Samad has ruined it for the good Pakistanis in America.
By SEEMA MANAZIR
Friday, 20 June 2008.
I do not agree that a Pakistani student should have behaved like that at a University event. Is that how we show gratitude to our mentors and educators?
If Samad Khurram cared so much, why was a Pakistani university not good enough for him?
It seems nothing more than an egoistic ploy to get attention regardless of the consequences and the damage to the reputation of Pakistanis living there and in general.
There are so many good Pakistanis doing excellent work there and yet it takes just one stupid person to come along, spoil the good-will the rest have created and makes their lives so much more difficult.
As if Pakistanis who make bombs and explode them in trains were not enough to do that. Makes me sadder still to see that the owner of the school is a Pakistani too.
It is an occasion for shame, not for pride.
© 2007-2008. AhmedQuraishi.com.
SAWJ’s Note: What do you say about this?
Most Commented
we have to sacrifice or somebody have to sacrifice for the good …
He sacrificed nothing, just refused to receive the award from the American ambassador. He’s still on Harvard scholarship.
Is our dispute with Harvard or any schools there or with the US Administration? Because they are two different things.
That’s been our problem throughout history. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong action!
^Exactly !
Welcome to my blog!
Just when I was about to write something similar on my blog I just passed by yours and these words by Seema express exactly what I feel.
Yet again, It’s a Pakistani, who is found guilty of politicizing something which was purely academic. This is almost ingrained in us, as a society, to look at all Americans as mischievous and planners of evil against us (as if we’re a huge threat to them) and label all actions of them against us.
He refused to accept it from the US Ambassador who had nothing to do with those attacks, first of all. And then he’s on a Harvard scholarship. Can someone please remind him that Harvard is in USA too??
Next, I saw how many (ALL!) blogs were all-praise for him. This just shows how easy it is to play with the emotions of this nation of ours. I’m not saying Samad is responsible for that but a simple act of ignorace on his part caught huge attraction and backing for all wrong reasons.
Talk about civilized society! We’re not even close to being one.
True. As I said above, the problem of all Pakistanis is: Wrong place, wrong time, wrong action!
The talk about why (Abdus-)Samad, (Samad being Allah’s name), didn’t refuse to join Harvard if he is so cocerned about the bombings of US forces which result in killing, injuring and amputating hundreds of innocent civilians (including kids as young as few months and men as old as 90 or 100 years), reminds me of something a scholar once said regarding the short length of a young muslim man’s beard.
The scholar told the complaining guys that, instead of criticizing the young man for his short beard, admire him, encourage and be patient with him; for who knows that this motivation, admiration and patience will force him to not only have a proper beard but to do a lot many more greater things.
Instead of being angry with Samad for something which he had every right to do whether he was in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan or in the United States of America, I guess we should appreciate the fact that he had the guts to show that he cares about those civilians who get killed everyday or are made handicapped because of illegal and agressive actions of the US and Nato forces.
I understand SAWJ’s anger regarding politicization of an academic event, and I do share his concern that such actions might have a negative effect on those who plan to pursue an acadamic or professional career in USA.
As far as the politicization of academic (or other events) is concerned, it is a common, popular and respected practice. There have been cases when scientists, writers and others refuse to accept one prize or the other (e.g. Nobel Prize) to show their concern regarding a specific policy or action of a specific entity.
As far as the matter of hurting the academic and professional efforts of ‘good people’ of USA are concerned, I am sorry but just like Mr. (Abdus-)Samad, the blood of a dying fellow Muslim is (or should be) more dear to all of us than shaking hand with the ambassador of those who kill our fellow Muslims.
Also, we should also keep in mind that the fact that the US Ambassador actually admired (atleast in the public) the brave step taken by a young Pakistani.
I am sure such Pakistanis will help change the popular American opinion about Pakistani (which originated after Pakistani authorities caught and dispatched ,within no time, guys like Yousuf Ramzi to the USA after getting a good prize although there was no proper bilateral policy in place for handing over Pakistani citizens to the US or vice versa) that ‘Pakistanis will even sell their mothers to you if you pay them well”.
Well, I would like to disagree on quite a few things.
