My thanks to the critics who have chosen to prove my points through their own intolerance of ‘the other’.
ISLAMABAD: I wish to thank all my critics in the letters section of this newspaper for actually substantiating my points in the column “A fatal intolerance” (March 5), relating to ignorance, intolerance and resorting to mere name-calling or labelling. They have proven my points through practical demonstration, especially with demands for stopping my column writing, instead of actually disproving the points made in the column itself!
This is what the previous US ambassador sought to do to my column in another English daily and this is where censorship and eventual fascism begins because the truth is too bitter to concede to. As for my wrongly citing the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (VCDR) 1961, I may be guilty of many sins but stupidity is not one of them and to incorrectly cite an international treaty, especially one in the public domain, would make me guilty of stupidity.
Incidentally, the Optional Protocol attached to the VCDR does not get affected by the US withdrawal from ICJ jurisdiction under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 since it is seeing the Davis dispute under the VCDR. It is the news reports on this issue that are confused, not my column, which was published two weeks ago. So, once again, my thanks to the critics who have chosen to prove my points through their own intolerance of ‘the other’ and, perhaps, a little ignorance as well!
Shireen M Mazari
Published in The Express Tribune, March 8th, 2011.
