Don’t act surprised — II

This was a brilliant read, absolutely brilliant and I agree fully to what you have to say sir.Recommend

Wow George! nice article very well witten. the last paragraphs almost bought tears to my eyes :) Thanks for the share…Recommend

“Before we can improve a society, we need to acknowledge we have a problem”. Erm. like u said, this lynching has not been the first act of despicable violence…. Only a fool will not have acknowledged that we have a problem till now. I think you’re covering up for your lack of imagination re: coming up with a solution.

‘The kneejerk reaction from some designer patriots to my last piece surprised me. I certainly do not believe – as some people have claimed – that all 170 million Pakistanis are barbaric’. knee-jerk? re-read your article, i appreciate you saying u clumsily elaborated pakistans probs but youre still being too kind on yourself.your thoughts in ‘dont act surprised’ were definitely not carefully deliberated over… they were extreme and mindless generalizations.

its not about your piece not being a comparative analysis,,, people were referring to other countries/ cultures to point out the fallacies in your argument.

i have to agree with you on the who is racist point. its pathetic how people pointed to your skin colour to question your pakistaniat. disgusting.

Its dangerous to self-deprecate, however, to the extent that you did. Pieces like yours can dangerously and wrongly promote low self esteem amongst an entire populace (er, your readership) and what good will that do? you have to be more careful to invite self-reflection in a constructive manner….Recommend

I completely agree with George’s assessment of the current state of affairs in pakistan. And he is right to suggest that in order to solve a problem you need to acknowledge it first.Recommend

George, I was one of those who criticized your earlier article. I must say this is a much better article and I can see your point clearly now. Thanks for writing this piece and your clarification.Recommend

George Fulton,

I am indebted to you for coining the word “designer patriots.” How apt.Recommend

george,
please you owns nobody any explanations,your article was such a good reality of pakistans society.you hit the nail in the head in that your article,if we have few people like you in pakistan that speaks the truth am sure our society will change.keep on,BRAVO.please dnt stop to call a spade a spade always,am sure they will always critize you.
you spoke the truth so our people(pakistani)hates truth,truth is unacceptable in pakistan society.they want you to support evil and wickedness but you refused, so they started to critizes you,please dnt give in,continue with your good work.iknow that they will call you all types of names,but never mind,they will all pay with their own blood one day unless they repeant from evils and pursue peace and love.our people here carrys God in their lip but their heart is full of evil plans,wicked act,lies and hatred.they always want to deffend their evil deeds by comparing other country without knowing that other country are far better than us,they got great human right in other country,but here we have nothing like that.but they never compare any good thing they saw in other country or wish our country better.but they are always growing in evil each day.enough we need a change our blood is too dirty to call human beings.they prayed 5times in a day but always planning evil and doing evil each second.destroying God handwork.we need a change of heart here,our youth is even the worst always ready to encourage evils by smiling at any evil.99percent of our parents dont teach us any good but busy teaching us how to hate our neighbours,other religions,foreigners.they never teach us how to forgive others but always revenge.am sick and tired off defending our evils and wicke lifes hereRecommend

I’m glad you wrote this rebuttal because it clarifies a lot of things that were misinterpreted in your previous article. this one seems much cooler and rational while the former, while correct in pointing out a few facts, seemed like an emotional banter.Recommend

Thanks George for your frank talk, but we have a lot of growing ahead us.Recommend

George! The golden words of Dante(Italian philosopher of the 12th century) perfectly narrate the state of affairs in Pakistan. His landmark and legendary words must speak for our society :

“The hottest place in the hell lies for those who in times of moral crisis maintain their neutrality”.Recommend

The problem with your article and a few others was one of broad generalization. Societies cannot be collectively labeled as “brutal” or “brutalized” — whether British or Pakistani or Rwandan — such statements sow the seeds of prejudice even if that is not your intent. If you had presented your argument with some nuance and moderation the reaction would not have been such. Expatriates will always need to contend with the feeling of being labeled “the other,” so long as nationalism exists around dominant demographics. Rest assured Pakistanis living abroad need to contend with similar sentiments of exclusion all too often as well.Recommend

George we support you. You are a true Pakistani!Recommend

Yes I am sure you have watched Maula Jatt.
Pertaining to the last para: Have you now become Pakistan Ka George?Recommend

Why do we instinctively feel the need
to deflect criticism of our failings
by looking at other’s failings?

We lack this thing badly. We hide our failures just to feel more patriotic.

Welcome to Pakistan, George. But I am sure you would have learnt enough tolerance in all these years in Pakistan. Keep writing!

