Changing The Thana Culture

The assumptions made by by Khar while developing his argument, although cursory, seem to be correct, I humbly opine. There was absolutely no need for him to delve into deeper chapters of medieval European history. In my opinion, only at the end of his essay he failed in finally concluding his argument by not drawing the vicious cycle of mis-governance in Pakistan.

There is thana culture in Pakistan as there are no political democratic institutions. Such institutions are absent becuase our social & moral values do not support democratic ideas. Our social values are power and nuisance based - very much supported by and supportive of ``feudal`` and ``politicized-pir`` culture. Such power hungry values require a compliant local thana for thier extension - and thus the ends of the cycle are met.

He is correct in pointing out that feudal and pir culture is dying out, courtesy biology and education. but he has failed to appreciate that feudalism is creeping into our national psyche. Feudalism is not only a system of land holding, rather it is an `attitude`, which in turn is marked by `no respect to law`, `refusal to respect rules` and `arbitrary decision making`. Look at our industrial baron politicians and their way of governance. They are as arbitrary in thier styles as would a feudal lord from interior Sindh would be.

I believe, only mass education, high rate of employment, increased income levels and strong local government system are necessary in whatever order are necessary to uproot all these three ills. Keep one thing is mind - we cannot rid ourselves of either of these independent of other ones.

Tehsin Abbasi #15 Bulls eye! This article has to be the shabbiest I have come across. I think the Khar`s need to stick to what they are good at doing, namely abusing their wives and intimidating their peasants.

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like any other institution, that of the police too has become victim of consistent tamperings. having them under direct control of politicians is despicable.

sheikh rashid recently stated that the local bodies laws would be changed in some respects. one can expect the police system to once again be in the hands of politicians out to settle scores.

Vow! I am just amazed as to how much research you’ve put in to make your allegations. The bibliography is voluminous. You couldn’t go beyond a cursory reference to Canterbury Tales (from your MA English days I am sure). How dare you put us thru these raw (forget half baked) ideas.

A good 400 years went by after the time frame you refer to, which included the Renaissance, the age of Reason, Discovery, Industrial Revolution all contributed immensely to the world of Chaucer which was late Middle Ages. Not a word about that and then you dismiss both Piri Muridi and Feudalism in one para.

Your solutions for dismissing police are equally remarkable. You should talk about your area of rural Muzafargarh. I don’t think the dust has completely settled yet on Mukhtar Bibi rape case ordered by that wise Punchayat.

Reply to
#13 by Tipu on November 27, 2002 4:18pm PT

Mr Tipu, no one prides in riots happening anywhere in India.. But most of Pakistani pride on their achievements on Direct Action Day.. So do they pride on brave achievements on their soldiers in 1971..
Now you might argue that raping of infidel women or killing infidels is bravery.. Wasnt that Direct Action Day about..

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jay: Welcome to you, the pride and joy of south indian brahmins :-) How are the bats in the belfry feeling today?

DONKEYS ARE FLYING

This article by another educated pakistani takes the biscuit. He says that feudalism will vanish because of family growth and also says that feudalism existed before the british who were here for 200 years. That means 200 years of family growth, children grand children etc did not diminish the feudals of pakistan. May be according to this educated pakistani, the birth rate was not high enough to make a dent, and now under the emerging jihadic rule it will increase further to dent the feudals.

What this article and other posts by the ilks of romair shows is a fundamentally warped mindset of the pakistanis, an inherent inability to see the reality, the facts and made constructs based on that. This trait can only be attributed to the general social belief that everything is there in one book, there is no need to observe the outside, just read and reread the book.

Malik s Khar is a real pak hero, at par with the gaznavis. If this is the product of pak education, with the gall to publish it in a prominant pak web site, well the light at the end of the tunnel for pakistan is really the lights of Indian Express.

