Interest is Halal? Riba defies clear definition like other major issues.Saudis`whom most Pakistanis consider the standard-bearers of Islaim,have named it service charges.Why is it that we can`t find any rational end of this debate?Ignorance,bigotry or vested interest seem to stand in our way which makes it totally unislamic.

Let us learn to get on with the job of decent existence without financial exploitation of the weak.Unfortunately,in almost all Islamic countries

power is not accountable,exploitation rules the roost,and illiterate masses yearn for relief by way of 4 freedoms/fundamental rights.All muslims countries,including Pakistan,are being run under the theory of force which denies most of the known rights to the subjects who can`t be citizens.Life is insecure,uncertain and economically unsustainable for muslim masses.Why are they being punished?I suspect for being Muslims.

Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link? The army confronts only soft targets like the politicians because they have nominal following.

The madrissas can fight back,so live and let live

with them.

Oppression of women in Pakistan: Myth or Fact Hypocrisy is the name of the game in our society.Double standards prevail for judging the conduct of men and women,unlike the Islamic injunctions.If a boy elopes with a girl,the society,generally,considers it daring and sinful/criminal vice-versa.Since the average person does not know the Koran direcctly,tribal/barbaric ambivalence rules the roost.

The arch-example is the so-called honour-killing resorted to by most depraved sections of our society to coverup greed for land or other pecuniary benefits.Take the case of Sarwar Mohmand who got his daughter murdered in Lahore.I am told ,no case could br registeredd because he is NOW a rich man and can bribe almost all sections of society.Countless murders are committed in almost all parts of the country.

Women get sold in certain parts;maybe because of poverty but moreso because they are treated as belongings againnst the spirit of Islam.

The Mullahs teach people that men are `hakams` over women which is a wrong interpretation,influenced by hindu culture.

Lack of education,unfamiliarity with Islamic tenets makes men commit unpaodonable crimes against women in our society duly condoned by it.The exploitation of women in our system is practically horrendous and without large-sclae regrets/reformation.It calls for a social jehad.

Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link? `Nothing will come out of nothing` is the famous line in Shakespeare` King Lear.In computer terminology it corresponds to garbage in garbage out.As the people of Pakistan are,generally, not bothered about any fundamental issues they would continue to brutalised by army/civilian authorities.Imagine a country in the new millinneum wherein police can detain anybody on suspicion for,at least, 24 hours.Knowing the pattern set by the supreme court of supporting all usurpers,one can make-out the standards of justice.Since the last coup,both civilians/armymen are arrested by the mily junta.It is more than an year,does anybody bother.How many people have demonstrated against such barbaric use of force?A certain law allows the mily govt to detain anybody for 3 months without any reference to any court and then strike a bargain,like in NS` case,ending all action.Such things can`t happen in free countries where there is some commitment to right or wrong and people are not afraid of the army who are looked upon only as employees.

A few press comments,treatment as pariahs at the international level,sickening downhill slide would not bother an army regime.The people have to reassert their role as the supreme sovereign.For that there is a price to pay.Can we do that?

Democracy in Pakistan: The Missing Link? I do not want to disturb the moratorium on discussion of the subject but I am impelled by the

speech of the CE of Pakistan.God help our unlucky country.

Ce says people must believe him because his parents did not teach him to sell the interest of the country.This could mean that Yahya khan`parents told him to break up the country in conjunction with others of his ilk;Ayub`parents also seem to fail;Did the parents tell `tiger` Niazi to surrender on 16th Dec after telling the BBC on 12th DEC that a surrender would be `over my

dead body`;Did Zia ` parents tell him to become the patron-saint of hypocrisy/chicanery and to `tear away the constitution` of the country.Equal no of expls can be given from among the civilialns.I quoted faujis because ce is another general.Is this a good enough argument to justify the downhill existence forced on us?May be Yahya believed till the last day that he was doing something correct.Who pays finally for such colossal blunders?

What would the poor `shaheeds of Kargil` be thinking in their graves after the latest move by the CE?They would be cursing us all,more so the govt.

we better wakeup before it is too late.NS,the jerk,promoted the CE forgetting history.Now with NS and BB(another jerk) out of the way,the field is left free for the army rule assisted by political nobodies like Chaudries of Gujrat,sons of Zia and other saleable/sub-standard people.How could Chaudris be less culpable than NS?They have all the crimes to their credit which NS was accused of except boot-licking of the army.Qazi` huffing and puffing is of no avail because nobody would vote for him.He can,however,challange the army effectively and rid us of them.

Pakistanis must understand the dangerous bind into which we have landed,resist it,mobilise and restore genuine civilian governance to qualify as free people in the world.

Wishing Numbness Good for a start.

