24 July 2018
"Assalam o Alaikum Baba Ji, Kia naam he?"
"Muhammad Bux". It was a slow day at JPMC ER. He was a middle aged man who had come with brief episode of unconsciousness followed by weakness of the limbs.
"Ye konsa saal hai?". I inquired assessing his mental function.
"Athara...Do hazaar athara (2018)"
"Election kab he?". I asked a question I wouldn't normally ask.
"Pachees ko". He replied
"Pachees kab he?"
"Pachees"... He struggled for a moment. "Ye nahi pata"
"Kal he baba ji kal he". I said as I took an OPD slip out of my pocket to write CT scan for suspected stroke.
Usually I ask about their home town, name of their attendants but today was different and I was totally catching the energy.
It was 9:25 pm. I attended to my last patient who needed a blood transfusion and headed towards my ride which my friend had already booked. As we drove through the busy streets of Karachi, we could feel the spirit of tabdeeli (change) in the air.
Our Careem Captain asked us, " Aap log kis ko vote daalenge"
"Imran Khan". We replied in unison. "Aap kis ko vote daalenge?"
"Vote sirf Imran Khan". He replied with the same zeal.
The mood was set. We were all excited to become the orchestratos of "Change'. We asked the captain for aux and played "Apney Ullu" by Shehzad Roy.
Wasu Khan's true words rang into our ears.
"Quaid e Azam k baad jo bhi ata hai,
bus apna ullu seedha karta he."
The captain catching the mood requested us to play " Tabdeeli ayi re" by Shahzaman and Jawed Kahlon and so we got home desperately waiting for the next morning.
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Next Morning. Election Day
25th April 2022
"Did you vote?". A friend had asked me.
"Literally the first thing in the morning". I replied admiring the neatness of the voting mark on my thumb.
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As an individual, I have never been interested in my country's politics. I vaguely remember mama reading articles on Asif Ali Jaildari (that's how the news media referred to him during his time in jail) or proudly watching Nawaz Sharif walk up to the stage showered with roses (once upon a time I did feel proud of him), or seeing a man shot dead at the corner of the street of our apartments during an influential party rule in Karachi or occasionally watching Imran Khan on television making political speeches and thinking why isn't he in the PCB guiding us to another world cup victory. I always stayed away from the politics like many other students because political affiliation in student years was considered ghair shareefana (dishonourable).
Imran Khan gave me hope of having an honest leader to rule the country. Someone who is not a thief, whose sincerity can be trusted and whose confidence can make our enemies tremble. A person who didn't have the patience during his cricketing career for indecent remarks but same man calmly answered everyone to show his accountability as a National Leader.
I spent the following four years believing I had done my part as a citizen of Pakistan by casting my vote. I walked proudly. On a few occasions, when I had a chance to interact with the foreigners and I spoke with confidence because my country was ruled by a man who wouldn't bow down to anyone.That's all I did and I thought, that was enough.
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9 April 2022
After almost 4 years of PTI government, Tehreek e adam aitemaad (no confidence motion) ousted our Prime Minister. It was a regular day for me. I had just returned from a iftaar at my friend's place and briefly we had discussed current situation of Pakistani politics. All of us were hopeful that Imran Khan will emerge victorious but a different verdict waited for us.
What now?...............
I couldn't help but think about it for next several minutes. Entire social media was teeming with posts in his support. The historic speech given by Ali Muhammad Khan in the assembly was being shared over and over. A renowned person even wrote, "A leader like Imran Khan in born once in hundred years".
"Hundred years.", I thought. "Average life expectancy in Pakistan in 67.27 years. In an ideal situation, a man needs at least forty years to be mature enough to lead a nation."
That's 27 years of political career leaving us with 72.73 out of 100 years in question. I couldn't sleep the entire night, the pain medication with sedation didn't help. I kept thinking about the future of our nation and our country. Why is Imran Khan alone with almost every party in the country against him? And for who else we can say with surity that he is sincere to the nation? I kept thinking way into night and reached a difficult conclusion moments before finally dozing off at around 9:30 am.
.
.
.
