Thank you all for your responses.
Rarediamonds & Gold: I agree, its unfortunate that we have to divide ourselves and even more unfortunate when those divisions incite violence and persecution. In terms of Indian Muslims being patriotic, I know many who are patriotic. I also suggest you don’t insult others beliefs, its not necessary, reflects poorly on yourself and will only result in them insulting your beliefs.
Queer: Its very difficult for some Pakistanis’ to appreciate the fact that Indian Muslims can be patriotic. With India and Pakistan at war, it’s a slap in Pakistani Muslim’s face to think that people that share their religion would side with their nation and a Hindu-dominated nation at that, over fellow Muslims. And no its not my real picture, its Che Guevara, as pointed out by ZZ
http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smile.gif
Outlaw: Thanks for your help. I will check the recent editions of Dawn and check the IRB website. I’ve read over some web-sites (nothing reputable) that mention that Musharaf might be anti-Shia. To be honest with you, I think the particular case I’m looking at doesn’t have much merit. I know many Shia’s who are living in Pakistan and practicing their religion with no harm. This will sound a bit odd, but sometimes when I read over these cases and I know the person is embellishing their story, I don’t really care, I still hope they are granted asylum. But IRB isn’t so naïve to believe everyone. For all I know, this guy might not even be Shia.
Rani wrote “queer is merely pointing the discrepancy of Achtung’s behavior and his self serving talk.” He is? I don’t think so Rani, read the ENTIRE post next time. As for the rest of your post, the concept of citizenship today is being challenged on various fronts. For Muslims being a citizen is overridden by their religious convictions. So it would make sense for a practicing Muslim living abroad to pledge allegiance to Allah over their flag. So Muslims in Russia might side with their brethren in Chechyna over their Russian state. The same, you might think is true for Muslims in India. But I think there is no doubting the fact that Indian Muslims are in fact patriotic. I think their patriotism exists for several reason, the major one being, in order to justify their parents or grandparents decision to remain in India, rather than move to Pakistan. Pledging allegiance to India, and justifying that allegiance by pointing out the limitations of Pakistan (as a poor example of an Islamic state) reinforces their belief that their parents made the right decision in choosing to remain in India.
Mr Xtreme: Thanks for your comments, I hope that the situation improves in Pakistan also. You would hope that the military will bring increased security for all groups in Pakistan.
ZZ: Yes it is Che. I couldn’t find a picture of Mulla Omar small enough to use as an icon
http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/wink.gif
Eva1921: When Russia entered Afghanistan, Pakistan had a responsibility to take in the refugee population. Since the beginning of the war, 50 percent of Afghanistan’s villages have been destroyed, approximately 1.5 million people killed, some 20 percent of women widowed, up to 500,000 children orphaned and over two million disabled. A staggering one third of the population have been uprooted from their homes, becoming refugees. As many as 2 million children have died over the years in the fighting, or from malnutrition or disease brought on by the conflict. General Zia commented during the war that Pakistan would take in ALL Afghanis if it had to. Not doing so would be catastrophic - I think we can all imagine the genocide, similar to that in Chechyna, at the hands of the Russian troops. The war did bring with it, a flood of arms into the region and drugs to pay for those arms. I don’t think we can blame Afghanis solely for this, after all, the war was fought by two superpowers. And unfortunately, Russia is threatening Afghanistan’s borders once again.
Dehatan: Thanks for your comments and diffusing tensions.
Ullu: I found your comments the most valuable, thanks.
Achtung