Originally posted by: IArmageddonI
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Dear Chutki,</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">I understand your sentiments, I know I belong from a different religion and country than you but when I say I understand it... I do.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">You see, the matter isn't about being a Muslim and/or Pakistani - it is the unfortunate stereotype that we all unfortunately accept.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">And as far as the bad guys are concerned, it is true that often we forget to keep Muslims as the wonderful protagonists only because the names like Sikandar, Raheem and all have been drilled into our heads as villains.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">One of the biggest points is that, NO, there's no difference between Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis or any other citizens of any country out here. Solely because of the fact that we all react similarly - we are patriotic, loving and culture rooted. There's just a marked difference in the way we are patriotic and culturally driven. It's unfortunate that we as civilians have had to face what a few of our disgusting political leaders had done to create the divide.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">And when there are other narrow minded people concerned who still want to ruin any faith or country's honour, then they are not worth it.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Why should you leave this forum? Don't... really don't!</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">In fact in one of my IPKKND stories, the second lead is a Muslim and trust me, the very decision of making him Muslim barely affected the way the character had shaped up.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">To all the writers out there, when we are sketching out Hindu characters or Christian ones - we barely keep their religious actions in mind (like feel the need to visit a temple or write about how they pray) simply because that isn't a part of the story. I believe we should try to make a conscious effort to bring in a more diverse community through the power of our pen.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Lastly, I might have said a million things which cover a million topics.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The bad guys in our fictions were never Muslims.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">The bad guys in our fictions were never Pakistanis.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">They were simply bad - period.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">And moreover, the name of a villain in my story could sound like a Muslim name - but I could never describe him to act or pray in the way a true Muslim/Pakistani does because like most authors - we simply want to incorporate the traits of what media has shown us as "bad" guys.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Please ignore all those who have erred so horrendously, they don't deserve it. And please do NOT think that there's any sort of divide between us here on the grounds of country and religion.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">No country or faith should bear the weight of a few terrible men's actions.</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">With lots of love,</font>
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Di.</font>