Reflections from Pakistan India Social Media Mela 2012

(an abridged version published by Express Tribune Blogs on 16th July, 2012)

Question: What is the one common thing between a writer from Mumbai, a Journalist from Delhi, a famous film maker from India and a Junior doctor from Lahore?

Answer: The fact that all of them loved hearing Iqbal Bano(it was actually Meesha Shafi, as pointed out later by Jugal Mody) sing 'Dasht e Tanhai main' on the radio, at wee hours in the morning while waiting to get CNG at a gas station in Karachi. 

For me, that one moment captured the spirit of Pakistan India Social Media Mela 2012. No wonder the slogan of the event said, “Faasla Na Rakhen, Pyar ho Jaanay Dain’(Translation: Overcome distances, Let love happen)

Organized in Karachi by PeaceNiche, in collaboration with the United States Consulates in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, it was supposed to be a gathering of social media enthusiasts from India and Pakistan. This being Pakistan, the criticism leveled at the event started much before the event itself. It was an invite-only affair and most people who were invited were recommended by other people. Participants from Lahore and Islamabad were sponsored by U.S Consulates in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi for their travel and accommodation.

It was my first visit to Karachi and I was really excited by this opportunity. I boarded the plane from Lahore airport on the evening of 12th July, along with the rest of participants from Lahore. The visit was not only an opportunity to interact with new people but also to get a respite from the hectic schedule at the hospital. During the flight, I had a good, long chat with my seat mate whom I discovered to be a fellow participant. I got some flak after the plane landed, from assorted uncles who were unfortunate enough to have gotten seats around us. The first thing that I noticed after landing in Karachi was the wind. We were transported to Avari hotel and allotted rooms. When I reached my designated room, I had to pinch myself to judge if I was not dreaming. The rooms were spacious, comfortable and had attached baths separated by glass walls.

We were offered BBQ dinner at the top floor of the hotel. That was where we first met fellow participants from India including Onir, Karuna John, Jugal Mody, Venket Ananth, Sabbah Haji, Annie Zaidi, Raheel Khurshid and Sanjay Rajoura. I immediately struck cordial notes with one of them because of me being a vegetarian. Later, I took part in an interesting discussion about Marxism, Class Struggle and Pakistan Movement taking place at an adjacent table.

The next two days were one of the best that I've had.  Despite being an adopted Lahori, I didn't miss Lahore for a moment. I wouldn't have met many of favorite people at one place if I had not come to the mela, including Nadeem F Paracha (one of my mentors), Ali Chishti, Marvi Sirmed, Beena Sarwar, Mohsin Sayeed, Muhammed Hanif, Faiza S Khan, Musharraf Ali Farooqi, Declan Walsh, Amir Mughal, Murtaza Solangi, Hassaan Belal a.k.a mighty, Sana Saleem, Ali Arqam, Zebunnisa Burki and the wonderful people from across the border. At the start of first day's session (around 9 a.m. which was an inconvenience for many people) Senator Rehman Malik, usually at the receiving end of mockery by social media people, was generously praised for urgent attention to the visa problems faced by guests from India.

The sessions were mostly insightful and informative but I personally enjoyed the off-session activities where I got the chance to interact with some amazing people.

Some of the memorable sessions dealt with online activism, role of social media in education sector, use of non-profit for non-profit organizations, online activism, Pakistan-India relations, ‘Slactivism’, impact of party politics on Social Media, Internet Censorship, Cyber-Bullying and Twitter as the new Newsroom. 
 I was a panelist at the session 'Fight Club:Rise of the Troll' alongside Bina Shah, who had come fully prepared with research, Mohsin Sayeed, star of our show and a delightful presence throughout the mela, Raza Rumi and Rab Nawaz, editor of the magazine Laaltain and member of Khudi Pakistan. Some sessions were, indeed, boring but that is how things work usually. Due to my involvment in the recent doctors' strikes, I had plenty of questions to answer. I was branded 'the revolutionary doctor' by Sher Ali, an Express Tribune reporter and 'Hartaali doctor' was my nick name. After the first day, the event was declared open to everybody because of the quips about elitism and exclusion.

