28.10.08

Burney 'pissing and pissing' peace

Pakistani human rights activist Ansar Burney has received the 3rd annual Mother Teresa Memorial (International) Awards for Social Justice. Despite other numerous accolades, he thinks this one is special: “Yeh dil se dilko jodne wala award hai (this is an award to join hearts).’’

Why? Whose hearts are being joined together in this? He got Kashmir Singh out of prison. And we all know that Kashmir Singh admitted upon his return that he was an Indian spy.

Burney said, “They issued fatwa from the mosques against me. My family members were scared to go out for quite some time as they felt threatened. But I remained committed to the cause. If to save one innocent life, I have to die 10 times, I will not flinch.”

Fatwas are a joke. He has been making trips to India, which means he gets his visa. And just for the record, people are not cats; they die just once. Dramebaaz.

And I repeat for the nth time:

As for all the hosannas being sung for Mr Ansar Burney, what has he done for those missing POWs? I know I have been ranting about it for years and do take a look at ‘54 Indian POWs versus Sarabjit Singh’.

I had written a letter to Mr Burney on January 8, 2002. There was no response. I provided links, offered all help. Zilch.

Meanwhile, it is amusing to see him follow our celebrities’ path. They all go the Ajmer Sharif dargah and the Siddhivinayak Temple to get blessings and provide a photo-op. Here he is with his son Fahan at the temple. The main caption called it ‘DIVINE HELP’.

Now I can imagine if some maulana rants about it and issues a fatwa. Burney saab will say, look, this is what happens for dil se dil jodna. I’d like to remind him that actress Meera too had this fatwa thing issued because she kissed an Indian non-actor in one of those forgettable films. She too talked about being a peace ambassador. He should have at least gone to some mohalla type place and sung, “Jumma chumma de de…” It would be paisa and peace vasool

17 comments:

  1. FV:

    Ignore the bugger. He is the Mandirjeet Singh Bitta (who?) of Pakistan.

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  2. Whoever this commentator is and what he said, Pakistan does not export it's drop dead gorgeous women. Sluts will go anywhere, and they should because they too have ambitions.

    Philippine does, Thailand does, and India actually sells them at age 12.

    So, this commentator needs to learn a few things before coming out with such statements.

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  3. Zeemax, please read carefully....i was talking of arts and then women .....that means female artists.... in simpler english in reference to Meera (which anyways is not her real name)....chill...I have lived in Manila for a year , India and Manila are different countries, in Manila the female to male ratio is 140: 100, there is prostitution for reasons other than poverty in Manila ....not in South Asia...incidently, just for the point, dubai is emerging as human trafficking point and prostitution haven , you will find all nationalities include indian and pakistani there .....come on ...read carefully ...Manish

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  4. Manish,

    Obviously I misread. Apologies.

    Re Dubai, it is indeed the United Nations of CSWs. I haven't seen any nationality not suitably represented!

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  5. hey , no issues ...the magnitude of my passion for the subject is always higher than magnitude of logic ....you are right about dubai ....it has more sin than thailand but since it has no democarcy and all the money ...above all supported by Sam Uncle ...what else u need ....that is the shiekh way of promoting multiculturism ....get sex workers from all over the world :)...the best was last time we went to this labanese place ...I am very fond of Falafels and labanese dips ...of course belly dancing was complimentary ....we saw a phillipino, a kazak, a somali and a scandanevian woman try their hands at it ...it was more hillarious ...united nations of .....Manish

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  6. Manish,

    Well, actually they didn't do it for promoting multiculturalism - but allow their import officially on three month visas to provide 'essential services' for traveling businessmen etc. Their trade is closely monitored to see they don't do anything else.

    You may have noticed there are no brothels in Dubai, not even bars on the street, but both these are freely available only in hotels.

    Prostitution and alcohol both are illegal in Dubai except inside hotels :)

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  7. Very important fact- never trust a guy with a weird moustache. Zia, Zardari, Hitler and apparently this Burney...all unsavoury, with weird moustaches. Fatwas, now, are a different matter- I thoroughly support the one against Mr.Prez for his idiocies with Palin!

    And Manish...that is a sweeping generalisation you make about Pakistan, certainly not amusing. Trying alcohol and not going rabid over India...makes one confused?!
    By the way, Fuzon and Junoon are old hands, broke up a while ago, not what this "emerging middle-class" associates with...and Indian movies were always popular-far too popular- with the 'elite' and middle class alike.

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  8. Hello!

    I have no idea how this Burney thing has ended up in a discussion on Dubai and prostitution...

    Just a few quick points:

    Manish:

    Vertical divisions are a part of our subcontinent. In Pakistan the elite is feudal, unlike in India where they attempt to be more westernised.

    Forget Meera and her lack of Brit accent...we have had Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Farida Khanum, Abida Parveen.

    "the best was last time we went to this labanese place ...I am very fond of Falafels and labanese dips ...of course belly dancing was complimentary ....we saw a phillipino, a kazak, a somali and a scandanevian woman try their hands at it ..."

