Patriot Games

If you are still at the place where you posted this diatribe,,maybe you need to look at how That great person with his true vision for India has pulled off a strategy whereby the whole world,,including USA ,, see www.truthout.org ,,,now have come to FEAR India because they know that all their dirty tricks,,like denying aid,technological support and sanctions,,have backfired on them(see www.indiashining.com))

Hassan,

You have spelt out your problem very well. In fact, this is the attitude that causes all these problems in the sub-continent.

Indians have a concrete identity derived from over 5000 years of existense, a definitive culture and a belonging.

The problem with Pakistanis is that they have chosen to cut themselves away from themselves. The history of India, the culture everything also belongs to them, by religious fanaticism makes them deny that.

As a result, the only identity for a Pakistani today ( and for past 50 years) is that they are not Indians. It is an identity crisis arising from self- denial. Remove the mental barrier of self-denial and things will return to normal.

My sympathies are with you.

CLIP THE HAWKS’ WINGS

The government of Pakistan is sending a three member legislative delegation to Washington next week. The purpose of the delegation is not specifically stated, however, it is clear that their context is the ongoing nuclear drama in South Asia.

The delegation consists of two MNAs, Ijaz ul Haq and Sarwar Cheema and Senator Akram Zaki, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. While Zaki was formerly secretary general foreign affairs and ambassador to US, China, Nigeria and Philippines, the qualifications of the other two members are open to conjecture.

Three qualities, however, are shared by this trio:
(1) Their egotistical and ambitious political opportunism,
(2) their hawkish jingoism, and
(3) their utter oblivion towards the economic realities of today’s world.

The trio lands in New York on June 29th and ‘goes to work’ on the Pakistani community in the NY area on May 30th and 31st. Their program is being handled by Mr. Zaidi, the consul general.

On the first of June they travel to Washington to meet with Congress. (Interestingly, a congressional sub-committee is scheduled to start hearings on the cancellation of IPP agreements by the Pak Govt - this had been scheduled way ahead of all this nuke business, but still, the timing couldn’t have been worse for Pakistan.)

The purpose of this posting is to invite all those chowkwallas who clamor for ‘action’ to converge on New York and intercede with the delegation members. I, for one, intend to go there and raise the voice of reason in the nest of misguided Pakistani hawks.

Make yourselves available on Saturday and Sunday if you can get to New York. Perhaps someone can talk sense into the deaf ears of the hawks that they should stop waving their little atomic ‘lulli’ (mini-penis) in front of that exhibitionist Vajpie’s nuclear ‘Long Dong.’ It will impress no one, and will earn a lot of hardship for the already impoverished and exploited population of the Indus Valley.

Mr. Zaki, in yesterday’s daily Nation, had the temerity to suggest that Pakistan could refuse to honor its debt obligations if the West puts pressure on Islamabad. What this could do to the country’s financial well being does not take an economics Ph.D. to figure out.

They claim that New Delhi’s mood is very aggressive as was that of Nazi Germany in 1938. The analogy could back fire on Mr. Zaki. What moral claim can a Pakistan Government have on decrying the ills of Nazism when their owns blasphemy laws put them in league with the National Socialists of the Third Reich?

Unfortunately, our ruling elite has no concept of reality. They live so deep down in their well that to them the sky is a tiny round-shaped blue disc directly overhead. If you tell them about the horizon they look at you funny.

...SR

One of the very best pieces to appear on the Chowk.

Nationalism is a curse. It is a sickness of the closed mind, every bit as dangerous, if not more so, than organized religious fanaticism. The people of South Asia deserve better. The present bi-polar federal state model MUST be dismantled. There is no other way to de-militarize the subcontinent. Regional autonomy has to be complete in matters of local governance and revenue collection and expenditure. An economic union between the successor states of Islamabad and New Delhi should be the Peace & Liberation Movements goal. Open exchange of youth programs and other groups between some twenty five or thirty city-states of tomorrow is where we should be going. The people will have to topple the federal states, not just the governments. The present federal state (on both sides of the partitian border) is the real enemy.

