Our National Mea Culpa

Khan Sahib,

Don't get me wrong about the length part

as one can always learn something from your articles

if interested in the subject.

Your analysis here makes a lot of sense.

From my now distant point of view, any change

in direction on militancy and intolerance

can only help in Pakistan.

As we have discussed before, it would be tragic if

religion, which was one of the main forces leading

to the birth of the country, proved to be a fatal

blow to its continuity...

re: Ras

Please omit the typo "sahi" and replace it with "sahib".

Sorry for the typo.

Ciao

Re: GT # 2

Chowk readership, generally speaking, will avoid this article not only because of its lenght, but also because it does not deal in any conspiracy theory analysis and neither does it offer a blame analysis on the situation. The article merely makes two points, which the average Pakistani might find a bit difficult to agree.

One; demcoracy requires an active, involved and aware participation by the people and democracy and public accountibility in a democracy is not limited to and does not end with elections. Democracy in Pakistan is still limited to elections and beyond that, Pakistani public is not interested in politics as long as their zones of special status quos are not infringed upon.

Two; Lal Masjid was the culmination of the last 20 years of Pakistani politics, encourged and supported by the people of Pakistan. Militancy, in Pakistan, has to be seen in the context of its environment and had cultural/religious/political environment not existed, militancy might not have taken roots in Pakistan. Pakistani public actively encourged the growth of militancy in Pakistan by not being involved in the process, whereby the governments were given a carte blanche to adopt certain policies.

The mea cupla of the nation is that militancy in Pakistan would not have been possible without its indirect and direct appeasement and support of the militancy.

As to the European terms and references, those were to show that we still live in a world dominated by European structures of international law. These structures are, however, changing as the international system moves from the concept of nation-states into paradigms and metrics of transnationalism influenced not by politics, but by economics.

Ciao

Re: Ras # 3

Nice to hear from you Ras sahi! The lenght of my articles is an old cliche on Chowk, but it was nice to know that you enjoyed the article.

My crystal ball simply paints a picture of 2007 as being as very bad year for Pakistan, but I do think that after 2007, this nation and its people will see marked improvement. There is a growing awareness in Pakistan, amongst the people, that did not exist five to ten years ago.

Ciao

Khan Sahib,

This is a bit long.

Please look at the future.

Well written article though.

What is your crystal ball showing you?

Ras

Dear Mr. Khan,

I was wondering as to why this important write-up is being ignored by the interactors. It seems that there are a few reasons for this. First, the number of people who have viewed this article is 'small' in terms of chowk. Second, it may be that of the 300 odd viewers, many may have found it a bit nerdy. Third, and as far as I am concerned, I found the constant references to Western definitions in the quest of defining a state and its responsibilities a bit jarring inspite of being aware that the state and its role has been largely defined and studied by western scholars. Nevertheless, given a scholar like you, it would have been nice to know a bit more about your own perspective.

IMHO, for most in our sub-continent, the State matters to an individual only in when it comes to petitioning it for the redress of personal problems often perpetuated by the state itself. This nature has changed very little from the time of monarchies, tribalistic panchayats, British rule etc. No matter how the powers behind our states in south-asia tend to define the state the fact of the matter is they are largely despotic and draw on support from tribalistic polities. When once the rajas awed the prajas with ritualistic processions and ruthless slaughter today it is done through glittering buildings, gdp figures and carnages like the one in Lal Masjid.

But on the whole I really liked this article.

Hi,

At the height of Chief Justice crisis, I submitted an article to chowk captioned

Gang-rape of Pakistan

Chowk editors have apparently opted not to publish it.

For my fellow chowkies and for the sake of posterity (ta ke sanad rahe that I too did raise my voice) I am posting a blog link to it. It is a letter that sent to all corps commanders of Pak army.

http://gangrapeofpakistan.blogspot.com/

Sorry, very sorry, that comments are not very article specific.

Regards

MMI