Two Columns - Same Link: Cyril Almeida & Bina Shah
In the following excerpt Cyril Almeida hit the nail on the head!
What will the military do, the media asked innocently after goading the politicians into this confrontation. Yes, indeed what will the born-again democrat Gen Kayani do? Even as they line up to throw stones at the ISI, the politicians have fallen over themselves to praise Kayani. For the record, Kayani’s last job was the ISI chieftainship. But since everyone knows this, they must be assuming that Kayani was just doing his job, being a good soldier and following orders. In which case you must necessarily wonder about career ambition: corps commander, ISI chief, COAS, full stop — or next stop? The madness is here By Cyril Almeida
However, in the same column where he alluded to Brother Sharipov outmaneuvering Goldy I would deem his logic suspect. He gave both the unelected billionaire brothers too much credit for intellect. Read it for yourself.
***
The issue becomes slightly murkier considering that Sindh is a province in which there has always been mass immigration and integration: Balochis and Pathans and Punjabis have settled in Sindh generations back, flowing into the province like the waters of the River Indus, and have put down roots, raised children, been born and lived and died in this province. Their descendants speak better Sindhi than I do: so, can we call these people Sindhis? Some achieve compromise by calling them Sindhi-Pathans, Balochi-Sindhis, and so on, while others are happy to call them Sindhis, seeing that they have integrated into the province, have no problem marrying their children to people in the greater Sindhi community, and have thrown their lot in with the province of Sindh. So far so good. But now we come to the trickiest question of all: what about those people settled in Sindh who can neither speak Sindhi nor have any association with the interior? Are these people Sindhis? Are we unpatriotic to Sindh if we regard them as such? Are we unpatriotic to our country if we don’t? Who is a Sindhi? By Bina Shah
My definition conveyed to her is simple: every one who lives, dies and is buried in Sindh is a Sindhi. And more! We have many identities: only one soul.
What will the military do, the media asked innocently after goading the politicians into this confrontation. Yes, indeed what will the born-again democrat Gen Kayani do? Even as they line up to throw stones at the ISI, the politicians have fallen over themselves to praise Kayani. For the record, Kayani’s last job was the ISI chieftainship. But since everyone knows this, they must be assuming that Kayani was just doing his job, being a good soldier and following orders. In which case you must necessarily wonder about career ambition: corps commander, ISI chief, COAS, full stop — or next stop? The madness is here By Cyril Almeida
However, in the same column where he alluded to Brother Sharipov outmaneuvering Goldy I would deem his logic suspect. He gave both the unelected billionaire brothers too much credit for intellect. Read it for yourself.
***
The issue becomes slightly murkier considering that Sindh is a province in which there has always been mass immigration and integration: Balochis and Pathans and Punjabis have settled in Sindh generations back, flowing into the province like the waters of the River Indus, and have put down roots, raised children, been born and lived and died in this province. Their descendants speak better Sindhi than I do: so, can we call these people Sindhis? Some achieve compromise by calling them Sindhi-Pathans, Balochi-Sindhis, and so on, while others are happy to call them Sindhis, seeing that they have integrated into the province, have no problem marrying their children to people in the greater Sindhi community, and have thrown their lot in with the province of Sindh. So far so good. But now we come to the trickiest question of all: what about those people settled in Sindh who can neither speak Sindhi nor have any association with the interior? Are these people Sindhis? Are we unpatriotic to Sindh if we regard them as such? Are we unpatriotic to our country if we don’t? Who is a Sindhi? By Bina Shah
My definition conveyed to her is simple: every one who lives, dies and is buried in Sindh is a Sindhi. And more! We have many identities: only one soul.
posted by temporal at 8/13/2008
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