Dear Bobby, If it is about a heart-warming personal story, let me tell you I don't need one. I am myself a recipient of such warmth and friendship from Pakistanis. In Nice, France. In 2001. It was indeed a great experience to meet a Pakistani family in the vast shopping mall of CAP3000, a face that shares some similarity with your own in a sea of visages that you don't recognize 'civilizationally'. We enjoyed our weekends with some of the finest Indian cuisine in the Restaurant Kashmir (some of our friends jokingly commented that we should sneak in at night and add 'Pak Occupied' :) at the Saint Laurent du Var sea front. The proprietor and the bearers were fantastic individuals.
However, none of those personal warm memories have changed my perception about Pakistan as a country. Because: a) I recognize that values held by individuals can differ, and sometimes quite orthogonal to the societal values. b) Pakistan is a country owned and operated by the military, with its deep seated jihadist mindset. 70% of the corporates are owned by entities like the Fauji Foundation (FF), Army Welfare Trust (AWT) Bahria Foundation (BF), Shaheen Foundation (SF) etc., all owned by different wings of armed forces (See paper presented by Dr Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha on 'Power, Perks, Prestige And Privileges: Military's Economic Activities In Pakistan' in The International Conference on Soldiers in Business -- Military as an Economic Actor; Jakarta, October 17-19, 2000). The Military Industry Complex (TM) is in full bloom in Pakistan than anywhere else. The above is of course a partial list. Cheers, Murali --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
