Carnage in Karachi

an ordinary hindu:

thank you for saying that.

Omar Sahib . . . in case you missed this from your previous ``editorial`` . . .:-

#141 by veeresh on May 9, 2004 3:44am PT
Dear Omar ji, please make up your mind. A few days ago you told us that PTV was the Fountain of all Truth and then next you are saying hahah to me? What to say Sir, my false teeth are dropping out in confusion and my walking stick she is quivering.

I present to you:-

a) #140 by omar_r_quraishi on May 8, 2004 5:07am PT . . .on PTV !!! hahah -- you have been watching the wrong channel my friend -- that isnt bootlicking by the english class, that is boot-licking by those whom the govt can buy, and it doesnt matter what language you speak -- veeresh sahib, i pity you, seriously -- the likes of old fogies like you who believe that what they think is the home truth --

b) A Sign of Things To Come? . . . by Omar R. Quraishi . . . Watching PTV recently on a Sunday night, one happened to come across something quite extraordinary, perhaps a sign of things to come.

The jury rests, my Lord. Actually it is rolling all over the floor with laughter

veeresh sahib, sooner or later, you had to go on your expected tangent -- ``as an article there should have been some investigatives`` -- strange that being a freelance journalist you don`t seem to know the difference between an article that is investigative and an editorial -- i dont think this one is a ``direct translation`` from an urdu editorial -- urdu editorials do not tend to remind the military of their past indiscretions in their foreign policy and their support of jihadis -- your tangent by the way is your mention of the pak-india series -- i think if u were an editorial writer and mentioned that in an editorial that you were writing, your editor would probably look at you thinking you`ve gone mad -- no wonder you`re not a full time journalist -- certainly not an editorial writer -- and if u r either then i pity the indian press

Well, if it isn`t my old buddy Omar R Qureishi !!! The same guy who was proud of the headline in Dawn ``Freedom Fighters kill 7 in Wedding Party`` describing a bloody massacre of innocent people in J&K.

Well, Omar bhai, looks like freedom fighting has also taken root in your country! What a great moment for freedom. Mubaraken, Budhai, you must be very happy. Remember, that when there is a ``just cause`` no holds are barred. Anyone and everyone can be killed. Also, do not condemn the people carrying out the violence. Only someone who is greatly oppressed would carry out such desperate acts. Think of their pain and frustration, please.

I hope you plan to meet with them to understand the ``root cause``. Otherwise, you are behaving just like Ariel Sharon or Narendra Modi. I hope you will not dismiss this as a law and order problem and call for more vigilance and policing. If you do so, as indeed you have in your article, we will have to recognize you for what you truly are: a two faced hypocrite.

---

dear mishra bhai, you seem very good at twisting things -- would have expected that something like this would have brought the paki-bashers out, and it has, tch tch, quite unfortunate actually -- for the record, shri mishra i never said i was ``proud`` of such headlines -- first that headline never came in dawn, we use the word militant unless someone else calls them freedom fighters in which case the source is attributed -- in any case the pakistani media, just like its counterpart in india has certain policies -- Indian newspapers call the people fighting there `ghusbaithias` and the pakistani press, and probably many people, would disagree -- some might be infiltrators but what is happening there can`t happen with some significant level of domestic resentment -- obviously as a paki-bashing indian i wouldn`t expect you to believe that (you probably must be frothing at the mouth by the way) -- and also remember telling you that the English press calls them `militants` not freedom fighters -- obviously you have not heard of the saying that one`s man`s terrorist is another man`s freedom fighter -- as for meeting those who carried out the bombing, actually the editorial didnt say that the writer should meet them shri mishra but that the govt should try and understand the psychology of the bombers and try to pre-empt their acts -- as for their pain and suffering, i doubt it that the jihadis go through too much pain or suffering, esp when they are led to believe that suicide bombings are the surest and quickest way to going to heaven -- as for your personal slur, it reflects your low level of intellect so does not warrant a response -- jai ram shri pmishra ji

