Different Eagles, Same Genus Umairr

``I can understand how your article would seem condescending to an Indian reader. While praising the PAF, it does unnecessarily put down the IAF. However, an objective replier should analyse the accuracy and inaccuracy of the article scientifically rather than emotionally. That is the best way to figure out one`s strengths and weaknesses with respect to one`s opposition. Emotional analysis is unrealistic, and put one into fantasyland.``

You once again prove that the military men are good at their stuff and not civilian matters. I always finds your posts about policy ill-thought but here you are ABSLOUTELY RIGHT.

Any ex-IAF care to respond rationally? Is it not true that IAF has one of the highest accident rates in the world?

Verdict in Pakistan Let me borrow this board to present this account of our great ``scholar`` Akbar Ahmad ( who has looked so pathetic on BBC in defending Pakistan.You have a good english accent doctor no content!)

The Jinnah controversy - I

Jamil Dehlavi

As for its allegations and claims: that I did not fulfil my job as producer by failing to raise finance, that I overshot the budget, and that when the government pulled out its investment. The fact is that I was not engaged to raise the finance. Raising finance is the job of the Executive Producer, namely Akbar Ahmed. The Producer is responsible for ensuring the money is spent optimally in the making of the film. He makes sure that all the parts and players-actors, technicians, laboratories, film stock, equipment and so on-come together at the right time and the right cost. In short the producer produces the film and the Executive Producer produces the finance.

There was no overshoot of the budget. There was however a substantial shortfall when the previous government failed to honour its commitment to provide £1,000,000 towards the film due to the controversy in the Press. There was nothing in the contract between Quaid Project and my company which mentions a co-producer`s credit nor was there ever a co-producer`s fee in the budget, and not one member of my production team knows or has heard of Babar Ahmed or Arshallah Khan. The project was saved, not by these two phantom co-producers ``stepping in`` and raising the necessary funds but by my company which assumed enormous debts to complete the shoot, debts that still have not been repaid in full by Akbar Ahmed`s company, debts that are the subject of court proceedings which I have initiated. And why were Babar and Arshallah paid £70,000 for raising family money? Is this not a classic example of the snake swallowing its tail?

Is for it claims that an offshore account was opened on the advice of financial advisers because of the tax efficiency of the scheme and that money was raised from personal resources and family members in this account and transferred to the QPL account. An offshore account is a way of avoiding tax. Whether this is a legitimate tactic depends on the law governing the person opening the account. What is suspect is why would Akbar Ahmed want to open such an account in his own name when we are told that the money being raised by him and his associates was for the project? It is asserted that Babar was responsible for the editing of the film and the first trailer, and for locating a sales agent. Next no doubt we will be told that he masterminded the design of the Hubble telescope! Editing a film is a complex and meticulous skill, and in the case of my film Jinnah, it was more than usually complex. Babar Ahmed surfaced in London during post-production and while the first trailer was being made he was, indeed, foisted by his father onto one of my editors for a few days before he was eased out. That was the extent of his involvement. The final cut was done under my supervision in New York by an American editor Robert Reitano and I can confirm I did not see Babar Ahmed lounging about in Manhattan! The Nation has in its possession two letters from the film`s editors. My English editor Paul Hodgson has said: ``Akbar told me that his son had some ideas for the trailer and would like to sit in on the editing. I spent three days following up these ideas and produced nothing that resembled a trailer.`` My American editor Robert Reitano states: ``I never met nor did I ever speak to Babar Ahmed, and we received no guidance from him whatsoever.

Babar Ahmed may well have been responsible for finding the Sales Agent. That explains why two years after its completion the film still hasn`t found a distributor in any of the major markets of the world. For the record, I had persuaded Goldcrest, a leading film distributor which has sold such films as Gandhi and Chariots of Fire, to finance the entire post-production and to market the film internationally. However, Akbar Ahmed, ever wise and astute, decided not to take up Goldcrest`s services because he was unwilling to allow them to recoup their expenses first which is normal practise with a sales agent. I am sure that Goldcrest would have had the film showing to worldwide audiences by now. How sad that my film is in the hands of rank amateurs who will ultimately be the ruin of it.

