Pakistanis Feel “Honor” in “Honor Killing”

Pakistan is amongst the most talked and discussed countries of the world. There are many reasons behind that. For few, Pakistanis are fundamentalists, extremists, terrorists and for others they are considered as nuclear power, fashion freaks, out-of-box thinkers, cheaters and smart entrepreneurs. But now Pakistanis are also among the “Oscar Winners” thanks to “Sharmeen Obaib Chinoy”. But what does a Pakistani thinks about his own self? What do you think about yourself “as a Pakistani”? Are we good human beings? For how long we will make fun of ABCDs (American born confused desis), and start to realize that we ourselves are PBCM (Pakistani born confused Muslims). The acts that are performed by Pakistanis are neither in accordance with Islam nor as per the laws of humanity – world’s norms. So who are real Pakistanis?

There are many kinds of problems that are faced in Pakistani society. Honor killing is the most severe one amongst them. Are we actually familiarized with honor killing? If not, allow me to highlight few of the important points related to honor killing. Honor killing is basically;

1. It is an outcome of vengeance. 95% focused on women.
2. One of the family members (mostly a man), with the consent of other family members, kills and sentences the woman on few basis.
3. For the whole family this becomes a moment of pride when they sacrifice their own blood because due to her they earned dishonor.

There are many reasons that are considered as the main and basic causes behind the honor killing.

1. If a girl marries (legally) as per her will – this can be a cause behind honor killing.
2. If a girl refuses to marry a man selected by her family – even then she is sentenced to death.
3. Few people also massacre their wives and daughters if they wear objectionable dresses (as per their family’s tastes and definitions)
4. A woman can also come under the threat of honor killing if she starts to communicate with any of her colleagues, class mates or even distant cousins.

There are many other reasons as well, but these are the most observed ones. Definitely honor killing does not come under Islamic Sharia. So for all those individuals who think that this is something as per Islamic laws and preaching then they must need to clarify their minds and pre-assumed logics.

One thing that I have observed closely and researched about is that, honor killing is not limited to Pakistan only; it is practiced in America, Latin America, Middle East, Canada, India and Europe etc. But Pakistan has the highest rate of honor killings. The basic element behind this is that the individuals in Pakistan are not provided with education, neither religious nor worldly. This is the reason why they feel proud after slaughtering their own kids and sisters. It is a time to create awareness and let everyone educate about both Islam and Humanity that is ethics and rights of every individual.

Let us hope that the new age Pakistanis can take this issue to a level where it will be solved and people will start to accept any woman and man as an individual and not as a commodity. Every year approximately 500 cases are filed against honor killing, whereas countless are unregistered. It is high time to let Pakistani society focus on the crucial topic of honor killing. The cold bloodedness must come to an end! Can Pakistan ever be an “Honor killing” free state? If Yes, then how?

The Friendship Drama – An Indo Pak Reality

I am sure; my readers have made a lot of friends in their entire lives. I am also of the view that my readers exactly understand what friendship is all about, after all, according to philosophers “of all the richest men in the world is one who has the highest number of friends”. But I also believe with the advent of technological advancement, people have now developed friendly relationships with objects and not with the living individuals. These days the best friends, for youth, include PS3, Laptops, Xbox, iPhone and Career etc. Gone were the days when individuals used to be friends with each other. The reason why I am quoting this, somewhat irrelevant thing, is because years ago I heard an opinion and remark on “friendship” from one of my mentors (all my teachers, seniors, juniors and family members are in my mentoring list), that was “A friend is someone with whom you can trust the custodianship of your mother, wife and sister – a friend is someone whom you want to marry your sister”. Trust me; I hardly came across such friends!

So, as per the terminological meaning of “friend”, I have few statements,

a.       Two individuals attached with the feeling of affection and regard,

b.      Individuals that provide support to each other,

c.       Individuals who are not hostile with each other and share sympathy and symphony.

