The Meaning of Pakistan

YLH:#647

``aglay vaqtON kay haiN yeh loag,inhaiN kuchH naa kahO

Jo maiy O NaghmaiN kO andoH rubaH kehtay haiN``

tr: To the antiquity do such people belong,

Who think of wine & song as a panacea of all ills.

One way to stay young is to hang around older folks.

The other is to retain the elixir of the Dream.

We all HAVE a choice.

wassalaam.

PS:This is also addressed to Omar Phoenix,Zahra,Scout AND Ayesha Fayyaz Sarwari.

__________________________________________________

In response to Truth (Reply #: 649)
Dear Truth:

Your statement: “Would a description of you as a Ghandian be appropriate?”

My reply: Gandhiji was a great human being. He is admired the world over for his peaceful struggle. I have no difficulty to be described as a Gandhian. He, nevertheless, was not the first or the only one to believe in peaceful resistance. It is unfortunate that a person like you has to ask a simple question so politely and reluctantly.

Sincerely, Bilal Ahmad

Bilal Ahmed #646:

``The key word, in my view, is peaceful resistance.``

Would a description of you as a Gandhian be appropriate?

You may, of course, chose to ignore this question, if you so desire.

Re: Vineet

Sindu Desh and other such things

For historical and cultural reasons I am sympathetic to the cause of Sindhu Desh just as I have a soft corner for the aspirations of Mohajirs. But I for one would strongly advise all communities in Pakistan to try and find accommodation within modern day Pakistan. Irrespective of historical and cultural justifications, Pakistan is as much a reality today as is India, US, or China. We should do everything possible to avoid the breaking up states. Most of the time, we gain little by doing so.

``I try not to dwell in myths and unnecessary banal

nationalism.``

The insecurities left behind by fascism surely has led to this fear of Nationalism....

The line between intellectualism and Defeatism grows thinner by the minute.

Ever heard of Positive outward looking Nationalism? Loyalty to your ``home`` and consciousness of your true contributiong to human development? Had people like Ahmadb done so, they would not use words like ``banal`` and ``myths`` for it.

-YLH

In response to Urstruly (Reply # 642)
Dear Urstruly:

As a teenager I also believed in revolutionary changes through one or more political revolutions. My belief was based mainly upon emotionalism and simplistic solutions. I am now much more inclined toward more peaceful resolution of various difficulties. I am afraid, if the ruling elite do not mend their ways and some sort of national reconstruction is not effectively achieved, there would be lot of bloodshed in various parts of Pakistan. Haven’t we already wasted the blood of a lot of innocent people?

Like you, I also believe in grassroots politic/activism. Can we mobilize the people for grassroots social movements without some basic political and civil rights and liberties?

You maintain: “Unless we the people are ready to snatch whatever is rightfully ours and pull it out of the throats of the people whom we trusted as our ``caretakers`` we are going to get nothing.” If Pakistani people choose this approach, so be it. This is not my preferred method since I believe in persuasion, not coercion. This is why I am so opposed to the “Danda Shahi”. The key word, in my view, is peaceful resistance.

Sincerely, Bilal Ahmad

In response to Sarwari (Reply # 618)
Dear Aisha, Assalam-o-Aalaykum:

Your statement: “... sunna hey app kitab likh rahey hey, ``Pakistan Que Achaa, jub tha mey baccha``?”

My reply: Ab aap bhi mazaq karnay lageen. No, I am not writing such a book. I have no intention to do so. Beacause, (1) I am not a fiction writer; (2) I had lost my childhood innocence long time back; and (3) I try not to dwell in myths and unnecessary banal nationalism.

Aisha, please read the following letter (preferably in conjunction with some of my other posts). I published this letter during the ugly days of the Nawaz Sharif’s regime, in response to a letter by an eighty-five year old Pakistani. Please remember that Najam Sethi, Editor of Friday Times, was kidnaped from his home (around 2:00 a.m.) by the Government/State of Pakistan. Also remember, I don’t normally condemn. On this occasion, I did. Why? A state “must” not intendedly violate the fundamental citizenship and human rights of its citizens.

