The Great Fire of Karachi

 Words could never be enough to summarize the incident of such magnitude. An ever-worst national tragedy may it be called in which the ruthless fire caged, tortured and brutally killed a large number of working class of the metropolitan city. In a building entirely packed, where exit gates were locked, fire extinguishers were missing - for al least one and half hour as claimed by owner of Ali Enterprises, Arshad Bhaila - and had no way for the air to pass, how anyone could have found a way out of the burning hell. The result was a wait for the absolution of the destiny, the destiny which unfortunately had some other plans. Thus the deleterious wait ended up in mourns and anguish for dozens of unfortunate families. 

But the question lingers around is that, is it the only ill-fated building in Karachi which does have loops holes? We all know that there are hoards of buildings standing in the metropolis or candidly speaking in all parts of the country, which are not even close to the international standards of construction. These are the time bombs ticking on our heads persistently, but in the end the point is, who cares? Sad enough it takes an episode of this spectrum to be happened to turn few heads.

And as soon as the calamity occurs, the blame game begins with concerned bodies putting the ball in each others court. Government announces three lacs for each head and blames the factory owners for the massacre, the ones who always have their suitcases ready to leave for the airport, surely before the ECL is being sent to all the exit stations. Never too late for the building control authorities as well. Those who give thumbs-up to the constructions of additional floors and allow usage of sub-standard material for constructing buildings which couldn’t even guarantee a year to stand, then why they would even think of implementing house-building laws in the city. Thus, except few burned souls who were trapped in the building, everyone else would very conveniently find an escape gate for himself. 

During this saga, another revelation comes to surface. It was, that in 2003 (The Musharraf era), electrical inspectors were halted from inspecting electrical installation work of building, before issuing licence to the applicant. But the issues arise here is that why nothing has been done about it in so many years? What the labour inspectors’ job is? Why the environmental protection industry doesn’t make a concrete step to ensure that law for fire prevention are followed by all? Why the fire exits of such huge structures are being permanently sealed? And why local bodies like SITE ltd (Sindh Industrial Trading Estates) and civil defence authorities couldn’t play any role in preventing such disastrous incidents to be happened? So on and so forth. Hence, again we are left clueless who to put the blame on.

As per revolutionary-customary practice of suo-moto actions had been taken by the courts, investigation committees have been formed by the government; inquiries, hearing, notices, arrests, and bails, the tango would go on for sometime. Eventually, the file would be thrown into the piles of other brittle paperwork stored in any of the government’s data preservation centre. Alas! The crying faces of the ones who lost lives of their bread earners, could do nothing more than plunging TRPs of the news channels.

Is there any hope? That’s what we usually ask and see each others face to find the answer but the only silver lining is the one that lies inside us. We should change our own nature to bring up the change; the stubbornness inside us that evoke us to break rules and put other’s life on stake. That could begin by accepting our mistakes, our failures, and our wrong doings. It’s not cruel to commit a mistake; cruelty is to be obstinate about it. Lives of those who were left helpless in that factory couldn’t be restored. But we can make an effort to save the ones that are left.

Rules are made to be followed - but are seemed - meant to be broken in our dear homeland. Blaming the government is always a convenient option, but if we ask ourselves that do we make cautious efforts in our daily routine life to ensure safety of others, the answer would mostly be “No”. Living responsibly is the only way of living. Life is important; we should begin to give respect to it otherwise from where and when this fire would catch us no body knows!

Let Me Speak!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION and you are on to speak-up to the whole world. This privilege becomes headache when you are supposed to speak for an hour or two each and every morning on something NEW. A Morning Show host has a lot on his shoulders. One person running the whole program, where she or (on occasions he) is supposed to be entertaining, swift, cunning and affable at the same time, with the people she or he hardly knows. You need to generate topics, resisting any pause or a “moment of silence” during the conversation and also have to slot-in the audience in the process. Lots of work and one naive soul. A handy mean to ease the workload is to let the other person speak!