ferozk, actually in your opinion it is a childish distinction but for a professional journalist it is not, because an editorial and a report say different things, or at least in different ways -- when i submitted the editorial to chowk i wrote a note to the editors saying quite clearly that if they carry it should have no byline, because i am writing on behalf of the newspaper, it is the newspapers voice -- had my byline not gone, obviously i would not have to respond to comments on it, which i feel i have to now -- the reason i said i choose not to respond on this board is that the proper forum is if you send a letter the dawn`s editor saying whatever you have to say, and perhaps that can be carried -- that`s how its done everywhere ferozk -- the proper forum, at least for me to respond to such queries, would be the letters to the editor page of my newspaper -- and by the way if we get letters in response to our editorials we normally do not print any response from our (the newspaper`s side) -- i am amazed by the way that you choose to pontificate so much but find that a clarification on what constitutes an editorial and an article is `childish` -- and unfortunately like so many on this website, you are attributing things to me which i never said, i never implied, directly or otherwise, that the opinions were ``so sacrosanct`` that they could not be debated -- just that this isn`t the forum for me to respond -- as for dawn for being en elitist newspaper, anyone who converses or communicates in english in pakistan is by definition, then, not so low-brow and hence elitist -- in any case, its strange dont you think that the so-called elitist part of the media in the country has at least the guts to call a spade a spade, something which cant really be said for the media of the masses, the urdu press -- as for your personal insinuations as to my profession, seems you seem quite complexed feroz -- again, please read what i wrote earlier, or perhaps i should reiterate -- the fact that i said i was not a reporter and something else was for the sake of clarification -- and of course the qualification to be a writer in dawn is something not what you would understand, certainly not an `army mentality` -- clearly feroz you seem to have very ill-informed judgements -- you say the paper is elitist -- u say it has an army mentality -- you obviously do not bother reading our editorials on the role of the military -- i am not saying at all that you should do that, just that you should do that prior to making judgements about the paper -- and by the way how come i am the one trying to defend my profession here -- its a bit ridiculous -- come on feroz tell me what you do so i can also go ahead and impute all kinds of motives and make judgements on your person based on what kind of line of work you`re in-- you know its sad because if you re-read your post you will realize you have been as judgemental and illiberal and intolerant and presumptuous as you hold out others to be -- hahah our stated position in what the govt tells us to write -- if you infer that from the editorial above then i really have nothing to say -- i think, to borrow your allusion, the wool is over someone else`s eyes here

hahahha -- feroz sahib -- in my ilogs i do the same that so many other interactors do on this website -- they post what they have written about something, which is precisely what i do -- it just so happens that unlike many of the others who have ilogs, i write for a living, so it fits in quite well that i can reproduce what i wrote on my ilog -- if you have such a problem with my `narcissism` and with the content of my ilog then plz dont read them, i can do without readers like you in any case, who are quick to form judgments about people -- the hallmark, it seems, of many on this site, as i found out every day -- at least i dont go around telling you feroz that based on your ilogs you seem a bit full of yourself -- `i am part of the problem` and `i dont want to save pakistanis but my own family` -- oh plz, as if people really care feroz -- i dont know whats with people on this site, they have this tendency to go around belittling others -- people whom they have never met -- what i had expected was a rational response by people to the contents of this article -- what i have seen is mostly personal slurs and remarks against the writer or the newspaper which carried -- so much for maturity, wouldnt you say feroz sahib
``ciao``

THIS IS WHAT HELLBOUND WROTE: ``The editors have no choice but to follow the official line that is why you must have seen Nilofaur Bakhtiyar at TFT for the last few issues. The blue blood happens to be the case there. At Dawn, while a lot of freedom is accorded to the Assistant Editors like Omar, but the fact remains that Omar is a lackey like anyone else working for TFT or Daily Times`` -- Editors at Chowk -- can i ask you how do you let the last phrase go through? do you guys have ANY kind of editorial policy here (my time to ask this question, hehehe)

hellbound my friend, all i can say is that i am no one`s lackey -- jesus, the insinuations people make -- and TFT is quite different from other papers -- in case you havent noticed hellbound, they never make a direct attack on mush or the military -- its all quite round about -- hellbound, for your and other info -- when i WAS a reporter at some time ago, i received a call by a gentleman claiming to be great friends with the haroons (the owners) and he said that he wanted coverage of an event -- it was a commercial promotion, something we normally dont do and i told him that he was welcome to call the haroons and ask them for coverage -- i said that knowing that my editor would back me up and he did -- and the event wasnt covered, because it didnt merit any coverage -- so hellbound man chill a bit and go easy on this personal namecalling plz

ferozk sahib, now that i suppose i know (from your ilog) that you`re a teacher at aitchison, and eat haagen dazs and have cigars i suppose i should also now call you extremely elitist -- but u know what i wont -- i know the phrase live and let live and i know i should not judge people on what they eat and what they do for a living

Killing in pakistani law and jihad,

One of the factors that even the learned Omjar refuse to touch up on is the legal aspect of killings in pakistan. Murder is a tort, it is not the state that prosecutes, murder is not a crime against the state. The only crime against the state is blasphemy.
Take the case of samia sarwar honour killing. She was killed by her parents because she wantsed a divorce. No one complained about her death, there was no complaint to the police, no crime was committed, no case was resgistered.
The same is happening all through pakistan. The shia docor killings, nop one got arrested no prosecution because no one will dare to complain to the police. I know of a pakistani, his relative was killed by a major in the army, he went to report the mureder, and the police will not register a case.

