"Fear" of God's Authority – How Pakistanis behaved in India

Last updated on: June 13, 2007 at 3:07 pm by Desh Kapoor

"Fear" of God's Authority – How Pakistanis behaved in India 2007-06-13T15:07:19-05:00 Desh Kapoor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It is pretty common for the apparent piety to exist with hypocrisy. For example, the priests who swear by Jesus in churches often end up as rapists of young men who seeked their help. Religion does that to people. Because conformity implies a certain fear… un-natural state of living. There comes a time when people who are living under that "authority" however covert it is.. rebel. The image of God – as humans have constructed in various religions – really mirrors their own shortcomings.. and they attribute all the "morals" that THEY dug out to that "image of God".

Here is an interesting piece where the author Col, Athale talks about the experiences with and of the Pakistanis who came to India on a visit.

But from the second day, as they got used to freedom in India, all of them, with an odd exception, behaved as if they had just entered a ' de-compression' chamber, doing all the things that are prohibited in a strict Islamic society, from eating ham and bacon at breakfast to guzzling down whisky.

The dominant impressions of the interaction were:

Lack of understanding about Indian issues, systems and processes;

Nostalgia for bygones;

'Me too' as a constant theme to show that Pakistan is at par with India;

Hypocrisy on religious taboos;

General dislike of the state of affairs in Pakistan including the domination of the military;

Sense of envy about India and Indians due to the freedoms we enjoy and progress we have made.

This piece clearly shows how this bunch behaves differently in his/her own country and in another country.. where, the spectre of "FEAR" is absent!! So, was the piety even so?

I have also seen that many in the Islamic world are starting to question things. The other day an Iranian guy told me “Seeing all the mullahs I often wonder – if this is what Islam is, then why follow it?” So, some seem to transcend the line of hypocrisy to start questioning… THAT is important.

He went on to say that his forefathers were Parsis and the Arabs had made them Muslims.. but now I cannot do much as my father and grandfather were both Muslims!

I think it is a wake-up call!

On a sidenote here were the experiences of the Indian delegation that went to Pakistan:

Six other persons, mainly artistes from various fields (like poet Javed Akhtar, singer Faiyyaz) were denied visas by the Pakistani high commission in Delhi. All were Indian Muslims.

Conclusions from that visit:

There is tremendous dislike of the army dominance while Musharraf is not unpopular.

There is a sense of insecurity in city of Karachi; even by 7 pm the city streets are deserted.

India is an object of envy for its freedom, independent judiciary, election commission and economic and educational progress.

The civil elite is conscious of the fact that in a globalised world only peace and cooperation with India can lift their country out of its present morass.

The army does not want the people to come in contact with Indian Muslims as that will give a lie to their propaganda.

There is great reluctance to permit free flow of information media and people. The people to people contact is sought to be only confined to the elite, and not the masses.

In Karachi the Muttahida Quami Movement's dominance has ended the sway of the Jaamat-e-Islami, Masood Azhar and anti-India jihadi forces who seem to have shifted to Punjab. In the recent terrorists incidents in India there are hardly any links to Karachi-based groups.

Karachi is dominated by Pashtuns, with a common refrain being that there are more Pathans in Karachi than in Peshawar.

The overall situation in Karachi, and by proxy, Pakistan, is unstable and any trigger like the capture/killing of Al Qaeda [Images] chieftain Osama bin Laden or Musharraf extending his presidency could trigger events which could threaten the continuance of military rule. The ongoing violence in Waziristan, Baluchistan and Afghanistan only adds to the volatility.

Tags: pakistan, religion, Islam

Uncategorized

Previous Post

June 12, 2007

Swami: A Movie Synopsis and Review

Next Post

June 13, 2007 Girls' choice of life partner is affected by their relationship with their Dads!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aarti Achievement and Leadership AfPak Africa Annual and Year-end Asia Audio Australia Behavioural Sciences Bhagwad Gita Bhagwad Gita Blogging Blogs Business Business Intelligence Business Strategy Cannes Careers Chanakya China Conservation Corruption Creative Daily Links Desh Poems Development & Welfare Devotional Audio Devotional Songs Drama Earth Economics Education Entertainment Environment Europe Everyday Quotes Featured Articles Featured Songs Finance Flickr Pictures Food Geo-Political Global Warming Globalization Health & Medicine Hinduism Historic History Humour India Indian Culture Indian music Indian Weddings Israel Issues Legal Link Love Minorities Misc Motivation and Personal Development Movie Lists Movie Reviews Movies Mumbai terror attacks Natural Disasters Nature News Outsourcing Pakistan Parenting Personal Philosophy Poetry Politics Poverty Quotes Recipe Regular Blog Post Relationships Religion Religious/Spiritual Audio Sciences Showcase Slideshow South Asia Special Stories Spiritual Quotes Spirituality Sports Stories Strategy Technology Technology Terrorism Travel Uncategorized US Video Women Women_s Rights Worship Yoga

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many times does the Bible mention the word "love"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

500 Over 300 100 700