| October 9, 2001 | Tuesday | Rajab 21, 1422 |
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The burden of refugees
What are the police for?
Law of the jungle
An American’s tribute
Medical college admissions
Global terrorism
Plea by staff declared surplus
IUCN strategy in NWFP
Foreign Office briefings
Gulf visas
Reckless competition
Changing face of terrorism
A little kindness will go a long way
Shaming the shameless
Moderate Muslims
THE majority of Pakistanis want peace in the region and don’t want to have religious extremists ruling over their heads.
Trying to live in peace and harmony is not easy. It’s much more difficult than a lot of people think. It’s not easy to look at the differences and then welcome them. It’s not easy to be broadminded enough to see that there exist different races, ethnicities, religions in this world and we are to live in harmony. It’s not easy to listen to criticism and not raise one’s voice in reply and respect the criticism. The problem with the extremist elements is that they think they are right. And if someone tries to raise voice against them, then these people react very harshly.
Some of my friends here think that the Taliban are right in their ideology and acts. Personally, I don’t have any problem with what the Taliban think as they have the equal right of having some ideology as I or any other human being does. The problem is when they try to impose this ideology.
Nobody is denying the fact that men should cover their heads or have beard; or that women should wear hijab and observe purda. The conflict arises in the implementation and the implication, when a state starts to penalize its subjects regarding these personal acts.
The Taliban or all other extreme elements have the right to preach what they like but they don’t have the right to force their views with the power or law, or punish people who are not doing things according to their ideology. This is what a lot of Pakistani fear.
I see a lot of people criticizing the west in general, and the USA in particular; being enemies of Islam. I would not try to get into the argument about western foreign policy, which I think is wrong and needs to be changed. But if one looks at the society at large, it’s an open society. Those of us who live in the USA or Canada know that nobody would stop you from going to your mosques for prayers or from even preaching Islam or any other religion to your community. Whereas, in a society like Afghanistan, one can get a death penalty for preaching Christianity.
There is no doubt that religion in some form or the other plays an important role in a government but the issue is in terms of tolerance to differences. We know that there are quite a few sects in Islam and the disagreements have led to violence in the past. The main reason is the intolerance among people.
I may not agree with the ideology of Taliban but they have the right to have this ideology and they have the right to implement it — but without violence and with tolerance.
M.A. SHAHZAD
Oshkosh, USA
PAKISTAN has been hosting the Afghan refugees with open arms since the beginning of the Afghan crisis more than two decades ago. The refugees from Afghanistan have spread all over the country and these illegal immigrants have taken up various professions, particularly in the field of public transport.
So far Pakistan has taken in more than 2.5 million Afghan refugees and, on an average, 800 Afghan nationals are entering this country every day since the beginning of the current crisis despite a ban imposed by the government of Pakistan. Around 100 Afghan families entered Pakistan on Oct 3 from a point close to a heavily guarded Pakistani checkpost at Ghakhay in Bajaur Agency.
What have the Afghans given to Pakistan, when the late General Zia-ul-Haq embraced them with open arms? Heroin and kalashnikovs. And what have they brought for us now? Snatching of cars and dispossessing of cash under threats of murder.
The government of Pakistan should completely seal its entire border all along Afghanistan, as Iran has done. As soon as the fate of Osama is settled, our government should send all Afghan nationals back to Afghanistan without delay.
SYED A. MATEEN
Karachi
THERE are many instances when a person turns to a police station for help but his complaints are ignored. Recently, at midnight there was a lot of noise in my lane. My neighbour had caught an armed thief while three of his accomplices had managed to escape. All of th