Sunday, August 26, 2012

Terror in Diplomacy

 
The arrest of a Christian girl for possessing partly burnt Islamic literature in Pakistan on charges of blasphemy has created an international uproar. The US state department has expressed concern and the Pope has tried to defend her. It is all just natural. Christians sympathize with Christians in all places under all conditions. American Jews sympathize with Israeli Jews no matter what the latter do to the Palestinians. Muslims sympathize with Muslims even if they are persecuted for violent acts due to misguided belief. So, it should be logical if the feelings of Iranian Shias get inflamed by massacres of Shias in Pakistan.
Ever since Pakistan has reached agreement with Iran for the laying of a pipeline for the supply of much needed Iranian natural gas to Pakistan there has been vehement American opposition to this project. There have been all sorts of diplomatic pressures and threats to drop the project, but since it is the only ray of hope for overcoming the crippling energy crisis, Pakistan has to go ahead with it no matter what.
 
It is a strange coincidence that ever since the signing of the gas pipeline agreement there have been three horrible incidents of large scale massacres of Pakistani Shia pilgrims to Iran in which bus passengers near the Pak-Iran borders were shot ruthlessly after being identified with the help of their documents by terrorist assailants. The manner in which the terrorist operations were carried out makes it plain that an attempt was being made to give the Iranians the impression that Shias were being persecuted in Pakistan.
What can be the outcome of these terrible incidents? There may be a public outcry in Iran and diplomatic and economic relations between Pakistan and Iran may suffer to such an extent that Iran may decide to terminate the gas pipeline project.
If you connect the terrorist actions against the Shias and the American opposition to the gas pipeline project, it gives an ominous picture. Are the Americans supplementing their diplomatic activities with terrorist action? Were the Shia massacres watched live in Washington like the assassination of Osama Bin Laden?
Someone has to come up with very strong arguments to annul that impression.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Ultimate Solution

Perhaps the greatest impediments in the progress and prosperity of the people of Pakistan can be classified as political illegitimacies. The political, judicial and constitutional crises that have plagued this nation are simply due to the intransigence of someone or the other.
The PPP has been screaming about the supremacy of the parliament which is quite a catchy slogan.  I would have supported the idea had it not been for clause 22 of the 18th amendment to the constitution approved unanimously by the parliament which reads as follows:
22.
Substitution of Article 63A of the Constitution:
In the Constitution, for Article 63A, the following shall be substituted, namely:-
"63A.
Disqualification on grounds of defection, etc.
(1)
If a member of a Parliamentary Party composed of a single political party in a House-
(a)
resigns from membership of his political party or joins another Parliamentary Party; or
(b)
votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any direction issued by the Parliamentary Party to which he belongs, in relations to-
(i)
election of the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister; or
(ii)
a vote of confidence or a vote of no-confidence; or
(iii)
a Money Bill or a Constitution (Amendment) Bill;
he may be declared in writing by the Party Head to have defected from the political party, and the Head of the Parliamentary Party may forward a copy of the declaration to the Presiding Officer, and shall similarly forward a copy thereof to the member concerned: …………..

It turns the members of parliament into mere serfs of the party leaders. How can a parliament be supreme if its members do not have the right to exercise free will and their loyalties are to the party heads and not the people they represent?
The utter helplessness of the parliamentarians became manifest when the Contempt of Court Act – 2012 was introduced and approved within hours without any debate by a voice vote in which the nays were much louder than the ayes.  The same happened in both houses of parliament (national assembly and senate) by suspending the rules. What good is a parliament whose rules can be suspended and activated at will by the speaker on someone’s behest and any garbage can be enacted as law against everyone’s will? Even a pack of wild dogs would be more disciplined.
The current crisis really revolves around one issue ---- the reopening of cases against the incumbent president according to a supreme court verdict. A few dozen criminal cases including graft and money laundering done jointly with his ex-prime minister spouse (the late shaheed Benazir) were withdrawn under a defunct ordinance issued by ex-general Musharraf but not legitimized by the parliament.
 The supreme court has repeatedly asked the prime minister to write a letter to the Swiss courts to reopen the withdrawn $60 million case of graft and money laundering. The government is refusing to do so claiming that the president has constitutional immunity from legal proceedings.
In the circumstances there only two options:
1.       If the president is a decent person (not yet proven) he should voluntarily resign and end the crisis in national interest. These cases have been lingering for two decades already and he has the money and resources to drag them for another two decades at least.
2.       The parliament should impeach the president and remove his immunity so that the law may prevail and legal proceedings may be started. Failing this, the entire parliament will be guilty of obstructing the course of justice and may face disqualification by the supreme court on a citizens’ petition. The German precedent would come handy.

