So much noise over Mumbai attacks?

I for one think there has been too little noise made over this both by the US Government and its stooge Pakistan. Of course America’s favourites can be forgiven for anything.
America is usually friendly only with fanatics (earlier support of racist Afrikaner-dominate National Party in South Africa), dictators (rulers of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other such “princely” states) and their own-hand created puppet regimes (Remember Iraq, Afghanistan)?
So its not keen on harassing Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks. Uncle Sam made the usual noises of sympathy and then went back to “I love Pak” mode.
So our Pak PM Yousaf Raza Gilani suddenly saw no need in the world for “so much noise” about the Mumbai attacks.

This must not be construed as me being anti-Pakistan or a rabidly, fanatic Indian. I am well aware of the failings of the Indian Army in their IPKF mission to Lanka, their sordid deeds in the coffin scam, etc. So I can’t say I’m blindly patriotic and can overlook J&K. Or that I don’t get sentimental about the cute, little Pak girl who came here to get her heart fixed. But, in politics, there should be a sense of fairness.

Here in India, our politicians maybe corrupt, but atleast they don’t wear military jackets and stay in power by the simple process of not holding elections.

But America loves such a country. I think secretly George W Bush must be wishing America was run along the same lines as Pakistan. Remember the first time fiasco of his, when he came (un-elected) to power?

Gilani & Delhi

Gilani: We are doing everything we can

Delhi: We have heard no word from Pakistan.

Gilani: We have given India ISI feedback

Delhi: We have not received any feedback from the ISI

Gilani: We have sent a dossier to the CIA and India

Delhi: We have not received any such dossier.

(Honestly, in which century do Pak leaders live in? Do they think if they pretend a problem doesn’t exist, will it just go away?)
Gilani’s diversionary tactics:

He must  have learnt this from George Bush Jr. Remember how easily he could switch the topic to the “Axis of Evil,” when questioned about failings in his administration like why health care has gone up?

So Gilani, when questioned by the Pakistani press, immediately said people should be more concerned about the killings in Palestine than the Mumbai attacks. Why is the world silent on that? He questions.

The world has not been silent Mr Gilani. Its you and your predecessors who have been unusually silent on this with every meeting with every US President. Pak leaders have always chosen to turn a blind eye to America’s atrocities in the Middle-East and its close nexus with Israel.
So he should actually be the turning the mirror on himself and asking, “Why is Pakistan silent? Why did Pakistan never protest the American invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan? Why did Pakistan never condemn the US for economic sanctions placed on Syria? Why did Pakistan never question America about all the Pakistani civilians detained in Guantanamo Bay? Why is Pakistan still tacitly supporting the US-Israel aggression on Palestine, by not condemning it?

Its a case of the pot calling the kettle black!

Best form of defense? Attack

Since his own grounds are shaky, what must he next do? Hit out at India for atrocities in J&K.

Who is responsible for 26/11? Ans: “India. 26/11 was an intelligence failure on India’s part and that it India’s “internal matter”.”

Setting Pak correct

Foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee, whatever his failings on the Indo-US  nuke deal maybe, knows how to give it back as good as he gets it.
Mr Mukherjee, said Pak PM can’t go about comparing 26/11 to Gaza, because, “`I have not gone and occupied any (of) Pakistan’s land which Israel has done (in Palestine).

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Fanaticism; its diff slogans

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Fanaticism is something, I abore! And religious fanaticism is something unpalatable.

Events like Godhra, Ayodhya, the Gujarat riots or the atrocities against Christians in Orissa are something I find hard to digest.

Violence against minorities has become a trump card for many right-wing politicians. Since, no politician can deliver things like good roads, quality education and health care, regular supply of electricity or drinking water, they use diversionary tactics. One of the most successful diversionary tactic is to blame it all on the minorities.

So you can hear politicians say things like: “Hum panch, hamara panch,” “Muslims breed too much,” “Christians get funding from the US, they are George Bush’s stooges,” “India is for Hindus; out with the minorities,” “If you become a Hindu you can stay in India or else leave for Pakistan,” “Christian women are immoral and ape the West,” and “Valentine’s Day is against India’s culture.”

An extension of this is the regional separatist movements, in which to hide their inefficiency, politicians come up with slogans like, “Cauvery water is only for Karnataka,” or “Cauvery is only for Tamil Nadu,” “Mumbai is only for Marathis,” “Punjab must be a separate state,” “Be proud to be a Tamilan,” “Ban Tamil films, only Kannada films in Karnataka,” “Kashmir is part of India,” & “Only Biharis should get jobs in Bihar.”

