Sindh conference in Washington D.C. excerpts

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

Since Government of Pakistan takes no interest in the plight of Sindhis, maybe ordinary Pakistanis will. It is the duty of all patriotic and progressive Pakistanis to fight this unjust military government and demand the equal rights for their Sindhi brothers. Anything less is tantamount to accepting the third class status of Sindhis in Pakistan. I welcome Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy’s initiative in this regrad.

This is a long message, but I consider it important enough to post all of it.

WSI CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON DC HIGHLIGHTS BRUTALITIES OF PRESENT MILITARY
DICTATORSHIP IN PAKISTAN AND INJUSTICES TO INDIGENOUS SINDHIS

The fifth annual international conference organized by the World Sindhi
Institute (WSI) was successfully held in Washington DC on Friday, October 1,
2004. The venue of the conference was the prestigious Morris and Gwendolyn
Cafritz Foundation conference center at the George Washington University. Many
Sindhi Americans, intellectuals, academicians, guests, panelists, and speakers
attended it from USA, Sindh, United Kingdom, and other countries. The main
highlights of the conference included statement from Benazir Bhutto delivered by
audio, keynote address by Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy and presentations by Rasool Bux
Palejo, Nisar Khuoro, Syed Naveed Qamar, Attiya Dawood, Haider Nizamani, and
Selig Harrison. The evening program was enriched by rendering of beautiful
melodies from Shah Latif, Ayaz and other Sufi poets of Sindh by none other the
Sindhi diva Rubeena Qureshi.

Just as the core power center area of Washington DC became crowded with
exceptionally high number of cars and pedestrians, particularly due to closing
of several streets surrounding areas to avoid spill over of demonstrators
protesting the quarterly summit of the Work Bank, so was the MGC conference
center at the George Washington University. The conference started with welcome
address by Zahid Makhdoom, President of the World Sindhi Institute. This was
followed by the reading of a message from ENI F. H. FALEOMAVAEGA, Member of the
US Congress and it’s committee on International Relations.

CONGRESSMAN FALEOMAVAEGA

In his message CONGRESSMAN FALEOMAVAEGA wrote, “. the current situation in Sindh
demands international attention. Human rights abuses take place on a daily
basis. The region suffers from rampant unemployment, poverty, drought.”. He
added that the WSI conference was a testament to the militarization of civil
society in Pakistan, and the lack of free and fair political representation as a
whole. In the conclusion of his message, he wrote, “These conditions cannot
persist. The international community must act now to improve these conditions,
not only in Sindh, but throughout the developing world. As the Ranking Member of
the Internal Relations Subcommittee on Asia and Pacific, I urge you to push
forward for human rights, and continue working with international leaders and
elected officials such as myself to press for change. Together, we can face
these challenges”.

FIRST SESSION - “DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS”

The first session of the program that focused on the “Democracy and Human
Rights” theme was moderated by Dr. JOHN SALZBERG, who is Washington DC
representative for the Center of Victims of Torture. Working on a bipartisan
basis with both Republicans and Democrats, Dr. Salzberg assisted members of US
congress in developing and enacting legislation in support of the victims of
torture.

Dr. NIRANJAN DUDANI

The first session started with the paper from Dr. Niranjan Dudani. Emma
Reinhardt read the paper, as Dr. Dudani could not attend the conference in
person. Dr. NIRANJAN DUDANI, born in Sindh, is a practicing Allergist in the
United States. He has been very active in promoting and preserving "Sindhiyat "
(the essence of Sindhi culture and identity that signifies the Sufi philosophy
of simplicity and love for all). He is among the founders of the Sindhi
Association of North America (SANA) and as well as the Sindhi Association of New
England. He has written several books in Sindhi including novels and organized
several international Sindhi Sammelans with a view to promote understanding and
awareness of Sindhi identity through language and cultural activities. His paper
focused on the tyrannical treatment of Hindu minority population that
predominantly live in Sindh at the hands of the present government and its
cronies. Tracing the history of migration of millions of Hindu Sindhis after the
partition of British India into India and Pakistan, he stated that Sindhi
Muslims and Sindhis have always lived in peace, celebrating and promoting common
language and common culture while respecting each other’s faiths, creating the
philosophy of “SINDHIAT”. Describing the grief of Hindus in Sindh, who
constitute about 5% of the province’s population, he sited many examples of
harassment and imprisonment of innocent Hindus at the hands of the successive
brutal military regimes. He decried that whenever, the un-elected illegitimate
rulers want to divide Sindhis, and they unleash cruelties on Hindu Sindhis in
order to instigate religious differences.

