Benazir Bhutto's Death

The major fiber optic lines are cut, gas stations are being burnt (that is why they're all closed), ATM machines are being broken down and we're told to remain inside our homes because the situation outside may be dangerous. I don't know for sure, but my friend who just came over tells me he hardly saw more than three cars on his way here. Usually it would take him more than 40 minutes to get here because of the insane amount of cars on the road. But he says nothing is really happening out there. It's just that something might happen.

I'll admit, I was one of those who said, "And she survived!?" after Benazir's motorcade was attacked upon her arrival in October. But now when I look at the complete anarchy in our country I realize that this tragedy will just further ruin the great nation's image. The whole world only gets to see these things in an exaggerated form and they don't know the peace and tranquility it offers - that I have experienced all my life.

Benazir's death is as sudden as it is sad. She was one of those well-educated politicians our country has hardly seen. The Bhutto family could be considered to be the reason why democracy was seen as possible in Pakistan in the first place because of their style of politics. Both her brothers were killed, her father was killed and now herself. Two shots in the head and one in the neck - while wearing a bullet proof jacket, sitting in a bullet proof car.

I am now anxiously waiting for the next Newsweek issue and I bet it would have something to say about Pakistan on the cover page.

I think to myself, isn't Pakistan like one of those contacts on Facebook that always show up on your homepage or at the top of your "Recently Updated" pages?

So what, that makes Pakistan an attention seeker?

What it means to be in Lahore

Stuck in one of those moving parking lots they call roads nowadays, I noticed the car right in front of me moving backwards in neutral gear. It was about to hit my car! I meant to blare my car horn and put the car in reverse gear but instead I just honked and moved the car forwards right into it. My car's bumper fell off! (There goes my record of driving since 13 years and never having met with a single accident!) To be fair, it was only a minor accident and the other person's Suzuki Baleno's bumper paint came off slightly. He stopped his car and I could've made a dash, but I just wanted to be responsible, you know? So I stopped and apologized, and the two men just shrugged it off. At that point I thought to myself, "I love this city!"

See, Lahore's not just about driving for me. It's about the world of interaction with its people that comes with it. The honk patterns, the meanings of a single beam or a double, the coordination with the plethora of pedestrians jaywalking, the movement of the bicycles in the center of the road, and more recently, the weird looking rickshaws. Lately, you can find dozens of these new-age rickshaws that run on compressed natural gas (CNG), painted in unaesthetic colours, shaped like shoe boxes and that can now hold more than two passengers. For those of you who have been on the Canal Road, you know it's also about guessing whether the next underpass would fall on your left or your right, and for anyone who has never been to Lahore during election time, it's about those hundreds and thousands of cars with all kinds of weird Pakistan flags on them - insignias of various political parties' the owner of the car supports or promotes. You can also see the banners and posters of them all across town.

Pakistani politics... *chuckles*

Everyone I know who is reasonably intellectually sound has their own version to the overplus of stories behind the current and recent 'situations'.

"The emergency was a hoax to just get rid of the chief justice that opposed him."

"Musharraf did the right thing by imposing State of Emergency - this nation needs discipline!"

"They're all liars and thieves, all of them, so my idea is, why bother?"

"Emergency!? What emergency? You see anything that has changed in my life? Has anything changed in your life?"

I don't have my own version I guess. I really don't know who to believe or who to side with. So I'll just leave it to that. I didn't register for the elections anyway so I can't vote and that little piece of red tape means my voice can't be heard.

The love is amazing here. You see it first at the airport, where a bunch of your friends could come to meet you and to hand you a pack of cigarettes so you have something to smoke when you get home without making your parents stop on the way. Not to mention the ten or so relatives who could come to pick you up even if your arrival was supposed to be a surprise.

If you arrive home in Lahore after a long time, all you need to do is to eat some street food and get sick. You will get the massages, the special treatment (that means a load of things) and all the (junk) food you desire. Anything you may want, just u.t.t.e.r.i.t.

It's not all that much fun being sick though, I mean, if you are really sick - you know, with high fever and all (which I was). Then you have got to make trips to the doctors and the pathology laboratories and eat throat-gagging tablets and capsules. But love is worth it, right?

I feel one thing I will distinctly remember about this trip to Lahore would be those medical trips I made - and I made a lot of them in the one week or so I've been here. The specialist doctor's opinion that could cost me nearly five hundred Singaporean dollars costs me five hundred rupees here, which is less than fifteen Singapore dollars. Since I've been here, I've seen dentists (plural, yes), a skin specialist, other specialist physicians and a phlebotomist.

Just to be clear though, I'm not that sick. Well yeah I was for one day and it was totally worth it. But otherwise I am perfectly alright. I am just being greedy by seeing all these specialist doctors who wouldn't even turn to look at you and give you an informal diagnosis for a nominal fee back in university land (that's Singapurah, lah!).

And you know what's the funniest thing about restaurants here? Just like we have smoking corners or smoking tables in Singapore (sometimes) we have non-smoking tables and corners in Lahore!


