Another Visit to Pakistan

Dear Dr. Gardezi,

Welcome back to the CHOWK! For those of us who are less fortunate to have visited the post-9/11 Pakistan, your detached and matter of fact report is revealing. I am tantalized by the way in which Pakistanis are, as someone observed, more united in their dislike for India than by their religion. Is the hostility towards India being replaced or diffused by the developments in Afghanistan? And by the way, how is your son? I saw him when you used to bring him to the campus.

lot kay budu ghar kau aaye

Dr Gardezi,
Thank you for this account of your travels through and your stay in Pakistan. It is always good to read and hear about progressives committed to social justice in Pakistan.
And I hope Punjab remains a MMA free Punjab!
regards,
ana

The question is how long will Punjab & then the small provinces be free from Army interferences? Never, I think.

It is deja vu all over again. The narrative that you have posted is not very different from similar stories described on every change of government in Pakistan. Is there any honest person, a role model, left among the Pakistani politicians and the army generals? After reading your report, it is hard to believe if there is any conscionable person there in the Pakistani political arena. It is a wonder indeed that Pakistan has survived for so long in spite of such corrupt leadership.

Or else the critics have become too cynical. Was it an enjoyable trip for you? Did you experience any thing worth relishing?

Interesting article.

Concentrating a bit too much on MMA, at the expense of other problems in Pakistan. If one accepts democracy, then one has to accept whatever democracy throws up, including MMA. I think MMA came into power in NWFP and Baluchistan, not because of religion, but because people were fed up with the corruption and incomptence of the leftist ANP and the Tribal Baluch parties, respectively.

I think Pakistan`s non-religious political parties need to be taken out of the hands of elitist feudals and need to start coming up with middle and lower class leadership. This is the biggest strength of the MMA. Once one gets past the top leaderhip, everyone else is very middle and lower class, i.e. farmers, maulvis. student leaders etc. This is what the non-religious parties, other than MQM, lack.

What are you your views on Tehrik-e-Insaaf? I would be interested.

A warm welcome back Dr. Gardezi.

From one of the Pakistan Progressive publication fans, I am glad that what is left of the Pakistani Left (post Zia and Berlin Wall) is still optimistic.

I have lost touch with Mrs. Nadera Ahmed but am not at all surprised
that she is doing some great social work in Pakistan via a school. Although I did not get a chance to ever meet Dr. Feroz Ahmed ,
I have long admired his work.

Please send me an email at ras@chowk.com if you read this reply.

It is time for the beaten up old Left to assist the voices of sanity again in this crazy world post 9/11.

Just one more request:

Please keep writing on CHOWK. People here could learn a lot from you.

Regards

Ras H. Siddiqui

Ref Field Marshal #6

[If one accepts democracy, then one has to accept whatever democracy throws up, including MMA.]

I notice that while you are able to swallow the MMA, the BJP sticks in your craw.

I would like to point out some typographical errors and inconsistencies in this article. The first is the use of word/phrase left that good professor has liberally used; I think the most appropriate phrase should be left out instead.

And yet at another place professor is claiming that the people of left ooops I mean left outs are planning to form a human chain from Islamabad to Rawalpindi to protest something; I was wondering if these left outs were ever able to gather 50 people under one roof since the collapse of ``Islami Socialism``. And how are your left outs friends gonna get funds for their NGOs if you even think of protesting against the hand that feeds - if you know what I mean.

So I suggest good Professor an advise from Punjabi conventional wisdom ``Batkhay ghat marya karo pehlwan ji``.

harimau #8: ``I notice that while you are able to swallow the MMA, the BJP sticks in your craw.``

I oppose the BJP, not because it is religious, but because it is violent. It is killing people. If the MMA today starting killing people, I would support its banning also. But to the best of my knowledge it hasn`t killed anyone yet.

On the whole I oppose parties like BJP and MMA. However, if one believes in idealistic democracy for third world countries (which, by the way I don`t believe in, specifically because it throws up parties like BJP and MMA and PPP and PML - hence my support for Musharraf for three years) then one has to tolerate the rise of the MMA. One should not, however, tolerate the rise of parties like BJP or Sapah-e-Sahaba (Pakistan`s equivalent of BJP) because they are killers. MMA is just ridiculously conservative. It does not kill Hindus.

I hope that makes things clear.

