The Laying to Waste of the World: a Memory of I.H Burney

re: semipreciousme

``...don`t forget the men in tights part:)...but gotta admit, i love football....still try to follow it...hail to the redskins....``

the men in tight pants is the irony...that sport is only marginally more civilized than rugby...what next?...men in animal skin chasing each other with clubs for pieces of dinner meat?

This is interesting, a Bangladeshi border incident in Jammu. I am guessing we will next have a Chinese border incident in Kutch or somewhere. Pakistani defence is bravely shouldering so many onerous responsibilities all over the region, poor guys.

http://www.expressindia.com/kashmir/kashmirlive/kl20011121a.html

``...While Pakistani defence officials in Islamabad accused India of having killed 12 ``innocent`` and ``unharmed`` Bangladeshis in unprovoked firing, senior BSF officials said they suspected that the sneaking in Bangladeshi nationals were also trying to mark the security installations on this side of the border...``

JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The laughter of little girls will break a silence of five years when schools open today, beginning a five-day registration period for both boys and girls less than a week after Taliban officials were driven from this tribal area.

``We don`t have books, chairs or desks, but even with a pen and some paper, children will be sitting on the ground ready to study,`` said Abdul Ghani Hidayat, 50, the new education minister for Jalalabad and its surrounding province.

With the Taliban driven from the province by its traditional Pashtun tribal leaders, local people are planning to resume the life they knew before the hard-line Muslim regime took over. The first steps toward normality, still tentative, are being taken by the most vulnerable people in Afghan society.

Officials today begin a vigorous five-day school registration drive to coax male and female students back into a conventional school system dismantled by the Taliban. The call to return to school will be heard from radio, loudspeaker trucks and even in mosques.

Education for boys was permitted but neglected under the Taliban. There was only one class: religion. Conventional teaching of many subjects gave way to rote memorizing of the Koran and the instruction of Muslim clerics.

As with most aspects of life under the Taliban, the suffering of women was even more acute. Few young girls in this area have even seen the inside of a classroom. The Taliban prohibited the education of women, banned sports, music and even jumping rope.

``The Taliban just didn`t care about schools,`` said Mr. Hidayat, who returned from exile on Thursday, one day after local tribal leaders pushed the Taliban from the city.

Mr. Hidayat looks the part of a stern schoolmaster. But speaking about the children, his voice softens and his eyes light up.

``Children are like roses. When you take care of them, they blossom. When you don`t, they just dry up and scatter in the wind,`` he said.

Officials like Mr. Hidayat, who served in the government before the Taliban took over in 1996, hope for a turnout of 80 percent of eligible boys and girls during this week`s registration.

Ultimately, they would like to see the renewal of a system that had 62,000 girls enrolled when the Taliban shut down the schools.

For all the current problems — armed outlaws running loose, private armies roaming through the city and a treasury looted by the departing Taliban — the province`s new rulers have made education a high priority.

The new governor, Abdul Qadeer, stopped yesterday at the Education Ministry, where he announced the school registration and the reopening of schools for girls.

``As of tomorrow, we will see how many girls come to school,`` said Mr. Qadeer, who was governor before the Taliban took power. ``Islam says that education is for both men and women.``



In a dusty lot outside, 9-year-old Sahar, a future student, was playing with other girls from the neighborhood. ``We want to become doctors and engineers in the future. That`s why we want to go to school,`` she said.

Mr. Hidayat said that even if teachers return, restoring the school system means overcoming other obstacles.

``We have some textbooks, but we will have to print others,`` he said.

Schools for girls, abandoned for five years, will have to be rebuilt, but Mr. Hidayat is wasting no time in planning the new curriculum. ``We will have sports coaches at school. Girls will be able to play handball, basketball and tennis.``



For some, the new government`s enthusiasm for education means little until people feel safe, both from lawless bandits or from the Taliban itself.

``I need to feel safe, and I need to be sure that the Taliban will not return before I go back to the classroom,`` said one female teacher who asked not to be named.



For some parents, the reopening of girls schools was like waking up after a bad nightmare.

``According to Islam, our religion, gaining knowledge is the duty of every Muslim, men and women,`` said 32-year-old Attaullah, who goes by one name, the father of a 12-year-old girl.



``Why shouldn`t girls go to school?`` asked Wafiullah Miankhel, principal of Nangarhar High School. ``Our country has been destroyed and we need to rebuild.``(WT)

Fatimah #554 ``HIndus stil cant live with muslims ,just visit hinu net & sulekha .`` Or chowk with specimen like jay.

Also, please dont generalize. I have had the privilege of knowing many fine people who happen to be hindus (as I have had the privilege or knowing many fine people who happen to be muslims or christians or jews or sikhs). Dont allow a few hate-filled vermin to lower you to their level. They may make loud noises on the internet, just as the mullahs in Pakistan make loud noises on the streets, but they do not represent the majority of the people from the community they think they represent. They represent only themselves and their low-class upbringing.

