Those dumb Arab governments

This picture was taken in Abu Dhabi airport - incidentally, a truly awful airport - while browsing the MSN website. I was trying to read a very innocuous article, something about relationships, you know the kind of silly article that is pure fluff but nevertheless catches your attention with a provocative title. And it has been a long flight, and I wanted to be entertained. So despite the fact that I knew better, I clicked on it, and instead of loading up on my computer in its glorious silliness, I was confronted with... this.

The warning reads: "We apologize the site you have been attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates."

It's truly absurd that governments censor what their citizens can see. But what's really ridiculous about this particular experience is the kind of content that the UAE government was censoring, I had just finished reading the New York Times, BBC News, and Dawn, and had no problems at all. So the idiots in Abu Dhabi don't realize that all sorts of bad press coverage about worker revolts and mistreatment of labor and lack of development planning are being consumed happily by their population. But yes, they're being prevented from reading about anything of a romantic nature. Way to go, UAE. I have always believed that the dumbest government officials are Pakistani, but I think you UAE folks have us beat.

So far, so good

There was peace and calm yesterday on 9th Muharram. Some processions were smaller than they usually are, but for the most part, everything was "normal" - if it can be considered normal to have Muharram processions with heavy police and army presence, and with virtual curfew imposed in many cities (Karachi included). One can only hope that this peace continues into today, Ashura (10th Muharram). We desperately need at least one major event to go off peacefully in Pakistan, for our sanity if nothing else.

By the way, the entire country is in the grip of a cold wave. It snowed in Islamabad today, and while Karachi is warm during the day, it becomes very cold at night. That fabulous weather I praised a few weeks ago is no more.

Bomb blast in Peshawar

There was a bomb blast in Peshawar last night at a Shia imambargah. Approximately 12 people have died. This follows a bomb blast in Karachi on Monday night in which approximately 40 people died. These are all part of the "expected" violence that is supposed to accompany Muharram. And it's ridiculous and absurd that we have become not only accustomed to this violence but have actually come to expect it. Actually, in some ways, we're all relieved these blasts haven't been worse.

Pakistan has become the new Iraq.

Dude, leave already

Note: This is snark, not an actual letter

Karach Megacity Development Project

Karachi's powers that be have been talking about embarking on a number of huge development projects over the last few years. Of course the city has already seen a lot of "development" projects including a number of overpasses, the infamous underpass ("Asia's longest!") which flooded in the 2006 rains, and the tragic Northern Bypass bridge which collapsed within a week of its inauguration leading to many deaths.

Now the city is embarking on yet another set of "megacity development projects" - and its taking an $800 million loan from the Asian Development Bank to do so. The projects will mostly focus on the Shahrah-e-Faisal signal-free corridor and various other road projects, and there is only a trivial mention of a bus system and light rail. The problem with this "development" is that it benefits only rich people - those who own cars - and neglects the needs of the vast majority who desperately need public transportation. Indeed, all development in Pakistan has been taking place this way over the last 8 years - to serve the interests of the rich. One of the realities we will have to reckon with once this government is gone is its legacy, that is, the mess we'll have to clean up. And one of the most terrifying aspects of the Musharraf era is that we've lost 8 years to develop real infrastructure, spur industry, put into place basic human development such as education and healthcare, and we've lost ground to the jehadis at the same time.

Civil society members arrested at Bhagwandas vigil

This is the man who organized the police crackdown on vigil attendees yesterday in Karachi. But I have to start at the beginning.

Yesterday, a small group of citizens held a candle-light vigil outside the residence of Justice Bhagwandas. Bhagwandas is one of the Supreme Court judge who refused to take the PCO oath and had been under house arrest in Islamabad. Sometime in December, he officially reached retirement age, and reckoned that he could now "give up" his official post as Supreme Court judge. So he left his official residence in Islamabad and moved back to Karachi where his home is. Now you would think that the government would leave the poor guy alone, since he was now a private citizen. But that was not the case. Instead, on Friday, Bhagwandas was placed under house arrest again, this time in his personal home in Karachi, and this time in his capacity as a... citizen.

