I grew up in Lahore which is about 100-150 miles from Islamabad(the capital)- My parents are still settled there. Its not as advanced at most of the big cities here but it is pretty. Parts of Pakistan - in the north are actually a hikers paradise. Very green, very pretty and not very commercial- not like the more dry rugged areas in Afghanistan. The country on the whole has a very low literacy rate and that is the root cause for a lot of problems that we are currently seeing. There are a lot of Europeans/mainly English who are settled in Pakistan for years and infect my mother/aunt and most of my family have studied in Catholic schools. That side of the story often goes untold.   
Eventhough a lot of people oppose the U.S led attacks you would be surprised at how many people in Pakistan support the attacks on Afghanistan. Those who oppose ar ejust more militant and vocal but not the majority by any means.  Most are just afraid of their security. Also they feel that they are already so poor that they cannot afford to go to war. But i think if this goes well it would be really good for the country.
As for American foreign policy. I think its has a lot of short term focus and can improve but then again it is always easy to criticize somebody on the top. The good things achieved by Americans is often conviniently forgotten.
Bilal

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Griffith, John  
Sent:	Wednesday, September 19, 2001 1:01 PM
To:	Bajwa, Bilal
Subject:	RE: 

thank you

so it looks like if Pakistan supports the US, the US better be ready to help out in the future.  It is like the US is supporting whoever they think will help them best at that time.  Not that I am supporting the US but that is probably what most countries do anyway, right?

anyway i hope your family is okay and that everything will work out for the best, none of us want people like the terrorist running around the world free, whether they be middle eastern, american, israeli whatever.

by the way what city does your parents live in?  did you grow up there?  is it a nice city?  sorry for the questions.  I am just interested in other cultures.





 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Bajwa, Bilal  
Sent:	Wednesday, September 19, 2001 9:55 AM
To:	Griffith, John
Subject:	RE: 

John-
Thanks for asking- i am glad you try to get more information before forming opinions. I have also posted an article of the fundy website due to requests by Hunter which you might find informative.

The anti-west opinion is definitely a minority opinion. However, as we have seen in the past even in U.S minorities like KKK, terrorists, mass murderers, religious fanatics pose the biggest threat and try to get the most publicity and unfortunately they are succeeding for right now.  I think the educated population felt betrayed by the west in fighting fundamentalism uptil now but they support this move. But you have to understand that most of the big cities in Pakistan are within the range of the Taliban Scud missiles. Thats why support is a very relative term here.

The general does not have any political mandate- he came into power through a military coup. However, the previously democratically elected governments were notorious for corruption(including the government of Benazir Bhutto- the first women head of state of Pakistan who was educated in Harvard and Oxford). So people by default support any other alternative and military is probably the ony institution that is relatively untouched by corruption. Most of the cabinet and ministers right now are liberals and among them are some that gave up extremely lucrative jobs in U.S in order to try to help put the country back on track economically.

Let me send you an article from the TIME mag. that kind of explains why the President of Pakistan is in a fix. 
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,175058,00.html


Also below is part of an article from a Pakistani newspaper explaining how the President met with all the political and religious parties and explained to them why he supports the U.S - In the article the PPP and PML are the two major parties in Pakistan. Just like the Democrats and Republicans here... and the Jamati-i-Islami and the other parties are the religous parties.
He apprised the political leaders that the US administration had demanded concrete actions as a proof of friendship. 

The measures that Washington wanted Islamabad to take included allowing American troops to use Naval facilities and airspace and sharing of all intelligence reports about Osama bin Laden's movement inside Afghanistan. Otherwise, the president told the politicians, Washington had warned that it would treat Pakistan as a country harbouring terrorists. 

In that case, the president said, no strategic installations would have remained safe. "I could not take that risk," the source quoted President Musharraf as having said. The president said that he could risk his life but he could not put the whole country at risk. 

The US authorities had also conveyed to President Musharraf that they had the technological capability to smoke out the Taliban or Osama out of their holes. This was interpreted by the politicians as a threat to use chemical or biological weapons in Afghanistan. 

Having received these explanations, main stream political parties, including the PPP and the PML (like-minded), backed the president's decision and said the country should rally round the government, the source said. 

However, Jamaat-i-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (both Maulana Sami and Maulana Fazl groups) opposed the decision and asked the government to review its policy. They insisted that the government should demand for a credible evidence of Osama's involvement in the Sept 11 attacks on the US soil. 

Hope this helps you understand the cuurent situation without confusing you too much....
Bilal




 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Griffith, John  
Sent:	Wednesday, September 19, 2001 9:15 AM
To:	Bajwa, Bilal
Subject:	

Hey Bilal,

How are you doing?  I just wanted to ask you some questions about Pakistan if you don't mind.  I see some articles about protestors in Pakistan, protesting the US.  I can understand that, however, do you think this is the mijority opinion of Pakistan people, or are these protests happening in areas that are predominately backing the Taliban.  What do the educated population think?  Does the general have any backing from the people themselves?  

What is your opinion?

I understand that these things are very personal to you.  Please let me know if I am prying.  I just wanted to get someone's opinion that actually knows what is going on and not from the news.

Thanks.

John