Pak Tea House » Entries tagged with "people"
Political parties and elections
by Saad Hafiz Pakistan’s historic path has been ridden by intrigue, strife and bloodshed overseen by power-hungry generals and money grubbing politicians. The chaos in the country also proves that a common religious identity is not a guarantee of stability, security, democracy and free elections. Past elections have not been able to foster a feeling of common destiny. Some elections were so widely and flagrantly rigged that civil rebellion broke out requiring the army to be called in, thus exposing the weakness of political leadership in the country. The army simply shoved the political leadership aside through a coup d’état when it realised that political power depended on it. The Pakistani electorate has an opportunity this week to reverse the country’s anti-democratic legacy. The people can choose the political parties that … Read entire article »
Filed under: Elections, Liberal Democratic Pakistan
Death of a Nation
by Hafsa Khawaja Holding on in the midst of political, social and economic storms, the Pakistan of today is an illustration of an almighty bedlam. Unsurprisingly, death and destruction have now eased into humdrum routinely occurrences for most people; Predictably throwing a cloak of desensitization over them; giving rise to chronic apathy. A common trend that has been nurtured in this environment is the juxtaposition of tragedies for comparisons to exhibit selectivity of people’s reactions and responses. To question … Read entire article »
Filed under: Citizens, culture, drama, History, human rights, Identity, Opinion, Pakistan, Society, violence, war
The Death of Nobody
By Ghazala Akbar: Hundreds of lives lost, homes destroyed and we are not even in the first quarter of the year. In other countries this would constitute a national emergency. Heads would roll, governments might fall but in Pakistan, it’s just another bad day at the office. We are as they say a very resilient people. Very. There is no other option. When you are down, the only way is up. That’s what an optimist like the late Parveen Rahman might have said. Parveen who? Exactly. In the recent tsunami of violence, it’s easy to forget. Coming hard on the heels of back to back bombings of Shia neighbourhoods in Karachi and Quetta plus the burning of homes belonging to Christian families in Lahore, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep count or remember names. Parveen Rahman, an unimportant nobody was … Read entire article »
Filed under: peace
Questioning national meta-narratives
By Saad Hafiz: The national meta-narratives include the ideological and moral foundation of the nation being formed, and they represent its ethos as well as the legitimacy of, and justification for, its establishment and existence. Furthermore, grand narratives are laid down and maintained by political structures that seek to subordinate physical and natural laws to any given ideology. The history of things is chiselled accordingly. Concepts and opinions are presented as facts. The sheer diversity of human experience is discarded in favour of one monolithic ideology. Organised religion, established folklore, national histories, social experiments and myth of progress via science all fall under the auspices of grand narratives. A meta-narrative is a super or grand-story; it is the holistic, hierarchical framework that embraces the national narratives and creates and feeds them, while … Read entire article »
Filed under: Pakistan
Modern eateries bring modern trends
By Shahzad Raza: Otherwise known as inhabitants of a ‘dead’ city, Islamabadites are waking up from their social hibernation – thanks to newly developed coffee corners which offer a quick escape from mid-day stress or welcome people for after-work intermingling. And the monopoly of elite Kohsar Market that was the only stop for the evening socialites is no more. The Gol Market of sector F-7 was the first to make dent in Kohsar Market domination. Now a coffee, ice cream and deli corner in F-11 Markaz has pulled most of the young crowd. These places are no teen-specific or gentlemen-only. Where college buddies puff ‘blue-mist’ Sheesha, the serious talkers discuss their future business plans over shots of espresso. They cater to everyone who just wants some fresh air or food or exchange banters with … Read entire article »
Filed under: Islamabad
Hasta Siempre, Comandante Hugo Chavez: a great leader
By Asif Jehangir Naqshbandi-Haqqani Hugo Chavez died yesterday to the predictable gloating of the right-wing press both in the USA and also, sadly, here in the United Kingdom. I say sadly because here was a man who in his fourteen years of rule had a profound change on his nation’s fortunes, particularly on the lives of the weakest members of society. For me, the measure of success and greatness of both a county, at a national level, and of a person, at an individual level is how they treat the poorest, weakest and most down-trodden of the society. In my opinion, and I’ll be the first to admit that my religious views play a large role in this outlook, how we treat our fellow human beings who are not as well … Read entire article »