Sincerely, Bilal Ahmad

A wise citizen`s lamentations
Frontier Post, Letter to the Editor, May 15, 1999

This is in response to Mr. M. Aslam Khan`s letter. With some reservation, I endorse and admire his views. He is undoubtedly a wise senior citizen of Pakistan. I wish I could speak with such eloquence when I reach the age of 85.

I came to Pakistan with my parents some 52 years ago. As an observer and participant, I have seen the plight of Pakistan with considerable concern. Despite my desire to see Pakistan grow as a respectable and prosperous country, my negativity about the future of my country has been growing enormously.

A few months back somebody asked me to identify the best and the worst things about contemporary Pakistan. My answer was the ``freedom of press`` and the ``state institutions``, respectively. At that time, the quantity and quality of material published in the free Pakistani media gave me some hope about the future of Pakistan. I developed a much more positive attitude.

I am once again a deeply concerned citizen. The apparently fake charges against several honorable journalists deserve nothing less than condemnation. I was unable to find anything wrong and objectionable in my first reading of Mr. Najam Sethi`s speech on May 1, 1999. Even if the allegations against Mr. Sethi have some credibility, I deplore the way the government has violated his basic human and citizenship rights. It is a shame that Pakistan has turned into one of the worst kinds of authoritarian regimes in human history. To me, this sounds like the ``death of a dream`` if not the ``death of state``.

Bilal Ahmad, USA.

Shankar,

``At least ylh acknowleges his feelings about that lady from San Jose``

I categorically denounce and deny any such insinuations. Kindly dont speculate! My personal life is my business alone, and I hope Chowkwallahs will now leave this ``meaningless`` discussion and embark on a more fruitful discussion.

Kabuliwallah,

I really want to know, what you found in any of my posts that was so offensive to you... what exactly did I say, that led to you questioning my influences?

And this is pre- whole email to Sarwari Saga.

I am still at odds to understand the whole point of contention at this juncture.

-YLH

Re: Elk

``To be fair to RSaxena, I suspect he would be the last person to defend caste system!``

Obviously I don`t defend it. (Being a hedonist, I`d be the lowest of the low anyway.) I am glad that the GoI has banned it. Accept the wrong and move on.

I was informed by TAhmed that it potentially has nothing to do with Hinduism (as explained to him by some Hindu who knows more about Hindu scripture than I do). In either case, who gives a f--k. It`s wrong and let`s fix it. (Any Pakis wanna join me and condemn Mujahideen terorrism here?) Execute the next violator and set an example...watch how quickly it stops.

Bilal # 617

There are two ways to answer your both posts:

1. Discuss the contents item by item
2. Or discuss the idea.

I will take the second approach:

I think I have repeated it several times, sometimes on several of your boards and others as well that we have to change our approach to analyze the problems. It will be unfair to me and very dishonest of someone to attribute it to me that I do not recognize the problems. I do. But I am strictly against the method by which we address the problems. As I said we follow a top-down approach whereas it should be bottom-up approach. In the former method, which is the most common method we address those people to solve our problems who are the very cause of our problems. We address Army to give us Democracy-may I ask why would they? We ask politicians not plunder our country-may I ask why should they stop? We ask people in power to close all the loopholes in the system ignoring the fact that those very loopholes brought them in power in the first place. We ask our politicians to stop playing with ethnic and religious prejudices when the same prejudices give them the power to play with us in the first place. When we do all that we actually deserve to get what we have gotten so far. And may I ask why should Army respect the constitution when we dont give it any importance over a toilet tissue. Let me ask you this: how many people have stood up against tyrrants just to protect and uphold the constitution-None. All the ``martyrs`` and ``jialay`` and ``De-Mock-rats`` do it for their party, for their leader and never for the constitution. Shouldn`t constitution be our dearest ideal only next to God. Well it is not. So we get what we deserve.

