Archive for the ‘islamic’ Category
November 5, 2017
i am alone
every day on the road
the madness
called road rage
manifest all around me
traffic careening insanely
my cocoon of the car
at least apparently
giving safety
and i smile
while around me
so many left at the mercy
of a God
seemingly merciless to them
whose will they are told it was
and then i recall
climbing the stairs to an office
to meet three kids
whose parents were burnt
by a frenzied mob
in a brick kiln
in 2014
vacant eyes looked at me
accusatory expressions
of mistrust and maybe hate
for we represented all they
‘have not’
i shuddered
they were thinking
what i think
every time a caller says
may i ask about Gul?
and in that microcosm of time
we were one
maybe the middle one
the five centuries old girl sonia
sensed it
for she smiled
he is not here to reopen our wounds
he knows our hurt is his!
and we though alone in ourselves
were one for that moment in time
i saw kids in that room
not of 11, 9 and 5
but three lives
at whom life had thrust
the mantle of adulthood
in the body and mind of
children at an age
when Ben 10, Tom & Jerry
and cartoon network
should take their time
not someone asking about
death!
forgotten, forlorn, shattered
playthings in the hands of society
which plays with them
not puts playthings in their hands
and so it ended
Shama, Shahzad, Suleman, Sonia, Poonam, Gul, I and a five month foetus in the mother’s womb
together yet alone
forgotten
except to talk of the horror of the day
once again
and the next instant
a cup of tea
good bye
till the next call
.
.
.
lahore
05/11/2018 – 18:00 hours
lahore
31.480828
74.295690
Tags:extremism, extremists, love, orphans, pakistan, personal, religion, survivors, terrorism, victims
Posted in casualty, childhood, conflict, extremism, islamic | Leave a Comment »
April 2, 2015
Caught NAP-ping
An All Parties Conference [APC] (APC used to be a pill for headaches and pains or a war machine and these APCs are neither) was called, which constituted a committee to hurriedly take its time to come up with a National Action Plan (acronym NAP), which as the politicians keep dithering, keeps meeting endlessly.
Time wasted and opportunity lost and terrorism continues diverting attention from the task at hand.
Just another case of what was so cynically defined by Sir Barnett Cocks, a clerk in the UK’s House of Commons, as “a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.”
And in our context is this not just another case of the committee set up by a conference being caught NAP-ping!
Tags:action, anti-terrorism, extremism, peace, terrorism
Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Abbottabad Pakistan, Activism, bomb blast, bulleh shah, casualty, civil society, conflict, disaster, extremism, formers, global survivors network, International Islamic University Islamabad Pakistan, islamic, militancy, militant, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, sufism, suicide bombing, Summit Against Violent Extremism, survivors, terrorism, Victims, violent extremism | Leave a Comment »
March 8, 2014
On the Fifth of October 2009, I joined the ranks of the ordinary Pakistani on the street.
The Pakistani lost between debates of Islam, the rationale for Pakistan’s existence, two nation or diverse nationalities, deciding who is a Muslim who not; wondering why people in the power corridors are unconcerned about the blood on the streets.
Gone was the pampered Army brat, a crust of upper society, one rubbing shoulders with gentry. All lost in one all leveling bomb blast.
On this day, at about 12:15 PM, a soldier of the Frontier Constabulary walked into the well secured Country Office of the UN World Food Program in Islamabad. He was a suicide bomber dressed in FC uniform and he blew himself up.
Gul Rukh Tahir, Farzana Barkat, Abid Rehman, Muhammad Wahab, and Botan Ahmed Ali Al-Hayawi lost their life in this attack.
Today, four and a half years on, as Pakistan debates the how and why of the F 8 Courts attack with the usual cacophony of apologetic arguments heard again. A feeling of disquiet, a foreboding, a sense of deja vu for the survivors of this attack, and the families who survive those who fell victim to this act surfaces.
I feel revival and flashbacks to the scene outside the WFP premises when I reached there, looking for my wife. Not knowing that Gul Rukh Tahir was a victim of the suicide attack!