It is alleged that I took well over £300,000 out of the project as remuneration and refers to a sum of £164,000 as bonus money paid under duress because I would not return the negative of the film to the Quaid Project. And I was paid $33,000 personally for post-production by Quaid Project USA and that other monies were given to my company for which I am refusing to give invoices or tax back. This is yet another lie. I was paid less than half of this amount for dedicated work spread over four years. The £164,000 referred to was owed to me by Quaid Project against monies I had put forward personally to salvage the project when the previous Pakistan government pulled out its investment. My company had a lien on the film and it is normal in the film industry to hold the negative until all outstanding payments have been settled. I received no remuneration from Quaid Project USA for the six months I spent in New York completing the film. All my post-production accounts with Quaid Project USA were closed two years ago to their satisfaction and the Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf can confirm this. The truth, on the contrary, is that Akbar Ahmed is refusing to provide accounts to his investors, some of whom are now starting legal proceedings against him.

That I am demanding another £49,000 from Quaid Project is a fact. I have instituted legal proceedings in the UK High Court against Akbar Ahmed`s company for monies he owes me, for not crediting me properly in the promotion and publicity of the film, and for not submitting accounts for royalty payments due to me. I am clearly unable to go into details about this matter since it is sub judice. Akbar Ahmed`s accountant Mohammad Ashraf has claimed that the Quaid Project is making a counter-claim of £667,000 for recovery of monies overpaid to and wrongly claimed by my company. I have no idea where this figure comes from. All I can say is how can a reputable accountant like Mr Ashraf have allowed Quaid Project to overpay me what amounts to almost a third of the budget?!

The reason it has taken me so long to commence legal proceedings against the Quaid Project is that I was trying to avoid further controversy around the Jinnah film and was hoping that Akbar might settle the matter out of court. However, when he refused me a VHS tape of my own film, I considered that a declaration of war on his part.

The childish and absurd reaction from Akbar Ahmed in the face of perfectly legitimate and fair questions from The Guardian is that I am part of some ``Indian lobby`` determined to discredit him and by extension the present government. The journalist`s investigation is about money taken out of a film production, and this cannot be refuted by paranoid accusations masquerading as patriotism. I am a Pakistani and proud of it, my family took part in the creation of Pakistan. My grandfather was a colleague of the Quaid and my father held several important posts including that of Foreign Secretary and High Commissioner to the UK. Surely the Pakistan government is perfectly capable of distinguishing between ``Indian lobbies`` and financial malpractice. I welcome the anti-corruption, modernising manifesto of the present government and invite its Accountability Bureau to investigate this matter. A High Commissioner who is more conscious of promoting his own image rather than that of Pakistan can only bring our country into disrepute. Akbar Ahmed has woven an intricate pattern of deception around himself. What credibility does he have left when the Foreign Office itself is accusing him of misappropriating government funds during his first few months in office? I am sure that the government is their desire to clear the country of corruption will no doubt seriously reflect on its choice of High Commissioner to the United Kingdom as more sordid facts begin to emerge.

Famous Last Words or a Messiah in Khakis? Jay

``Our leadership is young, dynamic, straight-forward and truthful whereas the Indian leadership is old and orthodox. I am sure Mr Vajpayee cannot play golf with Mr Clinton, and that is the difference between the Pakistani and Indian leadership.``

LT.COL S. IFTIKHAR AHMED (Retd)(no no on the way up after the coup)``

Damme! I chuckled at the pathetic sycophancy on reading the piece but did not pay attention to the author...

So the same dude talikng to PM

``Iftekhar, kya baat hai?``

``Kuch Nahi Jarnail sahab. Humne Ganje ko pakad liya hai or mere Aaka, aapki rah dekh rahe hai!``

Thanks for connecting the dots Jay

Famous Last Words or a Messiah in Khakis? Solitude

``So Iqbal plagiarized from George Orwell`s 1984 just like a certain someone ripped off of the bible and torah :)``

You Devil... you like to peas in the po(n)d don`t you? Anyway ..

