Fatima Jinnah Park – Metaphor for Pakistan's Problems and their Solution

Re: # 10 You can check my previous article on Chowk to find out when I first started contributing to this magazine.

One shouldn't need 'prizes' to provide relevant comments.

Often there is way too much noise generated when discussions go off at a tangent. This is unfortunate for those who contribute to Chowk, as we should all aim for a level of seriousness and focus that will encourage more visitors and that a Chowk visit leads to some enlightenment.

My best regards to you.

Re: # 11 You have a good memory. The article that proposed the history project is available on Chowk. Please do re-read it. It was a proposal for historian on both sides with support from a body such as UNESCO to work on a history textbook on the net. I am not a historian and was not to be involved in the project implementation. There was a lot of interest from Indian historians but little from the Pakistani side. The couple of good historians we have are not computer savvy unfortunately.

My collaborator, Foqia Sadiq Khan, had contacted Prof Ayesha Jalal, a well-known South Asian Historian at Tufts University, and AJ had shown an interest in doing something like this through her history department. I am not aware of what progress she has made.

Mr. Daudpota, in our last lives you had once broached the subject of writing a common history of the subcontinent.

At that time my (unexpressed reaction was): what an absolutely crazy idea?!

Did you make much progress in that direction?

(apologies. this too is obviously not relevant to the article.)

Re: # 9
Mr pota
Are you new to chowk or something?. since there are no prizes here for relevant discussions you should be grateful that the article is being discussed at all or maybe I should’t bother at all next time.

I am afraid comments 1-8 are largely irrelevant to the issues discussed in the article.

I live on the edge of peak district national park(uk) it’s a amazing place of around 550 sq miles everthing is preserved, no new industry or housing is allowed it attracts millions of tourists. Pakistan should have around a dozen national parks to preserve nature before it’s too late.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_District

Re: # 5

Lubna-m

Have you had the opportunity of visiting Central Park in New York City?

Come on man, McDonalds is good food. You need to do some exercise too instead of just sitting on your couch gobbling down that heavy-duty McBurger. It's dangerous when you keep stuffing yourself with fat and don't do anything with it. Lazy people get heart disease, active people don't.

Have you seen how fukked up that park is? Hopefully McDonalds would make some imporovements in the land given to them and make it a place worth visiting. I went to the Fatima Jinnah Park when there was some Disney festival sort of thing some time ago and was thoroughly disappointed. I'm surprised why people even call it a park.

I am a regular visitor of Fatima Jinnah park and love the place...i was irritated when saw the Macdonalds at first and all the construction going on in the middle is truly a hazard for us all ....But
do u think it was better to have a jungle there ...we know there was jungle like vegetation all over the place except for the roads we used to walk on....i think it may look better with neat lawns, benches,more sports fecilities and some nice man-made scenes!!!

Mr daudpota
I’m afraid things will get much worse before they get better,even the developed world has only recently woken up to the impact of development on environment. I have said many times before that priority in Pakistan should be education, environment, birth control, even if it means lower living standards in the short time, because south asia doesn’t have the luxury of the west of small population.

Hey...

I live in F 10 ... off Sumbal Road. It is quite sad what they've done to a park that could have been Islamabad's Central Park.

Thanks for information on Fatima Jinnah.

Isa,

I rarely read chowk articles more than once, yours I read twice, there is a disocnnect between the title and the contents, what are the problems and what are the solutions, not clear in the article. It is a puzzle and here is my view on it.

Fatima had no political role in teh creation of pakistan, she is not even mentioned by wolpert, jinnah was the sole spekesman. May be as you quoted fatima was a source of comfort, but so was the dog jinnah had, so was teh comfy bed he lied on, and one cannot have parks for each of those.

So teh views of people like you are the problem, which impedes the development of pakistan. For a long time, the elites of pakistan have tried to use three lines of a jinnah speech as a bulwark against advancing jihadis with out much success, and now is teh time to give it up, by demolishing the fatima park.

So teh problem is the ilks of you and the solution, the progressive people of pakistan have.

Thanks Isa, good riddle.

Isa,

You should consult YLH before lamenting about what happens in pakistan and anything related to Jinnah.

YLH will definitely agree that putting macdonalds will be a fitting tribute to the father of the nation MAJ, especially if maccers served pork the favorite dish of MAJ.

Definitely maccers big breakfast with becon and egg will be a beacon to the dead MAJ, and his soul will definitely be there at the maccers.