Want To Meet Hillary? Don't Criticize United States!
Want To Meet Hillary? Don't Criticize United States!
Click here to see more pictures of Hillary In Lahore
courtesy of Laura Rosen of Politico.com
Obviously the US Embassy in Pakistan and the doormat Pakistani officials did an excellent job of 'vetting' the Pakistani invitees to Mrs. Clinton's transparent PR events in Pakistan, the same ones that she has described back in the US as having been 'positively received' in Pakistan. The truth is that every effort was made to shield her from hearing the real grievances on the Pakistani street, grievances that both US Ambassador Anne W. Patterson in Islamabad and Husain Haqqani in Washington are misleading the US public opinion about. Read how this young Pakistani lawyer, who often writes criticizing the US mess in Afghanistan, was 'hidden' from Hillary in Lahore.
By HAMZA GULZAR
Friday, 6 November 2009.
LAHORE, Pakistan—I was the first one to oppose the closure of schools and colleges after the Islamabad bombings because I believe in standing up to the terrorists. Yet our government seems to think that standing up somehow means showing complete indifference to those who have suffered the most at the hands of these animals.
Hillary was our guest and she is welcome any time but my father like millions of others pays his taxes to this lousy government and I don't see any of that going into the hands of those whose loved ones were killed. Not even a penny.
Yet, did you actually look at the faces of these government officials while they were taking Hillary for a ride across Lahore? These bastards looked more like personal bodyguards of Hillary.
Did you see the kind of mourning that took place when New York was attacked on 9/11 or when London was attacked on 7/7? Those people didn't stop listening to their favorite songs or going for their jobs but they at least showed respect on those who were killed.
Did you see the kind of mourning that took place when New York was attacked on 9/11 or when London was attacked on 7/7? Those people didn't stop listening to their favorite songs or going for their jobs but they at least showed respect on those who were killed.
Why couldn't the Pakistani government at least tone down the luxurious visiting trips and the PR campaigning that Hillary Clinton indulged herself in when the nation was in mourning for 117 Pakistanis killed in a single day?
What has her visit even achieved? Instead of making sound decisions on drone attacks, the Indian use of Afghanistan as a terror base against us, the narco-trade, she somehow thought that visiting a bunch of shrines and talking nonsense to a bunch of students 'carefully selected for the event' would make a paradigm shift?
Someone from my college telephoned me saying there will not be any classes on Friday, Oct. 30, no reasons were given [Hillary was in Pakistan between Oct 29-31]. When I went to college the next day to discuss issues with my Director LLB, she proudly told me that the students were on television because they had gone to meet Hillary Clinton [She held a town-hall type Q&A with them]. "You weren't informed because we couldn't reach you," she said.
Someone from my college telephoned me saying there will not be any classes on Friday, Oct. 30, no reasons were given [Hillary was in Pakistan between Oct 29-31]. When I went to college the next day to discuss issues with my Director LLB, she proudly told me that the students were on television because they had gone to meet Hillary Clinton [She held a town-hall type Q&A with them]. "You weren't informed because we couldn't reach you," she said.
Can you see the B.S. in this? I received at least two phone calls from the management before the Hillary event, but those were about security arrangements that the college was taking after terrorism threats. They did not mention the meeting with her. Out of my entire class, I was the only one not invited! Apparently, the college wanted to send its 'safe' students.
A lot of the students should have asked Hillary the following questions:
1. Is killing innocent civilians by drones and Blackwater mercenaries part of Obama's foreign policy?
2. Why are the Indians so active in Afghanistan and who exactly is in control of that country? The Taliban, the drug lords, General McChrystal (whom I admire as a man of integrity) or the CIA?
The students did not even bother to ask the shameless Pakistani leaders at the event with Mrs. Clinton where the rescue services had gone when the Peshawar attack took place [one day before Clinton's arrival in Pakistan, where 117 Pakistanis died in a single day].
None of our so-called 'bright youth' invited to meet Mrs. Clinton raised that issue, or the question whether we should have celebrated Mrs. Clinton's visit when the nation was in mourning.
Mr. Gulzar is a Pakistani college student based in Lahore studying LLB (Hons.). He can be reached at hamza.gulzar@gmail.com