Anchoring is a completely different job from acting. A good actor could not necessarily be a good anchor. An actor is supposed to portrait the personality he is playing where as on the other side an anchor needs to depict the personality sitting before him. An anchor should keep his own self at a back and allow the other person to open up. A good host is the one with whom a person feels comfortable to speak. He provides an ambience where the guest feels free and safe to disclose his inner side. But these days the persona of the anchor himself is so swelled up over the show that it overshadows the pitied being of the guest, who despite sharing his own ideas, contentedly or discontentedly ended up nodding with the Anchor Almighty.

It is not that all the anchors of today are the same but most of the cohort is not doing what they are called to do, “to listen” to the person sitting before him. That is not always the fault of the hosts themselves, mostly the producers wish to hire well-known faces rather than well-learned people. Here well-learned means the one who is adequately trained in the genre of hosting. That’s why when they come in front of the camera they don’t have a clue of what they are supposed to do, so they start applying the tactics that they used in their previous old jobs.

Few things to remember which you should avoid while being a Morning Show host and that really infuriate the viewers are: 

·        Don’t interrupt the guest: it hurts when your favorite Caleb faced redundant and irritating interludes while he is about to reveal some attention-grabbing and unknown fact about himself.

·        IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU! Avoid the “what I think” factor from the conversation; because in the rest of the programme, viewers are already forced to listen only about that.

·        Don’t be a Back Seat Driver: He or she has been grown up doing what they are telling you about. Your Fix-it-in-one-day therapy wouldn’t transform them into a new person as they get out of the studio.

·        Stop being controversial all the time: Though the news channels are earning their bread and butter by adding fuel to the fire, but that strategy should only be kept with that particular field.

·        Curiosity Killed the Cat: Provide an air where he feels comfortable enough to share things which he hasn’t expressed before, don’t pinch him to the extent that he gets screwed up!

We the “BAD GUYS”

This weekend, like any other weekend, I was doing my routine labour of switching over channels on TV. For an occasion, I hold my finger tip on an Indian channel. There was a late night comedy show coming over. I must say that the guy has something in him that kept me from pressing that button. He was an effortless comedian. Starting up with imitating Indian actors he came to the topic that became the reason for me writing this piece. He started making fun of “The Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed”.

He took a forged Hafiz Saeed on line. The guy on the line said that because of the incessant bomb attacks and drone strikes in Pakistan even he doesn’t feel safe in the country and wants to come to India as soon as possible. Weird enough but that raised my curiosity to watch this show more. I searched YouTube to watch the previous episodes and find that most of his jokes loop around Pakistan. Another thing that I observed on this website was, when I searched for India, the top searches were: India joins the space race, Indian mobile industry booming etc. But when I moved over to Pakistan, the result was quite on the contrary. The searches came down such as Balochistan Insurgency, battle of Swat valley, Pakistan double cross on terrorism and so on.

This difference of attitude makes you ponder that is this way the outer world takes us and if yes, then why that is so. I mean alright we do bad things. We take bribe from every nook and corner; we lie, don’t follow court orders, ditch each other and yes, our debts are even bigger than our pockets. Moreover we break laws the way no one else can even think of. But, still do we deserve to be called a terrorist nation? Are we the “Bad Guys”?

The answer couldn’t be yes. Because when you walk outside your door you can still find people who are kind to you. People who work hard for their kids, people who are honest, not all of them but we can safely say that morality and genuineness has still not entirely vanished from this part of the land. Where on one side there are people who scoff at beggars and eunuchs passing by. There are also those who leave their seats for senior citizens. Yes, there are people who do eve-teasing on the streets but there are the ones as well who open a door for a woman.

Majority of us can not read and write but our youth has enough knowledge of the ongoing politics and social issues. The pain and suffering has taught us a lot. Our literacy rate is less than 10 percent but we know our own flaws and we can learn from them. Fantasy you may call it, but if we know how to tow the whole month in a meagre sum of money in hand and having the distress of load-shedding, shortage of water, wheat and sugar and other day-to-day crisis in bonus, we can work on our weaknesses as well.

