We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! #23 Posted by jang on September 24, 2008 8:25:00 am
{"salim yar, what has changed? has army stopped being in the service of islam? they have really become unpopular somehow."}

Jang,
The report card just came in and it doesn't look good!
Don't worry, this one's not your fault. :)

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! thinkingstorm #21 {"However, given the two evils, Musharraf was the lesser evil compared to the inept aholes we called politicians.
Anywho...we gotta start somewhere...
with much respect,
thinking storm"}

TS Pi,
Yes, in 1999, Mushy seemed to be the lesser evil. But just like fish, benign dictators start getting smelly and undesired very rapidly. Mushy was on stage for too long and the flowers and applause were bound to transform into tomatoes and jeers.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! #20 Posted by thinkingstorm on September 24, 2008 7:50:32 am
{"Salim pi,
an insightful article. Indeed the army is the root of a lot of our misery.
the chowkidar is indeed looting the house
with much respect,
thinking storm"}

TS Pi,
Thank you for your kind feedback. Some would call it "inciteful." LOL
I think that we should be our own chowkidars - a national service army is what we need.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! #19 Posted by chaltahai on September 24, 2008 7:28:35 am
{"Nice article....still a lot of blame displacement. There are four pillars of pakistan..tHe feudals, the army the mullahs and the abduls...at any given time the first three have sex with one or the other but the abduls get FK'd...it is just not the army."}

Chaltahai,
Thank you for reading and commenting. Just like any other country, Pakistan has its pillars - and, as usual, the average Joe gets holding the bag, whether it's Wall Street or Ataturk Avenue or Jinnah Ave. I agree that it's not just the army, but when it has reigned for 34 of Pakistan's 61 years, it must get the lion's share of the blame.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Banneditem # 18 {"Salim,
Nice article, but you left my favorite actors in the pakistani crisis, namely the mullah and how mullahs have been used both by civilians and military establishments for thier personal/political gains."}

Dear Banneditem or Verji,
You are right about the oversight. But, did you honestly think that I would risk a bum wake up call the next time I check into a Marriott? The Pak Army is a much softer target for my venom at the misfortunes facing Pakistan.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! #17 Posted by hamza_yusufzai on September 24, 2008 6:46:16 am
{" nicely done Salim "}

Hamza,
Shukriya - aap ki inaayat he.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! #16 Posted by quin on September 24, 2008 6:41:35 am
{"Re: # 3 ZK sahiba,
Yes, Responsibility lies with us but 'us' of the article is Pak Military, not us as you and me. However your commendation of Salim’s analysis can be construed as your agreement with the analysis that the onus for many of the ills of the country and possible solutions as well lies squarely on Military. In past, however, you have supported Musharraf ardently. How do you reconcile your two positions? "}

Quin,
ZK Sahiba was providing some very kind and encouraging comments about my effort to discuss the most serious aspect of Pakistani misfortunes. I am sure that, like most Pakistanis including myself, ZK Sahiba was supportive of Mushy when he displaced the incompetent, inept, and inconsiderate Nawaz Sharif. That is the shame of the matter - we don't know how to run our own country and beg the military to come and do it for us.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Quin #15 {"But when you say that responsibility is on us, where do you place the responsibility – on the Military or on the masses?
If it is later, then consider an individual like you or me, and tell me in specific terms how we are responsible for this deplorable state of affairs? Tell me what an abdul or ahmed or bano should do? Who should be hanged, if any?
...Having said that the central point of the article (military's criticism - not that the responsibility lies with us - as inferred by ZK) is most commendable."}

Quin Sahib,
The immediate responsibility, as you stated, lies with the military brass. The ultimate responsibility lies with the people of Pakistan. We fund, support, arm, serve in the Pak army. We have friends, relatives, associates, and neighbors in that institution. We give them the lion's share of our budget. We even beg the military to take over when the other we (politicians, public, bureaucrats, businessmen, mullahs) don't know how to get along with each other or what to do for the country ourselves. So, it has to be a comprehensive solution with multiple action items for all concerned.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! #14 Posted by _arjun25 on September 24, 2008 6:17:45 am
{"Salim,
I knew there were people of reason and intellect in Pakistan. For once it made me proud to be from South Asia. I will lay down my weapons for people like you.
God Bless Pakistan and Paisanos like you. "}

