Pakistan's Ideology and Identity crisis
- Thread starter Vinod2070
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Vinodji people like Hamid Gul, Zaid Hamid etc. are given patronage because they reinforce the belief that those attacking Pakistan are not Pakistanis nor true muslims. They are a feel good factor in these dark times.
Inhi pagal dimagon me ghani khushiyon ke lachchay hai, hamay pagal hi rehnay do ham pagal hi achchay hai.
Inhi pagal dimagon me ghani khushiyon ke lachchay hai, hamay pagal hi rehnay do ham pagal hi achchay hai.
It is sure surprising how these people get away after openly abusing the government of the day.
They surely have powerful backers! There is no way they can survive otherwise. Not in a place like Pakistan.
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Yes, who else other than PA. They have vested interests to show PA as the only saviour out of the current terrorism in Pakistan while they are the ones responsible for present situation. They have planted stories of conspiracy in the media to generate anger against US, India, Israel and deflect anger from Taliban because they would like to use them for their strategic depth when US/NATO vacates from Afghanistan.
You have to look carefully at the columnists, TV hosts, editors and certain media outlets who take line of army and always try to show Zardari as a stooge of Americans and thus generate anger against Zaradari/US. Zaid Hamid, Ahmed Quereshi, Shireen Mazari and countless others in Urdu media who does this job of spinning conspiracy theories and keep hitting the pakistani people with them. And one can clearly see the effect on the average pakistani in terms of who they see as their enemy. Most of them feel it is US the enemy not Taliban and their backers PA.
ppgj
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DAWN.COM | World | Embrace of civilizations
Embrace of civilizations
By Naveed Ashraf
Monday, 16 Nov, 2009
AFTER 9/11, many historians argued that we had entered an era of the clash of civilisations, that the events of 9/11 were symbolic of a larger conflict between Islam and the West, and they were not the acts of a few individuals who hated America and the West.
This type of thinking did away with the local and regional elements of various conflicts around the world, such as the Kashmir dispute and the Israel-Palestine conflict. An all-encompassing clash of civilisations fed right into the mindset of those who promulgated the Iraq war.
Current terrorist movements can be explained in terms of the regional conflicts as well as a larger phenomenon, something that is quite the opposite of ‘clash of civilisations.’ In this larger context, today’s terrorist movements can perhaps best be understood in terms of an embrace of western civilisation, particularly the American culture, by large segments of moderate Muslim populations.
Clearly regional conflicts would have to be resolved to undercut the extremists, but the long-term solution to the problem of religious extremism lies in the cultural context, especially in Pakistan’s case.
There is no doubt that the dominant civilisation of our era is the western civilisation, America being its most potent symbol. This is witnessed in many countries through the celebration of various western holidays. Halloween is celebrated in South Asia amongst many other regions; gifts are exchanged on Christmas in many non-Christian cultures; icons of American pop culture are household names throughout the Islamic world.
Western influence is not necessarily a bad thing as civilisations throughout history have borrowed from other cultures for their own benefit. For instance, medieval Europe borrowed heavily from the teachings of Muslim scientist/philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), referred to by many historians as the father of secular thought in Western Europe.
Thomas Aquinas, one of the leading philosophers of the time, cited Ibn Rushd more than 500 times in his works. Muslims around the world recount such facts with nostalgia, but the point is often missed — i.e. civilisations must be open to good ideas, without regard to their origin, for their own progress.
The embrace of western ideas does not sit well with large segments of Muslim populations around the world, and they have reacted to it over the centuries by entering an intellectual cocoon. The extreme manifestation of this opposition to western ideas is terrorism. It is in this light that the Taliban movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan should be seen.
Terrorist movements in essence stem from weakness and insecurity — recent events in Pakistan should be looked at with this in mind. Attacks by the Taliban on GHQ and a spate of bombings throughout the country must not be seen as a symbol of the Taliban’s strength but as acts of desperation; violent pleas for survival.
It would be easy for anyone living in Pakistan to be demoralised by the recent violence but that is exactly what the Taliban want. They need a demoralised nation and a divided military and civilian government to flourish. We must not fall into their trap and we must believe that the times are against the extremist forces. Through its offensive in South Waziristan, the government has taken a clear stand against the Taliban and deserves full credit.
The US must also gather its resolve in its efforts in Afghanistan. There is a debate going on in the US in which many are arguing for the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. While a debate of this kind is essential, the argument for a troop withdrawal is evidence of a perplexing case of amnesia.
In the 1980s the US pulled out of the region as soon as the Soviets left Afghanistan. This allowed for conditions in which Al Qaida took root and was able to plot attacks against the West including the attacks on 9/11. The long-awaited troop surge should take place in Afghanistan, as most recently advocated by Gen Stanley McChrystal.
One of the reasons being cited against the troop surge in Afghanistan is that the insurgents would cross into Pakistan, making Pakistan’s campaign in South Waziristan more difficult. But to prevent that, Nato should do all it can to secure the border with Pakistan. While Pakistan is fighting the Taliban in South Waziristan, Nato and the US should step up their campaign in Afghanistan so the enemy is pushed from both sides.
If the insurgents in Afghanistan are not combated with full force, the Taliban in Fata could find a refuge across the border in Afghanistan to regroup. President Obama should listen to his commander in Afghanistan and provide him with the necessary resources to fight the enemy.
Also the cross border movement cannot be controlled without formalising the disputed Durand Line as the accepted border between the two neighbours. As part of its long-term strategy Pakistan should establish a permanent military base in South Waziristan and take steps to incorporate Fata into the political and social mainstream.
The war against the Taliban, whether in Pakistan or Afghanistan, is likely to be a long drawn-out affair, with the enemy retaliating in the cities. South Waziristan would be the key to breaking the militants’ back, and a victory there would allow Pakistan to tackle terrorism in other parts of the country, including southern Punjab where the Taliban seem to be consolidating their foothold.
The current conflict in Pakistan would have to be won by force, maybe even overwhelming force, but to become a peaceful nation in the long run Pakistan would have to create an open society — open to ideas from other civilisations and open to the reconstruction of old ones. The challenge would not be to preserve our way of life but to change it.
Embrace of civilizations
By Naveed Ashraf
Monday, 16 Nov, 2009
AFTER 9/11, many historians argued that we had entered an era of the clash of civilisations, that the events of 9/11 were symbolic of a larger conflict between Islam and the West, and they were not the acts of a few individuals who hated America and the West.
This type of thinking did away with the local and regional elements of various conflicts around the world, such as the Kashmir dispute and the Israel-Palestine conflict. An all-encompassing clash of civilisations fed right into the mindset of those who promulgated the Iraq war.
Current terrorist movements can be explained in terms of the regional conflicts as well as a larger phenomenon, something that is quite the opposite of ‘clash of civilisations.’ In this larger context, today’s terrorist movements can perhaps best be understood in terms of an embrace of western civilisation, particularly the American culture, by large segments of moderate Muslim populations.
Clearly regional conflicts would have to be resolved to undercut the extremists, but the long-term solution to the problem of religious extremism lies in the cultural context, especially in Pakistan’s case.
There is no doubt that the dominant civilisation of our era is the western civilisation, America being its most potent symbol. This is witnessed in many countries through the celebration of various western holidays. Halloween is celebrated in South Asia amongst many other regions; gifts are exchanged on Christmas in many non-Christian cultures; icons of American pop culture are household names throughout the Islamic world.
Western influence is not necessarily a bad thing as civilisations throughout history have borrowed from other cultures for their own benefit. For instance, medieval Europe borrowed heavily from the teachings of Muslim scientist/philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes), referred to by many historians as the father of secular thought in Western Europe.
Thomas Aquinas, one of the leading philosophers of the time, cited Ibn Rushd more than 500 times in his works. Muslims around the world recount such facts with nostalgia, but the point is often missed — i.e. civilisations must be open to good ideas, without regard to their origin, for their own progress.
The embrace of western ideas does not sit well with large segments of Muslim populations around the world, and they have reacted to it over the centuries by entering an intellectual cocoon. The extreme manifestation of this opposition to western ideas is terrorism. It is in this light that the Taliban movement in Pakistan and Afghanistan should be seen.
Terrorist movements in essence stem from weakness and insecurity — recent events in Pakistan should be looked at with this in mind. Attacks by the Taliban on GHQ and a spate of bombings throughout the country must not be seen as a symbol of the Taliban’s strength but as acts of desperation; violent pleas for survival.
It would be easy for anyone living in Pakistan to be demoralised by the recent violence but that is exactly what the Taliban want. They need a demoralised nation and a divided military and civilian government to flourish. We must not fall into their trap and we must believe that the times are against the extremist forces. Through its offensive in South Waziristan, the government has taken a clear stand against the Taliban and deserves full credit.
