Re: Pakistan betrayed by its own

Dr. Aslam Abdullah's article with the above caption recently appeared on Iviews. If the name of the writer were not given, one would think that the anti-Pakistan rhetoric was spouted out by one of the dozens of anti-Pakistani Hindu organizations in India. The first thing that strikes a reader is the contemptuous and derisive manner in which the author spotlighted what he perceived, rightly or wrongly, the social and political ills of Pakistan. On further examination, one finds that the charges he made are based on exaggeration, distortion, and outright fabrication. The piece is more of a sophomore standard then the matured and measured writing expected from the one who is an editor of an Islamic magazine, author of several Islamic books and 400 papers, a director of an Islamic center, and a former college professor. The short article is long on accusations, taunts and unsubstantiated opinions, but sorely lacking in substance and understanding. 

Dr. Abdullah opens his article censuring the alleged match fixing of the Pakistani cricketers in these strong words, "This is utter disgrace from a sports perspective, abject disgust from a national perspective and absolute shame from a faith perspective." No doubt, sports gambling, and matching fixing is a condemnable practice. Pakistani authorities are promptly investigating the charges and announced to bar the convicted players for lifetime. Match fixing and betting is neither a new phenomenon nor it is introduced or solely practiced by Pakistani players. At one time or another, the players of other countries, including India, were also implicated in the gambling and match fixing scandals. Then, why the vehement expression of disgust reserved exclusively for Pakistani players? 

After disparaging Pakistan for the match fixing offense, the writer assails the country for its poverty. He says, "This is the state where some 25 percent of Pakistani living in conditions not suitable even for animals". Pakistan is a developing and relatively a poor country, like dozens of other countries in the world. Guaranteed, a good portion of Pakistani citizens is deprived of proper living and some are even subsisting on the bare minimum. Nonetheless, it is absolutely and factually wrong to say that the 25 percent of Pakistani population live under the conditions not suitable even for animals. This is a baseless, haughty and foolish utterance of an Indian nationalist coming out of hubris over wrongly perceived sense of superiority coupled with the hatred for Pakistan. 

How well India is faring in terms of poverty, here what an Indian newspaper reported: "More people are mired in poverty in eight Indian states than in the 26 poorest African countries, according to a new UN-backed measure of poverty. There are 421 million MPI (Multidimensional Poverty Index) poor people in eight Indian states alone -- Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal -- and 410 million in the 26 poorest African countries combined." (Hindustan Times, July 13, 2010)

How strange, an Indian is taunting Pakistanis for being poor! That is like the pot calling the kettle black!

Dr. Abdullah continues in his diatribe against Pakistan: "honor killing (in Pakistan) is often justified by religious scholars" and "girls are considered social stigma". It would have been helpful had he named just one scholar who is guilty of justifying honor killing. The plain truth is that no Muslim scholar, Pakistani or not, worth his name has ever made the idiotic attempt to justify the unislamic act of honor killing. Dr. Abdullah should rethink his ways and incorporate integrity into his raison d'tre to disparage Pakistan.

I do not know where the learned writer gets his information, however, he is solidly wrong when he writes, "... (In Pakistan) "Girls are considered social stigma". Perhaps, he has confused Pakistan with India, which indeed has become synonymous with the practice of female infanticide. Gender-selective abortions and murder of newborn girls are widely practiced and almost acceptable in India. As one Indian writer says, "Diagnostic teams with ultrasound scanners which detect the sex of a child advertise with catchlines such as spend 600 rupees now and save 50,000 rupees later. The implication is that by avoiding a girl, a family will avoid paying a large dowry on the marriage of her daughter. According to UNICEF, the problem is getting worse as scientific methods of detecting the sex of a baby and of performing abortions are improving." 

Here is one more part of the silly string of insults hurled at Pakistanis - and I will stop here - "religious sector whose dealers known as clerics take pride in charging the believers huge amount of money for reciting a few words of the scripture and making a few duas in Arabic." This is a new and wicked one - and perhaps the funniest of all - read again, "religious sector whose dealers known as clerics", and I leave it without any further comments.

The situation in Pakistan for the last few years is certainly deplorable. However, the unfortunate situation does not exist for the reasons Dr. Abdullah attempted to point out in his cynical piece of satire; the reasons are much deeper and complex and of international dimension. 

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 Abdul-Majid Jaffry is a retired aerospace engineer and a freelance columnist. He resides in Washington, USA.