    So what is wrong if these women tried their hands at falafels and Lebanese dips?!

    And I am surprised you did not find it necessary to oppose the following views...

    Zeemax:

    I think the reference to selling women/girls was unnecessary. If selling is bad, then kidnapping and honour killing are not good either.

    "Prostitution and alcohol both are illegal in Dubai except inside hotels :)"

    Street walking is pretty common. And everyone knows about it.

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  9. PS:

    One would ignore him as one does Bitta because Burney is not just a loudmouth...he is being put on this pedestal.

    Mask:

    I trust Groucho Mark implicitly...and do you think if they shaved of their moustaches they'd change?

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  10. FV,

    ... the reference to selling women/girls was unnecessary.

    Yes it was. I had misread Manish's post and I apologized.

    If selling is bad, then kidnapping and honour killing are not good either.

    Absolutely. It's just that culturally, some of our people would rather kill them for honour than sell them for money! You make the choice which is better.

    I know a UAE Arab friend of my elder brother who bought a young girl in Delhi. Nikah is just a sale-deed.

    BUT, it's not unique to India as manish pointed out. It's common in Cambodia/Laos particularly. In fact, some people were accustomed to selling daughters in Pakistan's Swat as well till some time ago - and a former good friend of mine, a Provincial Minister of Punjab at the time, had bought one for Rs 5 Lac or something. I terminated the friendship after he brought her over to my home when his wife is a family friend and a wonderful person. How dare he do that to her?

    The girl looked quite happy though. He had brought her to Karachi for a shopping spree.

    Street walking is pretty common. And everyone knows about it.

    You can't forbid people from walking on the street. The CSWs are not allowed to proposition clients on the street. If they do, they're immediately arrested. They can only talk if approached and give them their cellphone numbers or something or jump in their cars. They can't signal or invite them as around King's Cross, London.

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  11. "...do you think if they shaved of their moustaches they'd change?"
    Nopes. The moustache is a symptom, not the cause.
    Charlie Chaplin, too, would sort of kill the theory though...oh well...

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  12. FV, I am guilty of disgressing the topic, must have been the long weekend catching up and yes I did miss that point from Zeemax. Third , the refrence was not to food was to Belly Dancing ....
    Mask: Please expect direct "not so amusing" stuff on the blogs, we can do without sugar coating here, I am assuming one can be politically incorrect here .....if you dont think description is right ...have a beer dude ..chillax .... :)
    Zeemax: I was pleasently surprised when i saw your small apology note, no need buddy ....infact reminds me of good old culture ...most of which have gone to cleaners ...anyway..Dubai is just a classic standing example that even if it is supposed to be a "purist Islamic state" ...we know what "state" it is in ....Keep Blogging untill FV kicks us out :)...Manish

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  13. Manish,

    ....Keep Blogging until FV kicks us out :)

    FV, has already kicked me out - but I'm a bit stubborn ... persistent, don't let go of people easily. FV is a brilliant writer. Says as it is. These qualities are valuable. I'm not yet defeated.

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  14. Zeemax:

    "Absolutely. It's just that culturally, some of our people would rather kill them for honour than sell them for money! You make the choice which is better."

    What are you talking about? You mean to say women have only these two choices? And the killing for honour is often used against those who sexually transgress out of choice...so, if those women are in a nasty marriage (which is selling of some kind among the poor in any society)then it amounts to a double crime. And you have yourself pointed out examples in Swat.

    Re. street walking in Dubai, it is understood who they are...

    "FV, has already kicked me out - but I'm a bit stubborn ... persistent, don't let go of people easily. FV is a brilliant writer. Says as it is. These qualities are valuable. I'm not yet defeated."

    Thanks for the news update - about the kicking out, not the brilliance:)

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  15. Mask:

    Chaplin's moustache was a parody of Hitler...though dear Charlie was quite an abusive character in real life. He also happened to be brilliant...

    - - -
    Manish:

    Of course I know the reference was not to food but belly dancing. Get used to my tongue-in-cheek attempts...

    I thinking kicking people out is declasse; I let them do their own 'go take a walk' thing!

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  16. FV,

    What are you talking about? You mean to say women have only these two choices?

    I meant 'some' women only have these two choices. You completely missed the word 'Culturally' in my sentence.

    But in any event, you're the Indian in the Pakistani Jeffrey mode ... except he was right :)

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  17. Zeemax:

    "I meant 'some' women only have these two choices. You completely missed the word 'Culturally' in my sentence."

    Some is the part of the whole; obviously, we cannot talk about all women, just as we cannot about all men.

    I did not miss 'culturally'. Culturally is not synonymous with symbolically, right? It is a social construct, so whether you say culturally, socially, in real terms...it is happening.

    "But in any event, you're the Indian in the Pakistani Jeffrey mode ... except he was right :)"

    Please...I am discussing women, not nationalities. Being 'right' is not my priority if it means being 'correct'. I am always right when I am left...

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