All I did was express a wish that the post-election scenario in Pakistan should be like that of Germany, nothing more.
KARACHI: I was delighted to discover that somebody in Nidderau, in Germany, was reading The Express Tribune. Much as I agree with many of the sentiments expressed by Mr Sharif Lone in his letter of June 12, I would like to thank him for writing. I have a couple of comments, however, which I feel I ought to mention. In my article entitled “Return of the old guard” (June 9) in whose response Mr Lone wrote the letter, I was not comparing the cultures or ethos of Germany and Pakistan.
Far from it. In the concluding paragraph of the piece, which appeared to inspire Mr Lone’s letter, all I did was express a wish that the post-election scenario in Pakistan should be like that of Germany, nothing more. I know it will never happen, but there is no harm in expressing a sentiment.
As to the comment about me not being in tune with the historical development of post-war Germany, let me assure Mr Lone that I am thoroughly aware of events as they unfolded in that country from 1815 to 2013. I am half-Prussian and spent my early childhood in Wittenau Berlin before the Second World War. In fact, until the age of five, the only language I could speak was German. I have studied many of the classics in that language and am probably the only person in Pakistan who has read Martin Heidegger’s Sein und Zeit in the original language. I have also lectured both in German and English on the operas of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, two composers I hold in high esteem. I have also visited Munich, Freiburg and Cologne at regular intervals. Next time, it will be Dresden.
On the issue of Western suspicions about Germany’s Nazi past, all I can say is, it is most unfortunate. The government is doing everything possible to remedy this, but Benjamin Netanyahu’s action in creating a permanent Holocaust shrine in Auschwitz is not helping.
Anwer Mooraj
Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2013.
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