Sick Current Events in Pakistan!

Sick Current Events in Pakistan!

shanu

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh (may peace and Allah's blessings and mercies be upon you all), everyone!

All right. So here I am back to blogging LOTS to share with you all, but I'll try to be a good girl and talk about only one topic and stick to it, k?

Well, I'm taking this Social Science class, which is like a combination of history, politics/political science, economics, psychology, sociology, and bother such social sciences. And, so, naturally, we're usually discussing current events, and most of the extra credit on the tests comes from ...¦guess ... the New York Times (current events around the world, mostly) . Well, I've never really been a fan of news and such, but when you're greedy for extra credit points, you'd really go even as far as to write a report on what's going on in Pakistan these days; that was our most recent extra credit assignment. Fifteen points, too . So, of course I did it.
ANNNDDD....so here I am...hoping to state in plain () terms what's been bothering me these days.
Some of you know I was born in Swat, Pakistan, a major city in northern Pakistan. And you also know that most Swatis are called Pathans, right? My family is one of them. And most of these Pathans are ...well, extremely conservative folks, and everyone knows how I feel about that: They follow an extreme version of Islam and force it down others' throat (don't get Shanu started, now, but to summarize: women are forbidden to do just about everything there, and let's not forget Shanu is a future feminist, inshAllah). But that's not ALLL Pathans; just some, and my relatives happen to be among them . But, anyway, so it got taken over by militants/extremists ( could it BEEEEE more extremist than what it already was???? Give me a break! ) and, you guys, SOOO many of the people who've died in there .... my parents know them . And that breaks my heart. I mean, I really can't watch the news because then I get all emotional and stuff, but then like just about every day for the past few weeks or so, my mom has been telling us, "You remember that classmate X of mine I used to talk about? He was the head of the police department in Matta, and they butchered him because they feared he might kill them"... Or then, "You remember my friend Y from? Her husband worked with the government, and they've killed him."
(I'll define who "they" are in a minute.)
I can go on and on with her childhood friends and how many of them have been killed, or how many of their friends/relatives/family members have been killed, or how many of my father's relative have been killed or hurt or affected in one way or another... but I'll not get that far. Bottom line is: It doesn't smell good.

Who's "they"�? "They" are the extremists who wanna take over Swat, who have bombed the school my mom taught in and the same school which my sister attended JUST BECAUSE it was an all-female school; "THEY" are the idiots who have been threatening any clinic owned by male doctors who treat female patients.
Before I go on...lemme say something. Does this make ANY sense to any of you? My question here is, you don't want us women to go to school, but you don't want MEN doctors to treat us either? Do you expect us to be BORN DOCTORS? ?? Or, then, you just want us to stay at home even during sickness and "let God heal you because He can do anything"???? Well,then you men shouldn't go to the doctor either. Besides, God doesn't work that way, you freaks. Oh, GOD!!! How SICK I am of them!!
I wonder if the school I attended is still there; would break my heart if it's not! It was a co-ed, with both male and female students, so maybe it's gone...
Let's further describe who "they" are. THEY don't believe in music at ALL and hence destroy any stores/shops that have any kind of relationship with music. My mom has six aunts, five of whom live (or lived until death) in this village called "Baandai." I think it was the worst there, of all the villages I know. These grandaunts of mine...literally banned tvs, radios, etc. in their houses! The men were forced to grow beards or then threatened and killed. Now, now, folks, it wasn't just these aunt-relatives of mine. The thing is, just about EVERYONE literally knows EVERYONE in Baandai, and I doubt I'm wrong in this. In fact, when we came to the U.S. and met this Pathan family, they named some relatives of there also from Baandai, and my mom said she knew them. That's how it usually works with Swati Pathans --- won't speak for all, though. But, really, since my mom's aunts have like about 7 or 10 or more kids each, and the kids have their own kids...and then my dad has relatives there from his dad's side...and THEY have kids...yeah, it doesn't end anywhere soon.
Anyway, so back to the point... so, when these militants carried out their threats and bombed and destroyed soo many innocent people (INCLUDING CHILDREN! ....!!) and threatened the residents to stop sending their daughters to school or else, the residents listened and banned school on their children.
Oh, hey, get THIS: One of the reasons these freaking militants gave for why girls shouldn't go to school is... !!!!!!!!... cause they meet boys there and they fall in love...and, of course, these idiots don't think girls should talk to boys---but then so do many Pathans I know, but let's please not let Shanu go that far, k? That can be a separate blog for a separate time, inshAllah.
Anyway, so, the other day, I heard someone saying that Baandai's residents have been nearly wiped out, that it's like so quiet there...and I don't find that hard to believe. Imagine as though the whole village has been wiped out.
And then someone on ARY television (Pakistani tv station) said this: "Hamare log hamare apne nasal ko khatam kar rahe hai." Translation: "Our OWN people are destroying our OWN generation of people." SO true!