Of course the government claims that the house arrest was for "his own security" but the more likely reason is that they are scared. Bhagwandas addressed the Karachi Bar Association on Friday, at their induction ceremony. The tradition is that the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court addresses this ceremony, but for the first time, someone other than the Chief Justice was asked to speak (since the current Chief Justice is a PCO judge and is persona non grata in the legal community). Such symbolism is terrifying to those who are desperately clinging on to power. So Bhagwandas had to be stopped.

Back to the vigil. A small group of no more than 20 people were attending a peaceful vigil outside the Bhagwandas residence. There were several police vans and policemen gathered outside, plus several security people in plainclothes including the guy above. Soon a few members of the media arrived, and the police began getting very unhappy, first trying to intimidate the media and then harassing the vigil attendees. The guy above kept making calls on his mobile phone, and in between would come up and ask questions of the group. Eventually they decided to act. First, the police picked on a young middle-class man, by grabbing him from behind and dragging him off to the police van. The small group realized what was happening and immediately rushed to the defense of the man and managed to free him from police hands. About 5 minutes later or so, the electricity was cut and the entire block was plunged into darkness. That's when things turned really ugly. The police started going after the men in the group. One of the more seasoned activists in the group yelled out that the women should hold on to the men to try and prevent arrest. People started running around to get away from the cops. I held on to a young man desperately, while the man above yelled at me to let him go, otherwise he'd bring in the women's police and lock me up too. When I didn't let go, three other men joined the man and pulled the young man out of my arms. Like this, they arrested 8 men in total. The rest of the group managed to get away.

After much confusion, a crowd of people began gathering at the local thana to try and get these 8 released. Thus began the second vigil of the night. The police started telling their lies; first, that there were no people arrested at that thana, then that their hands were tied and we had to go to another thana to start negotiations, and finally after many other prevarications, negotiations began for the release of the detained. Finally the group was released after about 5 hours (they were charged and released on bail).

What was most interesting was the class angle in all of this. The arrested included middle-class young men - the "easy targets" for police - but there were also some rich and high-profile men as well. And it was the presence of the these rich and well-connected men in the group that secured the release of everyone in the end. It confirmed for me even more that what might change things in Pakistan is if the elite class mobilizes, because it is the elite class that can actually have an impact right now. Poor and middle-class people are all too easy to dismiss and harass and threaten, but at least for the time being, rich people are not. Of course there will come a time when the elite class too will be helpless in the face of dictatorship, but judging from last night, that time is a long way away.

Meanwhile I find myself thinking about two men - the young man pulled away from me, and the man above (his name is Asif Jakhrani, by the way; apparently he's the SHO of Defence/Clifton). What makes someone turn out to be a good guy and what makes someone else a bad guy? What does Mr. SHO think in his heart of hearts? Does he really want us to fail?

Update: Bhagwandas was released from house arrest on Tuesday. Many believe this is due to the bad publicity the government got from the arrests. Score one for our side!

Bhagwandas under house arrest

Justice Rana Bhagwandas, former Supreme Court judge, has been placed under house arrest. The government is insisting that it is for his own protection, but of course that's absurd. What's not clear to me is why he has been arrested given that he has already retired. Bhagwandas was one of the non-PCO judges who held out to Musharraf. However, he reached retirement age sometime in December and decided to leave his official residence in Islamabad only after doing so. So, this is a person who is not even claiming his official status anymore. Is the government that scared?

An ad in Karachi airport advertising a housing development in Islamabad. Yet another housing development that only the very rich can afford, while everything goes to shit around them. But they have their private security guards and their high walls, so they won't notice.

(By the way, who is that lady? I want to get to know her, if you know what I mean. Wink wink.)

Suicide bomber strikes in Lahore

As the madness has engulfed Pakistan over the last few years, Lahore has remained the only major city safe from suicide bombings. That is no longer true, as a suicide bomber struck today in the heart of the provincial capital. The bomber targeted police who had assembled for the weekly lawyers' rally. 23 people have died (20 of them police).

Pakistan has become a crisis society, stumbling from one awful and shocking event to another. All we know how to do anymore is to respond to crises. The crisis of the moment gets our attention. We work on that issue, and then another crisis comes along to distract us and throw us off course completely. I was thinking this yesterday as I attended an activist meeting in which we debated whether to focus on the aata crisis, or the mass arrests in Sindh crisis, or the ethnic tension/interprovincial harmony crisis, or the upcoming Shia-Sunni crisis (which has been predicted by all due to the start of Muharram tomorrow). The longer I stay in Pakistan, the more and more I think that these crises are a way to keep us busy and dissipate our energies. It's hard not to be a conspiracy theorist here! And I used to disdain those types...

