Female Pakistani Minister Resigns Over 'Indecent' Touching

[DPDarkPrimus]

Pakistan’s woman tourism minister tendered her resignation today after hardline Islamic clerics accused her of obscenity for hugging her instructor after a charity parachute jump.

Nilofar Bakhtiar, the Federal Minister for Tourism, was pictured wearing a brightly coloured jumpsuit and hugging her instructor after a tandem jump to raise money for child victims of the earthquake that struck Pakistan in October 2005.

The images provoked the wrath of clerics in Islamabad, who accused Bakhtiar of posing in an obscene manner and violating the Islamic moral norms.

A religious court set up by the clerics at a radical mosque in Islamabad issued a fatwa, or religious edict, against Bakhtiar when the photographs first appeared in local newspapers last month.

They urged the government to punish her and fire her from the Cabinet. Bakhtiar failed to win the support of Cabinet colleagues and the government appeared to cave in to the demands of the militants.

As she announced her intention to resign today, Bakhtiar complained of a campaign of intimidation against her.

Pictures in link.

[K. A. Pital]

Pakistan - the "secular" government which in reality is nothing but a plaything of the islamists. Wonderful.

[Darth Raptor]

And one of our biggest allies in the War on Common Nouns. Hilarious. Tragic, but also hilarious.

[Hillary]

You could not make it up. Can someone talk me through why we should respect people's faith again?


Deserves the floating clown smiley imo.

[PeZook]

Wow...talk about overreaction.

I'd hazard a guess all these clerics are either impotent or secretly gay and terrified of their secret getting out.

That, or just indoctrinated as fuck.

[Darth Tanner]

God, I can almost see her neck. The filthy whore!

Seriously though its such a pity that our only action in Pakistan is to fund a military dictatorship that can barely keeps hold of the radical Muslims. Although I know the US does fund some limited education schemes it'd be such a more satisfying experience if we could rid Pakistan of its cancerous beliefs more effectively. Just think if the war funds spent on Iraq had been used to provide a modern education system in Pakistan.

Curse you Muhammad Iqbal

And to think us Brits might lose our visa waver when visiting the US because of those inbred buggers!

[Sarevok]

Seriously though its such a pity that our only action in Pakistan is to fund a military dictatorship that can barely keeps hold of the radical Muslims. Although I know the US does fund some limited education schemes it'd be such a more satisfying experience if we could rid Pakistan of its cancerous beliefs more effectively. Just think if the war funds spent on Iraq had been used to provide a modern education system in Pakistan.

Um Pakistan has a modern education system. The problem is there is 3 competing systems there. You have the state system, the British patterned A and O levels and the Madrahshahs. The first two will get you jobs but if you are a Madrashah graduate you cant do any work beyond a mosque. That I suspect is a major source for angry protesters on the streets. There had been efforts to shut down Madrahshah system IIRC but they have met heavy opposition. I dont thinK US can help in this respect. Best US can do now is abandon the military regime , allow Benazir and Nawaz Sharif to return and demand elections. The short stints of democracy Pakistan had not was not great but it is preferable to the fundie loving military being in power.

[fgalkin]

This gets you fired in Pakistan.

What a wonderful, progressive, secular country.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Sea Skimmer]

Like it or not other government Pakistan is realistically going to have will be worse then the current array of jackasses serving under Musharraf. He might be a dictator, but his power comes from balancing demands of the army, ISI and assorted religious fanatics while milking the US for aid money. I’d be pretty certain that even if he wanted too and was willing to be brutal about it, he couldn’t make any really significant changes in the country, it would bring too much backlash. As it is I’m amazed he’s only had three assassination attempts we know of, I guess his security crew must really know its job.

[kheegster]

I think I should play devil's advocate here and point out that hugging is more than[/i] a gesture of affection in many cultures. Coming from SE Asia, I've seldom hugged anyone in friendship until I ventured out into the decadent West, nor have I ever seen a public kiss back home. I know this is also true in most traditional East Asian (e.g. China, Japan, Korea), although less strictly so among younger generations.

I'm not trying to defend the fundie imams in any way, but there ARE cultural differences between how people perceive a hug.

[Spyder]

I think I should play devil's advocate here and point out that hugging is more than[/i] a gesture of affection in many cultures. Coming from SE Asia, I've seldom hugged anyone in friendship until I ventured out into the decadent West, nor have I ever seen a public kiss back home. I know this is also true in most traditional East Asian (e.g. China, Japan, Korea), although less strictly so among younger generations.

I'm not trying to defend the fundie imams in any way, but there ARE cultural differences between how people perceive a hug.

Traditionalism without reason is a means to perpetuate cultural deficiencies.

