Pak Army Worse Than Hamas

I am a pacifist, liberal, former Muslim, now Buddhist, Baluch, Unitarian Universalist — the religion of President-elect Barack Obama's late grandmother Madelyn Dunham -- and some other things that are irrelevant here.

I love all people, from all religions, all color, cultures. We are humans first and foremost. Mother Earth is our common home and destiny and there should be a celebration of our diversity every day.

Blood is blood whether it is Jewish or Palestinian. Blood is red whether it is Baluch or Punjabi-and- Mohajir or Persian for that matter.

Some time ago I had written an article on Pakistan's horrific nuclear tests in my ancestral Baluchistan--a Texas-sized stateless country divided among Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan-- and I quote here:

"As a Buddhist who believes in Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence - an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind - I am at a loss to understand how to get peace, freedom and environmental justice without bloodshed for my ancestral land – Baluchistan."

[Read full article: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2006/2006-10-27-insmus.asp]

As such, I am at a loss to comment on the war in Gaza.

Nevertheless I wrote a note to my Jewish friend in Toronto, Rochelle E. Michaels, who is a lookalike of one of my sisters:

"It's a shame Hamas provoked all this senseless killings on the bidding of Teheran. People of Baluchistan condemn terrorism and I would like to reach out to the state of Israel in its struggle for peace, justice and democracy."

Michaels was overwhelmed with emotions of gratitude.

Prior to the 1947 holocaust, Karachi where I lived most of my life used to have a Jewish synagogue and a Jewish population. Unfortunately, after the freeloaders from India descended on Karachi in the wake of partition they took over the synagogue like most other prized properties in the city. Even the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, occupied a couple of palatial mansions left behind by Hindu merchants on a plea he had left his property behind in Mumbai.

The Jewish population vanished silently: it's a shame children in Pakistan are brainwashed Adolph Hitler was a hero since he killed the Jews.

I very well remember my first encounter with a Jewish person in 1998. I was freelancing and got an opportunity to write articles for the Bank Technology News International, New York.

"New Yorkers are stereotyped to be very fast," my brother who had returned from the U.S. after getting his fine arts degree told me. And then when I told him the name of the editor, he said, "Cohen, thats a Jewish name."

I was'nt sure what to expect.

I had submitted an article worth $1,500. And the deal was I will get paid when the article is published. One day I received an email from the editor, Jackie Cohen. She informed me that it was her second last day at the publication and she did not want my money to get stuck once she was gone and was wire transferring me the amount. That was my first impression of a Jewish person.

I hate terror. I hate all those who sponsor terrorism. This is because my people, the Baluch have been victims of Islamic terrorism for more than six decades in Pakistan and nearly nine decades in Iran—their fate remain unchanged whether it was the Shah of Iran sitting on his peacock throne or the Ayatollahs in Iran sitting on their prayer mat and whether it is a military junta or a civilian administration in Islamabad.

My heart wept when nearly 200 people of different religions and nations, including Americans and Israelis, were killed in Mumbai by the Pakistani 'Army of Pure' and I hate it when the army GHQ in Rawalpindi poses they don't know who did all that. I know for sure Pakistan is protecting terrorists of all sorts including Dawood Ebrahim, Masood Azhar, Rashid Rauf, bin Laden, Mullah Omar, Ayman Alzwahiri and hundreds of other global terrorists. How many protests have I seen by Pakistanis against these terrorists?

Fundamentalists from any faith can blow up the world in no time. Whether people like it or not to me Islam, Christianity and Judaism are all one. I tell people “Christianity is reformed Judaism and Islam is deformed Judaism.” May be people from all three religions would hate me for what I am saying. .

I was aghast when some years ago I heard an Arab Muslim prayer leader in Napa Valley in California say, “Insha Allah one day we will make all the Jews our slaves.” If that is the kind of dream that Hamas, Hezbollah, Lashkar-i-Toiba, Muslim Brotherhood and so many other similar terror outfits nurture, what can I say about the state of Israel's action-- no state in the world acts in a holistic fashion.

Just the other day, I received an email from a prominent rabbi and writer Rabbi Tzvi Freeman, author of Bringing Heaven Down to Earth and an expert on Jewish mysticism..

Rabbi Freeman shared with me a letter he had written to a Muslim person, named Ahmed, after the Mumbai attacks.

Rabbi Freeman wrote:

"Thank G_d, you are not the only Muslim who has written to us expressing such sentiments. Many wrote of their indignation, their frustration and their sincere belief that this is not the way things are supposed to be; that this is crime against Islam and the Quran, against the dignity of all humankind, and against G-d Himself.

