Chowrangi

Pakistan has been hit by the Tsunami of crisis these days, a chain that seems to have no end unfortunately. Yesterday evening just after iftar three blasts ripped through the Yaum-e-Ali (RA) procession in Lahore, a city of eight million near Pakistan’s border with India. The procession was to mark the martyrdom anniversary of Hazarat Ali (RA), the fourth caliph of Islam and son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad (saw). Around 30 people lost their lives (although various news reports claim the toll to be between 27 or 35) while more than 200 wounded, including women and children.

Of late, the western media has developed a liking to christening Pakistan with catchy labels, and Pakistan seems to be more than happy to oblige.

First it was Slakistan (a slack country because of its slack governance), then Darkistan (thanks to the mismanagement of electricity) and of course the highly popular; Pornistan (nothing much needs to be said about this…remember Camel Sex??).

However, the Pak media seems to be glad to provide more wood for the fire and Pakistan now has a trendy new tag; PARANOIDISTAN.

Where the nation was yet recovering from the shock given by the performance of the boys in green in the ongoing test at Lords’, all focus has now shifted to the media reports coming out of England claiming that they have uncovered a match fixing scandal involving top Pakistani players.

As the details are still sketchy and team officials have preferred to go into hiding instead of answering media, it is hard to say what exactly is going on. For the time being all we know is that Mohammad Aamir, Asif, Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal are in the center of this controversy. The English media in a covert operation filmed one of the middle men for these Pakistani players accepting the sum of € 150k on their behalf.

Keeping in mind the political culture of Pakistan, corruption is more of a house hold name. Though often termed as the termite which eats away the basic foundation of the society, in Pakistan its entirely the opposite. Blaming it on system, nearly every one on every level gets involved in this in one way or the other.

Having said this, the current regime has always come under red light for its dealings both internationally and domestically. Just a few months back a report emerged from a reputable international organization, which termed corruption in Pakistan 400% higher than the previous regime. The same report highlighted that ANP in KPK was leading this overall race.

Gullak, a local hand made T-shirt brand has initiated a T-shirt drive on Facebook to support and help the flood victims of Pakistan. They are not asking for your money, just that you empty out your wardrobes. Donate your t-shirts, old or new and let them turn it into something useful.

Gullak plans on recycling your donated t-shirts into blankets, pillows, sleeping bags, caps and whatever else you can think of. Donate generously and spread the word in your school, college or neighborhood so that as many people as possible can participate.

I really don’t know from where I could fetch those words to pay condolences to the family of the departed and to describe the intensity of brutality of massacre that people of Sialkot has committed and witnessed with appalling silence. Sadly it is not Taliban flogging or Police Chitrol but worse than it. We are becoming so violent that even the Holy month of Ramadan has to witness such innocent bloodshed.

Fakhr-e-Alam, who made his mark with humanitarian activities during 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, comes forward to appeal for flood victims, in association with PIA.

Media screens all across Pakistan and the world have been occupied by the grief stricken families from the recent floods, which are well above 20 million across Pakistan until now. Some where between this I was shocked to see the images which closely resembled the terrible days of TTP in Swat.

Pakistan is in turmoil and turbulence since almost a decade. By the time we bowed to US pressure and allowed our lands to be used to assault Muslims of Afghanistan. In denial of the sovereignty of Allah (swt), we took USA to be supreme (Nauzubillah). Since then, our lands are filled with chaos and mayhem. Earthquakes, suicide bombings, target killings, cruel rulers, and now the floods.

Have we ever give it a thought that why we are in such a mess?

Help In A Box is an initiative taken by Adeel Hashmi and Shahzad Qureshi. They are aiming to make and deliver 100,000 boxes full of essentials to flood affected people.

They can be found at Imperial Lawn (Sharae Faisal), Karachi, or at their Facebook Page. Please contribute what you can, and volunteer to make them pack some “Help In A Box“.