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Dear Khalid,
I am aware of the
episode regarding Amnesty International (AI) and Nelson Mandela. AI
periodically prints a list of “Prisoners of Conscience” (POC) and urges
its members to run campaigns to get them freedom. In 1962, AI did
declare Mandela as a prisoner of conscience. During his trial, in 1964,
Mandela admitted of organizing groups to wage guerrilla war against
Apartheid regime. It was at this juncture that a rift developed in AI’s
leadership regarding Mandela. It was decided that AI would drop Mandela
as a POC but still campaign for a fair trial for him. When Mandela was
released, he was invited by AI in one of it’s offices where Mandela
thanked AI for working on behalf of many South African POC’s.
That aside, I totally
agree with you that all organizations at some level are political and
have their own skeletons in closet. That is the reason that for a long
time, I am not part of any organization. I offer my time and services to
many organizations from time to time without becoming their member. I
prefer being a free-lancer because it contains the word ‘free’.
You asked me if I am
an idealist. I used to be one but time has chipped off some of my
idealism. Now, I am of opinion that sometimes, to get the job done, one
has to tone down one’s idealism. If I were a hard-core idealist, I would
have refused to have any part of the Nobel lectures translation project
but I didn’t. After registering all my reservations about Nobel Peace
Prize, I did agree to translate AI’s lecture. Whether I manage to find
time to actually do it is another matter.
Please thank Mr.
Masood Munawar for thinking of me. He is not a stranger to me. I have
read some of his writing and really appreciated them. You said that he
asked you some questions about me and you did not know the answers. You
also wrote that you are also curious about the answers and over the
phone you told me that I avoid answering such questions. Let me first
answer Masood’s questions (to the best of my ability) and then answer
your charge of avoidance.
I was born in Lahore
in 1968 and belong to an average lower middle class family. The
description of my profession keeps changing from time to time. Suffice
it to say that Computer Sciences are responsible for putting food on my
table for past 15 years. Before that I was a failed chemical analyst, a
failed journalist and many other failed things. My forays into those
fields were brief and completely involuntary. I entered the field of
Computer Sciences with my mind ready to accept another failure but for
reasons that are still beyond me, I became successful in this field and
thus it became my profession. I currently live in New Jersey, USA where
I moved to in the year 2000 and before that, I spent some years in
Dubai. The last question is a difficult one but briefly, reading and
exchanging ideas with friends are my foremost passions.
Now to your charge
that I avoid sharing personal details with others. I don’t avoid doing
that. It’s just that I am a very ordinary person living a very ordinary
life. All the details and highlights of my life are the details and
highlights of the lives of all the ordinary people of the world and they
are everywhere to see. If I had something special, I would have loved to
share that. The stars in my life are the people in my life, most of them
my friends, and the people whose ideas I have read in their books. The
only trait that I posses is that I reflect their light well.
Anyway, thanks for
becoming a bridge between myself and Masood Munawar. I hope we will
become friends and Masood will lend me some of his light for he is not
just Masood, he is Munawar too.
Regards,
Rafi Aamer
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