The US must also gather its resolve in its efforts in Afghanistan. There is a debate going on in the US in which many are arguing for the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. While a debate of this kind is essential, the argument for a troop withdrawal is evidence of a perplexing case of amnesia.
In the 1980s the US pulled out of the region as soon as the Soviets left Afghanistan. This allowed for conditions in which Al Qaida took root and was able to plot attacks against the West including the attacks on 9/11. The long-awaited troop surge should take place in Afghanistan, as most recently advocated by Gen Stanley McChrystal.
One of the reasons being cited against the troop surge in Afghanistan is that the insurgents would cross into Pakistan, making Pakistan’s campaign in South Waziristan more difficult. But to prevent that, Nato should do all it can to secure the border with Pakistan. While Pakistan is fighting the Taliban in South Waziristan, Nato and the US should step up their campaign in Afghanistan so the enemy is pushed from both sides.
If the insurgents in Afghanistan are not combated with full force, the Taliban in Fata could find a refuge across the border in Afghanistan to regroup. President Obama should listen to his commander in Afghanistan and provide him with the necessary resources to fight the enemy.
Also the cross border movement cannot be controlled without formalising the disputed Durand Line as the accepted border between the two neighbours. As part of its long-term strategy Pakistan should establish a permanent military base in South Waziristan and take steps to incorporate Fata into the political and social mainstream.
The war against the Taliban, whether in Pakistan or Afghanistan, is likely to be a long drawn-out affair, with the enemy retaliating in the cities. South Waziristan would be the key to breaking the militants’ back, and a victory there would allow Pakistan to tackle terrorism in other parts of the country, including southern Punjab where the Taliban seem to be consolidating their foothold.
The current conflict in Pakistan would have to be won by force, maybe even overwhelming force, but to become a peaceful nation in the long run Pakistan would have to create an open society — open to ideas from other civilisations and open to the reconstruction of old ones. The challenge would not be to preserve our way of life but to change it.
ppgj
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BBC NEWS | South Asia | 'I agreed to become a suicide bomber'
'I agreed to become a suicide bomber'
A 14-year-old boy in the tribal region of Bajaur, in north-west Pakistan, says he was detained by Taliban forces who tried to turn him into a suicide bomber. The boy is now in army hands.
He provided a detailed account to BBC correspondent Orla Guerin. His story cannot be independently verified.
Boy from Bajaur who was taken by Taliban for suicide bombing mission
The boy says he was beaten until he agreed to become a suicide bomber
There were five people who came after me from a place in Bajaur. They tricked me. They told me they were going to behead my father.
I went with them but my father wasn't there. They tied me up.
They said: 'You have two choices. We will behead you, or you will become a suicide bomber.' I refused.
There were two more guys of my age. They were also training to be suicide bombers. If we refused they would tie our hands behind our backs, blindfold us and start beating us.
They brainwashed us and told us we would go to heaven. They said 'there will be honey and juice and God will appear in front of you. You will have a beautiful house in Heaven'.
We used to ask them to let us out to pray. They would reply 'you are already on your way to heaven. You don't need to pray.'
They beat me hard for five days. I wasn't given any food. While they were beating me I agreed to become a suicide bomber. They separated me from the other boys.
Mosque mission
They took me to a dark room and started giving me pills. I was handed over to Maulvi Fakir [the Bajaur Taliban commander]. After all this preparation they said I was to go and do the job in a mosque.
Before the Taliban came we used to enjoy freedom. We used to play, and go to our schools
'Haunting' Taliban problem
It was an ordinary mosque but the cleric there used to talk against the Taliban, and they declared him their enemy. They told me the cleric was a non-believer, a non-Muslim.
They took off my shirt and put the jacket on my shoulders. There were two hooks on my chest. They told me that when you go there you say 'Allahu Akbar' [God is Great] and then you pull apart these two hooks. Then they took me there, showed me the mosque and went off.
I was drugged and I couldn't feel anything. I only came to my senses when I arrived in the mosque. I saw the peaceful kind face of the cleric, and I saw the mosque was full of holy books. I saw the people praying. And I thought, they are all Muslims. How can I do this? I decided not to and I came out.
I sat under a tree outside the mosque and waited for prayers to be over. After that I made my way back to the Taliban. Then they called me 'a son of a *****' and asked why I had come back without doing it.
I told them I could not do it because they were carrying out body searches of all the people entering the mosque. They took off my vest and handed me over to Maulvi Fakir.
They tied me up but I told them to give me another chance and I would do it. They trusted me. I was roaming around with them for a couple of days. I got to the road, found transport and came home. They followed me to my house. They wanted to know if I was still there or had run somewhere else.
The Taliban had beaten me so harshly my back was scarred. When my parents saw that my mother started to cry, and told me not to go back to them. My father asked them why they were after his son. One day he took his weapon and went after them. But they wanted to kill him so he came back home and closed the door.
Before the Taliban came we used to enjoy freedom. We used to play, and go to our schools. There were no restrictions on us. Morning and evening we used to play games, and sit and chat with friends. We used to listen to music on our mobile phones. They banned that. They stopped us doing anything. They stopped us playing cricket and going to school. We felt like prisoners.
I want to join the army because they are the defenders of the land. They are fighting for the right cause. I want to fight against the Taliban. I have no other intention except to defend my country. The Taliban should be eliminated.
I want to tell the Taliban that they are cruel, and what they did to me was unjust. I can't kill innocent Muslims.
I am not afraid of them. I am only afraid of God. I am answerable only to Him.
'I agreed to become a suicide bomber'
A 14-year-old boy in the tribal region of Bajaur, in north-west Pakistan, says he was detained by Taliban forces who tried to turn him into a suicide bomber. The boy is now in army hands.
He provided a detailed account to BBC correspondent Orla Guerin. His story cannot be independently verified.
Boy from Bajaur who was taken by Taliban for suicide bombing mission
The boy says he was beaten until he agreed to become a suicide bomber
There were five people who came after me from a place in Bajaur. They tricked me. They told me they were going to behead my father.
I went with them but my father wasn't there. They tied me up.
They said: 'You have two choices. We will behead you, or you will become a suicide bomber.' I refused.
There were two more guys of my age. They were also training to be suicide bombers. If we refused they would tie our hands behind our backs, blindfold us and start beating us.
They brainwashed us and told us we would go to heaven. They said 'there will be honey and juice and God will appear in front of you. You will have a beautiful house in Heaven'.
We used to ask them to let us out to pray. They would reply 'you are already on your way to heaven. You don't need to pray.'
They beat me hard for five days. I wasn't given any food. While they were beating me I agreed to become a suicide bomber. They separated me from the other boys.
Mosque mission
They took me to a dark room and started giving me pills. I was handed over to Maulvi Fakir [the Bajaur Taliban commander]. After all this preparation they said I was to go and do the job in a mosque.
Before the Taliban came we used to enjoy freedom. We used to play, and go to our schools
'Haunting' Taliban problem
It was an ordinary mosque but the cleric there used to talk against the Taliban, and they declared him their enemy. They told me the cleric was a non-believer, a non-Muslim.
They took off my shirt and put the jacket on my shoulders. There were two hooks on my chest. They told me that when you go there you say 'Allahu Akbar' [God is Great] and then you pull apart these two hooks. Then they took me there, showed me the mosque and went off.
I was drugged and I couldn't feel anything. I only came to my senses when I arrived in the mosque. I saw the peaceful kind face of the cleric, and I saw the mosque was full of holy books. I saw the people praying. And I thought, they are all Muslims. How can I do this? I decided not to and I came out.
I sat under a tree outside the mosque and waited for prayers to be over. After that I made my way back to the Taliban. Then they called me 'a son of a *****' and asked why I had come back without doing it.
I told them I could not do it because they were carrying out body searches of all the people entering the mosque. They took off my vest and handed me over to Maulvi Fakir.
They tied me up but I told them to give me another chance and I would do it. They trusted me. I was roaming around with them for a couple of days. I got to the road, found transport and came home. They followed me to my house. They wanted to know if I was still there or had run somewhere else.
The Taliban had beaten me so harshly my back was scarred. When my parents saw that my mother started to cry, and told me not to go back to them. My father asked them why they were after his son. One day he took his weapon and went after them. But they wanted to kill him so he came back home and closed the door.
Before the Taliban came we used to enjoy freedom. We used to play, and go to our schools. There were no restrictions on us. Morning and evening we used to play games, and sit and chat with friends. We used to listen to music on our mobile phones. They banned that. They stopped us doing anything. They stopped us playing cricket and going to school. We felt like prisoners.
