Here Are the Muslim Feminist Voices, Mr. Rushdie!

Maybe this helps to understand ---another womans` point of view.

AN OPEN LETTER TO HER PARENTS

By Maryam Jameelah

[Maryam Jameelah, a well-known convert from Judaism to Islam wrote an open letter to her parents.]----observes purdah,married to a maulana.belonged to a rich elite jewish clan.

Dear Mother and Father,

I have now been living in Pakistan for more than twenty years during which time you have acquired an entire additional family of loved-ones there, adding much to your happiness. You have reached a ripe age, thank God, living longer in good health than I had ever expected. You have read all my books and Islamic literature I have sent you with a broad and open mind. Therefore you need no introduction to the subject I wish to discuss with you now and nothing I have to say will seem strange and new to you.

I wonder if you realize fully how very fortunate you are. So long as you can keep in reasonable health and are able to take care of yourselves, you can continue to enjoy a pleasant life. But do you ever think of the tragic faith of those hundreds of thousands of other older Americans, the victims of chronic illness and infirmities, who crowd to over-flowing hospitals and nursing homes (which are really charnel houses), the old-age homes and the senile wards of mental institutions? And do you ever think of those still greater numbers of older people who are widowed and live their lonely lives confined to their dingy rooms in constant fear of muggings, physical attacks and robberies by juvenile delinquents who prey on the old and infirm with no remorse or fear of punishment? The maltreatment of older people is a direct result of the collapse of the home and extended family. Does your elder sister - my aunt Rosalyn, a great-grandmother lovingly sheltered in a close and adoring family and a happy home, ever think how lucky she is and how few of her advanced age in America are left like her?

You must know that society in which you were brought up and have lived all your life is in a state of rapid disintegration on the brink of collapse. Actually the decline in our civilization was evident as far back as World War I but at that time few people except some intellectuals and artists were aware of what was happening. But since the end of World War II and especially during the last two decades, the rot has reached such a stage of advanced decay that nobody can any longer ignore it.

The moral anarchy in the absence of any respected, fixed standards of behavior and conduct, the obsession with perverted sex over the entertainment media, the mistreatment of older people, the divorce rate which has climbed so high that among the new generation, an enduring, happy marriage is becoming rare, child abuse, the destruction of the natural environment, the prodigious waste of scarce and valuable resources, the epidemic of veneral diseases and mental disorders, drug addiction, alcoholism, suicides as leading cause of death, crime, vandalism, corruption in the government and contempt for the law in general - all of this has a cause.

The cause of this is the failure of secularism and materialism and the absence of absolute, transcendental theological and moral values. Deed does in the final analysis depend upon creed because if the intention is wrong, the work always suffers.

No doubt that it may bore you to read this. You will protest that if you are not theologians, philosophers or sociologists, then why bother about such ``deep`` matters when they do not seem to be of any direct concern to you? After all, you are happy and content living just as you are. You only wish to enjoy life right now, live entirely in the present and accept each day as it comes. If life is a journey, is it not foolhardy only to be concerned with pleasant and comfortable accommodations along the way and never to think about the journey`s end? Why were we born? What is the meaning and purpose of life, why must we die and what will happen to each of us after death?

Father you have told me more than once that you cannot accept any traditional religion because you are convinced that theology conflicts with modern science. Science and technology have indeed given us much information about the physical world, provided us with abundant comforts and conveniences, increased efficiency and discovered remedies for many diseases that used to be fatal. But science does not and cannot tell us about the meaning of life and death. Science tells us ``how`` but it never answers the question ``why``?. Can science ever tell us what is right and what is wrong? What is good and what is evil? What is beautiful and what is ugly? And to whom are we accountable for what we do? Religion does.

Today America is in many ways a repetition of ancient Rome in the terminal stages of her decline and fall. Thinking people know that secularism has failed to be a sound foundation of our social order. They are anxiously searching in other directions for a solution to the crisis but do not know yet where to find it. This is not of concern only to a few sociologists. The disease of national disintegration directly affects you and me and each one of us.

