If the Scene Changes

Engaging in conversation is enjoyable when the listeners are familiar with your mindset, and their eagerness to listen adds to the pleasure. However, I don’t know why I’ve been feeling unusually heavy-hearted these days. The surrounding silence feels almost palpable, and the shushing of emotions has sent chills down my spine. That’s why, for the past few days, I’ve strangled my phone and disconnected from everyone, sitting in silence. Then, suddenly, yesterday morning, a little girl started pounding on my door. When I opened it, she immediately complained that she had been trying to call me for a long time, but no one bothered to answer, so she decided to come herself. With a forced smile, I asked her purpose for coming. She said, “I need to give a speech on Pakistan’s Independence Day; can you write it for me?” I declined, saying that Independence Day had already passed. To this, she promptly replied, “Is Independence Day meant for just one day?” I certainly did not expect such a response. I tried explaining it to her in various ways, but she was adamant. She explained that her school had organized a mock Pakistani parliament on stage, where various guests would participate as assembly members, with a senior elder acting as the Speaker. Given the significance of the program, she needed my help. When her persistence grew, I eventually disappointed her by refusing. She said, “Fine, I’ll write it myself, but… but what? You’ll at least review it, won’t you?” Trying to end the conversation, I reluctantly agreed, “Yes, I’ll look it over.”

And now it’s before me… a debate on democracy and Independence Day… it makes me laugh. Anyway, let’s read the thoughts of a little girl. Whether I agree with them or not is another matter.

Mr. Speaker! You’ve heard the speeches of those in the house, in which they painted a picture of the beautiful, joyous lives of free citizens in a free country. I couldn’t help but be amused by their speeches. It became clear to me that either our vision has become this weak, our knowledge this lacking, or we are simply turning a blind eye to the facts! Our self-absorbed lives don’t allow us to see the other side of the dim picture where there is only pain, suffering, deprivation, a sense of slavery, powerlessness despite having our full existence, and the suffocation of our very emotions despite being citizens of a free country. Every breath is indebted, every thought is monitored, every movement is checked, and every word is watched. This is the fate of the middle class and those with some sense, and this too is one aspect of the life of the common people.

It will please you to hear this; my respected colleagues will be delighted to know that here, everyone is free. Whether to eat lentils, chutney, or nothing at all, they’re free to go to bed hungry at night if they can’t afford food. If their innocent child is sick and needs medicine, they are absolutely free to let them die from the fever or to buy sweet lozenges for five rupees… however they choose to let them die, there are no restrictions. It’s no one’s responsibility; their death is not a burden on anyone. If an elderly or middle-aged citizen of this country is suffering, they are completely free to die in their shack, cough to death on the roadside, or get crushed under the wheels of a moving minibus while getting off. And if someone is in debt, burdened by children, responsibilities, and has to repay a loan, they are absolutely free to sell a kidney, sell their blood, or even sell one of their eyes. If it’s a woman, she can sell her body, auction her honor in the marketplace because she is a free citizen of a free country.

If a young man with his degrees in hand wants to wander aimlessly around the city all day, he is free to do so. He has complete freedom to walk the streets as long as he wants and, when he’s had enough, to commit suicide however he wishes. He can lie on the railway tracks, hang himself from a ceiling fan, or drink poison… there are no restrictions. It was his life, his death, and he was free to die as he wished. Here’s something else that might interest all my feudal colleagues because our house is mostly filled with feudal lords, isn’t it? To please them, I’d like to highlight this aspect too: we have every kind of freedom here. We can abduct anyone’s sister, daughter, or wife whenever and wherever we please and do with them whatever we like… and then, we can end the story however we wish. Whether we label her as “kari” and bury her alive, or, before killing her, have her torn apart by dogs, it’s up to us. If someone protests against this cruel treatment and seeks government intervention, the warning from the feudal lords in the assembly strikes terror into everyone: “Beware! These are our traditions; no one is allowed to interfere with them.” And no one dares take action against these brutes because they know no one will challenge them. They are free.

