Our Madness Un-Limited ??????

Few days back two Saudi Clerics and advisor to Royalty issued a ‘Fatwa’ (Islamic Edict) for women who wish to travel with male driver who is not their blood relative to breast feed the male so that he becomes their maternal relation. “The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman,” Al Obeikan said. “He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam’s rules about mixing.”

While Al Obeikan advises that milk should be pumped and then given in a glass, another Saudi sheik, Abi Ishaq Al Huwaini, argues that men should suckle directly. This has given birth to another debate that how the women would prove before police authorities or in court that she had breast fed the male. Would she do so in presence of three adult male witnesses or a video of such act would be enough proof. “The thought of a huge hairy face at a woman’s breast does not evoke motherly or even brotherly feelings. It could go from the grotesque to the erotic but definitely not maternal.” the Saudi women rights group argues.
Is this the extreme of madness and giving bad name to Islam? Certainly NOT. Our holy brothers, the Taliban are chopping off heads of our soldiers and pump gasoline in their bodies before setting on fire to watch ‘body dance’ in name of religion of peace. The Prophet of Islam (PBUH) would surely not that pleased on these news. But do these self proclaimed custodians of Islam care about the message of God and the teachings of messenger (PBUH)? Is not this what Church was doing with Christianity in medieval times?
If that all is not enough to make a joke of religion, than for what we have our Lordships in superior courts? Just recently Supreme Court passed a judgement declaring itself to be custodian of ‘imaginary’ basic features of constitution. It also announced to judge the righteousness of lawmakers under article 62 and 63. That was followed by Lahore High Courts orders to ban Facebook and Youtube for having blasphemous content without even trying to understand that such content was not the property of these websites.

If you are thinking that Taliban or Saudi clerics are insane than you are definitely wrong. Yesterday Lahore High Court ordered to ban Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Hotmail and several other website for having blasphemous content. Yes, it is not a joke as it is difficult to imagine the insanity of Saudi clerics or Taliban, our Lordships are not behind in race. Apart from the debate that other website have such content or not or should be banned by court, does Google really has any content at all on its page?

Who can tell our Holy Lordships in superior courts that Google is not even a website! The learned judge who passed this Talaban verdict does not posses the basic knowledge about internet and how does a search engine work. But it is a court order and must be complied by government otherwise Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Imran Khan are always ready for a ‘long march’ to get court orders implemented. Who can explain to them that poor search engine got punished for no fault!
When we think that this might be the extreme of stupidity, they are there to surprise us, stay tuned, more to come and all in name of Islam.

Death of Collective Wisdom

Ahmad Nadeem

“Is there a competition going on in Pakistan between institution to earn shame and notoriety for their nation?” my colleague asked me casually while we were having some drinks and watching a news television. “We are on that path for last 40years”, I answered stubbornly. Can there anything such shameful to force you behave that stubborn over your national pride? There is, hold your breath, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists, the top body of media and custodian of ‘freedom of speech and civil liberties’, in a press release issued by its Secretary General, Mr Shamsul Islam Naz, has “officially’ appreciated the blocking of the Facebook Website.

This was followed by the Lahore High Court orders of a blanket ban on entire social media website depriving 2.5 million Pakistani’s an access to major internet services. Just because there was ‘one page’ out of millions, set by a silly American kid to make cartoons of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The same could have been blocked instead, but things work differently in Pakistan. A decision has to be popular rather than sane, the illiterate bearded men on streets with sticks and guns ought to be satisfied.

The ‘Superior Judiciary’ is custodian of freedom of speech, right of association and guarantees to protection of person, property and business of every citizen. It has the power to declare any act of executive as unconstitutional which is violative of the Articles 17, 18 and 19 of the constitution. These article provide the guarantee against any threat to freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of doing lawful business.

The court also is custodian of rights guaranteed in Article 24 of the Constitution in a strict commanding language squarely prohibits the depriving of any person of his property save, in accordance with law. It provides protection against any order passed against a citizen without providing him an opportunity to be heard. Since the order of blanket ban has been passed thousands of small scale enterprises using Facebook have gone out of business without having an opportunity to explain before court that a blanket ban is against the constitutional guarantees provided in above articles. Their only fault was that ‘someone else’ did some silly thing to hurt the sentiments of others and they got punished for that ‘silly kid’.

While PFUJ appreciates the punishments of 2.5 million for someone else fault, what will be its reaction if Hindu minority demands ban over ‘cow slaughter’, will they be treated in same manner as constitution guarantees ‘equal treatment before the law’. Certainly they, as subjects of state have a right to demand that their religious beliefs are not hurt. Can PFUJ condemn India when same happens over there in future? What happens when custodian of constitutional guarantees start acting according to popular demands ignoring the document which is basis of a nation state?