During its most critical period, ancient Rome adopted Christianity as its salvation and henceforth the Church dominated Europe for more than a thousand years. This put an end to many of the worst social and moral evils of decadent Rome and greatly raised the moral and spiritual standards of the people. Unfortunately during the formative period of its history, the Church compromised with paganism and secularism, adopting an elaborate priesthood and incomprehensive theology which could not resist the impact of the renaissance, the revival of the natural sciences and the radical secularism of the French Revolution. While Christians in Europe and America have deserted their faith wholesale leaving the churches almost empty, the missionaries continue to represent the vanguard of western imperialism and exploitation in Asia and Africa.

After Christianity, the Jews comprise the second largest religious group in America who dominate politically, and economically, as well exercising considerable control over the media. But Judaism has always been parochial and tribal, seldom welcoming converts. It is not and has never been a universal faith. The Zionist movement which resulted in the establishment of the state of Israel, is the secular expression of Jewish nationalism and tribalism. The dreadful atrocities committed by the Israelis in occupied Palestine, the unprovoked aggression in Lebanon and adjacent areas and attempted genocide of the Palestine Arabs, depriving them of all human and political rights, is the logical result of this same narrow parochial outlook. This is the reason why even the most orthodox of the rabbis refuse to believe that Israel can do any wrong and uncritically support everything she does. These glaring moral and spiritual defects automatically disqualify Judaism as the faith of the future.

The Muslims comprise the third and fastest growing faith in America today. No longer is Islam confined to remote regions of the deserts and jungles of Asia and Africa. No longer is Islam foreign to the American scene. There are more than three million Muslims in America today and their numbers are increasing fast. There are thousands of students from all Muslim countries studying in American universities, and well-educated, highly-trained Muslims are busily at work in all professions. In the last two decades, hundreds of native-born American converts have swelled their ranks. At first most of the converts were black people who found in Islam, dignity, honor, self-respect and racial brotherhood as did Malcolm-X, but in recent years more and more white converts of European origin, searching for guidance in all the affairs of their formally chaotic lives, have also embraced Islam, making many sacrifices and enduring much hardships to do so. Few of them are fortunate as I am to have loving parent like you. Most of them suffer severe frictions with their non-Muslim parents and relatives. Today churches and synagogues are almost deserted but the newly-built mosques and Islamic centers, springing up in every important American city and town, are attracting rapidly growing numbers. Most of the new Muslims in America are young, intelligent and well-educated. What attracts so many young Americans to Islam?

Americans today, both young and old, are desperately searching for guidance. They know from bitter experience that the personal freedom and opportunities they as Americans enjoy are meaningless and self-destructive without reliable guidance, direction and purpose. Secularism and materialism are powerless to provide any positive or constructive moral values for Americans either individually or collectively. That is why after Christianity and Judaism have failed them, more and more people in America today are turning towards Islam. In Islam as new Muslims, they find a sane, healthy, clean and honest life. And for Muslims, everything does not come to an end at death. They look forward to an Eternity of bliss, peace and perfect happiness (in the Hereafter).

This Guidance found in the Holy Qur`an and the recorded words and deeds of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, is not only for foreign races in some far-away corner of the East, centuries ago. Here are to be found the solutions to all economic, social, moral and political problems which face us right here in the West today. Furthermore, Islam is not cold, remote and impersonal. Muslims have complete faith in a very personal God who not only created, sustains and rules the universe but also loves and deeply cares about the fate of each of us. The Holy Qur`an tells us that God is nearer to everyone of us than our jugular veins!

Since the Holy Qur`an is divine revelation, it cannot and will never be changed. Because it is perfect, it cannot be improved, revised or reformed. Since Muhammad, upon whom be peace, is the final Prophet, his guidance can never be superseded by any other. The Qur`an and Sunnah are addressed to all peoples, in every country of the West as well as the East. Since it is relevant for all times, in all places, it can never become obsolete or out-of-date.

You are both of very advanced age and there is so little time left. Yet it is not too late if you act now. If your decision is positive, your ties with your loved ones in Pakistan will not only be by blood but also in faith. You cannot only love them in this world but be all together with us forever in eternity.

If your decision is negative, I am very much afraid that your happy, comfortable and pleasant life will very shortly come to an end. As soon as the inevitable occurs, it is too late for remorse and regrets. The punishment will be terrible from which there is no refuge and no escape.

It is as your daughter who loves you and hopes to the end that you will be spared this fate. But the decision rests entirely with you. You have complete freedom to accept or reject: Your future depends upon the choice you make now.

All my love and best wishes.

