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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (46282)	5/24/2004 6:07:11 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

It is disgraceful that how much animosity towards me these cowards display to undermine the great work of even our forefathers. Coming from a nameless coward this is ultimate shame and disgrace, ... we are proud of traditions, training and this is the reason we have face and a name.. < It is an insult to compare the Pakistani armed forces to that of Britain! If you know anything about the core philosophy of the British military, you would not make such a comment.> We are not imitators we are trend setters….this is from Brig (Retd) FRANCIS HB INGALL was the British army officer who was selected to create the Pakistan Military Academy in 1947, finally established in January 1948. This is the first of two excerpts from his book. <My first Deputy Commandant and Cadet Battalion Commander was Colonel M. A. Latif Khan, of the Baluch Regiment, who had fought with great gallantry in Burma and had been awarded the Military Cross. When his name was first proposed I had some doubts; it was hinted that his sympathies were anti-British. However, as soon as I met Latif I took an immediate liking to him. At our first interview I discovered that he was intensely nationalistic - in fact, after he left my staff his ambitions would get him into serious trouble. But I asked him point-blank if he was indeed anti-British; if so he would obviously be unsuitable as my deputy. He was very honest and explained that his prejudice was not against the British nation as a whole but one man in particular. It all boiled down to a tactless senior British officer treading on a young and sensitive Latif's toes. He told me frankly that he had made enquiries about me - and that in his opinion the Government could not have selected a more suitable person than myself to found the Academy! Needless to say, we struck up a lasting friendship. Another officer I was fortunate enough to obtain for the Academy, in the capacity of a company commander, was Latif's brother-in-law, Major Abid Bilgrami. These two young men were married to charming and sophisticated sisters from the noble house of Bhopal - all were refugees from India. The ladies were to play a valuable role in organizing the social life at Kakul. One of the first things that had been decided in our meetings at AHQ had been the length of the course and, in general terms, what subjects would be taught. I obtained the latest curricula from my alma mater, Sandhurst, from West Point in the USA, Duntroon (the Australian Academy) and the Academy in Canada. Roughly speaking, the syllabus was divided into two-thirds academic subjects, one-third military training. We worked day and night, sketching out the syllabus for each subject and writing precis after precis. Suddenly I realized we had reached a stage when the material requirements of many of these subjects were lacking. The military end was fine and growing day by day, but where were the textbooks and lab equipment? One day I was sitting in my hotel room in Rawalpindi reading the Civil and Military Gazette; published in Lahore, this was the most influential newspaper of the Punjab - at the turn of the century its editor was none other than Rudyard Kipling. The leading article caught my eye: it was on the subject of education. The writer was bemoaning the fact that Pakistan had few seats of learning and the best of the colleges,in Lahore and Rawalpindi, were being vandalized and looted by hooligans from the bazaar. He went on to say that all the best Muslim universities were now across the border in India - Osmania, Islamabad and Lucknow - but practically all of their leading teachers had emigrated to Pakistan, destitute and without work; no one had any use for them, it seemed. This article was doubly interesting, for not only did we lack equipment but also instructors to teach the arts, humanities and science. In short, apart from my military staff, I needed academic staff. The Adjutant-General's branch had suggested I call upon the services of the Army Education Corps and I did in fact take on one excellent lieutenant-colonel as Director of Studies, four majors and a number of captains. But I needed many more, and the rest of the AEC's people were in my opinion incapable of teaching the subjects we required. Their main job in peacetime was teaching the common soldier to read and write Urdu in Roman (that is, English) script as opposed to the shikasta form; they also taught English to some advanced students, but that was about the limit of their usefulness. I dropped my paper and headed for the office of the senior civilian administrator, the Commissioner of Rawalpindi. I told him of my plight. I needed textbooks and various sorts of equipment desperately; AHQ had no funds to buy what I wanted - and yet in colleges in Lahore and Rawalpindi these precious assets were being looted and smashed by goondas, gangs of organized rioters. The police had their hands full and could not spare the men to stop the rioting. It might be years before Pakistan began producing her own educational material, and certainly before she had the foreign exchange with which to purchase it abroad. But I needed it now, I said. Might I collect a few soldiers and undertake a spot of organized looting myself?> Excerpts From Pakistan Military Academy 'The Last of the Bengal Lancers'

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (46282)	5/24/2004 10:30:24 AM
From: malibuca	Respond to of 50167

You said To tell others how they should research their posts No, I was not telling you how to research anything. READ WHAT IS STATED BEFORE YOU MAKE ACCUSATIONS. I suggested that you don't try and hood-wink your readers with a lot of platitudes and news that is favorable ONLY to your point. In the process, you offer half-truths, omissions and sometimes, outright lies. You said I don’t make any research Yes, that is more than obvious to anyone who is the least bit informed about your part of the world. Re I will be more than happy to have him here every day than to change my views You can count on it! The only limitation will be my time constraints and whether you continue to skew the information you post.