Sunday, July 08, 2012

War on Justice

There is hot news that the PP-lead coalition government intends to introduce 2 new laws in the parliament and get them enacted within a few days.
The first of them is said to be a law that will legalize libel against judges and authorize ministers and civil servants to refuse to carryout orders of the superior judiciary passed in their judgments. Such a law would be an absurdity and tantamount to promoting lawlessness.
What is really needed is a law empowering anticorruption officials to question all judges, barristers, bureaucrats, members of parliament, ministers and even the prime minister and president in cases of graft and corruption at a high level.
The second law on the anvil is intended to allow half Pakistanis holding dual (additional foreign) nationalities to become members of parliament.  This would amount to converting Pakistan into a semi-colonial state and compromise its sovereignty and integrity.

The only decent and democratic way of solving Pakistan’s current politico-legal problems it to go for a general election on the basis of the contentious issues and legislate on the basis of a fresh mandate. But unfortunately in this part of the world people give up power only by one of two means – death or disgrace.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Supremacy Complex

The way I see it, democracy is the opposite of supremacy. In a democracy there is no supremo. If the parliament becomes supreme, it would be the dictatorship of the elected and not a democracy.
The parliament and the judiciary are two parallel and equal institutions and should repect each other by not contradicting or ridiculing one another.
The parliament's domain is collective and is limited to acts that concern the society as a whole. Even laws made to govern individual behavior are applicable to all and sundry. Hence the adage all are equal in the eyes of the law. The parliament would lose its purpose if it starts focusing its attention on individuals. All matters of individual impropriety should be referred by the parliament to the competent court whose judgment should by honoured.
The accountability and conviction of individual and entitiess lies within the purview of the judiciary. Courts can not pass judgments against or award punishment to the entire community. Even laws made by the parliament that are entities affecting public interest are subject to scrutiny. and adjudication by the highest court of the land. Also the court can only interpret one article of the constitution at a time. It can not be allowed to change the structure of the constitution. The orders of the courts are binding on individuals who may be identified either by name or by designation.
Anyone who thinks that he or she or his or her party or coalition is entitled to exercise soveriegnty (literally meaning autocratic rulership) is an enemy of democracy.

Saturday, June 02, 2012

Afghanistan, NATO and Pakistan

The Pakistani government cooperated with the US government in the invasion of Afghanistan by allowing air-base and transit facilities for military supplies against popular sentiment. The cooperation grew as it was beneficial to both parties. However, a mistaken nocturnal helicopter attack on a Pakistani hill-top check-post on the Afghan border killing 28 soldiers resulted in severe public backlash and closing of the NATO supply routes. The US government shrugged off the incident with utter contempt adding fuel to the fire of indignation. The Peoples Party government that is already very unpopular is in no position to reopen the supply routes. The resulting public anger may topple them in a matter of days. They have also made a demand of apology from the US government from which they cannot back out without losing face and probably next general elections.
The other sore point in the relationship between Pakistan and USA is the occurrence of regular drone attacks in the northern border areas. On average for each allegedly suspected terrorist about a dozen innocent civilians including women and children get killed in these attacks. Most people consider the action barbaric and a recurring violation of national sovereignty. Although the selective assassination of identified terrorists is of tactical advantage to the Pakistani military, it resents it for its own reasons. Both American and Pakistani intelligence services have infiltrated the terrorist organizations and have agents in their ranks from whom they receive useful information. Before a drone attack, the pre-warned American agents escape to safety while the Pakistani agents get killed. It is not acceptable to the Pakistani military. Infact, the conflicts in Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan could have been won long ago if mobile phones in those areas were jammed, but for thr the lust of intelligence activity.
Now that the NATO has finally decided to withdraw from Afghanistan by 2014, which very few people believe, the scenario should change. A foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan would perhaps be the best thing that has happened on earth for many years. It could also end many of Pakistan’s vows. And since Pakistan had helped them in going in, it seems morally obligatory that they should be helped in getting out. Pakistan should give the NATO forces a safe passage for withdrawal.
The Americans and the Europeans may be planning to leave Afghanistan; but they do not seem at all interested in future political stability there. Had they been, they would have been talking to the countries surrounding Afghanistan to obtain guarantees that they would not support factions close to them in their infighting and transform it into a civil war.
There is also need for a broad-spectrum intellectual movement and people friendly actions by the Americans and Europeans who may genuinely feel contempt for the Pakistani leadership to change the paradigm in Pakistan.