Lately we have seen many acts of friendships, carried out by artistes of Pakistan and India (most strongly and successfully). The revolution started long ago, when Manoj Kumar offered a role to Mohd. Ali and Zeba in his movie “Clerk”, when Talat Hussain acted in an Indian movie that was early 1980’s. Now coming back to recent times, where “Samjhota Express” was seen as the beacon of hope and friendship between the two most powerful nations of the world, undoubtedly. United they ruled the world and divided they ruined their images, one having the biggest slums and poverty of the world whereas the other being still considered as unstable economic and political state of the world. So this is the outcome of division! Just like dividing the key and the lock, without being together they can never be fully utilized. Ever!

The problem is that, there are few of us, who want to be genuinely friends with one another, like me – without a doubt, and there are few who just for the sake of keeping their social status alive agree to this, though they actually do not want a bit to befriended with each other. The friendly attempts in terms of hand-shakes, embraces and paying regards have been initiated by both the countries and there is no point of question in that. But I suppose, believe it or not, we still are confused. We (means both, Indians and Pakistanis) can never accept the defeat of our Cricket Team while playing against each other. We take it as a matter of respect, repute and patriotism. The fact is, we do not have patriotism a bit, we are eager to move to USA or Canada at any given moment and will never plan to visit back to our homeland. Is this patriotism? After living just 5 – 6 months abroad when either of us lands on our motherland, we start to criticize our flights (planes), the traffic system, the people, politics and finally the country. Most commonly heard statement is “this place is not suitable for hardworking/good people – they are all thieves – why are you still living here, leave this country ASAP”.

So the logic of patriotism flows down from flush system here. And why is it only India and Pakistan’s match that causes the traffic jams, sorrows and foul comments after the match, in any one of the countries? Why not we feel the same disrespect and high pitched tension while losing with Australia, South Africa, Bangladesh or England? The reason is, we have a majority of people who are not rational and who are not mentally mature. They can not take a game as a “game”. To them the concept of playing well as a team or player is like an alienated thought!

Finally, I don’t know how to end up this article. The only thing that I want to request to both of the nations is that let us try to be logical and not mentally operated by few “Senas” or “Parties”. I am a strong believer of friendship, with same footings from both the ends. Let the best team win. Lets us get familiar with “Sportsman Spirit” – which we have lost ages ago.

Be blessed!

P.S. I would appreciate if my readers will comment!

Pakistan's Youth - A false pretense (Part A)

Pakistan is a country that has always suffered from false hopes. Initially by the politicians and bureaucrats but now it is the youth that spreads propagandas at a level which, unfortunately, is not deserved. Well, I personally have no grudges against the youth, I have met few exceptional guys and girls lately but as I mentioned "FEW" not all. Pakistan and its people need to understand that every potential is not a potential that can elevate a character. We need to guide the youth, craft them, provide them with right kind of teachings and preachings instead of letting them do whatever they want to. And it also does not mean that we must force them to do something that either they don't want to do or something in which they cannot excel.

Few of the points that I have noticed in my virtual, professional and teaching career are stated as under; (apart from my personal observations, while traveling in a bus, attending a seminar or party etc)

Our youth never follows the queue
Is it really a big deal to stand in a line? Or is it really difficult to keep a line straight instead of a zigzag one? I have seen in many universities that instead of one proper queue, there are several scattered students forming a queue. This is the behavior of Educated Pakistan and not of those who belong to under or non-privileged groups. If the youth does not have the patience to keep the queue straight how on earth will it be able to straighten up the freaked out life and profession in future? Plus there are few, in fact many, who try to break the queue with either an excuse or attitude (both males and females).

Do they follow Rules?
Hello biker boys! And speedy Gonzales. I am sure every third person belongs to this category, call it anything, for instance, getting late for lecture, class or date the bottom line you speed up and break the signals. Don't you do it? Or haven't you done such things in last 5 days? It takes guts to answer truthfully.