Romair:

The only reason MMA is not killing is coz there is no sizeable minority left to kill. Inspite of that the killings of Christians continue. You may say the MMA does not do it but the MMA is the political arm of the radical right, including Sipah e Sahaba.

The number of Tehrik e Jafria members killed in the past decade runs in the 100s, but how many times did Fazlu or Sami Ul Haq condemn these killings?

Even in India, the BJP ministers do not kill people. It is VHP the co-ordinates and the Bajrang Dal cadre that provides the muscle. The Bajrang Dal was infact started in the 1980S as a counterpoint to the Muslim Adam Sena in UP. The Adam Sena withered away but the Bajrang Dal recieved political patronage and it flourished. Similarly, SSP has flourished only because of political patronage of the religious right, and by extension the Army.

The BJP is equally a result of popular mandate as is the MMA.

Referring to ``kashaziz`` (#2)

I was willing to make a compromise in my stand for abortion rights until reading the idiotic quip belched by kashaziz. The ignoramous comment hurled at an icon of decency and intellectual integrity is blasphemous, almost felonious. Now I do believe in family planning, retroactive to the commentator`s birth.

#11
Stuka:
just a little clarification..Azam Tariq, the head of SSP(now outlawed) hasn`t been a part of MMA since its inception. He`s in Musharaf`s camp, and therefore was bailed out just days before Jamali`s election.

The pro-iran TJP who suffered the heaviest losses during the spate of targetted killings (in Punjab and in the northern areas), is a part of MMA, and it`s leader is headed to the senate on the MMA ticket..

The situation in Karachi is different though, since the urdu-speaking shiites don`t really welcome the `pro-iran northerners` in their midst. For this reason, the support for MMA+TJP within karachi is rather thin. MQM is the natural, or may be the only choice for urdu-speaking shiites because of it`s liberal outlook in terms of religion, and Altaf Hussain`s barelvi(and hence pro-shia) credentials.

On can argue that outside Karachi, majority of the Shiite victims were somehow connected to the TJP, and thus were iran-sympathizers. This `twist` differentiates their situation from their muslim brethern in India. The Pakistani shiites are a victim of a tussle b/w pro-iran and anti-iran camps, that involves multiple parties and countries. In other words, one reason they were targetted was because something happened in the neighborhood, of which they had no control... But somehow they were deemed responsible and hence punished. This is what I sometimes mention to my irani friend: `we are paying the price for your Inqilaab`!!

Peace,
Left, left outs, or right, they are no good for Pakistan until they all stop talking in their drawing rooms and come and face the problem on the street and bring a solution. I think solution to our problem is spreading education. I am not a wealthy man, just a hard working everyday guy who make enough to support my family. I have excellent teaching experienc in Pakistan and USA, I would like to work with any organisation who is willing to provide MEANINGFUL EDUCATION solution for Pakistan. One schoole here and another there, is not a solution. We got to have aplan. We should first raise money, and hire the best people possible to make this elaborate plan of making new curicula, which are truly Islamic, Progresive and of practical value for our future generations. It should be focused on educating new generation kids for all walks of life. Not just doctors or engineers, but also the future, nurses, craftsmen, janitors, bus drivers, and mini marts or grocers, farmers, etc. If we realy love Pakistan thats the way to go. I dont have money but I am willing to go back and use my teaching experience if some of us come out and make a coherent plan of educating the masses. Individuals can change life but only at the individual level, to something as massive as Pakistan we need a co-operation between the well to do intelectual, to come out of their drawing rooms and open up their vallets for the purpose.
Peace...

````I think MMA came into power in NWFP and Baluchistan, not because of religion,...” (Romair)

very insightful romar miaN:-)

Welcome Dr. Gardezi -- thought that romantic `species` was long extinct -- apparently not....

good luck

slodhi, 14,

Lotus is a venerated flower in india by the hindus, hardly any eat it, but it appears that you have been eating a lot of it. Now pakistan is on a decline, it will reach a stage when the only change can be towards the positive, the country has to reach its nadir. All your talk about educating pakistanis can only slow the decline and prolong the agony.

If you really love pakistan, accelerate the decline, join romair and tahmed, send money to the jihadists, take alquida franchise, support mushi, say that jihadists are the products of US support for afghanistan, say that there is no infiltration in kashmir, above all eat fauji brand corn flakes while in pakistan and do a bit of honour killing while there.