A DIFFERENT CULTURE,

mALIK IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE THANA CULTURE, THE HARM IT IS DOING. How about a culture of learning, from dawn of today


``The fact is that there is no substitute for a library. It is this institution that we need to focus on to foster a culture of learning. If the 45,000 libraries the People`s Party government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had promised in its education policy of 1972 had actually materialized, what a different place Pakistan would have been today! Such libraries - even the box ones for the villages - would have had to be stocked with books giving a much needed boost to the publishing industry. A healthier and competitive publishing sector compared to what it is today would have promoted learning, research and scholarship. One can only make conjectures because those libraries remained a pipe-dream.``

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Instead of 45,000 libraries that bhutto promised, the people of pakistan killed bhutto, and established 200,000 madrssas. The ilks of tahmed have claimed that madrassas do not indulge in weapons training, they only teah koran. But as the facts show, their prime teaching is about jihad, kill the kafir and once the men are turned automatums, they go and get the training where ever they can and seek the kafirs across borders, like the shaheed kasi, who found his victins in the US, first to come back as a hero, live, and next to come back again, dead.

The theoretical `cornerstones` holding up this mess of suppositions and wishes are eggshell thin. The ``natural`` death or regression of feudalism is non-existent. It`s a darwinian self-supporting complex adaptive system that ``works`` like Pakistan ``works``; always has - always will. British ``legacy``? Pakistan still can`t take responsibility for perpetuating the bureaucracy so tightly interweaved with feudalism, even weaved into the joke of a court system. Anyone who`s lived in Pakistan know`s what cops are used for - false FIR`s - the perfect feudal weapon. There are too many holes here to respond any further. Have a nice bidet....

[...as time passes land holdings of Feudals continue to decrease through an ongoing evolutionary process: as each Feudal begets more children, the landholding of a Feudal family decreases. With the decrease of land, comes the decrease of wealth, prestige and power. ]

If ZA Bhutto owned 4000-6000 acres of land, he needed to imitate Osama`s daddy and have 54 kids before the landholdings reduce to 80-120 acres per descendant. Even then, the land stays with the rich feudals who have merely declined in the grandeur of their lifestyles.

On the other hand, a land ceiling of 50 acres would have redistributed the land to 80-120 laborers. I am suggesting 50 acres because of the poor soil in Sindh or Balochistan. The ceiling was much smaller in India and eliminated the power of the lanlords by the next elections 5 years later. I don`t think Pakistanis can afford to wait a couple of centuries for natural laws to affect land distribution.

How can one write an article on police reforms in Pakistan without a word (for or against or simple presentation of facts) on the recent replacement by Musharaff of the 1861 Police Act?? And the article rambles on about the Brits a half century after they have gone, with (as brother hamidm mentions) not one word about why police misconduct continues to flourish since then. Let me therefore fill that gap: police misconduct flourishes in Pakistan mainly because the victims are the powerless and poor, not the rich and powerful. And successive governments (including under GM Khar) have tolerated such misconduct since they have been more concerned about staying in power than in law and order and social progress.

Well I think the thana mentality u cite is more similar to one which led to butchering of thousands of people on direct action day in 1946 and rape of as many women. The same thana mentality is responsible for rape of millions and genocide of 1971.
Its a shame that women and men of the community where this thana mentality is espoused pride in these ``glorious`` achievements..

SHAME!!!..

.......we live in wondrous times ..... who would have thought you would live to see the day a khar is crying over the thana culture ...... ....

............``a local SHO of a rural community can do and get away with what Sharon is doing to the Palestinians and India is doing to the Kashmiris``...........a couple of decades ago a khar, like sharon and advani, could do whatever he wanted to in muzaffargarh .......... her feudal lord owned the thana with the chors, kotwals, thanedar and anything else that wandered that side of multan ...........the sho was but a lowly serf who was at the beck and call of his lordship, along with the sdo of irrigaton and the xen of pwd ........a parinda couldn`t flap a wing, and a charinda couldn`t graze wthout permission from him............ what has the world come to? ............it seems, after all, feudalism is not what it used to be ......... nothing is the same in pakistan any more ...... you cannot get khalas desi ghee or real feudals .............

Solution is not No Police..solution is polie well trained to tackle law and order situation but accountable to law..not above law. Thana and Thanedaar is above law. Who is going to bell the cat when waDDa saeN is himself a Thanedaar and above law?