Rage of Angels

ali hashmi,


......... shame on you ! ........... i think it is pakistan`s loss that you have decided to run - in the us you would have ended up in jail for medicare fraud or tax evasion sooner or later ............. over there you will continue to steal, rape and pillage with impunity .......... good luck !

I liked this story. The bulk of cannonfodder for religious extremism indeed comes from those who have no future to look forward to.

Re: # 4 - Nobody as such lissens to the Mullahs and the ranting speeches full of whining and wines.
Its the rented-tattuus who are paid enough to make a living for coming months to make a procession.Unemployment adds into it and there we go, we have a delighted Qazi Sahab in the midst of this crowd around the Minar e Pakistan, and amongst the crowd are half of the pimps getting ready to go their work nearby city adjacent to the fort and the Masjid.

Qazi Sahab feels ecstatic over this although nobody in the crowd confidently would know the Faraiz(the obligatory steps / procedures to make an act valid) of Ghusl but nonetheless it is a crowd there to find a respite from everyday problems.

The matchbox like the crowd and the flint lighted by the Media sends ripples all over the world painting Pakistan as a rogue state.
Poor Musharraf and Shaukat.

The Police should be disbanded and be reduced to historic asset as one of the most money rattling and earning organisation once existed and a parasite left by the Chittaaz.

Army should take control of the country. Law and Order can be restored under the heavy, metal toed boots of the Military.

I wanted to wait a while before I responded to the various ad-hominem attacks in the inter-acts section. At first I was taken aback by the (almost) universally negative and, at times, vicious responses that this article elicited. However, on reflection, it obviously struck a nerve so here`s my response.

Regarding calling poor people `poor` or `working class` (re:#4), what would Mr.Kulharee prefer? Something more PC like `lower middle class`, `economically disadvantaged` etc. To me *that* is a load of crap.

There is nothing wrong with being `working class` or `poor`. In fact, unless people who read Chowk and interact all live off their investments (i.e. on the labor of those who work to create value for them), we are all working class. It is only middle class, NRI/NRP, immigrant types who find these terms offensive. Get your priorities straight! The poor do the work that we don`t want to do or don`t have to. They work to feed themselves and their families just as we do. The man or woman sweeping your bathroom is working, same as someone writing computer code. There is no shame in it unless the computer programmer feels there is something unworthy about that job.

I have just re-read the article and find nothing `arrogant` about it. I wanted to describe the rage of those boys I saw who were, yes, poor and working class. I understand their rage, I sympathize with it, though I think it is completely misdirected. They should be marching down the Mall in Lahore to the Punjab assembly building demanding jobs, education and healthcare and I would be marching along with them (I have in the past).

Re: the issue of `misusing government property` or `using contacts` or sifarish to get things done, is that a joke?

If Mr.tahmed, Kulharee and all the other pompous, holier-than-thou interactors had ventured back to India or Pakistan in the last 10 years, rather than sitting in their comfortable living rooms in Queens or Fresno and passing judgement on others, they would know that (a) it is impossible (not difficult, impossible) to get certain things done in Pakistan without any sifarish or massive bribes or both. Among these are e.g. getting new telephone or electricity connections, land transfers, getting official documents or duplicates made and yes, getting stuff released from the Dry Port. Somebody implied that I should not even have hired a clearing agent! In which case I would still be waiting for my stuff to clear a year later. That is not a slur on Pakistan, it`s just the way things are, so get used to it.

Did I do the wrong thing by taking a government car? Maybe. I had my own car but find it difficult to drive in Lahore because of the traffic. There was also the issue of the riots that day and, as it turned out, I was right to be afraid. In the larger scheme of things, my taking a government car (which I didn`t insist on, it was offered, I accepted) was probably the wrong thing from the ethical standpoint but ranks way,way down. If we want to talk about corruption, misuse etc etc, let`s start with Mr.Musharraf and work our way down. I accept that argument though that two wrongs don`t make a right.

Re: what I should do for this `crime` to make reparations, I will assert,confidently, that I have given back to Pakistan way more than what I may have taken that day by using a quarter tank of gas. However, since service should be a discreet undertaking, I will say no more.

Re:#11, do I have anything `positive` to say about Pakistan, read the rest of my writings before making sweeping generalizations.

Re:#17, get a life! (and learn how to type and use capitals correctly!)