Pashtun (and Pakistani) extremist tendencies in the post-Taseer murder situation

Control, my friends, has now passed - from the tottering Pakistani state (it was a joke even before, but not yet tested).............to the "awam"....as, whatever our awam believe in, the buck always stops at Islam. Always. Now we will really see "people's power", till now an epithet which was the refuge of our rascal, and scoundrel "democratic" politicians, but no longer........now also, the cover of those has been blown who say that this society and our people are "not extremist"....

Salman Taseer's murder was like a signal, a switch being flicked - to alter the paradigm mode...it has the same significance on our level as 9/11 did for the world....and it is the murder of a governor, a key government functionary that crowds are now openly supporting - and not some private citizen even, like the lynching of the Qadiani lawyer Chaudry Riaz and his friend, by a mob in Shabqadar bazar way back in 1995....the Taseer case is without precedent in Pakistani history, and there is nothing that the rulers can do about it.....I think it will even be difficult for Zardari to hang Malik Mumtaz Qadri, being the characterless thief that he is....and no judge will dare sentence him; so it is a classic case of being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea for the Pakistani state, which is otherwise terminally diseased, and our ramshackle and dysfunctional society - teetering as it has been on the edge of chaos for many years now.....

And now to the topic of this piece: about issues of terminology and truths, which devious people have been twisting since 9/11 at least, in trying to pull the wool over others eyes, and detract from what is basically an unpleasant situation....Till now, politically correct liars from across the whole socio-political spectrum were having a field day babbling to foreign media about how "moderate" and "sufi" Pakistani people are in their outlook, or how our Pashtun society is for that matter; about Pashtuns I can say they have always been 98% religious extremist: I remember the day that a "Panjpiri" was killed by a mob in a mosque in Charsadda in 1977....Panjpiris are a sect, originally from the village of the same name in Swabi, who are similar to Wahhabis, and who deny the veracity of sufi sainthood in Islam.....so it was the supposedly "moderate" followers of shrines who killed this man when it became known who he was, at a time when the word "Wahhabi" didn't even exist in the public vocabulary.....in other words, our people are inclined to Islamic extremism of any branding, whether Sufi or Salafi.......Sir Olaf Caroe has said that this probably was even the case with us when we were Buddhists, 2000 years ago, under Kushan rule: we were Buddhist fundamentalist extremists! But as we were and are still so bad at record keeping and preserving history, the annals of that time don't exist to corroborate this otherwise sensible deduction....Besides, any student of history will know that all the previous wars Pashtuns have fought against outsiders were religiously motivated and led by one kind of extremism or another - in this case sufis or saints; or what kind of trouble sufi fanatics and extremists gave the British colonial authorities (as well as Pakistanis).....Pir Rokhan, Jalala, Mullah Najmuddin of Hadda, Sar Tor Faqir, Lewanay Faqir, the Mad Mullah of Mian Isa, Akhund Darweza Baba, Pir Baba, Saidu Baba of Swat and Haji Fazle Wahid of Turangzai, the Shami Pir, and the Faqir of Ipi were not Wahhabi or Ikhwani fanatics or Maududi's poisonous followers, but all were of the now nauseatingly touted "sufi brand" which has been made to mean "moderate brand" since 9/11, but this is not historically true.........as Wahhabism was an illness not yet known (or accepted) here in those days, even though its creator Abdul Wahab lived in the 17th Century Hejaz, and yet another Indian "saint", Shah Waliullah and his "saintly" protegés Shah Ahmad and Shah Ismail, and much later on, that adventurer of doubtful provenance Syed Jamaluddin Afghani were all on a similar path....And lack of space here dictates that I am unable to treat this subject with the detail it deserves; however a book published many decades ago by a notorious Pakistani bureaucrat and anthropologist Akbar S. Ahmed and titled "Millenium and Charisma among Pathans" gives an otherwise beautiful historical account of our extremist doctrinal tendencies. I must add here, that even the Afghan Pashtun Khalqi "comrades" of my past, whom I had met - were as vehemently fanatical about their "communism" as their other brethren are about Islam! Look at what they and their wayward leader Hafizullah Amin did in three months, to the prospects of Afghanistan's otherwise promising revolution.

