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HARAMI..OU #18

``Their male to female ratio is severely skewed due to selective abortion. But if you guys have 4 wives each, I don`t think you can afford to ``

all society is not misogynist as the hindian

http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=159361

No Place For Girls

Murdering female newborns is illegal, but a way of life in parts of India

BY MEENAKSHI GANGULY Deoli

[]PRASHANT PANJIAR/LIVEWIRE IMAGES FOR TIME

Lonely: Chandra Bhati is one of the few girls in her class

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Where did all the little girls go? Akhila, a 70-year-old midwife, can tell you. She has assisted at virtually all the births of the past five decades in Deoli, a village in the Indian state of Rajasthan with more than 5,000 residents—and very few girls. Plenty of the babies she delivered were female. What happened to them? ``Dead, killed,`` she says bluntly. ``As soon as a girl is born they say, `Old lady, get out.` And after I leave, the mother twists its neck.`` Throughout the developing world, boys, who can support parents when they get old, are favored over girls. In India, the enduring dowry system makes the situation worse: poor families can go bankrupt trying to raise the cash or goods needed to get a daughter married. A boy is a better bet on the future: maternity clinics throughout India specialize in aborting female fetuses following amniocentesis and ultrasound exams (although the practice is illegal). Girls are more likely to be malnourished than boys and less likely to be taken to a doctor when sick. That brutal discrimination comes through in the latest Indian census, completed this year, which shows that in the 0-6 age group, there are only 927 females for every 1,000 boys. (Because more human males are born than females, the universal average is 952.) In Punjab state, the figure drops to a woeful 793 girls—and, ironically, Punjab is among India`s richest regions. In the capital of New Delhi last month parents stuffed a newborn girl into a plastic bag and left her in a ditch, where she was found barely alive being gnawed by stray dogs. In Deoli, a poor, desert farming village, just seven girls have been born into the warrior Bhati community—most prone to killing off their baby daughters—in the past decade. ``It`s in the water,`` jokes Ram Singh Bhati, an elder in a bright yellow turban. ``We Bhati men don`t produce daughters.`` That, of course, is biologically impossible. Most women in the village shrug and refuse to talk about the missing girls, but some matriarchs are more truthful. Nayan Kanwar, a 50-something grandmother of five, says she can`t understand the fuss. ``I had four girls, but I got rid of all of them.`` Why? ``They are a burden,`` she says, ``and best killed off early.`` How did she do it? ``Oh, I just did not feed them. I left them lying in a corner. They cried for a bit, but then they quieted down and eventually died. Only one lasted two whole days.`` Her pregnant sister-in-law is standing by. ``I will only love it if it is a boy,`` she says. ``I will have nothing to do with girls.`` The economics of the dowry system are brutal: the average Deoli family with a bride will transfer its modest wealth to the groom`s family. ``Stop coming here and criticizing us,`` carps one recently wed male villager. ``If you are so concerned, give us a fixed deposit for our daughters` dowries. Then see how many we produce.`` New laws are unlikely to make a difference: the old ones are simply ignored. It can take the tides of history to wash away the traditions that are killing Deoli`s newborns. Until then, average citizens will continue to take the situation—and their baby girls` fates—into their own hands.Write to TIME at mail@web.timeasia.com

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re: semipreciousme

{and from what i’ve read, most americans prob. wouldn’t lose too much sleep if walker was tried for treason and hanged}

..that`s absolutely true...there was a poll on CNN.com last week asking that question..more than 70% of respondents said he should be tried for treason, which i think automatically carries the death penalty (not sure)...i do too...a grown man who was fully aware of what he was doing and did it anyway...his parents` ``he-was-brainwashed-by-mullahs-in-pakistan`` BS doesn`t fly...what the fcuk were they doing when he was evolving into a psycho...

re: rajanjua

{Have to agree with saxena on this (although I am sure he enjoys getting frisked by bubbas) - the american reaction has not been that bad - The thing that really pissed me off was when Sikhs were harassed who have nothing to do with this even remotely}

yeah, while bubba was frisking me, he mentioned something about you in the backroom and the thorough orifice search you demanded

zafarsaab:

``I don`t much care for it either, but perhaps it has a cult following? And where is the harm? Website hi hai, tho paper bhi waste nahin hotha.``

kya hogya hae aap ko bhai? its the best selling weekly in pakistan :)lotsa paper

#: 18

harimau

``The only thing China will need to import are women. Their male to female ratio is severely skewed due to selective abortion. ``

Harami.OU

The only society that selectively aborts ,kills,burns ,abandons,&treats its female as burden is Hindians.In China its one child policy ,whether male or Female after that NO child either male or female.

Farzana:

This was simply beyond beautiful! Shahayad aisay jazboN kay izhaar pay kuch bhi kaha nahi ja sakta.

And yeah, you always have a friend here! :)

Takes major guts to share such feelings that show your vulnerability! Beyond beautiful!

