Moborate

Finally, someone in the National Assembly, who has the guts to say what must be said about the assassination of Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs , Shahbaz Bhatti . The legislator is MNA Asiya Nasir , elected on a reserved women's seat from Balochistan, the only minority female legislator in the National Assembly and speaking the day after the murder. She holds a Masters in English literature from the Government Girls College, Quetta and a certificate in Teachers' Training and is a member of the NGO Aurat Foundation. She has been a member of the House since 2002 when she was elected on a reserved seat for minorities. Remarkably, she is affiliated politically with the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam - Fazlur Rehman ( JUI-F ) and was elected in 2002 (as well as in 2008) on a ticket of the 'religious' parties alliance, the Muttaheda Majlis-e-Amal ( MMA ). A powerful speech that should be heard by all in Pakistan, especially because it raises uncomfortable truths...

Unlike MSS, or at least partly unlike MSS, I truly was at a loss for words about the the assassination of Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti . The only words that seemed to express the intensity of the despair I felt about the abyss staring us in the face came from poetry. In fact, before MSS posted her piece, I thought a collection of Urdu couplets was the only way I could mark this tragedy, because what is the point of repeating all that I have said so many times before. I might still do a post with such a collection, but here's a sample, from Faiz : "Amaa'n kaisi ke mauj-e-khoo'n abhi sar se nahin guzri Guzar jaaye tau shaayad baazu-e-qaatil thehr jaaye" [No one is safe, for the wave of blood has yet to wash over our heads Perhaps once we drown the killer's hand will be stayed]  But my reasons for writing today are slightly different. I have to admit that I am not a regular watcher of  DawnNews , a hangover probably of experiences from ...

DISCLAIMER: This piece was written yesterday, and then languished overnight due to a PTCL outage. It contains emotion and other profanity. I am rarely at a loss for words. I certainly wasn’t this morning, when I started out on a smarmy skewering of George Fulton’s ‘I’m leaving Pakistan because she’s being mean to me dammit! ' piece in the Express Tribune yesterday. I was going to run with his personification of the blessed motherland as a flighty female prone to self-destructive megalomania, I was. I was particularly taken with the bit featuring the Bryan Adams song where Pakistan, the impenetrable, fecund, feminine other, sings to him the lyrics To really love a woman/ To understand her - you gotta know her deep inside/ Hear every thought - see every dream/ N' give her wings - if she wants to fly/ Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms/ You know you really love a woman... Then I ran it by another Pyala who, with what is in hindsight admirable self-restrain...