There was a Qawalli session after first days’ proceedings and it featured Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad, the best Qawwals in Asia. They enthralled the crowd with their renditions from Sufi poetry.
There was a standup comedy act on the second day by Sanjay Rajoura and he left the audience rolling on the ground with his observational comedy about Facebook albums, Indian Cricket and some social peculiarities. He received a standing ovation at the end.

Contrary to popular expectations, the event did NOT offer a solution to the Kashmir Problem, brought an end to killing of Shias and Hazaras in Pakistan, decreased the level of radicalism in Pakistan or ended the hostility between Pakistan and India. Kashmir was mentioned, but only as a barter for Coke Studio by Sanjay in his stand up act. The issue of persecution of minorities was discussed in detail and panelists included members from Ahmedi, Hazara and Christian communities. It was a social media event, not a Track 2 diplomat meeting. There were many Hazara participants there as well, which was encouraging. It was not a kitty party and for the record, only two women were actually wearing Sari(Even if they were, Whats wrong with that?), so over-generalizations have to be avoided.

 It was a unique coming together of people who know each other mostly by twitter names and such events should take place at least once a year. It was a tremendous effort by Sabeen Mahmood and her team at PeaceNiche, and I would like to thank and congratulate the team at PeaceNiche and the U.S Consulate staff for their co-operation and hospitality. I would also thank my new friends from Karachi and India, for their love and company. I left the event with a heavy heart, new friends and acquaintances and countless good memories.  

A big shout out to my new friends
Faizan Lakhani, FurSid, Aroosa Shaukat, Sheru, Tuba, Shiraz Hassan, Osama, Faheem(@smokenfog), Yasser Latif Hamdani, Shahab(@UncleFu), Rab Nawaz, Sara Muzzammil,  Awais Aftab, Bilal Tanweer, Salman Lateef and Zeeshan Haider. 

Hello, its Goebbels Speaking

Hello, Its Goebbels

(Joseph Goebbles was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism.

Goebbels earned a Ph.D. from Heidelberg University in 1921, writing his doctoral thesis on 19th century romantic drama)

Hello,
 
Its me, Dr. Goebbels, writing from my grave, where I am turning with agony upon getting the news of a flowery diatribe launched by a pen-warrior, a key-board jihadi, with penchant for the word “paladin”. See, this is what happens when instead of making them learn by experience, you force your children to cram the SAT word lists, the whole “Word Smart” books and their likes. Just like a rotten apple causing explosive diarrhea, that cramming can lead to an emotional outburst from the yet-green mind of the average Pakistani Child. My advisors told me that exactly Nine hundred and Eleven SAT words were used in the beautiful blog written by the author. I, for one would have jumped upon the bandwagon to find the “hidden meaning” of the number 911 but since my untimely death, that mantle has been handed over to Zion Hamid and Shahid Masood. The writer has shown extremely good skills of copy/pasting from a thesaurus and he should be hired in the first instance by an Urdu newspaper as soon as he turns 18. It is easy to ride on the high horse, on the pulpit, if you allow me to delve into similar verbosity shown by the amiable writer, and pass silly judgements on people without coming up with any facts or agreeable data. This trend is not new and will never cease to exist. In our time, with the mighty Nazi Party at the helm, we cut out all voices of dissent and under the guidance of the supreme leader--a hero of war--reached the technological and sociological heights that were unparalleled by comparison in that era. We were self-sufficient, hard working, hated our neighbours with a passion, believed that we are the best nation in the world and sent the dissenters to camps where we used their labour for the greater good. Sounds familiar? Oh, I digress.

Despite my poor English language skills and scant interest in the happening of far off countries like Pakistan, I still keep tabs on major players in the news arena. Express Tribune as a Pakistani newspaper is one of the few that I am interested in. It is not exactly “Der Angriff” in terms of propaganda-spewing but it certainly has an agenda: An agenda to cater to the English-reading population of Pakistan and to project a progressive image of the country. While my opinion on this matter does not mean much to you dear reader, I have one simple Question, Who doesn’t have an agenda? Name one newspaper in the world without an “agenda”. The rhetoric against Express Tribune is a spin-off of the video created by the modern day crusaders at Pakistan Cyber Force(How I wish we had developed Internet in our time.!!!). 