Love,

Kiran

p.s: dear anti-Farzanas out there, try not to make a mess here by spewing your bile. Not that you`ll listen, but give it a try, trust me you won`t pop a vein.

zehra…..reading and hearing from family and friends about the racial backlash after the attacks, i was, in a way, glad (relieved?) that i wasn’t living in america at the time…..this wasn’t the america i grew up in, the america i remembered and knew…it was pretty surreal….not to mention heartbreaking….but it was a knee-jerk response and inevitable….

“The NYTimes today (12/5) had the story on the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh. They describe him as an eccentric young man who Rumsfeld is hesitant to call a traitor or terrorist. Lindh`s story comes under several different captions. No one is sure how to categorize him. Some media is calling him a traitor, others headline him :``U.S.Citizen`s Saga``. If Han or I went over to fight with the Taliban, the new and shiny military tribunal would be out in a second. Our interviews would not be on CNN or on the evening news. The headlines would not read U.S Citizen`s Saga, it would read ``Terrorists Breeding In Your Gentrified Neighbourhood of Ft. Greene, Brooklyn.`` Our parents would not be nameless and location-less finding us a lawyers, they would be mobbed and possibly in jail with us”

…..probably true…but think if the situation was reversed and you and han were living in a predominantly muslim country….your family def. would’ve been lynched and mobbed and your house def. burned down…and from what i’ve read, most americans prob. wouldn’t lose too much sleep if walker was tried for treason and hanged…

“In such confusing and horrible times, I can`t find it in me to talk to them rationally about anything. How do you tell a woman who is afraid to go shopping because she wears hijab that she has unalienable rights as a citizen? How do you tell her something like that when she is yelled at, stared at, honked at and verbally abused post 9/11 on a daily basis? You don`t. You just listen to her talk and try to keep your own sanity intact by not dreaming about it every night.”

…..sigh….i don’t know what you tell her….but you def. don’t sit home…..you go out, you live….and if some jerks doesn’t like the way you’re dressed, you tell them to stick it where the sun don’t shine….they give the majority of the tolerant ppl. in america a bad name….and you def. don’t lose precious sleep over neanderthals like them….

Reply Username # 10

re: your rant about TFT`s Girl Friday.

I don`t much care for it either, but perhaps it has a cult following? And where is the harm? Website hi hai, tho paper bhi waste nahin hotha.

Speaking of TFT, my favourite non-pol feature writer there is Faiza Khan. Ever since she described herself as a ``classist cow`` I have been a die hard fan. Such panache!

This was in a piece she was writing about Lahore. What is it, btw, about Lahore that irritates Karachi-ites so much? Shandana Minhas has also showed a similar lack of charity towards that city.

Zafar

Dear Mr./Ms. Rizvi,

I thought you brought up some fine points in this piece and I can relate. There is no easy balance in this and I often find myself struggling not to lean too much over to one side or another. Anyone who says diffently is either not being entirely honest or spends a great deal of time in front of the television.

Speaking of time in front of the tube wisely spent, I caught two great shows on C-Span2. One was a lecture by Ahmed Rashid, author of ``Taliban`` and the other by William Styron. Rashid was expectedly brilliant as was Styron. I was particularly struck by a playwright named Donald Freed who offered some very incisive analysis on the post Sept. 11 collective ``depression`` that was engulfing America. One comment Freed made was that we have been reading work that has been produced by Americans who are writers rather than writers who happen to be American, and that we suffer from this difference.

regards

Dear Zehra

I kinda share your feelings. My maa keeps telling me on phone not to leave the campus... And I`m so not telling her I`ve been all over the place from Ground Zero to Celtics game last nite ;-)

Anywayz, I`m sure this time you were not ``able to feel the magic and excitement one gets from seeing scrambled thoughts become coherent sentences``. Or were you? This did`nt look like your work... you`re so much better :-|

Best of life

Ref Romair #: 13

[Within fifteen to twenty years, I think the country of choice for Pakistani immigrants and students will be China. Due to this, I think Pakistan should completely throw in its lot with China, right now.]

I suppose China is severely underpopulated and will need to import labor from Pakistan in 15-20 years.

The only thing China will need to import are women. Their male to female ratio is severely skewed due to selective abortion. But if you guys have 4 wives each, I don`t think you can afford to send any women to China either.

Have to agree with saxena on this (although I am sure he enjoys getting frisked by bubbas) - the american reaction has not been that bad - The thing that really pissed me off was when Sikhs were harassed who have nothing to do with this even remotely.

jihadic frontier,

At last die hard jihadists are waking up to the reality, see post 13, what happens after another terrorist attack. The option is pretty simple, seal the jihadic frontier for the movement of men and rechnology. Where there is technology for mass distruction, iraquise those countries. It has become increasingly clear was OBL was talking to some about the bomb technology.

There is no choice other than iraquisation and thus leaving the jihadic countries close to the seventh century from where their values have emerged and remained unchanged.

re: romair

{Within fifteen to twenty years, I think the country of choice for Pakistani immigrants and students will be China.}

...holy $hit, this guy never ceases to amaze me...i`m sure all those chaptas are just waiting with open arms for hoardes of pakis to show up...put a lampshade on your head, stain your teeth brown with soy sauce, and slip into your favorite chairman mao t-shirt...