[kheegster]

I think I should play devil's advocate here and point out that hugging is more than[/i] a gesture of affection in many cultures. Coming from SE Asia, I've seldom hugged anyone in friendship until I ventured out into the decadent West, nor have I ever seen a public kiss back home. I know this is also true in most traditional East Asian (e.g. China, Japan, Korea), although less strictly so among younger generations.

I'm not trying to defend the fundie imams in any way, but there ARE cultural differences between how people perceive a hug.

Traditionalism without reason is a means to perpetuate cultural deficiencies.

But how about progress without a reason? Russian and Italian men kiss each other in greeting....should Anglo-American cultures be considered culturally deficient because they don't have this?

Masai tribeswomen go around topless, but if Hillary Clinton goes around topless would she be able to remain in the Senate?

[Colonel Olrik]

But how about progress without a reason? Russian and Italian men kiss each other in greeting....should Anglo-American cultures be considered culturally deficient because they don't have this?

They fucking should if the kissers got fired over it because of irate Clerics or whatever other reason. It's not only Russians and Italians, by the way.

[Spyder]

I think I should play devil's advocate here and point out that hugging is more than[/i] a gesture of affection in many cultures. Coming from SE Asia, I've seldom hugged anyone in friendship until I ventured out into the decadent West, nor have I ever seen a public kiss back home. I know this is also true in most traditional East Asian (e.g. China, Japan, Korea), although less strictly so among younger generations.

I'm not trying to defend the fundie imams in any way, but there ARE cultural differences between how people perceive a hug.

Traditionalism without reason is a means to perpetuate cultural deficiencies.

But how about progress without a reason? Russian and Italian men kiss each other in greeting....should Anglo-American cultures be considered culturally deficient because they don't have this?

Masai tribeswomen go around topless, but if Hillary Clinton goes around topless would she be able to remain in the Senate?

Pretty much exactly what Olrik said. It all depends on how far they're willing to go to preserve their cultural irrelevancies. If a public figure was seen kissing another man in an Itallian style greeting and then forced to resign over it then yes, this would be an example of meaningless traditionalism.

In Hillary's case, if she went around topless then she probably wouldn't be able to continue serving in the senate, however it is important to note that there wouldn't really be any logical reason behind her dismissal other then pointless traditionalism. To put it in another context, she'd probably also get into trouble if she was caught breast feeding in public as well.

[Darth Wong]

I wonder what response kheegster was expecting, on a board where people routinely complain about the puritanical fucktards who infest the United States. Was he expecting people to say "Oh no, that's completely different, we love our puritanical fucktards"?

[Surlethe]

I think I should play devil's advocate here and point out that hugging is more than[/i] a gesture of affection in many cultures. Coming from SE Asia, I've seldom hugged anyone in friendship until I ventured out into the decadent West, nor have I ever seen a public kiss back home. I know this is also true in most traditional East Asian (e.g. China, Japan, Korea), although less strictly so among younger generations.

I'm not trying to defend the fundie imams in any way, but there ARE cultural differences between how people perceive a hug.

In the US, making out in public is considered indecent. That's a cultural difference between the US and, say, Europe right there. The problem isn't so much with what's considered appropriate as with the attempt to get her fired; if, say, Condoleeza Rice was caught making out with some guy in public, I think everyone would have just as much of a problem with the ensuing fundie uproar in the US as they do with this bullshit.

EDIT: This isn't to say that there's no problem with what's considered appropriate and inappropriate culturally; it's just to say there's more of a problem with getting someone fired.

[jegs2]

Traditionalism without reason is a means to perpetuate cultural deficiencies.

That briefs well on a Power Point slide, but reality in Islamic societies is all but alien to Western viewpoints. Those who attempt to instill Western ideals on historically Moslem societies end up like the Coalition forces in Iraq.

[Spyder]

Traditionalism without reason is a means to perpetuate cultural deficiencies.

That briefs well on a Power Point slide, but reality in Islamic societies is all but alien to Western viewpoints. Those who attempt to instill Western ideals on historically Moslem societies end up like the Coalition forces in Iraq.

People are always going to have opposing views that you'll never be able to change overnight. That doesn't mean that it's wrong to point out their deficiencies. There's a big difference between pointing them out and trying to instill your own values at gunpoint.

[Darth Wong]

Traditionalism without reason is a means to perpetuate cultural deficiencies.

That briefs well on a Power Point slide, but reality in Islamic societies is all but alien to Western viewpoints. Those who attempt to instill Western ideals on historically Moslem societies end up like the Coalition forces in Iraq.

He is saying that tradition is a bullshit reason to do anything, and you're saying that Islamic fundie fucktards are traditionalists. Well yeah, but that does not refute the statement.