Of Enmity, Freedom, And Other Things

i think brainwashing on a massive scale is being done at school so as to go unshaven or invisible. i too happen to be just another target to the extent that i believe some teachers are prejudiced against women students who don`t cover their heads. but then there is this lobby in one of the departments who call themselves secular but they are prejudiced against women who do cover their heads. how secular .

#19 puyu
A general tendancy among pakis to ignore important issues facing social, economic life and focussing on rather unimportant issues is noticable. Why otherwise has Pak always focussed itself on `Helping Kashmirs acheive their freedom` (dont tell me your heart bleeds for your brotheren they were much better off without your kindness say 15 years back) or creating and nurturing Taleban, AlQuida...
Why dont you focuss on your economy? your democracy? education policy (dont tell me the madarassas are your edu policy)? trade! a 1001 other things of importance and relevence to the average pakistani!!!

Urstruly!!
You amaze me!!!!!!
Is it a vestige of the long association with US? Some amount of McCarthysm must have rubbed off on the Pakistanis!
Are a few commies the biggest problem faced by nuclear Pakistan?
At a time when religious fudamentalism question Pakistan`s identity as a modern state what Pakistan needs is not Tahmeds and Urstrulys but heretics and blasphemers who would challenge and question. If you ban campus politics it wont stop more young people grow beards and turn invisible ,for the entire country is immersed in that ideology.But the campuses would be the only places where the young get to see the world outside the well (ever heard the Panchatantra story of the koopa mandooka-the frog in the well?)
.Not that the commies would bring the prolitarian paradise but they will shock the Pakistanis out of their revivalistic dreams. For that the campuses should turn out more and more heretics,anarchists,commies and secularists. (hamidms
and Mantolives) so that they are heard.
PS:In India Mantolives,far from being a heretic would qulify to be a chivalrous gentleman!!

This article portrays a very accurate picture. I think for 90% of those who are commies in their student years, it is just a phase; the pahse ends as they pass out of the educational institutes. Out of remaining 10% diehards, the 8% get government jobs with in a year and 2% keep typing their resumes for goivernment jobs at night while being commies at day time.

TAhmed:

``Meanwhile, in neighboring India, the IIT`s flourished.``

An invalid example. The IITs are professional colleges and politics do not play a role. Politics are definitely a part of regular universities.

I agree with you though on the requirement of eliminating politics completely from college campuses.

pakis rather.

``In fact, the present picture of grad-school-communism reveals nothing but a severe and stubborn contempt towards the generally respected conception of religion which many of the infamous and the bold justify using their so-believed coherent cognition.``

This author has set set new standards for stlted writing for chowk. It is a pathetic sight, pakistanis in any case are fond of writing pure trash.

a question that comes up here which i wanted to raise and which i feel has been neglected is that is there going to be an end to this? or is this circle is going to get even more vicious ( as in the neo-communist versus the unshaven ). obviously the government didn`t do anything in years. and perhaps it never will. but then on a person-to-person level is there an adoptable policy of `letting-alone`. i have peers from both groups. but gee do they spill poison about each other? all i could serve my friends with, at school, is an advice to allow others what one wants from them, sometimes, even when one`s not given it. but then they translate me as some pro-mullah or in the other case a communist-to-be. Bhai what the hell? this shows a very unopen mind not being able to perceive the alternatives that may be there to something. i don`t know what any of them is getting to. it`s sad.

In defense of desi commies

Desi commies have been around the colleges and universities in subcontinent from 1920s whereas the radical Islamic student parties are rather new phenomenon although Muslim Student Federations existed in Aligarh, Usmania and Islamia colleges prior to desi rule in subcontinent. The education standard did not and I repeat did not suffer in most universities due to commies activities including very active and radicalized form by the most distinguished and honorable commie student leader Bhagat Singh Shaheed.

Former commie students have been on the forefront of all kind of reform movement, movement for freedom, movement for justice, movement for equality, movement for basic human rights, movement for gender equality and the list does not stop here once the contributions of former commie students in the filed of literature and media are included.

It is rubbish to blame them equally with recent radicalized form of Islamic students. The only place where these former Islamic fundamentalist students are visibly recognized is commissioned officers of Pakistan Army. Rest mostly go into law, teaching and politics. Yhe overall rate of success for commies is far better than Islamic fundamentalists when playing filed is level. Within every college and university, the ratio of Islamist students is inversely proportional to the choicest fields of studies. For example, MBA, Business, Economics and IT departments traditionally have less Islamist students.

The biggest destruction of the peaceful academic atmosphere is caused none other than ardent Muslims associated with radical Islamic parties. They have poisoned the atmosphere and polarized the normal level of difference of opinion beyond reconcilable level. It is my way or higway type attitude of Islamist students most responsible for heightened level of friction among students and spilling over into the area of standard of education.

How do I know this? Good question.

puyu: I dont know about the level of politicization today, but when I was a student studies were definitely subordinated to politics. Campus elections were major events, with posters all over the place.

One example: When I was taking my macroeconomic exam in the MA finals at I looked at the question paper and it looked quite straightforward. But then I was startled to hear a loud ``walkout`` from the Panjab University student union president (who was also there to take the exams), and looked up to see him walking out with a couple of his chamchas. I saw a couple of studious students from rural areas literally pulled up from their seats by his chamchas, and other students started walking out. Soon, I was the last student left in the hall - while not daring to drag me out physically, the students outside put moral pressure by yelling at me ``yaar, tu kya kar rahaa hai...`` etc. The last straw was when the invigilator (himself too happy to go home) came and asked me to go join the rest of the students. I just got fed up and left. Then these turkeys went to the girl`s exam center and harassed them until they came out too. A couple of girls I knew as being serious about their studies and from poor families were crying.

And this was during a martial law regime. But dont expect illiterate military generals, or illiterate mullahs, to understand the value of education.

So: I have been through this. Student politics provide NOTHING to Pakistan society, while eating away at the pathetic education facilities that do exist. It is a breeding ground for corrupt politicians. That is all.

It is a sad fact that many of our educational institutions are being abused for purposes that are not only unacademic but are also generating enmity and paranoia among people.

EXACTLY
However you have shown 0% interest on hitting the nail on the head!!!

BBC on the abuse of the purpose of educational institutions in Pakistan

The education system in pakistan is so Islamised that they have become centeres of recruitment for terrorist organizations.
Abu Bakar Universitz for an example

Even the religous schools which are originally supposed to preach religion to young minds and help them tread a righteous life are misused to such an extent that the very meaning of the word madrassa has negative conotations.

Asia Times on Madrassas

Professor Dr Manzoor, a renowned scholar, writer and researcher, comments that nowadays many madrassas have taken an unfortunate direction. ``The new role of the madrassas and [the influence] of religious elements has added nothing but hatred against non-Muslims and different sects of Islam. Although some major schools produced better results and play their role for religious harmony, many inject the poison of extremism, sectarianism and ignorance and have become a source of increasing ignorance and religious intolerance in Pakistani society.``

Mind you... it is not a comment made by a biased ##### hindooo...

And how fast is the menace spreading....

The growth of seminaries in Pakistan has been phenomenal, almost 300 percent faster than regular government and private schools.

Who harvests these poisoned minds?

The Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the Jamiat-ul-Ulma-e-Pakistan and Shi`ite groups are the major stakeholders in the madrassas. They control almost 60 percent of the total madrassa population, and indirectly influence the students according to their political and strategic interests.

A westners` opinion
``No OTHER area of Pakistani society has been penetrated by radical Islam to a greater extent than the educational system.``
Extract from Center for security policy