First of all, Samad refused only the valueless award not the value-full scholarship which really did not make any difference in his life. You should also read the latter articles I’ve posted on the issue and his previous misdemeanors.
When Muslims kill their own fellow Muslims, you really cannot blame the others for doing the same when we have the same evil within us. I’m not defending them, I’m just saying that we need to improve ourselves first.
Don’t know about the US Ambassador actually praising Samad.
And it isn’t because of the previous administration that the popular American or world opinion came into existence. It did because of the praiseworthy activities of Pakistani citizens throughout the world before 9/11.
Mr. Ramzi Yousef, nephew of Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (popularly known as KSM), is a known terrorist from the 1990s. Why should he not be punished for his sins? People like him have increased the suffering of Muslims, rather than the opposite.
Disagreements and discussion taking place in a healthy and friendly environment only lead to a better understanding of various sides of a picture.
While I do disagree with you, at least as much as you disagree with me, I do understand and respect your concerns.
“First of all, Samad refused only the valueless award not the value-full scholarship which really did not make any difference in his life. You should also read the latter articles I’ve posted on the issue and his previous misdemeanors.”
As I said in my first post, that we should appreciate even small steps taken by an individual. As far as his intentions/niyyat are concerned, only God Almighty knows why he did what he did. But we can derive conclusions on the basis of ground realities only and the ground reality is that in that whole hall, he was the only person to have used the opportunity for raising voice against the killings of innocent civilians.
I will read the other articles regarding the issue and (Abdus-)Samad definitely.
“When Muslims kill their own fellow Muslims, you really cannot blame the others for doing the same when we have the same evil within us. I’m not defending them, I’m just saying that we need to improve ourselves first.”
Exactly. I agree with you. (Abdus-)Samad did exactly that by taking a bold step, which could have resulted in certain adverse repercussions for him. There have been quite a few students from Pakistan who were either expelled from the US, not allowed to return to resume their studies in the US or even imprisoned in the US when the 911 happend. If, after what he did, he is confronted during his studies at Harvard by the intelligence authorities of the neo-fascist state of America, I won’t be surprised.
“Mr. Ramzi Yousef, nephew of Al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Muhammad (popularly known as KSM), is a known terrorist from the 1990s. Why should he not be punished for his sins? People like him have increased the suffering of Muslims, rather than the opposite.”
No disagreement regarding how much people like him have made lives of Muslims harder.
However, just as US won’t ever hand over an American air force pilot after he bombed a civilian population, Pakistan too should not have handed over people like Ramzi Yousuf, Aimal Kasi etc in the absence any treaty in this regard between the two countries. Pakistan should have brought them to a proper court of justice in Pakistan (rather than letting them to have a military trial in the USA which are usually not trusted by international human rights organizations).
“And it isn’t because of the previous administration that the popular American or world opinion came into existence. It did because of the praiseworthy activities of Pakistani citizens throughout the world before 9/11.”
I do not recall explicitly or intentionally blamed one or the other (previous or existing) administration of either country for being responsible for the popular American opinion about Pakistanis.
In case you are talking about the Mush administration, I will be very glad to shed some light on the plight of those hundreds of people who were – with the assistance of Mush & Company – killed, imprisoned, moved to Guantanamo from Pakistan, and/or are still missing despite the absence of one single shred of evidence against them.
And I hope you are aware of the fact that the Mush Administration did not waste one second to let American Force bomb every corner of Afghanistan. Even if the previous administrations were bad and were responsible for misrepresenting Pakistan, Mush & Company only made it worse.
Yes, I would like to learn about the missing cases.
Just one point. Don’t blame the Mush administration; look at the present situation. No government in Pakistan can ever avoid what US wants. That’s a reality. Nawaz-Zardari partnership is even causing that! And they’re speaking the same tone. So the blame can’t go to Musharraf.
He did what he felt was right for the country. If he ate money, where is it?
While what Mr. Abdul Samad did was indeed a bold step, who knows what intentions were behind it. But it was something refreshing. But I was deeply hurt when he chose to ridicule the President of his country in the few words that he spoke.
I strongly believe that whatever things went wrong was the result of a lot of trust that Musharraf had put into the then Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz. He was the one who actually ate money and escaped, leaving all the trouble to Musharraf.
