Tag Archives: intersectionality

The Indian Supreme Court & Sec 377

india-queer-protestWe stand in solidarity with our friends across the border in India. The Indian Supreme Court judgement upholding the criminalization of homosexuality is a heartbreak for queers in India after the elation of the Delhi High Court judgement four years ago.

But remember: you cannot be dislodged. You cannot be erased. This is not the same position as the pre-July India, not at its core. Not for the movement. Not in the minds of people.

What this is, is the pushback from the heteropatriarchal police state which forces our bodies, or tries to, into positions of conformity and submission. How long can they do this for?

And never lose sight of this very real fact: the law was invented to control us. When we win a legal victory, we regain control over ourselves in some measure. But the law is only one front. It is not the only fight. And it is not the culmination of any real fight for survival and livable lives. No law can make us illegal.

We stand in solidarity with you, in dignity and in love. We authorize ourselves to be free.

Wishing You No Independence Day

partitionIt’s Wednesday, 14th of August 2013. It’s raining heavily in Lahore and I am sitting  near the window of my room and looking into the narrow lanes of my locality, running like small canals right now. Somehow the flowing rain water reminded me of the struggles and sacrifices of all people who were victimized during the mess Partition created this day, 66 years ago. From what I have read in books and memoirs or watched in documentaries and movies regarding Partition, it is evident that whatever happened on either side of the border was total devastation of humanity. In the simplest words, Muslims got Pakistan and Hindus got India; two states for individuals of two different faiths (or their leaders) who despite  living together harmoniously for centuries finally decided to live in their own homeland.

And after the final division of cities and districts between the states of Pakistan and India,  history witnessed mass murder, rape, forced migration and conversions across both sides of border. Pakistanis (read Muslims) started ‘purifying’ their ‘land of the pure’ from infidels Hindus and Sikhs, who were living here for centuries, but all of a sudden had no place and became outliers. Same thing happened in India where Indians (Hindus and Sikhs)  started purifying their land from Muslim outliers.

I thought everything was purified that day in Pakistan and we mastered the art of being the ‘pure ones’ but I just read that 2 people were killed and 28 injured when 2 cracker explosions took place at Jamaat Khanas (worship place of Ismaili Muslims) in Ayesha Manzil and Metrovile areas of Karachi on Tuesday evening. Though infidel Hindus and Sikhs left us 66 years back, the sanctity of our ‘pure’ state is still being threatened by infidel Christians, Ahmedis, Shiites and now Ismaili Muslims.

May Allah Almighty save us from these brooding infidels and till then, I am not wishing you any Independence day.

In case you couldn’t tell, the preceding post was sarcastic. – All of Us @ DY

ملالہ

مجھے آج تک سمجھ نہیں آیا کہ ہمارے معاشرے میں جب بھی کوئی لڑکی، کوئی عورت، اپنے کسی بھی حق کے لیے آواز بلند کرتی ہے، تو یہ معاشرہ، جو کہ عورت کی عزت کا پاسدار بنا پھرتا ہے، اسے کیسے کیسے گندے ناموں سے پکارتا ہےـ اُس کے کردار میں ایسی ایسی میخیں گاڑھتا ہے جو تہزیب کے دائرہ سے باہر، یا یہ کہنا زیادہ  مناسب ہو گا کہ دائرۂ اسلام سے باہر ہوتی ہیں ـ

یہی کچھ ملالہ کے ساتھ بھی ہواـ ایک 15 سال کی  بچی نے طالبان کے دل میں ایسا خوف پیدا کر دیا کہ انہوں نے پہلے اسے گندے گندے نام دیے، اور پھر اس پر گولی چلا کر اپنی مردانگی اور مسلمان ہونے کا ثبوت دیاـ ایک 15 سال کی بچی، جو سکول جا رہی تھی، جو اس علم کو حاصل کرنا چاہتی تھی جس کا حصول اس کے رب نے فرض قرار دیا ہےـ

مگر رب کو بھی شاید طالبان سے پوچھ لینا چاہیے تھا کہ کیا ملالہ کو علم حاصل کرنے کا حق ہے؟ شاید یہ پوچھ لینا چاہیے تھا کہ اس کی تخلیق کردہ چھوٹی سی بچی میں اتنی جرأت کیوں بھر دی کہ وہ “صحیح” مسلمان طالبان کے لیے خطرہ بن سکےـ میرے جی میں آیا ہے کہ اسی رب سے یہ بھی پوچھوں

کہ وہ جہ بچیوں سے بھی ڈر گئے                     وہ ہیں کتنے چھوٹے وجود میں 

(کشور ناہید کی ایک نظم کا  شعر)