Reminiscing Carter

As the sun set today on the sixth day of widespread protests in Egypt, the Obama administration continued to walk a difficult line on what is generally agreed to be its most challenging foreign policy test to date. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the US wants to see an "orderly transition" to a "democratic, participatory government." This pretty much made clear that the US administration was not ready to demand or even suggest the overthrow of its longtime ally, President Hosni Mubarak. 


This is all too reminiscent of Tehran in 1978 - Jimmy Carter had found himself in the middle of a dilemma, too. He had to decide whether to remain loyal to the long-standing American-backed dictatorship or to dump the Shah and support the popular uprising demanding democracy and human rights. Carter tried to play smart and have it both ways - he modulated his support to the Shah, called for political liberalization, and warned the Shah against the use of state violence. Obama seems to be doing the same.


Just like the coalition of secular liberals and religiously inspired political activists that brought down the Shah, a consensus has emerged from the Egyptian streets that Mubarak must go. But after the Shah's fall came Ayatollah Khomeini and that is probably what the Obama administration fears: that after Mubarak an anti-Western, Islamist regime will come to power, most probably through the popular election of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is actually much more moderate than Khomeini's Shi'ite clerics. But if and when it comes to power, it will remind the Egyptian people that it was billions of American military aid dollars that kept Mubarak's 30-year regime afloat. 


From past experiences, Washington this time should make sure that it stays on the side of political reform and change and show that it is not aligned with the Arab status quo. America needs to display that its interest in the Middle East is not driven by its addiction to oil. Washington clearly needs to say that it will support any regime that will come to power through fair elections - even if that means supporting the Brotherhood.


Obama won many Muslim hearts with his speech in Cairo in June 2009. It is now time for him to show that those were more than just words. 

The Blame Game

As my country goes through one of the toughest phases of its lifetime, we find ourselves tossing blame around at one another. We've got a variety to choose from - Zardari, the War on Terror, excessive red tapism, religious bigotry - your pick. But does anyone ever question how we actually got here?

Zardari didn't just walk up to the President House and declare himself King, we elected the Pakistan People's Party. We supported the wrong leaderships for the wrong reasons, or we acquiesced silently. We let Ayub Khan defeat Fatima Jinnah. We stood and watched as Bhutto gave away half of the country. We allowed Zia to come up with the Hudood Ordinance. We knew when Benazir and Nawaz stole billions of rupees worth of our tax money from under our noses and yet hailed them as heroes when they returned. We gave Arab oil money the opportunity to hoard Wahabi madrassahs because our own education system failed and the poor had no where else to go to.

We let down Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Big time.

Still, I'm not pessimistic - this is not the end. We've done it before, we can do it now too. We kicked the British out in 1947. We told India who's boss in 1965. We sent shock waves all over the world from Chagai in 1998. We came out on the streets with everything we had to help the earthquake victims in 2005. We are Iqbal's vision. We were the center of the oldest civilization in the world. We've made world records in squash and brought cricket and hockey world cups home. We have Nobel Laureates, world-class scientists, musicians, poets, painters, and writers. The competence of our armed forces is widely acclaimed and highly honored. We are the nation of Abdus Salam, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Guljee, Hakeem Saeed, Abdul Qadeer Khan, Aziz Bhatti, Noor Jahan, Sadequain, Rashid Minhas, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Javed Miandad, Parveen Shakir, Manto, Nazia Hasan, Abdul Sattar Edhi, Jahangir Khan, and a million others who make the country proud everyday in one way or another. We just need to look at ourselves, realize our mistakes, and take responsibility for what we've done. 

It is all part of growing up. This is my country's coming of age. Our coming of age.

Love As We Know It

One word describes how we've grown up thinking about love: Bollywood. Most of us don't want to admit it, but our idea of love is undoubtedly influenced by Indian cinema. What do people in love do? Well, according to Bollywood:

• They break into song and dance at unexpected times and locations. Complete with an orchestra, back-up dancers and costumes. In a white chiffon sari - in the rain or in the snow. Running between trees. 
• They don't realize they are in love through the entire three hours of the movie. Unless the heroine is getting married to another man and the hero decides to show up at the wedding with a 30 minute speech on how he has loved her since they were kids, playing cricket in their diapers. All the guests at the wedding get off their seats and start clapping; the groom is totally ignored. 
• They leave their families and elope. And then the heroine's dad sends gangsters after them, who beat the crap out of the hero and take the heroine with them. Dad then gets dear daughter married to his best friend's son. Dad's best friend turns out to be mafia boss at the end.
• They have several lives at their disposal. If god forbid the hero is killed during the first half of the movie, he will return after the interval - in another corner of the world, with a new name and a new hairdo. The heroine will find him in that corner of the world, without any issues.
• They break all boundaries of social status. Girl is rich; boy is poor. Girl drives around in Daddy's Mercedes with her girlfriends; boy works at a car workshop. Girl goes to get her Merc fixed; boy stands there in his shabby overalls. Their eyes meet. It is love at first sight. Girl leaves boy to marry rich guy to fulfill Daddy's wishes. Boy drinks his life away and becomes Devdas.

