A Town Like Alice

Start of a hobby.

My brother took out the novel A Town Like Alice from our library. I became over whelmed with emotions to see it after 12 years. It was in our course in Grade 8 in the Beaconhouse School System. It was the first English novel that I read. Its binding is still tight and pages are not dog-eared. It feels so good to see underlining which I did on some pages, and notes that I made on a couple of pages in my-then-and-still-bad handwriting.
This novel introduced me with the English language and the literature. I must confess that the novel didn’t make any sense to me because of poor vocabulary of 1998. It was not until our English teacher showed us the movie in the library that I got the storyline. I have stopped all my reading tasks to re-read the novel.
This novel is a history for me which started from being the most-poor student in English language in my class to a copy editor in an English daily.

Elected leaders in Pakistan

No common man is ever elected to parliament in Pakistan in recent history. All elected people are either big landlords, factory owners or tycoons. Those rich people who don’t directly run the election, fund the rich candidates. How can we, the middle class, expect elected representatives to protect our causes when we don’t elect people like us.
The only political party which gives tickets to middle class candidates is the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Despite its bad image, the MQM is the only party in Pakistan which has democracy within the party ranks and nominates ordinary party workers to run the elections.
We need to discourage elected leaders who roam in their expensive vehicles surrounded by dozens of protocol vehicles and an equal number of gun-totting body guards.

Waheeda Shah slapped with two year disqualification

Waheeda Shah of the Pakistan People’s Party has been disqualified from contesting the election for two years after she slapped two polling officials during a by-election.

I promise to be a good girl.

She reminds me of a true incident. A friend’s paternal uncle (taya) was suffering from a serious ailment and doctors had told the family to take the patient home and pray for him. All family elders had gathered around the dying patient. He raised his shaking hand, summoning his younger brother (my friend’s father) near him. All the people present in the room silenced, sensing the emergency and increasing their earshot.
The dying man told his younger brother in a feeble voice, “Customs demand surviving brother to marry the widow of his deceased brother.” My friend’s father nodded, giving the impression that he has understood what his elder brother was saying at the most critical point of his life. The patient didn’t stop there. He breathed deeply as if gaining courage to say something and said, “My wife is a rude head-strong woman. Don’t commit the mistake which I committed and suffered for my whole life.”
The old man’s advice was funny enough to make all people in the room laugh, serious enough to dissuade his younger brother form marrying his wife and harsh enough for his would-be widow.
The vacancy Waheeda was contesting fell vacant after the death of her husband, Syed Mohsin Shah Bukhari. Unofficial result declared her the winner, but the ECP withheld the results following the slapping incident. What she did is condemnable. We can’t allow influential people to violate laws when common folks have to abide them.
I give credit for her disqualification to the media, whom I don’t like much, and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, for whom my reverence is declining rapidly.

Search operation

I have found my key chain knife from the school bag of my younger brother. It's discovery has reminded me that I was very lax at checking what my brothers are doing.

Pakistan allows NATO to use airspace

Pakistan has allowed the NATO to carry supplies for its forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad has only allowed NATO to use its airspace. The sympathy of Pakistan is not for NATO troops battling in Afghanistan, but its for the food. Pakistani Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar says that Pakistan has allowed NATO to transport food through Pakistan's airspace because the food is perishable.
Mukhtar should have also said that Pakistan's ego and honour are also perishable.  

Brigadier Ali to be court martialled

The Pakistani army is about to start court martial proceedings against Brigadier Ali Khan. The brigadier was alleged to have links with a banned organisation, the Hizbul Tehrir. He was arrested on May 6, 2011 from the premises of his office in GHQ.
The brigadier's arrest is the biggest and only achievement of the Pakistan army, who is fighting militants of banned organisations in tribal areas and Balochistan and at the same time battling with the American accusations that Pakistan army is in league with the insurgents of its liking aka Haqqani network. Perhaps, when the Pakistani army will start its much-desired dialogue with the banned outfits, it may use the connections and expertise of Brigadier Ali.


The second most daring achievement of the army "fighting the war on terror" is the arrest of one Dr Shakeel Afridi. The doctor is in custody of security agencies for his alleged role in tracking down Osama Bin Laden in Abottabad.
Lured by the US stick (mostly) and carrot (rarely) policy, the whole Pakistani establishment had vowed to track down the Al Qaeda chief. What the army and its intelligence agencies failed to do with unlimited resources, this daring doctor accomplished with a very few staff and a little budget. Instead of conferring some award on the doctor, he has been detained. We will never learn to appreciate our mentors. 

Memorable rain

It is drizzling here today. Whenever it rains and I reflect on my past, a particular rain stands out in my memory. It was drizzling and I was about to get out of my car in the parking of the session court in Jhelum. Two clients approached me. One was a man in his middle age whose pregnant wife was in jail and we wanted her released on bail.
The other client was a British-Pakistani woman. Her daughter had wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and was starring at some distant thing. The woman's husband was also in jail in a murder case. I felt sorry for the two. It took me five minutes to listen them and brief them. Meanwhile, the rain took pace. When I sat in my car, the music system was playing this song.

Every word from this song hit some chord in me. I am very bad at understanding songs, but the condition and saddened looks on the faces of the clients made me understand each word. The man's wife was released on bail. The woman's husband is still in jail. And that rainy day is etched in my memory.