PS: A mantra of one of my friend “Ye woh qoum hai jo apney aap ko dhoka deti hai or us key leye apney aap se hi jhoot bolti hai”Recommend

Thank you for the reality slap George…. God knows we need it badly. Amazing work as always!Recommend

The brutalities against Shias, Hindus and Ahmadis continue unabated. Intolerance preached by narrow-minded clerics have destroyed the very fabric of our society. Un-Islamic views such as stoning to death for adultery or apostasy have been openly preached to masses. These punishment are not mentioned in the Quran and been borrowed fron the Torah.
Tolerance of diverse doctrinal views is very Islamic.Recommend

The fact that you commented with vigour on the illnesses of Pakistan, my beloved country, shows that you care about this country. There is nothing wrong about the people but those to blame are ALL THOSE IN WHOSE HANDS WERE THE REIGNS OF THIS PIECE OF LAND. They had the power to set things right. They had the power to control the poor, innocent and illiterate population of Pakistan to mould them towards education, towards patriotism, towards true Islam, towards honesty, love of brotherhood and what not! They failed and have brought tears to my eyes. They were and are SELFISH. As far as those calling you racist are concerned, I ask them to please think hard and tell me, is there no racism in Pakistan? Shia-Sunni; Muhajir-Sindhi-Punjabi-Baluchi; the favours done to one another in the Baradari system(Arain,Maliks,Chaudahrys…)and leave that alone what do you think about the feudal system and the feudalist, the most obnoxious racist community!!!Recommend

I do agree with George. Nicely written.Recommend

I have read both the “Don’t act surprised” articles and I think that Mr. Fulton has done his duty to Pakistan by showing this nation a mirror. By talking about Maula Jatt, Amir Liaquat and our applauding of medieval Arabian justice he has spoken the truth, which can only benefit our country.Recommend

i started reading the article as usual. what stunned me was there are 19 comments to this article and all of them agree with what is said in the article.this thing instantly decreased my hatred for your country. i never thought there can be people in pakistan who can agree with the kind of things george has said. you people should find out more people like you and let the world know about your thoughts. this can change the image of your country . it is your duty.Recommend

I guess George missed my comment to his last column in the flood of other comments.

George, one does not have to feel racist or even “be” a racist in order to say racist things. On your previous article I commented on this particular line (one of several like it):

“This has always been an ugly reality of Pakistan and always will be”
Careful George, you’re slipping into racisim. While your general sentiment about the deep-rooted pathology in Pakistani culture may be on the money, please avoid essentialising.

By saying that Pakistanis (you did imply all of them) are all essentially violent and barbaric and that this is an immutable part of their character, you were saying something is naturally an integral part of all of them. That is a racist statement.

A non-racist statement would be to say “Violence has become an integral part of our culture and we need to root this out” or something of that sort.

By pointing out the inherent racisim of some of your statements, I’m not accusing you of being anti-Pakistani and I’m not joining the baying chorus of uber-nationalists trying to drown out your views – I am actually saying that you will not be able to address the problem if you present it as an essential and integral part of Pakistan and the Pakistani people for ever and ever.Recommend

You did not have to write this post. There was nothing unclear in your previous post. We have to accept what is truth but it takes some serious efforts.

‘designer patriots’ (I like this term)Recommend

You said “Films like Saw and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are horrors ” you defend you films and we cant defent our country? Ok these movies may be horror and not promote killing culture what about Genocide your worst culture never seen in the world.if we are designer patriots so history tells us that you people are Genocide
Read comments sanjithmenon in your previous post ” am from India, these things happen here also. Its bad its wrong and all that. We had a jilted lover who threw acid on his lovers face. the girl died. the police caught the boy, and took him for a ride. Killed him, right there on the road. his body was brought in a tractor to the city, and my you should have seen the women folk on the road baying for blood. Human rights groups came in, and asked who gave the police permission, it was none other than the chief minister of the state. the boys parents never accepted the body, and the municipality buried him. So what should the police have done? left him to the justice system who would have taken 9 years to bring justice?…..”
These things happend in all over the world and double in your societyRecommend

I can perfectly understand what you mean..
I remember when I was about 14 or 15 there was an incident where an iron rod was shoved into a woman’s privates.. It was such a distressing story that I had nightmares for weeks..
This incident took place some 20 years ago in Pakistan (if I remember correctly).
So horrifying.. so brutal.. People have a short lived memory..Recommend

Dear George, i am a student but a little inclined towards plitics and human rights. brother, your column is a masterpiece you analysed this problem which has destroyed our societies. you mentioned just a few examples. i am a witness of more cruel exampless for instance you can look at the Punjab Police’s encounter in which they kill the so called criminals and then dead bodies are put on donkey carts and are rotated around the city and people threw rose petals at brave police officers. and what if chief minister of punjab is notorious for such quick justice system as he has engineered hundreds of fake encounter himself.

we are away from the pakistan that quide has promised us,a moderate, multicultural and just society. you can see that pakistan’s first foreign minister was a ahmedi,lood at other examples too. last thing the chief justice takes the sou moto he discriminate hindus by saying that they are helping the suicide bomber. Punjab Oqaf department last few month ago published the banner on which it was written that ahmedies are kaafir and wajabulqatal.