As individuals, we are prone to wrong decisions, as it is a human trait. There is nothing to be shameful, but then one must be ready to pay the price. Making a wrong decision does not justify sticking to the same. That is why nations build institutions, so that collective wisdom prevails and there is little or no chance of error or egoistic behavior.

The nations which have functional institution can still progress when they have government in wrong hands or even with a flawed system. A nation where institutions are absent or lose their direction, even being governed by Chairman Mao of China, Abraham Lincoln of USA or even by the great philosopher Carl Marx would not lead them to anywhere. The worst consequence is that entire nation pays the price of blunders of institution and only time can decide for how long such price is to be paid.

This is the case of Pakistan for last 40 years. Pakistan army led by General Zia ul Haq made the blunder of hanging ZA Bhutto and putting the nation on path of radicalization. In order to keep hold of power Zia destroyed every institution of state from where he felt threatened. Political institutions were maturing and divide was ideological in these times, even with difference of opinion the politicians were able to sit on one table. The 1973 constitution is proof of that maturity. He corrupted the political workers and destroyed the political parties by using brutal force and Arab perto-dollar and patronized sectarian and ethnic-ism.

Similarly he destroyed the institution of judiciary by inducting incompetent and corrupt judges from a particular religious sects and ethnicities. Resultantly, we got notorious Molvi Mushtaq Ahmad heading the judiciary where once legends like Justice Dorab Patel were seated. The institution of media which plays the role of eyes and ears of the society was the most vibrant and independent institution in Muslim world having people like Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Habib Jalib with unimpeachable integrity. It was filled by religious fanatics and corrupt cronies.

As a result of hypocritical use of Islam and radicalization for purpose of getting ‘cannon fodder’ for American cold war in Afghanistan, Zia destructed institutions which could support tolerance. We, as a nation are paying the price of his actions. The terrorism and extremism is not only costing in blood but also economy has gone to drain adding more poor, illiterate and jobless violent youth. Still we have not learned any lesson from mistakes of past and have miserably failed to re-build the broken institutions.

Just think of the PFUJ, the top body of journalists in 1970′s and its sacrifices for freedom of speech during censor of Zia’s dictatorship. Think of judiciary where people like Justice Dorab Patel were seated. And think of a society where every body participated in Shia processions and Sunni Millad’s without a fear of suicide attack. We are paying price of mistakes of past with blood, hunger, illiteracy and terrorism. The same army which made that blunder is paying for it, with their own blood while fighting the monster created by its greedy generals of past.

The mistakes of today are much more grave and fatal.

In a global village of this century the blunders of institutions being committed in a competition mode have far grave consequences. Ajmal Kasab or Faisal Shahzad does not represent Pakistan, our institutions does! World might forgive for the acts of these individuals but the damage caused by by institutions is irreparable and will cost heavily. Hats off, to Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists for acting on popular demands rather than rationality. You have done what Faisal Shahzad could not do – a suicide attack on freedom of speech and basic rights – of which your institution is a custodian.

Had the journalists body considered of those who lost their businesses without being heard, those who were denied the right of association and those who lost a medium of communication without any fault on their part – its decision would have been different. By appreciating the ban, the journalist body has not only validated the censorship but infringement of constitutional rights of citizens and the violation of grantee that no order shall be passed without providing citizens an opportunity to be heard. No wonder the headlines in international media these days carry the names of top Pakistani journalists for their links with terrorists and enticing killings.

Morn over the death of Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Dorab Patel and learn to live with the death of institutions and collective wisdom.

A Facebook Party

This looks like a season for setting up alternative political parties in and for Pakistan. While some are struggling inside the country to revamp the existing structures or create new ones, others are trying to setup new parties outside.

