Only The Light…

By Asim Khan

Absent and not in view
The golden words of our past
Still there, an old craving to explore
Only in view, the shackles of time
The separation of days from its demise
As I write, to form a soul
Of once that was, now a dream

As I labor to turn,
The old wheels of fortune
In the land of my ancestors and poets
Only the words I have
At my disposal and at my service
As I rotate with the earth and its burdens
Through labyrinth of time and space
Not guilty my conscience and my soul
Of all my crimes, still there some peace
Always in debt to serve, in tattered clothes
The land up in smoke and in fury of hatred

When will you awake, from this slumber?
Of mayhem and of shames,
What will you do to these traditions of past
The murderous routines and ghastly crimes
The future is yours, belongs it to you
Only the steps, you need to take
Silence is a crime if you chose to remain
In surrender to the desires of the world
The glory will come, only if you refrain
From these acts of crime, to your land
Plenty of enemies in view but it’s within
Distinguish it well, as there it remains
The clues to your success and dreams

Hold it well and keep it close
The memories of your past
The promise of the future
Shine, my friends, shine …..
As it is in there you will find
The story of your being and its land
Do not wait or hope for others to come
Summon your souls and bodies to perform
The miracles of change, the miracle of unity
It’s time for you to form a soul
Still there, an old craving to explore
In shackles of time and despair of days
Only the light, only the light, in your fate

Imran Khan

By Rabia Butt

A role model for everyone,
As the nation look upon,
At him, as a leader,
His aim is to bring,
For all, old or young
justice, humanity and self esteem,

Flows through this dedication
for his country, pure and clean,
the first to dream and propagate
the calls for independent judiciary

Support we will by all means,
Those beliefs, for nation to evolve
In presence, of law and progression,
As he marches to the tunes of change
To restore judiciary and our self esteem
Create we will the with our efforts,
A new chapter in history,
With PTI and its ideology
So join and contribute,

the change will come,
revolutionary and of purification
for he is, the beacon of light
for us, near and far,
as the voices go across thousand oceans
our promise to continue this fight,
To implement a free and fair democracy,
And bring security and stability to the country.
So let us lend our support
for the cause and for progression
let him become us,
never we will remain, the same
as darkness evades, the morning light!

From Me to You

By Faraz Jeddi

flowers of heaven look up to you
fragrances of heaven look up to you
as their goddess is no one but you
wine of heaven look up to you
honey of heaven look up to you
as they know, they are no match for you
all the beauty in the world is for you
only I dont have many words to say
I love you.
Muhammad Faraz Jeddi

Nightingale of Pukhtoonwala (Rehman Baba)

By Asim Khan

Here he rests
The old nightingale
In its peace and grave,
From the descendants
Of an old tribe and its code
The old settlers, at the outskirts
Through years of travel
The poet, in mausoleum of words

The old Pushtu poet
Carried in his words,
The echoes of peace and music
The Old Sufi
Carried in his soul,
The echoes of unity and humility
From the old rivers to its tribes
The imagination that were to capture
For centuries across the time
The old love affair,
With land and its descendants
Now lies in ruins, his words,
The resting place, in holes

Call they themselves
The proponents of change
By destruction and rope,
By death and by smoke
The old echoes still there,
In those fallen grounds
Live I not in the mausoleum
But in those hearts
Of millions that came,
And millions that are now
Never will you succeed,
I am them and they are me,
Bounded by the music
And the legends of this place
Mountains are my witness
And my words, the echo
Of distant past and now yours,

What is it you gained, if gain it is you say,
Maimed you have the old past and its land
The brutality of invaders to the heart that is stone
Inside you, as you have killed yourself
Worry not for me, but for the future ahead
I will always be there in my words
See you must with your own soul
Those moments of peace
As I hear your footsteps in my awake
I am already dead, what more can you do
Killed you have yourself, as I cry for you
In my words, in my land, of distant times
Now the playground, for devil to claim
The imaginary stakes and the real crimes
Remember, it’s in you, the old music
Claim it, the nightingales of time!

Asim Khan

Can We Fight Back

By Rabia Zia

UK Coordinator, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

Pakistan has been oscillating between civilian and military rule since its inception in 1947. The Military has, by far, been the stronger party with 33 years of rule notched up versus 27 years of civilian government. Many problems associated with this oscillation have reached critical mass, hampering the state’s sovereignty and stability as Pakistan faces numerous issues with no quick-fix resolution in sight. President Pervez Musharraf took power in Oct 1999 as a military dictator who finally removed his uniform in Nov 2007 after having re-established himself as the civilian President of Pakistan for a 5 year period, and having declared a state of Emergency – in fact a second coup.