(1) Get the year (1984?) correct

(2) Write more

(3) :)

How I Spent Eid From TFT

``Barakati in trouble

Daily Pakistan, reported that Maulana Ghulam Muhammad Barakati had insulted the Holy Prophet PBUH. A number of citizens in Gujranwala alleged that Barakati had said `strange unworthy things` about the Prophet PBUH in his speeches and therefore deserved death under law. He was also accused of being a RAW agent since only RAW could persuade a Pakistani to do such a foul deed.``



I think Shiraz is also a RAW agent. Only RAW could persuade a Pakistani to do such a foul deed or writing something funny about EID.

Why Clinton should visit Pakistan At last, some one has answers to solve all the problems facing Pakistan. How come this gem is still out of the government. I urge the CE to make Brig. Rashid one of his chief advisors ( and natural successor)

Right on Brig!

( From the Frontier Post)

Aftermath of Clinton visit

Brig (R) Usman Khalid

A lot has been written about the visit of President Clinton to South Asia. I would avoid offering yet another analysis. I believe its impact would unfold over time when the three states he visited reveal how they have reviewed their objectives and policies. I believe that President Clinton wants peace and stability in the region but he wants India on his side even more. It was right for Pakistan not to rebuff him even though his visit marks the end of friendship with Pakistan. President Clinton and his entourage went out of their way to say and display that India had taken the place of Pakistan as its principal friend and ally in the region. But beneath the surface there is anxiety that India had given the US nothing in return. President Clinton was prepared to endorse India as regional leader and was ready to support India in its quest for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council but India did not accept the strings attached. Generous aid, investment and removal of economic sanctions were offered if India signed the CTBT and NPT. That was also rejected. India wants recognition as a member of the nuclear club as a full-fledged equal with other five. India also expressed disappointment that the US did not publicly condemn what it calls ``cross border terrorism`` in Kashmir.

The US did, however, try to appease India. President`s spokesman Mike Hammer said: ``You (Pakistan) can either choose to address the various problems facing Pakistan internally to ensure that Pakistan does not become a failed state or to continue on the current path of single-minded focus on Kashmir``. To underline their special relationship, Karl Inderfurth returned to India after president`s visit to Pakistan to brief his counterpart on meeting between President Clinton and General Musharraf. India announced that it was satisfied with President Clinton having been firm with General Musharraf on the three points India had sign-posted for him __ Jihad in Kashmir, democracy and Afghanistan. Mike Hammer said in public what President Clinton said in private: ``Our relations are strained and cannot return to normal unless there is a return to democracy.``

The US does not only appear set to oppose and undermine each of the three pillars of Pakistan`s security __ the nuclear deterrent, Jihad in Kashmir and friendly relations with Afghanistan __, it wants the return of its protege politicians to power. Islamabad is in no doubt; there is no redeeming aspects of the visit as far as Pakistan is concerned.

The IMF, the WTO and the World Bank are the equivalent of battleships the US employs to subvert the will of its enemies to resist. These would be deployed against Pakistan. But Pakistan is not altogether defenceless. In the kind of war America has waged, the result depends on nerve to hold out. At Kargil it was the loss of nerve by Nawaz Sharif that changed success into failure. Small countries, some without armies, some even without government __ all classical failed states __ have done very well in defending themselves. Chechnya is the latest but not the only example. If we have the nerve like our brothers in Afghanistan and Chechnya, no country would even consider invading Pakistan. Until we can purge our politics of Indian agents and American proteges, the army has a duty to govern Pakistan. But it may have limited amount of time. Some moves might be made during the remaining months of Clinton`s tenure but serious moves would await the result of American presidential elections. India supports Al Gore for president and hopes that his victory in November would secure recognition of its nuclear status, a permanent seat in the Security Council, and support for a ``limited`` war against Pakistan. We have only ten months, until February next year, of relative freedom of action.

