Finding Community

Excuse the pun, but now time for a second update from me.

Personally, over the last few years, I have been, I find, drifting--others might say coming home to--the Left. You see, I grew up in South Asia where, , where, except for very radical neo-con/theo-con types--and there are an increasing number of them in this day and age--we have great reverence for historical figures like Khusrau and Kabir and a bevy of what were essentially anti-establisment figures that cared more for hearts and people; more about God than strict ritual. Data Ganj Baksh. Nizamuddin Chishti. Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. And of course, figures like Rumi, Hafez, Shams, Mansoor, and on and on. And over the weekend, I found myself in a room, taking part in Sufi devotion and happened to look around the room. And it hit me. If Rumi, so often the favorite of starched, straight-laced, mosque-going, Sunday school-teaching yuppy Muslims so concerned about their Ummah, was alive today; if Shams picked his peeps; this is the crowd he'd be hanging with. I, who had been struggling, even, with the unbending conservatism of most Sufi gatherings I have found in the US, had found my community.

If I had any doubts about stepping up over the next two days to serve this aspect of the multi-blossomed whole we call humanity; about helping the less-commonly heard, more tender, more compassionate, voices of Islam find their place at the table, this realization help dispel them. If Shams bear being flayed alive for unconventional principles; if Mansoor could go the gallows for his, the least I could do was step up and be counted.

Translation? Well, read the next post.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: iFaqeer - Progressive Muslims

Dependence at Midnight...?

There are a couple of updates I need to provide.

Frist, work on UnderstandingPakistan.com has been gratifying, if not edifyinig. But that's not the surprising part. I could go on and on about the project. And I will provide more general information about the project in a minute. But here's an excerpt form a recent post that there's very little chance will not startle you. Read it and then decide whether the site, www.UnderstandingPakistan.com is worth a visit:

"[At the time of their independence, w]ith resources and destinies so interlinked with each other (i.e. Pakistan’s dependence on India’s goodwill for its water, and India’s dependence on Pakistan’s raw material for its factories), much was dependent upon the goodwill between the two countries. Leaders on both sides made public statements that suggested that they expected nothing short of that. Some had, in the past, even suggested the possibility of a joint-defense pact between the two countries. However, in reality the relationship that emerged, as the ashes of the partition settled, was everything but cordial. This took leaders on both sides by surprise..." They had been colleagues in a heartfelt movement, if representing different threads in it, for decades up till that point

Something that both Pakistanis and Indians (and, if you ask me, Bangladeshis) should really, really sit down and think about.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: India - Pakistan - History

Introducing the "Understanding Pakistan" Project

I'd like to introduce an interesting web-based project that might best be described as an exercise in "public history".

Pakistanis often complain that the history of their country--or the history of the region as it relates to them and their country--is often told from either British or Western eyes, or from a point of view that is sympathetic to India, and dwells too much on a hagiography of Gandhi, and even sometimes Nehru, to the detriment of seeing our leaders as anything more than caricatures (as Jinnah was portrayed in the movie "Gandhi") and the process, or reason of Pakistan coming into existence as being driven by one man's--Mohammad Ali Jinnah's--ambition or stubbornness.

But the flip side of that, some of us feel, is that Pakistanis themselves seldom know a lot about the history leading up to the creation of their country, or the story of what has happened since. And is part of why we often don't understand the forces at play in our politics, and get situations like the author of a New York Times bestseller saying that he was amongst those who were enthusiastically rooting for the latest military rule because he "was doing good things".

But I am beginning to ramble. What I'd like to do is introduce Dr. Athar Osama, a Pakistani policy analyst with whom I have been working on starting a project that might be of interest to you.

Dr. Osama got his Ph.D. from the Rand Institute (yes, THAT Rand Institute ;-)) in Public Policy and now works out of London for a Strategic Consulting firm. (Did I get that right Athar?) He also keeps a keen eye on events, issues, and, of course, policy in Pakistan and regularly writes on these things, both in Dawn and The News and on various blogs. (There's a list in his email signature below.)

One of Athar's current interests is to try and help start a conversation about the history of Pakistan (from about 1937 to the present day). The aim is to help us Pakistanis (and Pakistani-Americans, of course) to better understand the historical background and forces that have brought us where we are and will influence where we go from here.