People are absolutely wrong when they say that anyone can check us, and the society we live in allows further freedom: if anyone has the strength, they can burn another woman. If they can’t manage that, at least they can throw acid on her. Our law and our police are also completely free. No one can question them, no one can stop them; they can declare whomever they wish a criminal, and whomever they want, innocent. It is because of this freedom that this house has come into existence, in which only the privileged can sit. But Mr. Speaker! My esteemed members must surely be aware of the truth that all those who sing the praises of freedom and democracy know very well how they reached this house. When the situation is such that even the decision to appoint the people’s representatives is so questionable that everyone sighed in relief at the appointment of the first independent election commissioner, but even in that election, every party had severe reservations about the rigging, and some are even hinting at launching a movement against it.

Mr. Speaker,

I ask you, in a country where foreign companies manufacture everything from soap to detergents, and the prices of essentials like bread, petrol, and gas are determined by the IMF and World Bank, can we truly call this country free? Freedom is not some mythical being or statue that you install and applaud. Life cannot be lived under constant surveillance, with even our breath held captive. We have merely handed the public the lollipop of democracy, hoping they would be satisfied.

True freedom is about using our resources, living on our land, upholding our beliefs, and making our own decisions about the present and future. In a free country, every individual has the right to express their views and live as they wish. However, there is a significant difference between the citizens of a democratic nation and a puppet populace. If our oppressed and downtrodden masses understood this, the current state of affairs would not exist.

If the freedom we boast about had truly reached the people, our luxurious lives—built on the blood of the poor—would have been in jeopardy. Every moment of our extravagant lives, from the grand halls to the air-conditioned vehicles, reeks of the burnt blood and flesh of the poor. My heart trembles at the thought that the lives we’ve built on the crushed spirits of the impoverished might one day collapse upon us. The Creator of this earth and sky is also their Lord, and if He decides to add colour to the cries for freedom, where will we hide from the people whose votes, sweat, and sacrifices we have disregarded?

This is a debt we must repay. Our leaders fought tirelessly for the freedom we are still far from realizing. Mr. Speaker, to understand the difference between freedom and slavery, ask the unarmed Palestinians who are martyred daily or the Kashmiris whose suffering we claim to advocate. The Kashmir we promised to protect, the same Kashmir that our founder called the jugular vein of Pakistan, has been handed over to Modi, an enemy of Muslims. Will the blood of 150,000 Kashmiri martyrs be in vain? Will the atrocities against thousands of innocent daughters never be avenged?

Thousands of young men have been abducted and disappeared, leaving parents to gaze endlessly at their doors, waiting in vain. These are debts that we, Pakistanis, must repay, for these people still harbours an intense love for Pakistan. Yet, our rulers, bowing before the Pharaohs of the White House, have betrayed the Kashmiris, stabbing them in the back.

What will you say to those Kashmiris who, despite unfavourable conditions, celebrate Eid with Pakistan’s flag held high? The Indian forces try to suppress them with brutal violence, imposing curfews and firing bullets, but they cannot extinguish the flame of freedom. We cannot forget the elderly and ailing Syed Ali Gilani, who, even in his final years, would declare before throngs of Kashmiris, “We are Pakistanis, and Pakistan is ours.” But what did we do in return? We betrayed them, treating them with a cruelty that no one should ever show to their own beloveds. This injustice is not only our duty to address but also a debt we must pay, even if it means crossing rivers of blood.

بڑا مزہ ہو جو محشر میں ہم کریں شکوہ

وہ  منتوں سے کہیں چپ رہو خدا کیلئے

There would be a certain satisfaction in complaining on Judgment Day,

only for them to tell us to be quiet for the sake of God.

Meanwhile, one of our leaders boldly claimed to be the advocate of Kashmir and, in opposition to India’s actions, announced weekly one-hour protests. Yet, after a mere ten-minute photo session on the first day, Kashmir was forgotten. Another leader, who cowardly declared his fears in front of dozens of journalists, where are they today?

Do I need to remind you that when Indira Gandhi arrogantly declared during the fall of Kashmir that they had sunk the two-nation theory in the Bay of Bengal, divine retribution soon followed? Her young son Sanjay perished in a helicopter crash, she was riddled with bullets by her own guards, and later, her son Rajiv was blown to pieces in a suicide attack.