Romair----13

[My gut feeling is soon there will be a sharp move of Pakistani immigrants from the USA to Canada (specially if there is one more terrorist attack in the US, or if the US attacks one more country). This is actually a good thing. Within fifteen to twenty years, I think the country of choice for Pakistani immigrants and students will be China. Due to this, I think Pakistan should completely throw in its lot with China, right now. Pakistan needs to become China`s Canada (or Mexico). And just ensure that relations with the US never get bad (which now they will not).]

Spoken like a true Shaheen of Iqbal!

I think it is a very opportune time for Muslims in US to shed their racist attitude towards the blacks and learn to become better muslims.It is such kind of amassing of the worse aspects of any culture which has reduced muslims to their present status.I also notice,here at chowk,a conspicous absence of some pride(gloating?)of ones Chinese,black,and arab associations & friendships.

An extra diligent effort must be made to broad-base & reinforce our Ummah ties.The masjids are a good place to start.Inviting these groups, especially the chinese & the blacks,to our homes is very very important.

A good and overdue look at the side of the picture no one seems to have mentioned, so far, i.e. what the hell is going to happen to Muslims in the USA who look Middle Eastern, if another terrorist attack occurs here.

The situation isn`t this bad in California. Probably because it is geographically distant, or because nearly the whole, ``Middle Eastern looking`` community is in very strong positions. For example, my reaction to anyone who would make any kind of a comment towards me or my religion, would be a simple, ``fu * * off.`` One should not live one`s life in any kind of fear of anyone. However, it seems like the situation in the Northeast coast is different. I have heard this from others in that area, as well. People actually seem to be living in fear.

In a sense, one can only blame the Americans to a certain extent. People of Middle Eastern descent are blowing up their property, and sooner or later there was bound to be a backlash. At least, the Americans have attempted to be civilized within their own borders, even if this civility is decreasing by the day.

However, the first backlash should be against their own State Dept. But Americans are too naive, either deliberately or unintentionally, to realize what their State Dept. does, outside their own borders. I was in the military when the Afghan war was going on. During a few month long training course in the US, I remember watching a video, alongwith a large group of US soldiers, of the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the Soviets. After the video, everyone got up and gave a standing ovation to the Mujahideen. Every Muslim from all over the world was recruited by the CIA, to create an, ``Islamic force,`` (not a military force, mind you, but specifically an Islamic force) to fight the Godless Soviet empire. Just ask Zbignew Brezinski. So, at least some percentage of the blame for the deaths of the WTC tragedy is on the hands of the US State Dept.

If there is one more terrorist attack in the US, then the Middle Easterners in the USA need to re-prioritize their priorities. There will definitely be more, ``anti-terrorism`` laws, etc. What other option is there for the US govt? These will effect all people who look like Arabs (including Pakistanis and Indians), and all countries that have significant Muslim populations (including Pakistan and India). The group worst effected by this will be the children. I guess they will get the taste of what African-American children feel like.

My gut feeling is soon there will be a sharp move of Pakistani immigrants from the USA to Canada (specially if there is one more terrorist attack in the US, or if the US attacks one more country). This is actually a good thing. Within fifteen to twenty years, I think the country of choice for Pakistani immigrants and students will be China. Due to this, I think Pakistan should completely throw in its lot with China, right now. Pakistan needs to become China`s Canada (or Mexico). And just ensure that relations with the US never get bad (which now they will not).

The Pakistani-Americans need to figure out what kind of a face they will put on in the US society. They can either crawl back into the mouseholes and live scared. Or they can face the situation head-on, and react strongly to any attack. Or they can live in a state of fantasy, and continue to think that, the US laws and policies will only effect the, ``non-secular`` Pakistanis/Muslims, i.e. the ones who don`t go to Mardi Gras and get drunk. It is this third arrogant fake group that I do not respect. If the axe falls, everyone, including our Islam-denouncing Pakistanis of Chowk, will be considered cousins of Qazi Hussain and Fazl-ur-Rahman, by the US govt. So the third group needs to be specially careful.

The above situation has not been reached yet. And it may never be reached. But it is only one major terrorist attack away (which may occur if the US starts to attack Iraq). I think first generation immigrant Pakistanis need to accept the fact that regardless of how liberal (generally a good thing), secular (sometimes a good thing, sometimes bad), or non-Pakistani (always a fake and bad thing) they want themselves to be viewed as, the rest of the society will always see them as Pakistanis. And their relations with the society will be dependent on the policies Pakistan adapts, vis-a-vis America. Luckily, the current govt. has received wide acclaim in the US, hence Pakistan is a, ``friend.`` The expatriates need to thank Musharraf for that one, and hope he stays around for a while. He is the only Pakistani (or South Asian) leader who has a lot of credibility in the US.