a. “Google+ settings” from the top right menu after going to your google plus page.
b. Click “Profile and Privacy” from the menu on your left.
c. In the “Google Profiles” section, click on “edit visibility on profile”. You wil be taken to a view of your profile by external people.
d. Right next to “Send a message” you will see an icon. Click that to make changes. Un-check the “Allow people to send you a message from your profile” and select “only you” (or any other combination that you prefer) in the area below.

Done!

On Twitter today, a dear friend suggested I write something about what I am thinking about right now. So here it is. Nothing.

The beauty of nothing, is that it is intensely absorbing. It can absorb and attract everything, annihilate substances and thoughts, yet, at the same time, be the source of so much more. The source of elements that become the substance that is happiness and joy, of elation and pleasure, of peace and serenity.

The nothingness of the moment, describes both the completion, and the absolute inexistence. No state of being, is as complete, as nothingness itself. You and I cannot add to the nothingness of something, the only thing we can do, is take away from it by adding something. A twisted paradox, if you may, is probably the best definition for nothingness.

When you have nothing to do (actually there is something or the other to always do, but let’s face it, quite often, we are just putting it off, possibly to relax), your mind can run free. You either create and evaluate new ideas, learn a new skill or art for that matter, or, you will just try to sleep it off. I unfortunately can’t sleep it off right now. I write this at work with nothing to do, except maybe think for a bit and relax it off. What you can do in a moment of nothingness, depends on how you feel about the state that is now.

A long awaited moment of nothingness, is welcomed, but mark my words, for the thinking crazy, that welcome party doesn’t usually last more than 30 minutes. After that, you start thinking of what to do, without focusing on anything specific. You tick things off the list and knock off things that might usually come in the category of work. You will treat anything work related as…work and then discard it. You look for something fun, yet you want it to be effortless fun. Nothing too challenging, or not too long, nothing like a movie for that matter. Just a quick sharp rush of happy hormones to get you back on track.

As this challenged 500 word part/article nears its end, I finally have something to think about. A picture to go with it. I have my camera with me today, so maybe, I’ll just take a shot of the nothingness on my desktop to go with it. Or maybe, I’ll just sit back and relax and use my trusty search engine to help me come up with a picture relevant to nothingness, or irrelevant to anything else. But at the end of it all. Nothing, can be everything at the same time. If you treat nothingness as a glass, it fits the old adage. A half empty could be half full.

We have another issue at hand, the fact that the government is trying to suppress the authentication processes of all degrees. Vice Chancellors of universities all over the countries are being threatened to confirm authenticity of degrees. In addition, the chairman of the Higher Education Commission has been put into a political crisis of his own. Attempts to fire him are also under way.

Many people will argue that the condition of graduation is suppressing the will of the people by putting a condition on who can run for the elections. I agree, in part. There are other conditions too. Honesty being one of them. I also believe that if you want to run a shop, you cant do it right unless you are atleast able to do some basic math. Similarly, the role of the parliament is to act as the supreme legislative council. They must know law and legislature. Agreed that we cant stuff the houses of power with lawyers, but atleast we can put people in who know how to read and write and debate these things if needed.

The political scumbags eloquently say that the graduation condition was put forth by a dictator and they do not accept the condition. But seriously, who are you kidding. The elections were also set up by the same one. If the election rules state that certain conditions need to be met, then they should be. These politicians escape all sorts of legal charges on “lack of evidence”, but certainly, the charge of cheating the state has been proven against many of them, and it has also been determined they do not fulfill the “honesty” criteria.

For discussions sake, lets just assume that you politicians love this country and are only working in its supreme interest, and that you have no personal interest in power what so ever.

Did you really, honestly, cheat to come to power so you could “serve” the country? Is that the height of your patriotism? Deceiving the state, knowing it is a crime to do so, just to serve the state?

Please take your crap some place else. Thank you.

Over the past few years, we have seen many many despicable things in our country, our society.

It makes one wonder, rather believe in the non-existence of any law and order in the country. What’s even more surprising, is that in our “Islamic” republic of Pakistan, we see an absolute state of digression towards some of the core fundamentals of Islam itself.

The government has a body called “Council of Islamic Ideology” that is allegedly in charge of making sure that the legal framework of the country are Shariah compliant.

The fact that no government does anything about “honour killings” is surprising. In the presence of a legal framework and an “independent” judiciary, what gives us as people the right to administer justice at our will? No citizen of the state, however influential, has any authority to dispense law in the presence of an existing legal framework. If they have a dispute, they can either leave the state, or initiate official proceedings against the existing process and engage the decision makers. Mob justice and blank protests don’t really work.

Drawing from my statement above, the honour is not just a personal matter. It extends to our religion as well. The fact that our courts take no action against people who kill others in the name of religion is equally depictive of the spinelessness of the state’s legal machinery. Over the years the so called “Islamic Laws” have seen many people being killed unilaterally by others, at their whim an fancy, claiming defamation of Islam, or blasphemy. We all know for a fact that the looseness of this framework means that many can and will continue to take advantage of this legal loophole to their personal advantage.