Al Gore is expected to become the next president of the US because he has the support of the Jewish lobby. The lobby is invariably successful in its objectives. President Bush did not get a second term as president despite having been the architect of a rare military victory of the US, in the Gulf War. He made a powerful alliance with Europeans, Arabs and Muslims to win that war. Israel was sidelined; it was shown to be a problem rather than an asset for safeguarding US interests in the Middle East. George Bush Jr. is perceived to be made in the same mould. If elected, he might also look at American interests from the American viewpoint. The prospect of his victory, therefore, scares India and Israel.

For Pakistan, the situation might change for the better if George Mush Jr. was elected president. Clinton legacy may well be spurned by him. The worry is that the Musharraf administration that has wasted six months in expectation of a deal with America may not be ready to benefit if that happened. The NSC and the cabinet are overflowing with American proteges who pulled the wool over gullible military eyes. The Generals did not see that America was set on making India its ally. And India demanded in exchange what cost America little; all the cost and injury was to be inflicted on Pakistan. Will they see it now, evolve new strategies and get a new team?

The most spectacular failure has been that of the foreign minister who continues to be apologetic about Kashmir and spent all his time trying to mobilise support for signing the CTBT. He insisted it would not compromise the credibility of our nuclear deterrents. The US president made it clear that CTBT is a step on the road to NPT. The reality is that on ratification being refused by the US Senate and rejection by India, the CTBT is already dead. The truth is that despite the excitement on the prospects of growing warmth in relations with India, the US has not given up on nuclear rollback in South Asia. The Americans must know that if Pakistan gave up its nuclear deterrent unilaterally, it would not improve prospects for peace. It would only make India feel less restrained in its expansionist ambitions and creating more problems for its neighbours. Even if the foreign minister was not sacked, it would be evident that the Musharraf administration has given up on being popular with the people; it would rather perish trying to appease America. Ordinary people like me, who support General Musharraf unreservedly and enthusiastically, would ask how is he different from Benazir and Nawaz Sharif?

Most members of the NSC and the cabinet who were appointed because of their links with the US, would claim that the US would have come down much harder on Pakistan but for their links. But avoidance or dilution of adverse American reaction cannot be the sole objective of a government. If we realise that, the waste of six months is no waste for a country whose ``friends`` have been helping it to become or be branded a ``failed state``. But we have to move on now and crystallise a national agenda. Since Pakistan may have only ten months of respite, I believe we should concentrate on what can be achieved or put in place in that time. The agenda can best be put into three compartments. The first is security.

India would like to wage a limited war against Pakistan. It would not be limited in time or space but it may be limited in the choice of weapons, as India would like to avoid the use of nuclear weapons. But India`s objectives are political whereas ours are spatial. We could win this war because war is not a very good instrument for achieving entirely political ends. India would want to create an environment of insurrection in the country before it invades Pakistan. But we could turn the tables on India by union with Afghanistan. I use the word union in preference to federation or confederation.

We must take note of the history of Afghanistan and avoid political and administrative unification. We should seek customs union, currency union and security union. Such union can be extended to all the Muslim countries of Central Asia in due course.

The second compartment is the political agenda. General Musharraf has already focussed on national unity and harmony. I can think of four major changes in the system of governance that would promote national unity. These are: 1) directly elected president, 2) elected district government, 3) joint electorate, and 4) new electoral laws, which ban politics opposed to the polity of Pakistan.

The proposal for district government has been made public. Regarding the public approves, all the political parties have slated the proposal. The Rehbar of ANP was the most vehement in opposition. He has vowed to start a popular movement against it. The ANP has always sought a loose federation where the political personality of the provinces is more important than that of the country. He opposed the One Unit and presidential form of democracy in the last as these shifted the focus away from the provinces. Since other political parties were only interested in removing the government, the ANP succeeded in imposing its agenda on the alliance formed against the government. That is likely to happen again.

