http://redeemingpakistan.blogspot.com/2012/10/what-can-you-do-about-pakistan.html
The following piece, “Dear Pakistan by Natasha De’Sousa”
is one of the most powerful, moving pieces I have read about Pakistan. I feel her
anguish, and I had to drop everything for about ten minutes to meditate about
the situation. Finally, the good ole song is soothing me out…
Lagta nahin hai dil mera, ujde dayaar may….
It must be very difficult for each one of the Pakistanis
around the world to see the destruction of their nation; it must be utterly
frustrating that you cannot do anything about it.
There is always that hope, there are things you can do.
On Monday, I spent a few hours with a Pakistani
Delegation of Scholars, a Maulana, a Professor, an activist, a news paper
editor and an Imam to discuss Pluralism and what can be done about Pakistan. We
all wished we had a few more hours, but I admire them for the “dukh” they are carrying
about the state of affairs in Pakistan, they are committed to do things about
it.
If facts did not matter to our past President, it won’t matter to those few
either, who will react violently upon anything contrary to their belief. My
suggestion was to initiate a process of getting them involved in discussions,
not to decry, but to understand, they must be valued for what they believe,
then work on developing a common understanding based on Quraan and the
Character of the Prophet. No one wants to change, so we have to change our
attitudes, if we need to partner with them.
I keep bringing Mother Teresa up all the times, she said,
if you want to make peace, go talk with your enemies.
One of the greatest examples comes from the Yemeni Judge who asked his
prisoners to study Quraan, and find for him where it says to kill Americans or
infidels, he asked them to study the whole chapter instead of a verse. The
results were incredible, they felt duped by Bin Laden and committed to follow
the Quraan and were subsequently released.
As a Muslim who cares about humanity, I have learned to prioritize the Sunna, the practices of the Prophet in
the order which they were given.
Prioritizing Sunnah
The most important Sunna (Prophets example) and the first Sunna is to be the Amin; the trust worthy
(81:21), someone who mitigates conflicts and nurtures good will.
Wasn't that the first
example of Muhammad (pbuh) to be a good citizen? Wasn't that the first model
that prophet had set up for us to follow? Mind you, he was called Amin by
non-Muslims. Shouldn't we start with the same first foot forward? To be good
citizens, whether in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Brazil or America, we have to earn
it by being a participant and contributor towards the well being of the nation.
The second most important
Sunna to follow is to be Rahmatul Aalameen (Mercy to mankind) (21:107). To be a
Rahmat (Mercy) to fellow beings who are Atheist, Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian,
Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Sikh, Wicca, Natives, Zoroastrians and others, we must be
kind to them, no one should be afraid or apprehensive of us. Should anyone be
afraid of a Muslim, then we have not followed the Sunna of the prophet, we must go
back to the first Sunna and start all over again before we follow any other
Sunna.
Take 15 minutes a day,
cut the unproductive conversations and write letters to the editors in every Pakistani
Akhbaar, TV and Radio stations. Encourage what is good, and discourage what is
bad. The more people write about it, greater the momentum you can build. Yes, you
can do it.
Condemn the desecration of Hindu Temple, and encourage the local authorities to punish those who vandalized the temple. It must not be acceptable. Allah in Quraan could not be clearer than this - do not make a mockery of other people's faith, if you do, you are inviting them to make a mockery of your faith. When Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Shia, Ahmadiyya, Ismaili, Bohra and other people are harassed, shout it out loudly and write to the papers quickly. You will make the difference, over a period of one year, you will see the results.
Be a gutsy Muslim;
vigorously condemn any mistreatment of any individual regardless of gender,
religion or any other affiliation. Stand up for others, and see the difference
you can make in a year’s time, you must be consistent.
Our Journalists friends can
post a list of all the Pakistani News papers and their emails here or wherever
they want, but start writing to the papers. The more people write to them for
the print edition, greater the momentum. we humans are bakras, if a few of us
jump, most will jump with.
Will you do this for your
country? It will be a mental nijaat to you and will be worth it. Next time
someone starts taking, ask them to write to the news papers.
I will keep reminding you.
Mike Ghouse
THE DEAR PAKISTAN LETTER
==========
Dear Pakistan,
Late last year when i was told that I would have to leave you, I was
heartbroken. I had tried hard and wished with all my heart that I could have a
few more years with you....despite your troubled state. I felt then that i
wanted to be by your side, to see you through it, to offer some kind of help or
just to not abandon you in your most difficult time. But it seems, destiny had
paved a different path for me, a road that would lead me to watch and observe
you from a very different perspective.