Last month, several Ahmadis were killed because of their belief in a despicable act of brutality and disgrace to our so called “Islamic” rule of law. What was their crime? They chose to differ in their beliefs. So? many do. The Ismailis, Bohras etc as well have differing beliefs. If our very own Jaahil online, Amir Liaquat Hussain was to be believed, even Shia’a muslims deserve to be killed.

The fundamental question here is, who are we to decide or choose who lives or dies? As muslims, we believe that everything happens with the will of the Supreme Creator. If those who disbelieve live, it is because of His will. The Quaid e Azam in his speech after independence said that the citizens of the state are now free to go to their prayers of worship freely. They have equal rights in the state. The right to travel, the right to employment, the right to prayer and the right to security.

Where is this security? Uninformed sources say that the government knew of the attacks on Ahmadis over a month before the incident happened. But what did they do? What have they ever done? Our beloved Rehman Malik loves to say “we had prior knowledge”. So what exactly were you, dear minister, were you and your law enforcement units doing? Why was no action taken?

Oh I remember! they were protecting our VIPS! The same people that we elect, the same people who are our slaves and servants, are protected and guarded against us.

Last week, a noted civil activist Samar Khan was arrested outside the residence of another celebrity, Zulfiqar Mirza, the interior minister for Sindh. His crime was insanely huge. Samar Khan chose to knock at Zufiqar Mirza’s door and protest the incessant road blocks he causes.

Mr. Samar Khan was put behind bars at Darakhshan Police Station and after spending the night there, he was taken to court the next morning. No charges had so far been pressed against him. He had been taken to court with a black cloth over his head. As if he had committed an offence. Only difference is, that he hadn’t. The judge was not available on that day, and so he had to spend another night behind bars.

At this point, another question arises. What has the so called independent judiciary done to provide relief to those in prison waiting for justice? It seems to be a norm in Pakistan for lawyers to delay hearings again and again, on one pretext or another, and often health reasons are cited. The honourable courts should take note of the multitude of case deferral requests on health grounds by the lawyers and institute some sort of physical fitness system. If they aren’t fit to practice, how can they come to office? Also, maybe some sort of check on how many simultaneous cases a lawyer can handle. Possibly also a limit on the number of deferral requests that can be placed against a single case.

Constitutional hearings take place within days and judgments are pronounced within months at most. The facebook case was presented in court and a ban was ordered with immediate effect. Is this not a violation of Islamic principles? “important” cases are attended to immediately while hundreds of thousands of people languish in prisons choked to capacity, many being treated as criminals despite the fact that no charges have been proven against them.

When cases against “important” people are proven and they are charged, a presidential pardon is issued. Why? Did the courts not see evidence before issuing a punishment? How many other people has the president granted pardon? how many innocent people have knowingly been wronged without even seeing a courtroom? In Islam, everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. Regardless of position. I believe that even the president should not have immunity. If charges have been proven against him, he / she should have to step down and face the punishment.

Our so called elected members of parliament have fake degrees that they filed with the election commission. If these degrees are proven to be fake, their election was void ab initio. This means that the election result for that constituency was void to start off with. In addition, these persons should be charged with defrauding the state.

For those pro-democrats that believe that everyone should have the right to contest elections, id like to add that just like most white collar jobs require the fulfillment of certain academic criteria, the position of a law maker, a member of parliament, should also require an ability to understand and interpret law, and have a grasp on matters affecting the state, both internally and externally. Having a bachelor’s degree does not give people that capacity, but it filters out those that may be better equipped to do the same.

Fraud of any sort, is disallowed in Islam. If the conditions say you need to be graduate to participate in the elections, then you need to be a graduate. If you disagree, use your graduation degree, get elected and then discuss it on the floor of the parliament. Using a fake degree to get in and using the office of the state is a theft of capacity, authority and ultimately fraud.

These days people carry on their private armed mercenaries who threaten the normal citizens, and yet go scot free, violating explicitly announced state laws. All they need is a party flag on their cars.

It looks like the entire “Islamic” part of the official name of the country is busy tackling non issues. Facebook was a non-issue. No muslim of strong faith will go to the internet and search for drawings and caricatures of blasphemous nature. Instead, we will go out and preach the world the way of the Prophet (Peace be upon Him). Drawing images does not threaten our faith, it does not weaken our love for the Prophet. It only tells us that someone out there needs to be educated and guided.

The so called hudood ordinance places the burden of proof for rape on the victim. How on earth is that possible? Can someone in their right mind even make sense of this statement?

If she can’t prove herself as innocent, she is declared to be an adulteress and punished accordingly. But with whom? certainly she can’t commit adultery single handedly? Someone else was involved. How about punishing the other person too?

What has our “Islamic” system done about the matters highlighted above? Nothing at all.

Did our government issue an official condemnation of the attacks on Ahmadis?

Has our government and its religious departments so far come up and declared these suicide attacks and sectarian violence in the country as unislamic?

Has the state managed to get a condemnation from all schools of thought for the killings of so many non muslims in the country on the grounds of religion?

