Touch Funny Family Story:

Many years ago, my father brought home a goat before eid. Hanging around the house, the goat soon made friends with my sister, my two cousins and I. We were all between 4 and 8. Many a happy afternoon was spent with the goat.

On eid, at dinner, a goat was served with saffron and rice - a real feast. It took cousin Nuni (4 at the time) about a minute to relate goat-on-table to the goat-our-friend.

Nuni is now twenty and at college. She doesn`t eat meat. Never has. There are no sacrificial goats in our house.

End story.

Rafay

We The Proud Pakistanis Re ylh # 38

You have gotten your history a little mixed up on the Cowasjee/Bhutto friendship.

If I am not mistaken, Ardeshir Cowasjee was introduced to Bhutto in 1953. At that time, Bhutto was still a practicing lawyer, and was working for the firm that represented the Cowasjee shipping interests. As Cowasjee explains it, Bhutto made it clear in the first few minutes of conversation, that he wanted to be the Foriegn Minister of Pakistan. A friendship was forged.

The falling out has little to do with the the nationalisation of the shipping industry. Cowasjee`s wife, Nancy, now, sadly not with us, was good friends with Ayub Khan`s daughter. When Bhutto threw wife Nusrat out of his house (she was complaining about his filandering), Nusrat went to Nancy and asked to be taken to Ayub Khan. When Ayub found out what had happened, he called Bhutto the next day and gave him the following ultimatum: Take Nusrat back or I`ll find another Foreign Minister. (This is all recollection from Stanley Wolpert`s Zulfie Bhutto of Pakistan). My reading of it was that Bhutto never forgave Cowasjee for ``betraying`` him to Ayub.

However, Cowasjee disagrees. He says that Bhutto and he remained on cordial relations until the mid-seventies, when Bhutto had Cowasjee imprisoned for 75 days without charge under the infamous Maintenance of Public Order Act. To this day, Cowasjee doesn`t know why he was incarcerated, but he thinks it may have been becuase of some comment he passed at a social gathering.

Now, ylh, I admire your enthusiasm, but blind devotion is not productive: It leads to a situation where you cannot question and challenge authority. I too am a great admirer of Bhutto`s, and the only reason I joined Lincoln`s Inn was because Jinnah ate there. However, I have also learned the defiencies of these great men: It makes them rounder and more believable and, I think, it teaches me not to make the same mistakes they did.

Rafay

We The Proud Pakistanis Re Jay #25 Eradicating karo kari

Jay, Karo Kari is, I believe a Sindhi word for the practice of honour killing. That is, killing women, or men, who have in some way dishonoured the tribe. The practice is primative, with village elders sentencing victims to death based on heresay and rumours. Another one of those things that Pakistan can best do without.

Rafay

We The Proud Pakistanis I agree with you Tariq Aqil: We have reason to be proud of being Pakistani. However, I believe that the measure of any civilisation is its lowest common denominator: Pakistan does have its villians, as it has its heros. But, it seem that it us the villians that, sadly, define us as a civilisation.

And, ylh: No, Cowasjee is not an industrialist, never was. He was a shipowner - that is, until Bhutto nationalised his ships one night. Nonetheless, do not underestimate his contributions to Pakistan. He is far more intelligent that you think he is. He is, also, a philanthrophist. His regular contributions to schools, institutions, and people bely your claims.

Rafay Alam

Unsettling Rain Manail,

As usual, brilliant stuff.

Rafay

Eqbal Ahmad: Post - Pokhran Days Has sanity taken a vaction from Chowk?

Some of these replies are quite virulent and play the usual Pakistan = Islam; India = Hindu argument. But I would like some of you guys to have a look at the rather unsettling venom being splashed about on the Chowk Forum.

Rafay

Mecca or Mohenjodaro? Fuzair #51:

You aremy hero. Well said. Frankly, I`d rather be a Pakistani with a Moenjodaro connection than an Arab :)

Rafay

Passive Smoking - Time to say NO! Found this letter to the editor in the DAWN today (30/4/00):

Cigarette ads and police

A Pakistani tobacco company has found a novel way to promote its products. The signboards which are meant to draw attention to the new emergency telephone number (15) instead highlight in conspicuous red a cigarette brand.