Musharraf: Benazir responsible for own death

In an interview with CBS' 60 Minutes, Musharraf has said that Benazir was responsible for her own death:

"For standing up outside the car, I think it was she to blame alone. Nobody else. Responsibility is hers," Musharraf says.

"Don't you think it will make her supporters crazy to hear you say that?" [60 Minutes reporter] Logan asks.

"Well, I don't think so. I mean, that's the fact. She shouldn't have stood up," Musharraf says.

I wonder if Musharraf also agrees that he himself is to blame for the attacks on his life. After all, if he had never taken over in a coup, no one would be wanting his death.

The idea that people are responsible for their own deaths is so absurd, but in this case it's an even more ridiculous argument. Benazir was a political leader, she was at a political rally, and she was engaging the crowd as she should have done in her capacity as a popular leader. If you follow Musharraf's argument to its logical conclusion, you will end up at the point where we must all stop doing politics. No rallies, no disagreements, no making anyone else angry, no speaking up, just keep your head down and shut up and no one gets hurt. Which is not true, of course, because that's exactly when people get hurt, when dictators think they can get away with murder because no one speaks up against them.

To me, this sounds a lot like people telling us not to be gay. If you feel society's derision, or face discrimination, or have to suffer social ostracism, well then just stop being gay already. You can have sex, you know, but just do it quietly, just don't talk about it, just don't ask that your partner be recognized and accepted. And if you behave like a straight person, well then no one gets hurt.

So I can never accept this argument, that people are responsible for the pain and suffering that is caused to them. Benazir didn't ask for it. The killers who fired the bullet and who detonated the bomb are the real culprits.

Idiots in other countries

A reminder that there are idiots in other countries too (sometimes it's easy to forget). This is at the expense of Mike Huckabee, governor of Arkansas in the US, and current Republican presidential candidate, and at the expense of Arkansans in general. Note that this is old, it's from April 2001, but still fucking hilarious.

Irrational defense of the PPP

I'm still in shock over Benazir's death, and I'm shakily trying to figure out what the next steps should be. But even if much is uncertain, one thing is very clear which is that Zardari taking over the PPP is the worst possible step for the party and for the country. Zardari belongs to the group of party leaders that is the most traditional and feudal-minded, and seeks power simply to extract personal material gain, not to enact policies to help the poor, or to enact any kind of policies at all. Of course he sees nothing wrong in the party being "passed" to him in Benazir's will, as if it were personal property - because he really does believe that the party is personal property.

What is even more astonishing than the coronation of Prince Bilawal and the seizure of party control by the Regent Zardari is the number of people who are actually defending this move and the utter lack of internal democracy in the party. And I don't mean conservatives, military types, anti-democrats, feudals, and the like. I'm talking about the left. That includes friends, acquaintances, Communist Party members, long-time feminist activists, even fricking Ayesha Siddiqa!

What gives? Well, it's obvious that these folks have a very visceral and emotional connection to Benazir (and to Zulfikar). But why does this connection exist? Well, I have two theories. One is that these folks are really really dumb. Since I don't want to believe that, I prefer to go with a second theory. The second possibility is that all of us in Pakistan have become conditioned to look for individual saviors, and this conditioning is so deep that it has affected even the most intellectual and cerebral among us - that is, even those folks who know that political change is not about individuals but about systems. And so these folks continue to look for saviors. The problem is that things in Pakistan have become so bad, and so hopeless, that the only straw worth clutching at is the feudal-laden shell that is PPP. So despite Benazir's awful track record, proven over not one but two terms in office, and despite many other indications that she was going to give us the same old, same old, these folks continue to keep hope. Hope that, despite everything, she was a changed person and was going to deliver us to the promised land, to good progressive policies, to true social justice and equality. It's a lot like a cheating lover - every time they promise to change, and every time you believe it, thinking this time they really mean it. But things never do change.

Ethnic tensions running high

There have apparently been mass arrests in Sindh targeting PPP workers. Some are citing the figure of 300,000, Babar Awan of PPP cited 200,000, while another source gave the figure of 98,000. There's no independent confirmation of this yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if the government was using the Benazir violence as an excuse to generally crack down on activists. All this has been done using heavy Army deployment in Sindh (there's also very visible police and Rangers deployment in Karachi - all the units that were missing on Dec. 27).

