Pharaoh Mursi?

This week Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi  stupefied Egyptian public and Islamists around the world with his new decree which  grants him sweeping powers that practically make him immune to judicial decisions and gives him near absolute power in constitutional matters.

Pharaoh Mursi??

At the time of writing Egypt is roiling with mass pro democracy protests that are spreading with the passing of each day. On 27 November 2012, almost 100,000 protesters flocked to Egypt’s iconic Tahrir Square to protest against Morsi’s new decree, which they call as a power grab and led the Nobel Laureate Opposition leader, Al Baradei to pronounce Morsi as Egypt’s New Pharaoh. 

The decree gives President Morsi the power to proclaim any new law without any hindrance and no challenge could be made to his decisions, not even in the Supreme Court. He also actively banned the judiciary from dissolving the Shura Council (i.e. the Upper House of the Parliament). This has been viewed as a defensive strategy by Morsi to protect the Shura Council from any judicial decisions, seeing that the Supreme Court already dissolved the lower house of Parliament on the premise, that the elections were held on rules that were in contrast to the country’s constitution. That decision pitched Morsi against the Judiciary that has remain unchanged since Mubarak’s reign ended in 2011.

Morsi’s new decree also immunizes his decisions on “National Sovereignty” from any judicial review until a new assembly is elected early next year. Now what those issues of national sovereignty are, no one from the Morsi camp has been able to satisfactorily explain it to the world at large. Most probably, the issues of national sovereignty pertain to his decisions on foreign and domestic affairs like imposition of martial law, severing diplomatic ties with nations and dismissing the cabinet.  

Egypt unsurprisingly has risen up in protest

He also gives himself the power to tackle any challenges by issuing uncontested decisions to protect any state institutions from performing their functions. This has been interpreted to mean that the President has given himself extensive standby emergency powers, should such a situation arise.

Needless to say, this new decree has raised more than just eyebrows. Egypt is up in protest, and this protest seems to have united the hitherto divided and diffused opposition.  Although it is the common Egyptian on the street protesting against the decree because he sees it as a return to Mubarak era and the judiciary, who see it as a blow to their authority,  it is very  interesting to note that the protest camp has also seen former military men join the Anti-Morsi demonstrations.

In an interesting article in the Washington Post , it has been reported that the mass protests are also being used by Anti-Muslim Brotherhood elements, notably the liberals, secularists and Mubarak era military officers, to topple Mursi’s Islamist regime. It is important to bear in mind that Mursi faces opposition from the Coptic Church and secularists who claim that the Brotherhood dominated panel does not reflect the pluralistic identity of Egypt .

Despite the allegations by the liberals and the church leaders that Morsi is trying to pave the way for Salafists to come into power, it is worth noting that Morsi has proved to be so far not the demon that the western analysts predicted. In fact, his relations with USA have improved since he brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza much to the consternation of Islamist and Jewish right-wingers.  It remains to be seen how big a role USA plays in this ongoing drama seeing that ice between the Morsi led government and USA has just started to melt. The White House, given its apparent cold-shouldering of the Islamist regime, has stopped short of denouncing the decree and called for a peaceful solution of the issue.

From the view point of Morsi, we must remember that from day one, he has been on a quest against ousting Mubarak era officials from any positions of power. So far he has been generally successful since he has effectively sidelined the military officials from interfering in important political decisions and also removed the Mubarak era prosecutor general Abdel Maguid Mehmoud, who had infuriated Egyptian revolutionaries , by playing an important role in the acquittal of Mubarak era official who allegedly were involved in violent crackdowns against Anti-Mubarak protesters.

This whole play, it seems, is heading towards the-soon-to-be-introduced constitution, which many fear, would impose stricter Islamist oriented laws in the country, which the Mubarak era elements, liberals, pro-USA parties, church leaders and secularists are opposing in principle. How will the new constitution shape Egypt and its role in the middle east, we will have to wait and see, as the success of the Arab spring  depends on how Morsi lets democracy flourish in post Mubarak Egypt.

Infinity and Beyond !

My following article appeared on Tribune Blogs on 19th Feb 2012. Thanks to my editor for choosing such a good title. my original title sucked :D

July 21, 1969 was seen by many as the culmination of man’s evolution from a cave-inhabiting savage to an astronaut. That landing on the moon owed more to the imagination overdrive of the Western civilization than the technological advancements of the time. Looking at it from a purely economic point of view, it would be safe to say that space programs around the world have introduced spin-off technologies that have actually sped up human technological evolution and had a major impact on our daily lives.

