(After writing this I am planning to attend an anger management session, I promise.)
Time and time again I am reminded that I am biased, dishonest and to an extent an extremist. I tend to disagree, because it comes from my so called pseudo liberal friends. I’m judgmental, presumptuous and stupid but not more then them.
Why does the veil of a Muslim women bother people more then Ashwariya’ choice of marrying a tree? The only thing about Pakistani women that catches everybody’s eyes is the bloody burqa. There is not much to bitch about Pakistan because my friends don’t know much of the pure land at least not more then me. Burqa is seen as oppression-ism, not a choice.. How is it that woman in Pakistan have less freedom to choose then in India or US? Let me refresh and repeal the veil from your brain. Benazir Bhutoo was a FEMALE prime minister of Pakistan, yes! Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan’s ratio of women minister and parliamentarians is almost equal to India and US. India had a female prime minister once, US not quite there yet, Benzair was elected twice who knows third time maybe coming and watch out for Fatima Bhutto in near future.
Be it Pakistan, US or India there are conservatives, liberals and hypocrites, just like any other place in the world. They are big critics of mullahs so am I, but I wonder how come they leave out the Shiva Shinas and the Pat Robertson’s in our debates. Our society is no less liberal or more conservative then India. To what extent do they want to see Pakistan as a liberal state, when women start parading in bikinis on the streets and the phattans start jerking off at them? Is this the kind of Pakistan you want to see? Female literacy rate is increasing in Pakistan, these women make choice to wear a burka or not. Burqa is cultural; Islam plays a role in our culture. If people are religious and want to follow their faith which tells them to wear a burqa then why is that unbearable to your eyes? Do women loose their credentials when they were a burqa?
In a debate the most important thing is knowledge. Please analyze propaganda and brush of your shoulders then we shall debate. You don’t have to throw the dirt at ISLAM to get acceptance of the west because the west is busy doing so. I wonder what west was talking about before 9/11. If Islam is hindering progressiveness then what is up with the countries were there is no ISLAM why are they not progressing? Burqa has never hindered the process of progressiveness and bikini has not made countries more progressive. I can’t defend Pakistan or Islam or else I am biased but how can I stop myself from enlightening you when I know about both. Shouldn’t we stop throwing stones at each other when both of us live in glass houses?
Here is Ahmed Faraz’s message to the Indians.
To Indian Friends
Many seasons have passed , many climes changed
You too are sad, friends, as we also are
You, alone , are not saddened by your rags
The truth is that we are in tatters , too!
Your house lights are not quite radiant
The stars of my skies are also palsied pale
Your glass bars are rusty
While my goblets are dusty !
Neither can you view your own contours
Nor can I see what is in my glass
Our minds are so clogged with cobwebs
That we just don’t understand what’s gone wrong
You are stubbornly persistent in violence
We pride in our habitual endurance of repression
You are proud of fighting the Mahabharata
We take pride in being used to Karbala !
The cypress has no pride of stately height
Nor has the thorn - bird’s lament lessened a bit
The gardens of love could blossom nowhere
No olive branch of peace could any dove fly.
The tragedy is that the breeze of bitterness
And stink of conflict
Comes from the gardens on either side
The irony is that both sides suspect
Spring has come only after bathing in the enemy’s blood!
Such is the situation of such brutality that now
Neither are your feet intact nor my hands
Victory is not yours
Nor defeat is mine
No one stands by you
Nor have I anyone with me!
The helpless, voiceless people of our towns
Are buried in thousands of mounds of sorrow
Nor their bleak - fatedness seeks the glow of lamps
People who for half a century
Have lived in dense darkness !
Such lamps as spread the light of love
Lamps which enlighten the heart’s sanctuaries
Lamps that grant the glow of peace
Lamps which in turn light countless more lamps!
Friends ! I ‘ve come to your country this time
Neither for musical company nor poetry
If it is a question of your ego
I extend my hand in friendship , first !
