India’s “Filthy Photos” and Nationalism

My answer to India’s “filthy photos” and Nationalism



For the past few many weeks, I have seen pictures of India’s Ganges floating around the internet. The pictures I have attached below are ridiculed by Chinese and Pakistanis as “India’s filth”. The original article was written by a Chinese tourist who went on to India on a two months holiday. Interestingly on his North-à-South trip, he was only able to capture pictures of decomposing bodies, and toilets. Although the article has been translated, the tone of the article is extremely biased. My argument is that such articles promote a sense of nationalism and its arrogance.

Here are pictures from the blog and a link to the article:

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/filthy-india-photos-chinese-netizen-reactions.html

I saw a fellow Pakistani (taking a huge pride) shared the article by saying “after all it is not at all shining”. Well of course, we all know “India is shining” is just as good of a propaganda as “Colgate whitens your teeth”. I was surprised to see the sheer amount of joy Pakistanis and Chinese citizens felt sharing the article on Facebook, Twitter and other social media websites. William Ralph Inge was once quoted as saying,  “A nation is a society united by delusion about its ancestry and by common hatred for its neighbors”. The ingrained hatred for Indians by Pakistanis is generation long, and the same can be felt vica versa. We, the Pakistanis, should just take a prowl around the banks of Ravi River for a quick session of our re-enlightenment towards cleanliness. Perhaps, that would make us feel a bit more modest towards the health and hygiene superiority we have been flaunting. Below are some of the pictures: 

For the record, I personally visited the Ravi River a few months back and found a sea of pink plastic bags around the banks. 

As for China, there are pictures that I have attached below showing the poor situation of public toilets, as well as general pollution in the suburbia. I have also included the pictures of how animals are brutally murdered in some parts of China. The animals I am talking about are dogs, cats and pangolins.

I have not written this blog to support the pollution around the Ganges (as an excuse for a religious ritual). In an ideal situation, the Chinese would like you to visit Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong just as the Indians would like you to visit Ladakh, Goa or Delhi. I also do not dispute the fact that India is “dirty” (for a use of a better word) neither do I deny that Indians aren’t nationalists. As a matter of fact, I have met some of the most radically-nationalistic-Indians over the years. However, I do want to point out to the fact that how nationalism promotes unnecessary “arrogance”. 

Nationalism is a very knotty idea. In philosophy it is well determined that “Utopia” is just an ideal philosophical place, and will always be (i.e it could never be achieved). Encountering nationalists, I see a trend of people who are usually poorly travelled and if they are travelled they have not lived long enough outside their own cultures i.e. forming (own) sub-groups in a foreign country. They generate self-fulfilling theories that serve them with, thinking that they made the right “choice” of being born in that country. Ironic as it may sound, but we do not choose to be born where we are born. 

Since the internet has brought us all closer. I hope that one day it will also make us realize that if we really want to help this world, We need to start from home just as the charity (starts at home). 

Written By Fahad Sher Hussain

Kuwait: Racist, Homophobic And Sexist

When we think of Kuwait not many things come to our mind. An oil rich country, overvalued-currency and the Gulf-War, Kuwait has a lot on offer. As of late, this country (or at least its rulers) are tirelessly working on a PR campaign to make it sound more like a "tough-little" country. Is Kuwait suffering from "Napoleon complex"?

When I heard of the news that Kuwait was (indefinitely) banning Pakistanis along with other five nationalities from entering the country, I was surprised. The countries that were banned from entry were Pakistan, Iran, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Interestingly, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan were not kept on the ban list (as the list was put on due to security risks). It was also surprising to see the reaction of Pakistani Politicians who went to Kuwait (one of Pakistan's donor countries) to beg them to lift the ban. Showing not much dignity, Pakistani politicians gave in to their "brotherly" friends.