I am enclosing Athar's introduction of the project below.

The project is focused on being a conversation between Pakistanis. But what is being posted on that site is material that we'd all do well to read and absorb. Agreeing with all of it is completely optional. In fact, the very idea is to put on the table different narrations, and different interpretations and up a learning process for all of us.

Do stop by:

http://www.UnderstandingPakistan.com

Besides readers, we're looking both for people to engage as commentators and as contributors who can bring a specific insight into each period in history as we discuss it. So drop either Athar or me a line if you have something new to say:

From: Athar Osama [athar.osama@gmail.com]
Subject: Introducing The "Understanding Pakistan" Project

My Dear Colleagues:

We are writing to introduce to you and invite you to experience and participate in a discussion aimed at trying to collectively read and write our country's history. The Understanding Pakistan Project is a collaborative exercise in learning. A blog ( www.UnderstandingPakistan.com) has been set up act as a central meeting point and collaborative platform. Please visit us and participate in this fascinating rollar coaster of our country's history.

As you read this email, our beloved country Pakistan stands at a very precarious point in its history. With the sixtieth year of the country's independence at its end, we find ourselves, once again, in the midst of a constitutional crisis. In many ways, this struggle between personalities and institutions has been a defining feature of the country's politics. Ironically, more often than not, and much to our collective detriment, personalities have pervailed over institutions.

On the international front as well, Pakistan is often dubbed as a failed state, at best, and a haven for international terrorism, at worst. While many passionate and patriotic Pakistanis may disagree with this harsh verdict of international public opinion, they invariably feel distressed and frustrated with the rise and fall of their country's political and economic fortune. There is certainly something amiss in our ability to steer our country to the heights that we had expected from this "land of great promise ".

Pakistanis--all of us--have repeatedly demonstrated a remarkable tendency to not learn from our own history. For many of us, our school texts of Pakistan studies was our first and last encounter with the events that have shaped our country--and ourselves--over the last 200 years (Indeed, how uneducative and uninspiring an experience that was!)

It is said that "the study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find yourself and your country both examples and warnings; fine things to take as models, base things rotten through and through, to avoid. " . That "a country losing touch with its own history is like an old man losing his glasses, a distressing sight, at once vulerable, unsure, and easily disoriented. ". Indeed "History is a vast early warning system " and it is only through a better understanding the various events--and the causes behind those events--in our past that we can develop a perspective and the ability to learn and improve upon the state of our affairs.

Understanding Pakistan Project

The "Understanding Pakistan " Project is designed to help us look behind to see ahead. It is a collaborative effort to enable us to learn from each other and discover our fascinating past. Each week, starting from Today (June 4th) until October 13th, 2007 a panel of writers will examine and critique a certain period of Pakistan's history (1940-2007). These individuals, through their varying backgrounds in policy, media, political science, and public service, bring their varying perspectives and biases to this collective reading of the country's history. It is important to appreciate that none of these viewpoints and perspectives are true or false in their entirety, but they are merely that, perspectives, and that the first step we can take towards building a more wise, just, and tolerant society is to develop the ability to listen to, and appreciate each other's viewpoints.

Understanding Pakistan website will be a central point for this collaborative thinking and collective learning. An email list will disseminate each week's discourse to the wider audience who would then be invited to present their own ideas, thoughts, and additions on the blog. Special emphasis will be paid on developing a mechanism to promote substantive and thought provoking discussion and to encourage the collection of further evidence to develop a more comprehensive and well-rounded resource on the history of the country.

This, we sincerely hope, will elevate the dialogue to a level higher than has sometimes been the case. It will also, we hope, make us better informed citizens and provide impetus for future action.

Please join us in this collaborative effort to learn about our own country. The project is hosted on a collaborative website at: http://UnderstandingPakistan.com and join the email list by sending a blank message to understandingpakistan-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to recieve updates on the project.

Feel free to forward this email to those you know and encourage them to do the same.