Some Indian politicians take diversionary tactics to international levels, they say, “Kill every Pakistani,” or “Support the LTTE,” “Ban the LTTE,” “No more refugees from Bangladesh, let them go to Pakistan,” “Every Muslim is a terrorist, destroy the Taliban,” “Support Israel’s war against Muslim terrorism,” or “Support the Palestinian war against Christian, Jewish terrorism.”

I’m going to come up with my own slogans, “Ban the Left in Nandigram, Singur,” “Ban the right in Orissa, Gujarat,” “Stop the Indo-US nuke deal,” “Third World countries don’t need second-hand goods, outdated technology and scrap material from the West,” “Stop religious competitiveness,” & “Stop hate-mail on the net.”

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Christ – What I love about his teachings

Being an atheist from a Christian background, people automatically assume I’m angry with God and dead against the church. For me, I’m indifferent to the whole “God exists or not” debate. While I don’t think Christ was God, I do like him for being a radical in his times. I like him because

a)he didn’t act holier-than-thou & goody-goody like the Pharesees & Sadducees

Remember, the prostitute (or in these politically correct times, I must call them commercial sex workers (CSW))? Jesus didn’t judge her. He didn’t want her stoned to death like the patriarchs of those days & today (name change: In the Middle-East countries & Pakistan they now call it “honour killings”). Of course, whether she was a CSW or an adulteress is debatable, because different versions of the Bible seem to give different accounts. Anyway, when she was brought up before him, Jesus said, “Let he, who is without sin cast the first stone.” A direct reference to men and their own state of sinfulness and also a veiled reference to the fact that all of those present had lusted after her and might have also slept with her. That means, he held the men responsible for adultery also, not just the women, who in most cases are only victims of the system.

b)He wanted women to participate in theological debates & not be mired down by the traditional responsibilities of women like housework.

Jesus says, “Mary has chosen the better part and it shall not be taken away from her.” Mary’s sister Martha is busy cooking dishes in the kitchen for all the men present, while Mary sits with Jesus and talks about spiritual things. When Martha overburdened with the housework wants Mary to help, Jesus gives this reply.

I don’t know if any of my readers have attended Christian religious meetings. But the prayer meetings always used to end with the serving of tea and refreshments. So my grandmother and myself (our house used to be the centre for such church-oriented activities) always had to miss out on what the pastor said and start heating the tea and laying out the refreshments like homemade sandwiches & vada. And the womenfolk also had a lot of cleaning up to do afterwords. If only a few menfolk in my family had pitched in, the women needn’t miss out on the meeting. But then the men had more important things to do like debate about theology. Even in church functions it was the same story.

I feel a lot of blame for this state of affairs, should be laid at Apostle Paul’s feet, who said, “Women should be silent in church, they should not cover their head, etc, etc…”

c) He was a radical. Though by birth a Jew, he made friends with Roman tax collectors, fishermen, Samaritans, prostitutes & lepers

Samaritans in those days were discriminated against and did not occupy the upper elechons of power. In his parable, “The Good Samaritan” Jesus tried to criticise the inhumaneness of the religion some religious heads practise and set a Samaritan’s actions in good light. Roman tax collectors like the tax collectors of today did not win any awards for popularity. But Jesus befriends Romans too. And not being class-conscious, he befriends fisher-folk & lepers.

I remember my English lecturer in MCC, who was a Gandhian, drew a diagram in class to explain Christ’s exemplary behaviour in embracing all communities & people from all religious backgrounds. He asked what was the centre of power in those days. We replied “Ceasar and his Roman empire.” What comes next? “The Roman Senate & powerful noblemen.” Next in the circle? “Roman citizens, tradesmen.” Next? “Jews (the occupied race)” And finally at the bottom of the social structure, you have all of Jesus’s friends: “Fishermen, Samaritans, prostitutes & lepers.”

d) He didn’t like churches minting money in God’s name

How about if someone came to your church, broke all the stalls selling CDs, self-improvement Godly books, drove out all the salesmen manning the stalls and declared that “pastors must not turn God’s house into a money-making enterprise.” Would you not be angry with him? Yet, this is what Jesus did 2,000 years ago, when he saw that the Jews had converted the synagogue into a market. He overturned all the pigeons cages, drove out all the vendors and sellers and declared “Don’t turn my father’s house into a den of thieves.”

e) “Forgive them father for they know not what they do.”

People are nailing him to the cross, after stripping him naked, mocking at him and whipping him mercilessly. And he instead of railing at them angrily, asks for their forgiveness. Truly, a great man! That’s why I guess, people started worshipping him as God. He is the one person, who truly followed his teaching of “Turning the other cheek.”

As Friedrich Nietzsche said and quoted often by Karl Marx, “the last Christian died on the cross”

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