Your devoted daughter,

Sd/-

(Maryam Jameelah).

(Courtesy: The Universal Message). Also see Iqra: The Islamic Journal, Nairobi, Rabi-ul-Awwal 1407, November 1986, p35-37.

Dr Khan,

MAKING OF A TRAGEDY,

It is people like you who are doing the greates disservice to the women of pakistan. Sitting in the US, you have the urge to white ash pakistan, to look respectable in the yes of your collegeues, to portray pakistan as a country trapped in the quick sandos jiahdic killins, sectarian violence and honour killing.

Instead of harping about asma jahangir you should have mentioned when a hapless girl was killed in her office, it was asma jahangir charged with taking a girl to immaoral acts. A a professor, allegedly on the side of truth should have cared to look at the trends in honour killing ststistics.

You should have cared about the popular standing of asma jahangir, which is no better than that of a ..

You article is a betrayal of pakistan, it is a betryal of your education, a betrayal of your profession, but a declaration you r heritage as a product of TNT ideology.

...i think the most relevant post here is RSaxena # 15, even if a bit impolite...the author has specified some details here but if she is trying to extrapolate the concept from it that there is significant, or even notable, feminist dissent in the muslim world..most of us know it to be untrue....rushdie may be one pompous ass (his rubbishing of regional indian literature was galling even to a fan of his like me) but the broad thrust of what he says in this case is not negated by an example here or a detail there....actually i consider the defensiveness that this response, and in a way Farzana`s several articles and hobbyty`s posts, represent actually an impediment to ridding islam of the mindset that has it ina crisis today..

...i find surprising the intensity of this defensiveness, the apologies offered for a situation that only honest and brutal introspection and correction can resolve....i have not found this in india, and i once thought that indians as a people had most of the negatives any civilization could have...surprisingly, cynicism, which indians have in plenty is definitely not a drawback of a community whose extreme elements think nothing of sacrificing their lives for the cause...which in a certain context would be considered the ultimate form of motivation and bravery....its unforgiveable tragedy that such a community today appears to compose almost entirely of fanatics or apologists, with little constructive to offer- regardless of the diplomatic things rest of the world says...

Dr. Afzal-Khan writes that women esp. in the Muslim world have been writing on the two fronts they live in. If we agree that it is imperative that women writers be given the space and respect they deserve, how is it that certain interactors on Chowk who accumulate several nicknames are permitted to post obscene and harrassing messages aimed at women who interact on Chowk? How can we demand that the words, opinions and ideas of women who are interrogating the issues of their lives individually and

You identified yourself as South Asian Female & NOT MUSLIM.



Just havin hindu nick doesnt make me Hindu neither Samina make you Muslim/

There is SAWNET south asian women net work & may i add WHY IS IT ONLY LIMITED TO WOMEN? For the same reason that Samina is freightened,scared,& hurt about.She cant take crticism .Women on this post use abusive languages like F * *Ck,B * *stard,Moron,Monkeys,D * *Ck,D * *CKweed,I dont see objecting to that ??

If you want to be EQUAL ,play in the Same field .Its not like we never gave you OPTIONS!!

My views are my views ,i have right rto express just as much as you do .

______What Should the Moderate Muslim Speak?





What Should the Moderate Muslim Speak?

Khalid Khan





The simmering voice of sanity has to always pass through an acid test of not being politically incorrect, religiously misunderstood, and often be misquoted. And above all when a person has to condemn some action or inaction of his own religious or ethnic counterpart, is almost deciding to take the bull by its horn.

There are two imminent dangers that have to be addressed before the moderates decide to react. First and foremost who are these moderate Muslims? Are these people the intrinsic liberal face of the Islamic way of life, literature, culture, art and music, which has reformed their societies and has had an impact in its share in globalization? Or are they mere formal Muslim people, who are an extended product of Lord Macaulay`s brainchild of being a rare breed of people who have an English taste for culture, literature, and system of governance which have now been replaced by an American way of life, and yet are identified religiously and ethnically as Muslims?

In the first case, the percentage of moderates is less and the media and literature have not projected them fairly. More specifically, the moderates themselves have not been articulate or taken advantage of the media and information technology. In the second case, the percentage is quite large but there is a deep sense of intellectual crisis in them. There is a sheer sense of helplessness in this camp as to how to react and on what to react?

