Pakistan: Inside The Nuclear Closet

kas #41 While not an expert on swords, I am an expert on chopping vegetables with a kitchen knife. And I would rather have a sharp knife than an oily one. :-)

Incidentally, I agree with your post #37. You will be surprised at how eager people are for educating their children even in the remotest regions of Pakistan. While I agree that having been born (?) and certainly raised in the US, you should identify yourself as an American first - this being based on the principle that one should first identify with the community one lives in first. However, I hope you will never forget the less fortunate millions in Pakistan. One important way in which you can contribute is to institutions like Development in Literacy (DIL) that run village schools for the poor in Pakistan. While madrassahs are much in the news, the fact is that there are far more schools for the poor that are run by dedicated people in Pakistan. In addition to DIL, there is MBBMT which has opened over 60 schools for girls only in the remotest parts of Mianwali. There are also a large number of schools run in the northern areas, one of them by an (Anglo-Saxon) American gentleman which has been reported upon twice in the US on Parade magazine. An old lady in the US was so touched by that article that on her deathbed she left all her estate (several hundred thousand dollars) for that NGO along with a message for the ``dear girls, study hard and make something of yourself``.

So, Pakistan is by the Grace of God in good hands, and it has no shortage of well-wishers around the world. Do not lose heart because of the mess created by the military and maulvis, and be proud of the fine people of Pakistan and the great heritage that you bring with you to the US. And do what you can to help the poor people of Pakistan join the ranks of the prosperous people of the world.

re: tahmed32

I also hope that it is not a flash in the pan.

I realize that political reality in Pakistan is deeply flawed and we have a system of government, which is far from perfect. I realize that there is a sense of disagreement on the course we have embarked upon for ourselves and I know there are voices, who are highly critical of what has happened in Pakistan in name of democracy and parliamentary goverance.

Despite all the faults of the present political system in Pakistan; despite the fact that it can be considered as the handmaiden of the military and despite the fact, that its creation was a disappointment to all those who have yearned for freedom of a democracy in Pakistan, I hope that it will live to see the fulfillment of its term of office. Right now, in Pakistan, the question is not to debate the worth of a military involved in politics or to decry the corrupt nature of the politicans, but to determine that elections will be held, once again, in 2007. No matter how ill advised this system/parliament is, it should be allowed to run its course and if takes a series of compromises with the devil to keep this parliament in office, then each such Faustian bargain must be made.

Democracy thrives when it is not engineered and democracy is the evolution of a political process and not imposition of a political ideal. This time in Pakistan, democracy must be allowed to evolve and as I have said in the past; democracy is the right to make the wrong choice, but having the choice to correct a past wrong. Even if this parliament does nothing for Pakistan and is thought of as a waste, it should not be disbanded. Pakistan needs the process of democracy to evolve naturally and this evolution must be according to the needs of Pakistan itself and not according to the whim of pre-set notions of democracy - domestic or foreign. Westminister system of parliamentary democracy or the presidential system of democracy is not as important as establishing a process of democracy in Pakistan, which ensures a peaceful transition of power in Pakistani politics. Peaceful transfers of power, and not elections, are bedrock of democracy.

Ciao

P.S.: Thanks for the concern, and I return the question to you, hoping for a similar answer.

#48 by tahmed32

Actually, Jay is on experimental drugs not lithium...because lithium is for bipolars, he is manic depressive with obsessive compulsive behaviour towards Pakistan (one of a kind tripolar, is the term exist).

#45 by sadna

Sadna ho(please do not read between the lines...... I mean to say dont be sad Sadna), what position you held in Pakistan govt. when Zia was in power ?

the largest ARSENEL of Nuclear Weapon is In USA..

GW Bush`s Family has been and IS involved in OIL and Milatary Hardware trade..


USA is the Only Country who has actually Used these Nuclear WMD on human beings


I Fail to Understad....why isn`t IAEA allowed to Inspect their nuclear Programs

or for that matter Israel`s Or British.

yet create a Lot of HOOO HAA on the nuclear capabilities of Other Countries.


............I am not arguing Nuclear capability is Good Or Bad.... just this double standard

is beyond my comprehension.

