Pakistani ExPats are ashamed but not for reasons they should be!

“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”, so said the same Joseph Goebbels who’s linked to the famous quote “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”.

Despite West’s claim of despising the Nazis, they’ve fondly adopted the standards set by Hitler’s propaganda machine, and they’ve improved it to near perfection. Over the course of the last decade, the western media have trumpeted with untiring consistency a claim that has now taken its root in the minds of not only the general public in the west, but also the victims of that claim!

The claim? “Muslims are terrorists”… Ok not all Muslims are terrorists, but those that we call are definitely them, so say the west. This lie has been repeated with such focused concentration and in so many different formats and versions – through movies, news, novels, social media- that it is now accepted as fact. So much so that whenever a new terrorism incident takes place, Muslims, especially Pakistanis, are the first to condemn it and after finding out the accused was indeed a Muslim brother or sister, start alienating him from the global Muslim brotherhood. In essence, before the trial is even begun, the accused is convicted by his own people and actual case proceedings remain only a formality!

This behavior is most evident in the recent case of Faisal Shahzad, the Time Square bombing “suspect”. Ever since it was reported that he could be the major hand in plotting probably the biggest car bomb in recent history, internet was exploded with apologies from Pakistanis across the globe. Pakistan’s most watched channel was angry that this person has brought shame to the entire Pakistani nation and his own family. Most of the blogs and their commenters rued the fact that he threw away his carefully built “American Dream” just like that. Pakistani ex-patriots feared even more strict vigilance over them, while believing this “fanatic should be jailed for life”. All in all, their verdict is, guilty as charged!

However, one felt there’s something missing from this whole story, the other side of course! Even though Faisal Shahzad can now boast a wikipedia page , that’s probably not for reasons he’d have liked himself. That page is full of stories mentioning different facets of the case- some claiming he dumped his documents in the home he had abandoned quite a while ago- but they didn’t, even for a single line, give a piece of what Faisal Shahzad says. It’s totally one sided. And to put it mildly, that stinks! But somehow this fact is missed by all involved. There has been absolutely no access to him by our government or by other Pakistani coummunity members, at least not publicly available.

The report that his documents were found from his “abandoned” house is so ridiculous that it shouldn’t have made it to the press in the first place. What would a person, allegedly looking to bomb his way into FBI’s most wanted list, be doing in his old house is beyond logic and beats a level headed reader. Other claims are that he had gone to his birthplace Peshawar on his recent visit ; started wearing all blacks and remaining serious while stealthily walking across his backyard, that’s neighbor’s reports, he was seen posing on Times Square was also a claim. That his documents had cards from someone wishing him well were also pertinent for some reports. Huffington post even attempted to sneak into his Facebook profile only to put the blame on another Faisal Shahzad. Such is the state of electronic media and citizen blogs. Whatever happened in Pakistan is another matter.

When I asked a few Ex-Patriots, their opinion was that it’s an open and shut case – he plotted a crime, failed, got arrested, gave up his rights and admitted! I was amazed, appalled really to see how much faith they have in “their” media and government is saying, otherwise any Pakistani knows how people can be made to confess under duress. Besides, in most laws, confessions under custody weigh nothing unless they’re given in front of legal authority. If an accused declines to testify on his confession it may be called a mistrial.

I invite you to put yourself in Faisal’s shoes. You’re an average Pakistani living in the US trying to consolidate your career there. You’re very apprehensive of any indication of extremism from any of your acquaintances. You try to live by the sidelines. You’re boarding a flight to Pakistan; suddenly you get arrested, finding you’re on TV across the world. Authorities give you two choices, confess the crimes handed to you and face some years in Guantanamo Bay Prison or get ready for trial find yourself guilty as charged and still go to Gitmo facing life sentence. You’ve heard of water boarding, you’ve heard of electric shocks, you’ve heard of stories of blood hounds in Abu ghuraib jail. You’re an innocuous, in fact scared, person. You’re left with no choice but to admit the crimes which you didn’t hear before that day. Under duress, any scared person would do what he did.

For most people my theory would seem laughable but Dr Shirin Mazari also smells a rat in this whole story. I don’t trust American justice system and for good reason. It’s discriminatory! It has been discriminating on grounds of race, religion and color. This is not a matter of today, it’s been happening since the first day an Italian set foot on this soil. America bombs more Pakistani civilians daily in drone attacks then it has lost soldiers in Afghanistan. Pakistani blood, Muslim blood is so cheap that even thousand Muslims don’t equate an American life. Is that justice? My apologies to US lovers but any country who had laws legalizing lynching only 50 years ago and has killed more people than Hitler and Halaku combined has to do a lot more than just lip service to gain Muslim’s confidence.

