An Urgent Appeal to all Pakistanis

teshah

hala te Maluk hori Attock ne han. wat dil khush kita ne maluk saib.

I think ImamDin Gujrati was a sage. May God bless his soul. Here is another gem by another sage Ustad Daaman:

(about political leadership)

eh apneyaN de vairi ne
dam doosriaN da bharde ne

eh matt kisse di lainde neeN
jo mann ich aawe karde ne

kiyoN aqloon baahr na awaan maiN?
hun rabba kithe jawaN maiN?

#28-ana
No ana, I was not including ferozk in the list of expatriates. I just wrote the first line for him!
But don`t worry, we have many non-expatriates as well who are not aware of the ground realities-atleast i meet a few everyday.

10-urstruly

You are right. I as an Attocky feel this broad day light rape all the more as this has been made possible by Eeman Waseem, a young daughter of Attock, who was so shameless as to support a `gher mehram` alien to disgrace Attockies. This is a shear thuggary of `Matarruaism` which has used Gujrati, Arbabi `dhaggas` to disgrace themselve and the nation as a whole. What a pity! It reminds us of Ustad Imamdin Gujrati, a comic poet of Gujrat. Once he was reciting his poetry in a gathering when a piece of brick fell on the srage. The Ustad immediately blurt out the following couplet extempore:-

Eh mehfil ae sharifan di, koi dhobi ae koi naai ae
eh itt bahron naeen aai, kise wichon maan yawai ae

re: omar. r. quereshi

LOL

Incidently, do know the year Cowasjee was in jail and secondly, can you confirm if Ellahi Bux Somooro was also jailed by Bhutto in the same period? Was it 1974 or 1975?

Ciao

re: tintingem # 22

Whether I am living in Pakistan or else where, it does not lessen the fact that military rule no matter how enlightened, will always be wrong. Musharraf may be best option for Pakistan in the immediate sense, but the results of the military rule will be far worse in the long term. As to the ground realities, each day the military stays in power, the nation is heading towards a systematic crisis of political illegitmacy.

Those, like yourself who convince themselves, and who give up a little of their freedoms in exchange of some sense of security end up with neither. A military rule is no substitute for democracy and even a good military rule does not in any way offers a substitute for a bad democracy. You talk about the mullah and the hate filled rhetoric in the mosques, but have you ever wondered who tolerated and encouraged this sort of expression? ``Need of the hour`` is another side of appeasement and the need of the hour may be beneficial, but it not always the right choice.

Ciao

Well why for Cowasjee?? He is a blackmailer himself. Ask any builder in Karachi or any high ranking officer in KBCA (Karachi Building Control Authority) they will tell you the real stories about him. Let the culprits deal each other.

Omar why state the obvious, let the louts learn for themselves

Where was the urgant appeal for this?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3580600.stm

Never mind, I know the answer.

Needless to say, Mr. Cowasjee must NOT be touched.

=== Interact Filtered ===
view this users filtered interacts

The Sindh Minister of Industries Mr. Siddiqui is attacking a person`s freedom. Such abuse of governmental powers is deplorable. That in and of itself is reason enough to protest regardless of the credentials (or lack thereof) of the victim.

One doesn`t have to like Javed Hashmi to protest the unjust jail sentence. That same logic flows to Cowsjee being threatened by an unjust government.

wajahat,

everyone here is able to defend themselves. i don`t believe i was defending what feroz said, merely pointing out that he is not an expatriate.

my apologies however, for intruding on your board. and i do admire your defense of cowasjee (who can also defend himself, and has), since i`ve read cowasjee for years, and admired him as well. there was a time when i greatly respected your opinions, and the stands you take. i hope the time will come when i can do so again.

all the best,
ana

Shame, shame! But I doubt they`ll ever get to do anything than just talk and shout.

#23 by omar_r_quraishi

We are not here to discuss CoawasJee’s largesse or his credentials as a businessman or how much influence he has with the high ups in every military government.
I am afraid CoawasJee is not a working journalist s so he can’t ask for the same privileges.
He may be a very good writer and he does write about Karachi issues with an insider’s knowledge but has he ever supported working journalists’ cause in Pakistan? Let’s look at the recent history. Musharaff went on record to scold journalists in public and CoawasJee never said a word about it or did he?
About a year ago some Sindhi journalist were arrested by the army for just doing their duty and reporting some uncomfortable stories about the situation in Sindh-I am talking about couple of Journalists from Daily Kawish- and I hope you know the case. Sehbai’s family was harassed in Pakistan; a so called independent channel was stopped from broadcasting younger Sharif’s interview and many more incidents that I can quote here. Did CoawasJee ever even raise an eyebrow? You work and live in Pakistan and even though we live outside and are loonies per your post, yet some here do know what goes on in Pakistani Newspaper industry and have a very intimate knowledge about media in Pakistan.

Unfortunately, most of the Pakistani journalist, columnists and other public intellectuals –especially the ones who write in English press- have spent too much time in cushy jobs with the army owned newspapers and their sense of press freedom is when they don’t get the advice from ISPR or the local information Office.

The distinction here is; when CoawasJee actively supports an army govt. that is responsible for gagging newspapers and controlling the media and he never raises his voice about it then what right he has to ask for the privileges that working journalists deserve in a country where press freedom is guaranteed and is not dependent upon the whims of the Generals!

CoawasJee can’t sail in two boats simultaneously.

With that in mind, I condemn the provincial minister for threatening a Pakistani citizen for expressing his views.

#23

Well Said Omar... Too much misdirected venom based on personal vendettas, which Pakistanis in general have a habit to use as smokescreens to avoid seeing or dealing with the bigger picture..

#28

Ana, I am sure feroz is pretty much able to defend himself....

#26 wajahat, good point.
Whether you like or dislike Cowasjee is immaterial. The abuse of power by those in power must always be stopped or at least protested.

Cowasjee is no doubt an arrogant man, but brave nevertheless. I agree with Wahajat that the issue is freedom of speech and a threatening minister. Cowasjee has done enough for this country by exposing corruption at high places and by his philanthrophy. My vote is for old Cowasjee!