May the Heavens curse the Imperialistic Evil of federal states enshrined in both, Islamabad and New Delhi.

...SR

Remembering Their All This Memorial Day Weekend
(A Poem by Colleen Reddaway Cook)

Many have walked a path, a jagged road
Leading to tears of peace entwined with fears.
These times were not their chosen ways,
But soldiers took their stand.
The breezes of war, kiss their brow
Made the young old before their time
...and others ageless from the sound of reapers in the field.

They lived in a time of unfamiliar boundaries
Life made up of loyalty to our country and forced survival.
Preserving independence, rights and liberties
Freedom redeemed at countless costs
Common men and women performing uncommon acts of valor
Leaving behind all they have ever known
...Family, friends, jobs and mother-land.

Masses went, to fight upon foreign soils
Their faces have been forgotten,
But the wounds, the pains and the cries remain.
Tired eyes mourning from within, looking out at
Blood covered promises and sorrow worn victories.
Searching for, yet not wanting to find,
...Buddies that have fallen, the victims of war.

Pride in serving, the pain in remembering
Colors of the crimson soaked sod and blurred visions of the mind.
How thankful we should be, we should sing the tune of memories
Of forgotten heros standing at past history`s door
They went and came home, many returned in part...
Let us remember those who returned in lifeless form
...and never stop looking for those labeled M.I.A. and P.O.W.

Memorial Day, a time to pay tribute for the ultimate sacrifice.
Celebrate with your picnics, beach outings and reunions,
But teach your children about the sacrifices made,
Pride in your nation and the courage of the past.
Men and women, no matter how large or small the part,
Left their all behind, footprints of war imprinted in the annals of
time.
Let us give them bitter-sweet honor of a hero-respect
...and a heartrending thanks.

Happy Memorial Day, Everyone!

Tremendous Article!!!

To all our Post-detonation, Euphoric Indian friends I shall just say, ``Hear, Hear, thy voice of reason and sanity``

And hopefully people on this side of the border too would come to their senses too, about the apparent ``mirage``....

You have discussed all the major players in the Indian Nuclear Theatre/Drama, in a very entertaining and crictical manner. Thanx for being impartial and neutral, and like somebody else said earlier, for being bold enough to overcome the hue and cry of the euphoria, to shout so unequivocally the facts, as u did.

Great expose!

Regards

Asim Hayat

Oppenheimer`s - words ring true today as they did some three score years ago - quoting the Bhagwad Gita he said ``I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.``- Similar sentiments are hard come by where scientific responsibility panders to nationalistic jingoism.

Andrei Sakharov in reminiscing about Oppenheimer`s earlier statements reiterated,
``Today as always, I believe in the power of reason and the human spirit.``

These two stalwart scientists -perhaps most responsible for the dawn of the nuclear and thermonuclear age in their respecitive nations,
paid their penenace by becoming crusaders of peace
for the rest of their lives.

Russell, Bohr, Szilard and Einstein should
perhaps be required reading in our cirricula alongwith a requiem for nuclear casualties.

You have said it and you have said it extremely well!

nationalist pride in destructive and violent, `macho` technology is sickening. Especially, when one considers what that money could do for the millions of impoverished south asians. someone else might have quoted this before, but here it goes anyway: India and Pakistan have Human Development Index ranks of 138 and 139 respectively (the lowest rank is 175, and the hightest is, of course, 1). This is from the Human Development report of the UNDP 1997.

Brilliantly said! I too found both - the vulgar celebrations following the birth of Ghauri, and the exhibitionist, belligerent epidemic of insane euphoria following the Pokhran explosions equally appalling. The strongest voice of reason against such misplaced nationalistic pride has to come from within -from people like you.

Anita

Excellent article, Sir.
Thank you

Rgds
MNI

Brilliant, qibla! And very moving. Thank you.

Rgds
MNI

I agree - quite an essay. Suddenly the whole issue becomes very personal. Thanks for the insight.

The best essay that I have read at Chowk. Shiv, I am glad that from amongst all that rancour we can hear you in Pakistan -loud and clear.

Thank you for your thoughts.