Few hours later
"Utho beta ankhen kholo
bistar choro or moun dho lo
itna sona theek nahi he................................."
The sweet notes of mother's voice touched my ears as she woke me up singing the rhyme.
"Kia time horha he mama?"
"Itna time horha he k sooraj dhal rha he. 3 baj the hen." She said in a warning tone.
"Dhal hi to raha he, mera mulk ka sooraj", I replied as I got out of bed. Mama, not quite understanding what I had said moved on to other things. Minutes later, she received a call from our old maid asking for financial help for the 4th time for her daughter's wedding. A poor old lady who is feeding a jobless husband, his useless son as well as succumbing to her daughter's in laws' pressure of providing dowry. I kept linking everything together until she got off the phone.
"Mama.... I am wondering what kind of nation are we? After so many years we were given an honest leader and he too is taken away from us by these traitors. What will become of us?"
"Arey I was listening to the interview of Pir Panjar Sarkar, he had predicted that no confidence motion would take place against Imran Khan and He will be removed from the government. He also said Imran Khan will be re-elected again in three months and Pakistan will go towards Presidential system. And Imran Khan will be the one to solve Kashmir issue." Mama replied with face radiating with optimism.
"Who is Pir Panjar Sarkar?", confused, I asked.
"I don't know but I saw in the video today. He makes predictions which have turned out to be true."
"Mama, what kind of things you keep listening to, you don't even know who the man is and why are you believing him. Only ALLAH knows what is to come".
"Yes but we would only want it to be true", she replied with persistence which surprised me. It was unlikely of her to pay attention to fortellers let alone defend them.
"Yes I would want that too but not because some person said it. But because we did something to change our fate. Okay, he made this prediction now what? We spend rest of the time sleeping and believing things will be okay? Esa nahi hota mama.... First of all, Islam condemns predicting the future, so neither you nor I will be paying any heed to it. Secondly, we can't just sit back and leave all the burden on one man, as a nation we have to correct ourselves. ALLAH doesn't change the condition of a nation, until they change what is in themselves."
"But we are hoping for our country's betterment and within ourselves we strive to be good Muslims na".
"I wonder why we don't think beyond ourselves. Just thinking about ourselves or family at most is not going to make much difference. We have to think as a nation, as an Ummah. Do you know what's happening to Muslims in Yemen, Syria, Kashmir, Myanmar, Palestine and several other parts of the world? Why don't we donate to them? Why we keep donating to the same people over and over thinking we have fulfilled our Islamic duties? I am not saying the poor here are not in despair but like this maid of yours, at least she can reach out for help. Who do they have to reach out to? They are literally barely surviving", I delivered all of my thoughts all at once.
Mama looked at me with an innocent smile and finally asked "How do we donate to them?'
'There is an organization called Human Concern. I will pull up the donation details for you." I said, finally satisfied with mama's response.
"Tum ek article likh do." She suggested moments later.
"Kis par?"
"Isi par k kis tarha humey achi ummat ban na chahye"
"I have been thinking about it, but I haven't written in quite a while a now".
Our conversation ended there and several hours later I gathered the courage to pick up my laptop and write this all down. That we are not just individuals, we are Muslims. We are Ummati. We are Pakistani. We are not the supporters of Imran Khan but supporters of his ideology which is also the foundation stone of our country, " LA ILAHA IL-L-ALLAH". It is important we wake up as nation and reflect upon ourselves, our deeds, our honesty, our conduct. Keeping in mind we are representatives of Muslim Ummah and Pakistan wherever in the world we go. Our mothers are responsible for raising honest and morally and spiritually sound individuals and our youth is responsible for eradicating all the vices from within themselves and the society. For Muslims to emerge all across the world, we need to produce true leaders more often than once in hundred years.
It is said, "Jaisi qoum hoti hai uspar wesa hi hukmuran musallat kiya jata hai". Let's not be a nation of immoral and evil deeds. Let's not be a nation of ignorance. Let's be bigger than ourselves. Let's be Islam. Let's be Pakistan.
Pakistan...........................
Zindabad!!!
P.s I read this to mama and she asked to me cut out her part. :D
(May ALLAH bless her with long and healthy life. Ameen).
