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shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Monday, November 26, 2012
Let us kill each other!
For us living together
requires neither love nor mercy, but rules of conduct; everything be it
ideology, faith, or any system of thought, comes after that. Anything short of
it is at the same time inhuman and anti-human, and is like putting death
before life. [K.A.]
“Hey, Mr., you are
different. Your skin color is different. You wear clothes different from mine. Sometimes
you use shorts or just rags. You eat things different from mine. You play
different games. You sing and dance. You make and watch movies. You have places
of nudity and obscenity which you call freedom and enjoyment. You call them
art, fashion, and what not.
Your women live like you.
They behave like you. They wear dress like yours. Or they wear nothing. They go
out like you. They do everything like you do. They sing and dance like you.
They sing and dance in public like you do. You kiss them in public and they
you. You treat them like your equals.
You have installed a society
and system which is different from mine. You hold elections and make a
representative government which is different from mine. You have evolved
representative institutions different from mine. You have a system of political
parties which I don’t approve of. The world you live I don’t like at all. Why
are you different?
You or most of you abandoned
your beliefs. You compartmentalized your religion. You adopted the religion of
freedom instead. You give religious freedom to all and sundry. You make them or
let everybody believe as they wish. Practice their faith as they wish. To me
it’s just non-sense.
You have evolved philosophy
and seek truth. You have developed innumerable sciences and a lot of knowledge,
technology. You call it freedom of thought and expression. You believe in
freedom and free society. You live in freedom and die in freedom. I don’t
approve of it.
You are completely different
from me. I can’t bear it. Listen! Be like me. Or I will make you to be like me.
And, mind it, I will kill you if you don’t
do that. Be like me or I will kill you.”
Our world is populous with
different individuals, communities, and people. No one is similar to the other.
We have as many differences amongst us as many men and women there are on the face of our earth planet. Thus if
anyone sets out on a journey of unifying them all - different individuals and
their different individualities and their individual differences - into the
image of his own liking, no doubt every one of us in that case will be
constantly at war with each one of us. A
killing spree will follow.
Until and unless we learn to
live in peace with different people, their different individualities, their
individual differences, their different beliefs, and their different systems of
thoughts, there will be no end to it. That is what human civilization is all
about. We have laws and rule of law and protection of fundamental rights to
honor each one’s life and his freedom and to remain within the limits of our
own life and freedom. That is what human existence is all about.
Under the present
circumstances where the perpetrators of terror have unleashed a most brutal war
the hidden agenda of which is ultimately their own political supremacy, we have
two options clearly open to every one of us: kill each other, or live in peace
with each other.
We know every war ends at
total or partial annihilation of enemies, or most often at a truce. However
modern wars could never accomplish what ancient wars did though in very few
cases only: total killing of enemies. Thus modern civilization tried to
transform the old war into strictly an instrument of policy and succeeded in
confining its scope also, and it tried to rewrite the old truce into a permanent
settlement. That is, agreeing on the minimum conditions for a policy of
peaceful co-existence for all human beings regardless of the differences of
caste and creed, so to say.
On another plane, a little
while back we were in the process of reaching a universal agreement as to the
realization, recognition, security and protection of fundamental inalienable
rights and freedoms to all the individuals living on this earth. The terror war
has negatively impacted on its progress. It needs to be conscious of that to
make this world mutually livable. Life is a mutual social phenomenon, we need
to appreciate that.
Along with it, we need to
appreciate that as Nature and God made every people and individuals different
and as all the people and individuals too want to be and remain different, let
them be all different. That’s the beauty of life! Whoever is after destroying
it is enemy of both life and its beauty! Let us kill not each other! Rather,
let us enhance this beauty by not denying freedom to all!
[This article was completed on April 19, 2009.]
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All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Kumsin Siyasat Ki Kahani: 1857 Se 2012 Tak
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shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Thursday, November 22, 2012
State Aristocracy's Pakistan – 3: Justice for Senator's son
How
a police officer’s highhandedness in torturing someone special earns him the wrath
of the State Aristocracy is evident from the following news:
Defence-A
SHO found guilty of torturing senator’s son
LAHORE:
Defence-A SHO Faisal Sharif has been proved guilty of torturing the son of
Senator Abdul Ghani Bangash, a couple of weeks ago, in an inquiry conducted by
SSP Discipline and Inquiry.
Lahore
CCPO has ordered DIG Operations to suspend him from service immediately and
initiate a departmental inquiry against him. The CCPO has also ordered not to
give him field posting in future. The SHO had thrashed Irshad Bangash, the son
of Senator Abdul Ghani Bangash, and his friend at an apartment in H-Block,
Defence, in a search of his (SHO’s) ‘dancer girlfriend.’ The raiding police
team headed by SHO Faisal Sharif had also damaged precious items and later got
registered a fake case against them. SSP D&I Shariq Kamal had conducted
inquiry into the incident in which SHO was found guilty. The inquiry office has
also held Defence-B SHO Raza responsible for registering a fake case without
verifying the facts and recommended action against him.
[The
News International, Lahore Print Edition, November 20, 2012]
Why
such justice is not available to the ordinary citizens of Pakistan who daily suffer worst form of
humiliation and torture at the hands of Police? That’s what makes Pakistan
a country only for the elite classes, or the State Aristocracy!
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Qanoon Ki Hukoomat Ya Qanoon Saaz Ki Hukoomat
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Monday, November 19, 2012
Stray points - 2
*
The world needs to be changed into a world for individual persons, not for this
or that genus of this or that community or nation!
* It
is knowledge that rules; since it helps us make better and just rules!
* When
religiosity dominates in a society, morality recedes. See the present-day Pakistan!
*
Presently Muslims are lurching somewhere in their Middle Ages!
*
All the pro-establishment elements in Pakistan are anti-America; and all the
anti-America elements, even if they are not pro-establishment, somehow serve
the cause of the establishment.
