Sad times in Lahore

Raza Rumi
What a sad day it was - a city that usually glows with spring colours and crisp air was a death-zone. Everyone was afraid and depressed after the morning killings. The wound is far deeper than it appears. It has to do with how our country is moving towards anarchy and mayhem. And, we all continue to be bystanders at best screaming spectators. There were brave policemen today which was a silver lining. These men of courage offered their lives to protect the guests from Sri Lanka. Cricket fans were devastated for what will happen to the favourite sport? Who will come to Pakistan.
But more importantly, this is not what Lahoris and Pakistanis deserve. The great games outside and inside have made us hostage to grand,vested interests. About time, we spoke about it and registered that we count.
Apologies to the people of Sri Lanka. We tried to protect your team but failed. Hope you will understand that we are now unable to protect ourselves.
Photocredit: Mohsin Raza/Reuters - funeral of the policemen who were killed by the terrorists.
Recent Comments
- khush on Voices of the oppressed – Dalit literature
- Amit Julka on A red card for the Secular Indian Muslim
- GENERAL INFO THREAD ON HINDUS AND INDIANS - Topix on Casteism: alive and well in Pakistan
- Amrita Pritam is no more (1919-2005) « Jahane Rumi on I am a child of love
- wasyed on Abr mi barad-o man shovm-e az yar-e judaa (The cloud weeps…)
- javed rushdi on Support the documentary on Dr Abdus Salam
- krish on My blog is a stranger to me & Mir – saare aalam mein bhar raha hai ishq
- wasyed on the two insomnias
- Bloggers Pakistan - Pakistani Blog Aggregator on Emperor Jahangir receiving his two sons, c1605-06
- Abida Parveen sings “teray ishq nachaya..” « Jahane Rumi on A red card for the Secular Indian Muslim
Recent Posts
- Emperor Jahangir receiving his two sons, c1605-06
- I am a child of love
- A red card for the Secular Indian Muslim
- Abr mi barad-o man shovm-e az yar-e judaa (The cloud weeps…)
- Karachi Literary Festival
- the two insomnias
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – Man Kunto Maula
- Rumi – Guest House
- Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Peter Gabriel- Signal to noise
- Pak Nobel laureate’s Ahmedi status hurdle for documentary
- Old Nusrat recordings dressed up in dub reggae beats
- Allah Hoo by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
- Lovers have nothing to do with existence
- Support the documentary on Dr Abdus Salam
- In memoriam – Asim Butt (1978-2010)
Categories at Jahane Rumi
- 'Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan' (1)
- Afghanistan (10)
- All My Posts (923)
- Arts & Culture (342)
- Bangladesh (12)
- Blog Babble (70)
- books (72)
- Buddhist (7)
- business and economy (4)
- Central Asia (5)
- China (3)
- Cinema (19)
- Culture (4)
- development (2)
- diaspora (7)
- education (7)
- Egypt (3)
- Environment (4)
- Extremism (1)
- Faiz (2)
- fiction (3)
- folklore (3)
- fundamentalism (24)
- Ghalib (2)
- Globalization (26)
- governance (8)
- Guest Writer (32)
- Health (2)
- heritage (84)
- History (111)
- human rights (17)
- humour (1)
- India (131)
- India-Pakistan History (151)
- Indo Pak peace (53)
- Indus (3)
- Iran (10)
- Iraq (3)
- Islam (98)
- Islamophobia (46)
- Journalism (47)
- Karachi (7)
- Knowledge (3)
- Kosovo (1)
- Lahore (47)
- Law (1)
- Left (1)
- Loss (21)
- Love (52)
- Malaysia (3)
- media (40)
- Middle East (13)
- Motivated (1)
- Mughal (23)
- Music (46)
- My paintings (9)
- My poems (1)
- Nature (4)
- new writers (2)
- NWFP (3)
- On Pakistan (275)
- Pakistan (31)
- Pakistani Art (53)
- Pakistani Literature (20)
- Partition (10)
- Peace (30)
- Personal (214)
- Photo stories (67)
- Poetry (269)
- Politics (141)
- Poverty (5)
- published in DAWN (3)
- Published in Himal Magazine (4)
- Published in HT (3)
- Published in The Friday Times (79)
- Published in the NEWS (31)
- Punjab (48)
- Punjabi (2)
- qawwali (2)
- Random musings (139)
- Religion (91)
- Research (6)
- Rumi (148)
- SAARC (3)
- science (4)
- Sindh (21)
- Soul (36)
- South Asian Art (94)
- South Asian Literature (180)
- SouthAsia (9)
- Sport (5)
- stuckism (1)
- Sufi poetry (244)
- Sufism (186)
- Technology (4)
- terrorism (12)
- theatre (2)
- Tragic (26)
- Translations (21)
- Travel (51)
- Turkey (5)
- Uncategorized (83)
- Urdu (103)
- Urdu Literature (78)
- video (24)
- War (37)
- women (2)
- World Artists (53)
- World Literature (127)
- World Writers (131)
- Sufism and Sufi poetry (25)
Posts Archive
Raza Rumi @ flickr
- Asim Butt's mural for T2F, Karachi
- T2F remembers Asim Butt
- Haris Gazdar at the memorial
- Asim's friends will always miss him
- George recites his poem
- Sabeen speaking about Asim Butt
- In attendance -
- The tribute to Asim Butt
- Asim's picture published by GT
- Another mural for The Second Floor-Asim Butt
Pak Tea House
- Lord Chief Justice Of Lahore High Court Is At It Again!