I want to join the army because they are the defenders of the land. They are fighting for the right cause. I want to fight against the Taliban. I have no other intention except to defend my country. The Taliban should be eliminated.
I want to tell the Taliban that they are cruel, and what they did to me was unjust. I can't kill innocent Muslims.
I am not afraid of them. I am only afraid of God. I am answerable only to Him.
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It's the stupidity, stupid
Fly on the wall
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Zafar Khalid Farooq
Whilst it is common to hear, or read, the unenlightened ramblings of various 'experts' in the media these days, it's strange to find examples of anti-intellectualism in a bookshop. One would hope that these establishments would attract people interested in expanding their minds and developing critical thinking. But, not so in Pakistan.
I was in Liberty Books when I spied a comment card nestling inside the Perspex comment box. The angry opinion read as follows: "'Mother of God' by Miri Rubin. I don't think that this book should be sold or displayed in a prestigious store like yours. You have a social responsibility."
Yes, they do have a social (and financial) responsibility to sell books. What could be so odious about this book that it could produce such an angry tirade, I wondered? So I did what any normal person would do, I immediately asked for a copy of the book. Sadly, it had sold out. However, a quick Google search showed that this book was a history of the perceptions of Mary, mother of Jesus, in European societies from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, and how these perceptions varied from country to country. Different countries used the role of Mary in differing ways to make sense of a range of human experience -- virginity, motherhood, family life, poverty and humility. What aspects these societies focused on in their representation of Mary, in turn, reflected the broader concerns of that society.
It sounded like a serious and interesting work. So what could have caused someone to question the book store's social responsibility for carrying it? In fact, wasn't it being socially responsible by offering this book for public consumption? Then it struck me. It was the title: Mother of God. That had been the objection. They had simply disliked the association of mother with God. Now you and I may not believe that Mary was the mother of God, and probably the Jewish sounding author, Miri Rubin, doesn't believe she is either, but that's not the point. This was a serious historical study of the continuing evolution of Mary in those Christian societies where they consider her the mother of God.
Would it be fair for a western bookshop to ban a biography on the Prophet (PBUH) called The Last Prophet? Of course not. Muslims would be rightly angry. So too would many non-Muslims be upset, for they would be interested in a scholarly work on the Prophet (PBUH). So why do we Muslims demand tolerance and plurality of beliefs when it comes to the west, but become intolerant when it comes to our societies?
Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise to see this reaction in a bookshop. After all, we are a nation that kowtows to the ignorant and plain stupid. Yes, let's revel in our ignorance. We are a nation where our city centres are inundated with jewelry and clothes shops, but lack a single decent Urdu bookshop. We are a nation whose middle class, although in possession of a disposable income, will only have one book in their house -- and that too on a very high shelf, and often unread. Bigotry prospers over intellectual rigour, innuendo over fact, and conspiracy theory over credible reporting.
After all we have become a nation where a national newspaper can endanger the life of a Wall Street Journal journalist, Matthew Rosenberg, by claiming that he is an Israeli agent, an American agent, and a contractor for Blackwater. Either he is a busy man, or this is bunkum. The report in the newspaper provided no credible sources.
We are a nation that unquestionably swallows the unsubstantiated rants of Zaid Hamid, Ahmed Quraishi and their ilk. Zaid Hamid sees the world through a Zionist prism, while I advise you to check out ahmedquraishi.com to check out the quality of his 'photo journalism'.
We are a nation where pop stars like Ali Azmat believe that "we know for a fact that all this turbulation (not a world, Ali) in Pakistan it's not us, but outside hand" and who says that the Taliban is not responsible for blowing up 200 girls schools, but it's the work of an unidentified foreign hand. Show me the evidence, Ali? Where are the 'facts' you talk about?
Ironically, it is these very people who hark back the loudest, and bemoan the most, the loss of the Islamic world's glory days -- when Muslims were pioneers at the forefront of scientific, architectural, astronomical, and mathematical advances in the world. But you only can be pioneers when using knowledge, reason, logic and a factually supporting argument. The Taj Mahal was not built on a conspiracy theory or by obtaining a forged website doctoral degree. Yet, we listen to and follow the stupid?
Please note, I am not talking about education here. The stupid are often so called 'educated' people. Nor am I attacking right-wing commentators, per se. There are some who use the supporting evidence to reach a conclusion that could be described as right wing, which is perfectly acceptable. No, I am attacking those who make accusations using the flimsiest evidence, that's if they provide evidence at all, to back their claims. A mere cursory look at the 'proof' and it quickly disintegrates upon inspection. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, indeed.
How's this for a conspiracy theory: Perhaps, the Jews, Americans and Indians are funding all these cranks, right-wing conspiracy theorists, hyper nationalist and loonies that populate the airwaves in Pakistan. By listening to their claptrap and proportioning blame to hidden hands, the Pakistani people remain in perpetual denial about the encroaching problems in their country, therefore causing further erosion of the state. Maybe, THIS IS the evil Zionist, Capitalist, Hindu plot to destroy Pakistan. They are keeping us dumb and stupid. Pappu yaar, have you thought about that?
Fly on the wall
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Zafar Khalid Farooq
Whilst it is common to hear, or read, the unenlightened ramblings of various 'experts' in the media these days, it's strange to find examples of anti-intellectualism in a bookshop. One would hope that these establishments would attract people interested in expanding their minds and developing critical thinking. But, not so in Pakistan.
I was in Liberty Books when I spied a comment card nestling inside the Perspex comment box. The angry opinion read as follows: "'Mother of God' by Miri Rubin. I don't think that this book should be sold or displayed in a prestigious store like yours. You have a social responsibility."
Yes, they do have a social (and financial) responsibility to sell books. What could be so odious about this book that it could produce such an angry tirade, I wondered? So I did what any normal person would do, I immediately asked for a copy of the book. Sadly, it had sold out. However, a quick Google search showed that this book was a history of the perceptions of Mary, mother of Jesus, in European societies from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, and how these perceptions varied from country to country. Different countries used the role of Mary in differing ways to make sense of a range of human experience -- virginity, motherhood, family life, poverty and humility. What aspects these societies focused on in their representation of Mary, in turn, reflected the broader concerns of that society.
It sounded like a serious and interesting work. So what could have caused someone to question the book store's social responsibility for carrying it? In fact, wasn't it being socially responsible by offering this book for public consumption? Then it struck me. It was the title: Mother of God. That had been the objection. They had simply disliked the association of mother with God. Now you and I may not believe that Mary was the mother of God, and probably the Jewish sounding author, Miri Rubin, doesn't believe she is either, but that's not the point. This was a serious historical study of the continuing evolution of Mary in those Christian societies where they consider her the mother of God.
Would it be fair for a western bookshop to ban a biography on the Prophet (PBUH) called The Last Prophet? Of course not. Muslims would be rightly angry. So too would many non-Muslims be upset, for they would be interested in a scholarly work on the Prophet (PBUH). So why do we Muslims demand tolerance and plurality of beliefs when it comes to the west, but become intolerant when it comes to our societies?
Perhaps it shouldn't be a surprise to see this reaction in a bookshop. After all, we are a nation that kowtows to the ignorant and plain stupid. Yes, let's revel in our ignorance. We are a nation where our city centres are inundated with jewelry and clothes shops, but lack a single decent Urdu bookshop. We are a nation whose middle class, although in possession of a disposable income, will only have one book in their house -- and that too on a very high shelf, and often unread. Bigotry prospers over intellectual rigour, innuendo over fact, and conspiracy theory over credible reporting.
After all we have become a nation where a national newspaper can endanger the life of a Wall Street Journal journalist, Matthew Rosenberg, by claiming that he is an Israeli agent, an American agent, and a contractor for Blackwater. Either he is a busy man, or this is bunkum. The report in the newspaper provided no credible sources.
We are a nation that unquestionably swallows the unsubstantiated rants of Zaid Hamid, Ahmed Quraishi and their ilk. Zaid Hamid sees the world through a Zionist prism, while I advise you to check out ahmedquraishi.com to check out the quality of his 'photo journalism'.
We are a nation where pop stars like Ali Azmat believe that "we know for a fact that all this turbulation (not a world, Ali) in Pakistan it's not us, but outside hand" and who says that the Taliban is not responsible for blowing up 200 girls schools, but it's the work of an unidentified foreign hand. Show me the evidence, Ali? Where are the 'facts' you talk about?
Ironically, it is these very people who hark back the loudest, and bemoan the most, the loss of the Islamic world's glory days -- when Muslims were pioneers at the forefront of scientific, architectural, astronomical, and mathematical advances in the world. But you only can be pioneers when using knowledge, reason, logic and a factually supporting argument. The Taj Mahal was not built on a conspiracy theory or by obtaining a forged website doctoral degree. Yet, we listen to and follow the stupid?