*
Instead of doing Ideology and Politics, the Pakistani Left should open
Charities!
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All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Pasmaandagi Ki Kitaab
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
State Aristocracy's Pakistan - 2: Maliha Makhdoom appointed as First Secretary in Ireland
In
a previous post, Riyasti Ashrafiya ka Pakistan – 1, a news item was highlighted.
It was published in an Urdu daily Mashriq Peshawar on October 15, 2012. It
states that Barrister Hassan Sajjad, son of former president and chairman
Senate, Wasim Sajjad, has been appointed Adviser to the Interior Minister,
Rehman Malik, and a notification to this effect has been issued.
This
second highlight, published in The Express Tribune on November 15, 2012, states
the following:
In
Question-Hour session in the Senate: “two top ranking officers had been
appointed by former premier Yousaf Raz Gilani in diplomatic missions abroad
without fulfilling any obligatory criteria for the high-profile posts, Foreign
Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said in her written reply to the Senate.
The
officials were posted abroad without passing the mandatory Central Superior
Servies (CSS) examination, Khar explained. Gilani appointed Maliha Makhdoom, daughter
of senior PPP Minister Makhdoon Amin Faheem, as first secretary in Dublin,
Ireland, while Salis Kiani was appointed Minister Community Welfare London.”
Link
to the news: http://tribune.com.pk/story/466052/senate-session-opposition-allies-boycott-proceedings/
[The
Express Tribune, November 15, 2012]
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Jadeed Riyasat Aur Ayeen Ki Baladasti Ka Usool
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shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
What has gone wrong with the US - erstwhile champion of individual freedom!
What has gone wrong with the US - erstwhile champion of individual freedom, world-renowned political cartoonist, Patrick Chappatte explains very well in this cartoon!
This cartoon was published in the International Herald Tribune, Pakistan print edition, November 12, 2012.
This cartoon was published in the International Herald Tribune, Pakistan print edition, November 12, 2012.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Finished reading: The Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger
Few
days back (on November 3), I finished reading a rare and old book. If one wants
to see a glimpse of the old world, read this book.
Actually,
this April I was in Fez, Morocco, for the Special Meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society, on Freedom, Human Dignity and the Open Society. (Let me add that I am
the only member of the Mont Pelerin Society from Pakistan!) There in a session on April 24, one
Benedikt Koehler from London presented his paper, “The Birth of Capitalism in
Islam.” It was quite enlightening, and in addition to
putting a question to Mr. Koehler during the session, the same evening during
the dinner I especially invited him to the table, where we some friends were
sitting together, to have a detailed discussion with him. I especially
appreciated his attempt to highlight the contribution of Islam to the Economic
Theory.
It
was during the last day (April 25) during the lunch that Mr. Koehler told about
Johann Schiltberger, that how interesting is the book he wrote about his
bondage and experiences, and that it gives an eyewitness account of the 14th and 15th century world.
Here
is the complete title of the book:
The
Bondage and Travels of Johann Schiltberger,
A
Native of Bavaria,
In
Europe, Asia, and Africa.
1396-1427.
Translated
from the
Heidelberg
MS. Edited in 1859 by Professor Karl Friedrich Neumann,
By
Commander
J. Buchan Telfer, R.N.,
F.S.A.,
F.R.G.S.
With
Notes by
Professor
P. Bruun,
Of
the Imperial University of South Russia, at Odessa;
And
a Preface, Introduction, and Notes
by
The
Translator and Editor.
With
a Map.
London:
Printed For the Hakluyt Society, MDCC CLXXIX {1879}.
It’s
a little book consisting of about 100 pages and 67 chapters. But detailed notes
spanning over 140 pages make it a 320 page book. The book also includes an
introduction and a comprehensive index. All that is a proof of German
scholarship!
The
titles of the chapters let form an idea of Johann’s varied experiences:
Schiltberger
to the Reader
1. Of
the first combat between King Sigmund and the Turks
2. How
the Turkish king treated the prisoners
3. How
Wyasit subjugated an entire country
4. How
Wyasit made war on his brother-in-law, and killed him
5. How
Weyasit drives away the king of Sebast
6. What
sixty of us Christians had agreed upon
7. How
Wyasit took the city of Samson
8. Of
serpents and vipers
9. How
the Infidels remain in the fields with their cattle, in winter and summer
10.
How Weyasit took a country that belonged to the Sultan
11.
Of the King-Sultan
12.
How Temerlin conquered the kingdom of Sebast
13.
Weyasit conquers Lesser Armenia
14.
How Tamerlin goes to war with the King-Sultan
15.
How Tamerlin conquered Babiloni
16.
How Tamerlin conquered Lesser India
17.
How a vassal carried off riches that belonged to Tamerlin
18.
How Tamerlin caused MMM {3000} children to be killed
19.
Tamerlin wants to go to war with the Great Chan
20.
Of Tamerlin's death
21.
Of the sons of Tamerlin
22.
How Joseph caused Mirenschach to be beheaded, and took possession of all his
territory
23.
How Joseph vanquished a king and beheaded him
24.
How Schiltberger came to Aububachir
25.
Of a king's son
26.
How one lord succeeds another lord
27.
Of an Infidel woman, who had four thousand maidens
28.
In what countries I have been
29.
In which countries I have been, that lay between the Tonow and the sea
30.
Of the castle of the sparrow-hawk, and how it is guarded
31.
How a poor fellow watched the sparrow-hawk
32.
More about the castle of the sparrow-hawk
33.
In which countries silk is grown, and of Persia and of other kingdoms
34.
Of the tower of Babilony that is of such great height
35.
Of great Tartaria
36.
The countries in which I have been, that belong to Tartary
37.
How many kings-sultan there were, whilst I was amongst the Infidels
38.
Of the mountain of St. Catherine
39.
Of the withered tree
40.
Of Jherusalem and of the Holy Sepulchre
41.
Of the spring in Paradise, with IIII rivers
42.
How pepper grows in India
43.