Lastly, Pakistanis living in America shouldn’t be ashamed of Faisal. They should be ashamed of themselves. Their brothers and sisters, fellow compatriots are facing one-sided trials in front of their own eyes. Faisal Shahzad and Dr Afia are only two of hundreds detained in Gitmo without proper trials. Still, Pakistanis in general are happy to live their lives with the convenience of their families, fearing any voice against these cases might land them into trouble. What’s shameful is this behavior, not getting framed by corrupt authorities. It’s their pathetic submission to this unjust system that has led the Americans to believe that all Pakistanis would give up their rights if paid enough. They’re feeling shame alright, but one feels it’s for all the wrong reasons!

You happy now Ma’m!!!

I confess- proclaim my ignorance in this forum- that I had not heard the name Samar MinaLLAH before this Monday. My general knowledge is quite week especially about people. Anyway, the name was mentioned by Kashif bhai in a message citing a probable connection between this person and the Swat Flogging video. I googled the name expecting a “brother” of the lawyer MinaLLAH, but it turned out to be the sister. By the way, this preamble is just to show my ignorance and in no way meant to disrespect the lady.

In her recent rebuttal of news of the video being fake, Ms MinaLLAH doesn’t speak clearly how she got hold of the video. All I could gather was that she found it on the web or through a cell phone. She’s furious nonetheless, that despite the Taliban accepting the responsibility of the incident, people still believe the video was fake. I say, for the sake of argument, let’s suppose the video was indeed genuine. Let’s suppose this punishment was carried out under the aegis of the Taliban and that too after the peace deal was signed.

My simple question is… SO WHAT???

That was a very crucial time for the very fragile peace deal. Both sides were courting each other with extreme suspicion. The Taliban weren’t sure if the government was willing to implement the peace deal, the government was facing immense criticism from the west and the secular parties for signing the peace deal. It was such fragile time, such critical. Just as a day old baby in an incubator. And then this video got leaked.

What followed is useless to tell. Operation by the army, displacement of millions within their own country (originating the pathetically hypocritical euphemism: IDPs), death of hundreds on both side and thousands of civilians (another euphemism: Collateral damage)… I just wish if someone could say: look what you’ve done, silly girl!!!

Ms MinaLLAH vows she’ll continue to work for women’s rights in the country, which is a bad bad sign! I seek refuge with ALLAH (swt) for any calamity that brings.

At this point, let’s see what the Quran says in cases like this.

مومنو! اگر کوئی بدکردار تمہارے پاس کوئی خبر لے کر آئے تو خوب تحقیق کرلیا کرو (مبادا) کہ کسی قوم کو نادانی سے نقصان پہنچا دو۔ پھر تم کو اپنے کئے پر نادم ہونا پڑے

O ye who believe! If an evil-liver bring you tidings, verify it, lest ye smite some folk in ignorance and afterward repent of what ye did. (Alhujurat:6)

Here of course, the gauge for a person’s character is Islam and not some arbitrary measure set by any Tom, Dick or Harry. It categorically says, “verify”, and just doesn’t stop there, mentions what may happen if it’s not verified.

Then, what if a person has a big, or in commercial terms, breaking news!

اور جب ان کے پاس امن یا خوف کی کوئی خبر پہنچتی ہے تو اس کو مشہور کردیتے ہیں اور اگر اس کو پیغمبر اور اپنے سرداروں کے پاس پہنچاتے تو تحقیق کرنے والے اس کی تحقیق کر لیتے اور اگر تم پر خدا کا فضل اور اس کی مہربانی نہ ہوتی تو چند اشخاص کے سوا سب شیطان کے پیرو ہوجاتے

And if any tidings, whether of safety or fear, come unto them, they noise it abroad, whereas if they had referred it to the messenger and to such of them as are in authority, those among them who are able to think out the matter would have known it. If it had not been for the grace of Allah upon you and His mercy ye would have followed Satan, save a few (of you). (AnNisa: 83)

Such seemingly simple words, such profound implications! If only we look into The Book. If only we turn to The Guidance. We’d have no problems.

Part of a responsible person’s responsibilities is to know when to “not” act. When wait and watch is better than jumping the gun. I just can’t stop wondering how these western values have corrupted everything good in us. Western culture tells every person his or her rights thinking it’s good they’re aware, but it creates chaos. On the contrary, if every person is told his or her duty, society is generally at peace. We can only wonder what could have happened if only the CEO of Ethnomedia had stayed quite, or at best handed over the proof to the authorities. On the contrary it was on the wire even before it could reach the authorities, who could only react to immense pressure from the media, NGOs and the American masters. What could have happened if the peace deal was successful! Sanity may have prevailed, may be, just may be. It was one case when benefit of doubt should have gone to the Talibans. Must have! Look what’s happened now, we’re into war with ourselves, you happy now Ma’m?

They claim Swat is at peace now. May be it is, but to many, it’s as much at peace as a graveyard is!