Oh-my-God-how-could-this-be?

A friend’s Facebook status was, “I am wondering how the MQM would have survived the 2 hour press conference by Mr. Zulfiqar Mirza?” The most liked comment on that status was “They would’ve been loading their weapons :D”.

The press conference by former governor of Sindh, Mr. Zulfiqar Mirza, has created much hype and, to my surprise, debate on Oh-my-God-how-could-this-be? I was not amazed at even a single sentence coming from Mr. Z.M’s mouth. He said MQM is a terrorist organization, BIG NEWS. He blamed our government of being American handmaid, like we didn’t know that? He called Rehman Malik a liar, SURPRISE SURPRISE. What did surprise me was this very obvious information is being debated on for authenticity only. As usual the focus is on discussions and not on solutions.

This press conference will surely have one benefit, in the coming days we will have a lot to choose from. On T.V. different talk shows to choose from, whoever loses temper faster will win the most ratings. Off T.V. we will get a chance to take part in, and if lucky observe, discussions on what a (non) revolutionary press conference has happened? If God is kind we might get to hear the legendary telephonic speech of Altaf Bhai. Oh brother, that’s breathtaking. And after a week or may be two, if the media cashes it well, it will all be gone. We will be back to watching talk shows on routine issues, gossiping and Altaf bhai on youtube only.

Though politicians in Pakistan cannot be mostly trusted with their words but still Mr. Z.M made a waste attempt by putting his life at stake. Because, this nation is sleeping with no alarm set. And man! Are we good at it or what? Almost twenty percent of our country was directly affected by the 2010 natural catastrophe; crops, animals, houses and people were lost to the flood. Our countrymen till date are suffering the consequences of the disaster. The role fellow Pakistanis played initially was commendable but now only a handful of the people are empathic and working. Our brothers in Karachi are dying every day and we are only concerned because our flight to a foreign country is via Karachi. My brother’s friend in Karachi messaged him yesterday, “Today could have been my last day. Thank God for saving me”. Another friend in Karachi mailed me to share her grief and sorrow; she wrote “Death bodies in sacks are lying in the street corners and people are afraid to open and bury them”. And we are caught in the dilemma of who is cooler, Karachites or Lahoris?

Despite everything that is happening, we as a nation are not moving a muscle. God knows what are we waiting for? Two years back at a protest one of the fellows was holding a banner, “Please do not make noise, this nation is sleeping”. I was furious at such harsh criticism. Not anymore! What a few groups of young people are doing for the country should be a national effort. Lawyer’s moment was a trailer, we need to stand and work united as a nation to safe our country because present “democracy” is definitely not working.