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+ "Nuclear Neighbors" 22-23 August, Islamabad from Marcela Gaviria
While Scott and I are having a very "civilized" meal at the U.N. Club,
a place reminiscent of a gentleman's club in the colonial subcontinent,
India attacked Pakistan.
I find out about the latest skirmish twelve hours after dinner as we
try to track down General Musharraf's closest aide, General
Rashid Qureshi. He is swamped with calls, so we figure that the only way
to trap him into meeting us is by attending the special press briefing.
"Late last night India launched a totally unprovoked attack on a
Pakistani outpost in Northern Kashmir," General Qureshi told a couple
dozen Pakistani journalists crammed in a space that looks much like my
grandmother's old living room.
It's an old conflict -- this part-time war between India and Pakistan
-- one that has lasted for more than 20 years. Ironically, it seems
to flare up every time an American dignitary comes to town to mediate
the dispute between the two uneasy nuclear neighbors. Tomorrow, Richard
Armitage, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, will arrive from Delhi. And
so to mark his arrival, Pakistan says, the Indians have bombarded one of
their outposts using aircraft.
It's strange hearing talk of "sorties" and "maximum restraint" and
"escalation of the conflict" in a war that has nothing to do with
terrorism or Al Qaeda. In fact, it seems Pakistanis are far more wrapped
up in the fate of "Indian occupied Kashmir" than with the coalition's
mission in the tribal areas. Kashmir is an obsession in this
country. Kashmir
matters to the Pakistanis because it's a Muslim area being occupied by
Hindu infidels.
Pakistan is fiercely religious. It is, after all, called the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan. Here there are hundreds of madrassas, or religious
schools, and a mosque every few hundred yards. Men walk about in their
Shalwar Kameez and prayer hats. Beige and light blue seem to be the
colors in vogue. One rarely sees women on the streets, and if you do,
they are wrapped from head to toe in a colorful medley of cotton
fabrics.
Scott and I took a walk through a middle-class neighborhood today.
Men sat on benches having their beards trimmed by roadside barbers.
Others held hands in friendly embrace. And a few prayed on straw mats in
a courtyard. Vendors were deep-frying batter in pools of grease
sprinkled with a few dead gnats. Piles of dung were scattered here and
there. The smell was so odious, I felt nauseous.
Martin has arrived and once again he's lost his luggage. Tomorrow,
Inshalla, we will go to Peshawar.
< previous dispatch + next dispatch >
|
London (Aug. 13-14) |
+ Zubaydah Is Dead 13 August, London |
+ Armchair Jihadists 14 August, London |
Gulf of Oman (Aug. 15-21) |
+ Faces at a Dubai Mall 15 August, Dubai, U.A.E. |
+ HMCS Algonquin 16 August, somewhere in the Gulf of Oman |
+ On Board the Algonquin 17-18 August, somewhere in the Gulf of Oman |
+ Like an Elephant Chasing a Mouse 17-18 August, Gulf of Oman |
+ Dubai to Karachi 20 August |
+ A Firehose of Information 20-21 August, Dubai - Muscat - Chennai |
Pakistan (Aug. 22-29) |
+ Old Hash 22 August, Islamabad |
+ Nuclear Neighbors 22-23 August, Islamabad |
+ We Believe in God 24 August, Islamabad |
+ Paranoid in Peshawar 27 August, Peshawar |
+ Bombs or Dust Devils 27-28 August, Peshawar |
+ Rumors and Half Truths 28 August, Peshawar |
Pakistan Border Lands (Aug. 30-Sept. 4) |
+ On the Road to Chitral 30 August, Dir Khas |
+ Prisoners' Dilemma 31 August, Dir |
+ In the Northwest Frontier 30-31 August, Dir |
+ Border Town 2 September, Chitral to Arandu |
+ Don't Go to Timargarha 1-2 September, Drosh to Timargarha |
+ An American Informer 3-4 September, Peshawar |
Pakistan (Sept. 5-23) |
+ Road to Nowhere 7 September, Islamabad to Faisalabad |
+ Faisal Town 7 September, Faisalabad |
+ Frustrations 9 September, Faisalabad |
+ The Plight of Women 10 September, Faisalabad |
+ A Little Noticed Gun Battle 10-13 September, Lahore-Karachi |
+ The Madrassa 14 September, Akora Khattak |
+ The Next Big Get 20 September, Karachi - Islamabad |
+ A Circle of Trust 21 September, Islamabad |
+ Indomitable 23 September, Islamabad |
Saudi Arabia (Sept. 24-Oct. 2) |
+ Inside the Kingdom 24-25 September, Riyadh |
+ My Baffling Question 27 September, Unizah-Buraydah |
+ An Obedient Dissident 27 September, Buraydah |
+ An Audience with the Crown Prince 2 October, Riyadh |
Yemen (Sept. 25-Oct. 10) |
+ Arriving in Yemen 25-26 September, Sana'a |
+ The Wedding Party 27 September, Sana'a |
+ A Talking Drug 28 September, Sana'a |
+ The World's Most Ancient Skyscrapers 3 October, Sana'a |
+ Americans Are Vampires 7 October, Sana'a |
+ Waiting for Rahma 9 October, Sana'a |
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