As I packed up the pieces of our time together Pakistan, I smiled at our many
memories but cried at the possibilities that never saw the light of day. You
had so much potential to become a strong independent nation, so many talented
and highly intelligent people to support you but, somehow you seem to have
drifted from the dream your fore fathers had for you, fallen into bad company
and collected a group of rather nasty and selfish friends. You trusted the
wrong people who promised to take you and your people to great heights, only to
push you down every time your step was bigger than they wanted it. Like many
others, I too am guilty of watching you fall, silently, frustrated, with the
anger only burning me inside but making no difference to what was going on.
I remember when i was a young girl, my father told me how he had left his home
and family in the coconut covered hills to come and be with you, as you were a
fledgling young country earning to walk, needing all the help you could
get. My father told me how thousands of other young lads like him, got on a
ship and headed to Karachi all looking forward to a bright future with you. My
father told me how your father Jinnah had dreams and visions for you, and had
invited minorities from across India to share his dream.
But dear dear
Pakistan, I'm deeply sorry that you lost your father when you had barely even
learnt to crawl, followed by a tormented adolescence and then an intensely
aggressive puberty with greedy feudal and military foster parents.
Looking back, we thought then that this was the darkest period of your life
where you were brainwashed into believing that the sole purpose of your
existence was to defend and protect your faith.... and faith became your
identity. You turned away from all the people who supported you as a toddler,
you spat hatred towards anyone who disagreed with you. You became violent,
cruel and egotistical with the illusion of power you were shown, and instead of
becoming a beacon of light and prosperity for the region, you became a source
of darkness.
No one could get through to you anymore. And those who could,
thought it might be better to observe silently from the comfort of their living
rooms. While your good side kept silent, your bad dared to come up to the
surface and be heard, not just within your boundaries, but across the globe.
Suddenly your bad side brought you into the limelight, the negative publicity
matched the large ego you had by now developed, nurtured carefully by your evil
step father Zia.
Many of the young minorities who left India to be by your side
when you most needed them, realized they were not needed anymore and uprooted
themselves and their families and quietly made their way to whichever country
would accept them with tolerant arms as India had closed its doors on them and
they could never return home. You didn't notice of course, you were too caught
up in your own self-righteousness and pig headedness to realize that it was NOT
them that betrayed you but vice versa. As the decades passed, more and more
communities left as you were blinded by your own beliefs and bigotry. Thousands
of educated Muslim families too decided to get going with the wave of exodus,
willing to deny you as their loved one, desperately seeking new nationalities
where ever they could.
I watched this.... I watched the entire Goan community leave. 98% of the
Christian, Parsi and Chinese friends in school with me, had migrated by the
time we got to college. Their parents sold everything they had, left stable
corporate jobs to once again start from scratch either filling gas at petrol
stations in Canada or making subway sandwiches, they obviously felt anything
was better than being around you. Those who had chosen to stay with you, would
realize later that they chose the devil instead of the deep blue sea. At least
the deep blue sea is a much more tolerant environment.
As the years went by, we patiently hoped you would change. Yes, many of us
still had our hopes on you....Many still believed your good side would get the
better of your bad.... We loved you....We wanted to see you successful and
prosperous. But you let us down, each and every one of us with that ray of
hope. You became increasingly darker and aggressive. You became a shelter for
the wicked instead of the weak. Thieves, Murderers, liars and killers walked
your lands rampantly with your constitution in their back pockets. Justice was
made blind and honesty became an endangered species.
Yet, you publicly
proclaimed your righteousness. You publicly killed the weaker sex in the name
of honor, you publicly burnt churches and temples, you publicly defended your
faith by burning anything that came your way including villages with innocent
women and children. And as if that wasn't enough, you turned to killing people
who even shared the same faith, if they dared to follow a different sect or
doctrine. Somehow you felt that if people were different from you, they didn't
deserve to live. Your hatred became so ingrained into your subconscious that
parts and provinces within you, began to hate and kill each other. Your own
physical body at war with itself.
If one's arms and legs start fighting amongst themselves, the body soon becomes
useless and ceases any productive function. I have to be brutally honest here
Pakistan, what you have become today, is the darkest, most vile nation that’s
exists in the world with numerous enemies and even more fair weather friends.
The friends who will chew you and spit you out while they pat you on the back.
They will use and abuse your every resource and potential until you are left
worthless and crippled with a cancer that will slowly consume every part of
you.
Your birth was a bloody one and it seems that to this day, your soils thirst
for blood. Everyday, dozens of innocent people who love and believe in you, die
needlessly. Bomb blasts and target killings are your new social norms. Even
those who share your faith are threatened by your version of misinterpreted
faith that gets a kick out of falsely convicting a mentally retarded minor on
blasphemy charges. I wonder what nefarious activities we will hear of next.
I am now glad that the Universe and Gods conspired to take me far far away from
you. You are not good for anyone's health or sanity.... I have come to hate you
for all that you have become, but will still love you always for all that you
could have been.
Sincerely disappointed,
Natasha De’Sousa.
