What jana was saying is not a fantasy that lives in ga ga land!!
What you people in India hear are news reports that make us look bad.
There are black sheep everywhere, what she is saying is the real life ground based experience, the 1st hand account. And, more importantly, the majority experience.
I have many friends, both Shia and Sunni, we never have had any bitter experiences. WHY?
Because there are certain flash points, notorious for such hatred, which are actually based more on tribal and regional disputes than actual caste hatred. Though if there is any true caste based violence it is mainly in the rural Punjab.
Elsewhere, like Hangu etc. you can not claim it to be a caste based hatred, the tribes there of various backgrounds duel it out from time to time. Such feuds do use sect based hatred but that is used by perpetrators on either side for rallying to their cause. Something which is transient and evanescent, starting after a tribal clash starts out and not before it.
Before rejecting out rightly, someone's 1st hand account, when you yourself have never been there, except from the comfort of your sofa and TV, as many Indians here always do, in the name of Nation and etc. etc. please take some time to perceive beyond such veils of self interests.
Without such efforts, peace and unity is a
GRANDIOSE MYTH.
Hi buddy!
I recognise what i am doing only too well, but thanks for pointing it out.
Perceptive as you are, I'm sure you also recognise that your jumping to your nation and compatriot's defense works both ways buddy.
Every thread on this forum has the same components from both sides.
We claim the same with regards to absurd half-baked jingoistic self-serving generalizations on our country, our people, our form of government, our democarcy, our secularism, our minorities, etc. by people from your side.
And yes, in the absence of actually visiting each other, and living there for some time and getting to know the people and dynamics, we will have to post based on what we hear or see via the media.
I see shias being killed regularly in pakistan by the sunni majority ..... and I wonder about claims of Islamic brotherhood I hear here from pakistanis ...... for OUR Muslims ..... and the irony cannot escape me when I see how you treat YOUR OWN.
Then I read jana's beautiful sentimental prose ..... and the irony deepens.
Before that I read brilliant strategic prose on helping "brother muslims" in Palestine through a World Muslim Council media blitz.
Then I read about Wahabism.
Then I come to know about the Muhajirs.
Then I read about Ahmadi "Muslims"
Then I dig up more on Balochistan ..... and various other "istans" all over Pakistan.
Then daily here my Muslim/Islam vocabulary increases with terms like shariq and tafkiri and itihad and what not ..... and then I hear about umma and ghazwatulhind wet-dreams.
Then I read about your Christians being burnt.
Then I read about your Hindus fleeing to India.
Then I see your countrywomen being spanked/flogged in public by bearded men.
Everyday I get to see/hear/read about some new bomb blast, suicide bomber, etc. in your country.
I see your government playing games and refusing to bring to justice your countrymen who have killed hundreds of mine .... brazenly.
I see your sovereign nationhood being propped up by a foreign nation's alms and arms.
I see foreign armies marching on your soil day in and day out on TV.
And I wonder and marvel at your countrymen (and women) giving us holier than thou platitudes about our "problems."
Hope you see where I am coming from.
If you know of a better alternative, feel free to jump in and help me out.
Cheers, Doc