Please note, I am not talking about education here. The stupid are often so called 'educated' people. Nor am I attacking right-wing commentators, per se. There are some who use the supporting evidence to reach a conclusion that could be described as right wing, which is perfectly acceptable. No, I am attacking those who make accusations using the flimsiest evidence, that's if they provide evidence at all, to back their claims. A mere cursory look at the 'proof' and it quickly disintegrates upon inspection. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, indeed.
How's this for a conspiracy theory: Perhaps, the Jews, Americans and Indians are funding all these cranks, right-wing conspiracy theorists, hyper nationalist and loonies that populate the airwaves in Pakistan. By listening to their claptrap and proportioning blame to hidden hands, the Pakistani people remain in perpetual denial about the encroaching problems in their country, therefore causing further erosion of the state. Maybe, THIS IS the evil Zionist, Capitalist, Hindu plot to destroy Pakistan. They are keeping us dumb and stupid. Pappu yaar, have you thought about that?
johnee
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Nothing new about the above article, just that it comes from a Pak!
Good Question! A very good question indeed.
Well known facts, just another confirmation.
So, another confirmation. And our dear Musalman would have us believe that only net-Indians like us are obsessed with Zaid and his ilk!
These pop-stars only represents the thinking of the masses. All the common abduls on the street in Pakistan believe ernestly that every wrong thing happening in Pakistan is a plot of YYY(Yindoo, Yehudi, Yank).
And the irony is Taj Mahal is not in Pakistan. When will Paks learn not to drag India into all things Pak?
Only in Pakistan. In short the nation is suffering from Paranoia.
Pappu?!! Bollywood influence!!!
ppgj
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interesting article.
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
ANALYSIS: Pakistan’s internal dynamics and security —Ismail Khan
In a diverse country like ours, parliamentary democracies largely settle these things. With institutions like the Senate, where there is equal representation of all the provinces, consensus and shared threats emerge. Without consensus, the state is hardly monolithic in terms of its direction
These days, news from Pakistan is full of rumours, accusations, and counter-accusations. It is speculated that the days of Mr. Zardari, if not the PPP government, are numbered; that Mr. Zardari is thinking to play the Sindh card; that Clinton has winked at a change in Pakistan’s setup, etc. The source of this speculation is the media, which when asked, calls itself an impartial observer.
On top of it, despite the severity, this news is full of innuendoes. Worst of all, there is excessive usage of labelling. So many commentaries on the news from Pakistan have become a dirty affair insinuating that at the end of the day, you are either an agent of the ISI or of the CIA, either a covert jiyala or on the payroll of the agencies, either a flag-waving patriot or trying to divide the country.
In the midst of all of this, the debate over the content of discontent gets lost. Imagine, even if someone is a full-time employee of any agency, forget being on contract, does that bury the content? Not at all. Then why not address the content? Maybe it can offer answers to our accusations against one another.
Although bad governance has recently been quoted as a concern for the masses, which it is, the list of entries in the charge sheet against Mr. Zardari has hardly anything to do with governance. Here is the list that haunts Mr. Zardari: the PPP government tried to bring the ISI under the Ministry of Information; the president announced the no-first use of nuclear weapons in the context of India; the rulers appeased India after the Mumbai attacks; the civilian government signalled ‘yes’ to the Kerry-Lugar Bill, so on and so forth. On all these issues, the media has largely stood with the PPP’s critics in the power corridors.
The common theme in all these issues is security. Of the many fallouts of the military’s prominence in Pakistani politics, the lack of consensus on security issues arguably occupies the top post. Remember how Sharif and Beg disagreed over sending troops to Iraq or how Sharif distanced himself from Kargil, despite the level of his involvement. Benazir Bhutto also never identified herself with the Kashmir jihadist movements.
Although it can be rightly said that irrespective of factors, the threat identification of a state remains the same, but in Pakistan’s case, the threat was not the same because our internal dynamics were not addressed properly.
The civil-military imbalance is one such dynamic; due to the deep imprint of the military on the security paradigm, civilians have tried to distance themselves from it. This is because security is a dividing line between the two groups; in fact, it would not be wrong to argue that the security paradigm overrides Pakistan’s national policies. The present debate over Mr. Zardari’s fate too finds its roots in the security issue.
There are other dynamics too. In the traditional sense, security is against an enemy state, which in Pakistan’s case remained India. The Pakistani narrative owes the genesis of this threat identification to partition; however, as scholars have argued recently, the threat was more extreme with those identities that experienced the ‘threat’. In Pakistan’s case, Punjabis and Urdu-speaking people can be identified as such groups, who would still recall the suffering of their ancestors at the time of partition.
Back then both the groups were well-represented in the institutions of state, which is why the nation-building task was done more by them. However, concerns change with time. Even in Punjab and among the Urdu-speakers, the local threat may not necessarily be India’s acquisition of resources. This change is clearly seen in the concerns of MQM, for which it has been disliked by many.
The paradigm remained fixated on India. This is not to suggest that with the involvement of other groups’ concerns, the paradigm would have remained the same or not. What did not happen was the representation of the variability of security of all the identities in the state’s identification of the threat.
Examples are abundant. A person living in Waziristan has been in a state of war since 2002, but it was only recently that the state went for its help. Worst of all, his or her message is being relayed just recently, which is why they are extremely frustrated over being left alone. Similarly, while Pushtun nationalists wanted to take on the militants early on, they had to relent because some groups in Islamabad were dissatisfied, until the militants were found making headlines of being “sixty miles away from Islamabad”.
Concerns of identities in Pakistan are economic and about acquisition of resources for the self. The Baloch, for instance, dislike their rapidly-changing equation with the Pushtuns, not least after the influx of Afghans into Pakistan; in Sindh, different groups want to secure their interests amidst all the groups. Thus while Pakistan has its finger pointing against India for blocking water, Sindh has levelled the same charges against Punjab for stealing water. Worst of all, the best way to get rid of an issue is to dub the person raising an issue as being a sympathiser of India.
Recently, this has been amplified by the commentaries on the electronic media; it must be noted that popular electronic media in Pakistan is Urdu-medium in nature. For their perceptions on historical experiences, many anchorpersons believe in the Indo-centric security paradigm. The Mumbai attack is a prime example, where there was a sense of madness by the media over the government’s alleged appeasement of India. Hardly anyone knew about Swat. Now they have expressed surprise over discontent in Balochistan or in Sindh. The media’s concern over security is questionable because of its ignorance of the debates within; it would not be wrong to imagine that had the same media existed in 1999, Sharif would have gone much earlier than October 1999.
In a diverse country like ours, parliamentary democracies largely settle these things. With institutions like the Senate, where there is equal representation of all the provinces, consensus and shared threats emerge. Without consensus, the state is hardly monolithic in terms of its direction.
Like it or not, the military has to equally face embarrassment as it is left in the wilderness every time it fights. Worst of all, the state’s security policies are hardly defended by all actors; that in itself is a cause for confusion within the military.
Today when there is an elected government, it finds itself grilled whenever it takes a security decision. Even if faces get changed, the underlying factors will once again re-emerge, raising the concerns with more severity. It would be much better if we read correctly the relationship between security and the internal dynamics in Pakistan. Calling someone a covert agent and blaming the whole course of history on this is hardly what a serious academic would find time to read. Today, everyone is busy making the same mistake.
Muhammad Ismail Khan is a graduate student of International Relations at Boston University. He can be reached at [email protected]
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
ANALYSIS: Pakistan’s internal dynamics and security —Ismail Khan
In a diverse country like ours, parliamentary democracies largely settle these things. With institutions like the Senate, where there is equal representation of all the provinces, consensus and shared threats emerge. Without consensus, the state is hardly monolithic in terms of its direction
These days, news from Pakistan is full of rumours, accusations, and counter-accusations. It is speculated that the days of Mr. Zardari, if not the PPP government, are numbered; that Mr. Zardari is thinking to play the Sindh card; that Clinton has winked at a change in Pakistan’s setup, etc. The source of this speculation is the media, which when asked, calls itself an impartial observer.
On top of it, despite the severity, this news is full of innuendoes. Worst of all, there is excessive usage of labelling. So many commentaries on the news from Pakistan have become a dirty affair insinuating that at the end of the day, you are either an agent of the ISI or of the CIA, either a covert jiyala or on the payroll of the agencies, either a flag-waving patriot or trying to divide the country.
In the midst of all of this, the debate over the content of discontent gets lost. Imagine, even if someone is a full-time employee of any agency, forget being on contract, does that bury the content? Not at all. Then why not address the content? Maybe it can offer answers to our accusations against one another.
