Hazara a tale of hope and hoplessness!!!

On 21^st of March when I was on way to Kalabagh via Abbotabad, I scarcely had an idea about the place, because I was told the place is near NathiaGali, but few family members resembled and confused it with THE KALABAGH where a long wanted and disputed Dam is due. Whatever, my confusion cleared the moment I stepped in the place where we had to stay and with it gone my 10hours long journey’s tiredness, but I preferred to rest first as per my stay of a month long I had an ample time to judge and study the place n people. The place was calm nice at the altitude of 8600ft making oxygen a rare commodity in the fresh air especially when u had to go up n down for even a little morning or evening walk. But it is still leisure when you see people of Plains, especially of our hometown Lahore hitting the road in scorching heat to protest against load shedding, though here it is the same with the load shedding and power fluctuation but the weather has its chilly breeze to sooth u. Having many prior experiences of staying at hilly stations I was mentally prepared for the scarcity of daily products of use, but there is where your adjustment and womanhood is tested, so far it went well and being in a cantonment helped a lot.

The first impression of a peaceful land didn’t last for long as when on 8^th of April 2010, the parliament passed the 18^th amendment with approving the clause naming the province once known as N.W.F.P as “Khyber pakhtukhwa” an upheaval started. On the 8^th April I befooled myself with the happiness of the victory of Democracy in my beloved Pakistan, till the next day when I asked a local worker here “In which province is this place”? He answered “Madam, Sarhad”, as then he didn’t know about the amendments made by A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT by the people and for the people “Oh! Now that’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” I exclaimed but his instant answer amazed and shocked me “Then Madam we are going to have a new Province Hazara as we are not Pathans” I dismissed the further talk with him and the very next day I was watching a rally protesting the naming of the province as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as this region do not belong to Pathans but also people who are Paharri and speaks Hindko not Pashto, but what these poor protesters failed to understand was the reality and true faces of the political parties working for their own causes and reasons and what they miss is actually the people of Pakistan as they only want to rule and have the esteemed places in the authoritative positions where they do not have to bear what a common man is made to suffer. The major clauses accepted upon and amended in the constitution of Pakistan pleases one or the other BIG political Party or rather political family in Pakistan, Nawaz league wanted the open doors for Prime Minister’s seat for the third time, who this time is going to have all the powers in his hands, ANP wanted the dream of their long dead Party founder to be realized by naming the province according to the wishes of the pakhtun majority, etc in the way to fulfill their wishes they didn’t bother about what they crushed and ignored as why to bother for the people as in our democracy people are to be “ruled not heard”. When the people hit the streets of Abbotabad for a peaceful protest and wanted themselves to be heard, without patronization of any of the so called Awami parties, they were directly shot and dead bodies were sent back to their homes with the message to SHUTUP! Such messages are not sent in one’s own country neither the shooters were foreigners nor the dead, but the bloodshed carried many wrong messages with negative results all across the region of Hazara, was it the result of sudden efficiency or was it planned I am also unable to figure out yet, but every national channel has its own interpretation for which every party has its own answer but what ails me is the death of innocents asking for their Rightful Right in their own Democratic Country. I think with these killings, died the very Democracy which was hailed in the Parliament on the 8^th of April. When the cause was mishandled on the roads of Abbotabad and the dead bodies reached their homes, family heads of two political rival parties came on the scene to cash it for their next tenure. Here I must praise that the people rejected their interference, because they all know when the shooting was going on these party heads were celebrating the so called Victory of DEMOCRACY in the Capital. On 15^th of April their so called commitment was dashed in the Senate where the Bill of 18^th Amendment passed without any raising of the eyebrows on the topic of “Hazara” as if it was an alien issue, and the 16^th Aprils newspapers flamboyantly confirmed “KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA IT IS” *( DAWN Friday the 16^th of April 2010) so for me democracy was confirmed DEAD.

So it is, but what for the people who agree to disagree in this Democratic state where all the political parties headed by the dictator minded people, who are unable to have a democratic system in their own parties, answer is quite difficult even than making all the big parties agreeing upon a single issue in the name of the people of Pakistan. As so far whatever they have been doing has always been in their own personal interests always blaming it to be in the higher National interest of the people of DEMOCRATIC PAKISTAN (remember Musharraf??)….. What can I say.… “Hail, Democracy! Hail Macbeth!”