Hang your heads in shame, Pakistan cricket team

From ball-tempering and infighting to doping and bad governance, you've done it all but now comes whats lowest of all.. match-fixing.

Hang your heads in shame, Pakistan cricket team because you stole the soul of cricket, because you betrayed the cricket-crazy calamity-stricken nation, because the captain of your team is the ringleader of all the match fixers in the team, because you embarrassed us as the ‘heroes’ of the nation, because you played those three balls that have rocked the foundation of cricket!  You robbed Stuart Broad’s dream of scoring a century as it now means nothing! You are answerable to all the people who paid to see this cricket match at Lords! Lords! Yes, the cricket heaven! You are answerable to every cricket-crazy Pakistani citizen who comes out dancing on the roads when you win!

Why would you do that, captain? You promised the grief-stricken nation smiles. You promised you’d win and bring happiness! How could you commit such a heinous crime? You gave hope to the people living in relief camps when you decided to give part of your bonus to them which now means nothing because YOU have wiped that very last smile from their faces.

"You'll find there's only a few players who are genuine and who are actually here for the love of the game, and there's not many believe me. A lot of them are just looking for money, women and food," says your bookie!
Why didn’t you have even an ounce of decency?

The ICC should give you the severest of punishments because you deserve it! You deserve everything from a huge fine to imprisonment to a lifetime ban! You are a disgrace to the nation! I don’t care about the world cup next year. If this is what we’ve become as a nation then we don’t even deserve to play for the cup.

Plane crash -Check. Flood -Check. Target-killing -Check. Flogging -Check. Match-fixing -Double check.

WHAT else is there?

A Nightmare

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, after the floods and the target killings, two teenage boys are flogged to death in Sialkot. The boys were tortured by the public for two hours which caused their brutal deaths. The reason that triggered such crime has not yet been ascertained. Whatever the reason might be, it in no way legitimizes the inhumanity. If the flogging weren’t enough, the dead bodies of the brothers were hung upside down on a tank.
If anyone has seen the censored images on TV, they would see how onlookers encircled the crime scene like a bullring, like it was an animal being slaughtered on Eid-ul-Azha, witnessing the injustice before their eyes like it was some kind of entertainment. I use the word ‘entertainment’ because if it wasn’t entertainment for them, then why stand there and do nothing at all? Why didn’t they stop the people who were mercilessly beating the hell out of those boys? Not a single attempt to save the boys screaming for dear life.
In a situation described above, one would question, “Where was the police?” Oh yes, the patriotic police of the nation was there at the scene but were as good as being absent as all they did was help those butchers exhibit their butchery and keep people at a distance from there. Why did the police even present themselves at the scene when all they did was stop people from disrupting the butchery?
I suggest that all the police officials present at the scene snatch the badges on their chests and throw their uniforms in the bin. They’re not worthy of it.
Every month for Pakistan has a nightmare in store for us. But this is certainly something I had not expected in the holy month of Ramadan! I don’t get why the locals are protesting now. The justice was in their hands. I don’t get what justice they await now. They gave their verdict when they refused to help the boys who were screaming in pain when being subjected to such brutality.
I can’t even imagine what must have gone through the mother’s head when she saw her teenage sons butchered to death? On the father who had to collect bodies of his two sons severely mutilated? Why does the public feel that they can take the justice in their own hands? Why has this become a norm here? WHY DOES THE MEDIA GLORIFY THIS NORM? WHY DO WE SEE NEWS CHANNELS GLORIFYING ‘PUBLIC BEATING UP A THIEF’? It saddens me; it pains me to see what’s going on in our country.
And when it is said to them: "Make not mischief on the earth," they say: "We are only peacemakers." Verily! They are the ones who make mischief, but they realize it not. [Al-Baqarah, 11-12]
If this is who we are as a nation, then tell me why the water, the air, the earth of this country would not be angry with us?

Making hijab/niqab wearers criminal

How one dresses should never have anything to do with the government. The French government says that they ‘cannot tolerate such kind of enslavement on its soil” What enslavement are they talking about again? Most of the women do it because they want to. I’m not a huge fan of the Niqab (veil) but if someone is wearing a niqab it DOES NOT AFFECT ME IN ANYWAY RIGHT? SO IT SHOULDN’T BE MY BUSINESS!

Clearly I don’t support this law. No one has the right to dictate someone how to dress. Some Muslim women are pressured into wearing but then MOST of them want to dress that way so its absolutely wrong of the state to make them feel alienated by coming up such ‘laws’.

I don’t understand how these are considered ‘developed’. They talk about freedom but what kind of freedom is this?

They can’t fool the people by saying it’s an effort to “improve women’s lives” but we all know how funny that sounds because I’m convinced that what they really want to say is, “we don’t support or want your kind of people here” because if they really did want to improve lives they would stop the nuns from wearing those habits too.

What ever happened to the freedom of religion and choice? Isn’t religion the ‘private affair’ of individuals anymore? How can the government intervene in someone’s personal faith and dictate them the way of life?

The last question that comes to mind is how does a woman in a burka or a niqab harm anyone?

Celebrate being a Pakistani

“Why should we celebrate “Independence Day”? This country gives me anything but happiness, peace and security”
These words came out of a friend’s mouth. I’m pretty sure everyone else has heard them too from someone they know. I however, totally disagree with it.
I believe I actually have hundreds of reasons to celebrate this day. And by celebrate, I do NOT mean sitting on bikes and firing on the way to Clifton beach. What I mean by celebrating is to feel the love and the sense of intense patriotism on the day. I agree that one should be patriotic everyday and not just on one day but we need to respect, love and appreciate all the sacrifices made by our ancestors for getting us this piece of land that we call ‘Pakistan’.
We call Pakistan our ‘motherland’, our ‘home’ but do we REALLY mean it? Why do we throw stuff on the road? Why do we spit on the road? Why do we break signals? Why do we find a ‘source’ to get a job or admission in any institution? Why do we let political parties divide us into ethnic groups that can’t stand each other? We live in one home but why are we still so divided? Why is a Muhajir killing a Pathan? Why can’t a Balochi stand a Punjabi? Why are we involved in killing each other? Why have we become so weak internally that other countries like the U.S. do not hesitate to attack parts of our land?
I believe each and every person should celebrate this day by actually being a part of this home. This is not what our ancestors wanted for us. This is not why they went through all the hardships to get a piece of land. They were all together for achieving this one land for us where the generations following theirs could live freely, as ‘one’.
We should take the opportunity on this day, to thank Allah for so many things we can do living in Pakistan. We breathe in a free nation. We do walk on the roads like we own them, right? Yes, we do. So let’s make our home a better place to live in for all. Let’s thank Allah for making us Pakistanis. We have an identity of our own. If a Pakistani goes to England or the U.S. s/he is a Pakistani and not just a Pathan or a Sindhi. Let’s be grateful for an identity that we have. Let’s be grateful for being born in an independent state where we didn’t get to see the struggle our ancestors had to go through to find ‘home’. We live in that home. You can leave Pakistan but the Pakistani identity won’t leave you. Celebrate being a Pakistani. Pakistan Zindabad!