While the whole blog peiece was a piece of art and I would highly recommend the Lahore Museum to store its manuscript,
the most enlightening parts were
 
“Today Imran Khan is like a classic hero who has emerged as a paladin of nationalism, baptised in the waters of public opinion, made great and filled with courage”

and

“He who is conscientious enough to prefer steep heights of truthfulness, selflessness, patriotic spiritedness over the primrose path of least resistance, of timid appeasement, of petty self seeking, always gets pilloried by the forces of status quo and inertia, so goes another law of history. Imran Khan has committed no crime, violated no law, breached no trust, betrayed no cause, wrecked no chariot-merely that he was guilty of sticking to his guns and having the courage of his convictions, courageous and cognizant enough to chart a different course, sing a different tune, and write a different script” and

“Granted that these writers always ran low on writer’s ink and that logic and profundity were never their forte, but have they become so sterile, jaded and pathetically predictable as to be unable to write a single article without hurling mud at a celebrated national hero? History is replete with examples of once high and mighty writers, eventually running out of ideas and becoming clichéd and banal towards the fag end of their careers, but what to talk about the desultory and vapid ways of these writers who seems to have met their waterloo even before a Toulon?”

I am tempted to ask the amicable writer (Did you notice how I  changed the words, while saying the exact same thing ?) about his knowledge about the Great Khan beyond watching Television Anchors swooning over the “change” initially(and later eating a humble pie) and posts on his party’s official Facebook page but I won’t. It would be cruel of me to remind the young gun of all the “turn-coats” becoming the faces for the “Change” promised by the 59(or is it 60?) year old leader of the youth. I will not invite inevitable curses and trolling by the party faithful by suggesting a change in temperament with regards to the party and its “supreme leader”. I would also not waste your and my time advising the previously apolitical youth to read “actual books” or to attend “actual protests” if they want a political education. Why should they come out of their schools, colleges, coffee houses and air-conditioned cars(Glass Houses?) to find nothing but dismay? This would all be in vain. Nobody changes parties or opinions after debating their merits and de-merits. Proponents of such deluded mind-set should look at how democrats/Republicans in the United States and Conservatives/Labor Supporters in the United Kingdom always vote for their respective parties. As the last man standing for the once-great Nazi party, I see potential in the uprising of the youth of Pakistan. 

May the Shadow of Fuhrer remain upon us forever, 

Yours Faithfully,

Jospeh Goebbels

Magdeburg Cemetry   

Its not the Corruption, stupid

(an abridged version was published in Pakistan Today on 18th May, 2012)

It’s not the corruption, stupid

The mantra of corruption and eliminating corruption has gained increasing popularity after the historic Lahore “Jalsa” by Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf. The politicians of that party and the supporters have raised hue and cry over the issue of corruption by the politicians and bureaucrats. This, interestingly, is not a new phenomenon. There has been an undercurrent in the socio-political discourse about this issue and for the last 30 years, corruption is hailed as the root cause of most of our problems. Their solution to this problem seems to be a “technocratic” government, a model which has been tried at least twice in this country and failed to change anything.  I beg to differ with this point of view and I want to explain why do I think that? (Spoiler Alert: I am not on the payroll of any party).

To start with, I would like to quote some facts and figures.
According to Pakistan Public Opinion survey 2009, 45% people said that the single most important issue facing Pakistan was Inflation, 26% said it was Unemployment, 17% said it was Terrorism, 15% said it was Electricity and water, 10% said it was poverty and only 8% said it was Corruption.

This does not mean corruption does not exist on a large scale in our country. Unfortunately, the only corruption being highlighted is the one done by the elected representatives of the people while the other institutions keep on looting this country without a second thought. As Mohammad Haneef once wrote, “Pakistan's army is as corrupt as the politicians from whom it wants to save the country. It's just better at paperwork.” Corruption is deep-rooted in our society and eliminating it would require more than sloganeering or a single regime change.