We have problems but we know how to deal with it. Our system is plagued but it’s just we who have the cure. Only we can make the way out from this labyrinth. We know we have made this a mess but whenever it happened, we will be the one who clean it up. So, you can say that we are a careless, illiterate, fanatic, aggressive, and a bit cynical nation but you know that’s how we are!

10 Quick Fixes to Pakistan

1. Throw the garbage into a dustbin. I know we are not living in a state where we could afford or even think of having trash bins at every nook and corner of a street, but just for the sake of saving our off springs from some unheard and incurable diseases, maintain cleanliness to your extent. To start with something, bring home the cans and burger boxes with you whilst coming back from an outdoor exertion and give it the place it deserve.

2. No matter how stupid it sounds but yes switching off the light as you come out of your room can help in overcoming a large fraction of energy crisis we are facing.

3. Water hydrates the skin; it doesn’t mean that the water going into the drain unused will help in anyway getting that perfect glow. Realize that you are wasting a lifesaving resource that could quench the thirst of many, if you use it responsibly. Every drop counts so you better don't let the faucet run while you are soaping up.

4. We all know corruption has deeply seeped into every stratum of the society and is very much common in our daily lives but still once in a blue moon saying no to that under-the-table deal doesn’t really cost you much.

5. Let’s accept the fact that bypassing meters, meter-tampering and direct hooking on the electricity poles or in common terms using “kunda” are all electricity thefts and a very serious crime. The fact that everyone else is doing it very conveniently makes it more irresistible to holdback. But if everyone else is going into the gutter that doesn’t mean that you are also ought to follow them.

6. Work, work and only work. This is not me; this is what our Quaid said before bestowing this land to us. But alright giving some space to our life-is-to-enjoy theory, at least just don’t sit idol in the parks for hours with your better or better-not half to watch the birds fly. I mean at the end of it you never know what she is actually looking at.

7. Stop behaving irrationally. We know that we are so exhausted and helpless by the never ending train of problems rushing to us that we never miss a chance to puff out our frustration. But that doesn’t mean that you set your neighbor’s car on fire just because your telephone bill exceeds your expectations.

8. Stop fighting on non-issues. Religion, ethnicity, caste, social values and political philosophy could also be followed without abusing the other person’s beliefs. Anyone who can see an angle other than yours is not your enemy. Give yourself a break. Think in a broader perspective and accept that we all are different and therefore we think and behave differently. If He can give us that privilege than who are we pointing out fingers on each other?

9. Start saying truth to yourself. Yes we are living in an “Islamic Republic” but that is not actually who we are. After thinking about all the above mentioned characteristics that we have, it’s hard to say that we are in any way better or any notch above than the non-Islamic republicans. It’s difficult to say that even after becoming accustomed to all worst possible ways of leading a life we’ll ended up in heaven. But to see the brighter side, it also doesn’t mean that nothing could be done about it.

10. Love and respect, that’s all we need from each other. No matter how vulnerable we are and whatever we have done to this place, we still belong to it. Your own cottage is always more contented than someone else’s kingdom. Stay here and make this a better place to live!

Truth, Lies and the grey areas

There would not be a single hand standing on the side which says that it is good to tell a lie. No matter to what religion, cast or nationality we belong to, in the end we all mutually believe and agree that everyone should speak truth. But then what about the third kind? The ridicule of the truth itself is that there are hardly any circumstances where we say either a truth or a lie. Delicacy of the situation, wrong timings, selfishness, fear, concern, love and hate are some of the reasons forcing us to mold the truth in a design that it doesn’t fit in any of the above category. We call it the Grey Areas!

Manipulating truth is sometimes as indispensable as breathing air. But how to decide that when it is necessary to do this expurgation and when it isn’t? That is something that could vary from one individual to the other. Generally the molding that we do for our own interests is considered to be unjust, but then again who is going to decide? Our politicians, bureaucrats, civil servants and even common people have their own grey areas. For people like lawyers, exploitation of truth is the bread and butter. Hence, from the ruler to the one, sitting at a fruit stall everyone feels it their astuteness to manage saying what sounds good!