I'm not yet finished with who "they" are. But...umm...folks, I've something very depressing to say here ... (at least MOST of) my relatives are siding with these militants . My parents call them just about daily to see how they're hanging on, you know....and I don't know how aware any of you are of the public beheadings they had/did a couple of week ago (like, in HUNDREDS, I think...maybe not, but it was a fairly large amount, I thought ), but my grandpa said SOO proudly to my dad (something like), "Guess what! We beheaded people!!!"

And my dad was SO shocked and disappointed and was literally yelling into the phone saying, "WHAT???? And you're FINE with that???"
And my grandpa tried to justify his reasons, of course, but didn't succeed cause my dad kept saying, "What if someone did that to ME, your son, or to your brother or sister or someone like that? Wouldn't you feel any pain? Well, you would and these innocent people you're beheading are also feeling pain."
Now, my grandpa isn't brave enough to actually do the killings HIMSELF, of course ....But he's certainly one of those men who'd send his SONS to do it!!! But fortunately, I'm sure my uncles know better...I hope....
And my grandpa said, "So what? They're Shias, and we're trying to bring Islam here."
And my dad said, "WHAT??? And Shias aren't humans??? And as far as Islam is concerned, it doesn't say to behead someone who doesn't follow Islam, or to behead anyone at all. And you're required to take care of yourself and your family before going to fight in any war anyway." And he narrated this hadith in which a man, I think his mom's only son, comes to the Prophet (peace be upon him) saying, "I wanna fight in this war."
And the Prophet (pbuh) responded something like, "Do you have a mother?" And the guy said,
"Yes." And the Prophet (pbuh) said something like, "Then you cannot go because you've to take care of your mother."
........ Taking a Break for a Second, folks.
Speaking of this hadith.... I'm reminded of this neighbor of ours in Swat (who got killed in this pathetic...war???...too a week or so ago). He was married, with two wives, VERY poor (do note that it's usually the POOR men who're polygamous; I rarely here of RICH men having more than one wife. How ironic and sad.), an old, old mother. Lived right next to my maternal grandparents' house. He said he wanted to fight, too (fight the government that is) and bring justice and peace and Islam into Pakistan. And his mom didn't let him go saying something like, "You're the only man in this house, and the rest of us are women. Who's gonna take care of us if you leave, if you die?"
Of course, these people have been brainwashed and are told, "You'll go to heaven if you die in the war." So, his mom was like, "I FORBID heaven upon you!" (In other words, if you're gonna die in this freaking war and you're supposed to go to heaven, may you not because I'll be upset with you and your wives and kids will be all alone and we may became even more poor and homeless because of you.)
But he went anyway.
And died.
And when his mom found out, she went all numb and stuff and then at last decided, "It's okay...forgive him; I don't forbid heaven on him anymore."
I wanna cry for the mom, as wrong as she is, as hurt as she must be.... but alas... what would that do? ....
Umm....there's SO much more to say that if I were to continue, this would be the longest blog I'll have written all my life (no I'm kidding....seriously ), but I'm sure you guys get the idea, which is that... it's hell in Swat these days.
Oh, and PLEASE don't even THINK about getting me started on what's going on with Pakistan's Prime Minister, that Musharraf dude....
Anyway, so these dumbos want SHARIA in Swat????? The ISLAMIC law to take over????? GIVE! ME! A! BREAK!!!
(Besides, I thought Sharia was ALREADY being followed in Swat! At least these idiots' extreme version of it, anyway. I mean, you don't see a woman outside without covering her face, for instance; or you don't see males and females in the same school once they've reached a certain age, or it's not too common to have a female working, or love marriages are just about unheard of there...at least with my relatives....and I could go ON AND ON AND ON and no one could ever stop me. )
I've gone far beyond wits' end with this, man. What, they actually believe Islam says to take your swords and kill anyone who doesn't share your beliefs and cover your ugly old faces while doing it? They actually BELIEVE that you've to kill soldiers (who, of course, are on the government's side), and that anyone who dies while trying to kill the soldiers becomes a martyr??? Oh, puh LEEEEEEEASE! NOO logic whatsoever. NONE! And it's making me SICK TO MY NECK now, folks!!! SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!
They know how to take their ugly swords and knives out, but they don't know that Islam says you CANNOT fight anyone unless they fight YOU first (can't initiate a war, in other words)???? That you CANNOT kill WOMEN, CHILDREN, the ELDERLY, religious leaders of any religion during the war/fighting??? That you CANNOT destroy houses and other places of residence and restaurants during the war??? That you CANNOT kill animals unless they're being used in the war???Andnd that you CANNOT even destroy plants during the war???
Sheesh, man. Anyone wanna help me count how many KIDS they've killed in this freaking thing, let alone women and the elderly and plants and animals? And how many people have become homeless because of it??? Many of those people in Swat are already poor, man. And does anyone have ANY idea what it's like in Swat during winter??? Well, I lived there from birth till the age of 12, so I know, and lemme tell you it's HARD. The typical house in Swat is open-aired anyway, so that sometimes makes it even more difficult, especially for the poor. You kill their bread-winners (whether men or women, since sometimes, the poor have their women working so they can have enough money to live), and leave the survivors to sit there in pain, in this cold weather, perhaps being frozen to death, starving to death...and ... and... ...ending up dying because of this emotional, physical, mental distress.
Astaghfirullah. Allaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!!!!!
This Swat...folks, I TELL YOU ....Swat is one of the most beautiful regions in the world. (No, I still don't like its PEOPLE or their CULTURE, as you know, but I love the region. ) It's known all over Pakistan and perhaps all over South Asia, too, for its natural beauty ... its breathtaking rivers/lakes/other bodies of water, its mountains, its green valleys.... And it's always been an attraction spot for tourists...but now...now ...its loyal residents are leaving the place because of fear of these pathetic, ignorant, evil-minded, idiotic so-called Muslims who enjoy killing others and use ISLAM as their reason!!! May Allah punish them as they deserve for damaging Islam's and Muslims' reputation around the world, for making it SO hard for the innocent Muslims among us to live in peace with non-Muslims and with other Muslims. Like my sister said, "I wanna avoid discussing this and talking about it with ANYONE but it's not easy since people out of nowhere come to you, knowing you're from Swat, and tell you themselves what's going on there and what they think about it!"

