MY RAMBLING THOUGHTS.
Rambling
thoughts , like dreams , lack cohesion and consistency . I had read books written by the late Justice
Muhammad Rustom Kayani , the former Chief Justice of the West Pakistan High
Court . His rambling style was very amusing .
Last night ,
I had a tete a tete with the late Talat Mahmood , the singer , on my laptop .
My rambling thoughts often trouble me . From my childhood days , I have been reading
about Allama Iqbal that he was a great poet and a dreamer for Pakistan and that
he was our national poet . However we have been paying only lip service to him
. His anniversaries are only remembered . A piece of news appearing on those
occasions in the country’s dailies. On the contrary , India has given him a
pride of place . One of his poems “ Sare Jahan Se Accha Hindustan humare “ is placed next to the
nation’s national anthem .It is played at every national event in India and
elsewhere .
Is Pakistan under duress of any big power to forget about Allama Iqbal
? Where lies our independence and sovereignty ? Similarly Muslim heroes of the
past were removed from the school text books .
Last night ,
I sent emails to some of my contacts asking a question as to who was I .
In the days of Ayub
Khan , the President was emphasizing ' national integration ' left , right and
centre . I was in College then . I used to tell my friends that there
were two ways in which national integration could be achieved
1.
Cross migration within
the provinces eg. A Sindhi moves to KPK . a Pathan moves to East Pakistan . A
Punjabi moves to Sind .
2.
Inter marriages within provinces.
This way we gradually would be a melting pot like the USA .
But was not to
be . We stand divided into provinces . Within provinces between people speaking
the same language and so and so forth .
My question still remain .Who am I ?
Qudratullah
Shahab’s book “Shahabnama “ must be read to have a fair idea of the events
before and after Partition . Suffice to say that my parents and extended family
passed the gory drama played by the
Hindus and the Sikhs against the Muslims
and vice versa . However my question is that if Pakistan was meant to be
secular as interpreted by some people on Mr. Jinnah’s address on 11th August
1947 why India was divided into two countries ? And
after Partition what is happening now for the past thirty years . Muslims
killing brother Muslims in the “ pristine name of Islam ?. It is an article of
faith with me that Allah has not delegated His Attributes to anyone howsoever pious he might to judge any brother
Muslim .
Irrespective
of the fact that we are overwhelmingly Muslims , we carry very poor impression of being liars and
cheats . We lie easily . Food , drugs and virtually everything are tempered
with . Food and drugs adulteration is a crime in most countries in the world .
Here it is no so . Famine is raging in Tharparkar in Sindh .Each day , children are dying but
the Provincial Chief Minister denies it .
We have in
our midst the example of the Noble Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be
upon him ) ,his gentle behaviour , his kindness with sundry folk even those
were not Muslims . Numerous people embraced Islam seeing that . However we lack
that . The behaviour of most of us ,
including the ulema ,is outrageous and conceited .
There are
two obligation that a Muslim must fulfill
1.
Obligation
towards Allah to follow the tenets of Islam , and
2.
Obligations
towards humanity .
We strive to follow 1 . However we neglect 2. howsoever easy it may be
like for eg. meeting ones parents with a smile or remove a banana or an orange
peel on the way . If perchance someone slips on it , it is funny for the
onlookers . The secular west has been striving to abide the “obligation to
mankind “ by practicing good governance and not preaching . They have a
cardinal principle to provide easy and comfort to the maximum number of people
without any discrimination of nationality , race , sex , white or black . They
are heavily taxed to provide service whereas majority of us do not pay
taxes . But some of us belong to the
class of ‘holy cows’.
I am reading Oscar Wilde’s plays for the upteempth time to help someone to understand the English
hypocrisy for his homework . A typical example of English hypocrisy is Tony Blair
. As a student of English Literature , I am familiar that the common people ,
the cook , the maids and including the apothecary ( doctors) , the common
clergy i.e. parson used to back door while entering English homes . Well
Pakistan society has subtle distinctions and not so distinctions between the
haves , the lords and masters and the ‘slaves ‘ or the serfs who have ” no
right to live” .
In summers this year , Israel attacked Gaza as we all know . Each day
there were comments on Facebook condemning the former . Eid fell during those
days . Muslims forgot Gaza and sent Eid messages much to my chagrin .
Mahfooz ur Rahman
Islamabad
October 30, 2014
