The Garage School

Bravo!

Remember ``It takes a village to raise a child``.

Is garage ya us mulk kay guli koochon mein
insaan kay bacchay rahtay hain. Unhay insaanon
ki tarah paalo gay to wo waqai baray aadmi/aurtain banian gay.
Agar jaanwaron ki tarah bartao karo gay un kay
saath to woh wehshi banain gay.

Ras

``It is sheer ignorance on my part that I did not know there is are Sikhs living in Pakistan. ``- EST Reply #: 21 jagdeep

It is not your fault. The sikhs that were imported and smuggled into Pakistan have been the militant kind who were responsible for terrorism in Indian-held Punjab. Pakistan sponsored them, trained them and the only reason some of them gain any public acceptance is hate. Both the Muslims of Pakistans and some disillusioned, impressionable Sikhs have one thing in common : they know how to hate (for different reasons).

I was living with a Sikh a long time ago and I heard horrifying tales of public lynchings of Sikhs in Lahore and Rawalpindi of Sikhs. During 1947 when India and Pakistan were being divided due to the antics of rabid Pakistani Nationalists (remember they came a long time before hindu nationalists and BJP) there was widespread massacre of Sikhs and any remotely ``hindu`` minority.

Recently the hatred for Sikhs was displayed in the massacre of Sikhs in Kashmir by the Mujahideen. The butt of all jokes in Pakistan are Sikhs. We view them with more hatred than we view hindus (hindus are merely ``cowards`` and weak because they eat ``sabzi`` or vegetables) but entire novels are written on how Sikhs hate Pakistanis and Muslims. I remember reading ``pulp fiction`` or popular Urdu literature about the massacre in Amritsar (which happened after a few Sikhs escaped the massacres in Pakistan and told their relatives about the atrocities - the Sikhs then revenged themselves on Indian Muslims). I and my friends used to vow that we would someday kill all the Sikhs in Amritsar (when we take over India - which is by the way every Pakistani boy`s wet dream - we thrive on fear of India).

My American friends often sit around and talk about girls from different countries - who we would like to make love to and who we think are really bad. One day a friend of mine (he is blonde, has blue eyes and is knock out gorgeous) asked me with a pained expression on his face : Shiraz are most Pakistani women racist ?

I did not know where to look. I knew I was racist when I was amongst Pakistanis (we called christians bhangis and karantas, we called Shias ``khatmals`` and hindus ``matarwas`` and ``bhaiyas`` and on and on ... ) and then I remembered our hatred of everyone else - and our feeling of ``we have a superior way of life`` and I simply nodded in response. I think my friends observed a prolonged moment of silence after that nod.

Re: Author

A very laudable enterprise. Why should anybody get surprised I cannot understand. After all there are good people everywhere. However we must also remember that this type of initiative does not solve the big problems of the society. We should not get carried away.

PS. It is sheer ignorance on my part that I did not know there is are Sikhs living in Pakistan. Can somebody please enlighten me about the size of this population and areas they live in.

jagdeep

What a great lady. Thanks for sharing this with us Shandana.

How can we help? Any address?

Shandana,

When this article appeared in the TFT a few weeks back, I sent you an e-mail via Sulekha`s address. If you received it, I would be glad to get your response.

Kant...

Veeresh

With over 150 kills admitted by India.. PAF too has its fair share of Indian aircrafts ....

We are proud of our air force which is the best in the world ...

http://www.chowk.com/bin/showa.cgi?fkhan_apr1200

and yeager`s biography

http://www.pakdefencenews.org/piads/yeager1.html

do read.

Yasser Hamdani

ALI RAZA RIZVI,

Where are you, my friend?! This wonderful article brought back memories of what you started when we were students together. I know you made it big somewhere in Himachal, but where the heck ARE you?! Quit lording it over the non-administrative types and get in touch.

Good Work

The lady is indeed doing a fine job

But what irks me is the title of the article

And its emphasis in the end

Schools definitely should not discriminate on the basis of religion

But at the same time basic education should inculcate values and these stem from religion

So while we should be tolerant we should not DENY that ISLAM is the only true religion and that all other religions are in our view false and misleading

dear all,

i`m sure shabeena, and her kids, will be overwhelmed by this response. anyone interested in wishing to contact her can write to her for more info at garageschool@hotmail.com

fairdinkum...that wasn`t rude at all :) again, i was very impulsive and forgot to add the addy at the end.

pm..good point..thats why she`s been taking them to places like the behbood centre. erollment at behbood costs about rs 50, or so she told me, and she wanted to know if i could get her in touch with some people who might help. so i sent this to chowk. and i can`t really tell you how tingly i feel at this confirmation of the chowk spirit.

thanks
shandana

re PM #9

Patrick,

And that`s the harash reality of it all... isn` it!?

