i appreciate the fact that you are making the distinction. However you must realize this is a political forum many people (including me) will argue that this military action is against the security and interests of the people of Buner, Swat, Dir, Swabi, Hazara and therefore pakistan army is not acting for the solution of this problem.
I understand that. We dont disallow disagreement with tactics or the use of force. However accompanying that on this forum there has been advocacy of the militants, and abuse of the army. We do not want to give that a platform at this time.
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I merely think that although this forum sees many insults hurled carelessy , we should be extra sensitive due the grim situation we are facing and refrain from jubilation or distasteful language such as rats,dogs,garbage,filth,scum because in minds of many the enemy is not identified from pakistani civilians and it hits a bit too close to home. For we all might say that it should be obvious that they are intended for terrorists but many insults and slurrs are quite ethnic in nature for instance goat lover, bakar wal are traditional people of these areas not jsut the terrorists.
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Any insults that can be deemed racial or ethnic in nature should be reported and will be removed. If you say that goat-lover can be interpreted racially, then I promise I will remove that hereon. rats/dogs etc its more difficult to make a racial case for. They are treated at par with other insults.
In general I guess we would all appreciate a minimal use of these terms.
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Also all news reported about 40 or 29 or 36 killed donot give us a clear picture as to whom amongst them was a part of "collateral damage" , because such is the nature of 'war' the person is dead before he is established guilty.I hope you see my point that the best way to avoid ethnic clash is to monitor the use of lanugage.
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Fair point. We should be sensitive to civilian casualties, and not allow indulgence in bloodlust. That is why along with this thread as a sticky we had a thread on the impact of this violence on civilians, and now a sticky on the plight of refugees. We do not stand for anything but the greatest love and concern for our Pashtun brothers, never have and never will.
At the same time, what we are attempting is to rally the morale of the people in our small way. All Pakistanies must be somewhat conflicted about a fight that kills and harms so many of our people. Yet most of us on this forum believe it to be necessary, if only to prevent this menace from harming even more people, if only to prevent an even bigger operation that has to cover an even bigger area and effect even more civilians.
Please report any ethnic tinged posts that we miss.