The Right To Bigotry

Reply Ana # 128

“What the `ell good is technology and new and modern buildings alongside Main Boulevard when our hearts and minds have expanded so little?”

Ana, yeh tho hum Hindustan meiN bhi sochthe haiN. And for much the same reasons. Be strong. We SHALL overcome.

re: ana

``...stuck in the shadows of Zia`s jahilia...``

And probably you would not even know that Zia was educated at Delhi`s ST. STEPHENS college -- one of Delhi`s best. Where did all the liberal education that he imbibed there go? Terror has hit close to me as well -- I just made the sad discovery that I know the father of Danny Pearl (the WSJ reporter beheaded in Karachi). He was a professor of mine at graduate school. An absolutely brilliant one at that, and the founding father of an entirely new branch of artifical intelligence, Bayesian networks.

hobbes/ana On the murder of the three nurses in Pakistan today, here is what the NYT reports: ``Throughout the morning, local Muslims, who make up the vast majority of the hospital`s patients, came to console wounded Christians. ``These people cure the Muslims,`` Manafia Begum, a local Muslim, said as she held the hand of one wounded nurse. ``And look what happens.``

This is the only saving grace I see in today`s killings of nurses: the common humanity that joins muslim and christian Pakistanis together.

And no, Hobbes, this is not about destabilizing Musharraf`s government - and I am shocked that you should think that destabilizing the government in Pakistan is a good thing, or that it justifies these killings. This is about a gang of criminals trying to take over Pakistan by force. It is time that the military government woke up to the evil that mullahism that it has spawned in Pakistan.

ana

.....i dont know how it is like being called a choora ....i dont know its like being made to feel discriminated systematically......i know how i feel when i get jokes like ``are you al-qaida`` are you supposed to have 4 wives . ...i swear even though i could never live in pakistan as americanized as i am i think maybe i belong in lahore.....lahore is home ....my ancestors are buried there,,,,,on fridays i wish i could be praying jummah at badshashi........in summers i wish i could have summers in muree......but these are just idealized fanatasies and whims ......you are more pakistani than i will ever be and i know it............i dont blame you one bit for not being in pakistan or leaving why should you live in that shthole ???????? i guess all i could do is if i ever saw you is give my apologies on behalf of my retarded co-religionists and give you a hug ......i share your anger deeply .................without being facetious pakistani xians happen to demostrate a love for their homeland not shown by pakistani muslims often mde poignant by the challenges they face i wish their could be some national reconciliation and pakistanis all of them ---xian muslim hindu and what have you just get together and better their nation i dont see it happening i just hope you are not disgusted by all pakistani muslims ...............maybe its time for these mullahs to take the cinder block out of their own eyes before they look for the piece of woods out of either people`s eyes

bye

aziz

im sorry for what they are doing and i apologize

Tahmed

``And no, Hobbes, this is not about destabilizing Musharraf`s government - and I am shocked that you should think that destabilizing the government in Pakistan is a good thing, or that it justifies these killings.``

Ahmed Sahab, where did you read that I said it was a good thing or it justifes these killings? or that it is good to destabilize the government of Pakistan?

Can you show not just me but all Chowk that your assertion that I think these killings are good and justified?

I wrote on Aug 6 in post #73 on the ``Myth of Autonomy`` board that a we can expect a major terror offensive; and this offensive in my opinion is about destabilizing the governmemt of Mr. Musharraf.

Ana,

I second Zafar`s message. And you need not explain yourself to anybody. If theres anything we can do; write letters, petitions, find out about educational groups, please let me know. (I`ll be looking on my own, as well)

Zafar,

Banish the thought of patronaging Starbucks! Have you had a gander at the vitamin laced water lately? Tastes really awful...

What the HELL is Mushy doing?! Goddamn it, if you are a dictator, kick some goddamned ass, I say. He has this world famous disciplined military behind him, doesnt he?

Now that the police has identified the this-e-that group that killed the nurses, round up some of their leaders & PUBLICLY hang them! Why the heck is that so difficult?

What the HECK is he scared of?

1)Going around the law? Goddamnit, he IS the law!

2) Scared of mullahs? Aw gimme a break! If Pakistani Chowkies are right, only 2% of the population is pro-mullah. Maybe they can make some noise on the street. So what?! Just send your world famous troops consisting of marital races & kill a few of the beards, the rest will go scurrying into their harems.

I think Mushy is a lot of hot air. Hey! its easy for him to go on national tv & say ``we Pakistanis wont compromise our honor!..we will teach India a lesson she never forgets!``

Wah wah..Mushy ke bacche...Mashallah! Subhanallah!! Ooof! what courage it must require to tell off the cowardly Indians!...even my grandma can do that!.. When it comes to dealing with Paki pigs who are making your country a laughing stock in the eyes of the world; the guy is a COWARD.

He makes a big deal of putting them in house arrest & then releasing them (O yeah...I forgot THOSE guys are not terrorists, but freedom fighters)..

Pray tell me, Islam ke mashoor pehelwans, are these guys freedom fighters too?! After all, they are fighting for Pakistan`s freedom against the evil & sacrilegious West..who are not as bad as hindu vermin, but close..

Reality is that guys like Mushy must have indirectly helped give birth to all of them. After all, he is a ``world famous`` Cammando General, isnt he? He loooves his ``cammando uniform``. Just who the fcuk TRAINED these SOBs? Guerella tactics & cammando tactics are very similar.