As for Mujib, on India’s Independence Day, army officers brutally gunned him down along with his entire family. According to an Indian journalist, Mujib’s body lay in the staircase for three days, where stray cats and dogs gnawed at it until they had to be shot. Sheikh Hasina survived only because she was in India, but I believe she was preserved by fate as a lesson, especially on 5th August 2024, to show Modi and the world how the two-nation theory resurrected itself in the streets of Bangladesh, where even the youth chant “What is our relationship with Pakistan? There is no god but Allah.”

None of those who betrayed Pakistan, including Bhutto’s family, who met unnatural deaths, or Yahya Khan, who spent the rest of his life bedridden, learned from their mistakes. Can the oppressors of Kashmir’s martyrs expect to escape unscathed?

Mr. Speaker! Instead of learning from the traitors of Pakistan, once again, on May 9th, an attempt was made to bring a bloody revolution to the country. Even senior military analysts are astonished that such a well-organized plan to target key and specific areas across the country could not have been orchestrated even by the military itself. However, under a particular plan, rioters were sent to various locations to conspire to break the country, making it easier for the triad of the United States, Israel, and India to seize control of this nuclear-armed nation’s assets.

Have we held these evil forces accountable in time, those forces from whose malevolence the Almighty saved this miraculous state, yet they remain free to plot every scheme to suffocate the state, acting as a heavy burden on its chest?

Mr. Speaker! May 9th is a black day in our national history. The deeds that our enemies couldn’t dare to do in the past 75 years were attempted by a few wolves hidden behind the veil of politics, driven by their lust for power. The leaders of this party stood behind the rioters and miscreants, fuelling their aggression with the inflammatory orders of their leader, which has now been captured on video as part of the official record. Despite this, the state has shown an unacceptable level of complacency. How will this be remedied?

The roots of this conspiracy began the day the current army chief, as head of ISI, informed then-Prime Minister Imran Khan about billions of rupees being siphoned off from the country, orchestrated from within his own household under the supervision of his wife. Before Imran Khan could issue a statement as per his usual manner, all the documentary evidence was presented to him so that he could verify the situation within his own house and take corrective action. However, instead of addressing the matter, he immediately demanded General Bajwa to remove General Asim from his position, not only from the ISI but also from the army, and to file a case against him. At that time, General Bajwa was in route back from a foreign trip and promised to investigate the matter. Yet, the Prime Minister, in his impatience, went as far as the airport to demand immediate action.

The second criminal step taken by the Prime Minister was to install General Faiz in that position and plan how to govern the country for the next twenty years, much like in China. To achieve this, it was necessary to appoint General Faiz as the next army chief, but military regulations did not permit this. Senior generals then came together to confront this conspiracy and tried to seriously inform the Prime Minister about the gravity of the situation. However, the lust for power had blinded him to such an extent that he was willing to destroy every law and regulation to fulfill his nefarious intentions.

This was the point where, to save the country, a constitutional path was chosen, and a vote of no confidence was brought forward. But now, to block the new chief’s appointment and install his preferred General Faiz, Imran Khan, with his injured leg, took to the streets, rallying the people to bring about a revolution against the army, akin to the Turkish model. But by the will of Allah, the man who planned to gather millions to storm Islamabad couldn’t even cross the Ravi Bridge in Lahore due to the lack of public support and returned disheartened. After this, the organized plan for May 9th was set in motion, the terrifying scenes of which are before our eyes, and the nation now awaits the dreadful and shameful outcome of this horrendous conspiracy.

Mr. Speaker! These were just a few aspects of freedom that I briefly presented to you, considering the constraints of time. What is freedom, and what should it be? For a moment, imagine yourself as the public or as a Kashmiri, and then none of us will need to be told whether the people are free or not. I leave the judgment of freedom and slavery to you!

ستم گروقت کا تیوربدل جائے تو کیا ہو گا   ؟

مرا سر ترا پتھر بدل جائے تو کیا ہو گا؟

امیروں کچھ نہ دو، طعنے تو مت دو ان فقیروں کو

ذرا سوچو اگر منظر بدل جائے تو کیا ہو گا؟

When time changes its course, what will happen then?

If my head or your stone changes, what will happen?

O rich ones do not mock these poor souls.

Just think, if the scenery changes, what will happen?