god bless you for showing them their true face

sabir arifRecommend

for a nation suffering from amnesia, we should not forget the 8 employees who were burnt alive in KFC Gulshan Karachi by misguided religious fanatics and the staff of a textile unit in Korangi Creek Karachi who were clubbed to death by a striking labor force, and, and,Recommend

@RabiaKhan

Thats redemption. Its better that you read this paper online than buy it.Recommend

here is another example

in zia days karachi a woman put her baby outside the mosque and when people came out they saw it brought the attention of the molvi sahib he declared it as an illegitmate child and the namazis killed it by kicking the infant. nobody ever raised his/her voice against it so what about sialkot incident. face the truth my fellow pakistanis.Recommend

George – thank you for posting part 2 of your article. But, I really don’t think you need to explain your stand. You were not offending the pakistani nation by the things you said initially. I think all pakistanis should know by now exactly what is happening in the country and they need to relieve all the oppression and intolerance in the country. Seriously, please do not feel like you have to defend your article part 1. You did a great job writing it and defending your point. Pakistanis around the world are fully aware of what is going on in the country and a revolution of some sort needs to come from within. Enough with the brutals attacks and killings and the murders of ANYONE. This is not the pakistan that was built for the purpose of muslims. This is not the Pakistan of Jinnah. Thank you also for talking about the Ahmadi reality. I say, reality because unfortunately it is one, when Ahmadis get murdered, there is no uproar like there was for the Sialkoti brothers. Its a sad fact but true. Ahmadis themselves did not riot or cause a fuss even though so many brothers died in Lahore on May 28th. Pakistan needs to learn and tolerate one another before they can truly talk peace. Where is the brotherhood here? Where is the every man will defend each other here? This country has become a joke. For those of us living in the west, we are becoming day by day ashamed of what the world thinks of us. This is NOT that pakistani I know anyone wants to associate with. Thank you again for your bold articles. Both were real and bold.Recommend

Dear Readers,

George o George, i would like to clarify something for the readers. You are not Pakistani. we appreciate your love for this country and all the positive things you do in carrying a healthy image for the people of this nation. Shedding light on our cultural or social actions should not be one of them.

Only cause you have a pakistani passport or nationality does not qualify you for analysing, comparing or contrasting what happens in pakistan. You can thank your Native fore fathers, the color of your skin and the genorosity of the pakistani people for you to be able to become a part of our country… that courtesy, sadly , is not extended to any of us living in this country.

Barbaric are trade sanctions and embargoes, failed resolutions, puppet regimes, countries forced to do things to their people at the command of others. the people responsible for all of this are people from your native countries. The hatred, steaming extremism, lack of open minded views in islam are all stemming from your part of the woods.

we are, sadly, the foot soldiers for the barbarism of the world.. the donkeys of the world… running from contract to contract because citizens of the world view us as the lowest of the low. forget about the lack of confidence we have in our social institutions, we lack confidence in the world.

we lack confidence in you and many like you who pose to be morally higher than we are. you are no one to even understand what it is to be pakistani, to be taxed and never be represented. to be succesful and still treated like a third grade citizen anywhere in the world. asses your barbarism and that of your native country rather than trying to analysing ours.

you did point out all the bad things that happen in Pakistan. a journalists role to report the truth and the people have a right to know. you in the media are the ones who decide what gets played and seen and what doesnt. go out and find all the good things that happen in pakistan.. stories of love, compasion, charity, hard work, innovation, progress, justice, rule of law, governance.

i feel you will fail miserably in such a task

regards
heartbroken and exhausted karachiteRecommend

When I was passing through this article comments, I surprised to see more than 75% of people are in agree with author, as being an Indian I didn’t expect the like minded people upto this much percentage!, but why you people are silient gone are those days of ZIA with martial Law now I found people who got exposed to real education and institutes are started to think positivily good sign for pakistan but even still large portion of pakistan are under the grip of radicals, people please think and educate them, education is not onething through which you can read and write but education is one which enable you to think before you act, this is the type of change needs in our both country, how positively your country man takesup this job to clean the system, you all know democracy is the right tool to flush out these criminals and bigots.

All you pakistanis and we Indians are from the similar race, think similar only difference is religion, keep religion aside, this is the only eliment kept us thinking radically against each other.

How can we betry ourself in denial mode for so long, truth might be bitter but accepting truth results in sweetness.

so like minded people start thinking take your country in right direction before some evil elements dump it.Recommend

no one have right to kill anyone on basis of religion or any other reason. this is the judiciary’s duty to make justice
but we need to analyse that why our people act like a barbaric.this is completely breakdown of law enforcement agencies and slow judiciary system.
so we should rebuild ourselves and our society with peaceRecommend

Ya man. We’re racist too.Recommend

Okay now you are crisp! I see your point. Let’s talk about fixing it?