The Mandir Mirage Wherever the masses are illiterate and poor,like in India and Pakistan,religion is the best hope for politicians to enlist general support for their policy.It became evident in British India at the start of the new century,the 20th.Gandhi appears to haave realized that to involve the Hindu masses into his brand of agitation,he had to invoke the slogans of `Ram raaj` in India after the British quit or were made to quit.Nehru and Patel saw the magical effect it had on hindu masses which made the Congress a going concern.Quaid-e-Azam was the only honest politician who abhorred such exploitation of religion for political purposes.He could foresee that it would let loose the monster of religious animosity defeating the constitutional struggle for independence.The hindu leadership never thought much of the muslim under-dogs because they thought of them as being pliant and saleable,generally.Read history around the period covering the first world war.The final split came in 1937 elctions culminating in the Lahore Resolution of 1940 despite repeated warnings from Mr.Jinnah.

Nothing can change while a society treats about 400 millions people as non-human in India,and bigotry rules the roost in Pakistan.

The Soft Option It is comical to suggest that the regime owes an explanation to the people.The regime is not there because people brought it into power or they want it.It come with the barrel of the gun and stays as such.We may thank NS and the likes of him to have have precipitated a new disaster.Since the vast majority of masses is like dumb/illiterate,and the elite only belive in exploiting power for their constituencies,so anything can happen in Pakistan.Any regime will find acquiescence and political support from the succumb of political landscape.Even Yahya was tolerated till we lost east pakistan;even he was supported by Mian Tufail/JI for his ``Caliphate`.

So we have to wakeup before we start assuming in the style of free people that the regime owes us an explanation.Some spin-doctors enjoying the crumbs of army`tables and their surrogates like the born-again respectable chaudris of gujrat,sons of Zia etc would soon start paying public homage to army in the hope of getting some power to ride rough-shod against their local enemies.A familiar story,quite predictable.It is good that CE has not picked up a badname for making money.

The Soft Option Politicians can manipulate easily people who are illiterate,bigoted,divorced from realities/reason.Such people are then fearful of armies because they can`t organise.This is well borne-out by the political landscapes in India and Pakistan.

Free people can also be fooled but they assert their right of the accountability of people inpower.In Pakistan,you can seize power with the help of the army.You have to leave if the same master feels unhappy.This is a simple translation of Retd Gen.Beg`statement.Indian are better off.They had the power to retire Field Marshal Manekshaw after he broke up Pakistan making the `tiger Niazi`surrender to Gen Aurora.Could/can anybody dream of such a thing happening in the `land of pure`?we get so carried away by national obsessions that there is no room/capacity for deliberation.So we are paying the price-Terribly Down and Under-if not out.May God help Pakistan.

Milestones Good attempt at philosophic analysis.

We can`t blame the `infernal`market for the perceived wrongs.It is the market which has produced the sea-change in human life over the last 50 years otherwise the world would have remained mired in poverty of body/soul,bigotry par excellence,fight against the change/laws of nature examplified by the current south asia,some bright spots notwithstanding.

Do not blame the media.As the leading compeer of Fox tv O`Reilly put it,``the tv also need to make their buck``.That is where the buck stops!

Desi Fate Neither all Afghans are top of the tops nor all south asians are`bhangees``.such mad assumptions help nobody.As our part of the world is dominated by illiteracy,poverty,bigotry,etc we can not earn their respect generally.I am asked by many Americans ``what are the Afghans fighting about now``?They seem to have killed more people/destroyed more homes than did the russies.This is simply barbaric.we must wake up.Time/tide wait for nobody.we will soon end up in the dustbin of history as failures.

A Long Night’s Odyssey If Pakistan is a `gutter``,India is no less.It is a hell made by the Brahamans of northern India for the lower castes which the latter accept as`karma`.I am confident that no pakistani,however fedup and outraged with the situation in Pakistan,would ever opt to seek refuge in the bigger gutter.Here we a miserable people being wronged by civilians and army alternately.There we will be treated as pest.The muslims in India are now slightly better-off because the high-caste hindus need their votes to run their pantomime of democracy.One has to acknowledge that the hindus,despite their bigotry evidenced by the expliots of randeer sena etc have done better than us in running a democrcy.But they can be aweful against real weak people-look at the hounding done to christians by thugs of BJP`sidekicks under psychopaths like Bal Thakre.

So we Pakistanis have to put our house in order.we are a disaster ourselves surrounded by disasters on all sides.Remember the subuhman talibaan to the west,with Iranian mullas next-door.If the army was not scared of the religious groups we could have improved the situation at home.However,despite all the pious talk,prosecutions/persecutions,nepotism/cronyism is flourishing.To make money,you must have an army connection though we still have a sizeable no of people who are quite honest.When faujis feel insecure due to a bad conscience or otherwise they plant their own people in civil jobs.This what is happening now.Howevr when the crunch comes,such people will be first to ditch because lack of principle begets lack of princile.

Today merit is being murdered in favour of buddies,but when things change,so would the buddies.Abu Jehl seems to have lot of influence on Pakistanis hence this state of affairs.Where are the political leaders?They seem to be more afraid of the army tnan the fedup,impoverished,disgraced,average Pakistani!

A Long Night’s Odyssey I appreciate the level of the debate.You,however,do not seem to know what the army did to east Pakistan under Tikka and the `tiger Niazi`.While the former butchered them in the style of Russian forces let loose on Chechnya,the latter pusuing the same policy also wanted to change their `nasl`/ `nature`.The result was rapes/carnage of the order Berlin saw when Russian troops entered it during the 11 world war.