I always ask you and others to change this approach. Try to connect yourself with the down trodden. Try to sell the sanctity of constitution to the lowest echlon of the society and not to those who rape the constitution in the first place. Bilal! we are going to go nowhere unless we and the commonest of all is going to give his life for the constitution-it doesnt matter whether we introduce basic democracy or parliamentary system or martial law or amir ul momineen system. THe commonest of all must be taught that HE is the keeper, and HE is the creator, and HE is the protector of the constitution and no one else.

You are a great proponent of Pacifism. Aren`t we the Pakistanis the greatest Pacifist in the whole wide world. Dont we always bring forth our other cheek whenever someone slaps us with the hand of Martial Law or with the De-Mock-racy? Don`t we always step back whenever someone plunders our country so mercilessly and then expect that same plunderer should be given another chance because he/she will do the things right the next time because of the goodness of their heart? Isnt this Pacifism or what? Sounds like a curse to me. Unless we the people are ready to snatch whatever is rightfully ours and pull it out of the throats of the people whom we trusted as our ``caretakers`` we are going to get nothing.

All of this needs a bottom-up approach and a vision where we want to go. Instead of lamenting on what is holding us back concentrate on what will take us ahead. And that is called vision (as compared to reflection).

http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/03/27/text/p7s1.html

N. Pakistan, where guns are the jewelry of men

By Scott Baldauf Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

In his tiny shop inside the Khyber Pass near the Afghan border, Shoaib Khan pulls out his bestseller: the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle.

``Every man should have at least one gun of his own,`` he says, briefly interrupted as three shots ring out nearby: A customer at another shop is shooting a weapon into the air to test it.

``Weapons are the jewelry of men,`` he smiles. ``Women wear jewelry, men wear guns.``

Twelve years after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan in defeat, the weapons bazaars of Pakistan`s northwest are making and selling guns as if the war never ended. In part, this meets the demand of Pakistan`s Pashtuns, whose tribal code enshrines revenge as the preferred form of justice. But the weaponization of this province is also a legacy of the cold war.

``Pakistanis have always loved to hunt, but it`s one thing to talk about hunting rifles, and it`s another thing to talk about rocket launchers,`` says Afrasiab Khattak, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in Peshawar. ``It was not until the Afghan jihad ... that we saw such weapons, and the arrival of Pakistani gun culture. It destabilizes not only Afghanistan but also the whole region. These weapons reach as far away as Sri Lanka, through smuggling.``

Guns certainly have a history in this part of the world. In 1809, British explorer Mountstuart Elphinstone saw Pashtun craftsmen making muskets. By 1897, the Pashtuns were manufacturing decent copies of a British rifle. To maintain free access to the Khyber Pass, the British gave the Pashtuns broad autonomy, including the right to carry and make weapons.

Today, in tribal areas, petty arguments, such as a muttered insult, turn deadly. And the tribal code requires a family to avenge the death of their kin, even if it takes generations.

The slow economy, with especially high unemployment in tribal areas, only exacerbates the problem. And because murder statistics aren`t kept in tribal areas - so-called honor killings are not considered to be murder - it`s hard to measure whether the death toll has gone up or down.

Pakistan`s laws don`t affect tribal citizens governed by their own codes, but tribal gun dealers are still affected by politics outside their borders. Afghanistan has cut off the main source of weapons by cracking down on gun smugglers. Pakistan, through Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider, banned the open display of weapons. The ban was aimed at religious extremists and Kashmiri separatist groups operating within Pakistan, but it has also raised ire in tribal areas.

``Before the restrictions, a common shopkeeper could sell 50 guns a week,`` says Muhammad Alam, a shy, soft-spoken gun dealer in Landikotal. ``Nowadays it`s hardly 8 to 10 guns a week.``

A villager hands Mr. Alam a Chinese-made AK-47 so he can estimate its value. He takes out the firing mechanism, removes the fully-loaded clip of bullets, and stares down the barrel. If a gun has been used too much, the barrel expands and the gun becomes less accurate, he explains. Alam gives his price: 6,000 rupees, or just under $100. ``Mainly the people are in family feuds, and they need the weapons for their own protection,`` he says.

