[Reader-list] Rushdie dubs Pakistan centre of world terrorism

[indersalim]

dear Tara,

Thanks for this response which i thought would go unreflected.
There are lot of people in Pakistan who hate America, and equally lot
of Americans who hate pakistanis.  But as you know, there is a lot of
goodness in the people of both the countries in spite of the fact that
something is seriously ailing in these two countries. Now when Salman
Rushide says something very bluntly about Pakistan, it is bound to
fuel anti-American hate opinion inside Pakistan. There is no dearth of
it anyway, but when we use words like Pakistan or India,  or America-
it somehow includes all the people . Let us blame the sound.   A
creative writer like Salman Rushide should be conscious of that
dimension of the word.  There are millions who take his comments
seriously, i am  John Nobody, as you know.

I remember, once Salman Rushide created a controversy by declaring
that the best writing in India happens only in English language. I
dont agree to his opinion, and i dont expect Rushide to change his
opinion. It is very simple to blame Pakistan for all the ills of
present day terrorism. It was very simply to blame Germany for World
War II. Hitler was the only bad guy  until we discovered that Stalin
was as bad as him and many many clones of both of them were at the
helm during that time.

  As you know things are quite complex beneath the surface, and a
writer of his intelligence can dare to go deeper.  He once did by
blaming America for Iraq war, and and i guess he must have blamed
America for Afganistan War too, and if that is so then the
responsibility of breeding terrorism goes entirely to America.  I
guess you largely agree with me when you said, "Rushdie may be
overstepping his capacity and authority by analyzing and pissing at
Pakistan from a distance".

Yes, literally, in absence of proper urinals, i do piss where everyone
else pisses, and i am not ashamed of it. But it does not mean that i
am happy about it. Rushide himself has thrived because of his Indian
past. The question here emerges is about the absence of the language
which pin points what is 'oriental' as Edward Said popularized through
different expressions.  Is English language, the only instrument which
can give us meaning ? . Here, i see all the so called civilized roads
lead to America, and the train which takes us there is made up of
English language only. That english language which is spoken from
American about other version of life and literature.   I see the the
boot hurled at Bush as a non-english word which is illegible to the
west, but i see it a talisman, a symbol for change. it was not a bomb,
but it was the word, which i guess Salman Rushide ought to borrow for
some right meaning in his talk on terrorism and war,

 Unfortunately,  war machinery and militrary is almost a cultural part
of any sovereign state. War is almost their way of interacting. It s
like a litterary meet that happens in the capitals of different State,
here or there.  If that is a given situation, which almost makes the
heads of these states to justify Wars ( Iraq War is recent example )
then in what shade do we see terrorism?  Is  war an accepted
phenomenon and terrorism is still a sickness of minds. What is the
difference when planes drop bombs on innocents people  and when
terrorists spray bullets on the innocent people. One is vertical and
other is horizontal. That is the only difference.

Yes, i know examples are slippery, and by saying that all  Indians and
Pakistanis love to piss anywhere, i indeed trivialized the entire mass
of MALES, which was not the intention, but thanks for sensitizing me
on that.