The ANP could again hijack the agenda of other political parties. But the military government enjoys the trust of the people. It is our last hope. If the military cannot or does not adopt and implement this political agenda, nothing will stop our slide towards a failed state and a bloody revolution. The four-point political agenda has to be promoted with skill and zeal. Transparency, absence of party political bias and integrity that characterise execution of a task by the military, would be required in abundance.

The third compartment of the national agenda is the economic agenda. The battleships of economic war are already in low-intensity battle against Pakistan. We have to learn to exploit the chink in their armour. Since they are meant to be international organisations, staffed and funded by many countries, they cannot be blatant in the use of their economic screws. That is why the IMF and the World Bank try and infiltrate the finance ministries of target countries to influence or undermine them. For as long as I can remember, the finance and foreign ministers of Pakistan have been the nominees of the international finance mafia. The present government is no exception.

However, until now, their role was perceived to be benign for they kept an eye on a country to keep it solvent. It is only after the huge success of the economic battleships against the USSR, in East Europe and in states that discarded communism, that the true potential of the new weapon has been realised.

The US has hesitated to unleash the economic battleships against India and Pakistan to coerce them into rolling back their nuclear programme because the countries are too poor and on the brink to avoid degenerating into becoming a costly world problem. The irony is that in facing these battleships, India and Pakistan would do better if they co-operated. India has defied the WTO and is unaffected by the IMF as it does not borrow from it. The World Bank is a blunt weapon as its gives soft loans on long-term basis.

The short-term economic problems of Pakistan are more pressing. These are three: 1) budget deficit, 2) balance of payment deficit, and 3) dollarisation of the economy. These cannot be solved without special measures and arrangements that the IMF or the WTO would frown upon. With our entire finance teams imported from the US, it is very unlikely they will contemplate defying their colleagues in international finance. However, India has defied the WTO and we can take cover behind their policies.

The budget deficit problem can be solved by revaluation of the rupee by 10% and increasing the import duties adding 10% to the present rate. The import prices would not be affected but the import duty would rise by nearly 50%. The balance of payment problem is the result of the huge repayment of international loans we have to make every year. That repayment takes away 50% of our export earning and 40% of our national budget. If we could pay back much of our international debt, the budget as well as balance of payment problem could be eased, even solved. But that is not what we are doing.

According to a news report, our finance minister is planning to borrow another $2.5 billion from the IMF. That proves my point. The Americans in the cabinet are exacerbating our economic problems.

It has been estimated that the savings and assets of Pakistanis resident overseas are about $50 billion. The deposits of Pakistanis in foreign currency accounts (mostly overseas) are another $50 billion. The total international debt of the government of Pakistan is about $32 billion. Put in that context, our international debt is not a huge problem. But since black market in foreign currency is allowed in Pakistan, the remittances by overseas Pakistanis go back overseas into the accounts of criminals for smuggling activities, rackets and shady businesses.

Black market in dollars is the cause of dollarisation of the economy with the rupee constantly falling in value unrelated to its purchasing power. It has also encouraged spiralling rise in the size of the black economy. Foreign currency accounts (in Pakistan or overseas) by those ordinarily resident in Pakistan should be made illegal. Black market in foreign currency should also be made illegal. Remittance to and from Pakistan should be through banks only. With revaluation of the rupee by 10%, the value of savings in Pakistan would rise encouraging Pakistanis to hold their savings and buy businesses and property in Pakistan.

Exports can be quickly increased by making it mandatory for large importers (Pakistani or multinational companies) to get into offset agreements with their partners overseas to match exports with their imports. Value-added food, fuel, cars, tractors and machinery producers __ particularly overseas manufacturers __ may be given export targets and income tax incentives for achieving them.