Their interests, taste, way of life, culture, career and attitude are dominated by a totally different set of values. They are a part and parcel of our society in which modern values like democracy, secularism, freedom of thought and speech, human rights and the benefits of information technology decide our daily activities. They live with these values, are quite articulate about them, and every now and then we find our TV channels portraying them debating about these issues. In brief this breed of moderate Muslims are at a serious loss for words and concepts when they are asked to react about radical issues of Islam as projected by the western media, from the backdrop of their own predominantly modern set of values in which they exist. It is almost like asking them to chew what they cannot chew, but ridiculously these moderates are also being asked to chew what `others want them to chew too`.

The present plight of the moderates is that their way of life has practically nothing to do with the Islamic way of life. They are moderates and they behave like the moderates of other communities, engrossed with the complex demands of their society. But the horrifying turn of events after 11 September 2001 in the US has forced on them the natural and instinctive reaction, to strongly condemn the terrorist attacks, to prevent Islam from being misunderstood as a driving force for terrorism. Suddenly they found out that just being modern and having a taste for Western culture and subscribing to the modern values of secularism, free world, and freedom of speech, etc. was not sufficient to identify themselves with the camps for the fight against terrorism. Their efforts to adjust themselves with modern realities took an abrupt downslide. And instead of finding themselves as the vanguard of their ethnic and religious counterparts, they found the radical cart before their moderate horse.

The hard fact that moderate Muslims realized was that they were considered Muslims first -- anything else was irrelevant and did not generate any confidence and security. The exclamation of words like `jehad` by Osama bin Laden and `crusades` by George W. Bush was enough to caution these moderates that they had to adjust their sails in the turbulent waters rather then going against the tide. And they had to remember the old adage, `when big elephants fight, it is always the grass that gets trampled`. The whole myth of freedom, free world, tolerance, liberalism and melting pot of cultures was exposed by the primal human instincts of racism, kinship and centering on the differentiation of religious backgrounds, in the aftermath of the WTC attacks. As an American Afghan put it, “We have been here for more than 100 years and have been brought up in the American value system. But when the time of crisis came this value system has taken a back seat and we are being discriminated against for no fault of ours; we are Americans and should be considered as one of them.”

In this situation, the radicals have no contradiction nor are they bothered about the moderates. They rather feel honored that not only is their presence seen as a threat by the civilized world but their otherwise minimal importance has been magnified to monstrous proportions. What they could never have achieved other than creating nuisance has been catapulted into a global threat by the media in its attempt to project the negative traits of these radical elements.

The chain of events that unfolded after 11 September 2001 has literally cramped our hackneyed political concepts of democracy, freedom, terrorism, global justice and world peace. All these concepts have to be redefined and made known to everyone before bouts of selective amnesia sprouts unwanted conflicts again. What is the difference between an undeclared terrorist attack and a planned, declared terrorist attack? If thousands of innocent lives were lost because of a terrorist attack in the United States just because someone had to settle a score with the US government and its Middle East policy, then is the US-led coalition doing anything different by killing innocent civilians just to nab Osama bin Laden and his associates? The case would have been easy for the moderate Muslim to react if UN-led coalition forces, after getting sanction from the world community, had launched an attack against the terrorists. The true color of Muslim moderates and Islamic countries would have been distinctively exposed and they would have been naturally isolated from the world body if they decided to act otherwise. But surprisingly the Nobel Peace prize for this year was given to the UN Secretary General, Mr. Kofi Annan. Perhaps the prize was for being complacent and inactive.

The other dilemma that moderate Muslims face is how Pakistan, the most probable country to be declared a terrorist state, an open supporter of Taliban, became the frontline partner of the US in the fight against terrorism. How should a moderate Muslim react to this whole issue: the US-led coalition is fighting a war against terrorism, its target is primarily Al Qaeda, but in the process Islam is being misunderstood and misinterpreted, Muslims are being discriminated against, and above all a Muslim nation is at the vanguard to fight against terrorism to protect the American interest.

Where does a moderate Muslim begin to speak what he wants to say? Should he distinguish Islam from being identified with terrorism as the media has portrayed it so far or should he as a civil citizen condemn in equal breath, like other civilized people, the crime against humanity? He finds himself in a dilemma because Islam and terrorism are being identified with each other by the people who understand it the least. And is quoting verses from the Koran totally out of context to justify his point of view in the present turbulent global situation?

