A response to this column had slipped my mind till now. It is unexpected to see one's name mentioned in a newspaper, and by someone I haven't interacted with for many years. Till some years ago, I interacted regularly with Indians and Pakistanis on a couple of discussion boards.These included chowk.com between late 1999 and the early/mid 2000s.
My disagreements with Yasser Hamdani fell in broadly two areas-
1. Pre-independence Hindu-Muslim politics and the Pakistan movement
2. Pakistani jihadi groups
Anyone who defames me personally for holding my own views on pre-independence Hindu-Muslim politics and the Pakistan movement, or for holding my own views on Pakistani jihadi groups, has other problems than myself; narcissism is my guess.
I do hold a skeptical view of many who call themselves liberals in Pakistan. There are many Pakistanis who are unmistakably liberal-minded to the core and to them, I offer up my unreserved admiration and support. I hope India and Indians always remain open to warm relations with them.
There are other Pakistani 'liberals' who feel that India must subject itself to veto by Pakistan because a sovereign India, being Hindu-majority, undermines the security and existence of Muslim-majority Pakistan. I consider this point of view to be fundamentally bigoted.
These are also the same people who offer up their supposed Anglophone liberalism as fool's gold to targets of Pakistan's violent extremists, whether India or Afghanistan. The offer is 'concede money/territory/political power to the Pakistan state or its proxies, otherwise more of you will die to jihadis' attacks. And by the way, you are a hateful enemy of peace to say that Pakistanis or the Pakistani state support jihadi groups'. Meanwhile the Pakistan government and the Army make their own internal peace with the same violent Pakistani extremists while beating down peaceful political groups.
Often this fool's gold is offered to the USA - 'liberal Pakistan is under threat from extremists(and it is), so please concede money/territory/political power to these extremists since you have no other choice'. Meanwhile the Pakistan government and the Army make their own internal peace with the same violent Pakistani extremists while beating down peaceful political groups. This choice is often blamed on India too.
Such Anglophone extortion-ism is establishmentarian-ism, not liberalism.
