Transformed?? You never knew me in the first place. Of course, I was stupid, gullible and easily led when i was young. But i have learned, understood, tried to be in other person's shoes. I have evolved. And hey just because I don't agree with you, doesn't mean my writing ceases to be oh-so-lovely. I am going to stop discussing because I feel there is lot of raw emotions. Every time i have called my mom her voice is heavy and sad....she is watching TV and crying all the time. I don't want to be seen as insensitive. Or may be the timing of my views may seem so. But the topic started and that's why i have said what i have felt. I will send a superb email i have been sent from Bombay. I am so proud of Bombayites right now. They are sending the right messages, hope the angst, critique lasts.
Arch > > *Calling All Pakistanis * > By THOMAS L. > FRIEDMAN<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/index.html?inline=nyt-per> > Published: December 2, 2008 > > On Feb. 6, 2006, three Pakistanis died in Peshawar and Lahore during > violent street protests against Danish cartoons that had satirized the > Prophet Muhammad. More such mass protests followed weeks later. When > Pakistanis and other Muslims are willing to take to the streets, even suffer > death, to protest an insulting cartoon published in Denmark, is it fair to > ask: Who in the Muslim world, who in Pakistan, is ready to take to the > streets to protest the mass murders of real people, not cartoon characters, > right next door in Mumbai? > > After all, if 10 young Indians from a splinter wing of the Hindu > nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party traveled by boat to Pakistan, shot up two > hotels in Karachi and the central train station, killed at least 173 people, > and then, for good measure, murdered the imam and his wife at a > Saudi-financed mosque while they were cradling their 2-year-old son — purely > because they were Sunni Muslims — where would we be today? The entire Muslim > world would be aflame and in the streets. > > So what can we expect from Pakistan and the wider Muslim world after > Mumbai? India says its interrogation of the surviving terrorist indicates > that all 10 men come from the Pakistani port of Karachi, and at least one, > if not all 10, were Pakistani nationals. > > First of all, it seems to me that the Pakistani government, which is > extremely weak to begin with, has been taking this mass murder very > seriously, and, for now, no official connection between the terrorists and > elements of the Pakistani security services has been uncovered. > > At the same time, any reading of the Pakistani English-language press > reveals Pakistani voices expressing real anguish and horror over this > incident. Take for instance the Inter Press Service news agency article of > Nov. 29 from Karachi: " 'I feel a great fear that [the Mumbai violence] will > adversely affect Pakistan and India relations,' the prominent Karachi-based > feminist poet and writer Attiya Dawood told I.P.S. 'I can't say whether > Pakistan is involved or not, but whoever is involved, it is not the ordinary > people of Pakistan, like myself, or my daughters. We are with our Indian > brothers and sisters in their pain and sorrow.' " > > But while the Pakistani government's sober response is important, and the > sincere expressions of outrage by individual Pakistanis are critical, I am > still hoping for more. I am still hoping — just once — for that mass > demonstration of "ordinary people" against the Mumbai bombers, not for my > sake, not for India's sake, but for Pakistan's sake. > > Why? Because it takes a village. The best defense against this kind of > murderous violence is to limit the pool of recruits, and the only way to do > that is for the home society to isolate, condemn and denounce publicly and > repeatedly the murderers — and not amplify, ignore, glorify, justify or > "explain" their activities. > > Sure, better intelligence is important. And, yes, better SWAT teams are > critical to defeating the perpetrators quickly before they can do much > damage. But at the end of the day, terrorists often are just acting on what > they sense the majority really wants but doesn't dare do or say. That is why > the most powerful deterrent to their behavior is when the community as a > whole says: "No more. What you have done in murdering defenseless men, women > and children has brought shame on us and on you." > > Why should Pakistanis do that? Because you can't have a healthy society > that tolerates in any way its own sons going into a modern city, anywhere, > and just murdering everyone in sight — including some 40 other Muslims — in > a suicide-murder operation, without even bothering to leave a note. Because > the act was their note, and destroying just to destroy was their goal. If > you do that with enemies abroad, you will do that with enemies at home and > destroy your own society in the process. > > "I often make the comparison to Catholics during the pedophile priest > scandal," a Muslim woman friend wrote me. "Those Catholics that left the > church or spoke out against the church were *not* trying to prove to > anyone that they are anti-pedophile. Nor were they apologizing for > Catholics, or trying to make the point that this is not Catholicism to the > non-Catholic world. They spoke out because they wanted to influence the > church. They wanted to fix a terrible problem" in their own religious > community. > > We know from the Danish cartoons affair that Pakistanis and other Muslims > know how to mobilize quickly to express their heartfelt feelings, not just > as individuals, but as a powerful collective. That is what is needed here. > > Because, I repeat, this kind of murderous violence only stops when the > village — all the good people in Pakistan, including the community elders > and spiritual leaders who want a decent future for their country — declares, > as a collective, that those who carry out such murders are shameful > unbelievers who will not dance with virgins in heaven but burn in hell. And > they do it with the same vehemence with which they denounce Danish cartoons. > > > > ------------------------------ > Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Invite them > now.<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_messenger_6/*http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/> > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VaniV88-89" group. 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