Ms. ATTIYA DAWOOD

Focusing on the plight of women in Pakistan in general and Sindhi women in
particular, Ms. Attiya made a very impressive presentation with a slide show
that depicted photographs showing the brutalities that have been showered on
Pakistan’s women, whenever they have tried to fight for their rights. Ms. ATTIYA
DAWOOD is a celebrated Sindhi poetess and an avid supported of women’s rights in
Pakistan. She co-founded with another great Sindhi writer Amar Sindhi, the
“Aurant Azad” (WOMEN FREEDOM) organization that is dedicated to improving lives
of Sindhi women and promoting their rights. She is a working committee member of
Women’s Action Forum, one of the largest organization of Pakistani women that
fights for women’s rights through courts and other judicial forums. Ms. Dawood’s
made her presentation in the Sindhi language with a translator repeating here
comments in English. Her presentation was divided in four parts on the lines of
the four military dictatorial regimes that have brought Pakistan to the brink of
failure. These regimes included the tyrannical reign of General Ayoob, the
defeated rule of General Yayah, the brutal, most repressive and despised regime
of General Zia, and the cunning and yet equally repressive dictatorship of
General Musharraf. Using photographs that offered proofs of brutalities
inflicted by police and military forces on women, she described the types of
legal and illegal repression that was melted out to women of Pakistan. Her main
criticism centered on General Zia’s introduction of Hudood ordinance (the
infamous set laws that put severe limits on the rights of Pakistani women). She
gave several specific examples of how individual women that were subjected to
severe punishment and brutality at the hands of the government apparatus. While
describing the struggle of Sindhi women, she tribute to Shahnaz Rahoo, Akhtar
Palejo, and Razia Memon.

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RASOOL BUX PALEJO

This great thinker, politician and leader of Sindh has been in the forefront of
Sindhi struggle to protect and preserve the "water rights" of Sindh. These
rights are under the constant threat and attack from the military and other
repressive regimes. He is the President of political party called Awami Tahreek
is a grass root organization. He has both initiated and nourished other grass
roots organizations to fight for the rights of women, poor and religious
minorities. Considered by many as one of the outstanding thinkers, his legendary
knowledge of World history and the epic poetry of Shah Abdul Latif. He often
mesmerizes his audience by connecting inferences from the poetry of Shah Abdul
Latif to the past, present, and future happenings that have been faced by the
great of Sindh. He started his brief presentation by stating that the problems
of Pakistan are also the problems of Asia and Muslim world. He said the primary
impetus for the militarization of Pakistan has come from two underlying historic
facts. The first has to do with the desire of Muslims to once again become
predominant and conquerors in the footsteps of the accomplishments of great
military leaders of early Islamic times. The same is true of Christian, Hindu,
and Jewish people. The second factor consists of colonialism, particularly the
British colonialism that practiced policies that Muslim intentionally backward
and only rewarded those Muslims who fought their wars. Talking about the impact
of these policies on Sindh, he cited the British action of amalgamating Muslim
dominated Sindh with Hindu dominated Bombay. This severely impacted the ability
of Muslim Sindhi, who primarily lived in small towns and rural areas to travel
hundreds of miles away for college education. This forced Muslims of Sindh to
attend "Mulla" schools. Although the Sindhi Muslims were able to withstand this
discrimination due to their natural tolerance for diverse religions, other
Muslim areas had a tremendous influence in infusing extremism. The present day
colonialism too has promoted religious extremism when has served their
interests. The same Mullas, who were supported by the United States and called
"Ghazis" when they were fighting Russian hegemony in Afghanistan, became
Talibans and extremists. In fact, the issue of terrorism has been created by the
Western world and unfortunately the wings of terrorism has engulfed the Sufis of
Sindh as well. Pakistan was never meant to be a country of religious
intolerance. The first statement by Mohammad Ali Jinnah, founder of Pakistan,
gave after the birth of Pakistan that people who lived in Pakistan were no
longer Hindus, Muslims, or Christians - all were equal in eyes of law. The same
people, who killed him and his sister, became the perpetual rulers. He added any
time a world power such as the USA, pats the shoulder of a dictator, the
dictator unleashes a new round of steps that further reduce freedoms - the same
phenomenon is happening again. Thousands of people are dying in Sindh daily, but
the censorship in Pakistan is such that their plight remains hidden from rest of
the world. If we raise little more voice, the rulers say Sindhis are not
competent and bring more rangers to control masses. Commenting on why Sindhis
are not in the Pakistan military. He said they are intentionally being kept
away. Mr. Palejo added that once when General Hamid Gul repeated the same
statement, he challenged him to give him a commitment as to how many Sindhis
they want and he will ensure that many more Sindhis would apply. In another
example, he said that once he was given a large list containing the names of
those officers whose domicile was from Sindh. When he asked the authorities to
tell him how many of these officers had parents who spoke Sindhis, the military
generals were taken back and replied that they don't have such records.
Commenting what overseas Sindhis can do to help for Sindhis. He replied in that
back in late sixties and seventies, Sindhi intellectuals and writers played the
role of "monitors" on the activities of Sindhi groups and political parties no
ensure that none of them betrayed Sindh. As once mighty and united front of
intellectuals and writers no longer speakers one voice, overseas Sindhis must
perform a similar role. Commenting on the demand by some Sindhis that Sindh
should be a free country, he said the demographic conditions were such that it
will not be a free country. With large urban areas fully controlled by
non-indigenous forces, much of the power will be concentrated in the hands of
non-indigenous and Islamabad will still rule Sindh through proxies.