Now let us descend from the lofty heights of the western civilisation’s achieve

ments in space and have a look at our own space program. Having relatively encouraging beginnings, our national space program was the brain child of Dr Abdus Salaam and with our test two-stage space rocket firing on June 7, 1961, Pakistan became the third Asian country and the 10th in the world to achieve this milestone. And as time progressed, Pakistan launched a couple of satellites into space including Badr1, PakSat-1 and 1-R. Although it is commendable that we have at least a presence in space, our enthusiasm must not end here.

At present, it seems that SUPARCO, while functioning to meet standard requirements of remote sensing, mapping and satellite communications, is missing the fabled ‘spark’ that might make it an economic pillar of the country rather than being a docile space agency that relies on Chinese technology and launching sites .

It seems that the government, corporate institutions and the common people have not yet fully realised the importance of space sciences for a country’s economy. An effective and active space program can help boost a country’s economy in more ways than anticipated. There are uses of space technology in agriculture, medicine, GPS, and many other areas. The enriched baby food used today owes its origins to NASA, from back in the days of the Apollo missions. It doesn’t take an economist to realise that the spin offs from space missions like the Apollo missions have resulted in the growth of several multi-billion dollar industries from which the USA has benefited incredibly. Scott Hubbard, former NASA scientist, now working at Stanford University, notes that for every 1 dollar invested in NASA projects $7-8 worth of goods are produced in the industry. precious few satellites into space and renting already orbiting satellites ( like Pak Sat-1). Its budget is less than even Ukraine, Belgium or Iran’s space agencies and competition with India’s ISRO is hopelessly out of the question at the moment. Concerning space sciences, Karachi University’s space sciences

institute ISPA is suffering from neglect, so much so that the class rooms have broken light bulbs, the whole facility is running on generators and the only “powerful” telescope provided is malfunctioning and hopelessly obsolete – I wish that was an exaggeration.

The future of earthlings lies out there in space. Now, one might argue that Pakistan already has enough expenses on its plate without adding space exploration expenditures to the list. However, if we don’t catch up with the changing times then we might be left woefully behind. India has already sent an unmanned spacecraft to the moon and is on its way to becoming a major space power, leaving Pakistan to squabble with the US and Afghanistan over petty issues and countering home grown fundamentalism.

The question is not about whether Pakistan should takes giant leaps in advancing its space program but about whether Pakistan would be economically able to stand in the comity of nations. Is our entrepreneurial spirit so dead that we can’t even imagine the possibility of Pakistan’s space age? Recently I wrote a blog about putting a Pakistani on the

moon. Ludicrous though it sounds, the purpose of that article was to observe the imaginative power and the entrepreneurial zeal of my fellow Pakistani readers. Many blog sites in the Pakistani blogdom refused to even publish that (except for a couple). It makes me wonder if Jules Verne was denied publication rights to Journey to the Moon (a century before the Apollo missions) by the French, just because it was highly ludicrous. It is that imaginative power and spirit – not squabbling over vague religious doctrines – that propels nations to excel in economics, science and technology.

Currently the Pakistani space program comprises of:

- Satellite Development Program Remote Sensing & GIS Applications,

-Space Science,

- Core Technologies Development,

- International Cooperation & Infrastructure Development.

The satellites that are in operation are Pak Sat-1, Pak Sat1-R, and the Badr Series satellites. Suparco has planned to launch an optical imagery satellite soon and a high resolution remote sensing satellite by the year 2014. These plans are integrated within the Space Program 2040, whose purpo

If there is a time for Pakistan to make a giant leap then now is that time. With a stagnant space administration, lack of education and research in space sciences, if we can overcome the institutional barriers to stop us from succeeding there is nothing to stop our minds.se is to present the full benefits of space technology to the nation. As commendable as these steps may be, an active effort still has to be made to make the public aware of these achievements. A crop of scientists and engineers has to be cultivated so that the future growth of Pakistani space program is not moribund. Since Suparco is still dependent on Chinese and Russia

n technology to develop satellite, communication and launch systems, to launch a truly indigenous satellite and space vehicle efforts have to be made to promote s

pace technology in our schools, universities and colleges. If we can build sophisticated weapons of mass destruction, why not use the same technologies in areas of science and technology.

If Pakistan is to survive for a thousand years then the time for developing a comprehensive space exploration strategy is now!

Religion Whammies !

The one sole year of my employment at a NPO was a real revelation for me-in a good sense. It gave me the opportunity to meet the literati and the privileged section of our society and hear their views firsthand. Of course, I am no stranger to meeting that particular lot. My dad especially would always introduce me to these people, as some of them were old and generous clients of my dad's. These were embarrassing moments for me then. Embarrassing, because the ensuing talk would focus on my studies and the reminders of my dad's hard work and how I have to live up to him ( as if muma would ever let me forget that :)) The strangest of that whole lot were the artists who looked bigger than they appeared on TV and somehow seemed to talk a bit stupidly, may be this was because I had grown up seeing them engaged in pre planned intelligent and witty dialogue on TV ( the strangest of them all was the painter Guljee- R.I.P).

yeah the people i am talking about, look like this specimen here.

