They brought me coffee this morning. Excellent. I've got a meeting with OFDA in about an hour for which I am pretty well prepared. Been up since 8 consolidating some notes, reading Dawn, messing around on the internet, and listening to music. Very civilized morning. More on the music in a second.
There has been, in the paper, a bizarre saga over the last week about a group of girls in Kohistan, which is on the way to Skardu by road, who were allegedly executed at the hands of a tribal jirga for dancing with boys at a party -- no, clapping while boys danced at a party. This has provoked outrage and demands for an investigation but a strange lack of actual facts, including whether or not the girls were actually dead. The headline today is that investigators have told the Supreme Court, which had demanded the investigation, the girls are actually alive and safe. The story is bizarre on a number of counts: (1) that news about girls being killed for clapping at a party could be treated with anything but baffled apoplexy reveals just how fucked-up this country's attitudes are toward women, even among relative liberals; (2) that the Supreme Court can order investigations of specific criminal acts by anyone, anywhere; (3) that reports of girls being killed would make it into the paper for several days in a row without anyone actually knowing whether they were dead. On point (1), as I mentioned, the story has been met with outrage from some quarters but reported on with equanimity in the relatively West-friendly Dawn, as if this is something that just happens. Oh, yeah, a group of elderly assholes decided some girls should die for enjoying dancing. Then they followed through. That's a thing.
Incidentally, the Chief Justice's son is currently under investigation for accepting bribes from a real estate developer in exchange for convincing his father to go easy on the developer. The CJ has not recused himself yet from the case, which evidently went straight to the Supreme Court without being heard at lower levels. One of these days someone will have to explain the actual organization of the "legal" Pakistani "justice" system to me. All one can gather from Pakistan: A Hard Country and spending any time here is that it's hopelessly corrupt.
On to that music. Gabby posted the other day on his (and his friend Josie's) tumblr, which I will add to my links as soon as I finish writing this, a rather pretty, soulful song by one Charles Manson. Yes, that Charles Manson. He sounds like a talented undergraduate singing primarily to get girls and probably succeeding. But this was recorded to raise money for his defense. Listen for yourself, and tell me that your mind isn't blown.
There has been, in the paper, a bizarre saga over the last week about a group of girls in Kohistan, which is on the way to Skardu by road, who were allegedly executed at the hands of a tribal jirga for dancing with boys at a party -- no, clapping while boys danced at a party. This has provoked outrage and demands for an investigation but a strange lack of actual facts, including whether or not the girls were actually dead. The headline today is that investigators have told the Supreme Court, which had demanded the investigation, the girls are actually alive and safe. The story is bizarre on a number of counts: (1) that news about girls being killed for clapping at a party could be treated with anything but baffled apoplexy reveals just how fucked-up this country's attitudes are toward women, even among relative liberals; (2) that the Supreme Court can order investigations of specific criminal acts by anyone, anywhere; (3) that reports of girls being killed would make it into the paper for several days in a row without anyone actually knowing whether they were dead. On point (1), as I mentioned, the story has been met with outrage from some quarters but reported on with equanimity in the relatively West-friendly Dawn, as if this is something that just happens. Oh, yeah, a group of elderly assholes decided some girls should die for enjoying dancing. Then they followed through. That's a thing.
Incidentally, the Chief Justice's son is currently under investigation for accepting bribes from a real estate developer in exchange for convincing his father to go easy on the developer. The CJ has not recused himself yet from the case, which evidently went straight to the Supreme Court without being heard at lower levels. One of these days someone will have to explain the actual organization of the "legal" Pakistani "justice" system to me. All one can gather from Pakistan: A Hard Country and spending any time here is that it's hopelessly corrupt.
On to that music. Gabby posted the other day on his (and his friend Josie's) tumblr, which I will add to my links as soon as I finish writing this, a rather pretty, soulful song by one Charles Manson. Yes, that Charles Manson. He sounds like a talented undergraduate singing primarily to get girls and probably succeeding. But this was recorded to raise money for his defense. Listen for yourself, and tell me that your mind isn't blown.
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