Friday, June 01, 2012

How The Mind Works

The human psyche or mind or soul, for all practical purposes, consists mainly of a memory management system and an information processing mechanism resident mostly in the brain. Conscious, subconscious and unconscious minds are actually three different parts of the memory. If we analyze human mental activity, this becomes quite obvious. The processing system appears to have its own field of temporary memory where all the incoming stimuli are stored pending processing. As to how the processing system logically identifies, interlinks and decides on responses for a stimulus could be similar to, but certainly far more complicated than, the logic of a spelling checking or synonym finding computer program which utilizes what is known as a relational data-base. For the purpose of our model, we shall divide the sum total of human memory into four parts, namely congenital memory, factual memory, reasoned memory and abstract memory.
     1)   Congenital memory - This is the part of memory with which every child is born. It contains the basic instincts and reflexes and hereditary tendencies. Part of this memory appears to be the result of the genetic codes contained in the parent cells, whereas some of it seems to be transferred from the mother's brain at some stage during the child's development in the mother's womb. The latter may be the cause of unique racial and communal tendencies. It may also have a contribution in the rise and fall of civilizations depending on the status of women and their experiences as a group. If women lose their basic feminine traits of mercy and trust, these parameters become nonexistent and the community becomes cannibalistic and self destructive. For experimental verification of this idea, birds could provide an interesting medium as the birds' congenital memory includes identification of food and techniques of nest building. In the case of birds the incubation takes place in a shell outside the mother's body, so a lot of information has to be transferred to it before the egg is laid. Whereas congenital memory is transferred from the mother, it appears that some crucial thought pattern subroutines and their triggers are contained in the father's genes; this is obvious from the observation of children born from intercultural marriages. The very rapid developments in science and industry since the induction of women in these fields could also be, to some extent, due to successive generations having congenital information that supplements their education.

Probably, this is why most civilizations have developed customs, rituals and festivals to keep the women folk busy and happy irrespective of political and economic pressures on the society. Most religions give womanhood and specially motherhood a high status of reverence. Muslim tradition attributes `hurma', meaning invincibility, to women; and places heaven at the feet of the mother.

A state of antagonism between sexes ensuing from women's liberation movements in some societies has resulted in considerable debasement of women there, and the hereditary effects may become obvious before long. The constant and unchecked sexual harassment of women and children by subjecting them to indecent exposure through print and electronic media and signboards is simply pathetic, and could be the cause of frequent cases of gender-confusion being encountered these days. In fact, the indiscriminate rush for organ transplants may be a pointer to the trend towards cannibalism. But, unfortunately, the print and screen media in most parts of the world are so distracted by political events that they have so far failed to project the views of those who may have detected this alarming possibility.

     2.   Factual memory - The human brain, like other organs such as the heart, lungs etc. remains active all the time. Some of the time it receives sensory information which it stores in what we call factual memory. This information is not always simple or unitary as in the case of an electronic computer. To start with, factual information received at any time consists of the external stimuli derived from the five senses as well as internal sensations such as body temperature, blood pressure, muscle stress, pain, pleasure etc. received from the various parts of the body. Now, if all this information was to be constantly recorded then the storage space requirement would be phenomenal and the time required to analyze even the simplest observation would be quite long. So, for each identifiable input mode a normalcy level is established from experience. Some of these normalcy levels are established early in life and, with some effort, many can be altered up to a certain age. The common name for this phenomenon is sensitivity. The analytical and permanent storage mechanism becomes active only if one of the information parameters exceeds the predetermined limit. Perhaps this is why if someone wants an event to be memorable he usually marks it with loud sounds such as music or bright lights or strong scents or sharp tastes or vigorous sensations or a combination of these. The maximum speed and accuracy with which the analytical processes would be carried out, however, depends to a great extent on the genetic endowment of the individual called intelligence which can be measured to a reasonable degree of accuracy by I.Q. tests.