In Pakistan, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI-F got members of the alliance of religious parties together to revamp it in preparation for the next elections. Similarly, some people have proposed setting up a party of eunuchs in the country. They intend to field candidates in every constituency with the brief message that “we will not make any promises that we cannot fulfill. Others cannot fulfill promises either but we admit that we cannot. All we say is field honest candidates. If you cannot find any then vote for us”. A very clear and crisp message! Even more commendable is the fact that these people made an effort to pose as an alternative despite the socio-cultural bias of the society towards eunuchs. Inherent prejudice was a reason that actress Musarrat Shaheen, who was brave enough to contest elections against Maulana Fazlur Rehman, could not win from Dera Ismail Khan.
However, it is truly appreciable that the eunuchs thought of finding an alternative internally when former dictators like Pervez Musharraf are busy scouting out people in the UK and the US who could bank-roll his political movement in Pakistan. Recently, I had a chance to go to one of the events organized from the forum of ‘Pakistan First’ established and managed by the former head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Naseem Ashraf. Although the media was asked to come to the event, it was just for a post-meeting briefing by the former dictator. The main event was a private meeting in which he hoped to rope in some of the rich professional expatriate Pakistanis with a desire to make a dent in the politics of the country of their birth. The idea behind calling the press was to show-off that the former general had sufficient support amongst the Pakistani community.
But not everyone invited to the party was a confirmed supporter. Many were there to hear what he had to offer. There were others like an entrepreneur from Philadelphia and another one from Washington state who seemed keen to invest their money in the general. They looked impressed with Musharraf’s facebook following which the former dictator touted happily just like he used to cite the figures of mobile phones and motor-cycle purchase in the Pakistan he ruled as a sign of economic progress. Little did he know that spurious consumption goes up also in non-performing economies.
Sadly, numerous rich and influential Pakistani expats believe they can parachute into the country’s politics or bankroll potential politicians and thus gain a political foothold. Although the old dictator claimed he would hold elections in the party, he claimed he would initially nominate office-bearers. Most important, he did not offer any idea or agenda to attract people to the party. Every question was answered with a ‘we will tell when the time comes’ kind of a slogan.
It looked like a political reconnoitering mission in the US. Reportedly, Musharraf did a better job of speaking then his handlers in the US like Naseem Ashraf. Not to mention the fact that Ashraf was one of the better lot. There were others who seemed to be representing the MQM. While talking to those present, these rather dubious gentlemen claimed that they lived in the US only on Musharraf’s orders. They had returned to Pakistan but returned on the former dictator’s insistence. When asked by people if he did nothing but move around on Musharraf’s beck and call, the gent insisted that he had a life and was happily married. The same gent also claimed Musharraf’s innocence in signing the NRO saying that nothing moved in Pakistan without orders from Washington.
This particular gentleman, who was part of a gang of three, represented a dubious organization called Pak-American Communication which cannot be found on the web. Someone claimed that the people might have represented the MQM. In that case, the only possibility is that there is some wedge within the MQM that Musharraf plans to benefit from. There are educated people within the ethnic party not happy being pide-pippered by Altaf Hussain.
Thus far, the former dictator does not even have a name for his political party. Perhaps, ‘The Facebook’ Party or ‘Made in the US’ might be an appropriate name.

Published in the Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2010.

FacebookGate

Faraz Rana

Depictions of the Prophet (pbuh) are banned in Islam so people (presumably, Muslims) don’t idolize the images. The lawyer in me will tell you that a non-Muslim drawing a similar image, especially in jest, will not violate that rationale. Nor will Muslims ever confuse a cartoon with a serious depiction. Of course, using technical legal arguments to quell incensed religious rhetoric is about as effective as eradicating objectionable content on cyberspace by blocking it. Oh, wait.

The debate on FacebookGate and the underlying arguments on the limits of free speech will never be resolved by rational minds. So, in case you missed it, here is just a quick sampling of the conversations sprouting all over, coincidentally, Facebook.

The Facebook group was a collective effort to malign Muslims. The group was intended to be a demonstrated exercise in free speech by some bloggers, as a direct response to the decision by the producers of another TV show to curtail their creative outlet in the face of death threats. As often happens on the Internet, the ones with the most pent up vitriol for just about everything under the sun tend to have the most free time to vocalize it. The group was hijacked and the posts became offensive. What is interesting, though, is that the group was not very popular until people started pointing fingers at it. After that, it went Facebook viral and the offensive content just perpetuated itself. It is as if Muslims snatched the offensive content from the jaws of obscurity and brought it back to life for the whole world to see.

I don’t believe in free speech when it offends my religion. You are out of luck. Free speech is a concept that exists outside your belief system. It even exists outside the legal limitations imposed on it by the United States Supreme Court. It will continue to exist so long as humans are capable of free thought. What makes free speech so vexing, however, is that it becomes important to people only when it manages to offend someone. Otherwise, you call it, in legal parlance, “small talk.”

Think about what your mother told you when you were bullied as a kid. She was a playground sage and understood that fighting back only worked if the bully wasn’t twice your size. Even then, how many times were you going to fight him? It is a fact known for hundreds of playground years that bullying someone is only fun if you can get a predictable reaction out of the bullied. Ignore them, she would lecture, and the bully has no raison d’etre.

They don’t make fun of other religions. Everyone is against the Muslims. Two words: Family Guy. If you are not a fan of the American cartoon show, the “I dream of Jesus” episode is a particularly funny episode. It is available on Youtube. The irony is free, as well. Find mocking Christianity to be too 8th century? Spend some time on the Internet, and you will find a website dedicating to ridiculing virtually every race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, belief and preference known to man. There are even Facebook groups dedicated to hating women. Yes, the entire gender.