Today, as the acts of terrorism continue unabated, and toll of Suicide Bombing Victims reaches 6,053 dead, 15,880 Injured, and continues to rise, I have a sense of despair. Questions arise in my mind for anyone listening. Questions that I have asked on many forums since 10/5, getting blank stares and incredulous looks in response!
Why us?
What have we done to deserve this fate at the hands of self-professed reformers and torch bearers of a faith twisted to suit their concept of a Caliphate over the world?
What have we done to see our rulers vacillate at the altar of expediency for continuation of their rule?
What is the deep dark secret that keeps us from taking steps that will eliminate this menace from amidst us?
Why is Islam being bandied about as the decider in the battle against terrorism?
With thousands dead or wounded, and more thousands surviving the loss of a loved one, can we not see our people – my wife, your son, father, daughter, brother, sister, friend, relative, colleague, Pakistani all, losing their life? Not the American or NATO country populations. So how can we still brazenly ask, “Whose war are we fighting?”
As the uncertainty deepens talk of Good Taliban, and Bad Taliban surfaces. Is it to justify the stand that talks solve all issues, even if the other side has one sided dogmatic stance?
That begs the question, are Taliban justified to differentiate between good musalman, and bad musalman, and kill accordingly?
With strong undercurrents of the sixty five year old debate, was Pakistan created for Islam, or for Musalman’s? Are we Muslim Pakistani’s, or are we Pakistani Muslims? What do we stand for? Or are we destined to be shot wherever someone thinks there is a need to have a religious cleansing?
I grew up with a strong sense of Pakistan, my father being an Army man, we never had any doubt that Pakistan was where muslamans lived, not that Muslims make Pakistan. Then as a soldier defending the country pre and post 1971, there never was a question of identity. So why now?
Where did we go wrong?
Why is 1979 touted as the turning point for us, while Afghanistan stood the acid test, and the USSR lost? Why does Iraq, Saudia Arabia, Syria over 2600 km away impact what we do in Pakistan? And why is the US considered the mother of all evils in Pakistan?
So do these musings make thinking Pakistanis bad Musalmans?
If yes, then we should not ask for whom the bell tolls, for surely it tolls for us!
March 08, 2014
5:15 pm
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Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Abbottabad Pakistan, Activism, Afghanistan, askobi, bomb blast, casualty, civil society, conflict, disaster, extremism, formers, global survivors network, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, KPK, lahore, living, love, militancy, militant, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, personal, peshawar, quetta, rawalpindi, SE Asian Region, Sindh, suicide bombing, Summit Against Violent Extremism, survivors, terrorism, Victims, women | Leave a Comment »
February 14, 2014
As the much hyped government Taliban negotiations, make headline news, allegations, counter allegations, conditions and counter conditions, go on, the people are left in a state of disbelief, for talks and bombing, killing, goes on in parallel.
Do the dead and wounded and those who survive care for the outcome, or want as decisive an action as the extremists undertake?
take a breath
deep if you can
or even shallow
as you always do,
feel the pain
the scathing burning
acrid taste of burning
tearing down your throat
smell of flesh, clothes and wood
tinged with explosives
even as you look away
and cover your nose
the throat tells you, you have
just been exposed to
a bomb blast.
and as you run
you stumble and fall
shocked to see
beneath your feet
shattered humanity
bleeding, torn, incinerated
and you stand in shock
and one thought
why us? rises
above all in your mind
and you wonder if the
negotiations touted as the
mother of all talks
will have any effect?
and even if they do
will the result of these
bring back the humanity
you just stepped on
back to life
forgetting
forgiving
reliving life
being able to love
once again?
and you can see the
writing on the wall
seen by all
but those who matter
confused and unsure between
containment,
elimination,
conciliation,
oblivious to the pain,
loss, suffering and feelings
for they have not suffered
hiding behind their high walls
long convoys in duplicates
moving along different routes
jammers, rerouting traffic
and all spent on the
alter of expediency, the
dead, maimed and wounded
unseen, unsung, unheard.
change, for the sake of your people
your mindset, and realize
and eye for an eye
was written for such as these!