lot of love
inder salim


On Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 1:24 AM, taraprakash <taraprakash at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Inder. I wonder if you have pissed at some places where everyone else
> was pissing. To be honest, there are norms about pissing at places too. When
> the first man started pissing at a place, there was a rationale which came
> from our collective psyche. If you were to start pissing in Taj, or in CP,
> or in a class room, inside a temple, mosque, church or a gurdwara; during
> your protest against death penalty, during protests movements asking for
> Rushdie's, Taslima Nasreen's, MF Hussein's, George Bush's, Musharraf's, or
> anybody else's head; not all of us Indian-Pakistani men will start following
> you in the act of pissing. That kind of pissing is reserved for a secluded,
> shady, nontransparent place. You might have different ideas but then these
> are your personal opinions. Rushdie may be overstepping his capacity and
> authority by analyzing and pissing at Pakistan from a distance, you too are
> trivializing Indian and Pakistani men by trivializing their desire for
> pissing. I don't think you should piss on everybody's behalf. Please, let
> there be polychromatic pissing. Some will go a step ahead. Pissing and
> shitting might stink, but for those who are involved in shitting and
> pissing, it gives relief to them.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "indersalim" <indersalim at gmail.com>
> To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 1:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Rushdie dubs Pakistan centre of world terrorism
>
>
>> Dear Salman Rushdie,
>>
>> You know what, we  ( Men )  both Indians and Pakistanis love to piss
>> at a place where everybody pisses,
>>
>> It is just takes one Man to start pissing at a particular place, and
>> it quickly qualifies as a favorite pissing place. This time ( of
>> history ) it  just happens to be Pakistan, and we all love  to piss at
>> it, and  then see it from a distance, and say, - Oh, see this place,
>> it really stinks, what to do now?
>>
>> How easy it has become to hate pakistan these days.
>>
>> anyway, this will go on like that, but, the reality is deeper than all
>> that,
>> i guess, in many ways, White Man's foreign policies towards 'the
>> other' have been terrorizing the world all the time, and will
>> continue, with their white collars intact.
>>
>> Can you really spell out what is ailing our heart, what is the name of
>> the disease that is making all of us sick ? what is that? The west has
>> given it a name : islamic terrorism?  and if it is a fact, is there a
>> Doctor in the west ?
>>
>> Alas, you are just one more analyst, amongst millions in this world,
>> who come to this conclusion that Pakistan is the hub of world
>> terrorism. But what about the creative writer inside you, is that also
>> so boring, monochromatic and dull ?
>>
>> what is the hope, the modernity based on western models of devastating
>> the environment?
>> or some humble return to life,
>>
>> I believe, capitalism collapses, the moment consumption of the
>> commodities slows down. We have to devour, buy and create waste  more
>> and more to keep this western model of economy going, that is what
>> makes it tick, that is what makes us feel 'we are living', and for
>> that reason alone we can go to any extent, steal the resources of the
>> other,  tell them how wars are inevitable, and what not,
>>
>> How strange, they draw and analyze the monster they create  themselves.
>>
>> best of wishes to all those who live in the west and keep on analyzing
>> us from a distance
>>
>> love to you and all
>> inder salim
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 18, 2008 at 5:24 PM, Aditya Raj Kaul
>> <kauladityaraj at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> *Rushdie dubs Pakistan centre of world terrorism*
>>>
>>> New York (PTI): Terming Pakistan as the centre of world terrorism, noted
>>> author Salman Rushdie has said the fact is that terrorist organisations
>>> are
>>> all based in that country.
>>>
>>> Rushdie also slammed Pakistan for its "cynical denial" that the
>>> terrorists
>>> involved in Mumbai strikes were not its nationals.
>>>
>>> "The fact is the world's terrorist organisations are all based in
>>> Pakistan.
>>> Taliban are there, al-Qaeda are there, LeT is there. They are all there
>>> with
>>> the active support of the Pakistani intelligence," he said while
>>> participating in a panel discussion at the Asia Society.
>>>
>>> Referring to the remarks of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown that
>>> three-fourths of terror plots had links to Pakistan and al-Qaeda, the
>>> India-born novelist said Islamabad "can't go on pretending that there is
>>> no
>>> evidence. That's all garbage".
>>>
>>> He said that "when the President of Pakistan pretends that there is no
>>> evidence against somebody, he is also complicit in that. It is time to
>>> say
>>> to Pakistan this has to stop. You can't be a member of the free group of
>>> nations, if you are among the world's sponsor of terrorism, which is what
>>> now they have been".
>>>
>>> The Mumbai strikes, he said, were marked by brutality by the attackers
>>> and
>>> incompetence of government and security agencies in responding to them.
>>>
>>> Expressing skepticism that Islamabad would dismantle the terror groups,
>>> the
>>> panelists, during the discussion, said the world community should send a
>>> clear message to Pakistan that terrorists are becoming a liability to
>>> that
>>> country and it is in its own interest to dismantle them.
>>>
>>> The U.S. administration too came in for strong criticism for considering
>>> former President Pervez Musharraf an "ally in fighting terrorism" and
>>> giving
>>> billions of dollars to him without any condition that the money should be
>>> used to fight terrorists.
>>>
>>> The panelists recalled that Musharraf was responsible for aiding
>>> Lashkar-e-Taeba to fight in Kashmir during his years in the army and
>>> Rushdie
>>> said he put up a western face to the Westerns but was mullah to
>>> extremists.
>>>
>>> Rushdie strongly attacked Booker Prize winner Arundhiti Roy for linking
>>> the
>>> Mumbai terrorist attacks to Kashmir, Gujarat riots and demolition of
>>> Babri
>>> Masjid.
>>>
>>> Besides Rushdie, the panelists included former Bernard Schwartz Fellow
>>> Mira
>>> Kamdar, who had lost her cousin and her cousin's husband in the Mumbai
>>> attacks, and author of *Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found* Suketu
>>> Mehta.
>>>
>>> The terrorists, the participants said, are driven by a different
>>> philosophy
>>> and ideology and want to take the world back into the medieval ages.
>>>
>>> But they agreed that terrorists failed in their apparent bid to split
>>> Hindus
>>> and Muslims and ignite communal riots as both the communities condemned
>>> the
>>> attacks and vowed to unitedly fight terror.
>>> _________________________________________
>>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>>> Critiques & Collaborations
>>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
>>> subscribe in the subject header.
>>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>>> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> http://indersalim.livejournal.com
>> _________________________________________
>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> Critiques & Collaborations
>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
>> subscribe in the subject header.
>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
>



-- 

http://indersalim.livejournal.com