How do you minimize the latent violence? Is there a systematic method that we could adopt to help there? How can the media genuinely help, as your article does by essentially as you put it ‘acknowledging’ the presence of the problem.Recommend

Keep walking George. You need no rebuttals or appologies to issue. You have shown us the mirror and we hate to see our ugliness. We must also not take Our Teams match fixing very seriously. After all its an individual’s act. What else represents us? We are ever barking dogs when it comes to cursing politicians forgetting that sample represents the lot.

How come that a corrupt majority is not ruled by corrupt rulers?

Open your eyes my country men and women. We have yet to touch the bottom. We are not prepared to at least accept our faults. Like teenagers we blame West, US, Zionists and Raw for our miseries. The world is laughing at you.

Confound our Minds. God must be repenting to have created a nation so stupidly emotionall and reactionery.Recommend

Dear George Fulton! I have gone through your article and I was not interested to comments on the comments of others and I appreciate that you have in your second part of the article

“Finally, some people accused me of racism for my last piece. Despite having become a Pakistani, married a Pakistani, had a son who is a Pakistani, lived in and moved to Pakistan, it seems I am not allowed to comment on Pakistan. Now, pray tell, who is the racist?”

and particularly the last para made me to pen down few lines.

You are well educated person and I appreciate that you own Pakistan like me and if you go to the history of the nations you will come across such incidences you yourself and others has pointed out. If you go through the book of Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed who is a great sociologist and had been a political agent of Waziristan and civil servant at Balochistan and have made a film on Jinnah have written so many books like “Miz” preface written by Dr. Akbar S. Ahmed. “Pieces of Green and “Pakistani Mu’ashra” (translated from English “Pakistan the social sciences perspective”) and a book written by the then chief minister of Punjab Mr. Hanif Ramay “Punjab ka Muqadma”, “Punjab Castes” by Sir Denzil Ibbetson will make you able to understand Pakistani society. Transformation do occur in society and this is a very huge subject and it is the duty of the sociologist and anthropologist to give final verdict on such issues. Any how you yourself has ask for the right to comment and you have the right to do so in our Pakistan.Recommend

brilliant piece once again.. and i absolutely agree 100 percent.. unless we don’t identify our problems we are no where near to solve it.. and as far as being pakistani is concerned, well since i question the many things in wrong with our state i myself am termed as a non-pakistani by many people even though i was born here and lived my whole life here.. its just the mechanism of certain people to blame others to hide our own fault so no one can judge who is a better pakistani than other !Recommend

You are now officially ‘Pakistan ka George’ :)Recommend

I can’t shake the feeling, Fulton, that you think we should be grateful you live amongst us. A bit more honesty might make you slightly more palatable. And do refrain from critiquing a film industry you don’t understand and which comes from a social context that you also don’t understand, in spite of being white and doing us the favour of living here.Recommend

The article, and the discussion, is far from “pointless”. Well done George for an excellent follow up. Frankly, I was disgusted by the comments being posted on Facebook by various “Designer Patriots” in response to your original article. It seems the lynch mob exists not only in Sialkot or with the “liberals”; anyone who defended your view or requested that the article be read with an open mind was jumped upon. Frankly, you have more right to refer to yourself as “Pakistani” than most of these other Pakistanis. Appalling to refer to you as anything other than a Pakistani, speaking from a Pakistani’s perspective; evidently you wrote what you did because you sincerely care. It’s very easy to spit blood and make negative comments against what you wrote simply to be seen as a “patriot” (designer or otherwise), and then go off and party the night away. Far more difficult to accept the truth and get off one’s backside to do something about it. Keep it up!Recommend

I feel this is getting quite out of hand, while everyone living in Pakistan (Pakistani or not) should be able to express their opinions- one fact should remain clear these are their opinions and cant be taken as fact. But we don’t need a constant rebuttal war when there are more important issues that need to remain the focus.

At a time like this where millions in Pakistan are suffering I feel it was wrong of the author to pick this moment to bash Pakistani people and society. Yes, we maybe a “society underpinned by brutal violence” – which society isn’t? Most countries have a bloody history. But we are also a generous empathetic society that rises to the occasion to help those in need or speak up against injustices.

Everyone reads the news we all know what goes on and while I agree these incidents should be talked about and brought to the forefront so justice can be served there is also a need a for us to think about how we can better address the underlying drivers of these issues. But let stop with the Pakistan bashing, with lives of millions at stake we need to be showing the more positive sides of Pakistan to the external world that is soo reluctant to come to our help. Lets be smart for once and wash our dirty laundry at home, lets think of the common good- which is to ensure our fellow citizens don’t have to suffer for longer than they already have. Lets do all we can to get the world to help us because clearly its not something we can deal with ourselves.Recommend

