by WASEEM ALTAF
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered that all administrative rooms in government hospitals should be converted into wards for treatment of dengue patients in Lahore. PHOTO/NNI/EXPRESS
Instead of inviting a water management specialist and a medical practitioner to give their views on floods and dengue fever Geo invited a Molvi which is clearly reflective of intellectual bankruptcy.
On 13th September 2011, Molvi Tariq Jamil appeared on Kamran Khan Show on Geo and proclaimed that the floods in Sindh and the Dengue in Punjab are a consequence of our wrongdoings or budd aamaliyan.
He stated quoting from Tirmizi that “God was angry with us and was showing his resentment through bringing natural disasters over the people of this country.” He further added that when the ruling elite loots and when men turn obedient towards their wives rather than their mothers, when the rich do not pay zakat, and when people come closer to their friends than their fathers, and people say hello hi to each other and mosques turn into battlegrounds, female singers and music becomes popular, and musical instruments become common, and wine is in demand and men wear silk, and the new generation considers the previous as lesser enlightened rather stupid , and religious education is sought for worldly benefits; God shows his wrath.
He further told that no drop of water can fall from the sky without the will of God and dengue cannot affect anybody without his consent so it was the revenge of God befalling upon us. (This proposition turns the entire criminal justice system obsolete)
When asked why there was no distinction kept between good people and bad while subjecting them to God’s vengeance, he told that after death the good ones will be duly rewarded. (Again a breach of justice and fair play as the sinner and the innocent both receive punishment, one here and the other there)
The immediate solution he offered was tauba by all and sundry.
I wonder why the poorest of the poor should suffer due to floods and dengue because the rulers are looters.
And should we start thrashing our wives and start sleeping with our parents to avert floods and epidemics.
And if the rich do not pay zakat, why do those who deserve zakat get swept away in floods.
And why can’t we be closer to our friends in some respects than our fathers. Should we go to dance parties with our fathers rather than our friends?
And what’s wrong with saying hello or hi. Should we say assalam o alaikum wa rahmatulla hay wa barakat a hoo every time me meet each other.
And let me also say that the ordinary people have not turned mosques into battlegrounds but the likes of Molvi Tariq Jamil, so why should they be made to suffer.
Molvi Saab also knew that female singers have become popular. Was he referring to Fareeha Pervez or Hadiqa Kiyani or maybe Annie but they are not in. Perhaps he has seen Meesha Shafi, Zeb & Haniya or Zoe Viccaji, or perhaps Lady Gaga. Anyway a total ban on all these would prevent Punjab from the dengue epidemic.
All musical instruments must also be destroyed to stop the deluge. The surface of tablas should be shot at using a Walther P99 semi-automatic pistol, while the strings of a sitar can be severed using a two-stroke electric chainsaw. That would annihilate the mosquito population involved in the spread of dengue.
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(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)