Xeric
RETIRED THINK TANK
- Joined
- Mar 31, 2008
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Abracadabra!
We must make efforts to ensure that the impressionable minds of our soldiers are not tainted by visions of heaven that we saw lately in our press.
By Kamran Shafi
Tuesday, 15 Dec, 2009
And quite suddenly not only is there a Quetta shura, large as life itself, it has also been significantly damaged by Pakistans security forces!
Now, all of this must have happened in one day flat, for everyone and Charlies Aunt were going blue in the face till three days ago, and for months now, telling us there was no such thing: that it was a figment of the Americans imagination and of those the Ghairat Lobby calls traitors and friends of the Hindu/Christian/Jewish lobby.
That it was one more brick in the Americans case for taking out our bombs through Blackwater. Since when, please, has yours truly been yelling and screaming that we should hear the cries of good people like Mir Hasil Bizenjo, a sitting senator and son of that good man of fond memory, Mir Ghous Bux Bizenjo; Sardar Akhtar Mengal, a former chief minister of Balochistan, and son of Sardar Ataullah Mengal; Habib Jalib Baloch, and other Baloch leaders when they say that there is a Quetta shura of the Afghan Taliban operational in Quetta itself, and up to no good?
All I, for one, got for my pains were rude and threatening emails from the Ghairat (honour) Lobby and its paid handmaidens.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot with an elephant gun every third day, can anyone please tell me? What is it with us, for Gods sake, that makes us portray ourselves as so many jokers and clowns before the rest of the world?
Why do we repeatedly make a spectacle of ourselves so that the world laughs at us, as it would at a country unsure of itself and with no faith in its own (good, mark you) people; a country which would much rather hide behind too-clever-by-half statements, and behind what is known in Punjabi slang as barraks, in English empty, loud threats (as in Punjabi movies: Haa Thaadi) to no one in particular?
Our country is in very deep trouble, my friends, very serious trouble indeed.
We are fishing in greatly troubled waters please believe me; deep and very dangerous waters, when we turn away from the world and try to make believe that we are Gods gift to mankind and that wisdom resides in us alone. We must learn to face the facts and to accept our failings and shortcomings; we must join the world wholeheartedly in fighting terror; and we must not hold back in trying to put a complete end to the yahoos who are bent upon taking over the state itself, make no mistake.
I had mentioned last week that I was in Kabul for three days attending an AfghanPakistanIndia trialogue on Finding Common Grounds for Peace conducted so admirably by Dr Radha Kumar trustee of the Delhi Policy Group, and director of the Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi.
We talked of the various ways in which the three countries could jointly take steps that could help in combating terrorism in the region. The conference was generally of the view that terror in one country could easily, over time, destabilise the whole region; and that the people of Afghanistan in particular had to be left well enough alone by Pakistan and India to make some sense of their country on their own.
There was also discussion on how democracy had helped Pakistan tone down its stance vis-à-vis India, and I made the observation that despite the fact that a democratic Pakistan was always the better choice for India to do business with, the Indian government was not reciprocating the messages of amity sent by President Zardari.
I reminded the conference that even in the past, it was a democratic leader, Mr Nawaz Sharif, who had initiated peace talks with India, which brought Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee to Lahore where the two leaders signed an historic declaration. You can imagine my chagrin when a former minister and a very smart man indeed, who too was attending the conference, said India thought it was more fruitful talking to military dictators because they could get things done. I ask you!
Let me hasten to add that Prof Kumar immediately intervened and said she did not agree with the gentleman at all. As a matter of fact, neither did the others. Next week more on Kabul: particularly its broken roads, overflowing sewers, and general mayhem. Poor, poor Kabul of such fond (and long!) memory.
Last week I had asked for complete transparency in the investigation of the Parade Lane mosque atrocity in which so many innocents, even many children, lost their precious lives.
Nothing is forthcoming from the army, two weeks down the line. It is important that the people of the country be told in plain words just who the attackers were. Were they yahoos from Fata aided and abetted from within? Was it an inside job in its entirety? Is there any proof of a foreign hand, and if so what is it?
Just the other day I met some old comrades from the army and three out of the four of us agreed that it very much seemed to be an inside job, if only for the reason that at least three army barriers had to be breached by the attackers to get to the secure Parade Lane. Unless of course, they came from units near the site of the attack.
It is important that we get answers to the questions because, then, certain other questions will present themselves, e.g., is an eye being kept on what is being said by the unit maulvi in khutbas (sermons) in unit mosques?
We must remember that soldiers are young and impressionable; we must see if every effort is being made to ensure that their young minds are not being tainted by those same visions of heaven that we saw lately in our press: rolling, green hills with rivers of milk flowing through them, a houri (her face blanked out, of course) standing by the bank of one.
