The Pakistani Spectator

Barack Obama, Yes you can, but you cannot if you merely keep giving lip service to the people of the world. Your glossy speeches heavily sprinkled with lofty words, noble ambitions and promising future are very welcome, but we have over the years grown very apprehensive and wary of such ornamental rhetoric, and now want that America truly changes it’s role from the monster to a healer.

From Iraq to Afghanistan to Pakistan to Middle East, enough people have died and enough destruction has been caused by the America and its allies and the results are nill, except that the anger and hatred against the Americans have risen and speeches like Obama’s current ones don’t have that impact upon the listeners, especially in the suffering countries. America must act before this anger gets out of control.

These are the time when, admit or not, there is going on some sort of clash of civlization. At one side, West feels threatened by the Islam and on the other side Islam considers West an aggressor and an oppressor. These are the  time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world, tension deeply rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate or speech.

In his speech delivered in Cairo, Egypt, Obama said that:

The Holy Quran tells us, “O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another.”

It was a good gesture on his part that he is interested it in what Quran says and he is interested in bridging the gap between his country and the Islamic world. There is a pressing need right now that modernity, progress and tradition be brought about in synchronization and harmony should be the order of day for the whole world.

I will end up with Obama’s own words:

It is easier to start wars than to end them. It is easier to blame others than to look inward; to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share.. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. This truth transcends nations and peoples – a belief that isn’t new; that isn’t black or white or brown; that isn’t Christian, or Muslim or Jew. It’s a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the heart of billions. It’s a faith in other people, and it’s what brought me here today.  We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.