Will the Real Pakistan please stand UP?

Image courtesy of the BBC

“It is very shocking to hear that girls can’t go to school, they are taking us back to the Stone Age.”

These are the innocent, yet courage-filled words of an 11-year old girl on the outskirts of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

It is an outrageous issue that hundreds of schools in a former tourist haven are being bombed under the pretense of Islamic law, albeit one twisted to nefarious ends.

If the world could only take a peek into the life of an average guy in the pristine SWAT valley, it would encounter radio broadcasts warning of deadly acid attacks on girls who “dare” to go to school, just one among the many shocking events of daily life over there.

Certainly, the fact that an average Fatima or a Begum, still maybe at an impressionable age, has to cower in fear at the thought of school is very well achieved by such hideous threats.

Add to this, daily public hangings, decapitations and day-long power cuts, the former glory of the “Switzerland of Pakistan” is being torn to tatters.

The handling of this situation that has been snowballing to the world’s attention since 18 months has been pathetic, to say the least.

And the situation is not set to improve, especially since the ever-smiling Mr. Zardari, the supposed president, has said that making a peace deal with these murderous thugs and militants is a necessity of the times!

The conundrum of making deals with someone and consequently describing them as thugs is sheer mockery of all forms of Justice that the citizens of Pakistan expect from their elected representatives.

The people made sure of their writ when they collectively denounced the religious parties that participated in the elections of 2008.

And yet the elected reprensentatives, instead of heeding the citizen’s call for a uniform justice system that is swift and just, caved in to the religious hardliners and gave them authority to rule and give out justice in the valleys of SWAT, in the name of the Holy Islamic law called the Sharia.

Even if one could stomach the brute imposition of an out-dated system of codes like the Sharia, the one being implemented is a twisted version with deep roots in medieval edicts wherein women are subjugated and everyone who doesn’t agree with the religious figureheads is considered an “infidel”!

The most ironical of all these events is that the Civilian government is using the former militant, the septuagenarian Sufi Mohammad, as a mediator for talks being held with the Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah.

Now, factor in the fact that the Taliban leader who has swathes of Al-Qaeda and the Afghan forces under his command is the son-in-law of Sufi Mohammad, and that Sufi Mohammad himself, commanded large forces to fight against the US invasion of the Talibanic Afghanistan around 2002,and was miraculously released on pardon just last year!..Truly mind-bending.

Furthermore, there is a real chance that the isolationist policies of Sharia may give further impetus for brain-washed militants to take-over even Islamabad next…….and they certainly don’t lack the military or the economic strength to achieve this, since the Taliban’s main channel of profit is the worldwide Opium trade.

Even conservative estimates say that 90% of World-wide Opium trade is controlled by Taliban, which goes to say that this keeps the Military machination of the Taliban well-oiled and raring to go.

The proximity of the SWAT valley to Islamabad doesn’t exactly give comfort to anyone, as it is just 100km from the capital city!

Imagine, Just 100km apart is a deep chasm in socio-political environment;

Islamabad with its Elected Authorities, and SWAT valley with its Feudal lords…..

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Even if the Taliban aren’t thinking of taking over Pakistan, it sure is one of their primary objectives to annex the disputed state of Kashmir, and the handover of the SWAT valley to the Taliban gives them a direct and unchecked[one might add] corridor from the Afghan frontier to the door step of the Indian controlled Kashmir. This scary proposition requires deep analysis and is best left to the intelligence personnel of India.

Even as militant leaders celebrated the hand-over on the open streets; Caught in the dichotomy are the poor people who live their daily lives in confusion, not knowing who holds sway over his destiny, since their liberty is not protected by any sovereign authority.

It is a no-brainer that the current state of affairs is only due to a clear lack of “political will” and nothing else, since even the might of the Taliban fails over the towering Army of Pakistan, one of the largest in the world.

Thus, the dearth of action or even inadequate action has had devastating effects on the nation state of Pakistan.

As the man in the street cries out for help,

Will the civilian government realize that they are just playing into the hands of the Taliban, and that the Taliban which promises to help with all its might in case of an Indian invasion is just laying the traps of appeasement for hardliners in the army and ISI, large parts of which are already alleged to be in collusion with the Taliban.

The question is…

Will the Real Pakistan please stand up?