     3.   Reasoned memory - During intervals between receiving and/or responding to sensory information, the brain analyses the data in the factual memory and develops generalizations which are stored and properly cross-indexed in what we shall call reasoned memory.

The logic involved in the functioning of the reasoned memory to analyze information is not entirely genetically built in, but is mostly acquired during early upbringing. Competitive or compassionate behavioral tendencies are picked up very early depending on the response patterns of parents, guardians, nurses or brothers and sisters. Children who are told often about the moral or ethical significance of their actions, or hear comments on those of others, develop an analytical approach based on moral and social acceptability of actions and reactions. In other words, there would be a high percentage of principled and brave individuals among them; invariably including a few bigots. In traditional expression, such people are said to possess an opinionated personality with a high degree of moral courage and little physical courage. Those who are brought up and trained by conditioning, i.e. a process of reward and punishment based on the judgment of their actions by others, later take their decisions on the basis of likelihood of benefit or risk involved in possible lines of actions. In other words, such individuals are more likely to be timid and shrewd. In situations where benefit and risk are equally balanced or if they are unable to understand clearly the responses of others, they suffer indecision and sometimes act irrationally. In common parlance such people would be known as being selfish and having physical courage but lacking moral courage. Those who do not receive any parental attention at all during early life, do not develop any logic for reasoning and evaluation of a situation and depend entirely on the expectation or sampling of pleasure and pain. They become socially enigmatic when their pleasure and pain anticipations are artificially generated by misdirected impulses of the abstract memory which will be discussed later. Such individuals are, often, rather unpopularly called characterless. Those who do not have a sense of right or wrong, when they realize that they have committed something unsavory, rather than regretting their mistakes they try to indulge others also in the vice in an attempt to mobilize popular justification for their follies.

The anticipation of pleasure or pain, irrespective of upbringing, generates or activates a series of temporary analytical sequences often termed drive or motivation, and it seems that nowadays a number of people indulge in all three decision making processes from time to time. However, those born with a high degree of genetic endowment of analytical capability are still able to find logic in the random responses of others to their own actions. Sometimes it comes late in life by virtue of involvement with an environment highly conducive to analytical activity of the brain coupled with tranquil or orderly surroundings different from the one to which the person is normally accustomed.

Foreign words have no correlation with early experiences and often little indexing with factual memory. Hence, among people who use a foreign language for official purposes, there is very low efficiency and a high incidence of fraud and administrative corruption. Similarly, people who study their religion in a foreign language, treat it more as a mental exercise than as a code of ethics. However, extended exposure to a foreign language in its native environment seems to produce the memory linkages necessary for forthright behavior.
In some communities primary education imparted to the masses in public schools and less enlightened homes seems to be ethicless, whereas children educated in expensive private schools and brought up under trained supervision, receive some sort of good or bad  ethical conditioning and form the only group of people capable of taking objective decisions quickly, thus acquiring a dominant role. In some others the education system is used as an open elimination process to select an elite group to rule the community.  

People who have to behave differently from their true feelings at an early age due to strict parents, oppressive teachers or prolonged illness, develop a logic of concealing their feelings bypassing the normal mental processes. They pretend all their lives and never experience true feeling or emotions. Many discover very late in their lives that they had fallen in love when they were young. The most objectionable and socially damaging character trait of such people is that they never appear to feel ashamed of their mistakes or misdemeanors. Instead, they try to capitalize on their own follies and failures by putting the blame for these on others. If you say "perhaps the fault was mine" to give them a lead to come clean, they will hold you to your words and try to put the blame for every felony in the world on you. Some develop a strange aberration whereby they prepare a speech or dramatic sequence of actions in order to please or influence a certain person but, in a fit of nervousness, they perform it in front of someone else. This creates additional complications in their lives. When such people develop a secret vice, they go far in it. Their mask is so perfect that they are seldom caught and even those having the best intentions are unable to help them. What is worse, they regard the sincere actions of others also as dramatics. They develop flags in their memories related to various words and stimuli which trigger the abstract memory function. These flags can often be dissipated by suggestion by a psychoanalytic procedure or in a faith healing environment. Alternatively, a new set of reference memories can be acquired by undertaking an adventurous expedition or a comprehensive course in unfamiliar environmental and climatic conditions which produces all sorts of factual stimuli at a pace that allows simultaneous use of the reasoned memory. Such lives often end in sudden or mysterious deaths.

