As I belong to a family where a large majority have over the years managed to exasperate or infuriate an overwhelming majority of people around them, hence, taking into account my circumstance that they have continued to wreak similar sort of havoc in my life, as well, hence, as the first person to provide a rather detailed view into their manners and activities, I have been repeatedly asking within the not-so-protected or completely open confines of my room that what happened to the previous generation of infuriated individuals or families that I have not been able to find any record of their testimonies lodged with the police or any other such departments?
The whole of the aforementioned scenario that has unfolded in the Punjab where the wider population has eventually turned them into outcasts owing to their horrendous behavior but nobody is able to find any records of complaints against these family members raises the critical question that what sort of tactics have the successive governments been using to stem the flow of these incriminating testimonies against these perpetrators of gross violations of human rights? Why have these folks been able to roam the streets of Punjab without any legal ramifications or repercussions arising against them because of their continued horrible behavior over the last 8 to 10 decades?
Pakistani politicians keep talking about horrendous violations of human rights taking place in Palestine and Kashmir, yet nobody has shown any interest in the violation of rights that have taken place against the people who were never able to lodge any complaints against there harassers and tormentors, and I have had to do it myself while taking tons of pain as the government of Pakistan has closed all doors on me. Despite being the school topper and then class topper in the compulsory English course at FAST—NUCES, I have not been able to find a job even in call centers in Pakistan as their managements have been telling me that my English is not good enough. I managed to beat people with 923, 904, 898, 888, and people with A levels from LACAS.
When it comes to keeping a record of participating individuals’ misconduct, even military bases and institutions have been busy maintaining such records for over 50 years. Two of my relatives who are almost my age, namely Mansoor Ali Akbar and Hassan Mirza from Jhelum, have military records that include the details of their misdeeds, ranging from simply probably bad in the case of Mansoor Ali Akbar to unacceptable in the case of Hassan Mirza who was kicked out or expelled from Pakistan Military Academy near Kakul. Mansoor Ali Akbar failed to get a promotion because of whatever he did, and Hassan Mirza was expelled from the Military Academy; however, when it comes to the conduct of the wider family in the civilian society, where almost all of the members have been declared complete outcasts by other families, not a single family has been able to lodge a complaint against them anywhere.
When it comes to the part of the headline stating that the government of Pakistan has been pulverizing the rights of competent people in Pakistan despite having promised in the constitution that the rewards for the people working in the knowledge economy will be comensurate with their attainments, performances, and, probably, knowledge body, the government of Pakistan has been, for over 50 years, obliterating the rights of these people who continue to prove decade after decade as professionals that they deserve much better rewards as professional owing to their initial performances in the academic system and then their extremely admired performances as professors, teachers, and professionals in the engineering sector. The whole of the previous paragraph can be thoroughly studied when it comes to infuriatingly profound differences in treatment afforded to those who deserve excellent treatment and those who merely deserve a satisfactory enough job, yet get treated like all the beloved deputies of the king in a royal court where the beloved, regardless of their level of incompetence, manage to secure the biggest reward. They have been showing criminal disregard for the promises made in the Constitution that state the rewards would be commensurate with attainments, performances, and acquired knowledge. The following comparison lays bare the stupendous divide between the treatment of extremely incompetent stooges of the government and people admired by their colleagues and juniors alike.
As retired justice Zia Mehmood Mirza is my father’ uncle, younger brother of my father’s father, hence, I have first-hand information of the prevalence of spectacularly incompetent people in the Judiciary, as well. Almost all of the members of the judiciary tend to have extremely poor academic records when compared with engineers and doctors working in Pakistan, yet these engineers and doctors fail to earn even a fraction of the salaries awarded to these extremely incompetent people working as judges and always brutally abusing the system, yet the much more competent engineers and doctors earn peanuts in comparison.
Although Zia Mehmood Mirza was not just extremely incompetent, he was spectacularly corrupt, as well — her extremely incompetent daughters have been minting money using all of their connections in the system with feudal families of Multan and people like Aitezaz Ahsan — nevertheless, despite his sheer incompetence, he was still living in a 4 kanal bungalow in GOR 1, had a government issued Honda Accord 18cc fully loaded all expenses paid even when I was in 8th grade in Jhelum, and probably 4 servants taking excellent care of an extremely incompetent and spectacularly corrupt judge.
In comparison, the former dean of FAST Dr. Khaver Zia was definitely an exponentially much better intelligence, spectacularly well behaved, outstandingly well informed, and almost liked by everyone at FAST, yet despite all of these excellent qualities, he was busy commuting in a 1972 Turquoise colored Datsun when I joined FAST in 1997. Even such exceptionally well read and admirably intelligent people in Pakistan have to live on pennies while offering their services in an exceptionally likeable manner to such an extent that almost all of the student body at FAST used to admire Dr. Khaver Zia for his demeanor, excellent grasp of various subject matters, humility, and other qualities, as well, yet a person who had failed to pass his MA English exam in at least 1 attempt — according to some unconfirmed news, Zia Mehmood Mirza failed to pass his MA English exam in 2 attempts and then managed to pass eventually on 3rd attempt; the first attempt part has been confirmed by my father that his uncle was a horrible student; the second failed attempt remains unconfirmed — yet he was busy living in a 4 kanal bungalow and enjoying all of the luxuries that I have lilted above including unlimited supply of fuel and maintenance for that 1800cc brand new Honda Accord in 1988.