However, here I want to draw attention to one observation of mine. Among all those people, may it be the literature guys, may it be the posh people of the capital or the CEO s of Karachi, or high ups in the government, the one thing that I found common in them was that these people had a view on religion, human conduct and morality that is way different to a common man's. Some of them are partial believers; some of them do not like to think about it. Some of them when asked about it say that it is their personal matter. And some were out right atheists. Atheists, with Muslim names, in an Islamic country? It didn't add for me at that time. But what did add up for me at that time was that a small group of them which I took care to observe closely, were arrogant, and took special care to openly defy religious code of conduct without any regards to the feelings of other people around them. It does not hurt much ( and doesn’t even matter), if you are educated, but for the underprivileged, these acts equate to blasphemy. This particular group of people which I am talking about mostly lives in the areas of the Capital and has an anti army, ISI and sometimes, anti Pakistan element in it. Once I had a round of heated debate with them but my position as a junior employee and the love for my first ever job dictated that I don't pursue the debate any further (still I was pleased with outcomes, which included cheap acts and finding 10 grammar mistakes in 4 worded sentences. ). They all seem to be foreign educated and little do they know what happens in the life of a man who lives in Machar Colony or Shorkot. These type of people then run NGOs which are usually a get together for the old ladies of the rich households or sometimes, in the case of Karachi, a swinger meeting of uber rich youth. Believe me, I have seen it, their attitude is no different from the attitudes of the feudals and industrialists who are attached to the country like parasites. The feudals enjoy a stranglehold over the economy and all things material. This other class of people is the beneficiary of that stranglehold and is sometimes part of that stranglehold.

But then, it would be a bit harsh to make these guys as the sole “evil” forces in the country. Well, there is always the Mullah. Yes, this Mullah has a stranglehold over religion. I remember the bush doctrine in the post 9/11 situation. It basically said that in this war on terror either you are with us or against us. So simple, yet so effective. The Mullah in this country follows the exact doctrine. Only that this doctrine has been in operation for the last 1000 years. If you are Sunni then the Shia is kaafir for you. If you are a Shia, the Sunni is the Kaafir for you, if you are an Ahmadi then you are declared a kaafir by both Shia and the Sunni, and if you happen to be a Saudi style Wahabi then all the Muslims except your Wahabi fellows are kaafir. So here, lies the ultimate dilemma. Whose Islam do you have to follow? Well the truth is that everyone seems to be in doubt. Nobody seems to be sure that whether they are following the correct version of Islam or not. The educated sector, the one about which I have been talking in the starting lines of the note, seems to have dispensed with any sort of religion. These are the kind of people most prized by the western media as they are made to stand out as enlightened Islamic modernists, all the while those poor blokes keep whispering in their ears that” hey, I am not a practicing Muslim” to which they are shushed. Well of course, they are the ideal propaganda material. Only if Hitler’s favorite guy Dr Goebbels was here. He would have been proud of the way his spiritual children have refined the art of propaganda.

Returning to those enlightened “Muslim” souls about which we were discussing earlier. Why is that these educated souls have such a “lax” attitude towards religion. What is it that they know and I do not know. What nirvana have they achieved which I have yet to achieve. See, not a care in this world about heaven or hell or sins or the judgment day, not being caught in pointless battles between zealots arguing which sect is the closest to Islam or which caliph was the best and all that stuff. I want to be there too. But my problem is that I have a logical and rational belief in God. Not blind faith, not the faith inherited from parents or preachers. Faith acquired by myself. I was an atheist for some time because I did not know which way to go and for you to acquire faith in the divine, you have to let go of every faith you are attached too, every emotion or preferences or assumptions. Just start from scratch. Be skeptic. Question. Look for answers. That’s how my faith began building. And the work is still in progress. Although I admit that, the divine deity put some hints and pointers along the way just to make sure I keep on track (smiles). You see belief in God is a very interesting thing. I think that there should a doctoral thesis on the effects of belief in a creator. Because the presence or absence of that belief fundamentally changes the way, you look at life. If you believe in a creator then the all the holy scriptures become divine and a way of life. The Prophets become reformers and divine men. If you don’t believe in the creator then the scriptures, the holy books become just like the other best sellers, the prophets become politicians and revolutionaries and agitators. Life loses meaning and you try to live life as if you would never be risen again. Interestingly it encourages ambition and motivates you to achieve something in life because you know that you are not getting it again. That’s how serious the belief in a divine being is. But doesn’t belief in a creator motivate you to achieve something in life? Does it hold you back in life, because if you fail in this life then you are sure that there’s still another chance. I don’t necessarily agree with this view. Why? Because I think that religion is just a way to live life.

