tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9190386845105273560.post2090198725144753285..comments2023-10-26T12:08:12.675+01:00Comments on A tale by a takhalus: Dude! Who radicalised my people?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9190386845105273560.post-35762647839183450682012-04-22T16:24:48.188+01:002012-04-22T16:24:48.188+01:00it has become fashion with some pseudo intllectual...it has become fashion with some pseudo intllectuals to present themselves as anti army. with such pre set mind truth cannot come out. this may amount to a monologue about the situation which could, at the most, only bring out the individual<br /> to lime light but cannot uncover the truth.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9190386845105273560.post-34631006309669750252012-04-11T06:56:14.157+01:002012-04-11T06:56:14.157+01:00I did not get a sense of academic honesty in readi...I did not get a sense of academic honesty in reading Farhat ANDERSON'S "book". It read more like a leftist (read extreme minority among the Pashtuns) ideological monologue rather than an inquiry for truth. I'm sure her usual retort is going to be along the lines of: "i'm pashtun (even though i disregard pashtunwali and islam) so i know more than you because i say i know more than you (with the accompanying unverifiable anecdote from her FATA exploits). Extremely amateurish which only tarnishes the image of liberalism in Pakistan. Certain facts are known, Taliban are Pashtun. There leadership down to their commanders are Pashtun. If some Uzbek or Tajik or Punjabi joins, they do so as cannon fodder. No amount of conspiracy theories against the Pak Army or ISI is going to change those facts. Her pov also manages to make the ISI as an all-powerful entity capable of mind-controlling a whole nation like the innocent, attan-loving Pashtuns; and in the same breath a mind numbingly incompetent entity. These contradictions seem lost on the people that parrot the anti-military narrative.Sikandernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9190386845105273560.post-6032354111953712602012-03-20T16:36:26.320+00:002012-03-20T16:36:26.320+00:00If someone has any doubts regarding FATA and its p...If someone has any doubts regarding FATA and its placement in Pakistan strategic interests and the counter narratives Farhat Taj and a few other are presenting, they should read the infamous Jinnah Institute report on the perceptions of our foreign policy elites". <br /><br />If he/she had a bit of honesty, he/she will realise what is the mindset and how deeply rooted it is, which is challenged by Farhat Taj and few other colleagues.<br /><br />Pakistan's interests in Afghanistan, inability to prevent its seized territories(to the militants) to be used against neighbourhood with an excuse of fearing a reprisal here in rest of Pakistan. Presenting Taliban as the sole representatives of Pashtuns and calling the insurgency here in Pakistan as Pashtun resentment. Perhaps JI stands for Jamat Islami as well, and the narrative came from Jinnah Institute, another JI, makes him just a proxy of the same corners, who were Jamat Islami as their sole representatives during Afghan Jihad.<br /><br />Not a change of hearts and mindset, what JI has conveyed in the streets and Mohajir camps in 80's is regurgitated by the so called FP elites with relatively liberal avatars in the form of that sham report.<br /><br />Kudos to Farhat Taj for helping us realise how handicapped our intellectuals are with their biases.Ali Arqamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06143464855509527651noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9190386845105273560.post-27202851796210999522012-03-20T08:05:16.145+00:002012-03-20T08:05:16.145+00:00I have to read the book before I comment but usual...I have to read the book before I comment but usually I dont agree with Farhat Taj on much except her myth busting narrative of the pakhtuns. So will be an interesting read.meera ghanihttp://twitter.com/#!/meeraghaninoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9190386845105273560.post-68114219168174100612012-03-20T06:17:58.340+00:002012-03-20T06:17:58.340+00:00Takhalus, thank you for writing this! :D
I like y...Takhalus, thank you for writing this! :D<br /><br />I like your points about money entering the area as well as about how two different colliding priorities define the area.<br /><br /><i>it offers a narrative in a region ... by a state narrative which relegates their own people to strategic assets</i><br /><br />:-( I know the feeling.<br /><br />I was reluctant to get this book, but your review convinced me to try and get my hands on it. At least I know what I'll be getting into.<br /><br />It was definitely the fact that she didn't even acknowledge the existence of the PPP or the JUI's presence in KPK that made me disinterested in her writings.<br /><br />I think the JUI has earned itself a pall of notoriety and some clear elucidation on the side-by-side relation between the JUI and the Taliban needs to be made clear. The Taliban are presented as if they came about in a vacuum, and then a somewhat apolitical person like me, sitting in Karachi, has to explain how my society produced scum like the Af-Taliban & the TTP. The JUI are useful in this sense, sort of like how Alfred Hugenberg's DNVP gave the street Nazis respectability and access to the mainstream. The military is also vital in this, but I think the JUI's role & responsibility & profiteering in the spread of Jihadi-ism is not popularised enough. Attributing pure hearted Pakhtun nationalism to the populations of KPK & Fata, obscures some very real support people willingly give to the JUI. And how the JUI pimps that support to the military for violent Jihadi purposes.<br /><br />A note on the cover: It's nothing shocking to me. I was reading the year end Herald in 2004, and it had the horrible, horrible stories about the deals & military defeats in Wana & Waziristan. I knew when I was reading them, they would come back to haunt us.<br /><br />Some of the explosive stuff Herald has...if it was widely available on the net, it could face a tougher time. That same year-end piece had Pakistani pop music as it's cover piece :-)<br /><br />Anyway, definitely going to get this book for the history. <a href="http://theselongwars.blogspot.ca/2010/10/so-old-article-on-waziristan.html" rel="nofollow">This</a> had been, up till now, my defnitive history on the takeover over the Waziristans.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com