We need to fight back when people attack our religion. We are soon going to run out of people to fight. Muslims are not winning any popularity contests (Miss USA Pageants, a different story), which means finding a more effective way to vocalize our presence. The history of Islam is filled with parables about how being a good Muslim is an effective way to fight ignorance. Perhaps highlighting our meaningful contributions to society, rather than staging protest after protest, might be a better way to spend our free time.

Boycotting Facebook will show them our collective strength. Not even close. We created Facebook groups about how we were going to quit Facebook. We could not help but make use of the powerful and innovative forum Facebook has created for people to communicate and launched our own protest groups on Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg was just sitting back and smiling that everyone showed up to play in his own backyard. When a Muslim creates an innovative way to communicate on the Internet, perhaps a kitab-e-shaqsiat for you Urdu speakers, we can then perhaps think about dictating the rules of the game.

Well, I’m just bored and need to fight for something. Great! Last time I checked, Muslims were going through an existential crisis, marred at the very least by poverty, illiteracy and the inability of all of us to agree on anything remotely relevant. Islam is a beautiful religion. Lets spend our free time practicing it, helping others follow it and helping the poor. When we have overcome our collective troubles and fed and empowered even the weakest amongst us, we can shift our attention to figuring out how to celebrate Eid on the same day.

As an appointed bureaucrat, supreme court justice or elected official of a country with a majority Muslim population, it is our duty to dictate what is morally acceptable to our population. Shame on you, the government of Pakistan. Once the dust settles, you deserve the greatest blame for turning a farce into an international incident. It is your job to transcend the knee-jerk sways of your people and implement the functions of a government, much like how every other government acts in the face of impassioned protests. Never mind that you once again managed to associate our country’s great name with a message so myopic that it was barely comprehensible to the outside world. Lets not even bother to romanticize the message of a nation’s founder who, in his inaugural address, promised that the state would not interfere in the religious affairs of its citizens, much less dictate to a nation of 170 million what they should consider “sacrilegious.” All of this pales in comparison to the amazingly swift manner in which you acted. You may have noticed our country has had some problems as of late. If you could only use the same efficiency to value and save human lives, we might not care so much about your moral inclinations.

On the bright side, when it is time to eradicate corruption from the halls of our government, we do know how to get your attention.
I am a spiritual leader or Imam and I found the views on Facebook to be offensive so I instigated a protest in my neighborhood. What in the world were you doing on Facebook in the first place?

Faraz Rana, a lawyer based in New York

The author can be reached at Farazarana@gmail.com

Let us ban thinking…

As muslims lets be outraged and have shut down or at least boycott the site that was sacrilegious

then close or at least boycott facebook
then close or at least boycott the email
then close or at least boycott twitter
then close and or at least boycott the internet
then close or at least boycott email
then close or at least boycott sms
then close or at least boycott mobiles
then close or at least boycott books
then close or at least boycott paper
then close or at least boycott the pen
then close or at least boycott speech
then close or at least boycott gesture
then close or at least boycott thinking
now my brother we have arrived
lets make a pile of these things and burn them till they are smoke
and fire the nukes till there is no trace left_

_then lets pick some of that charcoal, and some fireproof sheets
and have a draw satan day.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_burning

Has Google Been blocked in Pakistan?

PTA has blocked another site in order to ensure that all Pakistanis are unable to see the Blasphemous images

This time its Google!!!

Blocking Facebook was a reasonable step as FB wasnt even sticking to their own Terms & Conditions, Wikipedia was blocked because it contained articles and links about the Blasphemous event

But Google … ??? It means I cant even search within my personal blog as its search is powered by Google!!

What next?? expect Bing, Altavista, Alexa, Mywebsearch, Yahoo … and may be even e-mail sites (as pictures can be mailed) blocked in a couple of days and whatever PTA thinks fit!!

Has Google Been blocked in Pakistan?

PTA has blocked another site in order to ensure that all Pakistanis are unable to see the Blasphemous images

This time its Google!!!

Blocking Facebook was a reasonable step as FB wasnt even sticking to their own Terms & Conditions, Wikipedia was blocked because it contained articles and links about the Blasphemous event

But Google … ??? It means I cant even search within my personal blog as its search is powered by Google!!

What next?? expect Bing, Altavista, Alexa, Mywebsearch, Yahoo … and may be even e-mail sites (as pictures can be mailed) blocked in a couple of days and whatever PTA thinks fit!!

Has Google Been blocked in Pakistan?

PTA has blocked another site in order to ensure that all Pakistanis are unable to see the Blasphemous images

This time its Google!!!

Blocking Facebook was a reasonable step as FB wasnt even sticking to their own Terms & Conditions, Wikipedia was blocked because it contained articles and links about the Blasphemous event

But Google … ??? It means I cant even search within my personal blog as its search is powered by Google!!