Although bad governance has recently been quoted as a concern for the masses, which it is, the list of entries in the charge sheet against Mr. Zardari has hardly anything to do with governance. Here is the list that haunts Mr. Zardari: the PPP government tried to bring the ISI under the Ministry of Information; the president announced the no-first use of nuclear weapons in the context of India; the rulers appeased India after the Mumbai attacks; the civilian government signalled ‘yes’ to the Kerry-Lugar Bill, so on and so forth. On all these issues, the media has largely stood with the PPP’s critics in the power corridors.
The common theme in all these issues is security. Of the many fallouts of the military’s prominence in Pakistani politics, the lack of consensus on security issues arguably occupies the top post. Remember how Sharif and Beg disagreed over sending troops to Iraq or how Sharif distanced himself from Kargil, despite the level of his involvement. Benazir Bhutto also never identified herself with the Kashmir jihadist movements.
Although it can be rightly said that irrespective of factors, the threat identification of a state remains the same, but in Pakistan’s case, the threat was not the same because our internal dynamics were not addressed properly.
The civil-military imbalance is one such dynamic; due to the deep imprint of the military on the security paradigm, civilians have tried to distance themselves from it. This is because security is a dividing line between the two groups; in fact, it would not be wrong to argue that the security paradigm overrides Pakistan’s national policies. The present debate over Mr. Zardari’s fate too finds its roots in the security issue.
There are other dynamics too. In the traditional sense, security is against an enemy state, which in Pakistan’s case remained India. The Pakistani narrative owes the genesis of this threat identification to partition; however, as scholars have argued recently, the threat was more extreme with those identities that experienced the ‘threat’. In Pakistan’s case, Punjabis and Urdu-speaking people can be identified as such groups, who would still recall the suffering of their ancestors at the time of partition.
Back then both the groups were well-represented in the institutions of state, which is why the nation-building task was done more by them. However, concerns change with time. Even in Punjab and among the Urdu-speakers, the local threat may not necessarily be India’s acquisition of resources. This change is clearly seen in the concerns of MQM, for which it has been disliked by many.
The paradigm remained fixated on India. This is not to suggest that with the involvement of other groups’ concerns, the paradigm would have remained the same or not. What did not happen was the representation of the variability of security of all the identities in the state’s identification of the threat.
Examples are abundant. A person living in Waziristan has been in a state of war since 2002, but it was only recently that the state went for its help. Worst of all, his or her message is being relayed just recently, which is why they are extremely frustrated over being left alone. Similarly, while Pushtun nationalists wanted to take on the militants early on, they had to relent because some groups in Islamabad were dissatisfied, until the militants were found making headlines of being “sixty miles away from Islamabad”.
Concerns of identities in Pakistan are economic and about acquisition of resources for the self. The Baloch, for instance, dislike their rapidly-changing equation with the Pushtuns, not least after the influx of Afghans into Pakistan; in Sindh, different groups want to secure their interests amidst all the groups. Thus while Pakistan has its finger pointing against India for blocking water, Sindh has levelled the same charges against Punjab for stealing water. Worst of all, the best way to get rid of an issue is to dub the person raising an issue as being a sympathiser of India.
Recently, this has been amplified by the commentaries on the electronic media; it must be noted that popular electronic media in Pakistan is Urdu-medium in nature. For their perceptions on historical experiences, many anchorpersons believe in the Indo-centric security paradigm. The Mumbai attack is a prime example, where there was a sense of madness by the media over the government’s alleged appeasement of India. Hardly anyone knew about Swat. Now they have expressed surprise over discontent in Balochistan or in Sindh. The media’s concern over security is questionable because of its ignorance of the debates within; it would not be wrong to imagine that had the same media existed in 1999, Sharif would have gone much earlier than October 1999.
In a diverse country like ours, parliamentary democracies largely settle these things. With institutions like the Senate, where there is equal representation of all the provinces, consensus and shared threats emerge. Without consensus, the state is hardly monolithic in terms of its direction.
Like it or not, the military has to equally face embarrassment as it is left in the wilderness every time it fights. Worst of all, the state’s security policies are hardly defended by all actors; that in itself is a cause for confusion within the military.
Today when there is an elected government, it finds itself grilled whenever it takes a security decision. Even if faces get changed, the underlying factors will once again re-emerge, raising the concerns with more severity. It would be much better if we read correctly the relationship between security and the internal dynamics in Pakistan. Calling someone a covert agent and blaming the whole course of history on this is hardly what a serious academic would find time to read. Today, everyone is busy making the same mistake.
Muhammad Ismail Khan is a graduate student of International Relations at Boston University. He can be reached at [email protected]
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75% in Pak say they're Muslims first'
ANI 22 November 2009, 04:01am IST
LAHORE: A British Council’s report has shockingly revealed that an overwhelming three quarters of people in Pakistan consider themselves as Muslims first and Pakistani’s second.
“Only 10% have faith in national or local government, the courts or police, while three quarters see themselves as Muslims first, Pakistani second, compared to just 14% who see themselves as primarily a citizen of Pakistan,” the Daily Times quoted the report, as saying.
Pakistan has more productive youths than dependents, yet is has done nothing to tap this favourable ratio, the report said. According to the British Council’s Next Generation Report on Pakistan, the country is going through a favourable ratio of productive young to old, but it has done nothing to address this demographic dividend over the past two decades.
The report highlighted that this “window of opportunity”, which opened in 1990, would close in 2045, which gives the country “little over 35 years to change course and reap the economic and social potential attached to such an opportunity”.
The report also pointed out that only 15% of the country’s youth believe that the country is headed in the right direction. It said that over 92% youth considered education an important issue which must be addressed soon.
It, however, noted that there is a widespread discontent with regard to democracy among the youth of the country. Only one third of country’s youth considered democracy best for the country, while another third preferred sharia.
“Pakistan is at a crossroads. It can harness the energy of that generation and collect a demographic dividend. But if they fail to get jobs and are poorly educated, it faces a demographic disaster,” said David Steven, an academic, who helped write the report.
'75% in Pak say they're Muslims first' - Pakistan - World - The Times of India
ANI 22 November 2009, 04:01am IST
LAHORE: A British Council’s report has shockingly revealed that an overwhelming three quarters of people in Pakistan consider themselves as Muslims first and Pakistani’s second.
“Only 10% have faith in national or local government, the courts or police, while three quarters see themselves as Muslims first, Pakistani second, compared to just 14% who see themselves as primarily a citizen of Pakistan,” the Daily Times quoted the report, as saying.
Pakistan has more productive youths than dependents, yet is has done nothing to tap this favourable ratio, the report said. According to the British Council’s Next Generation Report on Pakistan, the country is going through a favourable ratio of productive young to old, but it has done nothing to address this demographic dividend over the past two decades.
The report highlighted that this “window of opportunity”, which opened in 1990, would close in 2045, which gives the country “little over 35 years to change course and reap the economic and social potential attached to such an opportunity”.
The report also pointed out that only 15% of the country’s youth believe that the country is headed in the right direction. It said that over 92% youth considered education an important issue which must be addressed soon.
It, however, noted that there is a widespread discontent with regard to democracy among the youth of the country. Only one third of country’s youth considered democracy best for the country, while another third preferred sharia.
“Pakistan is at a crossroads. It can harness the energy of that generation and collect a demographic dividend. But if they fail to get jobs and are poorly educated, it faces a demographic disaster,” said David Steven, an academic, who helped write the report.
'75% in Pak say they're Muslims first' - Pakistan - World - The Times of India
Vladimir79
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Survey of Pakistan’s Young Predicts ‘Disaster’ if Their Needs Aren’t Addressed
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: November 21, 2009
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan will face a “demographic disaster” if it does not address the needs of its young generation, the largest in the country’s history, whose views reflect a deep disillusionment with government and democracy, according to a report released here on Saturday.
Pakistan: The Next Generation (pdf)The report, commissioned by the British Council and conducted by the Nielsen research company, drew a picture of a deeply frustrated young generation that feels abandoned by its government and despondent about its future.
An overwhelming majority of young Pakistanis say their country is headed in the wrong direction, the report said, and only 1 in 10 has confidence in the government. Most see themselves as Muslim first and Pakistani second, and they are now entering a work force in which the lion’s share cannot find jobs, a potentially volatile situation if the government cannot address its concerns.
“This is a real wake-up call for the international community,” said David Steven, a fellow at the Center for International Cooperation at New York University, who was an adviser on the report. “You could get rapid social and economic change. But the other route will lead to a nightmare that would unfold over 20 to 30 years.”
