Amnesia or Denial?

The peasants are rejoicing once again. The great saviours of the past and present are all here now.

The most recent saviour has had to give up his magic wand and is not the master wizard anymore. But before he took that drastic step, only in order to perpetuate his self proclaimed status, he has built a wall around him. And thinks, wrongly, that making himself legitimate and giving himself powers, will secure his position. What he doesn't realize is that this will only force his opponents to resort to something above and beyond the legal framework. Something he should know, since he has been doing the same.

In the meanwhile, two new old saviours have arrived. Claiming persecution and unfair play, they want to convince people that the very things they helped destroy, are the things that they want to save. The not so newly hirsute caliph-wannabe had his party storm the supreme court. There was no freedom of the media. The progeny of the east appointed hand picked judges and does not and can not stand any dissent from anywhere. Chairperson for life, that is what her title is. And these clowns are now the champions of democracy?

I am not a fan of the great wizard. And I still don't think he will amount to much. What I am concerned with is that how people are eagerly lapping up the hogwash dished out by all. Are we in denial? Or do we suffer from memory loss? Have we forgotten how we have rejoiced every time someone gets kicked off the throne?

As I have concluded earlier, this is a big farce being played out for public consumption at large. In other parts of the country, the army is killing as many militants in Swat as NATO forces are in Afghanistan. TWAT (The War Against Terrorism) rages on. Some people say that the situation is no different than East Pakistan. There is no solution but brute force. I wish I knew the answer. When the state is incapable of enforcing its writ, or ignores the flouting of law, for its own vested interest, it has to come to a boil. How is this different from Kashmir? Where we say the locals are not allowed to live the way they want to and the state is using force to quell their discontent. Where does one draw the line?

There are more questions than there are answers. No short term solutions here. Long terms solutions require people with vision and the courage of their convictions. Our saviours have none of those things. So maybe this numbing of senses or self induced amnesia is the only way out.

Anastasio Somoza Garcia

Somoza was the dictator ruler of Nicaragua from 1936 to 1956, when he was assassinated. A nice 20 year run, where with the assistance of US, he centralized all the powers in his hands and everyone lived happily ever after.

Roosevelt is supposed to have said "Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch". This has been denied and no official record has been found to support the claim that Roosevelt said anything of the kind. The sentiment behind this has been consistent, and the US has fostered people like Somoza all over the world. The list includes Shah of Iran, Noriega, Zia ul Haq, etc. etc.

This expression was used by three journalists of the Daily Telegraph in their report about Pakistan and its dictator, after which they were kicked out of the country. The President of Pakistan wants them to apologize. They should not have called him a son of a bitch, but a puppet dictator of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I think that would have gone down better.

In the meanwhile, civilians can now be tried under a court-martial. This is by presidential decree which is retrospective starting from 2003. Takes care of all the beardos we shipped out to Camp X-ray and other places.

Brilliant, I just hope dictators read history, even if they don't like called being sons of bitches.

Total Bollocks!

I have to say a few things, and what better title than the above. So hear me out

1. Media
Media is rubbish. I came to this sorry conclusion after getting all worked up about all kinds of things, only to find out that the media, like most everyone else, has vested interests and does not always tell the whole story. So it is almost impossible to get the facts from it.
Having said that, they still have a right to publish and broadcast all the rubbish they can think of, it is up to the recipient to figure out what makes sense, if any.

2. State of Emergency
The following is something that should make everyone's hair stand: During the state of emergency, no state servant, from the lowest policeman to the prez can be held accountable. They can do whatever they please. Viva la banana! This is how it should be, unfettered democracy and screw the courts and constitution and that rubbish.

3. Conspiracy Theories
Damn the conspiracy and counter-conspiracy theories. I have heard them all. The deals and non-deals, the moles and the inside jobs. Screw them all. There is no universal conspiracy, they don't have the brains for it. And the mini conspiracies are of no significant consequence anyway.

4. The bottom-line
Its all about power and money, the rest are just details. Be it the mullahs or the progeny of the east, they are all after power which allows them to make more money which brings them more power to do as they please. There are no ulterior motives here.

5. The students
I was very pleasantly surprised to read and hear that students of LUMS, FAST, etc. have decided to voice dissent. Although this happened only because two of their professors were picked up by our "cannot be held accountable law enforcement agencies", even then it is a good sign. I remember bemoaning this fact in one of my earlier posts, so thats the only positive that has come out of this.

I don't know whats going to happen next, the only constant here is entropy in our state, which will only grow.

Let the festivities begin

I hereby thank all the gods that I don't believe in and I declare that all peasants rejoice. For once again, the gods have stepped in, in the form of a military person albeit surrounded by the usual suspects, to save this country and nation from the greatest disaster. I kowtow to them all. And can't help but wonder if it weren't for their timely intervention, this country would have been destroyed many times over in the last 60 years. They have saved us at least four times.

I will make sacrifices, maybe a virgin or two, or a few animals, or whatever it is that the gods like these days. I wish we could be like the Chinese and burn fake paper money and be done with it. The Chinese gods are not really up to speed with fake currency detection, so monopoly money works. The latest god likes animals, maybe we can sacrifice a virtual goat or something.

But before I get carried away with the whole sacrifice ritual, let me tell you what makes me really happy. The fundamentalists of all flavours want us to go back to the time of whenever they launched their roadshows. The way that we are being saved every few years by the gods, it is reminiscent of those wonderful ages. So the fundamentalists can join in the celebrations. We welcome all kinds.

Since I cannot write anything about FL, I will desist. I don't want to spend three years in jail, that being the penalty for writing anything against him. My only plaintive wish is that he do something about the things he is complaining against. The question that comes to mind is that if things are so screwed up, who was in-charge? That is a rhetorical question.

I have no hope for us, so let the festivities begin.