osama, osama: where art thou?
Haroon Mughal is one of my favorite writers in the blog-o-sphere. His entries are concise, witty, and always insightful. He kindly agreed to allow me to republish his blog entry about the tragic earthquake in Pakistan. For more, read www.avari.blogs.com
-ZJ
***
I have never directly lost a loved one. I have been in some terrifying earthquakes, the majority of them in Mustafa Towers, directly across from the collapsed of Margala Tower. But I haven't been in this kind of earthquake. I haven't experienced that horror, that depression, that gloom, that terror. But I think, nonetheless, that I should broadcast reasons for hope and for optimism, grounded in my perspective as a Muslim Pakistani-American. Those who died, died in Ramadan. Many of them are martyrs; to lose a child is, undoubtedly, one of the most painful things I imagine a person can go through, yet nevertheless at least those children are also martyrs. (Children, of course, go to heaven.)
There is also the genuine outpouring of compassion and support both within Pakistan and without, including a - and thank God for this - wealthy and motivated Pakistani diaspora in many Pakistani countries, which I hope turns in this month of Ramadan to giving even more than usual. I hope also that this event unites the nation, for the nation is sorely in need of unity and cooperation and camaraderie. The northern areas have often been ignored, with Pakistani Kashmir (the hardest hit region) generally little more than political instrumentality: A means by which a military dictatorship or corrupt democratic government can exercise misguided and counterproductive foreign policies. Now, we see, Pakistani and Indian Kashmiris in pain, and we are stunned. Do we think about the number of troops both sides had deployed in Kashmir, and how the money for their armaments could have gone to other, more worthy causes? (Pakistanis cannot isolate themselves from the world; Pakistani Muslims cannot isolate themselves from Indian Muslims. The South Asian Muslim consciousness, however weakened, remains.)
It might also be hoped that, in addition to causing India and Pakistan to realize the benefits of a fair and flexible peace, Pakistanis realize the true enormity of terrorism and the terrorists who have based themselves in Pakistan, capitalized on Pakistani resources, sentiments and grievances, but have fallen utterly and entirely silent in this, an hour of national (indeed, international) need. Israel has extended to Pakistan an offer of aid. (I don't know in what amount, nor do I know how the Musharraf government has responded.) But if Israel offers Pakistanis aid, and none of the so-called jihadist movements, centered on Darths Laden, Zarqawi and Zawahiri do not, perhaps we will realize, once and for all, the menace and scourge they represent, and the blot upon the name of Islam. They are viruses, who infect organisms, who are not alive except for when they harm others. They can do nothing to help. Perhaps - and this is the most frightening part of all - that part of them is dead.
-ZJ
***
I have never directly lost a loved one. I have been in some terrifying earthquakes, the majority of them in Mustafa Towers, directly across from the collapsed of Margala Tower. But I haven't been in this kind of earthquake. I haven't experienced that horror, that depression, that gloom, that terror. But I think, nonetheless, that I should broadcast reasons for hope and for optimism, grounded in my perspective as a Muslim Pakistani-American. Those who died, died in Ramadan. Many of them are martyrs; to lose a child is, undoubtedly, one of the most painful things I imagine a person can go through, yet nevertheless at least those children are also martyrs. (Children, of course, go to heaven.)
There is also the genuine outpouring of compassion and support both within Pakistan and without, including a - and thank God for this - wealthy and motivated Pakistani diaspora in many Pakistani countries, which I hope turns in this month of Ramadan to giving even more than usual. I hope also that this event unites the nation, for the nation is sorely in need of unity and cooperation and camaraderie. The northern areas have often been ignored, with Pakistani Kashmir (the hardest hit region) generally little more than political instrumentality: A means by which a military dictatorship or corrupt democratic government can exercise misguided and counterproductive foreign policies. Now, we see, Pakistani and Indian Kashmiris in pain, and we are stunned. Do we think about the number of troops both sides had deployed in Kashmir, and how the money for their armaments could have gone to other, more worthy causes? (Pakistanis cannot isolate themselves from the world; Pakistani Muslims cannot isolate themselves from Indian Muslims. The South Asian Muslim consciousness, however weakened, remains.)
It might also be hoped that, in addition to causing India and Pakistan to realize the benefits of a fair and flexible peace, Pakistanis realize the true enormity of terrorism and the terrorists who have based themselves in Pakistan, capitalized on Pakistani resources, sentiments and grievances, but have fallen utterly and entirely silent in this, an hour of national (indeed, international) need. Israel has extended to Pakistan an offer of aid. (I don't know in what amount, nor do I know how the Musharraf government has responded.) But if Israel offers Pakistanis aid, and none of the so-called jihadist movements, centered on Darths Laden, Zarqawi and Zawahiri do not, perhaps we will realize, once and for all, the menace and scourge they represent, and the blot upon the name of Islam. They are viruses, who infect organisms, who are not alive except for when they harm others. They can do nothing to help. Perhaps - and this is the most frightening part of all - that part of them is dead.
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