From: memon@acsu.buffalo.edu (naveed menon)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re blasphemy
Date: 26 Aug 92 22:25:15 GMT
Organization: UB

From: nadeem@igpho (Nadeem Malik)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Human Rights and blasphemy

>My apologies --- for 1974 read 1976 in my articles. Then I think what I said 
>holds.

No need for apologies. On a lighter note here is what Dan Quayle was heard
saying to NBC(?) about his political aspirations in the next elections, and
he said something to the effect. " Let's re-elect George Bush in 1992 and
think about 1994 later" :) :) [1996 is the year for next presidential 
elections, but Mr potatoe-head seems pretty good as making such blunders]


>Because the so-called Pakistani inytelligencia about democracy/freedom etc.
>is a copy-cat of the Western ideas of the same issues. It is natural to 
>query the Western Democracies, especially regarding their naked aboandonment
>of thier own cradinal principles (e.g. Algeria, numerous invasions by US on
>sovereign conutries, support of the 11 (or so) Gulf dictatorships etc.) when
>their interests are in danger. 

The discussion is between you and I.  Why don't we spend our energy on 
defining what is good form of government for Pakistan, instead of denying/
defending the US role in Algeria.  Maybe the Pakistanis that you think
are the copy-cat politicians have some genuine ideas about their country but
they just find themselves forced to a funadementalist governement everytime
the President is reminded of the 8th ammendment. 

>"We are not a slave nation" you say. Hmmm, well I must say that I am not
>entirely convinced about this. We still suffer from an intellectual and
>psychological inferiority complex and defference towards anything British
>or American. This includes a defference towards Western concepts on how to run
>a country and society in general. I do not say that all Western concepts
>are bad -- the Holy Prophet (pbuh) hinted that all peoples have somethings
>good to offer -- but it is the unqualified prostration before Western
>concepts such as their form of Democracy and moral values which seriously
>worries me. Pakistanis and Muslims should be much more critical in their
>analyses of Western concepts.

I have been in touch in just one politician in my life. Amid the greying
hair that had witnessed the collapse of the Pakistani system, never
did I hear him or the popular politicians refer to the US or the British
system. These politicians have always aimed at defining a local working
strategy. The political think tanks in Pakistan don't subsribe to the 
Western norms, some of them may admire them but rarely have I seen a 
contempt for their own people or the "psychological inferiority complex",
the ones who, do find themselves in self-imposed self-exile in London or
chasing the rainbow of the American dream.

>Getting back to Nadeem Jamali's original question, I personally feel that
>the question is ill-posed; to the general question of whether most 
>Pakistanis what Islamic laws, the overwhleming answer is undoubtedly yes.
>However, if ask a sharper question of what type of Islamic government, then
>very few (as has indeed been demonstrated many times in elections) will
>opt for the Mullah type Jamate-Islami rule. The too key words that thew
>Quran uses for good government are "concensus", which is actually a wider
>term than democracy, and "Justice". If the policies of a government conform
>to these two principles then it can be deemed close to Islamic. 


I am glad that you detest the Mullah-type governemnt but mind you, if you
oppose them you are guilty of blasphemy :) This is exactly what
BB has done. So we are back to square one of the discussion which started
with BB. 2 BB or not 2 BB, that is the soaal-javaab! :) :)




Naveed