Only some of these fork lifters have dropped cars in the past:

Passengers Create Electricity at MRT Stations

The East Japan Railway Company (JR-East), aiming to develop more environmentally friendly train stations, has been doing research on some sort of human-powered electricity generation system.

If the research provides reasonable results, the "ticket gate electricity generation system" could provide a fraction of the electricity consumed by huge and busy train stations.

The system relies on a series of 'piezo' elements embedded in the floor under the ticket gates, which generate electricity from the pressure and vibration they receive as people walk over it. If the system is attached to some high-efficiency storage system, these ticket gate generators could serve as a supplementary source of energy in this time of global warming awakening.

Currently the system is being tested at the JR-East head office in Shibuya and they might have installed it at other outlets by now, but it seems like it will take a while before such technologies will make it to Singapore MRT stations.

Women Can Now Wee Anywhere!

Picture: The Whiz Plus

It sounds crazy, I know, but there are loads of women out there who complain they can't sit on toilet seats in publics washrooms, let alone doing it behind a bush.

There are these feministic 'ladies' who think it's unfair that God made man such that he can open his zipper and wee anywhere whereas a woman just can't do that.

The company called WhizBiz is selling three different models of what they call The Whiz. One is for indoors use, one is for outdoors (it's made of some high-tech plasma coating so that all liquid is repelled and it always remains dry), and there is one for collecting midstream samples for tests as well.

Everyday, women are becoming more and more like men and vice versa. Just think of all those guys who don't wee standing up any more because it's not 'decent' - and now these women are going to feel 'enpowered' that they can wee standing up. I mean, if you look at the symbolic significance of these things happening, you will see that the world we live in doesn't make much sense any more. It doesn't to me.

Containing Angelina Jolie's Hotness in a Burqa

In her movie A Mighty Heart, Angelina plays a journalist's wife stuck in Pakistan where the movie shooting took place. Yes, Jon Stewart asks an impertinent question: Can the Burqa conceal her hotness?


[The Daily Show link]

I hurt

I've been hurt. I've been hurt today by someone dear and close to me.

To be thought of as conceited. To be thought of as someone who has ulterior motives. To be thought of as someone who would push a loved one down just to stay on top of the food chain. To be disrespected. To be talked down to. I've been hurt.

I've been hurt that I am not thought of as the man I think I am today. I've been hurt that my integrity had to come into question. I've been hurt that it always has to be this way. Always.

Things are often the way they are because of nature's scheme, society's prejudices or just plain old chance. There are choices made for everyone that they haven't made themselves. Life is full of it. Some are good. Some are bad. But if we all start finding places to bury blame, then everyone's a goner, now isn't it?

Whether it's good advice, honest suggestion or real fact, it always has to suffer brutal force. Action reaction.

It's always the case - one moment you're on top of the world, and the next, you come crashing down. Life, is a sine wave.

Persistence is key.

I shall endure.

Stinkfist

Something has to change.
Un-deniable dilemma.
Boredom's not a burden
Anyone should bear.

Constant over stimu-lation numbs me
but I would not want you
any other way.

It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Finger deep within the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Relax, turn around and take my hand.

I can help you change
Tired moments into pleasure.
Say the word and we'll be
Well upon our way.

Blend and balance
Pain and comfort
Deep within you
Till you will not want me any other way.


[YouTube link]

It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive.

Knuckle deep inside the borderline.
This may hurt a little but it's something you'll get used to.
Relax. Slip away.

Something kinda sad about
the way that things have come to be.
Desensitized to everything.
What became of subtlety?

How can this mean anything to me
If I really don't feel anything at all?

I'll keep digging till
I feel something.

Elbow deep inside the borderline.
Show me that you love me and that we belong together.
Shoulder deep within the borderline.
Relax. Turn around and take my hand.

Media Giants Set Agenda

After Musharraf: Why the future might look bright for Pakistan.

Suddenly the world is talking about taking down Musharraf because he has 'become dangerous'. I wonder if political advisers get their policy cues from these media giants. It's so easy for countries like the U.S. of A to take complete U-turns on their policies so suddenly. I really wonder what's really going on. I mean, the guy did get his Supreme Court to dismiss 5 out of the 6 petitions against his presidency. And all the parties have boycott the elections except for Benny's PPP. Crazy. And I thought I would get to vote in free-and-fair elections when I go back home. What sadness.

But the 13th army general has finally announced he will step down this Thursday, November 29th as Chief of Army Staff (COAS). That is, of course, because he will take oath as the president of the country for the next 5 years! This will be the tenth year of Musharraf's power struggle since October 1998 as he opens up the COAS position in favour of General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Looks like Musharraf won, finally.

Right?

Pakistani Rockstar On Emergency

Thankfully, by now, the US is "beginning to understand that Musharraf has become part of the problem" (New York Times article). But Benazir still holds the keys to the hearts of the Western media as the 'saviour for democracy', which is disturbing.