Best Regards,

Dr. Athar Osama,
Sabahat Iqbal Ashraf (iFaqeer),
Hassan Bashir,
and Other Collaborators

--
Athar Osama, PhD (Public Policy, RAND)
London, United Kingdom
Email: athar.osama@gmail.com
----
* Pakistan Software Industry Study: http://paksoftwarestudy.vttp.org
* Pakistan Inc. -- IT Industry Edition: http://pakistan-inc.blogspot.com
* Pakistan Kaha'ni -- The Life and Times of a Nation: http://pakistan-kahani.blogspot.com
* Pakistan Economy Blog: http://pakistan-economics.blogspot.com
* Technology & Economic Development Portal: http://techno-economics.blogspot.com
* Technology-based Economic Development Journal (Blog): http://tbed-journal.blogspot.com .

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Pakistan - Understanding Pakistan - History - Indian History - Athar Osama

More Pew Report Follow-Up: The Media, Eteraz, SF Chronicle

We've had a lot of members of the community saying that "The Press" was accentuating the negative and going down the "if it bleeds it leads" path, and so on. As a qualifier, I have to say that I don't quite bother to follow the mainstream cable and broadcast TV media (not just Fox, but CNN, etc., too) at lately, so the following is based on following the press and wire sources.

One interesting round up was done by Brian Lehrer on his show on WNYC. You can listen to the segment he did on the report at:

http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/episodes/2007/05/24

He reads out a bunch of headlines, and it is only the AP ones that lead with seeing the cup as a quarter full of poison rather than three quarters full of nectar.

On the other side, I have to say, Ali Eteraz is one of very few people actually taking the discussion ensuing from the Pew Report about American Muslims beyond simplicities, so to speak. Read his stuff here, and here. And on Huff Po here.

And for what it's worth, a couple writers here in the SF Bay Area did a pretty good job in the Chronicle this week, looking at this as a human and an American story, not just a Muslim disease, and putting the concerns that the Report raises, without getting jingoistic or turning to "Islam is evil" or "all Muslims are terrorists" kind of bashing.

And also, to summ up, from where I sit, as I pointed out on my blog, it took the BBC to turn to the highest ranking Muslim elected official in this country to get a comment. And I had to bounce it off someone like a Indian security hawk to try and make the story more a global study. Of course, where he's coming from is problematic, but it's very frustrating to get even American Muslim "media" to take the bigger view. There's much to learn from the experiences of Muslim communities in other countries.

Let's keep talking about this and related issues.

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Muslims in the US - Muslims in the US - Pew Report - Eteraz - Eteraz - SF Chronicle - Matthai Kuruvila - Huffington Post

B. Raman, Hyderabad, and Bushra Zaidi

It is reassuring that I am not the only one making the connection between Hyderabad, Kashmir, and other hotspots where Muslims are a "community of concern". But it's also worrying that I am in a small minority trying to advocate for folks to take a look at the bigger picture. Just reacting to the current outrage only guarantees that the cycle of mayhem continues—and that the people and groups whose political fortunes are contingent on that cycle continue to win
.

I could have written my last two posts (this and this) almost as a rejoinder to a column from B. Raman in Outlook India. Of course, he is taking it from the perspective of a "Security" hawk within the Indian establishment and not looking, as I am trying to do, beyond the tension between Muslims and other communities and on to intra-Muslim tensions, as in Karachi. The issue really is one of fanaticism being left on the table as the only option for a lot of young, educated folks (and yes, it is the educated ones I am particularly concerned about)—Muslim or not. South Africa, where Mandela himself has never said that their resort to violence was wrong, Ireland and Sri Lanka come to mind.

Of course, Mr. Raman's article is triggered by the recent tragedy/atrocity in Hyderabad, and I haven't yet commented here about it. I have, however, been having a very interesting conversation with a young friend in the city of the Nizams and hope to post excerpts from that here soon. Suffice it to say that the circle is complete; where we in Karachi once looked at the Muslim Majlis's role in Andhra Pradesh politics as an inspiration for what a minority can achieve, the events of the last fews days, with the role of the police in shooting protesters being a very major sore point for Hyderabadis, is eerily reminiscent of the episode that kicked off Karachi's troubles 22 years ago. (Look in the righthand column here--the story is not complete on that site. What really kicked off the riots was the one-two punch of Bushra Zaidi's accident and the police's inaction about it coupled with acts like starting and moving a police van while a young female student of Bushra Zaidi's—and my mother's—alma mater was standing atop it making a speech.)

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Karachi - Hyderabad - Pakistan - India - Terrorism - Clash of Fundamentalisms - War on Terror