One Trilogy to rule em' all !

Prince of Persia-

The trilogy that evokes a feeling of EPICness in whatever breath it is mentioned!

The original prince was a nerve-wracking 2D plat former that had the classic story of poor-boy to the rescue of the princess, a formula that worked perfectly due to the genius of Jordan Mechner

Ubisoft took up the franchise and gave it a look, feel and dimension that were uber-cool in “The Sands of Time”.

The central theme of the trilogy, making its inception possible is the mystical sands themselves and its related lore

The first game was something of a revelation to me as I played through it;

It captured me by its glowy design, the prince and his free-flow movements, the music and of course the story!

The Prince and the female protagonist Farah go on the journey through the games interesting levels together and the game ends on a happy note for all

If one thought that was the end of it,Ubisoft came up with the 2^nd game “Warrior Within” that looked and felt like it had no connection to the first game other than the involving the sands and the Prince himself.

In a radical move, Warrior Within took the puzzles in the TSOT to a new level while maintaining a “dark grunge” feel to the entire game.

And the best part of it was the combat which was a treat to execute; the various combos beautifully orchestrated much to the brutal decapitation of the prince’s opponents!

Though the music in the game is all hard rock/metal which I didn’t exactly favor;

It does fit in with the biggest change WW has compared to TSOT…that’s right, the eponymous Prince himself.

This prince is featured as brooding, aggressive and furiously at loggerheads with his impending fate of doom in the form the Dahaka, a fearsome guardian of Fate embodied by the Sands themselves.

The game is set entirely on the island of time where the prince seeks to undo his mistakes and conquer his fate. This seemingly impossible task is further impeded by the actions of one knows as the Empress of time. Also, the characters revolving around the empress including her agent known as Shadee provide for sexual overtones not found in the previous game.

The game as such involves large amounts of back-tracking and the end is at sight only after about 16 hours of game play.

Thus, though the second game takes giant strides concerning the stylized violence, the overall experience does get a bit underwhelming.

Now, taking any of the two epilogues in WW,it looked as if the story had finally ended in the Prince’s favor ; that fate is certainly not written in stone and one willing can change it for the better.

Certainly, no sequel would be possible under such circumstance if not for the premise “Time is an ocean in a storm and quite unlike a river”;

Riding on this Ubisoft gave us a shocker in the 3^rd and final Game “The Two Thrones”.

Two Thrones is best described as a treat for all senses as it combined the best of the both WW and TSOT to create a truly magical adventure

Taking the alternate ending of WW as its canon, the game opens with the prince returning with the Empress, Kaileena to Babylon, and his home. But alas, he returns to find his beloved city besieged by forces unknown; his own ship attacked and torn asunder.

The Prince is washed ashore and he watches helplessly as Kaileena is taken captive.

The tired and confused prince sets out to uphold his promise that no harm would befall Kaileena in Babylon. He reaches the palace courtyard and there he meets up with his primary nemesis, the Vizier.

Kaileena is “killed” before his very eyes and immortality is injected through the sands to the Vizier, but not before the Prince regains the falling Dagger of Time, his last hope against the power of the sands.

The prince also finds a dagger tail enmeshed with his right arm; a strange glow abound it with the sands affecting it.

With vengeance on his mind, the prince seeks the Vizier again to make him pay.

Along his journey, he learns of the Dark personality bestowed in him by the sands, a Dark Prince that preyed on his rage and willed and goaded him to recklessly pursue his goals at any cost. Though water purified the corruption temporarily, the Dark Prince would whisper in him to do deeds of the most selfish nature, making the Prince blind to the plight of his kingdom and the city’s people.

The Prince goes against the wishes of his alternate persona and Dons the role of a protector by taking down the monster Klompa, in the grand Arena thus liberating many of his people.

He frees Farah from the captivity of the vizier, albeit unknowingly and eventually meets her on the rooftops of Babylon’s markets

His chance encounter with Farah, whom he only remembers causes her to view him with suspicion, even more so since he declares himself as the Prince.

She agrees on seeing his combat skills against the soldiers of sand that he would be a reliable partner to hunt the vizier with.

The Prince who still has feelings for Farah cannot help but feel nostalgic, though he knows that Farah does not retain any of the things that they went through together.