George! I think u ‘ve cleared readers a lot in this article … former article was a bit of a sizzler….
@Rabia I can’t grab ur point…. about the pointlessness of this article ….
we like all other nations have our “evils”…. pointing them out by someone who is not a born Pakistani is hitting most of us … we r always in a state of denial when it comes to the ills of our society, we either blame our environment, or do some kind of comparative analysis.
The brutal killing of these two brother is as always condemnable …. but its another fact that it was a reported case with a footage …. don’t we come across with the news like honour killing of women (by jirga order), nose and throat cutting incidents, even “pasand kii shaadi” is a taboo which proves lethal (by their own families) to many couples ….
so why are we so intolerant when some one with a different race points out the ills in our society …. don’t say if “this” is happening in Pakistan …”that” is happening in West … such arguments are absurd … our system needs serious overhauling … and the Intolerance prevailing in our society is malignant perhaps much much destructive than any other evil.Recommend

Bang on. We are the nation who justify rape case taking place in our motherland by stating “LOOK – AT – THE- U.S of A. What is more amusing is that the reactions from the people, as if any of the things were untrue. Reaction , apology and defending and pretending under the garb that Sialkot incident was a happening of once in a blue moon only shows either “they” don’t read the news or “they” are wannabe talibans.Recommend

Really liked your first article and also agree with your second one. I wonder why it’s so hard for people to accept that there is a problem.Recommend

Some comments seem to be missing the point here; George is writing as a ‘Pakistani’ as he himself has explained very coherently. If he is “bashing” Pakistan and Pakistanis then he is including, not excluding, himself. He is not speaking as a “gora” or from a platform. I believe what he has attempted to do is to point out that no one should have been surprised at what occurred in Sialkot; that for once we should all be introspective and realize that in one form or another various forms of abuse occur every day in Pakistan. What happened in Sialkot is simply not the “it” topic/cause of the day- here today, gone tomorrow as so typically happens. And yes, Pakistan has a much greater disaster to contend with – the floods – but surely that’s a precise reason for what happened with those two boys to be highlighted. It is shameful that this occurred right now. Yes, most Pakistanis are generous and empathetic but there are also many that are not. This “dirty laundry” is being washed at home – the article was printed in a Pakistani newspaper not in a UK or USA one, for example. Perhaps it is something better explained to the Pakistani cricket team, if the allegations prove to be correct; it is they who at this time should have been reflecting a more positive image of the country as it’s ambassadors and it is they, not George or his comments, which will do much harm to future donations/help. Sometimes we need a slap in the face to wake us all up and perhaps that is just what George has done with his article. Most pople who watched the video of the murder of those boys, and the subsequent interview with their family, would have reacted exactly as he did. The difference being that he decided to voice his repulsion.Recommend

Sir, you certainly have become true Pakistani and evidence is your attitude like Pakistani writers, they consider themselves focal point rather thn material they write, Can anybody guide me why cant Pakistani writer remain just a medium/ a post man between ideas and poeple instead of insatiable I My Me…
by the way its not meant to hurt.Recommend

Geroge Fulton is a Pakistani – Salute to you George . I am sure most of these ‘critics’ would do anything to be where you were …errr .. with a british passportRecommend

There is certainly a step or two been taken back from the last blatant article you wrote! It automatically becomes more digestible to us. The facts might have been correct in both the previous and this one, yet the way it is presented is what matters! So, for future, keep that in mind! Had you given an overall and comparitive perspective, giving some ray of hope some gist of getting out of these hapless situations we find ourselves in, I’m sure you wouldn’t have heard the bashing out that you did..
Pakistani is one, who claims to be one in every good and worst situation, come what may!Recommend

Dear George! We as a society build on the stone of Hatred! Over decades we were taught one word i.e. hate, in our schools, Madarsas, colleges, universities and even mosques.

The mosques which are source of peace, tolerance and love became the source of hatred. Jihad is the only concept our Mullah has given to new generation. Those who were against Pakistan during independence became dearest to Pakistan to achieve their own agendas. No body every told us about the Real Jihad i.e. Your fight against your own unnecessary wants and keeping yourself away from forbidden things.

When we talk about issues in our society it doesn’t mean that each and every person is corrupt but overall we have very large number of people in our society who are corrupt.

Killing Foreign Aid workers on the basis of their religion when they are here to help you without any discrimination. There are people who are supporting such people, other thinks its Ok to do that, and some are silent on it….I think they all a responsible for Killing of those Christian Aid workers. This behavior is common in each and every part of our society. We don’t care or will keep silent until fire reach our home and burn it down.

We are Racist! that what the reality is! wake up! Discrimination is reality! my dumb fellows. We are heart less and inhuman society realize it! Stop being in state of denial! You can’t stop virus until you accept that you are attacked by virus and need some treatment! We all want Pakistan to became Quaid’s Pakistan not the Mullah or extremist Pakistan.