Of Allexandria
44.
Of a great giant
45.
Of the many religions the Infidels have
46.
How . . . {Prophet Muhammad PBUH} and his religion appeared
47.
Of the Infidels' Easter-day
48.
Of the other Easter-day
49.
Of the law of the Infidels
50.
Why . . . {Prophet Muhammad PBUH} has forbidden wine to Infidels
51.
Of a fellowship the Infidels have among themselves
52.
How a Christian becomes an Infidel
53.
What the Infidels believe of Christ
54.
What the Infidels say of Christians
55.
How Christians are said not to hold to their religion
56.
How long ago it is, since . . . {Prophet Muhammad PBUH} lived
57.
Of Constantinoppel
58.
Of the Greeks
59.
Of the Greek religion
60.
How the city of Constantinoppel was built
61.
How the Jassen have their marriages
62.
Of Armenia
63.
Of the religion of the Armenians
64.
Of a Saint Gregory
65.
Of a dragon and a unicorn
66.
Why the Greeks and Armani are enemies
67.
Through which countries I have come away
Here are some
excerpts from the book:
How
Johann was made a runner for the King:
“I
was taken to the palace of the Turkish king {King-Sultan Wyasit}; there for six
years I was obliged to run on my feet with the others, wherever he went, it
being the custom that the lords have people to run before them. After six years
I deserved to be allowed to ride, and I rode six years with him, so that I was
twelve years with him;” [P. 7]
Johann’s
evidence of Tamerlane’s cruelty:
“1
8.—How Tamerlin caused MMM {3000} children to be killed.
Then
he went into a kingdom called Hisspahan and made for the capital, Hisspahan,
and required it to surrender. They gave themselves up, and went to him with
their wives and children. He received them graciously, occupied the city with
six thousand of his people, and took away with him the lord of the city, whose
name was Schachister. And so soon as the city heard that Tamerlin was gone out
of the country, they closed all the gates and killed the six thousand men. When
Tamerlin knew this, he returned to the city and besieged it for XV days, but he
could not take it, and made peace with them on condition that they should lend
him the archers that were in the city, for an expedition; after that, he should
send them back. They sent to him twelve thousand archers; he cut off all their
thumbs, and forced them back into the city and himself entered it. He assembled
all the citizens, and ordered all those over fourteen years to be beheaded, and
the boys under XIIII years he ordered to be spared, and with the heads was
constructed a tower in the centre of the city; then he ordered the women and
children to be taken to a plain outside the city, and ordered the children
under seven years of age to be placed apart, and ordered his people to ride
over these same children. When his counsellors and the mothers of the children
saw this, they fell at his feet, and begged that he would not kill them. He
would not listen, and ordered that they should be ridden over; but none would
be the first to do so. He got angry, and rode himself [amongst them] and said:
"Now I should like to see who will not ride after me?" Then they were
all obliged to ride over the children, and they were all trampled upon. There
were seven thousand. Then he set fire to the city, and took the other women and
children into his own city; and then went to his capital called Semerchant,
where he had not been for twelve years.” [PP. 27-28]
His
account of the Tamerlane’s death:
“It
is to be noted, that three causes made Tamerlin fret, so that he became ill,
and died of that same illness. The first cause was grief that his vassal had
escaped with the tribute; the other it is to be noted was, that Thamerlin had
three wives, and that the youngest, whom he loved very much, had been intimate
with one of his vassals whilst he was away.” [P. 29]
On
his orders this wife of his was beheaded, “He then sent five thousand horsemen
after this same vassal, that they might bring him as a prisoner; but he was
warned by the commander who was sent after him, and the vassal took with him
five hundred men, his wife and children, and fled to the country of
Wassandaran. There Tamerlin could not get at him. It fretted him so much that
he had killed his wife, and that the vassal had escaped, that he died, . . .” [P.
29]
How
strong was Tamerlane’s son!
“It
is also to be noted, that Abubachir {son of Tamerlane’s son, Miraschach} was so
strong, that he shot through a ploughshare with an Infidel bow; the iron went
through, and the shaft remained in the ploughshare. This ploughshare was sent
as a marvel to Thamerlin's capital, called Samerchant, and fixed to the gate.
When the king-sultan heard of his strength, he sent to him a sword that weighed
twelve pounds. It was worth one thousand guldens. And when the sword was
brought to him, he ordered that an ox, three years old, should be brought to
him, as he wished to try the sword. When the ox came, he cut it into two parts
at one blow. This happened during Tamerlin's lifetime.” [P. 33]
His
account of experiences in India is quite short; a sample is given below:
“I
have also been in Lesser India, which is a fine kingdom. The capital is called
Dily. In this country are many elephants, and animals called surnasa, which is
like a stag, but it is a tall animal, and has a long neck four fathoms in
length or longer. It has long fore legs, and the hinder are short. There are many
animals in Lesser India. There are also many parrots, ostriches, and lions.
There are also many other animals and birds, of which I cannot give the names.”
[P. 47]
He tells
about a rare and wonderful bird found in Arabia:
“There
is a bird in Arabia called sacka, which is larger than a crane, and has a long
neck, and a broad and long beak. It is black and has large feet, which are much
like the feet of a goose in the lower parts; its feet are also very black; its
colour is the same as that of a crane; it has a large crop in front of its neck,
in which it has quite a quart of water. It is the habit of this bird, to fly to
a river and fill its crop with water; then it flies away to the desert where
there is no water, and pours it out of its crop into a hole in the rock. Then
come the little birds of the desert to drink, when he attacks those birds for
his food. This is the same desert that people cross, who go to the tomb of . .
. {Prophet Muhammad PBUH} where he is buried.” [P. 54]
In
the end, I would like to share the following observation of mine:
As
Johann Schiltberger is a devout Christian, throughout his account he calls
Muslims as Infidels. And as the present-day Muslims call non-Muslims Infidels,
it seems as if now they are passing through their Middle Ages!