If the same step had been taken by a western democracy, the politicians in Pakistan would have been the first to call them racist. Why is that Pakistan's “dignifying-ly-patriotic” politicians never called Kuwait a discriminating country? Is it because it is a “brotherly” Arab country? And so it happens there is an entrenched inferiority towards Pakistan’s brotherly Arab nations. On the contrary, if a western-state had banned Pakistanis; the politicians would have eagerly protested. Would I be correct to assume that Pakistanis know the fact that a western democracy is more likely to take them serious? As opposed to a country where democracy means nothing-all!

Kuwait never fails to surprise me. Just yesterday, I learnt that they are also introducing a ban on transgendered and homosexual expats in the country. Kuwait will introduce tests at the airport to check if the incoming passengers are gay. For starters, they couldn’t take DNA samples to look for the “gay gene”. It is because that would defeat Kuwait's stance on homosexuality (learnt behavior vs genetic). I am speculating a two step test process based on the scientology's "stress-o-meter" model.

They could use the help psychometric questions. By asking questions, they could check what side of the meter the answers lead to. For example, They could say  the word Britney Spears, and then observe if the meters leads to “sexually attracted to” or “idolizes”. If the meter remains in the middle then the person is bisexual.

To further scrutinize the application, the confused bisexual expat could then be made to watch pornographic photographs.The confused bisexual could be shown immodest photographs of both men and women, to see which one would get them excited physically. Satire apart, it is not up to a government to determine one's sexuality.


Talking of government, Kuwaiti government is shutting down mixed coffee shops due to (uncontrollable) immorality. And by immorality I mean, women alongside men enjoying a smoke of Sheesha. Clearly, the connotative meaning of morality in my mind is very different to theirs. Conversely, according to UNDP, Kuwait ranks the highest (in the middle-east) for gender equality. Despite the fact, that it was only recently that women were allowed to hold a public office position in Kuwait. I wonder if the definition of “gender equality” changes the same way the definition of "morality" changes as it travels to the middle-east.

With all the attributes discussed above, I am happy to declare that Kuwait is suffering from "Napoleon complex". It is small, it does compensate for its small land and it does make non-sense decisions. I Just hope that (not) many little other countries (in the middle-east) fall into that complex.

Written by Fahad Sher Hussain

Malala: 10 Reasons Why She Should Win Nobel Peace Prize!

I have seen my fellow citizens write a lot against Malala as an "Agent-of-the-West" and some go as far as saying she was never shot. For some Pakistanis, Malala is a conspiracy against Pakistan. However, there are many more Pakistanis who support Malala and take pride in her. Coming from the later bunch, I will be holding my breath this Friday as the Nobel Peace Prize is announced. 

I have compiled my list to justify why Malala is a deserving candidate.

10.  A Fighter

Malala Yousafzai is a fighter. She is a fighter who stands for her rights. She started by writing for BBC Urdu and has ended up fighting for a greater cause. In such an innocent girl, lives a soul of a great fighter. 

9. The Youngest Winner

Malala is only 16 and if she wins she will be the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in the history of Nobel laureates. When in 2011 Tawakkol Karman won, at 32 she was the youngest winner. 

8. I am Malala

Malala Yousafzai is the reason for which a United Nation's resolution on the rights of equality of education in Pakistan was passed; and the need to have education for the children out of school. Currently, She is also working for the rights of Syrian children in the Lebanese refugee camps.

7. A Teenager

There is so much fuss around Malala being a teenager. It is argued that she doesn't need to win the Nobel Peace Prize because she deserves to live a life of a regular teenager. In my view, she is no ordinary teenager or an ordinary human being for that matter. The "ordinary-teenagers" do not get shot by some of the world's most notorious criminals; nor do they stand-up for the rights of female education. For all the ordinary teenagers I know, they talk about Zayn Malick and watch Twilight. She already has a spark of a charismatic young lady!

6. A Survivor

Malala is survivor of a deadly attack. Contrary to what Pakistani conspiracy theorists would like to think, she was shot and later survived a deadly attack. Malala survived various surgeries to be able to come out as a brave young woman. In its true sense, Malala is a survivor who has lived through to be able to promote what she really believes in.