If we are to get any where, then we must face - not deny - the unpleasant facts about ourselves; only then can we hope to do anything about them, and get anywhere, surviving as a respectable nation in the world comity of nations. We need to be reformers, as well as nationalists. It is now a matter of our bare survival; and the truth will out...always....

Before ending this, I will reiterate that it is just that conditions in this society are now ripe for the full emergence - after a long gestation - of what till now was bubbling violently under the surface.....

One who escaped the hangman's noose......

Major General (R) Naseerullah Khan Babar died yesterday in Peshawar (10 January 2011). He was the principal architect of the Taliban in 1993, "Robber in Chief" of the priceless Scythian and Buddhist antiquities of Kabul Museum - and a typical rascally drunkard Pakistani general, politician and pompous bandit, faithful dog, lackey and longstanding servant of his British and American imperialist godfathers. In his latter days, he was allied to the late and most lamented and martyred Bandit Queen of our politics......


It is most dissapointing to see that this flabby old pig died peacefully of natural causes without being brought to account for his heavy record of crimes - and that he didn't live till the time that he could be suitably tried and disposed off at the end of a hangman's rope, or by facing a firing squad.......

The way the wind now blows in Pakistan.....

It is now abundantly clear which way the wind is blowing in this country - after the murder of Salman Taseer: it seems likely that we will get a revolution against the dysfunctionality and corrupt decadence of the much hated traditional elites of our state and society - but it will not be the kind of progressive or secular or non-religious ideology that me or you desire or wished for - but a dark Islamic fundamentalist cultural upwelling.....European thought and genuine superior culture/progress stand discredited not only due to the excesses of the capitalist hue that European culture has acquired since the dark victory of the US World Order in 1991 - but also because the West is now synonymous with modern (European) culture in the inferior eyes of the Pakistani common man.........and it is seen as the supporter of our Westernised corrupt ruling elites, which is true...............who was it, after all, that introduced the perilous combination of revitalised Islam and runaway chaos and open corruption in this society? The Western powers, who lord it over the world, together with their Pakistani elite henchmen were responsible for this...the resultant consequences of which will now blow back squarely into their faces......It serves these dark forces of evil right, if nothing else............

The murder of Salman Taseer has revolutionized the direction in which the diseased Pakistani state and its ramshackle society were drifting. It was an event with paradigm-shifting significance.......now the state has finally been openly disobeyed by the mobs comprising undeniably large majority sections of the pakistani populace itself...our "democrats" and their American backers emphasised the "voice of the people" ad nauseum; well here it finally is....Like it, eh?

Now it remains to be seen what the world will do regarding the coming Pakistani social upheaval.... Western world power is beset with troubles, and to prophecy its decline is not an overstatement.....nearby world powers like Russia and China - which are more sensible in realistic decision making than the liberal, "free" West will undoubtedly dislike the coming developments and recognise their destabilising nature - and may well consider taking the appropriate steps......

The murder of Salman Taseer - a watershed development in the downward spiral of the Pakistani state.......

The Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, was assasinated the other day in Islamabad by his own police guard. Taseer had stirred controversy by befriending a poor Christian woman, who was accused of "blaspheming" the prophet of Islam - and was sentenced to death for this under this law. The guard was of a similar opinion, and after "doing his Islamic duty", calmly gave himself up to his collegues - and also said as much.