A Moment of Silence IN REMEMBRANCE OF SYED IMDAD SHAH

A moment of silence was observed in the memory of SYED IMDAD SHAH, a great son
Sindh, whose legendary father SaeeN G. M. Syed is considered by many to be the
father of modern Sindhi nationalism.

SHAH-SACHAL-SAMI AWARD FOR CONGRESSMAN TOM TANCREDO

Starting this year, World Sindhi Institute has introduced the Shah-Sachal-Sami
award to honor the three great poets of Sindh who espoused universalism,
devotional monotheism, patriotism, love, and humbleness. These values have led
to what Sindhis lovingly call "SINDHYAT". These three great poets opposed
discord and hatred sowed by professional preachers and fundamentalists in the
name of various religions. The following short poems better describe these
values:

"whosoever we sought, was in truth we ourselves,
All doubts evaporated, correctly perceiving our beloved!"
-- Shah Abdul Latif

"Sachu, undoubtedly Supreme was one,

Enjoys his own creation, Regal in splendor,

Somewhere reads scriptures, elsewhere reads Koran,
Sometimes as Christ, or as Ahmed or devoted Hanuman
Wonderstruck at his own manifestations!'

-- Sachal

"Veda, Puran, Koran have the same thread running,
Sami states to comprehend this with a strong mind,

As there was sky behind all covering clouds, so was the Holy Spirit

A person soaked in spirituality will understand these words."

-- Sami

This year's award was bestowed upon Congressman TOM TANCREDO, who has
single-handedly raised the awareness about the greatness of Sindhi culture,
Sindhi values and the current plight of poverty-stricken Sindhi folks among the
highest echelons of power circles of the US Capitol. He is a great supporter of
Sindhi rights in the USA Congress. By writing to other members of congress and
top officials of the US and Pakistan governments he has drawn attention to the
plight of Sindhis and the violation of their rights. By asking pinpoint
questions on the conditions that prevent Sindhis to enjoy equal rights in
Pakistan, he has been instrumental in directing some of the USAID funds towards
improving education in Sindh. The award was accepted by Congressman's
communication Director, Mr. Carlos Spadio. In the remarks, the Communications
Director said "He is with you in your efforts for peace". He read a message from
Congressman Tancredo, that said that he was proud to be working with peace
loving Sindhis, whose values of anti-terrorism, secularism and justice are so
closer to American values. He vowed to continue to fight for their autonomy and
sovereignty that was guaranteed to them in the 1940 Pakistan Resolution that
enshrines the basic principle of the creation of Pakistan.

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SECOND SESSION - "CHALLENGES TO PEACE"

The second session that focused on the "Challenges of Peace" theme was moderated
by Dr. Sunita Mukhi. She is a Program Director of the Charles B. Wang Center of
Stony Brook University. Her parents originally from Hyderabad Sindh, migrated to
Manila, Philippines, where she grew up and received Bachelor's degree.