Meanwhile the PML-Q put out huge newspaper ads yesterday asking for non-Sindhis to step forward and register the financial damage they have suffered. The text was: “The Rs 100 billion losses within three days is neither politics nor mourning but is lawlessness...All party candidates for national and provincial assembly seats and Punjabi, Pathan, Mohajir and Baloch settlers of Sindh who have been affected by the recent violence can contact [us] at these telephone numbers...” In Karachi, the MQM has established 30 cells to register financial damage.

Understandably this has upset Sindhis considerably. It's difficult to perceive these actions as anything else but a ploy to stoke sentiments against Sindhis. A Sindhi PML-Q candidate angrily noted that the Punjab wing of the PML-Q has decided to maximize its vote in Punjab at the expense of its vote in Sindh (since it considers Sindh a lost cause anyway). Meanwhile, anti-Punjabi sentiment in Sindh is extremely high. The imagery of another dead Bhutto's body being flown back from Punjab is bound to touch raw nerves. The Sindhis have been marginalized long enough, and at a moment like this, these actions will resonate. In social science terminology, people like Altaf Hussain and Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi are ethnic entrepreneurs who take advantage of existing tensions and stoke them to gain personal political power. The PPP has been accused of playing the "Sindh" card but it's people like Altaf and the Chaudhrys who are really playing the "Sindh" card. Actually surprisingly Zardari has been fairly restrained in this regard (and I can't believe I found something positive to say about him).

The unfortunate outcome of all this is that ethnic tensions are very high in Pakistan right now. The only party that was capable of playing any kind of national unifying role, the PPP, is in crisis and is headed towards even greater moral bankruptcy. One wonders what might have been if Aitzaz Ahsan - a Punjabi - had been named party head instead of Bilawal? As it is, the post-Benazir succession might well have set up the demise of the PPP as a national party; I suspect we will see its slow slide towards factionalism and irrelevance. And the country will continue to suffer, as it is well on its way to dismembership. After all, which groups want to remain in the federation? Only Punjabis and Muhajirs, and if you think about it, that says a lot about who's in charge.

The biggest challenge of Pakistan has always been, in my opinion, finding a way to make the federation work despite ethnic diversity. Punjab has been the proverbial 800-pound gorilla, dominating all political and civic life, while Muhajirs have dominated culturally (using Urdu). Elites from these two groups have maintained a stranglehold on Pakistan, while all other ethnic groups have continued to be marginalized. Of course the Bengalis never really fit, and were treated so oppressively that they soon figured out where their future lay. But it's been more difficult for the Sindhis, Baluchis, and Pathans to find a way out (geography, among other things, plays a factor). The reaction of the state to any restiveness among these groups has been to clamp down harder. In fact, the establishment learned the exact wrong lesson after the independence of Bangladesh. It clamped down even harder under a brutal military regime, this time using Islamization as a way to unite the provinces. But of course that was never going to work. The only solution to the problem is a genuine federalism in which there is equality and true power-sharing among all ethnic groups. Only then will all groups feel a genuine stake in Pakistan. But until the powers that be realize that simple truth, the country is headed for disintegration - fast.

Bilawal, the new heartthrob

Bilawal is fast turning into the next regional heartthrob. There is now a Facebook group called "Let's not kill Bilawal because he's hot, ok?" And the Daily Times had a story today about young women in college who are totally crushing on the boy. Finally, from across the border, I got news that Bilawal is also the new hottie for the Bombay gay boys. Ok, so the guy seems to be hot. I guess we always have that, even if the country goes to shit.

Shashi Tharoor gets it wrong

Shashi Tharoor writes a piece in today's Guardian that is actually typical of what's wrong with the post-BB analysis in the West. For one, Shashi notes that "most people assume her killers were religious fundamentalists." But, accurately or not, most Pakistanis believe the military is responsible for Benazir's death, not religious fundamentalists. Shashi goes on to conclude:

The great danger in Pakistan has always been in the risk of a mullah-military coalition. The prospect of the uniformed rulers of this nuclear-armed state being infused with the zealotry of the Islamic fanatics among their compatriots has always sent shudders down the spines of the world's chancelleries. The death of Benazir Bhutto, and the backlash it has engendered, has made that less likely for now, and that may remain her most significant legacy.