5.  A Great Father

Malala wouldn't have been Malala without the support of her father. It is her father who encouraged her to write for BBC Urdu under the brutal rule of Taliban. By rewarding Malala, the many courageous fathers like Ziauddin will also be rewarded. They will be given a recognition that a daughter's education is worth fighting for.

4.  Girls' Education

According to the 2011 Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Program, approximately twice as many males as females receive a secondary education in Pakistan. Pakistan has one of the poorest records of female education in the whole entire world. The public expenditure of education in Pakistan is nothing more than 2.7%. Malala is a hope for many Pakistani girls who cannot afford to study or will never study at a school. She has happened in the right time for the right cause.

3. An Influential Figure

Malala has become an influential name on the World stage. Times Magazine included her in the list of "100 most influential people in the World". She has become a symbol of hope, child education and courage. She has actually educated many influential celebrities on the rights of female education. Some of her fans include Beyonce, Madonna, and David Beckham.

2. The First Pakistani

Malala has great plans and one of them is to be the future prime minister of Pakistan. She will make history by being the first Pakistani to win a Nobel Peace Prize. By awarding her with the Nobel Peace Prize, the many girls in Pakistan could get the recognition to dream. If Malala can dare to dream, so can they! 

1. Facing Evil

The main reason why Malala should win the Nobel Peace Prize is because she has dared to vocally stand against the Taliban. Be it Nawaz Sharif (the current PM of Pakistan) or populist Imran Khan, no one has been as vocal and as critical of the Taliban as her. For her, the threat of Taliban is nothing as major as educating young women. 

"They thought that the bullets would silence us, but they failed," Malala said in a speech at the United Nations on her 16th birthday. "The terrorists thought they would change my aims and stop my ambitions. But nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born."

Akbari and Asghari: A story of two bitter sisters

On an eventful night of 14th August 1947, Asghari was born. The legend has it that she was born to a very fair mother. As soon as the mother gave birth to Asghari, the whole of hospital washed away with blood. It wasn't just the only child in the womb of the mother. The doctors advised that they will not bother taking out the second twin. They said they will wait for it till the night after. It is then the two bitter sisters were born.

The fair mother adopted the two daughters away to her neighbors. Asghari was given to a conservative family; who was bigotedly religious and traditional. Akbari was given to the other neighbor who was adjacent to Asghari’s adopted family. Their family was a rather bigotedly secular family; alcohol and religion went hand-in-hand. The rivalry of these two neighboring families was age-old, and between them they decided not to reveal (to the) the girls that they were sisters.

The families also decided that the sisters will not visit each other. If they ever attempted to visit each other, they will be confined to certain areas. Educated from their adoptive families; the two daughters grew up, and in hatred for each other. They saw each other as step-sisters and blamed each other’s fathers for the break- up of their families.

Asghari grew older to be a beautiful, lean and a religiously-conservative girl. She had problems with the men she married, and she married many. Those men had a great influence on the way she thought. Over the years, she started developing identity crisis and eventually chose an identity of a woman who is obsessed with her religion. The obsession lead to self-harm and the self-harm lead to disability. The scars from her obsession of self-harm are still visible from far far away, even to this date. It is said that Akbari had a part to play.

Akbari grew older to be a voluptuous, secular and yet still a slightly religious woman. Akbari would enjoy a nice glass of red wine while also celebrating her religious devotion. Like her sister, she had also been very corrupt in dealings of her professional life. The sisters were quite similar in their contradictions and yet had always portrayed themselves in a different light (to each other). It was almost as if they lived purposeful-life to down-play each other.

It was the height of contradictions, when Asghari learnt the art of black magic (coming from a religion denouncing magic altogether). It was her adoptive family's relations living in the desert, who sent her the book of black magic . She used that black magic to perform it on her “step” sister, Akbari. Adversely, the black magic emotionally tarnished Asghari (because the relatives failed to tell her that the magic tends to destruct the life of the performer). The black magic continued having inimical effects on Asghari, taking her to the darker sides. She became emotionally and mentally unstable. Her friend Xin still supported Asghari in her troubled times. Although Xin had a secret agenda which was to voyeur into sisters’ rivalry.