Dear Arjun,
Did you know that #25 is a vast improvement over #24? Thank you for your honest and kind declaration.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Kulharee #12 {"Salim, good honest write-up. However, you missed the single common strand that runs thru all stupid groups. It’s the WMD, aka Wahabi Money Donations, since the 79 Iranian Revolution. Pakistan used to be a peaceful country even with the history of our wars with India. It was not until Zia bastard sold our nations to dogs, the house of Saud."}

Kulharee Sain,
Please don't get me started on the Soodis. I agree that most of our misery today can be traced to Zia and his lust for petrodollars, for which he sold our faith, our culture, and our future - all we have left to show for it is "ALLAH" Hafiz.

Khuda Hafiz, my friend. :)

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Hamidumdum2 #10 {"arjun mian,
.... sometimes indians remind me of serbians .... "}

Hamdidumdum Sahib,
LOL! Is that Serbian as in Chetnick or Serbian as in Radovan disguised as an Ayuvedic Vaidji? :)

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! _arjun24 #9 {"here's a clue...India will NEVER give up Kashmir...and given that your obsession with kashmir is what made the paki army supreme in the land of the pure, you're in a pickle...

pakiwhackers on one hand....paki army/jihadis on the other... "}

Arjun,
I don't know if this is the real Arjun, my friend or a reasonable facsimile, but it's public knowledge that I have a hard time trusting nics with numerics suffixed to their posteriors. I certainly can't take seriously someone whose name starts with an underscore - what should I call you for short, Undy?

Whether Kashmir goes one way or the other or nowhere is up to the Kashmiris and not anybody else. Power to the people!

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Hamidumdum #8 {"for some reason i thought you were an admirer of the turkish model ... no? "}"}

Hamidumdum Sahib,
Sorry I forgot to answer your lost question. Yes, I am an ardent admirer of the turkish girl - but my wife, although very beautiful and tall, was never a model, I assure you.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Hamidumdum Sahib #8 {"salim mian,
.... who will reform the army and how? ..... should we just disband it? .... if we disband it, how will we liberate kashmir? ........ more importantly, who will make the breakfast cereal and fongas? ...... for some reason i thought you were an admirer of the turkish model ... no? "}

Hamidumdum Sahib,
The people of Pakistan, through their elected government, will need to reform the army and quickly.
No need to disband the army. It needs to be restructured on a national service model - consisting of young men and women serving out a mandatory one or two year national service - military, social, educational, medical, and environmental. No need to retrain the existing professional military - most of them are astute businessman already. LOL

Economic advancement, opportunity to improve one's life, advanced standards of living and health AND NOT military might will liberate Kashmir. Who knows, even East Punjab may want to join such a Pakistan ... then maybe Rajasthan, UP, or even Gujarat. Stop me before I undo partition. LOL

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Sajjad_Zaidi #7 {"you are quite sensible in your thoughts that we are the enimy of our selves and just dont need any other intruder or external threat,just ask the then (now almost all deceased) policy makers of early childish pakistan that, why they surcumcised an sate as an idealogical state,so as all the things related to this menace,like muslim army and muslim bomb etc........ "}

Zaidi Sahib,
My views regarding the unfortunate partition of 1947 are well known on Chowk. Of course, I get it from both Pakistanis and Indians when I openly express those sentiments. When we talk of Muslim army, Muslim bomb, Muslim state, and Muslim mullahs we do great injustice to anything genuinely Muslim.

We Have Met the Enemy and the Enemy is Us! Tahir #6 {"Chauhan sahib,
Hmm...I too use the CHOWKIDAR analogy to explain to the simple-minded how the Khaki-clad gate-keeper is sitting in my drawing-room now, while I'm helpless in his servant-quarter! All this 'shararat' at the behest of the trans-Atlantic 'badmuash'?"}

Tahir Sahib,
Your analogy is quite apropos. The important priority should be Pakistanis and Pakistan - not the army, government, alliance, or some Saudi interpretation of how we should follow our own religion.