From: godura@ori.cis.udel.edu (Ruchir Godura)
Subject: Re: US - Pakistan relationship
Keywords: Hang loose on the Caboose !
Organization: University of Delaware, Newark
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 19:23:46 GMT

In article <1jo3meINN30m@shelley.u.washington.edu> shamshoo@shelley.u.washington.edu (Shams Hasan) writes:
>
>Dear Ruchir,
>
>For a country whose father or bapu Gandhi gets murdered in broad daylight by
>a Hindoo fanatic, the most celebrated prime minister Indira and her nepotic
>choice of Rajiv are murdered by Sikh and Hindoo fanatics, Indira in broad 
>daylight and Rajiv in the midst of a function, and to add insult to injury, their Prime Minister Morarji Desai tells the American public and the rest of the 
>world to drink their urine in the morning, who thankfully to the world did not drink it in the Barbara Walters interview, you guys must be living in 
>disneyland east, who come here and rant about how Pakistan is some kind of a 
>terrorist state with no respect for any other religion.
>
>For a country whose largest city is known as the The Black Hole, instead of
>Calcutta, to the rest of the civilized world, and who exploded an atomic
>bomb with millions and millions either destitute in India or run away to 
>America and overseas, you sure have a lot of gal to bomboozol naive and
>uninformed readers of scp/sci/scb.
>
>First things first. Go home and feed some one, then clothe them and maybe
>the charitable organizations will get a break and turn towards the homeless
>and needy in the U.S.
>
>Best Regards,
>Shams Hasan.
>
Of course I don't deny that there are problems facing India, but simply
gloating over them does not answer the critical question that I raised,
which, of course was too inconvenient for you to answer.
I still maintain that India is a secular country, as far as is possible
for a third world country with a large number of illiterate and poor
people, and with the history of communal violence that it has.
All those separatist movements that are going on in Punjab, Kashmir
etc., including the riots, are battles between the Govt. of India and
fundamentalists, hindu, sikh or muslim. If it were a fight between the
govt and minority groups, they would not stand a chance. Do not think
India is secular out of fear of international reprisals etc.
International opinion does not matter a shit. Tiananmen square, Bosnia,
Israel, etc., are proofs of this. 
India has been a secular nation to this day, because that is the way a
civilised country should strive to remain. Recent murderous shows by the
Shiv Sena, and rumblings of hindu fanaticism in Varanasi, however are
ominous signs for Indian secularism. These should be curbed, with
martial law, if necessary.
As for your absolutely ridiculous remarks about Morarjee Desai, for the
information of illiterates like you, who learn about cultures, religion
and politics from the local mullah at the friday prayers, I have, in my
22 years in India, not met or heard of ONE other Indian who drinks
urine. Not that I deny Desai the right to do so, but then, that is
another incomprehendable concept to poor beings like you from
fundamentalist republics, where every word you utter, every action you
make is governed by the words of some religious text, enforced under
fear of death or dismemberment : freedom of thought and expression.
Now go back to your spires and domes, turn up the speaker a bit so that
not only your god but everyone in the vicinity is woken up, and rant
away, and leave India and Indians alone.
I know it hurts to have the world condemning your society for being
terrorist and fundamentalist, and a neighbour that is far more civilised
than you, but maybe you'll learn in a few centuries time.
Ruchir.


-- 
Ruchir Godura | godura@cis.udel.edu | (302) 731-4123 (H) (302) 831-1949 (W)