Asghari continued on a down-hill journey. Akbari looked down upon Asghari (on her sister's self-destructive-suicidal-mission). Akbari never bothered to help out, but instead enjoyed each and every moment of the sisters destruction

While Asghari was going down, Akbari started a great career at a BPO. Her wealth grew and she prospered. Akbari took pride in being the wealthier sibling.

The sisters are 66 years old now and as I type this they are carrying on forward with their rivalries. I have grown up and matured over the years. I hope the sisters will do too one day!

Written by Fahad Sher Hussain and Edited by
Mehwish Mughal

Bollywood's White Ladies!

I have always wanted to write about Bollywood's "white" ladies. I find it extremely subjective, and beyond reason that Bollywood has been using Caucasian women as background dancers. I find it hard to comprehend as to how Caucasian ladies help form the narratives (by just being back-up dancers)? That too in a country where not even 1% of the population identifies itself as Caucasian!

Just the other day I stumbled upon a clip of Big Boss 7, where a Swedish participant complains about a male participant poking fun at her by asking her to wear a bikini. She replies (emotionally), if it was an Indian girl he wouldn't have dared (to say it). 

Fair enough, Bollywood is growing and everyone wants a piece of it. Many Russian, Romanian, Eastern European and Central Asian women flock to Bollywood to work in the ever-growing industry. I am not concerned about their employment in the Indian cinema but more so the message it produces about White women (to the viewers). 

I stopped watching Bollywood movies a long time back. It is not because I have anything against them ethically or morally. I for one reason, cannot stand a 50 year old man dancing like a maniac, while thinking it is cool to do so. I believe Bollywood movies are for entertainment, but certainly not for the intellect. It is the same reason that I do not watch many Hollywood movies too. I resort myself to either critically-acclaimed cinema or World Cinema made on a limited budget. 

 Don't get me wrong! There are films that are good and have made a difference to the Indian cinema but I am talking of the genre in its contemporary sense. Having said that, (occasionally) sitting at an Indian restaurant or at someone's house I do get a glimpse of them.  And whenever I do I cant help but wonder what is the role of these white women in the background.

Do these women suggest that the accompanying man (in the dance numbers) is so "hot" that even the exotic would fall for him? Or do they suggest that white women are only good for a "bit-of-fun" and dance? It is hard to decontextualize. I  sincerely hope that someone from Bollywood would actually come out and reason it out for me. 

Meanwhile the opposing question remains; Would it be socially (or culturally) acceptable for us to see Indian/Pakistani/Desi girls dancing on Swedish shows (wearing hot-pants and making sexual moves)?

In a typical Bollywood narrative, a woman often takes the supporting role of a male protagonist. He is the man who fights the bad guy. I suppose if he does manage to earn a bit of support from his white female friends then why not! 

On the contrary, if "women-centric" films are made then they are applauded. It is also mentioned that Bollywood is changing (and improving). Some of the recent examples are films like Kahani, and The Dirty Film. That done and dusted, it is again back to the same old narrative; Dabang, Chennai Express, and Rowdy Rathore are some of the recent examples. In Bollywood, women in general have little rights let alone Caucasian women (It is not like they are bothered anyway). 

I have a friend who is blonde, she once went to India on a missionary trip. Being a blonde, she was openly made sexual-advancements to. Her brunette friend was not as affected. When she asked her Indian friend, she was told that blonde women are usually seen in adult movies (porn). Hence, the perception of them in India is of "lose-character". When she told me that I was only certain that Bollywood also had a part-to-play in reinforcing the stereotype.

 When a dance number begins, (almost instantly out of nowhere) these fit, sexy and good-looking Caucasian women appear. Unavoidably, you notice that these women are so "sexually-motived".  It is as if, they are giving away their sexuality-on-a-platter to the lead man. 