RE: #49 by tahmed32

You sound like my Dad, Tahmed. I agree with you and I was just expressing my frustrations. I was very young when I left Karachi, Pakistan, where I was born. But I have visited there from time to time. I still do on business. The visits were not always memorable but I enjoyed my outings with relatives and family friends.
I realize that I should be proud of Pakistan but what I see and hear in the news is opppsite to what you are saying. Everyday there are jihadi events happening which is giving our country a bad name. This is why I am sometimes ashamed to be called a Paki.
Also, can you give me the website for DIL, MBBMT and those organization that should be supported. I never heard of them before. I hear you, sir, but I am afraid that they are either madrassas in disguise or are run by people who just want to pocket the money for personal gain. I would rather visit these groups on my next vist to Pakistan and see for my self what is happenin there.
I know I have not been truly patriotic but these might be good organization to support. btw, do you support any of these organizations? Have you seen their work. I do not want to support courupt organizations or people.
I also need to get out of my current profession. I am torn by the pros and cons of it. Although I do enjoy the perks, it is not something to be proud of. My Mom woild just about die if she knew what I did for a living. But it brings me good money.

About the sword, I do know a bit about them. My uncle has two swords that he brought back from Pakistan. He says they are from the Mogul Period and were owned by some general (some Jahangir guy). Anyway he oils them lightly for storage purposes. He said that they are like guns and need frequent oilings.

pardaisi #51
I donot have to be in Zia`s govt to provide quotes of Zia, I just have to read Benazir Bhutto interviewed by rediff.com. If you have a problem, take it up with BB, not me. I personally think she is falsely painting herself as opposing Zia`s `legacy` policies, instead of admitting that she too supported them while she was in office.

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kas #53 and one more thing - dont go by the news. Only ``newsworthy`` items make it to the news (``dog wags tail`` is not news, ``man bites dog for wagging tail`` is news). Visit Pakistan (or any other place on earth) for yourself and your faith in humanity is restored. When in Pakistan, visit various places, do volunteer work if you can (my nephew volunteered for the ILO last year, and spent an entire summer visiting various ``sweatshops`` and convincing the business owners to finance part time schooling for teenagers working for them - and found that much more rewarding than doing compulsory one year duty with the German military which was his other option). You wont be sorry, and you will have a completely different picture of Pakistan than if you watched cnn or read Dawn online.

kas #53 I can tell you of three organizations right off:

1. DIL website: http://www.4dil.org/DIL/
I have attended a couple of their fund raisers in the east coast of the US, and it was attended by well educated professional types. One of their office bearer`s is a Pakistani doctor`s wife in California who I know is very dedicated since I recall her father in Islamabad telling me when I was there how she left by car to visit the various DIL schools the day after she landed in Pakistan. You can sponsor individual students, or entire schools (and they will let you take ``ownership`` of the school by naming it). THey are quite large and well organized.

2. MMBMT: I know the founder (a retired Colonel who lives in Islamabad), and he has dedicated himself to this despite his age. He is always eager to take Pakistani-Americans to visit his girls school, and has lots of stories to tell.

3. SOS Villages: This is the oldest organization I think (it is actually an international organization based in Europe), and I have known them since the late 1970`s. They specialize in orphanages.

4. Blindness: I forget the name (if you are interested I can find it), but this is a large organization focussed on blindness among the poor. They were started using inheritance left behind by a British gentleman (Costain, partner in the construction firm MLC) who had worked in Pakistan.

Yes, I have contributed to the above, and attended their functions and/or known the founders, as have my other brothers and sisters and most Pakistanis I know in our area. And there are many more in Pakistan (including the one started by the white American I mentioned in my previous post).

I fully agree with you on the need to see for yourself what work is being done. You will find the visit to be not only assuring, but also uplifting: I remember my visit to an SOS village near Rawalpindi, and was pleasantly surprised at how well organized and well maintained it was - with women acting as mothers for 7-8 orphans each. You will find such a visit to be very rewarding, I can assure you.

Thanks, Tahmed.
I will certainly check the information and links you provided.
I will also ask around and do some own homework in this regard.

#40 tahmed

I do not really understand the relevance of the German and Japanese examples in the respect to the Middle East. Two points on that ground.

No Arab country as such has declared or have taken an aggressive war to the the western states. Both Japan and Germany did so. Most arab states are a client of the US, the problem with Saddam was the case of a valuable American Asset/dictator who became too ambitious for his boots and whose removal was aptly required for the mobilisation of the Imperialist agenda in the Middle East and to provide the comfort factor to Israel.

There is already evidence that the US is going to plan a strike or an invasion in Syria, this will in time be justified by whatever media brainwashing that goes on in the west. I strongly believe that resistance in Iraq will gain force and will become as potent as was the case in Afghanistan against the russians. I dont think that this saga will end in the Iraqis walking away with democracy tatoed on their foreheads and the Americans walking away with the oil. Signs are that something really terrible will eventually come out of this, a violent civil war and the ultimate heaven for the terrorist organisations. I recommend that your read ``Discourse on Colonialism By Aime Cesaire`` which talks about the occupied nations and the development of the resistance. I know that as individuals peace is all we desire, but we forget the intricate complexities of this world. The complexities are currently in play in Iraq, the kurd, sunni arabs ad shias and the occupiers all pushing for their vested interests. The devil is in the detail.

