Personally to be truthful... I am looking for a publisher for my book since the one I am signed up with doesn't seem to strong-especially in the fiction field. So basically I want to give him an impressive record of my expertise. Think tank on a forum with millions of hits can help I guess.
Recently I jokingly told @
Hyperion he make a request to promote me jr think thank or give me an interview... I hoped I'd actually get an interview though... just to confirm some things about Waziristan for my book but he shut me up pretty quick. :p
But despite wanting to be a think tank I don't want it to be unfair. lol. There are many posters like you @
Hyperion and @
Andromache who have many more posts and are more of a regular presence rather than one that is unreliable and suddenly disappears for a while to come back again. (Talking about myself)...
I will make the suggestion for you to be promoted to think tank. Also for a new role for @
Armstrong-he is really good at relieving tension and ending heated arguments though he also specializes in derailing threads and spamming. No offense.
Every party has done the same... but Secur let me clarify why I specifically feel inclined to pick on the MQM. My family didn't just move across the border. It strongly identifies itself as Muhajir and are voters of the MQM, this support for them is all around me like a cacophony of maddening shrieks, i cannot escape it even by becoming a Pashtun. Basically ever since I got involved in politics I have been aware and been told that I am a Muhajir.
The changes you see are fairly recent. Now basically when someone is born in a community and sees its issues... he criticizes it right? I feel I have a right to criticize how we behaved and the formation of the MQM. This basically sets peoples hair on fire.
When I debate with MQM people I get called names like Pathan ki awlaad and other things. It was exact opposite with the Pashtuns (from Afghanistan and their backers) on that site but admin kicked me out.
Also I deeply thank you. Very few people come to accept what I have done, look at it positively without a trace of suspicion-especially since I feel loyal to the firangi mahal and ansari clan (our family) despite the change-how can i not be? Lucknow was the heartland of the muslim league and home of the lucknow pact. Bigots from both races have basically told me I don't belong in either.
Yes you are right. The issue is our heritage is unproven. Some relatives cite the anecdote of a Pashtun princess marrying one of our ancestors... but then how much of Pashtun blood do I have? Any way to gauge it? Another thing is it is unproven though I have believed this to be manifest truth for a while ... though talked about by some senior members in the khandaan, most, particularly MQM chauvinists deny it. Yes, thanks to a very good instructor I can understand Pashto but still when I speak people generally can tell I am not one of birth or learned the language... also make errors sometimes which pashto speakers may note. I know the vocabulary and most verbs but still have to learn how to apply them when its a he, she, it, I or you... lots of stuff. But my instructor is working on vocabulary which has greatly improved my ability to understand it.
Also you said the issue is not just an MQM issue... its a wider issue of race based politics. I wish to criticize this more openly... but the thing is (you would have noticed I don't criticize ANP heavily though I see it negatively) if I start criticizing Bacha Khan and ANP after I adopt Pashtun race its like I am joining and then I am telling Pashtuns what to do... only place I fight is when someone calls for the break up of my country or openly abuses other ethnic groups. I am especially concerned since the way people like Luffy and another member toramana react. They were racists but thing is they are right... they said I am a donkey trying to adopt lions skin but basically its very true.
Thing is I was nationalist long before anything else. I stop them when they abuse my country and reply back which they don't like at all. Still I try to avoid sharing my views on topics of sentimental value like ANP or Bacha Khan... but someone will talk about breaking my country i won't stop.
I agree... though I also believe those Afghan refugees should be given a chance to integrate by being given a chance to gain citizenship, particularly the affluent classes. That would piss off the keyboard warriors and Afghan-lover Pakistan bashers from the neighboring country-internet basically only comes in a few cities. 5% of the population has access only.) I guess I have a feeling for refugees regardless of their background and being callous towards them by calling Luffy or Sher Malang one.
As I said we moved late and Ayub closed the borders for some reason before all families had moved. Then there was some trouble in India with our relatives (distant) and people we knew in Hyderabad (our ancestral home is lucknow though but basically we were spread out)... some people lost family members there and stuff and we had lots of trouble trying to shift some relatives to Pakistan, my mother stayed in Lucknow and married from there, then became a Pakistani citizen. Guards at FIA office were abusive, insulted them and did everything to make them feel unwelcome. Why would they come to Pakistan and want to get citizenship if they loved India? But we don't have a brain in this regard. Look at the west. Importing professionals from Pakistan while manufacturing a brain drain in our land. We are turning educated people away instead. People may disagree b8 i support this still...
That played a part in my nationalism... I get affected by things and then go mad... have to take action.
You can read up my old posts if you find some. I became extremely active with the Sufferers Witness at that time around 2-3 years ago (charity group, does lots of work on woman's rights but lots on helping refugees as well.), was even sympathetic to the MQM though I wouldn't have been if I saw that horrid speech and studied more (didn't have the contacts as a journalist either). Recently Luffy provoked me and I basically insulted my family background, our relatives in Pakistan and "Muhajirs" a lot. @
Karachiite without knowing me made a post defending Altaf's speech. lol. But you see where I am coming from @
Secur? Any reference of going back and merging with india is like a slap on my face, especially coming from a pakistan-any reference that partition is wrong is a slap to the things i have seen in Sufferers witness and with friends and family that moved from hyderabad. The thing is like this is what people moving across the border suffered, about a million were killed. We moved to make Pakistan and build it, because we believed in Quaid's dream, we wanted Pakistan, ALL of it, not just an enclave for so called "muhajirs". Not to vote for terrorist politicians.