We must make efforts to ensure that the impressionable minds of our soldiers are not tainted by visions of heaven that we saw lately in our press.
By Kamran Shafi
Tuesday, 15 Dec, 2009
And quite suddenly not only is there a Quetta shura, large as life itself, it has also been significantly damaged by Pakistans security forces!
Now, all of this must have happened in one day flat, for everyone and Charlies Aunt were going blue in the face till three days ago, and for months now, telling us there was no such thing: that it was a figment of the Americans imagination and of those the Ghairat Lobby calls traitors and friends of the Hindu/Christian/Jewish lobby.
That it was one more brick in the Americans case for taking out our bombs through Blackwater. Since when, please, has yours truly been yelling and screaming that we should hear the cries of good people like Mir Hasil Bizenjo, a sitting senator and son of that good man of fond memory, Mir Ghous Bux Bizenjo; Sardar Akhtar Mengal, a former chief minister of Balochistan, and son of Sardar Ataullah Mengal; Habib Jalib Baloch, and other Baloch leaders when they say that there is a Quetta shura of the Afghan Taliban operational in Quetta itself, and up to no good?
All I, for one, got for my pains were rude and threatening emails from the Ghairat (honour) Lobby and its paid handmaidens.
Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we repeatedly shoot ourselves in the foot with an elephant gun every third day, can anyone please tell me? What is it with us, for Gods sake, that makes us portray ourselves as so many jokers and clowns before the rest of the world?
Why do we repeatedly make a spectacle of ourselves so that the world laughs at us, as it would at a country unsure of itself and with no faith in its own (good, mark you) people; a country which would much rather hide behind too-clever-by-half statements, and behind what is known in Punjabi slang as barraks, in English empty, loud threats (as in Punjabi movies: Haa Thaadi) to no one in particular?
Our country is in very deep trouble, my friends, very serious trouble indeed.
We are fishing in greatly troubled waters please believe me; deep and very dangerous waters, when we turn away from the world and try to make believe that we are Gods gift to mankind and that wisdom resides in us alone. We must learn to face the facts and to accept our failings and shortcomings; we must join the world wholeheartedly in fighting terror; and we must not hold back in trying to put a complete end to the yahoos who are bent upon taking over the state itself, make no mistake.
I had mentioned last week that I was in Kabul for three days attending an AfghanPakistanIndia trialogue on Finding Common Grounds for Peace conducted so admirably by Dr Radha Kumar trustee of the Delhi Policy Group, and director of the Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi.
We talked of the various ways in which the three countries could jointly take steps that could help in combating terrorism in the region. The conference was generally of the view that terror in one country could easily, over time, destabilise the whole region; and that the people of Afghanistan in particular had to be left well enough alone by Pakistan and India to make some sense of their country on their own.
There was also discussion on how democracy had helped Pakistan tone down its stance vis-à-vis India, and I made the observation that despite the fact that a democratic Pakistan was always the better choice for India to do business with, the Indian government was not reciprocating the messages of amity sent by President Zardari.
I reminded the conference that even in the past, it was a democratic leader, Mr Nawaz Sharif, who had initiated peace talks with India, which brought Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee to Lahore where the two leaders signed an historic declaration. You can imagine my chagrin when a former minister and a very smart man indeed, who too was attending the conference, said India thought it was more fruitful talking to military dictators because they could get things done. I ask you!
Let me hasten to add that Prof Kumar immediately intervened and said she did not agree with the gentleman at all. As a matter of fact, neither did the others. Next week more on Kabul: particularly its broken roads, overflowing sewers, and general mayhem. Poor, poor Kabul of such fond (and long!) memory.
Last week I had asked for complete transparency in the investigation of the Parade Lane mosque atrocity in which so many innocents, even many children, lost their precious lives.
Nothing is forthcoming from the army, two weeks down the line. It is important that the people of the country be told in plain words just who the attackers were. Were they yahoos from Fata aided and abetted from within? Was it an inside job in its entirety? Is there any proof of a foreign hand, and if so what is it?
Just the other day I met some old comrades from the army and three out of the four of us agreed that it very much seemed to be an inside job, if only for the reason that at least three army barriers had to be breached by the attackers to get to the secure Parade Lane. Unless of course, they came from units near the site of the attack.
It is important that we get answers to the questions because, then, certain other questions will present themselves, e.g., is an eye being kept on what is being said by the unit maulvi in khutbas (sermons) in unit mosques?
We must remember that soldiers are young and impressionable; we must see if every effort is being made to ensure that their young minds are not being tainted by those same visions of heaven that we saw lately in our press: rolling, green hills with rivers of milk flowing through them, a houri (her face blanked out, of course) standing by the bank of one.