February 13, 2014
8:16 pm
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73.130493
Tags:allegations, anti-terrorism, extremism, poetry, taliban, terrorism
Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Abbottabad Pakistan, Activism, AJK, askobi, Balochistan, bomb blast, casualty, CFR, civil society, conflict, DHAMAK, disaster, Drama, emergency, extremism, formers, Gilgit, Gilgit Baltistan, global survivors network, indonesia, Institution, International Islamic University Islamabad Pakistan, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, KPK, lahore, Law, living, love, militancy, militant, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, personal, peshawar, poetry, Punjab, quetta, rawalpindi, romance, romantic, SE Asian Region, Sindh, statistics, suicide bombing, Summit Against Violent Extremism, Support, terrorism, un world food program, Victims, violent extremism, women | Leave a Comment »
October 26, 2013
i thought i had posted this here when i wrote it, and only today found i have not:
————————————-
at fourteen she has
so much to live for
but surely not
a bullet in her head
to show the cowardice
of those who can not
stand up and face
a girl of fourteen
because her stand
in their face
makes them afraid
of an idea that she represents
and which may
cast doubts among
the professed guardians
of a religion to which belonged
aisha the wife, all of malala’s age
nasibah steadfast at ohad
fatima the daughter of muhammad (pbuh)
mother to hassan and hussain, wife of ali
zainab bint ali too among the names
umm e kulsum wife of usman
and a list of brave
learned, revered women
negated due to their deliberate desire
of ignoring history and narrative
of fourteen hundred years and more
taught, recounted and remembered
but they in their narrow interpretations
seeking to create a cult militant
ignorant, short on truth
long on hate of things that
go against their desire of leading
without opposition
neither ijmah nor questioning
where the khalifa got the cloth
to make a full shirt
or having two lamp with oil
from the state and self
for work and leisure.
and all this threatened
by a girl of fourteen
wanting to be like
the women of Islam
taught to her by her teachers
ingrained in her mind by parents
practiced by her daily
seen happening in life
and a bullet to the head
to end the life at fourteen
hanging to life in a hospital
by a tenuous thread
are the perpetrators
so afraid now
that a fourteen year old
that too a girl
becomes a threat to their edifice
made like a house of cards
one voice of a girl
against all odds
October 10, 2012
11:53 hours
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Tags:extremism, Malala, pakistan, shooting, violence
Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Abbottabad Pakistan, Activism, AJK, Balochistan, bomb blast, bulleh shah, casualty, conflict, disaster, Education, extremism, Gilgit, Gilgit Baltistan, Institution, International Islamic University Islamabad Pakistan, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, KPK, lahore, learning, living, love, militancy, militant, mother, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, personal, peshawar, poetry, Punjab, quetta, rawalpindi, School, Sindh, survivors, terrorism, Victims, violent extremism, women | Leave a Comment »
June 23, 2013
Standing up against militants of K-P: How my father died for Pakistan
we need to share such stories wherever, by whatever means, and whenever we can – we must show we are not to be cowed down, but will continue to raise our voices against terrorism!
33.759969
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Tags:extremism, KPK, terrorism, violence
Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Activism, AJK, bomb blast, casualty, CFR, civil society, conflict, disaster, extremism, global survivors network, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, lahore, militancy, militant, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, peshawar, quetta, rawalpindi, SE Asian Region, suicide bombing, survivors, terrorism, Uncategorized, Victims, violent extremism | Leave a Comment »
May 3, 2013
my masters
handlers of my fate
moving me as a pawn
on the board of
hate and expediency
like a sacrificial goat.
did you plan my
moves on the board
to wreak havoc
and loose myself
in the ensuing melee
lucky if i escaped
life paid for if i lost.
if you could but
taste even a second
of the twenty-two years
of the time of my life
i lost playing out
your designed end game.
till one day in kot lakhpat
the town of the
holder of a lakh
each day an agony
waiting to end in reprieve;
and out of the blue
set upon by men
unknown
having nothing to lose
for they too
were already condemned
living on death row
to agonizingly wait
for the last visit.
but i, set upon
saw stars and
a pain and
blissful darkness
and my last thoughts
perhaps
is this the tightening
of the noose’s rope
thrown over the gallows,
or reincarnation?
and the news proclaimed
sarbajeet singh is dead!
