Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? kaal,

Thanks for explaining things in such a clear way. Please take it on from here.

Moharuddin bhaijan,

"because they do NOT demand merger of church or temmple and state."

I wonder why not!

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #397 Posted by dost_mittar

d_m sahib,

" ...he is questioning their....". Sir, "questioning" ka sawal hi peyda nehin hota. We know, and hence are sure, that the "katwas" are actually (i.e. and'r and'r se) pure Pakistanis.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? d_m sahib,

"they deny the existence of non-hindus in the country"

In a quantitative sense they are right, aren't they? I mean "most" non-hindus in India are Pakistanis anyways.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? d_m sahib,

There we go. Everything is now clarified:

"Dharmic panths are secular by design. Abrahmic religions are imperialists by design."

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? d_m sahib,

"India is a secular country but it does not mean that most Indians are secular."

But sir, if most of the citizens are not secular how much comfort (apart from bragging rights) can we derive from the claim that the country is secular? Furthermore, at a general level (and I am not talking about tahmed ji here) it is OK for Pakistanis to call Indians "Hindus", for most Indian Hindus call Indian Muslims "Pakistanis". OK, this is getting a bit confusing for me here. Maybe Kaal or Sadna can sort out matters from here on.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #386 Posted by mohar11:

Moharuddin mian,

How are you doing today? I find it very difficult to say this, but yes, you are right when you say that "India will always be a hindoo nation" (though I am not very sure about the "always" bit). It is also true that most Indians identify with their caste/religion first and then with their nation (and that only when they know that they have one). I see nothing wrong with this for both are basically tribal identities. Also all these "tribes" hate and look down upon each other (even if this is physically impossible, you get my drift).

I simply hope that instead of the "same same" mantra people realize and respect (or are forced to respect) their boundaries. Furthermore, I hope that each jati/sect/whatever is able to garner enough political and social power such that it is able to protect itself from others and what we call a 'state'.

Rest, who cares.

Regards.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? Hamid:

I just had an "eureka" moment. You know this problem that we South Asians have - treating public spaces as private. You have this trademark example of peeing in public. I always felt jealous that I did not have one such example of my own. Then suddenly I had it! Here in chowk, can you believe it?

How about:

"Openly peeing in chowk"

(I know it is not as original as yours, but then I do not mind settling for the second-best).

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #302 Posted by tahmed32:

tahmed sahib,

Yes. Pakistan now has a democratic govt. This govt. can now increase the credibility of the legal system by referring the problem to the courts (this could be more effective than simply restoring the CJ). A democratic govt. and a functioning legal system are simple devises of conflict resolution within a country. These devices are worth protecting at all costs ... and Pakistanis will do so.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #287 Posted by hamidm2:

Hamid:

".... i just noticed you using the ultimate insults aginst me ...".

Yes, I know :)

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #296 Posted by chaltahai:

" GT, you mean something like GITMO no?"

If Pakistani courts decide so.

"..they can be put far far away so that their death cult mentaility doesn't corrupt beautiful paki minds..."

I agree that this should be done. Unlike us, letting Modi and group run around foaming.

"But that would mean, you will have to get them."

Yes. Let the govt. propose how and let the courts decide. All in the open. Unlike Bush subverting his legal system and housing guys in Gitmo. If this takes time and the govt. needs to deal with the situation urgently then: (a) initiate talks; and/or (b) go about with procedures which are presently legal.

"...who has a history of surrendering is well...the pakistani army.."

OK then, what about the police? Seriously!

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #290 Posted by chaltahai:

Chalta,

"Hellfires in NWFP ....". Seriously, does it make you feel happy? Or, do you think it works? If not, then please do refrain from "sounding" happy about it and repeating it again and again. This is just a request boss.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #284 Posted by chaltahai:

These are not high-browed methods, these are the only methods for an entity called a "country" to be taken seriously and to be civilized. If the US does not like it, so be it. The govt. of Pakistan should stand up (create international noise). Pakistan will be supported by at least China and Russia and according to me even by India. This entire non-sense of bombing parts of Pakistan is neither here nor there. They only increase the chatter of some Indians, here in Chowk.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? Dear tahmed,

I would have addressed this to Hamid as well, but he is no better than the Indians here going "Paki, paki ... bomb, bomb". More about him later, but first let us get back to simple and clear facts.

A civilized democratic government of a country does not have to FIGHT with its citizens ar groups of citizens. India does, but then I never claimed that India is civilized. You and I can agree/disagree whether a suicide bomber is a criminal and his group is a criminal group. And I concede that it is the duty of a state to go against criminals. However, the courts should ultimately decide whether an individual or a group is criminal or not. I would not agree with HP here that tribals per se are criminals. But that is a more civilized debate. Bombing areas, or allowing others to bomb areas is Pakistan, should be an absolute NO NO. We should stop talking about a WAR on terror. Let Bush talk about it and even he is being marginalized by the US electorate.

The present government did indeed say it is a FIGHT (not a war). Hopefully, they meant it like a fight against poverty, hunger, lawnessness etc. For this FIGHT, the govt. should:
EITHER: (i) initiate talks within the parameters set by the Pakistani constitution; OR (ii) build cases against individuals/groups and get serious about "arresting" them along guidelines set by the courts (such guidelines can be sought within two months say). Let the "methods" for "arrests" be legally determined. Not by you, hamid or zeemax. There are no ther ways. And this is all very simple.

As far as Hamid is concerned .... he is either a Hindian or an islamofascist.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? The spike in food prices, in Pakistan, started around Oct/Nov last year. It is not clear as to why this spike came about. Therefore, formulating a policy to tackle it is difficult. I would like to be a bit of an optimist here and propose the following thesis.

Around a year and a half back (???) the govt. overestimated the GROWTH of wheat, sugarcane etc. Expecting a fall in inflation, private distributors stored (hoarded if you may) more than what was necessary. Usually such co-ordination in storage is difficult. But the announcements induced this simultaneous co-ordination. Now, given this spike in prices, it is in the incentive of each distributor to let out what has been stored SLOWLY.

If what I hypothesize above is true, then an "annoncement" to import wheat may bring out the stored goods and thus end the spike. In fact, so much so that there is no need to import. However, the 'announcement" has to be credible and it is here that there is a small problem. Global prices (including transportation costs) are high and the one time lump sum subsidy announced by the Saudis (for oil) is not enough to slacken budgetary pressures. Furthermore, India also is facing inflation driven by agri. prices so importing from India (at a lower transportation cost) may not be feasible. These constraints on feasibility may lessen the "credibility" of a govt. import policy. Thereby not improving supplies.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, the govt. should go ahead and announce that it will import "food". Hopefully, it will increase local supplies and the policy need not be carried through.

In my opinion the smuggling of wheat and sugar into Afghanistan is not very big. And it cannot be stopped in the short run.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #143 Posted by hamidm2:

".. gilani is 'fair' and tall which automatically gives him 50+20 points on the rishta.com scale .."

There you go again. Arre bhai, the hair! The HAIR? It takes everything away. Have you seen Laloo's hair cut? Now there you have style.

Surviving Musharraf\'s Exit? #131 Posted by hamidm2:

"... just compare our pm gilani and his cabinet to yours ...". Are you nuts? Gilani looks like a constipated version of Mulayam Singh.