Hey, but what do I know? I`m just an armchair nonexpert. Maybe the official military spokesman on Chowk, Feild Marshall Romair, should shed some light on how well Mushy is handling this problem. I mean, after I read the one & only Romair, I just feel like hugging & kissing Mushy...

shammi

[Where did all the liberal education that he imbibed there go? ]

er..that wasn`t the only thing he imbibed, but liberal education doesn`t necessarily liberate a man/woman from his/her bigotry and other demons. So you can take a jahil out of jahilia, but you cannot take jahilia out of a jahil. Unfortunately I know quite a few desi men and women to whom that applies :). As for Daniel Pearl`s father, the world is an increasingly shrinking place, and terror does hit closer to home in many ways.

Zafar..

Thank you. And indeed we shall overcome..and may we live to see it as well :) And I`m with you on the yuckiness muckiness of Starbucks..gosh, don`t they have Torrefaziones in your neck of the woods, ye imbibers of Starbucks?!

YLH..

been a while, yasser, na?

[It is time Musharraf acted like a dictator, that he is, and came down hard on the mullahs and the fanatics who are the greatest enemies of Pakistan, a thousand times greater an enemy than India can ever be.]

kya rhetoric jhara hai tum ne. yes, Musharraf must definitely take a firmer stand on the increasing violence against women and minorities.

tahmed..

and this is what we should focus on na? The common humanity that does bind us together, the different threads that embroider and join together to make a beautiful piece?

hobbes..

thanks :). In my litany of people I have lost faith in, I should add certain elements of the Christian community as well. But for me, as long as breath continues, faith must as well :)

Warm regards to all of you... a.

fawad..

arre..thank you for the words, and the hug. They are really appreciated :) I`m feeling much better than I was when I wrote my last post to you..coming to Chowk helped, talking to my mother helped. And thank you for the apology, even though I wasn`t asking for one :)

I know what you mean about idealized fantasies and whims azizam..I, too wish that I could spend warm summer evenings enveloped in jasmine and gulabs in Lawrence gardens, or summer days in Murree allowing myself to indulge in the pleasure of eating roasted `chhali`(corn on the cob)with that incredible combination of lime and red pepper rubbed on it, one of the few things my mother let us buy from street hawkers. I`m sure many of us have fantasies like that..and then cruel realities hit us, no? The thing that is often difficult to do, `specially when one is alone is not to let the cruel realities get us down. I`ve been angry, and you say you are too, but rather than succumbing to the temptation of washing ourselves clean of Pakistan altogether, maybe we can channel this anger in positive ways by trying to figure out how to make our voices heard, and keep Pakistan idealized or the opposite in our hearts.

And no, I am not disgusted by all Pakistani Muslims (or any other Muslims for that matter). I am forever indebted to quite a few of them, father figures, uncles and aunties who loved us and took care of us, and taught us important lessons in life.

[maybe its time for these mullahs to take the cinder block out of their own eyes before they look for the piece of woods out of either people`s eyes ]...and not just the mullahs, yaar.

a hug and warm regards,

a.

Samina

Thank you jaan :). I need to do more looking on my own as well in terms of letter-writing, petitions.

I was just reading all these posts and thinking how thankful I was that something like Chowk exists. As much as we complain about those posters who tend to talk out of a part of their anatomy other than their mouths..it felt good to log on to the computer today and read and feel the warm thoughts that floated out from the screen. A bezillion thank-yous :)

re: ylh

...bleat, bleat, bleat, o great descendent of the prophet.....

``the guy is a COWARD`` (Shanker)

the guy IS a coward -- otherwise he wouldn`t have used his whole army to overpower a few unarmed elected civilians.

he IS a coward -- because all his military might is directed against one unarmed hapless WOMAN who was just elected the Chairperson of her party -- who just would NOT give up -- despite constant harassment and shameless military-judicial bluster.



Musharraf IS A COWARD -- because in two months there is SUPPOSED to be a `fair & free` election/selection for HIS OWN `real` democracy --and he is still AFRAID TO DEATH to lift the ban on mainstream political parties to start electioneering.

He WAS a brave commando when he was earning an honest living as a professional soldier.

but NOT NOW.

now he is a TURNCOAT soldier turned COWARD -- who has corrupted his noble profession -- by taking an easy comfortable, unnatural, unprofessional, illegitimate, dishonest -- civilian route -- Parading as a Pious -- Politician-In-Chief.

hobbes #139 That is what it seemed from the way you had written, though. If that is not what you meant, then please ignore what I wrote.

Shankar to Romair:

``...Maybe the official military spokesman on Chowk, Feild Marshall Romair, should shed some light on how well Mushy is handling this problem...``

Do you recall how F.M. Romair used to chirp that the military could `take out` these militant groups `anytime they wanted`? Well, now that the `freedom struggle` has begun earnest in Pakistan, I wonder what the eminent F.M. thinks.

I think that Musharraf faces little choice now -- he is heading towards becoming Pakistan`s Hosni Mubarak.

...ana…since i can’t imagine the tumult of emotions you must be going through, i won’t try…but please rest assured that there are people in pakistan (and i’m talking about almost everyone barring the odd jihadi aficionado here and there) who are as outraged/sickened as you are over these attacks…but…we talk about it….shake our heads…curse…and then….nothing…what will it take for us to unite and stand up against these rabid jihadis?…when ppl we know and love start dying?…sigh…here, i share your pessimism….

Shankar: I Remember after musharrafs terrorism speech how some guy made a thread on musharraf being so brave and going down in history...

Hes a coward and a fool like ALL the rest.