Thank you Manoj, for sharing this article. I am going to pass it along to other forums.
Keith On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Manoj Padhi <[email protected]> wrote: > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Kalyan Viswanathan <[email protected]> > Date: Fri, May 15, 2009 at 3:12 PM > Subject: A monstrous experiment in Pakistan > > > > > > A terrifying article... FYI. > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Ram Narayanan > > Dear Shri Kalyan Viswanathan: > > *Don’t you think this article which has appeared in a respectable > Pakistani newspaper should be essential reading for every US lawmaker? * > > Ram Narayanan > > > http://www.dailytimes.com.pk:80/default.asp?page=2009511story_11-5-2009_pg3_5<http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009511story_11-5-2009_pg3_5> > > DAILY TIMES (of Pakistan) > > May 11, 2009 > > *OPINION: A monstrous experiment —Nasir Abbas Mirza* > > Remote madrassas may be turning boys into drones but then there are > thousands of madrassas spread all over Pakistan’s urban centres that are > producing millions of neo-drones who may not become suicide bombers but are > totally unfit to live in this world. These kids need to be rescued > > Take a little boy and incarcerate him in a remote madrassa. Keep him far > away from the rest of the world and bar any interaction with humanity. > Indoctrinate him with a distorted version of a religion and tell him that he > does not belong to this world. Teach him about the fanciful world that > awaits him in the heaven, and that in order to attain that he has to destroy > everything that stands in his way, including his own body. > > By the time he is sixteen, the child would have become a drone: an > un-manned man. Instead of a lively teenager, we would have a robot in living > tissue ready to detonate on remote orders. > > At full steam ahead in Pakistan, this is a monstrous experiment in > brainwashing and it is on a par with, if not worse than, Nazi Germany’s > eugenics. They did it in the name of science; here, it is being done in the > name of God and religion. On a very large scale, this is a hugely successful > experiment in which nurture triumphs and nature takes a beating. > > Are we really prisoners of our genes? Or are we prisoners of our parents, > teachers and societies? From what we are witnessing, genetic influences are > secondary to environment. > > Behavioural scientists have Nobel Prize-winning research material in > Pakistan. Freud, Skinner or Pavlov would have worked nights to study this. > Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the sound of a bell; this young man would blow > himself up at the sound of a bell — his phone bell. “Give me a child until > he is seven, and I will show you the man,” goes the old Jesuit saying. > > It may be sinister, the Jesuit saying, but the fact remains that nobody > understands the vulnerability of a child’s brain better than priests. On the > one hand, witness the vigilance of parents when they let a maulvi sahib into > their house to teach the Holy Quran to their children; and, on the other > hand, there are parents in the same society who ‘give’ a child to > madrassa-running priests not until he is seven, but until he is 14 or 15 or > forever. > > ‘Give’ is a generalisation. Given our attitudes towards birth control, an > overabundance of young children is a natural outcome. In population growth, > we are not too far behind the 6 percent population growth rate of our role > model country, Saudi Arabia. There is an endless supply of young boys for > madrassas. There are abducted, orphaned or abandoned young boys. Then there > are parents who are too poor to bring up a child. They simply sell or donate > their boys for tabligh or jihad or for any other religious duty. The > religious pretence converts their dastardly act into a noble deed. > > Priestly abuse of children has been going on for as long as there have been > priests and children. But never has this been done in such an organised > manner as is the case here in Pakistan. This abuse (aside from the pervasive > sexual abuse) spells disaster. Just step out of a large city and all you > would see around you are hundreds and thousands of little children — from > six to thirty-six months old. Until these kids are of an age to observe the > ways of their elders, they live and behave like untrained dogs. That’s the > real Pakistan and no military or political leader is having sleepless nights > over this. > > Mismanaging the national security state has kept our governments so busy > that social uplift has been low on their priorities. For sixty years we gave > all our money for security and today we don’t even have that. Even in a > perfect world, our leaders couldn’t have done anything about it. The job at > hand is beyond their capabilities. Just take a roll call of our leaders in > the last thirty years. They have been such a simple and basic lot that > protocol and property left them no time for anything else. > > Will this ever change or improve. No, not for another thirty years. That’s > thirty years after we do the needful: that is, a drastic reduction in the > number of children we produce, modern education for all on war-footing basis > and to do this, schools and First World-standard teachers. So start counting > once all this is in place. > > From Zia to Zardari, and all others in between, no one even acknowledged > that we have an overpopulation problem. Such is the fear of backlash from > religious conservatives. > > Here’s the equation: a population that breeds likes rats equals poverty > equals despair equals cannon fodder for religious organisations and > terrorist networks. Were these children better off working at motor > workshops or making carpets? Perhaps the ILO or an NGO can answer this > question. They seem awfully quiet on something much worse than child labour. > > > There’s a reason for that: in matters of faith or religious beliefs, no one > dare object. All kinds of evil, illegal or inhuman practices can be given > sanction if a particular religion or sect proves that it is part of its > belief. You could be dying in a hospital but no one would give you a > hallucinogenic drug to save your life. But, hey, you can get official > approval for the use of cannabis or other hallucinogenic drugs if you prove > that use of these substances is part of your religious belief. In 2006, the > US Supreme Court did just that. > > Our children face a frightening future not because of the Taliban (they are > just a handful) but because of the ultra-conservative wave of religion that > has swept this country. Remote madrassas may be turning boys into drones but > then there are thousands of madrassas spread all over Pakistan’s urban > centres that are producing millions of neo-drones who may not become suicide > bombers but are totally unfit to live in this world. These kids need to be > rescued. > > Alfred Hitchcock, the great movie director who specialised in frightening > people, was once driving in Switzerland when he suddenly pointed out of the > car window and said, “That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen.” > It was a priest in conversation with a little boy, his hand on the boy’s > shoulder. > > Hitchcock leaned out of the car window and shouted, “Run, little boy! Run > for your life!” > > *The writer is a freelance columnist > * > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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