SELIG HARRISON

Mr. Harrison is the Asia Program Director at the Center for International Policy
and a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He specializes
in South Asian and East Asian issues and authored six books in this area. In his
early career, he a correspondent for Associated Press and chief of the South
Asia Bureau for the Washington Post. He has also served as a Senior Associate
for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Mr. Harrison is frequently
invited to testify as expert witness before congressional committees. He began
his presentation with the statement that the rights of Sindh cannot be separated
from other key issues in the context of peace in South Asia. Laying down a
chronicle of the control of Pakistani military, which he called, the largest
"money making machine" in Pakistan, he cited detailed holdings of Pakistan
military. These holdings amount to $ 5 billion (US dollars) in assets and are
managed and operated by 18,000 serving and retired personnel. The military
industrial complex includes Fauji foundation (consisting of 11 enterprises that
run several manufacturing industries from cereals to clothing), Shaheen Welfare
Trust (operates airlines, hotels and other related industries), National
Logistics Cell and Frontier Works, largest in the construction of roads and
related infrastructure items. He said that the book "SOLDIERS IN BUSINESS" by
Aisha Siddiqa provides a detailed account on these holding. He added that irony
is that most of these businesses are running losses and are hidden under the
accounts that are not open to standard audits. The perks, salaries and benefits
much above what is prevalent in the civilian sectors is beyond the means of
country and are at the expense of rest of the poverty-stricken people of
Pakistan. Pakistan cannot afford to make such mistakes and these widening gaps
must be addressed. In the context of peace in South Asia that Pakistan's Inter
Services Intelligence (ISI) agency continues to carry out destabilization
activities in Kashmir that would lead to terrible consequences. He added that
India too has not delivered on its promises to Kashmirs must address the
legitimate demands of Kashmirs. He said that President Bush has proposed an aid
package of $ 3 billions to Pakistan and this aid must tied to closing the
economic gap between civilian and military sectors and movement towards
democratization in Pakistan. He said these circumstances, it would be prudent to
freeze on any military aid to both Pakistan and India until the conditions
improve and the suppression of Sindh and other minority province is stopped. Mr.
Harrison went on say that the recent talk of delivery of F16 planes to Pakistan
will introduce further destabilization to the areas since F16 are capable of
carrying nuclear devices. Any military assistance should not be given when the
meaningful power has been transferred to democratically elected representatives
and the suppression of minority provinces has stopped.

NISAR KHUORO

Mr. Nisar Khuoro is one of the leaders of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and
official leader of the opposition in provincial assembly of Sindh province. The
people of the Larkana district of Sindh have returned him as the member of Sindh
Assembly for several terms. He started his presentation by saying that the
conference topic was a true reflection of the core problem faced by Pakistan. He
provided a chronicle of how the present military dictatorial regime prevented
the People's Party, which had the most number of seats in the Assembly, from
forming the government. He said that where as other provinces, the assembly of
the Sindh province remained adjourned for three (3) months until coercing and
jailing of the supporters of People's party generated enough turn-coats until
their favorite groups could manipulate their way in gaining the control of
power. He went on to say that how can a country where few unelected people at
change the laws that were enacted by popularly elected assemblies at a spur of
moment. Such callous policies have divided the people of country, where
provinces and people of each province think differently on common problems. It
is now widely recognized that Pakistan now has "Controlled democracy" where
common people have less and less as the time passes. With 40% people living
below poverty, there is very little hope that there is a dawn at the end of
tunnel.

HAIDER NIZAMANI

Dr. Nizamani teaches Political Science at the University of British Columbia
(UBC) in Vancouver, Canada. From 2001 to 2003, he was a Global Security and
Cooperation fellow at the UBC's Institute of International Relations. He has
also been a Visiting Fellow at the Sustainable Development Institute in
Islamabad. From 20000 to 2001, he was a postdoctoral . Dr. Nizamani started his
presentation with words "I wish I could say something encouraging". He quickly
added that conferences such as this are part of the analysis process that we all
hope will ultimately result in positive changes. Almost the same sort of the
phenomenon is happening when the US government did not raise any voice against
Pakistani military against the brutalities they were committing in then East
Pakistan. Unfortunately, this time too ordinary Pakistanis are paying the price
for the unholy alliance between the US government and the military
establishment. Under military domination, generally so called democratization
ends having either suffix or prefix, for example "Basic Democracy", "Controlled
Democracy", etc. For a democratic rule, it is essential that neither only
competent people who are neither designated by military nor the civilian
establishment is able to assume leadership of the country. Take the example of
recently elected Prime Minister, Mr. Shoukat Aziz; a privileged person was
imposed to be elected from the most deprived areas of Pakistan "Tharparkar". Of
course, after being elected, he is back in Islamabad, never to return to this
poverty-stricken area again until the next election time if the military rule
continues until then. It is obvious that Pakistani military is like another
political party. They should be subjected to the same rules as other political
parties. The fact is that for a multi-national country like Pakistan, democracy
is the most suitable system. However, it is not going to be easy to
de-militarize Pakistan as ISI has presence everywhere.

