In Pakistan, ‘liberal’ is a dirty word

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Im a liberal........

 

[Jango]

Main problem is ‘Hypocrisy’. Regret to advise that in my country of birth man on the street observes religious rituals but does not act on its principals. A poignant article published in the Daily News is note below. However people will ignore it because it has been written by a ‘Liberal’.

Agree with the article.

I think of it as following Haqooq-Allah but not Haqooq-ul-Ibad.

A pan munching real estate advisor will shut up shop for prayers, but in the very next hour, will do fraud with his clients, get some money for himself.

Similarly, the retailer will do it, charge exorbitant prices etc etc.

Religion or specifically Islam is not only about praying or fasting, it is much much more than that.

Im a liberal........

Wooohooo, so you wear shorts and occasionally go to half nude parties at DHA???D

 

[Awesome]

In more ways than was necessary Imran Khan has been labelled a conservative.

Granted his pro-Taxation policies (hes not for heavily taxing Pakistanis just to cut down on the tax evasion) are there but hes more or less pro-Freedom, equality.

He very famously is the only politician to have said "PTI will not interfere with the clothing of women in Pakistan" (when asked if he would prefer Islami dress code).

Why is he considered conservative? For all useless reasons - because he wears a shalwar kameez and does not drink? Who cares about what he drinks and who he screws, these are things not relevant to Pakistan. Its his policies you have to watch out for, good, clean, honest and yet liberal.

If you start considering Imran Khan as liberal - Liberal would be the nicest word in Pakistan.

As the writer explains both sides don't really even know - its as idiotic as how liberally (excuse the pun) Indians use Secular for every little inter-faith act.

 

[Jango]

In more ways than was necessary Imran Khan has been labelled a conservative.

Granted his pro-Taxation policies (hes not for heavily taxing Pakistanis just to cut down on the tax evasion) are there but hes more or less pro-Freedom, equality.

He very famously is the only politician to have said "PTI will not interfere with the clothing of women in Pakistan" (when asked if he would prefer Islami dress code).

Why is he considered conservative? For all useless reasons - because he wears a shalwar kameez and does not drink? Who cares about what he drinks and who he screws, these are things not relevant to Pakistan. Its his policies you have to watch out for, good, clean, honest and yet liberal.

If you start considering Imran Khan as liberal - Liberal would be the nicest word in Pakistan.

As the writer explains both sides don't really even know - its as idiotic as how liberally (excuse the pun) Indians use Secular for every little inter-faith act.

Good post AA.

just last week, i had a little debate with somebody who was adamant that IK is a cocaine addict! How does it interfere with us if he takes cocaine, screws a blonde from Belgium, etc etc, if at the end of the day, his policies make a better country.

BTW, where does IK come in here?

 

[Matrixx]

Woman is an idiot and traitor. A western agent. Now all the liberals and Indians will jump on me and say that I am ignorant.




As if I care. I have been and seen the world enough to declare this woman as an attention seeking traitor.

Do you say the same thing for Arunditi Roy?

 

[Zarvan]

The writer is an author, most recently of Slum Child (2010). She has written for numerous publications including Dawn, The Friday Times and Chowk

Pakistanis have no dearth of curse words to fling at each other at the best of times, but one of the most vitriolic terms in vogue today is the word ‘liberal’. The word is used by itself and in various combinations — liberal fascist, pseudo-liberal — in order to shame and silence an opposing point of view in heated debates about anything from Pakistani society and religion, to the formation of Pakistan and its ideology, to the war on terror. Yet, most people who do so, have no basic understanding of what liberalism really is, and in fact, are confusing it with other concepts in a way that is both ignorant and embarrassing to observe.
First of all, Pakistanis think of a ‘liberal’ as one who drinks, uses drugs, enjoins promiscuity and wears inappropriate clothing. But this is actually a ‘libertine’ — ‘a dissolute person, usually a person who is morally unrestrained’. The most famous libertine in history was probably the Marquis de Sade and while I doubt that anyone in Pakistan could match his debauched lifestyle, anyone who “spurns or ignores accepted morals and forms of behaviour sanctified by larger society” (from Wikipedia) is called a ‘liberal’ incorrectly.
A ‘liberal’ is not the same as a ‘libertarian’, someone who adheres to the political philosophy that individual conscience and individual choice is the highest of all principles. They are individualist, distrust state power, and idealise free market capitalism. This movement believes that all services should be privatised and that taxation is a form of theft. Pakistanis, out of whom only two per cent pay tax, seem to have perfected this tenet of libertarianism to a fine art, but our sense of individual conscience and choice is woefully underdeveloped by contrast.
So what is a liberal and what is liberalism, really? The dictionary states that liberalism is “a political orientation that favours social progress by reform and by changing laws rather than revolution”. The worldview of liberals is guided by the principles of liberty and equality in society and liberals generally espouse the concepts of constitutionalism, democracy, free and fair elections, equality between men and women, races and religions, human rights, state protection of minorities and the free exercise of religion.
Liberalism, born in the Age of Enlightenment, has been a powerful force for change in the world; both the American and French Revolutions were inspired by liberal philosophy, monarchies and dictatorships have been overthrown and replaced by democracies, and liberalism has challenged the ideologies of both fascism and communism. More recently, liberalism as a political movement has fired the revolutions of the Arab Spring, but Pakistanis deny and fight the historical impact of liberalism on our own political and historical heritage, when in fact the liberal concept of protecting liberty and individual rights was a major factor in the creation of Pakistan.
Now, the phrase ‘liberal fascist’, as empty as it is oxymoronic, a term that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, as the principles of liberalism — equality, justice, liberty — are completely at odds with the concept of fascism, which is a form of extremely authoritarian, intolerant right wing governance that takes away the civil rights of its citizens and uses force and violence to compel them into obedience. Perhaps a ‘liberal fascist’ is someone who wants to force their liberal viewpoint on those who disagree with them, but the very essence of liberalism is that it cannot be forced on anyone.
The other phrase, ‘pseudo-liberal’, is slightly less nonsensical than ‘liberal fascist’. In its current usage, Pakistanis use this term to mean a ‘fake’ liberal — someone who claims to be a liberal but in fact believes in and supports a less tolerant political ideology. What they probably really mean is someone who practices what has been termed ‘illiberal liberalism’ or ‘selective liberalism’. This means that a person holds double standards in their liberal worldview; for example, someone will espouse the right of Palestinians to have their own separate state, yet does not support the Kashmiris in the same aspiration.
The lesson to learn from this examination of the word ‘liberal’ and its Pakistani permutations is that Pakistanis are discussing political concepts without knowing what they really mean and conflating them illogically with social, religious, and moral ones. Instead of being proud of Pakistan’s struggle to espouse liberal values, we’ve turned the word ‘liberal’ into something to be ashamed of, and for a country whose intelligentsia claims to be so politically engaged, this is a disappointing and damaging path to tread.

