Comments on: Pakistan’s 9/11

By: toms brooding insensitivity

toms brooding insensitivity — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:15:45 +0000

your statement is a sea of sweeping statements and unjustified generalisations

i will leave it at that since every post would yield similar responses

By: Asfandyar

Asfandyar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:09:54 +0000

There’s a difference between ’shying away from the role of the US’ and having at a go at them every single time something bad happens though, isn’t it?

I don’t know, but an admittedly less-than-stringent observation of major Pakistani media outlets seems to show a significant emphasis on the US role and that ALONE. Criticising the US doesn’t mean that taliban are preferable to the US – that’s rather obvious – but it does mean we aren’t gunning after the taliban as much as we should.

By and large, our condemnation of the US exceeds our condemnation of the taliban (both the public and a large number of politicians).

Go ahead and curse the US, I may even join in. But when someone blows up the Marriott and takes upwards of 50 lives with them, concluding that this is because the bloody americans are decimating our sovereignty is what is flimsy. So is the brilliant solution that if they’d stop interfering in our affairs, things would be heavenly.

By: toms brooding insensitivity

toms brooding insensitivity — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 18:08:32 +0000

for Asfandyar
criticising the US and condemning the taliban/terrorists are not mutually exclusive events, unlike what your strawman argument suggests
inspite of the fact that this has now become pakistans war by default – considering that the victims of the suicide attacks were pakistanis, the troops dying in the mountains are pakistanis, and the civilian ‘collateral damage’ consists of yup, pakistanis – shying away from the role of the US in this whole fiasco reeks of utter naivety
remember, criticising the US does not in ANY WAY mean that the taliban are preferable to the US..
that being said, everyone has their respective opinions etcetera

By: Asfandyar

Asfandyar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:35:06 +0000

Apologies, I wrote that in a fit of anger. My own sister was supposed to be eating at Marriott but thankfully moved to Islamabad Club because the service/food was bad (or something). After that, it’s become increasingly tiring to hear people gloss over the taliban with the view that if we detached ourselves from the US everything would be fine.

The graphic was atrocious, and in incredibly bad taste. Geo didn’t shy away from showing decapitated bodies either.

By: Huma Imtiaz

Huma Imtiaz — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:12:00 +0000

Asfandyar – I didn’t say this was a proxy war, my writing ‘whose war is this anyway’ was a genuine question. You are entitled to your opinion and I am to mine, whatever my opinion may be.

P.S: Can’t do anything about that sadly, but I think they feel that its better showing a graphic as opposed to showing footage of decapitated bodies. Not sure if that’s really the reasoning behind it tho.

By: Asfandyar

Asfandyar — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:59:04 +0000

It’s really rather stunning that even NOW you’re still mired in the thought that we’re fighting a proxy US war.

Infact, lets step back and not fight these militants, so that they can torch more girls schools in Swat, and so that we have more than dozen lal masjid’s on our hands.

I find it absolutely stunning that in the wake of two people blowing themselves up and taking with them upwards of 50 lives, instead of stepping back and addressing the issue of these people who have without apology hijacked our religion AND our lands, using Waziristan and Swat as a base for their operations against NATO and Pakistan, we still somehow find our way to blame the US. Boggles the mind it does.

While we whine about the US invading our lands and trampling on our sovereignty, where’s the whining about the taliban doing the EXACT SAME THING? For two decades as well. So Afghanis and come into Pakistan, and then launch attacks against our own people and against NATO/Coalition forces in Afghanistan, but god forbid the Americans do the same? If Kayani would come out equally strongly against the taliban who’ve perpetrated a multitude of violent attacks in Waziristan/Swat (chopping off people’s heads for being spys, bombing CD shops, etc etc etc) and against the rest of Pakistan, maybe, MAYBE, the US wouldn’t feel a need to clean our backyard for us?

PS: On a personal note, I don’t really know if you still work at GEO or not, but they played a graphic where a black truck/van went into a red building with the title Islamabad Marriott on top. If there’s anything more insensitive ever shown on Pakistani tv, please let me know. Could you, maybe, go and slap someone in that department?

By: khizzy

khizzy — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:58:53 +0000

babe, theres really no ambiguity about who’ s war this is.
even the way the Americans state it…
“Pakistan needs to jack up its efforts in the war on terror to ensure the safety of the american people…”
so post 9/11 the americans sleep soundly and safely while our country turns into a war-zone.

By: awahid

awahid — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:45:36 +0000

we are not afraid and we live like nothing really matters to us.
Almost every country faces these types of terrorist attacks. Pakistan is a country who fights war against the terrorism.

By: Conspirama

Conspirama — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 09:01:20 +0000

Pakistan’s 9/11…

Over 50 dead. Over 200 injured. The Marriott destroyed. One more consequence of being a frontline state in the War on Terror. Whose war is this anyway?…