———————————————
may 02, 2013 – 11:45 pm
may 03, 2010 – 09:45 am
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Tags:Diplomacy, India, Intolerance, Mistrust, pakistan, Sarbajeet Singh, terrorism, War
Posted in Activism, bomb blast, casualty, civil society, extremism, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, lahore, living, love, militancy, militant, peace, peace building, personal, peshawar, poetry, quetta, rawalpindi, terrorism, violent extremism | 3 Comments »
December 13, 2012
13/12/12 thursday – a very well spent day
the first session included talks by women survivors from all five provinces of Pakistan, and AJK, the narrations moved the audience to tears on more than one occasion. security concerns led to some of the narratives being made by the women from behind a wall, further highlighting the of threat scenario to some of the religious sects and minority populations in Pakistan.
in the second session, women parliamentarians from all provinces talked about their experiences, hopes, and aspirations about the future of women in Pakistan,
the third session was for the launch of the CEDAW shadow report on Pakistan.
over all the day was very well spent and a learning experience.
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Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Abbottabad Pakistan, Activism, Afghanistan, bomb blast, casualty, civil society, conflict, cooperation, disaster, extremism, Gilgit, global survivors network, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, lahore, living, love, militancy, militant, Mission, mother, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, personal, peshawar, quetta, rain, rawalpindi, SE Asian Region, statistics, suicide bombing, Support, survivors, terrorism, Victims, violent extremism, women | Leave a Comment »
December 7, 2012
I met Ms. Uzma Yasmeen a student of the National Defense University, Islamabad at the public talk on the subject of “Security architecture for South Asia” by Mr. Farooq Sobhan, Former Foreign Secretary, People’s Republic of Bangladesh organized at the Institute of Strategic Studies (ISSI) distinguished lecture series on November 1, 2012.
In the last one month Ms. Yasmeen has become active in promoting PakTSN and she arranged my meeting with other students on December 06, 2012.
It was a wonderful interactive session, which lasted for longer than I had anticipated, but it was worth each minute of it. At the peak there were 6 students (some students were detained by the faculty for other work) round the table while few sitting close by had their ears on our discussion. We talked of terrorism, reason for my becoming an anti-terrorism activist; why I speak for survivors; about PTSD; steps that can be taken to create awareness about the ‘human cost of terrorism; rational for reaching out to youth; role of youth; how we can pool our resources to reach out to other educational institutions in Islamabad / Rawalpindi, and surrounding areas; and generally about issues facing Pakistan.
I cannot appreciate enough the interest and desire of Ms. Uzma Yasmeen to work with us on this important aspect of human interactions post passing away of a loved one in an act of terrorism. May Allah help and guide us in this endeavor. Aamin
I look forward to the participants’ inputs on broadening this undertaking of creating awareness of the human cost of terrorism particularly among the youth of Pakistan, and to our meeting with more people in the future.
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Tags:Education, pakistan, students, terrorism, University
Posted in 10/05/09, 10/08/09, 7/7, 9/11, Activism, bomb blast, casualty, civil society, conflict, cooperation, disaster, Education, emergency, extremism, formers, Institution, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, lahore, learning, love, militant, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, peshawar, quetta, rawalpindi, School, SE Asian Region, statistics, suicide bombing, Support, survivors, terrorism, un world food program, university, Victims, violent extremism, women | Leave a Comment »
December 4, 2012
today December 04, 2012 is the third anniversary of 2009 friday prayers attack on the mosque in rawalpindi, next to islamabad, pakistan.
a group of extremists attacked the worshipers with grenades, rifles and suicide bombers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2009_Rawalpindi_attack
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Tags:assault, extremists, mosque, pakistan, Rawalpindi, terrorism. attack, victims
Posted in 10/05/09, 9/11, Activism, bomb blast, casualty, civil society, conflict, disaster, extremism, Gilgit, global survivors network, islamabad, islamic, Karachi, lahore, living, love, MAD For Peace, militancy, militant, pakistan, pakistan terrorism survivors network, peace, peace building, personal, peshawar, quetta, rawalpindi, SE Asian Region, suicide bombing, survivors, terrorism, Uncategorized, Victims, violent extremism, women | Leave a Comment »