EST Reply #: 560

sadna

tvarad #538

I liked this `retort` to Thomas Friedman`s article in the Deccan Herald :

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov21/isharma.htm

``...He informed them that more Muslims live in India than in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov21/sharma.htm



hindus of india ,

``...But the fact is, the Indian Constitution is secular and provides a real opportunity for the economic advancement of any community that can offer talent. That`s why a growing Muslim middle class here is moving up and, generally, doesn`t manifest the strands of deep anger you find in many non-democratic Muslim states.``

In the million times posted article by the Israeli Freidman (also American i know so are all isrealis)quoted MJ Akbar

You can say that again ,pseudo muslims hinduized bollywood version of haji ali singing non namazi muslims of erstwhile muslim forefathers.

Why is Simin locked in jail & Banned! IF THERE IS NO ANGER IN INDIAN MUSLIMS.THE SLAVES NEVER HAD ANGER ,DOES THAT MEAN ALL MUSLIMS SHOULD BE SLAVES

Hypocrites !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kafir K Khan

#549

Whoah! That was a very provocative, though very boldly written post. It may inflame some passions from both sides of the fence. I`m also betting that if ylh is his usual bakra self, he may take this bait & start his verbal masterbation.

My personal feeling is that this whole Partition business should be laid to rest--once & for all. What has happened has happened. Nobody can go back in time & change it. The generation that went through the Partition has either died or quickly getting senile.

The generation that is in power right now is either too young to remember, first hand, what actually happened or was born after the Partition. Our mutual grudges are the product of what has been passed on to us by our parents or history books. Historians are human beings; & its impossible for humans to be completely neutral or balanced in their opinions. Even if they were, passions run so deep that there will be no meeting of the mind between India & Pakistan.

There are certain things that Indians & Pakistanis will NEVER agree on. Case in point is Kashmir. Pakistanis believe that it is Partition`s unfinished business. Indians believe Partition is over & they dont want to go down that road again. Right, wrong or indifferent, both sides will stubbornly stick to their guns. Even ex-Indians like me who believe that the GoI`s behaviour was & is very wrong in Kashmir; believe that GoP`s behaviour is part of the problem, not part of the solution. Feelings about this issue run so deep that even a 3rd party intervention will not solve anything. Alas, when there is NO meeting of the mind--might IS right.

The rest of the world; even other Islamic countries, dont want to touch this issue with a ten foot pole. Forget about the only power that REALLY matters in today`s world--the US. In more ways than one, the US has politely indicated that it would rather not be involved. They stuck their neck out with the Palestinian peace process, only to alienate both sides in that quagmire. At the very most, Pakistan gets polite murmurs of sympathy from that toothless organisation called OIC. Then they turn around & give India a nod & a wink. Without a superpower twisting India`s arm, the Kashmiris have no hope for independance.

This is something my friend, Romair, ought to consider. Being part Kashmiri, I feel he is too personally involved in this Kashmir business to be objective. Also, he spins his arguments so ``convincingly``, that he`s actually believing some of the ``crap`` he`s saying:)--no offense, Umairr.

(( A personal mention to Umairr, who`s views I respect, but dont agree with.

Stand on any moral pedestal you want, Umairr, Indians believe only God will judge this--not Pakistan--or any other country in the world. Bottom line--India is not going to budge. You can delude yourself into believing Pakistan is going to get stronger & will get ``more bargaining strenght`` in the future. The fact is that India has never budged on this issue even when Pakistan was America`s ``most allied ally`` or during Nixon`s ``tilt`` towards Pakistan. The ``Masada complex`` that Feroz talked about applies even to India--where Kashmir is concerned. This is NOT India`s Vietnam--believing that is deluding yourself.

Part of the problem is that you think only like a military ``expert``. Your military`s foreign policy strategies have invariably failed miserably. Be it Operation Gibralter, E.Pakistan, Kargil or post Soviet Afghanistan. Its because they feel wars are primarily won or lost on the battlefield. A military, I feel, is incapable of thinking ``outside the box``.))

India & Pakistan are two separate & distinct countries. The only issue that the majority of Indians & Pakistanis agree on is that they definitely DO NOT WANT reunification. Too much has happened this 50+ years. It would be like joining an apple to an orange.

As much as I have a new found respect for Mushy, as long as he sticks to the only ``core`` issue--India/Pakistan relationship isnt going to budge.