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SYED NAVEED QAMAR

Mr. Naveed Qamar has been a member of the Pakistan National Assembly for four
terms. He was a Provincial Minister for Information and held the portfolios of
Privatization and Finance in the federal government. At present, he is the
ranking opposition member of the National Assembly committee on Finance,
Commerce and Privileges. Dr. Qamar started his presentation by saying that the
focus of his presentation is not analyze the situation in Pakistan but tell you
about the prevailing conditions. We are now constantly being pushed to the
extent that the political situation in the country is at the brink of explosion.
The number one problem today in Sindh is the problem of the shortage of water.
Various provinces that share the waters of the Indus River signed many accords
and treaties. It is very sad to note that the Indus Water treaty between
Pakistan and India is holding strong. The same cannot be said about the
inter-provincial accords in Pakistan, where under the threat of "gun", the water
rights of the smaller provinces are being trampled. The situation has gotten so
bad that Sindh will see a 40% shortfall in the summer crop and 605 shortage is
expected in the yield of winter crops. The forces of gun and corrupt officers
are working hand in hand to suppress people and use the power of water to
control people. In spite of several promises by General Musharraf, the problem
of unjust distribution of water with comparatively lower shares for Sindh
continues unabated through the organs such as ISRA. Under the rational of
"historic use", the negotiated and agreed accords are being violated in favor of
one province. Today 40% of Pakistanis live even below the government-defined
poverty level (47 cents a day level). Using the figure of one dollar, the
percentage of Pakistanis who live under poverty is estimated to be about 60%.
Much of this poverty is centered in rural areas of Sindh and southern Punjab.
Much of this is happening to perpetuate the rule of General Musharraf. Today,
more than 6,000 military personnel occupy civilian jobs and one thousand of them
are above the Brigadier level. General Musharraf is using urban-rural divide to
ensure the continuance of the military rule.

AUDIO STATEMENT BY MOHTARMA BENAZIR BHUTTO BROADCAST TO CONFERENCE ATTENDEES

The statement by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto started with greetings to the delegates
and congratulations to the World Sindhi Institute (WSI) for what she called was
"its democratic initiative in focusing the need to end military rule in
Pakistan.". She went on to say that the founder of Pakistan dreamt of Pakistan
as Federal, Democratic, and Egalitarian country with the provinces enjoying
autonomy and people having fundamental human rights. She added that the first
and foremost component of democracy is the holding of free and fair elections
open to parties and individuals. A true democracy must be nurture tolerance,
emphasize rule of law and an independent judiciary. Today in Pakistan, people
feel quite unsafe and there is a great need to ensure impartiality, transparency
and yawn for a court system that can deliver justice. The jobs can only come if
there is a rule of law and absence of violence. The water shortage in the
country requires the debate and resolution that respects the rights of lower
riparian and the constitutional mechanism established for such settlements.
Mismatched priorities have created sad state conditions in universities and
hospitals. While the budgets for armaments goes up by billions, while the rates
of poverty keep rising. The rights of women have been pushed back by a century.
The bills that PPP moved in the parliament against domestic violence have been
put on the back burner. The press is not free to talk about corruption by those
who hold power. Journalists who speak out against government are given brutal
treatment. The National Accountability Bureau has become an outfit of coercion
and political tool to intimidate those who oppose the government. She cited the
example of her husband who has spent nearly eight years in prison, and there is
not even a single conviction against him. She added "Propaganda may work for a
while but ultimately justice will be served". The sacrifices of many PPP
workers, in fighting against tyranny cannot be forgotten and will always be
remembered. She vowed to remain dedicated to the fulfillment of promised
Pakistan. She mentioned illegal and wrongful convictions of the workers of her
People's Party including Yusuf reza Gilani, Pir Mukaram, Bismillah Kakar,
Sallahuddin Dogar and Asif Ali Zardari. She noted that others originally
imprisoned were released after they joined the ruling party. She appreciated the
efforts of the World Sindhi Institute and its able leader Mr. Munawar Laghari.
She concluded by saying "My thoughts go to all PPP workers and all those beyond
the PPP, who share with us the mission to end military dictatorship and give our
great country back to our great people".