The veil of religion, the hypocrisy of freedom and the hollowness of democracy have fallen. The `interest factor` has been the new revelation in this fight against terrorism. If the US is on a rampage to uproot terrorism while protecting and further promoting its own global interest by getting a stronger hold on its hegemonic designs, then moderate Muslims can see through these designs and are wary of giving a religious reaction to the whole issue of terrorism. But that doesn`t mean that moderates Muslims of whatever shade and color ought to be complacent. The responsibility has been thrust on them by force of circumstances to speak aloud about the inherent situation within Islam itself, and to single out why by some ambivalent interpretation of Islam, it is being apparently identified with terrorism.

RE: Scout #19

``We need to lobby for more positive media coverage.``

Wrong. More balanced coverage, perhaps, but to look for good things to say for the sake of it is irresponsible and dishonest. There is nothing wrong in showing Behind the Veil (a few times, not ``again and again`` as you purport); it is fine journalism, and Saira Shah must be commended for her bravery. Forgive her for not finding more ``positive`` things to report on, but she reported what she saw - the good and the bad (and there was both, but more of the latter, obviously). Just because you aren`t hearing and seeing what you want to hear and see doesn`t mean the media should sugar coat the news for your benefit.

South Asian woman Issues & Voiceses of silence



WARNING FOR BENGAL IN MUMBAI RED-LIGHT ZONE



FROM CHANDRIMA BHATTACHARYA



Mumbai, Nov. 23:

Kamathipura, Mumbai’s sprawling red light district, is crowded with women from West Bengal.

Reba used to live in Barasat — an ordinary girl with ordinary dreams — till she met her neighbour’s sister from Mumbai. The two became friendly and Reba’s new friend suggested she should come with her to Mumbai for a short visit. Reba’s family, poor but happy, bade her a fond farewell. That was the last they saw of her.

When they landed in Mumbai, Reba’s friend put her up in a hotel on Grant Road. They started going out in the evenings regularly, though a phone call to Barasat was always put off. Then her friend started bringing in male guests. The message was clear. “At first I used to cry and cry. Then I gave up,” says Reba.

That was two years ago. Now, a resident of Kamathipura, where she shares a 6 feet x 20 feet room with three other sex-workers — the beds separated by sarees or bed covers hanging from the stands — Reba doesn’t want to return home. “The police raided the other day and we were put behind bars. Then they asked us if we wanted to go home. I said no. My parents know what I do. They say our para won’t be able to accept me. And what is there in Calcutta? I’m better off here. There’s more money,” she says.

Like Reba, numerous women from West Bengal, possibly running into hundreds, have landed in Kamathipura, home of around 5,000 sex workers according to the last municipal count. In the dingy 14 lanes with their rows of multi-bed one-room quarters where sex can be had for Rs 60 to Rs 100, there are numerous women from Calcutta, its suburbs, 24-Parganas, Birbhum and Murshidabad.

The raid on Reba and her colleagues took place after a girl from near Calcutta, a minor, had brought the police in.

Some are here through force, some choice, for want of a better word. Some women have come from Sonagachhi. But many of the Bengali women have a different past. They are married, with children, and are still with their husbands. “Mostly with women from West Bengal, whole families come down,” says Seema Shroff of Asha, the AIDS project run by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. “We get so many of them in our clinic in Kamathipura,” she adds.

“I used to live in Jadavpur, near the railway station. My husband was a construction worker. We have three children. We just couldn’t earn enough. So we came here,” says another Bengali woman in her mid-thirties, cleaning rohu fish, shankha and pala dangling from her hands. Her oldest son dances to a Govinda song in her dingy room where she plies her trade. Her husband, who is trying to get work, thinks his wife’s job is a necessary evil.

Kamathipura has always drawn women from various parts of the country, with several women from Karnataka, and of late from Nepal and Bangladesh, but the women from West Bengal are the latest to arrive. They have been trickling in over the past two or three years.

“One reason could be that previously they would be sent as maids to the Gulf countries. That market is saturated now. So Kamathipura,” says Priti Patkar, who runs Prerna, an NGO that works with the children of sex-workers.

But the more important reason is more basic. “Eshechhi peter jonyo,” says a woman from a Murshidabad village. “When I came here I tried to work as a maid. But that was hard work and little pay. Then a man I knew brought me here,” she says.