This author has come across people who, when they feel an ache or pain do not disclose it to anyone or see a doctor, but continue to behave in an ill tempered manner until the symptoms aggravate into serious illness. According to one homeopathic-cum-spiritual healer, in most troubled or unsuccessful families the woman suffers from inflammation of or tumor in one of her private parts. Her suppressed agony results in constant irritation and bad temper which poisons the life of everyone in the family. Harrowing tales of the persecution of unlucky women are found in Indian folk history. Perhaps the world would become a much better place to live in if all bad tempered individuals could be made to undergo regular medical examination and treatment if necessary.

Those who experience little care or attention in their early lives, if suddenly showered with a lot of care and attention, tend to react in a peculiarly selfish and sadistic manner. Instead of responding with the same degree of love and compassion, they try to exploit the feelings of the other person, and even try to blackmail by taking others' sincerity as hostage. They associate authority with unpleasantness and resent it in all forms. Similarly, the children of affluent people who are controlled and occasionally insulted by servants in early life are hard on their employees or subordinates in adulthood. Early bitter experiences in negotiations often result in what could be described as robber mentality. Such people develop ambitious plans all by themselves, which are often based on unrealistic assumptions, and then try to implement them without regard to how others are likely to be affected by them. Quite often they land themselves in situations which make them quite unpopular.  
As middle age approaches, the application of reasoned memory becomes more significant. If you ask a young man for comment or advice on any particular issue, he will ask you some specific questions and give you a plan of action based on his own experiences resembling the situation in question. On the other hand a middle aged person would tend to generalize the issue, ask broad based questions and offer indirect suggestions in the light of which you can formulate action suitable to your own contingencies. In an environment charged with abstraction, indeed, the comments may be quite humorous or sarcastic. This process of increasing priority of the reasoned memory continues with age until we find that, with the onset of senility, recent memory becomes quite unreliable.

     4.   Abstract memory - When none of the above two processes is active, the mind analyses artificial situations by combining factually unrelated events or by exaggerating or deflating to extremes, the magnitudes and proportions of variables related to any particular event.  This process is commonly known as dream or fantasy and the data thus obtained is stored in what we shall call the abstract memory. An objective and scientific use of the same process is called a "What if? analysis". As time passes, unrelated events of the past get related. Just as some unrelated events of the present are liable to become related in the future; some dreams or thoughts may bear close resemblance to events that occur at a later date. For instance, if while driving through a certain lane one frequently sees a particular child playing recklessly, one may develop a mental picture of the child being run over by a car -- and eventually be faced with the reality. Sometimes, the scenery or environment may be so unassuming that one may forget about the frequent observations and only remember the disturbing probable mental scenario. This phenomenon is commonly known as premonition, vision or precognition.

In children, who have little factual memory and much idle time, the operations of the abstract memory are most prominent. They indulge in all sorts of fantasies and seem to enjoy it. They find it so easy to attach wings to horses, cause fishes to fly, blow up ants to the size of people, let the camel pass through the eye of a needle or make mice talk in English. The fact that children like fairy tales and out-of-this-world stories is simply because such things are in conformity with their usual thinking process. This tendency continues up to early youth when the increased glandular and nervous activity related to the reproductive system begins to provide sensory impulses which being of a new but factual nature get involved in both reasoning and abstract processes. At this stage the increased physical activity and broadened social contacts result in greater inputs of factual information too. In many young people the rate of information input is so great that their brains can hardly cope with the organization of this information and have little time for analytical or abstract processes. This is why at this stage, responses are, more often than not, based on recent experiences and the more sensitive youths are often confused. At the same time, if factual information is inadequate to keep the brain busy, the implication of sensual impulses on abstract analysis, which are very pleasurable, may influence the development of personality in a certain manner. They may indulge in chains of thoughts that culminate occasionally in great passive pleasure, and they may develop obsessive tendencies or narcissism, depending on various factors. People who undergo a traumatic experience due to war or communal violence at an impressionable age develop a logic whereby instead of responding to an apparent threat by conciliatory gestures, they react with bellicosity and occasionally even with violence.