As they move together helping each other through the city to get to the vizier, the Prince sees the trail of destruction and death done by the Vizier, now in his immortal sand form.

As they sneak into the palace, they hear desperate pleas for help from afar…..and the Prince decides to ignore it now that the Vizier is within reach. Farah is disgusted and parts from him to help those in need. The Prince eventually argues out with his dark side and goes after farah, thus leading to his encounter with mahasti,a female assassin.

During the fight, he changes completely to the Dark prince, thus allowing him to defeat mahasti. This transformation is seen by Farah and she is utterly shocked of this particular aspect of the Prince and huffs off in anger.

The Prince follows her, but to no avail and ends up in a trap involving a burning building filled with people. The Prince masterfully uses the lever system to break down the huge door using the marble statue of his father as the primary pointing force.

This is witnessed by Farah and she comes back at a critical time to save the Prince during his fight with the charioteer twins.

Now truly united, both of them try sneaking into the inner palace, but are intercepted by the full strength of the Viziers army.

As things stand grim, a glimmer of hope arrives in the form the last remnants of the city of Babylon, its People.

Armed with sticks and whatever arms they can muster, they rush out hopelessly to protect the prince and to give him time.

The Prince and Farah navigate through the mechanical marvels in the Hanging gardens and reach the top of the palace. There the Vizier lies in wait and using his newfound powers, captures Farah and hurls the Prince down a seemingly endless pit.

The Prince wakes up in utter darkness, and he knows he is in the Dry Well of the Ancients where he is only alive because of his transformation.

As the Dark prince taunts him on his actions, the prince comes upon his father’s glowing sword in a cave of darkness. Even as he wondered about its origins, he saw his father lying motionless by its side. Besieged by grief, the prince vows to do what’s right after accepting his fate. This redemption purifies him and the dark prince is quelled for the time.

The Prince sets out with his father’s sword to rescue Farah; he valiantly mounts the outer walls of the palace tower, with the city of Babylon stretched for him to see.

The Prince finally overcomes all of the towers traps and comes face to face with the Vizier who is in the process of turning Farah into a sand princess of sorts!

With the aid of the Dagger, and by his own battle-worthy skills, the Prince manages to land one final deadly strike into the Vizier, but not before a long battle.

Even as the Vizier crumbles to sand, it glows with abandon eventually appearing as the ethereal form of Kaileena.

She blesses him with the words “Your journey is now at an end” and goes on to peace

The Prince however must face one last challenge in the form of his latent dark persona, who now traps him in his own mind, inciting rage and malevolence from the content prince.

Even as the prince goes after the dark prince with fury, Farah’s kindred words of soothing pacifies him and makes him learn that the dark prince’s downfall lies only by quelling his rage.

And thus, the Dark Prince, now devoid of the vehemence that once drove the Prince dies a slow and lonely death.

As things stand at the end, the Prince is with his beloved Farah who still hasn’t deciphered the mystery of the Prince calling out her name the “first time” they met on the streets of Babylon.

So, the prince, now learned in the ways of Time, begins his story that pan through all of his adventures with the words.

”Most people think time is like a river, flowing swift and nimble in one direction, but they are wrong….Time is like an Ocean in a storm…Come, and I will tell you a Tale like none you have ever heard……

In this way, the story captured me with its many mystical and heart-warming elements.

Soulful and ethereal music, by Stuart Chart wood was a delight as the prince went about his task; The Combat though a bit scaled down from the fierceness in WW, still holds merit due to the speed kill mechanism.

The sheer thrill of looking down upon ones enemy just moments before slicing him to oblivion is indescribable!

The Dark Prince has skill that proves valuable in beating down hordes of enemies, though at the time cost of his very essence.

The inner monologue provided by the Dark Prince is full of malice, albeit coated with dry sarcasm and cynicism.

Art design of the game makes a comeback to the first game, although it leaves behind the mystic glow found in TSOT.

The Character of the Prince completes a full circle,

Starting out in the first game as a young and ignorant lad only out to please his father, he learns the true meaning of fear and grief in the second

In Two Thrones, he matures and accepts his mistakes, while living and fighting for the present and thus is truly wise.

Thus, Two Thrones represents the pinnacle of the trilogy standing for a wondrous experience of my life!