Each day is worst then yesterday! Around the world we are criticized for what we do! One thing I am sure about the fact that, George is as Pakistani as me or any other Pakistani of this country.Recommend

Dear George… Though you have stated bear truth in your article… and I don’t have any doubt on your sincerity, yet I would like to add a few words here…
You have expressed, “Before we can improve a society, we need to acknowledge we have a problem.” Well yes George, you are right, we have to acknowledge the problem… but do you think that you have successfully identified the problem with Pakistan and its people?? I am afraid not… The main problem with the people of Pakistan is not what you have expressed, (though what you have pointed out is mostly true) The BASIC problem is and has been our ruling elite, which has purposely kept “education”, knowledge and awareness away from the majority of Pakistanis…
This total lack of education in the masses has led to this total failure of this state…
All the “barbaric” tendencies that you have mentioned in your post (though they are a part of the tribal background of this nation) could have been tamed through “education”… Had the children of our nation been able to receive proper education in the last 63 years, they would have emerged as much civilized and composed people… I blame the feudal rulers who kept this nation away from all sources of enlightenment, just because of their personal interests… It was in their favor that the masses stay in total darkness…. to serve them as their slaves and to be used as a vote bank who would just stamp the symbol of their master’s choice without even knowing whom they are choosing as their masters…
So please if you want us to acknowledge the real problem, then you should also try not to generalize and judge… Just think about the real cause of this decay and point it out in your articles too…
In the end of your recent article it looks that you have become too emotional about choosing to be a Pakistani… George, believe me these simple, unaware and “barbaric” Pakistanis have a bigger heart than the white races of this world..and they have accepted you as one of them with all their sincerity… its just that us, poor Pakistanis are far less refined (due to reasons that I have stated above) to be able to hide their true feelings behind the smiling mask of sweet manners and superficial politeness which is the gift of “modern” western society…Recommend

‎”Would we have been as shocked if the Sialkot killings had been of Ahmadis, Christians, Hindus or homosexuals? Would we have been shocked if it hadn’t been filmed”.
“Why do we instinctively feel the need to deflect criticism of our failing…s by looking at other’s failings? ”
I give George Fulton a thumbs up. He’s more Pakistani than our “designer patriots” (good one Georgie) living in other countries and commenting on stuff they know little about. First hand experience is what counts. You have to live here to know what our society is turning into. I , as a Pakistani American who chooses to live here , can completely understand what Fulton’s trying to say. And remember , you are judged by the majority. There will always be exceptions , and there are many , but you will always be judged by the majority. First the sialkot murders , then the similar shujabad incident just days later , followed by the murder of as many as five ppl over a sum amounting to about 30 American cents. Not to mention the cricketers adding to the infinitely long list of crooks in this land of the pure. Our majority is what it is. These criminal tendencies transcend the classes. Accountability is the answer , the only real solution. But who will bring it? Is accountability in our genes? I sure hope so.Recommend

Reading some of the comments attacking George I am sad to say this is a reflection of Pakistanis mentality after decades of having bred into them hatred and fear of reality – the minds are bunk and Islam and Muslims have been replaced with Mullah worshipping unthinking, unreasoning dronesRecommend

George, you are a Pakistani and we are proud that you have selected Pakistan for rest of your life… people of Pakistan are trying to be Canadian, American, Brits.. but even though you have choosed to be a Pakistani.. you wife may have choosed to become a Brit too.

What is the concern here, no one can doubt your honesty and pain showed in the last article. But there are few people concerned and can not bear the bitterness and hardness of reality. They have their own problems.

So just Keep it up.Recommend

Umm, excuse me! In DAS Part 2 you state: “I certainly do not believe – as some people have claimed – that all 170 million Pakistanis are barbaric. That’s patently absurd.”

Really? IN DAS Past 1 you stated: “We are, and have always been, a barbaric, degenerate nation revelling in bloodlust.” Strong words and pretty categorical, don’t you think?

I suppose your readers are at fault for not reading between the lines and figuring out that you were actually trying to say, as you point out in DAS Part 2: “Pakistan has always been a society underpinned by latent brutality.” Well now George, you may be trying to water it down a bit, through the lens of hindsight and circumspection. But you’re still really saying the same thing and its equally wrong.

What Pakis do have is a sense of helplessness, and frustration, fueled by the lack of any working social or political mechanisms or organizations. The only entity that works, is the army, and ofcourse now they are being encouraged to intervene to remove this inept civilian leadership. We are just like the hapless onlookers who would either passively observe, or actively participate in the government sponsored public corporal punishments (meted out for suspected treason) in Britain’s Tudor era. Read Saadiya’s post from page 6, DAS Part 1. More gory than anything at Sialkot, and government sponsored. Well Britain went on from feudalism to parliamentary democracy and firmed up the legal framework for protection of the weak and indigent. Pakistan obviously is in a medieaval stage of development, and those who don’t realize this are smoking dope in the tiny urban havens they inhabit. We know our institutions don’t need fixing, because they don’t exist yet. We will follow our trajectory to civility and enlightenment, hopefully soon, hopefully without cataclysmic events. The western model appeals to some, but the Chinese model is fast gaining credibility in the eyes of many. When we observe Pakland with a western sensibility which has its unique christian history, and post reformation and enlightenment its more fashionable to call it secular, there will always be antagonistic baggage to label and judge countries like Pak. George, you may not be doing this consciously, but a number of your boosters who support you here are guilty of this mindset. They oh so want to be liked as Pakistanis but there’s never any good news coming out of there. Hence they grasp at the self-loather’s favorite device, criticize your mother, country and morals. All you guys are useless. Those who want to build Pakland are out there in the villages feeding the 20 million as we speak, they don’t have time to sit and whine on blogs.