This stage of life is particularly significant for girls. In mixed social environments where girls often come in contact with unrelated males, the pressures generated by temptations and advances are considerable and occasionally result in unpredictable behavior. The long term personality development may take one of three courses depending on early experiences, amount of guidance available, and tolerance limit of those influencing the girl's behavior:

     1) She may succumb to these pressures and, as a consequence of conditioning resulting from pleasures experienced from unintentional contacts, may develop a permissive attitude.
     2) In order to avoid male advances, she may develop a set of mannerisms and abrasive style of speech and social exchange.
     3) She may develop a technique of concealing her true feelings and become flighty and romantic.
Some girls go through one or more of the above phases until they gain enough experience and develop a stable behavior pattern. Others become stereotyped in one of the three described patterns. Those who develop personalities of the latter two types usually take a fairly long period of courting before they are ready for marriage. A quick marriage, such as an arranged one, may result in considerable adaptation problems.

Girls who spend this period of life in predominantly feminine confines seem to adapt better to married life except for the occasional cases where they develop lesbian tendencies. A number who do not develop active lesbianism have occasional crushes on other women. Cases in conservative communities, where men suspecting their wives of infidelity only found that they (the wives) were in love with the neighbor's wife, are not unheard of. A few, who somehow get involved in masturbation, lose their ability to fall in love as would be explained later.

However, in the next few years, most individuals are able to regulate their lives in such a manner as to allow only an optimum quantity of factual information to reach them, and that too of the varieties most beneficial to themselves. They also regulate their behavior to allow time lags between impulses and responses to ensure that their reactions to any situation have at least some benefit of the reasoned memory.

In the case of a confrontation, one operating under the abstract memory has an advantage over a normal person. This is because the former is, to a certain extent, impervious to factual pleasure and pain, and his responses to mild symbolisms of intimidation are dulled. An impasse in negotiations is often reached because one person interprets the language used by the other in a totally alien perspective created by his own abstract memory. This is different from the difficulties encountered by two persons discussing a subject about which they have different experiences. In such cases there is a visible effort to learn the details of the other person's experiences and appreciate them with the help of one's own reasoned memory. Most reaction thinking also takes place in the auspices of the abstract memory, be it of the creative type as in the case of poets, artists, writers etc., or of the destructive variety as in the case of angry men, criminals, terrorists etc.

Quite often children, and sometimes adults too, who are obsessed by the abstract memory and behave in an unruly manner, when chastised revert to factual memory, and their behavior quite dramatically changes to one of love and compassion which is their true nature. It is also possible that the inflicting of pain neutralizes the artificial stimulation of the pleasure centers of the brain caused by the action of the abstract memory. This has resulted in the misconception among many that fear, somehow, breeds love. Even Caplow, a reputable sociologist defines charisma as "an ability to arouse love and fear", as if the two are compatible (probably what he means is love in some and fear in others). In fact, one cannot love someone whom one fears - as the two feelings are the result of opposed expectations of pleasure and pain. Instead, one fears for someone that one loves, which is concern. Charisma is the ability to gain priority in others' minds and arouse senses of responsibility and guilt. The long term allegiances that such people often enjoy are either due to a harmony of interests or because the believers are, for some reason or the other, not reached by anyone else. The indelible stimulating phenomenon commonly connoted by the word love is the result either of shared pleasures as in the case of a man and a woman or of shared pain as in the case of mother and child experienced during birth. The communal feeling among people who have been together through a catastrophe of some sort is another example of dilute love. Platonic love without any sensory basis or expressions of fondness in the hope of gaining a benefit are the products of the abstract memory, and do not last long in trying circumstances. The cause of fatherly love will be explained later in this book. However, attempts by sadists and tyrants to make others around them undergo pains and misery comparable with their own secret agonies do not win them any friends.
Abstract memory is an asset too. Artists use it to create new ideas. Professionals groom it to maintain a disinterested and unintimidated attitude during negotiations. But a healthy person should be able to enter and get out of the abstract memory at will. If this is not possible then it means trouble. However, these changes should not be too frequent or obvious, because such a person is, rather unpopularly, branded as shifty.

