This is reply to Mr. Ashraf Janjua's letter by the editor of Daily Times Ejaz Haider (in which the original Article by Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa was published
) Editor happens to be a close friend of Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa and is trying to defend her assertion , that Bahawalpur is bastion of prostitution and extremism .


Mr Janjua of Islamabad, sir, here’s some advice: let us writers be; we are like Mark Twain’s hen who cackles while laying an egg as if she had laid an asteroid. Our noise should not make you lose sleep or this country its image

Just when I was struggling with what to write about this week, I read the letter by Mr Ashraf Janjua (“Bahawalpur’s third end!”; Daily Times, January 13). Mr Janjua had written to the newspaper complaining about Dr Ayesha Siddiqa’s article, “Bahawalpur’s two ends” (Daily Times, December 25, 2006).

Let me get straight to the point.

Mr Janjua has criticised Dr Siddiqa for informing the readers that Bahawalpuri women lead colourful lives and quite a few run away with their paramours; that men in that society do not resort, for the most part, to killing them (blessed be the district for such men and women). Equally, the district — and southern Punjab in general — has produced jihadis and sectarian terrorists. Dr Siddiqa also wrote about how the army controls the area and how the university in Bahawalpur is merely a sham.

Mr Janjua thinks she has not been objective; the presence of some lax women cannot be a judgement on all women; the presence of two known sectarian terrorists does not mean the district is swarming with them; the university is not useless since it imparts education; the army does not control the area and has not made the cantonment inaccessible to civilians; finally, by writing the piece Dr Siddiqa has sullied the image of Pakistan.

Mr Janjua lives in Islamabad. Could it be that he is a Bahawalpuri like Dr Siddiqa and knows the district as she does? Dr Siddiqa, who I have known for many, many years, both as a dear friend and a very fine academic, is from Bahawalpur and, while she is based in Islamabad, travels to the district regularly, lives there and is rooted in the soil.

Independent analysts consider Dr Siddiqa’s academic credentials impressive; by the same token — indeed in greater measure — her research and writings are a source of much embarrassment to the military. A PhD from King’s College, London, Dr Siddiqa’s first book, “Pakistan’s Arms Procurement and Military Buildup, 1979-99”, is not only a seminal work, but qualitatively first-rate. Those who deal with issues of defence and strategy know Lawrence Freedman; Mr Freedman would not have written the foreword to a mediocre work.

Dr Siddiqa was also the first Pakistan Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars and has written a book detailing the business and financial interests of Pakistani military. The book shall be out soon and I am eagerly awaiting it. I also hope that it would be a huge embarrassment for the Pakistani military — anything to shame the khakis into conceding what they have done not just to this country but also to their own professionalism. I am prepared to buy an additional copy and present it to Mr Janjua. Maybe he could shoot off a protest letter to the publishers.

Meanwhile, in recent months Dr Siddiqa has penned a couple of revealing articles in a monthly magazine, giving new information on military’s land and corporate interests. The khakis are not exactly amused with her, so says the fly on the wall. Since writers in this country are supposed to think positively and promote national integration and harmony and the rest (Mr Janjua’s line), while the rulers do the exact opposite of it, I am sure Dr Siddiqa is the bete noire of the mamas (maternal uncles) of this country.

Now I also claim to be a writer of sorts and therefore would like to present my two-penny-worth of opinion on what writers should do while they toil in this land.

Mr Janjua, sir, the writer’s job is to present facts, raise questions, seek answers, expose, not hide, present, not dissemble. Hiding, dissembling and, as oft happens here, deodorising a stinking corpse, is a function of public relations. I would strongly recommend Mr Janjua for a PR job, preferably with the khakis. It is interesting that after trying to refute Dr Siddiqa, he goes on to say that writers should help Pakistan improve its image, the underlying assumption being that even if certain things are wrong, we may not put them on a platter for the world to see. The world, this argument would have us assume, is both blind and stupid!

(Btw, the General-President should commission Justin Timberlake to compose a song titled Bringing image back. I am sure Timberlake could make it sound sexy as well.)

But did Mr Janjua really understand the thrust of Dr Siddiqa’s article; I am afraid not. Dr Siddiqa presented a very interesting observation, the near-schizophrenia of the district. If Mr Janjua were a sociologist, he would have been intrigued. But he isn’t and the subtlety is lost on him.

Here’s a society which is lax with lax women and yet has produced quite a few religious extremists. On the latter count, perhaps Mr Janjua needs to check his facts — Basra and Azhar may be the two major names but they are not the only ones from southern Punjab. The place is swarming with Deobandi seminaries even though the majority of the population is Barelvi and remains beholden to the Pirs. But these contradictions are precisely what Dr Siddiqa’s article tried to capture.
There is much else in Mr Janjua’s letter that one is tempted to respond to, Islamia University and Cantonment being two other issues, but I shall let them be. So, Mr Janjua of Islamabad, sir, here’s some advice: let us writers be; we are like Mark Twain’s hen who cackles while laying an egg as if she had laid an asteroid. Our noise should not make you lose sleep or this country its image.

Postscript: Hi Ayesha! This had to be a surprise.

Ejaz Haider is News Editor of The Friday Times and Op-Ed Editor of Daily Times. He can be reached at sapper@dailytimes.com.pk