Not everyone in Landikotal carries weapons, however. Abid Ali, a college student and shopowner, says he`s seen a decline in the gun culture since the war against the Soviets ended.

``I don`t like guns, and I don`t have any enmity with anyone so I don`t carry a gun,`` says the tall, scruffy youth, whose store is full of sodas and hard candies. A photo of Diana, Princess of Wales, takes the favored spot over his cash register. ``As people get more educated ... they fight less, and this trend is discouraged.``

Nonsense, says Pervez, a driver whose truck is idling outside of a tea stall. ``I have seen so many deaths, I see it daily,`` he says with a sigh. ``People are without jobs, and what else can they do? Small arguments turn into big tragedies.``

For Shoaib Khan, however, small arguments mean big business. ``We are tribal people, we are least bothered by the government in the settled areas,`` he says, brushing aside a question about Pakistan`s ban on carried weapons. ``Besides, with so many family feuds, we can hardly keep up with the demand.``

FYI ...

Munawar Laghari, Washington-based international representative of The World Sindhi Institute, espousing the cause of an independent Sindh, bases his arguments on the premise that the province accounts for 70 percent of Pakistan`s resources. ``Once the resources dry up, Pakistan will not have the money to fight the proxy war in Kashmir,`` he told a small group of journalists here.

Laghari, 36, was in New Delhi to attend a meeting of expatriate Sindhis to highlight the human rights violations of Sindhis in Pakistan and urge India to take up their cause, the first time they have turned to New Delhi for help since the birth of Pakistan 52 years ago. He said there were 35 million Sindhis in Pakistan, 3.5 million in India and over one million worldwide.

The Sindhis are the second group from Pakistan to visit India. Last year, a delegation of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), representing Urdu-speaking Muslims who migrated from India to Pakistan at the time of partition, had come to tell Indian Muslims about what the delegation members called the suppression of their community and other nationalities by the majority Punjabis, a theme echoed by Laghari too.

But why come to India, with which they had not sought to develop any ties in the past, Laghari was asked. ``India is the largest democracy in the world. I did not come here because India and Pakistan do not have good relations. I came here because the Sindhis have no support anywhere,`` he said.

``We believe Pakistan is not our natural country. It is a fraud perpetrated on the Sindhis and other oppressed nations,`` he said.

Laghari, an engineer by profession, had fled Pakistan a decade ago after he was arrested and tortured for his activities as a member of the Jiye Sindh Students` Federation when the Sindhi nationalist movement for a separate ``Sindhu Desh``, or Sindhi homeland, under the leadership of G.M. Syed was active.

``As against Sindhu Desh, Pakistan is an accident of history, a freak of nature. Unlike, Sindh, Baluchistan, Pakhtoonistan and Punjab, Pakistan is not the product of creation of nature, nor has it any entity comprising one nation, one language, literature, culture or any identity of economic or political interest. Pakistan has come into being as a result of clash of exploitative vested interests in India of the Hindu capitalist and bureaucracy on one hand and those of the Muslim feudal bureaucracy on the other,`` he quoted Syed as having written way back in 1974.

Laghari said he was arrested while he was coming out of the US Consulate in Karachi, where he had gone to inquire about prospects of higher studies. ``They told me, `we will send you to India, we will pay your money.` They wanted me to be their agent.``

Laghari, who acknowledges that he cannot return to Pakistan because of his activities, said only a miniscule percentage of the people of Sindh believed in the Pakistan military`s propaganda that ``if we get independence with the help of India, the Hindus will dominate us``.

The WSI has been able to make its presence felt in Washington and Laghari, appearing before the Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives last year, had urged the committee to make US aid to Pakistan ``conditional and contingent upon a return to democracy, a protection of human rights and restoration of political rights of the people of Sindh and other nation states within Pakistan``.

Laghari says he is aware that the Sindhis have no leaders like Palestinian President Yasser Arafat or former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. ``But small groups are operating. You do not hear about it because what happens in Sindh does not get reported in the world press. But the situation is like a ticking time-bomb,`` he said.