What next?? expect Bing, Altavista, Alexa, Mywebsearch, Yahoo … and may be even e-mail sites (as pictures can be mailed) blocked in a couple of days and whatever PTA thinks fit!!

Has Google Been blocked in Pakistan?

PTA has blocked another site in order to ensure that all Pakistanis are unable to see the Blasphemous images

This time its Google!!!

Blocking Facebook was a reasonable step as FB wasnt even sticking to their own Terms & Conditions, Wikipedia was blocked because it contained articles and links about the Blasphemous event

But Google … ??? It means I cant even search within my personal blog as its search is powered by Google!!

What next?? expect Bing, Altavista, Alexa, Mywebsearch, Yahoo … and may be even e-mail sites (as pictures can be mailed) blocked in a couple of days and whatever PTA thinks fit!!

Mass madness over the internet

Ahmed Nadeem

There is a ‘mass madness’ ranging from TV talk shows to headlines of News Papers and debate on internet. Charged workers of religious organisations are out in streets of Pakistan. As Malaysian are relatively more religious people as compared to Pakistani’s and share the same Prophet. I was thinking that today country would be choked like Pakistan from electronic blackout to burning shopping malls and McDonalds. Especially, the State of my work my worst as it is currently being ruled by a conservative religious party considered as ‘fanatic’ as Jamat e Islami of Pakistan.The conservative religious rulers of the State where I work have already declared Friday as a off day despite the fact the rest of the country have off days of Saturday and Sunday.

Since yesterday Pakistan Telecommunication authority has blocked Facebook, Youtube and Wikipidia along with interruption in Blackberry services on orders of a ‘Holly Lordship’ of Lahore High Court. The bearded Mullah are on the loose in streets chanting against western infidels burning tyre’s and destroying public property. There are 45 million Pakistani users of social media site Facebook, twice the entire population of another Islamic state, Malaysia. Many of them running businesses, charities and communicating with families and friends have been deprived of access to communication without being heard by a religiously charged self righteous judiciary. All being done in name of a ‘Holly Cause’ to defend the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) from conspiracies of Infidel west.
So, this is Friday today, my neighborhood mosque is packed, the Imam is shouting in loudspeaker at top of his voice, but it is ‘state approved’ weekly address. There is no mention of Facebook or waging war against infidel west for conspiracies against Prophet (PBUH). I am a bit disappointed. I decided to go to town as there might be ‘some fun’, i mean, chanting bearded men carrying sticks and guns, smashing cars and street lamps. To my disappointment traffic is as smooth as always, bazaars are busy and shopping malls are packed with young couples holding hands. There is no Kalashnikov wielding ‘warrior of Allah’ to flog the girls wearing mini skirts or to harass those wearing scarf. No body is even talking about the great conspiracy against Prophet of God – a page on Facebook website set up by some western kid.

Now I am rather frustrated. I miss Lahore, you can have lot of fun there. I decided to go to beach, fortunately just walking distance from my house. The ‘white’ tourists girls are taking ‘sun-bath’ wear just bras and panties. White men are drinking beer, some are enjoying water sports and others swimmingLocals are busy selling spicy foods and expensive gift items to tourists. What is wrong with this country? I am totally mad at these people. They are totally unaware of the great conspiracy against there Prophet while their Muslim brothers in Pakistan have literally choked their country to defend their religion. Extremely disappointed I return home in hope of finding something in papers or Malaysian Blogs, unfortunately here too is no mention of Facebook, no statement from any politician or religious leader.

On my Facebook page which is working finely in this Islamic state, I ask my Iranian, Saudi and Indonesian friend, from three biggest Islamic nations, the business is as usual. No wonder Pakistan is ‘Fort of Islam’, no other Muslim nation is concerned about ‘infidel’ conspiracies against Islam. The worst thing about these nations is that ordinary people even doesn’t know the names of their Chief Justice’s or Army Chief’s. Off course their Chief Justices are not that ‘Media Savoy’ and their Judges as ‘righteous’ as Lordships of Lahore High Court. And on top of it the ‘Islamic Lawyer Forum’ here is not as active in defense of Islam. Their religious leaders are not as bold to smash cars and burn shop and their youth not as radical as our international fame ‘Taliban’. The life is totally boring.