From a few observations of individuals undergoing psychiatric treatment it seems that among other things, memory can be related to mental illness in the following way. A person suffering from anxiety experiences a continuous and uncontrollable functioning of the abstract memory, and although he is aware of the futility of these thoughts, and wants to stop them, he feels helpless and occasionally tries to verify their validity. Those suffering from neuroses undergo the same uncontrollable action of the abstract memory but now it is no longer isolated and identified. The products of the abstract memory develop linkages with the factual memory and the patient begins to believe in them. A psychotic person not only believes in the abstract ideas but also acts on them. The commonest cause of anxiety is the lack of knowledge or information about, or apprehensions regarding the safety of persons or things that form a logical part of one's life. Even a temporary association with a remote part of the world may become a cause of anxiety for people who have nothing in common with that part of the world. Anxiety due to lack of knowledge is obvious in primitive or underdeveloped communities, evidenced by social and political volatility, which reduces remarkably with education. However, in highly industrialized communities one finds another surge in anxiety as people surround themselves with gadgetry that they do not understand, and through politico-economic ties they get related to far flung places about which they only get scant and occasional information. Hence the information explosion. Anxiety due to lack of information about relatives and friends is a common experience, and hardly needs explanation. It is important that anxiety should not be confused with worry which is a frequent recollection of a subject that requires some action on one's part within the framework of the factual and reasoned memories resulting in an inability to concentrate on anything. The only way to get rid of a worry is to do something about it. 

The common observation that a visit to a good doctor cures half the ailment also seems to have cognitive connotations as illnesses often have a psychosomatic aspect or side effect too, which could be helped by the removal of some obsessions by the sympathetic and reassuring manners of the doctor. Similarly, the memory reorganization achieved during the interview recalling the events leading to and during the illness could discharge some of the pressures on the analytical system and allow greater attention to the maintenance of bodily functions. However, it would be rather far-fetched to think that psychological improvements can help directly in killing bacteria or neutralizing chemical imbalances the way medicines do; although it is possible that the patient's decision to cooperate with the doctor and the various coordinated movements during the course of the examination could lead to the lessening of tensions. The research into the interrelationships of mental and chemical processes of the body could lead to some very interesting conclusions. Some of the bizarre idiosyncrasies such as transvestism, homosexuality, gayism, lesbianism etc. could turn out to be combinations of chemical as well as intellectual anomalies rather than the influence of spirits and fairies as assumed in certain communities. Certain herbal preparations seem to be quite effective in normalizing these conditions, thanks to the chemical constituents of the spices used in them.  
  
The above analysis defining major aspects of human character, personality, behavior and thought in terms of functions of memory indicates that a man is nothing but his memories. If the memories could be preserved externally, it may be possible to reproduce the person with a suitable projection device, and the sum total of memories could be called the immortal soul.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Some More Definitions


Beauty = Pleasantly intimidating appearance
Charm = Endearing appearance
Hatred = Inability to think rationally about someone or something
Love = Willingness to concede rights
Perfection = Absence of critics


Monday, May 21, 2012

How to Stop Terrorism


Q: What motivates terrorism?
A: Revenge and desperation.
Q: Who supports terrorism?
A: Grudge groups who have grievances against past injustices.
Q: How does terrorism differ from protest?
A: Protest is done by those who have hope; terrorism by those who have lost hope.
Q: How does terrorism grow?
A: By the production of more revenge seekers as a result of killing suspected terrorists.
Q: How can the growth of terrorists be contained?
A: By restraining those who kill suspected terrorists.
Q: Is it legal to kill suspected terrorists?
A: No. It is a mockery of law and justice even if it is endorsed by the president of a super power.
Q: What goes on in the mind of a terrorist?
A: He thinks that he is doing justice.
Q: What events triggered the current spate of terrorism?
A: Apparently atrocities against the people of Palestine and Kashmir.
Q: What prevented the UN from resolving these issues?
A: The vested interests of superpowers and the inability of the small men who ruled them to rise above parochial considerations and think in terms of universal good.
Q: Is NATO in terrorism ideologically opposed to terrorism?
A: None. It is only trying to establish military bases in all countries of the world like it has in most countries of Western Europe, Far East and Middle East.
Q: Then why is NATO fighting a war on terror?
A: Because they think that outfits like Al-Qaida and Taliban have their own agenda of world domination which challenges theirs.
Q: How can the war of terror be stopped?
A: By a civilian overthrow of the military influence in governments.
Q: What if that is not possible?
A: Preaching universal non-violence at every forum, especially to children. The next generation may benefit from it.
Q: What is wrong with tribal areas of Pakistan?
A: It is a modern reincarnation of the Wild West where the Toyota Pick-up has replaced the horse.
Q: Can these tribal areas be made 21st century compliant?
A: The Wild West changed with the introduction of gold quest, rail-road, industry, food and grocery chains etc. Something similar might wok here.