Taseer, who was also half-English, was among the very few that can be categorised as being better from among the debauched and dissolute corrupt coterie he belonged to - the Pakistani ruling elite. Besides being a politician of sorts, he was basically an honest, self-made businessman, who pioneered the field of chartered accountancy in Pakistan, as well as initiating several pioneering ventures in the IT, telecom and media/publication sectors of the Pakistani economy. It was because of the same candid and forthright nature of his, that he spoke out unabashedly against the so-called "blasphemy law" - the way one should. He was a brave man - but then, unlike the run of the mill of his Pakistani neocolonial liberal elite class counterparts who like to portray themselves as the champions of progress (in the form of debauched drink parties and drug "raves", presumptive English accents and fashion shows....) - he had the moral courage to do what he did and stand for; that was because, like in my case, his mother was an old-school Victorian-reared English lady......it was Taseer's English blood speaking in him, not his Pakistani side (otherwise he would have been just like the rest we see around....). It was his English blood too, that expressed his broadminded sympathy for a victimised Christian....none of the others would have gone to these lengths, not even the traditional lip service they always so profusely offer.

The deed has been done, and its origins in the Jihadi mischief first sown by the corrupt and gangster Punjabi military state of Pakistan can clearly be seen. But rather than simply regarding this event as the shameful murder of a remarkable man, it needs to be seen in its larger symbolic context: it marks a watershed event, a point-of-no-return in the steadily spiralling loss of control being suffered by our gangster elite, to the vile Islamic germs of their own previous creation, that have now turned against them....It can be said to have set a precedent for what is to come....Of course, decisive measures and bold steps would be prescribed in this situation - but does this decrepit elite have the moral credibility and calibre and simple writ left, to do so? I think not. This has presented them with a challenge of survival. In addition to their corruption, they are pathetic: they now imitate the decadent liberal trends of their Western patrons and godfathers - "civil society", clothed in fancy designer apparel and Gucci shades, lighting candles and leaving teddy bears and bouquets at the site. This has been the case ever since the banner of progress and global influence passed into "Western" hands in 1991; most thought it signalled the start of a new global paradigm for humanity (like Mr. Francis Fukuyama)...but alas, this vision turned out to be a mirage, letting down those who thought that Stalinism would give way to a joyous bourgeios "free" world......during the past 20 years. When "Islamising" this society in the 1980s - the otherwise drunkard Pakistani generals had the support of their US godparent - which thought it would also come in useful in their anti-Soviet strategy, as well as for extinguishing the Afghan revolution. The elite was hunky-dory, thinking that it would remain protected and insulated from the Islamic "medicine" they were spreading in their society - within the confines of their cocoon of plush drawing rooms, drinking their Black Labels and Blue Labels till they were silly; and they laughed, thinking they could use these Islamisation measures to control and exploit the simple peasantry which really believes in all this stuff...this gave rise to a duplicity that in the end not only deceived the liar himself....but also caught them neatly by their bollocks in the end. What a horrendous miscalculation! The wind blew the poison back, squarely in their face! Their American overlords had the same smug ilusions, that the Islamic virus they were unleashing in Central Asia, would remain in the region and do their dirty work for them - but never make it to fair Western shores.....

There are some strange inconsistencies in the events of Taseer's assasination however, that need explaining. Was the fanatic guard acting of his own volition? He is later reported to have said that he discussed his plans with his fellow guards...indeed, they didn't restrain or shoot him as he did the deed. Was he egged on, or set up secretly by others, who wanted rid of Taseer, for other reasons? Taseer after all, was a formidable adversary. These aspects will need investigation....

So what to do now? As I said - it is a bit too late, but if I were at the helm of this decayed, sinking ship, I would have done what I could in emergency steps. The first step would be to tackle the assasin in a direct and summary way without much complex "legal" ado, of which our Punjabi compatriots and other ethnic Indians seem to be very fond, and preoccupied with: after straightening out the details of the case, this man should be hanged publicly, so that he can quickly be dispatched to "heaven", to meet his "martyr's reward" of 75 "houris" to which such people are (said to be) "entitled"......the body should then be cut and the dismembered pieces tarred and gibbeted publicly, as in the old English style, to serve as a long standing warning to others...better people have had this treatment in history....and I would even consider executing his siblings and close family alongside of him - to drive the message home more effectively, as we now seem to have no dearth of the martyr types........that not only them but their whole damned tribes will stand to pay for such acts.