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All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Qadeem Riyasat Aur Ayeen Ki Baladasti Ka Usool
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shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Thursday, November 8, 2012
What the Prime Minister of Pakistan is up to!
See the following report and be in the know what things are occupying
the Prime Minister of Pakistan, no matter they are illegal or not, or immoral
or not:
SHO Gujar Khan transferred on PM’s complaint
RAWALPINDI: On the direction of Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf the
City Police Officer DIG Azhar Hameed Khokhar has transferred SHO of Gujar Khan
Inspector Abdul Sattar Khan to Police Line. The prime minister complained that
SHO Sattar exchanged hot words with his brother Raja Javed Ashraf on the public
meeting held under the PPP in Gujar Khan on October 21, 2012. The SHO forbade
the workers from holding firework.
Link to the report: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-18692-SHO-Gujar-Khan-transferred-on-PMs-complaint
[The News International, November 8, 2012]
I
would like to add that responsible and lawful citizens should demand that the
Prime Minister and his brother extend apologies to the concerned police officer
and he be reinstated to his posting from where he has been transferred
wrongfully!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Aurang Zaib Alamgir Ke Akhbaar Navees
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Monday, November 5, 2012
Siege from within
When creative spirit of a nation is arrested from
within, it is as vulnerable to external insinuations as is to internal
machinations, and can never make any progress.
“Pakistan
We had enemies from the very
first day. With time, the list of our enemies grew longer. So much so that today
we have neighbors not friendly to us and a world all hostile to us. We are
alone in a wilderness created of our own. Isn’t it Greek mythology whose gods
and monsters we have resurrected in ourselves? Like the one-eyed monster, we
have no second eye to look inward. This on the one hand has transformed us
completely into subjects perfectly suitable for psychological pursuits. Or, for
instance, how can a judge of a higher court find fault with bare feet of a
dancer, and ban it? Or how can his ability and capacity to judge be explained?
(One of my friends says it’s a foot fetish!) Go through any book of psychology,
and see we are afflicted with almost all the disorders identified there.
On the other hand, this lack
of inner eye has deprived us of that touch of philosophical contemplation and
composition which is so integral to the continuity of peaceful human co-existence.
In every nook and cranny of our society, from a hut to GHQ, and from a patient
to the President, we have laid Procrustean beds and are on guard no one unfits
it. Those who are over-sized are cut down, and those who are under-sized are
pulled up to match the bed’s length. In a sense, we watered and environmentaled
all the seeds to grow into the same and, lo, we have Bonsais all around us. Rather,
we have shrubs unheard of in the botanical history which are eating out one
another, and stretching their tentacles to far off lands to gulp others; it is as
if we are working on an agenda of self-annihilation.
At the same time, we have
started ‘exporting’ our principles of experimentation with human beings to
other regions also. We are packaging our Procrustean beds for other people, and
use all means fair or unfair to ‘market-impose’ them, and are thus causing
other people to revive their own Procrustean beds and bring them again into practice.
This may turn the whole world into a big Procrustean bed!
Alas, our ideological
adventurers are no better than Procrustes. In a sense, they are worse!
Procrustes used to hack off or stretch his victims to fit his bed, we kill all
who unfit our beds, and in some cases, we kill all no matter they fit or unfit
our beds. We have left Procrustes far behind in sizing human beings.
How’s that that we have
turned into such monsters? Are we different from other people genetically? Some
people believe that is so; but that is an expression of distrust and anger. All
of us belong to the same progenitor. It is mainly our mental, intellectual, psychological
and philosophical make-up and thus our behavior that differentiates us from
each other. Otherwise we are the same biological entity.
As it is, like others we are
a product of two things, first, what we are endowed with by birth, and second,
what we learn and acquire on our own. We are all born with almost the same
capacity to learn unless it is some disability that retards us; so naturally
there is complete freedom available to everyone to learn and acquire what he
wants to learn and acquire. In a sense, it’s the ultimate freedom that if
realized can enable us to be master of our destiny. That is, we are free to be
what we want to be.
However, some of us happen to
make a discovery of an immeasurable magnitude. Somehow, they come to believe
that they are free to be what they want to be, and in addition to that, they
are free to force others to be what those people do or do not want to be. Such
people in fact try to be master of others’ destiny, and deprive them of their
freedom. Not only do they use every opportunity and manner to further their Procrustean
agenda, they manipulate what is available and manufacture what is needed to achieve
their Procrustean objectives. They have no regard for what exists outside of
them.
It is rather an edgy difference
that distinguishes such people who live to control and mould other people’s
lives according to their ideas from those who teach and preach other people to
live in accordance with their philosophies. It’s no matter of persuasion or
submission, i.e. getting someone converted to your ideas on the one hand by
using rhetoric or reason or reward, and on the other, by using fear or force or
fraud. This difference is informed among other things by the eternal issue of
means and ends, i.e. ends do not justify means. Hence, if one wants to persuade
or coerce others into submitting to his ideas there is an inherent danger of
curtailing or snatching other people’s freedom. That way others lose their
freedom. The issue of corporal punishment to learners is a derivative of the
same debate.
But to make this debate
possible and also to have it to continue, a theory of conduct is desperately
needed in Pakistan
It may be objected that it is
practically socially impossible to allow so many individuals to live like that
save at the expense of social harmony and peace. That may be so! However, first
there is morality and then there is law that takes care of the difference, discord,
disharmony, and conflict and clash among individuals of a community.
Morality needs no enforcement;
it is sort of self-discipline and a pragmatic way of life though for those who
know the value of moral principles and their centrality to human co-existence.
Law requires to be enforced by an authority. In this it is as lame as morality.
Both are intrinsically orphan waiting to be adopted by some foster parents: moral
principles are open to be adopted by, rather obligatory for, every individual
be he an ordinary or an extraordinary person, whereas law must be enforced by
an authority, which is nothing more than a collection of persons, duly vested
with its enforcement. It is of the nature of law that its ignorance by anyone is
never construed as an excuse to seek alibi, instead it is binding to all and
all are equal before law.
