Past the Parition: Voices from India & Pakistan
While I profess to love/be fascinated by Indian culture, I will not pretend that I know very much about its current political conflicts, nor its historical turmoil with Pakistan. A dear old friend with Indian roots first introduced me to some aspects/perspectives of Indian life, and the lecture a few weeks ago from the Columbia anthropology professor provided an informative lesson. So, surfing and skimming the waves of personal blogs from the countries further peaked my curiosity and interest while revealing completely new angles on living in that part of the world.
In Hypocrisy of the India's Left Parties, the blogger "Panchajanya" examines and criticizes the Community party of India (CPM) through his own analysis and attacks as well as references to other media outlets and article. Panchajanya, apparently a business management professional in Keralam, India reminds readers that "Information is Key to Victory. Be Aware and Beware."
Panchajanya most recently wrote about how the government quelled anti-China protests, but allowed rallies supported by CPM members to continue:
"Olympic torch relay may be happening in New Delhi but CPM led West Bengal Government has banned all Anti China Protests in West Bengal!
Two weeks after it allowed Tibetan activists to hold a candlelight vigil, the CPM-led West Bengal Government has denied them permission to hold a three-day anti-China public rally scheduled to begin today forcing them to go indoors.
Ironically, there were as many as 11 rallies in the city during the day. These included a rally by the Trinamool in Park Circus to protest against the state government’s failure to check prices and a similar one by CPM supporters in Tollygunge to protest against inflation.
Chinese Consul General in Kolkata Mao Siwei was quick to give much deserved praise to CPM
“This is a correct decision because the Government of India made a commitment to the Government of China that no anti-China rallies will be allowed to take place anywhere in the country,”
Remember this is the same CPM which had said
right to strike is a fundamental rights of not only government employees but of the entire working class
I guess the for CPM Loyalty towards their masters in China is more important that "some fundamental Right" of people."
"MK," a medical doctor in Jhang, Pakistan maintains Crow's Nest, where he deconstructs all forms of Pakistani life, from politics to technology (for example, he just complained about wireless plan rip-offs). Some days he rants about cricket, other days about hospital residencies/business and sometimes he waxes philosophic.
"Today is yet another March 23, 2008 in the history of our nation. The ordinary man is busy in making his ends meet while the rest are busy either making or analyzing the future of our country. Like always before the future of our nation is uncertain and there is a lot of debate on what is to come for us. But in the real deal of the things does this matter at all? I don't think so. All that matters is the continuity of the food chain for the common man. If it stays steady then the common man will never come on streets for any elitist ideologies."
This just goes to show that though our countries may have different rituals, political circumstances, religions--people still express themselves and question life and realities in much the same manner; our humanity connects us all.
Now, a blog that mixes amusement,education and enlightenment, over at Pakistan--The Land of Pure. M. Junaid Khan, "proud Pakistani" presents funny and compelling news and views from hi country, as well as some gripping images. In a post from last month, Khan looks at the Kashmir situation, revealing his/her feelings on India:
A Human Rights NGO working in Kashmir for the past year has finally presented its report claiming to have found at least thousand graves containing unnamed people. These graves are mostly scattered around the town of Uri, which is a border town on Line of Control. The human rights group strongly suspect them to be the graves of the thousands of people who went missing and are later on killed in stages gun battles or through torture by Indian security agencies. They also contain graves of the girls who are raped by the Indian Border Security Force and later killed and dumped in these graves to hide the proof.