I am aware that many would counter-argue by suggesting that it is just for entertainment. It is really this kind of entertainment, that has encouraged me from watching Bollywood movies. I long for the (kind-of) cinema made in the times of Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar and Benegal. At that time, the Indian cinema was not called Bollywood either!

Can A Rationalist Be Spiritual?

Tear Down The Mosque And The Temple; Break Everything In SightBut Do Not Break A Person’s Heart, It Is There That God Resides

It is a poetic verse from the 17th century Punjabi-Sufi Poet, Baba Bulleh Shah. His poems were all about spirituality and being one with the one. The very ideas of spirituality and exploring the inner-self were the core aspects of his poetry. Shah would challenge the status-quo of spirituality at the time, in a non-traditional spiritual approach. After all, theocracy was born out of the need of being spiritual. In other words, organized religion played on it for its own material gains. Understanding the manipulative background (spirituality has gone through), could a rationalist human-being ever be spiritual?

Having faith (in non-religious terms) in something, an idea or even a person gives us an enduring comfort. For an example, having faith in your partner (who has been there for you in the past) gives you the strength you need to carry on. Similarly, having faith in anything generates a positive feeling of being looked after or cared for. Faith is a stage we reach when we have had a satisfying experience. I believe that you cannot have true faith in something without being able to be sure that the faith you are putting into is reasoned. Hence in other words if one needs to have faith (in something), they need to have a "bloody-good" reason. I believe that I have acquired my faith in mysticism, coming from a rationalist background.

In strict scientific terms, a mystical feeling is often referred to as a mere psychological experience. In religious terms, a mystical experience is when one communicates with the sacred. For me a mystifying experience has a broader meaning. 

I believe in mysticism that relates reasoning to gratification. How beautiful it is to realize that everything in this world is interrelated. To be part of this world, we are made from each other. We all living things lead back to the same evolutionary micro-organisms.  It is the core idea of the many scientific theories; such as the theory of evolution. We essentially come from the same matter and when we die we go back to the same matter. 

In a way we belong to the oneness of everything. I suppose, for me going to a beach and looking at my surrounding gives me a positive feeling; of realizing that all that matter that is around us is related to us. The fish in the ocean and the trees near the beach; they are all related to us. Not only that it makes me have a feeling of belongingness, it also gives me a gratifying experience of being one with the one. I always feel the same each time. For a while I thought, it was just a feeling. Later reading on Rumi and Bulleh Shah’s poetry, I was exactly feeling and appreciating what they taught. It is then I realized, being a rationalist, I had experienced mysticism.

Extraordinarily I can experience mysticism anywhere, all alone or even at a crowded place. I have started considering myself a spiritual person yet keeping a stronghold to my rationalist values. A balance that I struggled to maintain for quite a while. In essence, your "right-hand side of the brain" deserves a fair treatment just as your "left-hand side of the brain".

I leave this post with Rumi's beautiful poem on oneness.

My place is the placeless, the trace of the traceless

neither body or soul, I belong to the Beloved,have seen the two worlds as One and that One called toand know: First, Last, Outer, Inner.Only that breath breathing, human - being.

Supporting The Gay Rights in Pakistan and The Pakistani Trolls

Just as I was going through the regular news feed on my Facebook. Apart from the regular hogwash, something caught my eye. It was a post from The Express Tribune. The headline mentioned some gay website being shutdown in Pakistan by PTA.  PTA is a "pseudo-moralistic" internet authority responsible for shutting down a number of sites for (sanity-knows-what) immoral-istic behaviors in Pakistan. It is the same authority that has shutdown Youtube in Pakistan. After mustering up all my courage, I decided to write and propose my views on the ideas of individual freedom (and of course the rights for homosexuals). It was my friend, who decided to write first. Initially, I decided to support her comments. And after a few comments, it became obvious that we were the favorite targets on the comments' section.