I blamed the Indians a lot... but whats their fault? Don't we (some fanatics) do the same thing to minorities in Pakistan? And what do we care anyway? People in our khandaan are basically defending the MQM and Altaf's speech despite knowing of the people killed in India. I feel we are deviating from the task at hand.
Those days of partition must have been so romantic... leaving everything, our houses, our lives, even half our family members with no guarantee of what the future holds... and now when we are here... what do we feel, what do we do for our country? Nothing except bash the original inhabitants? I feel sad and very angry... this shouldn't have happened Secur. We died like pigs in a slaughterhouse down there... we can't become like that, indifferent. No one quits his race unless absolutely frustrated with what he saw.
When i talk to MQM chauvinists people like @
Armstrong say nothing because if they interfere its basically like a non-muhajir speaking about the affairs of one... and then they have a little humility and anyone who talks about ethnic unity would support those guys... they understand the entire issue as well and how quickly things can become an ethnic firefight. But the thing is Secur... lets leave me... i am in many ways raceless, because both Pashtuns and Muhajirs will doubt my intentions the moment i speak about them and that also using the common we i do all the time.
But I guess the most important thing would be that you and @
GIANTsasquatch and others do not stop speaking against the tyranny of the MQM. People from the race know more and can help convince these people and bring them out of it. My parents actually have been away from Pakistan half their life... i was raised in Dubai too most of my life with many years spent in Toronto. Our knowledge basically comes from our larger family/relatives. They support MQM our family will too as they do now. But if knowledgeable people like you and others challenge them then perhaps there is a chance to beat these guys.
I totally agree with the inter-marriage solution which I fully support. We cannot let these parties destroy the intricate beautiful bond between us Pakistanis (the various ethnic groups)... I hope by revolution you mean PTI cauz i'm voting for him...
but am a little cautious after u know so many years of looting...
Yeah. I think this is one of the best things... Pakistanis today are keen to accept their mistakes and rectify them. Personally I would never even have thought 5-10 years ago to gain any support for this idea. I also held and still hold the perhaps irrational fear that the current violence may divide my country further into tiny squabbling groups.
Basically its hard to be an optimist for me though. You will hear my name in humanitarian groups like TCF, Yaseer trust, Edhi and Ilm o amal other than on the nationalist front. Being a Pakistani today isn't just hard outside your country but in it as well.
I agree. Btw I would also like to cast light on something else I could have and indeed have tried to do before. I used to be part of the Pakistan Nationalist Association which is part of a wider Nationalist movement. What we tried to do to end the ethnic issue once and for all was tell our members to basically say I am Pakistani whenever someone asked about their ethnic identity and we were told not to tell our kids our ethnic identity... something if done by 180 million people would have led to ethnicity disappearing completely. But you see the loopholes here were obvious:
1) Anyone can know your ethnicity by finding out the language you speak and the geographic location you inhibit especially if he has enough knowledge.
2) How is it possible? Is it possible to impose on people such an idea and basically shove it in their minds that they do this. my point here is what is going to ensure they won't tell their kids which race they belong to. In other ways, there is no way to IMPLEMENT it.
3) A small movement of 12000 members can only ensure that its laws apply of course to its members. What about the 180 million outside the movement. Luffy would go mad (though he appears to have changed or says so) and @
darkinsky would commit suicide when told to give up ethnic identity even though its abusive to them (as I said Muhajir is a very abusive term-it delectably means traveler, is our family one of nomads??? Its an insult to themselves and they didn't try to get rid of it?)
I guess I don't need to tell you that our policy was the failure of the century which we used to make fun off boisterously including the leader who introduced the idea... we took steps later on demanding members to learn a number of languages other than their own in order to futilely obfuscate our ethnic identity yet again. (Its all being added in my ethnic paper. Will share it on PDF but may time writing it with the book and research and all) But point 2) remained. We can't stop people from jumping a red signal how are we going to tell them not to tell their kids their ethnicity. Plus what makes us think that ethnicity itself is the problem rather than bigotry or ethnic superciliousness?
Frankly it hasn't worked and we need another solution. I thought it would be a good one to merge into another ethnic group. Pashtuns... i loved them of course but they were also seen by our khandaan as the worst enemies of muhajirs thanks to the MQM (which was another reason I grew attracted to them)... this was and is the best solution, I believe. It also creates a great feeling of goodwill. A Pashtun (forget the douches in the e-world) has shown me nothing but respect upon learning my background. They can tell-I pause when speaking Pashto, struggle with words and it takes time to register what they are saying-so no I am not perfect yet!)
Also don't worry if I am a little defensive about Pashtuns... I have seen a lot of bias here, even in Dubai where I lived a lot of time. I will always be Pakistani first second and last... then a person who loves Pashtuns and calls himself one.
Am very glad to meet you. You would notice that whenever someone starts insulting a party like MQM it quickly degenerates into a race war. Even when I criticize Muhajir behavior it happens sometimes since I easily pass for a Pashtun on this site and people don't know the background... then it quickly becomes a pillow fight. People defend their ethnicity and attack the other. It shows they are not disengaged from ethnicity as they are supposed to be. But I believe you are and this would make you a great think-tank. I easily get riled too and you are an easy going person.
You do. I will talk about it to Webbie or give a suggestion. Sorry for that huge reply bro... i noticed that i failed to reply to some of your posts which were of extremely high quality. So I felt i should reply.