The report provides an unsettling portrait of a difficult time for Pakistan, a 62-year-old nuclear-armed country that is fighting an insurgency in its western mountains and struggling to provide for its rapidly expanding population. The population has risen by almost half in just 20 years, a pace that is double the world average, according to the report.
The despair among the young generation is rooted in the condition of their lives, the report found. Only a fifth of those interviewed had permanent full-time jobs. Half said they did not have sufficient skills to enter the workplace. And one in four could not read or write, a legacy of the country’s abysmal public education system, in which less than 40 percent of children are enrolled in school, far below the South Asian average of 58 percent.
While most do not trust their government, they attach their loyalty to religion. Three-quarters identified themselves primarily as Muslim, with just one in seven identifying themselves as Pakistani.
The demographic power of this generation represents a turning point for Pakistan. Its energy, if properly harnessed, could power an economic rise, as was the case in many East Asian countries in the 1990s, Mr. Steven said in a telephone interview.
But if the opportunity is squandered by insufficient investment in areas like education and health care, the country will face a demographic disaster, the report said. To avoid that, the authors of the report calculated that Pakistan’s economy would need to grow by 36 million jobs in the next decade — about a quarter the size of the United States economy — an enormous challenge in an economy that is growing by about a million jobs a year.
Pakistan has a long way to go. The study interviewed 1,226 Pakistanis ages 18 to 29, from different backgrounds across the country, in March and April. More than 70 percent said they were worse off financially than they were last year. This year’s budget earmarks just 2 percent of the economy for education, about half the percentage spent in India and Turkey. Life in rural areas is rudimentary. The report cites data showing that 40 percent of households have no electricity, and that animal dung and leftover waste from crops account for more than 80 percent of the country’s energy use.
Young people’s biggest concern — far above terrorism — was inflation, which rose to 23 percent in 2009, pushing 7 percent of Pakistanis back into poverty, the report said. More than 90 percent agreed better quality education was a priority.
There were bright spots. The young people were civic-minded, with a third saying the purpose of education was to create good citizens. They were also more interested in collective action and volunteer activities than their parents. But they were deeply disillusioned with politics, which they saw as corrupt and based on a system in which personal connections mattered more than merit. That sentiment is borne out by the global competitiveness index of 133 countries produced by the World Economic Forum, which in 2009 put Pakistan in slot 101, two notches below Nigeria.
“Here a student struggles day and night but the son of a rich man by giving money gets higher marks than him,” the report quoted a young man in Lahore as saying.
That led to one of the report’s most surprising findings: Only a third of those polled thought democracy was the best system for Pakistan, equal to the fraction preferring Islamic law, in what David Martin, director of the British Council in Pakistan, called “an indictment of the failures of democracy over many years.”
Only 1 in 10 said they were “very interested” in political events in Pakistan, while more than a third said they were not interested at all. The highest-ranking institution was Pakistan’s military. Sixty percent of those interviewed said that they trusted it. Second highest was religious educational institutions, trusted by about 50 percent of respondents. The national government came last at 10 percent.
If the government has failed to channel the energy of Pakistan’s youth, militant groups have succeeded, drawing educated and uneducated young people with slogans of jihad and, in some cases, of social justice.
The findings were sobering for Pakistani officials. Faisal Subzwari, minister of youth affairs for Sindh Province, who attended the presentation of the report in Lahore, said: “These are the facts. They might be cruel, but we have to admit them.”
But young Pakistanis have demonstrated their appetite for collective action, with thousands of people taking to the streets last spring as part of a movement of lawyers, who were demanding the reinstatement of the chief justice, and Mr. Steven argued that the country’s future would depend on how that energy was channeled. “Can Pakistan harness this energy, or will it continue to fight against it?” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/world/asia/22pstan.html
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: November 21, 2009
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan will face a “demographic disaster” if it does not address the needs of its young generation, the largest in the country’s history, whose views reflect a deep disillusionment with government and democracy, according to a report released here on Saturday.
Pakistan: The Next Generation (pdf)The report, commissioned by the British Council and conducted by the Nielsen research company, drew a picture of a deeply frustrated young generation that feels abandoned by its government and despondent about its future.
An overwhelming majority of young Pakistanis say their country is headed in the wrong direction, the report said, and only 1 in 10 has confidence in the government. Most see themselves as Muslim first and Pakistani second, and they are now entering a work force in which the lion’s share cannot find jobs, a potentially volatile situation if the government cannot address its concerns.
“This is a real wake-up call for the international community,” said David Steven, a fellow at the Center for International Cooperation at New York University, who was an adviser on the report. “You could get rapid social and economic change. But the other route will lead to a nightmare that would unfold over 20 to 30 years.”
The report provides an unsettling portrait of a difficult time for Pakistan, a 62-year-old nuclear-armed country that is fighting an insurgency in its western mountains and struggling to provide for its rapidly expanding population. The population has risen by almost half in just 20 years, a pace that is double the world average, according to the report.
The despair among the young generation is rooted in the condition of their lives, the report found. Only a fifth of those interviewed had permanent full-time jobs. Half said they did not have sufficient skills to enter the workplace. And one in four could not read or write, a legacy of the country’s abysmal public education system, in which less than 40 percent of children are enrolled in school, far below the South Asian average of 58 percent.
While most do not trust their government, they attach their loyalty to religion. Three-quarters identified themselves primarily as Muslim, with just one in seven identifying themselves as Pakistani.
The demographic power of this generation represents a turning point for Pakistan. Its energy, if properly harnessed, could power an economic rise, as was the case in many East Asian countries in the 1990s, Mr. Steven said in a telephone interview.
But if the opportunity is squandered by insufficient investment in areas like education and health care, the country will face a demographic disaster, the report said. To avoid that, the authors of the report calculated that Pakistan’s economy would need to grow by 36 million jobs in the next decade — about a quarter the size of the United States economy — an enormous challenge in an economy that is growing by about a million jobs a year.
Pakistan has a long way to go. The study interviewed 1,226 Pakistanis ages 18 to 29, from different backgrounds across the country, in March and April. More than 70 percent said they were worse off financially than they were last year. This year’s budget earmarks just 2 percent of the economy for education, about half the percentage spent in India and Turkey. Life in rural areas is rudimentary. The report cites data showing that 40 percent of households have no electricity, and that animal dung and leftover waste from crops account for more than 80 percent of the country’s energy use.
Young people’s biggest concern — far above terrorism — was inflation, which rose to 23 percent in 2009, pushing 7 percent of Pakistanis back into poverty, the report said. More than 90 percent agreed better quality education was a priority.
There were bright spots. The young people were civic-minded, with a third saying the purpose of education was to create good citizens. They were also more interested in collective action and volunteer activities than their parents. But they were deeply disillusioned with politics, which they saw as corrupt and based on a system in which personal connections mattered more than merit. That sentiment is borne out by the global competitiveness index of 133 countries produced by the World Economic Forum, which in 2009 put Pakistan in slot 101, two notches below Nigeria.
“Here a student struggles day and night but the son of a rich man by giving money gets higher marks than him,” the report quoted a young man in Lahore as saying.
That led to one of the report’s most surprising findings: Only a third of those polled thought democracy was the best system for Pakistan, equal to the fraction preferring Islamic law, in what David Martin, director of the British Council in Pakistan, called “an indictment of the failures of democracy over many years.”
Only 1 in 10 said they were “very interested” in political events in Pakistan, while more than a third said they were not interested at all. The highest-ranking institution was Pakistan’s military. Sixty percent of those interviewed said that they trusted it. Second highest was religious educational institutions, trusted by about 50 percent of respondents. The national government came last at 10 percent.
If the government has failed to channel the energy of Pakistan’s youth, militant groups have succeeded, drawing educated and uneducated young people with slogans of jihad and, in some cases, of social justice.
The findings were sobering for Pakistani officials. Faisal Subzwari, minister of youth affairs for Sindh Province, who attended the presentation of the report in Lahore, said: “These are the facts. They might be cruel, but we have to admit them.”
But young Pakistanis have demonstrated their appetite for collective action, with thousands of people taking to the streets last spring as part of a movement of lawyers, who were demanding the reinstatement of the chief justice, and Mr. Steven argued that the country’s future would depend on how that energy was channeled. “Can Pakistan harness this energy, or will it continue to fight against it?” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/22/world/asia/22pstan.html
So true but in Pakistan and India there have been some very sucessful movement like the Al Huda, Dawah and Dr. Zakir Naik and believe me in Pakistan it is some what sucessful. Most of the people I know do not go to Dargha and ask the dead person. We do not have these kindda weddings anymore, atleast not in my family friends.
I think this guy is a brainwashed *****. Always finding fault with everyone else and make them feel guilty about the small things in life they enjoy.