Back in 70′s Pakistan too was a quite boring place and quite ‘Un-Islamic’ when General Zia hanged Bhutto with help of Lahori judges and establishment started the ‘Islamisation process’.With help of scholars of Jamat e Islami, right wing ‘handpicked’ judiciary and ‘inducted journalists in media he successfully transformed it as a ‘model Islamic state’. The real ‘fun’ started when CIA funded and organised the PNA movement bringing all right wing factions on one table. The ‘righteous men’ used to protest together against Bhutto and offered their prayers separately. That time we still had not reached the stage of suicide attacks on rival sects prayers. Thanks to ‘Madodisation’ of syllabus of government institutions, today even a ‘Normal’ Pakistani’ youth is as radical as a so called ‘fanatic’ in Malaysia.

With American sponsored ‘Holly War to Defend Islam’, the religious groups have become major players in power game. First time Army has dumped these groups on American pressure but once in the market, there is always another ‘buyer’. After decades of ‘power sharing’ every institution has became a state within state and always ready to hire the religious fanatics to forward their agenda. These groups can not survive if there a ‘long interval’ without activity for their members. They need to organised ‘Warm-Up’ events for their members in order to keep them in’combat ready’ mode.

By any standard of censorship or sensitivity, it was sufficient when PTA blocked the ‘controversial link’ of Facebook. Was there really a need for ‘Judicial Interference’ to block entire website or protests, rallies, blockage of internet and madness of this level to choke the entire nation? If this all was really necessary then why same is not happening in rest of Islamic world? This is something to really worry about. This is not incidental that every second terrorist is associated to Pakistan while those who ‘preach’ and nourish extremism are always under protection of some institution, either military or judiciary and mostly both. While Qazi Hussain Ahmad has much respect for courts and rule of law as Taliban do,as his ‘Brigade’ of Shahab e Milli and Islami Jamiat Talba use same tactics as Taliban do to teach morality in educational institutions.

What is his Qazi’s interest in siding with judiciary. The model of Islamic state of Syed Qutab and Madodi is based on taking over of a state by power and turn it in to a religious authoritarian state. There is no place for judiciary or democracy or freedom of expression. It is not long time when Ansar Abbasi, a JI planted journalist defended the flogging in a live TV show and JI Chief was defending Taliban. When these hate mongers support judiciary or military or defends the freedom of media, there is always some deal as these institutions are actually a hurdle for Madodi’s model of takeover by power. At the same times the state institutions which ally with these groups knowingly that their model even doesn’t recognize these institution have their own needs.

Whenever there is an elected government in Pakistan these groups feel threatened and need allies in state institutions for protection. The institutions after sixty years of power sharing have become too rouge that they also welcome these groups to form alliance. In past establishment, army and agencies used these groups to capture power and nourished them for their agendas. Once dumped by Army same groups have allied them with present judiciary which was restored through a popular movement. In return several JI activists and right wing political workers were appointed judges in superior courts in recent elevations. Some of them even lack a single reported case on their profile.

A part of corrupt media corporates has also joined the alliance to avoid state taxes. This new alliance is based on ‘you scratch my back I scratch your’s’ principal. As result Qazi Hussain and some Anchorpersons are out to implement the ‘judicial order’ of Supreme Court. The judiciary is ‘generously’ passing restraint order against recovery of taxes from these media giants and interfering in religious issues ‘as prayed’ by religious fanatics. Some mainstream media outlets benefiting from ‘judicial activism’ are out to create hype out of non issue like a page on Facebook which was already blocked. This is providing religious fanatics an opportunity to keep their ‘brigades’ warm and combat ready and also to defy and weaken the state, democratic process and unwanted ‘infidel liberal’ government.

This all originates from Lahore and ends there, even other parts of Pakistan are not that active in ‘defense of Islam’ just like rest of the world. Karachi is burning and dozens have been killed in racial violence, Baluchistan is victim of violence, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa is under war and South Punjab is demanding a separate Provence. Judiciary, media and Mullah’s from Lahore are silent on all these issues but would not leave any opportunity to defend Islam. Malaysia with 25 million population, every year attracts 25 million tourists with US$ 20 Billion revenue – almost equal to Pakistan’s exports. No tourist can imagine to travel to Pakistan because of the mess created in name of ‘defense of religion’.

Does it really need Einstein to understand that we are in present ‘mass madness’ not in defense of Prophet of Allah (PBUH) against threat from Facebook page but in a power game being played by corrupt and greedy Judges, Mullah’s and some media outlets. If Islam was really under threat the Malaysian Muslim would not have been as comfortable with ‘infidel western’ tourists. Jakarta, Tehran and Riyadh would have also been burning and Facebook, Google, Twitter and Blackberry would have been also blocked in rest of Muslim world. This is not the Islam of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which is under threat, its interests of Lahori establishment, Mullah’s and Judges who feel threated by power getting in to hands of leaders elected by people. Their interests are under threat and we are happy defending Lahori Islam – of which both Facebook and Pakistan are the victims.