This does not mean that both morality
and law lie entirely within their own independent realms. How can we elevate a
person to a law office who is morally corrupt? The issue of the present chief
justice’s daughter’s enhanced marks is a case in point. Also, how can an outlaw
be declared morally upright? The case of Mr. Asif Ali Zardari is not entirely
irrelevant provided he should have been cleared by an independent court of all
the accusations and allegations brought against him by anyone. Morality
preconditions, contextualizes and encompasses law.
Against this backdrop,
present circumstances of the Pakistani state are extremely hopeless. It needs
no painstaking to bring out the rampant moral-lessness, value-lessness, and
law-lessness at every level of our society. We are all witness to it. Rather,
part of it. But isn’t it the same cliché everyone is wont of using? Yeah,
apparently it seems so. But the argument this article is going to make is different.
To blame all or to accuse all
is jut meaningless. Likewise, to characterize a society by anything is just
like crying over spilt milk. To say that Pakistani society has no morals, no
values, no norms, and no principles to follow or that it is a lawless society
is just empty talk. Also, it does not mean, as is usually implied, that there are
good moral principled or law-abiding people in every society, and we have our
share of such goody-goodies.
As argued earlier, the nature
of morals is different from laws; no prescribed punishment is attached with
them and everyone is free to follow or defy them, so no responsibility can be
fixed for transgressing morals or values, norms or principles. In that they are
a private thing. Some private organizations and institutions use them as laws,
i.e. they punish their members or employees in case of violations of their
adopted norms. They are private because no one owns and implement them, i.e. no
collective authority possesses them and their enforcement. Hence, the
meaningless and emptiness of the statement that our society is devoid of all
morals, values, norms and principles! Hence, the lack of fixing any
responsibility whatsoever for any violation by anyone!
That’s completely different
in the realm of laws. All the laws are absolutely meaningful and full of
content. We may decry them, analyze them, and expose their content and intent.
All the laws are written with clearly defined terms of punishment in case of
their violation. We may criticize and declare these as inhuman or savage. This
enables the fixing of responsibility beyond any doubt at least within a demarcated
domain of adjudication. That is why all the statements made on the bases of law
always amount to clearly defined meanings and fixed responsibility.
Thus, when this article talks
of Pakistan
Thus, it is the utter
disregard for law and its deliberate trashing verily by those who were trusted
with its sanctity and custody that hacked at the root of all morality. As in
spite of many a religious teaching and its doctrine
of reward and punishment, and as it is evident from people’s outward behavior
and practically from their actions also, that they have already learned that
that is all what is here in this world. Likewise, centuries’ experience of
lawless and immoral governments and rulers made people learn how to live
without any value system or in the midst of a value system that is based on the
efficacy of force. This experience may be generalized thus: it is the absence
of rule of law that nourishes and strengthens not only law-lessness but
moral-lessness and value-lessness also. Because, in a sense, in such a society
sticking to morals, values and principles does not pay. In our case, it is more
than that since instead of paying it makes one lose what he already possesses. Hence,
in a perfect vacuum of law majority of people abandon
all morality.
In point of fact, if we do
not let laws rule, reign of lawlessness will prevail. If we do not establish
rule of law, rule of criminals will emerge. If the rule of criminals
establishes itself, all the traces of morality will disappear. What else have we
got in Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan
There are three main culprits
lawfully and constitutionally responsible for bringing Pakistan Pakistan
Briefly dwelling on their
destructive role, it is sufficient to mention that: how the military elite
staged coups, suspended and disfigured the constitution, ruled the country by
force, and exercised its influence from behind while it was not present on the
scene. How the judicial elite validated these coups starkly against the
dictates of the constitution, allowed the transgressors to rule and to amend
the constitution. How the political elite perennially betrayed their democratic
mandate and the cause of the fundamental rights of the people who put them into
power, how it played in the hands of the military elite and how in complicity
with it it never let those institutions, such as independent judiciary, rule of
law, come into existence and strengthen which could safeguard the rights and
freedoms of the people, and how it validated the dictators-forced amendments in
the constitution.
The worst form of lawlessness
which we are witnessing today in most of the areas of Pakistan Afghanistan Karachi Pakistan Pakistan
At the worst, these elites
made the state of Pakistan Pakistan Pakistan
It is in this context that the
nature and intent of the Objectives Resolution may best be explained though it
contained cursory mention to people’s fundamental rights too. Also, this helps
understand the acute constitutional crisis that afflicted Pakistan
Actually, the period till
1973 is all fraught with a neck and neck fight between the two major elites,
military and political to take control of the state. The making and unmaking of
various governments and constitutions during this period is sufficient to prove
the point. The judicial elite being too week to take sides on its own, permanently
relaxed in the lap of the powerful one; while the political elite when
apparently in power always, as it is doing today, tried to subdue it to its dictates
but failed repeatedly.
However, it was in the early
1970s that in the wake of the first general elections and the subsequent cut-throat
power struggle between two major victor parties, i.e. Awami League and Pakistan
Peoples Party, in which military elite put its weight on the side of the
political elite of the Western wing of Pakistan, and as a result of which
Bangladesh came into being, that the military elite was at its weakest. The war
that Pakistan army lost in the Eastern wing found about a hundred thousand of its
army men as prisoners of war in India and it had left that elite too frail and unprepared
to assert itself and its supremacy. That is how the constitution of 1973 sailed
through. As it is, the hands that resuscitated the fainted patient were hacked
off just after four years in 1977 and once again the military elite established
its rule.