These *****s have nothing against the far bigger issues like terror, drugs, ill treatment of women etc.
Zakir Naik is another bigot, a complete *****.
Good for u !!! but people in Pakistan actually follow Zakir Naik alot especially the Deobandis and the Wahabis
Regarding other issues if we follows Islam
It forbid us to kill people for nothing
Drugs and alcohols are not allowed
Woman get status in Islam
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Ahmed Rashid: Pakistan conspiracy theories stifle debate
Many Pakistanis blame others for the country's problems
Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories
Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.
You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants.
Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province.
The answer is nowhere.
One notable channel which also owns newspapers has taken it upon itself to topple the elected government and appears to hardly ever air democratic views.
Another insists that it will never air anything that is sympathetic to India, while all of them bring on pundits - often retired hardline diplomats, bureaucrats or retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers who sport Taliban-style beards and give viewers loud, angry crash courses in anti-Westernism and anti-Indianism, thereby reinforcing views already held by many.
Collapse of confidence
Pakistan is going through a multi-dimensional series of crises and a collapse of public confidence in the state.
Suicide bombers strike almost daily and the economic meltdown just seems to get worse.
But this is rarely apparent in the media, bar a handful of liberal commentators who try and give a more balanced and intellectual understanding by pulling all the problems together.
The media debate 'misses real Pakistani life'
The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has bought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel.
On any given issue the public barely learns anything new nor is it presented with all sides of the argument.
Every talk show host seems to have his own agenda and their guests reflect that agenda rather than offer alternative policies.
Recently one senior retired army officer claimed that Hakimullah Mehsud - the leader of the Pakistani Taliban which is fighting the army in South Waziristan and has killed hundreds in daily suicide bombings in the past five weeks - has been whisked to safety in a US helicopter to the American-run Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
In other words the Pakistani Taliban are American stooges, even as the same pundits admit that US-fired drone missiles are targeting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan.
These are just the kind of blatantly contradictory and nut-case conspiracy theories that get enormous traction on TV channels and in the media - especially when voiced by such senior former officials.
The explosion in civil society and pro-democracy movements that bought the former military regime of President Pervez Musharraf to its knees over two years has become divided, dissipated and confused about its aims and intentions.
Troops and militants are fighting in South Waziristan
Even when such activists do appear on TV their voices are drowned out by the conspiracy theorists who insist that every one of Pakistan's ills are there because of interference by the US, India, Israel and Afghanistan.
The army has not helped by constantly insisting that the vicious Pakistani Taliban campaign to topple the state and install an Islamic emirate is not a local campaign waged by the dozens of extremist groups, some of whom were trained by the military in the 1990s, but the result of foreign conspiracies.
Economic crisis
Such statements by the military hardly do justice to the hundreds of young soldiers who are laying down their lives to fight the Taliban extremists.
Nor has the elected government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) tried to alter the balance, as it is mired in ineffective governance and widespread corruption while failing to tackle the economic recession, that is admittedly partly beyond its control.
Moreover the PPP has no talking pundits, sympathetic talk show hosts or a half decent media management campaign that can attempt to refute the lies and innuendo that much of the media is now spewing out.
At present the principle obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked, although there is no apparent constitutional course available to get rid of him except for a military coup, which is unlikely.
The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media - with underlying pressure from the army - is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari's tenure untenable.
Pakistan is caught in a spiral of violence
Nobody discusses the failure of the education system that is now turning out hundreds of suicide bombers, rather than doctors and engineers.
Or the collapsing and corrupt national health system that forces the poorest to seek expensive private medical treatment, or the explosion in crime or suicides by failed farmers and workers who have lost their jobs.
Pakistan cannot tackle its real problems unless the country's leaders - military and civilian - first admit that much of the present crisis is a result of long-standing mistakes, the lack of democracy, the failure to strengthen civic institutions and the lack of investment in public services like education, even as there continues to be a massive investment in nuclear weapons and the military.
Pakistan's crisis must be first acknowledged by officialdom and the media before solutions can be found.
The alternative is a continuation of the present paralysis where people are left confused, demoralised and angry.
Ahmed Rashid is the author of the best-selling book Taliban and, most recently, of Descent into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Many Pakistanis blame others for the country's problems
Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories
Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.
You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants.
Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face - the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province.
The answer is nowhere.
One notable channel which also owns newspapers has taken it upon itself to topple the elected government and appears to hardly ever air democratic views.
Another insists that it will never air anything that is sympathetic to India, while all of them bring on pundits - often retired hardline diplomats, bureaucrats or retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers who sport Taliban-style beards and give viewers loud, angry crash courses in anti-Westernism and anti-Indianism, thereby reinforcing views already held by many.
Collapse of confidence
Pakistan is going through a multi-dimensional series of crises and a collapse of public confidence in the state.
Suicide bombers strike almost daily and the economic meltdown just seems to get worse.
But this is rarely apparent in the media, bar a handful of liberal commentators who try and give a more balanced and intellectual understanding by pulling all the problems together.
The media debate 'misses real Pakistani life'
The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has bought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel.
On any given issue the public barely learns anything new nor is it presented with all sides of the argument.
Every talk show host seems to have his own agenda and their guests reflect that agenda rather than offer alternative policies.
Recently one senior retired army officer claimed that Hakimullah Mehsud - the leader of the Pakistani Taliban which is fighting the army in South Waziristan and has killed hundreds in daily suicide bombings in the past five weeks - has been whisked to safety in a US helicopter to the American-run Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.
In other words the Pakistani Taliban are American stooges, even as the same pundits admit that US-fired drone missiles are targeting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan.
These are just the kind of blatantly contradictory and nut-case conspiracy theories that get enormous traction on TV channels and in the media - especially when voiced by such senior former officials.
The explosion in civil society and pro-democracy movements that bought the former military regime of President Pervez Musharraf to its knees over two years has become divided, dissipated and confused about its aims and intentions.
Troops and militants are fighting in South Waziristan
Even when such activists do appear on TV their voices are drowned out by the conspiracy theorists who insist that every one of Pakistan's ills are there because of interference by the US, India, Israel and Afghanistan.
The army has not helped by constantly insisting that the vicious Pakistani Taliban campaign to topple the state and install an Islamic emirate is not a local campaign waged by the dozens of extremist groups, some of whom were trained by the military in the 1990s, but the result of foreign conspiracies.
Economic crisis
Such statements by the military hardly do justice to the hundreds of young soldiers who are laying down their lives to fight the Taliban extremists.
Nor has the elected government of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) tried to alter the balance, as it is mired in ineffective governance and widespread corruption while failing to tackle the economic recession, that is admittedly partly beyond its control.
Moreover the PPP has no talking pundits, sympathetic talk show hosts or a half decent media management campaign that can attempt to refute the lies and innuendo that much of the media is now spewing out.
At present the principle obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked, although there is no apparent constitutional course available to get rid of him except for a military coup, which is unlikely.
The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media - with underlying pressure from the army - is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari's tenure untenable.
Pakistan is caught in a spiral of violence
Nobody discusses the failure of the education system that is now turning out hundreds of suicide bombers, rather than doctors and engineers.
Or the collapsing and corrupt national health system that forces the poorest to seek expensive private medical treatment, or the explosion in crime or suicides by failed farmers and workers who have lost their jobs.
Pakistan cannot tackle its real problems unless the country's leaders - military and civilian - first admit that much of the present crisis is a result of long-standing mistakes, the lack of democracy, the failure to strengthen civic institutions and the lack of investment in public services like education, even as there continues to be a massive investment in nuclear weapons and the military.
Pakistan's crisis must be first acknowledged by officialdom and the media before solutions can be found.
The alternative is a continuation of the present paralysis where people are left confused, demoralised and angry.
Ahmed Rashid is the author of the best-selling book Taliban and, most recently, of Descent into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
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DAWN.COM | Provinces | Construction of a jihadi mindset
Construction of a jihadi mindset
By Khadim Hussain
Wednesday, 25 Nov, 2009
The fact that a sizeable number of those recruited by religious militant organisations for conducting terror attacks in Pakistan are between 14 to 19 years and are products of both the religious and public education systems in the country should be reason enough to revamp these educational systems.
Considering the present curricula, teaching methods and learning culture in elementary and secondary schools in particular and higher education in general, it is not surprising that there is confusion regarding the objectives of the ideological paradigm of the well-coordinated and well-networked jihadist movement in Pakistan.
The ideological paradigm of the jihadist network in Pakistan is, however, clear enough: it justifies the formation, regimentation and militarisation of non-state groups that are bent upon eradicating the socio-cultural, political, economic and state capital of Fata, the NWFP, Punjab and other parts of Pakistan. The jihadist network in Pakistan feeds on the jihadi mindset that is nurtured by the elementary, secondary and higher public education system and madressahs in Pakistan.
