Lessons From the Pearl Murder

Akash #129 you write ``Long live Indian Democracy``

That is one slogan I will be happy to join in voicing.

How come Pakistan earlier didn`t want to send ``indians`` among the terrorist list submitted by GOI due to technical reasons(extradiction treaty, etc) but may be more than willing to send this Omar dude to US for trial(if the price is right).

Frankly, justice is better served if Omar and the Saeed(JeM) types are sent to US to face charges. It is easier on Musharraf and ABV.

We have heard well-meaning pakis say here that ordinary pakis are more concerned about their next meal and not jihad. Everything i have read in the international press says this is untrue. Therefore these well-meaning pakis (you know who you are) must be ignorant since they are incapable of dissmembling innocence. Here`s something by a Zafar Khan, taken recently from the newsgroup ``soc.culture.indian``

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However, Kashmir is a separate matter altogether. I did not realize it, until my most recent trip to Pakistan. My aunt, frail, old, _very_ mild mannered put in a 100rupee bill in a collection jar for Jihad in Kashmir while shopping. Totally casually--no ``by your leaves``, no explanation. I was so shocked(and mystified) that I didn`t even dare ask why! The support for Kashmir is truly grassroots. For Musharraf to take away support for Kashmir would mean his political suicide. For Americans to force Musharraf to abandon Kashmir, would mean that all other items on the American agenda would stay unfulfilled(following absolute insurrection from Army as well as the proverbial old lady on the street!).

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nameless #108 ``Can it get any more gruesome?`` I could point to certain posts on chowk...

pmishra2 #109 ``Of course, I am just a caste-ridden Indian, why should you be impressed by my opinions? ``

Is this a cue for paki poster to write: ``There, there, PMishra. You are not caste-ridden at all. And your opinions are really, really impressive: Not abusing people of other nationalities or religions (Pakistanis in this case). Imagine!! What a concept!!``

PS It is of course a difficult concept to grasp for some posters like arjun and bharatvaari.

..... What if the brown people of South Asia could get their governments to cut their Defense Budgets in half a thus easily spend 5 times the current budget of Health, Education and Welfare?

Till you do that and make more investment in your own people ``Goray Rang ka zamana kabhi ho ga na purana.....``

Ras....

Bravo! What more can I say. Except that the goras have well proven for centuries now that is their zamana and by golly they`re going to never make it purana! At the risk of sounding glib..and yet ironic..I think that slogan is worthy of a bumper sticker, or a huge banner that we should have on our cars, in our houses, our places of work, etcetera etcetera etcetera *mimicking Yul Brynner *, since our leaders and we the people seem to have bumbled and fumbled and crumbled our own `naya zamana`.

(And I can just imagine the vicious responses that I may get to this...in which case irony is dead here)

And a belated Eid mubarak to one and all..

One interesting thing about the coverage of Daniel Pearl`s murder in the american media was the repeated mention of the possiblity of ``rogue`` elements of the ISI being involved. The major TV channels (NBC etc.) and newspapers made the same comment, which may mean that they might have been ``tipped off`` about this by some official source. Could this indicate some fear within the establishment about the ISI not being fully under the General`s control?..a kind of warning shot that the US knows what they are up to?

If it is indeed the case, could these ``rogue`` elements mount a coup against Pres. Musharraf`s regime sometime? Do they have the ability? If they do, what are they waiting for? If they do not, how much nuisance value do they have?

-narain

Tahmed

Yes. Infiltration by organizations bent on creating terror and conditions for terror and by Indian security services AND certain acts of reorganization in Pakistan. Mr. Haider and Mr. Musharraf have voiced these concerns. There is a lot going on with regard to Mr. Pearl`s murder that will not be made public and a lot of it has to do with restructuring, reorganizing in Pakistan, this has been made public, to serve the interests of reorganization and redirection; other interests have not been as public.

Recall, last year, when Qazi Ahmad began saying that Mr. Musharraf was a ``security risk`` - what direction had Mr. Musharraf sought to give the Afghan and Kashmir departments of the directorate that prompted remarks about ``security risk``. With regard to ``handing over`` certain individuals to India - this question should be revisted after Pakistani authorities are satisfied that they understand and have apprehended - ``liquidated`` is a also a term that has been used in this regard -rank and file of anti-Pakistan organizations, in Pakistan and else where.

Urstruly:``Not just emperor bush but all pakistanis must realize that, bush`s heavy handed policies have put not just american people but the people of whole region in greater danger-a danger that is graver than 9/11``

If by danger you mean more terrorist attacks, I think we should face the terrorists headlong instead of avoiding dealing with them. This will save us from their future crimes and blackmail. Otherwise the message to them is that terrorism pays, you threaten us and we will back down. As far as the Pakistani population is concerned, NO ONE is going to come out on the streets for murderers and criminals. No one came on the streets when the Taliban got their butts whupped, when the terrorist offices were shut down, when the leaders were jailed, and no one will come on the streets if they hang Sheikh Omar either. His terrorist buddies might commit more crimes, but the Pakistani people will be the better for it.

