Seven Years ago

Reproduced below is a blog I wrote exactly seven years ago with comments in today’s perspective.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Vox Populi

During the past few days I have overheard the following conversation between people at public places in Karachi:

1.                 How can an order issued by the Chief of Army Staff be applicable to anyone other than army personnel? Why do the Civil Administration and Judiciary take notice of such orders? (They would obey the Devil’s orders if it benefits them personally.)

2.                 How can a civil servant of grade 17 issue a document titled “Statutory Regulatory Order” on Government of Pakistan letter head in defiance of the acts of parliament, budgetary allocations and constitutional provisions?  (Because the parliament is a rubber stamp of fixed elections.)

3.                 How can the army that holds the people and institutions of Pakistan in such contempt be expected to give its blood to defend them? (It is doing it in spite of the spite.)

4.                 All of Pakistan’s problems can be solved by getting rid of about 600 top civil servants, an equal number of politicians and about 200 top military officers. (Who bells the cat? Only a mass uprising such as the Chinese, French or Iranian Revolution can do that.)

5.                 Pervez Musharraf has not been able to find a general in the Pak army suitable to be appointed as COAS in the last five years, will he import one now? (He was ignoring people with merit to keep his powers.)

6.                 Pervez Musharraf is needed to maintain political stability in Pakistan. (In or out of prison?)

7.                 Benazir Bhutto in spite of being a democratic icon has no political program or economic policy; she will only fuel further corruption if brought to power. (As one PPP leader said they sacrificed her to gain power and corruption is their right.)

8.                 Nawaz Shrif initiated the economic policies in his first term which are still being followed, but he has a dictatorial streak and may again annoy his colleagues who may again conspire with the army to overthrow him. (It seems that he has formed a new private unlimited company with his family and corrupt friends called the government of Pakistan.)

9.                 Is Nawaz Sharif the Saudi candidate for premiership or USA’s possible alternative to Benazir? (Or the successful candidate of Riggers united?)

10.             What is the formula to empower the poor who are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer? (Most people would say vote for Imran Khan in the next elections whenever they are held.)

God help us.

Origin of Existence or Mathematical God

Our scientific model of the universe is based on Democritus’ concept of void and atoms with the addition of subatomic particles. The concept of the automatic appearance of matter predates Democritus when someone conjectured that life started when “the contraries separated out of nothingness”.  Today we believe that the universe consists of equal amount of matter and antimatter, positive and negative electrical charges, north and south poles and so on, so that the sum total of all opposite charges, matter and antimatter etc. is zero. If all the opposites come into contact the world will be neutralized and the void restored; only radiant energy including optical images of every thing that has ever happened in the world will remain travelling in space unless it can find a boundary from which it can reflect on itself with 180 degree phase shift and be annihilated.

The question now is what could have caused the initiation or precipitation of the contraries from nothingness. There must have been a singular event that caused the precipitation which may have stopped or may still be going on. Unfortunately, the belief in any kind of singularity seems to be contrary to scientific thought.

Zero was invented in the Orient while Infinity was invented in the Western world. In a way they are two extremes and opposites of each other and nobody seems to give much importance to their interrelationship. However, let us look at the relationships defining these terms:

1/0 = ∞

1/∞ = 0

So we can write

1 = 0 x ∞

At first sight it appears that the summation of an infinite number of zeros yields one. It is in keeping with the well-known integral calculus convention of constant of integration which can be expressed as ∫(1+0)dx = x+c where c is a constant whose value is ascertained by boundary conditions or cognitive inference.

However, if we look long enough at the above relationship it may be interpreted as meaning that an infinite expanse of nothingness inherently contains a unit of existence with the possibility of splitting, expanding, transforming and flourishing. In other words, existence is a property of the combination of nothingness and limitlessness. One can give it any name one likes.

The contraries may have emerged due to the square rooting of the unit yielding √1 = ±1.

A common example of the application of the square-root function in nature is the conversion of pressure into velocity as in the case of breathing.

The divine element seems to have been there in mathematics for ever and makes its presence felt in all exercises of integral calculus.

Brilliant Charity

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A Tale of Two Marches

The double-barrel sit-in at Islamabad’s D-square which had started as Freedom and Revolution marches from Lahore has completed six eventful weeks, but little progress has been seen in the realization of its objectives.