That’s how the government of Pakistan has been treating the intelligent-to-extremely intelligent and exceptionally well-read class by diverting tons of money towards extremely incompetent people working for the judiciary and hogging various ministerial posts. Most of the professors at FAST were electrical engineers with PhD degrees from America or Britain, yet they were either driving 20-year-old vehicles or had just managed to secure loans from banks and had only recently bought Honda Cities in 2000. Honda cities for PhD electrical engineers not funded by any government body, yet 1800 to 2400 cc Honda Accords for extremely incompetent judges with all expenses including the price tag of the car afforded by the government. Then these people want the citizens to like or praise the setup or working of the government, as well. Infuriating levels of injustices are taking place in our society where extremely well-read, intelligent people have to live on pennies, whereas such infuriatingly dumb people working for the judiciary and hogging ministerial posts enjoy perks that make a decent person want to set the whole of Pakistan on fire.
When it comes to the decency and behavior of members of judiciary and legal fraternity, the whole of the situation becomes spectacularly dirty and exasperating when one starts to look closely at the type of cases that certain sections of our judiciary has been entertaining, compalinants involved, and the financial circumstance of the complainants, and how excatly were they able to afford those litigations in the first place and how were they able to secure more funding from the system despite losing the cases in the courts.
When it comes to the state of the judiciary and how some horrendously corrupt people belonging to various segments are abusing the system to mint money, it seems worth disclosing the number of fake cases that are filed for the simple purpose of minting money by participating in various segments of society, especially judicial matters.
A distant relative of my father’s elder brother, who himself managed to earn sensational levels of notoriety and disapproval amongst all members, who was a school teacher managed to purchase land to construct a house somewhere near Islamabad. The house was built after her retirement as a teacher of middle school, if I remember correctly, and after a few years, she managed to find a tenant for the upper or lower portion of the house. She then lost the house to that tenant in whose case they all alleged that he had managed to forge documents to such a sensational level of accuracy that he managed to convince the city administration that the house belonged to him in the first place or he had successfully purchased it from the woman and made the necessary payments.
That woman, named Amina or Ameena, having retired from a system where the system already rewards teachers spectacularly poorly then managed to file a lawsuit with the help of a lawyer. The case lingered on for a few years; she eventually lost the lawsuit, and then, I have no bloody clue how, she managed to find enough cash from somewhere to purchase another house.
The whole of the scenario raises the question that how on earth was a woman on an extremely insufficient salary managed to first file a lawsuit and then find enough money to purchase another house somewhere near Rawalpindi or Islamabad?
Similarly, the late husband of Asma Mujeeb, who is one of my father’s younger sisters, has been living somewhere, having encashed his life insurance policy and moved away from his wife. Asma Mujeeb’s story, more or less, bears resemblance to the story of the Ameena woman that I have narrated in my previous paragraph. Asma Mujeeb kept the judicial system busy by filing a fake lawsuit against the transportation system, whose bus allegedly hit Dr. Mujeeb. She kept visiting the city of Jhelum from Mangla for proceedings that were taking place in the lowest court in the city of Jhelum.
Just like her husband, the son of Asma Mujeeb, Raja Faheem Ahmed, was pronounced dead more than a decade ago. Raja Faheem was deemed suffering from severe brain retardation and was almost incapable of performing any job well enough. They managed to get his death certificate and encashed a life insurance policy. He has been living in hiding somewhere, as well. This is the state of law and order in Pakistan. Written by a 14-year-old.
This is the state of the judiciary in Pakistan, with the sole aim of establishing a just and meritorious system, yet the members of the judiciary have yet to concede that they simply do not possess the cerebral capital anywhere near the intelligence of the spectacularly well-read engineers admired by all of the juniors and colleagues. How exactly are they planning to establish a just and meritorious country without first conceding that they simply cannot demand such rewards as the constitution clearly states that the awards would be commensurate with attainment, continued performances, and knowledge acquisition. These judges do not come anywhere near the level of intelligences offered by these engineers and doctors, yet they continue to vociferously claim that they deserve the packages that the successive governments have offered them over the years and continue to offer and improve despite knowing perfectly well that extremely incompetent members of the society eventually become part of the legal fraternities and then some amongst those incompetent then filter through to become judges, where most of the appointments have zero corelation the continued performances of those who become judges and mostly remain firmly rooted in their political allegiances.
Minorities In Pakistan And Human Rights
With the horrific abuses of human rights taking place against the highly-educated-to-adequately-educated, well-read Muslim population of Pakistan now properly discussed, the last section of the document will discuss the abuses taking place against the non-Muslims or minorities in Pakistan.