Here's the problem, Shashi - the mullah-military coalition already exists. It is at least 30 years old, dating back to Zia's embrace of the jehadis under the tutelage of the Americans, but likely goes back further, perhaps to the Bangladesh war, perhaps earlier. And Benazir's death has actually strengthened the military in Pakistan, by giving it an excuse to clamp down even harder, for even longer. And, a strengthening of the military (as Shashi argues for) necessarily means a strengthening of the mullahs, and this is what Western observers can't or don't want to grasp. The fantasy that the military will be a force against the jehadis is a fantasy only in the minds of those who don't know Pakistan well.

Here's one thing Shashi gets absolutely right:

The central fact of Pakistani politics has always been the power of the military, which has ruled the country for 32 of its 60 years of existence. In other countries, the state has an army; in Pakistan, the army has a state. The military can be found not only in all the key offices of government but also running real estate and import-export ventures and petrol pumps and factories. Retired generals head most of the country's universities and thinktanks. The proportion of national resources devoted to the military is perhaps the highest in the world.

What we really need is to push for an end for military aid from the West. It's time to shut down the source that feeds the beast.

If you're really desperate...

...give them a call:

"Contact us for marriage proposals"

Elections on February 18

Elections will now be held on February 18 (40 days from the original date - a coincidence?). The major parties have all said that they will participate, although they have also criticized the decision to postpone elections. The PPP loses most from the delay, since they would have gotten a massive sympathy vote and big turnout due to BB's death.

What frustrates me is the refusal of the major parties to ask for a real election - one that is held without Musharraf as president, and which is held under a restored judiciary. Otherwise this election will be as big a farce as the original one was meant to be.

Who Did It

Who killed Benazir? The main suspects are as follows:

• Al Qaeda/ Taliban fundamentalists, who were enraged at Benazir for supporting the US and for becoming closely aligned with it in the "war on terror"
• Military/ military agencies, who were threatened by Benazir because was the true champion of democracy and thus their hold on power
• Asif Zardari, Benazir's husband, who wants a position in the party so he could continue to loot and pillage Pakistan as he has done before
• The CIA, RAW, and various other international intelligence agencies that have motives to destabilize Pakistan

The most popular theories are the first two. Interestingly, it seems that most in the West have subscribed to the Al Qaeda/ Taliban theory, while within Pakistan, almost no one buys that explanation. Instead they believe the military is somehow behind it. And I agree with them.

First, there is the issue of method. Jehadis like to blow up things. And the initial blame was put on a suicide bomber, which is a classic jehadi method of assassination. But it's now been shown conclusively that Benazir was shot by a gunman before the bomb went off. The government's ham-handed and incompetent explanations for Benazir's death didn't help build trust for its explanations either. (At one point, the government actually argued that Benazir had literally killed herself by hitting her head on the sunroof lever when she ducked inside the vehicle. That explanation has since been retracted.) In any case, I suspect that there was no suicide bomber, only a planted bomb that was designed to take out the shooter and destroy any evidence.

What was the motive? I think the army's motive was two-fold. First, it simply wants to stay in power. Yes, Benazir was no champion of democracy and was willing to make a deal with Musharraf for "table scraps" as Tariq Ali put it. But she did represent the hopes of millions for true change. And at the end of the day, the army didn't even want to give up a little bit of its power, even the very little bit it was being forced to share with Benazir. Some might think this seems very short-sighted and dumb and venal. Yes, the Pakistani military is all of those things.