``People! why dont you understand that the solution of political problems is politics. Democracy and basic human rights come through political process. Justice comes with a political process (hindus excepted). You grow cactus and you expect to harvest apples? ``

Urstruly, after a long time some words from you that follow logic and are agreeable to me. The solution to political problems is political, not religous and not through violent means.

We must burn down our cactus field (militant extremism in all its forms), so that the ground is ripe for apples next season that we can share with our family, friends, and neighbours.

Keep thinking, it seems to be helping you.

http://www.eci.gov.in/se2002/index_st.htm

By an analysis of Muslim sounding names, approx 40 or 10% of elected MLAs in UP are Muslims.

Also a mini-inversion: instead of the so-called ``upper caste`` parties like Congress/BJP accomodating ``lower castes`` and Muslims in seat distributions, it was the ``lower caste`` parties such as Bahujan Samaj which efffectively became the mainstream and accomodated ``upper castes`` and Muslims and gave them tickets to fight elections.

The dignity and grace with which BJP accepted its defeat in UP elections and decided to sit in opposition is praiseworthy. It is also a slap on the face of all those who called BJP a fascist party. BJP is in an introspective mood currently to assess its strength and failures. The bottomline is- there is no substitute to good governence. If you dont govern well, people will throw you out, Hindutva and temple issue notwithstanding. Another significant outcome of the elections is a significant increase in the vote share of BSP this time. Mayawati did a smart thing this time. She moderated he stance against people of other sections especially upper castes and around 25% of BSP candidates were from upper caste this time. This again underlines the point that in the Indian society you need the support of all sections of society to rule. So this is a good trend. Agreed that they(BSP) are unsophisticated and inexperienced, but the fact remains that they command support from a significant section of downtrodden Indian population. What is more important is political power-sharing and I hope this opportunity will make everybody more responsible.

Long live Indian Democracy

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/25/international/25CND-STAN.html

Should Pakistan hand over Omar Sheikh to the Americans ?

No, Pakistan should hang him themselves.

re: veeresh #106

no white people don`t use baltees (for laundry) - they only EAT from baltees in bangladeshi resturants in bradford and london in the belief they are eating authentic desi fare - go figure !

BTW - i am quite amazed at the new baltee design - are people finally enforcing patents in desh and some bright spark making money off the baltees ?

Koshish Foundation presents an evening of Literary Readings & Networking. A One-of-a-Kind literary evening in which Bay Area Urdu and Hindi short-story writers and humorists will read from their work.

When: Sunday, March 10, 2002, at 6:30 p.m.

Where: Mehran Restaurant, 5774 Mowry School Rd, Newark, CA 94560

Price: $13/ person (includes dinner)

Program:

6:30-7:30 p.m. : Dinner

7:30-8:45 p.m. : Short-story readings

8:45 -9:15 p.m. : Humor readings

For more information please send email to admin@koshish.org

Please forward this message to others.

Koshish Foundation (a non-profit, 501-c-3 organization) is working on education-related projects in Pakistan. Please visit us at www.koshish.org

scout:``Another thing that bothers me about this article is the apologetic tone, as if you or other Pakistani Americans are responsible for this awful crime. Why should you, a law abiding, patriotic American feel less American for the crimes that some fundamentalist nuts committed in Karachi? ``

hiya, and first of all thanks for the email - NOT :)

You are right in that the tone should not be apologetic, if anything it should be one of helplessness, of impotency and shame, that we as Pakistanis have little say over what happens in our country. I knew after the IA hijacking that Masood Azhar, Omar shaikh and the hijackers had come to Pakistan. They had nothing to fear, Masood Azhar gave these big speeches in Patel Park, Karachi, otherwise a regular venue for Muharram majalis. The hijackers had to be around.. what does Pakistan do ? absolutely nothing. Why ? because of the goddamn Kashmir cause. We as Pakistanis had become blind or ignorant to the crimes and criminals in our midst because they happened to be doing the `dirty` work for us against India and helping build strategic depth in Afghanistan. Maybe being blind, looking the other way, or choosing to be ignorant is something to be apologetic for. We the silent majority did not commit the crimes, but we did not stop them either. Our government played the role of facilitator hoping that it would one day benefit from the actions of criminals - shame.

The moment we sacrificed our morals and ethics over Kashmir we had lost. We lost the goodness in our souls for Kashmir, thats the way I see it. Now is the time to redeem and to correct our past errors. What the governemtn of Pakistan `really` does remains to be seen, but we the common citizens and newspapers should be hounding and bringing to light the criminals. There should be a thousand Pakistani Daniel Pearls digging and looking at what the militants are doing.

take care...

Dear TAhmed 321 # 11?something or the other . . . how dare you, kind Sir, have I coveted your baltee or your neighbour`s ass that yu= compare me with 1234567890??

I do not walk the streets of Delhi. I drive on them, and even our traffic challans are better than yours.

Now all I need is ylh to give me gyaan on Jinnah`s baaltee, it was better than Bennett & Coleman`s baaltee by Sahu Jain which is why Dalmias gave Times of India to Jains and Dawn to Jinnah and there lies a tale I heard today by one of the surviving patriarchs of media from undivided India, heard of Vishwa Nath of Delhi Press?

Wabbit stew to you, too. We are all ending up sounding like AHmed Madani if not careful we are being, soonly ji.