Subject: FOR ALL THE DOOM SAYERS We may not realise it but spreading doom and gloom about ones country day in day out, especially when it is taken out of context or not based on verified facts, is not exactly a patriotic thing to do. Here is something worth thinking about. Pakistanis are not Intolerant An impression has been created that people in Pakistan are bigoted and intolerant. In fact, they are among the most tolerant in the world if you take a look at the worldwide survey published in The Washington Post of 15th May 2013. According to this Pakistanis are more tolerant than people in almost all the countries in Europe, including France, Germany and Holland. Only Norway, Sweden and Britain have a higher rating. About 6.5% of Pakistanis said they would not like to have a neighbour from a different race. It will come as a surprise to many that in India, on the other hand, more than 40 % of the people would apparently not like it. washingtonpost/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/ Pakistanis are also not Violent Pakistanis are also not violent.The rate of deaths due to violence per 100,000 in Pakistan has increased considerably since the invasion of Afghanistan. This is because of terrorism and the drone attacks but the average rate is still less (5.0) than that in the US (6.5). It is only a fraction of what it is in almost all of Africa, Latin America (including Mexico) and also Russia. It is about the same as for India and Israel but less than that in most of Eastern Europe. worldlifeexpectancy/cause-of-death/violence/by-country/ Pakistan has one of the lowest, if not the lowest, cases of rape every year in the world ---- less than one thousand a year for a population of 180 million. France on the other hand, with one-third the population of Pakistan, averages more than 10,000 cases a year. President Carter, in his book ‘A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Power and Politics’ claims some 12,000 women in the US military alone were raped in 2012. Yet, ever wonder why human rights organizations in the West chose a rape victim from Pakistan and paraded her around the world to symbolize the plight of women in general? Karachi is often labeled in the media as the ‘most dangerous city in the world’ (The Financial Times, 28th June). There is no doubt that violence in the city had increased considerably but it is confined in the main to clashes between extortion gangs that have the backing of some political parties in power in the province. This is not something inherent but a reflection of insensitivity, ineptitude and corruption among the politicians and law enforcement agencies. Despite all this, if you were to do a Google search of the top fifty most dangerous cities in the world you will not find Karachi’s name on the list. businessinsider/most-dangerous-cities-in-the-world-2012-10# Lahore, in my view that is incidentally supported by some recent visitors from America, is perhaps the safest, cleanest, well organized and well run among the major cities in all of South Asia at this time. Yet, for some reason, the US State Department issues strong warnings to anyone wanting to go there regardless of the fact that the rate of violent crime in Detroit, Michigan is seven times that in Lahore. beyondtheheadlines.org/lovely-lahore/ Terrorism Much is being made of religious extremism and incidents of terrorism in the country. Terrorists are not driven by religion as much as they are by a clear strategic objective to compel the occupying power to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland (Dying to Win, by Robert Pape, University of Chicago). There was no terrorism in Pakistan to speak of until Musharraf broke all agreements with the tribesmen and sent the army into Waziristan. Terrorism is not something peculiar to Pakistan or the Muslims. According to the list compiled by the FBI for the twenty-five-year period between 1980 and 2005, Muslims were involved in only six per cent of all the terrorist acts committed in the US as against the Jews in seven per cent and Latinos in forty-two per cent. zerohedge/contributed/2013-05-01/non-muslims-carried-out-more-90-all-terrorist-attacks-us-soil The European Union’s Terrorism Situation and Trend Report for 2010 indicates that out of a total of 294 ‘failed, foiled or successfully executed’ terrorist attacks in Europe in 2009 only one was by Muslim extremists as against two by the group opposed to the importation of wines from North Africa (article by Dan Gardener in The Ottawa Citizen of 5th January 2011). Extremists are found in any religion be it Christianity, Judaism or Hinduism. The same is true for acts of terrorism but the two, that is, religious extremism and terrorism are not synonymous. IRA in Northern Ireland, ETA in Spain, Shining Path Guerillas in South America, Naxallites, Nagas, ULFA, NDFB, the Khalistan Army to name a few in India, Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, FLQ in Canada ---- are not Muslims.
Posted on: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 06:27:32 +0000
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