We find many people who declare that they can not stand a lie. The question that is needed to be asked here is that are they really willing to listen to a naked reality and what if it is about there own self? The answer is by and large in negative. We want to listen what we like. From inside we hope and pray that it may turn out to be true and when that doesn’t happen we tend to start behaving irrationally. On the other hand grey areas suit everyone. It is a convenient option that makes us feel satisfied and glad at the end of it. The thing is that we prefer to pick the truths of our own choice.

A leader will sing odes of love for humanity and expresses his desperation to spread peace and justice on the land. He definitely wants to do that, till the time he doesn’t get a hold on the seat of his dreams. After then of course priorities are different. One party shout aloud to reveal the scratchiest facts of the rival party but ignores even the crystal clear realities of their own dark sides in order to gain sympathies of masses. Contempt of court, suo-moto, reconciliations, memo-gate and all the other ongoing hit numbers of the court rooms are also revolving around the stretching and molding of truth. They twist the fact in a way that it goes in there favor and neglect the one that is against their respectable clients.

Likewise a marketing head of a company tells you all the good things about his product, but what about the bad ones? No, they are sternly trained that the bad things are supposed to be discussed only in the board meetings and then are better being forgotten. In the same way a shopkeeper put all the fresh peaces on the top of the counter and once you get your eyes off, he’ll add few of the rotten ones in your bag as well. Hiding is not lying right!

And then the news channels playing tug-of-war with each other, philanthropically raising death tolls before proper substantiation and exploiting non issues to get their ratings and to claim the number one slot are also part of the game.

Thus, in the end we can safely say that we never lie, it is just the other way out to get things done!

From Patriot-ism to Party-ism

"Roti, kapra aur makan, mang raha hay herr insan"

"khpala khawra khpal ikhtiar” (Our Land, Our rights)"

"Qadam bharao Nawaz Sharif, Hum tumharay saath hain"

"Jo Quaid Ka Ghaddar Hay Wo Maut Ka Haqdarr hay"

Sorry if anybody is being overlooked, as these are the most common slogans that we see zealous and energetic people chanting on the streets, outside the assemblies, in colourful rallies and during the blood-spattering protests around the country. With all the bad things involved with this slogan-culture, what is required to be praised here is the commitment and devotion of these people towards their respective parties. Without any discrimination, every party worker no matter what he is going through in his personal life due to the party hassles, always ended up saying that his party is the most steadfast and effective group of the country and he is proud to be a part of it. 

These passionate people are so blindly in love with their Quaids that they don’t even take a back in a do or die situation. Killing and being killed has never been an out-of-question scenario for them. Just a thump from their leader would be motivating enough for them to get out of their houses and start combating even against the police, army or the state itself. These (generally poor) people who have no else power in life get very keyed up after getting this new and first-in-a-lifetime right in their hands. This is the very first time that they have a guideline, a book of principle (no matter right or wrong) and a common path to move on. So, they try to prove theirselves and work on a sole purpose that is, to give supremacy to their party. They do it without even thinking that this power would only leave them with a hand full of arms but a pocket without a penny. 

In this love-makes-the-world-go-round saga, we could only think that why the very same people are not as enthusiastic and fervent about their own country? Why is that, we don’t see people who say Jo Mulk Ka Ghaddar Hay Wo Maut Ka Haqdarr hay? That is may be because this attitude will force them to agree with the people who might belong to the other cast or party, but are saying the truth. They, then have to stand for justice, rather than their party agenda. People would be free to think and to say what they want to, despite of defending their leaders’ ideologies. People, no matter what cast they belong to, would start gathering on common grounds, and will quit the politics of disagreement.

-Responsibility and respect of others and their religious beliefs are also part of freedom-

Political parties’ disrespect towards each other is one of the main causes of anarchy in our country. No it doesn’t mean that there is something wrong in having reservations or diversification of ideas between two individuals, nor there is an issue to have a leader for guidance. The problem arises when you start acting as a blind conformist of  a particular figure of power.  The dilemma is that in this sightless following, those who are supposed to strive for peoples’ rights start skirmishing on non-issues. Why is it that a party member has to disagree even on the issue where there is nothing to differ on? To show loyalty toward their leader they forget to differentiate between the right and wrong. This eventually ends up in cutting the throat of their own brothers.

