Don't Burn Pakistan

We too are born in Pakistan and we don't burn buildings, kill people or senselessly target anyone when we want to protest. We can talk, write and have a dialogue without setting tyres on fire. Join us if you think likewise. Contact: dontburnpakistan@gmail.com

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

"Why violence?": Jamaat-i-Islami analyses

"To ascertain why they turned extremely violent needs honest analysis instead pinning the responsibility on religious elements, as a number of columnists and intellectuals have done," writes sect-general of Jamaat-i-Islami in today's The News as he gives us some answers from the 'other side'.

Protests now under fire

Goverments, all of them, are calling for end to protests and these calls are falling on deaf ears.

Yesterday saw strikes in scattered parts of the country--no huge rallies in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, but Peshawar, Quetta, and other major cities in Sindh, NWFP and Punjab are still seeing demonstrations against the cartoons. No reports of voilence thank God.

Calls for nationwide strike. We want to loose business, drive away the FDI t-r-i-c-k-l-i-n-g into the country and scare away poor relief workers. Bravo!

What role have the Muslim leaders (not politicians, not the socalled-jihadis) played to pipe down the negative propaganda forcing people to spread hate? David Yonke in an Ohio newspaper, "There has to be aggressive, assertive Muslim leadership that stands up and says, 'No, that's it,' " said Imam Hendi, the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University and a spokesman for the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of North America.

If 'freedom of expression' is coming under fire in the West, media coverage of the protests is also coming under fire in the Islamic World. Writes Ramzay Baroud: "What the cartoons truly exposed – among many other realizations - is the frightening extent of vulnerability among Arab and Muslim nations and the lack of any meaningful and effective Muslim and Arab media strategy that forcefully attempts to alter the misconstrued Western discourse that endlessly denigrates their culture, disparages their religion and positively questions their humanity."

I'm looking out for a thought-provoking article on the Rational Clerics role during these protests. Please email us if you find one.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Our home on fire


STOP in the name of God.

You're burning OUR home.

Who are you hurting? Who are you after? Who suffers when you walk away from this debris?

And there's more to follow :(

OIC attempts to take a stand

Pushing the right paper is one way to react to cartoon's published insulting our Prophet. It just takes mobs of people to stage demonstrations that propel govts to do so.

On Pakistan's proposal, the OIC held an extraordainory session to chalk out a solution to the cartoons. What is expected out of this session? The proposal will be under discussion in Pakistan as the Sect-General arrives in Islamabad today. The future: "Prof Ihsanoglu has already informed Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief, that the 57-member OIC was seeking the EU’s cooperation to end the conflict as quickly as possible. It has suggested a five-point proposal to the EU for the resolution of the issue."

Sunday, February 19, 2006

Pelting tomatoes, more burns and killings :(

I have searched and searched and searched in vain for good news...a sign that tempratures are cooling down, that the powers that be are sending a bold message across for tempratures to cool off, that there are no silly calls of beheadings, killings, and embassy-attacks in the news...

In vain. A Church burning already reported from Pakistan (sob!), 16 dead in nigeria, indonesians showing force outside the US embassy and a call for 'off with his head' from a muslim politician--of all places--in India.

"Don't burn the world," remarked Oyvind in an email. Amen to that.

Hope for peace

Is it too much to hope for expecting no news of death and voilence after nearly a week of scary headlines?

Islamabad was under seige by security forces in anticipation of the 1million march. The human cost of sporadic voilence across the country is immense. Schools are closed in Karachi for a week. We've been reporting to work under a lot of stress (its taking its toll!) and now comes the economic cost of filling the streets of Pakistan with fire.

In the current year, $2-3b of FDI are now at stake. Writes Mehmood ul Hassan Khan: "According to independent estimation Karachi the industrial hub of the country has to bear Rs.2-3.5 billion losses if the business activities are closed for only a single day." His article Economics of Agitation and Agrression gives a broad view of the damage the Pakistani economy suffers in view of last week's tragic events (riots, Chinese Killings et al).

If you want to know what it does for the average joe, switch on Geo/ARY-1. Teary-eyed men will point to the carnage of motobikes on Mall Road, Lahore--their sole source of livelihood. What did their daily bread have to do with cartoons in Europe? They haven't seen them and they don't want anything to do with them, except express their regrets that 'it has happened'.

There are calls of peace and calm amidst noisy declaration for boycotting everything from medicine, to cheese to phones to fast food. Who are we hurting?

"While Muslims globally have condemned the ridicule of their religion, the voices of civilized objectors have been drowned out by a noisy minority of sensationalist hooligans. These attention-seeking firebrands know well that violence sells in the international press; they often stage scenes just for the cameras. The spiritual love-ins of mainstream Muslim protesters simply don’t make the headlines," writes Aisha Ahmad who notes the morning-after made it obvious the riots hurt the local economy and humiliate Pakistanis.

You don't need to read too much to see how there has been another dent in the govt's efforts to add a dash of positivity to Pakistan's image. We're hurt. We're hurt not simply because there is more about Pakistan and violence in the newspapers than it has been for months but because we believe there is more to life than watching out for a strike call, tension or whatever we Pakistanis got used long ago. There's no economics that can make up for our loss of peace of mind.