The liberal "democrats" and fashionistas, with gaudy educations from Cheltenham and Wellesley Colleges - in Prada shades with Louis Vuitton bags may retch and retort with loud yells at my suggestions; and numerous "amnesty" and "sans frontiéres" oganisations in London and Paris and the like will join in the indignant chorus with them..... but then they are not really acquainted with the dark and extreme characteristics of the unwashed of their culture and society to which they claim to belong and administer from their Coco Chanel cocooons and Bahria Town gated enclaves.....and they need telling that the whole world is not the West, and neither will it ever likely be.

And why should we stop at Mumtaz Hussain Qadri? All those - especially in the past 30 years - from generals, politicians and mullahs who were involved in the Jihadi mischief need to be hunted down and ferreted out and tackled similarly. Only on such a path can effective struggle be initiated and sustained somewhat hopefully..but canit be done now? Is there even a modicum of calibre left for initiating such measures? Do they have the moral sanction, courage and abilities? Can the debauchs now known as politicians, and at the helm of power in this crumbling state machine undertake such measures? Who will "bell the cat", and can "cast the first stone?".....this is not a matter of Pakistan alone, but of almost all its constituents.....if tomorrow Pakistan falls apart, the same problems will beset its successors too.......

Sh*tfield Haven...........

In Pashtun areas, just as in most of the Subcontinent and Central Asia, public toilets are negligibly found; the few that exist are in such a state, that it would make a proper person ill just to set foot in them. "Our" toilet culture and habits, like all else, is dirty. And most rural peasant houses don't even have them. So fields are used as toilets, with the word "empty" in Pashto signifying the act of relieving oneself, while "full" means easing oneself.....Muslim men are traditionally obliged to do the former against any convenient wall or drain, in an elaborate crouching manner; whereas fields are used for the "full" work, given its nature. These fields are not just limited to village ones, but any empty plot of land in residential areas, including posh ones will serve the purpose. When we were kids in the 1970s and early 80s, our house in Peshawar's posh University Town suburb had just one such field adjacent, which was used by most servants (including our own) and many passers by.....we grew up, used to living with the fecal stench hanging in the air. Being naughty, we often used to climb onto the roof to watch the "proceedings". Of course, normally all the "doers" were carefully shrouded under a "tent", made by putting the traditional sheet or "saadar" ("Chaddor") that Pashtun men carry as a part of their dress in all seasons; it comes in handy for such purposes. But at night, there was no such botheration under the cover of darkness. I often used to take a torch with me onto the roof to flash on "suspects", and even used a catapult on occasion on the defecator. One night, the field was particularly full at a given time, as there were many voices coming from it. I quickly ascended to the roof,with my torch, which revealed 5-6 men sitting around the field, in full "view"....I then shone my torch carefully on each, "spotlighting" them.........a volley of complaints and abuse followed....Of course, I am not only recounting this childhood escapade to tell readers about the real worth of "our" Neolithic culture alone - but my shining the torch on those defecating men that night seems very similar to what Julian Assange of WikiLeaks has recently done, in revealing thousands of murky "classified" documents about disgraceful goings on in the world.......

The current US Obama regime (not "administration") says doing this is "reckless", and may "put lives at risk"....pray, the lives of whom? Those who invade countries on doctored pretexts? Those who have cooked up Islamic terrorism, and revived its terrible culture - to serve their own nefarious ends? They NEED to die....they SHOULD die, be put to death.....they are the scum of the earth, just like those lowly Pashtun defecators.......their mischief and activities have made the world a bad place....

