May 8, 2009--Meanwhile, Back In Karachi . . .
President Obama met recently with Asif Ali Zardari, president of Pakistan to see if he could put a little starch in his shorts so that he would order the Pakistani army, which we are subsidizing, to go after the Taliban and Al Qaeda forces threatening to take over the Swat Valley, which is only 60 miles from Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital.
In addition, President Obama spoke with Zardari about the security of the 60 to 100 nuclear weapons Pakistan has stashed around the country—would they be safe if an Islamist government took over the country? “Sure,” he was assured, which makes me feel more secure. Maybe I’ll now be able to sleep at night.
All the while, back home, Pakistani citizens who have been passive about the threat Taliban militants pose, especially in regard to imposing sharia, a version of Islamic law in the provinces they control, all the while they recoiled in horror from a widely circulated video of radical clergy administering that religious law by whipping, with a leather whip, a young girl accused of “illicit relations with her father-in-law.”
In shocking images, the two-minute video shows the 17 year-old girl, wearing a veil, face down on the ground with two men holding her arms and feet. A third man in a black turban with a long beard whips her backside, causing her to scream: “Either stop it or kill me.” A crowd of men can be seen watching, having a grand time, as one of the Taliban shouts, “Hold her tightly!”
What we are now learning is that that whip was likely manufactured in Karachi, right next to a mosque and the offices of a radical Islamic organization, by a company named AQTH, which not only specializes in the manufacture of such instruments of “justice” but also has a line of other leather goods for a worldwide clientele who, how shall I put this, don’t get all their kicks from Champagne—the $3.0 billion dollar a year fetish and bondage industry.
According to the ordinarily staid New York Times (article linked below), two enterprising brothers started the business a few years ago and export most of their products—of course--to the West. And an occasional whip to folks in the Swat Valley. Perhaps that’s why the authorities allow the business to thrive--they are making millions of Rupees. The Qadeer brothers’ product line includes (are the children in bed?) gag balls (whatever they are), lime-green corsets, thronged spanking shorts, and the ever-popular Mistress Flogger. Are you with me Elliot Spitzer?
The dozens of veiled women who stitch these together have no idea what they are or how they are used—they’re just happy to have a job. Things are rough there too (sorry). Even the boys wives and mother do not know what they are up to. “If our mom knew,” Adam Ahmed Qadeer confessed, “she’d drown us.” Or say, “Boys will be boys.” If on the other hand, one of their sisters got out of line, we sort of know what would happen to her. One of the brothers’ products would then probably come in handy.
You might wonder how they get away with this in a country swarming with conservative Muslim groups. Actually, last year four Islamic toughs threatened to burn down their factory if they didn’t close it in a week. The brothers explained that it is only a business and, not to worry, none of the items they manufacture are used in Pakistan. (At least not the bondage straitjacket that they make that’s jumping off the shelves.) The guys were convinced and, who knows, maybe took along a few samples, which they could study at their leisure to make sure they weren’t showing up in Zhob or Peshawar.
And, for safe measure, in the spirit of pure capitalism, it didn’t hurt that the Qadeer boys also greased a few palms of the leaders of a local Islamic political organization. Or should I say, made a political contribution in support of their efforts?
In addition, President Obama spoke with Zardari about the security of the 60 to 100 nuclear weapons Pakistan has stashed around the country—would they be safe if an Islamist government took over the country? “Sure,” he was assured, which makes me feel more secure. Maybe I’ll now be able to sleep at night.
All the while, back home, Pakistani citizens who have been passive about the threat Taliban militants pose, especially in regard to imposing sharia, a version of Islamic law in the provinces they control, all the while they recoiled in horror from a widely circulated video of radical clergy administering that religious law by whipping, with a leather whip, a young girl accused of “illicit relations with her father-in-law.”
In shocking images, the two-minute video shows the 17 year-old girl, wearing a veil, face down on the ground with two men holding her arms and feet. A third man in a black turban with a long beard whips her backside, causing her to scream: “Either stop it or kill me.” A crowd of men can be seen watching, having a grand time, as one of the Taliban shouts, “Hold her tightly!”
What we are now learning is that that whip was likely manufactured in Karachi, right next to a mosque and the offices of a radical Islamic organization, by a company named AQTH, which not only specializes in the manufacture of such instruments of “justice” but also has a line of other leather goods for a worldwide clientele who, how shall I put this, don’t get all their kicks from Champagne—the $3.0 billion dollar a year fetish and bondage industry.
According to the ordinarily staid New York Times (article linked below), two enterprising brothers started the business a few years ago and export most of their products—of course--to the West. And an occasional whip to folks in the Swat Valley. Perhaps that’s why the authorities allow the business to thrive--they are making millions of Rupees. The Qadeer brothers’ product line includes (are the children in bed?) gag balls (whatever they are), lime-green corsets, thronged spanking shorts, and the ever-popular Mistress Flogger. Are you with me Elliot Spitzer?
The dozens of veiled women who stitch these together have no idea what they are or how they are used—they’re just happy to have a job. Things are rough there too (sorry). Even the boys wives and mother do not know what they are up to. “If our mom knew,” Adam Ahmed Qadeer confessed, “she’d drown us.” Or say, “Boys will be boys.” If on the other hand, one of their sisters got out of line, we sort of know what would happen to her. One of the brothers’ products would then probably come in handy.
You might wonder how they get away with this in a country swarming with conservative Muslim groups. Actually, last year four Islamic toughs threatened to burn down their factory if they didn’t close it in a week. The brothers explained that it is only a business and, not to worry, none of the items they manufacture are used in Pakistan. (At least not the bondage straitjacket that they make that’s jumping off the shelves.) The guys were convinced and, who knows, maybe took along a few samples, which they could study at their leisure to make sure they weren’t showing up in Zhob or Peshawar.
And, for safe measure, in the spirit of pure capitalism, it didn’t hurt that the Qadeer boys also greased a few palms of the leaders of a local Islamic political organization. Or should I say, made a political contribution in support of their efforts?
posted by Steven Zwerling at
5:39 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home