Disowned

"Mere dil mere musaafir 
Huaa phir se hukm saadir
Ke vatan badar hon ham tum
Den galii galii sadaayen
Karen ruKh nagar nagar kaa
Ke suraagh koi paayen
Kisii yaar-e-naamaabar kaa
Har ek ajanabii se puuchhen
Jo pataa thaa apane ghar kaa
Sar-e-kuu-e-naashanaayaan
Hamen din se raat karanaa
Kabhii is se baat karnaa
Kabhii us se baat karnaa
Tumhien kyaa kahun ke kyaa hai
Shab-e-Gham burii balaa hai
Hamien ye bhii thaa Ghanimat
Jo koii shumaar hotaa
Hamien kyaa buraa thaa marna
Agar ek baar hotaa"

In the span of 24 hours, approximately 70 Pakistanis (before another onslaught begins let me, very hastily add - 70 TRULY PATRIOTIC Pakistanis) have labelled me "a quitter", "A writer bent upon deliberately, defaming Pakistan" "A writer who's son (Yes this ones hilarious!) has despicable manners - according to a lady, zoran probably spews vomit every time hes on a bus!).

Needless to say that these 70-truly-patriotic Pakistanis dont know a thing about me. They don't know why I'm in London or for how long. They have no clue as to what happened(or didnt happen?) to my perfectly-well-mannered son which has brought us where we are today.They don't know what my previous life has been. There is no way they could gauge my love or indifference ( or hatred?) for Pakistan. Yet they choose to comment and comment vociferously, venomously. Yet they choose to pass their verdicts - they're right and Im wrong.They're white and I'm a stained, filthy black.  I read somewhere that people like Mutaz Qadri, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh are not mere individuals, they are a mindset and Ive witnessed a display of that mindset in all its glory just now.

My silence on the bus that day is being pierced by the deafening, resounding racket of their malicious words. Denial is divine, as I've recently discovered thanks to them. According to most of them my modus operandi should have been to ideally shove that old woman off the bus(!) (Nah, im just joking, ofcourse these gentle, tolerant beings would NEVER want that) or to blast her with profanities and make her, forcibly see the good side of Pakistan(Hmm now that could be done...) Has any one of these highly intelligent people stopped for a second to think why I was quiet that day?Why that woman's comment caught me completely off guard? It was a couple of days after Taseers assassination. The murderer was being smothered with hugs and flowers.During that past one week numerous Karachites had been subjected to target killings.The imam of Sultan masjid had very smugly declared Sherry Rehman to be vajib ul qatl. All that woman on the bus did, was to show me a mirror. How does one react when one sees a gruesome, grotesque reflection of oneself. Is not one lost for words? Does not one cower and question what led to this sorry state of affairs? How does that make him a traitor, a back stabber? Apparently these 70 odd people have never been rendered speechless.The high and mighty, maganimous souls that they are, they have ALWAYS promoted Pakistan in the most positive manner. Rare moments of weakness and  self criticism are a thing unknown to these unforgiving Greek God remnants. 

One gentleman really made my day when he said and I quote:"instead of promoting Paksitan, People like Semray just try to defame Pakistan by writing these futile articles."

Another crazed Pakistani(much like me) cheekily retorted:"100% agreed. Our country is so beautiful, free of corruption, best in the world, no bombs blast take place, no target killings, everybody thinks of themselves as Pakistanis.. no concept of sindhi mahajir pathan punjabi BUT These conspiracy writers !! I tell you they are jealous and are jews for sure :). If they were not here we would have been better than the US in terms of development and achievement. :)"

"Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong." ~ James Bryce