PAKISTANI SOCIETY'S EXTREMISM AND HYPOCRISY REVEALED

No matter what our two-pence ha'penny politicians may try to do in order to obfuscate the truth about their society, truth will out - always....as it has in the four news articles detailed below, from one edition, regarding "public outrage" across Pakistan at the possible amendments to the infamous "blasphemy law". It can only be said that this means that the general Western impression about Pakistani society is true - that it is a society of extremists on the whole.......something that the politically correct scum of the mainstream will denounce as propaganda, "stereotyping" and "paranoid anti-Islamism"............not so. "Pakistan", they say, "is an enlightened society, and our religion is the fairest in the world, a religion of peace and tolerance giving equal rights to women and minorities like no other........" Yes, indeed......the articles below speak for themselves. Our last military president Musharraf went to great lengths to expound repeatedly to the world that "only 10% of the society consists of radicalised miscreant extremists and terrorists, while 90% is peaceful and enlightened..." I would reverse that statement, and modify the values somewhat to put it thus: "about 5% here can be termed as being balanced and reasonable - or indifferent - in outlook, while the rest of the great 95% majority are violently disposed, and are generally of inflammatory and bigoted tendency in their religious outlook................." and I might add that sadly the great bulk of my Pashtun society is now spearheading this Pakistani Islamic extremism and revivalism (and indeed in Afghanistan - as well as on the global level), over and above the rest of their compatriots and co-religionists.....no doubt giving the lie to the politically correct nonsense and feel-good denial touted around by impotent minority politicians and sidelined "nationalists" about how "peace loving and law abiding" Pashtun society is, and how these innocent poor tribal souls are getting pounded and minced by US Drones every hour of the day.....of course the naked truth is hated by those worthless politicians with "vested interests" and the NGO groupies and "neoliberal" types - who now rule the world as the accessories and legionnaires of the American empire's dark global order.......... So sample this bitter truth in the articles below:



Nation protests any change in blasphemy law

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=3047&Cat=13&dt=1%2F1%2F2011



City shuts in protest at bid to change blasphemy law

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=23255&Cat=4&dt=1%2F1%2F2011



Amendment to blasphemy law: Peshawar observes complete shutdown

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=23320&Cat=7&dt=1%2F1%2F2011



Protests staged across KP - at proposed amendments in blasphemy law

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=23322&Cat=7&dt=1%2F1%2F2011

==========================================================================



The article below is about another related, yet very interesting phenomenon: it highlights another favourite proclivity of the intensely "devout" Pakistanis - one which is expressly forbidden by their "extremely beloved" religion - drinking...but this is an indulgence which they manage to reconcile alongside their religious vehemence without any compunction at all. The fact that they manage to accommodate these two glaring contradictions side by side very comfortably, and without the slightest qualm.... all serves to give some very penetrating insights into the nature of the particular collective psychopathology at work in this social cesspit. Such schizoid duplicity is second nature in this society, and is completely acceptable and considered as "normal" here. In fact, those who eschew such warped attitudes are considered as simpletons or "abnormal" here. Yours Truly is also from among this abnormal minority......

No doubt, if you confront these people regarding their negative behaviour, like rascals they will always try to drown you in loud and contentious argument, instantly attributing their woes to "foreign conspiracies" and "interference"...many others will straight-facedly proffer the equally rascally explanation, that since Muslims are the followers of God's best and most favourite religion, Satan is given to focusing his exclusive attention on Muslims in order to tempt them most....the followers other religions, you see, aren't worth that much.....but like all good specimens of the Devil's brood - if that expression may be used - they will never own up to their multiple unsavoury realities honestly, for what they are, and as being inherent within them....for that would mean a transformation of soul they will never be prepared to make, as long as they exist, I am sure.

Of course, their drinking and the accompanying hypocrisy wouldn't be that reprehensible, if they did not make such an untoward and violent exaggeration of their "religious sensibilities"...but it appears that they are as extreme in getting drunk as they are in their bigotry. Their excessive drinking and accompanying hypocrisy not only reflect greed, but the former may also be a form of behavioural release mechanism - for the people of this culture and society are highly egotistic, and highly inhibited and therefore highly unstable and insecure by nature......



10 million Pakistanis drink alcohol

http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=2991&Cat=13&dt=12%2F29%2F2010%EF%BB%BF