Imran Khan whose party Tehreek-e-Insaaf had received the second highest number of votes but relatively fewer seats in the last general election has a clear-cut agenda based on his grievance of election rigging by the ruling party PMLN of Nawaz Sharif in May, 2013 general elections. He had to come out on the streets after all his attempts to get justice from the election Commission and the Superior judiciary were thwarted.

One of the most serious allegations also witnessed by the whole nation is that while the votes were still being counted and election results being compiled, Mr. Nawaz Sharif appeared on Geo TV and claimed that the channel had convinced him that his party was winning the largest number of seats in the National assembly and was going to be the next prime minister. Surprisingly, he also expressed his desire to have an absolute majority and appealed to some undefined audience to give him the required number of seats. Since his party had been ruling the Punjab for the last 5 years as well as for decades earlier, most provincial employees involved in the electoral process were handpicked by the Nawaz family, so the hint was obvious and was likely to have influenced the results. As it happened, results in many constituencies defied the trends they were following before the ‘victory speech’.  Mr. Sharif’s action was highly objectionable and if the Election Commission had gall enough it should have disqualified him then and there. Unofficial reports indicate that if a genuine and proper audit of votes is carried out a number of sitting ministers in Mr. Sharif’s cabinet will be disqualified.

Prior to the march on 14^th August, 2014, Mr. Sharif had met Mr. Khan at the latter’s residence and offered him deputy-prime-minister’s unconventional position in return for abandoning the vote audit demand. It seems to have infuriated the Khan who now would not agree to anything less than Mr. Sharif’s resignation and more and more Pakistanis are agreeing with him as time passes.

The Revolution march of Allama Tahirul Qadri’s objectives seem rather vague except that he advocated a puritanical though modern Islamic system of government and wants the whole political system to be wrapped up and reorganized. Mr. Sharif and many other PMLN leaders were fervent followers of Mr. Qadri and his Barelvi sect prior to Mr. Sharif’s deportation to Saudi Arabia who now seem to have changed their allegiance to the Saudi supported Deobandi sect.

The recent movement started after a police invasion of his headquarters in Lahore in which some 14 people were shot dead and over 80 injured by gunshots at chest level. The government tried to cover up the issue as the incident report of the police did not mention any fatalities and the families of the dead were offered Rs. 3 million each in blood money and also handsome compensation to the injured. The victims’ families spurned the offers and demand due legal process including the registration of complaints as they saw it.

The unprecedented police brutality seems to have two possible motivations. It is possible that the Punjab administration had thought that the recently enacted Protection of Pakistan Ordinance which gives permission to police to shoot to kill without prior authorization when faced with armed terrorists could be twisted to justify any oppressive activity. The second is the possibility that the government of Punjab has made peace with the Punjabi Taliban by recruiting a few thousand of their unemployed youth in the police and the incident may have had a sectarian aspect. However the sectarian possibility has been sensibly ignored by everyone and although it should be kept at the back of the mind it should not be highlighted or exploited for political purposes. In any case, the incident reflects the utter failure of the Punjab provincial administration and the chief-minister should have resigned before being asked to do so. 

Recent FB Posts

 

It seems that Peoples party and some other politicians are working behind the scenes to force The PMLN into a confrontation that will bring military intervention. The reason is simple. Some parties such as Peoples party and JUIF have a record of doing very well in elections following military intervention.

 

After listening to many speeches and arguments I have come to the conclusion that the demands of the marchers in Islamabad are purely qualitative. Imran Khan is asking the government to be sincere to democracy and Allama Qadri is asking the government to be honest with the people of Pakistan. The government of Nawaz Sharif is vehemently refusing to accept any of the demands as it considers it a negation of its unbridled power and betrayal of its traditions.

 

The US state department has done a great disservice to PM Nawaz Sharif by speaking in his favor. They have proven Imran Khan's point. If NS can influence the US state department to give a statement in his favor, where do Pakistan's institutions stand in an enquiry against him?

 

The secret of China's progress and prosperity is that Chairman Mao never went on a foreign trip. Just stuck close to his people and inspired them to work honestly.