KEYNOTE SPEECH BY DR. PERVEZ HOODBHOY

Dr. Hoodbhoy received his doctorate degree from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) in Nuclear Physics. In 1984, he received the prestigious Adus
Salam Prize for Mathematics and, earlier the Baker Award for Electronics. Dr.
Hoodbhoy has been a faculty member of Quid-e-Azam University's (Islamabad)
Physics department since 1973. He is also chairman of a non-profit organization
that publishes books on women's rights, education, environmental issues,
philosophy, and modern thought. He has written and spoken extensively on topics
ranging from science in Islam to education in Pakistan to nuclear disarmament.
He articles are extensively published in many newspapers of Pakistan, India and
USA. He has been invited speaker at more than twenty U. S. campuses and appeared
on several TV and radio stations. He started his speech by extempore remarks
that he disagreed with Muhtarma Benazir's statement that there was no press
freedom in Pakistan. The articles Amir Haider and Cowsjee that are published in
daily newspapers "DAWN" are a testimony. He quickly added that as a matter of
fact, there was more media freedom in Pakistan than in the USA, where newspapers
such as Washington Post and New York Times simply toe the government line.
Moving to the main speech, Dr. Hoodbhoy said that the father of Pakistan
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a secular man. In his first address, he said that all
Pakistanis had equal rights regardless of their religion. He commented that
today Pakistan is run by the "warrior class" who have different priorities. We
have nuclear bombs but on the "human development" index, the country stands at
142. But, our problems are also becoming more complex. In 1947, the country had
a population of 28 millions, and now each year 28 million more people are added.

5

He asked "Is Pakistan a failed?" and quickly added, "It all depends on the
criteria you use". In terms of GDP, at lease few years, its GDP was higher than
India, so should we say that India is a failed state. He added that once a girl
student at the University asked him "Was Pakistan a good idea? My reply to her
was that only time will tell". If in Pakistan people will choose their
government and get rid of a government when they don't like it just like in
India, and if people feel that their rights are not being trampled, then
Pakistan would be good idea". You cannot have feudalism co-exist with democracy.
The fact is that feudal class has become stronger. To the common men and women
"politicians" really do not enjoy confidence. It is sort of game of musical
chairs. Today in Pakistan, very few people make decisions and rest of the people
is outside. The question then is who runs Pakistan? The military controls all
major assets. When a person starts the day with a cereal made by a
military-owned plant and brushes his/her teeth with toothpaste made by a
military factory. Then one wonders, what will become of the civilian sector? The
fact is that military does not enjoy support of Pakistani people. In addition to
the military, there is so called "establishment" clan consisting of 600-700
persons. This group runs the Pakistan by ensuring that the issue of Kashmir
remains in the confrontational stage. They oppose any challenge to their
hegemony. They have only one objective -"service to our own". Often one reads in
Western newspapers that if Musharraf is removed, extremists will get hold of
Pakistan's nuclear bombs. The fact is that "establishment" will put another
General, who will substantially follow the same policies. The big question is
what will happen to Pakistan and its people in the long run. The changing of
educational curriculum and textbooks during the Zia regime has had quite an
impact on society. Among 13 students in his class, six are in "burqa", three
wear other forms of Hijab, and only four are without "Burqa" or "Hijab" attire.
The Pakistani military is still recruiting in the name of "Jihad". The
"Talibans" are as much creation of military regime as "nourishment by Nasir
Baber during Benazir's regime. However, now some cracks are showing up, as there
is "divide" in Army as well. One cannot predict where we will be in the next few
years with certainty. One school of thought says that the religious parties will
become stronger and Pakistan will return to the era of Zia. At the same time the
issue of water issue has created a great resentment in Sindh. If the drought in
Pakistan continues to worsen, then there is a great danger of civil war in
Pakistan and possible intervention by India. There is a great need for what Dr.
Hoodbhoy called "enlightened moderation" that will help Pakistan towards a
gradual transformation into a modern state. We need to move away from
fundamentalism and towards rapprochement with India. The government should stop
prosecution of political parties and encourage secular thinking. Instead of
secularism that once bonded students and workers of all different ethnic and
religious leaning, we see only see religious and ethnic groupings. With the
exception of the Z. A. Bhutto's regime, when there was talk of programs and
plans to make structural changes in how the state operates, no other regime has
addressed making fundamental changes. He proposed that our old slogan of "Faith,
Unity, and Discipline" is no longer relevant. He proposed that our new slogan
should be "Reason, Diversity, and Freedom". Let us break with those traditions
and practices that are keeping people behind and poor becoming poorer and rich
are becoming richer. He concluded by saying let us not fear to disobey wrong
policies and disagree on wrong options. His strong oratory and reasoning had a
powerful impact on the audience and it was only natural when every one rose on
his feet and gave a standing ovation to Dr. Hoodbhoy.