Jihad has permeated the pak society, private prisons, private killings and private heavens for the jihaddis.

The interestins aspect is that the events in pakistan hits the world headlines. At last pakistan has become an important country, that is where osama lives, that is there the bomb salesman lives, that is the production base for jihadis. It is really a burden to be a pakistani in foreign land, a little worse than being in pakistan.

Carnage in Karachi



The bombing incident that occurred at the Hyderi Mosque in Karachi on Friday was heart-rendering. What was most surprising was that almost every private TV channel gave exclusive coverage to the incident, but our state-owned channel PTV didn`t even bother to give its details.

One really wonders what policy PTV follows. Being the state-owned channel, it is the responsibility of the PTV authorities to make sure that such incidents are given proper coverage so that the masses could get timely information.

/////

Truth in pak TV. Here is another aspect of k for kafir media. PTV transmits endless kashmir discussions, then of course there Omar of dawn talking about the revolutionary changes at PTV and becoming almost indoo lover. Omar what is needed for pak TV and newpapers like yours is to ask a few question about the motives of your actions. Day in and day out why should dawn give details of killings in the ummah by infidels awile like PTV ignoring the killings with in pakistan and how it is linked to jihadic traing by the army.

Our sympathies are with the victims and their families. A dead man or woman has no religion or nationality.


re - satyamvada # 32

Tahmed was being sarcastic, I thought!


re - by pmishra2 #31

`Two-faced hypocrite` is so apt for people who write about `freedom-fighters` without the least bit of compunction.

Ferozk,

Foundations of karachi killings

It is interesting to see that you are ready to assume responsibility for pak society. Here is a small task for you, to make a beginning. Try to talk to your family and friends about the animal sacrifice that take place in apk backyards. Tell them that it desensitises the pak society to killings and probaly is the foundation of karachi killings.

Some times I find it amusing that the tahmed, the YLHs and the other so called westernised educated pakistanis do not talk about the increase in animal killings in the backyards. May be there is a new education system in pakistan, k for killings.

satyamvada #32 Please re-read what I have written. This putdown of teachers was in fact made by another poster (hellbound) and in my post I was protesting against it in a sarcastic manner.

As an editorial, this one sounds a bit like a direct transalation from an Urdu original. The last line, especially, sounds like a hukumat telling everybody to act with restraint. Done in a hurry with no new editorial inputs or comments.

As an article, one could have expected some investigatives. Like, for example, how did Pakistan manage to carry off the India-Pakistan cricket series without even a minor incident?

Again, old Punjabi saying, ``jidde ghar daane, ouday kamale vee syaane``, means,

``those who have at home plenty of grains,
are also supposed to possess much brains``

There is, IMHO, a basic lack of a route for aspiration towards a variety of better things for much of the population of Pakistan.

What does this have to do with explosions and violence?

Well, that`s the last bit - for anybody who thinks that religious, communal or other forms of ideological violence are anything but commerce for the perpetuators, then I think that person needs to wear shalwat kameez and go walk about in his country.

Think about it, how much do you think people would charge for the following acts in your district wherever on the sub-Continent?

a) Threatening to or breaking a limb or 4.
b) Threatening to or raping a young girl.
c) Threatening to or throwing acid.
d) Threatening to or getting locked up for a few days by the cops.
e) Threatening to or killing.
f) Threatening to or eradication en masse?

It is mathematics, I am sorry. The quantities differ. Large armies under great flags can pay mercenaries millions of dollars. Smaller business enterprises pay lesser. The issue is only of scale.

And that simple fact I find nowhere in Pakistani reportage on the subject. And that, therefore, is the Big Lie of Pakistani media, everything is concerted into alleged ideology versus other ideology.

For God`s sake, even editorials are written for money, not ideology, so why should murders be assumed to have been committed for anything else?

Taimur:

Very appropriate write-up! Good one!

Thanks for sharing.

Regards.

Well, if it isn`t my old buddy Omar R Qureishi !!! The same guy who was proud of the headline in Dawn ``Freedom Fighters kill 7 in Wedding Party`` describing a bloody massacre of innocent people in J&K.

Well, Omar bhai, looks like freedom fighting has also taken root in your country! What a great moment for freedom. Mubaraken, Budhai, you must be very happy. Remember, that when there is a ``just cause`` no holds are barred. Anyone and everyone can be killed. Also, do not condemn the people carrying out the violence. Only someone who is greatly oppressed would carry out such desperate acts. Think of their pain and frustration, please.

I hope you plan to meet with them to understand the ``root cause``. Otherwise, you are behaving just like Ariel Sharon or Narendra Modi. I hope you will not dismiss this as a law and order problem and call for more vigilance and policing. If you do so, as indeed you have in your article, we will have to recognize you for what you truly are: a two faced hypocrite.