It is not Musharraf to blame. He had to take steps to strengthen democracy for which he gave powers to the lower administration, the Prime Minister and the cabinet.
You must also note that if he was corrupt, he would escaped by now. Nobody who commits a sin can defend himself for as long as the President has, which is in itself a strong indicator that Musharraf is clean!
Missing persons? Why is Musharraf blamed for it when the same things are happening in the present government? Officially and un-officially in their feudal jails!? I assume you would prefer to remain silent about it!
We do not support our President blindly, we support him for reasons we feel we should support him! Just like you have an opinion, we too have ours and opinion is not based on things that have not happened. Yes he made mistakes for which you might oppose him, but we strongly feel that what he did for Pakistan and its progress is unparalleled in the history of Pakistan!
As far as ‘eating’ money is concerned I guess he digested it all so we can’t see it. Or may be we will find his evidence regarding his corruption when he finally leaves (or is forced to leave, for military dictators never leave on their own).
Plus, btw my initial comments were not even targetted at Mush (although I really hold him responsible for the present day crisis, the cases of several hundred Pakistanis missing or killed and many many other things).
The evil actions of previous political or military governments does not give mr. Mush a license to kill and if if does, its time to freeze his license. I am not against Mush or Zardari or anyone. They are all just the same. Not much difference really. The ones who are different never make it to the top slot. Do they?
SAWJ, you wanted to ‘know’ about cases of missing people. First of all my apologies for getting back to you a bit late; I have been busy.
I can post many links but I am sure that firstly you do know about cases of missing people and secondly that if you want to deny it all or say ‘oh Mush is not responsible for it’, you can do it within seconds seeing a whole long list of missing people by saying ‘well mush didn’t do it’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUjSJMl1Hv8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2PYgrE33Jo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXydv3zQuCk&feature=related
In these videos you will find comments of many notable Pakistanis including army generals, lawyers, Human Rights activists along the list of people who went missing.
At the end of the day, you are free to choose which side you want to be on. I am not and I will be not a fan of Musharraf’s policies, his illegal presidency, his coup, his attach of Lal Masjid killing innocent civilian kids (after letting the whole matter slip out of hands by ignoring the militants earlier or by not cutting the supplies off so that people will forget the Chief Justice crisis)…
The list can go on and on and on, but my comments initially were about (Abdus-)Samad. Now responded to your last request, I will be very happy to see what you have to say regarding my last post(s) on (Abdus-)Samad case.
Oh come on Irfan Sahib! Since when have the SANE of this country started believing in “Human Rights Activists” heavily funded by the United States of America?!
Musharraf’s policies weren’t a subject here at first place but since the subject is broached I’ll let myself out too. Why I mentioned Musharraf earlier was regarding the war on terror. The same, and worse is being done by the present government with the coalition of Sharifs.
Coming to the cases of missing people, I’m in absolute agreement with you. The people must be produced from wherever they are kept. But who’ll do that? Are those thugs who fooled the people under the banner of judiciary, and promised to get these missing people doing it? No, they haven’t even spoken about it since coming to power. So again, the good ones don’t make it to the top. But someone will lead among these bad, the question is who’s better among them.
About the so called coup, it was the Supreme Court who declared the coup valid in which the present champion of judiciary, Justice (not CJ!) Iftikhar Ch. voted in favor of it. He then again voted in favor of the referendum in the SC bench decision. So these are facts which need to be considered before throwing your support behind someone. Since you said you’re not in favor of President Musharraf or pseudo-PM Zardari, you should also not support Iftikhar Chaudhry of Nawaz Sharif just by opposing Musharraf.
As far as some of the actions of Mush govt are mentioned above, there were loads of good during the previous tenure. The petrol, cng prices never hit THIS HIGH as now. The stock exchange crashed 4 or 5 times during that 8 year tenure but it has crashed more than that in the 3 months after that government. The flight of capital is also an issue. Investors had faith in Musharraf, and my friend investment brings about jobs. The developments in the country, I’m a witness in Karachi, that created thousands of jobs. That’s what people want!
To add to this, the Supreme Court bench created by Iftikhar Chauhdry himself ruled in favor of Musharraf to contest the presidential elections in uniform.