Facebook saga: Dilemma of Urban Middle Class

On Wednesday 19th May 2010, the Lahore High Court, famous for acting as a “moral brigade” rather than judiciary, once again passed a strange order to ban Facebook across Pakistan on a petition of Muslim Lawyers Forum. The demand for blocking of the social media site came after it refused to remove certain pages displaying Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons.

This order was passed against the request of the government and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority that controversial pages of Facebook were already being blocked and there was no reason to block entire social media website which has over 2 million Pakistani users.

Few months back Lahore High Court took suo-moto notice of album of a popular female singer and declared her songs to be ‘vulgar’. This was followed by Chief Justice Lahore High Court’s remarks that Hindus were financing the terrorism in Pakistan which attracted protests from Hindu minority of Pakistan. This mixing of religion in to matters of state is opposite to the judgment of the Bangladesh’s Supreme Court which imposed ban on religious parties to take part in politics.

The court order to ban entire social media site is not only unreasonable but amounts to restrict the freedom of expression of which judiciary is a guardian. It also reflects the mindset and strong inclination of present superior judiciary towards right wing religious fundamentalist groups which can easily get ‘desired justice’.

JI, a religious fanatic group which is strong supporter of present judiciary and was successful to get its members recruited in superior judiciary after restoration of Chief Justice is organizing the protests to ban all ‘Western Infidel’ websites including Facebook,Google, YouTube and Twitter etc. The wish for a ‘stone age’ as termed by Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, a youth leader. The Islamic Lawyer forum which filed the petition to block Facebook itself is a lawyers wing of JI fanatics.

The most interesting fall out of the court order is the strong reaction of Pakistani urban middle class youth, which widely uses Facebook for social interaction. The same youth was the most active supporter of movement for restoration of present judiciary. They are demanding from the government to immediately lift the blockage of Facebook website.

One of the protesters and an active blogger/civil society activist Dr. Awab Alvi writes ; “As members of civil society and professionals who depend on social media networks for our daily communications, we demand the immediate restoration of Facebook and an end to Internet censorship by the Government of Pakistan”.

But if government does lifts the ban on this demands, it will be disobeying the court orders.

Should not it be a protest against judiciary instead which has allied itself with religious fanatics and is acting as ‘Moral Brigade’ rather than an institution to dispense justice?

Historically religious groups in Pakistan have been providing support to military dictators and been associated with intelligence agencies to bring down the elected governments. After removal of Pervez Musharaf, the military establishment decided not to interfere directly in political issues. Certain sections of establishment and religious groups which are eager to remove present regime have associated themselves with judiciary.

Many critics blame that Lawyers movement which was initiated by lawyers and civil society was later hijacked by PMLN, PTI and JI and judiciary is under strong influence of right wing fundamentalist groups. The recent recruitments in superior judiciary are also being criticized as being from a certain ‘mind set’ and comprise of judges from certain political and religious parties.

As the conflict between PPP government and Judiciary is becoming intense, the judiciary is gathering the support of religious groups. Recently Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the former head of JI announced to get SC judgments implemented through ‘street power’. Yeah, now judiciary needs religious goons to get its orders implemented – though no suo-moto by good Chief Justice asking Mr. Qazi that who appointed him the ‘bailiff’ of SC!

In order to retain the support of religious fundamentalist groups, judiciary would have to deliver more judgments like ban on Facebook as per fanatics demands. This seems to be just the beaning as the demands of religious fanatics would not anything less than turning Pakistani society in to Taliban style Emirates.

As Supreme Court declared in its recent judgment to be custodian of imaginary ‘basic features’ of constitution of Pakistan and judging the righteousness of elected representatives, closer cooperation between fundamentalist and judiciary is inevitable. The top leaders of lawyer’s movement like Ali Ahmad Kurd are openly confessing that this is not the judiciary for what we struggled.

But where do the Urban middle class youth, which worked tirelessly for restoration of judiciary fits in this whole set up? Would they be able to digest the fanatic’s demands? They do not want to loose the freedom of expression and reject the ban on Facebook. They do not want court of Qazi to ban their favorite singer but they are demanding from government to lift the blockage of social media site.

Protesting against government while the ban is ordered by a ‘holly lordship’ of Lahore High Court is sign of their confusion.

In fact they are still unable to accept the fact that Lawyers movement was hijacked by right wing fundamentalist groups and present judiciary is composed of and an ally of religious fanatics. The fact they should have been realized when Supreme Court slept over the so called ‘Missing Persons’ issue, 12th May probe and countless other slogans raised during lawyers movements.

The only hope which still keeps them away from straight away protesting against ‘moral policing’ of judiciary and its partial judgments and instead make the government a scapegoat is that one day judiciary will boot “evil” Zardari out from his office. But what they are unable to understand is that it wont be possible unless a strong alliance of religious fanatics is there to support judiciary. As has been a custom when we underwent the military dictatorship – judicial dictatorship wont work differently.