RE Fartimah 554

``HIndus stil cant live with muslims ,just visit hinu net & sulekha .``

Oh smelly Fart, your prescription is just the same as someone directing a muslim to some extremest islamist site such as themodernreligion [and there are so many stinky sites like that].

hamzad afaqui

{The Sayings of Hadrat Ali:

Of all the follies, the greatest is to love the world.}

….um…..come again?…

RSaxena

{Re: Stuka

``I go to Bentley College, but support BC for football. Live pretty close to it and have some friends there. You know people in BC?``

you watch that barbarism where men jump on each and ram into each other...then they run up and down a field with an oblong thingie clutched under their arms, much like a happy dog with a bone....where one fellow was called ``refrigerator perry``...you delhiwallahs are really kookoo...}

...don`t forget the men in tights part:)...but gotta admit, i love football....still try to follow it...hail to the redskins....

Stuka

``semipreciousme:

I go to Bentley College, but support BC for football. Live pretty close to it and have some friends there. You know people in BC?``

....yeah, a couple of seniors from school went there...one of my friends was applying there and i was just checking out the prospectus...seems like a really nice place...

Reply Binifer, RSaxena #: 553

``(you watch that barbarism where men jump on each and ram into each other...then they run up and down a field with an oblong *thingie * clutched under their arms, much like a happy dog with a bone....)``

Put that way it sounds like a leather dance party more than a competitive sport...

Typical moraL CORRUPSCON IN HINDIA. and degenracy.









Eunuch to contest UP elections

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

A year after a eunuch was elected mayor of Uttar Pradesh, another member of the ``third gender`` has decided to run for office.

Payal, a 26-year-old eunuch who stands six feet tall, will be in the running in a constituency in state capital Lucknow when UP elects a new assembly in early 2002.

She has pitted her fortunes against the state`s Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Lalji Tandon, who is responsible for nursing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s parliamentary constituency Lucknow.

Payal will be the official candidate of a new outfit called the Nationalist Communist Party, floated by a little known social worker with political ambitions. The Election Commission is yet to grant the party formal recognition.

Nevertheless, Payal has got down to mustering support by shooting off letters to her peers like Gorakhpur mayor Asha Devi and Shabnam Mausi, India`s first eunuch legislator in Madhya Pradesh.

``I am confident that they will come down to Lucknow to extend their full support to my campaign,`` said Payal.

``I have taken the decision (to contest elections) only after consulting members of my clan, who number at least 2,500-odd in and around Lucknow,`` said Payal, who has studied up to middle school.

Asked what she was hoping to achieve through politics, she said: ``My sole objective is to combat corruption at all levels in the government, for which today`s politicians alone are responsible.``

Virtually echoing the campaign spiel of Asha Devi and Shabnam Mausi, Payal said: ``Unlike these politicians, whose sole objective is to fill their coffers, we eunuchs do not have families or children for whom we would crave to collect money.

``Therefore, surely, we are in a better position to serve the masses selflessly,`` she argued.

But why did she decide to take on a senior politician like Lalji Tandon?

``Well, my war is against corruption and I see that man as the epitome of the vice,`` she charged. ``And then he is the key representative of the prime minister in Lucknow.``

The young eunuch has equal contempt for other leading political lights of Uttar Pradesh, be it Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati or top members of the Congress.

``They are all one and the same. It is time for eunuchs to rise and teach all of them a lesson,`` asserted Payal.

Re: ylh

``Spoken like an American.. let us ignore the world.. but then the reality hits home... US, Pakistan, India, everyone has a responsibility. You and I have a responsibility as the citizens of this world, and I dont want to spell that out.``

...i am an American, so why should I should be afraid of sounding like one...anyway, we all have responsibilities as citizens of the world, but that responsibility includes the safety of the land we live in and that of its people...right now, that land happens to be america, both in your case and in mine....the more we interfere in other people`s affairs, the more enemies we create...the children of the taliban are the osamas of tomorrow...this time we had little choice but to go bomb them...but if not necessary, do we really want to be creating the next osamas?...

...the swedes and finns have just as high a standard of living as americans, but because they know where not to stick their heads they live in relative safety and peace...while you and i live in fear of the next terrorist attack, despite being in the most powerful nation on earth...

PS: Americans can be such idiots :(

tvarad #538
I liked this `retort` to Thomas Friedman`s article in the Deccan Herald :
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov21/isharma.htm

``...He informed them that more Muslims live in India than in Pakistan or Bangladesh.

Had this fact been known to President George Bush just the previous evening, he would not have failed to invite the Indian envoy to the first-ever Iftar party held in the White House... ``

Ofcourse maybe it was a good thing finally because elsewhere in the Deccan Herald the same writer says:
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/nov21/sharma.htm

``The halal food menu was not made available and the mediapersons from Muslim countries invited to do their job, had to return hungry from the White House.``

tvarad #538 The article makes good points. In case of Pakistan, democracy would not only be good for Pakistanis, but for the rest of the world as well. We have an excellent beginning with the Local Governments replacing bureaucrats. Next step is to make these governments a success by establishing benchmarks for good governance and rewarding the winner with special grants and recognition.