The World According to Heer & Ranjha Re: Osama`s comments.

I am intrigued to find out you are a fan of Imran Khan`s. Perhaps you could have done something for him a little earlier(like make him win a humble election that so many, arguably not of Mr. Khan`s caliber, have so often won.) But so is the human condition...

I am also confident that you are not at loss by not having read my (unpublished) article. Would not have suited a man (oops ! a person) of your verbal sophistication. You know how to split hair (cannot think of a politically correct version of this.)

The World According to Heer & Ranjha This is beautiful !

Finally, I read something refreshing on Chowk. Now why can`t we all stop blabbering about how victimized we are, and start taking a bite out of life.

Viva Moe !
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite (+ sororite.)
A la femme blanche.

PS I wish I could contribute to Chowk my 2 episodes of ``Laura`s Seduction``, a true story of a passionate Yalee-Columbian affair, but Chowk`s prejudicial attitude of selective censoring earlier has made me think otherwise.

Calling a Spade a Spade Dear ``Hazrat Maulana`` Rabbani:

What you wrote about is no news to anybody anymore. Saying that Yahya Khan`s words still reverberate in your ears makes me laugh- you probably are a``channel`` in psychic terms.

So what are we doing to help those poor Biharis besides conveniently expressing our ``moral`` outrage? How more cynical can we get?

Are you investing your money to help their cause? Is anybody ?!! (You expect a 35% plus IRR on such venture investments ?!!!)

Selective Islam in Pakistan Mr. Khan:

Your mea culpa is funny. But your ghost writer is impressive.

Since when did Prince Charles become a scholar, and Diana`s death a historic moment?
Isn`t it ironic that you quote both in the same breath?

There ought to be better ways to wet your toes again, in the muddy waters of political ambition... Resurrection is hard, even for the Messiah. You are not one.

Of BB, AZ, and NYT: The Corruption of Politics and the Politics of Corruption I have to agree with ``Shair-e-Mashriq`` who like the classical one has dared to say the right thing.

We just seem to be in the habit of blaming ``western media``, ``western influence`` and the like for our own insecurities. Prof. sahib did not elaborate on why the ``West`` gets away with so much of a double standard: very simply because they constitute a super-culture owing to the Anglo-Saxon work ethic we can only envy about, as bleeding-heart ``Pakistanis`` or ``sincere Muslims.`` The Prof. ought to spend some time in Pakistan to find out why things do not get better... if he still is confused by reality. We don`t walk the talk. It is unfortunate to find out that even the educated like him are still carping on the old themes of global hegemony. We all have known that for centuries... so what is new?! And who is going to take the first revolutionary step to rid the world of all western evil? Could that be done in the comfort of a Brookline home (if the Prof. got tenure, and can ``upgrade`` to his Harvard colleagues in the neighborhood)?

Re: Malik sahib`s comments about Western plans of subjugation dating back to WWII, is it just the West perchance? Frankly, was the Mughal administration any different? Such idle remarks make us only look more foolish.

Talk is cheap...we are all good at it !!

Good Girls and Bad Postures RE: Bad Girl, Saad Khan

So you are saying that NYC is less oppressive? Is that why back pads are popular out there? And why would you think you know more about the dilemmas of western women?

Can we name any problems that other societies do not also have, and if we cannot compare, how do we find solutions?

My point elaborated: it is really hard to claim moral outrage when faced with the facts. I do not know any individual or society that does not have its dark moments. But only those societies have progressed who do not pose as victims. As Louis Armstrong says in his Jazz legend,`` It is a beautiful world...`` We Pakistanis just seem to be habitual complainers.

Good Girls and Bad Postures I cannot resist...I had originally vowed not to partcipate in ``Pakistani`` discussions, since they always lead to nowhere.

Why do all Pakistani women seem to emphasize the torturous, male-suppression aspects ALL the time? Yes, society is inimical toward women, but it just is not only Pakistan. (Go through any women`s literature anywhere.) I cannot comment on the article itself, but there must be some good things about women`s lives in Pakistan ! Especially when those women happen to belong to the elitist class...funny thing is that none seem to air any balanced views. Even though the writer lives in NYC, a beautiful, romantic place that I have always loved (and will return to.) At least New York dwellers I know had a lot of positive things to say about Pakistan (and I mean they were mostly women journalists and professionals.)

I suspect the problem is deep-seated inferiority complexes, coupled with hypocrisy. I still remember a statement published in Karachi Herald by Asma Jahangir, a ``selfless`` human rights activist, re: her marriage to a privileged feudal-bureacrat. ``Un ki car par janda laga hooa thaa``. (His limo came with an official flag.) Excuse my insensitivity, but isn`t that how most of our otherwise privelged women (engaged in ``social`` work to prevent boredom, or one-up their male relatives actually responsible for oppression) get attention, only to find Mr. Rich Husband? A similar media-reported case was about a TV actor, Khalida Riasat, who husband-landed a feudal ``prince`` her dad`s age after making the sensational claim that marriage was nothing but ``legalized prostitution``. Maybe most Pakistani women do not have much career choice here, but that in itself does not a gloomy world make.

My point here is not to offend anyone, least Bad Girl (name covers it all :-)) ) But just to point out that dialogue ought to be balanced (my experience in the US with men and women on all sorts of explosive issues.) The trouble I find is that we are willing to denigrate ourselves more than our detractors are willing to. After all, Pakistan still is not the place where 1/3rd of college women are date-raped. There are more powerful women in Pakistan (Benazir Bhutto) than in the US. And the Pakistani male, however sexually-suppressed and illiterate compared with some fortunate ladies, still voted twice for a woman. She just did not deliver. Her problem was class, not gender.