Mr. Cowasjee

August 15, 2003 7:49 AM

Mr. Cowasjee writes about the noble beginning of Pakistan's government (again) this week, how the dream has gone unrealized, and how the predicted degeneration occurred. Why does this happen? Why are fundamentalist freaks trying to destroy the dream in our own country? Why don't people pay attention to Thomas Jefferson and leave religion at home?
posted by ewkpates (8 comments total)

Metafilter: Why are fundamentalist freaks trying to destroy the dream?
posted by dhoyt at 8:14 AM on August 15, 2003

Metafilter: When did you stop beating your wife?
posted by mookieproof at 8:40 AM on August 15, 2003

"When did you stop beating your wife?"

Mu.
posted by spazzm at 8:44 AM on August 15, 2003

Metafilter: When did Mark Knopfler stop beating Ted Koppel?
posted by sharksandwich at 8:48 AM on August 15, 2003

There once was a man - Mohammad Ali Jinnah - who by the sheer force of an indomitable will carved out a country ... he did it without mounting a single hunger strike, without spending a single day in jail. He worked hard, and he lived well according to his own taste and style.

He's like a Gandhi but without having to compromise his lifestyle!!
posted by rks404 at 9:03 AM on August 15, 2003

If Pakistan was formed basically to be a secular democracy (same as India), then what was the point, really? Was it to save Muslim lives? Well, the partition claimed quite a few of them, not to mention the several wars since and the inter-Muslim killings within Pakistan. All the anti-Muslim pogroms in India don't add up to that. Creating a state on religious grounds creates a slippery slope through which the fundies can take over (also see Israel, Iran).
posted by laz-e-boy at 9:20 AM on August 15, 2003

The article is based on a lot of assumptions, most importantly that MAJ actually knew what he was doing and that Pakistan the contemporary nation state composed of the poorest, most backward, and least Muslim Leage supporting portions of British India was the intended outcome.

Revisionists think otherwise, that Pakistan was something of a bluff that got called.
posted by ednopantz at 9:45 AM on August 15, 2003

August 15 is also India's Independence Day.
posted by madman at 12:07 PM on August 15, 2003