Last, but not the least, when will the state stop interfering in the lives of its citizens in the name of religion? The state has no business interfering in our lives. It has many many issues to resolve.

First of all, my basic views on this:
Government should ideally, always be with the consensus of the majority.  I use this term because it does not necessarily mean democratic, but doesn’t almost always mean dictatorship either. These terms are relative. They change with time and circumstances.

In 1998, in a bloodless coup, a military officer took over the country. Whether with the blessings of the supreme court or not is irrelevant here. He violated the constitution of the time but was approved under “doctrine of necessity”. Whatever that means. HOWEVER, he was at that point of time, indirectly, representing the will of millions of people who looked to him with hope in their eyes.

Like our elected governments, he too made errors in his last 2/3 years which lead to a decline in his popularity. He broke some rules too.

Fast forward to the elections in 2008, a government was elected with a so called majority. I don’t realize why elected equated to democracy. We know how “transparent” our election process is…hence how “democratic” as well.

In the last two years of an elected government, we have seen the state of affairs go from bad to worse. Taxation is crossing crazy levels, power issues remain unresolved (actually getting worse), state institutions being used to “employ” political party workers, fired beauracratic officers being re-appointed with over 8 years in salaries, perks and bonuses compounded with market rate interest. So called “income support plans” and what not. An insane love affair with rental power, instead of jump starting the coal plans in interior sindh. No jump starts in gas import plans from Iran. Nothing. Barely any economic improvement, highest debt accumulation ever in a 2 year time frame. highest power tarriffs in the world, higher than ever corruption levels.

Is this what  we have elected/voted for? for God’s sake….there was one filter to make sure some degree of educated people come to power. But that was removed too. Why? The parliament is the law giving body of the country. Is it not prudent to have it run by companies who have the capacity to understand law and economics?

Now we have a parliament filled with people carrying fake degrees, but what is the election commission doing about it? False information in nomination papers makes the entire nomination process void ab-initio, hence the candidate is to be automatically stripped of office. Which is very much like the election of our beloved president. The NRO has lapsed and he had graft cases against him. His election, therefore, was void ab initio.

Why does the government need 5 years to do good? Why cant good stuff start in the first two? The dictator started reforms immediately didnt he?

What concerns me even more, that the so called dictator did greater things to improve the reputation and condition of the country than the democrats did.

The world generally tends to hate dictators because they disregard the will and state of the people and only do as they wish. Hating dictators is subjective too, because as long as the world knows a dictator can help them, they dont mind dealing with one.

This particular dictator continued ruling for 10 years, and barely any of his actions can be seen as those that harmed the common man.

Please dont say that people were affected by the judicial crisis crap, if a so called “free judiciary” mattered to people, its been restored now…and what has it done for the people? The number of pending cases  in the criminal cases would have been addressed, the political cases wouldnt take so long and credible action would have been taken instead of the CJ and company just being quoted in the papers making statements.

We are living in a banana republic. If we as a people vote for someone, that does not mean that we have signed off our destiny to the same person for 5 years. We should have the right to withdraw our support too.

You know whats most ironic? A Dictator had the honour of setting the standards for public service and sincerity to the nation, and the democrats are falling short.

wow.

A few days ago, Inspire-X was born again. This time with a new goal, a new idea and frankly, a new aspiration.

More details to come soon. But for now, find my new workspot:

http://inspire-x.com

I am uncertain. I hate uncertainity. Sure I don’t mind risk, but to an extent. I calculate my risks, or maybe I am under the false impression that I am good at it. I want to move on, I don’t yet know where. Where I will go, where I am. I need to see where I am, but I can’t find myself.

Of late I feel destroyed, but not explosively. Almost deconstructed, taken apart, bit by bit, helplessly watching myself, being eliminated, being wiped away.

I also need to try and find out the truth in my own thoughts. I am good at lying, but I think I’ve been lying to myself all along. I am only human. I hope I am.

This post has been about me. All about me. But where am I? What am I? I have just been eliminated. Maybe, there is somewhere I can find myself, somewhere i belong, somewhere I exist.

I am tired of searching for that place.

We live in strange times. Times that see us as humans crashing, colliding into each other, and at the same time, show us hope and joy and celebration.

Why does time affect everything? All that we think, all that we see, all that we do. Why have i started to become constantly disillusioned with the phenomenon called time.

I dont think I have time for this. But what do I have time for. Or is it the other way round? Do I mean anything to time?

Its been a while since someone has asked my blog URL despite the fact that I did tell in advance that my blog is dormant.

So i know you will read this, and this goes out to you….a new beginning maybe…now that I have time to think more, read more, rant maybe…. I do not know what I will do next…where the ball ends up landing, red, black, odd, even…what i shall make….what i shall lose. But i now know i am free….for how long though, that is yet to be discovered.

one of my biggest problems is being free…..i just cant remain idle….and while i was looking forward to moving on….the fact that i dont know what i will do now…is a bigger shock that is going to hit me….and after 2 days of nothingness….ill be begging for something to do…hint to all of you out there….

till i see you again…have a wonderful time all around.

Have a look!