Columnist Umair Javed, explained how Corruption is now an intrinsic part of our society and why the current discourse against corruption is based on forgetting a few basic tenets,

“Whilst I generally agree to the harmful effects of corruption in so far as it induces low levels of efficiency, wastage of scarce resources and promotion of incompetence in merit-based situations, I am more concerned with this fetish of treating corruption as an alien disease. If the premise of their solutions relies on the extraneous nature of the problem itself, then the situation can be made a lot more interesting and complex if the primary assumption is discarded and a new one is set in place, i.e. corruption is not alien to the system, it is an inherent code of practice that has evolved over time in certain parts of the world, primarily from the experience of the public realm undergoing certain forms of social organization and re-organization such as colonialism, kinship associational modes and a cultural continuity of sorts that has synthesized these varying social experiences.”

We need to understand the dynamics behind corrupt practices and how ordinary people are equally responsible for a corrupt society than a politician or a bureaucrat. Bringing an end to corruption will take at least a generation which would be brought up on the agenda of honesty and belief in hard work rather than nepotism and paying your way out of trouble.

We may love to hate them but we should learn some lessons in this regard from our neighbors, India. Last year Anna Hazare in created a stir in the Indian society and media by launching a crusade against “the corrupt practices” of politicians. It was idealistic, utopian and ultimately failed to reap any rewards.
 Pankaj Mishra, wrote the following about that movement in the NewYork Times,
“Led by Anna Hazare, the movement was presented by sections of the media as a long overdue political awakening of the middle class, even as India’s second freedom struggle.
With a mostly urban constituency in mind, Hazare’s vision was narrowly focused on the alleged misdeeds of elected officials—above all those in the ruling National Congress Party, which has traditionally sought votes from the Indian poor—and bureaucrats. Among other things, he called for the establishment of an unelected anticorruption agency, which, lavishly budgeted, would have extraordinarily wide powers of surveillance, policing, and prosecution—and, by implication, make the state more efficient and technocratic and less encumbered by the
unruly and lengthy processes of parliamentary democracy.”

After all the above mentioned points, I should also mention what in my humble opinion is the biggest problem facing Pakistan. It’s the population explosion and  the aspect that makes it more alarming is that it is not considered among the top Five or Ten challenges facing Pakistan. None of the major political parties in Pakistan has focused its policies or plans on how to control the population problem
With more than 180 million people, Pakistan has nearly six times the population of Afghanistan (or Iraq), twice the population of Iran, and almost two-thirds the population of the entire Arab world put together. Rapid increase in population has led to decrease in the efficiency of the infrastructure that was established for lesser number of people. It has also led to a gross income disparity, decrease in natural resources, youth bulge and unemployment on massive scales.
To some extent, hypocrisy is also one of our biggest problems and it has been given no attention as well. A 59 year old leader of the youth, flying to a city on a private jet to lead a rally demanding a change in status quo, how much more cliched can it get. 

10 reasons as to why I will not vote for Imran Khan in 2013

1. History

Being a student of history, Imran Khan reminds me of another youthful, handsome, charismatic, foreign educated, anti-american, extremely popular among youth, opportunistic lawyer named Zulfiqar Ali who rose to take the reins of power in 1970s. We all know that story ended in tears. At least he had a new ideology to offer and a much better know-how of governance owing to his stint in the foreign office. The resemblance can't be more pronounced as both of them started their political careers courtesy men in uniform.

2. Policy Matters

Imran Khan recently presented his plan for the first 100 days after PTI form a government. Ending the support of war on terror and fighting corruption, are top of the list. These tasks are easier said than done. War on terror is not just due to presence of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan and the drone attacks; it is much bigger than that. It is the war of ideology between proponents of democratic principles and followers of a particular brand of Islam who want to impose their writ across the world. Asking US to stop the drones and getting out of Afghanistan will do more harm than good. Corruption, as Imran Khan recently pointed out is much more at the top levels of organizations than the other way around and it should definitely be dealt with an iron fist. He wants to create a separate accountability setup to keep check on government employees. It is indeed the need of the hour and a laudable scheme.