The jihadi mindset, like other extremist belief systems, feeds on a rigid, inflexible, isolationist and myopic worldview. The curricula, methods of teaching and the teaching-learning environment in the elementary and secondary educational system in Pakistan perpetuate a culture of silence on the one hand and status consciousness, feudal behaviour and a morbid individuality on the other.
Over the past several decades, the majority of young men and women in Pakistan have been heavily influenced by the curricula, teaching methods, and learning environment to adopt a one-dimensional approach to reality. This denies them creative space within the pedagogical system. It also increases the probability of their becoming jihadi recruits.
A cursory look at the curricula of social sciences, history, Islamic studies and other subjects followed by elementary and secondary schools shows an emphasis on what is perceived as the Muslim ummah through the manipulation of historical reality, glorification of Muslim monarchs, hatred of other beliefs and the perpetuation of jihadist ideology.
Instead of presenting young minds with a broad-based civilisational perspective, the curricula in public elementary and secondary schools instills an isolationist identity focusing on the demonisation of the leadership of other nations, the construction of a peculiar historical context and the denunciation of religious, linguistic, cultural, social and political diversity. Content on peace education, environment and life skills has yet to find its way into Pakistan’s public education curricula.
This kind of content alienates the young minds from humane values that are the result of a long civilisational evolution. It denies young minds the skill to evaluate a process critically. Hence, the judgmental approach of our educated middle class as evident in the print and electronic, especially the Urdu, media, during socio-cultural, political, religious and economic debates, and the heavy dependence on conspiracy theories, should not surprise us.
The denial of space for students’ participation inside the classroom, the absence of encouragement to question established ideals and the lack of initiatives for basic skill development largely define a typical classroom in an elementary or secondary school in Pakistan. Debate and discussion on an established ideal are usually banned inside the classroom. The lack of teaching strategies to develop skills to construct a reasonable argument leads to the students adopting a subjective approach in almost all spheres of life. This process defeats the process of critical thinking among the students on the one hand, and constructs a mindset that is unwilling to accommodate ideas of diversity and pluralism on the other.
The learning environment of the majority of elementary and secondary public schools across Pakistan depicts a culture in which a predilection for adopting shortcuts to ‘achievements’ is effectively nurtured. (This attitude is especially exhibited in the shape of plagiarism that we find among the university students of Pakistan.)
The behavioural system that is adopted in one’s formative years thus becomes an integral part of adulthood. Rarely are strategies adopted to make students aware of their indigenous knowledge base or to give them the confidence to build on this. In such an environment, natural curiosity is usually the first victim.
Segregation and discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion and socio-economic class define the attitude and conduct of the faculty and management of schools across the length and breadth of Pakistan. Activities that nurture innovation among students have yet to find a place in the learning culture. Art, music and dance never find room in our public education system.
Events that include sporting activities, song competitions, poetry recitals and other cultural undertakings are decreasing in elementary and secondary schools with the passage of each day. Physical punishments in schools, especially in rural Pakistan, perpetuate violent behaviour among the students between five and 18 years. Even the walls of the schools and classrooms are decorated with verses and poetry that glorify war, superiority over other nations and religions etc.
Though family upbringing, broader socio-cultural spaces and politico-economic vacuums are powerful factors responsible for young minds falling prey to the jihadist machine, the curricula, teaching methods and learning environment at schools accelerate the process. It is high time that we not only revisit the policy contours of our educational system but also make sure that young minds are taught to value critical thinking and develop a positive attitude towards diversity and show curiosity and a desire to explore knowledge and critically examine established ideals.
The writer teaches at Bahria University in Islamabad and coordinates the research activities of AIRRA, a regional advocacy group.
[email protected]
Construction of a jihadi mindset
By Khadim Hussain
Wednesday, 25 Nov, 2009
The fact that a sizeable number of those recruited by religious militant organisations for conducting terror attacks in Pakistan are between 14 to 19 years and are products of both the religious and public education systems in the country should be reason enough to revamp these educational systems.
Considering the present curricula, teaching methods and learning culture in elementary and secondary schools in particular and higher education in general, it is not surprising that there is confusion regarding the objectives of the ideological paradigm of the well-coordinated and well-networked jihadist movement in Pakistan.
The ideological paradigm of the jihadist network in Pakistan is, however, clear enough: it justifies the formation, regimentation and militarisation of non-state groups that are bent upon eradicating the socio-cultural, political, economic and state capital of Fata, the NWFP, Punjab and other parts of Pakistan. The jihadist network in Pakistan feeds on the jihadi mindset that is nurtured by the elementary, secondary and higher public education system and madressahs in Pakistan.
The jihadi mindset, like other extremist belief systems, feeds on a rigid, inflexible, isolationist and myopic worldview. The curricula, methods of teaching and the teaching-learning environment in the elementary and secondary educational system in Pakistan perpetuate a culture of silence on the one hand and status consciousness, feudal behaviour and a morbid individuality on the other.
Over the past several decades, the majority of young men and women in Pakistan have been heavily influenced by the curricula, teaching methods, and learning environment to adopt a one-dimensional approach to reality. This denies them creative space within the pedagogical system. It also increases the probability of their becoming jihadi recruits.
A cursory look at the curricula of social sciences, history, Islamic studies and other subjects followed by elementary and secondary schools shows an emphasis on what is perceived as the Muslim ummah through the manipulation of historical reality, glorification of Muslim monarchs, hatred of other beliefs and the perpetuation of jihadist ideology.
Instead of presenting young minds with a broad-based civilisational perspective, the curricula in public elementary and secondary schools instills an isolationist identity focusing on the demonisation of the leadership of other nations, the construction of a peculiar historical context and the denunciation of religious, linguistic, cultural, social and political diversity. Content on peace education, environment and life skills has yet to find its way into Pakistan’s public education curricula.
This kind of content alienates the young minds from humane values that are the result of a long civilisational evolution. It denies young minds the skill to evaluate a process critically. Hence, the judgmental approach of our educated middle class as evident in the print and electronic, especially the Urdu, media, during socio-cultural, political, religious and economic debates, and the heavy dependence on conspiracy theories, should not surprise us.
The denial of space for students’ participation inside the classroom, the absence of encouragement to question established ideals and the lack of initiatives for basic skill development largely define a typical classroom in an elementary or secondary school in Pakistan. Debate and discussion on an established ideal are usually banned inside the classroom. The lack of teaching strategies to develop skills to construct a reasonable argument leads to the students adopting a subjective approach in almost all spheres of life. This process defeats the process of critical thinking among the students on the one hand, and constructs a mindset that is unwilling to accommodate ideas of diversity and pluralism on the other.
The learning environment of the majority of elementary and secondary public schools across Pakistan depicts a culture in which a predilection for adopting shortcuts to ‘achievements’ is effectively nurtured. (This attitude is especially exhibited in the shape of plagiarism that we find among the university students of Pakistan.)
The behavioural system that is adopted in one’s formative years thus becomes an integral part of adulthood. Rarely are strategies adopted to make students aware of their indigenous knowledge base or to give them the confidence to build on this. In such an environment, natural curiosity is usually the first victim.
Segregation and discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion and socio-economic class define the attitude and conduct of the faculty and management of schools across the length and breadth of Pakistan. Activities that nurture innovation among students have yet to find a place in the learning culture. Art, music and dance never find room in our public education system.
Events that include sporting activities, song competitions, poetry recitals and other cultural undertakings are decreasing in elementary and secondary schools with the passage of each day. Physical punishments in schools, especially in rural Pakistan, perpetuate violent behaviour among the students between five and 18 years. Even the walls of the schools and classrooms are decorated with verses and poetry that glorify war, superiority over other nations and religions etc.
Though family upbringing, broader socio-cultural spaces and politico-economic vacuums are powerful factors responsible for young minds falling prey to the jihadist machine, the curricula, teaching methods and learning environment at schools accelerate the process. It is high time that we not only revisit the policy contours of our educational system but also make sure that young minds are taught to value critical thinking and develop a positive attitude towards diversity and show curiosity and a desire to explore knowledge and critically examine established ideals.
The writer teaches at Bahria University in Islamabad and coordinates the research activities of AIRRA, a regional advocacy group.
[email protected]
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well well here is the words from the most power ful person inside the country (?)
so Islam is Pakistan and Pakistan is Islam
On a serious note let's stop the hogwash of secular identity or something
No one can separate Islam and Pakistan: General Kayani
so Islam is Pakistan and Pakistan is Islam
On a serious note let's stop the hogwash of secular identity or something
No one can separate Islam and Pakistan: General Kayani
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