As per the comments above, a lot of them suggested that being a homosexual was a mental illness. It seemed that all of them had done some sort of mastery on critical-psychological and critical-behavioral issues; to come up with such a determined conclusion. Comments after comments, suggested that being a homosexual was a mental disorder and they were "rapists". I found such comments disturbing in two major ways. Firstly, the Pakistani society still holds a strong stigma against mental illnesses and disorders. And secondly, they had no clue on what was meant to be-of-consent and without consent. I would elaborate on my first concern first. It was very obvious that they held a strong stigma against homosexuals and just as the human brain works. They would only associate one thing negative to another thing negative to store similar information in their brains. In other words, for them to say that homosexuals were mental patients, and needed not to be taken serious. They were also suggesting that, mentally disordered people should be "outcasted" and needed a "fix" too.


Many of them justified their answers by saying if homosexuality is legalized, it will be rapists next. What a nice try on an illogical argument! Clearly, a vast majority of our population does need an education on what is consent and what is not consent. I am talking of an English-writing and English-reading middle-class. God bless the rest!


Apparently, there is also no mercy for the sexually abused!

Just as the scandal continued, we were made subject to of being gay (not that we had a problem). Helping the poor doesn't make you poor. But again logic and reasoning had little significance.

However, the comment below took the cake!

I believe that shaadi.com should launch its next campaign around "Get married before you turn gay!". Seriously, only a "Desi" could come up with such a logic inversely-proportionating "Rishtas" with Homosexuality. For this one, I had to stand up to give (it) a standing ovation and sit down to eat the rest of the cake left on my computer table.

And then there was something about Norway, the freezing cold weather and frozen English?

How would she react when she gets a visa to Canada? She would go and live in a country where gay marriage is legal.

In all seriousness, I was amazed to see how much hatred people had towards gays and lesbians. Even if one doesn't agree, they should still have the mercy to show compassion. I think my fellow countrymen watch a lot of this man to come up with the logic they do. Dr Zakir Naik blames "blue movies" for homosexuality.

Blue movies or white movies. In my opinion, everyone has a right to be, express, and live the way they want to as long as they remain to be (ethically) law-abiding citizens.

The Blog: The Secular Tableeghi

Pakistan and Secularism; the ultimate goal. 

I grew up in the Pakistan of the 1990s. It was a very different Pakistan to the Pakistan I left in 2000s. The quiet alleyways of Islamabad, the bustling traffic of Lahore and PTV dramas at 8PM were some of the finest memories that I left the 1990s with. It was the time when Noor Jehan was still alive, and for us as kids the most anticipating occasion was to visit the newly opened "Animal Kingdom" in Rawalpindi. Things were so simple and the biggest worry at that time (for us) was to find out a way to come up with a reason to miss the "tuition" that night. As school kids, our targets were to miss the school and tuition on alternate basis. If we are sick at school on a Wednesday, we had to be sick at our local Tuition on a Thursday. The shuffling and the alternating of absence from one or the other was somewhat gratifying. 

Beneath the surface and beyond our rather naive shenanigans, we also grew up being fed a doctrine which defined Pakistan as a nation. "Pakistan Studies" and "Islamiyat," quite aggressively and repetitively; reinforced the idea of Pakistan's Islamic nationhood. Pakistan is a country made in the name of Islam and  Islam is what keeps us together as a nation. Simple mathematics became algebra, and algebra became calculus as we progressed grades through the years but these subjects hardly changed in (their) thematic ideas. What would change was the length of the (respective subject) books we would study, and the length of essays we would write on those subjects. 

Watching PTV news at 9PM meant that it was time for us to wrap up for bed. It was the time when my dad would quietly walk up the stairs of our house towards the main television lounge to watch his news. It was also a very well indication that good kids "do not stay up beyond 9PM". I used to be glued to television, because I loved moving images. It was so much to an extent that I would try and keep my dad engaged in trivial conversations so that I could catch a few more glimpse of the moving images. (Predictably a decade and so later, I graduated with a degree in television production). Watching news, I almost could predict its narrative. It would start with a conservatively dressed woman greeting and summarizing the news. Then, how Nawaz Sharif had been working effortlessly to open a new dam in some part of Pakistan. Then came the anti-India news filter (India was this giant country which was anti-Muslims) and then the news about the weather. Near the news finishing time, if lucky (that is if a Chinese diplomat was visiting Pakistan) you would hear happy songs on Pakistan-China friendship. If not then, the regular demo of 20 minutes on how India abuses the rights of Kashmiris and how it is against Muslims (generally). For a long period of time, I did not even have the slightest clue on the fact that there were more Muslims in India than the entire population of Pakistan. 