3. Team work

Party politics in a parliamentary democracy is team work. Unfortunately, in Pakistan every major political party is in essence a cult. Be it cult of Bhuttos, Sharifs, Maududi, Altaf Husain, Wali khan or Mufti Mahmood.Imran khan and PTI are no exceptions. I heard a PTI worker from Karachi say on a radio show that if something happens to Imran Khan, PTI will be finished. Recently Marvi Memon joined PTI and apart from her and Shireen Mazari, hardly any well known politician is part of the party. Imran Khan cannot contest election on 342 National Assembly seats and if he ever wishes to win an election, he needs a better team than what he has got today. He should learn from mistakes of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who committed the same mistake of not cultivating any other leaders.

It is not easy stifling seasoned politicians without equally astute party members. He needs team members around him who are experienced and have worked in areas of Political Economy, Structural Reform, Fiscal Policy making, Defense, Education, Health, Human Resource Management, Transport Management.

4. Personal life

A lot of dirt has been splashed on Imran Khan due to his colorful past. He still spends his free time in US or UK while criticizing the same states while in Pakistan. In an ideal world, His personal life should be of no concern to us but THIS is Pakistan. He will be reminded day and night about every single adventure he committed before he entered politics. He needs to come clean on his past and try to stay clear from further controversies.

5. Philosophy

It is no secret that when Imran Khan joined politics, he was backed by powerful people in the establishment. He is openly pro-right wing and despite the thrashing he received at the hands of IJT activists, he has been too close to

Jamaat e Islami while forming opinions on important issues.

He needs to steer clear of the establishment goons and the Mullah brigade in order to be trusted by an ordinary voter. Recent reports in media indicate that establishment is working to change the status quo and Imran Khan will be given a chance to became part of government. Imran Khan should know there is no shortcut to success and that establishment is nobody's friend.

6. Statesmanship

Despite being an eloquent, charismatic speaker, Imran Khan is clearly not a statesman. He need not look further than MA Jinnah or Bhutto to find excellent examples of statesmanship. He should learn when to speak and what to speak.

7. Demographics

The likely voters for Imran Khan are males and females aged between 18 and 30, belonging to middle and upper middle class, spending most of their time in front of computer screens, hailing from urban areas (Zohair Toru is the stereotypical PTI supporter). Youth consists of 46% of population of Pakistan, by one estimate. If every single one of them votes for PTI, they can only win half the seats in National Assembly and a big chunk in the provincial assemblies. Imran Khan and PTI need to improve their image, to be taken seriously, for standing any chance of forming a government. They have to mobilize existing workers and recruit new ones. Relying heavily on social media won't be successful in our tribe-based political system.

8. Criticism

Dissenting voices are signs of a healthy democracy. Imran Khan is known to think of himself above criticism. Such self righteousness is indicative of autocratic behavior and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto suffered due to similar attitude. You can't always be right and it is wise to accept this fact.

9. Road map

The biggest problems faced by Pakistan right now are not terrorism or corruption rather they are population explosion, too many jobless people, annual growth rate below 5% and cyclic debt leading to load shedding that has crippled our economy. Education and health systems also need emergency treatment. We still have polio in our country, we have only 2-4% of our population who have passed matriculation exam. How exactly does Imran Khan and PTI plan to tackle these monsters is subject to conjecture as they (or for that matter, any other political party) do not have a concrete road map to present us.

10. Plan B(or lack of it)

What If PTI fails to put up a nice show in the next general elections? Imran Khan would just become the next Asghar Khan or as Nusrat Javed said “the next Allama Mashriqi”. He has proven his brilliance on the cricket field and in philanthropy for many years. Maybe Politics is not his thing. He can work for improvement to the Cricket Structure in Pakistan(as he has been criticizing the Domestic Structure over the years) or for development of state of the art projects like Shaukat Khanum Hospital. He can be a mentor and not the protagonist. Till now, there is no Plan B.