Does your youth respect "Women"?
Today in Pakistan women are doing wonders. Gone were the days when women were not allowed to work or attend universities. These days (talking about the educated class) women are found in majority as compared to men in colleges, universities and offices. Few of the universities and offices have set a clause in their policy that 65% of the staff and students must be women to increase the ratings and standards of the organization and institute (personally witnessed). So in the era of such a womanizing period the youth (including boys and girls) do not pay the deserving regard to the women. Why? Youth is educated, sensible, mature and well groomed as per many think tanks and leaders. So what is the reason behind indecency and cheapness that is mostly witnessed by almost everyone on 14th August, New year eve, Basant or Valentine's Day?

Cars, Mobiles, Gaming lappies and Face book Pedias
Today's youth is surrounded by best gadgets and best available technology, that is the reason why it concentrates more on tangible things like cars, cell phones, lap tops and face book accounts etc rather than focusing on intangible thing things like honesty, character, virtue and success. Are parents and teachers providing too in comparison to what these youngsters actually need and are capable of getting? They prefer to spend hours and hours in front of their PCs (there is no harm in this, provided they do something fruitful and beneficial) just spending their time on Facebook, playing few stupid games there and liking posts and pages. Do you think this in any way will work? They want every luxury in their lives but they do not want to "work their bases off" to achieve them.

I am sure these are few of the traits which must be witnessed by my readers as well, I don’t think, I am the only one who noticed these things!

Soon, I will come up with few more examples to discuss them with you.

Take cares!

Is it a Lobby system? Or Pakistani Media is really unfortunate?

Everyone says that Pakistan has got great talent. How many of us actually believe on this? Saying is another thing and believing and promoting is entirely different thing. 

I personally believe that in Pakistan there is no appreciation of the talent. Well, I can be wrong – everything that I think can’t always be right after all. But on the basis of few observations and studies I can, at least, try to justify my thinking. Let us think about few of the names that really introduced Pakistan worldwide (positively) after gaining the title of “Terrorist and Extremist Nation”. There were few artistes that performed in India and Dubai and within few days the outlook of Pakistan changed to certain extent. Let us start with Adnan Sami Khan, the young aged boy who used to present a show on PTV, mostly with the kids and at that time he used to compose his own tunes. He himself collaborated with Asha Bosle and produced an album that became a success. Later he himself produced a film known as “Sargam” in which he stared against his ex-wife Zeba Bakhtiar. The movie was not a hit but the musical score was talk of the town back then. He never got a chance to compose music for any Pakistani music in all those years. Then in early 2000 he produced an album in India with the title “Lift kara de” which became a grand success, his one album over shadowed his all previous successes. He also performed with Amitabh Bachchan in the same album. Rest is history! Why Pakistani media did not recognized his talent and skills at that time? Why he was not offered with some amazing productions back then? If India can take out great tunes from him, why couldn’t Pakistani Media?

Shafqat Amanat Ali and Rahat Fateh Ali both belong to the families that have name and prestige. But even then they both were not utilized in Pakistan as thee were and in fact still are utilized by the Indian Media. Is it fame? Brand? Money? What? I suppose Pakistani Media is at a point where there is no betterment. We are good in adopting things but not far sighted enough to create our own. We need a foreign stamp to make are mediocre artistes to turn in to stars.

These days Ali Zafar is considered as the heartthrob of millions of girls. He worked really hard right from the days of “Kollege Jeans” and “Lunda Bazaar” (one of my favorites, in terms of Ali Zafar’s performances). But poor chap was not noticed the way he was noticed in “Tere Bin Ladin”. Why? Why it took him almost 10 years to prove himself a heartthrob of Pakistan, whereas in India it took him few years or better say months.

Similarly Sikander Sanam and Shakeel are amongst the senior comedians of our stages shows (Karachi). They themselves got noticed by many elite classed individuals after their appearance on Indian television. Was media sleeping in late 80’s, whole 90’s and 2000’s? Soon after their comeback they were bestowed with big budgeted programs from major TV Channels of Pakistan.

This is height of complexity. Now we need a foreign approval to notice our talent.

Why is it that after working for decades in Pakistani media, artistes do not get the appreciation and success? Though after working for few months in India or Dubai they become overnight success?

It is a serious question, which most will not even get! Soon I will come up with another eye opening concern.

Please do comment and share your views!