Tarek Fatah, the Pakistani origin writer and columnist who now is a Canadian citizen has amassed quite a fan following in India for his no holds barred criticism of Pakistan, Sharia and the follies of the Islamic world. He has now become a regular feature in discussions, talk shows on Indian channels and cultural programmes in India. He rightfully calls Pakistan as a harlot, who goes to sleep with anyone who pays her good money, be it Saudi Arabia or USA. Or expressing the faux nature of the Pakistani state as a piece of land owned by the Pakistan Army who employs the civil govt , or how just about every artiste coming here is carefully selected by ISI, or what a joke Aman ki Asha like programmes are.
But there are quite a few half truths or non truths Tarek Fatah pushes which his fanboys ignore at their and everybody’s peril:-
Claims of Mohammad’s family fleeing to India and Dahir fighting for them. There is absolutely no proof of the fact that the remnants of Mohammad’s family came to India and were sheltered by Hindu kings here. This seems like nothing but another promotion of the leftist “ganga jamuni tehzeeb’’ propaganda.
Puts the creation of Pakistan mostly on the west for wanting to have a buffer zone for combating communism, and blames them for creating and fanning discontent. While the British backing to Muslim separatism is a fact, the truth is that the Pakistan movement had began during the days of Syed Ahmed Khan or even earlier. It got its official name only during the 1930s. It was mostly Muslim separatism, driven by the vested Muslim interests in central provinces, CP Berar and Bengal who could not bear to have their “glory days’’ behind them and live in the regime of kafirs. Pakistan was the British Raj’s parting gift to the Muslim League for their loyalty. But they didn’t create the situation, they merely fanned the existing one and benefitted from it.
Tarek Fatah pushes forward a very dangerous notion that Bangladesh as the biggest friend of India, and hence the best ally to fight against Pakistan. Not a word about how over 20 million illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are wrecking havoc in India, especially in the north eastern part of the country where they have demographically altered dozens of districts and now call the shots in any elections. Not one word about how Bangladesh has become the hotbed of jihadi training and indoctrination. Tarek Fatah does rightly state about Pakistani government’s Hindu genocide in east Bengal but fails to mention that anti Hindu killings in Bangladesh have exceeded those in Pakistan at any given time. He always says that there are no Hindus left in West Punjab, but fails to mention how they have been ethnically cleansed in east Bengal. The anti Hindu pogroms of 1950 and 1964 wiped out every single Hindu from many districts of Bangladesh. In sheer numbers of Hindus killed, it was larger than the toll of all the riots in independent India. And most of all, its today’s Bangladesh where the real idea of Pakistan got its biggest support, in terms of men and material. The biggest vote bank of the Muslim League was from Bengal Province and not Punjab or Sindh. He goes even as far as to suggest that Indians don’t like Bangladeshis due to their dark skin colour!
Afghanistan too is touted as a natural ally by Tarek Fatah, giving examples of Badshah Khan at every opportunity. But we shouldn’t forget that afghans were always willing footsoldiers for jihad, from Sher Shah Suri to Ahmed Shah Abdali . Afghans today are a very divided people with ever changing loyalties. With Taliban on the Pakistan and Saudi side, Afghan government on the American side and warlords that change alliances like item girls changing dance bars, India has a huge task ahead in Afghanistan for ensuring that the region cannot be used for anti India activities (it shouldn’t get too carried away with Afghan president’s pro India utterances, a lot has to be done in this regard).
Balochistan being natural ally is another one of his thoughts. While it is true that India has to give backing to Baloch people and bring their sufferings at the hands of the Pak Army to international notice just like Pakistan keeps harping Kashmir at the drop of a hat, it has to be remembered that the Baloch leaders are no less brutal in the treatment of their people than any Punjabi feudal or an Afghan warlord. They are opportunist to the core, allying with the Pakistan government and getting elected to legislatures when it is in their favour, or calling rebellion when it is not e.g. not getting enough share of the oil and natural gas revenues (which won’t be used for Baloch people’s betterment but for the benefit of these Baloch leaders).Balochistan remains one of the most backward regions in the world, and while it is true that the Pakistan Army and civilian establishment is responsible for it, the Baloch warlords have their fare share of responsibility in this.
As for Balochis being friends of Hindus/ India, there is no Hindu left in Balochistan, just like there is no Hindu left in west Punjab. During partition, Baloch soldiers were among the ones who killed male refugees and raped female refugees in trains going to India. Lets not have any romantic thoughts about “abki baar Modi sarkar” being written on hills there as Mr Tarek Fatah claims.
Admiration for people like Shashi Tharoor as some kind of visionary leaders. One cannot forget the arrogance of the man who as HRD minister had openly called lower middle class Indians as “cattle class’’. His admiration of Narendra Modi too is recently found, as he was his vehement oppose before the 2014 election. He is a left progressive person and always stands by leaders with that ideology. His admiration of Nehru is well known, doesn’t matter that Nehruvian socialism scuttled any possibility of India ever being a prosperous country. Or his admiration of Justin Trudeau, who is flooding Canada with illegal “refugees’’ from Syria and other great lands in the name of diversity. He may somewhat support the Hindu nationalists in front of the camera, but blocks them from his social media profiles.
The propagation of the faulty “thousand year slavery’’ idea, by claiming that India has been on aggressive mode for the first time in the last one thousand years. Nothing can be further from the truth. The defeatist historians make us believe that the throne of Delhi was occupied. What defeatist historians call thousand year old slavery period is the period of thousand years of non stop warfare between the jihadi invaders and Hindu defenders, which began with the valiant but unsuccessful fight by the Shahiya kings against Mohd bin Qasim and ended with the Maratha confederacy’s permanent destruction of Ahmed Shah Abdali’s forces in the third battle of Panipat (Yes, it was not the permanent defeat of the Marathas like the defeatist historians like us to believe. They regained lost ground in less than ten years while Abdali never dared to cross India’s borders again and ceased to be a pan Asian threat). Between the first jihadi invasion of 712 and the last in 1761, countless conflicts big and small only show the indomitable spirit of this land to preserve its way of life at all costs.
It will be a paranoia to call Mr Tarek Fatah a taqqiyamaster, but making him into some kind of guru whose every word should be taken as true is stupidity. All these things aside, Mr Tarek Fatah should be given the Indian citizenship, because frankly, if thousands of illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators can be given the citizenship, he can be too. The only thing is to tread cautiously, take what is necessary and leaving the rest and keeping in mind that one doesn’t become your trusted friend just by abusing your enemy.
