OLD HOUSES IN THE WEST

Lets take the glasses of biases off for a while... I have recently again heard the narrative of west being insensitive, having broken homes and children sending their parents to old houses instead of taking care of them in their old age. First of all this might not be the case at all...may be it is a choice of parents, may be they preferred living alone and when they could not do that anymore they opted to go to old houses... or there can be many other cases...
Ok for a while I agree that in our social and cultural values family is a very strong unit. But as the times are turning, men and women are getting into economic activity and life patterns are changing; parents at many homes are ignored and let me say it straight forwardly they are suffering in many cases. If it becomes excessively common issue and the state or some NGOs think of providing a shelter to the old people; I don't think this is to be seen only from one point of view that only shows the negative side of it. The very positive aspect of it is that state and the people who care, take the responsibility. The old houses I have visited are facilitated and giving these old citizens a very safe and healthy option to live. I know the love n care of family is something different and can not be altered; but in my personal opinion there is much exaggeration in our narrative of love and belongingness in our family system. I have seen old people on roads spending all day out in hot n cold weather, I have seen them working and I have seen them suffering. I wish our family structures may not break but they r breaking with the passage of time. The new generation is finding it difficult at times. Plus the parents themselves might want to take the option of living separately as they do in many cases. So why not to give them some other safe and healthy option. In the so called insensitive societies I have seen the peak of sensitivity shown by many for example when a young couple was celebrating their wedding at a old house and all the people living in the old house were so happy that day...

Two claims that amaze me

I have often heard Pakistani people saying we have "talent" more than any other nation in the world. This claim is so amazing. First of all I don't how and on what bases is this analysis made. In my view there are talented people everywhere around the world. Intellect and God gifted special talents are in every corner wherever human beings live. The people who believe in this myth keep saying this and getting into a false satisfaction. A country where water, gas and almost all other resources are wasted day and night, the human resource has also been wasted to its max. We definitely have many intelligent and "talented" people but we have yet not been able to develop such education system as well as job market or any other mechanism where people could use their intellect and talent and make a real difference. Only a few with very strong nerves and will, go through all challenges and reach their larger goals in life.

Second claim is that west learnt everything from us and especially they applied the rules and teachings of our religion. I am not a religious scholar but in my view every other religion of the world gave almost the same basic human values. Every messenger of God gave the message of peace, humanity, equality, social justice, brotherhood and a lot more. So this is not just one religion this is basic human values. Anyway even if the west learnt a lot many things from us now we need to realize that we are in stagnation since long so this claim will lose its value if we do not develop further. At least for half a century we have only been teaching and learning theories and researches of west in most of our higher education institutions.

I think it is time to come out of the denial and face the reality... realization and acceptance is the first step towards the solution of the problems...lets do it and then move on!  

Quaid e Azam’s vision: Youth of Pakistan- Leaders of Tomorrow

(A PAPER READ AT THE SEMINAR ON Quaid's Day at AIOU)

First of all I am thankful to the organizers of the event who thought of me as a speaker for the celebration of birthday of the great leader and founder of this lovely homeland that we are living in.

After spending a few years away from my homeland I feel great to be invited to speak to students of today and to share my understanding of Quaid’s ideologies and his vision for a democratic Pakistan.

Here I begin with a quote of Quaid from his address at a public meeting in Dhaka on March 21, 1948

“My young friends, students who are present here, let me tell you as one who has always had love and affection for you, who has served you for ten years faithfully and loyally, let me give you this word of warning: you will be making the greatest mistake if you allow yourself to be exploited by one political party or another and don’t be misled…. Your main occupation should be — in fairness to yourself, in fairness to your parents, in fairness to the state – to devote your attention to your studies.”

Now let me repeat a small piece of it again

“if you allow yourself to be exploited by one political party or another”

Quaid never wanted the youth of the newly born country to be exploited and especially in the age when young boys and girls should be focusing their education only. Political agendas of one direction or the other can only fix you to one ideology and at this age you must not be fixted. You should keep your minds and hearts open to explore and gain knowledge.

My young fellows sitting here today celebrating this day with us I want you to re-learn the the lesson and please get to know what is to be done at certain stage of life. In the coming years of your life there will be a time inshaAllah when you will be standing as a responsible person as well as a leader within your own field, but right now your responsibility only is to focus upon your academic career.

At another occasion addressing the Punjabi Muslim Students Federation at Lahore on October 31, 1947, our quaid notified you of your responsibility as well and he said:

“You are the nation’s leaders of tomorrow and you must fully equip yourself by discipline, education and training for the arduous task lying ahead of you. You should realise the magnitude of your responsibility and be ready to bear it.”