The situation in Pakistan when it comes to compliance with the incorrect interpretation of Islam under severe duress is so outstandinly widespread that as an ardent fan of scientific discourse and an outstandingly intelligent person, when I wanted to register myself as an agnostic adult in Pakistan, I failed to find any options available on the NaDRA’s dgigital forms that would have allowed me to express my beliefs correctly in all of the governmnet documents. Even though Islam, Quran, and well-informed scholars are unanimous on the topic of apostacy that Islam does not allow or approve compulsion in the matters of choosing one’s faith, and all of the Islamic jurisprudence demands that an adult person should be given the right to choose his or her faith freely, nevertheless, despite the provisions in Islam corroborating this freedom, successive Pakistani government has made it nigh on impossible to choose one’s religion freely, and the legislatures and constitution do not grant citizens any right to choose their religion in an free and open manner without any duress. Several cases of apostasy and relinquishing of Islam as the chosen religion have resulted in well-documented death sentences in Pakistan, most of which were eventually commuted under pressure from foreign governments or groups.
According to Pew and Gallup polls conducted before 2020, the number of Pakistani citizens willing to declare themselves agnostics or atheists on unnamed surveys stood at 2 percent of the population; since 2020, the number has fallen to around 1 percent of the population. If we were to rely on the 2 percent figure obtained or elicited prior to 2020 period, it suggests that more than 5 million individuals in Pakistan who want to openly live as either agnostics or atheists do not have the right to state this fact of their lives in government papers as successive governments in Pakistan have been busy threatening such people with dire consequences ranging from life imprisonments to death penality.
When it comes to the rights surrounding a person’s right to choose one’s religion freely without any duress or threats to life and safety, it has been granted in the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights which has been ratified by all of the participating nations in the United Nations and also by the member states of the European Union. The European Union demands that all states planning to become Europe’s trading partners should not only ratify the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights but also ensure that all of these rights granted to the citizens of Europe are granted to the citizens of all of sovereign states planning to become trading partners of Europe.
Pakistan has been a trading partner of Europe for over 10 years, yet even the basic right ratified by Pakistan both at the UN and then as a preferred trading partner of the EU that people would be granted the right to choose their religion freely and without any fear of death or persecution is not available to the citizens of Pakistan. Citizens of Pakistan do not have any such option available on the forms made availabel to them, and even the lawyers and human rights groups decline to work with such individuals willing to seek legal injuncitve help to somehow get this right restored. I have tried, albeit in vain, to get assistance from at least 2 different lawyers or human rights bodies when it comes to my right to abandon the religion chosen by my parents when I was just born and get myself declared an agnostic in all of the government papers. I was bluntly told by one of the groups of human rights activits operating out of Lahore that they just could not risk their lives by becoming a party to this quest to get the whole truth included in all of my government documents as they had witnessed the shooting of their colleagues who had been trying to fight for the rights of other such individuals trying to get themselves declared atheists or agnostics. Most such shootings of human rights activists in Pakistan have been nothing but fake news, as the government and other agencies have been quite excellent at eliminating these people from the scene to create this impression that this eventuality cannot be ruled out from the lives of those not willing to cooperate. I have even seen Salman Taseer enjoying driving his white, or creamish, Toyota Land Cruiser in Lahore after he was pronounced dead.
Veracity Of The 1 or 2 Percent Claim By Pew or Gallup
When it comes to on ground reality of Islamism in Pakistan and religious extremism, the truth could not be further from what the International media has been painting about the general population of this country. When I was growing up in Jhelum in my early-to-mid teens, we used to live in one of the most modern colonies in Jhelum, and of all of the families residing in the whole of the colony, where we probably had more than 35 families occupying that many houses, only 3 adults used to attended daily prayers. Otherwise, the mousque used to entertain only impressionable young teenagers in whose cases the parents were not willing to reveal the whole of the truth of the society and sociatal norms that most of them eventually become non practicing Musilms not willing to reveal their closet agnosticism.
When I moved to Lahore as an enrolled student at FAST, we used to have a mosque just across the institution. Despite the next door availability of the mosque only around 5 percent of the student body was showing any interest in appearing for daily prayers at the mosque, and mosque used to be largely empty. These students had just reached their last year of teens, meaning they were largely 19, and even if they had been religious before they arrived at FAST, just about everybody had lost interest in continuing those religious practices even at that young age.
Despite an absolute majority’s utter lack of interest in Islam in Pakistan where almost close to 0 percent of women now wear burqa or other religiously mandated garbs, the international media is somehow obdurately insisting that the Pakistani population should somehow consent to the role of a religious-to-exteremly-religious majority nation.
Based on all of the traits of Pakistan youngsters that I have seen, not in their teens anymore, and mature adults in Pakistan, I can say with utmost certainty that the number quoted by Gallup and Pew that only 1 to 2 percent of Pakistanis, even in anonymized surveys, are willing to reveal they are agnostics is patently incorrect. An extremely large section of the Pakistani society would come out as agnostics or openly irreligious if the threats to their financial and social well-being were to be removed entirely. That’s the state of human rights in Pakistan when it comes to freedom of thought concerning the freedom and openness to accept or reject the religion imposed upon the masses over here.
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