Now that the hot season is here, the policeman has been provided by the company a nice foldable umbrella which has, again in bright red, the name of another tobacco brand splashed across it for all the motorists to see. One wonders if the company also provides low-priced cigarettes for the policemen, thereby adding nicotine to the ever present lead that the policemen have to inhale on roads because of smoke emitted by vehicles.

Q. ISA DAUDPOTA

Islamabad

---end quote:

Q. Isa saab is right: There is absolutely no laws regulating the sale or promotion of ciggarettes in Pakistan. The industry runs rampant. A few years ago, the voice of some sanity, the Pakistan Chest Foundation, issued two writs against the Government to do something on the matter. The first was quashed, but the second (1997 CLC 1379) succeeded: The Lahore High Court passed an order banning the Pakistan Broadcasting Company (and, in thoery, any government institution) from advertising any ciggarette related commercial. However, since I have not been in Pakistan since then, I do not know whether the order was enforced or not. Whether it was or not is, however, a moot point since - as Q. Isa illustrates above - ciggarette companies will find other ways of advertising. Parenthetically, I should point out the the Police, and by extension the Government, are in violation of the High Court order by allowing cigarette advertising on official hoardings.

On another note, I must point out that I have just started smoking. It`s not something I`m proud of and, hopefully, I`ll kick the habit before it gets any worse. I do realise, though, that my permissive attitude towards smoking should not be in the way of a coherent policy working to ban the sale of ciggrettes in Pakistan. I think that other people who smoke should try and reduce the knee-jerk ``anti-smoking Nazi`` response to this article and try to realise that smoking leads to cancer and that tobacco companies in Pakistan are manipulating consumers. Of course, I do see the obvious hipocrisy of my words and actions, but I resign myself to the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: ``Lord, give me chastity, but not yet.``

Rafay Alam

To Western Women In Re: ylh #139

You said:

``Hijab is really not a big thing in Pakistan ....

it is not enforced and women dont wear it usually``



Tell that to the women in Pakistani villages who are forced to remain indoors to protect the ``honour`` of thier men. Alternatively, go up to the Frontier and see for yourself.

You also said:

``Hindus please keep out of this discussion!!! cuz if you dont I will be forced to take up certain issues which might be very distasteful to the the hindu Community .......``

Please read my reply #64 in Pervez Hoodbhoy`s article on education in Pakistan. Why must you lose whatever moral authority you do have - which, by the way, is rapidly diminishing - by asserting your arguments with nothing but virulence and threats. Previous examples include (post #103):``I dont know what Zulfikar Ali Bhutto did to Fuzair`s ... ahem... amma... because it really puts something ... up ahem ... Fuzair`s rear side!``; and (posts #103 and 104): ``[D]ont start with the personal insults cuz I am lahori and the personal insults I can come up with are beyond your wildest dreams or your worse nightmares`` Charming, really, but no way to carry on any form of discussion, unless, of course, you are dealing with cloth traders (no offence) in Shah-Alam Market.

Take care,

Rafay

To Western Women On a slightly different note:

I can`t seem to remember where, but I have read an article somewhere (by some gora) narating his early life in the Gulf (his father worked for an oil company). The jist of the piece was that he spent his foramative years in the company of women who would dress, from head to toe, in a ``black shawl``. Apparently it completely brainwashed the gora. He can`t stand bikinis or any other flash-baring clothes. For him, the ultimate turn-on is a fully clothed woman with an ankle showing! He claims he would spend hours fantasising about what went underneath burqas.

There are over 130 million people in Pakistan, half of whom are male. Imagine how they spend their afternoons?

Rafay

Resignation Notwithstanding who wrote this piece, it was brilliant.

I`ve been busting my butt for 6 years now and would appreciate nothing more than to hand in my watch and wallet and dissapear into the hills to become a breadmaker, amazing the locals with my uncanny knowledge of commercial law.