This illegitimate act was carried out by removing Chief Justice Chaudary Iftikhar and 60 judges of the Supreme Court who would have raised their voices against a serving Army General becoming the head of State – this is not allowed under the Constitution. After their ouster, President Musharraf’s hand picked judiciary legalized him as the elected President. The elections held in February 2008 took place right after the assassination of head of Pakistan’s Peoples Party (PPP), Benazir Bhutto, under the puppet judiciary and a questionable electoral commission; however the people of Pakistan still ended up fiercely opposing Musharraf’s stalwart party ‘Muslim League Q’ (the King’s party) and granting victory to the PPP, Pakistan Muslim League Noon (PML-N) and others.

The clear mandate for the ruling coalition included the reinstatement of the Chief Justice, an independent judiciary and removal of President Musharraf. Since the formation of the coalition government in Feb 2008 led by PPP, President Pervez Musharraf resigned to save himself from impeachment. It is very clear that the coalition Government has been unsuccessful on a number of fronts as it is a continuation of Musharraf policies and governance; it has been unable to implement the electorate’s mandate, improve the state of economy and enhance the country’s stability. We do not have an independent judiciary; there seems to be no clear center of governance i.e. parliament VS the establishment. There are external threats at the borders with ongoing fighting; there are related issues surrounding detainees/missing people. There are suicide bombings targeting the army and security forces of country as well as civilian targets.

On the domestic front, there is turmoil generated by food and oil crisis as inflation spikes and a severe energy crisis triggered by inadequate infrastructure seen in frequent power shutdowns. After nearly a year in the saddle, Pakistan’s new civilian government has not been able to tackle these issues. Pervez Musharraf was behind Pakistan’s compliance with the US, which includes allowing the US Government to set up bases within Pakistan. He is also behind the use of Pakistan Army’s excessive force against the people of Waziristan/Bajaur. These policies had caused his popularity and that of the Army to suffer a sharp decline. Now that Musharraf has resigned, our party’s stand is for Musharraf to face trial for all the crimes and irregularities committed against the People of Pakistan and the Constitution eg, missing people, judiciary etc; the war on our borders – whether it is ours or someone else’s war is resulting in killing of the innocent people & making them homeless. We are still waiting for justice.

Pakistan, A Nation of Resilient People

By Farrah Raja

I write this with great pride, Pakistan homeland to Muslims. I want to thank Mohammad Ali Jinnah for leading the Muslim nation and negotiating on their behalf, convincing the British as to why Pakistan is so important for Muslims living in India.

Sentiments and emotions are important; Muslims of India never lacked it, they were failing to present their case objectively to the British.  Jinnah was that bridge, determination, courage and his sincere efforts, strength of character forced the British to listen to him.

Miraculous within a short period of 1906 when he started the political carrier to 1947 he had finally succeeded in getting Pakistan. No other nation has been so fortunate, so determined, so focused and so passionate to get a free homeland as were the Muslims of India, before even boarding the trains people knew they could possible be dead but so much was the passion and valour of people it did not deter them to board the those trains to Pakistan, many were not fortunate to reach the destination but that is not important, what is important is that they boarded the trains to free country, they had hopes, dreams and passion to live a free life. They died as free people that is what is so important.

Being a citizen of Pakistan, and being a woman citizen of Pakistan I am so proud of this country. It has given me so much, the love, the warmth, the humanity, the neighbours, the streets, that we have progressed. In the journey from 1947 we have made a number of sacrifices but despite all the odds we have progressed beyond even our wildest imaginations

We are not tired even as yet, we have not given up hope, our people have potential and we will continue to move forward, some of the challenges thrown at us have been beyond comprehension, but our resolution to raise our head high will empower us to strive ahead.  We are defiant and Pakistan is a huge country, the only country in the world created for the Muslims out of a political struggle of Muslims. No wonder we have the toughest challenges.

We lost Bangladesh; with a sad heart we were forced to accept that as a fact. The People of Pakistan are united, sectarian, political, ethnical and regional differences make us Pakistan. It is this vibrancy that brings us different point of views yet we laugh together and join to celebrate our Eids, our Ramadan, our prayers and our faith unites us with whole of Muslim world.

Long March by PTI UK

Pakistan, The Unfolding Tragedy

By Saifullah Khalid

Hello, Assalamolykum.  During this period of Tragedy for Pakistan, while, no doubt, almost the entire Nation has been made to suffer, emotionally, psychologically and I would add physically and practically, at the moment of recent Very Sad and Unacceptable event in Lahore, we hope we can learn to not to allow this to happen as a Nation.  These are the moments when we as Muslims, with true hearts specially turn to ALLAH, All Mighty, to Guide us and Help us to Survive.  Although, this is a very painful event and Our Prayers go to OUR DEAR GUESTS WHO SPECIALLY DECIDED TO COME TO PAKISTAN TO PLAY CRICKET, WHICH WAS ALSO A SHOW OF CLOSE FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO Countries, one of the things which could perhaps enhance are survival strength, IS not to loose patience and sense of Humour, despite the doom and gloom around. Below is something which might give a little jerk of smile for a moment, which is also behind this Tragedy.  It should also give us some resolve to see who are friends and our enemies are.

Saifullah

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