Why I’m proud to be a Pakistani Your personal and opinionated article is incomplete. Your research didnot even consider mentioning the all-time great Madam Noorjehan who should be lauded as a woman of the Century from Pakistan. All alone Madam Noorjehan captured the hearts and minds of the Pakistani soldiers in 1965 and 1971. Madam Noorjehan alone proved to the world that a woman in Pakistan can achieve the greatness as extreme or better than a man. She did it alone, and without the help of anyone. You failed to mention a great person, this proves my point in your article being opinionated. When posting an article in the future, you may want to use an open-mind and not neglect to mention the very famous persons for the reason of personal tastes. Think about it, Dawn, and BBC SouthAsia gave Noorjehan from Pakistan and Lata from India the title of stars of the millenium. In their articles, they mention Noorjehan as having an edge over Lata for being a child prodigy, and also the person to manufacture the design of music to be followed by artists to come.

Why I’m proud to be a Pakistani Your personal and opinionated article is incomplete. Your research didnot even consider mentioning the all-time great Madam Noorjehan who should be lauded as a woman of the Century from Pakistan. All alone Madam Noorjehan captured the hearts and minds of the Pakistani soldiers in 1965 and 1971. Madam Noorjehan alone proved to the world that a woman in Pakistan can achieve the greatness as extreme or better than a man. She did it alone, and without the help of anyone. You failed to mention a great person, this proves my point in your article being opinionated. When posting an article in the future, you may want to use an open-mind and not neglect to mention the very famous persons for the reason of personal tastes. Think about it, Dawn, and BBC SouthAsia gave Noorjehan from Pakistan and Lata from India the title of stars of the millenium. In their articles, they mention Noorjehan as having an edge over Lata for being a child prodigy, and also the person to manufacture the design of music to be followed by artists to come.

Where did Pakistan go wrong? you said:

``The army hates the civilians and, every now and then, topples elected governments. And minorities like Christians and Hindus, miniscule as they are in numbers, are the pet subject of everybody else’s violent aversion. It is difficult to find in Pakistan any two communities that are willing to tolerate each other``

this happens in india also. last year some where in South India, where i cannot recall at this time two christian children were burnt alive in a jeep by Hindu fundamentalists. For you to point out this fault about ethnic and religious violence than be fair in your presentation of facts MR. Mohan.

In India the Army has Sikhs, and Hindus of different areas who do not and will not back a general in toppling the elected government. This is the reason the Pakistani Military is so effective and concise. There is discipline and there is loyalty within the ranks, because of the same religious belief there is no dissension in the Pakistan`s Military.

I do not like Military take-overs but Pakistan is a very young country and its been taken advantage of by the politicians that were elected by the people. Pakistan`s literacy rate is a little over 43%, this representation of a few people does not give them enough power in Pakistan to question the leaders freely about their actions. the implementation of handing more power to local, regional, provincial, and then federal is the best thing to happen in Pakistan`s history. this decision is just now being carried out by the new Govt of GEN PERVEZ MUSHARRAF.

to your statement :

``Mohammed Ali Jinnah, himself wondered at times whether he had done the right thing in creating a separate Muslim nation. In a speech given to the Pakistan Constituent Assembly he said, “You may belong to any religion or creed or caste – that has nothing to do with the business of the state. I think that we should keep that in the front as our ideal and you will find that in the course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state.”

This is the biggest Bullshit if i ever heard one. Jinnah was never confused and never wondered about the decision he made. He was always firm with anyone he encountered, which explains why Gandhi of India begged Jinnah to become the leader of India instead of Nehru and not to split India. This is where Gandhi was wrong, there was no India to begin with. It always fell victim to foregin conquests. it was territories or small kingdoms, later became part of persian, turkish, arabic, mongolian, mughal, afghan, and later part of the british empire. There was never one India to begin with, and to say ``India should not be broken up`` is a fairy-tale concocted by the Hindus.

You also said in Pakistan there are a small number of differences in the peoples culture, which is where your wrong again. People are extremely diverse in Pakistan as it is so India.

In my opinion this article is not at all practical, it is definitely swaying in favor of India. If your a journalist like you say you are, than you must also learn to write like a professional journalist not a narrow minded nationalist.

I maybe a lot younger than you and probably less educated but i can definitely write a better article and more facts supporting it.

Game Theory and Pakistan I liked your presentation of the two theories and the evidence you coerrelated to describe how it effects Pakistan.

Things you could have done to drastically improve this article:

1. Proof-read/and revised

avoid grammatical errors

2. Avoid using your perspective unless you can support it with actual evidence

3. do not make assumptions about what can occur if this or that step was taken

only true if previously tested under the same or similar circumstances

4. make practical statements or beliefs about how the system should be

``At least 60% of the education budget should be ear-marked for women education until they achieve parity in lliteracy level`` -- Come On : your being unrealistic and bias; thats like saying i do to you what you have done to me in the past. Maybe its time to move on from one-sided views : maybe as you simply state ``As a nation and pakistanis, we must always try to find solutions in a non-zero sum ways, and intelligently implement revival plans with the maximum probability of win-win situation.)

5. put yourself in the shoes of people you say have always been in the zero-sum style, and explain why their side was negative.