Friday, April 27, 2012

From Frying Pan to Fire

Yousuf Raza Gilani will perhaps be remembered in history as the man who brought shame to all prime ministers of the world in all times. Faced with the threat of life from his party boss and the thought of humiliation in the Supreme Court he took leave of his senses and began a most insolent campaign against the superior judiciary. Or, perhaps he was punch drunk with power. All this begins to make sense when one starts looking at the background of the People’s Party which was founded by people with communist connections and leanings, who could not help having contempt for all judicial and moral institutions. Its founder allowed the country to be divided and its army to be subjugated in order to gain premiership for himself.  
It is really sad that his able counsel Ahsan has not informed Gilani that he has been convicted and punished under a clause of the constitution that automatically terminates his tenure in the parliament. If he clings to the office like a leach he would be liable to final termination under Article 6 of the Constitution of Pakistan. So he should get out of the PM house soon or the gallows will be his fate and the case can come up at any time in his life.
What is more ironic is that he took this tragedy upon himself for a man who is already doomed. The Swiss and other European cases will not go away with the passage of time. And no matter how he bargains with even the Devil himself, his party won’t win the next election.  I have to shut my Seraiki chauffeur off every so often when tries to explain to me the popular perception of who murdered Benazir and why.  The leaders of People’s Party, living in their ivory towers built with people’s money, who have turned into new Pharaohs will never know what got them.
May Allah guide them to the right path.

Friday, April 06, 2012

Reward for Justice

Perhaps the most hilarious (or hillaryus?) joke of the century so far is that the US state department has offered a reward of 10 million dollars for information about a gentleman named Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, a man whose whereabouts are well known and who often appears on Pakistani television channels and recently he even held a public rally. Hafiz means someone who has memorized the whole Koran. Hafiz Saeed is the head of a Pakistan based institution named Jamatuddawa which literally means assemblage for invitation. In simple words it is an Islamic missionary organization whose social services during earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters have been greatly appreciated and earned its leader a lot of respect and admiration. But an equality significant part of the organization is that it runs the largest network of religious schools (madrassas) in Pakistan and has a leading role in the conversion of nonmuslims to Islam. Naturally, extremist Hindus and Christians hate him extremely.
Traditionally Pakistani Islamic institutions used to be affiliated with one or the other famous and well established Islamic institutions in India such as those in Bareli, Binnaur, Delhi, Deoband etc. for the simple reason that the institutions were  set up by graduates of those institutions. This gave the Indians an edge in dealing with Pakistan as through the above institutions they could manipulate the religious pulse in Pakistan. Recently, due to the nationalistic rhetoric of Hafiz Saeed many religious institutions or madrassas are breaking loose from the Indian influence and joining the JD network. That is very bad as far as the Indian establishment is concerned.

The icing on the statement of a responsible US official that the posting of head money on the State department was done on the behest of the Indians. That is the only thing that makes some sense. It also confirms a doubt that has been nagging me for the past decade or so – an Indian role in 9/11.

Most American reject the theory of insider job in the 9/11 incident because they cannot believe that an American agency could commit such a ghastly crime in its own country. They are right. But what about the job being outsourced? There is clear evidence that the Saudi intelligence was involved. It must have provided the list of Saudis who were reported to have left home to join jihad in Afghanistan, Chechnia or Kashmir. The list was used for the names of terrorists in the passenger lists of the lost planes. Unfortunately for them most of those men did not have the stomach for jihad and had returned home and were lying low.

CIA’s closest allies in UK and Israel could not be used for the demolition job. They would be the first suspects. The search for the ideal demolisher ended in India. They had no obvious links with the Americans, were nearly anonymous in most of the world, had the necessary expertise and were eagerly willing. They would also not be conspicuous as there were many Indians in USA who were regarded as harmless people.

The thought gains strength when one analyses the post 9/11 relations between US and India. The Americans are bending over backwards to please the Indians. In the case of the nuclear pact the Indians treated them with utter contempt and soon after the pact was signed they bought reactors from their old ally communist Russia. The Americans seem more concerned with the Mumbai hotel attack than the Indians themselves. In the videos most of the fires and smoke seem to be artificial and the attackers were mostly photographed with their guns pointing downward. Although much has been publicized about Ajmal Kassab and his alleged phones links with some Pakistanis, nothing has come to light about the identity and background of the 9 “terrorists” who got killed. How come Ajmal Kassab said so much about everything else but nothing about his comrades?