When I read these quotes again today I found them more meaningful and significant than ever before. Pakistan today is at an edge where we need more and more trained and qualified professionals. A person if not prepared and qualified well for his or her field of work will only be a burden on the economy and will ruin the developmental process. Quaid had a long term vision and he knew how hard it will be for the country to stand up and face the rapidly developing world. He knew that the young leaders of tomorrow are the ones who will be able to help and support this newly born country in the coming years. He knew and he was telling in a warning tone about the responsibility of tomorrow. To face the challenges he also gave the key solution to face the future in his address at the All Pakistan Educational Conference in Karachi on November 27, 1948 as he said:

“What we have to do is to mobilize our people and build up the character of our future generation. In short, this means the highest sense of honor, integrity, selfless service to the nation and sense of responsibility, and we have to see that our people are fully qualified and equipped to play their part in the various branches of economic life in a manner which will do honour to Pakistan.”

Building up the character of our future generation was a priority that he set out for the educational planners. He wanted the education system to develop the characteristics that I just now noted above. He wanted education policy makers to have clear goals in their mind. I am telling you that recently doing a detailed policy analysis I have come to the conclusion that the policies of education made in the early years of Pakistan had very clear agenda and very clear vision built in for the coming generations but instead of developing further on these agendas and goals we got lost somewhere when we began to follow the lights of heavy vehicles and lost our direction. Quaid wanted us to built this generation into independent thinkers, workers, and professionals who could have made this country develop at a much faster pace. He wanted us to build the young fellows as leaders of tomorrow but alas the political agendas of many many key parties in this country made them followers and even blind followers.

I do not want to look back and address to those who ruined the Quiad’s philosophies of equality, justice, democracy and development rather I would like to address today to the leaders of tomorrow. Those who are sitting here and those who might be able to read this speech on the net tomorrow or afterwards...you the young girls and boys please keep your lines straight. Please do not follow the directions given by x y z ...keep your goals clear you want to be a doctor, engineer, lawyer, teacher, businessman, artist, journalist, musician, painter, photographer or whatever you must be focusing your study and training within your chosen field, This country needs many more of well trained and learned professionals so seek education of your choice with a goal of becoming an active and responsible citizen of today and a true leader of tomorrow. I shall close this note at my Quaid’s words when he declared Pakistan a moral and intellectual achievement and he called upon Pakistanis on August 31, 1947, to rebuild the nation:

“It is in your hands, we undoubtedly have talents, Pakistan is blessed with enormous resources and potential. Providence has endowed us with all the wealth of nature and now it lies with man to make the best of it.”

پاکستان میں خواتین کے لئے جنت کا ٹکٹ حاصل کرنے کی دس معاشرتی شرائط

آپ نے تمام عمر لڑکوں سے بات نہیں کی، نہ صرف یہ کہ ان سے پردہ کیا بلکہ ان کی طرف کبھی نگاہ بھی نہیں اٹھائی

آپ نے صرف لڑکیوں کے اداروں میں تعلیم حاصل کی، ایسی تمام درسگاہوں کو بری نظر سے دیکھا جہاں لڑکے اورلڑکیاں ایک ساتھ پڑھتے تھے

آپ نے گھر سے درسگاہ تک کا سفر کسی سواری میں یا اکیلے ایسے طے کیا جیسے ارد گرد کی دنیا آپ کی دشمن ہے اور آپ کو ایک خوف نے سارا راستہ گھیرے رکھا

آپ نے اپنی درسگاہ میں موجود مرد ملازمین سے بھی بات نہیں کی اور درسگاہ کے اندر بھی آپ نے کبھی دوپٹہ سر سے سرکنے نہیں دیا

آپ نے تعلیم حاصل کرنے کے بعد نوکری کرنے کا کبھی نہیں سوچا

آپ نے بزرگوں کی پسند پر آنکھیں ناک اور کان سب بند رکھتے ہوءے شادی کی

آپ نے شوہر اور سسرال کی مرضی کے مطابق زندگی بسر کی اور بچے پیدا کیے

آپ نے اپنے بچوں اوربچیوں کی پرورش میں واضح فرق روارکھا

آپ نے کبھی اپنی کسی خواہش کی پیروی نہیں کی اور جو کچھ شوہر نے لا کر دیا اس کو دنیا کی قیمتی ترین چیز جانا

آپ نے تا دمِ مرگ اپنے شوہر کی ہر طرح کی ذیادتی  پر نہ صرف پردہ ڈالا بلکہ اس سے کبھی شکوہ تک نہیں کیا 

