I am a regular reader of Nadeem
F Paracha's articles. He is a very popular columnist having a very vibrant and
exhilarating online presence. Having a long list of loyal readers predominantly
from the liberal educated sections of the society, he has an equally loyal list
of haters, amongst them the conservative right wing faction voicing the loudest
protests on his witty sarcasm against conspiracy theorists like Zaid Hamid as
well as his excellent commentary on the rising radicalization and extremism.
In a lot of cases, it becomes very clear that electronic media and print media
journalists don't dare to utter a word about any prospective militant activities
that MQM might be involved in. One day after the ever so popular address / press
conference by Altaf Hussain, our prime minister Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani addressed
the nation. Compare the two events and you will find out that the media time and
hype given to the former's address was so much more than the later...
NFP has a past studded with student union power play during his days at the
Karachi University. He was an active member of the National Student Federation
during the days of Zia. Moreover, he has also seen the evolution of MQM right
from the beginning. Being one of the bravest and outspoken critic of dangerous
groups like Al Qaida and the Taliban, i expected a tad bit more from him when it
came to the current situation faced by his city, Karachi. It beat me as to why
he wouldn't touch the subject of so many parties with their militant wings out
here wrecking havoc and anarchy. Then came an article about Zulfiqar Mirza and
him being the new rabid dog suffering from messiah syndrome.
Is he scared of writing anything about MQM or their role in the current
situation in Karachi? In his words, the biggest problem that we as a society are
facing is to blame everything wrong with it as a fault of America. He hates it,
trust me. Well, so do i. But what happens when our Altaf BHAI ends up crediting
America as the reason why there is so much mayhem in Karachi, moreover, he
claims to be the night in the shining armor who is in the way of America
splitting Pakistan into two!!! Why does NFP go mum after that infamous press
conference that Bhai conducted a few days ago? Well, in order to find out, or at
least protest NFP being an apologist of MQM, i ended up posting a comment on one
of his articles, written on DAWN.com after i saw that he had totally nothing to
say on the subject matter discussed here. People from the conservative, right
wing stream of the society hate him. They label him from a traitor to a
blasphemer to a Zionist, RAW agent, but all those comments are allowed to go
online and can be viewed by the public at the end of his online articles / blogs.
However, my comment didn't make it our of the sensor at DAWN.com
This is the comment that i wrote
"Let me throw some guts at ya. Maybe that will make you strong enough to utter
half a word about the classical 'blame the flying monkeys' for everything that's
wrong in karachi speech that Altaf Hussain gave yesterday. Come on, i mean
America, tag teaming with Army, becoming a pseudo televangelist in the first
part of the address, what else do you need to be sure that something is rotten
under the bed of the most progressive political party of Pakistan."
"People like Hasan Nisar and you talk a lot of truth, you guys have pissed off a
lot of people. I'm sure the taliban get very angry reading you, your witty
satire exposing our paranoia and phobias. What is it that makes you so scared of
saying anything even mild about this political party? Why is Altaf Hussain the
only political figure who is not mocked in shows like Hum Sub Umeed Se Hain BNN
4 Man Show etc... is that because you have to LIVE in Karachi???"
So, this is for you out here to judge if the content of my comment is obsene
enough to be flagged or was it that i had commented on the MQM that scared
DAWN.com off from posting my comment? Before you make your opinion, you should
check out DAWN.com for NFP's articles and see the ridiculous amount of flak that
he receives on an ongoing basis. Wouldn't it be okay if i would have had just
made fun of Asif Ali Zardari, Nawaz Sharif or even the Pak Army? Atleast i'm
sure comment would have went through and won't have been flagged.