What will be the cost of that alliance doesn’t need Einstein to figure out – and that is civil society itself. More influence of religious fanatics will hurt these urban middle class youth, who are not willing to compromise on their liberties but confused and unable to face the reality.

Can the civil society and urban middle class youth be part of the Mullah-Judiciary alliance against PPP government? They must ask themselves. It is up to them to decide whether they want an other repeat of notorious Ziaist era when general associated religious fanatics in power game. The Mullah-Judiciary alliance is going to be much more disastrous for civil society than what we have experienced in past.

Facebook Fiasco: What Would Muhammad (PBUH) Do?

Ideally I would have preferred not to have had to write this post. But I have over 300 messages in my in-box of people fussing over the so-called “Draw Muhammad Day” page on the social networking site Facebook and now the Lahore High Court’s decision calling for a ban on Facebook has forced the issue. And that is what pains me.

I hope that Facebook administration will remove the page. Not because of any “banning” movement and not because of the Lahore High Court. Just because the page and the idea behind the page is inflammatory and offensive. Regardless of what your belief or religion might be, to throw out offensive and hateful vitriolic for the simple and primary purpose of hurting someone else’s feelings - when you know that (a) those feelings will be hurt and (b) when hurting those feelings is really the only purpose of doing what you are doing - is inhuman, cruel, and clearly offensive. If Facebook does not recognize that, then it knows nothing either about “social” or about “networking” and certainly not about “community.”

But at one level, that matters little now. Whether Facebook removes the offensive page or not. The page and its creators have already fulfilled their purpose, met their goals. And it is we ourselves who have helped them do so. And that is what pains me.

I have not visited the offensive page in question and do not intend to. I had also not intended to help publicizing that offensive page, but by having to write this post that is exactly what I am doing. And that pains me. I am offended by the idea that page purports and the goals it seeks to achieve. So, why should I dignify it by a visit? Why should I publicize it? Why should I give it the attention it was created to seek. Yet, all of us (now me included, which is why writing this is uncomfortable) are doing exactly that.And that is what pains me.

Many of the emails I have received give me the link to that page and invite me to visit it so that ‘I can see for myself how offensive it is.’ I do not need to do that. Yet, that is exactly what we have been doing. We have been acting exactly as the creators of that page intended us to. Acting as the promoters and publicists of that page. And now having turned it into an international legal matter giving the attention seekers behind the page the exact thing they wanted: Attention.

But we have done more than that. With the Lahore High Court decision we have allowed the PTA and authorities another precedent and excuse to aggressively “manage” the internet; something that can and will be misused in the future.

I have not been receiving emails from the proponents of that page. The only ones who seem to be noticing us is us Muslims (and for some reason Pakistani Muslims more than any other). If we too had ignored the offensive page - as it deserves to be ignored - it would have gone the exact same way to oblivion as thousands of other sophomoric attempts at cheap attention seeking on the Internet. Instead we have now turned it into an international incident and given it far more limelight than it ever deserved.

Let’s think about it, what did the creators of the offensive page want to do when they set it up? First, they sought attention, and hits, and notoriety in a world where attention is too easily confused with fame. Second, they wanted to ridicule Muslims by the reaction they excepted from this. If you think of it, irrespective of whether Facebook removes the site or keeps it, the organizers of the page have achieved their goal. Well beyond what they expected. Now every other Islamophobic nutcase will get new ideas about how to have his little 10 minutes of fame spewing bigotry and hatred against Muslims.

But more importantly, they simply could not have done this without us. The only people who have turned this from nothingness into a huge issue is us. I am sure that those who set up the page are jumping up and down and thanking us for making their page such a huge success! And that is what pains me.

I am also pained by the sacrilege of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) that this entire drama signifies. As pained as anyone else, and as pained as I would have been at the sacrilege of any other Prophet or religion. But unlike for many others, that pain is neither reduced nor resolved by protesting against Facebook. For me, the antidote to that pain is in the teaching of the Prophet (PBUH) themselves. What would the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) have done in such a situation.

The one thing I am absolutely positive of, is that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) would not have done what we are doing now: making an international public spectacle of ourselves. Most likely he would have just walked away and ignored (the ‘look the other way when someone throws garbage at you’ model), he might have negotiated with Facebook on the basis of their own stated rules (the Hudabia model), he might have reasoned with detractors (the discourse and discussion model). Nearly certainly Muhammad (PBUH) would have handled it with grace, with composure, and maybe even with a touch of good humor. Most importantly, the Prophet (PBUH) would have kept focusing on his own actions and proving his point with his own deeds rather than with slogans, banners and naara-baazi.