Where are our annual front runners?

However, in the given situation, please allow me to pose just a few very pertinent and perhaps burning questions to be answered by either these elites or you or both. Each Muslim, with no reference to authority, wealth, social status or otherwise is ordained to pray 5 times a day which means those whom not only my compatriots back home but also Pakistanis living overseas like me have seen at television screens and through newspapers are religiously obliged, not supposed, to pray all the five prayers (Fajer, Zohar, aser, Maghrib and Isha) on the same day even when they were vehemently publicized at the expense of our national exchequer. Monday 21^st September, 2009 was 1^st day of Eid in Pakistan, barring those who celebrated a day earlier and at all places, be it mosque, compound, park or ground, special arrangements were made as always, for offering prayers and millions of my compatriots bowed before Allah Almighty in reverence and obedience.

At each and every place one could see some VIPs in any case but the places where acting President Farooq H Naek and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani were in attendance, it was almost next to impossible to enumerate as to how may VVIPs and VIPs also prayed with them in Karachi and Islamabad respectively. I am not critical about our Head of State, who was out of country but scene would have been the same had he prayed in Pakistan, our Prime Minister or, for that matter, other VVIPs and VIPs as to why they were in front and right behind the imam but what I am asking for is as to how many of them were in Fajer prayers which was neither substituted by Eid prayers not it was exempted on our annual religious day. Despite the hard fact that I am sitting thousand miles away from my beloved Pakistan and that too for over three decades but yet I bet that bulk majority of those whom tv cameras, movie cameras and still cameras picked up were missing in Fajer prayers. Again I have an intuition that they must have absented in Zoher, Aser, Maghrib and Isha prayers as well but under what authority they could have missed the prayers?

I am either too na�ve or may be too innocent or both and hence unable to dig deep as to what discouraged our such star studded Pakistanis not to go to mosques for the rest 5 routine prayers of the day. Let me first take long and deep breath and hold for a while to rejuvenate my mental and intellectual faculties before I venture to discover as to what could the logic and prudence which prompted the whole lot to absent in one go. Perhaps, my, rather our, VVIPs and VVIPs are truly staunch Muslims so they, from any angle whatsoever, can not and should not be questioned and or blamed  for absence rather in fact it is the double edged sword of publicity which at least discouraged if not deterred them to offer rest 5 prayers of the day. Ever since the whole publicity paraphernalia was geared up, energized and brought into action for Eid prayers and Eid prayers only and therefore Pakistani VVIP and VIP junta at their own without any coercion or temptation quite happily and voluntarily reciprocated to occupy the security cordoned off seats in front. I must not be miser and discourteous to applaud for the time they spared to face the photographic lenses much before and after the prayers otherwise none on the face of earth could even dare to say a word had they come right at the moment when people stood up for prayers and they exited the place just after saying salams on both sides but it is their greatness to spare so much of their precious and golden time with we, the commoners.

The crux is that had we made the same publicity arrangements like Eid prayer, at least some of them, if not all of them, must had turned up to pray under both live and static photographic coverage and it would be sinful for us including me to advise our VVIPs and VIPs that our Muslims� prayers be annual or daily do not need publicity but performance. Shouldn�t we blame or better curse our publicity set up which deprived our VVIPs and VIPs to prove that they definitely wanted to pray all the 5 times a day but alas the media did not understand their inner ego and snatched away the pomp and show they rightly claim and deserve resultantly our annual front line runners can be seen only twice annually and not daily 5 times.

                                   888888888888888888888888

With my honest and solemn prayers

Sincere Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait / Mobile (00965