On Swords

I visit the London Museam of History from time to time, which contains a sword that was supposedly captured from Tipu Sultan, (recently moved to Windsor), and on seeing it, the blood of the repressed freedom Fighter in me starts boiling. On various occasions I have had some interesting chats with the curator about that particular sword and its maintainence. And as Kas points out, it is oiled from time to time. But again you are right too, it is sharpened normally when it is intended to be used. Unfortunately our swords like our teeth, our dikhanay kay aur and khanay kay aur.

pardaisi #51 You may be right in what you say. What treatment do you suggest for tripolar then? Extra-Strength Lithium, perhaps, with two pills taken after each electric shock treatment perhaps. What say you, doctor??

ferozk #50 Agreed that ``Peaceful transfers of power, and not elections, are bedrock of democracy. `` Actually, the fact is that in Pakistan all three military coups have been basically bloodless (although ZAB was hanged, even here Zia had to go through the motions of a judicial process where ZAB was charged with specific murder). This puts Pakistan a bit ahead of other countries where changes in government are often accompanied by widespread riots. The average Pakistani is also much more tolerant than is generally realized I think - in 1971 I remember Bengalis were openly celebrating their liberation in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, and there were no mob attacks or anything like that. Add to this the growing middle class, and I think the writing is on the wall - Pakistan provides fertile soil for democracy, and very poor soil for extremism. This is counter to conventional wisdom, I realize, in light of the jehadi lashkars spawned by Zia and tolerated for too long by musharaff - but nevertheless it is a fact.

This is the basic decency of the Pakistani people and the Pakistani culture that gives one confidence in the future of Pakistan.

Tahmed,
What is Pakistani culture anyway? Is it muslim culture? or is it Indian (Hindu) culture, since there was no such thing as Pakistan about 50 years ago. Is it Persian culture or Arab culture? Since we are a mix of these groups of people. Does Pakistani culture have any distinct features unique to Pakistan. You seem to be quite well read about these issues. I once asked my Dad about this but he could not define it. He said that we are actually Indians (not Persian or Arabs) who have focused themselves on Muslim idealogy. If we are really indians then why are we fighting with our neighbors like they are our lifelong enemies. At this time (I do not know before) there are many in our country who are more worse enemies of Pakistan than Indians!! So, are we fighting about land (kashmir) or are we fighting about idealogy (Muslim vs Hindu)? Having lived outside pakistan for more that half my life I do not know what the real issues are any more. Maybe you and the other smarter people on this forum can satisfy my anxiety. Am I the only one confused or are you guys also confused.

#60 by tahmed32

I am going to refrain from recommending ideal treatment for Jay at Chowk, if I did I could be up for a ban.

You know, your comment regarding recommended therapy reminded of this picture someone sent me sometime ago, where this guy`s sack was nailed to the board and the look on this guy`s face said it all.

This sounds good while he seeks professional help.

kas #63 you ask ``What is Pakistani culture anyway?``

Easy. :-) The short answer is: Whatever you want it to be.

More seriously, I would phrase this question differently as follows: What aspects of culture is worth preserving? I submit that the only aspect of culture that is important are values (honesty, hard-work, learning, and so on). Everything else - language, dress, customs - is superficial and unimportant and as such of only secondary importance.

One may thus accept or reject these secondary aspects as appropriate without feeling compelled to do so. One may thus appreciate and enjoy good music and good food from any and all cultures (hindu, muslim, arab, european, chinese, japanese, african, whatever). And one may appreciate human achievements in various fields in all cultures (and in this way claim inheritance to past human achievements, regardless of which part of the world they were made in). And conversely, one may ditch what doesnt make sense in any culture (e.g. the various way in which women are suppressed in virtually all traditional societies; or the accordance of ``respect`` based on wealth).

Given this distinction between values vs. secondary aspects of culture, I think one can live a very comfortable and unconfused life in any corner of the world. You dont need to flaunt your Pakistani culture to anyone, but you can maintain an interest in it for your own personal reasons (that is, because your parents are from Pakistan). The fact that Pakistan has been at the cross-roads of history and a mixing bowl of civilizations dating back to the dawn of civilization 4,000 years ago of course makes it a rich country in terms of customs, archaeology, battlefields, history and so on. The fact that it has a people who are poor but proud and decent and hardworking, makes it that much rewarding to stay in touch with Pakistan and do what you can to help out.

Thus, I dont see anything confusing or contradictory in the rich history of Pakistan. I think it is something to enjoy and appreciate, while keeping in mind that ultimately all that really matters is maintaining certain basic, universally accepted values. Hope you agree.