Here, I publish a Pakistani rockstar's insight on the situation in Pakistan in its entirety - thanks to Emad's blog where I found it.

Salman Ahmad was the founder of the internationally acclaimed Pakistani rock band Junoon and has gone solo now. He is also a social activist and the UN goodwill ambassador for HIV/AIDS.

As the world watches, Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons, descends into political chaos, much attention has been given to two leaders competing for power – the current dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, and the media-savvy Benazir Bhutto. The White House, for the moment, appears to be backing Musharraf as its best bet in the so-called "war on terror," while the world media and the western liberal elite see Bhutto as a democratic savior for a country mired in Islamic fundamentalism.

Both fail to recognize the core of the problem that plagues Pakistani politics and society.l believe that without a strong and independent judiciary,Pakistan will be forever at the mercy of power grabbing dictators and politicians.Its the lack of oversight and institutional accountability which leads to the coups and counter coups and helps perpetuate a constant state of instability in the country.

As an artist and a social activist I have worked extensively with both Musharraf and Bhutto's governments on peace initiatives and social uplift themes before, and have been disillusioned by their lack of commitment and political will to get any real work done while spending most of their time in consolidating their power bases.

On several occasions after September 11th, I was invited to General Musharraf's house in Islamabad, and was surprised to see him even join me onstage in concert to help support a united national anti-extremist front. I,like many others of my generation,initially believed and supported his commitment to introduce a new era of "enlightened moderation" in Pakistan, a nation that was hijacked by religious fanatics during the American-backed military dictatorship of General Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s.

Unfortunately General Musharraf forgot that artists like myself are not seduced by presidential palaces or official praise. We had supported him for his promise of fighting extremism,bringing accountability into politics,opening up a free and independent media and reducing the immoral gap between Pakistan's rich and poor communities.No amount of political song and dance or governmental fear-mongering can make us look the other way while he imposes emergency rule,intimidates the media, dismantles the judiciary and muzzles any form of dissent against his flawed vision of democracy which is doomed to fail without the respect for civil institutions.

And yet Benazir Bhutto is no savior. The queen of hypocrisy and media manipulation, she has managed to hypnotize Western liberal classes with her false claims to represent progressive elements in the Muslim world. Ms. Bhutto is a charlatan and a false prophet of democracy. How can she insist on being a democrat while selfishly appointing herself life chairperson of the Pakistan people's party? Her years as Pakistan's prime minister witnessed staggering levels of corruption and billion-dollar graft that left even the most cynical Pakistanis speechless. Benazir's own niece and sister in law accuse her of conspiring to murder her own brother,Murtaza,who was becoming a thorn for her government and a real challenge to her power during her second term as prime minister.She continues to see Pakistan as her personal feudal fiefdom to be pillaged and plundered at will and threatens to bring back the rule of the gangster rather than the rule of law.



During the late nineties I recorded a song called "Accountability" [YouTube link] along with a music video that satirized Pakistani politicians like Bhutto whose corruption scandals were being reported in international publications like The New York Times and Newsweek. Her government's response was to ban the music video and threaten my life. In the years since Bhutto fled the country to escape investigation of her family's corrupt activities, her greed to regain power has blinded her from the genuine struggle being waged by Pakistanis on behalf of true democracy. One of her own party members,the lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan, who won the case for the restoration of the Chief justice of the supreme court, still languishes in jail along with thousands of others while Benazir attends diplomatic receptions and makes speeches about freedom and liberty. Earlier this year,while lawyers and human rights activists faced injury and death for standing up to Musharraf's authoritarian regime, she was sipping lemonade on the sunny beaches of Dubai waiting for her go ahead from Washington.

So if neither the path of the military strongman nor the path of the feudal democrat serves the needs of Pakistan, what is an alternative model? The answer comes from within the genesis of Pakistan's freedom movement:One needs to only look at Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah's struggle and sacrifice as a clear example of legal and political activism.Jinnah ,belonging to the Muslim middle class of India,was a strict constitutional lawyer,and an exellent blend of both Islamic and Western values of social justice.60 years on, the vast majority of Pakistanis still look back at him as being the best role model for Pakistani politics.Although secular in outlook he quoted his inspiration to be Prophet Muhammad,who he recalled as being the greatest law giver in history.Tenacious and uncorruptible to the core,Jinnah, sacrificed his life and property arguing the case for Pakistan and won independance from the British imperialists.The US and its allies need to unequivocally support civil society:the Pakistani supreme court judges, lawyers,journalists and human rights activists who are fighting to protect the rule of law.That in itself is the best weapon against the extremists and will also provide a safeguard against other adventurous leaders.

Shakespeare warned that the first instinct of a dictator is to "kill the lawyers." He was right. It is the lawyers and the Judiciary who are the hope and the future of Pakistan. Let's stand by their side and not surrender to the Pharoahs and the false prophets, whether they are clothed in a military uniform or a stylish Hermes scarf.