Filed under: Opinion
Zardari And Pakistan
Prof. Farah A.Khan: On January 13th 2013 Dr Tahirul Qadri coming from Canada called for anti government dharna in Islamabad. A massive crowd moved across Pakistan to Islamabad at his call. The determined mass of people women and children sat on the main boulevard of the city through rain and cold for four days. The government and opposition political parties were shaken. The government finally capitulated and held talks with Dr Qadri signing an agreement. Meanwhile Dr Qadri has formed his own party called Pakistan Awami Tehrik. The response of the PPP government was to discredit Dr Qadri. His dual nationality and personal life was criticised. The timing of his dharna near the end of PPP government’s tenure and elections was seen as a conspiracy to derail democracy or delay elections. Dr … Read entire article »
Filed under: Zardari
The Wish Fulfilling Tree
by Quratulain: “O you shaggy-headed banyan tree standing on the bank of the pond, have you forgotten the little child, like the birds that have nested in your branches and left you? Do you not remember how he sat at the window and wondered at the tangle of your roots and plunged underground? (The Banyan Tree by Rabinder Nath Taigore) A Triplet of Banyan Trees near Chehrie, Gujurkhan at G.T Road While moving from Rawalpindi towards Lahore on The Sher Shah Suri s … Read entire article »
Filed under: Love
In Memorium: The Bara 15
by Said Nazir Afridi Pakistan army, once the most respected institution in the government, abandoned Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan and is now losing the sympathy and love of tribesmen. It is not because of the military operation against the militants but for the indiscriminate use of force in the war on terror. The recent killing of 15 innocent tribesmen at the hands of the security forces in Alamgudar area of Bara is one of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
The Dwindling Hope and the Case for Military Action
Raza Habib Raja Terrorism has again struck Shiites in Quetta killing many people. As I write these sentences, the targeted Hazaras who have witnessed massacre over the past many years, are refusing to bury the bodies and demanding direct military rule in Quetta. This is the lowest Pakistan can get where the state has become so dysfunctional that people actually start wanting direct military rule. In the rest of the Pakistan, there have been sporadic protests … Read entire article »
The people’s will
By Saad Hafiz: As Pakistanis gear up for elections in the new year amid clarion calls from some elected and self-appointed ‘saviours’ to rediscover clean and true politics, it may be worth examining the state of Pakistan’s democracy. As a start, it is significant that democracy in Pakistan survived at all, as it seemed doomed from the start. The young country had no democratic traditions; in fact, Muslim culture with its ingrained authoritarianism discouraged the creation and nurturing of a democracy. The task of establishing a democratic state was left to the feudal-controlled All Pakistan Muslim League, which had a questionable devotion to democracy. Many leaders to come, including those from the armed forces backed by reactionary elements, some of whom had opposed the creation of the country, actively conspired to overthrow democracy. A key weakness of democracy in Pakistan since its inception has … Read entire article »
Filed under: Democracy
Thumbs Down Part I
I was in the United States for one month on an exchange program for youth leaders from Pakistan. Apart from innumerable things that I liked while I was there, some aspects of American life did not appeal to me as much as the rest of them. Following are some of those snippets of Daily American Life that I noticed and was not too pleased about. Extravagance United States, unlike Pakistan, has abundance of many things, including food … Read entire article »
Filed under: Blogroll, Citizens, culture, Economy, Education, History, Imperialism, Multinational Corporations, USA
Outside in
From whence came the rivers By Shahbaz Ali Khan Shahbaz, a former Industry relations and PR professional, has spent the past 8 years experimenting with the frontiers of professional competence by insisting on not specializing in anything but thinking, communicating and writing. He tweets at @intensedesigns Having recently moved to this ancient city, I felt I had to share the joy it has given me since my arrival. I will tell you why I love Lahore. This is not the … Read entire article »
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