If anyone has doubts about what I've mentioned in this blog, just google up "current events in Swat, Pakistan" or anything of the like, and you'll get TONNS of info. BBC may be the best choice in this; those beheading stuff... I read first on there and then confirmed with my dad.
Oh, I forgot to say who this dude named Muslim Khan is; I've seen his name widely during this chaos (his name and quotes appear on the last link I've given below). Yeah, I'm sure there are lots of other people named Muslim Khan, but this particular one... well, my family knows him and he's unfortunately some paternal relative of mine . I think he was the head of those idiots who carried out the beheadings. My dad saw his name online on one of the news sites and wanted to make sure it was him....and called my relatives and they said it really is him. And, of course, my dad's very disappointed and hurt and stuff.
Get this regarding this brutal man:
**Muslim Khan, Fazlullah deputy, said sharia law was the end goal. "We have a one-point agenda and that is the enforcement of Shariah in Swat and the rest of Malakand region in accordance with the assurance given to us by the government," Khan said. "We have yet to announce a jihad against the government and in that case the situation will turn from bad to worse."** (from the last link posted below)....
Oh, and this one uncle or great-uncle of my mom's ... he was siding with the government and his son was siding with the extremists, and so his son went to fight the government, got killed...the dad heard about it and got a heart attack and died instantly.
Yep, there go my lovely relatives.
That's the result of this ugly and meaningless battle, in which innocents are being killed and many of the evil ones are being left unpunished and the situation will keep cycling.
Well...okay, NOW I think ... hope ...I'm done, guys....
May Allah have mercy on this world and....somehow.... just SOMEHOW....help us open our eyes and guide us to Himself. Aameen.
Wassalaam, all!


[with kind permission of sister SHANU]