I grew up older and moved to Lahore. It was then I got admitted into the prestigious, Government College. Naturally, Islamiyat (Islamic Studies) and Pakistan-Studies were compulsory subjects to pass, and gain admission into university. I had also come from a school where Quran Studies were compulsory too, and so was Arabic. At Islamic Studies classes, boring as they were (the same as what I had studies from Class 1 was taught); the debates would get more heated. Students would talk about who would go to Hell and Heaven. Why was the "society becoming corrupt" and the crime was increasing? I remember one of the students saying; it was because the women in the society were walking around unveiled that the crime rate increased. Logically impossibly, yet the student (quite skillfully) proved his point. My (home) tuition had also advanced and I was taking tuition from a doubled masters (in Statistics and Mathematics) unemployed teacher. From being a charming young man to an overtly religiously- "bearded" man was a transformation I saw in a few months. His logic and reasoning (was critical but for some reason) was rather disproportionally-disconnected. Now that I think back, it was almost as if he was trying to say something else and expressing something completely else. He was trying to say that he was unemployed and having his doubled masters degree did not get him a good job. He was also trying to say that he was incapable, and very unlikely to overcome poverty (due to the ineffectiveness of the government). However instead how he used to reason was that, in Pakistan true Islam was never implemented and that it is a great international conspiracy that was letting us down (hence the bad economy). 

Years went past, I ended up studying in New Zealand for my later high school years and university. It was one day when I asked a Chinese student, "what is your religion?". She quite comfortably replied, "I have no religion". I shivered with amazement! How could someone have no religion? It was something I grew up with so rigorously and so reassuringly. I had met Parsis, Christians but, having a no-religion was rather a fresh-out-of-the-box. I was also subscribed to a class on Ethics and it was then I learnt about the "European Age of Enlightenment". I learnt about the reasons behind Western Values and how they were determined. I felt that I had a chemical reaction happened to me in my mind at that time at one of those class tutorials. I changed,  and was ready to accept (previously of what I would have thought of as odd ideas like) it was OK to have no religion, and it was also OK to have religion. So as long as we respected each others' rights, and liberties. It is that time that I gave birth to liberalism and secularism in my brain. Later living in New Zealand, I couldn't help but draw comparisons (between Pakistan and New Zealand) on the ideas of being a rightful citizen,  having freedom and most importantly "being-yourself".

After I completed my studies, I started traveling back to Pakistan but this time around I saw Pakistan with a completely different perspective. I saw that religion had become the determining factor in who was right and who was wrong. Yet at the very same time, the poetic sense of religion also enabled the many interpretations of it, and its many manipulations. The opposing schools of thoughts have and had, become so fiercely competitive that costing a life of the other was a mere trivial instance. Pakistan was in a  "Chakra of Violence". Pakistan-Studies and Islamic-Studies, were now making a lot more sense. I had come up to a conclusion that, it was a bad idea to learn year-by-year over the years that being a Pakistani meant being a true Muslim. Who was to decide who was a true Muslim anyway? 

I, today as a maturing man think that there has to be a conscience where a new sense nationhood is built (on the values of a shared identity) than just being Muslims. It is the only way Pakistan can escape from the "Chakra of Violence". It is a time to make it clear that the only way to co-exist is to coexist. I have kept the title of the blog ;"The Secular Tableeghi". Tableeghi stands for a devout person who serves his life towards (religious) preaching. And it is as if I feel (almost my religious-ly) duty, to convey the message of secularism as an antidote to the doctrine that has incited hatred and violence in Pakistan for the past many years.