n Umar Waqar Hats off to our leadership, who makes it so simple to initiate killing sprees in Karachi and elsewhere. The pattern has become so familiar, monochromatic and boring that even my seven-year old brother can predict what Rahman Malik, Dr Farooq Sattar, Shahi Syed or Zulfikar Mirza will rattle out in front of the media. As it goes, things are initiated by two to three days of bombastic rhetoric, clamour and mudslinging. Then there is jalloo gherao and terrorising of the general public in the name of democracy and rights of people, strange shadows (namaloom afraad) come out in the streets and on roof tops and play the dirty game of blood, many young and old are slaughtered, funerals come out, political parties fight their turf war on these dead bodies, and then there are statements issued for calm and peace. Shameless smiling faces of our leaders appear on TV screens, pass two or three sarcastic remarks in front of the media horde (too busy in search of juicy and alarming stories and too busy in selling tragedies), talk shows abound with yapping politicians and experts trying to defend their respective great leaders, references are given to the glorious sacrifices of the leaders and the workers with body counting. Talk show hosts run the monochrome, apathetically ignoring those who lost their loved ones and whose kitchen stoves have been put off for posterity, common man is befooled once more, patting himself that Karachi lost lesser people today as compared to yesterday; it seems that peace has become an interval between fallen dead bodies. An optimist like me searching for good news from Karachi is appalled and disturbed, sleepless nights stalk my house with bloody faces of people staring out of their freshly dug graves, there is a noise in their silence which keeps me convulsing and convoluting in the bed, I try to sleep but the crescendo of this silence is so loud and deafening that I get up, sit down on my study table and start scribbling, inspired by poetry of the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, here is what I hear: THE NOISE OF SILENCE O those who think they control you and me, On the sands of time and the winds of change, Listen to the noise of silence of dreaded faces terrorised by you thugs, Take away beauty of lapping waves of sea and be gone, Take away sunset of Clifton and be gone, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. ************* Dense air and a starless night, for how long it will last, Horizons painted with the blood of the innocent, Who cares? In the city of Jinnah and Edhi, Take away Karachis splendour and be gone, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. ************* I am Karachi, ruthless people ride my chest, Brandishing their tools of murder all abreast, Unholy agents of tyranny of time, Playing their dirty turf wars in my streets, Apathetic butchers dont listen to my shrieks, Grabbers of my land and your vote, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. ************* I am Karachi, I have a million cuts on my soul, The cuts of anguish and despair, Like petals scattered on hot sand, And seeds of hate sworn everywhere, My heart perched on Quaids dome, Weeps like the orphan girl left all alone, I am a naked mother with all her sons buried in the sands of time, Let the clouds cover my soul lying bare in open sunshine, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. ************* O heartless leaders, playing politics of blood, Dont you feel the heat of cold dead bodies? Listen to the noise of silence of dreaded faces terrorised by you thugs, Mothers dying in the prisons of contested towns, And fathers vanishing from the lives of loved ones, Like peace of a graveyard with sisters losing their brothers, For I havent slept in the last three nights, My heart and mind just shudders, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. ************* If its matter of his turf, my turf and your turf, Take everything that you want and be gone, Take your share of my blood and be gone, Go build another villa with my bones and blood, Go build a villa on my grave, you ultimate thug, As bitter reminder of a deadly dream, Be gone, be gone you maker of schemes, Take my past, present and future if you could, And get the hell out of here and be gone, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. ************* O heartless leaders, playing politics of blood, For I have firm belief, you will be made answerable soon, When phoenix will rise and throw the yolk of slavery you goons, I will not become the ash of a hopeless fire, you will, For all your tyranny and terror, I will account you for all the smiles lost, I will account you for the silent screams, I will account you for all my broken dreams, I will account you for steeling the sunset of Clifton, I will account you for the million cuts on my soul, And burry you in your own graveyard of terror, Take away our smiles and tears and be gone, Take away your bottles of bear and be gone, Let me breathe in the city of lights, choked with suffocating smoke. n The writer is a freelance columnist and A-levels student. Email: yalla_umar@yahoo.com