"After all, we Jews and Muslims are brothers, children of one father, Abraham, who taught the world that there is a single G_d on High, a G_d that cares for all the creatures He has made and pleads with us to care for them as well. We share a common vision of a world filled with knowledge of the divine, of peace between all men and of heaven upon earth. There was a golden age of Islam, centuries past, when Muslim and Jew worked together, arm in arm, sharing knowledge and poetry, wisdom and science, and perhaps even came close to realizing that vision. We can make that happen again.

"Some say that this scourge of terrorism, this cult of death that runs rampant in the world of Islam today, will only be eradicated in the end of days. I believe it can be eradicated today. The first step is for those true Muslims who recognize it’s pathos to stand up with courage and protest as you have done. Yet this is not enough. The real key to peace lies in what we teach in our schools.

"I have in my possession a rare document, an autobiography of one brave man who fought in the underground German resistance. In the years before the war, as the Brownshirts enlisted boys off the street to join Hitler Youth, this young man gathered from the very same neighborhoods other boys to his club. In an abandoned train car, he taught them songs of world brotherhood and peace, spoke of humanitarian values and inculcated them with a love for human dignity. After only six months, the club was disbanded by the SS.

"What happened to those boys? As they grew older, the author kept in correspondence with them. One fought bravely in the underground resistance, sabotaging war efforts. Another was drafted, court-marshaled and shot for refusing to shoot at civilians. Each one that the author could trace kept true to the education he had given them in those six short months. And these were the same boys who could otherwise have become brutal guards at Auschwitz.

"Which tells me many things: For one, that there is none more powerful in any society than those that teach the youth. For another, that no one is condemned to become a Nazi or a terrorist, any human being can be taught to be a martyr for goodness and justice.

"Ahmed, we believe in you, we trust you, and we know we can do this together. Let us teach our children to respect and love one another, so that all may share in the world to come. Let us make our father Abraham proud, as Ishmael and Isaac walk together to fulfill his dream upon this earth. And let it be very soon, amen."

Of course I do not share the Rabbi's belief in One God—since I see God even in an ant---, but do share his values of respect for life and human dignity.

However, in contrast to the rabbi's teaching of love is the preaching of hatred conducted by Jamaat ud Daawa, the umbrella organization of the Army of Pure or Lashkar-e-Toiba. Under state patronage, Pakistani children are taught people from other religions are inferior to them and Hindus, Jews and Christians are their avowed enemies.

"In the Urdu textbook, children are told that infidels are cowards by nature and when a holy warrior attacks them, they scream with terror and fear," said Dr. Rubina Saigol, a leading member of Pakistan's civil society. "Mujahideen are glorified as being on a mission from Allah and they are superheroes that kill Hindus and make infidels cower in fear," she said, referring from the pages of the textbook.

My hate for Hamas stems from my hate for Pakistan army as thousands of my people have been killed by them. If Hamas and Pakistan army are two sides of the same coin, Pakistan army is the worse side.

Munir Mengal, 32, suffered extreme Hitler-style torture at the hands of Pakistan''s military intelligence. He calls Pakistan army Islamofascist. His only fault was to try to launch a Baluchi language television station, called Baluch Voice.

Mengal's account show Pakistan army, which adheres to jihad as an article of faith, is forcing abducted Baluch tribal women into sex slavery. Cuts were inflicted on his male organ when he refused to have sex with one such sex slave who was from the Marri tribe, he told this scribe.

"I feared I would lose my male functions," Mengal said on phone from Paris.

Well connected Pakistani journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai of The News International in his article The Man Who Survived Pak Gestapo wrote, “If even half of his allegations are true, it would be easier for us to understand why so many Baluch are angry and willing to pick up the gun and fight for their rights.”

A military officer told this scribe Pakistan army would throw Marri tribesmen from helicopters on their villages to make the other villagers talk. He said their private parts would be cut and at times they would be nailed, Jesus-style. Just this past spring, three Bugti tribesmen were burnt alive by the Pakistan army. There have been widespread reports of use of phosphorous bombs in Baluchistan.

It is extremely unfortunate under such circumstances the authorities in U.K. are conducting a terror trial of two Baluch crusaders against Pakistan military atrocities in Baluchistan, Hyrbyair Marri and Faiz Baluch. Likewise the petition of the De Jure ruler of Baluchistan, Khan of Kalat Suleman Daud Ahmedzai, to seek asylum in the U.K. has been shot down twice though his life would be in extreme danger if he is returned to Pakistan.

The world must join hands to help balkanize Pakistan. The threat of Pakistan's 42 nuclear warheads with thousands of officers who think on the lines of former chief of the infamous Inter Services Intelligence Gen. Hamid Gul — a firm believer in Holy War against Israel, India and U.S.-- outweighs the threat emanating from Hamas.