“I came 15 years ago. I was married. There were no Bengali women here then. Now all the gallis are full of them. They have come for the reason everyone comes to Mumbai — for money. Calcutta is tougher,” says a woman. “But I have sent my son to Calcutta where he goes to school,” she adds.

“Back home they think I sell old clothes. I will go back home one day. But as of now, I want a ration card.”

Dear Fawzia:

One of the very interesting essays on Chowk. I read it with great interest, because it touched an area of great interest to me. I finished it with the following impression:

1. that there is an attempt to define civilization devoid of politics and economics.

2. that ``Attack Rushdie`` is an acid test of Islamicness.

3. that it was refreshing to see that you successfully avoided Samuel Huntington who is often quoted by religious protagonists to comfort themselves of having a great future. I feel that religion has ceased to define modern civilizations. Hinduists, and Islamists, alike - if I can call them - are stuck in this mind set. While the peoples in the west and east are redefining civilization with politics, economics and other virtues as center piece. I guess nations in between are stuck in some kind of religious time warp which makes their visions myopic and prevents sights beyond. I also think one of the impacts of shortening time to flow the information across the globe would be that the religion would recede into a very personal spiritual role. Mullas would have to compete for Farzana Versey`s mindspace with information flow in Internet. Therefore, religions ability to impact modern societies at large would continue to erode. The inertia in societies would rear its head as hinduists, islamists - if Mr. Rushdie would allow me to define the term he has carefully coined.

4. Another refreshing part of your essay is the fact that you have tried to put women in the front and center. I hope you are thinking of separate Islamic solutions, Hindu solutions, Jewish solutions, Christian solutions etc. for women solutions, because that is a mistake.

5. Your disection of ``North`` and ``South`` is archaic. The flow of information in modern time, is what renders it archaic, because I firmly believe in the paradigm ``In Knowledge Lies the Power``. Now if the flow of information can be harnessed into knowledge for the benefit - whether it is in Mississippi in the North, or in Bangalore in the South - the prosperity shall follow. More important question is: can a society afford to leave the women out due to rachaic diktats of its prevailing religions. I think not, therefore, I reason that more important is to empower girls with education as early as possible, in these societies and see the difference in your life time. Mind you the traditions in societies may force a ``Computer Jee Temple`` in some remote village in Rajasthan. Then so be it, as far as I am concern. A Hinduist could be the pujari of this temple. Just as I would be very happy to leave the Islamist in a remote mosque too, as long as they would allow their girls to be empowered with education (and I mean education).

5. The state of Kerala in India, has demonstrated that empowering girls and women with education eradicates so many social problems - birth rate is comparable to the developed countries, child mortality is low, alchoholism is minimal to mention a few. Sadly, Keralite communists, unlike Chinese communists, missed out on economic prosperity indicators. Zehra on Chowk was developing a model to bring matriarchal family unit back. I hope she would continue to develop her thoughts and not be deterred by hinduists and islamists opposition she received at the Chowk, and will come back fighting.

Thank you,

ANIL KAPURIA

anil@kapuria.com

…it was heartening to your work, fawzia….more ``secularist-humanist” voices, male and female need to be heard from the muslim world…when is your memoir being published?….

Fawzia: Im not sure if anyone brought this up but there was an Indian sister in Canada who spoke out against America`s blood stained foriegn policy (after 9/11). I forgot her name, something like sunera thobani, anyways there were calls in Canada to have her citizenship removed, along with a predictably angry reaction from the United Snakes (did I mispell something?).

Much respect to all the sisters in ALL religions who speak out against oppression (especially RAWA!!)

Bapu: ``My views are my views ,i have right rto express just as much as you do.``

Correct me if Im wrong, but being an idiot, are u not also obligated to keep your mouth shut when intelligent people are writing?

And learn some fukkin sentance structure...

re bijli

``The motivation in all such cases has only resulted in intereligious marriages to non muslims to which Muslim ,like me dont see eye to eye with non muslims

Be it Salma Siddiqui ,Nargis ,Nadira to Budha Naipaul or anyone else .``

Marriage, intra- or iner- religous or any other kind, is a matter strictly between the two consenting adults and their God. Any other interference or judgement about it is patently immoral and uncalled for. Nadira doesn`t care if her husband is Hindu or Parsi, why do you?

