I think the writer is just confusing a western lifestyle with progressive thinking and open-mindedness.
KARACHI: This is with reference to Munizae Jahangir’s article of January 10 titled “Will progressive forces wake up now?”. So, wearing jeans, carrying a Gucci bag and going out to dinner is a sign of secularism, liberality and progressivism? I think the writer is just confusing a western lifestyle with progressive thinking and open-mindedness. I would like to tell Munizae that there are many of us who don’t go for that kind of lifestyle, who wear Pakistani clothes and who study or work in purely Pakistani institutions, even live in places like Nazimabad, North Karachi and Gulshan-i-Iqbal, but who believe in freedom of thought and freedom of expression. I think we need to come out of this type of stereotyped thinking. In fact, I would venture to say that many of our so-called westernised liberals are more intolerant than the conservatives.
Dr Shahida Qazi
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2011.
