain tormented. Uncared. Unloved. All sorts of negative thoughts get a free pass into our mind. And slowly and slowly we orchestrate our own mental demise…..we become instrumental in unscrewing our own strength and iron will. We become our own worst enemies.