Thus, the state of Pakistan
It was during the last days
of the People’s Government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto that the Pandora’s religious
box’s lid was slid a bit (the Pandora’s economic box had already been smashed into
pieces in his government’s earlier years), but it was wide-open during the 3rd
military coup when General Zia-ul-Haq’s Martial Law disfigured everything
civil, moral, lawful and constitutional in Pakistan. Since then, we have witnessed
the creation of a number of (and strengthening of the previously existing) armed
and un-armed political and non-political, religious and non-religious mafia
like groups vying for the control of the state to enforce their agendas. The
armed groups found the Zia-ul-Haqqian environment especially conducive for
their growth.
The same phenomenon of the
absence of a genuinely neutralized and legitimized state let loose countless autonomous
entities, from individual persons to well-knit groups, which monopolized the
use of force to promote their interests and ideologies. They started making use
of every thing and every means no matter moral or immoral, legal or illegal,
constitutional or un-constitutional, peaceful or forceful, to compel the
individual citizens to believe and behave but in accordance with their
prescribed ideological manuals. This gave rise, in addition to political and
economic, to moral and cultural policing in every street and at every road throughout Pakistan
That siege from within arrested
the creative and enterprising spirit of the nation and left it in a completely
dried, wrung and barren state. No sphere of life, learning, earning and
recreation could escape that mischievous moral policing. Woman was particularly
the target of that devilry. She was no more an individual; rather debased to
the status of a soul-less object. The tentacles of moral policing trespassed
every encirclement of human civilization from one’s privacy to the premises of
someone’s home. No one remained safe even within one’s house. The lot of the
ordinary people was made miserable; they were turned into helpless prisoners in
their own homes.
Socially and politically, it begot
the worst type of parasites. As the siege retarded the real spontaneous growth,
a parasitic economy emerged. From a pariah to a president, no one was happy to earn
fairly and honestly. Everyone who got the opportunity whether he was a laborer
or an industrialist tried to take advantage of it to amass wealth by grabbing other
people’s money i.e. tax money in whatever manner he could do that. All politics
became the art of living and living lavishly at the expense of others. Outside
government, goons and mafia live like that.
Such are the times and
circumstances we are living in. That’s the Pakistan
However, what this article
has avoided to venture at is why we were besieged from within? That such a
question pertains to the realm of psychology which may not provide us with a
satisfactory answer is what the writer has no
quarrel with. In his view, even if we find the answer to that question why an
oppressor behaves like an oppressor, it will not help a bit to stop him from
behaving like that.
Also, it is the weaker, the
oppressed one who is the real culprit; it is he who lets the oppressor oppress
him whereas it is characteristic of the human spirit that it is absolutely
free, i.e. we have an absolutely free soul. When one makes him believe that he
has been besieged, he is not free. He is free only when he fights to break the
siege. It is admitted that harder is to fight against the siege from within
than from without because our enemy is inside us. But fight we have to go for.
Thus the second thing we need
to know is that we are free and we can make that siege disappear. What is
possible and is practicable is that we the ordinary people, we the oppressed
ones, we the besieged ones, do not let the oppressor oppress us, the besieger besiege
us. We need to be self-assured that we are not victims, that we are free
people. It is as simple as that. It is our natural and inalienable right not to
be besieged by anyone, not to be oppressed by anyone. But by just law alone! In
case, we have been oppressed, laid siege to, be it from within or without, it
is morally incumbent on us to assert and stand for our rights and freedoms, and
struggle for that siege to be lifted. That’s the simple way ahead to the resolution
of our complex problems! That’s what we are required to follow in Pakistan
[This article was completed on January 4, 2009. ]
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All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Siyasat Ke Shahzaday Aur Shahzadiyan
Please note: This post has been
shifted to the Urdu Blog - Civil Pakistan. To see it, click the link
below:
Friday, November 2, 2012
Finished reading: Guide to Stoicism
Last
night (November 2), I finished reading another book on Stoicism. It was first
published in 1908 by Archibald Constable & Co., London. It belongs to the
series, Philosophies Ancient and Modern. Since then it has been reproduced as A
Little Book of Stoicism, and as Guide to Stoicism.
Fortunately,
the original first edition titled as Stoicism, is available at www.archive.org. Its author is St. George
Stock, a scholar not well-known, only that he was born in 1850, and at the end
of his Foreword to the book is written “St. George Stock M.A. Pemb. Coll.
{Pembroke College} Oxford.”
Here is what little information I could find about
him and his work:
“It
is rare to encounter a published author from the relatively recent past for
which almost no biographical information can be found online. I have found such
a person, in the form of a philosophy scholar by the curious and intriguing
name of “St. George William Joseph Stock.” Who gets named “Saint,” or did he
give himself that moniker? When was he born, and when did he die? Where did he
live? Trying to suss out the life of this enigmatic “Saint George” is
maddening.
“Four
of Stock’s books are available as free ebooks from Google Play (and elsewhere): Attempts At Truth (1882), Deductive Logic (1888), Selections From The Septuagint: According To The Text Of Swete
(1905) and Stoicism (1908). These might not sound like the most exciting
reads, but could something saucier be in the offing? I found a book on Amazon
called The Romance of Chastisement; or, Revelations of the School and
Bedroom, by “An Expert.” The pseudonym, “An Expert,” was later identified
as one “St. George H. Stock.” St. George “H.” Stock? Where did the “H”come
from? Can this be the same “St. George Stock,” and if not, just how many “St.
George Stock”s are there floating around in the mists of lost time and
forgotten history?”
For
more information about his work, visit:
As
mentioned above, at the end of his Foreword to the book is written “St. George
Stock M.A. Pemb. Coll. Oxford”, today I sent an email to Amanda Ingram, Archivist
at the Pembroke College, requesting St. George Stock’s biographical information,
and just in minutes the following information was provided; it is shared below with
thanks to Amanda Ingram:
“St.
George William Joseph Stock was a scholar at Pembroke College - his
matriculation register entry records that he was the second son of St. George
Henry Stock of Douglas, Isle of Man, a gentleman. He was educated at Victoria
College, Jersey, and matriculated at Pembroke on 26th October
1868, aged 18. He was awarded a King Charles I scholarship 1868-1873 (a closed
award for scholars from the Channel Islands) and obtained a second class B.A.
in litterae humaniores (classics) on 5th Feb 1873 and his
Oxford M.A. in 1875. He became a Lecturer in Greek at Birmingham University and
died in 1922 in Castle Bellingham, co. Louth, Ireland.”