Finally, George, as a venting mechanism your DAS articles have served as a lightning rod for the disaffected and numb urban elite. All your examples of Pakis are drawn from movies, TV talk shows, characters in books and people who have called or written in to you. Do you know any real people, do you meet and spend time with them face to face? To start broad generalizations about our morality based on this anecdotal evidence is at best funny, at worst irresponsible. I urge you to limit your role to being a media critic. Leave the social anthropology insights to those who can be more nuanced.Recommend

George , we always appreciate ur pieces in the newspaper. What all the Americans and the Europeans did to dislodge the American Indians thru brutal slaughter has been repeated by the Israelis and the people responcible for the Bosnia-Chechnia massacares. Ofcourse in Pak we have to condemn such acts of brutality and hopefully with people lke u who have such deep instinct and feeling, we will be able to condone it .
By the way , Mubarik for having a son . Congrats to Kiran too. U all have our good wishe s.Recommend

george , YOU ARE NOT RACIST !!!!!Recommend

Actually that would be rather cool :)

And Rana Bagwandas as Prime Minister!

(THE MULLAHS AND THEIR MIRRORS IN THE WEST WOULD LOVE THAT :D)Recommend

you are every bit of Pakistani as we are George. Its actually a problem with our nation we recommend staying in denial than someone showing our true face. Its not only you even if a Pakistani Origin Pakistani tries to give opinion he will also be blamed. You at least have enough time to discuss Issues we would be concerned about. We need people like you who can show our real faces. As for the incident of Sialkot its not long lasting like other issues it will fade as soon as those convicted will be punished. But the question is if the punishment suggested by the law will be enough to stop such future incidents? We all know that they won’t hang all of them since no one knows whose blow was fatal to kill those innocent guys. But I sure hope that those involved will receive the same behavior of punishment as those two innocent boys to avoid future incidents.Recommend

George may be you need to start worrying about UK too. Its not getting any better;

UK: Hate Leaflets calling for the murder of Ahmadis
http://www.spittoon.org/archives/7750Recommend

I totally agree with Mr.George that people just listen what they wants to hear only.Recommend

Well done George! Its so sad that some of the people commenting on this article are not willing to call a spade a spade. You are more of a true Pakistani then most of the pseudo-nationalists who I bet break every law in the book and evade taxes. Its easy for them to always point the finger externally and never examine the brutality and horror that takes place in our own backyard. Keep up the good workRecommend

George, Why don’t you just stay with your previous passport. It suits you better.Recommend

“Designer Patriots” now thats a term I would pass on..far and wide. Kudos! DudeRecommend

HEY GEORGE…… A QUESTION : Your analysis is realistic, honest, and meaningful. And yes, at this point we all should be paying attention to what factors perpetuate this heroic ‘mob mentality’ in pakistan…. ppl who feel as if they can exercise divine justice or wutever….. sit in judment on others. Its like, sheesh, it is primitive! i wonder why no one is bringing up RELIGION as yet? in these debates? hmmmmm????

recently i was at a protest for the sialkot brothers— uhhh… at one point the protest was going strong and suddenly women in burka started going upto all the ppl demanding they say their PRAYERS…. the protest was broken up… and lines of ppl kneeled down to say their prayers…. :) They went to each person one by one, —- and all of us guiltily went to pray (arraay babies chotay chotay)

another example of mob mentality, dare i say? In our country, there is no line drawn between what should be public and what private… and ppl listen to others like sheep… because of course we are all god fearing (@$@$@) citizens. If the crowd go to pray, we go.. if crowd go to kill, we go… no? THERE IS NO INDIVIDUALITY, very little spirituality, no humanity left—– and individuality, humanity, spirituality, the three go together. If one isnt there the other two arent either.Recommend

Although I haven’t read your previous article but of course you are a Pakistani and we all wish you the best like all other Pakistanis. People who have called you racist could be suffering from a deluge of anti-pakistan press recently and may well have over reacted. Having said that – no one is justified to call another ant-racist and this act alone should be condemned.Recommend

@BulBul Khan
you my friend, *ARE SPOT ON *!!!!!….thank you for giving words to what so many of us are feeling while going through these blogs. GOD BLESS YOU,,,Recommend

Lynette D-G: In case you missed it, this piece is directed at the pontificating urban elite on display here, you and I included. I specifically wrote that last line KNOWING that my post was lengthy. I knew there would be someone who would try to reach for the obvious. Congratulations, you have just won a trip to Charsadda to help with flood relief work.Recommend

Good one George…Recommend

Dear George,
Your simply taking back your words and now trying to reconcile with the general public of Pakistan, who feel back trashed by your uncalled for comments. You like your fellow writer “Mr. Fasi Zaka” publicized yourselves by creating articles which demeaned the Pakistani culture, society, values and norms. This was surely to get you more attention (be it good or bad) than one could have hoped for, and you achieved that. So for that, I as a reader congratulate you.
However, my main problem with this is Why take back or better yet “Justify” yourselves now? Why undermine the true message of your article by saying “We the public read it wrong, and thats not what you really meant” ?!?