Kabuliwallah,

Use you? Wow, ... wonderful. Aisha called me and asked me about the Hamza thing... I believe, that anything that post did was clarify my stance on things. What heroics are you talking about?

I dont know what you are pissed off about, but it has evaded me so far.

URSTRULY,

YLH doesnot dream dreams!

-YLH

Response to #610

Kabuliwallah writes:

``...I will do everything in my power to achieve the result...to hell with the disappointment on being unsuccessful...how will you know that disappointment if you haven`t given your everything?``

The Gita is a call to action, dummy. It exhorts you to give your all to the task at hand. You should not comment on things you know zilch about.

``...that line of thinking encourages a kind of

laziness in that there is no 100 % effect...Krishna`s sermon is fine on paper, but does not translate into action in real life.``

Au contraire, ignoramus. The greatest man of action of the 20th C, Mahatma Gandhi, was directly inspired by the Gita.

What is it that goes for your mind, Kabuli?

tantralogician

Reply to Kabilwallah`s 607:

``There is a school of thought that says that Sankara`s advaita was influenced by Arab traders in Kerala.``

How? Did the towelheads fund Sankara`s research?

Would it be too much to ask for evidence from this

``school of thought``?

tantralogician

Re: Kabuli

``It seems I`ve touched a raw nerve somewhere...as long as Hinduism and Sikhism were alike, sab kuch theek thaak, as soon as I give some facts about the relation of Sikhism and Islam, why this hostility?``

No raw nerves touched...you should know by now what would happen if that were the case. As for Sikhism and Islam, I was making a point based on personal experience in India. I could care less about either Sikhism or Islam (other than to expose it). You should know that I am almost an atheist.

``You seem to think that I am a typical wide-eyed convert who claims to see the light because of his new religion...thankfully, I don`t think I am...``

Then don`t act like you are. Your long monologue on the caste system is meant to do what? You think we don`t know that it`s wrong? Those details about matted-hair boys are there to make your prose pop? Don`t confuse cause and effect. The caste system didn`t cause India`s problems, India`s problems caused the caste system. And I can tell you what some of India`s problems are if you`re interested.

``we are our own masters...there are other faults in Sikhism which I`ll discuss with you via email (my address is veerbhagat@hotmail.com) if you like but it is the best option India has, according to me...``

Now before I start slashing your last statement, I want to be sure I understand what you are saying. Are you saying that Sikhism is the ``best option India has?`` If you are, may you get some help on your next visit to the Gurudwara.

``I don`t think you understand the implications that caste has for the vast majority of Indians...``

Come on, it`s not that hard to separate a few things in your mind so you can explore the relationship between them. I fully understand the implications of the caste system...I don`t need you to detail them. You seem to be unable to separate religion, caste sytem, socio-economic difficulties, and cause and effect between these variables.

``his birth, every Hindu feels the impact of caste...be it his birth certificate, the temple, his friends and relatives, his wife, stretch bearers etc...``

Here you go again with your ``every`` this and that blanket statement. Were you there at the birth of every Hindu?

``remember those words?...well I donot see well-being and prosperity for India in casteist Hinduism...``

It isn`t Hinduism that is casteist, it is the people choking under socio-economic problems, past and present. (Heck, Muslims use that argument all the time, I might as well borrow it from them this time.)

``I do not want the stigma of caste weighing down on the backs of my countrymen...``

Please, stop with the cliches. This isn`t a political rally.

``Since the very beginning of India`s consciousness, India has practiced religion and has believed in God...it will always remain a part of us...I do not think India will ever become atheist...separation of religion and state is different from separation of God and soul``

You and I will not be around by the time that happens, but it will. I have no political aspirations else I would aid the process along.

``my battle is against caste and its effects on India...what other option do we have?``

That question doesn`t make sense. There are several complex problems in India. Religion (even Sikhism) is not going to fix any of them. Caste system is a symptom of the problem, not the problem.