Thanks for your much needed reminder to keep the bigger pictrue in foucus without taking anything away from shabana`s efforts...

PM, you are too good! How about a PM fan club? :)

It is great to hear that an increasing number of Pakistanis are becoming sensitive to the needs of the poor people of Pakistan. Great job!

Please send me additional details, if conveniently possible at bahmad@home.com

Sincerely,Bilal Ahmad

As a person associated with the Airforce.... I assure you that Solitude has crossed all limits of lying...

Interestingly enough PAF has had atleast two ACMs who were Ahmadis....

Yasser Hamdani

The effort and the results achieved by the lady in question make us in India see another side of Pakistan. Maybe I shall take ylh (and others) on their invitations to visit this aspect of Pakistan.

On a different note, what do you have in the PAF museum? I know that the IAF museum has some Pakistani aircraft and vehicles . . .

Think about this .... Shabina Mustafa`s efforts have caused kids who would otherwise be resigned to their `destiny` as the underclass to at least BELIEVE that they can be `baray adami.` That in itself is an achievement of heroic proportions.

Alas, it is not nearly enough. Unless the mechanism to reward effort equitably (i.e without the prejudices and favouritism that we are infamous for) these kids will be awoken to a rude shock later in life when they learn that an education and industriousness are not all it takes to become a successful person in Pakistan. AND THAT WOULD BE A TEASE CRUELLER THAN LEAVING THEM WITH THEIR EYES SHUT.

No praise is enough for Mrs. Mustafa`s efforts. However, let us not take our sights off the equally important need for the kind of politically engineered reform that will ensure that these kids` destinies are not limited to vocational schools (No disrespect meant for these schools).



Good work, Shandana! Keep it up!

``It is interesting and heartening to see that at least the PAF has not lost its traditions of treating all ethnicities and religions the same within its boundries, even though the rest of Pakistan seems to be losing this ideal. ``

I grew up on PAF bases around Pakistan - my father being a GDP fighter pilot and if there is one thing that I keep hearing from pilots to airmen to engineers it is this : PAF is the most racist, sexist and prejudiced Air Force. My father himself left the PAF early on in his career because he was not a Punjabi (even though he spoke Punjabi fluently and grew up in Lower Topa Muree and then Sarghoda and Sialkot).

You can forget about the walls thick with Islamic prejudice that are put up to prevent Qadianis (Ahmedis), Shias (``khatmals``), Mohajirs and non Muslims like Christians etc. Sure it suits the PAF quite well to have Christians dying for them -instead of their own sons. It suits them quite well that MM Alam and the most celebrated PAF pilot is a Mohajir. However how many people know that MM Alam today is amongst the most severely disillusioned men ?

There was a time when the Pakistan Air Force was indeed blind to prejudice a long time ago when the RAF trained our men and the PAF was run according to the Britain`s Manual. The only thing that mattered ( a long time ago ) was : merit and talent. Today with our madrasahs teeming with Mujahids the gentleman soldier is becoming extinct. He is getting replaced by the barbaric antics of the Arab savages who invaded and raided trade caravans and weakened countries (as in the 6th century). These savages are the same who treat women like ``war booty`` and make concubines out of them (``enjoy of what your right hand possess``).

By the way - my father later became the greatest bounty hunter for the Pakistan Air Force and subsequently Air Forces of the Middle East from Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia to the UAE and Oman. What was his bounty ? whom did he target ? why the Qadianis ofcourse. The Ahmedis hid their identities from fear of persecution - my father named all ``suspected`` Ahmedis and was instrumental in the ruination of many families. He was like the grand inquisitor and General Mccarthy rolled into one (and probably still is). Today in the PAF men like my father thrive (him and all his friends who are very devout Muslims. Men who refuse to shave their beards, who abuse their wives generously and then come to my father for help with convincing their wives to put on the veil and for counseling on how best to order their wives to stop driving.

Really Islam is very useful for men who choose to follow it. There are quite a few such Muslim men who will be proud to do what my father is doing to people.

Dear Shandana,

This is just so fantastic, heart warming and makes the Pakistani side of me so proud. Thank you for posting this article! God was probably looking down at Shabina and saying to his jealous angels: that`s why I made her kind superior to you all.

Something that I always place on par with life`s most basic needs, like breathing, is the ability to read, write and speak.

Is there anyway I can help? Is it possible to obtain Shabina Mustapha`s contact details. Of course I`m based in UK and she in Pakistan but hopefully that shouldn`t pose any major problems. My e-mail address is Omarphoenix@aol.com.

Thank you once again and best wishes

Omar Phoenix