War on terror equals might is right.

Following are the words, taken from Wikipedia.

Linguist George Lakoff of the Rockridge Institute has argued that there cannot literally be a war on terror, since terror is an abstract noun. “Terror cannot be destroyed by weapons or signing a peace treaty. A war on terror has no end.”

People’s Representatives

Being a Pakistani, have you ever wondered how or why, Pakistanis are being lebeled as terrorists, around the globe. Take a look at this piece of news.  

http://www.express.com.pk/epaper/PoPupwindow.aspx?newsID=1101189097&Issue=NP_LHE&Date=20110311 

Now, here is a perfect example of the kind who are representing the people of Pakistan on national and international levels.

US Department of State

Here is a great insight into the U.S. Department of State and the so-called revolutions around the world.

http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2011/03/us-department-of-imperial-expansion.html

American taxpayers

I wish only if American taxpayers were not as dumb, the world would be a lot safer place than it is today. Whenever I read comments on an article like the following on CNN,

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/19/ratner.bush.torture.case/index.html

I always find almost all Americans thinking the same way. Oh, the rest of the world is trying to kill us. Oh, they all hate us. Oh, they hate our ways. Oh, the rest of the world would bring havoc upon us, if our troops did not do what they are doing around the world.

Almost all Americans’ comments suggest that its okay to murder someone, if they tried to slap you (as long as that “someone” is not an American). But the fact that is even more troubling is that these Americans dont even know, who they are commenting about (their enemies). If you read through their comments, you will realize that they bunch up a country’s populace with the terrorists terrorizing that country. They simply do not have enough intelligence to realize that if and when American troops take on a terrorist group on a foreign soil, without proper authorization from the people of that foreign land, that terrorist group will do everything in their power to harm American troops as well as anybody else. Blaming that country’s people for some terrorist group’s activities is not a good enough reason or excuse to occupy a country and kill whoever you choose to.

I put the blame of all the needless bloodshed by American troops, around the world, on American taxpayers, because it is their tax money which is funding all the illegitimate war adventures of American Governments like in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they (American taxpayers) won’t bother to object or question their warmongering Governments’ intentions, even after they find out that their Governments were lying when they gave excuses to go to war. Iraq’s WMD’s that they never found make only one case in point. Only a few Americans dared to half-heartedly question the intentions of  their Government when nothing was found there, and everybody went home after a couple of lame excuses from their Government. They don’t mind if a $100 million of their tax money is spent every day on killing innocent people in Afghanistan. They will be satisfied by a stupid excuse from the White house spokesman that the bunch of people their military killed in Afghanistan, were all terrorists, when everybody else in the world is showing videos of Americans’ attacks, claiming that they attacked a peaceful wedding convoy.

American public believes their Governments very rarely lie to them, and when they do, it’s a lie for their (American public’s) own good. They believe the same about American media too. And they never bother to cross-check the facts from a non-American source. It is this blatant and blind American nationalism, which makes (most) Americans turn a blind eye to atrocities committed by their troops and authorized by their Governments, around the world.

Here is a link to further support my opinion.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/planning_to_ignore_the_facts.html

Middle ground

In the wake of murder of Salman Taseer, I have read countless articles, bringing into light different aspects of the rootcause of this murder, “the blasphemy law”. There is no doubt now, that Salman Taseer was mudered because he openly criticized the blasphemy law, but did not blaspheme himself. The murderer wrongfully assumed that criticizing this law, is equally punishable by death, as is breaking the law. As I mentioned earlier, I read a number of articles like these on this topic..

http://teabreak.pk/having-the-wrong-debate/49918/

http://teabreak.pk/blaspehming-blasphemies/47345/

and the comments from their readers, I have come to conclude that most people in Pakistan have found peace with one of the two extremes. They are either for Salman Taseer, or they are for Mumtaz Qadri. There seems to be no middle ground. Although the writers of these articles and most of their readers have pointed out the problem with this whole picture correctly, that neither side is ready to hear out the other, none have come up with a real world solution. I believe there is a solution. A practical solution.

The solution is “tolerance through education”.

Every now and then, you are watching CNN or BBC, or you are reading a newspaper, you come across a story about a little child, probably only a few years old, saved his or her parent’s life by calling 911. Here is a link to elaborate my point. I am sure you can find many examples like this one everywhere.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/03/10/2010-03-10_boy_7_saves_parents_in_home_invasion_by_hiding_in_bathroom_calling_911.html

Did you ever wonder, how on earth did that child learn, what to do in a situation like that. The answer is simple. He or she was taught in school to call 911 in situations like those. Here in Pakistan, we have other problems that need to be addressed right from the grassroot level. Tolerance is the foremost in these desperate times. Just like children learn ABC and everything else by going to school, or they learn how to recite Holy Quran in their madrassas, if we were to make sure they learn how to tolerate other people’s opinions, which they may not necessarily agree with,  I am sure we can make this world a better place. It is not impossible. All that is needed, is some concrete steps by the Government to ensure that every school and every madrassa must have some kind of Government regulated syllabus or material that teaches tolerance towards everyone, every faith, every race. Don’t take me wrong. I am not suggesting to turn the other cheek, if someone slaps you on one. If and when, someone slaps you, it is a physical abuse and punishable by law. But, having a discussion about a law, or having a point of view about a law, is far from breaking a law. I believe, if the school or the madrassa that Mumtaz Qadri attended, had taught him tolerance, to respect other people’s points of view, and refrain from violence in every situation, the murder of Salman Taseer could have been avoided.

Implementing something like this in reality is not impossible. Our Governments take countless actions every other day, which are less than pleasant for the public. People protest such unpopular decisions like new taxes, fuel price hikes, electricity and gas rate hikes, but the Governments get away every time with doing as they wish, sometimes sticking to their decision all the way, and some other times, retreating for a short time and then acting on their plans later, quietly. Everyone is familiar with Governments tactics. So, you can’t use “opposition of such material in schools from religious groups” as an excuse not to implement something as useful as this. It all boils down to sincerity of Governments, if they are interested in flourishing tolerance in our soceity through education or not. That is also, where people like us, need to push our Governments through our articles, tv programmes, comments and whatever else means necessary to make ideas like this a reality. I hope, through tolerance, Pakistanis can find middle ground between the two extremes.