I think
Stock’s book is more authoritative since it is based on primary sources.
Actually, Stock talks of Greeks and Romans as if he is from the same stock. He
claims to be an adherent of Peripatetic school.
This about 100 page little book
is worth-reading.
See
some excerpts from this book:
“If
you strip Stoicism of its paradoxes and its willful misuse of language, what is
left is simply the moral philosophy of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, dashed
with the physics of Heraclitus.” [Foreword]
“Among
the Greeks and Romans of the classical age philosophy occupied the place taken
by religion among ourselves. Their appeal was to reason not to revelation.” [P.
1]
“We
are born into the Eastern, Western, or Anglican communion or some other
denomination, but it was of his own free choice that the serious-minded young
Greek or Roman embraced the tenets of one of the / great sects which divided
the world of philosophy.” [PP. 1-2]
“It
was as difficult to be independent in philosophy as it is with us to be
independent in politics.”
[P.
2]
We
know very well that independents in politics are actually the “Bargainers” in
the game.
“Aristotle,
as Shakespeare knew, thought young men 'unfit to hear moral philosophy.’ And
yet it was a question or rather the question of moral philosophy, the answer to
which decided the young man’s opinions on all other points.” [P. 2]
“Their
{Stoics’} moral philosophy affected the world through Roman law, the great masters
of which were brought up under its influence.” [P. 5]
That’s
the significance of Stoic philosophy!
“If
the Stoics then did not add much to the body of philosophy, they did a great
work in popularising it and bringing it to bear upon life.” [P. 5]
Another
point that shows the importance of Stoicism, and Stock dwells meaningfully on
this theme:
“An
intense practicality was a mark of the later Greek philosophy. This was common
to Stoicism with its rival Epicureanism. Both regarded philosophy as ' the art
of life,' though they differed in their conception of what that art should be.”
[P. 5]
“We
connect the term {‘nature’} with the origin of a thing, they connected it rather
with the end; by the 'natural state' we mean a state of savagery, they meant
the highest civilisation; we mean by a thing's nature what it is or has been,
they meant what it ought to become under the most favourable conditions: not
the sour crab, but the mellow glory of the Hesperides, worthy to be guarded by a
sleepless dragon, was to the Greeks the natural apple.” [PP. 7-8]
This
observation of Stock’s is laden with dangerous implications. It’s no place to
go into the details of the implications, however, I would like to add that this
characteristic of Greek thought is a way of looking forward and recreating what
is already there, i.e. to realize its perfection, whatever it is!
“Following
out this conception the Stoics identified a life in accordance with nature with
a life in accordance with the highest perfection to which man could attain.”
[P. 8]
“The
end of life then being the attainment of happiness through virtue, how did
philosophy stand related to that end? We have seen already that it was regarded
as 'the art of life.' Just as medicine was the art of health, and the art of sailing
navigation, so there needed to be an art of living.” [P. 9]
“It
was said of Chrysippus that his demeanour was always quiet, even if his gait
were unsteady, so that his housekeeper declared that only his legs were drunk.”
[P. 72]
It’s
really amazing to see how the Greek philosophers lived and philosophized! That
was the first ever and the only society which deserves to be called a
philosophical society.
"The
absence of any appeal to rewards and punishments was a natural consequence of
the central tenet of the Stoic morality, that virtue is in itself the most
desirable of all things.” [P. 100]
So
the Stoic morality may be dubbed as a morality of virtue?
“They
{the Stoics} were the first fully to recognise the worth of man as man; they
heralded the reign of peace, for which we are yet waiting; they proclaimed to
the world the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man; they were convinced
of the solidarity of mankind, and laid down that the interest of one must be
subordinated to that of all. The word 'philanthropy,' though not unheard before
their time, was brought into prominence by them as a name for a virtue among
the virtues.” [P. 101]
Such
are the penetrating features of the Stoicism!
“Virtue,
with the earlier Greek philosophers, was aristocratic and exclusive. Stoicism,
like Christianity, threw it open to the meanest of mankind. In the kingdom of
wisdom, as in the kingdom of Christ, there was 'neither barbarian, Scythian,
bond, nor free.' The only true freedom was to serve philosophy, or, which was
the same thing, to serve God; and that could be done in any station in life.
The sole condition of communion with gods and good men was the possession of a
certain frame of mind, which might belong equally to a gentleman, to a
freedman, or to a slave. In place of the arrogant assertion of the natural
nobility of the Greeks, we now hear that a good mind is the true nobility.
Birth is of no importance; all are sprung from the gods.' The door of virtue is
shut to no man: it is open to all, admits all, invites all free men, freedmen, slaves,
kings, and exiles. Its election is not of family or fortune; it is content with
the bare man.' Wherever there was a human being, there Stoicism saw a field for
well-doing.” [PP. 102-103]
Thus,
it is Stoic philosophy that struck a blow to the moral elitism of Aristotle,
and their times. They were thoroughly humanist!
“Cosmopolitanism
is a word which has contracted rather than expanded in meaning with the advance
of time. We mean by it freedom from the shackles of nationality. The Stoics meant
this and more. The city of which they claimed to be citizens was not merely
this round world on which we dwell, but the universe at large with all the mighty
life therein contained. In this city, the greatest of earth's cities, Rome, Ephesus,
or Alexandria, were but houses. To be exiled from one of them was only like
changing your lodgings, and death but a removal from one quarter to another.