In west Pakistan they only want power,thanks to the ignominious behaviour of NS while the one before him is also not above reproach.In east Pakistan the `tiger`wanted power as well as their women.Ours is a strange country where the tiger is tolerated even after the most disgraceful surrender in history.He also claims to be honest,disparaging other generals who are dishonest.How will he face God with such terrible baggage of murders/rapes under his command in east pakistan?I know a Japanese family whose great grandfather was one of the generals who signed the documents of surrender.The gentleman committed suicide and the peolpe whom they knew well would spit on them so they left Japan and settled in US.I am told that there was a `chiragaan` when the tiger landed back in his own village and the``ghairatmund`` niazis celebrated his personal/national disgrace and he was given an office by a religious party.

There is no hope till we become educated,honest and dedicated to the pursuit of a national sense of honour as well personal in the style of free people.In the absence of the same,we will exist(hopefully) as people who can be brutalised by the army/civil govts alike duly supported by the judiciary which truly represents the Pakistani ethos further sinking our self-esteem(or whatever is left of it) to unimaginable lows.And the likes of `tiger` shall rule the roost!God Help Us!

A Long Night’s Odyssey Today` Pakistan seems to represent the embodiment of `The Hollow Men`and `The Wasteland`of TSEliot.

Causes:-

petty political leadersship after the death of Quaid.rule of feudal families,directly or indirectly;army interventions partly due to the failure of political elite and partly army`Bonapartism;mass

illiteracy among people,whose religion started with`Iqra` which shuts all avenues for further betterment,personal and social,generally;

the exploitation of religion for political purposes by mullahs as well as aspirants/holderss of power facilitated by the overwhelming illiteracy,ignorance which promotes heroworship,cynicism,servility,lack of civic organisation.

as power corrupts,institutions like bureaucracy(both civil and army),judiciary,the political executive(including hypocrites like Zia),became corrupt with very few honourable exceptions.look what the army under `Tiger`Niazi/Tikka did in east pakistan and as enslaved people we went along!

Remedy:-Education,Research,Freedom of association alongwith the famous 4 freedoms denied to the people of the so-called Islamic Republic and people are foolish enough not to demand the same,perhaps afraid of army and disgusted with petty rulers like NS and BB of the Civilian brand!

Beware of Ariel Morons and Protect Your Children! Whatever Udayakumar may be,he is,at least,subtle.This Saxena seems to be a pompous brat with rather petty notions of history and humanity.Gandhi may have been a good man but he was disgraced by Nehru/Patel.Nehru had the attitude of a megalomaniac,being a rich pandit with the pretensions of being the `last british gentleman to govern`the bloody indians,as he confessed to Stanley Walport while Patel was just a lackey.The former was dying to get power as he considered it his birth-right,being a high-caste hindu.So he could tolerate no democratic challange

from a straight-forward /constitutional person like Mr.Jinnah.While Jinnah was hailed as `ambassador of hindu-muslim unity`,Nehru/Gandhi injected the Ramraj to fool the hindu public immediately after the first world war.The Quaid-e-Azam protested to make the congress see reason but hindus under Nehru had a different game plan so even 14 points were an anathema for them.Hence the movement for Pakistan

but in the endgame,the muslims were cheated by Nehru/Mountbetton clique which accounts for the sufferings of the newly-independent Pakistan!

Make no mistake!The hindus made Pakistan possible because of their meanness towards muslims.Individuals die,the ideas do not perish.The flame of independence lit by Jinnah shall live on for 2 reasons.The muslims have tasted freedom and the opportunities it offers despite all the bunglings we may have experinced.Secondly,because of the meanness/parsimony of high-caste hindus of northren India as people belonging to the south are decent/polite.What the Northren hindus are doing in Kashmir would promote irredentist tendencies even within India.I know certain good hindus and I feel sorry for them.

Beware of Ariel Morons and Protect Your Children! Ariel Sharon is there because the Palestinians are a weak/helpless people whom nobody wants to help practically.If they had the means,they would have blown to pieces Sharon after he personally supervised the disgraceful carnage at sabra/shatilla.Look at the miserable arab dominos only offering verbal sympathy and at times some cash but too scared of US/Israel to arm the palestinians.The rest of the free world is also watching helplessly as a new international law is unfolding whereby helicopter gunships/tanks are allowed to be used against civilians if it pleases the US.So the the right-wing land-grabbing thugs of Israel and their nazi-like army is freely indulging in genocide of palestinians so that they can usurp their lands permanently aided and abetted by the only superpower.

The children will keep on dying till the day the palestiniams can kill about 200 Israeli soldiers in 2/3 days.I bet then there will be peace/co-existence.As yet it is an unequal fight between mortal/helples palestinians and audacious,mighty and immortal Israli army which has become a nazi-like war-machine because of the lack of fight from arab neighbours and continuous doles of money/equipment/strategic support from US.