Making part II of your insensitive blogs isn’t going redeem your popularity with the ones who now see you as one more of the pessimistic, no-good, useless, unproductive, archetypal “Westerner”. Who come to a country, win the hearts of the people there, save his dream girl and than knifes the same people who give him his role-model persona.
And lastly, THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS YOUR NOT A TRUE PAKISTANI ! Marrying someone, moving to their country and having a kid with them, just for the love you have for that particular person doesn’t mean you love the country itself. The reasons why you moved to Pakistan are clear to the people, and even more clear to you. To be a Pakistani (or for any country) you have to be raised in Pakistan, be taught the values in that Pakistan, learn the importance and sacrifice by your ancestors which went onto create that Pakistan! A citizenship stamp, simply doesn’t cut it in the real world. Be it here, or anywhere else in the world.

Also pardon me and the other wannabe deisgner patriots for fighting for the leftover reputation of our nation. I hope we weren’t a big inconvenience for you in time of your righteous preach on justice, morality, tolerance and the counterpart everyday Pakistani.
A.K, 16. LahoreRecommend

This just in, saw it on the evening news. A group of robbers tried to steal money from a cloth merchant, and one of them was apprehended. The shopkeeper was beaten up by the robbers, and had a swollen eye. In an interview after the robbery, he said they didn’t want to repeat what happened at Sialkot, because that does not define us. This is why the robber was handed over to the Police.

I guess there’s a tear in the monolithic conveyor belt of violence that underlies all us Pakis. Once we start on this slippery slope of not giving in to our latent barbarity, where will it end?

Are these people the exceptions George, as defined in Arsalan Khan’s rejoinder to you? (for those who haven’t read it, please do so at the link posted by Nabiha Chauhdry above) Are you still sticking to your monolithic yet superficial rant George?Recommend

George you need to know where you are crossing the red line. So you should better read your seniors like A.G Noorani, Cowasjee, I.Hussain and Robert Fisk to know how articles are written while being critical and avoiding sadistic statements.Recommend

Aown Kazmi: Good point! This forum is increasingly one where expat Pakis, who typically wring their hands privately, have found a welcoming cohort of self-loathers. They love to prostrate themselves before goras and ofcourse this is not George’s fault. What another Paki says, whatever merit it might have, is trumped by what an average Joe, err George, may have to say. I guess post-colonial also means that you have gained independence but not jettisoned your need for a loving pat by a patronising gora. Now since PATS are few and far between, especially for EXPATS, their self-esteem has fallen so low that they are lapping up rebukes as well, calling it brilliant insight.
They sell this animosity towards themselves as introspection, as if a swift rebuke is all that’s needed to fix matters. Typically you will find expats not offering any solutions, because they’re not invested in Pak anymore. However, living in the west they are not accepted as locals, and are therefore forced to confront the conflict that arises when they compare their original home with their new adopted home. Since all they read is the negative reporting in the foreign press, which makes better copy than stories of reconstruction or rebirth, they start having doubts about associating and identifying with their country of origin. The easiest way to exorcise these lingering demons is to rehash everything that’s gone wrong in 63 years with Pak, thereby resulting in a cathartic renouncing of this identity. Somehow this is meant to come across like they care for Pak. They’re not happy in the west and they can’t really move back to Pak, given the picture they paint; stuck in purgatory.

Those who want to hold out hope for this pummeled country are somehow hapless blind patriots, the equivalent of holocaust deniers. More importantly they create a problem for the feeble-minded identity these expats have created for themselves. They vent their jealous rage at us supposed lucky ones back home, who accept the faults of our society but are working to make it better. They thought living in the west would make them happy, but alas they went there for an ephemeral reality, and have realized it to be a heavy tradeoff simply for making money. On the weekends they only meet other Pakis and wonder why they can’t integrate, despite having a superior education.

My advice to these expats: Eat your heart out. We live here and love it, fully cognizant of our collective faults. We’re working to make it better, and when we do, you’ll be proud to wear green and white on your foreheads. In the interim may I suggest you bottle your daily production of vitriol, because all you’re doing is getting your fellow expats into a lather.Recommend

agree with you. i also thought the comparison of maula jutt to texas chainsaw massacre was unfair. nobody roots for the chainsaw wielding maniac in that one though the maula jutt is the archetype for heroes in pakistan.Recommend