Is this really what people in love do? Or do they sit around listening to mushy music all day and watching lovey-dovey movies all night?

Like me.

Lets burn some tires now.

Religion drives Pakistanis. Pakistan was created because Muslims in British India needed their own country. A place they could call home. Since then, religion is what gets us off the couches and brings us on the streets. It is what makes us really really mad. And what do we do? Burn tires and block traffic and break traffic lights. When that cartoonist in Denmark made caricatures of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we did that. Now when the Governor of Punjab is gunned down by his security guard, we are doing the same.

Don't get me wrong; I was no fan of the man or his politics. But I do give him credit for being an advocate of the rights of minorities and women in Pakistan. On Dec. 24, he had twittered: 

"My observation on minorities: A man/nation is judged by how they support those weaker than them not how they lean on those stronger." 

Taseer's apparent killer cited his boss's stance against a controversial anti-blasphemy law in justifying his actions. As the embattled, pro-U.S. PPP sought in recent days to win back defecting allies that also include a small Islamic party, it had already said it would not support a proposal to change the blasphemy statutes. That left Taseer one of the few vocal champions of the move, which hard-line religious organizations had labeled a Western conspiracy.

For a nation who gets emotional over religion, Taseer's recent outspoken moves cost him his life. His death, to say the least, is ironic - for he spoke against the kind of people who took his life. For the people who are calling his killer a hero, murder is not the answer. Taking someone's life can never be justified.  For the extremists who abuse blasphemy laws, the example to follow is the Prophet himself who practiced great tolerance and forgiveness. For the voices against corrupt politicians, the solution is to fix Pakistan's broken justice system, that lacks expertise, rewards vendettas, and encourages radicalism.

  

"On account of that incident, We ordained for the Children of Israel that whoever kills a person, except as a punishment for murder or mischief in the land, it will be written in his book of deeds as if he had killed all the human beings on the surface of the Earth and whoever will save a life shall be regarded as if he gave life to all the human beings on the surface of the Earth." (Quran 5:32)

Woes of a 9-year-old

2011 has begun. Christmas break is over. Everyone goes back to work tomorrow. School kids go back to school - to the great disappointment of my little cousin. "E-man it's so not fair," he has complained all day. The cause of his great grief is that us college students still have two more weeks of vacations while he needs to be up at 6.30 tomorrow morning. All day I heard a whiny 9-year-old go on and on about how lucky we are to not be in grade school anymore. "I wish I was in college, too," he said.

Graduating high school is overrated. So is going to college. And starting work. And all the other things you are expected to do in life. As soon as you graduate, you are expected to find a job that pays you a certain wage. In between all that, you are expected to find the perfect person for yourself, get married, and raise a family. At every stage of your life, you are expected to fulfill expectations.

Truth is, you shouldn't expect anything from life. Life just happens. You have no control over it. It's not fair. And will never be. That is why life is amazing. That is why we are free.

Free to do what we want to do. Not what makes the most money. How long is it going to last anyway? Free to fall in love. Because loving is good for the soul. Free to bungee jump, get a speeding ticket, make mistakes, travel, dress stupid, gossip, dance in the rain, be hated, and break a leg.

All of this sounds fabulous but how am I even going to explain this to my dear cousin? For now, I'm just asking him to get over it.

Because I've missed writing.

A few weeks ago, a dear friend suggested that I start a blog. "I would totally follow it," she said. It's not like I had not contemplated the idea before. But every time I thought I would not be able to post regularly. At other times, I was too scared of giving away information about my life too easily to crazy stalkers.

I'm giving it a shot now. This blogging thing. I have too many opinions to keep my mouth shut. Too many stories to tell. Of people, airports, Taco Bell, rickshaws, Photoshop, the ocean, and dirty politics. Of friends I see and friends I miss. Of lessons I've learned and lessons that I should learn by now. I mean, it's high time.

I used to write a lot before college. And then other things started taking over my life. Mainly studio. Studio. And studio. Along with running to Hy-Vee, failing attempts to cook, driving to and from Wichita, and trying to keep up with the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

So what better time to do this than the beginning of a new decade? I mean I've got loads to look forward to next year: the Cricket World Cup, Prince William's Wedding, Oprah's new television network, iPhone from Verizon, the Hangover's sequel, and Lady Gaga's new album. Not really. Except for cricket and the Hangover. Maybe.

And this blog.

Because I've missed writing.