The freemen of this city were all rational beings sages on earth and the stars
in heaven. Such an idea was thoroughly in keeping with the soaring genius of
Stoicism.” [PP. 103-104]
It
was at the start of the 20th century (the book was published in
1908) that Stock observed cosmopolitanism, instead of expanding, to be contracting;
the same is true for the present age. Though there runs a parallel cosmopolitan
stream in the form of globalization, but intellectually and morally
Cosmopolitanism is weakening.
“The
philosophy of an age cannot perhaps be inferred from its political conditions
with that certainty which some writers assume; still there are cases in which
the connexion is obvious. On a wide view of the matter we may say that the opening
up of the East by the arms of Alexander was the cause of the shifting of the
philosophic standpoint from Hellenism to cosmopolitanism. If we reflect that
the Cynic and Stoic teachers were mostly foreigners in Greece, we shall find a
very tangible reason for the change of view. Greece had done her work in
educating the world, and the world was beginning to make payment in kind. Those
who had been branded as natural slaves were now giving laws to philosophy. The kingdom
of wisdom was suffering violence at the hands of barbarians.” [P. 105]
Stock
is so incisive and meaning is heartening and at the same time pleasing. He
rejects socio-political explanations as the cause of philosophical evolution,
and in the same vein censures Hellenism and through a historical reading sees a
cosmopolitan spirit developing out of it via those whom Hellenism considered
natural slaves.
Also,
his “The kingdom of wisdom was suffering violence at the hands of barbarians.”
is an indictment of the Greek wisdom!
NOTE:
It
may be asked why I am so much interested in Stoicism. Ji, actually and
particularly I am interested in moral philosophy. My especial focus is
immorality of Pakistani society. I want to understand and explain why Pakistani
society has morally degenerated. Why this society through and through immoral?
And of course how a moral regeneration may be effected!
Here
is the “contents” of the book:
I. Philosophy
Among The Greeks And Romans
II.
Division Of Philosophy
III.
Logic
IV.
Ethic
V. Physic
VI.
Conclusion
Dates
And Authorities
It
is also important to see the ‘Dates and Authorities’ (printed at the end of the book) which gives among other
things an idea of the chronological evolution of the Stoic philosophy.
DATES
AND AUTHORITIES - B.C.
Death
of Socrates - 399
Death
of Plato - 347
ZENO
- 347-275
Studied under Crates, - 325
Studied under Stilpo and Xenocrates, -
325-315
Began teaching - 315
Epicurus
- 341-270
Death
of Aristotle - 322
Death
of Xenocrates - 315
CLEANTHES
- Succeeded Zeno - 275
CHRYSIPPUS
- Died 207
ZENO
OF TARSUS - Succeeded Chrysippus
Decree
of the Senate forbidding the teaching of philosophy at Rome - 161
DIOGENES
OF BABYLON
Embassy
of the philosophers to Rome - 155
ANTIPATER
OF TARSUS
PANJETIUS
- Accompanied Africanus on his mission to the East - 143
His treatise on 'Propriety' was the basis
of Cicero's ' De Officiis.'
The
Scipionic Circle at Rome
This coterie was deeply tinctured with
Stoicism.
Its chief members were The younger
Africanus, the younger Laelius, L. Furius Philus, Manilius,
Spurius Mummius, P. Rutilius Rufus, Q.
JSlius Tubero, Polybius, and Panaetius.
Suicide
of Blossius of Cumse, the adviser of Tiberius Gracchus, and a disciple of
Antipater of Tarsus -
130
Mnesarchus,
a disciple of Pansetius, was teaching at Athens when the orator Crassus visited
that city
- 111
HECATON
OF RHODES
A great Stoic writer, a disciple of
Pansetius, and a friend of Tubero
POSIDONIUS
- About 128-44
Born at Apameia in Syria,
Became a citizen of Rhodes,
Represented
the Rhodians at Rome, - 86
Cicero studied under him at Rhodes, - 78
Came to Rome again at an advanced age, -
51
Cicero's
philosophical works - 54-44
These are a main authority for our
knowledge of the Stoics - A D
Philo
of Alexandria came on an embassy to Rome - 39
The works of Philo are saturated with
Stoic ideas, and he displays an exact acquaintance with
their terminology.
SENECA
Exiled to Corsica,
Recalled from exile,
Forced by Nero to commit suicide.
His Moral Epistles and philosophical works
generally are written from the Stoic standpoint,
though somewhat affected by Eclecticism.
Plutarch
- Flor. - 80
The Philosophical works of Plutarch which have
most bearing upon the Stoics are
De Alexandri Magni fortuna aut virtute,
De Virtute Morali,
De Placitis Philosophorum,
De Stoicorum Repugnantiis,
Stoicos absurdiora poetis dicere,
De Communibus Notitiis.
EPICTETUS,
- Flor. - 90
A freedman of Epaphroditus,
Disciple of C. Musonius Rufus,
Lived and taught at Rome until A.D. 90,
when the philosophers were expelled by Domitian. Then
retired to Nicopolis in Epirus, where he
spent the rest of his life.
Epictetus wrote nothing himself, but his
Dissertations, as preserved by Arrian, from which the
Encheiridion is excerpted, contain the
most pleasing presentation that we have of the moral
philosophy of the Stoics.
C.
MUSONIUS RUFUS
Banished to Gyaros, - 65
Returned to Rome, - 68
Tried to intervene between the armies of Vitellius
and Vespasian, - 69
Procured the condemnation of Publius Celer
(Tac. H. iv. 10 ; Juv. Sat. iii. 116)
Q.
JUNIUS RUSTICUS - Cos. - 162
Teacher of M. Aurelius, who learnt from
him to appreciate Epictetus.
M.
AURELIUS ANTONINUS - Emperor - 161-180
Wrote the book commonly called his
'Meditations ' under the title of ' to himself."
He may be considered the last of the
Stoics.
Three
later authorities for the Stoic teaching are
Diogenes Laertius, - 200 ?
Sextus Empiricus, - 225 ?
Stobceus, - 500?
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All rights reserved. No part of the contents published on this Blog – Notes from Pakistan may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of The Blogger.
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