Swat or Gaza?
By Mohsin Sehgal • Feb 3rd, 2009 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look • 11 CommentsI have just returned home from office and I am fuming from toe to head. At every signal where I stopped I saw banners upon banners calling names to Israel and proclaiming solidarity with the people of Gaza. Hoardings and roadsides walls are littered with slogans like ‘ Israel ka jo yar hai, ghaddar hai ghaddar hai’ (whoever befriends Israel, is a traitor). At one signal I was kept waiting for 25 minutes, just because some people produced a mini-rally as a protest over Israeli attack on the Gaza.
Gaza is thousands of miles away and I am sure the people who were present in the rally and the people who have painted and installed the banners never even saw Gaza or Israel on the map. It’s very comfortable to have a cozy rally for someone far away. Just 150 or so miles from Islamabad, starts Swat. Our own area, our own people. This area is burning for a long long time now.
Just go to Islamabad and by seeing the hubbub and the activity, you will be convinced that nobody really cares about Swat, which has literally gone out of control and where terrorism is everywhere. There are no schools left in the Swat Valley and forget about law, health, jobs and business and don’t even remotely and indirectly mention the recreation.
How many dharnas, long marches, speeches, rallies, sit-ins, banners, hoardings and wall chalking have you seen in your city, town and village for the Swat and its people?
It’s just like the fact that we never help our close relatives, but give large sums of charity to the causes and NGOs we don’t know really.
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Mohsin, you are absolutely right. We have a knack of helping everyone except our own nation. That’s our greatest flaw. But, you shouldn’t blame people just because they support Gaza and are raising their voices against this war.
Guys this is what I was talking about, Maham, we need articles like these and few others which people in general can discuss on.
Mohsin, good writeup, your feelings are understandable, but don’t you think that people in Pakistani people have been in this kind of situation all their life earlier it was Kashmiri Muslims, then Indian Muslims, then Afghanistan, then Iraq, and now Gaza.
The same is with people in India, the situation is not much different here also. People don’t care about what happens in their country, Bihar was struck by huge floods but many people were busy collecting things from things from some quake affected country and took time for them to look at internal matters first.
Mohsin, the solution this kind of a problem is what I can think of is education of people at large. Many people are illiterate and are not aware of what exactly the things that they should believe in. If they are educated with the facts, the situation can change. Things will not happen overnight but surely it will change. Also people should come out openly protesting against wrong things. The main principle behind any terror group or activity is to create fear among people, that is the key. If people are not ready to get scared or people are not ready to accept things then the act fails and so does the motto behind the act.
These guys need people to rule, but if there are no people to rule what are they going to do? They will fail. It is not the responsibility of govt alone, but it is the responsibility of the people of that country also.
Also one harsh reality is that these groups were created by your army during the Afghan war against Russians, and now also are getting support from few people within the army and intelligence services for looking after India. LeT is creation of ISI for fighting against Indian army in Kashmir.
When people will understand that the monster that they have created for fighting against India, is hurting them and eating their own country internally and making it hollow.
Guys you need to stop these groups take control of your life. Hafiz openly says in his speeches that cut India into pieces and all, is this worth it when your own country is being eaten by rotten people Taliban and few army and ISI officers.
We dont’ care about Swat—-a sad phenomenon but does that Imply that we shouldn’t care about Gaza either. Answer that please.
And Mr.Adi
what’s your say about the Isreal Troops in Gaza,They are justified or not? And this is an MCQ not an Open Ended Question—Yes Or No?
Kashif,
Answer is no. A big NO. But that does not mean everybody should following the same thing.
All I am trying to say is home comes first then the rest. If you agree.
Mohsin Sehgal says:
“”"”"”"”"”"”"‘Gaza is thousands of miles away and I am sure the people who were present in the rally and the people who have painted and installed the banners never even saw Gaza or Israel on the map”"”"”"”"”"”"”‘.
Do you want to know the reason????
PUTTING ISRAEL DOWN OR DEFEATING THEM is their PRIME OBJECTIVE. Innocent Palestinians come later.
If they are so concerned about loss of human lives then WHY NO PROTEST AGAINST TALIBAN who kill innocent Pakistanis???
Simply because Taliban is screwing up America. Here also, defeating USA is their prime objective……saving innocent Pakistani lives IS NOT.
What author has written ,i have been saying the EXACT SAME THING in the pak spectator for some time now……
@@@@
Author needs to be CONGRATULATED for this article.
MUSLIM UMMA is creation of Saudi arabia to hide its own drawbacks.
Erdogan of turkey could talk openly with Peres of Isreal because he has diplomatic contact with israel.
Who says we, the people, don’t care abpout Swat. The evidence of our care is tahtw e have been discussing this issue, blogging about it, thinbking about it, reading about it. It’s the Government that seems not to care.
Also, check out my blog entry on Swat, titled” Swat….O Swat”
Dear Faro,
Educated pakistanis NO DOUBT care abt SWAT .
in my comment 5, i meant those people who were on the streets.
You see, a section of them ACTUALLY SUPPORT the taliban.
You see, there are HUNDREDS OF FATWAS against rushdie, against Israel, against India, against USA etc etc
But, how many fatwas against taliban?????? how many fatwas against terror????? how many fatwas against Laden?????
Educated Pakistanis LIKE YOU are a very small minority.
However i must mention that Indian Muslim CLERICS have issued STRONGEST FATWAS against TERROR throughout India in recent times..
Faro,
You are saying that you care about SWAT and you have written articles about it, that’s good but how many articles are written on it. Majority of articles that are published here in a week have something to do about India or its intelligence agency RAW or some sort of conspiracy done by India and RAW.
This is what I am talking about, just writing a blog does not create awareness, as many people don’t come to these blog sites. As people have been carrying on with protest rallies for Gaza or Iraq or for that matter anything to do with Muslims, then why cant there be a rally, a awareness campaign, speeches, posters, pamphlets, handouts of SWAT.
This is what Mohsin is trying to tell and this is what is needed. Talibanisation of SWAT or Pakistan is not going to stop by writing articles about it. Do those things that they hate and will make them weak, like education people.
This website is a comic one. I mean, these ignorant and stupid pakis talk about peace. They always point their fingers on India and Israel. They portray pak as a saint nation. The world knows about pak and its violent policy towards other nations, specially non-muslim nations.
These porkis keep begging from China and US.
Hey Pakis, be like India. Learn something from India. Pakis won’t let themselves down by taking help from a kafir country.