end

6

Sadiqaan, Thanks for sharing. We definitely need to improve the condition of ordinary Sindhis. Big land owners should be brought in industrial age instead of existing in 1600 AD. I wonder what BB has done to improve situation of her own farm workers.

Now some specific comments about your posts.

Prof. Dudbhoy is again talking about "failed states". I say there is just one criteria to determine the future of Pak.

Pak will be a failed state when this Prof. Dud won't get to plant his fat A$$ in Quadi Azam University. That will be end of it for him. However Pakistan will continue to exist along with hopefully with better quality professors in our schools.

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sadiqaan: *
.... In terms of GDP, at lease few years, its GDP was higher than
India, so should we say that India is a failed state.

[/QUOTE]

Strange comment!

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sadiqaan: *
....If in Pakistan people will choose their government and get rid of a government when they don't like it just like in India, and if people feel that their rights are not being trampled, then Pakistan would be good idea". You cannot have feudalism co-exist with democracy.
......
[/QUOTE]

Hopefully one day Pak politicians will be smart enough to have a stable political system in Pakistan. Until that day comes along, military has to keep these politikos in line.

Time and again Pakistanis gave a chance to its politicians and every time they failed to fulfill even the very basic aspirations of the people.

Look what this Altaf Bhai has done so far. He is not a feudal. He is college degree holder. He comes from the lower middle class. Yet his party has successfully cleansed Karachi of Sindhis. Why?

Has Pakistan become the New York or Dubai under the eminent leadership of Altaf? The answer is a big fat NO!

The same is true for other politicians including BB, Nawaz, MMA, and even Bhatoo Matto. Every single one of them failed the tests set out by the people. The result was obvious: either become an Afghan Somalia or be ruled by military. Pakistani people (rather wisely) chose the later.

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That is literally no choice at all now is it? No one in Pakistan chose the military, but the military chose us as subjects of their strategic games and grand plans. And these political leaders you mentioned, most of them are a product of the military establishment in the first place. And when these people tried to go against the military status-quo, they were deposed or worse.

Is it not the military that is the source of all our problems today? To say that we must support Musharraf, because the alternative is even worse is just plain wrong. The alternative will still be chosen by the military and agencies to further their agenda of domination of ethnic and religious minorities in Pakistan.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Sadiqaan: *
.....No one in Pakistan chose the military, but the military chose us as subjects of their strategic games and grand plans. ....
[/QUOTE]

Hmmm! I admire your desire for a political Pak but our memory shouldn't fail us from recalling two important events:

  1. Every section of Pak society was up in arms against Nawaz Sharif back in 1998-1999. From Altaf to Pagara to Mullahs to BB, everyone was begging army to come in.

  2. NO Sitraray (9 fake stars) created a huge law and order situation with Bhatto using full force of army + FSF + police against them. The result was distribution of halwa, Mullah, and Zia ul Haq.

In observance of Ramzan, I am keeping this brief. Otherwise we can go on and have an all nighter Mullakhra.

The day Pakistani Politicians learn to abide by the rules and observe some basic semblance of fairness, military will go back to barracks.

Unfortunately our politikos never realize the size and girth of Pakistan. They never appreciate Pakistan's role as a stabilizer in the world. The politicians don't care that people don't like Dulai camps (Bhatoo's torture camp), Raiwind estate (Sharif's castles + McDonalds), or Mr. 10 % (BB's rishwat khor husband).

I am sure both BB and Nawaz supporters will deny this but I have seen it with my own eyes.