- An Article On Tahira Mazhar Ali
- Precautionary Blood Measures
- Be Part of the Change
- Samina Khawar Hayat: 200 kilos of Reason Why The Pakistani Reservation System Is Flawed
- Let Pakistan Make Its Own Progress
- Roving Report – Ayub Khan Era
- Total National Backlash Against Shahbaz Sharif
- Understanding Islamic Revival In Its Proper Context
- DANYAL MUEENUDDIN WINS
Development Industry
- Pakistan: 92 per cent of USAID projects go to US NGOs
- Learn from the UK. Open up data sources in South Asia
- Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge
- State of research in Pakistan…
- Reforming Pakistan Civil Service
- Pakistan – Restructuring of PSEs
- Newinpk
- PAKISTAN: Reinventing microfinance
- Dissent as Democracy
- Pakistan 4th on regional list of adult illiterates
World music on NPR
- Solas: America's Wild Irish Rose
- The Thistle And Shamrock: Fiddle Styles
- Umm Kulthum: 'The Lady' Of Cairo
- Los Amigos Invisibles: A 'Commercial' Breakthrough
- The Thistle And Shamrock: Welsh Roots
- SXSW 2010 Preview
- Elis Regina: The Feeling Between The Notes
Tags
- West Bengal in turmoil – end of an era? - 2 emails
- Imam Hussain: The Beloved of the Beloved - 1 email
- Shah Ast Hussain - 1 email
- Holi has a Muslim History too - 1 email
- On Bhagat Singh, his vision and Jinnah’s support for his struggle - 1 email
- Voices of the oppressed – Dalit literature - 1 email
Pages
- “Man-Bitten” Ghalib: introducing himself
- “Seeds of peace on cricket field”
- ‘Author’s Plea’- Foreword of Aag ka Dariya by Qurutul-ain-Haider
- ‘O City of Lights’ by Khalid Hasan – A book review
- About Thumri
- Adieu Naguib Mahfouz
- adsense sample
- Amrita Pritam is no more 2/6
- Amrita Sher Gil’s Lahore
- An Essay on Nizamuddin by Marta Franceschini
- Basant Moods – Lahore and Beyond
- Beautiful Bird
- Bulleh Shah and Rumi 2/5
- Contact
- Dhaka by degrees
- Dhaka by Degrees – TFT
- Documents Archive
- “Iraq’s four-year looting frenzy, the allies have become the vandals”
- “step into the tavern of ruins..”
- A little more recogniton..
- A Little poem
- A recent Book on Faiz Ahmed Faiz
- Against Forgetting and No Poem is Mine
- Another accidental painting
- Fresh translations of Faiz
- Glimpses of nineteenth century Iran
- Go not without me
- Hope – A poem by Ayesha Salman
- How Art made the World
- How the British Raj took roots in India
- I finally moved here – “You lack a foot to travel?”
- Little Flute, Why So Proud?
- Master strokes
- Mother Goddess – Indus Valley
- Murree Ghosts – my recent painting
- Music Master
- My Journey (Mera Safar): Ali Sardar Jafri
- New paintings inspired by the golden Bengal
- New translations of Parveen Shakir
- No Tolerance for Richistans – Obscene Wealth is not victimless!
- Ominous shadows
- Pakistani media – an alternative view
- Qurratulain Hyder
- Sonargaon – A poem by HUR
- Story of a Painting – Mehrgarh, Indus and Ghalib
- Sufi Zikr – inspiration for a painting
- The rescued letter of Mahatama Gandhi
- Waves of anger and fear…
- Welcome Hatshepsut
- What is arrogance?