{it is easy to associate what we hear on the news and what we can assume about the diverse patterns of events, however we are always miscalculating the severity of an event unless we actually are part of the event)

Final Thought:

I didnt really like your article at all. poor grammar, and very unrealistic thoughts accompany this article. Yes Pakistan will be better off without fundamentalists, but your kind of extreme thoughts are also very impractical.

TIEcon 2000 Generates Hope Ras

in the end of this article you mention a positive perspective in analyzing Ms Sidwa. However you must realize that Pakistani and Indian people are and never were the same people. I stand firm on Jinnah`s statement which i cannot quote since i dont have the book ``praise be for jinnah`` with me at my University`s computer lab. but i can try my best to reflect my view on his words, ``There is not one nation present here, not a muslim and not a hindu``.

so to say that india was cracked, literally we are backing the Hindustani agenda of Pakistan should have never been created. India was never cracked, india never was there to begin with until 1947. Wherever you research you will find that The land which is now Pakistan, India and Bangladesh has always been subjected to so many conquests. Pakistan specially, has a different character than India or any other country in the region. We have Aryan, persian, turkish, arabic, greek, chinese, mongolian, afghan, and african influence not only apparent culturally but also physically.

i do not support the media that tries to show pakistani and indians having any ties. If i had to pick one country which is maliciously trying to destroy another country i would have to pick India. It has always blamed its domestic problems on Pakistan, and it has always regarded Pakistan as an enemy. The Indian politicians know for a fact that India stands with no chance of winning an argument over Kashmir, so the indians use a different tactic to gain international favor, especially USA`s favor. The indians deliberately try and infact do use the Kargil incident and many other skirmishes to renounce any talks with Pakistan. This is out of hatred for the nation that they could not defeat which they have tried 3 times already. Indians know for a fact that Pakistan`s military is much more strategically advanced so they beg USA to request Pakistan to pull-back. its a shame that over 70,000 indian military men could not vacate the kargil area of just a few hundred Mujahideen. This is why they blamed that it was Pakistani Army regulars so they will not look like a shame in the eyes of their own country.

Open Letter to General Musharraf Mr Faruqi

You indeed bring about great concerns that need to be addressed. The reason for Military to intervene in civil matters is not because the military is overstaffed but because the military is well-trained, honest, and efficient. I also live in California, and i was born in Pakistan. My father was a high-ranking officer in Pakistan. My father served the military well, and being known for his honesty, and integrity my father was incharge of all the trade between Pakistan and China. from personal experience i can very easily claim that the military is good for Pakistan. YES, there is an internal problem in Pakistan, but that does not make the person who wants to correct the basic stages of the problems a DICTATOR. I agree with you in some matters of state, where as i do not agree that military should only be consumed with everyday issues concerning national security or threats from the enemy. India in the past and in the present will be determined to destroy pakistan. if you do not believe me, ask for yourself to any hindu you may know, and in a friendly manner they will say that british just carved up india into pieces. There was no india before 1947, there were just territories that fell victim to foreign conquests. Your a PHD, and I am only just finishing my BS this year but I am very interested in Pakistani politics and for the sake of its prosperity I wish to see pakistanis proud of Pakistan and try to make it better. if your a pakistani who lives in the US than you have no right to go by articles in the newspapers, and magazines to analyze what conditions are more productive for Pakistan. You are not contributing, and you are not involved in any sense, so i suggest you should either call your-self american or anything you want to label yourself as. you can also just be like me, who loves Pakistan and is determined to help pakistan achieve prosperity. present to the world a positive image of Pakistan; i think if you were to be proud of Pakistan, i can than proudly use you as an example of successful Pakistani`s in the US.

Lets help Pakistan become a prosperous country and shed no light on its negativity.

Preserve our knowledge so we can achieve a natural growth in develoment.

sincerely

Mohammad Arshad Rashid

sonofrashid@prodigy.net

Madame Noor Jehan and Urdu’s Best Song Ever i think this is a great article

Noorjehan has always been the one woman, who not only defines art with her talents but also the essence of the South Asian Music Industry. Her caliber to keep the same pitch for an extended period, and her talented display of feelings which can be easily noticed with listening to the wordings of the songs, simply proves the skill and devotion NoorJehan initiates in each and everyone of her songs. Noorjehan is simply the epitamy of what a SuperStar should be. A living legend, and a true patriot. There`s no wonder why a museum under her name exists in LONDON. She is well appreciated by millions, and her voice captures the heart and souls of millions.

I am 24 years old, and since i was a kid i have always appreciated music. Noorjehan was always one I could listen to when I needed a motivaing factor. Yes, fcourse I turned to Allah also. But some of the words and the way she expresses the words helped me move on from my troublesome situations. I would turn on my walk-man and begin to run at the gym. I would replay one song over and over again, so I can feel better about myself, ``kende ne naina`` . everytime i hear this song, i would smile and express shyness in my face, as if she was singing this song to me. I havent had the opportunity to meet her, but if i do, i would like to thank her for providing me with a motivating factor in my life.

I do also give credit to her unsurpassing support for the nation, where at one time as my mother tells me : she cancelled her shows in Dubai, and Tokyo to come home for the support of our soldiers during the war of 1971. Noorjehan for her sacrifices should be mentioned in the Encyclopedia of the World, as she is mentioned so highly in Stanley Woolpert`s book on ``Praise be for Jinnah of Pakistan``.