About morals, about how to treat the people around you. And that’s it. If you are going beyond that then you are not following religion. You are exploiting it. Religion doesn’t stop you from achieving something. It just tells you whether this is morally right or wrong. Moreover, it doesn’t stop you from making profit and neither does it stop you from doing scientific research. Well if you trash religion by saying that it puts restrictions on doing a business and consequently profits, then you should also trash the trade policies and stock market rules and regulations too because they also impose rules and regulations. If you think that religion bars a person from scientific research then you should debunk the preachers of that religion not the religion itself.

And speaking of preachers, don’t we love our modern preachers? Like Amir Liaquat and company eh?

Wearing designer clothing and sporting that cheesy obnoxious grin on their faces. My dear Pakistanis, alas, they are really part of the corporate plan for increasing company profits and nothing else. Religion is used to make money, which again brings me back to point that I mentioned in the beginning, that these upper classes have dispensed with any form of religion and either don’t follow it or just use it for the own good. Even this recent trend in televangelism of the likes of Amir Liaquat is an Islamic version of American Christian preachers like Joel Osteen,

joel osteen, the American televangelist

Billy Graham, Benny Hinn and numerous others. Has religion really lost its meaning and context in the modern world? Why is it that religion is fervently practiced only by the poor and the under privileged and is reserved as just a showpiece for the privileged and the educated.

Here I am talking not about the west, but our own country, which is supposedly the “Fortress of Islam”. May be it is due to the amount of hardship, struggle and the pressure that you have to face if you are a Muslim, living in a predominantly Muslim country. In these situations, you either follow faith blindly or just dispense with it. For the underprivileged, you follow the faith blindly, the faith that is propagated by the Mullah who uses it for its own ends. If you belong to the privileged section of the society then you are so much exposed to the western influences that you dispense with the local values and traditions and norms. This is has been the case throughout the human history. It happened when Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures dominated. Then it happened when the Islamic empires began building up and the westerners were as much influenced by us just as much were are being influenced by them. But the good thing at that time was that the preachers unlike the preachers of today (unlike Ahmed Deedat), engaged in intelligent debates with opponents. Sitting in a comfortable coffee house and talking about the basic tenets of the Abrahamic religions. That was the culture. But sadly, that didn’t last long. It is important to note that that Islam at that time was spread through reason, logic, and demonstration (although the importance of sword cannot be ignored). The Islamic preachers were skeptics even of their religion, they would argue whether a particular philosophy in Islam really could be attributed to the Prophet keeping in mind His life and speeches. Would you even dare to question the tenets of Islam today? You would be declared as an outright heretic. And that attitude leads to the downfall of religion. And thanks to that attitude the Islam of today is the fastest growing religion of the world-only because of the high birth rate among its adherents, unlike the Islam of 1000 years ago when it was spread through reason and logic with a little help from the sword. Militancy and religion are never a good combination and that is why the Jihad against oneself, one’s own conscience and his or her own evils has been declared a greater Jihad then the Jihad of sword ( today, it’s the Jihad of the AK 47) and which is conveniently overlooked by Bin Laden and Company. But explain to me one thing, what does a common man get from all of this. I mean here’s the scenario, USA creates Bin Laden, Bin Laden does USA’s bidding and then USA loses interest and Bin Laden turns against the USA. It’s like two children playing hide and seek and if one loses interest in the game, the other kid turns against him and goes crying back to his parents to complain that the other kid doesn’t want to play game. I mean it’s really like this. These two parties incite the masses against each other and who pays for it in the end. Does it bring Bin Laden any harm? Does it bring Bush or Obama any harm? Despite everything, he did to the Taliban and Al-Qaida, Musharaf is still at large. The only attempts only his life came from the frustrated sections of the army and intelligence rather than Al-Qaida. Although it is very interesting to note that despite her enormous help in bringing the Taliban to power in Kabul, Benazir Bhutto was still gunned down by the Taliban themselves. ??? I thought the Pathans never forget and hurt their benefactors.

The situation today is absurd. The same people who were the freedom fighters, whose belief in an armed Jihad was hailed by the western world, are now being labeled as terrorists? Well of course, they are terrorists now and were surely terrorists back then as well. For Gods sakes, these were the same people who attacked the Kaaba in 1979 and claimed that they were reforming Islam and came up with their own Mehdi (Messiah). Seeing their zeal and their thirst for blood, the ISI and CIA used them for good against the Soviets and now they don’t answer their former masters. Religion is therefore being used by them to make their own ends meet.

The same civilized people who wear pants and ties were declared as barbarians and uncivilized by the Romans, 2000 years ago. Time changes everything.

let there be peace