CORRECT ENGLISH

Dr Khan,

You are a prof of english, what you are hearing from pakistan are the screams of women killed to protect the honour of the society. Scream, is it voice, or is it noice. Just asking.

All that you could dig up is one asma jahangir, for 70 ,illion muslim women of pakistan, well that is a typical pakistani trait, one thing fits all. Ehdi for nobel peace prize, ehdi for amnesty prize, ehdi for man of the millineum...blah.

If education is a means of social change, and if you believen in it, please produce the honour killing tremds in pakistan, and conclude what your alleged feminist voices have achieved. If you are really interested in pakistan, other than whitewashing its image, here is an info for you, honour killing has been declared legal by the lahore high court. Put that as foot note to your article, the tragic failure of asma jahangir.

Add also that the elected representatives of pakistan refused to condemn the killing of saima in asmas office. Put that in italics after the footnotes.

The man who organised the killing was later invited by the CE for a pfoto shoot, Dr. Khan add that in bold capitals after the above two notes.

To please YLH, let me quote wolpert, No academic has disgraced the profession, the country of birth, and the cause in a single article, the one who achieves it really speakes for their greatness. Make a guess prof, who is this great american writer, the hero of YLH talking about.

regards and best wishes to stear way from these relevant topics. stick to a for apple...k for kafir

jay

Dr Khan,

As a writer, I am sure you will need some inspiration, or at least some stories to check the veracity of your articles. In the follwing report, from dawn of today, you will notice that all you can hear is the scream, not the faminists voices as you allege. Education is a never ending process, may be it is time to start.

GILGIT: Two women killed in Gilgit

By Our Correspondent

GILGIT, Nov 23: Two women were murdered in separate incidents in Gilgit. Police officials told Dawn on Friday that body of a woman was found in the Gilgit River near Baseen on Nov 16. She was later identified as Shukrat, 23.

According to a post-mortem report, the victim was first struck by a stone in her head and then strangled.

The police could not get the post-mortem carried out immediately as no such facility of was available in all the five districts of the Northern Areas and all such cases are referred to down country hospitals and that process takes weeks before a final report is prepared.

Police have arrested Nadeem, husband of the victim, on the complaint of her father Suleman Ali.

In an another case, the police arrested two brothers, Gul Muhammad and Nur Muhammad, for allegedly killing their sister, Zulayja, 25, mother of a six-month-old girl, in Konodas.

The police said that the brothers suspected that their sister was having a bad character.

Ref Old-Faithful #: 19

[We need to lobby for more positive media coverage.]

For whom? For those women who accept the challenge to voice their support of the destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and who then turn around and blame the US that she cannot go to her neighborhood coffehouse the day after the Sept 11 bombings because she is Pakistani? Yes, I would like to see that hypocrisy aired publicly. (In case you have forgetten, it is you, Ms. Spout, that I am talking about here.)

[Why is ``Behind the Veil`` aired again and again on CNN?]

So that we will all know exactly what the Islamists can do, particularly when they cross all lines of civilized behavior. Today the Bamiyan Buddhas, tomorrow living, breathing human beings of the female sex.

[Where are the voices of RAWA and other Muslim female activists?]

RAWA was repeatedly identified on ``Behind the Veil`` as the providers of video footage, as those running clandestine schools for girls and operators of beauty parlors in Kabul.

[Did you send this to the NY Times? And if so, did it get published?]

Doesn`t The New York Times have editorial rights as to what they publish and don`t publish? Does Chowk not choose to publish actual quotes from the Headshrinker or FartsAna Versey when I post them? So don`t cry about that ``Jewish propaganda rag`` not giving equal space to Islamist thugs.

Ref dost-mittar#: 19

[It`s especially nice to know that you are into North Indian Classical music; maybe you can sometimes tell us how this type of music is doing in Pakistan.]

It would do better if their classical musicians move to India, that`s for sure.

[``The Arabs and Muslims claim that their religion is a religion of tolerance, but they show no tolerance for those who oppose their opinions.``]

Major discovery by a Westerner, worthy of the Nobel Prize. This is just the usual apology trotted out after WTC or whenever the Muslims find themselves pounded by overwhelming force as in Kunduz and Kandahar. Drop the Dailycutter on them, I say!