- Faiz translated by Vikram Seth
- Faiz translations (by Rehan)
- Femme Feryal
- Halaku, when you will come to Baghdad this time…
- I found Roses in Konya… 2/3
- I found Roses in Konya… 3/3
- I will meet you yet again – Amrita Pritam
- Ideology of intolerance
- Images from Data Saheb’s Shrine
- Images from Mahboob Ali
- Jal gaya tha ik roshniyon ka shaher
- Kafka Country – published in the Friday Times
- Kafka Country published in the Friday Times
- Links
- More of Bulleh Shah – keep swooning
- Mughal Princess Zebunnissa
- Muhammad’s Sword
- Muslim Bloggers from India
- On ‘The Great War for Civilisation’
- On Qurratulain Hyder –
- On Vidya Rao
- Open the Door
- Peace to Beirut with all my heart… 2/3
- Petal to Petal …..More of Parveen Shakir
- Qasmi – Urdu literature mourns a giant 2/4
- Qasmi, Literary Fueds and National Neglect
- Rare objects discovery points to ruins treasure
- Raza Rumi
- Revisiting Kabir – the Weaver, the Myth, the Master
- Sadequain 20 years later
- Shared visions: Khushwant Singh and Fahmida Riaz 2/2
- Standing Alone in Mecca (book review)
- Surveys show that Pakistanis (and Muslims) reject “terrorism”
- Teray Ishq Nachaya – Bulleh Shah – full text
- The Lost Jewel – Rediscovering Hazrat Ali’s Letter
- The roar of Rumi – 800 years on
- The Sultan of Hearts – Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
- This world without Dr. Schimmel… 2/3
- Tum bilkul hum jaisey nikley
- Ustad Bismillah Khan is no more
- Web resources on Qurrutalain Hyder
- Why I love Pakistan? Top 5 reasons
- Darwin and the grand unity of life
- Khusrau: The shadow of power
March 4th, 2009 - 11:54
not that it had any rational but just we india(ns) & westerners (mostly war-on-terror countries) was common targets but its very shocking to notice Lankans were attacked and that too cricketers.
and that too in lahore which i was told one of most liberal, beautiful, poetic cities in pakistan.
ofcourse, you are right no country certainly pakistanis dont deserve this trouble & reputation (and sports fan dont want to loss one from what is already a small group of test playing nations).
March 4th, 2009 - 18:10
RR, you are right. We salute the Sri Lankans and while we are happy that they are safe, the security personnel who lost their lives should not become a footnote to this sad incident.
Yuva…the civil society in Pakistan was only hoping for solidarity from India. Nothing more. But since everyone is convinced that the results of the peace process between India and Pakistan are reversible due to bankrupcy of our politicians, for us to expect this from India is a tall order.
Funny that you feel aligned with the western countries as a common target as if Pakistan has not suffered as a victim having lost so much. Pakistan will always be looked at differently by our “friends” across the border. Sorry that on account of our implosion as society you have to lose a test playing nation. What great perspective to all this madness
March 4th, 2009 - 20:09
“You are playing a dangerous game , these guns which today are facing democratic Kabul will one day face Lahore and Islamabad, you cannot live safely after setting on fire your neighbor’s home”
Mir Gaus Bux Bizenjo warned Islamabad when Jihad was started in Afghanistan.
“If fundamentalism comes to Afghanistan, war will continue for many more years. Afghanistan will turn into a center of world smuggling for narcotic drugs. Afghanistan will be turned into a center for terrorism.”
Shaheed President Najib’s last interview [He was hanged by Taliban when Pakistan backed forces took Kabul and than killed him ignoring all diplomatic norms. He was under UN protection. All of it was done due to silent approval by Pak and USA]
March 4th, 2009 - 21:43
Extremely tragic. Senseless. The threat of terrorism is facing the entire sub-continent and we see its victories one after the other helplessly.
March 5th, 2009 - 16:10
We are getting what we are getting in Pakistan, because we deserve it? The failures of our government in Islamabad and its inability to defend the country’s interests or its population from drones or terrorist attacks are paving the way for the return of the army to power. All that is awaited is a green light from the US. The fact is that, over the last year, the Zardari government has done a great deal for itself and its clients, but nothing for the people or the country.
March 5th, 2009 - 18:42
My first thoughts went out to the men of the ‘Elite’ section of the Punjab Police who lost their lives while defending the cricketers.
Some of the force’s men had been deployed to protect the Sikh Jathha visiting Sikh Shrines in Pakistan that my family and I were a part of, in 2006.
They did an excellent job and my brother and I had some very interesting conversations with some of them. Being fellow Punjabis and in the same age-bracket, besides being fellow Jatts as well, in some cases, we could connect easily.
Although loss of any human life is bad, I wished that none of those guys were among the dead.
Having said that, the kind of terrorism we are witness to in the sub-continent at present appears to have become a self-sustaining phenomenon and gone far beyond the control of the government agencies that reared it for their own so-called strategic purposes initially. God only knows what direction things are going to take in the future!
BTW, I think that nahiN reesaaN Lahore shehar diyaaN and fervently hope that such incidents shall not recur there.