میرا گھر میری جنت

جب بھی کوئِ مجھ سے سوال کرتا ہے تو میں ببانگ دہل کہتی ہوں میں یقینا پاکستان واپس جائوں گی اور کوئی وجہ نہیں ہے کہ میں اپنا ملک چھوڑ دوں۔ میں نے تمام تر محنت اپنے ملک اور لوگوں کے لئے کچھ کر پانے کی غرض سے کی ہے۔ ،میرا قطعا کوئی اور مقصد ہی نہیں تھا اس تمام تر کاوش کا۔ 

 لیکن کچھ عرصہ سے میں نے اپنے آپ میں ایک تبدیلی محسوس کی ہے۔ جب بھی میرا کوءی عزیز، دوست یا رشتہ دار مجھ سے مشورہ مانگتا ہے تو میں کہتی ہوں جہاں آپ کے لیے بہتر ہو، جہاں آپ اور آپ کے گھر والوں کی جان،مال اور عزت محفوظ ہوں وہاں رہئے۔ ہم پر سب سے پہلے ہمارے اپنوں کا حق ہوتا ہے۔ 

میں یقینا پاکستان جاءوں گی وہاں رہ کر اپنی سی بھر پورکوشش کروں گی کہ میں اپنی جنت جیسی سر زمین کو ایک بار پھر امن و آشتی کا گہوارا بنائوں ۔۔۔لیکن میں ٹارگٹ کلنگ، دہشت گردی، غنڈہ گردی، ظلم و بربریت،مزہبی اور فرقہ وارانہ فسادات کے بڑھتے ہوءے ان رجحانات سے آنکھیں بند نہیں رکھ سکتی۔ میں اپنے پیاروں کو یہ مشورہ نہیں دے پاتی کہ جاءو اور بغیر کسی قصور کے کسی کی نفرت کی بھینٹ چڑح جاءو۔ 

میری دعا ہے کہ میں اور مجھ جیسے لوگ جو انسانیت سے پیار کرتے ہیں، جو اپنے ساتھ ساتھ اپنے سے مختلف لوگوں کو بھی جینے کا حق دیتے ہیں اس ملک خدا داد کو لوگوں کے لئے سچ میں جنت بنا سکیں۔۔۔اور فخر اور اعتماد سے اپنے پیاروں کو اپنے گھر واپس بلا سکیں۔۔۔ آمین

دیر کتنی لگتی ہے...

موسم بدل رہا تھا شاید بہت بلندی پر اڑنے والے پرندے کسی وہم کا شکار ہوں، مگر زمین پر چلنے والے دیکھ رہے تھے کہ کونپلیں پھونٹ چکی ہیں۔ میں نے گھاس میں اگتے ہوءے چھوٹَے چھوٹے پھولوں کو دیکھا اور بہت دیر تک یہی سوچتی رہی تبدیلی اوپر سے نیچے کی طرف نہیں آتی یہ نیچے سے اوپر کی طرف جاتی ہے۔۔۔ اور پھر ایک رات کی بارش نے سب کچھ ہرا کر دیا۔۔۔ اللہ کرے پاکستان میں بھی آج رات کی بارش کلسب کچھ ہرا کر دے۔۔۔بقول شاعر آگ ہو تو جلنے میں دیر کتنی لگتی ہے برف کے پگھلنے میں دیر کتنی لگتی ہے

Celebrating the Pain

I celebrate all moments of happiness, I love to celebrate the moments of love and I celebrate success... if it is about me being a woman I'd love to celebrate today too. I am a blessed female. I never realized that it was only a blessing that I was born in a home where I was given equal rights, voice and respect as men. Yes it was just a blessing that my father and brothers loved me and gave me the strength to live an independent life. It was a blessing that my mother taught us how to behave and interact with the other gender without considering that one is weaker or stronger. I loved hearing stories of strong women. I thought it will be as easy to become one of them as it was easy for me to grow up. I never knew just outside my home I'll meet a different world. I'll see the women being ashamed of being women. I'll hear the stories of physical violence, rape and sexual harassment at work everyday, I'll witness movements against girls' education and I never knew that my home is just a fantasy world for majority of the women around. I could not imagine women being revengeful, women betraying men, and I could not imaging women being the enemies of women... I don't know what to celebrate today... my success, success of powerful women around the world, success stories of "empowered" women on the records of Government and Non Government Organizations, the revengeful behavior i witnessed in the recent years or should I celebrate the pain of yet powerless educated and non educated, urban and rural, working and non-working women around the third world...???