"I have saved this answer to a foreign friend in answer to her question 'where we see Pakistan stand in future?' it was immediately after release of some brutal videos in which people were seen get slaughtered and then that incident in Sawat when a girl was beaten in public."

Well from my own understanding of the history and politics of this region, Pakistan do not stand aloof from rest of sub-continent, i.e. Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, you may also count in Afghanistan and Sri Lanka (Nevertheless we have got a new name 'AfPak' which is a hint in itself). The point I am trying to present is simple, this area as a whole is always part of the 'great game' played by empires since last few centuries, secondly Muslims of the area form an entity which is different in terms of culture, tradition and languages from rest of Muslim world, but for sure it is influenced by and it has influenced the Muslim thought since a long time. Some of the examples are Jamal-ud-din Afghani, Iqbal, Moudodi, Maulana Ilyas, Ghulam Ahmed Pervaiz, and Dr. Hameed-Ullah.

Deoband the origin of famous school of thought 'Deobandi' from which the Taliban belongs, is in India, so as Bareli the origin of most practised one 'Barelvi' amongst the Muslims of this region. History has been distorted in a way that it has become very difficult for someone living today to understand that Muslims of Indian Sub Continent had their own identity, and they still do. This truth however is not in interest of any of the parties involved in current game, most importantly India, Pakistan and US. Governments of India and Pakistan throughout the time have played a major role in destroying history to suit their motives and interests. Another important factor is movement of 'Hindutva' in India, which has influenced and changed the total behaviour and thought of new generations in the region.

When generation are cut off from their past in that way, they go into darkness, and look here and there in search of their identity. Pan-Islamism is just one of solutions of this identity crisis for most of us; an easy solution may be, as it is in line with our belief as Muslims. What we tend to overlook

However is that culture and religion are two separate forms of recognition and belonging. In our daily lives, we try to be within our cultural circle, we(when I say we, it means Muslims) tend to marry within our own type, we cannot communicate with each other if we do not know some of global languages, we cannot like to eat some of the foods(halal) of other regions. Pathan cannot eat rice regularly :), and Bengali cannot live without it. Still we are Muslims, and we observe Islamic customs and laws. So where is the problem? Muslims of this region started to look outside for their cultural identity or they were forced to do so, it is where the doubt is, and it is where the peace is. Cultural unity and a common history (even if it is full of conflicts or interpreted as full of conflicts) is the biggest threat to anyone who does not want peace in this region. Why? Because when we look at common culture, not only Muslims but the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis; everyone who

lives in this region, becomes closer to each other, I am sure if any one who is longing after power in this region, can tolerate such unity, or any traces of such unity amongst the masses.

You should have asked where we want Pakistan to stand in future instead of where it will stand. At present, we do not want anything but chaos!