Rafay

To Western Women In re: SR, reply #55:

Sir, my hat off to you. Well said and well put. Let the `Quran thumpers` reply to that.

R.

To Western Women One word for jay #12: misogynist.

I can`t agree with anyone who belives 1) Women serve a role that ``comliments`` men; and 2) That a woman`s quest for equality is nothing more than some thinly veiled attampt at becoming a man.

A woman should be free to wear what she likes, when she like and how she likes. If that arouses passion in the hearts (loins?) of men, then I submit it is the men who need to re-appraise thier view on women. Just becuase a woman wears jeans doesn`t 1) mean she`s morally loose, or 2) she`s trying to be a man. It`s the men who see a woman as nothing more as an object of lust and desire who fantasize, and then order thier wives and sisters to cover up lest some other pervert think the same things.

Rafay

To Western Women I agree with Beena #1: Doesn`t Chowk have anything better to throw at us. If this goes on, you`re gonna force one of us to write something reasonable :)

Onwards to the poem. So, wearing a low cut dress is part of the ``male agenda``. I see. So Western women wear what men want them to wear. Makes them no different to her Muslim counterpart: Women in Pakistan (for example) are often forced to wear hijab because - and catch this - the sight of women may arouse un-Islamic thoughts in a man. If the hijab isn`t part of the fundo-male agenda, then I guess I`m the Pope.

And on another note: There is nothing licentious (or more vile) than watching a 200lb woman in fish-net stockings. I can assure everone that THAT is not on ANY man`s agenda.

Wear what you want to jazba99, go naked if you want. Just don`t force us to agree with why you are wearing it.

Rafay

What are they Teaching in Pakistani Schools Today? Many moons ago, one of Pakistan`s great (but forgotten) historians, K.K. Aziz, published ``The Murder of History``. He details the historical innacuracies set out in EVERY text-book issued to students from class 5 and up through Intermediate. His work(s) is/are chilling reminders of what the educational authorities are putting into the minds of young Pakistanis.

On a somewhat diferent note: What scares me about the content of education in Pakistan is its obvious Islamic tilt. The land called India was invaded by Mohammad-bin-Qasim, who sought to free women and children captured in a boat siezed by the evil Hinu Raja Dahir (this is from memory of what my Pak-Studies book taught me). Then skip a bit to the Delhi Sultanate etc.. Then skip to Babur, the founder of the Muslim Mogul empire. Skip all the other Moguls (especially Akbar) except Aurengzeb, who was pious and sewed his own hats. Then skip to the Battle of Plassy, where the cunning English with the help of the duplicitous Mir Jafar defeated a ``superior`` army (they didn`t cover thier gunpowder during a rainstorm) and established themselves in the sub-continent. Onwards then to 1857, or The War of Independance, if it can be called that. And on, and on, and on.

Point is, young Pakistani`s come out of this system with the wierd belief that Pakitsan = Islam and India = Hinduism (Rememeber ``Pakistan ka matlab kya, La Illa ha Ill Allah. Hindustan ka matlab kya, gutter mein phenko hum ko kya). Moreover, becuase our textbooks don`t deal with any of our historical or national tragedies (1946, 1947, 1971), students tend to think that Pakistan, and specifically the Pakistani army, is undefeatable (one Pakistani soldier is equal to ten Indian soldiers etc.).

What can you expect from people who really believe that they are god`s gift? I applaud Mr. Hoodbhoy`s article and his attempt to `eduacte` us on this problem of our educational system.

Rafay Alam

Lahore Diaries V: Twilight in Lahore Sine the talk is so focused on kite flying:

The Pakistani courts have also seen the odd writ petition or two trying to stop ``Basant festivites``. I forget the names of the cases, but if anyone wants to know, just post a letter here and I`ll look them up.

Anyway, the learned judge said something interesting. He said he was in no position to ban Basant as ``it was wedded to the soil`` of Lahore.

`nuff said.

Rafay