Author: Akif Naqvi, Ethiopia
Publication: Dawn
Date: April 30, 2003
URL: http://www.dawn.com/2003/04/30/letted.htm#4
The situation all over the world
is bad for Muslims, specially for Pakistanis. I am working in Ethiopia
where more than 50 per cent of the population is Muslims and the rest is
Orthodox Christians. They both live in harmony. A lesson for Pakistanis.
I have met so many Indians working
here. India is the most frequently-visited country for Ethiopians as they
go there specially for IT training. All the cinemas here play Indian movies
dubbed in Amharic. Recently, India had a very successful trade exhibition
here.
It is disappointing that Pakistan
does not even have an embassy here. So many Ethiopians and specially Ethiopian
Muslims are interested in doing some business with Pakistani firms. Lots
of youngsters after hearing about Pakistani IT institutes have shown interest
in studying in Pakistan. They sent email inquiries to some well-known institutes
a month back, but have not received any reply yet.
The only impression most people
here have of Pakistan is of some prehistoric country full of fanatics and
gun-toting people where women are raped in public. Even the Ethiopian Muslims
do not feel happy about how Islam is being misinterpreted by some Pakistanis.
The other day the CNN and the BBC were showing bearded Pakistanis protesting
with guns in their hands. Is that the best we can do?
There is hardly anything civilized
in programmes or the news about Pakistan. All the travel programmes and
brochures have omitted Pakistan from their lists. So many Western colleagues
of mine who have worked in Pakistan in the past as voluntary teachers or
at NGOs serving the poor have had to give up their jobs and leave the country,
as their lives were being threatened, and they were labelled 'spies or
Western agents'.
Is there anything good one can share
about Pakistan? When shall I see any normality back in my country?