Labour continues to be our most beneficial export. It does not only increase our foreign exchange earning without actual exports, it brings money to the most needy and helps raise the standards of life and living of the most deprived areas and communities. Training and export of labour is an area that would benefit from some military type planning and execution. The list of measures to increase exports is not exhaustive but it is intended to show that the economic battleships can be forced to withdraw from our waters.

We could deal with all our economic problems by the following six-point economic agenda:

1. Revalue the rupee by 10% and increase the rate of duty adding 10% to present rates.

2. Make free market (black market) in foreign currency illegal and those ordinarily resident in Pakistan should not be allowed to have foreign currency accounts.

3. Allow foreign currency accounts and trade without L/C to companies (including all foreign multinationals) engaged in import/export who operate offsets agreements.

4. Give targets and income tax incentives for exports to companies in selected sectors.

5. Organise training and export of labour with military efficiency. Appeal to overseas Pakistanis to remit their saving to their accounts in Pakistan with guarantee of recompense in the event of devaluation of rupee. Promise that every penny received in remittance by overseas Pakistanis would be used for paying off international debt.

6. Invoke international laws and rules against money laundering to recover money and assets from overseas held by Pakistanis unable to explain the source of their wealth.

The above agenda could be put into immediate effect to restore the health and vitality of the nation, enough to meet and beat any challenge that our enemy can mount. Would General Musharraf please take note?

Calendarical Sense ``. I was teaching at a local school in India. [SIC]As soon as the school bell rang [SIC]I sat in my car and left for the playground.

..........

I have even bought the ticket well in advance and on top of it in black at a price that exceeds my salary of half a year. So what do you say?``

What I say is you have a goofy arithmetic sense.

You could afford a CAR in India on a TEACHER’s salary and the ticket cost you half of your annual pay?

Thank God you are a medical student and not designing the Mars probe...

Yet we share the same home - Our Indus Valley This letter is from the ``News`` today (03/29/2000)

Marwaris... Maharastrians.... Tamils!

Tauba tauba what are the Arabs thinking now a days?

Friends and foes

Zubair Sarwar

A couple of weeks back, I paid a visit to the land endowed with the wealth of oil. I was taken aback at how their thinking has changed with the profusion of wealth derived from the black gold.

The basic concept of being an Islamic state is rapidly fading away and is being replaced by a cosmopolitan way of living in the UAE. They emulate the West in every way. Pakistanis are now looked down upon, in each and every department. A handful of Pakistanis might be seen doing white-collar jobs while the majority have unskilled jobs. It does not mean that they are devoid of requisite skills and abilities, but the bias of our so-called Muslim brothers is irksome and worth condemning.

Local Arabs prefer recruiting Indians. The Indians holding executive positions detest Pakistanis and favour Marwaris, Maharashtrians, Tamils and other Indians. If your visit any restaurant, hotel or office, you will find these places swarming with them.

Pakistan, on the other hand, has always helped the Arabs whenever they have been in trouble. Their foes are our foes but our foes are their friends. We have been providing them military support and without our help, their state would have not been very different from that of Kuwait and Iraq.

Hyderabad

How I Spent Eid Refreshing and funny!

Please keep writing ....someday one of the pretty pakistani girl will ``Taras Khao`` on you!

Oh Manhattan my New York ``its unimaginable that a person would be shot dead for the color of his skin in Pakistan....``

Calling ``Fact Check`` on line two...

The Dark Skinned Bengalis in 1971........

Let’s talk about Bollywood

Mohajir

the movie from a few Indian directors and the choice of Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Bhanji) ?????????????

Pardon my ignorance but Ben K is of Desi decent? Please explain

Only A Rat Asks Who Will Bell The Cat! Here is a nugget from ``The news`` could we be more paranoid, negative and insecure. This really skunks!

