I have been around Chowk for a long time to see a good many people come and go. I have witnessed the change in the character of Chowk and its gradual shift to mostly India-Pakistan related articles, perhaps, including this one. Perhaps I should write an article about it on the coming anniversary of Chowk. Anyway, at one time, a small but highly educated and well-read group of people had found sanctuary at Chowk. Thanks to the brilliance and efforts of a few farsighted and devoted individuals who founded and maintained Chowk, the members of this group would come here to share and debate the merits of their ideas and opinions on a variety of subjects from-and this is the best part-the comforts of their own homes and in their own time.

They were the pioneers who jumped at the opportunity and took Chowk to heights that can still be revisited by reading their writings and interacts in the back pages of Chowk. They debated objectively and would agree to disagree when needed. This was a time when civility ruled Chowk and personal attacks were rare and were strongly discouraged by the participants. Initially, Chowk was mostly populated by Pakistanis or perhaps, I should say, expatriates of Pakistani origin. Chowk was to the first inhabitants a kind of a cyber promised land. In an atmosphere of harmony and mutual respect they were full of enthusiasm about both the idea of Chowk and the endless possibilities of what it could achieve. Something like what Pakistan was like in the early days. By encouraging new entrants, appreciating the efforts of the first-time writers as well as the veterans, giving positive and constructive criticism and by a mutual desire to explore, discuss and dissect the problems and issues affecting Pakistan, Pakistanis and expatriates of Pakistani origin, they sought to forge a soul and spirit of Chowk that was patriotic at its very core and yet open and all-embracing to those who wanted to come and join without violating it.

As with everything else, the place evolved (I'm not so sure with this term here) with time, and in a matter of less than three years, a more diverse and a much bigger crowd found itself, like the pioneers, endlessly embroiled in controversies surrounding politics, religion, culture and other aspects of society.

I'm not an elitist or exclusivist in any sense, I should point out. To the contrary, I'm anything but. And it is my great pleasure to see everyone who can read and type to come and take part in this great communications' revolution to further the exchange of ideas. It is, in fact, incumbent upon those who can to come and share with others their knowledge or to benefit from it. However, it should not be done at the expense of the soul and spirit of Chowk. It makes me feel violated and in my heart I find nothing but outrage for those who seek to destroy the spirit of Chowk. Although a number of participants of Pakistani origin are guilty of it as well, it is the unpardonable attitude of those whose sole purpose to visit Chowk, it seems, is to attack and destroy its spirit.

I am talking about many participants of Indian origin who could do so much to write and interact about India in the same spirit but instead have made it their business to linger around and put down Pakistan and Pakistanis at every opportunity they get. Chowk’s policy of adhering to the First Amendment may save them but the consistency of their anti-Pakistanism just for the sake of it, shows their remarkable loyalty to the Islamophobic principles that caused Jinnah to resign to a split India.

Pakistan may have its problems, and there are plenty of them for "CE" to take care of in the next 2 years or so, if he can. But, in contrast to these type of Indians, be it Musharraf or any average man on the streets of Karachi, or the digital avenues of Chowk, aside from Kashmir, you will seldom find them initiating attacks on India's desperate and unsuccessful attempts to tackle its own domestic problems. Yes, call them ignorant, self-centered, or uninterested; they simply lack the necessary motivation to go after India or Indians.

They will argue that with all the problems that Pakistan now faces, they are satisfied on the fact that despite being ten times bigger in size, in a population of nearly a billion, India cannot even find 11 good cricketers to beat Pakistan more times than Pakistan beats India. They must be equally bad in trying to administer such a diverse, divided and deprived populace in other spheres. It's a good thing Muslims of Pakistan have the option of picking their own eleven in not just cricket.

If asked Pakistanis might say that they choose not to interfere in India's an apparently hypocritical desire to forge together a singular ID for hundreds of millions of dissatisfied and deprived underclass souls trying to have their day in the sun under a Hindu Brahmin dominated socio-political structure crumbling beneath its own weight. They would say they knew it couldn't survive and hence went their separate way. States that size are illogical and unfair to the competitive nature of man. Indians have trouble finding one good fast bowler in a billion, what if there were 1.3 billion to choose from?

But Pakistanis know better than to ignore their own problems and go out and do something as silly and negative as launch attacks and criticisms against India and everything Indian just for the sake of it. For those who are lucky enough to have access to Chowk, they would rather take a positive and constructive approach to life and share with others their thoughts and opinions as done by Godot in his essay, My Identity, without violating the spirit of Chowk.