- 28 Jul 2012
Let’s do it, Pakistan
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Let’s do it, Pakistan
There seems to be a misperception among many Indians about Pakistan being a place filled with religious extremists.
FREMONT, CA, US: This is with reference to Aakar Patel’s article “Let’s do it, Pakistan” (July 29), in which the writer has suggested that Pakistan eases its visa regime and grant tourists visas to Indians on arrival at the Indo-Pakistan border. There seems to be a misperception among many Indians about Pakistan being a place filled with religious extremists, conservatives and terrorists.
I would like to relate the experience of several prominent Indian journalists and writers, who have visited Pakistan in recent years for the first time in their lives. They include Mahanth Joishy, Pankaj Mishra, Hindol Sengupta, Madhulika Sikka and Yoginder Sikand. Each of these persons reported that their visit was a true eye-opener and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. Many of the assumptions and feelings that they had held towards Pakistan for nearly 30 years, were challenged and exposed as wrong and even ignorant outright. Should Pakistan follow up on Mr Patel’s proposal, I urge Indians to avail this opportunity and discover Pakistan for themselves.
Riaz Haq
Published in The Express Tribune, August 1st, 2012.
Reader Comments (1)
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“There seems to be a misperception among many Indians about Pakistan being a place filled with religious extremists, conservatives and terrorists.”
There is no such misperception in India. The perception in India is that the Pakistani deep state has deliberately created certain non-state actors to balance the disparity in conventional arms of both countries. This perception is supported by statements of people like Hamid Gul, Asad Durrani etc. and so cannot be described as a ‘misperception’.
As far as religious extremism or conservatism, I think many of Pakistan’s own authors and anchors bemoan the fact that this on the rise (Najam Sethi, Nadeem Paracha, Feisal Naqvi, Ali Chisti, Raza Rumi, Marvi Sirmed). By the way, the people I am quoting are far better known in Pakistan than the people quoted by Riaz Haq are known in India.
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