Ban the basant festival

Prof Dr Anis Ahmad

Festivals and celebrations, at a popular level, reflect the culture and values of a people. The Chinese New Year, Christmas celebrations and Holi represent concept of space and time in three distinct religious and cultural traditions. At an academic level, festivals and celebrations, initiation rites, marriage and burial ceremonies and seasonal festivals are studied, compared and analysed by sociologists, cultural anthropologists and scientists of religion from their respective vantage points. For some these festivals, ceremonies and celebrations speak for opening up of soul, spiritual elevation, interaction between the part and the whole. For others they provide ground for re-entering the mythical sacred time and space. These may also provide people with a sense of belonging, identity and self-understanding.

Festivals also help in communication of the culture of values of a people. The Islamic values of shukr (thankfulness), infaq (contributing to the welfare of others) and glorification of the Creator of man and the universe, Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala, through takbirat are, for example, are reflected in the festival of Eidul Fitr.

During the past ten years, some aristocrats of Lahore have introduced basant as a local popular festival. Without going into the historical roots of this celebration, which essentially is alien to our own culture and traditions, we want to understand the logic, justification, and philosophy of this alien festival as seen by its advocates.

One `benefit` of observing basant, according to its proponents, is that it helps in diluting pride in our own Islamic cultural tradition. It brings us closer to the Hindu mainstream culture of Hindutva. The use of sacred yellow colour in basant reminds us of the Indian way of celebrating festivals. We confirm, when we partake in it, we are Indians who also happen to be Muslims. This precisely was the argument of the Indian National Congress against the creation of Pakistan. They claimed that the Muslims were part of a mainstream Indian Hindutva culture though Islam was their ``religion``. Muslims consequently, according to one-nation theory, were expected to pray in their mosques like the Christians go to their Churches, however, after having prayed they were expected to share in a common culture.

The great contribution of the Father of the Nation was his firm stand on separate cultural identity of the Muslims. It was their difference in culture, values, vision of life, concept of space and time, art and literature which made them two nations.

The second `advantage`, we are told by the champions of basant, is that we can help and offer economic benefits to the Hindutva-secularist rulers, across the borders, by importing (often illegally) the material used for making the thread used in flying kites. The Indian and secular lobbyists have a strong argument when they say we are anyhow a consumer economy and we import even products made by some Jewish multinationals, what is wrong in importing material for flying kites from a Hindutva neighbour? This logic is interesting, it simply means if a person has an infection in chest there is nothing wrong in going ahead and inviting infection in foot or eyes. Perhaps positive and healthy thinking is tabooed in our country! We do not mind wasting millions of rupees on unproductive activities like fireworks or flying kites even when it gives all economic benefits, in cash, to people across the border.

The third `advantage` of observing basant, the pleaders of basant tell us, is that while advertisements on TV and print media have not brought much success in the so-called ``population welfare`` programmes, at least during basant festival we succeed in getting a few hundred youth and adults killed. If these boys and adults were allowed to survive they would be a `burden` on our country`s economy and on their families. During basant they die when their strings get entangled with electric poles. They also die when some of them fall down from roofs while absorbed in the sacred and holy ritual of kite-flying. Some of them also die when they run madly to capture kites and are overrun by rash drivers. All these accidents reduce the size of our population and thus help in achieving, in a sense of national agenda of ``population control``.

The fourth big `advantage` is that it helps in creating conditions where men and women can intermingle indiscriminately while flying kites, by shouting ``Bo Kataa`` and by singing suggestive songs, provoking sexual emotions among youth, and ultimately promoting a promiscuous society. The coverage of basant on TV, newspapers and radio, and the songs aired on TV and radio, as well as photographs published in newspapers, during the last few years, confirm this assertion. We know when a spade is called a spade it is bound to annoy some people. Nevertheless, truth deserves to be shared with others.

The fifth `advantage` of observing basant festival is that we can proudly tell people in our neighbouring country, and in the so-called developed world, that our boys and girls are as much ``advanced``, ``modern`` and bent on hedonism as they are. That we are good imitators in our dress style, in our ways of singing and in adopting pop music, with gestures and postures of alien cultural traditions is already an established fact. With observance of basant, we can easily make people of the world believe that we are just like them: a pleasure-seeking nation.