In Pakistan,

Because Liberalism they are trying to promote is in fact kufr and they are doing on by getting funded by USA but they will fail eventually because they are bound to fail only Islam will prevail and all other kufr based ideologies are bound to fail now these people either will have to follow Islam or face defeat and run away

 

[VCheng]

In more ways than was necessary Imran Khan has been labelled a conservative.

Granted his pro-Taxation policies (hes not for heavily taxing Pakistanis just to cut down on the tax evasion) are there but hes more or less pro-Freedom, equality.

He very famously is the only politician to have said "PTI will not interfere with the clothing of women in Pakistan" (when asked if he would prefer Islami dress code).

Why is he considered conservative? For all useless reasons - because he wears a shalwar kameez and does not drink? Who cares about what he drinks and who he screws, these are things not relevant to Pakistan. Its his policies you have to watch out for, good, clean, honest and yet liberal.

If you start considering Imran Khan as liberal - Liberal would be the nicest word in Pakistan.

As the writer explains both sides don't really even know - its as idiotic as how liberally (excuse the pun) Indians use Secular for every little inter-faith act.

It doesn't matter which label, liberal or conservative, is applied to the elites of Pakistan, most of them are in the same camp:


(Excerpt taken from: View from US: Why money stinks | DAWN.COM )

...............Aren’t we Pakistani elites similar? Aren’t we big hypocrites? We benefit greatly by the system that is not at all honest; socialise with family and friends who are raking it in and deal in dubious deals; don’t bat an eyelid cheating on our taxes; are the first to seek undue and undeserving favours from family and friends. All we do is wring our hands and blame Zardari government’s corruption, while presenting ourselves as gold standard flag bearers...................

 

[KRAIT]

In more ways than was necessary Imran Khan has been labelled a conservative.

Granted his pro-Taxation policies (hes not for heavily taxing Pakistanis just to cut down on the tax evasion) are there but hes more or less pro-Freedom, equality.

He very famously is the only politician to have said "PTI will not interfere with the clothing of women in Pakistan" (when asked if he would prefer Islami dress code).

Why is he considered conservative? For all useless reasons - because he wears a shalwar kameez and does not drink? Who cares about what he drinks and who he screws, these are things not relevant to Pakistan. Its his policies you have to watch out for, good, clean, honest and yet liberal.

If you start considering Imran Khan as liberal - Liberal would be the nicest word in Pakistan.

As the writer explains both sides don't really even know - its as idiotic as how liberally (excuse the pun) Indians use Secular for every little inter-faith act.

Your post reminds me of the an article explaining world's famous leaders and their personal lives, how different were they. In end they said, a patriot, never drink , all good stuffs...and that person comes out to be Hitler.

As long as a leader is improving the condition of his region, people should leave out his personal life.

Let him do his work as he also has right of privacy.

 

[Luffy 500]

These "liberals" in the muslim world are just a bunch of sell out slave mentality western slaves and thus its a dirty term when it comes to muslim countries. Allah(swt) already warned us in the Quran about this munafiqs who call themselves liberal.

 

[graphican]

Do you say the same thing for Arunditi Roy?

You have found your punching bag..call her scum yourself, we are busy calling ours :p

 

[Hasbara Buster]

I hate the word liberal, many of those who call themselves liberal want a world without religion and morality. They want people to become hedonistic and materialistic. They don't care about family values. They want people to become homosexual or atheist, or women to walk around naked. That's being civilized

 

[Wright]

I hate the word liberal, many of those who call themselves liberal want a world without religion and morality. They want people to become hedonistic and materialistic. They don't care about family values and so on. They want you to become homosexual or atheist

Did you check out the last pride parade in Istambul??

 

[Pakistanisage]

I think the Anti-Pakistan people have claimed this title of LIBERALS for themselves to hide their true agenda. Liberal is a euphemism they have picked for themselves. We don't call them liberals, it is they who call themselves liberals.

 

[Hasbara Buster]

Thanks to "liberal Turks" and radical feminists in my country, we now have young girls aged 12 or 13 who have babies they can't look after. Some even "throw" their babies away. Disgusting.

Our society is slowly falling apart......

Did you check out the last pride parade in Istambul??

Were you there?

 

[Areesh]

The liberals like Marvi Sarmad or Nadeem F Paracha are needed to become liberal as they claim. Till then they would be treated in the same manner as they are being treated now.