A party should be a tool to make people work for their county, but somehow people surrender themselves for the party, to work as a tool against others, completely ignoring the responsibility of striving for the country. Till date, rivalry between groups has caused great social and political disarray and countless ethnic killings in this part of land. The sad part is that even religious sectarian parties have also led to violence in the society. The need of the time is to evaluate your leadership, to check that either your party is taking you towards a nationalistic struggle or the war of their own interests.

It is very important to regain peace in the society that members of all political parties shall conduct themselves in a manner that respects the rights and democratic interests of all citizens, political parties and shall avoid behavior that brings the whole electoral system into disgrace!

Economic Gain Costing Nature’s Loss

Global Warming is a term not hidden from anyone living in the 21st century. Mother Earth is heading towards destruction in the fastest way possible. Earth has given us all what we have and all we could ever ask for. We grow our food, feed our cattle, construct our buildings, run our industries and earn money to live the best life possible here. But sometimes our urge to earn money, attain luxuries and to give our kids a noble life, force us to start damaging the core of it all, Earth.

In 2011, the International Resource Panel, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme warned that by 2050, the human race could devour 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass per year – three times its current appetite –

There is a need that countries should start comparing their economic growth with their natural resources’ consumption and try to lessen the stake of nature to gain fiscal stability, as the task is not only the reduction of the usage of natural assets but also to  overcome the nature’s loss that we have earn in the past decades. It has also been noted that a citizen  of a developed or a so-called flourishing country consumes resources more rapidly as compare to the one living in the under-developed or developing states of the world. The above research also noted:

Developed country citizens consume an average of 16 tons of those four key resources per capita (ranging up to 40 or more tons per person in some developed countries). By comparison, the average person in India today consumes four tons per year.

Wastage generated by the industries is not only infecting our atmosphere but also our own bodies. We inhale the air that is manipulated with harmful gases. In United States, about 40 percent of chemical fertilizers used break down into ammonia and are released into the air. Here the example of the USA has been given because according to economic theories Western states are the most literate and rich lands of the world. But the dark truth is that they are the most demanding child of the Mother Earth as well.

Water, air and fire are the main factors of the presence of life on the earth. These are the essence of our presence, the reasons of our survival and our hope for our future. Without nature we couldn’t think of taking a single breath at this place that we call earth. But we are dragging it to the state of the other planets very vigorously, where the severity or scantiness of even one of these factors have made it impossible for a living creature to survive. A drop of water or even a slight evidence of the presence of oxygen  takes us to the farthest part of the galaxy with our technologies, but we are least  interested to safe our own land which is filled with the immense power of nature and the miraculous ability to hold so many creatures at the same time, including us.

We are so much addicted in the thirst of earning sumptuousness and growing the power of economy that we couldn’t see that in the end we would be left only with a hand full of money but no more air to breathe, not a single drop of water to drink and a barren earth to walk on.

Therefore, there is an urgent need to get hold of our actual assets and bona fide reasons behind our own survival. May be today it would be difficult for us to switch off the light  before we came out of the room but thinking about our offspring would make it easier to  do so. None of us would want to give our kids a future with no more resources for living left!

Another heart-hitting fact is that the status of the world’s seabirds has deteriorated rapidly over recent decades and several species and many populations are now perilously close to extinction. We are all responsible for releasing detrimental gases into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels for transportation (driving and flying) and home energy (electricity, heating, and cooling). This leads to global warming, which is destroying Earth's fertility and our ecosystem. 

To get rid of these crises there is a need that we start reducing usage of fossil fuels, burning the most important natural resource for transportation purposes, protecting our forests and growing trees in urban and deforested areas. These minor steps might not seem good enough to overcome the massive destruction we have made, but as you see the larger picture this would definitely help in taking a step forward toward the betterment of the environment. The message from the earth is “keep the status quo ante”