If some crazy people in Times Squares, New York, or downtown Sydney, can for one whole night dance, drink, shout, and mix, we too at least have a festival of basant in which we can compete with them, and show our talent of imitating ways of entertainment of others. More importantly, this will also take care of the misconceptions about us that we are very conservative, religious-minded, tradition-bound and perhaps ``fundamentalist`` people.

Such festivals can only be endorsed and supported by secular-minded liberal persons, who may believe in being ``religious`` once a week when they go for ``salatul jumu`ah``, they may also be ``religious`` when they make their five times daily prayer.

But like followers of other religions they draw a line between their religious and secular activities. To them so long as they pray once a week or five times a day, involvement in drug-culture, tax-evasion, misuse of political offices, oppression against women belongs to ``secular`` or worldly material life. It does not bother them to participate in basant and next day listen to a competition of Husn-e-Qir`at.

Frankly speaking, basant as such is not so significant an event as to call for a serious discourse. The majority of people in Pakistan have, during past several years, shown their disapproval of it. Nevertheless, a small minority of people, who search for their cultural roots in Hindutva-secular society, and who do not mind offering economic benefits and favours to a neighbour country, think they can make it a popular festival. Leaving aside its cultural, ideological and alien aspects, its economic cost alone provides enough justification to disallow it in Pakistan.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) __ Friend or Foe? gymnosophist and Umairar

Thanks for Good arguments. Seeing posts from you two makes me feel that the Pakistanis and Indians CAN have civilized discussions that are not mere rhetoric and accusations.

gymnosophist your gas pipe line example is eye opening.

Some one has said that ``If goods and services cross the borders, Armies Wont!``

It is very true. Once we have economic interests directly liked and obvious to the masses, war rhetoric will go down. If my job and my business is under threat, my instinct is to avoid the problem!

I think India and Pakistan should be like US and Canada. Cooperation and economic integration is in the other.

The only war that should take place should be on the Hindi/Urdu version of ``South Park``

One small correction: Some one on this board mentioned Saira Banu as the 73 year old woman who caused the famous ruling by Indian SC. Well, Saira Bano is the sixties sex kitten who married Dilip Kumar ( and is still married to him, though he later, took another wife named Asma Jahangir) The other Banu is Shah Banu

Why is this Shanaz C posting the same (irrelevant) post on every board? Dude, take it to Kashmir board.

Pakistan in the Year 3000 Ali1 #247

Please do not write vitriolic responses if you can not counter an argument with some facts.

(`` Pakistan however lacks the type of phony Indian Engineers, ....... Applications from Charminar School of Computer Science

..... They spend most of their time sitting on the ``bench..........build the futuristic India.``)

It does not make any point besides showing your blind hate.

You may be right about the ratio of Indians:Pakistanis graduating with engineering undergraduate degrees. The reason is that we do not have any decent technical education schools in Pakistan. The indians have the IITs and the IIScs as well as quite a few superb state and regional engineering colleges. Any one in Pakistan who can afford to go to Engineering school in the US does that ( I was one of them)

If you look at the graduate schools in the US you will see the picture dramatically changed. The largest grad student population tends to be Chinese or Indian. These engineers in turns form the bulk of High Tech work force. And they do not have to sit for six years. They go in EB1 to get their green cards rather quickly.

I had an Indian TA in school and I think he was one of the best Math teachers I ever had....

I think we should take a page from the Charminar schools too. Nobody stopped us from doing that.

These software folks are making money for their contractors. Thats why they are here. No matter how patriotic, the bodyshopper loves his money far too much to pay some one on the bench for 6 years.

Isn`t it better to introspect and reflect rather than spitting poison?

An Interview with Naseeruddin Shah Replies to Even this one are going ``Indo-Pak conflict``

Come on, the guy wrote a nice play ( my cousin saw it and enjoyed it) lets talk about the actors, the act, the lighting, or even how FAT RehanHasanAnsari is

Take the conflict to where it belongs..LOC..

( nah, just kidding)

peace