Second, and more importantly, I think the army needed a big event to gin up emotions against the fundamentalists, to be able to continue doing whatever they want (especially in Swat), and to be able to continue to receive funding from the USA for the "war on terror." These funds have been in some jeopardy recently, and the Pakistani government knows it. There has been unprecedented criticism of Pakistan's role and actions this year as never before. Many public figures and presidential candidates in the USA have spoken explicitly about cutting off the country from aid, and of ending the US's reliance on Musharraf. Just last week, the New York Times revealed in an investigation that $5 billion of the $9 billion of military aid that Pakistan has received from the US since 2001 has been spent on non-war-on-terror items (it's gone instead to weapons systems targeting India). And then there is the lesson of history. To those who argue that Pakistan's position as US ally is secure, all one has to do is to look at our last great dance with the Americans, the Afghanistan war of the 1980s. Then too Pakistan was one of the largest recipients of US military aid, getting about $4 billion total by the end of the decade. No one thought the party would stop. And then 1990 came and Bush Sr. failed to certify Pakistan as a non-nuclear state as the Pressler amendment required, and that was that. The party was over, sanctions were slapped on Pakistan, and the 1990s were a grim decade spent trying to come to terms with what had happened. Interestingly, in a little-noticed congressional bill passed in December 2007, Pakistan is now required to show progress towards democracy - otherwise its aid gets cut. So far only $50 million of non-military aid has been cut, but I believe this is the harbinger of things to come.

So what better way to keep the gravy train flowing than to orchestrate a spectacular attack on a popular leader and then blame it on the fundoos? After all, ginning up fear of the fundoos has worked for the Americans, so why wouldn't it work for the Pakistani establishment? And the West is left stuck in a most visible mess, wanting to dump their old boyfriend Musharraf but unable to because Benazir's dead and they still think he's their best defense against the big bad jehadis.

Benazir's death

I've been off the blog for a while, pulled away by internet outages, trips out of town, and general busy-ness. But Benazir's death has prompted a return to cyberspace for me.

We're all still in shock, even a week later. Here in Karachi, it wasn't just the assassination itself but also the awful violent paroxysm that followed, which shut the city down for 3 solid days and a fourth measured one. I was out when news of her death broke, and immediately around me the shutters of shops started slamming shut. The shopkeepers aren't dumb; they know how this goes. They were well aware that the violence was about to erupt and they needed to get themselves and their wares out of sight. So we were blocked unceremoniously from entering a shop and left standing on the street while chaos and panic erupted all around us.

Thus began the long journey home, a journey that normally would have taken only 5-7 minutes at most, but ended up taking over an hour. Traffic was backed up on each and every road, small and big. Karachi had been turned into a massive parking lot, with everyone who was out trying desperately to get back home to loved ones and to relative safety. As I sat in the traffic jam, I looked around at the people in the vehicles around me and saw stunned faces. Some were crying openly. No one was smiling except for a man and woman in an expensive car who seemed to be having the time of their lives. Maybe they just react to bad news in a really strange way, but maybe it was that they're so disconnected with the country that this too was just a big joke to them (along with the dictatorship, the crackdown on civil society, the failing economy, and the daily violence of the jehadis and the army).

I later learned that cars had been smashed and burned at the end of the street we'd been stuck on. As we neared home, we drove up to an intersection where several men were setting fires. One of them looked up angrily from his task at me, arm raised. I wasn't sure what to do so I just gunned the engine, and for some reason he let me pass. One of those crazy random chances one gets in life. The worst thing by far I saw that night, though, was a long line of domestic workers (men and women) at a bus stop, trying to find a way to get home. Buses and other public transport had stopped running, since they had become one of the first targets of mass violence. But these workers were in an elite neighborhood, far from home, and there was no way for them to get back. The fear and worry on those faces, especially of the women, is something I will never forget.

In Karachi, there were deaths caused by gunfire and one factory fire. The factory fire was apparently accidental. The workers inside were Muhajir and Pathan, and feared the mostly-Sindhi mob outside, so they didn't come out when the warning to vacate was given. For the most part though, deaths were few, and the targets of the violence was mostly property. In any case, anyone who had a home was hunkered down in it until Sunday. We were all under house arrest.

Benazir's death shut down the whole country - no other leader could have had this kind of nation-wide impact. No corner of Pakistan was untouched. Karachi, however, was clearly hit the hardest. According to news reports, between Thursday evening and Sunday evening, there were more than 700 vehicles burnt, and approximately 20 banks torched. The most common target was any building or vehicle that was visibly government property, such as post offices, railway bogies, KESC trucks, and other government offices. The targeting of elite symbols such as banks (and at least one cafe) was also interesting. It could either be that people were just looking for cash, or that this is a sign of the brewing revolution. I don't know. It's also the case that there was a lot of opportunistic looting, much of it by MQM ghundas.

I don't know how Karachi keeps taking body blows like this repeatedly and keeps bouncing back. I wish I could be so resilient, but I'm afraid I'm still not quite back to normal.