Comment by Riaz Haq on January 29, 2017 at 10:26am

Invoking threat from Pakistan, Narendra Modi attacks Congress, AAP in Punjab 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/invoki...


Pakistan is eagerly waiting for a chance to use the soil of Punjab to destroy India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, warning the electorate against voting a "non-serious" party and "those given to luxurious lifestyle" to power. 

Launching an assault on AAP, which has emerged as a key contender to power in the state, Modi branded it as an "outsider" that was "dreaming of creating its own world" at the cost of Punjab. 

Holding that the fate of Punjab was linked to .. 

Comment by Riaz Haq on March 18, 2017 at 8:34pm

#Indians, What to do if you can't hate a #Pakistani? #BJP #ABVP

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-to-do-if-you-cant-hate-a...

Last week, I got a frantic call from my friend V, who seemed very upset.

“I can’t tell you what I’ve done!” he sobbed over the phone.

“What happened?” I said. “Did you stab someone in murderous rage?”

“No,” he said. “It’s worse.”

“Did you accidentally slap your boss?

“Even worse.”

“Did you forget your anniversary?”

“I allowed a Pakistani to hug me.”

“Oh my god, tell me you didn’t!”

“I did, I did,” he said, and began to wail so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ears.

I let him wail peacefully for five minutes.

“Okay, enough,” I said. “Sometimes bad things happen to good nationalists.”

“But why me?” he said tearfully. “I’ve hated Pakistan all my life. I’ve been a member of the ABVP since the age of two. What will I do now? With what face will I ask anti-nationals to go to Pakistan? They will laugh at me.”

He blew his nose extensively, which seemed to calm him a bit, but grated on my nerves.

“Look, we all make mistakes,” I said. “What matters is how we make amends.”

“I know what you mean,” he said. “I’ll surrender myself to the police. I’ll confess that I was hugged by a Pakistani.”

“But how did this happen?”

He then told me the whole sordid story. Apparently, V, a tax consultant, had attended a conference of tax consultants in the Bahamas, which is a Mecca for tax consultants, and a favourite tax haven of patriotic Indian politicians, some of whom were his clients. One of the conference delegates happened to be from Pakistan, a man named — you guessed it — Khan.

One balmy evening, after a day spent exchanging notes about the global best practices in tax dodging, V was having dinner in an open-air restaurant and generally minding his own business, when the Pakistani sat down at his table and began to make small talk. V, of course, put up a strong resistance.

“Nice weather,” Khan had said.

“Pakistan must be hell,” replied V. “How do you guys manage?”

“I love your shirt,” said the Pakistani.

“What was Kasab like as a friend?”

“I quite enjoyed your presentation.”

“Do you work for the ISI?” V persisted. “How do you juggle tax consultancy and terrorism?”

“India is a beautiful country,” Khan answered. “Indian women are lovely.”

“Really?” V snarled. “Your ‘love jihad’ won’t work any more.”

“India and Pakistan have so much in common,” Khan said. “It would be wonderful if we could visit each other easily.”

“You guys visit us anyway, sneaking across the border once the snow melts.”

“I’ve always condemned cross-border terrorism,” Khan said, helping himself to an olive.

“Do you dodge bullets on your way to work?” V said. “How does it feel to live in a failed state right next to a vibrant democracy like India?”

Khan’s response was sedate. “As a young nation, we have a lot to learn, and we are learning from India too.”

“He was charming like the devil,” V recalled. “He paid for my food, my drink, and even shared a few accounting tricks I didn’t know before.”

“You mean, you actually liked this Pakistani guy?” I said, disbelievingly.

“I... I couldn’t help it,” V stammered. “By the time we were leaving, we’d become such great friends, he gave me a hug. To be honest, I didn’t mind it at the time.”

“That’s utterly shameful,” I said.

“I realise that,” V said. “My biggest fear is, what if every Pakistani turns out to be as likeable as the one I met? What if they are not all devious, evil monsters out to destroy India?”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “You are sounding like Arundhati Roy,” I said, which was the worst insult I could think of, and I hung up.

Comment by Riaz Haq on February 5, 2022 at 11:55am

#Indian "journalist" Barkha Dutt tells colleague Madhu Trehan how she self-censored while reporting from #Kargil in 1999. She self-censors "anything she saw that Indian #Army did" in #Indian Occupied #Kashmir "in the interest of national security". #media https://youtu.be/w4woLeBD3r4

Comment by Riaz Haq on July 19, 2022 at 4:58pm

Why Are #Indians So Obsessed With #Pakistan? Perhaps because they have been fed an anti-Pakistani and #Islamophobic narrative by their right-wing #Modi government? #Hindutva #BJP #Islamophobia_in_india #Muslim #MsMarvel #Pakistani-#American via @tft_ https://www.thefridaytimes.com/2022/07/19/why-are-indians-so-obsess...

Young Indians have been incensed that Marvel featured a Pakistani Muslim character. Perhaps they wanted an Indian Marvel hero? Or, because they have been fed an anti-Pakistani and Islamophobic narrative by their right-wing government? What if… these trolls on both sides of the border can be reasoned with

Generally, Pakistanis mind their own business and focus on their own issues of which there is no dearth. It is a poor country, one-seventh the size of India, with much smaller economic and financial resources. Yet, many have noted time and again how Indian trolls flood Pakistani sites to provide their unsolicited two cents on the latest Pakistani news along with their contempt that is projected by branding Pakistan as a “beggar nation” or as a “failed state”.

This necessitates the question that why are Indians so obsessed with Pakistan.

Maybe this has to do with the wars of 1948, 1965, 1971, and 1999 fought between the two nations. But then people who have seen the horrors of war may have PTSD or generally try to avoid negativity, as they have seen enough to envelop the rest of their lives in misery. This older generation of Indians and Pakistanis has been mellowed by age and the understanding that life is too short to dwell on past grievances.

In contrast, the firebrand responses online often emanate from the younger Indian crowd that has been fed an anti-Pakistani and Islamophobic narrative stoked by the right-wing Indian government in power. It is this demonisation of the Pakistani or the Muslim other that lies behind the seething Indian hatred witnessed in online spaces.

However, Pakistanis of all people should know how narratives lead to bigotry and prejudice, as they have been fed with the Islamisation narrative over the years that has instigated the persecution of religious minorities, including Pakistani Hindus.

Indeed, online Indians comment how the Pakistani Hindu population dwindled from 14 to about 2 percent as the country was made on the basis of religion. Others point out that Jinnah and the Muslim League simply did not want to live in United India, as if the situation prior to Indian Partition or Pakistani Independence (based on the respective narratives) was based on some serene ‘kumbaya’ type co-existence.

Such brash statements require further scrutiny. Dr Vikas Divyakirti elaborates in detail in a YouTube video that the Pakistani Hindu population dwindled because of Hindu migration to India just as many Muslims migrated to Pakistan. The Indian Muslim population reduced from 25 to 14 percent. Additionally, despite clamouring by Indian trolls, Pew Research graphically shows how the Hindu population increased exponentially and far outstripped that of Muslims from 1951–2011 in India.

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